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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/38144-8.txt b/38144-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9efde34 --- /dev/null +++ b/38144-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12571 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Mistress of Bonaventure, by Harold Bindloss + +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 Mistress of Bonaventure + +Author: Harold Bindloss + +Release Date: November 26, 2011 [EBook #38144] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MISTRESS OF BONAVENTURE *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +THE MISTRESS OF BONAVENTURE + +BY HAROLD BINDLOSS + +Author of "Alton of Somasco," "The Dust of Conflict," +"The Cattle-Baron's Daughter," etc. + +_ONLY AUTHORIZED EDITION_ + +[Illustration] + +NEW YORK +FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY +PUBLISHERS + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER PAGE + I. THE SWEETWATER FORD 1 + II. BONAVENTURE RANCH 10 + III. A MIDNIGHT VISITOR 22 + IV. THE TIGHTENING OF THE NET 34 + V. A SURPRISE PARTY 45 + VI. A HOLOCAUST 58 + VII. A BITTER AWAKENING 68 + VIII. HOW REDMOND CAME HOME 78 + IX. A PRAIRIE STUDY 92 + X. A TEMPTATION 104 + XI. IN PERIL OF THE WATERS 113 + XII. THE SELLING OF GASPARD'S TRAIL 124 + XIII. AN UNFORTUNATE PROMISE 137 + XIV. THE BURNING OF GASPARD'S TRAIL 147 + XV. BEAUTY IN DISGUISE 159 + XVI. THE DEFENSE OF CRANE VALLEY 170 + XVII. THE RAISING OF THE SIEGE 183 + XVIII. THE VIGIL-KEEPER 194 + XIX. THE WORK OF AN ENEMY 205 + XX. LEADEN-FOOTED JUSTICE 216 + XXI. AGAINST TIME 226 + XXII. BAD TIDINGS 238 + XXIII. LIBERTY 248 + XXIV. A SECRET TRIBUNAL 261 + XXV. A CHANGE OF TACTICS 272 + XXVI. THE TURNING OF THE TIDE 282 + XXVII. ILLUMINATION 293 +XXVIII. THE ENEMY CAPITULATES 305 + XXIX. THE EXIT OF LANE 315 + XXX. THE LAST TOAST 326 + + + + +The Mistress of Bonaventure + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE SWEETWATER FORD + + +After relaxing its iron grip a little so that we hoped for spring, +winter had once more closed down on the broad Canadian prairie, and the +lonely outpost was swept by icy draughts, when, one bitter night, +Sergeant Mackay, laying down his pipe, thrust fresh billets into the +crackling stove. It already glowed with a dull redness, and the light +that beat out through its opened front glinted upon the carbines, belts, +and stirrups hung about the rough log walls. + +"'Tis for the rebuking of evildoers an' the keeping of the peace we're +sent here to patrol the wilderness, an' if we're frozen stiff in the +saddle 'tis no more than our duty," said the sergeant, while his eyes +twinkled whimsically. "But a man with lands an' cattle shows a +distressful want o' judgment by sleeping in a snow bank when he might be +sitting snug in a club at Montreal. 'Tis a matter o' wonder to me that +ye are whiles so deficient in common sense, Rancher Ormesby. Still, I'm +no' denying ye showed a little when ye brought that whisky. 'Tis +allowable to interpret the regulations with discretion in bitter +weather--an' here's a safe ride to ye!" + +A brighter beam that shot out called up the speaker's rugged face and +gaunt figure from the shadows. Although his lean, hard fingers closed +somewhat affectionately on a flask instead of on the bridle or carbine +they were used to, his profession was stamped on him, for Allan Mackay +was as fine a sample of non-commissioned cavalry officer as ever +patrolled the desolate marches of Western Canada--which implies a good +deal to those who know the Northwest troopers. He was also, as I knew, a +man acquainted with sorrow, who united the shrewdness of Solomon with a +childish simplicity and hid beneath his grim exterior a vein of +eccentric chivalry which on occasion led him into trouble. The blaze +further touched the face of a young English lad sitting in a corner of +the room. + +"Some of us were sent here for our sins, and some came for our health +when the temperature of our birthplaces grew a trifle high," he said. "I +don't know that anybody except Rancher Ormesby ever rode with us for +pleasure. Yet I'm open to admit the life has its compensations; and +Sergeant Mackay has given me many as good a run as I ever had with--that +is, I mean any man who must earn his bread might well find work he would +take less kindly to." + +The lad's momentary embarrassment was not lost on his officer, who +chuckled somewhat dryly as he glanced at him. "I'm asking no questions, +an' ye are not called on to testify against yourself," he said. "Maybe +ye rode fox-hunting on a hundred-guinea horse, an' maybe ye did not; but +ye showed a bit knowledge o' a beast, an' that was enough for me. +Meantime ye're Trooper Cotton, an' I'll see ye do your duty. To some, +the old country--God bless her--is a hard stepmother, an' ye're no' the +first she has turned the cold shoulder on and sent out to me." + +The worthy sergeant was apt to grow tiresome when he launched out into +his reminiscences, and, seeing that Trooper Cotton did not appreciate +the turn the conversation was taking, I broke in: "But you're forgetting +the outlaw, Mackay; and I'm not here for either health or pleasure. I +want to recover the mare I gave five hundred dollars for, and that ought +to excuse my company. What has the fellow who borrowed her done?" + +"Fired on a mortgage money-lender down in Assiniboia," was the answer. +"Maybe he was badly treated, for ye'll mind that the man who takes blood +money, as yon Lane has done, is first cousin to Judas Iscariot; but +that's no' my business. It is not allowable to shoot one's creditors in +the Canadian Dominion. What I'm wondering is where he is now; an' that +will be either striking north for the barrens or west for British +Columbia. It will be boot and saddle when Pete comes in, and meantime +we'll consider what routes would best fit him!" + +Mackay knew every bluff and ravine seaming a hundred miles of prairie; +and another silent man, rising from his bunk, stood beside myself and +Cotton as the sergeant traced lines across the table. Each represented +an alternative route the fugitive might take, and the places where the +hard forefinger paused marked a risky ford or lake on which the ice was +yielding. Mackay spent some time over it, as much for his own +edification as for ours, but I was interested, for I greatly desired to +recover the blood mare stolen from me. + +I was then five-and-twenty, fairly stalwart and tall of stature, and +seldom regretted that after a good education in England I had gone out +to Western Canada to assist a relative in raising cattle. The old man +was slow and cautious, but he taught me my business well before he died +suddenly and left me his possessions. Adding my small patrimony, I made +larger profits by taking heavier risks, and, for fortune had favored me, +and youth is no handicap in the Colonies, my homestead was one of the +finest in that section of the country. Save for occasional risks of +frost-bite and wild rides through blinding snow, the life had been +toilsome rather than eventful; but the day which, while we talked in the +outpost, was speeding westward across the pines of Quebec and the lakes +of Ontario to gild the Rockies' peaks was to mark a turning-point in my +history. + +Suddenly a beat of hoofs rose out of the night, there was a jingle +outside, and the cold set me shivering, when a man, who held a smoking +horse's bridle, stood by the open door. "Your man tried to buy a horse +from the reservation Crees, and, when they wouldn't trade, doubled on +his tracks, heading west for the Bitter Lakes. I've nearly killed my +beast to bring you word," he said. + +Horses stood ready in the sod stable behind the dwelling, and in less +than three minutes we were in the saddle and flitting in single file +across the prairie. It was about five o'clock in the morning, and, +though winter should have been over, it was very bitter. The steam from +the horses hung about us, our breath froze on our furs, but a Chinook +wind had swept the prairie clear of snow, and, though in the barer +places the ground rang like iron beneath us, the carpet of matted +grasses made moderately fast traveling possible. No word was spoken, +and, when the silent figures about me faded as they spread out to left +and right and only a faint jingle of steel or dull thud of hoofs +betokened their presence, I seemed to have ridden out of all touch with +warmth and life. + +The frost bit keen, the heavens were black with the presage of coming +storm, and the utter silence seemed the hush of death. Beast and bird +had long fled south, and I started when once the ghostly howl of a +coyote rose eerily and faintly from the rim of the prairie. + +By daylight we had left long leagues behind us, and I was the better +pleased that the fugitive's trail, of which we found signs, led back +towards my own homestead. For a brief five minutes the Rockies, seen +very far off across the levels, flushed crimson against the sky. Then +the line of spectral peaks faded suddenly, and we were left, four tiny +crawling specks, in the center of a limitless gray circle whose +circumference receded steadily as the hours went by. But the trail grew +plainer to the sergeant's practiced eyes, and, when we had crossed the +Bitter Lakes on rotten and but partially refrozen ice, he predicted that +we should come up with the fugitive by nightfall if our horses held out. +Mine was the best in the party, and, though not equal to the stolen +mare, the latter had already traveled fast and far. It was a depressing +journey. No ray of sunlight touched the widespread levels, and there was +neither smoke trail nor sign of human life in all that great desolation. +Hands and feet lost sense of feeling, the cold numbed one's very brain; +but the wardens of the prairie, used alike to sleep in a snow trench or +swim an icy ford, care little for adverse weather, and Mackay held on +with a slow tenacity that boded ill for the man he was pursuing. + +The light showed signs of failing when Trooper Cotton shouted, and we +caught sight of our quarry, a shadowy blur on the crest of a low rise +that seamed the prairie. "Ye may save your breath, for ye'll need it," +said Mackay. "It's a league from yon rise to the Sweetwater, an' there's +neither ice-bridge nor safe ford now. If he's across before we are we'll +no' grip him the night, I'm thinking--and there's ill weather brewing." + +Whip and heel were plied, and the worn-out beasts responded as best they +might. The man who had taught me stock and horse breeding knew his +business, and when my beast raced across the edge of the rise the +troopers were at least two hundred yards behind. Then the exultation of +the chase took hold of me, and my frozen blood commenced to stir as the +staunch beast beneath me swept faster and faster down the long gray +incline. At every stride I was coming up with the horse thief. A dusky +ridge of birches loomed ahead, shutting off the steep dip to the river. +Beyond this, there were thicker trees; and the light was failing; but +while all this promised safety for the pursued, I was gaining fast and +the troopers were dropping further behind. The fugitive had just reached +the timber when a light wagon lurched out from it, and I yelled to the +man who drove it to hold clear of my path. There was a hoarse shout away +to the left, and, when no answer came back, the crack of a carbine. A +repeating rifle banged against my back, and, feeling that its sling lay +within easy reach, I drove my heels home as I raced past the wagon. + +There was scarcely time for a side glance, but the one I risked set my +heart beating. Two feminine figures wrapped in furs sat within it, and +one smiled at me as I passed. The face that looked out from beneath the +fur cap was worth remembering, though it was several years since I had +last seen it in England. Haldane had brought his daughters with him when +he came out from Montreal to visit his Western possessions, it seemed; +but my horse was over the brink of the declivity before I could return +the greeting, and, bending low to clear the branches, I drove him +reeling and blundering down and down through willow undergrowth and +scattered birches on the track of the fugitive. I was but a plain +rancher, and it seemed presumptuous folly to neglect my lawful business +for a smile from Beatrice Haldane. + +It was growing dark among the birches, and flakes of feathery snow +sliding down between the branches filled my eyes, but I could see that +the distance between us was shortening more rapidly and that the man in +front of me reeled in his saddle when a branch smote him. The mare also +stumbled, and I gained several lengths. The drumming of hoofs and the +moan of an icy wind which had sprung up seemed to fill all the hollow. +White mist that slid athwart the birches hung over the Sweetwater in the +rift beneath, and--for the river had lately burst its chains of ice--I +felt sure that the man I followed would never make the crossing. Yet it +appeared certain that he meant to attempt it, for he rode straight at +the screen of willows that fringed the water's edge, vanished among +them, and I heard a crackling as his weary beast smashed through the +shoreward fringe of honeycombed ice. Then I saw nothing, for rattling +branches closed about me as the horse feebly launched himself at the +leap, while a denser whiteness thickened the mist. So far fortune had +favored me throughout the reckless ride; but it is not wise to tempt +fate too hardly, and the beast pitched forward when his hoofs descended +upon bare frozen ground. + +Had I worn boots my neck might have paid the penalty, but the soft +moccasins slipped free of the stirrups in time, and when I came down the +horse rolled over several yards clear of me. He was up next moment, but +moved stiffly, and stood still, trembling, when I grasped the bridle. +The saddle had slipped sideways, as though a girth buckle had yielded, +and I felt faint and dizzy, for the fall had shaken me. Nevertheless, I +unslung the rifle mechanically, when a hail reached me, and, turning, I +saw the man we had followed sitting still in his saddle, some twoscore +yards away, with the steam frothing white to his horse's knees. The +daylight had almost gone, the snow was commencing in earnest, but I +could make out that he was bareheaded and his face smeared with crimson, +perhaps from a wound the branch had made. It looked drawn and ghastly as +he sat stiffly erect against a background of hurrying water and falling +snow, with one hand on his hip and the other raised as though to command +attention. + +"You are Rancher Ormesby, whose horse I borrowed, I presume?" he said. +"Well, if you are wise you will give up the chase before worse befalls +you. I am armed, and I give you fair warning that I do not mean to be +taken. Go home to your stove and comforts. You have no quarrel with me." + +The clean English accent surprised me, and the rifle lay still in the +hollow of my left arm as I answered him: "Do you forget you are sitting +on the best mare I possess? The loss of several hundred dollars is more +than I can put up with; and your warning sounds rather empty when I +could hardly fail to pick you off with this rifle." + +I listened for the troopers' coming, but could hear only the fret of the +river and the moaning of the blast, for the wind was rising rapidly. It +was evident that the beast whose bridle I held was in no fit state to +attempt the crossing, and yet, though the stranger's cool assurance was +exasperating, I began to be conscious of a certain admiration and pity +for him. The man was fearless. He had been hunted like a wolf; and now, +left, worn out, wounded, and doubtless faint from want of food, to face +the wild night in the open, he had, it seemed, risked his last chance of +escape to warn me when he might have taken me at a disadvantage. + +He laughed recklessly. "Still, I hardly think you will. The mare is +done, and I pledge my word I'll turn her loose as soon as I'm clear of +the troopers. I have no grudge against you, but if you are wise you will +take no further chances with a desperate man. Go home, and be thankful +you have a place to shelter you." + +There would have been no great difficulty in bringing the man down at +that range, even in a bad light, and it is probable that nobody would +have blamed me; but, though I should willingly have ridden him down in +fair chase, I could not fire on him as he sat there at my mercy, for if +he was armed it must have been with a pistol--a very poor weapon against +a rifle. I might also have shot the horse; but one hesitates to +sacrifice a costly beast, even in the service of the State, and, strange +to say, I felt inclined to trust his promise. Accordingly, I did +neither; and when a great ice cake came driving down, and, raising his +hand again as though in recognition of my forbearance, he wheeled the +mare and vanished into a thicker rush of snow, I stood motionless and +let him go. Then, feeling more shaken and dizzy than before, I seized +the bridle and led the horse into the whirling whiteness that drove down +the slope. Darkness came suddenly. I could scarcely see the trees, and +it was by accident I stumbled upon the troopers dismounted and picking +their way. + +"Have ye seen him?" asked an object which looked like a polar bear and +proved to be the sergeant. + +"Yes," I answered shortly, deciding that it would not be well to fully +explain how I had let our quarry slip through my fingers. "If he has not +drowned himself in the river he has got away. I was close upon him when +my horse fell and threw me badly. Are you going to try the crossing, +too?" + +There are few bolder riders than the Northwest troopers, but Mackay +shook his head. "I'm thinking it would be a useless waste of Government +property an' maybe of a trooper's life," he said. "No man could find him +in this snow, and if he lives through the night, which is doubtful, +we'll find his trail plain in the morning. We'll just seek shelter with +Haldane at Bonaventure." + +I do not know how we managed to find the Bonaventure ranch. The wind had +suddenly freshened almost to a gale, and, once clear of the river +hollow, we met the full force of it. The snow that whirled across the +desolate waste filled our eyes and nostrils, rendering breathing +difficult and sight almost impossible; but it may be that the instinct +of the horses helped us, for, making no effort at guidance, I trudged +on, clinging to the bridle of my limping beast, while half-seen +spectral objects floundered through the white haze on each side. +Nevertheless, the pain which followed the impact of the flakes on one +side of my half-frozen face showed that we were at least progressing in +a constant direction, and at last Trooper Cotton raised a hoarse halloo +as a faint ray of light pierced the obscurity. Then shadowy buildings +loomed ahead, and, blundering up against a wire fence, we staggered, +whitened all over, to the door of Bonaventure. + +It was flung wide open at our knock, banged to again, and while a +trooper went off with the horses to the stable the rest of us, partly +stupefied by the change of temperature, stood in the lamp-lit hall +shaking the white flakes from us. A man of middle age, attired in a +fashion more common in the cities than in the West, stretched out his +hand to me. + +"I am glad to see you, Ormesby; and, of course, you and your companions +will spend the night here," he said cordially. "My girls told me they +had met you, and we were partly expecting your company. Apparently the +malefactor got away, Sergeant Mackay?" + +"We did not bring him with us, but he'll not win far this weather," was +the somewhat rueful answer. The master of Bonaventure smiled a little. + +"He deserves to escape if he can live through such a night; and I'm +inclined to be sorry for the poor devil," he said. "However, you have +barely time to get into dry things before supper will be ready. We +expect you all to join us, prairie fashion." + +The welcome was characteristic of Carson Haldane, who could win the +goodwill of most men, either on the prairie or in the exclusive circles +of Ottawa and Montreal. It was also characteristic that he called the +evening meal, as we did, supper; though when he was present a state of +luxury, wholly unusual on the prairie, reigned at Bonaventure. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +BONAVENTURE RANCH + + +"We are waiting for you," said Haldane, smiling, as he stood in the +doorway of the room where, with some misgivings, and by the aid of +borrowed sundries, we had made the best toilets we could. "You are not a +stranger, Ormesby, and must help to see your comrades made comfortable. +Sergeant, my younger daughter is enthusiastic about the prairie, and you +will have a busy time if you answer all her questions, though I fear she +will be disappointed to discover that nobody has ever scalped you." + +Mackay drew himself up stiffly, as if for his inspection parade, and a +white streak on his forehead showed the graze a bullet had made. Young +Cotton smiled wryly as he glanced at his uniform, for it was probably +under very different auspices he had last appeared in the society of +ladies; and I was uneasily conscious of the fact that the black leather +tunic which a German teamster had given me was much more comfortable +than becoming. I might have felt even more dissatisfied had I known that +my fall had badly split the tunic up the back. That, however, did not +account for the curious mingling of hesitation and expectancy with which +I followed our host. + +During a brief visit to England some years ago I had met Miss Haldane at +the house of a relative, and the memory had haunted me during long +winter evenings spent in dreamy meditation beside the twinkling stove +and in many a lonely camp when the stars shone down on the waste of +whitened grass through the blue transparency of the summer night. The +interval had been a time of strenuous effort with me, but through all +the stress and struggle, in stinging snowdrift and blinding dust of +alkali, I had never lost the remembrance of the maiden who whiled away +the sunny afternoons with me under the English elms. Indeed, the +recollection of the serene, delicately cut face and the wealth of dusky +hair grew sharper as the months went by, until it became an abstract +type of all that was desirable in womanhood, rather than a prosaic +reality. Now I was to meet its owner once more in the concrete flesh. It +may have been merely a young man's fancy, born of a life bare of +romance, but I think that idealization was good for me. + +Haldane held a door open, saying something that I did not catch; but +young Cotton, whose bronzed color deepened for a moment, made a courtly +bow, and the big grizzled sergeant smiled at me across the table as he +took his place beside a laughing girl, while I presently found myself +drawing a chair back for Beatrice Haldane, who showed genuine pleasure +as she greeted me. Her beauty had increased during the long interval. +The clustering dark hair and the dark eyes were those I remembered well, +and if her face was a trifle colorless and cold I did not notice it. She +had grown a little more full in outline and more stately in bearing, but +the quiet graciousness which had so impressed me still remained. + +"It is a long time since we met, and you have changed since then," she +said pleasantly. "When you raced past our wagon I hardly recognized you. +That, however, was perhaps only to be expected; but one might wonder +whether you have changed otherwise, too. I recollect you were +refreshingly sanguine when I last saw you." + +This was gratifying. That I should have treasured the remembrance of +Beatrice Haldane was only natural; but it was very pleasant to hear from +her own lips that she had not forgotten me. Her intention was doubtless +kindly, and it was inherited courtesy, for Haldane did most things +graciously. + +"The light was dim, and this life sets its stamp on most of us," I said. +"May one compliment you on your powers of memory? Needless to say, I +recognized you the moment I saw you." + +Miss Haldane smiled a little. "A good memory is useful; but do you wish +me to return the compliment?" + +"No," and I looked at her steadily. "But there is a difference. In your +world men and events follow each other in kaleidoscopic succession, and +each change of the combinations must dim the memory of the rest. With us +it is different. You will see how we live--but, no; I hardly think you +will--for Bonaventure is not a typical homestead, and the control of it +can be only a pastime with your father." + +"And yet it is said that whatever Carson Haldane touches yields him +dividends; but proceed," interposed Miss Haldane. + +"With us each day is spent in hurried labor; and it is probably well +that it is, for otherwise the loneliness and monotony might overpower +any man with leisure to brood and think. Heat, frost, and fatigue are +our lot; and an interlude resembling the one in which I met you means, +as a glimpse of a wholly different life, so much to us. We dream of it +long afterwards, and wonder if ever the enchanted gates will open to us +again. Now, please don't smile. This is really not exaggeration!" + +"Which gates? You are not precise," said my companion, and laughed +pleasantly when, smiling, too, I answered, "One might almost say--of +Paradise!" + +"It must be the Moslem's paradise, then," she said. "Still, I hardly +fancy a stalwart prairie rancher would pose well as the Peri, and, by +way of consolation, you can remember that there are disappointments +within those gates, and those who have acquired knowledge beyond them +sometimes envy the illusions of those without. No, you have not changed +much in some respects, Mr. Ormesby. You must talk to my sister +Lucille--she will agree with you." + +Her manner was very gracious, in spite of the badinage; but there was a +faint trace of weariness and sardonic humor in her merriment which +chilled me. The dark-haired girl I remembered had displayed a power of +sympathy and quick enthusiasm which had apparently vanished from my +present companion. + +"I am curious to hear if you have verified the optimistic views you once +professed," she added languidly. + +I laughed a little dryly. Being younger then, and led on by a very +winsome maiden's interest, I had talked with perhaps a little less than +becoming modesty of the possibilities open to a resolute man in the new +lands of the West, and laid it down as an axiom that determination was a +sure password to success. + +"You should be merciful. That was in my callow days," I said. +"Nevertheless, with a few more reservations, I believe it is possible +for those who can hope and hold on to realize their ambition in this +country, whether it be the evolution of a prosperous homestead from a +strip of Government land and a sod hovel--or more desirable things. The +belief is excusable, because one may see the proof of it almost every +day. I even fancied, when in England, that you agreed with me." + +There was a faint mischievous sparkle in Miss Haldane's eyes, but she +answered with becoming gravity: "Wisdom, as you seem to intimate, comes +with age, and it is allowable to change one's opinions. Now it seems to +me that all things happen, more often against our will than as the +result of it, when the invisible powers behind us decree. For instance, +who could have anticipated yesterday that we two should meet to-night at +table, or who could say whether this assembly, brought about by a +blizzard, may not be the first scene of either a tragedy or a comedy?" + +I was more at home when Haldane turned the conversation upon practical +matters, such as wheat and cattle, than when discussing abstract +possibilities; but I afterwards remembered that my fair companion's +speech was prophetic, and, as I glanced about, it struck me that there +were dramatic possibilities in the situation. We were a strangely +assorted company, and to one who had spent eight years in the wilderness +the surroundings were striking. Tall wax candles in silver standards, +flickering a little when the impact of the snow-laden gale shook the +lonely dwelling, lighted the table. The rest of the long room was +wrapped in shadow, save when the blaze from the great open hearth flung +forth its uncertain radiance. The light flashed upon cut glass and +polished silver, and forced up against the dusky background the faces of +those who sat together. + +Carson Haldane, owner of Bonaventure, which he occasionally visited, sat +at the head of the table, a clean-shaven, dark-haired man of little more +than middle age, whose slightly ascetic appearance concealed a very +genial disposition. He was a man of mark, a daring speculator in mills +and lands and mines, and supposed to be singularly successful. Why he +bought Bonaventure ranch, or what he meant to do with it, nobody seemed +to know; but he acted in accordance with the customs of the place in +which he found himself, and because the distinctions of caste and wealth +are not greatly recognized on the prairie there was nothing incongruous +in his present company. Sergeant Mackay--lean, bronzed, and saturnine +when the humor seized him--now bent his grizzled head with keen gray +eyes that twinkled as he chatted to the fresh-faced girl in the simple +dress beside him. I knew this was Lucille Haldane, but had hardly +glanced at her. Cotton had evidently forgotten that he was a police +trooper, and, when he could, broke in with some boyish jest or English +story told in a different idiom from that which he generally adopted. He +seemed unconscious that he was recklessly betraying himself. + +"You must not turn my daughter's head with your reminiscences, Sergeant. +She is inclined to be over-romantic already," Haldane said, with a +kindly glance at the girl. "Possibly, however, one may excuse her +to-night, for you gentlemen live the stories she delights in. By the +way, I do not quite understand how you allowed the evildoer to escape, +Ormesby." + +Being forced to an explanation, I described the scene by the river as +best I could, looking at the sergeant a trifle defiantly until, at the +conclusion, he said: "I cannot compliment ye, Rancher Ormesby." + +I was about to retort, when a clear young voice, with a trace of +mischief in its tone, asked: "What would you have done had you been +there, and why were you so far behind, Sergeant?" + +"We do not ride pedigree horses," said Mackay, a trifle grimly. "I +should have shot his beast, an' so made sure of him in the first place." + +Then there was a sudden silence, when the girl, who turned upon him with +a gesture of indignation, said: "It would have been cruel, and I am glad +he got away. I saw his face when he passed us, and it was so drawn and +haggard that I can hardly forget it; but it was not that of a bad man. +What crime had he committed that he should be hunted so pitilessly?" + +Young Cotton colored almost guiltily under his tan as the girl's +indignant gaze fell upon him, and for the first time I glanced at her +with interest. She was by no means to be compared with her sister, but +she had a brave young face, slightly flushed with carmine and relieved +by bright eyes that now shone with pity. In contrast to Beatrice's dark +tresses the light of the candles called up bronze-gold gleams in her +hair, and her eyes were hazel, while the voice had a vibration in it +that seemed to awaken an answering thrill. Lucille Haldane reminded me +of what her sister had been, but there was a difference. Slighter in +physique, she was characterized by a suggestion of nervous energy +instead of Beatrice's queenly serenity. The latter moved her shoulders +almost imperceptibly, but I fancied the movement expressed subdued +impatience, and her face a slightly contemptuous apology, while her +father laughed a little. + +"You must be careful, Sergeant. My younger daughter is mistress of +Bonaventure, and rules us all somewhat autocratically; but, as far as I +can gather, your perceptions were tolerably correct in this instance, +Lucille," he said. "The man fell into the grip of the usurer, who, as +usual, drained his blood; but, while what he did may have been ethical +justice, he broke the laws of this country, and perhaps hardly deserves +your sympathy." + +"No?" said Lucille Haldane, and her eyes glistened. "I wish you had not +told us what took place at the river, Mr. Ormesby. Here we sit, warm and +sheltered, while that man, who has, perhaps, suffered so much already, +wanders, hungry, faint, and bleeding, through this awful cold and snow. +Just listen a moment!" + +In the brief silence that followed I could hear the windows rattle under +the impact of the driving snow and the eerie scream of the blast. I +shivered a little, having more than once barely escaped with my life +when caught far from shelter under such conditions, and it was borne in +upon me that the outlaw might well be summoned before a higher tribunal +than an earthly court by morning. + +It was Beatrice Haldane, who, with, I noticed, a warning glance at her +sister, turned the conversation into a more cheerful channel, and I was +well content when some time later she took her place near me beside the +hearth, while Lucille opened the piano at her father's request. Possibly +neither her voice nor her execution might have pleased a critic; but as +a break in our monotonous daily drudgery the music enchanted us, and the +grizzled sergeant straightened himself very erect, while a steely glint +came into his eyes as, perhaps to atone for her speech at dinner, the +girl sang, with fire and pathos, a Jacobite ballad of his own country. +Its effect may have been enhanced by the novelty; but there was a power +in Lucille Haldane which is held only by the innocent in spirit whose +generous enthusiasms are still unblunted, and it seemed to me that the +words and chords rang alternately with a deathless devotion and the +clank of the clansmen's steel. + +"I cannot thank ye. It was just grand," said Mackay, shaken into unusual +eloquence, when the girl turned and half-shyly asked if he liked the +song, though, as the soft candle light touched it, her face was slightly +flushed. "Ye made one see them--the poor lads with the claymores, who +came out of the mist with a faith that was not bought with silver to die +for their king. Loyal? Oh, ay! starving, ill-led, unpaid, they were +loyal to the death! There's a pattern for ye, Trooper Cotton, who, if +ye'll mind what he tells ye, will hold Her Majesty's commission some day +when Sergeant Mackay's gone. Ye'll excuse me, Miss Haldane, but the +music made me speak." + +I noticed that Trooper Cotton seemed to flinch a moment at the mention +of a commission, as though it recalled unpleasant memories, and that the +worthy sergeant appeared slightly ashamed of his outbreak, while +Beatrice Haldane showed a quiet amusement at his Caledonian weakness for +improving the occasion. Lucille, however, smiled at him again. "I think +that is the prettiest compliment I have ever had paid my poor singing," +she said naïvely. "But I have done my duty. I wonder if you would sing +if we asked you, Mr. Cotton?" + +"Lucille is at an impressionable age," Beatrice Haldane said to me. +"Later she may find much that she now delights in obsolete and +old-fashioned. We have grown very materialistic in these modern days." + +"God forbid!" I answered. "And I think the sergeant could tell you true +stories of modern loyalty." + +"For instance?" and I answered doggedly. "You can find instances for +yourself if you try to see beneath the surface. There are some very +plain men on this prairie who could furnish them, I think. Did you ever +hear of Rancher Dane, who stripped himself of all his possessions to +advance the career of a now popular singer? She married another man when +fame came to her, and it is said he knew she would never be more than a +friend to him from the beginning." + +"I have," and the speaker's eyes rested on me with a faint and yet +kindly twinkle in them. "He was a very foolish person, although it is +refreshing to hear of such men. Even if disappointment follow +consummation, aspiration is good for one. It is more blessed to give +than to receive, you know." + +Here, to the astonishment of his superior officer, Cotton, who played +his own accompaniment, broke into song, and he not only sang passably +well, but made a special effort to do his best, I think; while I +remember reflecting, as I glanced at the lad in uniform and the rich +man's daughter, who sat close by, watching him, how strange all this +would have seemed to anyone unused to the customs of the prairie. Ours, +however, is a new land, wide enough to take in not only the upright and +the strong of hand, but the broken in spirit and the outcast whom the +older country thrusts outside her gates; and, much more often than one +might expect, convert them into sturdy citizens. The past history of any +man is no concern of ours. He begins afresh on his merits, and by right +of bold enterprise or industry meets as an equal whatever substitute for +the older world's dignitaries may be found among us. How it is one +cannot tell, but the brand of servitude, with the coarseness or cringing +it engenders, fades from sight on the broad prairie. + +Beatrice Haldane presently bade me go talk to her sister, and though I +did so somewhat reluctantly, the girl interested me. I do not remember +all we said, and probably it would not justify the effort to recall it; +but she was pleasantly vivacious of speech, and genuinely interested in +the answers to her numerous questions. At length, however, she asked, +with a half-nervous laugh: "Did you ever feel, Mr. Ormesby, that +somebody you could not see was watching you?" + +"No," I answered lightly. "In my case it would not be worth while for +anybody to do so, you see." And Lucille Haldane first blushed prettily +and then shivered, for no apparent reason. + +"It must be a fancy, but I--felt--that somebody was crouching outside +there in the snow. Perhaps it is because the thought of that hunted man +troubles me still," said she. + +"He would never venture near the house, but rather try to find shelter +in the depths of the ravine--however, to reassure you. I wonder whether +it is snowing as hard as ever, Sergeant," I said, turning towards Mackay +as I concluded. + +The casements were double and sunk in a recess of the thick log walls, +over which red curtains were not wholly drawn. I flung one behind my +shoulder, and when the heavy folds shut out the light inside I could see +for some little distance the ghostly glimmer of the snow. Then, +returning to my companion, I said quietly: "There is nobody outside, +and I should have seen footprints if there had been." + +Presently the two girls withdrew to attend to some household duties, and +Haldane, who handed a cigar box around, said to me: "Did you do well +last season, Ormesby, and what are your ideas concerning the prospects +down here?" + +"I was partly fortunate and partly the reverse," I answered. "As perhaps +you heard, I put less into stock and sowed grain largely. It is my +opinion that, as has happened elsewhere, the plow furrows will presently +displace many of the unfenced cattle-runs. It is hardly wise to put all +one's eggs into the same basket; but my plowing was not wholly +successful, sir." + +"It is a long way to Laurentian tide-water, and, assisted by Winnipeg +mills, the Manitoba men would beat you," said Haldane, with a shrewd +glance at me. + +"For the East they certainly would, sir," I answered. "But I see no +reason why, if we get the promised railroad, we should not have our own +mills; and we lie near the gates of a good market in British Columbia." + +Haldane nodded approval, and I was gratified. He was not a practical +farmer, but it was said that he rarely made a mistake concerning the +financial aspect of any industrial enterprise. + +"You may be right. I wish I had taken in the next ranch when I bought +Bonaventure. But, from what I gather, you have extended your operations +somewhat rapidly. Is it permissible to ask how you managed in respect to +capital?" + +The speaker's tone was friendly, and I did not resent the question. "I +borrowed on interest, sir; after three good seasons I paid off one loan, +and, seeing an opportunity, borrowed again. As it happened, I lost a +number of my stock; but this year should leave me with much more +plowland broken and liabilities considerably reduced." + +"You borrowed from a bank?" asked Haldane, and looked a little graver +when I answered, "No." + +It was, as transpired later, a great pity he spoke again before I told +him where I had obtained the money; but fate would have it so. + +"I have grown gray at the game you are commencing; but, unless you have +a gift for it, it is a dangerous one, and the facilities for obtaining +credit are the bane of this country," he said. "I don't wish to check +any man's enterprise, but I knew the man who started you, and promised +him in his last sickness to keep an eye on you. Take it as an axiom that +if you can't get an honest partner you should deal only with the banks. +Otherwise the mortgage speculator comes uppermost in the end. He'll +carry you over, almost against your wishes, when times are good, but +when a few adverse seasons run in succession, he will take you by the +throat when you least expect it. Your neighbors are panic-stricken; +nobody with money will look at your property, and the blood-sucker +seizes his opportunity." + +"But if he sold one up under such circumstances he could not recover his +loan, much less charges and interest," I interposed; and Haldane +laughed. + +"A man of the class I'm describing would not wish to recover in that +way. He is not short of money, and knows bad seasons don't last forever, +so he sells off your property for, say, half its value, recovers most of +what he lent, and still--remember the oppressive interest--holds you +fast for the balance. He also puts up a dummy to buy the place--at +depression value--pays a foreman to run it, and when times improve sells +the property on which you spent the borrowed money for twice as much." + +Haldane nodded to emphasize his remarks as he leaned forward towards me. +"The man you were hunting was handled in a similar fashion, and it +naturally made him savage. We are neighbors, Ormesby, and if ever you +don't quite see your way out of a difficulty you might do worse than +consult me." + +He moved towards the others when I thanked him, and left me slightly +troubled. I knew his offer was genuine, but being obstinately proud, +there were reasons why he would be the last man I should care to ask for +assistance in a difficulty. That I should ever have anything worth +offering Beatrice Haldane appeared at one time a chimerical fancy; but +though her father's words left their impression, I had made some +progress along the road to prosperity. Ever since the brief days I spent +in her company in England a vague purpose had been growing into definite +shape; but that night I had discovered, with a shock, that if the +difference in wealth between us had been lessened, she was far removed +by experience, as well as culture, from a plain stock-raiser. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A MIDNIGHT VISITOR + + +The snow had thinned a little, though it still blew hard, when, before +retiring, I borrowed a lantern and made a dash for the stable. The horse +which had fallen was a valuable one, and, remembering how stiffly he had +moved, I was anxious about him. Winter should have been over, and this +was its last effort, but the cold struck through me, and I knew by the +depth of the snow that a horse would be a useless incumbrance to the +fugitive, who could not have made a league in any direction. He was +probably hiding in the ravine, and it appeared certain that he would be +captured on the morrow. I was therefore the less surprised when the +stolen mare shuffled towards me. The man had at least kept his promise +to release her when useless; but I was still slightly puzzled as to how +the beast had found her own way to Bonaventure. This meant work for me, +and I spent some time in the long, sod-protected building, which was +redolent of peppermint in the prairie hay, before returning to the +dwelling. My moccasins made no sound as I came softly through the hall, +but it was not my fault that, when I halted to turn out and hang up the +lantern, voices reached me through an open door. + +"You are in charge here, and will see that the lamps and stoves are +safe, Lucille," one of them said. "What did you think about our guests?" + +"I liked them immensely; the sergeant was simply splendid," answered +another voice. "The young trooper was very nice, too. I did not see much +of Mr. Ormesby. He talked a good deal to you." + +There was no mistaking Beatrice Haldane's rippling laugh. "Rancher +Ormesby is amusing for a change. One grows to long for something +original after the stereotyped products of the cities. Contact with +primitive men and fashions acts, for a time, as a tonic, although too +much of it might serve as, say, an emetic." + +It was a pity it had not occurred to me to rattle the lantern earlier, +for though women do not always mean what they say, this last observation +was not particularly gratifying. Neither was it quite what I had +expected from Beatrice Haldane. Whether the fair speaker guessed that +she had been overheard or not, I never knew; but because a ripple of +subdued laughter reached me as a door swung to, I surmised that her +sister had found cause for merriment. Tired as I was, I did not feel +immediately disposed for sleep, and, as Haldane had bidden us do just +what best pleased us, I looked into the troopers' quarters and found +Mackay and one of his subordinates, who had preferred to spend the +evening with the hired hands, asleep, and Cotton cleaning his carbine. + +"We'll be off before daybreak, and I had not a chance earlier. I would +not have missed a minute of this evening for promotion to-morrow. Of +course, I'll pay for it later; but that's the usual rule, and partly why +I'm serving the nation as Trooper Cotton now," he said, with a mirthless +smile. + +"You are getting as bad as the sergeant," I answered impatiently. "Come +along when you have finished, if you're not overtired, and we'll smoke +one of our host's cigars together. He left the box for us beside the big +hearth in the hall." + +"I'll be there in ten minutes. Mackay's so confoundedly particular about +the arms," said Cotton. + +The fire was burning redly in the hall, though the lamps were out, when +I ensconced myself in a deep chair behind a deerhide screen quaintly +embroidered by Indian women. The cigar was a good one, and I had much to +think about; so it was not until a shaft of light streamed athwart the +screen that, looking round it, I noticed that Lucille Haldane, carrying +a candle, had entered the long room. She set it down on a table, and +stood still, glancing about her, while I effaced myself behind the +screen. The girl had cast her hair loose, and it rippled in glossy +masses from her shoulders to the delicate inward curve of her waist, +setting forth the lithe shapeliness of her figure. Concluding that she +would withdraw as soon as she was satisfied that all was safe, I decided +it would be better if she remained unaware of my presence, and hoped +that Cotton would delay his coming. To judge by the soft footsteps, she +was returning, when a sudden coldness chilled the room. The light grew +uncertain, as though the candle flickered in a draught, and a door I had +not previously noticed opened noiselessly. + +Wondering what this might mean, I sat very still, and then stared +blankly, as a snow-whitened object came softly into the room. For a few +seconds I could almost have fancied it was a supernatural visitant +rather than a creature of flesh and blood, for the man's face was +ghastly, and he brought the chill of the grave with him. He was +bareheaded, his cheeks ashy gray, and clotted brown patches streaked the +rag bound round his forehead, while the snow was in his hair; but as he +moved forward I had no difficulty in recognizing him. I heard Lucille +Haldane draw in her breath with a gasp, and it was that which roused me +to action, but the intruder broke the silence first. + +"Please don't cry out. You are perfectly safe--and my life is in your +hands," he said. + +"Not exactly!" I broke in, and, flinging the screen sideways, stepped +between him and the girl. The stranger's hand dropped instinctively to +the holster at his waist, then he let it fall to his side. + +"You here, Rancher Ormesby! I freed your horse, and you have no further +cause for hunting me down," he said, with a composure which astonished +me. "I am sorry to alarm you, Miss Haldane, but it was the truth I told +you. I will not be taken, and it rests with you either to call the +troopers or to turn me out to freeze in the snow." + +In spite of his terrifying appearance, it was clear that the man was not +a ruffian. He spoke with deference, and his voice betrayed consideration +for the girl; and again a sense of compassion came upon me. Still, +there was my host's daughter to consider, and I turned towards her. + +"Will you go away and leave him to me?" I said. + +Lucille Haldane, glancing from one of us to the other, shook her head; +and I think we must have formed a striking tableau as we stood where the +candle-light flickered athwart one small portion of the long shadowy +room. The girl's face was pale, but a sudden wave of color swept across +it when, with a sinuous movement of her neck, she flung back the +lustrous masses of her hair. She was dressed as I had last seen her, +except that the lace collar was missing, and her full white throat +gleamed like ivory. Yet, though her voice trembled a little, she showed +small sign of fear. + +"Will you tell me how you came here?" she asked, and as the question +applied to either, we both answered it. + +"I have been here some little time, and feared to surprise you; but am +very glad it happened so," I said, and the stranger followed me. + +"Rancher Ormesby is unjustified in his inference. I came in by the +ante-room window. Earlier in the evening I lay outside in the lee of the +building watching you, and I felt that I might risk trusting you, so I +waited for an opportunity. I knew the troopers were here; but I was +freezing in the snow, and I wondered whether, out of charity, you would +give me a little food and let me hide in an outbuilding until the +blizzard blows over?" + +Lucille Haldane's fear, if it ever lasted more than a moment, had +vanished, and her eyes glistened with womanly pity, for the man's +strength was clearly spent; but she drew herself up a little. "What have +you done to come to this?" said she. + +"I am afraid I should tire you, and somebody might surprise us, before I +told you half," he answered logically. "You must take my word that all I +did was to resist by force the last effort of an extortioner to complete +my ruin. He lent me money, and after I had paid it back nearly twice +over he tried to seize the little that remained between me and +destitution. There was a fracas and he was shot--though the wound was +only trifling." + +I believed the terse story, and saw that Lucille Haldane did also. Then +I grew anxious lest Cotton should come in before she had made her +decision. "There is not a minute to lose. Your father at least should +know. Had you not better tell him while I stay here?" I said. + +"I don't think so. He has told me that I am mistress at Bonaventure, and +I might rouse the troopers in calling him," the girl answered steadily, +turning from me to the intruder. "I think I can believe you, and you +will find sleigh-robes in the harness-room at the end of the long +stable. Slip up the ladder and crawl in among the hay. The sergeant +would never suspect your presence there." + +"And Rancher Ormesby?" asked the other, with a glance at me. + +"Will accept the mistress of Bonaventure's decision," I answered dryly. +"But I am expecting one of the troopers, and you are risking your +liberty every second you stay." + +"He is starving," said Lucille Haldane. "There is brandy in that +sideboard, Mr. Ormesby, and I can find cold food in the kitchen. +Ah!----" + +I had forgotten, while I strained my ears, that Cotton's moccasins would +give no warning as he came down the passage, and I hurried forward, at +the girl's exclamation, a second too late to bolt the door. He came in +before I reached it, and halted at sight of the outlaw, gripping the +edge of the table as suddenly as though struck by a bullet. He was a lad +of spirit, and I saw there was some special cause for his consternation, +and that he was also apparently oblivious of the presence of two of the +party. + +"Good Lord! Is it you, Boone, we have been chasing all day?" he said. + +I seized a chair-back and measured the distance between myself and the +fugitive as I noticed the venomous pistol glint in his hand. But he +lowered the muzzle when he saw Cotton clearly, and, with a glance in +Miss Haldane's direction, let the weapon fall out of sight behind his +thigh. + +"It is," he answered steadily. "What in heaven's name brought--you--to +Canada, Charlie Cotton, and thrust you in my way? It was in a very +different character from your present one that I last saw you." + +Both apparently forgot the spectators in their mutual surprise, though +Lucille Haldane stared at them wide-eyed, which was small wonder, +considering that she was a romantic girl forced for the first time to +play a part in what threatened to prove an unpleasantly realistic +tragedy. It was hardly possible for her not to guess that these two had +been friends in very different circumstances. + +Cotton leaned heavily on the table, and, I fancied, groaned; then +straightened himself and answered in a strained voice that sounded very +bitter: "It would be useless to return the compliment, though the +contrast is more marked in your case. I didn't see your face, and the +name on our warrant suggested nothing. This is Her Majesty's uniform, at +least--though I would give ten years' pay if it weren't. Can't you see +that I'm Trooper Cotton, and must skulk away a deserter unless I arrest +you?" + +"There does not seem to be much choice," Boone said grimly. "Heaven +knows how little there is to attract any man in the life I have been +leading; but there is one good cause why I should not be Quixotic enough +to give myself up to oblige you. No! Stand back, Charlie Cotton--I don't +want to hurt you." + +The pistol barrel glinted as it rose into sight again, and, though no +one had spoken in more than a hoarse whisper before, a heavy silence +settled upon the room, through which I thought I could hear the girl +catch at her breath. I stood between her and the two men, but I was at +my wits' end as to what should be done. By this time my sympathies were +enlisted on the side of the unfortunate rancher; but the girl's presence +complicated the affair. It seemed imperative that she should be safely +out of the way before either an alarm was given or a struggle ensued. +Yet she had refused to vacate the position, and I realized that she +meant it. Meantime, Cotton's face was a study of indecision and disgust. +The lad was brave enough, but it seemed as though the mental struggle +had partly crippled his physical faculties. With a gesture of dismay he +turned suddenly to me. + +"It's a horrible combination, Ormesby. Of course, I can't tell anybody +all, but I knew this man well, and was indebted to him in the old +country. Now he has somehow broken the laws of the Dominion, and I'm +bound by my oath of service to arrest him. There is no other course +possible. Boone, I can't help it. Will you surrender quietly?" + +"No!" was the answer. "My liberty is precious because I have work to do. +Move or call out at your peril, Charlie!" + +The climax was evidently approaching, and still I could do nothing for +fear of jeopardizing Lucille Haldane's safety if I precipitated it. The +young lad, unarmed as he was, stiffened himself as for a spring, and I +wondered whether I could reach his opponent's pistol arm with the +chair-leg in time when the trooper moved or shouted. Then, because +feminine wits are often quicker than our own, I saw the girl's eyes were +fixed on me, as, unnoticed by the others, she pointed towards the +candle. Another second passed before I understood her; then, for the +light stood on the corner of the table nearest me, I swept one arm out, +and there was sudden darkness as I hurled it sideways across the room. +The door into the main passage swung to, and Cotton fell over something +as he groped his way towards it, while, though strung up in a state of +tension, I smiled, hearing--what he did not--somebody brush through the +other door, which it was evident had escaped his notice. + +Next, feeling that the girl was mistress of the position, I stirred the +sinking fire until a faint brightness shone out from the hearth. It just +sufficed to reveal Lucille Haldane standing with her back to the door +the fugitive had not passed through. This quick-witted maneuver +sufficed to deceive the bewildered representative of the law. "You +cannot pass, Trooper Cotton," she said. + +The lad positively groaned. "Do you know that you are disgracing me +forever, Miss Haldane?" he said, in a hoarse appeal. "You must let me +pass!" + +The girl resolutely shook her head, and the dying light showed me her +slender fingers tightly clenched on the handle of the door. "I will see +that you do not suffer; but I am mistress of this house, and I think you +are an English gentleman, Trooper Cotton," she said. + +Then, with an air of desperation, the lad turned to me. "Won't you try +to persuade her, Ormesby?" + +"No," I said dryly. "I am Miss Haldane's guest, and not a police +officer. I am sorry for you, Cotton, but you have done your best, and +even if you forget your own traditions I'll certainly see you show her +due respect. It is not your fault that I have twice your strength, but +it will be if, while Miss Haldane remains here, you summon your comrades +by a shout." + +"Confound you! You never thought----" he broke out; but, ceasing +abruptly, he left the sentence incomplete; and, feeling that there were +two sides to the question, I stood aside while he commenced a circuit of +the room, which he might have done earlier. Still, Lucille Haldane did +not move, for each moment gained might be valuable, until, with an +ejaculation, he discovered and sprang through the other door. Then, +hurrying to her side, I laid my hand reassuringly on the girl's arm and +found she was trembling like a leaf as I drew the door open. + +"You must not lose a moment, and I think you should tell your father; +but you can trust me to manage Cotton and keep what has passed a +secret," I said. + +There was a faint "Thank you"; while hardly had she flitted down the +passage than a shout rang out, and hurrying as for my life, I found +Cotton pounding on the inner door of the ante-room. Noticing that the +window was shut, I seized his shoulder and gripped it hard. "Pull +yourself together, and remember, that whatever tale you tell, Miss +Haldane does not figure in it," I said. "A horse would be no use to +him; but I'll make sure by a run to the stable while you acquaint the +sergeant." + +It was still snowing, and the drifts were deep, but I managed to plunge +my feet into the hollows left by somebody who had preceded me, and there +was a bottle of brandy in my pocket. I returned, floundering as heavily +as possible along my outward tracks--for one learns a good deal when +trailing wandering steers or stalking antelope--and met Cotton, who now +carried his carbine. It was evident that he was bent on discharging his +duty thoroughly, for when I announced that no horses were missing, he +answered shortly: "Thanks; but I'm going myself to see. Mackay and Mr. +Haldane are waiting for you." + +I smiled to myself. Trooper Cotton had acquired small proficiency in the +art of tracking, and I knew that my footprints would not only deceive +him, but that, following them, he would obliterate evidence that might +have been conclusive to the sergeant's practiced eyes. All the male +inmates of Bonaventure had gathered, half-dressed, in the hall, and +Sergeant Mackay, who was asking questions, turned to me. "Ye were here +when he came in, Rancher Ormesby?" + +"I was," I answered. "I didn't hear him until he was in the room; but he +seemed starving, and presumably ran the risk in the hope of obtaining +food." + +"Why did ye not seize him or raise the alarm?" asked the sergeant; and I +shrugged my shoulders. + +"I was wholly unarmed, and he is a desperate man with a pistol. You may +remember mentioning that his capture was not my business." + +"I mind that I have seen ye take as heavy risks when, for a five-dollar +wager, ye drove a loaded sledge over the rotten ice," said the sergeant, +with a searching glance at me. "While ye did nothing Trooper Cotton came +in to help ye?" + +"Just so! He had no weapon either, but appeared quite willing to face +the outlaw's pistol, when the candle went out, and the man must have +slipped out by the second door in the dark. I made for the stables at +once, but all the horses were safe. My own, I discovered earlier, had +come back by itself." + +"Ye showed little sense," said Mackay; while Haldane glanced curiously +at me. "What would he do with a horse in two foot of snow? There are +points I'm no' clear about; but there'll be time for questions later. +Ah! Found ye anything, Trooper Cotton?" + +"No," said the lad. "Nothing but the footprints made by Ormesby; and I +can only presume that, there being no lee on that side, the wind would +fill the horse-thief's track with snow. He would never risk trying the +outbuildings when he knew that we were here." + +"No," was the sergeant's answer. "He'll be for the ravine. We'll take +our leave, Mr. Haldane, with thanks for your hospitality, leaving the +horses in the meantime. It is a regret to me we have brought this +disturbance upon ye." + +Two minutes later the police had vanished into the snow, and in another +ten Bonaventure was almost silent again. I went back to my couch and +slept soundly, being too wearied to wonder whether I had done well or +ill. Next morning Haldane called me into a room of his own. + +"My daughter has told me what took place last night, and while, in one +sense, I'm indebted to you, Ormesby, I really can't decide whether you +showed a lamentable lack of judgment in abetting her," he said. "She is +a brave little soul, but does not always spare time to think. Frankly, I +wish this thing had not come about as it did." + +He spoke seriously, but there was a kindliness in his eyes, and it was +easy to see that Carson Haldane's younger daughter was his idol, which +slightly puzzled me. There were those who heaped abuse upon his head, +and it is possible his financial operations did not benefit everybody, +for when men grow rich by speculation somebody must lose. There are, +however, many sides to every nature, and I always found him an upright, +kindly gentleman, while only those who knew him best could guess that he +was faithful to a memory, and that the gracious influence of one he had +lost still swayed him. + +"I am sorry if I acted indiscreetly, sir; but I could think of no other +course at the time," I said. "Do you know where the man is now?" + +"It is sometimes unwise to ask questions, and I have not inquired too +closely," and Haldane laid his hand on my shoulder. "It must be our +secret, Ormesby, and I should prefer that Miss Haldane did not share it; +this--I suppose one must call it an escapade--might trouble her. I +presume you could rely on that lad's discretion. He was evidently not +brought up for a police trooper." + +"I think you could depend on him, sir; and, as you know, a good many +others in this country follow vocations they were never intended for." + +"Well, we will say no more on that subject," he answered. "The doctors +tell me I have been working under too great a strain, and as they +recommend quiet and relaxation, I decided to try six months' practical +ranching. My partner will no doubt arrange that other folks pay the +bill; but this is hardly a peaceful beginning." + +Haldane laughed before he added, significantly: "In one respect I'm duly +grateful, Ormesby, and--in confidence--here is a proof of it. You are +staking high on the future of this region. Well, the railroad will be +built, which will naturally make a great difference in the value of +adjacent land. You will, however, remember that, in accordance with +medical advice, I am now ranching for my health." + +I remembered it was said that Carson Haldane could anticipate long +before anybody else what the powers at Ottawa would sanction or veto, +and that a hint from him was valuable. "It is good news, and I presume +that Bonaventure will have extended its boundaries by the time you +recover, sir," I said. + +That evening Sergeant Mackay returned to requisition provisions, and +departed again. He was alone, and very much disgusted, having no news of +the fugitive. He did not revisit Bonaventure during the next day I +remained there, and presumably the man he sought slipped away when the +coast was clear. Perhaps the fact that the whirling drifts would +obliterate his tracks had deceived the sergeant, and we supposed the +contrabandists who dealt in prohibited liquor had smuggled him across +the American frontier. The night before I took my leave Beatrice Haldane +looked across at her sister, who sat sewing near the stove, and then at +me. + +"Since you recovered your horse I am not altogether sorry the hunted man +got away," she said. "There are, however, two things about the affair +which puzzle me--how the candlestick my sister carried when she made the +rounds reached the table in the hall where it is never left; and why I +should find the candle it contained under the sideboard in the room the +intruder entered! Can you suggest any solution, Mr. Ormesby?" + +I felt uncomfortable, knowing that Beatrice Haldane was not only clever +herself, but the daughter of a very shrewd man, while her eyes were +fixed steadily on me. Lucille's head bent lower over her sewing, and, +though I would have given much to answer frankly, I felt that she +trusted me. So I said, as indifferently as I could: "There might be +several, and the correct one very simple. Somebody must have knocked the +candlestick over in his hurry and forgotten about it. Have you been +studying detective literature latterly?" + +Beatrice Haldane said nothing further; but I realized that I had +incurred her displeasure, and was not greatly comforted by the grateful +glance her sister flashed at me. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE TIGHTENING OF THE NET + + +It was a hot morning of early summer when I rode up the low rise to my +house at Gaspard's Trail. A few willows straggled behind one side of it, +but otherwise it rose unsheltered from the wind-swept plain, which, +after a transitory flush of greenness, had grown dusty white again. I +had been in the saddle since sunrise, when the dewy freshness had +infused cheerfulness and vigor into my blood, but now it was with a +feeling of dejection I reined in my horse and sat still, looking about +me. + +The air was as clear as crystal, so that the birches far off on the +western horizon cut sharply against the blue. All around the rest of the +circle ran an almost unbroken sweep of white and gray, streaked in one +place by the dust of alkali rolling up from a strip of bitter water, +which flashed like polished steel. Long plow-furrows stretched across +the foreground, but even these had been baked by pitiless sunshine to +the same monotony of color, and it was well I had not sown the whole of +them, for sparse, sickly blades rose in the wake of the harrows where +tall wheat should have been. Behind these stood the square log dwelling +and straggling outbuildings of logs and sod, all of a depressing +ugliness, while two shapeless yellow mounds, blazing under the sunshine, +represented the strawpile granaries. There was no touch of verdure in +all the picture, for it had been a dry season, which boded ill for me. + +Presently a horse and a rider, whose uniform was whitened by the fibrous +dust, swung out of a shallow ravine--or _coulée_, as we called them--and +Trooper Cotton cantered towards me. "Hotter than ever, and I suppose +that accounts for your downcast appearance," he said. "I've never seen +weather like it. Even the gophers are dead." + +"It grows sickening; but you are wrong in one respect," I answered +ruefully. "All the gophers in the country have collected around my grain +and wells. As they fall in after every hearty meal of wheat, we have +been drinking them. You are just in time for breakfast, and I'll be glad +of your company. One overlooks a good deal when things are going well, +but the sordid monotony of these surroundings palls on one now and +then." + +"You are not the only man who feels it," said the trooper, while a +temporary shadow crossed his face. "You have been to Bonaventure too +often, Ormesby. Of course, it's delightful to get into touch with things +one has almost forgotten, but I don't know that it's wise for a poor +man, which is, perhaps, why I allowed Haldane to take me in last night. +You, however, hardly come into the same category." + +"I shall soon, unless there's a change in the weather," I answered with +a frown. "But come in, and tell me what Haldane--or his daughters--said +to you." + +"I didn't see much of Miss Haldane," said Cotton, as we rode on +together. "Of course, she's the embodiment of all a woman of that kind +should be; but I can't help feeling it's a hospitable duty when she +talks to me. You see I've forgotten most of the little I used to know, +and she is, with all respect, uncomfortably superior to an average +individual." + +I was not pleased with Trooper Cotton, but did not tell him so. +"Presumably you find Miss Lucille understands you better?" I answered, +with a trace of ill-humor. + +The lad looked straight at me. "I'm not responsible for the weather, +Ormesby," he said, a trifle stiffly. "Still, since you have put it so, +it's my opinion that Miss Lucille Haldane would understand anybody. She +has the gift of making you feel it also. To change the subject, however, +I was over warning Bryan about his fireguard furrows, and yours hardly +seem in accordance with the order." + +I laughed, and said nothing further until a man in a big straw hat +appeared in the doorway. "Who's that?" asked Cotton, drawing his bridle. + +"Foster Lane," I answered. "He came over yesterday." + +"Ah!" said the trooper, pulling out his watch. "On reflection, perhaps I +had better not come in. I am due at the Cree reserve by ten, and, as my +horse is a little lame, I don't want to press him. This time you will +excuse me." + +His excuse was certainly lame, as I could see little the matter with the +horse; and, being short of temper that morning, I answered sharply: "I +won't press you; but is it a coincidence that you remember this only +when you recognize Lane?" + +Trooper Cotton, who was frank by nature and a poor diplomatist, looked +uneasy. "I don't want to offend you, Ormesby, but one must draw the line +somewhere, and I will not sit down with that man," he said. "I know he's +your guest, but you would not let me back out gracefully, and, if it's +not impertinent, I'll add that I'm sorry he is." + +"I congratulate you on being able to draw lines, but just now I myself +cannot afford to be particular," I answered dryly; and when, with a +feeble apology, Cotton rode away, it cost me an effort to greet the +other man civilly. + +As breakfast was ready, he took his place at the table, and glanced at +me whimsically. Foster Lane was neither very prepossessing nor +distinctly the reverse in appearance. He was stout, and somewhat flabby +in face, with straw-colored hair and a thick-lipped mouth; but while his +little eyes had a humorous twinkle, there was a suggestion of force as +well as cunning about him. He was of middle age, and besides +representing a so-styled "development company" was, by profession, land +agent, farmers' financier, and mortgage jobber, and, as naturally +follows, a usurer. + +"Say, I'm not deaf yet, Ormesby," he commenced, with coarse good-humor. +"Particular kind of trooper that one, isn't he? Is he another broken-up +British baronet's youngest son, or--because they only raise his kind in +the old country--what has the fellow done?" + +"He's a friend of mine," I answered. "I never inquired of him. Still, +I'm sorry you overheard him." + +"That's all right," was the answer. "My hide is a pretty thick one; and +one needs such a protection in my business. Give a dog a bad name and +you may as well hang him, Rancher Ormesby, although I flatter myself I'm +a necessity in a new country. How many struggling ranchers would go +under in a dry season but for my assistance; and how many fertile acres +now growing the finest wheat would lie waste but for me? Yet, when I ask +enough to live on, in return, every loafer without energy or foresight +abuses me. It's a very ungrateful world, Ormesby." + +Lane chuckled as he wiped his greasy forehead, and paused before he +continued: "I've been thinking all night about carrying over the loan +you mentioned, and though money's scarce just now, this is my +suggestion. I'll let you have three-fourths of its present appraised +value on Crane Valley, and you can then clear Gaspard's Trail, and +handle a working balance. I'd sooner do that than carry over--see?" + +I set down my coffee cup because I did not see. I had expected he would +have exacted increased interest on the loan due for repayment, and +interest in Western Canada is always very high; but it seemed curious +that he should wish to change one mortgage for another. It also struck +me that if, in case I failed to make repayment, Crane Valley would be +valuable to him, it should be worth at least as much to me. + +"That would not suit me," I said. + +"No?" and Lane spoke slowly, rather as one asking a question than with a +hint of menace. "Feel more like letting me foreclose on you?" + +"You could not do that, because I should pay you off," I said. "I could +do it, though there's no use denying that it would cripple me just now. +As of course you know, whatever I could realize on at present, when +everybody is short of money and trade at a standstill, should bring +twice as much next season. That is why I wish the loan to run on." + +"Well!" And Lane helped himself before he answered. "In that case, I'll +have to tax you an extra ten per cent. It seems high, but no bank would +look at encumbered property or a half-developed place like Crane Valley. +Take it, or leave it, at six months' date. That would give you time to +sell your fat stock and realize on your harvest." + +I fancied there was a covert sneer in the last words, because I had +faint hope of any harvest, and answered accordingly. "It seems +extortionate, but even so, should pay me better than sacrificing now." + +"Money's scarce," said Lane suavely. "I'm going on to Lawrence's, and +will send you in the papers. Lend me as good a horse as you have for a +day or two." + +I did not like the man's tone, and the request was too much like an +order; but I made no further comment; though a load seemed lifted from +me when he rode away, and I started with my foreman to haul home prairie +hay. It was fiercely hot, and thick dust rolled about our light wagon, +while each low rise, cut off as it were from the bare levels, floated +against the horizon. The glare tired one's vision, and, half-closing my +aching eyes, I sank into a reverie. For eight long years I had toiled +late and early, taxing the strength of mind and body to the utmost. I +had also prospered, and lured on by a dream, first dreamed in England, I +grew more ambitious, breaking new land and extending my herds with +borrowed capital. That had also paid me until a bad season came, and +when both grain and cattle failed, Lane became a menace to my +prosperity. It was a bare life I and my foreman lived, for every dollar +hardly won was entrusted in some shape to the kindly earth again, and no +cent wasted on comforts, much less luxuries; but I had seldom time to +miss either of them, and it was not until Haldane brought his daughters +to Bonaventure that I saw what a man with means and leisure might make +of his life. Then came the reaction, and there were days when I grew +sick of the drudgery and heavy physical strain; but still, spurred on +alternately by hope and fear, I relaxed no effort. + +Now, artificial grasses are seldom sown on the prairie where usually the +natural product grows only a few inches high, and as building logs are +scarce, implements are often kept just where they last were used. It was +therefore necessary to seek hay worth cutting in a dried-out slough, or +swamp, and next to find the mower, which might lie anywhere within a +radius of four miles or so. We came upon them both together, the mower +lying on its side, red with rust, amid a stretch of waist-high grass. +The latter was harsh and wiry, heavy-scented with wild peppermint, and +made ready for us by the sun. + +There were, however, preliminary difficulties, and I had worked myself +into a state of exasperation before the rusty machine could be induced +to run. After a vigorous hammering and the reckless use of oil the pair +of horses were at last just able to haul it, groaning vehemently, +through the dried-up swamp. I was stripped almost to the skin by this +time, the dust that rose in clouds turned to mire upon my dripping +cheeks and about my eyes, while bloodthirsty winged creatures hovered +round my head. + +"This," said Foreman Thorn, as he wiped the red specks from his face and +hands, "is going to be a great country. We can raise the finest insects +on the wide earth already. The last time I was down to Traverse a man +came along from somewhere with a gospel tent, and from what he said +there wasn't much chance for anyone to raise cattle. He'd socked it to +us tolerable for half-an-hour at least, when Tompson's Charlie gets up +and asks him: 'Did you ever break half-thawn sod with oxen?' 'No, my +man; but this interruption is unseemly,' says he. 'It's not a +conundrum,' says Charlie. 'Did you ever sleep in a mosquito muskeg or +cut hay in a dried-out slough?' and the preacher seeing we all wanted an +answer, shakes his head. 'Then you start in and try, and find out that +there are times when a man must talk or bust, before you worry us,' says +Charlie. But who's coming along now?" + +I had been too busy to pay much attention to the narrative or to notice +a rattle of wheels, and I looked up only when a wagon was drawn up +beside the slough. A smooth-shaven man, with something familiar about +his face, sat on the driving-seat smiling down at me. + +"Good-morning, Rancher Ormesby. Wanting any little pictures of yourself +to send home to friends in the old country?" he said, pointing to what +looked like the lens of a camera projecting through the canvas behind +him. "I'll take you for half-a-dollar, as you are, if you'll give me the +right to sell enlargements as a prairie study." + +The accent was hardly what one might have expected from one of the +traveling adventurers who at intervals wandered across the country, and +I looked at the speaker with a puzzled air. "I have no time to spare for +fooling, and don't generally parade half-naked before either the public +or my civilized friends," I said. + +"Some people look best that way," answered the other, regarding me +critically; whereupon Thorn turned round and grinned. "The team and tall +grass would make an effective background. Stand by inside there, Edmond. +It's really not a bad model of a bare throat and torso, and as I don't +know that your face is the best of you, the profile with a shadow on it +would do--just so! Say, I wonder did you know those old canvas overalls +drawn in by the leggings are picturesque and become you? There--I'm much +obliged to you." + +A faint click roused me from the state of motionless astonishment his +sheer impudence produced, and when I strode forward Thorn's grin of +amusement changed to one of expectancy. "You don't want any +hair-restorer, apparently, though I've some of the best in the Dominion +at a dollar the bottle; but I could give you a salve for the +complexion," continued the traveler, and I stopped suddenly when about +to demand the destruction of the negative or demolish his camera. + +"Good heavens, Boone! Is it you; and what is the meaning of this +mummery?" I asked, staring at him more amazed than ever. + +"Just now I'm called Adams, if you please," said the other, holding out +his hand. "I hadn't an opportunity for thanking you for your forbearance +when we met at Bonaventure, but I shall not readily forget it. This is +not exactly mummery. It provides me with a living, and suits my purpose. +I could not resist the temptation of trying to discover whether you +recognized me, or whether I was playing my part artistically." + +"Are you not taking a big risk, and why don't you exploit a safer +district?" I asked; and the man smiled as he answered: "I don't think +there's a settler around here who would betray me even if he guessed my +identity, and the troopers never got a good look at me. I live two or +three hundred miles east, you see, and the loss of a beard and mustache +alters any man's appearance considerably. I also have a little business +down this way. Have you seen anything of Foster Lane during the last +week or two?" + +"Yes," I said. "He has just ridden over from my place to Lawrence's, in +Crane Valley." + +"You have land there, too," said Boone, as though aware of it already; +and when I nodded, added: "Then if you are wise you will see that devil +does not get his claws on it. I presume you are not above taking a hint +from me?" + +I looked straight at him. "I know very little of you except that there +is a warrant out for your arrest, and I am not addicted to taking advice +from strangers." + +Boone returned my gaze steadily without resentment, and I had time to +take note of him. He was a tall, spare, sinewy man, deeply bronzed like +most of us; but now that he had, as it were, cast off all pertaining to +the traveling pedlar, there was an indefinite something in his speech +and manner which could hardly have been acquired on the prairie. He did +not look much over thirty, but his forehead was seamed, and from other +signs one might have fancied he was a man with a painful history. Then +he flicked the dust off his jean garments with the whip, and laughed a +little. + +"I am an Englishman, Rancher Ormesby, and, needless to say, so are you. +We are not a superfluously civil people, and certain national +characteristics betray you. I fancy we shall be better acquainted, and, +that being so, feel prompted to tell you a story which, after what +passed at Bonaventure, you perhaps have a right to know. You will stop a +while for lunch, anyway, and if you have no objections I will take mine +along with you." + +I could see no reasonable objection to this, and presently we sat +together under the wagon for the sake of coolness, while, when the mower +ceased its rattle, the dust once more settled down upon the slough. It +was almost too hot to eat; there was no breath of wind, and the glare of +the sun-scorched prairie grew blinding. + +"I should not wonder if you took most kindly to indirect advice, and +there is a moral to this story," said Boone, when I lit my pipe. "Some +years ago a disappointed man, who knew a little about land and horses, +came out from the old country to farm on the prairie, bringing with him +a woman used hitherto to the smoother side of life. He saw it was a good +land and took hold with energy, believing the luck had turned at last, +while the woman helped him gallantly. For a time all went well with +them, but the loneliness and hardship proved too much for the woman, +whose strength was of the spirit and not of the body, and she commenced +to droop and pine. She made no complaint, but her eyes lost their +brightness, and she grew worn and thin, while the man grew troubled. She +had already given up very much for him. He saw his neighbors prospering +on borrowed capital, and, for the times were good, determined to risk +sowing a double acreage. That meant comfort instead of privation if all +went well, and, toiling late and early, he sowed hope for a brighter +future along with the grain. So far it is not an uncommon story." + +I nodded, when the speaker, pausing, stared somberly towards the +horizon, for since that English visit I also had staked all I hoped for +in the future on the chances of the seasons. + +"The luck went against him," the narrator continued. "Harvest frost, +drought, and summer hail followed in succession, and when the borrowed +money melted the man who held the mortgage foreclosed. He was within his +rights in this, but he went further, for while there were men in that +district who would, out of kindliness or as a speculation, have bought +up the settler's possessions at fair prices, the usurer had his grasp +also on them, and when a hint was sent them they did nothing. Therefore +the auction was a fraud and robbery, and all was bought up by a +confederate for much less than its value. There was enough to pay the +loan off--although the interest had almost done so already--but not +enough to meet the iniquitous additions; and the farmer went out ruined +on to Government land with a few head of stock a richer man he had once +done a service to gave him; but the woman sickened in the sod hovel he +built. There was no doctor within a hundred miles, and the farmer had +scarcely a dollar to buy her necessaries. Even then the usurer had not +done with him. He entered proceedings to claim the few head of cattle +for balance of the twice-paid debt. The farmer could not defend himself; +somebody took money for willful perjury to evade a clause of the +homestead exemptions, and the usurer got his order. The woman lay very +ill when he came with a band of desperadoes to seize the cattle. They +threatened violence; a fracas followed, and the farmer's hands were, for +once, unsteady on the rifle he did not mean to use, for when a drunken +cowboy would have ransacked his dwelling the trigger yielded +prematurely, and the usurer was carried off with a bullet through his +leg. The woman died, and was buried on a lonely rise of the prairie; and +the man rode out with hatred in his heart and a price upon his head. You +should know the rest of the story--but the sequel is to follow. It was +not without an effort or a motive I told it you." + +I stretched out my hand impulsively towards the speaker. "It is +appreciated. I need not ask one name, but the other----" + +"Is Foster Lane; and in due time he shall pay in full for all." + +Boone's voice, which had grown a trifle husky, sank with the last words +to a deeper tone, and the sinewy right hand he raised for a moment fell +heavily, tight-clenched, upon his knee. He said nothing further for a +while, but I felt that if ever the day of reckoning came one might be +sorry for Foster Lane. + +Presently he shrugged his shoulders and rose abruptly. "I have a case of +pomade to sell the Swedes over yonder, and if my luck is good, some +photographs to take," he said, resuming his former manner. "I presume +you wouldn't care to decorate your house with tin-framed oleographs of +German manufacture. I have a selection, all of the usual ugliness. +Whatever happens, one must eat, you know. Well, Lane's gone into Crane +Valley, and it happens I'm going that way, too. This, I hope, is the +beginning of an acquaintance, Ormesby." + +He sold Thorn a bottle of some infallible elixir before he climbed into +his tented wagon, and left me troubled as he jolted away across the +prairie. One thing, however, I was resolved upon, and that was to pay +off Foster Lane at the earliest opportunity. By parting with my best +stock at a heavy sacrifice it seemed just possible to accomplish it. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A SURPRISE PARTY + + +Except when the snow lies deep one has scanty leisure on the prairie, +and when Adams departed Thorn and I hurriedly recommenced our task. We +had lost time to make up, and vied with each other; for I had discovered +that, even in a country where all work hard, much more is done for the +master who can work himself. Pitching heavy trusses into a wagon is not +child's play at that temperature, but just then the exertion brought +relief, and I was almost sorry when Thorn went off with the lurching +vehicle, leaving me to the mower and my thoughts. The latter were not +overpleasant just then. Still, the machine needed attention, and the +horses needed both restraint and encouragement, for at times they seemed +disposed to lie down, and at others, maddened by the insects, inclined +to kick the rusty implement into fragments, and I grew hoarse with +shouting, while the perspiration dripped from me. + +It was towards six o'clock, and the slanting sunrays beat pitilessly +into my face, which was thick with fibrous grime, when, with Thorn +lagging behind, I tramped stiffly beside the wagon towards my house. My +blue shirt was rent in places; the frayed jean jacket, being minus its +buttons, refused to meet across it; and nobody new to the prairie would +have taken me for the owner of such a homestead as Gaspard's Trail. +Thick dust, through which mounted figures flitted, rolled about the +dwelling, and a confused bellowing mingled with the human shouts that +rose from behind the long outbuildings. + +"It's Henderson's boys bringing shipping stock along. Somebody's been +squeezing him for money or he wouldn't sell at present," said Thorn, who +rejoined me. "They'll camp here to-night and clean up the larder. I +guess most everybody knows how Henderson feeds them." + +There are disadvantages attached to the prairie custom of free +hospitality, and I surmised that Henderson's stock riders might have +pushed on to the next homestead if they had not known that we kept a +good table at Gaspard's Trail. Nevertheless, I was thankful that no +stranger need ever leave my homestead hungry, and only wondered whether +my cook's comments would be unduly sulphurous. When I reached the +wire-fenced corral, which was filled with circling cattle and an +intolerable dust, a horseman flung his hand up in salute. + +"We're bound for the Indian Spring Bottom with an H triangle draft," he +said. "The grass is just frizzled on the Blackfeet run, and we figured +we'd camp right here with you to-night." + +"That's all right; but couldn't you have fetched Carson's by dusk +without breaking anybody's neck; and yonder beasts aren't branded +triangle H," I said. + +The horseman laughed silently in prairie fashion. "Well, we might and we +mightn't; but Carson's a close man, and I've no great use for stale +flapjacks and glucose drips. No, sir, I'm not greedy, and we'll just let +Carson keep them for himself. Those beasts marked dash circle are the +best of the lot. Lane's put the screw on Redmond, and forced him to +part. Redmond's down on his luck. He's crawling round here somewhere, +cussing Lane tremendous." + +"Lane seems to own all this country," I answered irritably. "Has he got +a hold on your master, too? I told him and Redmond I was saving that +strip of sweet prairie for myself." + +"He will own all the country, if you bosses don't kick in time," was the +dry answer. "I don't know how ours is fixed, but he's mighty short in +temper, and you've no monopoly of unrecorded prairie. Say, it might save +your boys a journey if we took your stock along with us and gave them a +chance before this draft cleans all the sweet grass up. Redmond told me +to mention it." + +The offer was opportune, and I accepted it; then hurried towards the +galvanized iron shed which served as summer quarters for the general +utility man who acted as cook. He was a genius at his business, though +he had learned it on board a sailing ship. He was using fiery language +as he banged his pans about. "It's a nice state of things when a +cattle-whacking loafer can walk right in and tell me what he wants for +his supper," he commenced. "General Jackson! it's bad enough when a +blame cowboy outfit comes down on one like the locusts and cleans +everything up, but it's worse just when I'm trying to fix a special +high-grade meal." + +"I'm not particular. What is good enough for a cowboy is good enough for +a rancher any time," I said; and the cook, who was despotic master of +his own domain, jerked his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of +the house. "Guess it mightn't be to-night. Get out, and give me a fair +show. You're blocking up the light." + +I went on towards the house, wondering what he could mean, but halted on +the threshold of our common room, a moment too late. We had worked night +and day during spring and early summer, and the sparely-furnished room +was inches deep in dust. Guns, harness I had no time to mend, and +worn-out garments lay strewn about it, save where, in a futile attempt +to restore order, I had hurled a pile of sundries into one corner. +Neither was I in exactly a condition suitable for feminine society, and +Beatrice Haldane, who had by some means preserved her dainty white dress +immaculate, leaned back in an ox-hide chair regarding me with quiet +amusement. Her father lounged smoking in the window seat, and it was his +younger daughter who, when I was about to retreat, came forward and +mischievously greeted me. + +"I believe you were ready to run away, Mr. Ormesby, and you really don't +seem as much pleased to see us as you ought to be," she said. "You know +you often asked us to visit you, so you have brought this surprise party +on your own head." + +"I hope you will not suffer for your rashness, but you see those men out +there. They generally leave famine behind them when they come," I said. + +The girl nodded. "They are splendid. I have been talking to them, and +made one sit still while I drew him. Please don't trouble about supper. +I have seen cookie, and he's going to make the very things I like." + +Miss Haldane's eyebrows came down just a trifle, and I grew uneasy, +wondering whether it was the general state of chaos or my own appearance +which had displeased her; but Haldane laughed heartily before he broke +in: "Lucille is all Canadian. She has not been to Europe yet, and I am +not sure that I shall send her. She has examined the whole place +already, and decided that you must be a very----" + +The girl's lips twitched with suppressed merriment, but she also +reddened a little; and I interposed: "A very busy man, was it not? Now +you must give me ten minutes in which to make myself presentable." + +I was glad to escape, and, for reasons, withdrew sideways in crab +fashion, while what suspiciously resembled smothered laughter followed +me. By good luck, and after upsetting the contents of two bureaus upon +the floor, I was able to find garments preserved for an occasional visit +to the cities, and, flinging the window open, I hailed a man below to +bring me a big pail of water. He returned in ten minutes with a very +small one, and with the irate cook expostulating behind him, while I +feared his comments would be audible all over the building. + +"Cook says the well's playing out, and washing's foolishness this +weather. The other pail's got dead gophers in it, and Jardine allows he +caught cookie fishing more of them out of the water he used for the +tea." + +"Fling them out, and for heaven's sake let me have the thing. I'm +getting used to gophers, and dead ones can't bite you," I said, fearing +that if the indignant cook got to close quarters the precious fluid +might be spilled. Then while I completed my toilet Cotton came in. + +"Perhaps I was hardly civil this morning," he commenced. "I'm out for +four days' fire-guard inspecting, and thought I'd come round and tell +you----" + +"That you saw the Bonaventure wagon heading in this direction," I +interposed. "Well, you're always welcome at Gaspard's Trail, and I +presume you won't feel tempted to draw the line at my present guests." + +Cotton dropped into my one sound chair. "I suppose I deserve it, +Ormesby. We shall not get such opportunities much longer, and one can't +help making the most of them," he said. + +We went down together; and there was no doubt that the cook had done his +best, while Haldane laughed and his younger daughter looked very demure +when, as we sat down at table, I stared about my room. It had lost its +bare appearance, the thick dust had gone, and there was an air of +comfort about it I had never noticed before. + +"You see what a woman's hand can do. Lucille couldn't resist the +temptation of straightening things for you," observed the owner of +Bonaventure. "She said the place resembled a----" + +The girl blushed a little, and shook her head warningly at her father, +while, as she did so, her bright hair caught a shaft of light from the +window and shimmered like burnished gold. For a moment it struck me that +she equaled her sister in beauty; and she was wholly bewitching with the +mischief shining in her eyes. There was, however, a depth of kindliness +beneath the mischief, and I had seen the winsome face grow proud with a +high courage one night when the snows whirled about Bonaventure. +Nevertheless, I straightway forgot it when Beatrice Haldane set to work +among the teacups at the head of the table, for her presence +transfigured the room. I had often, as I sat there through the bitter +winter nights, pictured her taking a foremost place in some scene of +brightness in London or Montreal, but never presiding at my poor table +or handling my dilapidated crockery with her dainty fingers. She did it, +as she did everything, very graciously; while, to heighten the contrast, +the lowing of cattle and the hoarse shouts of those who drove them, +mingled with whipcracks and the groaning of jolting wagons, came in +through the open windows. + +For a time the meal progressed satisfactorily. Haldane was excellent +company, and I had almost forgotten my fears that some untoward accident +might happen, when his younger daughter asked: "What is a gopher, Mr. +Cotton? I have heard of them, but never saw one." + +I projected a foot in his direction under the table, regretting I had +discarded my working boots, and Haldane, dropping his fork, looked up +sharply. + +"A little beast between a rat and a squirrel, which lives in a hole in +the ground. There are supposed to be more of them round Gaspard's Trail +than anywhere in Canada," answered the trooper, incautiously. "That's +quite correct, Ormesby. You cannot contradict me." + +I did not answer, but grew uneasy, seeing that he could not take a hint; +and the girl continued: "Are they fond of swimming?" + +"I don't think so," answered Cotton, with a slightly puzzled air; and +then added, with an infantile attempt at humor, for which I longed to +choke him: "I'm not a natural historian, but Ormesby ought to know. I +found him not long ago in a very bad temper fishing dozens of dead ones +out of his well. Perhaps they swam too long, and were too tired to climb +out, you know." + +Lucille Haldane, who had been thirsty, gave a little gasp and laid her +hand on the cup Cotton would have passed on for replenishing. Her sister +glanced at her with some surprise, and then quietly set down her own, +while I grew hot all over and felt savagely satisfied by the way he +winced that this time I had got my heel well down on Cotton's toe. Then +there was an awkward silence until Haldane, leaning back in his chair, +laughed boisterously when the lad, attempting to retrieve one blunder, +committed another. + +"I am afraid there are a good many at Bonaventure, and it is not +Ormesby's fault, you see. It is almost impossible for anybody to keep +them out of the wells in dry weather; but nobody minds a few gophers in +this country." + +Haldane had saved the situation; but his elder daughter filled no more +teacups, and both my fair guests seemed to lose their appetite, while I +was almost glad when the meal I had longed might last all night was over +and Lucille and her father went out to inspect the cattle. I, however, +detained Cotton, who was following them with alacrity. + +"Your jokes will lead you into trouble some day, and it's a pity you +couldn't have displayed your genius in any other direction," I said. + +"You need not get so savage over a trifle," he answered apologetically. +"I really didn't mean to upset things--it was an inspiration. No man +with any taste could be held responsible for his answers when a girl +with eyes like hers cross-questions him. You really ought to cultivate a +better temper, Ormesby." + +I let him go, and joined Beatrice Haldane, who had remained behind the +rest. She did not seem to care about horses and cattle, and appeared +grateful when I found her a snug resting-place beneath the strawpile +granary. + +"You are to be complimented, since you have realized at least part of +your aspirations," she said, as she swept a glance round my possessions. +"Is it fair to ask, are you satisfied with--this?" + +I followed her eyes with a certain thrill of pride. Wheat land, many of +the dusty cattle, broad stretch of prairie, barns, and buildings were +mine, and the sinewy statuesque horsemen, who came up across the levels +behind further bunches of dappled hide and tossing horns, moved at my +bidding. By physical strain and mental anxiety I had steadily extended +the boundaries of Gaspard's Trail, and, had I been free from Lane, would +in one respect have been almost satisfied. Then I looked up at my +companion, whose pale-tinted draperies and queenly head with its +clustering dark locks were outlined against the golden straw, and a +boldness, as well as a great longing, came upon me. + +"It is a hard life, but a good one," I said. "There is no slackening of +anxiety and little time for rest, but the result is encouraging. When I +took hold, with a few hundred pounds capital, Gaspard's Trail was +sod-built and its acreage less than half what it is at present; but this +is only the beginning, and I am not content. Bad seasons do not last +forever, and in spite of obstacles I hope the extension will continue +until it is the largest holding on all this prairie; but even that +consummation will be valuable only as the means to an end." + +Beatrice Haldane looked at me with perfect composure. "Is it all worth +while, and how long have you been so ambitious?" she asked, with a +smile, the meaning of which I could not fathom. + +"Since a summer spent in England showed me possibilities undreamed of +before," I said; and while it is possible that the vibration in my voice +betrayed me, the listener's face remained a mask. Beatrice Haldane was +already a woman of experience. + +"One might envy your singleness of purpose, but there are things which +neither success nor money can buy," she said. "Probably you have no time +to carefully analyze your motives, but it is not always wise to take too +much for granted. Even if you secured all you believe prosperity could +give you you might be disappointed. Wiser men have found themselves +mistaken, Rancher Ormesby." + +"You are right in the first case," I answered. "But in regard to the +other, would not the effort be proof enough? Would any man spend the +best years of his life striving for what he did not want?" + +"Some have spent the whole of it, which was perhaps better than having +the longer time for disappointment," answered the girl, with a curious +smile. "But are we not drifting, as we have done before, into a +profitless discussion of subjects neither of us knows much about? +Besides, the sun is swinging farther west and the glare hurts my eyes, +while father and Lucille appear interested yonder." + +Beatrice Haldane always expressed herself quietly, but few men would +have ventured to disregard her implied wishes, and I took the hint, +fearing I had already said too much. Gaspard's Trail was not yet the +finest homestead on the prairie, and the time to speak had not arrived. +When we joined Haldane it was a somewhat stirring sight we looked upon. +A draft of my own cattle came up towards the corral at a run, mounted +men shouting as they cantered on each flank, while one, swinging a whip +twice, raced at a gallop around the mass of tossing horns when the herd +would have wheeled and broken away from the fence in a stampede. The +earth vibrated to the beat of hoofs; human yells and a tumultuous +bellowing came out of the dust; and I sighed with satisfaction when, +cleverly turned by a rider, who would have lost his life had his horse's +speed or his own nerve failed him, the beasts surged pell-mell into the +enclosure. Much as I regretted to part with them, their sale should set +me free of debt. + +Then the flutter of a white dress caught my eye, and I saw Lucille +Haldane, who, it seemed, had already pressed the foreman into her +service, applauding when Thorn, cleverly roping a beast, reined in his +horse, and, jerking it to a standstill, held it for her inspection. It +no doubt pleased him to display his skill, but I saw it was with Thorn, +as it had been with the sergeant, a privilege to interest the girl. She +walked close up to the untamed creature, which, with heaving sides and +spume dripping from its nostrils, seemed to glare less angrily at her, +while Thorn appeared puzzled as he answered her rapid questions, and +Haldane leaned on the rails with his face curiously tender as he watched +her. Trooper Cotton, coming up, appropriated Miss Haldane with boyish +assurance, and her father turned to me. + +"My girl has almost run me off my feet, and now that she has taken +possession of your foreman, I should be content to sit down to a quiet +smoke," he said. "Will you walk back to the house with me?" + +I could only agree, but I stopped on the way to speak to one of the men +who had brought in the cattle. He was a struggling rancher, without +enterprise or ability, and generally spoken of with semi-contemptuous +pity. "I'm obliged to you, Redmond, for suggesting that you would take +my draft along; but why didn't you come in and take supper with the +rest? This sort of banquet strikes me as the reverse of neighborly," I +said. + +The man fidgeted as he glanced at the dirty handkerchief containing +eatables beside him. "I figured you had quite enough without me, and I +don't feel in much humor for company just now," he said. "This season +has hit me mighty hard." + +"Something more than the season has hit him," commented Haldane, as we +proceeded. "If ever I saw a weak man badly ashamed of himself, that was +one. You can't think of any underhand trick he might have played you +lately?" + +"No," I answered lightly. "He is a harmless creature, and has no +possible reason for injuring me." + +"Quite sure?" asked Haldane, with a glance over his shoulder as we +entered the door. "I've seen men of his kind grow venomous when driven +into a corner. However, it's cool and free from dust in here. Sit down +and try this tobacco." + +Haldane was said to be a shrewd judge of his fellowmen, but I could see +no cause why Redmond should cherish a grudge against me, and knew he had +spoken the truth when he said the seasons had hit him hardly. It was +currently reported that he was heavily in debt, and the stock-rider had +suggested that Lane was pressing him. When Haldane had lighted a cigar +he took a roll of paper off the table and tossed it across to me, +saying, "Is that your work, Ormesby?" + +"No. I never saw it before," I answered, when a glance showed me that +the paper contained a cleverly drawn map of our vicinity, and Haldane +nodded. + +"To tell the truth, I hardly expected it was. Some of your recent +visitors must have dropped it, and as my daughter found it among the +litter during the course of her improvements, and asked whether it +should be preserved, I could not well help seeing what it was. Look at +the thing again, and tell me what you conclude from it." + +"That whoever made it had a good eye for the most valuable locations in +this district," I answered, thoughtfully. "He has also shaded with the +same tint part of my possessions in Crane Valley." + +"Exactly!" and Haldane gazed intently into the blue cigar smoke. "Does +it strike you that the man who made the map intended to acquire those +locations, and that, considering the possible route of the railway, he +showed a commendable judgment?" + +"It certainly does so now," I answered; and Haldane favored me with a +searching glance. "Then when you discover who it is, keep your eyes on +him, and especially beware of giving him any hold on you." + +I suspected that Lane had made the map, and it is a pity I did not take +Haldane into my full confidence; but misguided pride forbade it, and we +smoked in silence until the opportunity was lost, for he rose, saying: +"No peace for the wicked; the girls are returning. Great heavens! I +thought the child had broken her neck!" + +While Thorn went round by the slip-rails, a slender, white-robed figure +on a big gray horse sailed over the tall fence and came up towards the +house at a gallop, followed by the startled foreman. Haldane, whose +unshakable calm was famous in Eastern markets, quivered nervously, and I +felt relieved that there had been no accident, for it was a daring leap. +Then, while Cotton and Beatrice Haldane followed, Lucille came in +flushed and exultant. + +"We have had a delightful time, father, and you must leave me in charge +of Bonaventure when you go East," she said. "But where did you get the +lady's saddle, Mr. Ormesby?" + +"It is not mine," I answered, smiling. "It belongs to my neighbor's +sister, Sally Steel. She rode a horse over here for Thorn to doctor." + +I regretted the explanation too late. Steel was a good neighbor, but +common report stigmatized his sister as a reckless coquette, and by the +momentary contraction of Beatrice Haldane's forehead I feared that she +had heard the gossip. If this were so, however, she showed no other sign +of it. + +When a delicious coolness preceded the dusk it was suggested that Cotton +should sing to us, and he did so, fingering an old banjo of mine with no +mean skill. I managed to find a place by Beatrice Haldane's side, and +when the pale moon came out and the air had the quality of snow-cooled +wine, her sister sang in turn to the trooper's accompaniment. I +remember only that it was a song free from weak sentimentality, with an +heroic undertone; but it stirred me, and a murmur of voices rose from +the shadows outside. Then Foreman Thorn stood broad hat in hand, in the +doorway. + +"If it wouldn't be a liberty, miss, the boys would take it as an honor +if you would sing that, or something else, over again. They've never +heard nothing like it, even down to Winnipeg," he said. + +The girl blushed a little, and looked at me. "They were kind to me. Do +you really think it would please them?" she asked. + +"If it doesn't they will be abominably ungrateful; but although we are +not conventional, the request strikes me as a liberty," I said, noticing +that her sister did not seem wholly pleased. + +"Tell them I will do my best," was the answer, and, after a conference +with Cotton, Lucille Haldane walked towards the open door. There was no +trace of vanity or self-consciousness in her bearing. It was pure +kindliness which prompted her, and when she stood outside the building, +with the star-strewn vault above her, and the prairie silver-gray at her +feet, bareheaded, slight, and willowy in her thin white dress, it seemed +small wonder that the dusty men who clustered about the wire fence swung +down their broad hats to do her homage. + +Perfect stillness succeeded, save for sounds made by the restless +cattle; then the banjo tinkled, and a clear voice rang out through the +soft transparency of the summer night: "All day long the reapers!" + +There was a deep murmur when the last tinkle of the banjo sank into +silence, a confused hum of thanks, and teamster and stock-rider melted +away, and Lucille Haldane, returning, glanced almost apologetically at +me. + +"I just felt I had to please them," she said. "Even if you older people +smile, I am proud of this great country, and it seems to me that these +are the men who are making it what it will some day be. Don't you think +that we who live idly in the cities owe a good deal to them?" + +Haldane laid his hand caressingly on his daughter's arm. "Impulsive as +ever--but perhaps you are right," he said. "In any case, it will be +after midnight before we get home, and you might ask for our team, +Ormesby." + +Every man about Gaspard's Trail helped to haul up the wagon and harness +the spirited team, while, in spite of Cotton's efforts, Thorn insisted +on handing my youngest guest into the vehicle; and it was with some +difficulty I exchanged parting civilities with the rest as the vehicle +rolled away amid the stockmen's cheers. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A HOLOCAUST + + +It was late one sultry night when I sat moodily beside an open window in +my house at Gaspard's Trail. I had risen before the sun that morning, +but, though tired with a long day's ride, I felt restless and +ill-disposed to sleep. Thomas Steel, whose homestead stood some leagues +away, lounged close by with his unlighted pipe on his knee and his +coarse sun-faded shirt flung open showing his bronzed neck and the paler +color of his ample chest. He was about my own age and possessed the +frame of a gladiator, but there was limp dejection in his attitude. + +"It's just awful weather, but there's a change at hand," he said. "It +will be too late for some of us when it comes." + +I merely nodded, and glanced out through the window. Thick darkness +brooded over the prairie, though at intervals a flicker of sheet +lightning blazed along the horizon and called up clumps of straggling +birches out of the obscurity. A fitful breeze which eddied about the +building set the grasses sighing, but it was without coolness, and laden +with the smell of burning. Far-off streaks of crimson shone against the +sky in token that grass-fires were moving down-wind across the prairie. +They would, however, so far as we could see, hurt nobody. Steel fidgeted +nervously until I began to wonder what was the matter with him, and when +he thrust his chair backwards I said irritably: "For heaven's sake sit +still. You look as ill at ease as if you had been told off to murder +somebody." + +The stalwart farmer's face darkened. "I feel 'most as bad, and have been +waiting all evening to get the trouble out," he said. "Fact is, I'm +borrowing money, and if you could let me have a few hundred dollars it +would mean salvation." + +I laughed harshly to hide my dismay. The prairie settlers stand by one +another in time of adversity, and in earlier days Steel had been a good +friend to me; but the request was singularly inopportune. Two bad +seasons had followed each other, when the whole Dominion labored under a +commercial depression; and though my estate was worth at ordinary values +a considerable sum, it was only by sacrificing my best stock I could +raise money enough to carry it on. + +"If I get anything worth mentioning for the beasts I'll do my utmost, +and by emptying the treasury perhaps I can scrape up two or three +hundred now. What do you want with it?" I said. + +"I thought you would help me," answered Steel, with a gasp of relief. +"I've been played for the fool I am. I got a nice little book from the +---- Company, and it showed how any man with enterprise could get ahead +by the aid of borrowed capital. Then its representative--very affable +man--came along and talked considerable. I was a bit hard pressed, and +the end was that he lent me money. There were a blame lot of charges, +and the money seemed to melt away, while now, if I don't pay up, he'll +foreclose on me." + +I clenched my right hand viciously, for the man who had trapped poor +Steel had also a hold on me, and I began to cherish a growing fear of +the genial Lane. + +"It's getting a common story around here," I said. "That man seems bent +on absorbing all this country, but if only for that very reason we're +bound to help each other to beat him. It will be a hard pull, but, +though it all depends on what the stock fetch, I'll do the best I can." + +Steel was profuse in his thanks, and I lapsed into a by no means +overpleasant reverie. So some time passed until a glare of red and +yellow showed up against the sky where none had been before. + +"Looks like a mighty big fire. There's long grass feeding it, and it has +just rolled over a ridge," said Steel. "Seems to me somewhere near the +Indian Spring Bottom, but Redmond and the other fellow would drive the +stock well clear." + +Flinging my chair back I snatched a small compass from a shelf, laid it +on the window-ledge, and, kneeling behind it, with a knife blade held +across the card I took the bearings of the flame. "It's coming right +down on the bottom, and though by this time the stock is probably well +clear, I'm a little uneasy about it. We'll ride over and make quite +sure," I said. + +"Of course!" Steel answered, and seemed about to add something, but +thought better of it and followed me towards the stable. Thorn, who was +prompt of action, had also seen the fire, for he was already busy with +the horses; and inside of five minutes we were sweeping at a gallop +across the prairie. Save for the intermittent play of lightning the +darkness was Egyptian; and the grass was seamed by hollows and deadly +badger-holes; but the broad blaze streamed higher for a beacon, and, +risking a broken neck, I urged on the mettled beast beneath me. Grass +fires are common, and generally are harmless enough in our country; but +that one seemed unusually fierce, and an indefinite dread gained on me +as the miles rolled behind us. + +"It's the worst I've seen for several seasons. Whole ridge is blazing," +panted Steel, as, with a great crackling, we swept neck and neck +together through the tall grass of a slough in the midst of which +Thorn's horse blundered horribly. Then we dipped into a ravine, reeling +down the slope and splashing through caked mire where a little water had +been. Every moment might be precious, and turning aside for nothing, we +rode straight across the prairie, while at last I pressed the horse +fiercely as a long rise shut out the blaze. Once we gained its crest the +actual conflagration would be visible. The horse was white with lather, +and I was almost blinded with sweat and dust when we gained the summit. +Drawing bridle, I caught at my breath. The Sweetwater ran blood red +beneath us, and the whole mile-wide hollow through which it flowed was +filled with fire, while some distance down stream on the farther side a +dusky mass was discernible through the rolling smoke which blew in long +wisps in that direction. It seemed as though a cold hand had suddenly +been laid on my heart, for the mass moved, and was evidently composed of +close-packed and panic-stricken beasts. + +"It's the Gaspard draft held up by the wing fence!" a voice behind me +rose in a breathless yell. + +I smote the horse, and we shot down the declivity. How the beast kept +its footing I do not know, for there were thickets of wild berries and +here and there thin willows to be smashed through; but we went down at a +mad gallop, the clods whirling behind us and the wind screaming past, +until we plunged into the Sweetwater through a cloud of spray. In places +soft mire clogged the sinking hoofs, in others slippery shingle rolled +beneath them, while the stream seethed whitely to the girth; but +steaming, panting, dripping, we came through, and I dashed, +half-blinded, into the smoke. A confused bellowing came out of the +drifting wreaths ahead, and there was a mad beat of hoofs behind, but I +could see little save the odd shafts of brightness which leaped out of +the vapor as I raced towards the fire. Then somebody cried in warning, +and the horse reared almost upright as--while I wrenched upon the +bridle--a running man staggered out of the smoke. A red blaze tossed +suddenly aloft behind him, and as he turned the brightness smote upon +his blackened face. It was set and savage, and the hair was singed upon +his forehead. + +"It's blue ruin. The green birches are burning, and all your beasts are +corraled in the fence wings," he gasped. "Fire came over the rise +without warning, in Redmond's watch. Somehow he got the rest clear, but +your lot stampeded and the wire brought them up. I'm off to the shanty +for an ax--but no living man could get them out." + +Thorn pulled up his plunging horse as the other spoke, and for a few +seconds I struggled with the limpness of dismay. Then I said hoarsely: +"If the flame hasn't lapped the wings yet, we'll try." + +By this time the horses were almost in a state of panic, and Thorn's +nearly unseated him, but we urged them into the vapor towards the fence. +Fences were scarce in our district then, but after a dispute as to the +grazing I had shared the cost of that one with another man, partly +because it would be useful when sheep washing was forward and would +serve as a corral when we cut out shipping stock. It consisted of only +two wings at right angles--a long one towards the summit of the rise, +and another parallel to the river, which flowed deep beneath that rotten +bank; but the beasts on each side would seldom leave the rich grass in +the hollow to wander round the unclosed end, and if driven into the +angle two riders could hold the open mouth. Now I could see that the +simple contrivance might prove a veritable death-trap to every beast +within it. + +It was with difficulty we reached the crest of the rise, but we passed +the wing before the fire, which now broke through the driving vapor, a +wavy wall of crimson, apparently two fathoms high, closing in across the +full breadth of the hollow at no great pace, but with a relentless +regularity. Then I rode fiercely towards the angle or junction of the +wires where the beasts were bunched together as in the pocket of a net. +Thorn and Steel came up a few seconds later. + +The outside cattle were circling round and jostling each other, +thrusting upon those before them; the inside of the mass was as compact +as if rammed together by hydraulic pressure, and, to judge by the +bellowing, those against the fence were being rent by the barbs or +slowly crushed to death. Our cattle wander at large across the prairie +and exhibit few characteristics of domestic beasts. Indeed, they are at +times almost dangerous to handle, and when stampeded in a panic a +squadron of cavalry would hardly turn them. Yet the loss of this draft +boded ruin to me, and it was just possible that if we could separate one +or two animals from the rest and drive them towards the end of the fence +the others might follow. The mouth of the net might remain open for a +few minutes yet. + +"I guess it's hopeless, but we've just got to try," said Thorn, who +understood what was in my mind. "Start in with that big one. There's not +a second to lose." + +Steel, leaning down from the saddle, drove his knife-point into the rump +of one beast, and when it wheeled I thrust my horse between it and the +herd and smote it upon the nostrils with my clenched fist, uselessly. +The terrified creature headed round again, jamming me against its +companions, and when my horse backed clear, one of my legs felt as +though it were broken. This, however, was no time to trouble about minor +injuries or be particular on the score of humanity; and while Thorn +endeavored to effect a diversion by twisting one beast's tail I pricked +another savagely. It wheeled when it felt the pain, and when it turned +again with gleaming horns and lowered head Steel pushed recklessly into +the opening. Then a thick wisp of smoke filled my eyes, and I did not +see how it happened, but man and horse had gone down together when the +vapor thinned, and the victorious animal was once more adding its weight +to the pressure on the rear of the surging mass. + +Steel was up next moment, struggling with his horse, which, with bared +teeth, was backing away from him at full length of its bridle; but, +answering my shout, he said breathlessly: "I don't know whether half my +bones are cracked or not, but they feel very much like it. It's no good, +Ormesby. We'll have to cut the fence from the other side, and if we fool +here any longer we'll lose the horses, too." + +I saw there was truth in this, and almost doubted if we could clear the +fence wing now. It was at least certain that nothing we could do there +would extricate the terrified beasts; and when Steel got himself into +the saddle we started again at a gallop. There was less smoke, and what +there was towered vertically in a lull of the breeze; but the crackling +flame tossed higher and higher. For a moment I fancied it had cut us off +within the fence, which would have made a dangerous leap; but though the +terrified horses were almost beyond guidance, fear lent them speed, and +with very little room to spare Steel and I shot round the end of the +wire. + +"Look out for the setting-up post nearest the corner, and slack the +turn-screws until the wire goes down, while I try to cut the strand +close in to the herd!" I roared "Is Thorn behind you?" + +"No," the answer came back. "Good Lord! we've left him inside the +fence!" + +I managed to pull my horse up, when a glance showed me the foreman's +stalwart figure silhouetted against the crimson flame as he strove to +master his plunging horse. It was evident that the horse had refused to +face the fire, which now rolled right up the wings of the fence. + +"Come down and let him go! You can either climb the wires or crawl under +them!" I shouted, wondering whether the crackling of the flame drowned +my husky voice. + +"This horse is worth three hundred dollars, and he's either going +through or over," the answer came back; and I shouted in warning, for it +appeared impossible to clear that fence, though the beast, which was not +of common bronco stock, had good imported blood in him. Then there was a +yell from the foreman as he recklessly shot forward straight at the +fence. The horse was ready to face anything so long as he could keep the +fire behind him, and I held my breath as he rose at the wire. Our horses +are not good jumpers, and the result seemed certain. His knees struck +the topmost wire; there was a heavy crash; and the man, shooting forward +as from a catapult, alighted with a sickening thud, while the poor brute +rolled over and lay still on the wrong side of the fence. Thorn rose, +but very shakily, and I was thankful I had lost only some three hundred +dollars, which I could very badly spare. + +"Nothing given out this trip," he spluttered. "I've dropped my knife, +though. Go on and try the cutting. I'll follow when I can." + +In another few moments I dismounted abreast of the angle, and hitched +the bridle round a strand of the wire, knowing that the possibility of +getting away almost instantaneously when my work was done might make +all the difference between life and death. The fence was tall, built of +stout barbed wire strained to a few screw standards and stapled to thick +birch posts. I had neither ax nor nippers, only a long-bladed knife, and +densely packed beasts were wedging themselves tighter and tighter +against the other side of the barrier. Already some had fallen and been +trampled out of existence, while others seemed horribly mangled and +torn. The man who had gone for an ax had not reappeared, and I regretted +I had not bidden him take one of our horses, for the shanty was some +distance away. + +Slashing through the laces I dragged off one boot. Its heel was heavy +and might serve for a mallet, and holding the blade of my knife on the +top strand close against a post, I smote it furiously. The wire was not +nicked half through when it burst beneath the pressure, and a barb on +its flying end scored my face so that the blood trickled into my mouth +and eyes; but the next wire was of treble twist, and as I struck and +choked I regretted the thoroughness with which we had built the fence. +The knife chipped under the blows I rained upon it, and when I shortened +the blade its end snapped off. In a fit of desperation I seized the +lacerating wires with my naked fingers and tore at them frenziedly, but +what the pressure on the other side failed to accomplish the strength of +twenty men might not do, so when in a few seconds reason returned to me +I picked up what remained of the knife and set to work again. There was +still no sign of Thorn, and as the wires did not slacken it was plain +that Steel had failed to loose the straining screws without convenient +tools. Three slender cords of steel alone pent in the stock that were to +set me free of debt, but I had no implements with which to break them, +so they also held me fast to be dragged down helpless to beggary. + +At last the wire I struck at bent outward further, and when I next +brought the boot heel down there was a metallic ringing as one strand +parted, and I shouted in breathless triumph, knowing the other must +follow. The fire was close behind the pent-up herd now, and I guessed +that very shortly my life would depend on my horse's speed. Just then +Steel dashed up, mounted, shouting: "Into the saddle with you. The fence +is going!" + +I saw him unhitch my horse's bridle and struggle to hold the beast ready +between himself and me, but I meant to make quite certain of my part, so +I brought the boot heel down thrice again. Then I leaped backward, +clutched at the bridle, and scrambled to the saddle as a black mass +rolled out of the gap where the wire flew back. I remember desperately +endeavoring to head the horse clear of it along the fence, and wondering +how many of the cattle would fall over the remaining wires and be +crushed before their carcasses formed a causeway for the rest; but the +horse was past all guidance; and now that the fence had lost its +continuity more fathoms of it went down and the dusky mass poured over +it. Then something struck me with a heavy shock, the horse stumbled as I +slipped my feet out of the stirrups, and we went down together. I saw +nothing further, though I could feel the earth tremble beneath me; then +this sensation faded, and I was conscious of only a numbing pain beneath +my neck and my left arm causing me agony. After this there followed a +space of empty blackness. + +When I partly recovered my faculties the pain was less intense, though +my left arm, which was tied to my side, felt hot and heavy, and the +jolting motion convinced me that I lay in the bottom of a wagon. + +"Did you get the stock clear?" I gasped, striving to raise my head from +the hay truss in which it was almost buried; and somebody who stooped +down held a bottle to my lips. + +"Don't you tell him," a subdued voice said, and the man, who I think was +Steel, came near choking me as he poured more spirit than I could +swallow down my throat and also down my neck. + +"That's all right. Don't worry. We're mighty thankful we got you," he +said. + +Then the empty blackness closed in on me again, and I lay still, +wondering whether I were dead and buried, and if so, why the pricking +between shoulder and breast should continue so pitilessly; until that +ceased in turn, and I had a hazy idea that someone was carrying me +through an interminable cavern; after which there succeeded complete +oblivion. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A BITTER AWAKENING + + +The first day on which my attendants would treat me as a rational being +was a memorable one to me. It must have been late in the morning when I +opened my eyes, for the sun had risen above the level of the open +window, and I lay still blinking out across the prairie with, at first, +a curious satisfaction. I had cheated death and been called back out of +the darkness to sunlight and life, it seemed. Then I began to remember, +and the pain in the arm bound fast to my side helped to remind me that +life implied a struggle. Raising my head, I noticed that there had been +changes made in my room, and a young woman standing by the window +frowned at me. + +"I guess all men are worrying, but you're about the worst I ever struck, +Rancher Ormesby. Just you lie back till I fix you, or I'll call the boys +in to tie you fast with a girth." + +She was a tall, fair, well-favored damsel, with a ruddy countenance and +somewhat bold eyes; but I was disappointed when I saw her clearly, even +though her laugh was heartsome when I answered humbly: "I will try not +to trouble you if you don't mean to starve me." + +Miss Sally Steel, for it was my neighbor's sister, shouted to somebody +through the window, and then turned to the man who rose from a corner. +"You just stay right where you are. When I call cookie I'll see he +comes. I've been running this place as it ought to be run, and you won't +know Gaspard's when you get about, Rancher Ormesby." + +The man laughed, and I saw it was Thorn, though I did not know then that +after doing my work and his own during the day he had watched the +greater part of every night beside me. + +"Feeling pretty fit this morning?" he asked. + +"Comparatively so," I answered. "I should feel better if I knew just +what happened to me and to the stock. You might tell me, beginning from +the time the fence went down." + +"If he does there'll be trouble," broke in Miss Steel, who, I soon +discovered, had constituted herself autocratic mistress of Gaspard's +Trail. "He must wait until you have had breakfast, anyway." And I saw +the cook stroll very leisurely towards the window carrying a tray. + +"Was anybody calling?" he commenced, with the exasperating slowness he +could at times assume; and then, catching sight of me, would have +clambered in over the low window-sill but that Miss Steel stopped him. + +"Anybody calling! I should think there was--and when I want people +they'll come right along," she said. "No; you can stop out there--isn't +all the prairie big enough for you? There'll be some tone about this +place before I'm through," and the cook grinned broadly as he caught my +eye. + +Miss Steel's voice was not unpleasant, though it had a strident ring, +and her face was gentle as she raised me on a heap of folded blankets +with no great effort, though I was never a very light weight, after +which, between my desire to please her and a returning appetite, I made +a creditable meal. + +"That's a long way better," she said approvingly. "Tom brought a fool +doctor over from Calgary, who said you'd got your brain mixed and a +concussion of the head. 'Fix up his bones and don't worry about anything +else,' I said. 'It would take a steam hammer to make any concussion +worth talking of on Rancher Ormesby's head.'" + +"Thorn has not answered my question," I interrupted; and Miss Steel +flashed a glance at the foreman, who seemed to hesitate before he +answered. "It happened this way: You were a trifle late lighting out +when you'd cut the fence. Steel said one of the beasts charged you, and +after that more of them stampeded right over you. The horse must have +kept some of them off, for he was stamped out pretty flat, and it was a +relief to hear you growling at something when we got you out." + +"How did you get me out?" I asked, and Thorn fidgeted before he +answered: "It wasn't worth mentioning, but between us Steel and I +managed to split the rush, and the beasts went by on each side of us." + +"At the risk of being stamped flat, too! I might have expected it of you +and Steel," I said; and the girl's eyes sparkled as she turned to the +foreman. + +"Then Steel went back for the wagon after we found you had an arm and a +collarbone broken. I rode in to the railroad and wired for a doctor. +Sally came over to nurse you, and a pretty tough time she has had of it. +You had fever mighty bad." + +"There's no use in saying I'm obliged to both of you, because you know +it well," I made shift to answer; and Sally Steel stroked the hair back +from my forehead in sisterly fashion as she smiled at Thorn. "But what +about the stock? Did they all get through?" + +Thorn's honest face clouded, and Sally Steel laid her plump hand on my +mouth. "You're not going to worry about that. A herd of cattle stampeded +over you and you're still alive. Isn't that good enough for you?" + +I moved my head aside. "I shall worry until I know the truth. All the +beasts could not have got out. How many did?" I asked. + +Thorn looked at Sally, then sideways at me, and I held my breath until +the girl said softly: "You had better tell him." + +"Very few," said the foreman; and I hoped that my face was as +expressionless as I tried to make it when I heard the count. "Some of +those near the fence got clear, and some didn't. Steel had grubbed up a +post, and when the wires slacked part of the rest got tangled up and +went down, choking the gap. It was worse than a Chicago slaughter-house +when the fire rolled up." + +"The horses, too? How long have I been ill, and has any rain fallen?" I +asked, with the strange steadiness that sometimes follows a crushing +blow, and Thorn moodily shook his head. + +"Both horses done for. You've been ill 'bout two weeks, I think. No rain +worth mentioning--and the crop is clean wiped out." + +There was silence for some minutes, and Sally Steel patted my uninjured +shoulder sympathetically. Then I pointed to a litter of papers on the +table, and inquired if there were any letters in Lane's writing. Thorn +handed me one reluctantly, and it was hard to refrain from fierce +exclamation as I read the laconic missive. Lane regretted to hear of my +accident, but the scarcity of money rendered it necessary to advise me +that as I had not formally accepted his terms, repayment of the loan was +overdue, and he would be obliged to realize unless I were willing to +pledge Crane Valley or renew the arrangement at an extra five per cent. +on the terms last mentioned. + +"Bad news?" said Sally. "Then I guess Thorn sha'n't worry you any more; +but it's just when things look worst the turn comes. That team will be +bolting soon, Thorn. I'll sit right back in the corner, and until you +want to talk to me you can forget I'm there." + +The high-pitched voice sank to a gentler tone, and I felt grateful to +Sally Steel. Her reckless vagaries often formed a theme for laughter +when the inhabitants of the prairie foregathered at settlement or store; +but there was a depth of good-nature, as well as an overdaring love of +mischief in her, and not infrequently a blessing accompanied the jest. +Thorn was moving towards the door when, recollecting another point, I +beckoned him. + +"How was it that when they had, or should have had, time enough, +Henderson's man and Redmond did not stop the cattle bunching in the +fence? It's very unlike our ways if they made no effort to save my +beasts as well as their own masters' property," I said. + +Foreman Thorn looked troubled, and I saw that Sally was watching him +keenly. "I don't understand it rightly, and I guess no man ever will," +he said. "Of course, we struck Henderson's Jo with just that question, +and this is what he made of it. He and Redmond were camping in Torkill's +deserted sod-house, and when they saw the fires were bad that night, +Redmond said he'd ride round the cattle. Their own lot was pretty well +out of harm's way, east of the fence, but Jo told him to take a look at +yours. Redmond started, and, as Jo knew that he'd be called if he were +wanted, he went off to sleep." + +"That does not explain much," I interjected, when Thorn halted, rubbing +his head as though in search of inspiration. + +"There isn't an explanation. Jo, waking later, saw the fire coming right +down the hollow and started on foot for the fence. There was no sign of +Redmond anywhere. Jo couldn't get the stock out, and he couldn't cut the +fence, and he was going back for an ax when we met him. You know all the +rest--'cept this. Steel and I were standing over you, and the fire was +roasting the beasts mixed up in the fence, when Redmond comes along. The +way he stood, the flame shone right on his face. It seemed twisted, and +the man looked like a ghost. He stood there blinking at the beasts--and +it wasn't a pretty sight--then shook all over as he stooped down and +looked at you. There was a good deal of blood about you from the horse. + +"'What the devil's wrong with you? Stiffen yourself up!' says Steel; and +Redmond's voice cracked in the middle as he answered him: 'I'm feeling +mighty sick. Is he dead?' + +"'Looks pretty near it. If you'd seen those beasts clear he mightn't +have come to this. Here, take a drink. We'll want you presently,' says +Steel, and went on strapping you together with a girth and bridle, while +I watched Redmond with one eye. As you know, there was never much grit +in the creature, and he had another shivering fit. + +"'Get out until you're feeling better. That kind of thing's catching, +and we've lots to do,' I said; and he laughs with a cackle like an +hysterical woman, and blinks straight past me. Steel and I figured he'd +got hold of some smuggled whisky and been drinking bad, but afterwards +Henderson's Jo said no. + +"'It's murder. My God! It's horrible--an' he never done anyone no harm,' +he says, and falls to cussing somebody quietly. I can talk pretty +straight when I'm hot myself, but that was ice-cold swearing with venom +in it, and when he got on to Judas, with the devil in his eyes, I ripped +up a big sod and plugged him on the head with it. + +"'If you don't let up or quit I'll pound the life out of you,' says +Steel. + +"Well, we got you fixed so you couldn't make the damage worse, and when +Steel went for the wagon and I looked around for Redmond he was gone. +Don't know what to think of it, anyway, 'cept his troubles or bad whisky +had turned his head. You see he was never far from crazy." + +"Why didn't one of you get hold of him and make him talk next day?" I +asked; and Thorn looked at me curiously. + +"Because he'd gone. Lit out to nobody knows where and stopped there. I +don't know just what to think, myself." + +Sally took Thorn by the shoulders and thrust him out, but he left me +with sufficient, and unpleasant, food for reflection. The stock I had +counted on were gone. Also, when it was above all things desirable that +I should be up and doing, I must lie still for weeks, useless as a log. +One thing at least I saw clearly, and that was the usurer's purpose to +absorb my property; and as I lay with throbbing forehead and +tight-clenched fingers, which had grown strangely white, I determined +that he should have cause to remember the struggle before he +accomplished it. That Redmond had been driven by him into shameful +treachery appeared too probable, though there was no definite proof of +it, and the thought stiffened my resolution. My scattered neighbors, +patient as they were, were ill to coerce and would doubtless join me in +an effort before the schemer's machinations left us homeless. + +Then I could hardly check a groan as I remembered all that the brief +glimpses of a brighter life at Bonaventure had suggested. A few months +earlier it had appeared possible that with one or two more good seasons +I might even have attained to it; but since then a gulf had opened +between Beatrice Haldane and me, and the best I could hope for was a +resumption of what now seemed hopeless drudgery. It was a bitter +awakening, and I almost regretted that Steel and Foreman Thorn had not +been a few seconds later when the fence went down. An hour passed, and +Sally Steel, bringing a chair over to my side, offered to read to me +what she said was a real smart shadowing story. I glanced at the +invincible detective standing amid a scene of bloodshed, depicted on the +cover of the journal she held up, and declined with due civility. + +"I am afraid my nerves are not good enough. I should sooner you talked +to me, Sally," I said. + +She laughed coquettishly, and there was no doubt that Steel's sister was +handsome, as women on that part of the prairie go. Sun and wind had +ripened the color in her face, her teeth were white as ivory, her lips +full and red, and perhaps most men would have found pleasure watching +the sparkle of mischief that danced in her eyes as she answered +demurely: "That would be just too nice. What shall we talk about?" + +"You might tell me who was the first to come ask about me," I said. + +The girl stretched out one plump arm with a comprehensive gesture. "They +all came, bringing things along, most of them. Even the little +Icelander; he loaded up his wagon with a keg of herrings--said they were +best raw--and lumps of grindstone bread. Oh, yes; they all came, and I +was glad to see them, 'cept when some of their wives came with them." + +"They are kind people in this country; but how could the women worry +you? In any case, I think you would be equal to them," I commented; and, +somewhat to my surprise, the girl first blushed, and then looked +positively wicked. + +"They--well, they would ask questions, and said things, when they found +Tom was down to Brandon," she answered enigmatically. "Still, I guess I +was equal to most of them. 'Rancher Ormesby's not sending the hat round +yet, and that truck is not fit for any sick man to eat when it's just +about half-cooked,' I said. 'You can either take it back or leave it for +Thorn to worry with. Fresh rocks wouldn't hurt his digestion. Just now +I'm way too busy to answer conundrums.'" + +Sally seemed glad to abandon that topic, and did not look quite pleased +when I hazarded another question, with suppressed interest, but as +carelessly as I could: "Did anybody else drive over?" + +The girl laughed a trifle maliciously, and yet with a certain enjoyment. +"Oh, yes. One day, when I was too busy for anything, the people from +Bonaventure drove over, and wanted to take you back. I don't know why, +but the way Haldane's elder daughter looked about the place just got my +back up. 'You can't have him. This is where he belongs,' I said. + +"'But he is ill, and this place is hardly fit for him. There are no +comforts, and we could take better care of him,' said the younger one, +and I turned round to her. + +"'That's just where you're wrong. Rancher Ormesby has lived here for +eight years, and when he's sick he has plenty friends of his own kind to +take care of him. I'm one of them, and we don't dump our sick people on +to strangers,' I said. + +"The elder one she straightens herself a little, as though she didn't +like my talk. 'He could not be as comfortable as he would be at +Bonaventure, which is the most important thing. We will ask the doctor; +and have you any right to place obstacles in the way of Mr. Ormesby's +recovery?' says she, and that was enough for me. + +"'I've all the right I want,' I answered. 'I'm running Gaspard's Trail, +and if you can find a man about the place who won't jump when I want +him, you needn't believe me. That makes me a busy woman--see?--so I'll +not keep you. Go back to Bonaventure, and don't come worrying the +people he belongs to about Rancher Ormesby.'" + +I groaned inwardly, and only by an effort concealed my blank +consternation. "What did they say next?" I asked. + +"Nothing much. The younger one--and I was half sorry I'd spoken straight +to her--opened her eyes wide. The elder one she looks at me in a way +that made me feel fit to choke her, while Haldane made a little bow. 'I +have no doubt he is in capable hands, and we need not trouble you +further. No, I don't think you need mention that we called,' says he." + +Sally tossed her head with an air of triumph as she concluded, and I lay +very still, for it was too late to pray for deliverance from my friends, +though of all the rude succession this was about the most cruel blow. +What mischievous fiend had prompted the quick-tempered girl to turn upon +the Haldanes I could never surmise, but jealousy might have had +something to do with it, for Trooper Cotton had once been a favorite of +hers. In any case, the result appeared disastrous, for, while I believed +her no more than thoughtless, there was no disguising the fact that some +of the settlers' less-favored daughters spoke evil of Sally Steel, and I +feared their stories had reached Bonaventure. + +When five minutes or so had passed she looked at me somewhat shyly. +"You're not mad?" she said. + +"I could hardly be vexed with you, whatever happened, after all you have +done for me. I was only thinking," I made shift to answer. "Still, you +might have been a little more civil, Sally." + +For a moment or two the girl appeared almost penitent; then she bent her +head towards my own, and again the mischief crept into her eyes. + +"I'd have brought them in to a banquet, if I had only guessed," she +said; and with a thrill of laughter she slipped out of the room. It was +with sincere relief I saw her go, for I was in no mood for the somewhat +pointed prairie banter, and felt that, in spite of her manifold +kindnesses, I could almost have shaken Sally Steel. Then I turned my +head from the light, remembering I was not only a ruined man without +even power to move, but had left a discordant memory with the friends +whose good opinion I most valued, and whom now I might never again meet +on the old terms. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +HOW REDMOND CAME HOME + + +The weather continued pitilessly hot and dry, when, one afternoon, +Trooper Cotton, returning from a tour of fireguard inspection, sat near +the window-seat in which I lay at Gaspard's Trail. I was glad of his +company, because the sight of the parched prairie and bare strip of +plowland was depressing. Barns and granary alike were empty, for the +earth had failed to redeem her promise that season, and an unnatural +silence brooded over Gaspard's Trail. + +"I don't know what has come over this country," the trooper said. "One +used to get a cheery word everywhere, but now farmer and stockman can +hardly answer a question civilly, and the last fellow I spoke to about +his fireguards seemed inclined to assault me. Presumably it's the bad +times, and I'll be thankful when they improve. It might put some of you +into a more pleasant humor." + +"If you had said bad men you might have been nearer the mark," I +answered dryly. "We are a peaceable people, but there's an oppression +worse than any governmental tyranny, and from the rumors in the air it's +not impossible some of us may try to find our own remedy if we are +pushed too far." + +"That's a little indefinite," said Cotton, with a laugh. "If you mean +taking the law into your own hands, there would be very unpleasant work +for me. Still, I'm sorry for all of you, especially those whom that +flabby scoundrel Lane seems to be squeezing. He's been driving to and +from the railroad a good deal of late, and it's curious that twice when +I struck his trail two traveling photographers turned up soon after him. +One was a most amusing rascal, but I did not see the other, who was busy +inside the wagon tent, and who apparently managed the camera. I'll show +you a really tolerable picture of me he insisted on taking." + +It struck me that Boone, or Adams, had twice run a serious risk; but I +said nothing, and Cotton, fumbling inside his tunic, tossed a litter of +papers on the table. These were mostly official, but there were odd +letters among them, for the trooper was not remarkable for preciseness, +and I noticed a crest upon some of the envelopes, while, after shuffling +them, he flung me a small card, back uppermost. I was surprised when, +turning it over, the face of Lucille Haldane met my gaze. + +"It is a charming picture; but that is only natural, considering the +original. How did you get this, Cotton?" I said. + +The trooper snatched it from me, and a darker color mantled his +forehead. "Confound it! I never meant to show you that," he said. + +"So I surmised," I answered dryly; and the lad frowned as he thrust the +picture out of sight. + +"You will understand, Ormesby, that Miss Haldane did not give me this. +I--well--I discovered it." + +"Wasn't it foolish of you?" I asked quietly; and the trooper, who, +strange to say, did not seem to find my tone of paternal admonition +ludicrous, answered impulsively: "I don't know why I should strip for +your inspection, Ormesby, or why I should not favor you with a +well-known reply; but it is perhaps best that you should not +misunderstand the position. I know what you are thinking, but I haven't +forgotten I'm Trooper Cotton--nor am I likely to. It's a strange life, +Ormesby, and the men who live it go under occasionally. This--God bless +her--is merely something to hold on by." + +I made no answer, for there was nothing appropriate I could find to say; +but it occurred to me that Lucille Haldane might never receive a higher +compliment than this lad's unexpectant homage. + +"Here is the right one, and you will obliterate the other from your +memory," he said, passing me a second photograph. "The fellow who took +it knows how to handle a camera." + +It was evident he did; and, knowing who he was, the irony of the +circumstances impressed me as I examined the picture. "He has an +artistic taste and an eye for an effective pose. Are you going to send +any copies to your people in England, Cotton?" I said. + +"No," answered the lad quietly; "they might not be pleased with it. +Well, I dare say, you have guessed long ago that I am one of the legion. +Most of my people were soldiers, which was why, when I had two dollars +left, I offered the nation my services at Regina; but I am the first of +them to wear a police private's uniform." + +I nodded sympathetically, and the trooper, who looked away from me out +of the window, said: "Talk of the devil! All men, it is said, are equal +in this country, but I fancy there's a grade between most of us and your +acquaintance, Foster Lane. The fellow has passed the corral, and I can't +get out without meeting him." + +I nodded with a certain grim sense of anticipation, for I had determined +to speak very plainly to Foster Lane, and knew that Cotton could, on +occasion, display a refined insolence that was signally exasperating. +The next moment Lane came in, red-faced and perspiring, and greeted me +with his usual affability. + +"I'm on the way to recovery, but unable to ride far, which explains my +request for a visit," I said; and Lane waved his large hands +deprecatingly. + +"Business is business, and you need not apologize, because although I +have come two hundred miles you will find first-class expenses charged +for in the bill. I can't smoke on horseback. Will you and the trooper +try one of these?" + +"No, thanks," said Cotton, with an inflection in his voice and a look in +his half-closed eyes that would have warned a more sensitive person; but +Lane, still holding out the cigar-case, added with mild surprise: "By +the price I paid for them they ought to be good." + +"I don't doubt it," drawled Cotton, glancing languidly at the speaker. +"But a few of what you would call British prejudices still cling to me, +and I take cigars and things only from my friends--you see?" + +The stout man laughed a little, though there was malice in his eye. "And +we are not likely to be acquainted? You are, one might presume, a scion +of the English aristocracy, come out to recruit your health or wait +until it's a little less sultry in the old country." + +"I would hardly go so far!"--and Cotton drawled out the words, as he +turned upon his heel. "More unlikely things have happened. At present I +have the honor of serving her Majesty as--a police trooper." + +Lane handed me his cigar-case when the lad strolled out of the door, but +I was in no mood to assume an unfelt cordiality. "I am not inclined for +smoking. Hadn't we better come straight to business?" I said. + +Lane struck a match, and stretched his legs along the window-seat, +though he closed the case with a snap. "Why, certainly! You are ready to +redeem the mortgage on Gaspard's Trail?" + +He spoke pleasantly, though there was a sneer in his eyes, and he had +both lighted his cigar, in spite of my hint, and laid his dusty boots on +the cushions with a cool assurance that made me long to personally +chastise him. "You probably know that I am not," I said. + +"I did hear you had lost some cattle," he answered indifferently. "Well, +in that case, I wait your proposition." + +"I am open to renew the loan at the original interest until this time +next year, when, no matter what I may have to part with, it will be paid +off. You have already had a very fair return on your money," I said. + +"It can't be done," and Lane looked thoughtfully at his cigar. "I'll +carry you on that long at double interest, or make you a bid outright +for Crane Valley." + +"There is no reason in your first offer; you asked only fifty per cent. +increase last time, which was enough in all conscience. What do you want +with Crane Valley?" + +Lane smiled benignly. "You didn't accept that offer formally. Crane +Valley's a pretty location, and I've taken a fancy to it." + +I took time to answer, and set my brain to work. The advantage lay with +the enemy, but, while it appeared certain that he would dispossess me +of Gaspard's Trail, I determined to hold on to Crane Valley. "You can't +have it, and I will not pay the extortionate interest. That, I think, is +plain enough," I said. + +The financier shrugged his shoulders. "I hope you won't be sorry. I +haven't quite decided on my program, but you will hear what it is when +I'm ready. Have you got your own fixed?" + +"I will have soon," I answered, my indignation gaining the mastery. +"There is no advantage to be gained by further circumlocution, and you +may as well know that I will give you as much trouble as possible before +you plunder me. In the first place, if we find Redmond, I shall try to +strike you for conspiracy." + +"Do you know where Redmond is?" and there was a curious note in the +speaker's voice, though I stolidly refrained from any sign of either +negation or assent. "Neither do I; but I have my suspicions that he +won't be much use to you if you do find him. The man is half-crazy, +anyway. Did you ever hear about the fool bullfrog and the ox, Rancher +Ormesby?" + +He leaned back against the logs, and chuckled so complacently at his own +conceit that it was hard to believe this easy-tempered creature was +draining half my neighbors' blood; but I was filled with a great +loathing for him. + +"Your simile isn't a good one, even if it fits the case. An ox is a +hard-working, honest, and useful kind of beast; but there's no use +bandying words," I said. + +"Just so!" and Lane rose lazily. "It's rather a pity you sent for me, +because you have not had much for your money. Being rather pressed just +now, I won't stay." + +I had no intention of requesting him to do so, for the air seemed +clearer without him, and presently Cotton returned. For the first time, +I told him all my suspicions concerning Redmond, and he looked grave as +he listened. "It would have saved some people sorrow if I could only +have run that horse-leach in," he commented, gazing regretfully after +the diminishing figure of the rider. "Yes; it's curious about Redmond. +Lane was over at his place a little while before your accident, and I +believe afterwards as well, and since then nobody has seen Redmond. I'll +have a talk with Mackay, and put some of our men on his trail. If he's +still on top of the prairie they'll find him." + +Cotton rode away; and late that evening Steel returned from his own +holding with a very grim face, while the eyes of his sister were +suspiciously red. + +"I'm to be sold up, and am turned out now," he said. "Lane, who won't +wait any longer, is foreclosing, and he'll fix things so there will be +no balance left. God knows what's to become of Sally and me." + +"You need not trouble about Sally," the girl said, with a flash in her +eyes. "We'll worry along somehow, and we'll live to see that devil +sorry." + +Practical counsel seemed the best sympathy, and after asking a few +questions, I said: "This is going to be a grain-producing country, and +there are plenty acres ready for breaking and horses idle at Crane +Valley. When Lane seizes Gaspard's Trail, as he probably will, we must +see what can be done with them on the share arrangement; and meantime, +since I paid two hired men off, there is plenty for you to do here +helping me." + +Steel eventually agreed, and as soon as I was fit for the saddle I rode +over to Mackay's quarters; but, though he stated that if Redmond were +anywhere in the Territories he would sooner or later be found, nothing +had so far resulted from his inquiries. + +It was some weeks later, and towards the close of a sultry afternoon, +when I rode homewards with Cotton and Steel towards the Sweetwater. We +had much thunder that season, and though there had been a heavy storm +the night before, a stagnant, oppressive atmosphere still hung over the +prairie. It suited the somber mood of two of the party, while even +Cotton seemed unusually subdued. + +Steel's possessions had been sold off that day, and bought up at +ridiculously inadequate prices by two strangers, who we all suspected +had been financed by Lane. Few of us had a dollar to spare, and the +auctioneer, who was also probably under the money-lender's thumb, +demanded proof of ability to make the purchase when one or two neighbors +attempted to force up the bidding. Steel rode with slack bridle and his +head bent, and I was heavy of heart, for I held Gaspard's Trail only on +sufferance, and the same fate must soon overtake me. The prairie +stretched before us a desolate waste, fading on the horizon into gray +obscurity, and, together with the gloom of the heavens above, its +forlorn aspect increased my depression. So we came moodily to the dip to +the Sweetwater, and I saw Mackay standing beside a deeper pool below. A +rapid flowed into the head of it, and the lines of froth shone with a +strange lividness. The time was then perhaps an hour before sunset. When +we dismounted to water and rest the horses, Mackay turned sharply and +glanced at Cotton. + +"All went off quietly?" And the trooper nodded. + +"Yes," I said. "We have a long patience, Sergeant; but there were signs +on some of the faces that things may go differently some day." + +"Ay?" said the sergeant, fixing his keen eyes on me as he stood, a lean, +bronze-skinned statue beside the river. "What were ye meaning, Rancher +Ormesby?" + +"I was merely giving you a hint," I said. "We have paid all demanded +from us and kept the law, but now, when the powers that rule us stand by +and watch us ground out of existence to enrich a few unprincipled +schemers, it is hard to say what might not happen." + +"Ye did well," was the dry answer. "It will be my business to see ye +keep it still; but in this country any man has liberty to talk just as +foolishly as it pleases him. Can the law change the seasons for ye, or +protect the careless from their own improvidence? But let be. I'm older +than most o' ye, and have seen that there's a measure set on +oppression." + +He concluded with a curious assurance which approached solemnity; but +Steel added, with a Western expletive, that he had already let be until +he was ruined. Then I broke in: "If I can find Redmond and wring the +truth from him I hope to prove that the limit has been reached; and I +purpose, in the first place, to see what the law will do for me. Have +you any word of him?" + +"No," and the sergeant's tone was very significant. "If he were still +above the prairie-sod we should have found him. But there was a bit +freshet last night--and I am expecting him." + +Steel, I fancied, shivered, and though the speaker might well be +mistaken, anything that served to divert our thoughts was a relief, and +for a while we lay among the grasses, smoking silently. The sky was +heavily overcast, there was no breath of air astir, and the slow gurgle +of the river drifted mournfully down the hollow. For some reason, I felt +strangely restless and expectant, as though something unusual would +shortly happen. A faint drumming of hoofs rose up from somewhere far off +across the prairie, as well as a sound which might have been made by an +approaching wagon. + +"That's Lane striking south for the railroad with a few of the boys +behind him," Steel said listlessly. "There'll be thunder before he +reaches it, and Lardeau's team is wild, but there's no use hoping +they'll bolt and break Lane's neck for him. Accidents do not happen to +that kind of man." + +A little time had passed, and the beat of horses' feet broke in a +rhythmic measure through the heavy stillness, when Cotton, who had +followed his sergeant along the bank, raised a shout, and I leaped to my +feet, for something that circled with the current was drifting down +stream. We ran our hardest, and, for I was not strong yet, the others +were standing very silent, with tense faces and staring eyes, when I +rejoined them. + +"Yon's Redmond," said Sergeant Mackay. "I was expecting him." + +The object he pointed to slid slowly by abreast of us, and I felt a +shock of physical nausea as I stared at it. At that distance it was +without human semblance, a mere shapeless mass of sodden clothing, save +for the faint white glimmer of a face; but the shock gave place to a +fit of sullen fury. Heaven knows I cherished no anger against the +unfortunate man. Indeed, from the beginning, I had regarded him as a +mere helpless tool; but death had robbed me of my only weapon, and I +remembered Lane's prediction that Redmond would be of little use to me +if I found him. + +"If one of ye has a lariat ye had better bring it," said Sergeant +Mackay. + +We followed the object down stream. It floated slowly, now +half-submerged, now rising more buoyantly, with the blanched countenance +turned towards the murky heavens, out of which the light was fading, +until Steel, poising himself upon the bank, deftly flung a coupled +lariat. The noose upon its end took hold, and I shrank backwards when we +drew what it held ashore, for Redmond's face was ill to look upon, and +seemed to mock me with its staring eyes. + +"Stan' clear!" said the sergeant, perhaps feeling speech of any kind +would be a relief, for nobody showed the least desire to crowd upon him. +"If it had not been for the regulations a drop of whisky would have been +acceptable, seeing that it's my painful duty to find out how he came by +his end." + +The words were excusable, but there was no whisky forthcoming; and +though, perhaps, only one man in a hundred would have undertaken that +gruesome task, the sergeant went through it with the grim thoroughness +which characterized all his actions. + +"There's no sign of a blow or bullet that I can find, and I'm thinking +only the Almighty knows whether he drowned himself or it was accidental +death. Ye can identify him, all of ye?" + +We thought we could, but had been so intent that nobody noticed the +trampling of horses' hoofs until a wagon was drawn up close by, and +several riders reined in their beasts. + +"Here's a man who ought to," said Steel. "Come down and swear to your +partner, Lane." + +Turning, I saw my enemy start as he looked over the side of the wagon +at what lay before him. Every eye was fixed upon him, and Steel stood +quietly determined by the wheel. + +"I'm in a hurry, and don't fill the post of coroner," the former said. + +"Will you come down?" Steel added; and there was a low growl from the +assembly, while Lane shrank back from that side of the vehicle. "I guess +it's certain this man was the last to see Redmond alive." + +"Drive on!" said Lane to the teamster; but the man hesitated, while, +when his employer snatched up the reins, there was another murmur deeper +than before, and mounted men closed about the wagon, their figures +cutting blackly against the fading light. Why they were journeying +homewards in such company I did not learn, but, overtaking it, they had +perhaps ridden beside the wagon for the purpose of expressing their +frank opinion of its occupant. + +"Ye cannot pass until ye have answered my questions," said Sergeant +Mackay. "If he does not dismount ye have authority to help him, Steel. +Ye will hold the horses, Trooper Cotton." + +Lane slowly climbed down the wheel, and neither Mackay nor Cotton +interfered when, as he showed signs of remaining at the foot of it, +Steel's hand closed firmly on his neck and forced him forwards, +apparently much against his wishes. Then the ruined farmer held him, +protesting savagely, beside the body of his victim. It was, in its own +way, an impressive scene--the erect, soldierly figures of the uniformed +troopers, the circle of silent mounted men, who moved only to sooth +their uneasy horses, and the white-faced man who shivered visibly as he +looked down at the sodden heap at his feet. There was also, even had the +two been strangers, ample excuse for him. + +"While protesting that this is an outrage, I am ready to answer your +questions," he said huskily. + +"Who is this man? Did ye know him?" asked the sergeant, whose face +remained woodenly impassive. + +"Rancher Redmond, by his clothing," was the answer. "Yes; if necessary, +I think I could swear to him." And the sergeant asked again: "When and +where did ye last see him?" + +"In the birch _coulée_, at dusk, three weeks past Tuesday. That would +make it----" But the financier seemed unable to work out the simple sum, +and concluded: "You can figure the date for yourself." + +"What business had ye with him?" and the sergeant smiled dryly at the +answer: "That does not concern you." + +"Maybe no. If ye have good reasons for not telling I will not press ye, +though ye may be called upon to speak plainly. Do ye know how he came +into the river?" + +"No," said Lane, a trifle too vehemently. + +"Do ye know of any reason why he should have drowned himself?" And Lane +turned upon the questioner savagely: + +"I'll make you all suffer for your inference! Why should I know? I +challenge the right of anyone but a coroner to detain me." + +"I'll let ye see my authority at the station if I find it necessary to +take ye there," said the sergeant grimly. "Noo will ye answer? Do ye +know why this man ye had dealings with should wish to destroy himself?" + +"You're presuming a good deal," was the answer; and Lane's face grew +malevolent as he glanced at Steel and me. "How do you know he did +destroy himself, anyway; and if he did, I guess it's an open secret he +had trouble with Ormesby and Steel." + +I sprang forward, but Cotton laid a heavy hand on my shoulder, and there +was a threatening ejaculation from one of the bystanders. "Well, to +satisfy you, I solemnly declare I am in no way connected with what has +befallen the deceased rancher, and know of no reason why he should have +attempted his life. This isn't a court; but because I'm in a hurry, and +to stop chattering tongues, I call heaven to witness it is the truth." + +I believed that, after a villainous attempt to divert suspicion to me, +the man was deliberately perjuring himself, and several of the +bystanders must have believed it, too. Most of them were not wholly free +from superstition, and their faces were almost expectant as they stood +strung up and intent about the dead man under the deepening gloom. Then +a flicker of pale lightning filled the hollow. Each face was lit up for +a second, and Lane's was livid; and, when the flash faded, the dusk +seemed to deepen suddenly, and a boom of distant thunder rolled from +swelling level to level across the prairie. Thunder had been very +frequent during the last few weeks, but the listeners seemed to find the +coincidence significant. + +"Ye can pass," said the sergeant, whose voice seemed a trifle unsteady. +"But it will be on horseback, and we may want ye later. Lardeau--it's a +charity--ye will lend Redmond the wagon." + +"You can't have it," said Lane. "I have a long journey before me and a +rheumatic thigh. If you take the wagon I hired what am I to do?" + +"You can ride with Redmond. His house is on your way, and you can't hurt +him, anyway. The poor devil's beyond you now," said a stern voice; and +Lane, who allowed the teamster to help him onto one of the horses which +was replaced, departed hurriedly. + +"I congratulate ye," said Sergeant Mackay significantly. "He was a +fellow-creature, boys. Who'll help me lift him in? We will e'en need the +same service ourselves some day." + +I shuddered, but took my place with Steel among the rest; and when the +task was accomplished, the latter expressed both our feelings as he +said: "I wouldn't for five hundred dollars do that again; but it seemed +the poor devil's due after what we said about him. I guess he wasn't +quite responsible, and was driven to it; but, when it comes to the +reckoning, God help the man who drove him." + +It was dark when we gained the level and followed the creaking wagon +that jolted before us across the prairie. Few words were spoken. A low +rumbling of thunder rolled across the great emptiness, while now and +then a pale blue flash fell athwart the lathered horses and set faces of +the men. "The beasts," said one big farmer, "know considerably more than +they can tell. Look at the near one sweating! I guess they find Redmond +or the load he's carrying mighty heavy." + +"Then," added another voice, which broke harshly through the thuds of +hoofs, "ten teams wouldn't move the man who rode away." + +The ways of the prairie dwellers are in some respects modern and crudely +new; but the Highland servants of the Hudson's Bay Company and the +French half-breed _voyageur_ have between them left us a dowry of quaint +belief and superstition; and the growl of the thunder and the black +darkness made a due impression on most of those who brought Redmond +home. For my part I was thankful when a lonely log-house loomed up ahead +and the wagon came to a standstill. Four men, improvising a stretcher, +took up their burden, and halted as Sergeant Mackay and another, neither +of whom seemed to care about his errand, knocked on the door. + +A young woman opened it, holding aloft a lamp, and under its uncertain +light her face showed drawn and pale. I breathed harder, and heard some +of those about me murmur compassionately, for she looked very frail and +young to bear what must follow. The sergeant's words did not reach us, +but a swift glare of blue flame, that left us dazzled, broke in upon +them. The whole space about the building was flooded with temporary +brilliancy, and Redmond's daughter must have seen us standing about the +wagon and the bearers waiting, for she dropped the lantern (which Mackay +seized in time), and caught at the logs which framed the door as if for +support. A minute must have passed before the slight form once more +stood erect upon the threshold. + +"Mackay thinks of everything," Steel said in my ear. "He sent Gordon off +to bring his wife along. There's only the half-breed here, and she'll +need a white woman with her to-night, poor soul." + +"Bring him in," said a low voice; and before the sergeant could prevent +her, the speaker, snatching up the lantern, moved forward to meet the +bearers. It was no sight for young eyes, and I saw Steel shudder; but +there was wild Erse blood in the girl, and, holding one arm up, she +stood erect, facing us again. + +"This was my father, and he was a kind man to me," she said, with a +choking gasp that was not a sob, and from which her voice broke high and +shrill. "For the sake of a few acres and cattle he was driven to his +death, and may black sorrow follow the man who ruined him. Sorrow and +bitterness, with the fear that will drive sleep from him and waste him +blood and bone until he takes the curse of the widow and orphan with him +into the flame of hell!" + +Then the eerie voice sank again, and it was with a strange dignity she +concluded: "I thank you, neighbors. You can bring him in." + +Another paler flash lit up the prairie as they carried Redmond in, and, +when a wagon came bouncing up to the fence, Steel said: "Here's Mrs. +Gordon; they have lost no time. Are you coming back, Ormesby? I've had +about enough of this." + +I had no wish to linger, and when we rode homewards through the deluge +that now thrashed our faces, the sergeant, who overtook us, said: "Man, +I feel creepy! She's no' quite canny, and yon was awesome." + +"It was impressive; but you can't attach much importance to that poor +girl's half-distracted raving," I said, partly to convince myself. + +"Maybe no," said Sergeant Mackay. "Superstition, ye say; but I'm +thinking there's a judgment here as well as hereafter, and I'd no' care +to carry yon curse about with me." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A PRAIRIE STUDY + + +So Redmond came home, and we buried him the following night by +torchlight on a desolate ridge of the prairie. It was his daughter who +ordered this; and if some of those who held aloft the flaming tow +guessed his secret they kept it for the sake of the girl who stood with +a stony, tearless face beside the open grave. He had doubtless yielded +to strong compulsion when driven into a corner from which, for one of +his nature, there was no escape, and now that he was dead, I had +transferred my score against him to the debit of the usurer. As we rode +home after the funeral I said something of the kind to Steel, who agreed +with me. + +"If you concluded to try it, Thorn and Jo and I, taking our affidavits +as to what we saw that night, might make out a case for you; but I don't +know that we could fix it on Lane, and it strikes me as mean to drag a +dead man into the fuss for nothing," he said. "Redmond has gone to a +place where he can't testify, but he has left his daughter, and she +already has about all she can stand." + +"Strikes me that way, too; and Lane's too smart to be corraled," added +Thorn. + +"We'll get even somehow without Redmond, and to that end you two will +have to run Gaspard's Trail," I said. "I'm going down to Montreal with +Carolan's cattle." + +A project had for some little time been shaping itself in my mind. I had +a small reversionary interest in some English property, and though it +would be long before a penny of it could accrue to me, it seemed just +possible to raise a little money on it. Considering Western rates of +interest, nobody in Winnipeg would trouble with such an investment, but +I had a distant and prosperous kinsman in Montreal who might find some +speculator willing. Montreal was, however, at least two thousand miles +away, and traveling expensive; but the Carolan brothers had promptly +accepted my offer to take charge of their cattle destined for Europe, +which implied free passes both ways. It was not the mode of traveling +one would have expected a prosperous rancher to adopt, but I needed +every available dollar for the approaching struggle, and was well +content when, after the untamed stock had nearly wrecked the railroad +depot, we got them on board the cars. + +The only time I ever saw Sergeant Mackay thoroughly disconcerted was +that morning. We came up out of the empty prairie riding on the flanks +of the herd. The beasts had suffered from the scarcity of water and were +in an uncertain temper, while, as luck would have it, just as they +surged close-packed between the bare frame houses, Mackay and a trooper +came riding down the unpaved street of the little prairie town. There +was no opening either to right or to left, and the more prudent +storekeepers put up their shutters. + +"Look as if they owned the universe, them police," said the man who +cantered up beside me. "Sure, it would take the starch out of them if +anything did start the cattle." + +Mackay pulled up his horse and looked dubiously at the mass of tossing +horns rolling towards him. "'Tis not in accordance with regulations to +turn a big draft loose on a peaceful town. Why did ye not split them +up?" he said. "Ye could be held responsible if there's damage done." + +"I'm afraid these beasts don't understand regulations, and I had to +bring them as best I could," I answered; and my assistant shouted, "Get +out of the daylight, sergeant, dear, while your shoes are good." + +Mackay seemed to resent this familiarity, and sat still, with one hand +on his hip, an incarnation of official dignity, though he kept his eyes +upon the fast advancing herd until the big freight locomotive which was +awaiting us set up a discordant shrieking, and backed a row of clanging +cars across the switches. That was sufficient for the untamed cattle. +With a thunder of pounding hoofs they poured tumultuously down the +rutted street, and I caught a brief glimpse of the sergeant hurriedly +wheeling his horse before everything was blotted out by the stirred-up +dust. The streets of a prairie town are inches deep in powdered loam all +summer and in bottomless sloughs all spring. + +A wild shout of "Faugh-a-ballagh!" rang out; and I found myself riding +faster than was prudent along the crazy plank sidewalk to pass and, if +possible, swing the stampeding herd into the railroad corral. How my +horse gained the three-foot elevation and avoided falling over the +dry-goods bales and flour bags which lay littered everywhere, I do not +remember; but my chief assistant, Dennis, who, yelling his hardest, +charged recklessly down the opposite one, afterwards declared that his +beast climbed up the steps like a kitten. Then, as I drew a little +ahead, Mackay became dimly visible, riding bareheaded, as though for his +life, with the horns, that showed through the tossed-up grit, a few +yards behind him. Fortunately the stockyard gates were open wide, and +Dennis came up at a gallop in time to head the herd off from a charge +across the prairie, while a second man and I turned their opposite wing. +Mackay did his best to wheel his horse clear of the gates, but the beast +was evidently bent on getting as far as possible from the oncoming mass, +and resisted bit and spur. Then there was a great roar of laughter from +loungers and stockyard hands as the dust swept up towards heaven and the +drove thundered through the opening. + +"Where's the sergeant?" I shouted; and Dennis, who chuckled so that his +speech was thick, made answer: "Sure, he's in the corral. The beasts +have run him in, but it's mighty tough beef they'd find him in the old +country." + +Dennis was right, for when the haze thinned the sergeant appeared, as +white as a miller, flattened up against the rails, while a playful steer +curveted in the vicinity, as though considering where to charge him. He +was extricated by pulling down the rails, and accepted my apologies +stiffly. + +"This," he said, disregarding the offer of a lounger to wash him under +the locomotive tank, "is not just what I would have expected of ye, +Rancher Ormesby." + +While the stock were being transferred to the cars amid an almost +indescribable tumult, I met Miss Redmond on the little sod platform. + +"I am glad I have met you, because I am going to Winnipeg, and may never +see you again," she said. "There is much I do not understand, but I feel +you have been wronged, and want to thank you for your consideration." + +Redmond's daughter had received some training in an Eastern convent, it +was said, and I found it hard to believe that the very pale, +quietly-spoken girl was the one who had called down the curses upon +Foster Lane. Still, I knew there was a strain of something akin to +insanity in that family, and that, in addition, she was of the changeful +nature which accompanies pure Celtic blood. + +"You should not indulge in morbid fancies, and you have very little +cause for gratitude. We were sincerely sorry for you, and tried to do +what we could," I said. + +Ailin Redmond fixed her black eyes intently upon me, and I grew uneasy, +seeing what suggested a smoldering fire in them. "You are not clever +enough to deceive a woman," she said, with a disconcerting composure. "I +do not know all, but perhaps I shall some day, and then, whatever it +costs me, you and another person shall see justice done. It may not be +for a long time, but I can wait; and I am going away from the prairie. +Still, I should like to ask you one question--how did your cattle get +inside the fence?" + +"The fire drove them; but instead of fretting over such things, you must +try to forget the last two months as soon as possible," I answered as +stoutly as I could, seeking meanwhile an excuse for flight, which was +not lacking. "Those beasts will kill somebody if I neglect them any +longer." + +Ailin Redmond held out her hand to me, saying very quietly: "I shall +never forget, and--it is no use protesting--a time will come when I +shall understand it all clearly. Until then may the good saints protect +you from all further evil, Rancher Ormesby." + +As I hurried away a tented wagon lurched into the station, and when I +last saw Redmond's daughter she stood near the lonely end of the +platform talking earnestly with the traveling photographer. + +Dennis had not recovered from his merriment when, much to the +satisfaction of those we left behind, the long cars rolled out of the +station, while many agents remembered our visit to the stations which +succeeded. Blinding dust and fragments of ballast whirled about the cars +as the huge locomotive hauled them rocking over the limitless levels. +From sunrise to sunset the gaunt telegraph poles reeled up from the +receding horizon, growing from the size of matches to towering spars as +they came, and then slowly diminishing far down the straight-ruled line +again. For hours we lay on side-tracks waiting until one of the great +inter-ocean expresses, running their portion of the race round half the +globe, thundered past, white with the dust of a fifteen-hundred-mile +journey, and then, with cars and cattle complaining, we lurched on our +way again. + +At times we led the beasts out in detachments to water at wayside +stations, and there was usually much profanity and destruction of +property before we got them back again, and left the agent to assess the +damage to his feelings, besides splintered gangways and broken rails. It +was at Portage or Brandon, I think, that one showed me a warning +received by wire. "Through freight full of wild beasts coming along. +There'll be nothing left of your station if you let the lunatics in +charge of them turn their menagerie out." + +The beasts had, however, grown more subdued before the cars rolled +slowly into Winnipeg, and gave us little trouble when, leaving the +prairie behind, we sped, eastwards ever, past broad lake and foaming +river, into the muskegs of Ontario; so that I had time for reflection +when the great locomotive, panting on the grades, hauled us, poised +giddily between crag face and deep blue water, along the Superior shore. +The Haldanes were in Montreal, and I wondered, in case chance threw me +in their way, how they would greet me, and what I should say. I was +apparently a prosperous rancher when they last spoke with me, and a +tender of other men's cattle now, while it might well happen that in +their eyes a further cloud rested upon me. + +The long and weary journey came to an end at last, and when the big +engines ceased their panting beside the broad St. Lawrence I left Dennis +and his companions to divert themselves in Montreal after the fashion of +their kind, and, arraying myself in civilized fashion, proceeded to my +relative's offices. + +A clerk said that Mr. Leyland, who was absent, desired me to follow him +to his autumn retreat, but I first set about the business which had +brought me, unassisted. Nobody, however, would entertain the species of +investment I had to propose, and it was with a heavy heart I boarded the +cars again some days later. + +Leyland and his wife appeared unaffectedly glad to see me at their +pretty summer-house, which stood above the smooth white shingle fringing +a wide lake, and at sunset that evening I lay smoking among the boulders +of a point, while his son and heir sat close by interrogating me. Part +of the lake still reflected the afterglow, and after the monotonous +levels of the prairie it rested my eyes to see the climbing pines tower +above it in shadowy majesty. Their drowsy scent was soothing, and +through the dusk that crept towards me from their feet, blinking lights +cast trembling reflections across the glassy water. Several prosperous +citizens retired at times to spend their leisure in what they termed +camping on the islets of that lake. + +"Air you poor and wicked?" asked the urchin, inspecting me critically. + +"Very poor, and about up to the average for iniquity," I said; and the +diminutive questioner rubbed his curly locks as though puzzled. + +"Well, you don't quite look neither," he commented. "Poor men don't wear +new store clothes. The last one I saw had big holes in his pants, and +hadn't eaten nothing for three weeks, he said. Pop, he spanked me good +'cos I gave him four dollars off'n the bureau to buy some dinner with. +Say, how long was it since you had a square meal, anyway? You did mighty +well at supper. I was watching you." + +"It is about two months since I had a meal like that and then it was +because a friend of mine gave it to me," I answered truthfully; and +Leyland junior rubbed his head again. + +"No--you don't look very low down, but you must be," he repeated. "Pop +was talking 'bout you, and he said: 'You'll do your best to see the poor +devil has a good time, 'Twoinette. From what I gather he needs it pretty +bad.'" + +I laughed, perhaps somewhat hollowly, for the child commented: "Won't +you do that again? It's just like a loon. There's one lives over yonder, +and he might answer. Ma, she says people should never make a noise when +they laugh; but when I sent Ted on the roof to get my ball, and he fell +into the rain-butt, she just laughed worse than you, and her teeth came +out." + +"Your mother would probably spank you for telling that to strangers. But +who is Ted?" I said, remembering that a loon is a water-bird that sets +up an unearthly shrieking in the stillness of the night; and the urchin +rebuked me with the cheerful disrespect for his seniors which +characterizes the Colonial born. + +"Say, was you forgotten when brains were given out? He's just Ted Caryl, +and I think he's bad. Pop says his firm's meaner than road agents. He +comes round evenings and swops business lies with Pop, 'specially when +Bee is here, but he can't be clever. Ma says he don't even know enough +to be sure which girl he wants. They is two of them, and I like Lou +best." + +"Why?" I asked, because the urchin seemed to expect some comment; and +he proceeded to convince me. "They is both pretty, but Lou is nicest. I +found it out one day I'd been eating corduroy candy, and Bee she just +dropped me when I got up on her knee. She didn't say anything, but she +looked considerable. Then I went to Lou, and she picked me up and gave +me nicer candies out of a gilt-edge box. Ma says she must have been an +angel, because her dress was all sticky, and I think she is. There was +one just like her with silver wings in the church at Sault Chaudiere. +One night Ma and them was talking 'bout you, and Bee sits quite still as +if she didn't care, but she was listening. Lou, she says: 'Poor----' I +don't think it was poor devil." + +"Do you know where little boys who tell all they hear go to?" I asked; +and Leyland junior pointed to a dusky sail that showed up behind the +island before he answered wearily: "You make me tired. I've been asked +that one before. Here's Ted and the others coming. I'm off to see what +they have brought for me." + +He vanished among the boulders, and, filling my pipe again, I kept +still, feeling no great inclination to take part in the casual chatter +of people with whose customs I had almost lost touch. I was struck by +the resemblance of the names the child mentioned to those of Haldane's +daughters, but both were tolerably common, and it did not please me that +Mrs. Leyland should make a story of my struggles for the amusement of +strangers. So some time had passed before I entered the veranda of the +little wooden house, and, as it was only partially lighted by a shaded +lamp, managed to find a place almost unobserved in a corner. Thus I had +time to recover from my surprise at the sight of Beatrice and Lucille +Haldane seated at a little table beneath the lamp. Two men I did not +know leaned against the balustrade close at hand, and several more were +partly distinguishable in the shadows. From where I sat some of the +figures were projected blackly against a field of azure and silver, for +the moon now hung above the lake. Beatrice Haldane was examining what +appeared to be a bound collection of photographic reproductions. + +"Yes. As Mrs. Leyland mentions, I have met the original of this picture, +and it is a good one, though it owes something to the retoucher," she +said; and I saw my hostess smile wickedly at her husband when somebody +said: "Tell us about him. How interesting!" + +Beatrice Haldane answered lightly: "There is not much to tell. The +allegorical title explains itself, if it refers to the edict that it is +by the sweat of his brow man shall earn his bread, which most of our +acquaintances seem to have evaded. The West is a hard, bare country, and +its inhabitants, though not wholly uncivilized, hard men. I should like +to send some of our amateur athletes to march or work with them. This +one is merely a characteristic specimen." + +I wondered what the subject of the picture was, but waited an +opportunity to approach the speaker, while, as I did so, a young man +said: "I should rather like to take up your sister's challenge. Pulling +the big catboat across here inside an hour without an air of wind was +not exactly play; but can you tell us anything more about these tireless +Westerners, Miss Lucille?" + +The younger girl, who sat quietly, with her hands in her lap, looked up. +"It is the fashion never to grow enthusiastic; but I am going to tell +you, Ted. Those men were always in real earnest, and that is why they +interested me; but I shouldn't take up the challenge if I were you. We +call this camping. They lie down to sleep on many a journey in a snow +trench under the arctic frost, ride as carelessly through blinding +blizzard as summer heat, and, I concluded, generally work all day and +half the night. They are not hard in any other sense, but very generous, +though they sometimes speak, as they live, very plainly." + +Some of the listeners appeared amused, others half-inclined to applaud +the girl, and there was a little laughter when Miss Haldane interposed: +"This is my sister's hobby. Some of them, you may remember, seem to live +upon gophers, Lucille." + +Lucille Haldane did not appear pleased at this interruption; but the +flush of animation and luster in her eyes wonderfully became her. "I do +not know that even gophers would be worse than the canned goose livers +and other disgusting things we import for their weight in silver," she +said. "All I saw in the West pleased me, and, because I am a Canadian +first and last, I don't mind being smiled at for admitting that I am +very glad I have seen the men who live there at their work. They are +doing a great deal for our country." + +"They could not have a stancher or prettier champion, my dear," said a +gray-haired man who sat near me. "It would be hard to grow equally +enthusiastic about your profession, Ted." + +"It is Miss Haldane's genius which makes the most of everybody's good +points," answered a young man with a frank face and stalwart appearance, +turning towards me. "I am afraid the rest of us would see only a tired +and dusty farmer who looked as though twelve hours' sleep would be good +for him. What's your idea of the West? If I remember Mrs. Leyland +correctly, you come from the land of promise, don't you?" + +"We certainly work tolerably hard out there, but it is no great credit +to us when we have to choose between that and starvation; and the West +is the land of disappointment as well as promise," I answered dryly. + +The rest glanced around in our direction, and Mrs. Leyland laughed +mischievously. "If any of you are really interested, my friend here, who +came in so quietly, would, I dare say, answer your questions. Let me +present you, Rancher Ormesby." + +I bowed as, endeavoring to remember the names that followed, I moved +towards the chair beside her when she beckoned. It lay full in the +light, and I noticed blank surprise in the faces turned towards me. +Beatrice Haldane dropped the album, and for some reason the clear rose +color surged upwards from her sister's neck. I stooped to recover the +book, which lay open, and then stared at it with astonishment and +indignation, for the face of the man standing beside a weary team, +waist-deep in the tall grass of a slough, was unmistakably my own. I +had forgotten the click of the camera shutter that hot morning. + +"It was hardly fair of my hostess not to warn me, and this print was +published without my knowledge or consent," I said. "Still, it shows how +we earn a living in my country, and I can really tell you little more. +We resemble most other people in that we chiefly exert ourselves under +pressure of necessity--and one would prefer to forget that fact during a +brief holiday." + +The listeners either smiled or nodded good-humoredly and it was Lucille +Haldane who held out her hand to me, while her elder sister returned my +salutation with a civility which was distinct from cordiality. How Mrs. +Leyland changed the situation I do not remember, nor how, when some of +the party were inspecting fire-flies in the grasses by the lake, I found +myself beside Beatrice Haldane at the end of the veranda. I had schooled +myself in preparation for a possible meeting, but she looked so +beautiful with the moonlight on her that I spoke rashly. + +"We parted good friends--but no one could have hoped you felt the +slightest pleasure at the present meeting." + +"Frankness is sometimes irksome to both speaker and listener," said the +girl, turning her dark eyes upon me steadily. "Can you not be satisfied +with the possibility of your being mistaken?" + +"No," I answered doggedly, and she smiled. "Then suppose one admitted +you had surmised correctly?" + +"I should ask the cause," and Beatrice Haldane, saying nothing, looked a +warning, which, being filled with an insane bitterness, I would not +take. "It would hurt me to conclude that those you honored with your +friendship on the prairie would be less welcome here." + +She raised her head a little with the Haldane's pride, which, though +never paraded, was unmistakable. "You should have learned to know us +better. Neither your prosperity nor the reverse would have made any +difference." + +"Then is there no explanation?" I asked, forgetting everything under the +strain of the moment; and it was evident that Beatrice Haldane shared +her sister's courage, for, though there was a darker spot in the center +of her cheek she answered steadily: "There is. We are disappointed in +you, Rancher Ormesby." + +Then, without another word, she turned away, and presently the rattle of +oars and a gleam of moonlit canvas told that the catboat was returning +across the lake. + +"I hope you have enjoyed the meeting with your friends," said Mrs. +Leyland, presently. "Very much, I assure you," I answered, with an +effort which I hope will be forgiven me. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A TEMPTATION + + +Leyland had a weakness for what he termed hardening himself by +occasional feats of endurance, from which it resulted that I spent +several days in his company wandering, with a wholly unnecessary load of +camp gear upon my back, through a desolation of uncomfortably wooded +hills. Now it is not easy for a business man of domesticated habits to +emulate a pack mule and enjoy the proceeding, and when Mrs. Leyland, +after burdening her husband with everything she could think of, desired +to add a small tin bath, there was little difficulty in predicting that +our journey would not be extensive. Having a load of fifty pounds +already, I ignored the suggestion that I might carry the bath, and +hurried Leyland off before his spouse could further hamper us. One thick +blanket, a kettle, and a few pounds of provisions would have amply +sufficed, so a large-sized tent seemed to be distinctly superfluous, to +say nothing of the bag filled with hair-brushes, towels, and scented +soap. + +Leyland commenced the march with enthusiasm, and certainly presented a +picturesque appearance as he plodded along in leather jacket and fringed +leggings, with the folded tent upon his shoulders and a collection of +tin utensils jingling about him. I was somewhat similarly caparisoned, +and, because it would have hurt his feelings, I overcame the temptation +to fling half my load into a creek we crossed, though this would have +greatly pleased me. A fourth of the weight would have sufficed for a +two-hundred-mile journey in the West. + +"There is nothing like judicious exercise for bracing one's whole +system," panted my companion, when we had covered the first league in +two hours or so. "How a wide prospect like this rests the vision. Say, +can't we sit down and enjoy it a little?" + +I nodded agreement, and we spent most of that day in sitting down and +smoking, while, as it happened, a sudden breeze blew the tent over upon +us at midnight, and anybody who has crawled clear of the thrashing +canvas in such circumstances can guess what followed. Leyland, as +generally happens, wriggled headforemost into what might be termed the +pocket of the net, and it cost me some trouble to extricate him. Next +morning he awoke with a toothache and general shortness of temper, as a +result of trying to sleep in the rain, and appeared much less certain +about the benefits to be derived from such excursions. + +"If you will let me pick out the few things we really want and throw the +rest away, I'll engage that you will enjoy the remainder of the march," +I said. + +"I wish I could, but it can't be done," and Leyland, staring ruefully at +his load, shook his head. "'Twoinette's so--so blamed systematic, and if +one of those brushes was missing she'd have to start in from the +beginning with a whole new toilet outfit. Of course, you don't +understand these things yet, but you will some day. A wife with cultured +tastes requires to be considered accordingly." + +I was resting on one elbow gazing up between the pine branches at the +blue of the sky, with the clean-scented needles crackling under me, and +made no answer. Nevertheless, it struck me that I might find too much +culture irksome, especially if it implied that I must carry half my +household sundries upon my back whenever I started on an expedition. +Hitherto I had not considered this side of the question when indulging +in certain roseate visions, but as Leyland spoke there opened up +unpleasant possibilities of having to stand by, a mere director, clear +of the heat and dust of effort, and pay others to do the work I found +pleasure in. Then as I reflected that there was small need to trouble +about such eventualities, a face, that was not Beatrice Haldane's, rose +up before my fancy. It was forceful as well as pretty, quick to express +sympathy and enthusiasm; and I decided that the man who won Lucille +Haldane would have a helpmate who would encourage instead of restrain +his energies, and, if need be, take her place beside him in the +struggle. Then I dismissed the subject as having nothing to do with me. + +Leyland seemed loath to resume his rambles, and on the following +morning, after he had, I fancy, lain awake abusing the mosquitoes all +night, his patience broke down. "I'm getting too old to enjoy this +description of picnic as I used to," he said. "The fact is, if I mule +this confounded bric-à-brac around much longer I shall drop in my +tracks." + +"Shall we turn back?" I asked him. + +The tired man shook his head. "We'll strike for water, and if we can't +find a canoe anywhere you can build a raft. I wouldn't crawl through any +more of those muskegs for a thousand dollars." + +I had no objections, and Leyland's comments became venomous during the +march, for the lake was distant, and the pine woods thick. He fell into +thickets, and shed his burden broadcast across the face of each steeper +descent, so that it cost us many minutes to collect it again, and once +we spent an hour in the mire of a muskeg on hands and knees in search of +a vine-pattern mustard spoon. Leyland, who became profane during the +proceedings, said his wife might consider that its loss would destroy +the harmony of a whole dinner service. At last, however--my comrade, +panting heavily, and progressing with a crab-like gait, because he had +wrenched one knee and blistered a heel--the broad lake showed up beneath +the blazing maple leaves ahead. They were donning their full glories of +gold and crimson before the coming of the frost. + +"Thank heaven!" said Leyland with fervent sincerity. "I'll sit here +forever unless you can find something that will float me home." + +He limped on until we were clear of the trees, and then flung himself +down among the boulders with a gasp of relief, for fortune had treated +him kindly. There was a fresh breeze blowing, and the broad stretch of +water was streaked by lines of frothy white; but we had come out upon a +sheltered bay, and a big catboat lay moored beneath a ledge. A group of +figures rose from about a crackling fire, there was a shout of +recognition, and the young man I had been introduced to as Ted Caryl +came forward to greet us. + +"Just in time! The kettle's boiling; but have you been practicing for a +strong-man circus, Leyland?" he said. My companion, still retaining his +recumbent position, answered dryly: "I have been taking exercise and +diverting myself." + +"So one might have fancied from your exhilarated appearance," commented +Caryl. "We can give you a passage home by water if you have had enough +of it." + +"I'll go no other way if I have to swim," said Leyland grimly. + +Then the younger man turned to me: "Do you happen to know anything about +seamanship?" + +"I spent all my spare time as a youngster helping to sail small craft on +the English coast, and was considered a fair helmsman for my age," I +said; and Caryl patted my shoulder approvingly. + +"It's a mercy, because I know just next to nothing. Put up as a yacht +club member, and bought this craft--she's a daisy--for five hundred +dollars to give the girls a sail. Brought them down, with a light fair +wind, smart enough, but though it's gone round, the thing don't steer +the way she ought to in a breeze. So I've been getting mighty anxious as +to how I'm to take them home again, and feel too scared to say so." + +I looked at the craft, which was a half-decked boat, evidently fitted +with a center-board, of the broad-beamed shallow type common on the +American coast. She carried no bowsprit, her lofty mast was stepped +almost in her bows, and the combination of heavy spars, short body, and +wide, flat stern, presaged difficulties for an unskilled helmsman when +running before any strength of breeze. "I think you have some reason for +your misgivings," I said. "If the wind freshens much I should almost +recommend you to camp here all night." + +We had by this time approached the fire, and I noticed, with a slight +inward hesitation, that Haldane's daughter and an elderly lady were busy +preparing tea. Perhaps it was this which prevented Beatrice from +noticing me, but Lucille came forward and greeted us. "You have arrived +at an opportune moment. Supper is just about ready, and if it is not so +good as the one you gave us at Gaspard's Trail, we will try to do our +best for you," she said. + +"Have you not forgotten that evening yet?" I asked. A transitory +expression I did not quite comprehend became visible in the girl's face +when she answered my smile. It was pleasant to think she recalled the +evening of which I had not forgotten the smallest incident. + +"It was something so new to me, and you were all so kind," she said. + +There was dismay when Caryl announced my opinion, though the rest +decided to postpone a decision in the hope that the weather might +improve, and it seemed useless to inform them that the reverse appeared +more probable. A pine forest rolled down to the water's edge, and when +the meal had been dispatched I lounged with my back against a tree, when +Leyland came up. "You look uncommonly lazy--more played out than I. We +want you to enjoy your stay with us, and I hope I have not tired you," +he said. + +I laughed a little, because Leyland was hardly likely to tire any man +fresh from the arduous life of the prairie. "It's an oasis in the +desert, and you have made me so comfortable that I shall almost shrink +from going back," I said, truthfully enough; for, before I left, the +strain at Gaspard's Trail had grown acute. + +"Then what do you want to go back for, anyway?" asked Leyland, who +during the afternoon had made several pertinent inquiries concerning my +affairs. "There are chances for a live man in the cities--in fact I know +of one or two. No doubt for a time it's experience, but it strikes me +that this cattle roasting and losing of grain crops must mean a big loss +of opportunities as well as grow monotonous." + +Leyland, I fancied, had not previously noticed that Miss Haldane was +seated on a fallen log close beside us, and in the circumstances I was +by no means pleased when he turned to her. "Don't you think everybody +should make the most of all that's in them?" he asked. + +Somewhat to my surprise the girl looked straight at me as she answered: +"Considering the question in the abstract, I agree with you. It seems to +me the duty of every man with talents to take the place he was meant for +among his peers instead of frittering them away." + +There was an unusual earnestness in what she said, which both surprised +me and reminded me of the days in England; for Beatrice Haldane's +conversation had latterly been marked by a somewhat cynical languidness. +Nevertheless, the inference nettled me. + +"Talent is a somewhat vague term; but suppose any unprofessional person +possessed it, what career among the thick of his fellows would you +recommend--the acquisition of money on the markets, or politics? Both +are closed to the poor man," I said. + +It may have been fancy, but a faint angry sparkle seemed to creep into +Miss Haldane's eyes as she answered: "Are there no others? It seems to +me the place for such a person is where civilization moves fastest in +the cities. Whether we progress towards good or evil you cannot move +back the times, and it is force of intellect, or successful scheming if +you will, which commands the best the world can offer now. As an outside +observer, it seems to me that, considering the tendency towards +centralization and combinations of capital, the individual who, refusing +to accept the altered conditions, insists on remaining an independent +unit, must soon go under or take a helot's place. Don't you think so, +Mr. Leyland?" + +"That's what I mean, but you have put it more clearly," said Leyland +approvingly. "I was hoping Ormesby might see it that way." + +Understanding my host's manner I guessed that if I hinted at +acquiescence this would lead up to a definite offer, and it appeared +that both, in their own way, were bent on persuading me. The temptation +was alluring, when disaster appeared imminent, and I afterwards wondered +how it was I did not yield. Wounded pride or sheer obstinacy may, +however, have restrained me, for one of the most bitter things is to own +one's self beaten; but even then I felt that my place was on the +prairie. On the one hand there was only the prospect of grinding care +and often brutal labor, which wore the body to exhaustion and blunted +the mental faculties; on the other, at least some rest and leisure, +contact with culture and refinement, and perhaps even yet a vague +possibility of drawing nearer to the woman beside me. At that moment, +however, Lucille Haldane halted in front of us, and the trifling +incident helped to turn the scale. Young as she was, her views were +mine, and for some unfathomable reason I shook off what seemed a weak +tendency to yield when I met her gaze. + +"It will be a bad day for the Dominion when what is happening across the +frontier becomes general here," I said. "It is the number of independent +units which makes for the real prosperity of this country, and the +suggestion that there is only scope for intellect and force of will in +the cities can hardly pass unchallenged. The smallest wheat grower has +to use the same foresight in his degree as a railroad financier, and it +probably requires more stamina to hold out against bad seasons and the +oppression of scheming land-grabbers than is requisite, say, in +engineering a grain corner against adverse markets. Then, if one gets +back to principles, does it not appear that the poorest breaker of +virgin land who calls wheat up out of the idle sod is of more use to the +community than the gambler in his produce who creates nothing?" + +"There is no use arguing with any man who thinks that way," said Leyland +solemnly, and Beatrice Haldane laughed; but whether at his comment or at +my opinion did not appear. + +"Here is an ally for you. You are looking very wise, Lucille," she said +languidly. + +"I did not hear all you said, but I think Mr. Ormesby is partly right," +was the frank answer. "I just stopped on my way to the boat to get some +wrappings. It soon grows chilly." + +The girl refused our offers of assistance. Somebody called Leyland away, +and I was left alone, possibly against both our wishes, in Beatrice +Haldane's company. Still, it was an opportunity that might not occur +again, and I determined to turn it to good account. + +"Although you expressed strong disapproval not long ago, one could have +fancied you were not speaking from a wholly impersonal standpoint and +meant to give me good advice," I said. + +The spirit which had carried Haldane triumphantly through commercial +panic was not lacking in either of his daughters, and the elder one +quietly took up the challenge. "Perhaps the other could not be thrust +aside, and I have wondered whether you are wise in staking all your +future on the chances of success on the prairie. There are greater +possibilities in the busy world that lies before you now, but presently +habit and the force of associations will bind you to the soil, and you +must remain a raiser of cattle and sower of grain. Is it not possible +for the monotony and drudgery to drag one down to a steadily sinking +level?" + +The words stung me. I had done my best in my vocation, and it seemed had +failed therein. Neither was it impossible that the last sentence +possessed a definite meaning, and suppressed longing and resentment +against the pressure of circumstances held me silent after I had managed +to check the rash answer that rose to my lips. Then a shout broke +through the pause which followed, and Beatrice Haldane sprang to her +feet. "Lucille has set the boat adrift! Go and help her if you can!" she +said. + +A glance showed me the catboat sliding out towards open water before the +angry white ripples that crisped the little bay, for here the wind, +deflected by a hollow, blew freshly off-shore. A slight white-clad +figure stood on the fore deck, and I shouted: "Jump down and fling the +anchor over!" + +"There is no anchor!" the answer reached me faintly; and I set off +across a strip of shingle and boulders at a floundering run. + +The rest of the company were gathered in dismay upon a rocky ledge when +I came up, and Caryl tore off his jacket. Leyland turned to me, with +consternation in his face, as he said: "Ted must have tied some fool +knot and she's blowing right out across the lake. None of us can swim." + +"It's my fault, and I'm going to try, anyway. The water cannot be deep +inside here," gasped the valiant Caryl. + +I saw that, for inland waters, a tolerable sea was running where the +true wind blew straight down the lake, sufficient to endanger the +catboat if she drifted without control athwart it. There was evidently +no time to lose, and I turned angrily upon Caryl. "If you jump in here +you will certainly drown, and that will help nobody," I said. + +Then, seeing some feet of water below the ledge, I launched myself out +headforemost. The ripples ran white behind me when I rose, and there was +no great difficulty in swimming down-wind, even when cumbered by +clothing; but the boat's side and mast exposed considerable surface to +the blast, and she had blown some distance to leeward before I overtook +her. It also cost me time and labor to crawl on board--an operation +difficult in deep water--but it was accomplished, and, turning to the +girl, I said cheerfully: "You need not be frightened. We shall beat back +in a few minutes if you will help me." + +Lucille Haldane showed the courage she had showed one snowy night at +Bonaventure, for there was confidence in her face as she answered: "I +will do whatever you tell me, and I'm not in the least afraid." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +IN PERIL OF THE WATERS + + +Again I hazarded a glance about me. The shallow-draughted craft had +already drifted a distance off-shore, and was listing over under the +pressure of the wind upon her lofty mast. The white ripples had grown to +short angry surges, and because darkness was approaching and the narrow +bay difficult to work into, it was evident we must lose no time in +getting back again. There was no anchor on board, and if I reefed the +sail (or rolled up the foot of it to reduce the area) the boat would +meanwhile increase her distance from the beach. It therefore seemed +necessary to attempt to thrash back under the whole mainsail. + +"Will you shove the centerboard down by the iron handle, and then take +hold of the tiller, Miss Haldane?" I said. + +The girl, stooping, thrust at the handle projecting from the trunk +containing the drawn-up center keel. The iron plate should have dropped +at a touch, but did not, and I sprang to her side when she said: +"Something must be holding it fast." + +She was right. Caryl had either bent the plate by striking a rock or a +piece of driftwood had jammed into the opening, for, do what I would, +the iron refused to fall more than a third of its proper distance, and +it was with a slight shock of dismay I relinquished the struggle. A +sailing craft of any description will only work to windward in zigzags +diagonally to the breeze, and then only provided there is enough of her +under water to provide lateral resistance, which the deep center keel +should have supplied. As it was, I must attempt to remedy the deficiency +by press of canvas at the risk of a capsize. + +Fortunately my companion was quick-witted and cool, and, standing at +the helm, followed my instructions promptly, while I dragged at the +halliards, and the loose folds of sailcloth rose thrashing overhead. I +was breathless when the sail was set, but sprang aft to the helm, lifted +the girl to the weather deck, and perched myself as high on that side as +I could, with the mainsheet round my left wrist and my right hand on the +tiller, wondering if the mast would bear the strain. The boat swayed +down until her leeward deck was buried in a rush of foam and her bending +mast slanted half way to the horizontal. Little clouds of spray shot up +from her weather bow as, gathering way, she swept ahead, and then they +gave place to sheets of water, which lashed our faces, and, sluicing +deep along the decks, poured over the coaming ledge into the open well. +Still, we were in comparatively smooth water where one could risk a +little, and while the straining mainsheet, which I dare not make fast, +sawed into my wrist, I glanced at my companion. Her hat was +sodden--already her hair clung in soaked clusters to her forehead, and +her wet face showed white against the dark water which raced past us. +Yet it was still confident, and her voice was level as she said: "Let me +help you. That rope is cutting your wrist." + +I could have smiled at the thought of those slender fingers sharing that +strain; but thinking it would be well to keep her attention occupied, +nodded, and was a trifle surprised at the relief when the girl seized +the hard wet hemp. "If I say--let go--lift your hands at once," I said. + +We were now tearing through the water at such pace that the boat flung a +good deal of what she displaced all over her, but a glance at the dark +pines ashore showed that she was making very little to windward, while, +when I looked over my shoulder at the boiling wake astern, it was too +plainly evident that, owing to the loss of the centerboard, we were +driving bodily sideways as well as ahead. Also the snowy froth which +lapped higher up the lee deck was perilously near the coaming protecting +the open well. Still, our expectant friends stood clustered among the +boulders fringing one horn of the bay, and I saw that Caryl held a rope +in his hand. We might just pass within reach of it on the next tack. + +"We must come round. Slip down, and climb up on the opposite side as the +sail swings over," I said, carefully shoving the tiller down. + +There was a thrashing of canvas as the boat came round, and I breathed +more easily as, gathering way on the opposite tack, she headed well up +for the boulder point where Caryl was somewhat awkwardly swinging the +coil of rope. The point drew nearer and nearer, and I could see Beatrice +Haldane standing rigidly still against the somber pines, when, as +ill-luck would have it, the dark branches set up a roaring as a wild +gust swept down. The boat swayed further over. Most of her forward was +buried in a rush of foam, and the water poured steadily into the well; +but I still held fast the sheet which would have loosed the sail, for we +might reach the rope in another two minutes. The gust increased in +violence. Foam and water poured over the coamings in cataracts, and, +seeing that otherwise a capsize was inevitable, I released the sheet. +The canvas rattled furiously, the craft swayed upright and commenced to +blow away sternforemost like a feather, while I dropped into the bottom +of her, ankle deep in water. + +"There is no help for it--we must reef. Take the tiller, and hold +it--so," I said. + +It was not without an effort I tied the tack, or forward corner of the +mainsail, down; then, floundering aft, hauled the afterside of it down +to the boom. That accomplished and the sail thus reduced by some two +feet all along its foot, there remained to be tied the row of short +lines, or reef points, which would hold the discarded portion when +rolled up; and when part of these were knotted it was with misgivings I +leaped up on the after-deck. The long, jerking boom projected a fathom +beyond the stern, and I must hold on by my toes while leaning out over +the water as I pulled the reef points at that end together. + +"I am going to trust you with the safety of both of us, Miss Haldane," I +said. "When you see the boom swing inwards pull the tiller towards you +before it flings me off." + +The girl had grown a little paler, and her hands trembled on the helm, +but she answered without hesitation: "Don't be longer than you can +help--but I understand." + +She showed a fine intelligence and a perfect self-command, or our voyage +might have ended abruptly; so the reefing was accomplished, and I +resumed the helm. Meanwhile, however, we had drifted well out into the +lake, and a few minutes of sailing proved that under her reduced canvas +the boat would not beat back to the windward shore. The figures among +the boulders had faded into the deepening gloom, but, assuming a +cheerfulness I did not feel, I said: "It is quite impossible to return, +and as it is growing too late to look for a safe landing or path through +the bush, we must head for home and send back horses for the others. It +will be a fair wind." + +"I was afraid so," said the girl with a shiver. "But I hope we shall not +be very long on the way. We spent five hours coming." + +I knew we should travel at a pace approaching a steamer's, provided the +craft could be kept from filling; but, enlarging upon the former point, +I tried to conceal the latter possibility, as I put the helm up; and the +craft, rising upright, but commencing to roll horribly, raced away +down-wind towards open water. Once out of the point's shelter, short but +angry waves raced white behind her, for one may find sufficient turmoil +of waters when a fresh gale sweeps the Canadian lakes. The rolling grew +wilder, the long boom splashed heavily into the white upheavals that +surged by on each side, and our progress became a series of upward +rushes and swoops, until at times I feared the craft would run her bows +under and go down bodily. Once I caught my companion glancing over the +stern, and, knowing how ugly oncoming waves appear when they heave up +behind a running vessel, I laid a hand on her shoulder and gently turned +her head aside. + +"There! You must look only that way, and tell me if you see any islands +across our course," I said. + +It was practically dark now, but I could distinguish the whiteness of +her wet face, and see her shiver violently. My jacket was spongy, I had +nothing to wrap her in, but she looked so wet and pitiful that I drew +her towards me and slipped a dripping arm protectingly about her. +Lucille Haldane made no demur. The wild rolling, the flying spray, and +the rush of short tumbling ridges must have been sufficiently +terrifying, and perhaps she found the contact reassuring. + +One hand was all I needed. There was now nothing any unassisted man +could do except keep the craft straight before wind and sea, but it was +quite sufficient for one who had lost much of his dexterity with the +tiller, and at times the boat twisted on a white crest in imminent peril +of rolling over. Worse than all, the waves that smote the flat stern +commenced to splash on board, and the water inside the boat rose +rapidly. Already the floorings were floating, and I dare not for a +second loose the tiller. It was Lucille Haldane who solved the +difficulty. + +"Is not all that water getting dangerous?" she asked, with chattering +teeth; and, knowing her keenness, I saw there was no use attempting to +hide the fact. + +"Why did you not tell me so earlier?" she continued. "It is only right +that I should do my share, and I can at least throw some of it out." + +"You are not fit for such work, and must sit still. At this pace we +shall see the lights of Leyland's house soon," I said, tightening my +hold on her; but the girl shook off my grasp. + +"I am not so helpless that I cannot make an effort to do what is so +necessary," she said. "Let me go, Mr. Ormesby, or I shall never forgive +you. Where is the bailer?" + +I pointed to it, and even in face of the necessity it hurt me to see her +alternately kneeling in the water that surged to and fro and trying to +hold herself upright while she raised and emptied the heavy bucket. +Often she upset its contents over herself or me, and several times a +lurch flung her cruelly against the coaming; but she persevered with +undiminished courage until she stumbled in a savage roll and struck her +head. Then she clung to the coaming, the water draining from her, and, +not daring to move from the tiller, I could do nothing but growl +anathemas upon the boat's owner, until the girl sank down in the stern +sheets beside me. + +"I must rest a little," she said. "But what were you saying, Mr. +Ormesby?" + +"Only that I should like to hang the man who invented this unhandy rig, +and Caryl for tempting you on board such a craft," I answered, hoping +she had not heard the whole of my remarks. "You poor child, it is +shameful that you should have to do such work; and, whatever happens, +you shall not try again." + +Her tresses, released from whatever bound them, streamed in the wind +about her, and she seemed to shrink a little from me as she struggled +with them. "It is not Caryl's fault. I clumsily let the rope go when I +was pulling the boat in, and as it is some little time since I was a +child, I do not care to be treated as one. Have I not done my best?" she +asked. + +"You have done gallantly; more than many men unused to +seamanship--Caryl, for instance--could. All this is due to his +stupidity," I answered; and fancied there was a trace of resentment in +her voice as she said: "Poor Ted! He is brave enough, at least. I know +he cannot swim, and yet he was about to plunge into deep water when you +stopped him." + +It appeared wholly ridiculous, but, even then, Lucille Haldane's defense +of Caryl irritated me. "He is responsible for all you are suffering, and +I can't forgive him for it. Was that not rather the action of a +lunatic?" I answered shortly. + +A wave, which, breaking upon the flat stern, deluged my shoulders and +drenched my companion afresh, cut short the colloquy; but I caught sight +of a faint twinkle ahead, and restrained her with a wet hand when she +would have resumed the bailing. It was also by gentle force, for this +time she resisted, that I drew her down beside me so that I partly +shielded her from the spray, and the water came in as it willed as we +drove onwards through thick obscurity. Still, the light rose higher +ahead, and I strained my eyes to catch the first loom of Leyland's +island. Large boulders studded the approach to it, and we might come to +grief if we struck one of them. + +It was now blowing viciously hard, the boat, half-buried in a white +smother, would scarcely steer, and the bright light from a window ahead +beat into my eyes, bewildering my vision. I could, however, dimly make +out pines looming behind it, and the beat of yeasty surges, which warned +me it would be risky to attempt a landing on that beach. There would be +shelter on the leeward side of the island, but a glance at the +balloon-like curves of the lifting mainsail showed that we could not +clear its end upon the course we were sailing. We must jibe, or swing +the mainsail over, which might result in a capsize. + +"I want your help, Miss Haldane. Go forward and loose the rope you will +find on your right-hand side near the mast," I said; and as the girl +obeyed, the light shone more fully upon the dripping boat. I had a +momentary vision of several dark figures on the veranda, and then, while +I held my breath, saw only the slight form of the girl, with draggled +dress and wet hair streaming, swung out above the whiteness of rushing +foam as she wrenched at the halliard, which had fouled. Then the head of +the sail swung down, and as she came back panting, the steering demanded +all my attention. + +"Hold fast to the coaming here," I said, as, dragging with might and +main at the sheet, I put the tiller up. + +The craft twisted upon her heel, the sail swung aloft, and then, while +the sheet rasped through my fingers, chafing the skin from them, there +was a heavy crash as the boom lurched over. The boat swayed wildly under +its impetus, buried one side deep, and a shout, which might have been a +cry of consternation, reached me faintly. Then she shook herself free, +and reeled away into the blackness on a different course. + +The head of the island swept by, and we shot into smoother water with a +spit of shingle ahead, on which I ran the craft ashore, and it was with +sincere relief I felt the shock of her keel upon the bottom. Lucille +Haldane said something I did not hear while she lay limp and wet and +silent in my arms, as, floundering nearly waist-deep, I carried her +ashore and then towards a path which led to the house. The night was +black, the way uneven, but perhaps because I was partly dazed I did not +set down my burden. She had helped me bravely, and it was only now, when +the peril had passed, I knew how very fearful I had been for her safety. +Indeed, it was hard to realize she was yet free from danger, and in +obedience to some unreasoning instinct I still held her fast, until she +slipped from my grasp. A few minutes later a light twinkled among the +trees, voices reached us, and Haldane, followed by several others, came +up with a lantern. + +He stooped and kissed his daughter, then, turning, held out his hand to +me. "Thank God!--but where is Beatrice?" he said. + +I told him, my teeth rattling as I spoke, and without further words we +went on towards the house. Nevertheless, the fervent handclasp and +quiver in Haldane's voice were sufficiently eloquent. When we entered +the house, where Mrs. Leyland took charge of Lucille, Haldane, asking +very few questions, looked hard at me. "I shall not forget this +service," he said quietly. "In the meantime get into some of Leyland's +things as quickly as you can. We are going to pull the boat ashore under +shelter of the island and requisition a wagon at Rideau's farm. I +believe we can reach the others by an old lumbermen's trail." + +It was in vain I offered my services as guide. Haldane would not accept +them, and set out with the assistants whom, fearing some accident, he +had brought with him, while I had changed into dry clothing when his +daughter came in. What she had put on I do not know, but it was probably +something of Mrs. Leyland's intended for evening wear; and, in contrast +to her usual almost girlish attire, it became her. She had suddenly +changed, as it were, into a woman. Her dark lashes were demurely +lowered, but her eyes were shining. + +"You are none the worse," I said, drawing out a chair for her; and she +laughed a little. + +"None; and I even ventured to appear in this fashion lest you should +think so. I also wanted to thank you for taking care of me." + +Lucille Haldane's voice was low and very pleasant to listen to, but I +wondered why I should feel such a thrill of pleasure as I heard it. + +"Shouldn't it be the reverse? You deserve the thanks for the way you +helped me, though I am sorry it was necessary you should do what you +did. Let me see your hands," I said. + +She tried to slip them out of sight, but I was too quick and, seizing +one, held it fast, feeling ashamed and sorry as I looked down at it. The +hard ropes had torn the soft white skin, and the rim of the bucket or +the coaming had left dark bruises. Admiration, mingled with pity, forced +me to add: "It was very cruel. I called you child. You are the bravest +woman I ever met!" + +The damask tinge deepened a little in her cheeks, and she strove to draw +the hand away, but I held it fast, continuing: "No man could have +behaved more pluckily; but--out of curiosity--were you not just a little +frightened?" + +The lashes fell lower, and I was not sure of the smile beneath them. "I +was, at first, very much so; but not afterwards. I thought I could trust +you to take care of me." + +"I am afraid I seemed very brutal; but I would have given my life to +keep you safe," I said. "That, however, would have been very little +after all. It is not worth much just now to anybody." + +I was ashamed of the speech afterwards, especially the latter part of +it, but it was wholly involuntary, and the events of the past few hours +had drawn, as it were, a bond of close comradeship between my companion +in peril and myself. + +"I think you are wrong, but I am glad you have spoken, because I wanted +to express my sympathy, and feared to intrude," she said. "We heard that +bad times had overtaken you and your neighbors, and were very sorry. +Still, they cannot last forever, and you will not be beaten. You must +not be, to justify the belief father and I have in you." + +The words were very simple, but there was a naïve sincerity about them +which made them strangely comforting, while I noticed that Mrs. Leyland, +who came in just then, looked at us curiously. I sat out upon the +veranda until late that night, filled with a contentment I could not +quite understand. To have rendered some assistance to Beatrice Haldane's +sister and won her father's goodwill seemed, however, sufficient ground +for satisfaction, and I decided that this must be the cause of it. + +The rest of the party returned overland next day, and during the +afternoon Haldane said to me: "I may as well admit that I have heard a +little about your difficulties, and Leyland has been talking to me. If +you don't mind the plain speaking, one might conclude that you are +somewhat hardly pressed. Well, it seems to me that certain incidents +have given me a right to advise or help you, and if you are disposed to +let the mortgaged property go, I don't think there would be any great +difficulty in finding an opening for you. There are big homesteads in +your region financed by Eastern capital." + +He spoke with sincerity and evident goodwill; but unfortunately Haldane +was almost the last person from whom I could accept a favor. "I am, +while grateful, not wholly defeated, and mean to hold on," I said. +"Would you, for instance, quietly back out of a conflict with some +wealthy combine and leave your opponents a free hand to collect the +plunder?" + +Haldane smiled dryly. "It would depend on circumstances; but in a +general way I hardly think I should," he said. "You will, however, +remember advice was mentioned, and I believe there are men who would +value my counsel." + +I shook my head. "Heaven knows what the end will be; but I must worry +through this trouble my own way," I said. + +Haldane was not offended, and did not seem surprised. "You may be wrong, +or you may be right; but if you and your neighbors are as hard to +plunder as you are slow to take a favor, the other gentlemen will +probably earn all they get," he said. "I presume you have no objections +to my wishing you good luck?" + +It was the next evening when I met Beatrice Haldane beside the lake. +"And so you are going back to-morrow to your cattle?" she said. + +"Yes," I answered. "It is the one course open to me, and the only work +for which I am fitted." And Miss Haldane showed a faint trace of +impatience. + +"If you are sure that is so, you are wise," she said. + +Before I could answer she moved away to greet Mrs. Leyland, and some +time elapsed before we met again, for I bade Leyland farewell next +morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE SELLING OF GASPARD'S TRAIL + + +The surroundings were depressing when, one evening, Steel and I rode +home for the last time to Gaspard's Trail. The still, clear weather, +with white frost in the mornings and mellow sunshine all day long, which +follows the harvest, had gone, and the prairie lay bleak and gray under +a threatening sky waiting for the snow. Crescents and wedges of wild +fowl streaked the lowering heavens overhead as they fled southward in +endless processions before the frost. The air throbbed with the beat of +their pinions which, at that season, emphasizes the human shrinking from +the winter, while the cold wind that shook the grasses sighed most +mournfully. + +There was nothing cheering in the prospect for a man who badly needed +encouragement, and I smiled sardonically when Steel, who pushed his +horse alongside me, said: "There's a good deal in the weather, and this +mean kind has just melted the grit right out of me. I'll be mighty +thankful to get in out of it, and curl up where it's warm and snug +beside the stove. Sally will have all fixed up good and cheerful, and +the west room's a cozy place to come into out of the cold." + +"You must make the most of it to-night, then, for we'll be camping on +straw or bare earth to-morrow," I said. "Confound you, Steel! Isn't it a +little unnecessary to remind me of all that I have lost?" + +"I didn't mean it that way," said the other, with some confusion. "I +felt I had to say something cheerful to rouse you up, and that was the +best I could make of it. Anyway, we'll both feel better after supper, +and I'm hoping we'll yet see the man who turned you out in a tight +place." + +"You have certainly succeeded," I answered dryly. "When a man is forced +to stand by and watch a rascal cheat him out of the result of years of +labor, you can't blame him for being a trifle short in temper, and, if +it were not for the last expectation you mention, I'd turn my back +to-morrow on this poverty-stricken country. As it is----" + +"We'll stop right here until our turn comes some day. Then there'll be +big trouble for somebody," said Steel. "But you've got to lie low, +Ormesby, and give him no chances. That man takes everyone he gets, and, +if one might say it, you're just a little hot in the head." + +"One's friends can say a good deal, and generally do," I answered +testily. "How long have you set up as a model of discretion, Steel? +Still, though there is rather more sense than usual in your advice, +doesn't it strike you as a little superfluous, considering that Lane has +left us no other possible course?" + +Steel said nothing further, and I was in no mood for conversation. +Gaspard's Trail was to be sold on the morrow, and Lane had carefully +chosen his time. The commercial depression was keener than ever, and +there is seldom any speculation in Western lands at that time of the +year. It was evidently his purpose to buy in my possessions. + +A cheerful red glow beat out through the windows of my dwelling when we +topped the last rise, but the sight of it rather increased my moodiness, +and it was in silence, and slowly, we rode up to the door of Gaspard's +Trail. Sally Steel met us there, and her eyelids were slightly red; but +there was a vindictive ring in her voice as she said: "Supper's ready, +and I'm mighty glad you've come. This place seems lonesome. Besides, I'm +'most played out with talking, and I've done my best to-day. Those +auctioneering fellows have fixed up everything, but it isn't my fault if +they don't know how mean they are. They finished with the house in a +hurry, and one of them said: 'I can't stand any more of that +she-devil.'" + +"He did! Where are they now?" asked Steel, dropping his horse's bridle +and staring about him angrily; but, after a glance at Sally, who +answered my unspoken question with a nod, I seized him by the shoulder. + +"Steady! Who is hot-headed now?" I said. + +Steel strove to shake off my grasp until his sister, who laughed a +little, turned towards him. "I just took it for a compliment, and +there's no use in your interfering," she said. "I guess neither of them +feels proud of himself to-night, and a cheerful row with somebody would +spoil all the good I've done. They're camping yonder in the stable, but +you'll tie up the horses in the empty barn." + +Sally Steel was a stanch partisan, and, knowing what I did of her +command of language, I felt almost sorry for the men who had been +exposed to it a whole day in what was, after all, only the execution of +their duty. Before Steel returned, one of them came out of the stable +and approached me, but, catching sight of Sally, stopped abruptly, and +then, as though mustering his courage, came on again. + +"I guess you're Mr. Ormesby, and I'm auctioneer's assistant," he said. +"One could understand that you were a bit sore, but I can't see that +it's my fault, anyway; and from what we heard, you don't usually turn +strangers into the stable." + +The man spoke civilly enough, and I did not approve of his location; but +the rising color in Sally's face would have convinced anybody who knew +her that non-interference was the wisest policy. + +"It is about the first time we have done so, but this lady manages my +house, and, if you don't like your quarters, you must talk to her," I +said. + +The man cast such a glance of genuine pity upon me that it stirred me to +faint amusement, rather than resentment, while the snap, as we called it +on the prairie, which crept into Sally's eyes usually presaged an +explosion. + +"If that's so, I guess I prefer to stop just where I am," he said. + +We ate our supper almost in silence, and little was spoken afterwards. +Sally did her best to rouse us, but even her conversation had lost its +usual bite and sparkle, and presently she abandoned the attempt. I +lounged in a hide chair beside the stove, and each object my eyes rested +on stirred up memories that were painful now. The cluster of splendid +wheat ears above the window had been the first sheared from a bounteous +harvest which had raised great hopes. I had made the table with my own +fingers, and brought out the chairs, with the crockery on the varnished +shelf, from Winnipeg, one winter, when the preceding season's operations +had warranted such reckless expenditure. The dusty elevator warrant +pinned to the wall recalled the famous yield of grain which--because +cattle had previously been our mainstay--had promised a new way to +prosperity, and now, as I glanced at it, led me back through a sequence +of failure to the brink of poverty. Also, bare and plain as it was, that +room appeared palatial in comparison with the elongated sod hovel which +must henceforward shelter us at Crane Valley. + +The memories grew too bitter, and at last I went out into the darkness +of a starless night, to find little solace there. I had planned and +helped to build the barns and stables which loomed about me--denied +myself of even necessities that the work might be better done; and now, +when, after years of effort and sordid economy, any prairie settler +might be proud of them, all must pass into a stranger's hands, for very +much less than their value. Tempted by a dazzling possibility, I had +staked too heavily and had lost, and there was little courage left in me +to recommence again at the beginning, when the hope which had hitherto +nerved me was taken away. Steel and his sister had retired before I +returned to the dwelling, and I was not sorry. + +The next day broke gloomily, with a threat of coming storm, but, as it +drew on, all the male inhabitants of that district foregathered at +Gaspard's Trail. They came in light wagons and buggies and on horseback, +and I was touched by their sympathy. They did not all express it neatly. +Indeed, the very silence of some was most eloquent; but there was no +mistaking the significance of the deep murmur that went up when Lane and +two men drove up in a light wagon. The former was dressed in city +fashion in a great fur-trimmed coat, and his laugh grated on me, as he +made some comment to the auctioneer beside him. Then the wagon was +pulled up beside the rank of vehicles, and the spectators ceased their +talking as, dismounting, he stood, jaunty, genial, and _débonnaire_, +face to face with the assembly. + +Even now the whole scene rises up before me--the threatening low-hung +heavens, the desolate sweep of prairie, the confused jumble of +buildings, the rows of wagons, and the intent, bronzed faces of the men +in well-worn jean. All were unusually somber, but, while a number +expressed only aversion, something which might have been fear, mingled +with hatred, stamped those of the rest. Every eye was fixed on the +little portly man in the fur coat who stood beside the wagon looking +about him with much apparent good-humor. Lane was not timid, or he would +never have ventured there at all; but his smile faded as he met that +concentrated gaze. Those who stared at him were for the most part +determined men, and even with the power of the law behind him, and two +troopers in the background, some slight embarrassment was not +inexcusable. + +"Good-morning to you, boys. Glad to see so many of you, and I hope +you'll pick up bargains to-day," he said; and then twisted one end of +his mustache with a nervous movement; when again a growl went up. It was +neither loud nor wholly articulate, though a few vivid epithets broke +through it, and the rest was clearly not a blessing. Several of the +nearest men turned their backs on the speaker with as much parade as +possible. + +"Don't seem quite pleased at something," he said to me. "Well, it don't +greatly matter whether they're pleased or not. May as well get on to +business. You've had your papers, and didn't find anything to kick +against, Ormesby?" + +"It is hardly worth while to ask, considering your experience in such +affairs. The sooner you begin and finish, the better I'll be pleased," I +said. + +The auctioneer's table had been set up in the open with the ticketed +implements arranged behind it and the stock and horses in the +wire-fenced corral close beside. He was of good repute in his business, +and I felt assured of fair play from him, at least, though I could see +Lane's purpose in bringing him out from Winnipeg. The latter was too +clever to spoil a well-laid scheme by any superfluous petty trickery, +and with that man to conduct it nobody could question the legitimacy of +the sale. There was an expectant silence when he stood up behind his +table. + +"What is one man's gain is another man's loss, and I feel quite certain, +from what I know of the prairie, that none of you would try to buy a +neighbor's things way under their cost," he commenced. "It's mighty hard +to make a fortune in times like these, you know, but anybody with sound +judgment, and the money handy, has his opportunity right now. You're +going to grow wheat and raise beef enough down here to feed the world +some day. It's a great country, and the best bit in it you'll find +scheduled with its rights and acreage as the first lot I have to offer +you--the Gaspard's Trail holding with the buildings thereon. The soil, +as you all know, will grow most anything you want, if you scratch it, +and the climate----" + +"Needs a constitution of cast iron to withstand it," interjected a young +and sickly Englishman, who had benefited less than he expected from a +sojourn on the prairie. His comment was followed by a query from another +disappointed individual: "Say, what about the gophers?" + +"I'm not selling you any climate," was the ready answer. "Even the +gopher has its uses, for without some small disadvantages the fame of +your prosperity would bring out all Europe here. Now, gentlemen, I'm +offering you one of the finest homesteads on the prairie. Soil of +unequaled fertility, the best grass between Winnipeg and Calgary, with +the practical certainty of a railroad bringing the stock cars to its +door, and the building of mills and elevators within a mile from this +corral." + +Here Lane, standing close to the table, whispered something--unobserved, +he doubtless thought--to the auctioneer, whose genial face contracted +into a frown. Lane had, perhaps, forgotten the latter was not one of the +impecunious smaller fry who, it was suggested, occasionally accepted +more than hints from him. + +"The holder of the mortgage evidently considers that the railroad will +not be built, and it is very good of him to say so--in the +circumstances; but we all know what a disinterested person he is," +continued the auctioneer; and the honest salesman had, at least, secured +the crowd's goodwill. A roar of derisive laughter and appreciation of +the quick-witted manner in which he had punished unjustified +interference followed the sally. "That, after all, is one person's +opinion only; and I heard from Ottawa that the road would be built. I +want your best bids for the land and buildings, with the stock cars +thrown in. You'll never get a better chance; but not all at once, +gentlemen." + +During the brief interval which followed I was conscious of quivering a +little under the suspense. The property, if realized at normal value, +should produce sufficient to discharge my liabilities several times +over; but I dreaded greatly that, under existing conditions, a balance +of debt would be left sufficient to give Lane a hold on me when all was +sold. The auctioneer's last request was superfluous, for at first nobody +appeared to have any intention of bidding at all, and there was an +impressive hush while two men from the cities, who stood apart among the +few strangers, whispered together. Meanwhile I edged close in to the +table so that I might watch every move of my adversary. + +"Lane wasn't wise when he tried to play that man the way he did," said +Steel, who stood beside me, but I scarcely heeded him, for Carson +Haldane, who must have reached Bonaventure very recently, nodded to me +as he took his seat in a chair Thorn brought him. + +Then one of the strangers named a ridiculously small sum, which Steel, +amid a burst of laughter from all those who knew the state of his +finances, immediately doubled, whereupon the bidder advanced his offer +by a hundred dollars. + +"Another five hundred on to that!" cried Steel; and when my foreman, +Thorn, followed his cue with a shout of, "I'll go three hundred better," +the merriment grew boisterous. The spectators were strung up and +uncertain in their mood. Very little, I could see, would rouse them to +fierce anger, and, perhaps, for that reason any opening for mirth came +as a relief to them. I had now drawn up close behind the table which +formed the common center for every man's attention, and, scanning the +faces about it, saw Lane's darken when the stranger called out +excitedly, "I'll raise him two hundred and fifty." + +Lane rewarded Thorn with a vicious glance, and growled under his breath. +Next he whispered something to the auctioneer, who disregarded it, while +a few minutes later the bidder, holding his hand up for attention, said: + +"I withdraw my last offer. I came here to do solid business and not fool +away my time competing with irresponsible parties who couldn't put up +enough money to buy the chicken-house. Is this a square sale, Mr. +Auctioneer, or is anybody without the means to purchase to be allowed to +force up genuine buyers for the benefit of the vendor?" + +"That's Lane's dummy, and I'm going to do some talking now," said Steel. + +I was inclined to fancy that the usurer, perhaps believing there was no +such thing as commercial honesty, had badly mistaken his man, or that +the auctioneer, guided by his own quick wits, saw through his scheme, +for he smote upon the table for attention. + +"This is a square sale, so square that I can see by the vendor's looks +he would sooner realize half-value than countenance anything irregular. +I took it for granted that these gentlemen had the means to purchase, +as I did in your own case. No doubt you can all prove your financial +ability." + +"One of them is still in debt," added the bidder. + +I had moved close behind Lane, and fancied I heard him say softly to +himself: "I'll fix you so you'll be sorry for your little jokes +by-and-by." + +A diversion followed. Goodwill to myself, hatred of the usurer, and +excitement, may perhaps have prompted them equally, for after the +would-be purchaser's challenge those of my neighbors who had escaped +better than the rest clustered about Steel, who had hard work to record +the rolls of paper money thrust upon him. Hardly had his rival laid down +a capacious wallet upon the table than Steel deposited the whole beside +it. + +"I guess that ought to cover my call, and now I want to see the man who +called me irresponsible," he said. "That's enough to raise me, but to +hint that any honest man would back up the thief of a mortgage holder is +an insult to the prairie." + +A roar of laughter and approval followed, but the laughter had an +ominous ring in it; and I saw Sergeant Mackay, who had been sitting +still as an equine statue in his saddle on the outskirts of the crowd, +push his horse through the thickest of the shouting men. He called some +by name, and bantered the rest; but there was a veiled warning behind +his jest, and two other troopers, following him, managed to further +separate the groups. The hint was unmistakable, and the shouting died +away, while, as the auctioneer looked at the money before him, the man +who had been bidding glanced covertly at Lane. + +"If you are satisfied with the good faith of these gentlemen, I'll let +my offer stand," he said. + +"It doesn't count for much whether he does or not," said Haldane +languidly. "I'll raise him two hundred and fifty." + +"I'm not satisfied with his," broke in the irrepressible Steel. "I can't +leave my money lying round right under that man's hand, Mr. Auctioneer. +No, sir; I won't feel easy until I've put it where it's safer. Besides, +he called me a friend of the mortgage holder, and I'm waiting for an +apology." + +The stranger from the cities grew very red in face, and a fresh laugh, +which was not all good-humor, went up from the crowd; but, as the +auctioneer prepared to grapple with this new phase of affairs, a man in +uniform reined in a gray horse beside the speaker, and looked down at +him. There was a faint twinkle in his eyes, though the rest of his +countenance was grim, and he laid a hard hand on the other's shoulder. + +"Ye'll just wait a while longer, Charlie Steel," he said. "I'm thinking +ye will at least be held fully responsible for anything calculated to +cause a breach of the peace." + +Thereafter the bidding proceeded without interruption, Haldane and his +rival advancing by fifties or hundreds of dollars, while, when the +prairie syndicate's united treasury was exhausted, which happened very +soon, a few other strangers joined in. Meanwhile, the suspense had grown +almost insupportable to me. That I must lose disastrously was certain +now, but I clung to the hope that I might still start at Crane Valley +clear of debt. Haldane was bidding with manifest indifference, and at +last he stopped. + +The auctioneer, calling the price out, looked at him, but Carson Haldane +shook his head, and said, with unusual distinctness: "The other +gentlemen may have it. I have gone further than I consider justifiable +already." + +I saw Lane glance at him with a puzzled expression, and next moment try +to signal the stranger, who was clearly in league with him, and fail in +the attempt to attract his attention. Then I held my breath, for, after +two more reluctant bids, there was only silence when the auctioneer +repeated the last offer. + +"Is there anyone willing to exceed this ridiculous figure? It's your +last chance, gentlemen. Going, going----" And my hopes died out as he +dropped the hammer. + +"Nothing left but to make the best of it," said Steel; which was very +poor consolation, for I could see nothing good at all in the whole +affair. + +There was much brisker bidding for the implements, working oxen, and +remnant of the stock, which were within the limits of my neighbors, and +who did their best; but the prices realized were by comparison merely a +drop in the bucket, and I turned away disconsolate, knowing that the +worst I feared had come to pass. All the borrowed money had been sunk in +the improvement of that property, and now the mortgage holder, who had +even before the sale been almost repaid, owned the whole of it, land and +improvements, and still held a lien on me for a balance of the debt. + +Haldane met me presently, and his tone was cordial as he said: "Where +are you thinking of spending the night?" + +"At Crane Valley with the others," I answered shortly. "Steel and my +foreman are going to help me to restart there." + +"I want you to come over to Bonaventure for a few days instead," he +said. "A little rest and change will brace you for the new campaign, and +I am all alone, except for my younger daughter." + +I looked him squarely in the face, seeing that frankness was best. "My +wits are not very keen to-day, and I am a little surprised," I said. +"May I ask why you bid at all for my recent property? You must have +known it was worth much more than your apparent limit." + +Haldane smiled good-humoredly; but, in spite of this, his face was +inscrutable. "'When I might at least have run the price up,' you wish to +add. Well, I had to redeem a promise made somewhat against my better +judgment, and I stopped--when it seemed advisable. This, as you may +discover, Ormesby, is not the end of the affair, and, if I could have +helped you judiciously, you may be sure that I would. In the meantime, +are you coming back to Bonaventure with me?" + +He had told me practically nothing, and yet I trusted him, while the +knowledge that his daughter had bidden him take measures on my behalf +was very soothing. After all, Beatrice Haldane had not forgotten me. "It +is very kind of you, and I should be glad to do so, sir," I said. + +I found Lane at the table as soon as the sale was over, and he held out +a sheet of paper. "You can verify the totals at leisure, but you will +see it leaves a balance due me," he said. "It is rather a pity, but the +new purchaser requires immediate possession, though he might allow you +to use the house to-night. Ah! here he is to speak for himself." + +The stranger, who indorsed the statement, looked first at Lane and then +at me in sidelong fashion. There was nothing remarkable about him except +that he had hardly the appearance of a practical farmer, but the +malicious enjoyment his master's eyes expressed, and something in his +voice, set my blood on fire. Indeed, I was in a humor to turn on my best +friend just then. + +"Nothing would induce me to enter a house which belonged to--you," I +said, turning to Lane. "So far you have won hands down; but neither you +nor your tool has quite consummated your victory. I shall see both of +you sorry you ever laid your grasping hands on this property." + +"You may be right in one way," answered Lane. "You'll remember what +happened to the fool bullfrog, and you're looking tolerably healthy +yet." + +I had hardly spoken before I regretted it. The words were useless and +puerile; but my indignation demanded some outlet. In any case, Lane +shrugged his shoulders and the other man grinned, while I had clearly +spoken more loudly than I intended, for several bystanders applauded, +and when I moved away Sergeant Mackay overtook me. "I'm surprised at ye, +Rancher Ormesby," he said. "Ye have not shown your usual discretion." + +"I would not change it for yours," I answered. "It is evidently +insufficient to warn you that there are times when preaching becomes an +impertinence." + +Mackay only shook his head. He wheeled his horse, and, with two troopers +behind him, rode towards the wagon which Lane was mounting. A deep +growl of execration went up, and the farewell might have been warmer but +for the troopers' presence. As it was, he turned and ironically saluted +the sullenly wrathful crowd as the light wagon lurched away across the +prairie. Then I was left homeless, and was glad to feel Haldane's touch +on my arm. "Light this cigar and jump in. The team are getting +impatient, and Lucille will be wondering what has kept us so long," he +said. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +AN UNFORTUNATE PROMISE + + +Haldane could command any man's attention when he chose to exert +himself, and, I fancied, made a special effort on my behalf during his +homeward journey. As a result of this I almost forgot that I was a +homeless and practically ruined man as I listened to his shrewd +predictions concerning the future of that region, or occasionally +ventured to point out improbabilities in some of them. The depression, +however, returned with double force when we came into sight of +Bonaventure soon after dusk, and with it a curious reluctance to face +the young mistress of the homestead. + +Lucille Haldane was my junior by several years. Indeed, on our first +meeting I had considered her little more than a girl, but since then a +respect for her opinions, and a desire to retain her approval, had been +growing upon me. Perhaps it was because her opinions more or less +coincided with my own, but this fact would not account for the +undeniable thrill of pleasure which had followed her naïve announcement +that she believed in me. Hitherto, with one exception, I had figured +before her as a successful man, and I positively shrank from appearing +as one badly beaten and brought down by his own overconfident folly. I +remembered how she once said: "You must not disappoint us." + +This seemed wholly absurd, but the worst bitterness I had yet +experienced made itself felt when Haldane pulled up his team, and, +pointing to a figure on the threshold of his homestead, said: "Lucille +must have been getting impatient. She is watching for us." + +I allowed him to precede me by as long a space as possible, while I +lingered to assist the hired man with a refractory buckle, and then it +was with an effort I braced myself for the interview. Haldane had +vanished into the house, but the slight, graceful figure still waited +upon the threshold, and I wondered, with a strange anxiety, what his +daughter would say to me. + +The question was promptly answered, for, as I entered the hall, feeling +horribly ashamed and with doubtless a very wooden face, Lucille Haldane +held out both hands to me. Her manner was half-shy, wholly +compassionate, and I stood quite still a while comforted by the touch of +the little soft fingers which I held fast within my own. Then she said +very simply: "I am so sorry, but you will have better fortune yet." + +A lamp hung close above us, and it was, perhaps, as well that it did, +for the relief which followed the quiet words that vibrated with +sincerity was more inimical to rational behavior than the previous +causeless hesitation. Lucille Haldane looked more girlish than ever and +most bewitchingly pretty as, glancing up at me, partly startled by my +fervent grasp, she drew her hands away. She seemed the incarnation of +innocence, freshness, and gentle sympathy, and, perhaps as a result of +the strain lately undergone, there came upon me an insane desire to +stoop and kiss her as, or so at least it seemed, a brother might have +done. + +She may have grown suspicious, for feminine perceptions are keen, and, +though the movement was graceful and not precipitate, a distance of +several feet divided us next moment, and we stood silent, looking at +each other, while my heart beat at what appeared double its usual rate. + +"You have given me new hope, and those were the kindest words I have +ever heard," I said. "I think you meant them." + +Lucille Haldane's manner changed. The change was indefinite, but it +existed, and it was with a smile she answered me. "Of course I did. One +does not generally trouble to deceive one's friends; and we are friends, +are we not, Mr. Ormesby?" + +"No one could desire a better, and I hope we shall always remain so," I +answered, with an attempt at a bow; and the girl, turning, preceded me +into the big central hall. + +"What kept you so long, Ormesby? One could almost have fancied you had +become possessed of an unusual bashfulness," said Haldane, when we came +in; and I glanced apologetically at his daughter before I answered him. + +"Something of the kind happened, and my excuse is that I had very little +cause for self-confidence. Now, however, I am only ashamed of the +hesitation." + +"You deserve to be," said Haldane, with a mock severity which veiled a +certain pride. "Fortunately, the young mistress of Bonaventure atones +for her father's shortcomings, and so long as she rules there will +always be a welcome for anybody in adversity here, as well as the best +we can give to harassed friends. It is a convenient arrangement, for +while, according to my unsuccessful rivals, I grow rich by paralyzing +industries and unscrupulous gambling upon the markets, Lucille assists +me to run up a counter score by proxy." + +The girl's face flushed a little, and it was pleasant to see the quick +indignation sparkle in her eyes. "You never did anything unscrupulous; +and I do not think we are very rich," she said. + +One might have fancied that Haldane was gratified, though he smiled +whimsically and turned in my direction as he answered: "The last +assertion, at least, is true if it proves anything, for it is tolerably +hard to acquire even a competence nowadays by strictly honest means, +isn't it, Ormesby? You, however, do not know the inconvenience of having +an uncomfortably elevated standard fixed for one to live up to, and I am +seriously contemplating a reckless attack on some national industry to +prove its impossibility." + +The girl's confidence in her father was supreme, for, though this time +she laughed, it was evident she did not believe a word of this. "It is +well you are known by your actions and not your speeches," she said. +"There are commercial combinations which deserve to be attacked. +Why"--and her tone grew serious enough--"do you not crush the man or +men who are doing so much mischief in our vicinity?" + +Haldane looked at his daughter, and then across at me, and, while +slightly ironical good-humor was stamped on his face, it was a mask. +There was more than one side to his character, and, when it pleased him +to be so, there was nobody more inscrutable. "It is a rather extensive +order, and men of that stamp are generally hard to crush," he said. +"Still, if those mistaken doctors should conspire to forbid me more +profitable employment, I might, perhaps, make the attempt some day." + +This was vague enough, but I felt that Haldane had intended the hint for +me. There was no further reference to anything financial, for +henceforward both my host and his daughter laid themselves out to help +me to forget my troubles, and were so successful in this that I even +wondered at myself. The troubles were certainly not far away, but the +financier's anecdotes and his daughter's comments proved so entertaining +that they diminished and melted into a somber background. + +When Lucille left us Haldane sat chatting with me over his cigar, and at +last he said abruptly: "I dare say you wondered at my half-hearted +action to-day?" + +"I did, sir," I answered; and the financier nodded good-humoredly. + +"There is nothing to equal plain speaking, Ormesby. When a man knows +just what he wants and asks for it he stands the best chance of +obtaining it, though I don't always act in accordance with the maxim +myself. Well, I made a few bids somewhat against my better judgment +because I had promised to, and then ceased because it seemed best to me +that, since you could not hold it, Lane should acquire the property." + +"I don't quite see the reason, sir. On the other hand, a stiff advance +in prices would have meant a good deal to me," I said. + +Haldane answered oracularly: "That gentleman's funds are not +inexhaustible, and he already holds what one might call foreclosure +options on a good deal of property. I should not be sorry to see him +take hold of further land so long as it did not lie west of Gaspard's +Trail. It is possible that he has, as we say in the vernacular, bitten +off more than he can chew--considering the present scarcity of money. I +should take heart if I were you, and hold on to Crane Valley whatever it +costs you." + +"Can't you speak a little more directly?" I asked. + +Haldane shook his head. "I am not in a position to do so yet; but, if +surmises turn into certainties, I will some day. Meanwhile, are you open +to train some of the Bonaventure colts, and look after my surplus stock +on a profit-division basis? I have more than my staff can handle." + +"I should be very glad to do so," I answered, seeing that while the +offer was prompted by kindness it had also its commercial aspect. "But, +if there is anything going on, say, some plan for the exploitation of +this district in opposition to Lane, can I not take my part in it?" + +"I have heard of no such scheme; and, if I had, you could help it most +by driving new straight furrows and raising further cattle," said +Haldane, with an enigmatical smile. "There are games which require a +lifelong experience from the men who would succeed in them; and, because +Rome was not built in a day, perhaps you were wiser to stick to your +plowing, Ormesby. One gets used to the excitement of the other life, but +the strain remains, and that is one reason why you see me at Bonaventure +again." + +My host's words encouraged me. It was true he had said very little, but +that was always Haldane's way; and, seeing that he now desired to change +the subject, I followed his lead. "I hope your health is not failing you +again, sir?" I said. + +"Save for one weakness, my general health is good enough," was the quiet +answer. "Still, the weakness is there, and for the second time this year +physicians have ordered an interval of quietness and leisure. One has to +pay the penalty for even partial success, you know, and I am not so +young or vigorous as I used to be." + +"Then, if I may ask the question, why not abandon altogether an +occupation which tries you, sir?" + +Haldane smiled over his cigar, but a shadow crossed his face. "We are +what the Almighty made us, Ormesby, and I suppose the restless gaming +instinct was born in me. Even in my enforced leisure down here it is +almost too strong for me, and I indulge in it on a minor scale by way of +recreation. I can't sit down and quietly rust into useless inactivity. +Further, while handling a good deal of money, my private share is +smaller than many folks suppose it, and I have my daughters' future to +ensure. Both have been brought up to consider a certain amount of luxury +as necessary." + +I do not think the last words were intended as a hint, for had Haldane +considered the latter necessary it is hardly likely I should have been +welcomed so often at Bonaventure. In any case it would have been +superfluous, for I had already faced the worst, and decided that +Beatrice Haldane must remain what she had always been to me--an ideal to +be worshiped in the abstract and at a distance. Strangest of all, once +the knowledge was forced on me, I found it possible to accept the +position with some degree of resignation. All this flashed through my +mind as I looked into the wreaths of smoke, and then Haldane spoke: + +"Have you come across that photographer fellow lately?" + +"Not for some time. Do you wish to see him?" I answered, with a slightly +puzzled air. + +"I think I should like to"--and Haldane's voice changed from its +reflective tone. "Do you know who he is, Ormesby?" + +"I should hardly care to say without consulting him, sir," I answered; +and Haldane laughed. + +"You need not trouble, because I do. If you chance upon him tell him +what I said. Getting late, isn't it? Good-night to you!" + +He left me equally relieved and mystified, and that I should feel any +relief at all formed part of the mystery. Whatever was the cause of it, +I was neither utterly cast down nor desperate when I sought my couch, +and I managed to sleep soundly. + +That was the first of several visits to Bonaventure. The acreage of +Crane Valley was ample, but the house a mere elongated sod hovel, of +which Miss Steel monopolized the greater portion, although I reflected +grimly that in existing circumstances it was quite good enough for me. +Our life there was dreary enough, and, at times, I grew tired of Sally's +alternate blandishments and railleries; so, when the frost bound fast +the sod and but little could be done for land and cattle, it was very +pleasant to spend a few days amid the refinement and comfort which ruled +at Bonaventure. During one of my journeys there I met Cotton, and rode +some distance with him across the prairie. I could see there was +something he wished to say, but his usually ample confidence seemed to +fail him, and finally he bade me farewell with visible hesitation where +our ways parted. I had, however, scarcely resumed my journey before he +hailed me, and when I checked my horse he rode back in my direction with +resolve and irresolution mingled in his face. + +"You are in a great hurry. There was something I wanted to ask," he +commenced. "Do you think this frost will hold, Ormesby?" + +"You have a barometer in the station, haven't you?" I answered, +regarding him ironically. "Cotton, you have something on your mind +to-day, and it is not the frost. Out with it, man. I'm in no way +dangerous." + +"I have," he answered, with a slight darkening of the bronze in his +face. "It is not a great thing, but your paternal advice and cheap +witticisms pall on me now and then. Curious way to ask a favor, isn't +it? But that is just what I'm going to do." + +"We'll omit the compliments. Come to the point," I said; and the trooper +made the plunge he had so much hesitated over. + +"I want you to ride out on Wednesday night and meet Freighter Walker +coming in from the rail. As you know, he generally travels all night by +the Bitter Lakes trail. Ask him for a packet with my name on the label, +then tear that label off and give Mail-carrier Steve the packet +addressed to Miss Haldane. Those confounded people at the rail post +office chatter so about every trifle, and Steve is too thick in the head +to notice anything. My rounds make it quite impossible for me to go +myself, and that fool of a freighter would certainly lose or smash the +thing before he passed our way on his return journey. It is not asking +too much, is it?" + +"No," I said readily, seeing the eagerness in the trooper's eyes, though +that statement implied a long, cold night's ride. "Miss Haldane is, +however, in Ottawa." + +"I don't care where she is," said Cotton. "Confound--of course, I mean +it's very good of you; but there's no use in assuming stupidity. It is +Miss Lucille Haldane I mean, you know." + +"I might certainly have guessed it," I said dryly. "It is no business of +mine, Cotton, but in return for your compliments I can't help asking, do +you think Haldane would appreciate it?" + +Cotton straightened himself in his saddle, and I was sorry for him. He +looked very young with that light in his eyes and the hot blood showing +through his tan; also, I fancied, very chivalrous. + +"Don't be under any misapprehension, Ormesby," he said quietly. "That +packet merely contains an article I heard Miss Haldane lamenting that +she could not obtain. It is of no value, only useful; but Thursday is +her birthday, and I think she would be pleased to have it. Being Trooper +Cotton, I should never have presumed to send a costly present, and you +do not for a moment suppose Miss Lucille would appreciate the trifle for +anything beyond its intrinsic utility. This is the second time you have +forced me to point out the absurdity of your conclusions." + +I was angry with him both for his infatuation and obtuseness, for it +struck me that in the circumstances the simple gift was made in a +dangerously graceful fashion, and calculated to appeal to a young +woman's sympathies. "I can't offer you advice?" I said. + +"No," was the answer. "One might surmise that you needed all your +abilities in that direction for yourself. Still, to prevent your drawing +any unwarranted inference, I may repeat that it would be quite +unnecessary." + +"I understand," I said somberly, feeling that there were two of us in +the same position. "Very glad to oblige you. The times are out of joint +for all of us just now, Cotton. Good-night--and, on consideration, I +think the frost will hold." + +We rode in different directions, and because I had made that unfortunate +promise it was late on Wednesday night when I prepared to leave +Bonaventure quietly. Haldane had journeyed to the railroad and could not +return before midnight at earliest. Lucille informed me that she would +be busy with some household affairs, and, as I could be back by morning, +it seemed possible that neither would miss me. Having promised the +trooper secrecy, I did not wish to answer questions or name excuses. + +As ill-luck would have it, the last person I desired to meet chanced +upon me, as, well wrapped in furs, I was slipping towards the door, and +I must have looked confused when Lucille Haldane said: "Where are you +going, Mr. Ormesby?" + +"A little ride," I answered. "I have--I have some business to do, and +after two idle days begin to long for exercise." + +The girl looked hard at me, and I saw she recognized that the excuse was +very lame. "There is nobody living within reach of a short ride. Will +you return to-night?" she asked. + +It was most unfortunate, for I did not wish to anticipate the trooper's +gift. "I hardly think so," I answered. "Now, I will make a bargain with +you. If you will keep my departure a secret, you will discover what my +errand is very shortly." + +"Very well," said Lucille Haldane; though she still seemed curious. "A +safe journey to you, but I don't envy you the exercise." + +I afterwards had cause to abuse Trooper Cotton and his errand, but I +swung myself into the saddle, and, when I reached the Bitter Lakes +trail, I patrolled it for two long hours under the nipping frost. No +lumbering ox-team, however, crawled up out of the white prairie, though +as yet the moon was in the sky; and I decided that the freighter had, as +he sometimes did, taken another trail. It then, fortunately, occurred to +me that I had promised to inspect some horses with a small rancher +living four or five leagues away, and so determined to do so in the +morning. A deserted sod-house stood at no great distance, which the +scattered settlers kept supplied with fuel. It served as a convenient +half-way shelter for those who must break their long journey to the +railroad settlement, and I set out for it at a canter. As I did so the +moon dipped, and darkness settled on the prairie. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE BURNING OF GASPARD'S TRAIL + + +The hole in the roof of the sod-house had been insufficiently stopped, +the green birch billets stored in a corner burned sulkily in the rusty +stove, so that the earth-floored room was bitterly cold. Still, after +tying my horse at one end of it, and partly burying myself in a heap of +prairie hay, I managed to sink into a light slumber. I awakened feeling +numbed all through, with the pain at the joints which results from +sleeping insufficiently protected in a low temperature, and looked about +me shivering. There was not a spark in the stove, the horse was stamping +impatiently, and, when a sputtering match had shown me that it was after +two in the morning, I rose stiffly. Anything appeared better than slowly +freezing there, and I strode out into the night, leading the horse by +the bridle. + +A cold wind swept the prairie, and it was very dark; but, when we had +covered a league or so, and the exercise had warmed me, a dull red glare +appeared on the horizon. A grass fire was out of the question at that +season, and it was evident that somebody's homestead was burning. I was +in the saddle the next moment and riding fast towards the distant blaze. +The frozen sod was rough, the night very black, and haste distinctly +imprudent; but I pressed on recklessly, haunted by a fear that the scene +of the conflagration was Bonaventure. Reaching the edge of a rise, I +pulled the horse up with a sense of vast relief, for a struggling birch +bluff gave me my bearings and made it plain that neither Haldane's +homestead nor his daughter could be in peril. + +Then it dawned on me that the fire was at Gaspard's Trail and I sat +still a minute, irresolute. I had no doubt that the recent purchaser was +merely acting for Lane, and I felt tempted to resume my journey; but +curiosity, or the instinct which calls out each prairie settler when his +neighbor's possessions are in jeopardy, was too strong for me, and I +rode towards the blaze, but much more slowly. It was one thing to risk a +broken limb when danger appeared to threaten Bonaventure, but quite +another to do so for the sake of an unscrupulous adversary. It would +have been well for me had I obeyed the first impulse which prompted +me--and turned my back upon the fire. + +An hour had passed before I reached the house which had once been mine, +and, after tethering the horse in shelter of an unthreatened granary, I +proceeded to look about me. Gaspard's Trail was clearly doomed. One end +of the dwelling had fallen in. The logs, dried by the fierce summer, +were blazing like a furnace, and a column of fire roared aloft into the +blackness of the night. Showers of sparks drove down-wind, barns and +stables were wrapped in smoke; but, although the blaze lighted up the +space about them, there was nobody visible. This was in one respect not +surprising, because the nearest homestead stood a long distance away, +but, as the new owner had an assistant living with him, I wondered what +had become of them. From the position of the doors and windows they +could have had no difficulty in escaping, so, deciding that if the +ostensible proprietor had deserted his property I was not called on to +burn myself, I proceeded to prowl about the buildings in case he should +be sheltering inside one of them. + +Finally I ran up against him carrying an armful of tools out of a shed, +and he dropped them at sight of me. "Hallo! Where did you spring from? +Blamed hard luck, isn't it?" said he. + +Niven, for that was his name, did not appear greatly disconcerted, or +was able to face his loss with enviable tranquillity. He was a lanky, +thin-faced man, with cunning eyes, and I did not like the way he looked +at me. + +"I was out on the prairie and saw the blaze. Where's your hired man; +and is there nothing better worth saving than these?" I asked. + +"I haven't seen Wilkins since he woke me up," was the answer. "He +shouted that the place was burning, and he'd run the horses out of the +stable and on to the prairie, while I hunted up odd valuables and +dressed myself. He must have done it and ridden off to the nearest ranch +for help, for I haven't seen him since. The fire had got too good a hold +for us to put it out." + +If I had hitherto entertained any doubts as to the ownership of +Gaspard's Trail, the speaker's manner would have dissipated them. No man +would, in the circumstances, have wasted time in speech had his own +property been in danger; and the sight of the homestead, which I had +spent the best years of my life in building, now burning without an +effort being made to save it, filled me with indignation. + +"You're the man who used to own this place, aren't you?" asked Niven, +with a sidelong glance. "Should have thought you would have had enough +of it; but you might as well help heave these things out, now you're +here." + +The question was innocent, if unnecessary, for I had spoken to him at +the sale; but the manner in which he put it made me long to assault him, +and I answered wrathfully: "I'll see you and your master burned before I +move a hand!" + +"I'm my own master, worse luck!" said the other coolly, before he +commenced to gather up his load; and then turned again as another man +came up breathless. + +"Is that you, Ormesby. Come to see the last of it?" he said; and I saw +that the newcomer was Boone, or Adams, the photographer. + +"I don't quite know what I came for," I answered. "Probably out of +curiosity. It's too late to save anything, even if there were more water +in the well than there used to be." + +Boone nodded as he glanced towards the house. It was burning more +fiercely than ever. The straw roof of the stable, which stood not far +away, was also well alight, and we could scarcely hear each other's +voices through the crackling of blazing logs and the roaring of the +flame. It was moodily I watched it toss and tower, now straight aloft, +now hurled earthwards by the wind in bewildering magnificence. After +many a hard day's toil I had robbed myself of much needed sleep to +fashion what the pitiless fire devoured, and it seemed as though I had +given my blood to feed the flame, and that the hopes which had nerved me +had dissipated like its smoke. "I can guess what you're feeling, but a +bad failure is sometimes the best way to success. You will get over it," +said Boone. + +I was grateful, but I did not answer him, for just then a rattle of +wheels broke through the roar of the conflagration, and two jolting +wagons lurched into the glare. Black figures on horseback followed, and +a breathless man ran up. "Trooper came round and warned us, and there's +more behind. Looks as if we'd come too late," he said. + +We formed the center of an excited group in a few more minutes, for +Niven had joined us, and, when he had answered some of the many +questions, he asked one in turn. "It was my man Wilkins warned you?" + +"I guess not," was the answer. "Trooper Chapleau saw the blaze on his +rounds"; and, when the others had stated how the news had been passed on +to them, the new owner said: "Then where in the name of thunder has the +fool gone?" + +A swift suspicion flashed upon me, and I glanced at Adams; but his face +was serene enough, and, when the question remained unanswered, another +thought struck me. "Did you see him lead the horses out?" I asked. + +"No," was the answer. "He was good at handling beasts, and I was way too +busy to worry about him. Must have done it long ago. I made sure he'd +lit out to ask for assistance, when I saw the door had swung to." + +I twisted round on my heel. "Who's coming with me to the stable, boys?" +I asked. + +The men looked at me and then at the fire. The stable was built of the +stoutest logs obtainable, packed with sod, and its roof of branches, +sod, and straw piled several feet thick to keep out the frost. A +wind-driven blaze eddied about one end of it, but the rest of the low +edifice appeared uninjured as far as we could see it through the smoke. +The glare beat upon the weather-darkened faces of the spectators, which +glowed like burnished copper under it; but, if devoid of malicious +satisfaction, I thought I could read a resolve not to interfere stamped +on most of them. + +"There's nothing of yours inside, and this fellow says the teams are +clear," said one. "A bigger fire wouldn't stop us if the place was +Ormesby's; but when the man who allows he owns it does nothing I'll not +stir a finger to pull out a few forks and pails for that black thief +Lane." + +His comrades nodded, and another man said: "It's justice. Boys, you'll +remember the night we brought Redmond home?" + +I knew the first speaker's statement was true enough. One and all would +have freely risked their lives to assist even a stranger who had dealt +fairly with them; but they were stubborn men, unused to oppression, and +recent events had roused all the slow vindictiveness that lurked within +them. I felt very much as they did; but, remembering something, I was +not quite certain that the teams were out of the stable, and the dumb +beasts had served me well. Before I could speak a police trooper came up +at a gallop. "Hallo! What are you gaping at? Can't you stir around and +pull anything clear of harm's way, boys?" he shouted. + +"We're not a Montreal fire brigade, and I forgot my big helmet," said +one. + +"Not a stir," interjected another. + +"We'd pull the very sod up off the corral if you'd run Lane in for +wholesale robbery," added a third; and it was not until the hoarse laugh +which followed died away that I found my opportunity. + +"I'm afraid the horses are inside there, boys," I said. "It's not their +fault they belong to Lane, and whether you come along or not, I'm going +to liberate them." + +There was a change in a moment. I never saw even the most unfortunate +settler ill-use his beast, though all young plow oxen and half-broken +broncos, besides a good many old ones, are sufficiently exasperating. +"Ormesby's talking now," said somebody; and there was an approving +chorus. "Get the poor brutes clear, anyway. Coming right along!" Then I +started for the stable at a run, with the rest of the company hard +behind me. + +Thick smoke rolled between us and the door, and when we halted just +clear of the worst of it a bright blaze shot up from the thatch. The +heat scorched our faces, and one or two fell back with heads averted; +but the sound of a confused trampling reached us from the building. +"We've got to get in before the poor brutes are roasted, and do it +mighty smartly," said somebody. + +That at least was evident; but the question how it was to be +accomplished remained, for I recoiled, blinded and choking, at the first +attempt, before I even reached the door. I had framed it, with my own +hands, of stout tenoned logs, so that it would fit tightly to keep out +the frost. One of the posts loosened by the fire had settled, apparently +since the last person entered the building. Another man went with me the +second time, but though we managed to reach the handle the door remained +immovable, and once more we reeled back beaten, when a strip of blazing +thatch fell almost on our heads. Because the roof fed it, the fire was +mostly on the outside of the building. + +"Solid as a rock," gasped my companion. "Say, somebody find a lariat and +we'll heave her out by the roots." + +A rope was found and with difficulty hitched about the handle, after +which a dozen strong men grasped the slack of it. A glance at their +faces, illumined by the glare, showed that the thought of the suffering +beasts had roused them, and they were in earnest now. There was a heave +of brawny shoulders, a straining of sinewy limbs, and the line of bodies +swayed backwards as one, when a voice rose: "All together! Heave your +best!" + +I felt the straining hemp contract within my grasp. Trampling feet +clawed for a firmer hold on the frozen sod, and I could hear the men +behind me panting heavily. The door remained fast, however, and again a +breathless voice encouraged us: "This time does it! Out she comes!" + +The rope creaked, the trampling increased, and a man behind kicked me +cruelly on the ankle during his efforts; but instead of the jammed door, +its handle came out, and the next moment we went down together in one +struggling heap. "There was a good birch log by the granary. We'll use +it for a ram," I gasped. + +Two men brought the log, which was unusually long and heavy for that +region, where the stoutest trees are small, and Boone and I staggered +with the butt of it into the smoke. The rest grasped the thinner end, +swung it back, and drove the other forward with all the impetus they +could furnish. The door creaked, but the most manifest result was the +fall of a further strip of burning thatch on us. + +"We must manage this time," spluttered Boone. "If we once let go it will +be too late before anyone else takes hold again." + +Once more the door defied us. The heat was almost stifling, the smoke +thicker than ever; but, choking, panting, and dripping with +perspiration, we managed to swing and guide the end of the log until the +battered frame went down with a crash, and we two reeled over it into +the building. The fire which traveled along the roof had eaten a portion +out, but though one strip of the interior was flooded with lurid light, +the smoke of a burning hay pile rolled about the rest. A horse was +squealing in agony; one stall partition had been wrenched away, and +another kicked to pieces; while two panic-stricken brutes blundered +about the building. The rest were plunging and straining at their +tethers, and there was a curious look in Boone's face as he turned to +me. + +"Somebody will risk being kicked to death before we get them out. I wish +we could give their owner the first chance," he said. + +Several of the agonized beasts had been in times of loneliness almost as +human friends to me. Others had, in their own dumb faithful way, helped +me to realize my first ambitions, and the sight of their suffering +turned me savage. "Do you know anything of this?" I asked. + +Boone wheeled around on me with a menace in his eyes, but apparently +mastering his temper with an effort, laughed unpleasantly. "No. Take +care you are not asked the same question. Are you disposed to let the +horses roast while we quarrel?" + +The latter, at least, was out of the question, and I had only paused to +gather breath and consider a plan of operations, for it is by no means +easy to extricate frantic beasts from a burning building. The others in +the meantime were gathering around, and we set about it as best we +could. At times thick smoke wreaths blew into our eyes, the heat grew +insupportable, and the first horse I freed would have seized me with its +teeth but that I smote it hard upon the nostrils. Two men were knocked +down and trampled on, another badly kicked, but amid an indescribable +confusion the task was accomplished, until only one badly burned horse, +and another with a broken leg, remained inside the building. + +"We can't leave them to grill," I said. "Thorn used to keep an old +shotgun inside the chop-chest lid." + +It was Boone who brought me the weapon, and the burned horse was quickly +put out of its misery; but a portion of the roof fell in as I ran +towards the other. This one lay still, and, I saw, recognized me. It had +carried me gallantly on many a weary ride, and was the one on which +Lucille Haldane had leaped across the fence. I felt like a murderer when +it turned its eyes on me with an almost human appeal, for all that I +could do was to press the deadly muzzle against its head. The shock of +the detonation shook down a shower of blazing fragments, and I had +turned away with a horrible sense of guilt, when somebody shouted, +"There's a man in the end stall!" + +The stall was hidden by the smoke, but, now that the emptied stable was +quieter, a voice reached us faintly through the vapor: "Won't anyone +take me out of this?" + +Several of us made a rush in that direction; but, so far as memory +serves, only Boone and I reached the stall, and, groping around it +blindly, came upon something which resembled a human form. We lifted it +between us, and the man both groaned and swore; then, staggering through +the vapor, we came, blackened, burned a little, and half-asphyxiated, +into the open. The rest were already outside, and, when we laid down our +burden, they stood about him, panting. + +"You've nearly killed me between you, boys, but it wasn't your fault," +he gasped. "Horse fell over me when I tried to turn him loose." The +half-articulate words which followed suspiciously suggested that the +sufferer was cursing somebody, and I caught the name of Lane before he +lapsed into semi-consciousness. + +"It's pretty simple," one of the onlookers said. "The way Ormesby fixed +that door, it shut itself. He got some bones smashed, and was turned +half-silly by the shock. Couldn't make us hear him even if he had sense +enough. My place is the nearest, and I'll take him along." + +I heard my name called softly, and saw Boone standing apart from the +rest. "I want to ask why you spoke as you did a little while ago?" he +said. + +"I did not stop to reflect just then, but I'll hear your explanation if +you care to volunteer one before I apologize," I said. + +"I was camped under a bluff with the wagon when I saw the blaze, and as +the distance was not great, I came in on foot," was the answer. "That is +the simple truth. Do you believe it?" + +"Yes," I said, for his manner impressed me. "In turn, you also hinted +something." + +"I was giving you a warning," said Boone. "You are dealing with a +dangerous man, and can't you see that if there is any doubt concerning +the fire's origin a charge might be worked up against you? Be careful +what you say; but as I see the sergeant yonder, you need not mention my +presence unless it is necessary." + +I alluded to Haldane's desire to see him, and, when he vanished, +followed the rest into the presence of Sergeant Mackay, who, ubiquitous +as usual, had mysteriously appeared. He sat motionless in his saddle, +with slightly compressed lips, though his keen eyes moved along the +encircling faces. It was evident that he was making an official inquiry, +and the owner of the homestead was speaking. + +"My name is Niven, late of the Brandon district, and I purchased this +property recently," he said. + +"Any partners?" asked the sergeant; and I noticed a gleam of what +appeared malicious satisfaction in the other's face as he answered: "No. +You will find my name recorded as sole owner. All was right when I +turned in about ten o'clock, but I didn't notice the time when my hired +man Wilkins roused me to say the house was burning. Had too much to +think about. Can't suggest any cause for the fire, and it doesn't count +much, anyway, for the result is certain. House and stable burned +out--and all uninsured." + +"Had ye any other hired man than Wilkins?" interposed the sergeant; and +Niven answered: "No. Stable didn't seem to be burning when I first got +up, but Wilkins said it was swept by sparks and he'd get the horses out. +One of them must have knocked him down, and he was only found at the +last minute." + +"Who was the first man ye met when ye went out?" asked the sergeant. + +"My predecessor--Ormesby," said Niven. + +Mackay appeared to meditate before he spoke again: "Where did ye meet +him, and what did he say?" + +"Slipping around the corner of a shed, and he said he'd see me burnt +before he stirred a hand to help," was the prompt answer. Then Mackay +questioned several others before he turned to me. + +"How did ye happen to come to Gaspard's Trail, Henry Ormesby?" + +"I was riding out from Bonaventure to intercept the freighter and saw +the blaze," I answered indignantly. "I certainly refused to help Niven +at first, for I had little cause for goodwill towards him or the man +behind him; but afterwards I saved most of his working beasts." + +There was a murmur of assent from the bystanders, but the sergeant, +disregarding it, spoke again: "Did ye meet the freighter?" + +"No," I said bluntly. + +Mackay smiled. "Ye did not. I passed him an hour gone by on the Buffalo +trail. What was your business with him?" + +"To ask him for a package." + +"All that should be easily corroborated," was the answer; and I was glad +that the examination was over, for, remembering Boone's warning, it +appeared that my answers might give rise to unpleasant suspicions. It +also struck me that, in the hurry and confusion, nobody had noticed him +or remembered it if they had done so, while, somewhat strange to say, +after the last brief interview I had full confidence in his statement +that he knew nothing about the origin of the fire. + +"I'm thinking that will do in the meantime. Chapleau, ye'll ride in to +the depot and wire for a surgeon. Now, boys, are any of ye willing to +take Niven home?" asked Mackay. + +Apparently none of them were willing, though at last two offers were +reluctantly made. It was the only time I ever saw the prairie settlers +deficient in hospitality; but the man's conduct had confirmed their +suspicions as to his connection with Lane, which was sufficient to +prejudice the most generous. "Maybe he would be comfortable if I took +him along with me," Mackay said dryly. + +Thereupon the assembly broke up, and I rode back to Bonaventure, +reaching it with the first of the daylight, blackened and singed, +while, as it happened, Lucille Haldane was the first person I met. +"Where have you been? Your clothes are all burned!" she said. + +"Gaspard's Trail is burned down and I helped to save some of the +horses," I answered wearily; and I never forgot the girl's first +startled look. She appeared struck with a sudden consternation. It +vanished in a moment, and, though she looked almost guilty, her answer +was reassuring. + +"Of course; that is just what you would do. But you are tired and must +rest before you tell me about it." + +I was very tired, and slept until noon, when I told my story to Haldane +and his daughter together. The former made very few comments, but +presently I came upon Lucille alone, and laid my hand on her shoulder as +I said: "Do you know that somebody suggested it was I who burned +Gaspard's Trail?" + +The girl's color came and went under my gaze; then she lifted her head +and met it directly. "I--I was afraid you might be suspected, and for +just a moment or two, when you first came in looking like a ghost, I did +not know what to think," she said. "But it was only because you startled +me so." + +"I would not like to think that you could believe evil against me," I +said; and Lucille drew herself up a little. "Do not be ungenerous. As +soon as I could reason clearly I knew it was quite--quite impossible." + +"I hope any work of that kind is," I said; and Lucille Haldane, turning +suddenly, left me. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +BEAUTY IN DISGUISE + + +Winter passed very monotonously with us in the sod-house at Crane +Valley. When the season's work is over and the prairie bound fast by +iron frost, the man whom it has prospered spends his well-earned leisure +visiting his neighbors or lounging contentedly beside the stove; but +those oppressed by anxieties find the compulsory idleness irksome, and I +counted the days until we could commence again in the spring. The +goodwill of my neighbors made this possible, for one promised +seed-wheat, to be paid for when harvest was gathered in; another placed +surplus stock under my charge on an agreement to share the resultant +profit, while Haldane sent a large draft of young horses and cattle he +had hardly hands enough to care for, under a similar arrangement. + +I accepted these offers the more readily because, while prompted by +kindness, the advantages were tolerably equal to all concerned. So the +future looked slightly brighter, and I hoped that better times would +come, if we could hold out sufficiently long. The debt I still owed +Lane, however, hung as a menace over me, while although--doubtless +because it suited him--he did not press me for payment, the extortionate +interest was adding to it constantly. Some of my neighbors were in +similar circumstances, and at times we conferred together as to the best +means of mutual protection. + +In the meantime the fire at Gaspard's Trail was almost forgotten--or so, +at least, it seemed. Haldane, much against his wishes, spent most of the +winter at Bonaventure; but his elder daughter remained in Montreal. +Boone, the photographer, appeared but once, and spent the night with us. +He looked less like the average Englishman than ever, for frost and +snow-blink had darkened his skin to an Indian's color, and when supper +was over I watched him languidly as we lounged smoking about the stove. +Sally Steel had managed to render the sod-house not only habitable but +comfortable in a homely way, and though she ruled us all in a somewhat +tyrannical fashion, she said it was for our good. + +"There's a little favor I want to ask of you, Ormesby, but I suppose you +are all in one another's confidence?" said Boone. + +"Yes," I answered. "We are all, in one sense, partners, with a capital +of about ten dollars, and are further united by the fear of a common +enemy." + +Boone laughed silently, though his face was a trifle sardonic. "That is +as it should be, and you may have an opportunity for proving the +strength of the combination before very long. I have, as I once told +you, a weakness for horses and cattle, and I couldn't resist purchasing +some at a bargain a little while ago. I want you to take charge of them +for me. Here are particulars, and my idea of an equitable agreement." He +laid a paper on the table, and I glanced through it. The conditions were +those usual in arrangements of the kind, which were not then uncommon, +but though cattle and horses were lamentably cheap, they could not be +obtained for nothing, and the total value surprised me. + +"We are as honest as most people down this way, and we take one +another's word without any use for spilling ink," observed the +irrepressible Sally. + +"I once heard of a grasping storekeeper being badly beaten over a deal +in butter by a clever young lady," said Boone; and Steel laughed, while +his sister frowned. + +"He deserved it, but you seem to know just everything," she said. + +"Some people are born clever, and some handsome; but it is really not my +fault," said Boone, with a smile at Sally. "For instance, I know what +Ormesby is thinking. He is wondering where I got the money to pay for +those beasts." + +The laugh was against me, but I answered frankly: "That was in my +thoughts; but I also wondered what I had done to merit the trouble you +have taken to do me a kindness." + +"Don't flatter yourself," said Boone. "It is a matter of business, and +equally possible that I wished to do some other person the opposite. You +must decide to-night, because I have a new assortment of beautifiers and +cosmetics in my wagon which I must set about vending to-morrow. They +would not, of course, be of any use to Miss Sally, but I am going on to +the Swedish settlement where the poor people need them." + +It was not delicate flattery, but Boone was quick at judging his +listener's capacity, and it pleased Miss Steel--the more so because a +certain Scandinavian damsel was her principal rival in the question of +comeliness. She drew herself up a little, while Boone smiled +whimsically. "You know it is true," he said. + +The man had always interested me. He was at home anywhere, and his +tongue equally adept at broad prairie raillery or finely modulated +English. Yet one could see that there was a shadow upon him. + +"You need have no compunction, Ormesby. I really made only one +successful attempt at housebreaking in my life," he said. "Do you accept +the offer?" + +"Yes, with many thanks; though I don't quite see why you make it in +writing," I said. "There are, however, a good many other things I don't +comprehend just now, and sometimes I feel that I am being moved here and +there blindly to suit other persons' unknown purposes. The position does +not please me." + +Boone laughed. "There is something in the fancy. You are the king's +bishop, and I'm not sure that as yet even the players quite know their +own game. Of course you are aware that Lane holds a power of attachment +against you?" + +"At present there is nothing but the prairie sod to attach, though I +don't see why he does not at once grab as much as he is entitled to of +that," I said. "If I get enough time I may be able to pay him off after +harvest." + +"I hope you will," was Boone's answer; and, changing the topic, he +entertained us with the quaintest anecdotes. + +Some time had passed since that evening, and spring had come suddenly, +when I commenced my plowing. Hitherto little wheat had been grown so far +West, but the soil was good, and I knew that sooner or later there would +be grain elevators in Crane Valley. Though the sub-soil was still +frozen, the black clods that curled in long waves from the mold-board's +side were steaming under the April sun; and as I tramped down the +quarter-mile furrow my spirits rose with the freshness of the spring. It +was good to be up and doing again, and the coming months of strain and +effort would help me to forget. Thorn and Steel, who were also plowing, +shouted jests as they passed, and it was with a contentment long strange +to us we rested at noon. Some distance divided the breaking from the +house, and we lay on the warm grasses, basking in the radiance of the +cloudless sun over our simple meal. + +The whole prairie was flooded with it, the air sweet and warm, and we +recommenced our task with pulses which throbbed in unison with that of +reawakening nature. The long months of darkness and deathlike cold had +gone, green blades presaging the golden ears would soon shoot upwards +from every furrow, and one drank in the essence of hope eternal in every +breath of air. Anxiety faded into insignificance, and one rejoiced in +the mere possession of physical strength, while the tender greenness +checkering the frost-nipped sod testified again that seed time and +harvest should not fail so long as the world rolled onward from darkness +into light. + +We came home more cheerful than we had been for months, but I felt an +instinctive foreboding when I saw Cotton talking to Sally beside the +corral fence. She was apparently bantering him, but there was +satisfaction in his face, as, after some jests of hers, he glanced at +the stripes on his sleeve. + +"I guess he's much too proud to look at you. They've made him a +corporal!" said Sally. + +There was a contrast between us. Spring plowing is not cleanly work, and +the mire which clung about our leggings had also freely spattered our +old jean overalls. Cotton was immaculate in new uniform, and sat, a +trim, soldierly figure, on his freshly caparisoned horse. + +"Here is a note for you from Bonaventure," he said. "I was riding in to +the railroad with some dispatches and to bring out our pay when Miss +Haldane asked me to give it to you." + +I saw a faint sparkle in Sally's eyes at the mention of Bonaventure, as +I said: "It was very good of you to ride so far round. Your superiors +are punctilious, are they not?" + +"With the exception of Mackay, who's away, they don't leave one much +discretion," said the corporal. "Still, I have time to spare, and don't +suppose anybody will be much the wiser. In any case, Miss Haldane said +the note was urgent, and--though having to call at the reservation I +might have passed this way on my homeward journey--I came at once." + +The missive brought a frown to my face. "Our hired men are busy, and +Corporal Cotton will kindly take you this," it ran. "Father, who went +East for a day or two, writes me to let you know immediately that Lane +is coming over shortly to attach your horses and cattle." + +I saw at once that if the money-lender seized our working beasts in the +midst of plowing, when nobody had a team to spare, our prospects of a +harvest would be ruined. However, I reflected with grim satisfaction +that the beasts were not mine, and that every man is entitled to protect +the property entrusted to him. "Read that," I said, passing it to Thorn. +"You had better start after supper and let the South-side boys know. +I'll warn the others, and it strikes me that Lane will have his work cut +out to drive off a single head." + +We had forgotten the bearer of the message, though once or twice I heard +Sally's voice and Cotton's laugh; but on turning towards the house I saw +he had backed his horse away from the corral and was somewhat dubiously +regarding the fence. Sally leaned against it watching him with an +assumption of ironical admiration. + +"I'll see that you keep your promise if I win," he said; and the girl +laughed mockingly. + +"If you don't I'll try not to cry over you," she retorted; and I guessed +the madcap had made some wager with him that he could not leap the +fence. Sally afterwards declared penitently that she never fancied he +would attempt it; but I could see by the lad's face he meant to take the +risk. + +"Your horse is not fresh enough, and you'll certainly break your neck!" +I shouted. + +Cotton glanced over his shoulder, then gathered up his bridle, while, as +I ran towards him, Sally's heart must have failed her, for she called +out: "Don't! I'll pay forfeit!" + +We were both too late. The corporal had touched the beast with the +spurs, and man and horse were flying towards the tall and well-braced +fence. I held my breath as I watched, for I had nailed the birch poles +home securely, and had not much faith in the beast's leaping powers. It +launched itself into the air, then there was a crash, and the top rail +flew into splinters, while horse and rider parted company. The former, +after rolling over, scrambled to its feet, but the uniformed figure +smote the ground with a distressful thud and lay very still. Sally +screamed, and must have climbed the fence, for when we had run around by +the slip rails she was bending over the limp figure stretched upon the +sod. Her eyes were wide with terror. + +"He is dead, and I have killed him," she said. + +I bent down with misgivings, for Cotton did not move, and there was +something peculiar about his eyes. "Can you hear us? Are you badly +hurt?" I asked. + +"What's that?" he answered drowsily; and I gathered courage, remembering +symptoms noticeable in similar cases; but Thorn had administered a dose +of prohibited whisky before he became intelligible. I was not wholly +sorry for Sally, but seeing that she had been sufficiently punished, I +said: "There are no bones broken, and his pulse is regaining strength." + +Cotton's scattered senses were evidently returning, for he looked up, +saying: "I'm only shaken, Miss Steel, and I won the bet. Don't be in a +hurry, Ormesby; I hardly fancy I could get up just yet." + +We waited several minutes, then, forcibly refusing Miss Steel's +assistance, carried him into the house and laid him on a makeshift couch +in our general-room. His color was returning, but his face was awry with +pain, and, so he expressed it, something had given way inside his back. +It was a dismal termination to an inspiriting day, and the old +depression returned with double force as I glanced at the untasted meal +on the table, at Lucille Haldane's note, and around the disordered room. +Sally looked badly frightened, Steel very grim, and Cotton seemed to be +suffering. + +"It will pass presently, and you had better get your supper," he said. +"I must try to eat a morsel, for I have a long way to ride to-night." + +"You are not going to move off that couch until morning at least," I +said. But the corporal answered: "I simply must. Is the horse all +right?" + +"Doesn't seem much the worse," said Steel; and Sally held a teacup to +the corporal's lips, and afterwards coaxed him very prettily to eat a +little. Seeing this, the rest of us attacked the cold supper, for we had +duties that must be attended to. Returning to the house some little time +later, I found that Sally had disappeared and Cotton was standing +upright. He moved a few paces, and then halted, leaning heavily on the +table, while his face grew gray with pain. + +"Lie down at once. You are not fit to move," I said. + +"It means degradation and heaven knows what besides unless I can reach +the depot to-night," he said. "Mackay is away, and the other man's a +cast-iron martinet, while I have just got my stripes and a hint of +something better. You see we are not supposed to undertake private +errands when under definite orders, and there are special reports and a +receipt for the pay in my wallet." + +He made another attempt to reach the door, then staggered, and, grasping +his arm, I settled him with some difficulty once more on the couch. "You +are right. There's nothing left but to face the inevitable," he said, +trying to check a groan. + +I forgot my own anxieties in my regret. "I am very sorry this should +have happened," I said. "You were far too generous; but can't one of us +take in the papers and get the money?" + +Cotton tried to smile, though his fingers twitched. "Miss Haldane asked +me; and it would be no use. They wouldn't give you the money, and if +they did, how would that get over the fact that I'm lying here helpless? +Why couldn't it have happened on the return journey?" + +"Did you tell Miss Haldane you were running a risk?" I asked. + +"Would one naturally do so when she asked a favor?" he answered, with a +trace of indignation. + +It was of course absurd of Corporal Cotton, but I felt very sorry for +him when he laid his head down with a groan, and I subsequently surmised +that Sally had overheard part, at least, of the conversation, for when +the lad, who had perhaps not wholly recovered from the weakness of the +shock, sank into sleep, she called me. + +"It's all my fault, and I'll never forgive myself; but I never guessed +he'd rush the fence," she said. "They couldn't put him in prison?" + +"They might turn him out of the service, which, in his eyes, would be +worse," I answered dryly. "It should be a lesson to you, Sally. You +can't help being pretty, but that is no reason why you should so often +lead some unfortunate man into difficulties." + +Sally's penitent expression vanished, and there was a flash in her eyes. +"You are so foolish, all of you, and I guess you needn't look wise, +Harry Ormesby. He is perhaps a little worse than the rest--and that's +why one likes him. When he wakes, you and Charlie have just got to take +those tight things off him and put him in your berth. If anybody wants +him the next day or two they'll have to tackle me." + +We did so presently, and, after seeing that our patient was comfortable, +Sally returned, wearing his uniform tunic. "How does this fit me?" she +asked. + +Steel looked angry, and I grew thoughtful. Nobody who knew her was, as a +rule, astonished at Sally's actions, but she asked the question soberly, +with no trace of mischief. + +"Do you wish me to say that you would look well in anything?" I asked. + +"I don't. You can tell lies enough when you trade horses," she answered +tartly. "It's a plain question--how does this thing fit me?" + +"Tolerably well," and I surveyed her critically. "It is a trifle large, +but if you don't draw it in too much at the waist it wouldn't fit you +badly. Are you going to turn police trooper, Sally?" + +Miss Steel was not generally bashful, but she looked a trifle confused +as she answered: "Don't ask any more fool questions." + +I went out soon afterwards to overhaul a plow under a shed, and had +spent considerable time over it, when Steel approached with a lantern. +"Have you seen anything of Sally?" he asked. + +"No," I answered carelessly. "What mischief has she been contriving +now?" + +"That's just what I'm anxious to know; that, and where the corporal's +horse is," he said. "They're both missing, and Cotton's fast asleep. +I"--and Steel used a few illegal expletives before he continued--"I +can't find his uniform either." + +"It must be somewhere. You can't have looked properly," I said; and +Steel restrained himself with an effort. + +"You can try yourself, and I'd give a hundred dollars, if I had it, to +see you find it," he said. + +I hurriedly left the plow, but though we hunted everywhere could +discover no trace of the missing uniform. "I didn't think we would," +said the harassed brother, with a groan of dismay. "She's--well, the +Lord only knows what Sally would do if she took the notion, and there's +no shirking the trouble. I've got to find out if she has the whole blame +outfit on." + +"I'll leave you to settle that point," I said; and hearing the locked +door of Sally's portion of the house wrenched open and garments being +hurled about, I surmised that Steel was prosecuting his inquiries. He +flung the split door to with a crash when he came out, leaving, as I saw +by a brief glimpse, ruin behind him, and he grew very red in the face as +he looked at me. + +"It will be a mighty relief when she marries somebody," he said +gloomily. "The only comfort is that you're a sensible man, and one could +trust you, Ormesby. You will never breathe a word of this. There's no +use trying to catch her, for she can get as much out of a beast as any +man." + +I pledged myself willingly, smothering a wild desire to laugh; and, as +it happened, it was I who met the truant riding home very wearily two +days later. Her mount was a chestnut, while Cotton's horse was gray, and +there was a bundle strapped before her. Still, except for a spattering +of mire, she was dressed in a manner befitting a young lady, and +actually blushed crimson when I accosted her. + +"Where have you been, Sally, and where did you get the horse?" + +"In to the railroad; and I borrowed him from Carsley's wife. They'll +send the corporal's over," she said. "I'm very tired, Harry Ormesby. +Won't you get me supper instead of worrying me?" + +Silence seemed best, and I could not resist the appeal, and so hurried +back to set about the supper; while what passed between brother and +sister I do not know, though when they came in together Sally appeared +triumphant and Steel in a very bad humor. + +"I'm going to see whether you have let the patient starve. You'll come +along with me," she said, when she came out of her own quarters, with no +trace of the journey about her. We entered the lean-to shed, which +Steel and I occupied together, and found Cotton better in health, though +as depressed as he had been all day. Sally held out a bag and a handful +of documents towards him. + +"There are your papers and money. Now all you have to do is to get well +again," she said demurely. + +There was no mistaking the relief in the corporal's face, and he +positively clutched at the articles she handed him. "You don't know what +this has saved me from. But how did you get them?" + +A flush of tell-tale color crept into Sally's cheeks, and I noticed that +her voice was not quite steady as she answered him. "You must solemnly +promise never to ask that again, or to tell anyone you were not at the +depot yourself. Nobody will ask you, we fixed it up so well. Now +promise, before I take them back again." + +The lad did so, and Sally glanced at me. "If Harry Ormesby ever tells +you I'll poison him." + +I do not think Corporal Cotton ever discovered Sally's part, or who +personated him, though he apparently suspected both Steel and myself; +but when we went out together I turned to the girl: "Just one question, +and then we'll forget it. How did you manage at the depot, Sally?" + +Miss Steel avoided my glance, but she laughed. "It was very dark, there +was only a half-trimmed lamp, and the agent was 'most asleep. It's +pretty easy, anyway, to fool a man," she said. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE DEFENSE OF CRANE VALLEY + + +It was two days before Cotton could be sent to the police outpost in a +wagon, but, so far as we could gather, the officer temporarily in charge +took it for granted he had been injured on his homeward ride around by +the Indian reserve which would have led him through Crane Valley. Some +time, however, passed before he was fit for the saddle. Meanwhile Steel +and I discussed Lane's latest move, and the best means of counteracting +it. + +"If we knew just what he wanted it would give us a better show, but we +don't, and Lane doesn't tell anybody," my comrade observed gloomily. + +"It's tolerably clear that he wants Crane Valley," said I. And Steel +proceeded: "Then why doesn't he sail in and take all he's entitled to?" + +"A part would not satisfy him when he wants it all," I said. "If he +seizes the working beasts and breeding stock now we shall be left +helpless for the season. He will take just enough to cripple me, and +leave me still in debt, while it would be useless to try to raise money +to pay him off until the question of the railroad is settled." + +"Will it ever be built?" asked Steel. + +"It must be, some day; but whether that will be before we are ruined or +buried, heaven only knows," I said. "Haldane seems to think the time +will not be long, and judging by his tactics, Lane agrees with him. +Still, the newspapers take an opposite view." + +"If it isn't"--and Steel frowned at the harness he was mending--"what +will we poor fools do?" + +"Stand Lane off as long as possible, and then strike for the mines in +British Columbia. That, however, concerns the future, and we have first +to decide what we will do if Lane arrives to-morrow." + +Steel's face grew somber, but he waited until I added: "Then, because +they're not my beasts as yet, if he can take them by main force--and I +almost hope he'll try--he is welcome to do so." + +"Now you're talking," and Steel smote a dilapidated saddle until the +dust leaped forth from it. "The law on debt liens is mighty mixed, but I +figure that the man who can keep hold has the best of it. Jacques, +Gordon, and the rest will stand by us solid, and I'd work two years for +nothing to get a fair chance at Lane." + +We both determined on resistance; but it struck me that ours was a very +forlorn hope, and that the odds were heavily against two plain farmers, +equally devoid of legal knowledge and of capital, who had pitted +themselves against a clever, unscrupulous man with the command of +apparently an unlimited amount of money. + +Lane did not come next day, nor the following one. + +Indeed, a number passed without bringing any word of him, and because +idleness meant disaster, we perforce relaxed our vigilance and resumed +our plowing. I had just yoked a pair of oxen to a double plow one +morning, when Boone's wagon came lurching up as fast as two whitened +horses could haul it across the prairie. + +"Lane came in with a hard-looking band of rascals by the Pacific Mail +last night," he said. "They had got whisky somewhere, and smashed the +hotel windows because Imrie wouldn't get them supper in the middle of +the night. He would start as soon as they were partly sober. Are you +prepared to protect your property, Ormesby?" + +"I am ready to protect other people's, which will suit me a good deal +better in this instance," I said, with a certain satisfaction that the +time for open resistance had come at last, though Lane had cunningly +chosen a season when every man's presence was necessary at his own +homestead. + +"Don't count too much on that," said Boone. "If you have no documentary +evidence, even the actual owners might have difficulty in substantiating +your claim. Now you see why I demanded a written agreement. It strikes +me that in this case possession is everything." + +"If I can keep whole in body until sundown, possession will remain with +us," I said. "But there is no time to spare for talking. It will take +hours to bring my neighbors up." + +"Of course you arranged with Haldane to send you assistance?" said +Boone; and hurled out an expletive when I answered stolidly: "That is +just what I did not do. I do not even know whether he is at home. It is +not necessary to drag all one's friends into a private quarrel." + +"Goodness knows why you are so unwarrantably proud, and it is not worth +while wasting time over that question now," said Boone. "Roll up your +thick-headed stockmen. I'm going on to Bonaventure for the one man whose +presence would be worth a hundred of them." + +He lashed his horses as he spoke, and I roused myself to action, while +long before his wagon dipped over the rim of the prairie Thorn had set +out at a gallop to bring our neighbors in. A neighbor may dwell from one +to ten leagues away in that country. This left only Steel and me to hold +Crane Valley, with the exception of Sally. The girl absolutely refused +to leave us, and it may not have been by accident that several +heavy-handled brushes lay convenient beside the stove. The stock were +driven off as far as we dare follow them across the prairie, and we +hoped they would remain unseen in a hollow; the working horses were made +fast in the stable; and when a few head of pedigree cattle had been +secured in the corral, we could only sit down and wait the siege. + +I spent several hours perched most uncomfortably on the roof with a pair +of glasses; but though the day was clear, nothing appeared above the rim +of the prairie. It spread all around the horizon in low rolling rises, +empty and desolate. My eyes grew dazzled, the continued use of the +glasses produced a distressful headache; but still nothing moved on +either rise or level, and it was a relief when at last Sally hailed me: +"Come down and get your dinner; scenery won't feed anybody." + +I had forgotten there was such a thing as food, and my throat and lips +were dry; but on descending I was surprised to find myself capable of +making an excellent meal. + +"You'll feel considerably better after that," said Sally, who watched +our efforts with much approval. "I guess you have forgotten you had no +breakfast, either of you." + +"That's so," assented her brother. "It's the first time I ever forgot it +in my life. Say, what are you going to do with that big hasp-bar, +Sally?" + +Miss Steel's movements were perhaps a little nervous, but she was +evidently not troubled by timidity. "I figured if anybody wanted to come +poking in here it might keep them out--if it was nicely warmed," she +said. + +"You must do nothing rash; and you must keep out of harm's way, Sally," +I said sternly. "They would be justified in seizing my household +property." + +"There's mighty little of it." And Miss Steel glanced around the room +with contempt. "Do you figure Lane would come out hundreds of miles for +your old crockery? Anything that's pretty round this place is mine, and +I'm anxious to see the man who's going to take it from me." + +I looked at the excited girl and then at her brother, who shook his head +in signal that further remonstrance would be useless. My ideas +respecting women had changed of late, and I somewhat resented the fact +that they would not be content to sit still and be worshiped, but must +insist on playing an active, and often a leading, part in all that +happened. + +"When Sally has made up her mind there's no use for anybody to talk," +said Steel. + +I had hardly mounted to the roof again before a line of diminutive +objects straggled up above the horizon, and I called down: "They're +coming!" + +"Which way?" was the eager question; and Steel stamped when I answered +moodily: "From the south." + +"Lane's outfit. Can't you see the others?" he shouted. + +I swept the glasses around the circumference of the prairie, and my +voice was thick with disappointment as I answered: "No." + +"Then you and I will have all we can do; and I wish to the Lord Sally +were anywhere else," said Steel. + +The diminutive figures rapidly resolved themselves into mounted men, +with a wagon behind them, but still all the rest of the prairie was +empty, and each time Steel asked the question: "Can't you see them yet?" +I grew more doggedly savage as I answered: "No." + +At last, when the money-lender's party were close at hand, I called out +that three horsemen were just visible in the north. "That's Gordon; +Jacques and the rest can't be here for a long while. It's time to come +down," said Steel. + +I came down, guessing that Lane, being on a lower level, could not see +our allies, and waited with Steel, apparently unarmed, though we had +weapons handy, in the space between the house and the stable. Sally had +disappeared inside the dwelling, and I trusted that she would remain +there. Presently, amid a rattle of gear and a confused trampling, a band +of men rode up to the homestead and ranged themselves in rude order on +each side of a wagon, some of them yelling in imitation of the American +cowboy as they wheeled. They were unkempt, dirty, and dissolute in +appearance, and I was not altogether surprised to see that most of them +were English or Americans. One finds very little errant rascality on the +Canadian prairie, perhaps because our money is very hardly earned, and +there are few people worth exploiting there; but odd specimens exported +from the great Republic and from the Old Country by disgusted friends +gravitate towards the smaller Western cities when they find life in the +waste too hard, and Lane had evidently collected some of the worst of +them. He sat in the wagon, smoking, and actually smiled at me. + +"Kind of surprise party, isn't it, Ormesby?" he said. "I've come round +to collect what I can in accordance with the notice served on you. +Here's a wallet full of papers, and this gentleman represents legal +authority. He had a partner, but we lost him. Now, I've no personal +feeling against you, and won't give you any trouble if it can be +avoided." + +Strange to say, I believed he spoke no more than the truth, and regarded +us dispassionately as merely a source from which a little profit might +be wrung. Neither Steel nor I, however, could look at the matter with +equal calmness. We were standing for our rights, and ready to strike for +shelter and daily bread, while the memory of former wrongs and a fierce +revolt against the rich man's oppression fired our blood. Nevertheless, +I remembered that it was necessary to gain time, and answered as coolly +as I could: + +"In the first place, the stock and horses belong to my neighbors, and in +the second, you will be overstepping limits if you violently break into +any part of my homestead. Neither does the law allow any private +individual to gather a band of ruffians and forcibly seize his debtor's +property." + +Lane probed his cigar with slow deliberateness. "You are growing quite +smart, Ormesby; but isn't it a pity you didn't display your acumen +earlier? I don't know that a stable can be considered a dwelling under +the homestead regulations, and there's nothing to prevent any man from +hiring assistance to drive home sequestrated cattle. It is this +gentleman's business to seize them, not mine. Neither is it clear how +far a proved agreement to feed another person's stock frees them of a +lien for debt. Have you got any in writing?" + +It was evident that, in homely parlance, my adversary held the best end +of the stick. The administration of justice is necessarily somewhat +rough-and-ready in the West, and I saw that the representative of legal +authority was at least two-thirds drunk. I also had little doubt that +Lane's mercenaries would act independently of him; while if they +exceeded legal limits there would be only our testimony to prove it +against a dozen witnesses. Possession was evidently everything. + +Lane had possibly guessed my thoughts, for he said: "Don't be mad enough +to start a circus, Ormesby. We have come a long way for the beasts, and +mean to get them. Can't you see that we could beat you if it came to +testimony? And I don't mind admitting that these rascals are not +particular." + +His tranquillity enraged me, but I managed to answer him: "If you drive +a hoof off you will have to defend your action against richer men than +I." + +"Well, I'll take my chances. It would cost them piles of money, and they +would gain nothing then," he said. "Say, officer, hadn't you better +begin?" + +"Gotsh any papersh to prove objection?" demanded that individual, +turning to me. And I took no pains to hide my disgust as I answered: "If +I had I should not trouble to show them to you." + +Steel, however, broke in: "We have. I'll show you a receipt for so many +beasts to be fattened for Roland Adams." + +"Whersh you keep them?" demanded the other. + +"Where you won't find them; 'way back on the prairie," Steel answered +triumphantly. + +It was a blunder, for the other, who had a little shrewdness left, +straightened himself. "Then all the beastsh heah belong to someone +else," he said, with a tipsy leer, and waved his hand to the rest. "No +papersh worth a shent. Whasher foolin' for? We'll just walk into the +stable." + +Several men sprang from their saddles, but Steel reached the door ahead +of them, and stood with his back against it, swinging a great birch +staff. "Nobody comes in here," he said. + +I was at his side the next moment with a keen hay-fork, and the men +halted in a semi-circle at the sight of our grim faces. + +"These points will reach anybody within six feet," I said. + +"Better quit fooling while your hide's whole. There's 'most a dozen of +us," said one, while another criticised my personal appearance in +uncomplimentary terms. One or two in the background advised their +comrades as to how we might best be maimed, but stood fast themselves, +for Steel was big and brawny, and looked coolly murderous as he balanced +the heavy staff; while whoever looked at me did so over the twin points +of steel. The interlude lasted at least a minute, and I listened with +strained attention for the thud of hoofs. Gordon could not be far off, +but he remained invisible behind a low rise, even if the buildings had +not obscured our view. Then a newcomer shoved his way through the rest, +and I saw that he was the genuine article as he stood before me in +Montana cattle-rider's dress. + +"It's a mighty poor show you're making, boys," he said contemptuously. +"Stand out of my way. You can pick up the pieces when I've done with +them." + +He danced up and down a few paces and yelled, either to bewilder or to +impress us, and I was conscious of a grim amusement, while Steel watched +him narrowly. Then, for the man had spirit enough, he leaped at Steel +like a panther, with something in his hand that twinkled. He was, +however, a second too late, for the birch staff met him in the center of +his face, and, falling like a log, he lay where he fell. Steel +deliberately snapped the knife beneath his heel, and Lane shouted +something as my comrade said: "The next man I down at that trick will +get his skull smashed in." + +There was a wrathful cry from the others, which convinced me that if we +took our eyes off them for an instant the rush would come; but they +hesitated, and Steel, standing poised with one foot forward and baleful +eyes, made the staff whistle round his head. "You're a mighty long time +beginning. Who's next--or maybe you only brought one man along?" he +said. + +"Where's that blamed officer? I guess this is his job," said one; but +the worthy mentioned drew further back from the edge of the group. + +"Deputsh you my authority. Thish not a house. Only beastsh live in +stables," he explained. + +"Better get it over. Sail in!" said one of the biggest, and there was a +shout of "Look out!" from Steel. + +Four or five men made a rush upon us, and, not wishing to inflict lethal +injuries unless my life were threatened, I had barely time to reverse +the fork before they were within striking distance. Another reeled +backwards headlong beneath the staff, and, knowing that a thrust is more +effective and harder to evade than a blow, I used the long-hafted fork, +blunt-end foremost, as a pike with considerable success. The struggle +continued for perhaps a minute, and was sharp while it lasted. Several +times a panting man got within my guard, and Steel brought him down; but +I was struck heavily, and had only a blurred vision of waving arms, +scowling faces, and the whirling staff, while the air seemed filled with +discordant shouts of encouragement from those outside. Either by sheer +force of desperation, or by the power of better weapons, we wore them +out, and the group broke up. One or two limped badly as they straggled +back, some swore, and there was blood on the faces and garments of the +rest. + +"One fellow got me badly on the chest," said Steel, who breathed +heavily, and I was conscious of several painful spots; and when I had +recovered breath I saw that Lane had drawn his wagon back some distance, +and was apparently upbraiding his bodyguard in no measured terms. + +"Jump clear!" cried Steel presently, and I sprang aside a moment too +late, for an exultant shout went up when a heavy billet struck me on the +head. I felt the blood trickle warm and sticky into one eye, and I fell +against the door feeling faint and sick, then stiffened myself again, +with the fork held points foremost this time. Lane, it seemed, had lost +control of his followers, and would doubtless rely on hard swearing to +protect himself from unfortunate consequences, for I now suspected there +would be bloodshed unless help arrived very shortly. + +"They're going for the house, and Sally's inside there," cried Steel; +and for the first time I remembered that the dwelling was unprotected, +and feared that the girl had not slipped away, as she might have done by +a rear window. + +One of Lane's men reached the threshold before we did, and three or four +others followed hard upon his heels. The door was wide open, and I +sincerely trusted that Sally had made her escape. She had not, however, +for the handle of a long brush swung out, and the first ruffian who +rushed at the entrance staggered backwards against the comrade behind +him. Steel flung him headlong the next moment; the rest yielded passage +before the tines of the fork, and we sprang into the house, while our +enemy's reinforcements came up at a run. So far we had succeeded better +than might have been expected, but our adversaries were growing furious, +and the defense of our property no longer appeared the main question. +The girl had dropped the brush and grasped a red-ended iron bar. + +"Give it to me, and reach down that rifle, Sally," I gasped, and while +Steel dragged up furniture for a barricade, the rest, not knowing its +magazine was empty, recoiled before the Winchester muzzle. + +"I'll be through in another minute. Keep them out," Steel said. + +A brief respite followed, for the iron was glowing still, and our +enemies' supply of missiles was evidently exhausted; but as we waited, +wondering what would happen next, I heard a beat of hoofs, and Sally +cried out triumphantly as three well-mounted men swept up at a gallop. + +"Ride over them!" shouted somebody. Warning cries went up, there was a +scattering of Lane's ruffians, and the leading horseman pulled up his +beast just outside the door. He was dripping with perspiration, +bespattered all over, and his horse was white with lather. + +"Couldn't get through earlier. Jacques' boys are away, but we sent a man +to look for them, and he'll bring them along," he said. + +We were very glad to see Rancher Gordon and his sturdy followers, +though it was bad news he brought. Further reinforcements could hardly +arrive in time to be of service, and where we had expected more than a +dozen we must be content with three. Meanwhile, Lane's men had mounted +and were trotting off across the prairie. + +"They have probably gone in search of the loose stock. Come in. We have +got to talk over our next step," I said. + +The newcomers did so, and we were all glad of a breathing space. My head +was somewhat badly cut, several purple bruises adorned my comrade's +countenance, and the rest had ridden a long way in furious haste. At +first the conference was conducted in half-breathless gasps, then the +voices deepened into a sonorous ring, and I can recall the intent +bronzed faces turned towards me, the thoughtful pauses when each speaker +had aired his views, and how the slanting sunlight beat into the partly +shadowed room. Last of all Rancher Gordon spoke: "We are waiting to hear +your notions, Ormesby." + +"The stable and corral must be held at any cost," I said, smearing my +hands as I tried to clear my eye, while red drops splashed from them on +to the table. "While that ought to be possible, we are hardly strong +enough to force a fight in the open unless it is necessary. Lane's +rascals may not find the stock, and may only be trying to draw us off, +so my decision is to remain here. If they are successful we can see them +from the roof, and must run the risk of taking their plunder from them. +Should we fail we could follow them when our friends turn up." + +"That's about my notion. We'll see you through with it," said Gordon +quietly. + +We had waited a considerable time before Steel hailed us from the roof +that he could see our enemies riding south behind a bunch of cattle, and +we mounted forthwith. There were now three rifles among us, but we had +agreed these were not to be used unless somebody fired upon us. Riders +and cattle dipped into a hollow, and we had covered several miles +before we sighted them again. Lane and the representative of authority +no longer accompanied them. The whole body wheeled around and halted +when we came up. There was sweet grass in the hollow, so the cattle +halted too, and for a space we sat silent, looking at one another. I +dare not risk a blunder in face of such odds, though I determined to +make an effort to recover the stock. + +"You make us tired," said the American, whose face was partly covered by +a dirty rag. "Go to perdition, before we make you!" + +He waved his arm around the horizon, as though to indicate where the +place in question lay, and I edged my horse a little nearer to him. He +was the leading spirit, and it seemed possible that we might perhaps +disperse the rest if I could dismount him. The man had evidently +recovered from Steel's blow. + +"We are not going away without the cattle, and you can see there are +more of us now, while two proved too many for you before," I said, still +decreasing the distance between us; but my adversary perhaps divined my +intention, for a short barrel glinted in his hand when he raised it. + +"It's going to be different this time. Keep back while you're safe," he +said. + +There was apparently no help for it, and I was not quite certain he +would shoot, so balancing the long fork, lance fashion, I tightened my +grip on the bridle, when Gordon drove his horse against me and gripped +it violently. "Hold on; the boys are coming!" he said. + +Friends and foes alike had been too intent to notice anything beyond +each other during the past few minutes; but now a drumming of hoofs rose +from behind the rise which shut in the hollow. Then a drawn-out line of +mounted men came flying down the slope, and Steel flung his hat up with +a triumphant yell. "It's the Bonaventure boys," he said. "There's Adams +and Miss Haldane leading them." + +The American looked in my direction, and raised his hand in ironical +salute. "I'm sorry to miss a clinch with you. It would have been a good +one, but I can't stay," he said. "Get on, you skulking coyotes. Unless +you're smart in lighting out those cow drivers won't leave much of you." + +His subordinates took the hint, and bolted down the hollow as hard as +they could ride, while I drew a deep breath and turned towards the +rescue party. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE RAISING OF THE SIEGE + + +They were splendid horsemen who rode to our assistance, and their beasts +as fine; but a slight figure led them a clear length ahead. In another +minute Gordon's men copied their leader, who trotted forward with his +broad hat at his knee, and I rode bareheaded with--though I had +forgotten this--an ensanguined face, to greet the mistress of +Bonaventure. She was glowing with excitement, and I had never seen +anything equal the fine damask in her cheeks. She started at the sight +of me, and then impulsively held out a well-gloved hand. + +"I hope you are not badly hurt?" she said. + +"Only cut a trifle," I answered, gripping the little hand fervently. +"You have done a great deal for us, and no doubt prevented serious +bloodshed. It was wonderfully----" + +"Don't. It was not in any way wonderful. My father was absent when Mr. +Boone brought me the news, and, as you know, I am responsible for the +prosperity of Bonaventure in his absence. Our cattle were in jeopardy." + +She ceased abruptly, and grew pale, while I felt ashamed when I saw the +cause of it. My hands had been reddened from clearing my eyes, and glove +and wrist were foul with crimson stains. Courageous as she was, the girl +had sickened at the sight of them. + +"I can't excuse myself. You must try to forgive me," I said. "Please +don't look at it." + +Lucille Haldane promptly recovered from the shock of repulsion. "How +could you help it--and you were hurt protecting our cattle. I can see +the brand on some," she said. "It was very foolish of me to show such +weakness." + +"You must come back to the house with me at once and rest," I said. "I'm +indebted to you, boys, but the best way you could help me would be to +drive those cattle into the corral. Then, for you are probably tired and +hungry, come up and see what Sally Steel can find for you." + +The newcomers hesitated, and inquired whether they might not pursue and +chastise our adversaries instead, but Lucille Haldane rebuked them. "You +will do just what Rancher Ormesby tells you," she said; and, turning +towards me, added: "I am ready to go with you." + +Lucille was still a trifle pale, and wondering, because I could not see +myself, that one with so much spirit should be affected by such a small +thing, I presently dismounted and led her horse by the bridle. I had +torn off the offending glove, and when we halted by the corral would +have removed the stains from the wrist with a handkerchief. + +"No," said Lucile, snatching her hand away just too late, with a gesture +of dismay, "do not touch it with that, please." + +Then I remembered that the handkerchief had last been used to rub out +the fouled breach of a gun. The girl looked at the blur of red and black +which resulted from my efforts, and frowned, then broke out into a +rippling laugh. "Beatrice said your ways were refreshingly primitive, +and I think she was right," she said. + +The laugh put heart into me, but I still held the bridle with an +ensanguined hand close beside the little smeared one; and so, followed +by as fine an escort as a princess could desire, we came to my door side +by side. + +However, when I helped Lucille Haldane from the saddle I had misgivings +concerning the reception Steel's sister might accord her. Sally's +loyalty to her friends was worthy of her name; but she was stanchly +democratic, more than a little jealous, and not addicted to concealing +her prejudices. The fears were groundless. Sally was waiting in the +doorway she had defended, and while I hoped for the best, the two stood +a moment face to face. They were both worthy of inspection, though the +contrast between them was marked. Haldane's daughter was slight and +slender, with grace and refinement stamped equally on every line of her +delicately chiseled face and on the curve of her dainty figure down to +the little feet beneath the riding skirt. Sally was round and ruddy of +countenance, stalwart in frame, with the carriage of an Amazon, and, I +think, could have crushed Lucille with a grip of her arms; but both had +an ample portion of the spirit of their race. + +Then Steel's sister, stepping forward, took both the girl's hands within +her own, stooped a little, and kissed her on each cheek, after which she +drew her into the house, leaving her brother and myself equally +astonished. He looked at me whimsically, and though I tried, I could not +frown. + +"That's about the last thing I expected. How does it strike you?" he +said. "Afraid of committing yourself? Well, I don't mind allowing I +expected most anything else. All women are curious, but there's no +understanding Sally." + +We were not left long to wonder, for Miss Steel reappeared in the +doorway. + +"You two still standing there as if there were nothing to do! Get a big +fire on in the outside stove and kill about half the chickens. You're +not to come in, Harry Ormesby, until I've fixed you so you're fit to be +seen." + +I feared that Lucille heard her, and wondered what she thought. Our mode +of life was widely different from that at Bonaventure and from what +would have been for me possible had I not fallen into the hands of Lane. + +We slew the chickens with the assistance of the newcomers, and sat down +on the grass to pluck them, a fowl for every guest, although I was +slightly uncertain whether that would be sufficient. There is a +similarity between the very old and the very new, and ancient poets +perhaps best portray the primitive, sometimes heroic, life of effort the +modern stockrider and plowman lead on the prairie. + +"Why did you bring Miss Haldane, Boone? You should have known better +than to allow her to run the slightest risk," I said, on opportunity; +and the photographer smiled enigmatically. + +"Miss Haldane did not ask my permission, and I am doubtful whether +anybody could have prevented her. She said she was mistress of +Bonaventure, and the way the men stirred when she told them was proof +enough that one could believe her." + +Presently Sally came out with a roll of sticking-plaster, and, while +every bachelor present offered assistance and advice, she proceeded to +"fix me," as she expressed it. Then, amid a burst of laughter, she stood +back a little to survey her work with pride. + +"I guess you can come in. You look too nice for anything. Gordon and +Adams, you'll walk in, too. The rest will find all you want in the cook +shed, and it will be your own fault if you don't help yourselves." + +I was a little astonished when, with a cloth bound round my head, I +entered the house, for Miss Steel was in some respects a genius. There +was no trace of disorder. Sally was immaculately neat; Lucille Haldane +might never have passed the door of Bonaventure; and the two had +apparently become good friends, while a table had been set out with +Sally's pretty crockery, and, as I noticed, an absolutely spotless +cloth, which was something of a rarity. I was glad of the presence of +Boone, for Gordon was a big, gaunt, silent man, and the events of the +day had driven any conversational gifts we possessed out of both Steel +and myself. When it pleased him, Adams, by which name alone he was known +to the rest, could entertain anybody, and that, too, in their own +particular idiom. There was no trace of the pedlar about him now, and +his English was the best spoken in the Old Country. I noticed Lucille +Haldane looked hard at him when she took her place at the table. + +"It is curious, but I have been haunted by a feeling that we have met +before to-day," she said. "If I am mistaken, it must have been somebody +who strongly resembles you." + +For just a moment Boone looked uneasy, but he answered with a smile: "I +don't monopolize all the good looks on the prairie." + +The girl flashed a swift sidelong glance at me, and I feared my +countenance was too wooden to be natural. "I am sure of the resemblance +now, though there is a change. It was one evening at Bonaventure, was it +not?" she said. "Have you forgotten me?" + +"That would be impossible," and Boone bent his head a little as he made +the best of it. "I see that, if necessary I could rely on Miss Haldane's +kindness a second time." + +Lucille looked thoughtful, Sally inquisitive, and I feared the latter +might complicate circumstances by attempting to probe the mystery. +Neither Gordon nor Steel noticed anything, but Boone was a judge of +character and Lucille keen of wit. He asked nothing further, but I saw a +question in his eyes. + +"I think you could do so," she said. "You seem to have trusty friends, +Rancher Ormesby; though that is not surprising on the prairie." + +The words were simply spoken, and wholly unstudied; but Lucille Haldane +had a very graceful way, and there was that in her eyes which brought a +sparkle into those of Sally, and I saw had made the silent Gordon her +slave. Her gift of fascination was part of her birthright, and she used +it naturally without taint of artifice. + +"Could anybody doubt it after to-day?" I said. + +Then Boone smiled dryly. "I suppose it devolves upon me to acknowledge +the compliment, and I am afraid that some of his friends are better than +he deserves," he said. "At least, I am willing to testify that Rancher +Ormesby does not importune them, for I never met any man slower to +accept either good advice or well-meant assistance. Have you not found +it so, Miss Steel?" + +"All you men are foolish, and most of you slow," Sally answered archly. +"I had to convince one with a big hard brush to-day." + +This commenced the relation of reminiscences, mostly humorous, of the +affray, for we could afford to laugh, and all joined in the burst of +merriment which rose from outside when several horsemen came up at a +gallop across the prairie. A stockrider of Caledonian extraction had +borrowed my banjo to amuse his comrades, and they appreciated his irony +when he played the new arrivals in to the tune of "The Campbells are +coming." + +Then he took off his hat to the uniformed figure which led the advance. +"Ye're surely lang in comin', Sergeant, dear," he said. + +There was another roar of laughter, and I heard Mackay's voice. "It was +no' my fault, and ye should ken what kind of horses ye sell the +Government; but now I'm here I'm tempted to arrest the whole of ye for +unlawful rioting!" + +He halted in the doorway with displeasure in his face, and, disregarding +my invitation, waited until Miss Haldane bade him be seated, while +before commencing an attack upon a fowl, he said dryly: "Maybe I had +better begin my business first. It would be a poor return to eat your +supper and than arrest ye, Ormesby." + +"You had better make sure of the supper, and if you can take me out of +the hands of my allies you are welcome to," I said. + +Boone's lips twitched once or twice as though in enjoyment of a hidden +joke as he discoursed with the sergeant upon the handling of mounted men +and horses. He showed, I fancied, a curious knowledge of cavalry +equipment and maneuvers, and Mackay was evidently struck with his +opinions. I also saw Lucille Haldane smile when the sergeant said: "If +ever ye pass my station come in and see me. It's a matter o' regret to +me I had not already met ye." + +"Thanks," said Boone, just moving his eyebrows as he looked across at +me. "I narrowly missed spending some time in your company a little while +ago." + +"And now to business," said Mackay, with a last regretful glance at the +skeletonized chicken. "From what I gather ye are all of ye implicated. I +would like an account from Mr. Adams and Miss Haldane first." + +"How did you come here instead of Gardiner; and how do you know there +is anything for you to trouble about?" I asked, and the sergeant showed +a trace of impatience. + +"Gardiner goes back to-morrow. Ye are my own particular sheep, and it +would take a new man ten years to learn the contrariness of ye. I heard +some talk at the railroad and came on in a hurry. Do ye usually nail +your stable or cut your own head open, Rancher Ormesby?" + +Each in turn furnished an account of the affray, I last of all; and +Mackay expressed no opinion until Lucille Haldane asked him: "Was it not +justifiable for me to take measures to protect my father's cattle?" + +"Supposing the Bonaventure brand had not been on that draft, and Lane's +men retained possession, what would ye have done?" was the shrewd +rejoinder; and Lucille smiled as she looked steadily at the speaker. + +"I really think, sergeant, that I should have ridden over them." + +Mackay seemed to struggle with some natural feeling; but the silent +rancher smote the table. "By the Lord, you would, and I'd have given +five hundred dollars to go through beside you!" he said. + +"Ye are quite old enough to ken better," said Mackay sententiously; and +the rancher squared his shoulders as he answered: + +"I'm as good as any two of your troopers yet, and was never run into a +cattle corral. When I'm old enough to be useless I'll join the police." + +"What were ye meaning?" asked the sergeant. + +Gordon laughed. "Just that, for a tired man, it's a nice soft berth. You +take your money and as much care as you can that you never turn up until +the trouble's over!" + +Before Mackay could retort, Lucille, smiling, raised her hand. "I think +you should both know better, and I want you to tell me, sergeant, what +will be the end of this. Surely nobody has any right to drive off cattle +and horses that don't belong to him?" + +Mackay looked somewhat troubled, and one could guess that while eager +to please the fair questioner, he shrank with official caution from +committing himself. "It's not my part to express an opinion on points +that puzzle some lawyers," he said. "Still, I might tell ye that it will +cost one man his position. Human nature's aye deceitful, Miss Haldane, +and if Rancher Ormesby prosecuted them it would be just two or three +men's word against a dozen. Forby, they might make out illegal +resistance against him!" + +"Sergeant," said Lucille Haldane, looking at him severely, "dare you +tell me that you would not take the word of three ranchers against the +oath of a dozen such men as Lane?" + +Mackay smiled, though he answered dryly: "They're both hard to manage, +and ungrateful for their benefits; but maybe I would. Still, I am, ye +see, neither judge nor jury. Would ye prefer a charge against them, +Ormesby?" + +I was willing enough to do so, but had already reflected. Every moment +of my time was needed, the nearest seat of justice was far away, and it +would be only helping Lane if I wasted days attempting to substantiate a +charge. I also surmised by his prompt disappearance when the fracas +became serious that it would be very difficult to implicate my enemy, +even if he did not turn the tables on me. Boone, when I looked at him, +made a just perceptible negative movement with his head. + +"I must leave this affair to the discretion of the police," I said. +"Several of Lane's friends have good cause to be sorry for themselves +already, and it is hardly likely his action will be repeated." + +Mackay said nothing further, and shortly afterwards Lucille said she +must take her departure. Sally stood smiling in the doorway while the +riders of Bonaventure did her homage, and those whose compliments did +not please her suffered for their clumsiness. When I rode out with +Lucille Haldane there was a lifting of wide hats, and the sergeant, +sitting upright in his saddle, saluted her as we passed with several +splendid horsemen riding on each side. + +I afterwards heard that Sally said to him mischievously: "I guess you +men don't quite know everything. How long did it take you to break your +troopers in? Yonder's a slip of a girl who knows nothing of discipline +or drill, and there's not a man in all that outfit wouldn't ride right +into the place where bad policemen go if she told him to. As good as +your troopers, aren't they? What are you thinking now?" + +The sergeant followed her pointing hand, and, as it happened, Lucille +and I were just passing beyond the rise riding close together side by +side. Mackay looked steadily after us, and doubtless noticed that +Lucille rode very well. "I would not blame them. I'm just thinking I'm +sorry for Corporal Cotton," he said. + +Sally looked away across the prairie, and, turning, saw a faint smile +fade out of the sergeant's face. "What do you mean? Can't you ever talk +straight like a sensible man?" she asked. + +"The corporal's young, an' needs considerable convincing," was the dry +answer. + +When we dipped beyond the rise I turned to Lucille Haldane. "What did +you think of Sally? She is a stanch ally, but not always effusive to +strangers," I said. + +I could not at the moment understand Lucille Haldane's expression. The +question was very simple, but the girl showed a trace of confusion, and +was apparently troubled as to how she should frame the answer. This did +not, however, last long, and when she raised her eyes to mine there was +in them the same look of confidence there had been when she said, "I +believe in you." It was very pleasant to see. + +"I think a great deal of her, and must repeat what I said already. You +have very loyal friends. Miss Steel told me at length how kind you had +been to her and her brother, and I think they will fully repay you." + +My wits must have been sharpened, for I understood, and blessed both +Sally and the speaker. If Lucille Haldane, being slow to think evil, +had faith in those she knew, it was possible she was glad of proof to +justify the confidence, and Sally must have furnished it. + +"They have done so already," I said. + +There was always something very winning about my companion, but she had +never appeared so desirable as she did just then. The day was drawing +towards its close, and the light in the west called up the warm coloring +that the wind and sun had brought into her face and showed each grace of +the slight figure silhouetted against it. The former was, perhaps, not +striking at first sight, though, with its setting of ruddy gold, and its +hazel eyes filled with swift changes, it was pretty enough; but its +charm grew upon one, and I noticed that when she patted the horse's neck +the dumb beast moved as though it loved her. There was nothing of the +Amazon about its rider except her courage. + +"I have heard a good deal about your enemy and yourself of late, but +there are several points that puzzle me, and, though I know you have his +sympathies, father is not communicative," she said. "For instance, if +you do not resent the allusion, he could with so little trouble have +made a difference in the result of your sale." + +"How could that be?" I asked, merely to see how far the speaker's +interest in my affairs had carried her, and she answered: "Even if there +had been nothing we needed at Bonaventure he could have made the others +pay fair prices for all they bought. I cannot understand why he said it +was better not to do so." + +I also failed to understand; but a light broke in upon me. "Did you +suggest that he should?" I asked, and the girl answered with some +reluctance: "Yes; was it not natural that I should?" + +"No one who knew you could doubt it," I said; and Lucille Haldane +presently dismissed me. I sat still and watched her and her escort +diminish across the long levels, and then rode slowly back towards Crane +Valley. Remembering Haldane's mention of a promise, the news that it was +his younger daughter who sent him to my assistance brought at first a +shock of disappointment. I had already convinced myself that Beatrice +Haldane must remain very far beyond my reach, but the thought that she +had remembered me and sent what help she could had been comforting, +nevertheless. Now it seemed that she had forgotten, and that that +consolation must be abandoned, too. And yet the disappointment was not +so crushing but that I could bear it with the rest. What might have been +had passed beyond the limits of possibility, and there was nothing in +the future to look forward to except a struggle against poverty and the +wiles of my enemy. + +Steel took my horse when I rode up to the house, and it was a +coincidence that his first remark should be: "We beat him badly this +time and he'll lie low a while. Then I guess you'll want both eyes open +when he tries his luck again." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE VIGIL-KEEPER + + +It was a clear starlit night when I rode across a tract of the +Assiniboian prairie, some two hundred miles east of Crane Valley. A +half-moon hung in the cloudless ether, and the endless levels, lying +very silent under its pale radiance, seemed to roll away into infinity. +They had no boundary, for the blueness above them melted imperceptibly +through neutral gradations into the earth below, which, gathering +strength of tone, stretched back again to the center of the lower circle +a vast sweep of silvery gray. + +There was absolute stillness, not even a grass blade moved; but the air +was filled with the presage of summer, and the softness of the carpet, +which returned no sound beneath the horse's feet, had its significance. +That sod had been bleached by wind-packed snow and bound into iron +hardness by months of arctic frost. Bird and beast had left it, and the +waste had lain empty under the coldness of death; but life had once more +conquered, and the earth was green again. Even among the almost +unlettered born upon it there are few men impervious to the influence of +the prairie on such a night; and in days not long gone by the half-breed +_voyageurs_ told strange stories of visions seen on it during the lonely +journeys they made for the great fur-trading company. Its vastness and +its emptiness impresses the human atom who becomes conscious of an +indefinite awe or is uplifted by an exaltation which vanishes with the +dawn, for there are times when, through the silence of measureless +spaces, man's spirit rises into partial touch with the greater things +unseen. + +My errand was prosaic enough--merely to buy cattle for Haldane and +others on a sliding-scale arrangement. I could see a possibility of +some small financial benefit, and that being so had reluctantly left +Crane Valley, where I was badly needed, because the need of money was +even greater. Also, as time was precious, I had decided to travel all +night instead of spending it as a guest of the last farmer with whom I +bargained. I was at that time neither very imaginative nor +oversentimental; but the spell of the prairie was stronger than my will, +and, yielding to it, I rode dreamily, so it seemed, beyond the reach of +petty troubles and the clamor of our sordid strife into a shadowy land +of peace which, defying the centuries, had retained unchanged its solemn +stillness. The stars alone sufficed to call up the fancy, for there +being neither visible heavens nor palpable atmosphere, only a blue +transparency, the eye could follow the twinkling points of flame far +backwards from one to another through the unknown spaces beyond our +little globe. Nothing seemed impossible on such a night, and only the +touch of the bridle and the faint jingle of metal material. + +It was in this mood that I became conscious of a shadow object near the +foot of a rise. It did not seem a natural portion of the prairie, and +when I had covered some distance it resolved itself into a horse and a +dismounted man. His broad hat hung low in his hand, his head was bent, +and he stood so intent that I had almost ridden up to him before he +turned and noticed me. Then, as I checked my horse, I saw that it was +Boone. + +"What has brought you here?" I asked. + +"That I cannot exactly tell you when we know so little of the influences +about us on such a night as this. It is at least one stage of a +pilgrimage I must make," he said. + +Had this answer been given me in the sunlight I should have doubted the +speaker's mental balance, but one sets up a new standard of sanity on +the starlit prairie on a night of spring, and I saw only that the spell +was also upon him. He held a great bunch of lilies (which do not grow on +the bare Western levels) in one hand, and his face was changed. Even in +Boone's reckless humor there had been a sardonic vein which sometimes +added a sting to the jest, and I knew what the shadow was that accounted +for his fits of silent grimness. Now he seemed strangely calm, but +rather reverent than sad. + +"I cannot understand you," I said. + +"No?" he answered quietly. "How soon you have forgotten; but you helped +me once. Come, and I will show you." + +He tethered his horse to an iron peg, beckoned me to do the same, and +then, moving forward until we stood on the highest of the rise, pointed +to something that rose darkly from the grass. Then I remembered, and +swung my hat to my knee, as my eyes rested on a little wooden cross. +Following the hand he stretched out, I could read the rude letters cut +on it--"Helen Boone." + +He stooped, and, I fancied with some surprise, lifted a glass vessel +from beneath a handful of withered stalks. He shook them out gently, +laid the fresh blossoms in their place, and a faint fragrance rose like +incense through the coolness of the dew. Then he turned, and I followed +him to where we had left the horses. "There are still kind souls on this +earth, and one of them placed that vessel under the last flowers I left. +You have a partial answer to your question now." + +I bent my head, and seeing that he was not averse to speech, said +quietly: "You come here sometimes? It is a long journey." + +"Yes," was the answer; and Boone's voice vibrated. "She who sleeps there +gave up a life of luxury for me; and is a three-hundred-mile journey too +much to make, or a summer night too long to watch beside her? I am drawn +here, and there are times when one wonders if it is possible for us to +rise into partial communion with those who have passed into the darkness +before us." + +"It is all," I answered gravely, "a mystery to me. Can you conceive such +a possibility?" + +"Not in any tangible shape to such as I, but this at least I know. In +spite of the destruction of the mortal clay, when I can see my way no +further, and lose courage in my task, fresh strength comes to me after +a night spent here." + +"Your task?" I said. "I guessed that there was a motive behind your +wanderings." + +"There is one," and Boone's voice rose to its natural level. "The wagon +journeys suit it well. Had Lane ruined me alone I should have tried to +pay my forfeit for inexperience and the risk I took gracefully; but when +I saw the woman, who had lain down so much for me, fading day by day +that he might add to his power of oppressing others the money which +would have saved her life, the case was different. The last part he +played in the pitiful drama was that of murderer, and the loss he +inflicted on me one that could never be forgiven." + +"And you are waiting revenge?" I asked. + +"No." Boone looked back towards the crest of the rise. "At first I did +so, but it is justice that prompts me now. I have a full share of human +passions, and once I lay in wait for him with a rifle--my throat parched +and a fire of torment in my heart; but when he passed at midnight within +ten paces I held my hand and let him go. Perhaps it was because I could +not take the life of even that venomous creature in cold blood, and +feared he would not face me. Perhaps another will was stronger than my +own, for, with every purpose strained against what seemed weakness, it +was borne in on me that I could not force him to stand with a weapon, +and that I dare not kill him groveling. Then the power went out of me, +and I let him go. Yet I have twice lain long hours in hot sand under a +deadly rifle fire, Ormesby. There are many mysteries, and as yet it is +very little that we know." + +"But you are following him still, are you not?" I asked. And Boone +continued: "As I said, it is for justice, and it was here I learned the +difference. I would not take the reptile's life unless he met me armed +in the daylight, which he would never do; but for the sake of +others--you and the rest, whose toil and blood he fattens on--I am +waiting and working for the time when, without a crime, it may be +possible to end his career of evil." + +We were both silent for a few minutes, and I felt that Boone's task, +self-imposed or otherwise, was a worthy one. Lane was a man without +either anger or compassion--an incarnation of cunning and avarice more +terrible to human welfare than any legendary monster of the olden time. +It was no figure of speech to declare that he fattened on poor men's +blood and agony, and his overthrow could not be anything but a blessing. +Still, it was in prosaic speech that, considering the practical aspect +of the question, I said: "I wish you luck, but you will need a long +patience, besides time and money." + +"I have them," was the answer. "The first was the hardest to acquire. +Time--I could wait ages if I knew the end was certain; and, as to money, +when it came too late to save her, someone died in the old country, and +part of the property fell to me. Well, you can guess my purpose--using +all means short of bloodshed and perjury to take him in his own net. She +who sleeps there was pitiful and gentle, but she hated oppression and +cruelty, and I feel that if she knows--and I think it is so--she would +smile on me." + +Boone's face was plain before me under the moon. It was quietly +confident, calm, and yet stamped with a solemn purpose. He had, it +seemed, mastered his passions, and would perhaps be the more dangerous +because he followed tirelessly, with brain unclouded by hatred or +impatience. I felt that there was much I should say in the shape of +encouragement and sympathy, but the only words that rose to my lips +were: "He has fiendish cunning." + +"And I was once a careless fool!" said Boone. "Still, the most cunning +forget, and blunder at times. I, however, can never forget, and when he +does, it will be ill for Lane. I have--I don't know why--spoken to you, +Ormesby, as I have spoken to no man in the Dominion before, and I feel I +need ask no promise of you. I am going east with the sunrise, but I must +be alone now." + +I left him to keep his vigil with his dead, and camped in a hollow some +distance away. That is to say, I tethered the horse, rolled a thick +brown blanket round me, and used the saddle for a pillow. There was no +hardship in this. The grasses, if a trifle damp, were soft and springy, +the night still and warm; and many a better man has slept on a worse bed +in the Western Dominion. Slumber did not, however, come at first, and I +lay watching the stars, neither asleep nor wholly awake, until they grew +indistinct, and a woman's figure, impalpable as the moonlight, gathered +shape upon a rise of the prairie. + +It was borne in on me that this was Helen Boone risen from her sleep; +for she was ethereal, and her face with its passionless calmness not +that of a mortal, while no shadow touched the grasses when she passed, +and, fading, gave place or changed into one I knew. Haldane's elder +daughter looked down at me from the rise, but she, too, seemed of +another world, wearing a cold serenity and a beauty that was not of this +earth. She also changed with a marvelous swiftness before my bewildered +vision, and it was now Lucille Haldane who moved across the prairie with +soft words of pity on her lips and yet anger in her eyes. She, at least, +appeared not transcendental, but a living, breathing creature of flesh +and blood subject to human weaknesses, and I raised myself on one elbow +to speak to her. + +The prairie was empty. Nothing moved on it; even the horse stood still, +while, when I sank back again, moonlight and starlight went out +together; and perhaps it was as well, for, sleeping or waking, a plain +stock-raiser has no business with such fancies, and next morning I +convinced myself that I had dreamed it all. I had doubtless done so, and +the explanation was simple. The influence of the night, or the words of +Boone, had galvanized into abnormal activity some tiny convolution of +the brain; but, even that once granted, it formed the beginning, not the +end, of the question, and Boone had, it seemed, supplied the best +solution when he said we know so little as yet. + +The sun was lifting above the prairie when I set out in search of Boone +with my horse's bridle over my arm. I met him swinging across the +springy sod in long elastic strides, but there was nothing about him +which suggested one preyed upon by morbid fancies or the visionary. His +eyes were a little heavy, but that was all, for with both of us the +dreams of the night had melted before the rising sun. The air had been +freshened by the dew, and the breeze, which dried the grasses, roused +one to a sense of human necessities and the knowledge that there was a +day's work to be done. I was also conscious of an unfanciful and very +prosaic emptiness. + +"I wonder where we could get anything to eat. I have a long ride before +me," said Boone, when he greeted me. + +"It can hardly be safe for you to be seen anywhere in this +neighborhood," I said; and Boone smiled. + +"I walked openly into the railroad depot and asked for a package +yesterday. You forget that I partly changed my appearance, while, so far +as memory serves, only two police troopers occasionally saw me. The +others?--you should know your own kind better, Ormesby. Do you think any +settler in this region would take money--and Lane offered a round +sum--for betraying me?" + +"No," I answered with a certain pride; "that is to say, not unless he +were a nominee of the man you name." + +No proof of this was needed, but one was supplied us. A man who +presently strode out of a hollow stopped and stared at Boone. He was, to +judge from his appearance, one of the stolid bushmen who come out West +from the forests of Northern Ontario--tireless men with ax and plow, but +with little knowledge of anything else. + +"I'm kind of good at remembering faces, and I've seen you before," he +said. "You are the man who used to own my place." + +"How often have you seen me?" asked Boone. + +"Once in clear daylight, twice back there at night," answered the +stranger. + +"Did you know that you could have earned a good many dollars by telling +the police as much?" asked Boone; and the other regarded him with a +frown. + +"I'm a peaceable man when people will let me be; but I don't take that +kind of talk from anybody." + +"I was sure, or I shouldn't have asked you," said Boone. "They don't +raise mean Canadians yonder in the country you came from among the rocks +and trees. You're not overrich, either, are you? to judge from my own +experience, for I put more money into the land than I ever took out of +it. However, that doesn't concern the main thing. Just now I'm a hungry +man." + +The big axman's face relaxed, and he laughed the deep, almost silent, +laugh which those like him learn in the shadow of the northern pines. +There is as little mirth in it as there is in most of their hard lives, +but one can generally trust them with soul and body. + +"Breakfast will be ready soon's I get home. You just come along," he +said. + +We followed him to the log-house which had risen beside Boone's +dilapidated dwelling. A neatly-dressed, dark-haired woman was busy about +the stove, and our host presented us very simply. "Here's the man who +shot the money-lender, and a partner, Lou." + +The woman, who laid down the pan she held, cast a quick glance of +interest at my companion. "We have seen you, and wondered why you never +looked in," she said. + +"Did you twice do a great kindness for me?" asked Boone. + +The woman's black eyes softened. "Sure, that was a little thing, and +don't count for much. The posies were so pretty, and I figured they'd +keep fresh a little longer," she said. + +"It was one of the little things which count the most," said Boone. + +Thereupon the woman's olive-tinted face flushed into warmer color, while +her long-limbed spouse observed: "She's of the French habitant stock, +and their ways of showing they haven't forgotten aren't the same as +ours." + +Breakfast was set before us, and I think Boone had made firm friends of +our hosts before we finished the meal. He had abilities in this +direction. They, on their part, were very simple people, the man silent +for the most part, rugged in face, and abrupt when he spoke, but shrewd +in his own way it seemed withal, and probably as generous as he was hard +at a bargain. His wife was of the more emotional Latin stock, quick in +her movements, and one might surmise equally quick in sympathy. + +"You are not the man who bought the place at the sale," said Boone, at +length. "I can remember him tolerably well, and, if I couldn't, one +would hardly figure you were likely to work under Lane." + +"No!" and the farmer laughed his curious laugh again. "No. I shouldn't +say. We never worked for any master since my grandfather got fired for +wanting his own way by the Hudson's Bay, and I guess neither Lane nor +the devil could handle the rest of us. He once came round to try." + +"How?" I asked, and the gaunt farmer sighed a little as he filled his +pipe. "This way. He was open to finance me to buy up a poor devil's +place, and if I'd had a little less temper and a little more sense I +might have obliged him, and landed a good pile of money, too." + +"He's just talking. Don't you believe him," broke in the woman, with an +indignant glance at her spouse. + +I fancied Boone saw the drift of this, which was more than I did, and +the farmer nodded oracularly in his direction when I asked: "What did +you do instead?" + +"Just reached for a big ox-goad, and walked up to him like a blame +millionaire or a hot-headed fool. Them negotiations broke right off, and +he lit out across the prairie talking 'bout assaults and violences at +twenty mile an hour. Some other man will know better, and that's just +how Lane will get badly left some day." + +The woman laughed immoderately. "It was way better'n a circus," she +said. "He didn't tell you he rammed the ox-goad into the skittish horse, +and Lane he just hugged the beast." + +The picture of the full-fledged Lane, who made a very poor figure in the +saddle at any time, careering panic stricken across the prairie with his +arms about the neck of a bolting horse appealed to me; but as to the +possibility of the usurer's future discomfiture I was still in the dark, +and asked for enlightenment. + +"It's easy," said the farmer. "Lane he squeezes somebody until he can't +hold on to his property, then he puts up the money and another man buys +the place dirt-cheap for him, in his own name. Suppose that man goes +back on Lane? 'This place is my own,' says he. Well, he's recorded +owner, isn't he? and I figure Lane wouldn't be mighty keen on dragging +that kind of case into the courts." + +"But he wouldn't put any man in unless he had him by the throat," said +I; and the farmer grinned. + +"Juss so! He'll choke some fellow with grit in him a bit too much some +day, and when the wrong breed of scoundrel is jammed right up between +the devil and the sea, it's quite likely he'll go for the devil before +he starts swimming." + +"I"--and Boone regarded the farmer fixedly--"quite agree with you. Do +you mind telling me what you gave for this place?" + +Our host named the sum without hesitation, adding that he would be glad +to show us over it; and Boone's face grew somber as he said: "It is more +than twice what it was sold for when it was stolen from me." + +We walked around the plowed land, inspected the stock, stables, and +barns, and when, after a cordial parting with our hosts, we rode away, +Boone turned to me: "It was an ordeal, and harrowing to see what might +have been but for an insatiable man's cunning and my poverty. Another +half-hour of the memories would have been too much for me. Well, we can +let that pass. They were kind souls, and this last lesson may have been +necessary. Strange, isn't it, that the simple are sometimes shrewder +than the wise?" + +"For instance?" I said; and Boone smiled significantly. + +"Yonder very plain farmer has hit upon a weak spot in Lane's armor which +the keenest brain on this prairie--I don't mean my own, of course--has +hitherto failed to see." + +Soon afterwards we separated, each going his different way. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE WORK OF AN ENEMY + + +Whatever action the police took concerning Lane's descent upon Crane +Valley was not apparent, and Thorn may have been justified in deciding +that they took none at all. However that may have been, Lane left us in +peace for a while, and it was not by his own hands that the next bolt +was launched against me. He preferred, as a rule, to strike through +another person's agency, and usually contrived it so that when trouble +resulted the agent bore the brunt of it. + +I was tramping behind the seeder one fine morning, alternately watching +the somewhat unruly team and the trickle of golden grain into the good +black loam, when two horsemen appeared on the prairie. They headed for +the homestead, and living in a state of expectancy, as we then did, I +shared the misgivings of Thorn. "They're coming our way in a hurry, +sure; and the sight of anyone whose business I don't know worries me +just now," he said. + +"If it's bad news we'll learn it soon enough," I said. "Go on to the end +of the harrowing. That we'll have a frost-nipped harvest if we're not +through with the sowing shortly is the one thing certain." + +The two horsemen drew nearer, and it appeared that both wore uniform, +while I caught the glint of carbines. This in itself was significant, +and I wondered whether Mackay had discovered the identity of Boone. +Shortly I recognized the sergeant and Cotton, who a little later drew +bridle beside the seeder. Mackay's face was expressionless, but Cotton +looked distinctly unhappy, and once more I felt sorry for Boone. + +"I have a word for ye. Will ye walk to the house with me?" said the +former. I glanced at Cotton, who, stooping, pretended to examine his +carbine. Thorn appeared suspicious, for he dropped the lines he held, +and his eyes grew keen. + +"I'm sorry that is the one thing I can't do just now, when every moment +of this weather is precious," I said. "If you can't wait until we stop +at noon, there's no apparent reason why you shouldn't state your +business here." + +"Ye had better come," said Mackay, looking very wooden. "Forby, I'm +thinking ye will sow no more to-day." + +"I'm not in the humor for joking, and intend to continue sowing until it +is too dark to see," I answered shortly. "Have you any authority to +prevent me?" + +"I have," said the sergeant. "Well, if ye will have it--authority to +arrest ye on a charge of unlawfully burning the homestead of Gaspard's +Trail." + +Astonishment, dismay, and anger held me dumb between them for a few +moments. Then, as the power of speech returned, I said: "Confound you, +Mackay! You don't think I could possibly have had any hand in that?" + +"It's no' my business to think," was the dry answer; "I'm here to carry +out orders. What was it ye were observing, Foreman Thorn?" + +"Only that Niven or Lane was a mighty long time finding this thing out; +and that, while nobody expects too much from the police, we never +figured they were clean, stark, raging lunatics," said Thorn. + +"I'm no' expecting compliments," said Mackay. "Ye will do your duty, +Corporal Cotton." + +"You can put that thing back. I'm not a wild beast, and have sense +enough to see that I must wait for satisfaction until some of your +chiefs at headquarters hear of your smartness," I said. Then Cotton +positively hung his head as he let the carbine slip back into its +holster, while Mackay stared after the departing Thorn, who made for the +homestead as fast as he could run. + +"What is his business?" he said. + +"His own!" I answered shortly. "Unless you have also a warrant for his +arrest, it would be injudicious of you to stop him. Thorn has an ugly +temper, and would be justified in resenting the interference. What is +your program?" + +"To ride in to the railroad whenever ye are ready, and deliver ye safely +in Empress City." + +"I suppose one can only make the best of it; but considering that you +were probably consulted before a warrant was issued, I can't help +feeling astonished," I said. "However, there is no use in wasting words, +and an hour will suffice me to get ready in." + +I left the team standing before the seeder, careless as to what became +of them, for, even if acquitted, I felt that my career was closed at +last. No forced labor could make up for time lost now, and, because +justice in the West is slow, it was perfectly clear why the charge had +been made. There was a scene with Sally when we reached the homestead, +and Cotton fled before her biting comments on police sagacity. Even +Mackay winced under certain allusions, and when I asked him: "Am I +permitted to talk to my housekeeper alone?" assented readily. + +"Ye may," he said, "and welcome; I do not envy ye." + +If Sally's tongue could be venomous, her brain was keen, and, as Steel +was absent, it was with confidence I left instructions with her. Thorn +had vanished completely, and the girl only looked mysterious when +questioned concerning him. At length all was ready, and turning in the +saddle as we rode away, I waved my hat to Sally, who stood in the +doorway of the homestead with eyes suspiciously dim. I wondered, with a +strange lack of interest, whether I should ever see either it or her +again. Cotton also saluted her, and the girl suddenly moved forward a +pace, holding up her hand. + +"Make sure of your prisoner, Sergeant," she said. "What's the use of +talking justice to the poor man when he's ground down by the thief with +capital? We're getting tired--we have waited for that justice so +long--and I give you and the fools or rogues behind you warning that if +you jail Ormesby, the boys will come for him with rifles a hundred +strong." + +Mackay touched his beast with the spurs, and as we passed out of +earshot, said to me: "If the boys have her spirit I'm thinking it's not +impossible. Your friends are not judicious, Henry Ormesby." + +"They are stanch, at least, and above being bought," I said; and Mackay +stiffened. + +"What were ye meaning?" + +"I think my meaning was plain enough," I answered him. + +Many leagues divided us from the railroad, and the way seemed very long. +The dejection that settled upon me brought a physical lassitude with it, +and I rode wearily, jolting in the saddle before the journey was half +done. Since the memorable night at Bonaventure, when I first met Boone, +trouble after trouble had crowded on me, and, supported by mere +obstinacy when hope had gone, I still held on. Now it seemed the end had +come, and, at the best, I must retire beaten to earn a daily wage by the +labor of my hands if I escaped conviction as a felon. Lane would absorb +Crane Valley, as he had done Gaspard's Trail. As if in mockery the +prairie had donned its gayest robe of green, and lay flooded with +cloudless sunshine. + +Mackay made no further advances since my last repulse, but rode silently +on my right hand, Cotton on my left, holding back a little so that I +could not see him, and so birch bluff, willows, and emerald levels +rolled up before us and slid back to the prairie's rim until, towards +dusk on the second day, cubes of wooden houses and a line of gaunt +telegraph poles loomed up ahead. + +"I'm glad," said Corporal Cotton, breaking into speech at last. "I don't +know if you'll believe it, Ormesby, but this has been a sickening day to +me. I'm tired of the confounded service--I'm tired of everything." + +"Ye're young and tender on the bit, and without the sense to go canny +when it galls ye. What ails ye at the service anyway?" interposed the +sergeant. + +"I'll say nothing about some of the duties. They're a part of the +contract," answered Cotton. "Still, I never bargained to arrest my best +friends when I became a policeman." + +"Friends!" said Mackay. "Who were ye meaning?" and Cotton turned in my +direction with the face of one who had narrowly escaped a blunder. + +"Aren't you asking useless questions? I mean Rancher Ormesby." + +"I observed ye used the plural," said Mackay. + +Cotton answered shortly: "When one is going through a disgusting duty to +the best of his ability, he may be forgiven a trifling lapse in +grammar." + +The light was failing as we rode up to the station some time before the +train was due, and looking back, I saw several diminutive objects on the +edge of the prairie. They were, I surmised, mounted settlers coming in +for letters or news, but except that the blaze of crimson behind them +forced them up, it would have been hard to recognize the shapes of men +and beasts. Round the other half of the circle the waste was fading into +the dimness that crept up from the east, and feeling that I had probably +done with the prairie, and closed another chapter of my life, I turned +my eyes towards the string of giant poles and the little railroad +station ahead. + +There were fewer loungers than usual about it, but when we dismounted, +Cotton started as two feminine figures strolled side by side down the +platform, and said something softly under his breath. + +"What has surprised you?" I asked, and he pointed towards the pair. + +"Those are Haldane's daughters, by all that is unfortunate!" + +There was no avoiding the meeting. Darkness had not settled yet, and +Mackay, who failed to recognize the ladies, was regarding us +impatiently. "I'll do my best, and they may not notice anything +suspicious," the corporal said. + +We moved forward, Mackay towards the office, Cotton hanging behind me, +but, as ill-luck would have it, both ladies saw us when we reached the +track, and before I could recover from my dismay, I stood face to face +with Beatrice Haldane. She was, it seemed to me, more beautiful than +ever, but I longed that the earth might open beneath me. + +"It is some time since I have seen you, and you do not look well," she +said. "You once described the Western winters as invigorating; but one +could almost fancy the last had been too much for you." + +"I cannot say the same thing, and if we had nothing more than the +weather to contend with, we might preserve our health," I said. "I did +not know you were at Bonaventure, or I should have ridden over to pay my +respects to you." + +Beatrice Haldane did not say whether this would have given her pleasure +or otherwise. Indeed, her manner, if slightly cordial, was nothing more, +and I found it desirable to study a rail fastening when I saw her sister +watching me. + +"I arrived from the East only a few days ago, and we are now awaiting my +father, who had some business down the line. Are you going out with the +train?" + +"I am going to Empress," I said; and Lucille Haldane interposed: "That +is a long way; and the last time he met you, you told father you were +too busy to visit Bonaventure. Who will see to your sowing--and will you +stay there long?" + +I heard Corporal Cotton grind his heel viciously into the plank beneath +him; and I answered, in desperation: + +"I do not know. I am afraid so." + +Perhaps the girl noticed by my voice that all was not well. Indeed, +Beatrice also commenced to regard the corporal and myself curiously. + +"What has happened, Mr. Ormesby? You look positively haggard?" the +younger sister said. "Why are you keeping in the background, Corporal +Cotton? Have you done anything to be ashamed of?" Then she ceased with a +gasp of pained surprise, and I read consternation in her eyes. + +"You have guessed aright. I am not making this journey of my own will," +I said. + +Beatrice Haldane turned with a swift movement, which brought us once +more fully face to face, and, unlike her sister, she was strangely cold +and grave. + +"Is it permissible to ask any questions?" she said, and her even tone +stung me to the quick. One whisper against the speaker would have roused +me to fury. + +"Everybody will know to-morrow or the next day, and I may as well tell +you now," I said, in a voice which sounded, even in my own ears, hoarse +with bitterness. "I am to be tried for burning down the homestead of +Gaspard's Trail." + +Beatrice Haldane certainly showed surprise, but she seemed more +thoughtful than indignant, and still fixed me with her eyes. They were +clear and very beautiful, but I had begun to wonder if a spark of human +passion would ever burn within them. + +"It is absurd--preposterous. Come here at once, Sergeant!" a clear young +voice with a thrill of unmistakable anger in it said; but Mackay seemed +desirous of backing into the station agent's office instead. + +"I want you," added Lucille Haldane. "Come at once, and tell me why you +have done this." + +The sergeant's courage was evidently unequal to the task, for with a +brief, "I will try to satisfy ye when I have transacted my business," he +disappeared into the office, and I turned again to Beatrice Haldane. + +"You see it is unfortunately true; but you do not appear astonished," I +said. + +Beatrice Haldane looked at me sharply, but without indignation, for she +was always mistress of herself, and before she could speak her sister +broke in: "Do you wish to make us angry, when we are only sorry for you, +Mr. Ormesby? Everybody knows that neither you nor any rancher in this +district could be guilty. Corporal Cotton, will you inquire if your +superior has finished his business, and tell him that I am waiting?" + +"The old heathen deserves it!" said Cotton aside to me, as, with +unfeigned relief, he hurried away, and it was only by an effort I +refrained from following him. The interview was growing painful in the +extreme. Still, I was respited, for Beatrice Haldane turned from us +suddenly. + +"What can this mean? There is a troop of horsemen riding as for their +lives towards the station," she said. + +It was growing dark, but not too dark to see a band of mounted men +converge at a gallop upon the station, and for the first time I noticed +how the loungers stared at them, and heard the jingle of harness and +thud of drumming hoofs. None of them shouted or spoke. They came on in +ominous silence, the spume flakes flying from the lathered beasts, the +clods whirling up, until a voice cried: + +"Two of you stand by to hold up the train! The rest will come along with +me!" + +Amid a musical jingling, the horses were pulled up close beside the +track, and men in embroidered deerskin with broad white hats and men in +old blue-jean leaped hurriedly down. Several carried rifles, while, +guessing their purpose, I pointed towards the frame houses across the +unfenced track. "You must go at once, Miss Haldane. There may be a +tumult," I said. + +Lucille seemed reluctant, Beatrice by no means hurried, and I do not +remember whether I bade either of them farewell, for as the newcomers +came swiftly into the station a gaunt commanding figure holding a +carbine barred their way, and Corporal Cotton leaped out from the +office. The station agent, holding a revolver, also placed himself +between them and me. + +"What are ye wanting, boys?" a steady voice asked; and the men halted +within a few paces of the carbine's muzzle. I could just see that they +were my friends and neighbors, and I noticed that one who rode up and +down the track seemed inclined to civilly prevent the ladies from +retiring to the wooden settlement. Perhaps he feared they intended to +raise its inhabitants. + +"We want Harry Ormesby," answered a voice I recognized as belonging to +Steel. "Stand out of the daylight, Sergeant. We have no call to hurt +you." + +"I'm thinking that's true," said Mackay; and I admired his coolness as +he stood alone, save for the young corporal, grimly eying the crowd. "It +will, however, be my distressful duty to damage the first of ye who +moves a foot nearer my prisoner. Noo will ye hear reason, boys, or will +I wire for a squadron to convince ye? Ormesby ye cannot have, and will +ye shame your own credit and me?" + +There was a murmur of consultation, but no disorderly clamor. The men +whom Thorn had raised to rescue me were neither habitual brawlers nor +desperadoes, but sturdy stock-riders and tillers of the soil, smarting +under a sense of oppression. They were all fearless, and would, I knew, +have faced a cavalry brigade to uphold what appeared their rights, but +they were equally averse to any bloodshed or violence that was not +necessary. + +"There's no use talking, Sergeant," somebody said. "We don't go back +without our man, and it will be better for all of us if you release him. +You know as well as we do there's nothing against him." + +Meanwhile, I could not well interfere without precipitating a crisis. +The station agent, who stated that Mackay had deputed him authority, +stood beside me with the pistol in his hand. Neither was I certain what +my part would be, for, stung to white heat by Beatrice Haldane's +coldness, which suggested suspicion, and came as a climax to a series of +injuries, I wondered whether it might not be better to make a dash for +liberty and leave the old hard life behind me. There might be better +fortune beyond the Rockies, and I felt that Lane would not have +instigated the charge of arson unless he saw his way to substantiate it. + +Nevertheless, I could watch the others with a strange and almost +impersonal curiosity--the group of men standing with hard hands on the +rifle barrels ready for a rush; the grim figure of the sergeant, and the +young corporal poised with head held high, left foot flung forward, and +carbine at hip, in front of them. + +"We'll give you two minutes in which to make up your mind. Then, if you +can't climb down, and anything unpleasant happens, it will be on your +head. Can't you see you haven't the ghost of a show?" said one. + +Turning my eyes a moment, I noticed a fan-shaped flicker swinging like a +comet across the dusky waste far down the straight-ruled track, and when +a man I knew held up his watch beneath a lamp, I had almost come to a +decision. If the sergeant had shown any sign of weakness it is perhaps +possible that decision might have been reversed; but Mackay stood as +though cast in iron, and equally unyielding. I would at least have no +blood shed on my account, and would not leave my friends to bear the +consequences of their unthinking generosity. Meanwhile, stock-rider and +teamster were waiting in strained attention, and there was still almost +a minute left to pass when a light hand touched my shoulder, and Lucille +Haldane, appearing from behind me, said: "You must do something. Go +forward and speak to them immediately." She was trembling with +eagerness, but the station agent stood on my other side, and he was +woodenly stolid. + +"Put down that weapon. I will speak to them," I said. + +"You're healthier here," was the suspicious answer; and chiefly +conscious of the appeal and anxiety in Lucille Haldane's eyes, I turned +upon him. + +"Stand out of my way--confound you!" I shouted. + +The man fingered the pistol uncertainly, and I could have laughed at his +surmise that the sight of it would have held me then. Before, even if he +wished it, his finger could close on the trigger, I had him by the +wrist, and the weapon fell with a clash. Then I lifted him bodily and +flung him upon the track, while, as amid a shouting, Cotton sprang +forward, Mackay roared: "Bide ye, let him go!" + +The shouting ceased suddenly when I stood between my friends and the +sergeant with hands held up. "I'll never forget what you have done, +boys; but it is no use," I said; and paused to gather breath, amid +murmurs of surprise and consternation. "In the first place, I can't drag +you into this trouble." + +"We'll take the chances willing," a voice said, and there was a grim +chorus of approval. "We've borne enough, and it's time we did +something." + +"Can't you see that if I bolted now it would suit nobody better than +Lane? Boys, you know I'm innocent----" + +Again a clamor broke out, and somebody cried: "It was Lane's own man who +did it, if anybody fired Gaspard's Trail!" + +"He may not be able to convict me, and if instead of rushing the +sergeant you will go home and help Thorn with the sowing, we may beat +him yet," I continued. "Even if I am convicted, I'll come back again, +and stay right here until Lane is broken, or one of us is dead." + +The hoot of a whistle cut me short, the brightening blaze of a great +headlamp beat into our faces, and further speech was out of the +question, as with brakes groaning the lighted cars clanged in. + +"Be quick, Sergeant, before they change their minds!" I shouted, and +Mackay and Cotton scrambled after me on to a car platform. No train that +ever entered that station had, I think, so prompt dispatch, for Cotton +had hardly opened the door of the vestibule than the bell clanged and +the huge locomotive snorted as the cars rolled out. I had a momentary +vision of the agent, who seemed partly dazed, scowling in my direction, +a group of dark figures swinging broad-brimmed hats, and Lucille Haldane +standing on the edge of the platform waving her hand to me. Then the +lights faded behind us, and we swept out, faster and faster, across the +prairie. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +LEADEN-FOOTED JUSTICE + + +I had spent a number of weary days awaiting trial, when a visitor was +announced, and a young, smooth-shaven man shown into my quarters. He +nodded to me pleasantly, seated himself on the edge of the table, and +commenced: "Your friends sent me along. I hope to see you through this +trouble, Rancher, and want you to tell me exactly how your difficulties +began. Think of all the little things that didn't strike you as quite +usual." + +"I should like to hear in the first place who you are. I know your name +is Dixon, but that does not convey very much," I said. + +The stranger laughed good-humoredly. "And such is fame! Now I had +fancied everybody who read the papers knew my name, and that I had won +some small reputation down at Winnipeg. Anyway, I'm generally sent for +in cases with a financial origin." + +Then I remembered, and looked hard at the speaker. The last sentence was +justified, but he differed greatly from one's idea of the typical +lawyer. He was not even neatly dressed, and his manner singularly lacked +the preciseness of the legal practitioner. + +"I must apologize, for I certainly have read about you," I said. "It was +perhaps natural that as I did not send for you I should be surprised at +your taking an interest in my case. I am, however, afraid I cannot +retain you, for the simple reason that I don't know where to raise +sufficient money to recompense any capable man's services." + +"Aren't you a little premature? My clients don't usually plead poverty +until I send in my bill," was the answer. "You own a tolerably extensive +holding in Crane Valley, don't you?" + +"I do; but nobody, except one man with whom I would not deal, would buy +a foot of it just now," I answered. Then, acceding to the other's +request, I supported the statement by a brief account of my +circumstances. "All this is quite beside the question," I concluded. + +"No!" said Dixon. "As a matter of fact, I find it interesting. Won't you +go on and bring the story down to the present?" + +I did so, and the man's face had changed, growing intent and keen before +I concluded. + +"I should rather like to manage this affair for you," he said. "My +fees!--well, from what one or two people said about you, I can, if +necessary, wait for them." + +"You will probably never be paid. Who was it sent for you?" + +"Charles Steel, who was, however, not quite so frank about finances as +you seem to be," was the answer. "It was also curious, or otherwise, +that I was requested to see what could be done by two other gentlemen +who offered to guarantee expenses. That is about as much as I may tell +you. You are not the only person with an interest in the future of the +Crane Valley district." + +"I seem to be used as a stalking-horse by friends and enemies alike, and +get the benefit of the charges each time they miss their aim. The part +grows irksome," I said dryly. "However, if you are willing to take the +risks, I need capable assistance badly enough." + +Dixon seemed quite willing, and asked further questions. "You seem a +little bitter against the sergeant. What kind of man is he?" he said. "I +mean, has he a tolerably level head, or is he one of the discipline-made +machines who can comprehend nothing not included in their code of +rules?" + +"I used to think him singularly shrewd, but recent events have changed +my opinion, and you had better place him in the latter category," I +said; and Dixon chuckled over something. + +"Very natural! I must see him. From what you said already, he doesn't +strike me as a fool. Well, I don't think you need worry too much, Mr. +Ormesby." + +Dixon had resumed his careless manner before he left me, and, for no +particular reason, I felt comforted. We had several more interviews +before the trial began, and I can vividly remember the morning I was +summoned into court. It was packed to suffocation, and the brilliant +sunshine that beat in through the long windows fell upon faces that I +knew. Their owners were mostly poor men, and I surmised had covered the +long distance on horseback, sleeping on the prairie, to encourage me. +There was, indeed, when I took my stand a suppressed demonstration that +brought a quicker throb to my pulses and a glow into my face. It was +comforting to know that I had their approbation and sympathy. If the +life I had caught brief glimpses of at Bonaventure was not for me, these +hard-handed, tireless men were my equals and friends--and I was proud of +them. + +So it was in a clear, defiant voice I pleaded "Not guilty!" and +presently composed myself to listen while Sergeant Mackay detailed my +arrest. Bronzed faces were turned anxiously upon him when he was asked: +"Did the prisoner volunteer any statement, or offer resistance?" + +Mackay looked down at the men before him, and there was a significant +silence in the body of the court. Then, with a faint twinkle in his +eyes, he answered: "There was a bit demonstration at the station in the +prisoner's favor, but he assisted us in maintaining order. The charge, +he said, was ridiculous." + +This I considered a liberal view to take of what had passed and my own +comments, and, though I knew that Mackay was never addicted to unfairly +making the most of an advantage, I remembered Dixon's opinion. If he +were actuated by any ulterior motive, I had, however, no inkling of what +it might be. + +Nothing of much further importance passed until the man who had +preferred the charge against me took his stand; when, watching him +intently, I was puzzled by his attitude. He appeared irresolute, though +I felt tolerably certain that his indecision was quite untinged with +compunction on my account. He had also a sullen look, which suggested +one driven against his will, and, twice before he spoke, made a slight +swift movement, as though under the impulse of a changed resolution. + +"I am the owner of the lands and remains of the homestead known as +Gaspard's Trail," he said. "I bought them at public auction when sold by +the gentleman who held the prisoner's mortgage. Twice that day the +latter threatened both of us, and his friends raised a hostile +demonstration. He told me to take care of myself and the property, for +he would live to see me sorry; but I didn't count much on that. Thought +he was only talking when naturally a little mad. Have had cause to +change my opinions since. I turned in early on the night of the fire and +slept well, I and my hired man, Wilkins, being the only people in the +house. Wilkins wakened me about two in the morning. 'Get up at once! +Somebody has fired the place!' he said. + +"I got up--in a mighty hurry--and got out my valuables. One end of the +house was 'most red-hot. There wasn't much furniture in it. The prisoner +had cleared out 'most everything, whether it was in the mortgage +schedule or whether it was not; but there was enough to keep me busy +while Wilkins lit out to save the horses. Wind blew the sparks right on +to the stable. I went out when I'd saved what I could, and as Wilkins +had been gone a long time, concluded he'd made sure of the horses. Met +the prisoner when I was carrying tools out of a threatened shed. Asked +him to help me. 'I'll see you burned before I stir a hand,' he said. +Noticed he was skulking round the corner of a shed, and seemed kind of +startled at the sight of me, but was too rattled to think of much just +then. Didn't ask him anything more, but seeing the fire had taken hold +good, sat down and watched it. Yes, sir, I told somebody it wasn't +insured. + +"By-and-by the prisoner came back with a dozen ranchers. Didn't seem +friendly, or even civil, most of them, and there was nothing I could +do. Then I got worried about Wilkins, for he'd been gone a long time, +and the stable was burning bad. One of the ranchers said he'd make sure +there were no beasts inside it, and the prisoner and the rest went +along. They found Wilkins with some bones broken, and got him and the +horses out between them. Then, when the place was burnt out, Sergeant +Mackay rode up. I was homeless; but none of the ranchers would take me +in. Somebody said he wasn't sorry, and I'd got my deserts. Believe it +was the prisoner; but can't be certain. That's all I know except that +before I turned in I saw all the lamps out and fixed up the stove. Am +certain the fire didn't start from them. + +"I was hunting among the ruins with Wilkins a little while ago when I +found a flattened coal-oil-tin under some fallen beams in the kitchen. I +never used that oil, but heard at the railroad store that the prisoner +did. Mightn't have taken the trouble to inquire, but that I found close +beside it a silver match-box. It was pretty well worn, but anyone who +will look at it close can read that it was given to H. Ormesby. +Considering the prisoner must have dropped it there, I handed both to +the police." + +When Niven mentioned the match-box I started as though struck by a +bullet. It was mine, undoubtedly, and most of my neighbors had seen it. +That it was damning evidence in conjunction with the oil-tin, and had +been deliberately placed there for my undoing, I felt certain. There was +a half-audible murmur in the court while the judge examined the +articles, and I read traces of bewilderment and doubt in the faces +turned towards me. That these men should grow suspicious roused me to a +sense of unbearable injury, and I sent my voice ringing through the +court. "It is an infamous lie! I lost the match-box, or it was stolen +from me with a purpose, a month after the fire." + +The judge dropped his note-book, the prosecutor smiled significantly; +but I saw that the men from the prairie believed me, and that was very +comforting. Something resembling a subdued cheer arose from various +parts of the building. + +"Silence!" said the judge sternly. "An interruption is neither +admissible nor seemly, prisoner. You will be called on in turn." + +"We need not trouble about the prisoner's denial, which was perhaps +natural, if useless, because the witness' statement will be fully borne +out by the man who was present when he found the match-box," said the +lawyer for the Crown. "I will now call Sergeant Mackay again." + +Mackay's terse testimony was damaging, and aroused my further +indignation. I had not expected that he would either conceal or enlarge +upon anything that would tell against me; but had anticipated some trace +of reluctance, or that he would wait longer for questions between his +admissions. Instead, he stood rigidly erect, and reeled off his +injurious testimony more like a speaking automaton than a human being. + +"A trooper warned me that he had seen a reflected blaze in the sky," he +said. "We mounted and rode over to Gaspard's Trail. Arriving there I +found a number of men, including the owner, Niven, and the prisoner. +Niven said the place was not insured. They were unable to do anything. I +see no need to describe the fire. The house was past saving; but the +ranchers, with the prisoner among them, broke into the burning stable to +bring out the horses, which had been overlooked, and found the hired +man, Wilkins, partly suffocated in a stall. He was badly injured, but +bore out the owner's statement that lamps and stove were safe when they +retired. + +"I proceeded to question the spectators. Knew them all as men of good +character, and as they had newly ridden in, saw no reason to suspect +more than one in case the fire was not accidental. Asked Niven whom he +first met, and he said it was the prisoner, shortly after the fire broke +out. Stated he met him slipping through the shadow of a shed, and the +prisoner refused to assist him. Was not surprised at this, knowing the +prisoner bore Niven little goodwill since the latter bought his +property. Had heard him threaten him and another man supposed to be +connected with him in the purchase of Gaspard's Trail." + +"What reason have you to infer that any other man was concerned in the +purchase of Gaspard's Trail?" asked the prosecutor; and Mackay answered +indifferently: + +"It was just popular opinion that he was finding Niven the money." + +"We need not trouble about popular opinion," said the lawyer somewhat +hurriedly. "We will now proceed to the testimony of the hired man, +Thomas Wilkins." + +Thomas Wilkins was called for several times, but failed to present +himself, and a trooper who hurried out of court came back with the +tidings that he had borrowed a horse at the hotel and ridden out on the +prairie an hour ago. Since then nobody had seen him. + +The Crown prosecutor fidgeted, the judge frowned, and there was a +whispering in the court, until the former rose up: "As Wilkins is one of +my principal witnesses, I must suggest an adjournment." + +It cost me an effort to repress an exclamation. I had already been kept +long enough in suspense, and suspecting that Wilkins did not mean to +return, knew that a lengthened adjournment would be almost equally as +disastrous as a sentence. + +"Have you no information whatever as to why he has absented himself?" +asked the judge. Receiving a negative answer, he turned towards the +trooper: "Exactly what did you hear at the hotel?" + +"Very little, sir," was the answer. "He didn't tell anybody where he was +going, but just rode out. The hotelkeeper said he guessed Wilkins had +something on his mind by the way he kicked things about last night." + +"It will be the business of the police to find him as speedily as +possible. In the meantime, I can only adjourn the case until they do, +unless the prisoner's representative proceeds with the examination of +witnesses," said the judge. + +Dixon was on his feet in a moment. "With the exception of Sergeant +Mackay and the witness Niven, who will be further required by my legal +friend, I do not purpose to trouble the witnesses," he said. "While I +can urge no reasonable objection to the adjournment, it is necessary to +point out that it will inflict a grievous injury on one whom I have +every hope of showing is a wholly innocent man. It is well known that +this is the one time of the year when the prairie rancher's energies are +taxed to the utmost, and the loss of even a few days now may entail the +loss of the harvest or the ruin of the stock. My client has also +suffered considerably from being brought here to answer what I cannot +help describing as an unwarranted charge, and it is only reasonable that +bail should be allowed." + +"Is anyone willing to offer security?" asked the judge. + +There was a few moments' silence, and then a hum of subdued voices as a +man rose up; while I could scarcely believe my eyes when I saw it was +Boone. In spite of the slight change in his appearance, he must have +been aware that he was running a serious risk, for his former holding +lay almost within a day's journey. I could also see that some of the +spectators started as they recognized him. + +"I shall be glad to offer security for the prisoner's reappearance, so +far as my means will serve," he said. + +"You are a citizen of this place, or have some local standing?" asked +the judge. + +Boone answered carelessly: "I can hardly claim so much; but a good many +people know me further west, and I am prepared to submit my bank-book as +a guarantee." + +He had scarcely finished, when another man I had not noticed earlier +stood up in turn. "I am authorized by Carson Haldane, of Bonaventure, to +offer bail to any extent desired." + +The judge beckoned both of them to sit down again, and called up a +commissioned police officer and Sergeant Mackay. Then I felt slightly +hopeful, guessing that a good deal depended on Mackay's opinion. The +others drew aside, and my heart throbbed fast with the suspense until +the judge announced his decision. + +"As the charge is a serious one, and the police hope to find the missing +witness very shortly, I must, in the meantime, refuse to allow bail." + +I had grown used to the crushing disappointment which follows +short-lived hope; but the shock was hard to meet. It seemed only too +probable that Lane or his emissaries had spirited Wilkins away, and +would not produce him until it was too late to save my crop. Still, +there was no help for it, and I followed the officer who led me back to +my quarters with the best air of stolidity I could assume. + +"What did you think of it?" asked Dixon, who came in presently with a +smile on his face; and I answered ruefully: "The less said the better. +It strikes me as the beginning of the final catastrophe, and if Wilkins +substantiates the finding of the match-box, conviction must follow. What +is the usual term of detention for such offenses?" + +"You needn't worry about that," was the cheerful answer. "Things are +going just about as well as they could. There'll be a second +adjournment, and then perhaps another." + +"And I must lie here indefinitely while my crops and cattle go to ruin! +That is hardly my idea of things going well; and if you are jesting, it +is precious poor humor," I broke in. + +Dixon laughed. "I am not jesting in the least. You seem to be one of +those people, Ormesby, who believe everything will go to ruin unless +they hold control themselves. Now, it would not surprise me, if, on your +return, you found your crops and cattle flourishing. Further, the +prosecution hold a poor case, and I expect, when my turn comes, to see +it collapse. There isn't so much as you might fancy in the match-box +incident. The men who burn down places don't generally leave such things +about. I have had a talk with the sergeant, and, though he's closer +than an oyster, I begin to catch a glimmering of his intentions." + +"Why can't you explain them then? I'm growing tired of hints, and feel +tempted to tell my mysterious well-wishers to go to the devil together, +and leave me in peace," I said. + +"A little ill-humor is perhaps excusable," was the tranquil answer. "It +is wisest not to prophesy until one is sure, you know. Now, I'm open, as +I said, to do my best for you; but in that case you have just got to let +me set about it independently. Usual or otherwise, it is my way." + +"Then I suppose I'll have to let you. Your reputation should be a +guarantee," I answered moodily, and Dixon lifted his hat from the table. + +"Thanks!" he said dryly. "It is, in fact, the only sensible thing you +can do." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +AGAINST TIME + + +Dixon's prediction proved correct. When I was brought into court a +second time there was still no news of Wilkins, and after further +testimony of no importance the case was again adjourned. This time, +however, bail was allowed, and Boone and Rancher Gordon stood surety for +me. The latter was by no means rich, and had, like the rest of us, +suffered severe losses of late. Dixon was the first to greet me when I +went forth, somewhat moodily, a free man for the time being. + +"You don't look either so cheerful or grateful as you ought to be," he +said. + +"You are wrong in one respect. I am at least sincerely grateful for your +efforts." + +Dixon, in defiance of traditions, smote me on the shoulder. "Then what's +the matter with the cheerfulness?" + +"It is not exactly pleasant to have a charge of this description hanging +over one indefinitely, and I have already lost time that can never be +made up," I said. "Lane will no doubt produce his witness when he +considers it opportune, and there is small encouragement to work in the +prospect of spending a lengthy time in jail while one's possessions go +to ruin." + +"You think Lane had a hand in his disappearance?" Dixon asked +thoughtfully; and when I nodded, commented: "I can't quite say I do. My +reasons are not conclusive, and human nature's curious, anyway; but I'm +not sure that Wilkins will, if he can help it, turn up at all. However, +in the meantime, the dinner we're both invited to will put heart into +you." + +He slipped his arm through mine, and led me into the leading hotel, +where, as it was drawing near the time for the six o'clock supper, +every man turned to stare at us as we passed through the crowded bar and +vestibule. I was making for the general dining-room when Dixon said: "Go +straight ahead. It was not easy to manage, but our hosts were determined +to do the thing in style." + +He flung a door open, and Boone and Gordon greeted me in turn, while I +had never seen a menu in a Western hostelry to compare with that of the +following meal. Perhaps Gordon noticed my surprise, for he said: "It was +Adams who fixed up all this, and came near having a scrimmage with the +hotelkeeper about the wine. 'This comes from California, and I prefer it +grown in France. Those labels aren't much use to any man with a sense of +taste,' says he. This brand, wherever they grew it, is quite good enough +for me, but I'm wondering where Adams learned the difference." + +Boone smiled at me. "I have," he said, "a good memory, and learned a +number of useful things during a somewhat varied experience." + +The meal was over and the blue cigar smoke curled about us, when I +turned to Gordon: "There are two things I should like to ask you. First, +and because I know what losses you have had to face, how you raised the +money to liberate me in the generous way you did; and, second, how many +acres are left unsown at Crane Valley?" + +The gaunt rancher fidgeted before he answered: "You have said 'Thank +you' once, and I guess that's enough. You're so blame thin in the hide, +and touchy, Ormesby; and it wasn't I who did it--at least not much of +it." + +Dixon appeared to be amused, and when Gordon glanced appealingly at +Boone the latter only smiled and shook his head; seeing which, I said +quietly: "In short, you sent round the hat?" + +There was no doubt that the chance shot had told, for Gordon rose, very +red in face, to his feet. "That's just what I didn't. Don't you know us +yet? Send round the hat when the boys knew you were innocent and just +how I was fixed! No, sir. They came right in, each bringing his roll of +bills with him, and if I'd wanted twice as much they'd have raised it. +And now I've given them away--just what they made me promise not to." + +I had anticipated the answer, but it stirred me, nevertheless, and while +Gordon stared at me half angry, half ashamed of his own vehemence, I +filled a wine-glass to the brim. "Here's to the finest men and stanchest +comrades on God's green earth," I said, looking steadily at him. + +It was Dixon who brought us down to our normal level, for, setting his +glass down empty, he commented: "You're not overmodest, Ormesby, +considering that you are one of them. Still, I think you're right. +People in the East are expecting a good deal from you and the good +country that has been given you." + +Gordon joined in the lawyer's laugh, but I broke in: "You have not +answered my second question." + +"Well!" and the rancher smiled mischievously. "You're so mighty +particular that I don't know what to say. Still, things looked pretty +tolerable last time I was down to Crane Valley." + +Dixon accompanied us to the station when it was time to catch the train, +and as he stood on the car platform said to me: "It's probably no use to +tell you not to worry, but I'd sit tight in my saddle and think as +little as possible about this trouble if I were you." + +He dropped lightly from the platform, cigar in hand, as the train pulled +out, and, though most unlike the traditional lawyer in speech or +agility, left me with a reassuring confidence in his skill. + +It was early morning when I rode alone towards Crane Valley, feeling, in +spite of Dixon's good advice, distinctly anxious. It is true that Thorn +and Steel were both energetic, but no man can drive two teams at once, +and it was my impression that, having more at stake, I could do +considerably more in person than either of them. I had small comfort in +the reflection that, after all, the question how much had been +accomplished was immaterial, because there was little use in sowing +where, while I lay in jail, an enemy might reap, and I urged my horse +when I drew near the hollow in which the homestead lay, and then pulled +him up with a jerk. Gordon had said things had been going tolerably +well, but this proved a very inadequate description. The plowed land had +all been harrowed and sown, and beyond it lay the shattered clods of +fresh breaking, where I guessed oats had been sown under the sod newly +torn from the virgin prairie. Ten men of greater endurance could not +have accomplished so much, and I sat still, humbled and very grateful, +with eyes that grew momentarily dim, fixed on the wide stretch of black +soil steaming under the morning sun. It seemed as though a beneficent +genie had been working for my deliverance while I lay, almost +despairing, in the grip of the law. + +Then Steel, springing out from the door of the sod-house, came up at a +run, with Thorn behind him. It was strangely pleasant to see the elation +in their honest faces, and Steel's shout of delight sent a thrill +through me. + +"This is the best sight I've seen since you left us," he panted, +wringing my hand. "Thorn's that full up with satisfaction he can't even +run. We knew Dixon and Adams would see you through between them." + +"Has Dixon been down here?" I asked, for the lawyer had not told me so; +and Thorn, who came up, gasped: "Oh, yes; and a Winnipeg man he sent +down went round with Adams 'most everywhere. Say, did you strike Niven +for compensation?" + +"No," I answered, a trifle ruefully. "I am only free on bail, and not +acquitted yet." + +Steel's jaw dropped, and his dismay would have been ludicrous had it not +betrayed his whole-hearted friendship, while Thorn's burst of sulphurous +language was an even more convincing testimony. Again I felt a curious +humility, and something enlarged in my throat as I looked down at them. + +"If I can't stand Lane off with you two and the rest behind me I shall +deserve all I get, and we must hope for the best," I said. "But if you +could handle three teams each you could not have done all this." + +Thorn, who was not usually vociferous in expressing his sentiments, +appeared glad of this diversion, and, after a glance at the plowed land, +strove to smile humorously. "Think you could have done it any better +yourself?" + +"It's a fair hit," I answered. "You know exactly how much I can do. Let +me down easily. How did you manage it?" + +"We didn't manage anything," said Thorn. "No, sir. The boys, they did it +all. Everybody came or sent a hired man, and blame quaint plowing some +of them cow-chasers done. Put up a dollar sweepstake and ran races with +the harrows, they did, and Steel talked himself purple before he stopped +them. They've busted the gang-plow, and one said he ought to have been a +dentist by the way he pulled out the cultivator teeth." + +"And where did you come in?" I asked, and duly noted the effort it cost +Steel to follow his comrade's lead. + +"We just lay back and turned the good advice on," he said. "Tom, he led +the prayer meeting when, after supper, they turned loose on Lane. Oh, +yes, we rode in and out for provisions. Sally, she would have the best +in the settlement, and sat up all night cooking. Don't know how you'll +feel when you see the grocery bill." + +"I can tell you now," I said. "I feel that there's nothing in the whole +Dominion too good for them--or you--and I'd be glad, if necessary, to +sell my shirt to pay the bill." + +We went on to the house together, and Sally, hiding her disappointment, +plunged with very kindly intentions into a spirited description of her +visitors' feats. "That's a testimonial," she said, pointing through the +window to an appalling pile of empty tins. "I just had to get them when +some of the boys brought their own provisions in. I set one of them +peeling potatoes all night to convince him." + +"Peeling potatoes?" I interpolated; and Steel, smiling wickedly, +furnished the explanation. + +"Sally was busy in the shed when he came along, and wanted to help her +considerable. 'Feel like peeling half a sackful?' says Sally; and when +the fool stockman allowed he'd like it better than anything, says she, +'Then, as I'm tired, you can.' She just left him with it, while she +talked to the other man; but there was grit in him, and he peeled away +until morning. Wanted to marry her, too, he did." + +Sally's glance foreboded future tribulation for the speaker, and Thorn +frowned; but Steel, disregarding it, concluded gravely: "Dessay he might +have done it, but he heard Sally turn loose on me one day, and took +warning." + +In spite of the shadow hanging over me, it was good to be at home, and +perhaps the very uncertainty as to its duration made the somewhat sordid +struggle of our life at Crane Valley almost attractive. Lane, it seemed +only too probable, would crush us in the end, but there was satisfaction +in the thought that every hour's work well done would help us to prolong +our resistance. So the days of effort slipped by until I received a +notice to present myself at court on a specified date, and, there being +much to do, I delayed my departure until the last day. Steel insisted on +accompanying me to the railroad, but protested against the time of +starting. "One might fancy you were fond of jail by the hurry you're in +to get back to it," he said. "We could catch the cars if we left hours +later." + +"It's as well to be on the right side," I said; for I had been in a +state of nervous impatience all day. Wilkins had been found, and now +that a decision appeared certain, I grew feverishly anxious to learn the +best--or the worst. + +It was a day in early summer when we set out and pushed on at a good +pace, though already the sun shone hot. Steel, indeed, suggested there +was no need for haste, but after checking my beast a little, I shot +ahead again. "It might be your wedding you were going to!" he said. + +We had covered part of the distance left to traverse on the second day +when a freighter's lumbering ox-team crawled out of a ravine, and Steel +pulled up beside him. "I don't know if you're mailing anything East, but +you're late if you are," said the teamster. + +"Then there's something wrong with the sun," said Steel. "If he's +keeping his time bill we're most two hours too soon." + +"You would have been last week," answered the other; while a sudden +chill struck through me as I remembered the promised acceleration of the +transcontinental express. "They've improved the track in the Selkirks +sooner than they expected, and they're rushing the Atlantic hummer +through on the new schedule this month instead of next." + +Before he concluded I had snatched out my watch and simultaneously +touched the beast with the spurs. The next moment the timepiece was +swinging against my belt, and, with eyes fixed on the willows before me, +I was plunging at a reckless gallop down the side of the ravine. The +horse was young and resented the punishment, but I had no desire to hold +him, and the further he felt inclined to bolt the better it would please +me. So we smashed through the thinner willows, and somehow reeled down +an almost precipitous slope, reckless of the fact that there was a creek +at the bottom, while the trail wound round towards a bridge, until the +hoofs sank into the soft ground, and we came floundering towards the +tall growth by the water's edge. There the spurs went in again, and the +beast, which knew nothing of jumping, rather rushed than launched itself +at the creek. There was a splash and a flounder, a fountain of mire and +water shot up, and green withes parted before me as we charged through +the willows on the farther bank. The slope was soft and steep beneath +the climbing birches, and by the time we were half way up the beast had +relinquished all desire to bolt; but my watch showed me that go he must, +and it was without pity I drove him at the declivity. Meantime, a thud +of hoofs followed us, and when, racing south across the levels, we had +left the ravine two miles behind, Steel came up breathless. + +"Can you do it, Harry?" he panted. + +"I'm afraid not," I shouted. "Still, if I kill the horse under me, I'm +going to try. He's carrying a good many poor men's money." + +A hurried calculation had proved conclusively that if the train were +punctual I should miss it by more than an hour, and there was, of +course, not another until the following day. Still, it was a long climb +from Vancouver City up through the mountains of British Columbia to the +Kicking Horse Pass in the Rockies, and there then remained a wide +breadth of prairie for the mammoth locomotives to traverse. Sometimes, +when the load was heavy, they lost an hour or two on the wild up-grade +through the cañons. I was ignorant of legal procedure, but greatly +feared that my non-appearance in the court would entail the forfeiture +of the sureties, and, as the session was near an end, postpone the trial +indefinitely. Therefore the train must be caught if it were in the power +of horseflesh to accomplish it, and I settled myself to ride as for my +life. + +"Wouldn't the Port Arthur freight do?" shouted Steel. + +"No," I answered. "It's the Atlantic Express or nothing! You can pick +those things up on your homeward journey." + +Without checking the beast I managed to loosen the valise strapped +before me, and hurled it down upon the prairie. It contained all I +possessed in the shape of civilized apparel except what I rode in, and +that was mired all over from the flounder through the creek; but the +horse already carried weight enough. It was now blazing noon, and in the +prairie summer the sun is fiercely hot. Here and there the bitter dust +of alkali rolled across the waste, crusting our dripping faces and the +coats of the lathered beasts. My eyelashes grew foul and heavy, blurring +my vision, so that it was but dimly I saw the endless levels crawl up +from the far horizon. A speck far down in the distance grew into the +altitude of a garden plant, and, knowing what it must be, I pressed my +heels home fiercely, waiting for what seemed hours until it should +increase into a wind-dwarfed tree. + +It passed. There was nothing but the dancing heat to break the great +monotony of grass, while the gray streak where it cut the sky-line +rolled steadily back in mockery of our efforts to reach it. Yet I was +soaked in perspiration, and Steel was alkali white. There was a steady +trickle into my eyes, and the taste of salt in my mouth, while the +drumming of hoofs rose with a staccato thud-thud, like distant rifle +fire, and the springy rush of the beasts beneath us showed how fast we +were traveling. Steel shook his head as we raced up a rise which had +tantalized me long, stirrup to stirrup and neck to neck, while the clots +from the dripping bits drove past like flakes of wind-whirled snow. + +"If you want to get there, Ormesby, this won't do," he said. "You'd +break the heart of the toughest beast inside another hour." + +"The need would justify a worse loss," I panted, snatching out my watch. +"We have pulled up thirty minutes, but are horribly behind still. Men +who can't afford to lose it have put up the stakes I am riding for." + +Steel made a gesture of comprehension, but once more shook his head. "My +beast's the better, and he's carrying a lighter weight, but he'll never +last at the pace we're making. Save your own a little, and when he's +dead beat I'll let up and change with you. I'll hang on in the meantime +in case one of them comes to grief over a badger-hole. It's your one +chance if you're bent on getting through." + +I would at that moment have gladly sold the rest of my life for the +certainty of catching the train. To give my enemy no advantage was a +great thing, and I felt that absence when my name was called would +prejudice the most confiding against me. But that was, after all, a +trifle compared with what I owed the men who had probably stripped +themselves of necessities to help me, and I felt that if I failed them a +shame which could never be dissipated would follow me. Nevertheless, +Steel's advice was sound, and I tightened my grip on the bridle with a +smothered imprecation. Then my heart grew heavier, for the horse needed +no pulling, and responded with an ominous alacrity. + +We were still leagues from the railroad, and the miles of grasses +flitted towards us ever more slowly. The last clump of birches took half +an hour to raise, and the willows which fled behind us had been five +long minutes taking the shape of trees. My watch was clenched in one +hand, and, while bluff and ravine crawled, its fingers raced around the +dial with an agonizing rapidity in testimony of the feebleness of flesh +and blood when pitted against steel and steam. The clanging cars had +swept clear of the foothills long ago, and the track ran straight and +level across the prairie, a smooth empty road for the Accelerated to +save time on in its race between the Pacific and the Laurentian +waterway. When the prairie grew blurred before us, as it sometimes did, +I could see instead the two huge locomotives veiled in dust and smoke +thundering with a pitiless swiftness down the long converging rails, +while the drumming of hoofs changed into the roar of wheels whose speed +would brand me with dishonor. Yet we were doing all that man or beast +could do, and at last a faint ray of hope and a new dismay came upon me. +The difference in time had further lessened, but my horse was failing. + +"Go on as you're going," shouted Steel, edging his whitened beast +nearer. "I'm riding a stone lighter, and this beast has another hour's +work left in him." + +I went on, the horse growing more and more feeble and blundering in his +stride, until at last, when it was a case of dismount or do murder, I +dropped stiffly from the saddle. Steel was down in a second, and in +another my jacket and vest were off, and I laid my foot to the stirrup +in white shirt and trousers, with a handkerchief knotted around my +waist. + +"You'll startle the folks in Empress, and you can't strip off much +more," said Steel. + +"I'd ride into the depot naked sooner than rob the boys," I said; and +was mounted before my comrade could reopen his mouth. When he did so his +"Good luck!" sounded already faint and far away. + +Steel's horse had more life left in him--one could feel it in his +stride; but now that there was some hope of success I rode with more +caution, sparing him up the low rises, and trying, so far as one might +guess it, to keep within a very small margin of his utmost strength. So +we pressed on until all the prairie grew dim to me, and my only distinct +sensation was the rush of the cool wind. Then a flitting birch bluff +roused me once more to watch, and minute by minute I strained my eyes +for the first glimpse of the tall poles heralding the railroad track. At +last a row of what looked like matches streaked the horizon, and grew in +size until something that rose and fell with the heave of the prairie +sea became visible beneath. Then, as we topped one of its grassy waves, +a cluster of distant cubes loomed up, and a glance at the watch's racing +fingers warned me that I was already behind the time that the train was +due to reach the settlement. It might have passed; and a new torture was +added until, when in an agony of suspense, I strained my eyes towards +the west, a streak of whiteness crept out of the horizon. + +The run of the Accelerated was at that time regarded as a national +exploit, forming, as it did, part of a new link binding Japan and +London--the East and the West; and I knew the conductor would hardly +have waited for one of his own directors. The white streak rapidly grew +larger; something sparkled beneath it, and there was flash of twinkling +glass through the dust and steam. I fixed my eyes on the station, and +taxed every aching sinew in hand and heel, for the weakening beast must +bring me there in time or die. A smoke cloud, with bright patches +beneath it, rolled up to the station when I was nearly half a mile away. +The horse was reeling under me, the power had gone out of the leaden +hands on switch and bridle, and--for the tension had produced a +vertigo--my sight was almost gone. + +Hearing, however, still remained, and shouts of encouragement reached +me, while I could dimly see the station close ahead, and shapeless +figures apparently waving hats and arms. The clang of a big bell rang in +my ears, the twin locomotives snorted, and I fell from the saddle, +sprang towards the track, and clutched at the sliding rails of a car +platform. I missed them; the car, swaying giddily, so it seemed, rolled +past, and I hurled myself bodily at the next platform. Somebody clutched +my shoulder and dragged me up, and I fell with a heavy crash against the +door of a vestibule. + +"Just in time," said a man in uniform. "Say, are you doing this for a +wager, or are some mad cow-chasers after you?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +BAD TIDINGS + + +The dust was rolling about the cars and the gaunt poles whirled past +before I could recover breath to answer the astonished conductor. Then +it was with a gasp I said: "Won't you get me a little water?" + +The man vanished, and I sat still vacantly noticing how the prairie +reeled behind me until the door slid open and he returned with a tin +vessel and a group of curious passengers behind him. A piece of ice +floated in the former, and a man held out a flask. "I guess it won't +hurt him, adulterated some," he said. + +Never before had I tasted so delicious a draught. Hours of anxiety and +effort under a blazing sun had parched and fouled my lips, and my throat +was dry as unslaked lime. The tin vessel was empty when I handed it +back, and the railroad official looked astonished as he turned it upside +down for the spectators' information. "I guess a locomotive tank would +hardly quench that thirst of yours," he said. + +"Thanks. I'll get up. It was not for amusement I boarded your train as I +did," I said, and the rest opened a passage for me into the long +Colonist car. There was a mirror above the basins in the vestibule, and +a glance into it explained their curiosity. The white shirt had burst in +places; the grime of alkali had caked on my face, leaving only paler +circles about the eyes. Hardened mire crusted the rest of my apparel, +and each movement made it evident to me that portions of the epidermis +had been abraded from me. + +"It's not my business how passengers board these cars, so long as +they're tolerably decent, and can pay their fare," observed the +conductor. "Still, although we're not particular, we've got to dress you +a little between us; and it mightn't be too much to ask what brought +you here in such an outfit?" + +It was evident that the others were waiting to ask the same question, +and I answered diplomatically: "I have money enough to take me to +Empress at Colonist fare, and was half way to the depot to catch the +cars on the old schedule before I discovered you had commenced the +accelerated service. Then I flung off every ounce of weight that might +lose me the race." + +"You must have had mighty important business," somebody said; and the +door at the opposite end opened as I answered dryly: "I certainly had." + +"Hallo! Great Columbus! Is that you, Ormesby?" a voice which seemed +familiar said; and, turning angrily, I saw a storekeeper with whom I had +dealt staring at me in bewilderment. + +"Ormesby!" the name was repeated by several passengers, and I read +sudden suspicion in some of the faces, and sympathy in the rest, while +one of them, with Western frankness, asked: "You're the Rancher Ormesby +we've been reading about?" + +"Yes," I answered, making a virtue of necessity. "I am on my way to +surrender for trial, and redeem my bail. Now you can understand my +hurry." + +Several of the passengers nodded, and the dealer said: "It's tolerably +plain you can't go like that; they're that proud of themselves in +Empress they'd lock you up. So I'll try to find you something in my +gripsack. Still, while I concluded you never done the thing, I'd like to +hear you say straight off you know nothing about the burning of +Gaspard's Trail." + +"Then listen a second," I answered. "You have my word for it, that I +know no more what caused the fire than you do. You will be able to read +my defense in the papers, and I need not go into it here." + +"That's enough for me," was the answer. "Now, gentlemen, if you have got +anything you can lend my friend here in your valises, I'll guarantee +they're either replaced or returned. Some of you know me, and here's my +business card." + +It may be curious, but I saw that most of those present, and they were +all apparently from parts of the prairie, fully credited my statement, +and one voiced the sentiments of the rest when he said: "I'll do the +best I can. If Mr. Ormesby had played the fire-bug, he wouldn't be so +mighty anxious to get back to court again." + +The position was humiliating, but no choice was left me. I must either +accept the willing offers or enter Empress half naked, and accordingly I +made a hasty selection among the garments thrust upon me. Twenty minutes +spent in the lavatory, with the colored porter's assistance, produced a +comforting change, and when I returned to the car, one of the most +generous lenders surveyed me with pride as well as approval. + +"You do us credit, Rancher, and you needn't worry about the thanks. +We've no use for them," he said. "Hope you'll get off; but if you are +sent up for burning down that place, I'll be proud of having helped to +outfit a famous man." + +Perhaps my face was ludicrous with its mingled expressions of gratitude +and disgust at this naïve announcement, for a general laugh went up +which I finally joined in, and that hoarse merriment gave me the freedom +of the Colonist car. Rude burlesque is interspersed amid many a tragedy, +and I had seen much worse situations saved by the grace of even coarse +humor. Thereafter no personal questions were asked, and most of my +fellow-travelers treated me with a delicacy of consideration which is +much less uncommon than one might suppose among the plain, hard-handed +men who wrest a living out of the prairie. + +Night had closed in some time earlier when I strolled out across the +platform of the car and leaned upon the rails of the first-class before +it. Tired physically as I was, the nervous restlessness which followed +the mental strain would, I think, have held me wakeful, even if there +had been anything more than a bare shelf of polished maple, which finds +out every aching bone, to sleep on. This, however, was not the case, for +those who travel Colonist must bring their own bedding, or do without +it. It was a glorious summer night, still and soft and effulgent with +the radiance of the full moon which hung low above the prairie, while +the sensation of the swift travel was bracing. + +There was no doubt that the Accelerated was making up lost time; and the +lurching, clanking, pounding, roar of flying wheels, and panting of +mammoth engines both soothed and exhilarated me. They were in one sense +prosaic and commonplace sounds, but--so it seemed to me that night--in +another a testimony to man's dominion over not only plant and beast upon +the face of the earth, but also the primeval forces which move the +universe. Further, the diapason of the great drivers and Titanic +snorting, rising and falling rhythmically amid the pulsating din, broke +through the prairie's silence as it were a triumphant hymn of struggle +and effort, and toil all-conquering, as dropping the leagues behind it +the long train roared on. I knew something of the cost, paid in the +sweat of tremendous effort, and part in blood and agony, of the smooth +road along which the great machines raced across the continent. + +Perhaps I was overstrung, and accordingly fanciful; but I gathered fresh +courage, which was, indeed, badly needed, and I had grown partly +reassured and tranquil, when the door creaked behind me and there was a +light step on the platform. Then, turning suddenly, I found myself +within a foot of Lucille Haldane. She was bareheaded. The moon shone on +her face, which, as I had dreamed of it, looked at once ethereal and +very human under the silvery light. This, at least, was not a fancy born +of overtaxed nerves, for while given to heartsome merriment, daring, and +occasionally imperious, there was a large share of the spiritual in the +character of the girl. Shrewd, she certainly was, yet wholly fresh and +innocent, and at times I had seen depths of pity and sympathy which it +seemed were not wholly earthly in her eyes. When one can name and number +all the mysterious forces that rule the heart or brain of man, it may be +possible to tell why, when Beatrice Haldane's idealized image was ever +before me, I would have done more for her sister than for any living +woman. + +We were both a little surprised at the encounter, and I fancied I had +seen a momentary shrinking from me in the eyes of the girl. This at once +furnished cause for wonder, and hurt me. She had shown no shrinking at +our last meeting. + +"I did not expect to meet you when I came out for the sake of coolness. +Are you going East?" I said. + +Lucille Haldane was usually frank in speech, but she now appeared to be +perplexed by, and almost to resent, the question. "Yes. I have some +business which cannot be neglected in that direction," she said. + +"Is Miss Haldane or your father on board the train?" I asked, and +Lucille seemed to hesitate before she answered: + +"No. My father is in Winnipeg, and Beatrice has gone to Montreal; but +Mrs. Hansen, our housekeeper, is here with me." + +I was partly, but not altogether, relieved by this information. It was +no doubt foolish, but I had been at first afraid that every one of my +friends from Bonaventure had seen in what manner I boarded the train. I +would have given a good deal to discover whether Lucille had witnessed +the spectacle, but I did not quite see how to acquire the knowledge. + +"It must be important business which takes you East alone," I said +idly--to gain time in which to frame a more leading question; but the +words had a somewhat startling effect. A trace of indignation or +confusion became visible in the girl's face as she answered: "I have +already told you it is business which cannot be neglected; and if you +desire any further information I fear I cannot give it to you. Now, +suppose we reverse the positions. What has made you so unusually +inquisitive to-night, Mr. Ormesby?" + +The positions were reversed with a vengeance, somewhat to my disgust. I +had neither right nor desire to pry into Lucille Haldane's affairs, and +yet felt feverishly anxious to discover how much or how little she had +seen at the station. It was no use to reason with myself that this was +of no importance, for the fact remained. + +"I must apologize if I seemed inquisitive," I said. "It would have been +impertinence, but I will make a bargain with you. If you will tell me +whether you boarded the cars immediately the train came in, and what +seat you took, I will tell you the cause of it." + +This struck me as a clever maneuver, for if, as I hoped, she had seen +nothing, the story would certainly reach Bonaventure, and it seemed much +better that she should hear it first, and carefully toned down, from my +own lips. Lucille Haldane's face cleared instantaneously, and there was +a note of relief in her laugh. + +"Must you always make a bargain? You remember the last," but here she +broke off suddenly and favored me with a wholly sympathetic glance. "I +did not mean to recall that unfortunate night. You should come to the +point always, for you are not brilliant in diplomacy, and shall have +without a price the information you so evidently desire. I was standing +on the car platform when you rode up to the station." + +We are only mortal, and I fear I ground one heel, perhaps audibly, but +certainly viciously, into the boards beneath me. Still, I am certain +that my lips did not open. Nevertheless, I was puzzled by the sparkle in +Lucille Haldane's eyes which the radiant moonlight emphasized. There was +more than mischief in it, but what the more consisted of I could not +tell. "Have you forgotten the virtues of civilized self-restraint?" she +asked demurely. + +I could see no cause for these swift changes, which would probably have +bewildered any ordinary man, and I made answer: "It may be so; but on +this occasion, at least, I said nothing." + +Lucille Haldane laughed, and laid her hand lightly on my arm as the cars +jolted. "Then you certainly looked it; but I am not blaming you. I saw +you ride into the station, and I hardly grasp the reason for so much +modesty. I do not know what delayed you, but I know you were trying to +redeem the trust your neighbors placed in you." + +I was apparently a prey to all disordered fancies that night, for it +seemed a desecration that the little white hand should even bear the +touch of another man's jacket, and I lifted it gently into my own hard +palm. Also, I think I came desperately near stooping and touching it +with my lips. Be that as it may, in another second the opportunity was +lacking, for Lucille grasped the rails with it some distance away from +me, and leaned out over them to watch the sliding prairie, her light +dress streaming about her in the whistling draught. + +"The cars were very stuffy, and I am glad I came out. It is a perfectly +glorious night," she said. + +The remark seemed very disconnected, but she was right. The prairie +there was dead-level, a vast, rippling silver sea overhung by a spangled +vault of softest indigo. In spite of the rattling ballast and puffs of +whirled-up dust the lash of cool wind was grateful, and the rush of the +clanking cars stirred one's blood. Still, in contrast to their bulk and +speed, the slight figure in the fluttering white dress seemed very frail +and insecure as it leaned forth from the rails, and I set my teeth when, +with a sudden swing and a giddy slanting, we roared across a curving +bridge. Before the dark creek whirled behind us I had flung my arm +partly around the girl's waist and clenched the rails in front of her. + +"I am quite safe," she said calmly, after a curious glance at me. "You +look positively startled." + +"I was so," I answered, speaking no more than the truth, for the fright +had turned me cold; and she once more looked down at the whirling +prairie. + +"That was very unreasonable. You are not responsible for me." + +Perhaps the fright had rendered me temporarily light-headed, for I +answered, on impulse: "No; on the other hand, you are responsible for +me." + +"I?" the girl said quietly, with a demureness which was not all mockery. +"How could that be? Such a responsibility would be too onerous for me." + +"Why it should be I cannot tell you; but it is the truth," I said. +"Twice, when a crisis had to be faced, it was your opinions that turned +the scale for me; and I think that, growing hopeless, I should have +allowed Lane to rob me and gone elsewhere in search of better fortune +had it not been for the courage you infused into me. Once or twice also +you pointed the way out of a difficulty, and the clearness of your views +was almost startling. The most curious thing is that you are so much +younger than I." + +I had spoken no more than the truth, and was conscious of a passing +annoyance when Lucille Haldane laughed. "There is no overcoming +masculine vanity; and I once heard my father say you were in some +respects very young for your age," she said. "I am afraid it was +presumption, but I don't mind admitting I am glad if any chance word of +mine nerved you to continue your resistance." Her voice changed a little +as she added: "Of course, that is because your enemy's work is evil, and +I think you will triumph yet." + +Neither of us spoke again for a time, and I remember reflecting that +whoever won Lucille Haldane would have a helpmate to be proud of in this +world and perhaps, by virtue of what she could teach him, follow into +the next. I could think so the more dispassionately because now both she +and her sister were far above me, though, knowing my own kind, I +wondered where either could find any man worthy. + +So the minutes slipped by while the great express raced on, and blue +heavens and silver prairie unrolled themselves before us in an +apparently unending panorama. There had been times when I considered +such a prospect dreary enough, but it appeared surcharged with a strange +glamour that moonlit night. + +"Will Miss Haldane return to Bonaventure?" I asked, at length. + +"I hardly think so," said the girl. "We have very different tastes, you +know; and as father will not keep more than one of us with him, we can +both gratify them. Beatrice will leave for England soon, and in all +probability will not visit Bonaventure again." + +She looked at me with a strange expression as she spoke, and when her +meaning dawned on me I was conscious of a heavy shock. I had braced +myself to face the inevitable already, but the knowledge was painful +nevertheless, and my voice was not quite steady when I said: "You imply +that Miss Haldane is to be married shortly?" + +"It is not an impossible contingency." + +Lucille spoke gravely, and I wondered whether she had guessed the full +significance of the intimation. Perhaps my face had grown a little +harder, or the tightening of my fingers on the rail betrayed me, for she +looked up very sympathetically. "I thought it would be better that you +should know." + +There was such kindness stamped on her face that my heart went out to +her, and it was almost huskily I said: "I thank you. You have keen +perceptions." + +Lucille smiled gravely. "One could see that you thought much of +Beatrice--and I was sorry that it should be so." + +Her tone seemed to challenge further speech, and presently I found words +again: "It was an impossible dream, almost from the beginning; but I +awakened to the reality long ago. Still, nothing can rob me of the +satisfaction of having known your sister and you, and your influence has +been good for me. One can at least cherish the memory; and even a wholly +impossible fancy has its benefits." + +The girl colored, and said quietly: "It is not our fault that you +overrate us, and one finds the standard others set up for one irksome. +And yet you cannot be easily influenced, from what I know." + +"Heaven knows how weak and unstable I have been at times, but I learned +much that was good for me at Bonaventure, and should, whatever happens, +desire to keep your good opinion," I said. + +"I think you will always do that," said the girl, moving towards the +door. "It is growing late, but before I go I want to ask you to go to +your trial to-morrow with a good courage, and not to be astonished at +anything you hear or see. If you are, you must try to remember that we +Canadians actually are, as our orators tell us, a free people, and that +the prairie farmers do not monopolize all our love of justice." + +She brushed lightly past me, and the prairie grew dim and desolate as +the door clicked to. I had long dreaded the news just given me, but such +expectations do not greatly lessen one's sense of loss. Still, it may +have been that my senses were too dulled to feel the worst pain, and I +sat down on the top step of the platform with my arm through the railing +in a state of utter weariness and dejection, which mercifully acted as +an anesthetic. How long I watched the moonlit waste sweep past the +humming wheels I do not know; but tired nature must have had her way, +for it was early morning when a brakeman fell over me, and by the time +the resultant altercation was concluded, the clustered roofs of Empress +rose out of the prairie. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +LIBERTY + + +Sleep had brought me a brief forgetfulness, but the awakening was not +pleasant when I painfully straightened my limbs on the jolting platform, +while the twin whistles shrieked ahead. Every joint ached from the +previous day's exertions, my borrowed garments were clammy with dew, and +I shivered in the cold draught that swept past the slowing cars. The sun +had not cleared the grayness which veiled the east, and, frowned down +upon by huge elevators which rose higher and higher against a lowering +sky, the straggling town loomed up depressingly out of the surrounding +desolation. The pace grew slower, a thicket of willows choked with empty +cans and garbage slid by, then the rails of the stockyards closed in on +each hand, and we jolted over the switches into the station, which was +built, as usual, not in, but facing, the prairie town. + +There was no sign of life in its ill-paved streets, down which the dust +wisps danced; bare squares of wooden buildings, devoid of all +ornamentation, save for glaring advertisements which emphasized their +ugliness, walled them in, and the whole place seemed stamped with the +dreariness which characterizes most prairie towns when seen early on a +gloomy morning by anybody not in the best of spirits. My +fellow-passengers were apparently asleep, but I was the better pleased, +having no desire for speech, and I dropped from the platform as soon as +the locomotive stopped. Hurrying out of the station, I did not turn +around until a row of empty farm wagons hid the track, which action was +not without results. + +One hotel door stood open, but knowing that its tariff was not in +accordance with my finances, I passed it by and patrolled the empty +streets until the others, or a dry goods store, should make ready for +business. One of the latter did so first, and when I entered a mirror +showed that the decision was not unnecessary. The borrowed jacket was +far too small, the vest as much too large, while somebody's collar cut +chokingly into my sunburnt neck. Still, the prices the sleepy clerk +mentioned were prohibitive, and after wasting a little time in somewhat +pointed argument--of which he had the better--I strode out of the store, +struggling with an inclination to assault him. Western storekeepers are +seldom characterized by superfluous civility, and there are +disadvantages attached to a life in a country so free that, according to +one of its sayings, any man who cannot purchase boots may always walk +barefooted. + +"I don't know what the outfit you've got on cost you, and shouldn't +wonder, by the way it fits, if you got it cheap," he said. "We don't +turn out our customers like scarecrows, anyway, and if you'd had the +money we would have tried to make a decent show of you." + +I was nevertheless able, after almost emptying my purse, to replace at +least the vest and jacket at a rival establishment, whose proprietor +promised to forward the borrowed articles to their legitimate owners. I +afterwards discovered that they never received them. + +"You look smart as a city drummer, the top half of you, but it makes the +rest look kind of mean. You want to live up to that coat," he said, +after a critical survey. + +"I can't do it at the price, unless you will take your chances of +getting paid when the stock go East," I said; and the dealer shook his +head sorrowfully. + +"We don't trade that way with strangers, and I don't know you." + +I was in a reckless mood, and some puerile impulse prompted me to +astonish him. "My name is Henry Ormesby!" + +The man positively gasped, and then, with Western keenness, prepared to +profit by the opportunity. "I'll fit you out all for nothing if you'll +walk round to the photographer's and give me your picture with a notice +to stick in the window that you think my things the best in town," he +said. "It would be worth money every time the prairie boys come in, and +I don't mind throwing a little of it into the bargain." + +This was exasperating, but I could not restrain a mirthless laugh; and, +leaving the enterprising dealer astonished that any man should refuse +such an offer, I hurried out of the store; but by the time the breakfast +hour arrived all trace of even sardonic humor had left me. It was with +difficulty I had raised sufficient ready money for the journey, and +there now remained but two or three silver coins in my pocket, while, +remembering that the dealer had been justified in pointing out the +desirability of a complete renovation, I reflected gloomily that it +would be useless, because, in all probability, the nation would shortly +feed and clothe me. I also remembered how I had seen men with heavy +chains on their ankles road-making before the public gaze in a British +Columbian town. + +Meanwhile I was very hungry, and presently sat down to a simple +breakfast in a crowded room. While waiting a few minutes my eyes fell on +a commercial article in a newspaper, which, while noting a revival of +trade, deplored the probable abandonment of much needed railroad +extension. The writer appeared well posted, and mentioned the road we +hoped so much from as one of the works which would not be undertaken. I +laid down the journal with a sigh, and noticed that the men about me +were discussing the coming trial. + +"I expect they'll send Ormesby up," said one man, between his rapid +gulps. "Don't know whether he done it, but he threatened the other +fellow, and said he'd see him roasted before he helped; while that +match-box would fix most anybody up." + +"Well, I don't know," observed a neighbor. "The match-box looks bad; but +I guess if I'd been burning a place up I shouldn't have forgotten it. +Still, it might be fatal unless he could disown it. As to the other +thing, I don't count much on what he said. A real fire-bug would have +kept his mouth shut and helped all he was worth instead of saying +anything." + +"I'm offering five to one he goes up. Any takers?" said the first +speaker; and it was significant that, although most Westerners are keen +at a bet, nobody offered. + +"I'd do it for less, 'cept for the match-box," said one. + +I managed to finish my breakfast, feeling thankful that--because (so +their appearance suggested) those who sat at meat had driven in from the +prairie to enjoy the spectacle--none of them recognized me. The odds, in +their opinion, were more than five to one against me, and I agreed with +them. Slipping out I found Dixon, and reported my presence to the +police; and, after what seemed an endless waiting at the court, it was +early afternoon when Dixon said to me: "They'll be ready in five +minutes, and I want you to keep a tight rein on your temper, Ormesby. I +can do all the fancy talking that is necessary. You can keep your heart +up, too. There are going to be surprises for everyone to-day." + +I was called in a few minutes, and if the court had been thronged on +previous occasions, it was packed to suffocation now. It was a bare, +ugly, wood-built room, even dirtier than it was dingy. Neither is there +anything impressive, save, perhaps, to the culprit, about the +administration of Western justice, and I was thankful for a lethargy +which helped me to bear the suspense with outward indifference. Nothing +striking marked the first part of the proceedings, and I sat listening +to the drawl of voices like one in a dream. Some of the spectators +yawned, and some fidgeted, until there was a sudden stir of interest as +the name "Thomas Wilkins" rang through the court. + +"I guess that's the prosecution's trump ace," said a man beneath me. + +I became suddenly intent as this witness took his stand. He was of the +usual type of Canadian-born farm hand, bronzed and wiry, but not heavily +built, and hazarded what I fancied was a meaning glance at me. I could +not understand it, for he seemed at once ashamed and exultant. + +"I was hired by Rancher Niven to help him at Gaspard's Trail, and +remember the night of the fire well. Guess anybody who'd been trod on by +a horse and left with broken bones to roast would," he said; and +proceeded to confirm Niven's testimony. This was nothing new, and the +interest slackened, but revived again when the witness approached the +essential part of his story, and I could hear my own heart thumping more +plainly than the slow drawling voice. + +"I was round at the wreck of the homestead some time after the fire. +Don't know the date, but Niven made a note of it. Kind of precise man he +was. The place wasn't all burnt to the ground, and Niven he crawls in +under some fallen logs into what had been the kitchen. The door opened +right on to the prairie, and anybody could slip in if they wanted to. +Niven grabbed at something on the floor. 'Come along and take a look at +this,' says he; and I saw it was a silver match-box he held up. There +was 'H. Ormesby' not quite worn off it. Niven he prospects some more, +and finds a flattened coal-oil tin. Yes, sir, those you are holding up +are the very things. 'We don't use that brand of oil, and buy ours in +bigger cans,' says he." + +I could see by the spectators' faces it was damaging testimony, and +Dixon's serene appearance was incomprehensible, while, for the benefit +of those ignorant of Western customs, it may be explained that kerosene +is sold in large square tins for the settler's convenience in several +parts of the Dominion. + +"I went over to the store with Niven next day," continued the witness. +"The man who kept it allowed that Rancher Ormesby was about the only man +he sold that brand to in small cans." + +There were signs of subdued sensation, and Wilkins continued: "We gave +them both to Sergeant Mackay, and by-and-by I was summoned to come here +and testify. I came right along; then it struck me it was mean to help +in sending up the man who'd saved my life. So I just lit out and hid +myself until the police trailed me." + +It was news to hear that Lane had no hand in the witness's +disappearance; and again he flashed an apparently wholly unwarranted, +reassuring glance in my direction. Then, while I wondered hopelessly +whether Dixon could shake his testimony, the latter stood up. + +"I purpose to ask Thomas Wilkins a few questions later, and will not +trouble him about the match-box, being perfectly satisfied as to the +accuracy of the facts he states," he said. + +I could see the spectators stare at him in surprise, and, wondering if +he had lost his senses, settled myself to listen as the storekeeper +deposed to selling me oil of the description mentioned, adding +reluctantly that very few others took the same size of can. This, and a +lengthy speech, closed the prosecutor's case, and it seemed, when he had +finished, that nothing short of a miracle could save me. The audience +was also evidently of the same opinion. + +Dixon commenced feebly by submitting evidence as to my uprightness of +character, which his opponent allowed to pass unchallenged with a +somewhat contemptuous indifference. Then he said: "It will be remembered +that in his evidence Sergeant Mackay deposed that the witness Niven told +him the burning homestead was not insured, and I will call the Western +agent of a famous fire office." + +The evidence of the gentleman in question was brief and to the point. "I +have heard the statement that Gaspard's Trail was not insured, and can't +understand it. The witness Niven took out a policy three months before +the fire, and sent in his claim straight off to me. The company declined +to meet it until this case was settled. Am I quite certain, or can I +offer any explanation? Well, here's our premium receipt foil and record +of the policy. Can't suggest any explanation, except that somebody is +lying." + +This was received with some sensation, and Dixon smiled at me as if +there were more in store. "You will observe that the witness Niven +cannot be considered a very truthful person. I will recall Thomas +Wilkins," he said. + +Wilkins had lost his shamefacedness when he reappeared. "I said the +prisoner saved my life, and meant just that," he said, answering a +question. "It was he who took me out of the fire, and I had sense enough +to see he was leading the boys who saved all Niven's horses. It's my +opinion--you don't want opinions? Well, I'll try to pitch in the solid +facts." + +"Your master went East for a few days before the fire and brought a case +of groceries home with him," said Dixon. "Will you tell us if you opened +that case?" + +"I did," was the answer. "He sent me into the station for it with the +check. Said our storekeeper was a robber, and he'd saved money by buying +down East. It was a blame heavy case, so I started to open it in the +wagon, and had just pulled the top off when Niven came along." + +"Did you see anything except groceries in it?" asked Dixon; and there +was a stirring in the court when Wilkins answered: "I did. I had lit on +to the top of three coal-oil tins when the boss came in." + +"Did he look pleased at your diligence?" + +"No, sir. He looked real mad. 'If you'll do what you're asked to without +mixing up my private things it will be good enough for me. Get your +horses fixed right now,' he said." + +"You are sure about the oil tins? Were they large or small--and did you +ever see them or the groceries again?" + +"Dead sure," was the answer. "I stowed the groceries in the kitchen, but +never saw the oil. It was a smaller size than we used, any way. Didn't +think much about it until I read a paper about this trial not long ago. +Begin to think a good deal now." + +I drew in a deep breath, and the movements of expectant listeners grew +more audible when, reminded that his impressions were not asked for, +Wilkins stepped down. Hope was beginning to dawn, for I could see that +Dixon was on the trail of a conspiracy. Everybody seemed eager, the +prosecutor as much so as the rest, and there was a deep silence when +Dixon folded up the paper on which he had been making notes. + +"My next witness is Miss Lucille Haldane, of Bonaventure," he said. + +There was a low murmur, every head was turned in the same direction, and +I grew hot with shame and indignation when Haldane's younger daughter +walked into the witness stand. It seemed to me a desecration that she +should be dragged forward into an atmosphere of crime as part of the +spectacle before a sea of curious faces, and I had never felt the +enforced restraint so horribly oppressive as when I read admiration in +some of them. Had it been possible to wither up Dixon with a glance it +is hardly likely that he would ever have handled a case again. The girl +looked very young and pretty as, with a patch of almost hectic color in +each cheek, and a brightness in her eyes, she took her place. She wore +no veil, and held herself proudly as, without sign of weakness, she +looked down at the assembly. While she did so there was, without +articulate sound, something that suggested wonder and approval in the +universal movement, and I heard a man beneath me say: "She's a daisy. +Now we're coming right into the business end of the play." + +"You know the prisoner, Ormesby?" asked Dixon; and though her voice was +low, its clear distinctness seemed to permeate the building as she +answered: "I do. He is a friend of my father's, and visited us at +Bonaventure occasionally." + +"Did you ever see a silver match-box in his possession, and, if so, +could you describe it?" + +"I did, on several occasions. He wore it hooked on to his watch-chain, +and once handed it to me to light a lamp with. It had an oak-leaf +engraving with a partly obliterated inscription--'From ---- to H. +Ormesby.'" + +"I think that is an accurate description," said Dixon; and when the +judge, who held up a little silver object and passed it on to the jury, +signified assent, I glanced in savage bewilderment at the speaker. It +had appeared shameful cruelty to hale that delicate girl into a crowded +court; now it also appeared sheer madness. She never once glanced in my +direction, but stood with head erect, one hand resting on the rails, +where the pitiless sunlight beat full upon her, with eyes fixed only on +the judge; but in spite of her courage I could see that her lips +trembled, while the little gloved fingers tightened spasmodically on the +rails. Then I hung my head for very shame that I had been the unwitting +cause of such an ordeal, feeling that I would prefer to suffer ten +convictions rather than that she should become a subject for discussion +in every saloon, and the free commentary of the Western press, even if +she could have saved me. + +"When did you last see the match-box?" asked Dixon. + +"On the morning of the Wednesday in the third week after the fire. I am +sure of the day, because the visit of some friends from Montreal +impressed it on my memory. Henry Ormesby had stayed all night at +Bonaventure and left early in the morning. A maid brought me the +match-box, which she had found on the bureau, with one or two articles +of clothing; and as he did not return I told her to slip the match-box +inside the packet and forward them. I forgot the incident until the +trial recalled it." + +As Lucille ceased it flashed upon me that I had wondered how the +match-box had made its way into a pocket in which I never carried it. +Then I was borne down by a great wave of gratitude to the girl who, it +seemed, had saved me. She was rigorously cross-examined, and, while I do +not know whether the prosecutor exceeded due limits in his efforts to +shake her evidence, I grew murderously inclined towards him as I noticed +how his victim's color came and went, and the effort it cost her not to +shrink under the questions. But her courage rose with the emergency, and +when the indignation crept into her eyes there was several times subdued +applause as her answer to some innuendo carried a rebuke with it. + +At last the approbation was no more subdued, but swelled into a hoarse +murmur which filled all the court when she drew herself up at the +question: "And it was because you were a firm friend of the prisoner's +you recollected all this so opportunely, and, in spite of the +diffidence any lady in your position would feel, volunteered to give +evidence?" + +The damask patch had spread to Lucille Haldane's forehead, but instead +of being downcast her eyes were filled with light. "No," she said; and +the vibration in her voice had a steely ring. "It was because I am a +Canadian, and accordingly desired to see justice done to an innocent +man. Can you consider such a desire either uncommon or surprising?" + +A full minute had elapsed before the case proceeded, during which an +excitable juryman rose and seemed on the point of haranguing the +assembly until a comrade dragged him down. Then laughter broke through +the murmurs as he gesticulated wildly amid shouts of "Order." + +A Scandinavian domestic quaintly corroborated her mistress's statement, +and there was no doubt that the scale was turned; but Dixon did not +leave his work half-completed, and the next witness confirmed this +evidence. + +"I keep the Railroad Hotel. It's not a saloon, but a hotel, with a big +H," he said. "Know Harry Ormesby well. Saw him about three weeks after +the fire lighting a cigar I gave him from a silver match-box. Oh, yes, +I'm quite sure about the box; had several times seen the thing before. +Was pretty busy when the boys started smoking round the stove after +supper, and forgot to pick up something bright beneath Ormesby's chair. +Was going to tell him he'd dropped his box, when somebody called me. The +boys cleared out when the cars came in, and I saw Niven among them. Knew +him as a customer--don't want to as a friend. Got too much of the coyote +about him. My Chinaman was turning out the lights when I saw somebody +slip back quietly. He grabbed at something by the chair, and went out by +the other door. There was only a light in the passage left, and I didn't +quite recognize him. Could swear it wasn't Ormesby, and think he was +more like Niven. Asked Niven about it afterwards, and he said it wasn't +he; didn't see Ormesby, but wired his lawyer when I'd read the papers. +Don't believe Ormesby had enough malice in him to burn up a hen-house." + +There were further signs of sensation, and Sergeant Mackay was called +again. He had ridden over to Gaspard's Trail the day following the fire, +and decided to clear out the refuse dump, he said. Then the whole +audience grinned, when, being asked why he did so, he glanced at the +jury as if for sympathy, answering: "I was thinking I might find +something inside it. A man must do his duty, but it was a sairly +distressful operation." He found two unopened coal-oil tins resembling +the flattened one, and was certain by the appearance of the dump they +had been placed there some time before the fire. + +There was no further evidence. Dixon said very little, but that little +told. The jury had scarcely retired before one of them reappeared, and, +with a rush of blood to my forehead and a singing in my ears, I caught +the words--"Not guilty!" + +Then, when the judge, and even the prosecuting counsel, said he fully +concurred, the murmurs swelled until they filled the court again; and +presently I was standing outside, a free man, in the center of an +excited crowd, for Western citizens are desperately fond of any +sensation. How many cigars and offers of liquid refreshment were thrust +upon me I do not remember, but they were overwhelmingly numerous, and I +was grateful when Dixon came to the rescue. + +"Mr. Ormesby is much obliged to you, gentlemen, but it's quiet he wants +just now," he said; while we had hardly reached the leading hotel where +Dixon led me than there was a clamor in the direction of the court, and +I looked at him inquiringly. + +"I expect they've issued a warrant for Niven on a charge of conspiracy +or arson, and the boys have heard of it," he said. "However, I have had +sufficient professional occupation for to-day, and we're going to get +supper and afterwards enjoy ourselves as we can." + +I had, nevertheless, determined to thank my benefactress first, and, +ignoring Dixon's advice, sent up my name. I was informed that Miss +Haldane would receive nobody, and the lawyer smiled dryly when I +returned crestfallen. "I don't think you need feel either hurt or +surprised," he said. + +The inhabitants of the prairie towns differ from the taciturn plainsmen +in being vociferously enthusiastic and mercurial, and to my disgust the +citizens came in groups to interview me, while one, who shoved his way +into our quarters by main force, said the rest would take it kindly if I +made a speech to them. + +"You can tell them I feel honored, but nobody can charge me with ever +having done such a thing in my life," I said; and the representatives of +the populace retired, to find another outlet for their energies, as we +presently discovered. + +"I owe my escape solely to a lady's courage and your skill, Dixon; but +why didn't you try to implicate Lane?" I said; and the lawyer laughed. + +"Any reasonable man ought to be satisfied with the verdict and +demonstration. It would have been difficult, if not useless, while I +fancy that if Lane is allowed a little more rope his time will shortly +come," he said. "Hallo! Here are more enthusiastic citizens desirous of +interviewing you." + +"Keep them out for heaven's sake," I said; but before Dixon could secure +the door Sergeant Mackay strode in. + +"I have come to congratulate ye. It will be a lesson til ye, Ormesby," +he announced. + +I did not see the hand he held out. "I'm in no mood for sermons, and +can't appreciate your recent actions as they perhaps deserve," I said; +and the sergeant's eyes twinkled mischievously. + +"It should not be that difficult; and ye have the consolation that we +served the State," he said. "It was in the interests of justice +we--well--we made use of ye to stalk the other man." + +"There's no use pretending I'm grateful," I commenced; but Dixon broke +into a boisterous laugh, and the sergeant's face grew so humorous that +my own relaxed and we made friends again. The reunion had not long been +consummated when a rattle of wheels, followed by the tramp of many feet +and the wheezy strains of a cornet, rose from below, and, striding to +the window, I said with dismay: "Lock the door. They're coming with a +band and torches now." + +"I'm thinking ye need not," said Mackay dryly. "It's a farewell to Miss +Haldane they're giving." + +We gathered at the opened window, looking down at a striking spectacle. +A vehicle stood waiting, and behind it, lighted by the glow of kerosene +torches, a mass of faces filled the street. The heads were uncovered +almost simultaneously, and Lucille Haldane appeared upon the hotel +steps, with her attendants behind her. At first she shrank back a little +from the gaze of the admiring crowd, to whom her spirit and beauty had +doubtless appealed; but when one of them urged something very +respectfully, with his hat in his hand, she moved forward a pace and +stood very erect, a slight but queenly figure, looking down at them. + +"I am honored, gentlemen," she said falteringly, though her voice gained +strength. "It was merely a duty I did, but I am gratified that it +pleased you, just because it shows that all of us are proud of our +country and eager, for its credit, to crush oppression and see justice +done to the downtrodden." + +The street rang with the cheer that followed, and when Dixon seized his +hat the action was infectious. The next minute we were moving forward +amid the ranks of the enthusiastic crowd behind the vehicle, which +jolted slowly towards the station; and I discovered later that the +uncomfortable sensation at the back of my neck was caused by the hot oil +from a torch, which dripped upon it. In the meantime I noticed nothing +but the sea of faces, the tramp of feet, and the final burst of cheering +at the station, in which Mackay, holding aloft his forage cap, joined +vociferously. + +"It's only fit and proper. She's as good and brave as she's bonny," he +said. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +A SECRET TRIBUNAL + + +Some little time had elapsed since my acquittal, when, one pleasant +summer morning, I rode out from the railroad settlement bound for +Bonaventure. The air was soft and balmy, the sunshine brilliant, and the +prairie sod, which, by that time, had in most years grown parched and +dry, formed a springy green carpet beneath the horse's feet. There had +but once before been such a season within my memory, and my spirits were +almost as buoyant as the wallet in my pocket was heavy. The lean years +had passed and left us, perhaps a little more grave in face and quiet in +speech, to look forward to a brightening future, while the receipts I +had brought back from the nearest town meant freedom at least. + +I was also unwearied in body, for the roll of paper money in the wallet +had made a vast difference to me, and instead of riding all night after +a long railroad journey, I had slept and breakfasted well at the wooden +hotel. Indeed, I almost wondered whether I were the same man who had +previously ridden that way in a state of sullen desperation, spurred on +by hatred and dogged obstinacy instead of hope. Now I was, however, +rather thankful than jubilant, for my satisfaction was tempered by a +perhaps unusual humility. Steel, Thorn, and I had, in our own blundering +fashion, made the best fight we could, but it was the generosity of +others and the winds of heaven which had brought us the victory. + +Distance counts for little in these days, when the steel track and the +modern cargo steamer together girdle the face of the globe; and the loss +of others had been our gain. There had been scarcity in Argentina, and +Australian grass was shriveling for want of rain. Famine had smitten +India, and the great cattle-barons beyond our frontier had been +overbusily engaged, attempting the extermination of the smaller +settlers, to attend their legitimate business; so buyers in Europe were +looking to Canada for wheat and cattle. Our own beasts had flourished, +and before the usual season we had driven every salable head in to the +railroad, riding in force behind them. That drive and the events which +followed it were worth remembering. + +I sold the cattle in Winnipeg for excellent prices, and deducting my own +share of the proceeds, took the first train westward to visit Lane, and +paid him down three-fourths of the balance of the loan. Having bought +wisdom dearly, I took a lawyer with me. Lane showed neither surprise nor +chagrin, though he must have felt both, and I could almost admire the +way he bore defeat. He was less a man than a money-making machine, and +the more to be dreaded for his absence of passion. Rage was apparently +as unknown to him as pity, and, though he knew he had lost Crane Valley, +and with it the completion of a well-laid scheme, he actually pushed a +cigar-box towards me as he signed the receipt. I drew a deep breath of +relief as I passed the papers to the lawyer, for the harvest would more +than cover what remained of the debt, and then I laid down certain sums +on behalf of others. Lane smiled almost affably as he tossed the +quittances upon the table. + +"They're all in order, Rancher. A capable man don't need to use +second-rate trickery, and I'm open to allow that the bull-frog was hard +to squash," he said. + +I pocketed the documents and went out in silence. Speech would have been +useless, because the man had no sensibilities that could be wounded; but +the interview struck me as a grotesquely commonplace termination of a +struggle which had cost me months of misery. Indeed, I found it hard to +convince myself that what had happened was real, and the heavy burden +flung off at last. Being by no means a mere passionless money-making +machine, I had, nevertheless, not finished with Lane. + +It was evening the next day when I reached Bonaventure, and was shown +into the presence of its owner, who had lately returned there from the +East. He looked haggard, and did not rise out of the chair he lounged +in, though his voice was cordial. "You have been successful, Ormesby. I +can see it by your face," he said. + +"I have, sir," I answered. "More so than I dared to hope, and I fancy +you will be astonished when you count these bills. The Bonaventure draft +played a leading part in my release, and now I find it difficult to +realize that the luck has changed at last." + +It was not quite dark outside, but the curtains were drawn, and Haldane +sat beside a table littered with papers under a silver reading-lamp. His +face looked curiously ascetic and thin, but the smile in his keen eyes +was genial. Boone sat opposite him smoking, and nodded good-humoredly to +me. + +"You will soon get used to prosperity, and there is no occasion for +gratitude," Haldane said, tossing the roll of paper money across the +table, but taking up the account I laid beside it. "I notice that you +have earned me a profit of twenty per cent. You have tolerable business +talents in your own direction, Ormesby, and I shall expect your good +counsel in the practical management of Bonaventure which I have +undertaken." + +"The management of Bonaventure?" I said, and Haldane's forehead grew +wrinkled as he nodded. + +"Exactly. The verdict has been given. No more exciting corners or +supposititious heaping up of unearned increments for me. I am sentenced +by the specialists to a dormant life and open-air exercise, and have +accordingly chosen the rearing of cattle on the salubrious prairie." + +I guessed what that sentence meant to a man of his energies; but he had +accepted it gracefully, and I was almost startled when he said: "Do you +know that I envied you, Ormesby, even when things looked worst for you?" + +I could only murmur a few not overappropriate words of sympathy, though +I fancied that had Haldane been under the same grip he might have envied +me less. + +"It takes time to grow used to idleness, which is why I sent for you +to-night," he said, with a swift resumption of his usual tone. "I +purpose to teach Lane that he is not altogether so omnipotent as he +believes himself--partly by way of amusement and to forward certain +views of my own, and partly because my younger daughter insists that he +is a menace to every honest man on the prairie. Boone appears inclined +to agree with her." + +"I might even go a little further, sir," said Boone. + +Haldane ignored the comment, and pointed to the papers, of which there +appeared to be a bushel. "I have been posting myself in my new +profession, and conclude that the prospects for grain and live stock are +encouraging," he said. "News from Chile, California, and the Austral, +all confirm this view; and, remembering it, we will consider Lane's +position. Boone has taken considerable pains to discover that, as I +expected, his resources are far from inexhaustible, and circumstances +point to the fact that he has set his teeth in too big a morsel. At +present neither the speculative public nor would-be emigrants have +grasped the position, and therefore Lane would get little if he realized +on his stolen lands just now." + +"That is plain; but what results from it?" I said. + +"Prosperity to poor men, according to my daughter;" and Haldane's smile +was not wholly cynical. "We purpose that he should realize as soon as +possible. Boone discovered that he is raising money to carry on by +quietly selling out his stock in the Investment Company which has +consistently backed him, and I feel inclined for a speculation in that +direction, especially as the public will shortly be invited to increase +the company's capital. Lastly, I am in possession of accurate +information, while Lane is not. Contrary to general opinion, the +railroad will be hurried through very shortly." + +It was great news, and the possible downfall of my enemy perhaps the +least of it. It implied swift prosperity for all that district, and +while I stared at the speaker the blood surged to my forehead. Though +fate had robbed me of the best, part of what I had toiled, and fought, +and suffered for was to come about at last; and the calmness of the +others appeared unnatural. Haldane's eyes were keen, but he showed no +sign of unusual interest; Boone's face was merely grim, and I guessed +that the man whose heel had been on my neck would fare ill between them. + +"If he had used legitimate weapons one could almost be sorry for him," I +said. "It will try even his nerve to lose all he has plotted for when +the prize is actually, if he knew it, within his grasp." + +"He deserves no mercy," Boone broke in. "This is justice, Ormesby, +neither more nor less; and unless we cripple him once for all he will +take hold again with the first bad season. What you will shortly hear +should demonstrate the necessity for decisive measures; but our host +forgot to mention that he declines to profit individually by this +opportunity." + +"If anyone wishes to learn my virtues he can apply to certain company +promoters in Montreal," said Haldane languidly. "Boone will remember +that I came here to farm for my health, and have been coerced into +assisting at this Vehmgericht. Those wheels, however, give warning that +the first sitting will commence." + +A minute or two later I started wrathfully to my feet as Niven was +ushered into the room. He on his part seemed equally astonished, and, I +think, would have backed out again, but that Boone adroitly slammed the +door behind him. It may be mentioned that he had been tried in my place, +and, to the disgust of Sergeant Mackay, just escaped conviction. + +"I need not introduce Mr. Ormesby, who will kindly resume his place," +said Haldane pleasantly. "Sit down and choose a cigar if you feel like +it. You sent word you wanted to talk to me?" + +"I didn't want to talk to that man;" and Niven scowled at me, while +Haldane shrugged his shoulders. + +"I can't turn him out, you see. Now hadn't you better explain what you +want with me?" + +There was a languid contempt beneath the speaker's surface good-humor +which was not lost on the fidgeting man; but he lighted a cigar with an +air of bravado, and commenced: + +"Thinking over things, I figured both you and Adams had your knife in +Lane;" and Haldane's mild surprise was excellently assumed. "Well, I've +got my own knife in him, too. It's this way. Lane put up the money for +me to buy out Ormesby, and made a mighty close bargain, thinking I +daren't kick. It would have been inconvenient, and I didn't mean to; but +when those blame police ran me in for a thing I never done, he just +turns his back, and wouldn't put up a dollar to defend me! 'I've no use +for blunderers of your kind,' says he." + +"One could understand that it is necessary for him to make sure of his +subordinates' abilities," said Haldane reflectively; and Niven, who +stared hard at him, appeared to gulp down something before he proceeded. + +"Well, he can't fool with me, and it comes to this. I'm recorded owner +of Gaspard's Trail; paid for it with my own check--Lane fixed that up. +Now, what I want to ask you is, how's Lane going to turn me out if I +hold on to the place? Strikes me he can't do it." + +In spite of this assurance the speaker looked distinctly eager until +Haldane answered: "We need not discuss the moral aspect of the case, +because it apparently hasn't one, and you might not understand it if it +had. Speaking from a purely business point of view, I feel tolerably +certain that, in the circumstances, he would not take legal proceedings +against you, though I have no doubt he might arrange the affair in some +other way." + +"Feel quite sure?" asked Niven. And Haldane answered: "I may say I do." + +Niven's grin of triumph would have sickened any honest man, but I was +not sorry for his employer. "I guess I'll take my chances of the other +way, and I'm coming straight to business. Will you stand behind me? It's +not going to be a charity. There is money in Gaspard's Trail, and I'm +open to make a fair deal with the man who sees me through." + +I saw Haldane's lips set tightly for a moment, and my hand itched for a +good hold of Niven's collar; but the master of Bonaventure next +regarded him with a quiet amusement which appeared disconcerting. + +"I fancy your worthy master was correct when he described you as a +blunderer," he said. "It would be quite impossible for me to make a +bargain of that--or any other--kind with you. You might also have added +that he inspired you to more than the buying of Gaspard's Trail." + +There was pluck in Niven, for he laughed offensively. "I got my verdict, +and if you won't deal I may as well be going. Anyhow, you've told me +what I most wanted to know." + +He departed without further parley, and Haldane smiled at me. "It would +have been a pity to detain him, and Lane was wrong in choosing an +understudy he could not scare into submission. That rascal will hold on +to Gaspard's Trail, and the loss of it will further hamper his master." + +Some little time passed, and Boone, who appeared impatient, said at +last: "She is late; but Gordon may have been too busy to drive her over +earlier, and she promised me faithfully that she would come." + +Haldane said nothing, though he seemed dubious until there was another +sound of wheels, and I had a second surprise when a lady was ushered +into the room, for I could scarcely believe my eyes when I saw that it +was Redmond's daughter. She had changed greatly from the girl who called +down vengeance on the oppressor when we brought her father home, +although the glitter in her eyes and the intentness of her face showed +the strain of emotional nature in her. Still, she was handsomely and +tastefully dressed, and carried herself with dignity. + +"This is Mr. Haldane, Miss Redmond, and I am sure he will be grateful to +you for coming," said Boone, who I noticed appeared relieved when the +new arrival laid a packet on the table. "I may explain for Ormesby's +benefit that Miss Redmond, who is winning fame as a singer, has +something of importance to show him," he added. + +The girl's hand was very cold when it touched my own, and her movements +nervous as she drew a book in tattered binding out of its wrappings. + +"I hope Mrs. Gordon will spare you as long as possible, and that your +visit to the prairie will do you good," said Haldane, placing a chair +for her. + +"Once I fancied I could never look at the prairie without a shudder, but +of late I have been longing for sunshine and air, and shall perhaps be +happier when this is over," said the girl. "It is a very hard thing I +have to do, and I must tell you the whole painful story." + +"We can understand that it must be," said Haldane gently. + +"When I left home for Winnipeg I joined a second-rate variety company. I +had inherited a gift for singing, and those who heard me were pleased +with the old Irish ballads my mother taught me. So there was soon no +fear of poverty, and I was trying to bury the past, when, the night I +first sang to a packed audience in Winnipeg, it was once more dragged up +before me. I came home from what the newspapers said was a triumph, and +because one critic had questioned a verse of an old song I looked for a +book of my mother's among the relics I had brought from the prairie. I +found--this--instead." + +Ailin Redmond ceased with a little gasp. And glancing at the dilapidated +account book she touched, I wondered what power it could have had to +change her triumph into an agony. + +"I sat all that night beside the stove trying to force myself to burn +the book, and yet afraid," she continued. "Perhaps we are superstitious; +but I felt that I dare not, and its secret has been a very burden ever +since. Sometimes I thought of the revenge it would give me, and yet I +could not take it without blackening my father's memory. So I kept +silence until my health commenced to fail under the strain, and meeting +Mr. Boone at Brandan, where I sang at the time Mr. Ormesby's trial +filled the papers, I felt I must tell him part of my discovery. Had the +trial not ended as it did he would have consulted with Lawyer Dixon. +Afterwards, though I hated Lane the more, I pledged Mr. Boone to +secrecy, and kept silent until, when I could bear the load no longer, I +told my trouble to Père Louis. 'If you only desire vengeance it would be +better to burn the book; but if you can save innocent men from +persecution and prevent the triumph of the wicked, silence would be a +sin,' he said. Then I wrote to Mr. Boone and told him I would show the +papers to Mr. Ormesby." + +I opened the battered volume handed me with a strong sense of +anticipation, and, as I did so, the girl shrank back shivering. +Redmond's writing was recognizable, and I thrilled alternately with pity +and indignation against another person as I read his testimony. Omitting +other details, the dated entries, arranged in debit and credit fashion, +told the whole story. + +"Deep snow and stock very poor," the first I glanced at ran. "Received +from Ormesby three loads of hay. Sure 'tis a decent neighbor, for he +wouldn't take no pay. Entered so, if I ever have the luck, to send it +back to him. + +"Plow-oxen sick; horse-team sore-backed; seven days' plowing done by +Ormesby, say--money at harvest, or to be returned in help stock driving. + +"Fifty dollars loan from Ormesby; see entry overdue grocery bill." + +"Is it necessary for me to read any more of these?" I asked. + +"No. If you are satisfied that he at least recognized the debt, pass on +to the other marked pages," answered the writer's daughter. + +I set my lips as I did so, for there was only one inference to be drawn +from the following entries, which ran dated in a series: "Demand for +fifteen hundred dollars from Lane. No credit, ten dollars in the house. +Lane came over, and part renewed the loan in return for services to be +rendered. Black curses on the pitiless devil! Took twenty head of prime +stock, to be driven to the hollow with Ormesby's. Started out with the +stock for Gaspard's Trail." + +There were no further entries, and Miss Redmond, who had been watching +me, said, with a perceptible effort: + +"You will remember all those dates well. Now read what is written on +the loose leaf. When I came in one night the book lay on the table with +that leaf projecting; but as my father was always fretting over the +accounts, I did not glance at it as I replaced the book." + +The writing was blurred and scrawling--the work of an unstable man in a +moment of agony; and some of the half-coherent sentences ran: "It was +Lane and his master the devil who drove me. I did not mean to do what I +did; but when the fire came down, remembered he said 'any convenient +accident.' I knew it was murder when I saw Ormesby with the blood on his +face." Further lines were almost unintelligible, but I made out, "Judas. +No room on earth. Lane says he is dying fast. You will hate the man who +drove me for ever and ever." + +I folded up the paper, and, not having read the whole of it, handed it +to the girl. "I am almost sorry you were brave enough to show me this; +but I can only try to forget it," I said. + +Miss Redmond's eyes were dry; but she moved as if in physical pain, and +clenched one hand as she said: "That secret has worn me down for weary +months, and I dare not change my mind again. I shall never rest until it +is certain that wicked man shall drive no one else to destruction. You +must show Mr. Haldane all you have read." + +Haldane laid down the book, and sat silent for at least a minute. "Will +you please tell us, Miss Redmond, how far you can allow us to make use +of this?" he said. + +The girl shuddered before she answered: "It must not be made public; but +if in any other way you can strike Lane down, I will leave it you. You +can hardly guess what all this has cost me; but, God forgive me, the +hate I feel is stronger than shame--and his last words are burned into +my brain." + +Ailin Redmond rose as she spoke, and I saw that part of Père Louis's +admonition had fallen upon stony ground. Her face and pose were what +they had been when she had bidden us bring the dead man in. She came of +a passionate race; but there had also been a signal lack of balance in +her father's temperament, and perhaps it was this very strain of +wildness which had made her singing a success. + +Haldane, with expressions of sympathy, led her to the door, and +returning, sat staring straight before him with a curious expression. "I +don't know that the stolid, emotionless person is not far the happiest," +he said at last. "She must have suffered a good deal--poor soul; and, +even allowing that you had not seen those pitiful papers, I'm doubtful +if you acted quite wisely, Boone. However, the question now is: how are +we going to use them?" + +"Nobody but ourselves must see them," I managed to answer, savage as I +was. + +"I would make one exception," said the owner of Bonaventure. "That one +is the man responsible. It can be no enlightenment to him, and the fact +that he would not suspect us of any reluctance to make the most of our +power, strengthens our ability to deal with him." + +Our conference ended shortly, and when we joined the others I saw that +Lucille Haldane had taken Redmond's daughter under her wing. How she had +managed it, of course I do not know; but the latter appeared comforted +already, and there was a gentle dimness instead of the former hard +glitter in her eyes. Then, and it was not for the first time, I felt +that I could have bowed down and worshiped the Mistress of Bonaventure. + +It was evident that Boone had also been observant, for he afterwards +said, with unusual gravity: "Women resembling Miss Lucille Haldane are +the salt of this sorrowful world. There was only one I ever knew to +compare with her, and she, being too good for it, was translated to +what, if only because she was called there, must be a better." + +I agreed with his first statement entirely, and took his word for the +rest; but made no answer. Boone did not appear to desire one, and again +a strange longing filled his eyes while the shadow crept into his face. +I remembered it was written that the heart knows its own bitterness. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +A CHANGE OF TACTICS + + +The fires of sunset were fading low down on the verge of the prairie +when I spoke for the last time with Beatrice Haldane, as it happened, +beside the splendid wheat. It was changing from green to ochre, and +there was a play of varied light athwart the rigid blades, which in its +own way emphasized the symmetry of the tall figure in pale-tinted +draperies. Miss Haldane was stately of presence, but it was symbolic of +the difference between us that while we of the prairie ever turned our +eyes instinctively towards the West, she stood looking back towards +civilization and the darkening East, with a cold green brilliancy +burning behind her head. It matched the face projected against it, which +was that of a statue, perfect in modeling, as I still think, if almost +as colorless and serene. Beatrice Haldane was very beautiful, and every +curve and fold of the simple dress was immaculate and harmonious because +it seemed a part of her. + +My threadbare jean clung shapelessly about me, there was thick dust on +my old leggings and a rent in my broad hat, which trifles were, by +comparison, not without significance. Beatrice Haldane was clearly born +to take a leading place, with the eyes of many upon her, where life +pulsed fastest in the older world. I was a plain rancher, conscious, in +spite of theories concerning its dignity, of the brand of rude labor and +the stain of the soil; but at least my eyes were opened so that I had +seen the utter impossibility of a once cherished dream. + +"The prairie is very beautiful to-night, and surely this grain promises +a splendid yield," she said. "I am glad that it is so, for it will leave +a pleasant memory. I shall probably never stand beside the wheat again." + +This, I knew, was true. Beatrice Haldane would leave for Montreal and +Paris in a day or two, and, paying Bonaventure a farewell visit, she had +ridden over with her father, who had business with me. Strange to say, I +could now contemplate her approaching marriage with equanimity. + +"There are many drawbacks, but it is a good country," I answered +thoughtfully. + +Beatrice Haldane looked at me, and again I felt that she could still +draw my soul to the surface for inspection if she desired to. I also +fancied she knew her power, and wished to exercise it, but not from +pride in its possession. + +"And yet you can now hardly hope for more than a laborious life and +moderate prosperity. The prairie is often dreary, and the toil almost +brutalizing. Are you still content?" + +The sympathy in the voice robbed the words of any sting, and I answered +cheerfully: "It is all that you say; but there are compensations, and I +think no effort is thrown away. I can only repeat the old argument. One +can feel that he is playing a useful part in a comprehensive scheme even +in the muddiest tramp down a half-thawn furrow, and that every ear of +wheat called up or added head of cattle is needed by the world. Perhaps +the chief care of three-fourths of humanity concerns their daily bread. +Of course, our principal motive is the desire to attain our own, and you +may not understand that there is a satisfaction in the mere discovering +of how much one can do without, and, possibly as a result of this, that +one's physical nature rises equal to the strain." + +"And what do you gain--the right to work still harder?" she asked. "I +can grasp the half-formed ideal in your mind, and it is old, for +thousands of years before Thoreau men enlarged on it. Still, it has +always seemed to me that the realization is only possible to the very +few, and to the rest the result mostly destructive to the intellect." + +I laughed a little. "And I am very much of the rank and file; but at +least I have no hope of emulating either the medieval devotees or the +modern Hindoo visionaries. We practice self-denial from the prosaic lack +of money, or to save a little to sink in a longer furrow, and endure +fatigue more often to pay our debts than to acquire a bank balance. Yet +the result is not affected. The world is better fed." + +"Yes," she said thoughtfully. "It seems that whatever your motives may +be these things possess virtue in themselves--but the virtues do not +necessarily react upon those who practice them." + +"That is true," I answered. "Perhaps it is the motives that count." + +Beatrice Haldane looked away towards the dying fires. "There was a time +when you would not have been content." + +The wondrous green transparency had almost gone, the dew touched the +wheat, and we stood alone in the emptiness, under the hush that crept up +with the dimness from the east, and through which one could almost hear +the thirsty grasses drink. I knew now that I had never loved Beatrice +Haldane as a man usually loves a woman, but had offered an empty homage +to an unreality. Still, the semblance had once been real enough to me, +and I could not wholly hold my peace and let her go. Furthermore, both +she and her sister possessed the gift of forcing one's inmost thoughts, +and there was a power in the quiet voice stronger than my will. + +"No. I once had my ambitions and an ideal," I said. "At first their +realization seemed possible, but I had my lesson. Even when I knew the +ideal was unattainable, the knowledge did not decrease its influence, +and now, while smiling at past presumption, I can at least cherish the +memory. I think you must have known part of this." + +Beatrice Haldane had by knowledge attained to a perfection of +simplicity, and, while my own was either the result of ignorance or born +in me, we met upon it as man and woman--the latter too queenly to stoop +to any small assumption of diffidence. + +"I guessed it long ago, and there was a time when I was pleased," she +said. "However, it was doubtless well for you that, when contact with +the world taught me what we both were, I knew it was impossible. When we +met again on the prairie, you could not see that I was not the girl you +knew in England. She had, in the meantime, bought enlightenment dearly; +though whether it or her earlier fancies were nearer the hidden truth +she does not know." + +"In one respect you can never change to me," I said. "The sunny-faced +girl in England will always live in my memory." + +Beatrice Haldane smiled, though the fast fading light showed the +weariness in her eyes. "Until you find the substance better than the +shadow; and she must always have been unreal. Still, we are not proof +against such assurances, and I am even now partly pleased to hear you +say so. Do you know that you have shamed me, Harry Ormesby?" + +"That would be impossible," I said; and my companion smiled. + +"Hold fast by your blunt directness if you are wise," she said. "I was +blinded by the critical faculty, and you rebuked me by clinging to your +visionary ideal, while I--misjudged you. I do not mind admitting now +that it hurt me, the more so when I found that Lucille, being--and there +is truth in the phrase--unspotted by the world, believed in you +implicitly. It was because of this I allowed you to speak as you have +done. I felt that I must ask your forgiveness, because we shall probably +never meet again." + +Whether Beatrice Haldane was correct in her own estimate I do not know; +but she was the most queenly woman I had ever met, and I lifted the rent +hat as I said: "Circumstances betrayed me, and you could do no wrong. +Even if that had been possible, how far would one suspicion count +against all that the girl in England has done for me? Now it only +remains for us to part good friends--and with full sincerity I wish you +every happiness." + +"Thank you," said Beatrice quietly; and without another word we walked +back towards the house together through the velvet dusk. I noticed that +Lucille glanced at us sharply as we entered. + +"You will not forget our appointment in Winnipeg," said Haldane, as they +drove away; and I stood still long after the vehicle had melted into the +prairie. What I thought I do not remember; but it was with a dreamy +calmness that, now the worst had passed, I returned to Crane Valley. + +Reluctance mingled with my anticipation when I proceeded to Winnipeg at +the appointed time. The harvest was almost ready, and a brief holiday +possibly justifiable in anticipation of that time of effort; but the +journey was long and expensive, while, after our severe economies, I had +fallen into the habit of slow consideration each time I spent a dollar. +Steel laughed when I said so, and pointed to the grain. "It's easier to +get used to prosperity than the other thing," he said. "There is plenty +money yonder to start you again. If necessary you can remember you have +earned a good time." + +The sight of the long waves of deepening ochre that rolled before the +warm breeze was very reassuring, though belief came slowly, and for days +I had feared some fresh disaster. Their rhythmical rustle, swelled by +the murmur of the wheat heads and the patter of the oats, made sweet +music, for their undertone was hope, while the flash and flicker of the +bending blades presaged the glitter of hard-won gold--gold that would +set me a free man again. Then I was ashamed, and my voice a trifle +husky, as I said: "I am certainly going to Winnipeg, Steel. If it had +not been for the others the harvest would have left me in the grip of +Lane, and now that the time has come I mean to stand by them." + +I boarded the cars the more contentedly that there was a note in my +pocket from Lucille Haldane. "Father tells me the time is ripe for you +and your friends to strike at last," it ran. "I want to ask you to +assist him in every way you can; and I wait anxiously to hear of your +success." + +I did not understand the whole plan of campaign, but gathered that +Haldane, with the support of our prairie committee, would make a "bear" +attack on the company--which, while Lane held stock in it, had largely +financed him--and I looked forward with keen interest to the struggle. +We others had done our best with plow and bridle, not to mention birch +staff and fork; but we had hitherto acted chiefly on the defensive, and +now an attack was to be pushed home with the aid of money and a superior +intellect. + +Haldane was in excellent spirits when, accompanied by Boone, he greeted +me in Winnipeg station. "I feel less rusty already, and you look several +years younger than you did a few months ago," he said. "But we have +breakfast ready, and can talk comfortably over it." + +The meal was a luxurious one, and Haldane's explanations interesting. +"Mr. Boone has taken a great deal of trouble to inquire into Lane's +affairs, with the assistance of a man Dixon recommended. Considering the +difficulties, I hardly think I should have succeeded better myself," he +said. + +Boone said this was an unmerited compliment; and Haldane laughed. "Well, +the result, as anticipated, is this. Lane has most of his money locked +up in mortgages which he does not wish to foreclose on immediately, +while we conclude that the rest is represented by shares in the +Territories Investment Company, which concern proposes to increase its +capital, and, as somebody has been trying to sell that stock quietly in +small lots, one may decide that he is short of money. We purpose to +scare off buyers and depreciate his shares by selling them in handfuls +as publicly as possible; or, in other words, to hammer the company." + +"There are two points I am not clear about," I said. "We have not the +stock to sell; and wouldn't it be a trifle hard on innocent +shareholders?" + +"We are finding out your capacities by degrees," said Haldane, with a +quizzical glance at me. "In the first place, we take the risk of being +able to procure the stock when frightened holders rush on the market. If +they don't--well, there will be a difficulty. In the second place, there +are no innocent holders, or only a very few. The corporation is a +semi-private concern--combination of second-rate sharpers of your +friend's own kidney; and the few outsiders are professional speculators +who take such risks as they come--they are only now thinking of an +appeal to the general public. Here is the latest balance sheet, and I +presume you are not anxious to see a continuance of that dividend wrung +out of your friends on the prairie." + +My anger flamed up once more as I glanced at the figures. I had seen how +that profit was earned--not by the company's agents, but by careworn men +and suffering women, who toiled under a steadily increasing burden, +which was crushing the life out of them. I had also received a laconic +message from a combination of such as these: "Have paid in ---- dollars +to the B. O. M. We'll sell our boots to back you if Haldane's standing +in. Do the best you can." + +Then I brought my fist down on the table as I said: "I'd walk out a +beggar to-morrow before that should happen. If this concern lives only +by such plunder, for heaven's sake let us demolish it. I can't eat +another morsel. Isn't it time to begin?" + +Haldane smiled, and touched a bell. "My principal broker should be +waiting." + +A little, spectacled man, with a shrill voice and insignificant +appearance, was ushered in, and, as I inspected him, Haldane's choice +reminded me of the Hebrew shepherd's sling. He appeared a very feeble +weapon to use against the giant who had oppressed us so grievously. +"Territories have been offering at several dollars' reduction," he said. +"Don't know why, unless it's the railroad uncertainty. You couldn't get +hold of one under full premium until lately." + +The speaker, in spite of his declared ignorance, answered Haldane's +smile; and the latter said: "You can begin at a further five dollars +down. Come round in the afternoon and tell us how you are progressing. +Isn't there a race meeting somewhere about this place to-day?" + +The broker said there was; and I was astonished when Haldane suggested +that we might as well attend it, for this part of the conflict was +evidently to be fought on wholly novel lines. We drove to the meeting, +and after the monotony of Crane Valley the sight of the light-hearted +crowd, the hum of voices and laughter, the gay dresses, and, above all, +the horses, was exhilarating. Nevertheless, it was some time before the +scene compelled my whole attention, for the issues of the business which +had brought me to Winnipeg appeared far too serious to justify such +trifling. By degrees, however, I yielded to the influence of the +stirring spectacle, and was at length amazed to find myself shouting +wildly with the rest when a handsome chestnut broke out from the ruck of +galloping horses a furlong from the post. Then, indeed, for a few +seconds I was oblivious of everything but the silk-clad figure and the +beautiful animal rushing past the dim sea of faces in the blaze of +sunshine behind, while the roar of hoofs and the human clamor set me +quivering. It was all so different from anything I had heard or seen on +the silent prairie. Boone returned presently, and I stared at the silver +coins he placed in my palm. + +"You don't look satisfied, Ormesby, with the result of your few dollars. +Are you sorry I did not lay a decent stake, or have you been infected by +Lane?" he said; and I answered him dryly: "I'm sorry that, without +telling me, you staked anything at all. It is so long since I had any +money to risk on such amusements--and it does not seem fair to the +anxious men waiting on the prairie." + +Haldane laughed. "It is generally wise to make the most of a pleasant +interlude, because the average man does not get too many of them. If +this strikes you as trifling, Ormesby, you will find grim enough +amusement before we are through." + +It was afternoon when we returned to the city, and we recommenced the +campaign by a sumptuous lunch, during which the broker came in. "I've +been offering Territories until I'm hoarse," he said. "There was some +surprise and talking, but nobody wanted to buy; and, while it's an +honor to serve you, I don't see much of a commission in this." + +"You will, if I know my opponents," said Haldane significantly. "Take +off two more dollars, and, if there are any buyers, don't let them think +you're not in earnest. You can put another of your friends on." + +The broker departed and left me wondering. It struck me that to reduce +the value by open quotations should have been enough, without saddling +ourselves with contracts when we did not hold the stock; but it seemed +that cautious slowness was not Haldane's way. He next insisted on +playing billiards with me, and he played as well as I did badly, for my +fingers had grown stiff from the grip of the plow-stilts and bridle, and +we had small opportunity for such amusements on the prairie. Nothing of +importance happened during the remainder of the day, but I have a clear +recollection of how the throb of life from the busy city reacted on me +as we sat together on a balcony outside the smoking-room after dinner. +It was a hot night, and the streets were filled with citizens seeking +coolness in the open air. The place seemed alive with moving figures +that came and went endlessly under the glare of the great arc lights, +while the stir and brilliancy appeared unreal to me. The air throbbed +with voices, the clank of great freight trains in the station, and the +hum of trolley cars; while only one narrow strip of sky appeared between +the rows of stores, and that strip was barred by a maze of interlacing +wires. I felt as though I had awakened from a century's sleep on the +prairie. + +"Somewhat different from Crane Valley," said Haldane, pointing with his +cigar towards the crowded wires. "I wonder how many of those are charged +with our business--it is tolerably certain that some of them are. We +have cheerfully thrown down the glove, and now the forces of fire and +air and water are all pressed into the service of spreading our +challenge across the continent. There's a mammoth printing machine in +yonder building reeling it off by the thousands of copies every hour in +its commercial reports, and those papers will be rushed east and west +to warn holders in Quebec or Vancouver to-night. Also, by this time, +Lane, wherever he is, will be spending money like water to keep the +wires humming. Feel uneasy about the explosion now that you have helped +to fire the train?" + +"I feel curious both as to why you should take so much trouble to help +us, sir, and as to the enemy's first move," I said. + +"To keep myself from rusting, for one thing, and because Lane is one man +too many down our way," was the careless answer. "If that does not +appear a sufficient motive I may perhaps mention another when we have +won. As to the other affair, Lane will, so long as his means hold out, +buy--or urge his friends to--while we sell. Just how far can you and the +men behind you go?" + +I named a sum, which Haldane noted. "With what Boone and I have decided +to put up it will be enough if all goes well. If not--but we will not +trouble about that. This contract strikes me as a trifle too big for +Lane," he said. + +I retired early, but scarcely slept all night. I felt that the struggle +would commence in earnest on the morrow, and Haldane's words had warned +me that our nerve and treasury might be taxed to the utmost before we +made good the challenge we had so lightly, it seemed to me, sent +broadcast across the Dominion. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE TURNING OF THE TIDE + + +I rose early next morning, and a stroll through the awakening city, +which was cool and fresh as yet, braced me for the stress of the day. +Haldane looked thoughtful at breakfast; Boone was silent and +suspiciously stolid, for he betrayed himself by the very slowness with +which he folded back the newspaper brought him to expose the commercial +reports. He handed it to Haldane, who nodded, saying nothing. It was a +relief to me, at least, when the meal was over, but afterwards the +morning passed very heavily, for I spent most of it haunting a dark +telephone box, where Haldane received and dispatched cabalistic +messages. I did not approve of conflict of this description, in which +the uninitiated could neither follow the points lost or won nor see the +enemy, and I should have preferred the hay-fork and a background of +sunlit prairie. + +Noon seemed a very long time coming, and the report of the broker who +arrived with it far from reassuring. "We have sold a fair block of +stock, and I brought you the contracts to sign," he said. "Settlement +and all conditions as usual. Each time that we offered a round lot +Graham's salesman and another man took them up." + +"Lane is taking hold. He has stirred up his allies," said Haldane. "I'll +put my name to these papers, and you can call down another few dollars +when you start again. I suppose there is no other person selling?" + +"No," said the broker. "There were a good many other men curious about +our game, and I fancy one or two of them had instructions; but they did +nothing. We'll work up a sensation during the afternoon." + +It would have greatly pleased me to hear of other persons parting with +their shares; but Haldane still looked confident, and Boone appeared to +place implicit faith in his generalship. I, however, grew more and more +anxious as the afternoon dragged by, for my sense of responsibility to +the men behind me increased when each tinkle of the telephone bell was +followed by a message reporting further sales. Somebody was steadily +taking up the stock we offered, and when, for the fourth time, Haldane +had answered my question, "Any sign of weakness yet?" in the negative, I +could stay indoors no longer, and found it a relief to stride briskly +through the busy streets towards a grain buyer's offices. + +My own personal risk was heavy enough, but I knew also what it had cost +my prairie neighbors to raise the sum they had credited me with, and I +felt that, if beaten, I dare not return and face them with the news +that, losing all in an unsuccessful gamble, we had left them doubly +helpless at the mercy of a triumphant enemy. The interview with the +grain merchant was, however, in a measure comforting. He admitted that +prices were improving, stated approximate figures which almost surprised +me, and volunteered the information that when my crop should be gathered +he would be glad to make me an offer. Although prospects were good in +Western Canada, cereals were scarce everywhere else; and I returned so +involved in mental calculations that I walked into several citizens, one +of whom swore fluently. He wore toothpick-pointed shoes, and in my +abstraction I had, it seemed, trodden cruelly on his toes. + +Boone came up while I attempted to apologize, and tapped me on the +shoulder. "What do you think of this amusement, Ormesby? It seems to +have had the effect of dazing you," he said. "You were walking right +past the hotel as though your eyes were shut." + +"To be candid, I think very little of it," I said. "Still, I was +puzzling over a slightly complicated sum to ascertain how much--counting +every remaining beast, salable implement, and load of grain--would, when +I have paid off Lane, remain my own." + +"Planning your campaign for next year?" asked Boone, with a trace of +dryness. + +"No," I answered. "It will not be a great deal, but I'm open to stake +the last cent on beating Lane." + +"Good man!" said Boone. "We are going to beat him; and, to show that I +am prepared to back my convictions, I may say that I have already +hypothecated every pennyworth of my English property." + +Haldane was waiting for us when we came in. "Our men have had a busy +afternoon. All the shares they offered were bought up, and there is no +sign of any weakness yet," he said. + +We formed a somewhat silent company during the earlier portion of the +evening. Haldane sat busy, pencil in hand, and finally passed a page of +his notebook across to us. "I don't quite know who is backing Lane, but +his purse is a tolerably long one," he said. "You see, we must produce +shares, or the difference between their value at that time and the price +we sold at, to this extent on settling day, Ormesby." + +"Of which nobody would apparently sell us one," I answered ruefully. + +Haldane nodded. "You mean, of course, to-day. A good many people may be +willing to do so before this hour to-morrow--if not it will be time then +to consider seriously. Meanwhile, the best we can do is to seek innocent +relaxation, and I see that Miss Redmond is singing at the opera house." + +I was hardly in the mood to enjoy a concert, though I was curious to +hear Redmond's daughter; but inaction had grown almost insufferable and +when we took our places in the crowded building I felt glad that I had +come. The sight of the close-packed multitude and the hum of many voices +helped to hold in check my nervous restlessness. Nevertheless, though a +lover of music, I scarcely heard a word of the first three songs, and +only became intent when a clapping of hands rolled round the building as +a dark-haired girl stood forward in the glare of the footlights. It was +evidently she who had drawn the perspiring crowd together, and that +alone was an eloquent testimonial, considering the temperature. + +Ailin Redmond was very plainly dressed, and she smiled her +acknowledgments with a simplicity that evidently pleased the audience, +while perhaps in compliment to them she wore as sole adornment a few +green maple leaves. Then I settled myself to listen, and continued +almost spell-bound to the end of the song, wondering where the girl I +had seen herding cattle barefooted not very long ago had acquired such +power. She was not, from a technical view, perhaps, a finished singer; +but Western audiences can feel, if, for the most part, they cannot +criticise; and I think she drove the full meaning of the old Irish +ballad home to the hearts of all of them. A wailing undertone rang +through it, and the effect of the whole was best expressed as uncanny. +It was no doubt the strangeness of her themes, and the contrast she +presented to her stereotyped rivals, which had led to the girl's +success. + +In any case the applause was vociferous, and continued until the singer +returned and stood still, with hands lightly clasped, looking, not at +the expectant audience, but directly at us. There was a curious +expression in her eyes, which were fixed steadily on myself and Haldane +beside me. Then I gained understanding as she commenced to sing, for +there was no mistaking the fact that she meant the song for us. It was a +clever resetting of such an old-world ballad as I think no Anglo-Saxon +could have written; its burden was a mourning over ancient wrongs and +hunger for revenge; but the slender, dark-haired girl held the power to +infuse her spirit into me. My lips and hands closed tight as I saw, what +I think she wished me to, Helen Boone dying in a sod hovel, and the +wagon that bore the dead man rolling through murky blackness across the +prairie. + +Then I shook all misgivings from me, feeling that though every acre and +bushel of grain must go, and we failed, they would be well spent in an +attempt to pull down the man who had brought about such things. That +others might suffer with him counted little then. They had clutched at +their dividends--dividends wrung by him out of the agony of poor men; +and their ignorance, which was scarcely possible, did not free them from +responsibility. + +There was dead stillness for several seconds between the accompanist's +final chord and the tumultuous applause which the slightly puzzled +audience accorded, while, when it died away, I saw that Boone's forehead +was beaded and his lips slightly quivering. Even Haldane appeared less +than usually at ease. + +"Miss Redmond is a young lady of uncommon and even uncomfortable gifts," +he said. "Women, as you will discover some day, Ormesby, are responsible +for most of the mischief that goes on, as well as a large amount of +good. For instance, it was the encouragement of one of them which helped +to start me on this campaign, and now, when slightly doubtful respecting +the wisdom of the step, another must sing eerie songs to me with a +purpose. I think we will walk round and call on her." + +We did so, and Redmond's daughter did not keep us waiting long. She +sailed down a broad stairway and stood smiling under the glaring lamps, +very slight and slim and graceful, so that it seemed fitting Haldane +should bend over the hand she gave him. + +"There is no need for my poor compliments after the verdict of the +multitude; but did you sing that song to us?" he said. + +"Yes," said the girl quietly, while the smile sank out of her eyes. "We +have a good many friends and hear much gossip, so I knew at once who was +directing the attack on Lane's company. As to the song--I had some +slight education down East, you know--its choice was not without a +meaning. You will remember how, on the eve of battle, Shakespeare's +ghosts prophesied to one man ruin and to another victory?" + +"Yes," said Haldane, looking puzzled, "I think I do." + +"Then"--and Ailin Redmond seemed to shiver a little--"do you think there +are no ghosts on the prairie?" + +"I have not met any of them," said Haldane; and the girl answered with +infectious gravity: "That does not prove there are none; and, even if +you call it a childish fancy, I felt as I sang that they will bring you +victory to-morrow." + +"You are far too clever and pretty to fill your head with such fancies, +my dear," said Haldane. And when we went out into the open he repeated, +with a shrug of his shoulders: "In spite of her talents, that is a most +uncomfortable young woman; but heaven send her prophecy comes true." + +Again I passed a restless night, but our agent procured us admission +into the inner precincts of the exchange on the morrow, and as I +listened to the eager shouting and watched the excited groups surge +about the salesmen, I began to comprehend the fascination that +speculation wields over its votaries. Our little spectacled broker, +however, held my eye as he flitted to and fro, and now and then with a +strident cry gathered a mob of gesticulating men about him. Somebody +accepted his offers on each occasion, and he approached us with an +almost dismayed expression when the market closed at noon. + +"You are an old hand at this business, sir, but I feel it's my duty to +warn you that things don't look well," he said. "Your friends of the +opposition are evidently able to stand considerable hammering. The sum +you mentioned would be no use now to pull us straight; and unless +there's a break pretty soon they'll squeeze you like a screw vice on +settling day. It would be hard to figure the price they'll make you +pay." + +"You don't suppose I haven't foreseen such a contingency," said Haldane. +"The break will probably come this afternoon--if not, to-morrow. Tell +your allies to sell further small lots down at a moderate reduction." + +Our lunch was, as the others had been, luxurious; but my throat was dry, +and I could not eat. Boone's appetite had also failed, and I may have +guessed aright at part of his story when I saw him, after thrice +emptying his glass, glance still thirstily at the wine, and then thrust +the decanter away. + +"It is time to consider," said Haldane. "Unless somebody is soon scared +into selling, Lane's company will be able to fleece us horribly on +settling day; but experience of such affairs teaches me that sooner or +later the smaller holders must break under a persistent hammering. Now, +I don't mind admitting that I did not anticipate such an obstinate +defense; and the cause of my interference is mainly this: I had promised +to take my younger daughter on a trip to Europe, but am not overfond of +traveling, and Lucille is tolerably contented with her own country; so +when she first suggested and then insisted that I should make a campaign +fund of what it would cost I was not wholly sorry to agree, and figured +that, with careful handling, the money might be sufficient to scare Lane +into making some rash move. At present it seems that I was mistaken, and +that before we break him I must throw Bonaventure into the scale. You +may save your protests, gentlemen; I'm a born speculator, and my +daughter has set her heart on this thing. If she hadn't, I'd have a very +great reluctance to being beaten by a single-horse-power company." + +"Every acre of Crane Valley I can find a buyer for goes in, too," I +said; and Boone added quietly: "You have my last dollar, sir, already." + +Nothing of moment happened until next day, but it appeared to me that +there was an almost insupportable tension in the very atmosphere. Our +chief broker was clearly excited, and his tone significant, when he +called to inform us that, while no other sellers had followed his +challenge, only very small parcels of the stock he offered were being +taken up; and so the matter stood until the afternoon. + +I was now anxious as well as determined. It did not require much +knowledge of such affairs for me to realize that unless other persons +flung their shares on the market we should be left absolutely at the +mercy of the men who had the stock to sell; and while I had nerved +myself to part with everything, it would be inexpressibly galling to +strip myself to enable Lane to reap a handsome profit. Neither do I +think it was mere lust of revenge that impelled me. The man was a menace +to the prosperity of every struggling rancher, and had shown no mercy; +while--setting aside the fact that he himself deserved none--it seemed +that my neighbors' right to existence depended on our efforts to +overthrow him. Haldane appeared unusually serious when I glanced at him. + +"If nothing happens in an hour we shall have to hold a council as to how +we may cut our losses," he said. + +Half an hour passed very slowly, and then, warned by a message, we +strolled into the market to find there was comparative silence in the +long echoing room, as those who congregated there grew languid and +drowsy under the heat of the afternoon. Its atmosphere seemed +suffocating, and before I had been present long the suspense reacted +upon me physically, for my throat resembled a lime-kiln and the +superficial arteries of my forehead throbbed painfully. Boone, at +intervals, moistened his dry lips with his tongue, and Haldane alone +leaned calmly against a pillar jotting down figures in the notebook he +held. + +Then a few listless men gathered round a broker, and suddenly became +intent, while a murmur of interest rose through the drowsy heat. The +voices grew louder, the group swelled, and I started at the call: "Any +more of you with Territories to sell?" + +"It must be Lane's last throw," said Haldane quietly. "Ah! The tide is +turning. There is somebody who doesn't belong to us making a deal with +him." + +The bystanders surged to and fro about the speakers in a manner that +reminded me of corraled cattle; others hurried towards them, and our +broker's voice rang out: "I'll trade with you at two dollars better." + +Then there was a confused shouting, "I'll beat him by another! Two more +dollars down!" and every unoccupied man in the room joined the crowd, +out of which rose indistinguishable offers, comments, questions, and +counter-offers. These swelled into a deafening clamor, but through them +all I could hear or feel the hurried beating of my heart, and my voice +sounded hollow as I touched Haldane's arm. "Tell me the meaning of it," +I said. + +"We have beaten them," said Haldane quietly. "There are other men +hurrying to sell. The weak holders have broken at last, and, because a +panic is infectious, most of the others will follow them. Ah! It is +beginning. There go the telegrams, and I hear both telephone bells. The +fun will commence in earnest when the answers come in; and, meanwhile, a +breath of fresher air would brace one. You may have noticed that it's a +trifle choky inside here." + +I had, but my feet seemed glued to the floor and my eyes on the swaying +crowd, so that it cost me an effort to tear them free and follow Boone +and Haldane into the open air. He presently led us into the grateful +coolness of a big basement saloon, and, scarcely drawing breath, I +emptied the contents of a tumbler filled with iced liquid, and then I +looked at Boone, who had pushed aside the glass set before him and +reached for the ice bowl. + +"I have bought my experience, Ormesby," he said, with a smile which once +more flashed a sidelight on his history. "In times like these it is +better to confine one's self to nature's distillery. A cigar? No, thank +you, sir. Do you feel like smoking, Ormesby?" + +I did not, for, in spite of the cool beverage, the bite of tobacco would +have been insufferable then; but Haldane lay back in a big lounge +chewing a cigar. He said nothing whatever, and though he appeared +satisfied, the lines on his forehead had deepened and his face appeared +older. In spite of my impatience we must have remained nearly an hour +before our leader rose a little stiffly and proceeded with unusual +slowness towards the scene of the conflict. It was raging fiercely. Some +of the speculators howled like wild beasts; others wrestled with their +fellows to reach the clear space in the center of the ring; and, +standing on the plinth of a column, I could see gesticulating men hard +at work with their notebooks. How they were able to record any bargain +or to comprehend any offer amid that pandemonium was more than I could +discover; for everybody interested appeared to be shouting at once, and +the rest of the assembly cheering them on. One irate individual, indeed, +dragged a neighbor backwards by the collar, and then plunged blindly +into the midst of the circle when the other, retaliating, drove his hat +down over his eyes. + +Haldane listened keenly for several minutes, and then turned to me. +"It's going our way, Ormesby. Holders are getting out as fast as they +can, and various speculative gentlemen who have been waiting for the +first sign of weakness are hammering them. We have done our part, and +can safely leave the rest to them. See if you can give our broker this +note for me, and then, if you have had sufficient excitement, we will +take a drive somewhere until dinner's ready." + +I had certainly had sufficient excitement in that form to last the rest +of my life, and I managed to reach the broker without personal injury, +after which we solaced ourselves with a drive through the city and +across some very uninteresting prairie. I saw little of either, and was +conscious of scarcely anything beyond the all-important fact that Lane's +power was broken, and henceforward my neighbors would enjoy the fruits +of their own labor instead of swelling heavy dividends with +three-fourths of them. + +When we returned to the hotel our agent, who appeared in an exultant +mood, was waiting us, and he positively beamed upon Haldane as he said: +"It's an honor to work for a man with your nerve and judgment, sir, and +we have whipped the last grit out of them. I let up altogether when I +saw every outside 'bear' come ramping in; and, if you're inclined that +way, we might cover a little quietly without stiffening prices." + +I do not know what Haldane's instructions were. Indeed, the reaction of +relief prevented my remembering anything at all very clearly, except +that, as we sat at dinner, Haldane said: "I shouldn't wonder if those +physicians were right, and I think I have made my last stake this +afternoon. I dare say you understand, Ormesby, that as we could now +purchase the stock below the price at which we sold there will be a +profit in the transaction. Individually, I did not undertake this matter +as a speculation." + +Haldane made light of our anxiety lest he should have suffered. "I have +long known I should have to sink into idleness, and it was a good piece +of work to retire on," he said. "But what about the profit?" + +I had no hesitation about the answer. "It was no desire of profit that +brought me here; and as one experience of the kind is sufficient, I +intend henceforward to stick to my horses and cattle. I will not touch a +dollar of the money beyond actual expenses, and would propose that, +setting aside any portion necessary to secure us against reprisals and +to complete our work, the rest should be handed to Miss Haldane to +distribute as she thinks best in charity." + +Boone expressed his full compliance, and Haldane smiled at me. "Do you +think you can run up a contra account in that way, Ormesby?" + +"I believe we are justified; but, justified or not, I will not touch a +dollar of the gains," I said. "I am going back to the prairie to-morrow, +to express our deepest gratitude to Miss Haldane. As to yourself, sir, a +good many hard-pressed men will never forget you." + +Then Boone rose up gravely with a wine-glass in his hand. "The task is +too big for Ormesby, or any other man," he said. "May every good thing +follow the Mistress of Bonaventure." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +ILLUMINATION + + +The binders were clanking through the wheat when I next met Haldane at +Crane Valley. Having embarked upon his new career with characteristic +energy, he rode over from Bonaventure with his daughter to watch our +harvesting, and incidentally came near bewildering me with his +questions. Some of them were hard to answer, and I felt a trace of +irritation, as well as surprise, that a few hours' observation should +enable him to hit upon the best means of overcoming difficulties which +had cost me months of experimenting to discover. + +Thorn, I remember, stared at him in wonder, and afterwards observed: +"You and I have just got to keep on trying until we find out the best +way of fixing things, and if our way's certain, it's often expensive. +That man just chews on his cigar, and it comes to him. When I take up my +located land and get worried about the money, I'm going to try +cigar-smoking." + +"You will have considerably less of it if you experiment with the brand +that Haldane keeps," I answered, jerking the lines, and my binder rolled +on again behind the weary team. When each minute was worth a silver +coin, we dare not spare the beasts, and I had worn out four of them in +as many days, and then sat almost nodding in the driving seat, with a +deep sense of satisfaction in my heart which I was too tired to express. + +Oat sheaves ridging the bleached prairie blazed in yellow ranks before +my heavy eyes, and each heave of the binder's arms flung out behind me a +truss of golden wheat. The glare was blinding, for we worked under the +full heat of a scorching afternoon, as we had done, and would do, by the +pale light of the moon. Thick dust rolled about us, clogging my lashes +and fouling the coats of the beasts, while the crackle of the flinty +stems, the rasp of shearing knives, the rhythm of trampling hoofs, and +the clink of metal throbbing harmoniously through the drowsy heat, were +flung back by other machines at work across the grain. There is, +however, a limit to human powers, and I must have been driving +mechanically, and nearly asleep, when a clicking warned me that it was +time to fit another spool of twine. I remember that during the operation +I envied the endurance of the soulless, but otherwise almost human, +machine. + +Steel came up with his binder before it was completed, a creak and thud +and tinkle swelling in musical crescendo as the jaded team loomed nearer +through the dust. There was a flash of varnished wood that rose and +fell, and twinkling metal, and I saw the driver sitting stiffly with +hands, that were almost blackened, clenched on the lines, peering +straight before him out of half-closed eyes, while the moisture that ran +from his forehead washed copper-tinted channels through the grime. It +was by an effort he held himself to his task; but that was nothing +unusual, for the prairie does not yield up her riches lightly, and by +the golden wake he left behind him the effort was justified. The earth +had been fruitful that season, and harvest had not failed; while, having +sown in deep dejection, uncertain who would reap, it was a small thing +to strain one's strength to the utmost to gather the bounteous yield. We +were already free, and every revolution of the binder's arms set us so +much farther on the road to prosperity. + +Twice I jerked the lines, but the team stood still; and I was preparing +to encourage them more vigorously, when Haldane and his daughter +approached. Both had insisted on my leaving them to their own devices, +and now Lucille appeared to regard the beasts and myself +compassionately. + +"They look very tired, and they have done so much," she said, glancing +down the long rows of piled-up grain. "Is not that sufficient to justify +your resting a little?" + +"I am afraid not," I answered with a somewhat rueful smile. "You see, +prosperity has made us greedy, while all the grain cut up to the present +belongs to Lane." + +The girl looked indignant--Haldane thoughtful. "I have been wondering +whether you would feel inclined to contest his claim for the balance of +the debt," he said. "Considering that he has taken from you twice the +value of his loan, and the story in Miss Redmond's book, you might be +ethically and legally justified." + +"No," I said. "I made the bargain, and I intend to keep my part of it. +That accomplished, I shall have the fewer scruples about using every +effort to utterly crush the man. All we cut henceforward is my own, and +I can only repeat that I should be glad to devote every bushel to help +forward his defeat." + +"I think you are right," said Lucille Haldane, with a trace of pride in +her approval, though her eyes were mischievous as she continued: "It is, +however, unfortunate you are so very busy, because, as father is riding, +and as the team are a little wild, we hoped you would drive them home +for me." + +I climbed down from the iron saddle, shouting to Steel, and Lucille +smiled demurely. "We could not tear you away from that machine when you +would grudge every minute," she said. "Remember that Bonaventure is a +long way off, and, even if we allowed it, you could hardly return before +to-morrow." + +I nevertheless fancied she was pleased at my eagerness, and, for Haldane +had passed on, I felt suddenly oppressed by the recognition of what I +owed her. Yet had it been possible I should not have lightened the debt. +I looked down at her gravely, noticing how young and fresh and slender +she seemed--bright as the blaze of sunshine in which she stood--and then +I pointed towards the long ranks of sheaves and the sea of stately ears. + +"I am not in the least inconsistent, and should not be if every moment +were thrice as precious," I said. "I remember most plainly that you gave +me all this. Strange as it may seem, it is, nevertheless, perfectly +true." + +The girl blushed prettily, and then glanced from me towards the tired +horses and the standing machine, after which her eyes rested with +approval on the stalwart form of Thorn, who came up urging on his +plodding team. + +"It would be something to be proud of, if one could believe you, +Rancher; but I am not wholly pleased with the last part of the speech," +she said, with a faint, half-mocking inclination of the head. "I can +guess what you are thinking, and you are a trifle slow to learn. Women +are very well in their own place, are they not? However, you find it +perplexing when they will not stay there, but, because some of them grow +tired of breathing incense, they descend and interfere in masculine +affairs. It is truly strange that there should be more forces in the +world than those centered in big dusty men and splendid horses!" + +"You must be a witch; but I am learning by degrees," I said. And the +girl laughed merrily. + +"You have not progressed very far, to judge by the comparison. Witches +were usually pictured as malevolent, old, and ugly." + +"I meant a beneficent fairy; but the surprise was not quite unnatural," +I said. "Who could suspect in such a slender and fragile person the +power she possesses to banish gloom and poverty? Legions of men and +horses could not accomplish so much." + +"Now you go too far in the opposite direction," and my companion shook +her head. "It is the sense of balance you need." + +The sun-blaze turned the clustered hair under her wide hat into the +likeness of burnished gold--the gold of our own Northwest, with a +coppery warmth in it--but the light in her hazel eyes eclipsed its +brilliancy. The lithe figure fitted its gorgeous background of yellow +radiancy, and again I felt all my pulses quicken as I paid Haldane's +daughter silent homage. Magnificent as the wheat, alike to eye and +understanding, when one remembered its mission, her presence seemed the +crown and complement of all that splendid field. It was hard to refrain +from telling her so, and possibly my voice was not pitched quite in its +normal key when I said: "It is short of the truth, but there is just one +thing I should like to know, and that is whether any other motive than +pure benevolence prompted you." + +"Why?" + +Then I answered boldly: "Because it would be worth the rest to fancy +that in some small measure it was due to individual goodwill towards +Rancher Ormesby." + +The girl looked away from me across the grain, and, as she turned her +head, it was with a thrill of pleasure, which may not have been wholly +artistic, that I noticed the polished whiteness of her neck and a +dainty, pink-tinted little ear that peeped out from the clusters of her +hair. Then she laughed, perhaps at Thorn, who argued quaintly, if +forcibly, with his reluctant beasts, and turned to me. + +"If you desire another motive, you may conclude, as you heard before, +that it was love of justice; which really ought to satisfy you." + +"It is a creditable one," I answered. "But I fear that it does not." + +We left Crane Valley shortly, Haldane on horseback, his +daughter--because something had gone wrong with the Bonaventure +vehicle--beside me in our light wagon, which, if it in no way resembled +the cumbrous contrivance bearing that name in England, was, I was +uneasily conscious, by no means overclean. On the way we met the +threshers, and stronger teams hauling the machines towards Crane Valley, +for our threshing is done mostly in the field. We stopped to bid them +hurry, and Haldane, learning they had met Gordon, whom he desired to +see, bade us proceed while he looked for the rancher. I was not sorry to +do so, and accordingly it was without him that we approached the dip to +the Sweetwater hollow. + +The afternoon was waning, and the air very still. The tiny birch leaves +had ceased their whispering; but the sound of running water came +musically out of their cool shadow. All the winding valley was rolled in +green, an oasis of verdure in the sweep of white-bleached prairie; and, +pulling the team up between the first of the slender trunks, I pointed +down towards the half-seen lane of sliding water. + +"I might never have known you if it had not been for a trifling accident +by yonder willow clump," I said. "I remember your sister suggested that +very night that our meeting might be the first scene of a drama, and, +considering all that has happened since then, her prediction has proved +strangely accurate." + +Lucille Haldane nodded. "It is a coincidence that I was thinking of the +same thing, and wondering, now that the play must be drawing towards its +close, what the end will be. The meeting must, however, have been +unlucky for you, because all your troubles date from that beginning." + +"And my privileges," I answered, smiling. "The present is at least a +happy augury. When I met Boone beside the river there was not a leaf on +the birches, and their branches were moaning under a blast which makes +one shiver from mere recollection. Remember the harvest at Crane Valley, +and look down on yonder shining water and cool greenery. It was you who +brought us the sunshine, and even the memory of the dark days is now +melting like that night's snow." + +"That is exaggerated sentiment, and I have heard invertebrate youths in +the cities say such things more neatly," commented the girl, with an air +of mock severity, and then glanced dreamily into the hollow; while, as +silence succeeded, fate sent a little sting-fly to take a part--as, to +confound man's contriving, trifles often do--in ending the play. The +team were ill-broken broncos which had already given me trouble, and +when the fly bored with envenomed proboscis through the hide of one, the +beast flung up his head and kicked savagely. + +The reins which I held loosely were whisked away, and before it was +possible to recover them both horses had bolted. The light wagon lurched +giddily, and the next moment it swept like a toboggan down the +declivity. + +"Hold fast!" I shouted, leaning recklessly down; and the first shock of +enervating consternation vanished when I gripped the reins. Still, there +was cold fear at my heart when, bracing both feet against the +wagon-front, I strove uselessly to master the team. The brutes' mouths +seemed made of iron, impervious to the bit; the slope was long and +steep; birches and willows straggled athwart it everywhere; and the soil +was treacherous. I could not break them from the gallop, and not daring +to risk the sharp bends of the zigzag trail, I let them go straight for +the slide of water in the bottom of the hollow. + +It was not the first time I had been run away with. A fall from a +stumbling horse or a wagon upset is a very common and, considering the +half-tamed beasts we use, by no means surprising accident in our +country; but at first it was only by a fierce effort I shook off an +almost overmastering terror as I contemplated the danger to my +companion. I hazarded one glance at her and saw that her face was white +and set, then dare look at nothing but the reeling trees ahead. I +strained every sinew to swing the team clear of them. Sometimes the +beasts responded, sometimes they did not, and it was by a miracle the +trunks went by. The wagon bounced more wildly, the slope grew steeper, +and even if I could have checked the team this would only have +precipitated a catastrophe. So, helpless, I clung to the reins until the +end came suddenly. + +Several birches barred our way; the brutes would swerve neither to right +nor to left; and with a hoarse shout of warning I strove desperately to +hold them straight for the one passage, wondering whether there was room +enough in the narrow gap between the trunks. It was immediately evident +that there was not. Simultaneously with a heavy shock, the wagon +appeared to dissolve beneath me and I was hurled bodily into the air. +Fortunately I alighted upon soft ground, headforemost, and perhaps, for +that reason, escaped serious injury. It is possible that, in different +circumstances, I might have lain still partly stupefied, or spent some +time in ascertaining whether any bones had broken; but, as it was, I +sprang to the overturned wagon, breathless with fear. + +Lucille Haldane lay, mercifully, just clear of it, a pitiful white +figure, and my heart stood still as I bent over her. She was pale and +limp as a crushed lily, and as beautiful; and it was with awe I dropped +on one knee beside her. There was no sign of any breathing, coldness +seemed to emanate from her waxlike skin, and though I had seen many +accidents, I dare scarcely venture to lay a finger on the slackly +throbbing artery in her wrist. Then I groaned aloud, borne down with an +overwhelming grief, for with the suddenness of a lightning flash I knew +the words spoken but such a little while ago had been more than true. It +was she who had brought all the sunshine and sweetness into my life. +Reason and power of action returned with the knowledge, and I started +for the river at a breathless run, smashing savagely through every +cluster of dwarf willows which barred my way, filled my hat with the +cold water, and, returning, dashed it on her face. The action appeared +brutal, but terror was stronger than any sentimental fancies then, and I +dare neglect no chance with that precious life at stake. + +The slender form moved a little, and it was with relief unspeakable I +heard a fluttering sigh; then I raised the wet head upon my knee, and +fell to chafing the cold hands vigorously. The time may have been five +minutes, or less, but I had never spent such long days in my life as +those seconds while I waited, quivering in every limb, for some further +sign of returning animation. It was very still in the hollow, and the +song of the hurrying water maddened me. Its monotonous cadence might +drown the faint breathing for which I listened with such intensity. Even +in that space of agony two other incidents flashed through my memory, +and I understood my fear during the dark voyage, and on the moonlit +night when the cars lurched across the bridge. Life would be very empty +if the breath died out of that tender, shaken body. + +The suspense was mercifully ended. Lucille Haldane half opened her eyes, +and looked up at me without recognition, closed them, and caught at her +breath audibly, while I held her hands fast in a restraining grasp. +Then, as she looked up again, the blood came back, mantling the clear +skin, and she said, brokenly: "I fell out of the wagon, did I not? How +long have I been here?--and my head is wet. I--I must get up." + +I still held one hand fast; but, stooping, slipped one arm beneath her +shoulder and raised her a little. "You must wait another few moments +first." + +The girl appeared reluctant, but made no resistance, and when finally I +raised her to her feet I found it was necessary to lean against a birch +trunk to hide the fit of trembling that seized me. + +"I am not much hurt," she said; and my voice broke as I interjected: +"Thank God for it!" + +I fancied that Lucille Haldane, shaken as she was, flashed a swift +sidelong glance at me, and that the returning color did not diminish in +her cheek; then she said hurriedly: "Yes, I am not hurt, but I see the +horses yonder, and you had better make sure of them. We are still some +distance from home." + +I turned without further speech, and found the vicious brutes, which had +broken the wagon-pole, held fast by the tangled gear which had fouled a +fallen tree. It was almost with satisfaction I saw the bolter had lamed +himself badly. There was a change in Lucille Haldane when I led them +back. She had recovered her faculties, but not her old frank +friendliness, and said, almost sharply: "The wagon is useless. What do +you propose to do?" + +"To fold up the rug in the box and make some kind of saddle for you," I +said, and proceeded to do so, cutting up the gear, which was almost new, +so recklessly that my companion seemed even then surprised. + +"Do you know that you are destroying a good many dollars' worth of +harness?" she asked. + +"It would not greatly matter if I spoiled a dozen sets so long as you +reached home safely, and it is a very small fine for my carelessness," I +answered. "I should never have forgiven myself if you had been injured; +but are you--quite--sure that you are none the worse?" + +"I do not think I am much the better," said the girl. "Still, I am not +badly hurt, and it was not your fault." + +Though still languid in her movements, she seemed chary of accepting +much assistance when I helped her into the improvised saddle, and then, +because the other horse was useless, I waded through the ford with my +hand on the bridle. It was some distance to Bonaventure, and my +companion was not communicative, but I did not find the silence irksome. +Conflicting emotions would have made me slow of speech, and I was +content with the fact that she rode beside me whole in limb and +unspoiled in beauty. Indeed, so much had the sight of her lying white +and apparently lifeless impressed me that I cast many apprehensive +glances in her direction before I could convince myself that all was +well. + +Haldane, who overtook us, desired me to remain at Bonaventure; but every +pair of hands was needed at Crane Valley, and I wished for solitude. So, +stiffly mounting a borrowed horse, I set off homeward across the +prairie. I had risen at three that morning, after an insufficient rest, +and was worn out in body, but clear in mind, for a time, at least, while +the brilliancy of the starshine and the silence of the waste helped me +to think. I was by turns thankful, ashamed, dejected, and eager to +clutch at an elusive hope. Illumination had followed disillusion, and I +knew at last that even while I was uplifted by vain imaginings, Lucille +Haldane had, little by little, and unwittingly, extended her dominion +over my heart. I had, it seemed, spent the best years of my life +striving after an unattainable and shadowy ideal, while perhaps the real +living substance, endowed with the best of all pertaining to flesh and +blood, lay within my grasp. It was true that the mistress of Bonaventure +was much too good for me; but with all her graces she was of like fiber +to us, and her few weaknesses rendered her more desirable in proof of +the fact. That Beatrice Haldane was worthy of all adulation remained +equally true; but it was hard to comprehend how, blinded by folly, I had +mistaken the respect I paid her for the warm tide of passion which now +pulsed through me. Neither was the latter of sudden origin, for, looking +back, I could see how, little by little, and imperceptibly, admiration, +gratitude, and tenderness, had merged into it until terror opened my +eyes and full understanding came at last. + +There remained, however, one burning question--did Lucille Haldane, in +any degree, reciprocate what I felt?--and this lacked an answer. Knowing +her generous nature, it was clear that what she had done for me had not +been done wittingly for a lover; but, on the other hand, I could recall +many trifles which may have had their significance. Thus alternate hopes +and fears surged through my brain until, when I had decided that, being +yet a poor man, I must wait the advent of the railroad, at least, before +putting my fate to the test, my thoughts commenced to wander, and I must +have guided the horse mechanically, for his sudden stopping roused me +with a jerk to recognize the corral at Crane Valley. There is a limit +beyond which no emotion may galvanize into continued activity the +exhausted body, and we not infrequently reach it on the prairie. I do +not know whether I was asleep or awake when I led the beast into the +stable, but the sun was high when Sally Steel roused me from a couch of +trampled hay unpleasantly near his feet. + +"You have had a tolerable sleep, and don't seem particular where you +camp," she said. "Come right along, and do your best with the second +breakfast I've got waiting." + +I glanced with consternation at my watch. "Why didn't one of the others +waken me? Do you know it's ten o'clock, Sally?" I asked. + +"Just because I wouldn't let them! You've got to last through harvest, +anyway, and I guess Miss Haldane wouldn't have much use for a dead +man," said Sally, and was retiring with mischievous laughter, when I +recalled her. + +"You have been too good a friend to me to make such jokes again," I +said. + +"I'm not the only one. All the folks are talking," said the girl. + +Thereupon I answered grimly: "If I hear any of them amusing themselves +in that fashion I shall do my best to choke them." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE ENEMY CAPITULATES + + +Some time had elapsed since the overturning of the wagon, and I had seen +nothing of Lucille Haldane, when, one evening, I visited Bonaventure at +her father's request. All had gone well in the interval. The last bushel +of grain had been threshed and sold, and the balance of my debt to Lane, +with every surcharge his ingenuity could invent, wiped out. Haldane, who +remained some time in Winnipeg with Boone, had also concluded operations +successfully, for, as he had foreseen, once the turning point was passed +he had no lack of allies eager to assist in plundering the vanquished, +and, before these had satisfied their rapacity he had been able to +unobtrusively cover most of our sales without advancing prices. Boone +explained that the new assailants considered the purchases a last effort +on the part of the company's supporters. Also--because there is little +mercy for the beaten--impoverished storekeeper and plundered farmer +commenced to air their grievances, and it became evident that the +company, or those whom it financed, had occasionally exceeded the limits +of the law. + +It was accordingly to a meeting of what Haldane called the Vehmgericht +that I was summoned, and on arriving at Bonaventure I found Gordon and +several of our neighbors already there. The day had been sunny, but our +autumn nights are sharp, with a sting of frost in the air, which made +the crackling fire in the open hearth acceptable. A shaded silver lamp +flung a soft light about the room, which in no way suggested that it was +to be used for a tribunal. There were decanters, cigar boxes, and +British Columbian fruit on the table, while Haldane lounged in a velvet +chair, with feet, neatly encased in patent leather, stretched out +towards the fire. All this seemed inappropriate to the occasion, even +though I had grown used to Haldane's way. + +A glance at the others, however, showed that they were in deadly +earnest. The men were lean and hard and grim, and their weather-darkened +faces bore the stamp of the conflict. Some of them had long overworked +brain and body, half-fed, that Lane and those who backed him might reap +an iniquitous profit. Others had seen wife and daughter toiling in the +dust of the harrows or riding weary leagues behind the herds, and had +not forgotten. I noticed they accepted Haldane's offers of wine and +tobacco dubiously, and I surmised it was only personal respect for him +that prevented disapproving comments on this manner of procedure. + +Boone doubtless guessed their thoughts, for he said whimsically: "I see +no reason why you shouldn't have a good time, boys. There are easier +ways of killing a coyote than beating his head in with the butt of a +gun, and I can assure you that we mean solid business. For one, I find +these cigars better than the tin flag plug." + +"Tin flag!" and a man with wrinkles round his eyes laughed harshly. +"Dried willow bark had to do for us. This kind of thing takes time to +get used to after living for 'most two years on damaged flour and +molasses. Maybe you're used to luxuries, and don't know what it is to +see the wife fall sick when one couldn't raise a decent morsel to feed +her." + +Boone's face grew as stern as that of the speaker, and the shadow I knew +crept into his eyes. "I think I do. My wife died for want of comforts +that Lane might twice collect his debt, and I am not likely to forget it +to-night," he said. + +A silence followed, and through it I heard one or two of the others draw +a deep breath, while their faces hardened as they, too, remembered +grievous injuries. For my own part I was grimly expectant, for I had +suffered long enough, and had sufficient sense to know that it was not +often that struggling men had such an opportunity for dictating terms +to a powerful adversary. We were all, I think, democratic in the word's +most liberal sense, cherishing no grievance against the rich, and quick +to recognize advantages offered us by capitalists' legitimate +enterprise; but, now that the balance had swung to our side, we were +equally determined to place further mischief beyond the power of the man +who, for the sake of a few dollars, would have crushed us out of +existence. It appeared a duty to the community; but I had not studied +human nature sufficiently to discover exactly how far that motive +influenced me. + +"If none of you have any further suggestions to make, I want to ask if +you are willing to leave this affair to me," said Haldane presently. +"Lane in his own way is a smart man, and would be quick to seize an +advantage which anybody, speaking without consideration, might give him. +I offer my services merely because, during an extensive business +experience, I have had to deal with such men before." + +"There is nobody in the Dominion better able to handle this case for +us," said Boone; and the others nodded assent. + +"We'll sit quieter than graven images unless he turns vicious, if you'll +draw his sting," said one. "That's no use, anyway," a comrade +interjected. "The insect would grow another one. What we want is his +blame back broken." + +"I will, metaphorically speaking, try to oblige you both," said Haldane, +with a smile. "He is a little weak in the spine already, or he would +have declined to meet us at all." + +Nobody made any further comment, but the eyes of most of us were turned +expectantly upon the clock, until at last Gordon stood up when a rattle +of wheels drew nearer. "This is going to be a great night, boys," he +said. "The pernicious insect's come." + +Lane entered, and nodded to us all comprehensively when he saw that +Haldane did not hold out his hand. The man's assurance was apparently +boundless, for he was at first sight as _débonnaire_ and almost as +genial as ever--almost, but not quite, for when he moved nearer the +lamp I noticed a shiftiness in his eyes and an occasional contraction at +the corners of his mouth. + +"This is a little business meeting, and we appreciate your attendance; +but the former is no reason why you should not be comfortable," said +Haldane. "Sit down and help yourself to anything you take a fancy to. I +need not introduce any of these gentlemen." + +Lane was not readily taken aback, for, while we afterwards had cause to +believe he had never discovered the movements of Boone, he looked at him +significantly, but without surprise. "I know--all--of them. With thanks, +I will," he said. "As to the visit, I am always ready to oblige my +clients; but as you know time means money, it remains to be seen on +whose bill I shall charge it." + +I took the last sentence as a preliminary defiance, and fancied Haldane +did so, too; but he only laughed as he said: "I should not wonder if you +were not paid that bill." + +Lane nodded, as though he understood that the swords were crossed; and +when he poured out a glass of wine the rest of us prepared to watch the +duel, with the comforting assurance that our champion was armed with the +better weapons, as well as with the justice of his quarrel. It was +characteristic of the enemy that he smiled indulgently when, as he +raised his glass to his lips, Steel and another man thrust their own +aside. The inference could not have been plainer. + +"Suppose we come straight to business," said Haldane presently. "It may +save time if I recapitulate what is known of your position. If I am +wrong in details you can, of course, correct me." + +"You can sail ahead," and Lane, stretching out his feet, leaned back in +his chair in an attitude of contemplative attention. + +"To commence with, you hold a number of mortgages on land in this +vicinity, from which, after recouping yourself for the loan, you are +still drawing what I venture to call extortionate interest. These and +your shares in the Territories Investment--which cannot be sold--I +believe represent your assets. Also, after taking first-class legal +opinion, we find that, owing, shall I say, to indiscretions on your +part, it may be possible to prevent your foreclosing on several of those +mortgages, while one subordinate, I believe, refuses to be turned out of +Gaspard's Trail. On the other hand, you have certain tolerably extensive +liabilities I need not enumerate, and you want money badly. Law suits +are expensive, and you have a promising crop of them on hand. It was +with a view of obtaining it you suggested the issue of new Territories +stock, and, seeing that hang fire, unobtrusively endeavored to sell your +shares. I don't think the public would look at either just now. In +short, you have taken too big a mouthful; you can't hold on without +money, and you can't obtain that because, for some reason, respectable +banks fight shy of you. It will simplify matters if you admit all this." + +"I'm not going to admit anything," Lane said sturdily, after drinking +another glass of wine. + +Haldane smiled as he answered: "In that case we will take for granted +what I have said. Now, we have the money, time, and determination to +fight you over every mortgage, and to rake up, as a claim for damages, +every indiscretion." + +One of the listeners chuckled in a manner expressive of surprise and +satisfaction when Haldane ceased, and through the brief stillness which +followed I could feel, if I could not see, that the others were in a +state of strung-up expectancy. + +"Better come to the point," Lane said. "The question is, what do you +want from me?" + +"It's pretty simple," was Haldane's answer. "We want you out of this +country. It's unfortunate that we can't help considering you an obstacle +in the way of its prosperity; but, not being highway robbers, we are +open to make you a fair offer for your property. Here is a schedule I +have drawn up, and you will see by examination that we purpose to buy +the mortgages at their face value, paying you any interest due at +current bank rates. We also purpose to buy back, on the same +conditions, the lands on which you have already foreclosed." + +Lane was difficult to astonish, but now he actually gasped; and several +of those present, who were still within his clutches, sprang to their +feet. "A glacier wouldn't be cooler than you!" Lane said. "You must know +they're worth, or will be, about three times as much." + +"Exactly," said Haldane; and Gordon and another chuckled silently. "That +is just why we want to see you safely out of this country. The man who +drives that kind of bargain gives nobody else a show. Please sit down, +gentlemen; I'll answer your questions later." + +I think Lane, in spite of his refusal to admit anything, must have felt +himself driven into a corner. Indeed, for almost the first time during +my acquaintance with him he showed signs of temper, for his lips +straightened and there was a gleam of malice in his eyes. + +"Your hand looks a good one, but it's not good enough," he said. "I'm +going to tell you to do your worst. Say, don't you count too much on Mr. +Haldane, the rest of you. If this is fun to him, it's bread and cheese +to me, and I don't let up on my living easily. Stand out from under +before he gets tired and the roof falls on you. You all know me." + +The listeners had good reason to do so; but they had not only lost their +fear of him--the fear which makes a coward of a brave man when he +becomes a debtor--but had found his yoke so galling that they would have +risked the worst by defying him in spite of it. He must have read as +much in the contemptuous laugh and lowering faces. + +"I think we could beat you with it; but we hold still better cards," +said Haldane quietly. "For instance, you have squeezed Niven a little +too hard, and he is prepared to risk his liberty to testify on one or +two points against you. I refer to incidents connected with Gaspard's +Trail." + +Lane brought his hand down on the table, and, for some unexplainable +reason, I actually believed him as he said: "Gaspard's Trail was burnt +by accident." + +"We won't question the statement," said Haldane. "It was, at least, an +accident that you were quick to profit by. This ace, however, takes the +trick. Just run through this account book, and--remembering that we can +produce Miss Redmond, and three men, who will swear to what her father +said when Ormesby's cattle, which did not get there by accident, were +burned in the fence--consider what might be done with it." + +Lane seemed to shake himself together after he had read the first few +entries; while, watching him closely, I once more saw the tell-tale +contraction at the corners of his mouth. This was the only sign he made, +however, save that presently he moved forward a little in his chair, +which was close before the fire, and held up the torn-out page as though +he wished the lamplight to fall on it more directly. The action, which +was made very naturally, suggested nothing to myself or even to Haldane; +but when the reader moved again, Boone rose suddenly and laid a +restraining hand on his arm. + +"You have had time enough to grasp the significance of what is written +there, and I'll take the papers back," he said. "Of course, knowing whom +we dealt with, we have a duly attested copy." + +I do not know whether Lane had actually intended to destroy part at +least of the dead man's testimony or not, but he was capable of +anything, and the fire was hot. In any case, he calmly handed book and +paper back to Boone with the careless comment: "You thought of that? +Must be considerably smarter than you used to be." + +"Yes," said Boone dryly, "I have learned a good deal since I first met +you. We will now, with Mr. Haldane's concurrence, give you five, or, if +necessary, ten, minutes in which to consider your decision." + +Without being in the least sorry for him, I fancied I could understand +Lane's feelings, and his state of mind could not have been enviable. It +is true that Haldane's offer allowed him a fair return for all sums +invested, perhaps almost as much as he would have obtained by +legitimate enterprise; but that must have been as nothing to the man who +had schemed for a fortune, while one could have fancied that he found it +inexpressibly galling to discover that those whom he had considered his +helpless dupes now held him at their mercy. Yet he showed small sign of +discomfiture, and his voice was steady as he said: "It's robbery; but +I'm open to admit you have fixed the thing tolerably neatly. Suppose it +was Dixon who gave you the pointers? This man here must have some grit, +for he knows that even now I could make it hot for him. Do you know who +he is?" + +"I consider the terms are liberal, and we arranged the affair +ourselves," said Haldane. "You could hardly expect Mr. Dixon to involve +himself in what I'm afraid is virtually the compounding of a felony. It +is also possible that some people would call our proceedings by +unpleasant names, but you left us no choice of weapons. We might have +squeezed you further, but I believe it's wise to leave a back way open +for a beaten enemy. I am perfectly acquainted with Mr. Boone's history, +and understand that now that his work is finished--for most of the +scheme was his--he will surrender himself to the police. He does not, +however, apprehend any trouble with them, because by the time he +surrenders, the prosecutor will have removed himself across the +frontier. Now, hadn't you better consider your decision?" + +Lane sat still for at least five minutes, and I could see that some of +the rest were not quite convinced that the battle was over. They had +experienced such a taste of his quality that they probably expected some +bold counter-move rather than submission. Nevertheless, the man was +beaten, for at last he said: "It's your game. I must have the money +down, and your solemn promise you'll make no use of what you know until +I'm across the frontier." + +"If you will meet me at Gordon's at noon to-morrow we'll settle the bill +together," said Haldane quietly; and rose as if to signify that the +interview was over. + +Lane no longer looked jaunty, for, although he evinced no great dismay, +there was a subtle change in him as he also rose and brushed the dust +off his hat. "Everybody gets tripped up now and then, and must make the +best of it," he said. "Quaint, isn't it, that it should be a man of +Ormesby's kind who most helped to bring me up? Well, it seems I can't +stay any longer with you, boys; but no one knows what may happen, and +I'll try to square the deal with you if ever I come back again." + +Nobody answered him, and with a shrug of his shoulders he passed out of +the room; and though I fancied that was the last I should see of him, I +was mistaken. + +Then Boone said reflectively: "I wonder whether we have been too easy +with him, sir. I can't help feeling, by the way he yielded, that the +rascal has something up his sleeve." + +Before our host could answer he was plied with congratulations and +questions about the money for the redemption of the mortgages, and, +raising his hand for silence, stood up, smiling at the men before him. + +"I'll find part of it in the meantime, and there is the profit on the +campaign fund you raised," he said. "You needn't be bashful, gentlemen. +I'm a business man, and will have no objection to charging you three or +four per cent. more interest than the banks. It will, considering the +prospects, be money sunk on good security. Now that we have got our +stumbling block out of the way, I see possibilities for this district, +and am presently going to ask you to form a committee to consider +whether we can't put up a small flour mill or coöperative dairy." + +He proceeded to sketch out a project with a vigor of conception and a +grasp of practical details that astonished the listeners, who presently +departed with sincere, if not very neatly expressed, gratitude, and with +hope and exultation in their weather-darkened faces. I tried to express +my own sentiments and, I believe, failed, but Haldane smiled quaintly. + +"Don't make any mistake, Ormesby. I'm not setting up as a public +benefactor," he said. "One can't do absolutely nothing, and I don't +quite see why I shouldn't earn a few honest dollars where I can. I dare +say the others will profit, and I should prefer them as friends rather +than enemies; but this scheme is going to pay me--in fact, as you say +here--it has just got to." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE EXIT OF LANE + + +Early one evening, after Lane's capitulation, I sat in the hall at +Bonaventure waiting its owner's return. Lucille Haldane occupied the +window-seat opposite me, embroidering with an assiduity which, while +slightly irritating, did not altogether displease me. Since the wagon +accident she had, in an indefinite manner, been less cordial, and I, on +my part, was conscious of an unwonted restraint in her presence. It is +unnecessary to say that she made a pretty picture with the square of +still sunlit prairie behind her, though her face was tantalizingly +hidden in shadow, and I could only admire the graceful pose of her +figure and the lissom play of the little white fingers across the +embroidery. The girl must have been sensible of my furtive regards, for +at last she laid down the sewing and looked up sharply. + +"Is there nothing among all those papers worth your attention, or have +you taken an interest in embroidery?" she asked, pointing to the +littered journals on the table. "Do you know that it is a little +disconcerting to be watched when at work?" + +I was uneasily conscious that my forehead grew hot, but hoped the hue +that wind and sun had set upon it would hide the fact. "Don't you think +the trespass was almost justifiable?" I said. "You are responsible for +spoiling us; and unaccustomed prosperity must be commencing to make me +lazy. I was thinking." + +"That is really interesting," said the girl. "Has sudden prosperity also +rendered you incapable of expressing your thoughts in speech?" + +In this case, circumstances had certainly done so. I had been thinking +how pretty and desirable the speaker looked; but the trouble was that, +although silence cost me an effort, I could not tell her so. I hoped to +say as much, and more besides, some day; but this moment was not +opportune. Lucille Haldane was mistress of Bonaventure, and I as yet a +struggling man, who, thanks to her good nature and her father's business +skill, had barely escaped sinking into poverty. It would be time to +speak when my position was a little more secure. Meanwhile, in spite of +the sternly repressed longing and uncertainty which daily grew more +painful, it was very pleasant to bask in the sunshine of her presence, +and I dare not risk ending the privilege prematurely. + +"I was thinking what a change has come over this part of the prairie," I +said, framing but one portion of my thoughts into words. "Not long ago +one saw nothing but anxious faces and gloomy looks, while now, I fancy, +there is only one downcast man in all this vicinity, and he the one from +whom your father and Boone have just parted. The change, considering +that a single person is chiefly responsible, is almost magical; but, +remembering a past rebuke, that hardly sounds very pretty, does it?" + +Lucille Haldane laughed mischievously. "To one of the superior sex; but +are you not forgetting that this season the heavens fought for you? It +certainly might have been more neatly expressed. Do you know that the +education you mentioned is not yet quite finished?" + +"I know there is much you could teach me if you would," I said, with a +humility which was not assumed, choking down bolder words which had +almost forced themselves into utterance; and perhaps the effort left its +trace on me, for Lucille turned her head towards the prairie. + +"Here is Sergeant Mackay. I wonder what he wants," she said. + +Mackay, dusty and damp with perspiration, was ushered in a few minutes +later, and for the first time I felt all the bitterness of jealousy as I +saw the friendly manner in which the girl greeted Cotton, who followed +him. There was nothing of the coquette in Lucille Haldane, and the +knowledge of this added to the sting; but I did not think that even she +was always so unnecessarily gracious. Mackay, however, appeared intent +and grim, and by no means in a humor for casual conversation. + +"I'm wanting your father and fresh horses at once, Miss Haldane," he +said. "Ye had a visit from Lane yesterday?" + +"We certainly had. What do you want with him?" asked Lucille. And Mackay +smiled dryly when I added a similar question. + +"Just his body, and your assistance as a loyal subject, Henry Ormesby. +Ye were once good enough to say ye could not expect too much from the +police; but it's long since your natural protectors had eyes on the +thief who was robbing ye. Niven, when he wasn't quite sober, told a +little story, and there's another bit question of a debt agreement +forgery. Ye will let us have the horses, Miss Haldane?" + +Lucille bade them follow her, and I heard her giving orders to one of +the hired men. Then she returned alone in haste to me. "You saw where my +father put the book Miss Redmond gave him?" she said. + +"Yes," I answered, wondering. "He locked it inside that bureau and put +the keys into his pocket." + +The girl wrenched at the handle, and I noticed by the creaking of the +bureau how strong, in spite of her slenderness, she was. The lock would +not yield, and she turned imperiously to me. "Don't waste a moment, but +smash that drawer in!" + +"It is a beautiful piece of maple, and why do you wish to destroy it?" I +said, and, for she had a high spirit, fancied Lucille Haldane came near +stamping one little foot impatiently. + +"Can you not do the first thing I ask you without asking questions?" she +said. + +There was nothing more to be said, and stooping for the poker, I whirled +it around my head. One end of the bar doubled on itself, but the front +of the drawer crushed in, and when I had wrenched out the fragments, +Lucille drew forth the book. + +"I know what my father promised, and there is Miss Redmond to consider. +She has suffered too much already," she said, tearing out whole pages in +hot hurry. "Sergeant Mackay is much less foolish than I once heard you +call him, and I have no doubt suspects something of this. Can't you see +that he could force us to give the papers up? I am going to burn them." + +"That at least you shall not do," I said, taking them from her with as +much gentleness as possible, but by superior force, and then positively +quailed before the anger and astonishment in the girl's face. + +"You are still so afraid of Lane that you would risk bringing fresh +sorrow on that poor girl in order to protect yourself?" she said, with +biting scorn. + +"No," I answered stolidly, without pausing for reflection. "I only wish +to declare it was I who destroyed this evidence, if there is any trouble +over the affair." + +I tore the book to pieces and rammed the fragments deep among the +burning logs as I spoke, and when this was accomplished I did not look +up until Lucille Haldane called me by name. Gentle as she could be, I +had a wholesome respect for her wrath. + +"I deserved it," she said, with a bewitching deepening of the crimson in +her cheeks and a shining in her eyes. "You will forgive me. I had not +time to think." + +Thereupon I longed for eloquence, or Boone's ready wit; but no neat +speech came to my relief, and while I racked my clouded brains the girl +must have guessed what was taking place, for merriment crept into her +eyes. Then, just as an inspiration dawned on me, as usual, too late, a +hurried tread drew nearer along the passage. + +"It is Sergeant Mackay, and he must not come in here," said my companion +with a nervous laugh, as she glanced at the shattered bureau. "Is it +quite impossible for you to hurry?" Then before I realized what was +happening, she had placed one hand on my shoulder and positively hustled +me out of the door. Hardly knowing what I did, I clutched at the little +fingers, and missed them, and the next moment I plunged violently into +the astonished sergeant. + +"Mr. Ormesby is ready, and so are the horses. I hope your chase will be +successful," a voice, which sounded a little uneven (though there was a +trace of laughter in it) said, and the door swung to. + +Mackay looked at me curiously; and when we had mounted, said: "I'm +asking no questions, but yon was surely a bit summary dismissal!" + +"It's just as well you are not, because I am afraid I should not answer +them," I said, and Mackay frowned upon his subordinate when Cotton +laughed. + +We had ridden a league before he vouchsafed any explanation. "I could +not call in my other men in time, and as we may have to divide forces, +demanded your assistance in virtue of the powers entrusted me," he said +formally. "We'll call first at Gordon's on the odd chance our man is +there, and pick up Adams, though Lane's away hot-foot for the rail by +now, I'm thinking. He had no' a bad nerve to cut it so fine." + +"Did the confounded rascal know there was a warrant out?" I gasped, +almost pulling my horse up in my indignation, as I remembered Boone's +hint. + +"We did not advertise the fact, but yon man knows everything, and I'm +no' saying it's quite impossible," Mackay answered dryly. "But what ails +ye that ye're drawing bridle, Harry Ormesby?" + +I drove the spurs in the next second and shot clear a length ahead, and, +though the Bonaventure horses were good, the others had hard work to +catch me during the next mile or two. If Lane suspected the issue of the +warrant, he had victimized us to the end, for he had tricked us into +furnishing him with not only the means of escape, but sufficient ready +money to start him upon a fresh career in another land. We met Boone and +Haldane returning from Gordon's ranch, and while the former advised the +sergeant that Lane must be well on his way to the station by this time, +I drew Haldane aside and hurriedly related what had happened at +Bonaventure. + +"Lane is a capable rascal, and will certainly catch the westbound train. +There is little to be gained either by wiring the bank," he said. "He +insisted on taking a large share in paper currency, and as the draft +was one I had by me, he would no doubt arrange for his friends to cash +it before I could warn the drawer. Do you know the bureau you smashed in +cost me sixty dollars, Ormesby?" + +I was endeavoring to express my contrition when Haldane laughed. "I am +not sure that you are the only person responsible for the destruction of +my furniture." + +Mackay had started before our conversation was finished, and it cost +Boone and me a long gallop to come up with him, while it was only by +dint of hard riding that we eventually reached the station some hours +after the departure of the train. Mackay first of all wired to the +stations down the line, and then explained: "That's just a useless duty. +Yon man is keen enough to know he might find the troopers waiting for +him. He'll leave the cars at the flag station where there's nobody to +detain him, and, buying a horse at the first ranch, strike south for the +border. It would be desirable that we grip him before he reaches it." + +Because various formalities must be gone through before a Canadian +offender is handed over by the Americans, this was clear enough, though +I did not see how it was to be accomplished, until Mackay had exchanged +high words with the station agent. A freight locomotive and an empty +stock car rolled out of the siding, and we took our places therein, men +and horses together. + +"Sorry I haven't got a new bogie drawing-room for you, but it's getting +time the police gave some other station a share of their business," said +the exasperated railroad official. I also overheard him tell the +engineer: "You have got to be back by daylight, and needn't be +particular about shaking them." + +It was not the fault of the engineer if he did not shake the life out of +us. Canadian lines are neither metalled nor ballasted with much +solidity; and with only one car to steady it the huge machine appeared +to leap over each inequality of the track. There was also nipping frost +in the air, the prairie glittered under the stars, and bitter draughts +pulsed through the lurching car. It was not an easy matter to keep the +horses on their feet or to maintain our own balance, but the swish of +the dust and the rattle of flung-up ballast brought some comfort as an +indication of our speed. + +"It's a steeplechase already," gasped Boone, holding on by a head-rope +as we roared across a bridge. "I looked at the gauge-glass, and the +engineer can hardly have full steam up yet. We'll be lucky to escape +with whole limbs when he has." + +The prediction was fully justified, for the bouncing, jolting, and +hammering increased with the pace, and I made most of the journey +holding fast by a very cold rail as for my life, while half-seen through +the rush of ballast I watched the prairie race past. When one could look +forward there was nothing visible but a field of dancing stars and a +smear of white below, athwart which the blaze of the great headlamp +drove onwards with the speed of a comet. All of us were thankful when +the locomotive was pulled up before a lonely shed, and while we dragged +the horses out the man who drove it, grinning at his stoker, said: "I +guess there's no bonus for beating the record on this contract?" + +"No," said Mackay dryly. "Ye have the satisfaction of knowing ye served +the State." + +By good fortune we found a sleepy man in the galvanized iron shed, and +he informed us that Lane had alighted from the last train and started on +foot towards the nearest ranch, which lay about a league away. Inside of +fifteen minutes we were pounding on its door, and the startled owner +said that the man we asked for had bought a good horse from him, and +inquired the shortest route to the American frontier. + +"Four hours' start," said Mackay, as we proceeded again. "Ye can add +another three for the making of inquiries and searching for his trail. +It will be a close race, I'm thinking." + +It certainly proved so, as well as a long one, because we lost much time +halting at lonely ranches, and still more in riding in wrong directions; +for Lane had evidently picked up somebody, perhaps a contrabandist, +well versed in the art of laying a false trail. Neither did he strike +straight for the border, and after dividing and joining forces several +times, it was late one evening when we found ourselves close behind him. + +"Oh, yes! A man like that paid me forty dollars to swap horses with him +and his partner, it might be an hour ago," said the last rancher at +whose dwelling we stopped. "Seemed in a mighty hurry to reach Montana. +How long might it take you to reach the frontier? Well, that's a +question of horses, and I've no more in my corral. You ought to get +there by daylight, or a little earlier. Follow the wheel trail and +you'll see a boundary stake on the edge of the big _coulée_ to the left +of it." + +Though we had twice changed horses, our beasts were jaded; but there was +solace in the thought that Lane was an indifferent rider, and must have +almost reached the limits of his endurance, while, though used to the +saddle, I was too tired to retain more than a blurred impression of that +last night's ride. There was no moon, but the blue heavens were thick +with twinkling stars, and the prairie glittered faintly under the white +hoar frost. It swelled into steeper rises than those we were used to, +while at times we blundered down the crumbling sides of deep hollows, +destitute of verdure, in which the bare earth rang metallically beneath +the hoofs. Still, the wheel trail led straight towards the south, and, +aching all over, we pushed on, as best we could, until I grew too drowsy +even to notice my horse's stumbles or to speculate what the end would +be. Before that happened, however, I had considered the question and +decided that there was no need for any scruples in seizing Lane if the +chance fell to me. We had merely promised to refrain from pressing one +particular charge against the fugitive, and were willing to keep our +bargain, though he on his part had deceived us into making it. + +At last, when only conscious of the cruel jolting and the thud of tired +hoofs which rose and fell in a drowsy cadence through the silence, +Mackay's voice roused me, and I fancied I made out two mounted figures +faintly projected against the sky ahead. "Yon's them, and ye'll each do +your best. We're distressfully close on the frontier now," he said. + +Once more the spurs sank into the jaded beast, and when it responded I +became suddenly wide awake. It was bitterly cold and that hour in the +morning when man's vitality sinks to its lowest ebb; but one and all +braced themselves for the final effort. Boone, in spite of all that I +could do, drew out ahead, and we followed as best we might, blundering +down into gullies and over rises where the grass grew harsh and high, +while thrice we lost the man who led us as well as the fugitives. +Nevertheless, they hove into sight again before a league had passed, and +it even seemed that we gained a little on the one who lagged behind, +until, at last, the blue of the heavens faded, and grayness gathered in +the east. + +It spread over half the horizon; the two figures before us grew more +distinct; and Boone rode almost midway between ourselves and them, when, +as though by magic, the first one disappeared. Mackay roared to Cotton +when, topping a rise, there opened before us a winding hollow, and +Boone, wheeling his horse, waved an arm warningly. + +"It's the wrong man doubling. Come on your hardest until the trail +forks, and then try left and right!" he shouted before he, too, sank +from view beneath the edge of the hollow. + +There were birches in the ravine as well as willow groves, and the +fugitives had vanished among them, leaving no trace behind. There were, +unfortunately, also several trails, and, because time was precious, the +noise we made pressing up and down them would have prevented our hearing +any sound. Mackay, who in spite of this, sat still listening, used a +little illicit language, and rated Cotton for no particular cause, while +I had managed to entangle myself in a thicket, when Boone's voice fell +sharply from the opposite rise: "Gone away! He has taken to the open!" + +With many a stumble we compassed the steep ascent, and, as we gained +the summit, the growing light showed me a solitary figure already +diminishing down a stretch of level prairie. "It's our last chance!" +roared Mackay, pointing to what looked like a break in the grasses +ahead. "I'm fearing yon's the boundary." + +Our beasts were worn out, their riders equally so; but we called up the +last of our failing strength to make a creditable finish of the race. +The _coulée_ was left behind us, and Lane's figure grew larger ahead, +for Mackay, who certainly did not wish to, declared he could see no +boundary post. Then as the first crimson flushed the horizon, a lonely +homestead rose out of the grass, and when Lane rode straight for it the +sergeant swore in breathless gasps. A little smoke curled from its +chimney, for the poorer ranchers rise betimes in that country. We saw +Lane drop from the saddle and disappear within the door, while when we +drew bridle before it, two gaunt brown-faced men came out and regarded +us stolidly. + +"What place is this?" asked Mackay with a gasp. + +One of them seemed to consider before he answered him: "Well, it's +generally allowed to be Todhunter's Wells." + +"That's not what I want," said the sergeant. "Where's the boundary?" +This time the other man laughed as he pointed backwards across the +prairie we had traversed. + +"'Bout a league behind you. No, sir; you're not in Canada. This, as the +song says, is 'the land of the free.' You'll find the big stake by the +_coulée_, if you don't believe me." + +"Beaten!" said Mackay, dropping his bridle; and added aside: "Whisky +smugglers by their manners, I'm thinking." As we endeavored to master +our disappointment, Lane himself appeared in the doorway. He looked very +weary, his fleshy face was haggard and mottled by streaks of gray; but +the humorous gleam I hated shone mockingly in his eyes. + +"Sorry to disappoint you, Sergeant, but you can't complain about the +chase!" he said. "Even Cannuck policemen and amateur detectives aren't +recognized here; and as there are two respectable witnesses, I'm afraid +you'll have to apply to the Washington authorities. You can tell Mr. +Haldane, Ormesby, that there's no use in stopping his check. I don't +think there is anything else I need say, except that, as I have booked +all the accommodation here, they might give you breakfast at the ranch +in the _coulée_." + +He actually nodded to us, and thrusting his hands into his pockets, +leaned against the lintel of the door with an air of amusement which was +not needed to remind us that he was master of the situation, and for the +last time set my blood on fire. There was, however, nothing to be gained +by virulence, and when Mackay, who disdained to answer a word, wheeled +his jaded horse, we silently followed him towards the _coulée_. + +"I wish the Americans joy of him," the grizzled sergeant said, at +length. "There's just one bit consolation--we can very well spare him; +and ye'll mind what the douce provost said in the song--'Just e'en let +him be; the toon is weel quit o' that deil o' Dundee.'" + +Boone, smiling curiously, closed with the speaker. "There is one thing I +expected he did not do, and as it could hardly be due to magnanimity, he +must have forgotten it," he said. "You will not go back empty-handed, +Sergeant. Are you aware that you hold a warrant for me?" + +Mackay pulled his horse up and stared at him. "I cannot see the point of +yon joke," he said. + +"There isn't one," was the answer. "Now that my work is finished, I see +no further need of hiding the fact that, while you knew me as Adams, my +name is--Boone." + +Mackay still stared at him, then laughed a little, as it were in +admiration, but silently. "I'm understanding a good deal now--and that +was why ye helped run yon thief down. Well, I'll take your parole, and +I'm thinking ye will have little trouble since the prosecutor's gone." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE LAST TOAST + + +Lane troubled us no further, and there came a time when those who had +suffered under him, and at last assisted in his overthrow, would laugh +boisterously at my narrative of his hasty exit from the prairie with the +troopers hard upon his heels. They appeared to consider the description +of how, with characteristic audacity, he bade us an ironical farewell +one cold morning from the doorway of a lonely ranch an appropriate +finale, and bantered the sergeant upon his tardiness. The latter would +answer them dryly that the Dominion was well quit of Lane. + +Some time, however, passed before this came about, and meanwhile winter +closed in on the prairie. It was, save for one uncertainty which greatly +troubled me, a tranquil winter--for I had, in addition to promising +schemes for the future, a balance in the bank--but not wholly +uneventful. Before the first snow had fallen, men with theodolites and +compasses invaded Crane Valley, and left inscribed posts behind them +when they passed. This was evidently a preliminary survey; but it showed +the railroad was coming at last, although, as the men could tell us +nothing, there remained the somewhat important question whether it would +follow that or an alternative route. + +Also, a month or two later, Thorn and Steel sought speech with me, the +former looking almost uncomfortable when his companion said: "I've been +talking with Haldane about taking up my old place, and don't see how to +raise the money, or feel very keen over it. We never did much good there +since my father went under. The fact is, we two pull well together, and +you have the longest head. Won't you run both places and make me a kind +of foreman with a partner's interest?" + +The suggestion suited me in many ways, but bearing in mind what might be +possible, I saw a difficulty. "I dare say we might make a workable +arrangement, and I couldn't find a better partner; but haven't you +Sally's interests to consider?" I said. + +Steel smiled in an oracular fashion. "That's Tom's business," he said, +with a gesture, which, though I think it was involuntary, suggested that +he felt relieved of a load. "Sally is a daisy, and I've done my best for +her; but though there's nobody got more good points, I don't mind +allowing she was a blame big handful now and then. Of course, we are all +friends here!" + +"We won't be if you start in apologizing for Sally," broke in the +stalwart Thorn; and as I glanced at his reddened face, a light dawned on +me. + +"That's all right!" said the smiling brother. "There's no use in wasting +words on him. He has had fair warning, and I'm not to blame." + +It struck me that the best thing I could do was to shake hands with the +wrathful foreman, and I did it very heartily. + +"He will think differently some day, and you will have a good wife, +Tom," I said. "We'll miss you both badly at Crane Valley, but must try +to give you a good start off when you take up your preëmpted land." + +It must be recorded that henceforward Sally was a model of virtue, so +much so that I marveled, while at times her brother appeared to find it +hard to conceal his astonishment. She was more subdued in manner and +gentle in speech, while I could now understand the soft light which +filled her eyes when they rested upon my foreman. The former spirit, +however, still lurked within her, for returning to the house one evening +when spring had come around again, I saw Cotton, who had once been a +favorite of hers, leap out of the door with a brush whirling through the +air close behind him. + +"What is the meaning of this, Cotton?" I asked sharply, and the +corporal, who looked slightly sheepish, glanced over his shoulder as +though expecting another missile. + +"The truth is that I don't quite know," he said. "Perhaps Miss Steel is +suffering from a bad toothache or something of the kind to-day." + +"That does not satisfy me," I said, as severely as I could, hoping he +would not discover it was mischief which prompted me. "I presume my +housekeeper did not eject you without some reason?" + +"Why don't you ask her, then?" said Cotton awkwardly. "Still, I suppose +an explanation is due to you if you insist on it. I went in to talk to +Sally while I waited for you, and said something--perfectly innocent, I +assure you, about---- Well--confound it--if I did say I'd been +heartbroken ever since I saw her last, was that any reason why she +should hurl a brush at me? She used to appreciate that kind of foolery." + +"Circumstances alter cases," I said dryly. "Don't you know that Sally +will leave here as Mrs. Thorn in a few weeks or so?" + +"On my word of honor, I didn't," and Cotton laughed boyishly. "Go in and +make my peace with her, if you can. I am positively frightened to. Say +I'm deeply contrite and--confoundedly hungry." + +Supper was just ready, but there were only four plates on the table, and +when I ventured to mention that Cotton waited repentant and famishing +without, Sally regarded me stonily. "He can just stay there and starve," +she said. + +Even Thorn, who, I think, knew Sally's weak points and how they were +counterbalanced by the warm-heartedness which would have covered much +worse sins, laughed; but the lady remained implacable, and, as a result +of it, Cotton hungry without, until--when the meal was almost +finished--Dixon, who was accompanied by Sergeant Mackay, astonished us +by alighting at the door. He brought startling news. + +The first carloads of rails and ties for the new road were ready for +dispatching, and it would pass close by my possessions; while, after we +had recovered from our excitement, he said: "I have been searching for +a Corporal Cotton, and heard he might be here. Do you know where he +is?" + +I looked at Sally, who answered for me frigidly: "You might find him +trying to keep warm in the stable." + +Dixon appeared astonished, and Mackay's eyes twinkled, while after some +consideration the autocrat at the head of the table said: "If it's +important business, Charlie may tell him that he may come in." + +Cotton seemed glad to obey the summons, and knowing that he had ridden a +long way since his last meal, I signaled Dixon to wait, when Sally, +relenting, set a double portion before him. It was, therefore, some time +later when the lawyer, glancing in his direction, said: "You are Charles +Singlehurst Cotton, born at Halton Edge in the county of Warwick, +England?" + +The effect was electrical. Cotton thrust back his plate and straightened +himself, staring fixedly at the speaker with wrath in his gaze. "I am +Corporal C. Cotton of the Northwest Police, and whether I was born in +England or Canada concerns only myself." + +Dixon smiled indulgently, and Mackay, looking towards me, nodded his +head with a complacent air of one who has witnessed the fulfilment of +his prophecy. + +"If I had any doubts before, after inspecting a photograph of you, I +have none at present," the former said. "Mr. Ormesby forgot to mention +that I am a lawyer by profession, and Messrs. James, Tillotson & James, +of London, whose name you doubtless know, requested me through a +correspondent to search for you. Having business with Mr. Haldane, I +came in person. Have you any objection to according me a private +interview?" + +Cotton looked at me interrogatively, and I nodded. "You can safely trust +even family secrets to Mr. Dixon. He is, or will be, one of the foremost +lawyers in the Dominion." + +Dixon made me a little semi-ironical bow, and when he and Cotton passed +out together into my own particular sanctum, a lean-to shed, Mackay +beamed upon me. "Man, did I not tell ye?" he said. + +It was some time before Cotton came back, looking grave and yet elated, +and turning towards us, said: "Mr. Dixon has brought me unexpected news, +both good and bad. It is necessary that I should accompany him to +Winnipeg. Sergeant, you have the power to grant me a week's leave of +absence?" + +Mackay pursed his lips up, and, with overdone gravity, shook his head. +"I'm fearing we cannot spare ye with the new mounts to train." + +Dixon chuckled softly. "I'm afraid Charles Singlehurst Cotton will break +no more police horses for you. He has a good many of another kind of his +own," he said. "He has also influential relatives who require his +presence in England shortly, and have arranged things so that your chief +authorities will probably release him before his term of service is +completed. The signature to this note should remove any scruples you may +have about granting him leave." + +Mackay drew himself up, and returned the letter with the air of one +acknowledging a commander's orders, then let his hand drop heavily on +Cotton's shoulder. His tone was slightly sardonic, but there was a very +kindly look in his eyes as he said: "Ye'll no' be above accepting the +congratulations of the hard old sergeant who licked ye into shape. It +was no' that easy, and maybe it galled ye some; but ye have learned a +few useful things while ye rode with the Northwest troopers ye never +would have done in England. We took ye, a raw liddie, some bit overproud +of himself, and now I'm thinking we'll miss ye when we send ye back the +makings of a man. Away ye go with Mr. Dixon so long as it's necessary." + +It struck me as a graceful thought, for Cotton stood straight, as on +parade, with the salute to a superior, as he said: "I'll report for duty +in seven days, sir," then laid his brown hand in Mackay's wrinkled palm. +"Every word's just as true as gospel, and I'll thank you in years to +come." + +He took my arm and drew me out upon the starlit prairie. "I can't sleep +to-night, and my horse is lame. You will lend me one," he said. Then +when I asked whether he was not going with Dixon to the station, he +laughed, and flung back his head. + +"I'm going to spend all night in the saddle. It will be best for me," he +said. "I'll tell you the whole story later, and, meantime, may say that +over the sea, yonder, somebody is dead. I know what usually sends such +men as I out here, but while I should like you to remember that I +neither broke any law of the old country nor injured any woman, I +wouldn't see which side my bread was buttered--and there are various +ways of playing the fool." + +"We have Mackay's assurance that the Colonial cure has proved a success, +and in all seriousness you have my best wishes for the future," I said. + +The corporal answered gravely: "If it had not I should never venture to +visit Bonaventure to-morrow, as I intend doing." + +"Visit Bonaventure?" I said, a little thickly. + +"Of course!" said Cotton, with both exultation and surprise in his tone. +"Can't you see the best this news may have made possible to me?" + +I was thankful that the kindly darkness hid my face, and turned towards +the stables without a word; while, after the corporal had mounted, I +found it very hard to answer him when he said simply, yet with a great +air of friendship: "Although you were irritating sometimes, Ormesby, you +were the first man I ever spoke frankly to in this country. Won't you +wish me luck?" + +"If she will have you, there is no good thing I would not wish for you +both," I said; but in spite of my efforts my voice rang hollow, and I +was thankful when Cotton, who did not seem to notice it, rode away. + +I did not return to the house until long after the drumming of hoofs, +growing fainter and fainter, had finally died away, and said little +then. I even flung the journals Dixon brought, which were full of the +new railroad, unread, away. My rival was young and handsome, generous, +and likable, even in his weaknesses. He was also, as it now appeared, of +good estate and birth, and granting all that I could on my own side, the +odds seemed heavily in favor of Cotton, while a certain knowledge of the +worst would almost have been preferable to the harrowing uncertainty as +to how the Mistress of Bonaventure would make the comparison. It lasted +for two whole weeks--weeks which I never forgot; for I could not visit +Bonaventure until I learned whether Cotton's errand had resulted +successfully, and he sent no word to lessen the anxiety. + +At last I rode in to the settlement, whither I knew Haldane had gone to +inspect the progress of the road, and met Boone and Mackay on the +prairie. "Has Cotton returned?" I asked. + +"He has," said Mackay dryly. "This is his last day's duty. He loitered +at the settlement, and ye will meet him presently. I'm not understanding +what is wrong with him, but he's uncertain in the temper, and I'm +thinking that sudden good fortune does not agree with him." + +I met Cotton, riding very slowly and looking straight ahead. He pulled +up when I greeted him, and seeing the question in my eyes, ruefully +shook his head. "I've had my answer, Ormesby--given with a gentleness +that made it worse," he said. + +He must have misunderstood my expression, and perhaps my face was a +study just then, for he added grimly: "It is perfectly true, and really +not surprising. Hopeless from the first--and, I think, there is someone +else, though heaven knows where in the whole Dominion she would find any +man fit to brush the dust from her little shoes, including myself. Well, +there is no use repining, and I'll have years in which to get over it; +but it's lucky I'm leaving this country, and--for one can't shirk a +painful duty--I'll say good-by to you with the others at Bonaventure +to-morrow." + +I was glad that he immediately rode on, for while I pitied him, my heart +leaped within me. Had it happened otherwise I should have tried to wish +him well, and now my satisfaction, which was, nevertheless, stronger +than all such considerations, appeared ungenerous. + +When I reached it the usually sleepy settlement presented a stirring +scene. Long strings of flat cars cumbered the trebled sidetrack, rows of +huts had risen as by magic, and two big locomotives moved ceaselessly to +and fro. Dozens of oxen and horse teams hauled the great iron scoops +which tore the sod up to form the roadbed, while the air vibrated with +the thud of shovels, the ringing of hammers, and the clang of falling +rails. The track lengthened yard by yard as I stood and watched. In +another week or two the swarming toilers would have moved their mushroom +town further on towards Crane Valley, and I was almost oppressed by a +sense of what all this tremendous activity promised me. It meant at +least prosperity instead of penury, the realizing of ambitions, perhaps +a road to actual affluence; also it might be far more than this. I +scarcely saw Haldane until he grasped my hand. + +"It is a great day, Ormesby," he said. "No man can tell exactly how far +this narrow steel road may carry all of you. Still, one might almost say +that you have deserved it--and it has come at last." + +"It will either be the brightest day in all my life--or the worst," I +said. "Will you listen to me for two minutes, sir?" + +Haldane did so, and then leaned against a flat car, with the wrinkles +deepening on his forehead, for what appeared to be an inordinately long +time. "I may tell you frankly that I had not anticipated this--and am +not sure I should not have tried to prevent it if I had," he said. "I +know nothing that does not testify in your favor as an individual, +Ormesby; but, as even you admit, there are objections from one point of +view. Still, this road and our new schemes may do much for you and---- +Well, I never refused my daughter anything, and if she approves of you, +and you will not separate us altogether, I won't say no." + +I had expected nothing better, and dreaded a great deal worse; and my +pulses throbbed furiously when, after some further speech, Haldane +strolled away with a half-wistful, half-regretful glance at his daughter +who approached us as we spoke. She was in high spirits, and greeted me +cordially. + +"You ought to be happy, and you look serious. This is surely the best +you could have hoped for," she said. + +It seemed best to end the uncertainty at once, and yet, remembering +Cotton's fate, I was afraid. Nevertheless, mustering courage, I looked +straight at the speaker, and slowly shook my head. Lucille was always +shrewd, and I think she understood, for her lips quivered a little, and +the smile died out of her eyes. + +"You are difficult to satisfy. Is it not enough?" she said. + +Her voice had in it no trace of either encouragement or disdain, and a +boldness I had scarcely hoped for came upon me as I answered: "In itself +it is worth nothing to me. What you said is true, for I have set my +hopes very high. There is only one prize in the Dominion that would +satisfy me, and that is--you." + +Lucille moved a little away from me, and I could not see her face, for +she looked back towards the train of cars which came clanking down the +track; but for once words were given me, and when I ceased, she looked +up again. Though the rich damask had deepened in her cheek, there was a +significant question in her eyes. + +"Are you sure you are not mistaken, Rancher Ormesby? Men do not always +know their own minds," she said. + +The underlying question demanded an answer, and I do not know how I +furnished it, for I had already found it bewildering when asked by +myself; but with deep humility I framed disjoined words, and gathered +hope once more when I read what might have been a faint trace of +mischief, and something more, in my companion's eyes. + +"It is not very convincing--but what could you say? And you are, after +all, not very wise," she said. "I wonder if I might tell you that I knew +part of this long ago; but the rest I did not know until the evening +the team bolted in the hollow. Still," and Lucille grew grave again, +"would it hurt you very much if I said I could not listen because I +feared you were only dreaming this time, too?" + +"It would drive me out of Canada a broken-hearted man," I said. "It was +you for whom I strove, always you--even when I did not know it--since +the first day I saw you. I would fling away all I own to-morrow, +and----" + +The words broke off suddenly, for Lucille looked up at me, shyly this +time, and from under half-lowered lashes. "I think," she said very +slowly, and with a pause, during which I did not breathe, "that would be +a pity, Harry Ormesby." + +It was sufficient. All that the world could give seemed comprised within +the brief sentence; and it was difficult to remember that we stood clear +in the eyes of the swarming toilers upon the level prairie. Neither do I +remember what either of us next said, for there was a glamour upon me; +but as we turned back towards Haldane, side by side, I hazarded a query, +and Lucille smiled. "You ask too many questions--are you not yet +content? Still, since you ask, I think I did not understand aright +either until a little while ago." + +Haldane appeared satisfied, though, perhaps, that is not the most +appropriate word, for he himself supplied a better one; and when we were +next alone, and I ventured thanks and protestations, laughed, in the +whimsical fashion he sometimes adopted, I think, to hide his inward +sentiments. + +"You need not look so contrite, for I suppose you could not help it; and +I am resigned," he said. "There. We will take all the rest for granted, +and you must wait another year." Then, although Haldane smiled again, he +laid his hand on my shoulder in a very kindly fashion as he added; +"Lucille might, like her sister, have shone in London and Paris; but it +seems she prefers the prairie--and, after all, I do not know that she +has not chosen well." + +The story of my failures, mistakes, and struggles ended then and there, +for henceforward, even when passing troubles rested upon us, I could +turn for counsel and comfort to a helpmate whose wisdom and sympathy +were equalled only by her courage. Nevertheless, two incidents linger in +my memory, and were connected with the last meeting of what had now +ceased to be a prairie tribunal at Bonaventure. It was an occasion of +festivity, but regret was mingled with it, for Boone and Cotton would +leave us that night, and there was not one of the bronzed men gathered +in the great hall at Bonaventure who would not miss them. Boone, it may +be mentioned, had, after entering into recognizances to appear if +wanted, been finally released from them by the police. At length Haldane +stood up at the head of the long table. + +"This has been a day to remember, and, I think, what we have decided +to-night will set its mark upon the future of the prairie," he said. +"Where all did well there were two who chiefly helped us to win what we +have done, and it is to our sorrow that one goes back to his own country +now that his work is well accomplished. We will not lightly forget him. +The other will, I hope, be spared to stay with you and share your +triumphs as he has done your adversity. I have to announce my daughter's +approaching marriage to your comrade, Henry Ormesby." + +It pleased me greatly that Cotton was the first upon his feet, and +Mackay the next, although it was but for a second, because, almost +simultaneously, a double row of weather-darkened men heaved themselves +upright. Cotton's face was flushed, and his eyes shone strangely under +the candlelight; but he looked straight at me as he solemnly raised the +glass in his hand. + +"The Mistress of Bonaventure: God bless her, and send every happiness to +both of them!" he said. + +The very rafters rang to the shout that followed, and it was the last +time that toast was honored, for when next my neighbors gathered round +me with goodwill and festivity, Lucille Haldane became mistress of the +new homestead which had replaced the sod-house at Crane Valley, instead +of Bonaventure. + +It was an hour later when she stood beside me, under the moonlight, +speeding the last of the guests. Boone halted before us, bareheaded, a +moment, with a curiously wistful look which was yet not envious, and his +hand on the bridle. "It was a good fight, but I shall never again have +such an ally as Miss Haldane," he said. + +He had barely mounted, when Cotton came up, and I felt my companion's +fingers tremble as, I think, from a very kindly impulse, she slipped +them from my arm. Cotton, however, was master of himself, and gravely +shook hands with both of us. "It was not an empty speech, Ormesby. I +meant every word of it. Heaven send you both all happiness," he said. + +He, too, vanished into the dimness with a dying beat of hoofs, and so +out of our life; and we two were left alone, hand in hand, with only the +future before us, on the moonlit prairie. + + +THE END + + + + +Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the +original text have been corrected. + +In Chapter II, "the brand of serviture" was changed to "the brand of +servitude". + +In Chapter III, "a composure which astonished be" was changed to "a +composure which astonished me", and "he was bent in discharging his +duty" was changed to "he was bent on discharging his duty". + +In Chapter VII, "Becaues he'd gone" was changed to "Because he'd gone", +and a mismatched quotation mark was corrected after "Still, you might +have been a little more civil, Sally." + +In Chapter VIII, "it occured to me that Lucille Haldane" was changed to +"it occurred to me that Lucille Haldane". + +In Chapter IX, "every available dollar for the approaching stuggle" was +changed to "every available dollar for the approaching struggle". + +In Chapter X, a mismatched quotation mark was corrected before +"'Twoinette's so--so blamed systematic". + +In Chapter XI, "while I draged at the halliards" was changed to "while I +dragged at the halliards", "life your hands at once" was changed to +"lift your hands at once", "several dark figures on the varanda" was +changed to "several dark figures on the veranda", and "the shock of her +kneel upon the bottom" was changed to "the shock of her keel upon the +bottom". + +In Chapter XII, "you have won lands down" was changed to "you have won +hands down". + +In Chapter XV, "a little worse than he rest" was changed to "a little +worse than the rest". + +In Chapter XVI, "the time for open resistance had come a last" was +changed to "the time for open resistance had come at last", a missing +period was added after "who watched our efforts with much approval", and +"the memory of former wongs" was changed to "the memory of former +wrongs". + +In Chapter XVII, "snatching here hand away" was changed to "snatching +her hand away". + +In Chapter XXII, "panting of mammonth engines" was changed to "panting +of mammoth engines". + +In Chapter XXIII, "feed and cloth me" was changed to "feed and clothe +me", a missing period was added after "her eyes were filled with light", +and "igoring Dixon's advice" was changed to "ignoring Dixon's advice". + +In Chapter XXIV, "I picketed the documents" was changed to "I pocketed +the documents", and "too a big morsel" was changed to "too big a +morsel". + +In Chapter XXVII, "was I was uneasily conscious" was changed to "was, I +was uneasily conscious". + +In Chapter XXVIII, "a promising crop of them an hand" was changed to "a +promising crop of them on hand", and "unobstrusively endeavored to sell" +was changed to "unobtrusively endeavored to sell". + +In Chapter XXIX, a period was changed to a question mark after "it is a +little disconcerting to be watched when at work", "the sped of a comet" +was changed to "the speed of a comet", and "shone mockingly in his ayes" +was changed to "shone mockingly in his eyes". + +Several words (such as bull-frog and candle-light) were hyphenated +inconsistently in the original text. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Mistress of Bonaventure, by Harold Bindloss + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MISTRESS OF BONAVENTURE *** + +***** This file should be named 38144-8.txt or 38144-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/1/4/38144/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/38144-8.zip b/38144-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..39c288a --- /dev/null +++ b/38144-8.zip diff --git a/38144-h.zip b/38144-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..78ef784 --- /dev/null +++ b/38144-h.zip diff --git a/38144-h/38144-h.htm b/38144-h/38144-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f68fdca --- /dev/null +++ b/38144-h/38144-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,12731 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Mistress of Bonaventure, by Harold Bindloss. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + p { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr.wide { width: 65%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both;} + hr.thin { width: 45%; margin-top: 1.25em; margin-bottom: 1.25em; + margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both;} + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .center {text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .lowercase {text-transform: lowercase;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + .bigtext {font-size: 120%;} + .smalltext {font-size: 80%;} + .caption {font-size: 90%; text-align: center; + margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%;} + + .chapnum {text-align: right;} + .chapname {text-align: left; font-variant: small-caps; + padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 3em;} + .chappage {text-align: right;} + .newchapter {margin-top: 4em; margin-bottom: 1.5em;} + .chapterone {margin-bottom: 1.5em;} + .theend {text-align: center; font-weight: bold; + margin-top: 3em;} + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The Mistress of Bonaventure, by Harold Bindloss + +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 Mistress of Bonaventure + +Author: Harold Bindloss + +Release Date: November 26, 2011 [EBook #38144] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MISTRESS OF BONAVENTURE *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 387px;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="387" height="600" alt="cover of The Mistress of Bonaventure" title="" /> +</div> + +<h1>THE MISTRESS OF<br /> +BONAVENTURE</h1> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<p class="center">BY<br /> +<span class="bigtext">HAROLD BINDLOSS</span></p> + +<p class="center"><i>Author of "Alton of Somasco," "The Dust of Conflict," +"The Cattle-Baron's Daughter," etc.</i></p> + +<p class="center"><i>ONLY AUTHORIZED EDITION</i></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 189px;"> +<img src="images/logo.png" width="189" height="200" alt="bull's head logo" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class="center"><span class="smalltext">NEW YORK</span><br /> +FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY<br /> +<span class="smalltext">PUBLISHERS</span></p> + +<hr class="wide" /> + +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + +<table class="figcenter" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" summary="Table of Contents"> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum smalltext">CHAPTER</td> +<td class="chapname smalltext"> </td> +<td class="chappage smalltext">PAGE</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">I.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Sweetwater Ford</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">1</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">II.</td> +<td class="chapname">Bonaventure Ranch</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">10</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">III.</td> +<td class="chapname">A Midnight Visitor</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">22</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">IV.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Tightening of the Net</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">34</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">V.</td> +<td class="chapname">A Surprise Party</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">45</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">VI.</td> +<td class="chapname">A Holocaust</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">58</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">VII.</td> +<td class="chapname">A Bitter Awakening</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">68</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">VIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">How Redmond Came Home</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">78</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">IX.</td> +<td class="chapname">A Prairie Study</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">92</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">X.</td> +<td class="chapname">A Temptation</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">104</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XI.</td> +<td class="chapname">In Peril of the Waters</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">113</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XII.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Selling Of Gaspard's Trail</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">124</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">An Unfortunate Promise</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">137</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XIV.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Burning of Gaspard's Trail</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">147</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XV.</td> +<td class="chapname">Beauty in Disguise</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">159</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XVI.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Defense of Crane Valley</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">170</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XVII.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Raising of the Siege</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">183</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XVIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Vigil-Keeper</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">194</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XIX.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Work of an Enemy</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">205</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XX.</td> +<td class="chapname">Leaden-Footed Justice</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">216</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXI.</td> +<td class="chapname">Against Time</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">226</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXII.</td> +<td class="chapname">Bad Tidings</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">238</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">Liberty</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">248</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXIV.</td> +<td class="chapname">A Secret Tribunal</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">261</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXV.</td> +<td class="chapname">A Change of Tactics</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">272</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXVI.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Turning of the Tide</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">282</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXVII.</td> +<td class="chapname">Illumination</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">293</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXVIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Enemy Capitulates</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">305</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXIX.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Exit of Lane</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">315</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXX.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Last Toast</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">326</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr class="wide" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="The_Mistress_of_Bonaventure" id="The_Mistress_of_Bonaventure"></a>The Mistress of Bonaventure</h2> + +<h2 class="chapterone"><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE SWEETWATER FORD</span></h2> + + +<p>After relaxing its iron grip a little so that we hoped for spring, +winter had once more closed down on the broad Canadian prairie, and the +lonely outpost was swept by icy draughts, when, one bitter night, +Sergeant Mackay, laying down his pipe, thrust fresh billets into the +crackling stove. It already glowed with a dull redness, and the light +that beat out through its opened front glinted upon the carbines, belts, +and stirrups hung about the rough log walls.</p> + +<p>"'Tis for the rebuking of evildoers an' the keeping of the peace we're +sent here to patrol the wilderness, an' if we're frozen stiff in the +saddle 'tis no more than our duty," said the sergeant, while his eyes +twinkled whimsically. "But a man with lands an' cattle shows a +distressful want o' judgment by sleeping in a snow bank when he might be +sitting snug in a club at Montreal. 'Tis a matter o' wonder to me that +ye are whiles so deficient in common sense, Rancher Ormesby. Still, I'm +no' denying ye showed a little when ye brought that whisky. 'Tis +allowable to interpret the regulations with discretion in bitter +weather—an' here's a safe ride to ye!"</p> + +<p>A brighter beam that shot out called up the speaker's rugged face and +gaunt figure from the shadows. Although his lean, hard fingers closed +somewhat affectionately on a flask instead of on the bridle or carbine +they were used to, his profession was stamped on him, for Allan Mackay +was as fine a sample of non-commissioned <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>cavalry officer as ever +patrolled the desolate marches of Western Canada—which implies a good +deal to those who know the Northwest troopers. He was also, as I knew, a +man acquainted with sorrow, who united the shrewdness of Solomon with a +childish simplicity and hid beneath his grim exterior a vein of +eccentric chivalry which on occasion led him into trouble. The blaze +further touched the face of a young English lad sitting in a corner of +the room.</p> + +<p>"Some of us were sent here for our sins, and some came for our health +when the temperature of our birthplaces grew a trifle high," he said. "I +don't know that anybody except Rancher Ormesby ever rode with us for +pleasure. Yet I'm open to admit the life has its compensations; and +Sergeant Mackay has given me many as good a run as I ever had with—that +is, I mean any man who must earn his bread might well find work he would +take less kindly to."</p> + +<p>The lad's momentary embarrassment was not lost on his officer, who +chuckled somewhat dryly as he glanced at him. "I'm asking no questions, +an' ye are not called on to testify against yourself," he said. "Maybe +ye rode fox-hunting on a hundred-guinea horse, an' maybe ye did not; but +ye showed a bit knowledge o' a beast, an' that was enough for me. +Meantime ye're Trooper Cotton, an' I'll see ye do your duty. To some, +the old country—God bless her—is a hard stepmother, an' ye're no' the +first she has turned the cold shoulder on and sent out to me."</p> + +<p>The worthy sergeant was apt to grow tiresome when he launched out into +his reminiscences, and, seeing that Trooper Cotton did not appreciate +the turn the conversation was taking, I broke in: "But you're forgetting +the outlaw, Mackay; and I'm not here for either health or pleasure. I +want to recover the mare I gave five hundred dollars for, and that ought +to excuse my company. What has the fellow who borrowed her done?"</p> + +<p>"Fired on a mortgage money-lender down in Assiniboia," was the answer. +"Maybe he was badly treated, for ye'll mind that the man who takes blood +money, as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>yon Lane has done, is first cousin to Judas Iscariot; but +that's no' my business. It is not allowable to shoot one's creditors in +the Canadian Dominion. What I'm wondering is where he is now; an' that +will be either striking north for the barrens or west for British +Columbia. It will be boot and saddle when Pete comes in, and meantime +we'll consider what routes would best fit him!"</p> + +<p>Mackay knew every bluff and ravine seaming a hundred miles of prairie; +and another silent man, rising from his bunk, stood beside myself and +Cotton as the sergeant traced lines across the table. Each represented +an alternative route the fugitive might take, and the places where the +hard forefinger paused marked a risky ford or lake on which the ice was +yielding. Mackay spent some time over it, as much for his own +edification as for ours, but I was interested, for I greatly desired to +recover the blood mare stolen from me.</p> + +<p>I was then five-and-twenty, fairly stalwart and tall of stature, and +seldom regretted that after a good education in England I had gone out +to Western Canada to assist a relative in raising cattle. The old man +was slow and cautious, but he taught me my business well before he died +suddenly and left me his possessions. Adding my small patrimony, I made +larger profits by taking heavier risks, and, for fortune had favored me, +and youth is no handicap in the Colonies, my homestead was one of the +finest in that section of the country. Save for occasional risks of +frost-bite and wild rides through blinding snow, the life had been +toilsome rather than eventful; but the day which, while we talked in the +outpost, was speeding westward across the pines of Quebec and the lakes +of Ontario to gild the Rockies' peaks was to mark a turning-point in my +history.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a beat of hoofs rose out of the night, there was a jingle +outside, and the cold set me shivering, when a man, who held a smoking +horse's bridle, stood by the open door. "Your man tried to buy a horse +from the reservation Crees, and, when they wouldn't trade, doubled on +his tracks, heading west for the Bitter Lakes. I've nearly killed my +beast to bring you word," he said.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>Horses stood ready in the sod stable behind the dwelling, and in less +than three minutes we were in the saddle and flitting in single file +across the prairie. It was about five o'clock in the morning, and, +though winter should have been over, it was very bitter. The steam from +the horses hung about us, our breath froze on our furs, but a Chinook +wind had swept the prairie clear of snow, and, though in the barer +places the ground rang like iron beneath us, the carpet of matted +grasses made moderately fast traveling possible. No word was spoken, +and, when the silent figures about me faded as they spread out to left +and right and only a faint jingle of steel or dull thud of hoofs +betokened their presence, I seemed to have ridden out of all touch with +warmth and life.</p> + +<p>The frost bit keen, the heavens were black with the presage of coming +storm, and the utter silence seemed the hush of death. Beast and bird +had long fled south, and I started when once the ghostly howl of a +coyote rose eerily and faintly from the rim of the prairie.</p> + +<p>By daylight we had left long leagues behind us, and I was the better +pleased that the fugitive's trail, of which we found signs, led back +towards my own homestead. For a brief five minutes the Rockies, seen +very far off across the levels, flushed crimson against the sky. Then +the line of spectral peaks faded suddenly, and we were left, four tiny +crawling specks, in the center of a limitless gray circle whose +circumference receded steadily as the hours went by. But the trail grew +plainer to the sergeant's practiced eyes, and, when we had crossed the +Bitter Lakes on rotten and but partially refrozen ice, he predicted that +we should come up with the fugitive by nightfall if our horses held out. +Mine was the best in the party, and, though not equal to the stolen +mare, the latter had already traveled fast and far. It was a depressing +journey. No ray of sunlight touched the widespread levels, and there was +neither smoke trail nor sign of human life in all that great desolation. +Hands and feet lost sense of feeling, the cold numbed one's very brain; +but the wardens of the prairie, used alike to sleep in a snow trench or +swim an icy ford, care little for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>adverse weather, and Mackay held on +with a slow tenacity that boded ill for the man he was pursuing.</p> + +<p>The light showed signs of failing when Trooper Cotton shouted, and we +caught sight of our quarry, a shadowy blur on the crest of a low rise +that seamed the prairie. "Ye may save your breath, for ye'll need it," +said Mackay. "It's a league from yon rise to the Sweetwater, an' there's +neither ice-bridge nor safe ford now. If he's across before we are we'll +no' grip him the night, I'm thinking—and there's ill weather brewing."</p> + +<p>Whip and heel were plied, and the worn-out beasts responded as best they +might. The man who had taught me stock and horse breeding knew his +business, and when my beast raced across the edge of the rise the +troopers were at least two hundred yards behind. Then the exultation of +the chase took hold of me, and my frozen blood commenced to stir as the +staunch beast beneath me swept faster and faster down the long gray +incline. At every stride I was coming up with the horse thief. A dusky +ridge of birches loomed ahead, shutting off the steep dip to the river. +Beyond this, there were thicker trees; and the light was failing; but +while all this promised safety for the pursued, I was gaining fast and +the troopers were dropping further behind. The fugitive had just reached +the timber when a light wagon lurched out from it, and I yelled to the +man who drove it to hold clear of my path. There was a hoarse shout away +to the left, and, when no answer came back, the crack of a carbine. A +repeating rifle banged against my back, and, feeling that its sling lay +within easy reach, I drove my heels home as I raced past the wagon.</p> + +<p>There was scarcely time for a side glance, but the one I risked set my +heart beating. Two feminine figures wrapped in furs sat within it, and +one smiled at me as I passed. The face that looked out from beneath the +fur cap was worth remembering, though it was several years since I had +last seen it in England. Haldane had brought his daughters with him when +he came out from Montreal to visit his Western possessions, it seemed; +but my horse was over the brink of the declivity before I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>could return +the greeting, and, bending low to clear the branches, I drove him +reeling and blundering down and down through willow undergrowth and +scattered birches on the track of the fugitive. I was but a plain +rancher, and it seemed presumptuous folly to neglect my lawful business +for a smile from Beatrice Haldane.</p> + +<p>It was growing dark among the birches, and flakes of feathery snow +sliding down between the branches filled my eyes, but I could see that +the distance between us was shortening more rapidly and that the man in +front of me reeled in his saddle when a branch smote him. The mare also +stumbled, and I gained several lengths. The drumming of hoofs and the +moan of an icy wind which had sprung up seemed to fill all the hollow. +White mist that slid athwart the birches hung over the Sweetwater in the +rift beneath, and—for the river had lately burst its chains of ice—I +felt sure that the man I followed would never make the crossing. Yet it +appeared certain that he meant to attempt it, for he rode straight at +the screen of willows that fringed the water's edge, vanished among +them, and I heard a crackling as his weary beast smashed through the +shoreward fringe of honeycombed ice. Then I saw nothing, for rattling +branches closed about me as the horse feebly launched himself at the +leap, while a denser whiteness thickened the mist. So far fortune had +favored me throughout the reckless ride; but it is not wise to tempt +fate too hardly, and the beast pitched forward when his hoofs descended +upon bare frozen ground.</p> + +<p>Had I worn boots my neck might have paid the penalty, but the soft +moccasins slipped free of the stirrups in time, and when I came down the +horse rolled over several yards clear of me. He was up next moment, but +moved stiffly, and stood still, trembling, when I grasped the bridle. +The saddle had slipped sideways, as though a girth buckle had yielded, +and I felt faint and dizzy, for the fall had shaken me. Nevertheless, I +unslung the rifle mechanically, when a hail reached me, and, turning, I +saw the man we had followed sitting still in his saddle, some twoscore +yards away, with the steam frothing white to his horse's knees. The +daylight had almost gone, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>snow was commencing in earnest, but I +could make out that he was bareheaded and his face smeared with crimson, +perhaps from a wound the branch had made. It looked drawn and ghastly as +he sat stiffly erect against a background of hurrying water and falling +snow, with one hand on his hip and the other raised as though to command +attention.</p> + +<p>"You are Rancher Ormesby, whose horse I borrowed, I presume?" he said. +"Well, if you are wise you will give up the chase before worse befalls +you. I am armed, and I give you fair warning that I do not mean to be +taken. Go home to your stove and comforts. You have no quarrel with me."</p> + +<p>The clean English accent surprised me, and the rifle lay still in the +hollow of my left arm as I answered him: "Do you forget you are sitting +on the best mare I possess? The loss of several hundred dollars is more +than I can put up with; and your warning sounds rather empty when I +could hardly fail to pick you off with this rifle."</p> + +<p>I listened for the troopers' coming, but could hear only the fret of the +river and the moaning of the blast, for the wind was rising rapidly. It +was evident that the beast whose bridle I held was in no fit state to +attempt the crossing, and yet, though the stranger's cool assurance was +exasperating, I began to be conscious of a certain admiration and pity +for him. The man was fearless. He had been hunted like a wolf; and now, +left, worn out, wounded, and doubtless faint from want of food, to face +the wild night in the open, he had, it seemed, risked his last chance of +escape to warn me when he might have taken me at a disadvantage.</p> + +<p>He laughed recklessly. "Still, I hardly think you will. The mare is +done, and I pledge my word I'll turn her loose as soon as I'm clear of +the troopers. I have no grudge against you, but if you are wise you will +take no further chances with a desperate man. Go home, and be thankful +you have a place to shelter you."</p> + +<p>There would have been no great difficulty in bringing the man down at +that range, even in a bad light, and it is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>probable that nobody would +have blamed me; but, though I should willingly have ridden him down in +fair chase, I could not fire on him as he sat there at my mercy, for if +he was armed it must have been with a pistol—a very poor weapon against +a rifle. I might also have shot the horse; but one hesitates to +sacrifice a costly beast, even in the service of the State, and, strange +to say, I felt inclined to trust his promise. Accordingly, I did +neither; and when a great ice cake came driving down, and, raising his +hand again as though in recognition of my forbearance, he wheeled the +mare and vanished into a thicker rush of snow, I stood motionless and +let him go. Then, feeling more shaken and dizzy than before, I seized +the bridle and led the horse into the whirling whiteness that drove down +the slope. Darkness came suddenly. I could scarcely see the trees, and +it was by accident I stumbled upon the troopers dismounted and picking +their way.</p> + +<p>"Have ye seen him?" asked an object which looked like a polar bear and +proved to be the sergeant.</p> + +<p>"Yes," I answered shortly, deciding that it would not be well to fully +explain how I had let our quarry slip through my fingers. "If he has not +drowned himself in the river he has got away. I was close upon him when +my horse fell and threw me badly. Are you going to try the crossing, +too?"</p> + +<p>There are few bolder riders than the Northwest troopers, but Mackay +shook his head. "I'm thinking it would be a useless waste of Government +property an' maybe of a trooper's life," he said. "No man could find him +in this snow, and if he lives through the night, which is doubtful, +we'll find his trail plain in the morning. We'll just seek shelter with +Haldane at Bonaventure."</p> + +<p>I do not know how we managed to find the Bonaventure ranch. The wind had +suddenly freshened almost to a gale, and, once clear of the river +hollow, we met the full force of it. The snow that whirled across the +desolate waste filled our eyes and nostrils, rendering breathing +difficult and sight almost impossible; but it may be that the instinct +of the horses helped us, for, making no effort at guidance, I trudged +on, clinging to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>the bridle of my limping beast, while half-seen +spectral objects floundered through the white haze on each side. +Nevertheless, the pain which followed the impact of the flakes on one +side of my half-frozen face showed that we were at least progressing in +a constant direction, and at last Trooper Cotton raised a hoarse halloo +as a faint ray of light pierced the obscurity. Then shadowy buildings +loomed ahead, and, blundering up against a wire fence, we staggered, +whitened all over, to the door of Bonaventure.</p> + +<p>It was flung wide open at our knock, banged to again, and while a +trooper went off with the horses to the stable the rest of us, partly +stupefied by the change of temperature, stood in the lamp-lit hall +shaking the white flakes from us. A man of middle age, attired in a +fashion more common in the cities than in the West, stretched out his +hand to me.</p> + +<p>"I am glad to see you, Ormesby; and, of course, you and your companions +will spend the night here," he said cordially. "My girls told me they +had met you, and we were partly expecting your company. Apparently the +malefactor got away, Sergeant Mackay?"</p> + +<p>"We did not bring him with us, but he'll not win far this weather," was +the somewhat rueful answer. The master of Bonaventure smiled a little.</p> + +<p>"He deserves to escape if he can live through such a night; and I'm +inclined to be sorry for the poor devil," he said. "However, you have +barely time to get into dry things before supper will be ready. We +expect you all to join us, prairie fashion."</p> + +<p>The welcome was characteristic of Carson Haldane, who could win the +goodwill of most men, either on the prairie or in the exclusive circles +of Ottawa and Montreal. It was also characteristic that he called the +evening meal, as we did, supper; though when he was present a state of +luxury, wholly unusual on the prairie, reigned at Bonaventure.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<br /> +<span class="smalltext">BONAVENTURE RANCH</span></h2> + + +<p>"We are waiting for you," said Haldane, smiling, as he stood in the +doorway of the room where, with some misgivings, and by the aid of +borrowed sundries, we had made the best toilets we could. "You are not a +stranger, Ormesby, and must help to see your comrades made comfortable. +Sergeant, my younger daughter is enthusiastic about the prairie, and you +will have a busy time if you answer all her questions, though I fear she +will be disappointed to discover that nobody has ever scalped you."</p> + +<p>Mackay drew himself up stiffly, as if for his inspection parade, and a +white streak on his forehead showed the graze a bullet had made. Young +Cotton smiled wryly as he glanced at his uniform, for it was probably +under very different auspices he had last appeared in the society of +ladies; and I was uneasily conscious of the fact that the black leather +tunic which a German teamster had given me was much more comfortable +than becoming. I might have felt even more dissatisfied had I known that +my fall had badly split the tunic up the back. That, however, did not +account for the curious mingling of hesitation and expectancy with which +I followed our host.</p> + +<p>During a brief visit to England some years ago I had met Miss Haldane at +the house of a relative, and the memory had haunted me during long +winter evenings spent in dreamy meditation beside the twinkling stove +and in many a lonely camp when the stars shone down on the waste of +whitened grass through the blue transparency of the summer night. The +interval had been a time of strenuous effort with me, but through all +the stress and struggle, in stinging snowdrift and blinding <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>dust of +alkali, I had never lost the remembrance of the maiden who whiled away +the sunny afternoons with me under the English elms. Indeed, the +recollection of the serene, delicately cut face and the wealth of dusky +hair grew sharper as the months went by, until it became an abstract +type of all that was desirable in womanhood, rather than a prosaic +reality. Now I was to meet its owner once more in the concrete flesh. It +may have been merely a young man's fancy, born of a life bare of +romance, but I think that idealization was good for me.</p> + +<p>Haldane held a door open, saying something that I did not catch; but +young Cotton, whose bronzed color deepened for a moment, made a courtly +bow, and the big grizzled sergeant smiled at me across the table as he +took his place beside a laughing girl, while I presently found myself +drawing a chair back for Beatrice Haldane, who showed genuine pleasure +as she greeted me. Her beauty had increased during the long interval. +The clustering dark hair and the dark eyes were those I remembered well, +and if her face was a trifle colorless and cold I did not notice it. She +had grown a little more full in outline and more stately in bearing, but +the quiet graciousness which had so impressed me still remained.</p> + +<p>"It is a long time since we met, and you have changed since then," she +said pleasantly. "When you raced past our wagon I hardly recognized you. +That, however, was perhaps only to be expected; but one might wonder +whether you have changed otherwise, too. I recollect you were +refreshingly sanguine when I last saw you."</p> + +<p>This was gratifying. That I should have treasured the remembrance of +Beatrice Haldane was only natural; but it was very pleasant to hear from +her own lips that she had not forgotten me. Her intention was doubtless +kindly, and it was inherited courtesy, for Haldane did most things +graciously.</p> + +<p>"The light was dim, and this life sets its stamp on most of us," I said. +"May one compliment you on your powers of memory? Needless to say, I +recognized you the moment I saw you."</p> + +<p>Miss Haldane smiled a little. "A good memory is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>useful; but do you wish +me to return the compliment?"</p> + +<p>"No," and I looked at her steadily. "But there is a difference. In your +world men and events follow each other in kaleidoscopic succession, and +each change of the combinations must dim the memory of the rest. With us +it is different. You will see how we live—but, no; I hardly think you +will—for Bonaventure is not a typical homestead, and the control of it +can be only a pastime with your father."</p> + +<p>"And yet it is said that whatever Carson Haldane touches yields him +dividends; but proceed," interposed Miss Haldane.</p> + +<p>"With us each day is spent in hurried labor; and it is probably well +that it is, for otherwise the loneliness and monotony might overpower +any man with leisure to brood and think. Heat, frost, and fatigue are +our lot; and an interlude resembling the one in which I met you means, +as a glimpse of a wholly different life, so much to us. We dream of it +long afterwards, and wonder if ever the enchanted gates will open to us +again. Now, please don't smile. This is really not exaggeration!"</p> + +<p>"Which gates? You are not precise," said my companion, and laughed +pleasantly when, smiling, too, I answered, "One might almost say—of +Paradise!"</p> + +<p>"It must be the Moslem's paradise, then," she said. "Still, I hardly +fancy a stalwart prairie rancher would pose well as the Peri, and, by +way of consolation, you can remember that there are disappointments +within those gates, and those who have acquired knowledge beyond them +sometimes envy the illusions of those without. No, you have not changed +much in some respects, Mr. Ormesby. You must talk to my sister +Lucille—she will agree with you."</p> + +<p>Her manner was very gracious, in spite of the badinage; but there was a +faint trace of weariness and sardonic humor in her merriment which +chilled me. The dark-haired girl I remembered had displayed a power of +sympathy and quick enthusiasm which had apparently vanished from my +present companion.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>"I am curious to hear if you have verified the optimistic views you once +professed," she added languidly.</p> + +<p>I laughed a little dryly. Being younger then, and led on by a very +winsome maiden's interest, I had talked with perhaps a little less than +becoming modesty of the possibilities open to a resolute man in the new +lands of the West, and laid it down as an axiom that determination was a +sure password to success.</p> + +<p>"You should be merciful. That was in my callow days," I said. +"Nevertheless, with a few more reservations, I believe it is possible +for those who can hope and hold on to realize their ambition in this +country, whether it be the evolution of a prosperous homestead from a +strip of Government land and a sod hovel—or more desirable things. The +belief is excusable, because one may see the proof of it almost every +day. I even fancied, when in England, that you agreed with me."</p> + +<p>There was a faint mischievous sparkle in Miss Haldane's eyes, but she +answered with becoming gravity: "Wisdom, as you seem to intimate, comes +with age, and it is allowable to change one's opinions. Now it seems to +me that all things happen, more often against our will than as the +result of it, when the invisible powers behind us decree. For instance, +who could have anticipated yesterday that we two should meet to-night at +table, or who could say whether this assembly, brought about by a +blizzard, may not be the first scene of either a tragedy or a comedy?"</p> + +<p>I was more at home when Haldane turned the conversation upon practical +matters, such as wheat and cattle, than when discussing abstract +possibilities; but I afterwards remembered that my fair companion's +speech was prophetic, and, as I glanced about, it struck me that there +were dramatic possibilities in the situation. We were a strangely +assorted company, and to one who had spent eight years in the wilderness +the surroundings were striking. Tall wax candles in silver standards, +flickering a little when the impact of the snow-laden gale shook the +lonely dwelling, lighted the table. The rest of the long room was +wrapped in shadow, save when the blaze from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>the great open hearth flung +forth its uncertain radiance. The light flashed upon cut glass and +polished silver, and forced up against the dusky background the faces of +those who sat together.</p> + +<p>Carson Haldane, owner of Bonaventure, which he occasionally visited, sat +at the head of the table, a clean-shaven, dark-haired man of little more +than middle age, whose slightly ascetic appearance concealed a very +genial disposition. He was a man of mark, a daring speculator in mills +and lands and mines, and supposed to be singularly successful. Why he +bought Bonaventure ranch, or what he meant to do with it, nobody seemed +to know; but he acted in accordance with the customs of the place in +which he found himself, and because the distinctions of caste and wealth +are not greatly recognized on the prairie there was nothing incongruous +in his present company. Sergeant Mackay—lean, bronzed, and saturnine +when the humor seized him—now bent his grizzled head with keen gray +eyes that twinkled as he chatted to the fresh-faced girl in the simple +dress beside him. I knew this was Lucille Haldane, but had hardly +glanced at her. Cotton had evidently forgotten that he was a police +trooper, and, when he could, broke in with some boyish jest or English +story told in a different idiom from that which he generally adopted. He +seemed unconscious that he was recklessly betraying himself.</p> + +<p>"You must not turn my daughter's head with your reminiscences, Sergeant. +She is inclined to be over-romantic already," Haldane said, with a +kindly glance at the girl. "Possibly, however, one may excuse her +to-night, for you gentlemen live the stories she delights in. By the +way, I do not quite understand how you allowed the evildoer to escape, +Ormesby."</p> + +<p>Being forced to an explanation, I described the scene by the river as +best I could, looking at the sergeant a trifle defiantly until, at the +conclusion, he said: "I cannot compliment ye, Rancher Ormesby."</p> + +<p>I was about to retort, when a clear young voice, with a trace of +mischief in its tone, asked: "What would you <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>have done had you been +there, and why were you so far behind, Sergeant?"</p> + +<p>"We do not ride pedigree horses," said Mackay, a trifle grimly. "I +should have shot his beast, an' so made sure of him in the first place."</p> + +<p>Then there was a sudden silence, when the girl, who turned upon him with +a gesture of indignation, said: "It would have been cruel, and I am glad +he got away. I saw his face when he passed us, and it was so drawn and +haggard that I can hardly forget it; but it was not that of a bad man. +What crime had he committed that he should be hunted so pitilessly?"</p> + +<p>Young Cotton colored almost guiltily under his tan as the girl's +indignant gaze fell upon him, and for the first time I glanced at her +with interest. She was by no means to be compared with her sister, but +she had a brave young face, slightly flushed with carmine and relieved +by bright eyes that now shone with pity. In contrast to Beatrice's dark +tresses the light of the candles called up bronze-gold gleams in her +hair, and her eyes were hazel, while the voice had a vibration in it +that seemed to awaken an answering thrill. Lucille Haldane reminded me +of what her sister had been, but there was a difference. Slighter in +physique, she was characterized by a suggestion of nervous energy +instead of Beatrice's queenly serenity. The latter moved her shoulders +almost imperceptibly, but I fancied the movement expressed subdued +impatience, and her face a slightly contemptuous apology, while her +father laughed a little.</p> + +<p>"You must be careful, Sergeant. My younger daughter is mistress of +Bonaventure, and rules us all somewhat autocratically; but, as far as I +can gather, your perceptions were tolerably correct in this instance, +Lucille," he said. "The man fell into the grip of the usurer, who, as +usual, drained his blood; but, while what he did may have been ethical +justice, he broke the laws of this country, and perhaps hardly deserves +your sympathy."</p> + +<p>"No?" said Lucille Haldane, and her eyes glistened. "I wish you had not +told us what took place at the river, Mr. Ormesby. Here we sit, warm and +sheltered, while <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>that man, who has, perhaps, suffered so much already, +wanders, hungry, faint, and bleeding, through this awful cold and snow. +Just listen a moment!"</p> + +<p>In the brief silence that followed I could hear the windows rattle under +the impact of the driving snow and the eerie scream of the blast. I +shivered a little, having more than once barely escaped with my life +when caught far from shelter under such conditions, and it was borne in +upon me that the outlaw might well be summoned before a higher tribunal +than an earthly court by morning.</p> + +<p>It was Beatrice Haldane, who, with, I noticed, a warning glance at her +sister, turned the conversation into a more cheerful channel, and I was +well content when some time later she took her place near me beside the +hearth, while Lucille opened the piano at her father's request. Possibly +neither her voice nor her execution might have pleased a critic; but as +a break in our monotonous daily drudgery the music enchanted us, and the +grizzled sergeant straightened himself very erect, while a steely glint +came into his eyes as, perhaps to atone for her speech at dinner, the +girl sang, with fire and pathos, a Jacobite ballad of his own country. +Its effect may have been enhanced by the novelty; but there was a power +in Lucille Haldane which is held only by the innocent in spirit whose +generous enthusiasms are still unblunted, and it seemed to me that the +words and chords rang alternately with a deathless devotion and the +clank of the clansmen's steel.</p> + +<p>"I cannot thank ye. It was just grand," said Mackay, shaken into unusual +eloquence, when the girl turned and half-shyly asked if he liked the +song, though, as the soft candle light touched it, her face was slightly +flushed. "Ye made one see them—the poor lads with the claymores, who +came out of the mist with a faith that was not bought with silver to die +for their king. Loyal? Oh, ay! starving, ill-led, unpaid, they were +loyal to the death! There's a pattern for ye, Trooper Cotton, who, if +ye'll mind what he tells ye, will hold Her Majesty's commission some day +when Sergeant Mackay's gone. Ye'll <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>excuse me, Miss Haldane, but the +music made me speak."</p> + +<p>I noticed that Trooper Cotton seemed to flinch a moment at the mention +of a commission, as though it recalled unpleasant memories, and that the +worthy sergeant appeared slightly ashamed of his outbreak, while +Beatrice Haldane showed a quiet amusement at his Caledonian weakness for +improving the occasion. Lucille, however, smiled at him again. "I think +that is the prettiest compliment I have ever had paid my poor singing," +she said naïvely. "But I have done my duty. I wonder if you would sing +if we asked you, Mr. Cotton?"</p> + +<p>"Lucille is at an impressionable age," Beatrice Haldane said to me. +"Later she may find much that she now delights in obsolete and +old-fashioned. We have grown very materialistic in these modern days."</p> + +<p>"God forbid!" I answered. "And I think the sergeant could tell you true +stories of modern loyalty."</p> + +<p>"For instance?" and I answered doggedly. "You can find instances for +yourself if you try to see beneath the surface. There are some very +plain men on this prairie who could furnish them, I think. Did you ever +hear of Rancher Dane, who stripped himself of all his possessions to +advance the career of a now popular singer? She married another man when +fame came to her, and it is said he knew she would never be more than a +friend to him from the beginning."</p> + +<p>"I have," and the speaker's eyes rested on me with a faint and yet +kindly twinkle in them. "He was a very foolish person, although it is +refreshing to hear of such men. Even if disappointment follow +consummation, aspiration is good for one. It is more blessed to give +than to receive, you know."</p> + +<p>Here, to the astonishment of his superior officer, Cotton, who played +his own accompaniment, broke into song, and he not only sang passably +well, but made a special effort to do his best, I think; while I +remember reflecting, as I glanced at the lad in uniform and the rich +man's daughter, who sat close by, watching him, how strange all this +would have seemed to anyone unused to the cus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>toms of the prairie. Ours, +however, is a new land, wide enough to take in not only the upright and +the strong of hand, but the broken in spirit and the outcast whom the +older country thrusts outside her gates; and, much more often than one +might expect, convert them into sturdy citizens. The past history of any +man is no concern of ours. He begins afresh on his merits, and by right +of bold enterprise or industry meets as an equal whatever substitute for +the older world's dignitaries may be found among us. How it is one +cannot tell, but the brand of servitude, with the coarseness or cringing +it engenders, fades from sight on the broad prairie.</p> + +<p>Beatrice Haldane presently bade me go talk to her sister, and though I +did so somewhat reluctantly, the girl interested me. I do not remember +all we said, and probably it would not justify the effort to recall it; +but she was pleasantly vivacious of speech, and genuinely interested in +the answers to her numerous questions. At length, however, she asked, +with a half-nervous laugh: "Did you ever feel, Mr. Ormesby, that +somebody you could not see was watching you?"</p> + +<p>"No," I answered lightly. "In my case it would not be worth while for +anybody to do so, you see." And Lucille Haldane first blushed prettily +and then shivered, for no apparent reason.</p> + +<p>"It must be a fancy, but I—felt—that somebody was crouching outside +there in the snow. Perhaps it is because the thought of that hunted man +troubles me still," said she.</p> + +<p>"He would never venture near the house, but rather try to find shelter +in the depths of the ravine—however, to reassure you. I wonder whether +it is snowing as hard as ever, Sergeant," I said, turning towards Mackay +as I concluded.</p> + +<p>The casements were double and sunk in a recess of the thick log walls, +over which red curtains were not wholly drawn. I flung one behind my +shoulder, and when the heavy folds shut out the light inside I could see +for some little distance the ghostly glimmer of the snow. Then, +returning to my companion, I said quietly: <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>"There is nobody outside, +and I should have seen footprints if there had been."</p> + +<p>Presently the two girls withdrew to attend to some household duties, and +Haldane, who handed a cigar box around, said to me: "Did you do well +last season, Ormesby, and what are your ideas concerning the prospects +down here?"</p> + +<p>"I was partly fortunate and partly the reverse," I answered. "As perhaps +you heard, I put less into stock and sowed grain largely. It is my +opinion that, as has happened elsewhere, the plow furrows will presently +displace many of the unfenced cattle-runs. It is hardly wise to put all +one's eggs into the same basket; but my plowing was not wholly +successful, sir."</p> + +<p>"It is a long way to Laurentian tide-water, and, assisted by Winnipeg +mills, the Manitoba men would beat you," said Haldane, with a shrewd +glance at me.</p> + +<p>"For the East they certainly would, sir," I answered. "But I see no +reason why, if we get the promised railroad, we should not have our own +mills; and we lie near the gates of a good market in British Columbia."</p> + +<p>Haldane nodded approval, and I was gratified. He was not a practical +farmer, but it was said that he rarely made a mistake concerning the +financial aspect of any industrial enterprise.</p> + +<p>"You may be right. I wish I had taken in the next ranch when I bought +Bonaventure. But, from what I gather, you have extended your operations +somewhat rapidly. Is it permissible to ask how you managed in respect to +capital?"</p> + +<p>The speaker's tone was friendly, and I did not resent the question. "I +borrowed on interest, sir; after three good seasons I paid off one loan, +and, seeing an opportunity, borrowed again. As it happened, I lost a +number of my stock; but this year should leave me with much more +plowland broken and liabilities considerably reduced."</p> + +<p>"You borrowed from a bank?" asked Haldane, and looked a little graver +when I answered, "No."</p> + +<p>It was, as transpired later, a great pity he spoke again <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>before I told +him where I had obtained the money; but fate would have it so.</p> + +<p>"I have grown gray at the game you are commencing; but, unless you have +a gift for it, it is a dangerous one, and the facilities for obtaining +credit are the bane of this country," he said. "I don't wish to check +any man's enterprise, but I knew the man who started you, and promised +him in his last sickness to keep an eye on you. Take it as an axiom that +if you can't get an honest partner you should deal only with the banks. +Otherwise the mortgage speculator comes uppermost in the end. He'll +carry you over, almost against your wishes, when times are good, but +when a few adverse seasons run in succession, he will take you by the +throat when you least expect it. Your neighbors are panic-stricken; +nobody with money will look at your property, and the blood-sucker +seizes his opportunity."</p> + +<p>"But if he sold one up under such circumstances he could not recover his +loan, much less charges and interest," I interposed; and Haldane +laughed.</p> + +<p>"A man of the class I'm describing would not wish to recover in that +way. He is not short of money, and knows bad seasons don't last forever, +so he sells off your property for, say, half its value, recovers most of +what he lent, and still—remember the oppressive interest—holds you +fast for the balance. He also puts up a dummy to buy the place—at +depression value—pays a foreman to run it, and when times improve sells +the property on which you spent the borrowed money for twice as much."</p> + +<p>Haldane nodded to emphasize his remarks as he leaned forward towards me. +"The man you were hunting was handled in a similar fashion, and it +naturally made him savage. We are neighbors, Ormesby, and if ever you +don't quite see your way out of a difficulty you might do worse than +consult me."</p> + +<p>He moved towards the others when I thanked him, and left me slightly +troubled. I knew his offer was genuine, but being obstinately proud, +there were reasons why he would be the last man I should care to ask for +assistance in a difficulty. That I should ever have anything <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>worth +offering Beatrice Haldane appeared at one time a chimerical fancy; but +though her father's words left their impression, I had made some +progress along the road to prosperity. Ever since the brief days I spent +in her company in England a vague purpose had been growing into definite +shape; but that night I had discovered, with a shock, that if the +difference in wealth between us had been lessened, she was far removed +by experience, as well as culture, from a plain stock-raiser.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<br /> +<span class="smalltext">A MIDNIGHT VISITOR</span></h2> + + +<p>The snow had thinned a little, though it still blew hard, when, before +retiring, I borrowed a lantern and made a dash for the stable. The horse +which had fallen was a valuable one, and, remembering how stiffly he had +moved, I was anxious about him. Winter should have been over, and this +was its last effort, but the cold struck through me, and I knew by the +depth of the snow that a horse would be a useless incumbrance to the +fugitive, who could not have made a league in any direction. He was +probably hiding in the ravine, and it appeared certain that he would be +captured on the morrow. I was therefore the less surprised when the +stolen mare shuffled towards me. The man had at least kept his promise +to release her when useless; but I was still slightly puzzled as to how +the beast had found her own way to Bonaventure. This meant work for me, +and I spent some time in the long, sod-protected building, which was +redolent of peppermint in the prairie hay, before returning to the +dwelling. My moccasins made no sound as I came softly through the hall, +but it was not my fault that, when I halted to turn out and hang up the +lantern, voices reached me through an open door.</p> + +<p>"You are in charge here, and will see that the lamps and stoves are +safe, Lucille," one of them said. "What did you think about our guests?"</p> + +<p>"I liked them immensely; the sergeant was simply splendid," answered +another voice. "The young trooper was very nice, too. I did not see much +of Mr. Ormesby. He talked a good deal to you."</p> + +<p>There was no mistaking Beatrice Haldane's rippling laugh. "Rancher +Ormesby is amusing for a change. One grows to long for something +original after the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>stereotyped products of the cities. Contact with +primitive men and fashions acts, for a time, as a tonic, although too +much of it might serve as, say, an emetic."</p> + +<p>It was a pity it had not occurred to me to rattle the lantern earlier, +for though women do not always mean what they say, this last observation +was not particularly gratifying. Neither was it quite what I had +expected from Beatrice Haldane. Whether the fair speaker guessed that +she had been overheard or not, I never knew; but because a ripple of +subdued laughter reached me as a door swung to, I surmised that her +sister had found cause for merriment. Tired as I was, I did not feel +immediately disposed for sleep, and, as Haldane had bidden us do just +what best pleased us, I looked into the troopers' quarters and found +Mackay and one of his subordinates, who had preferred to spend the +evening with the hired hands, asleep, and Cotton cleaning his carbine.</p> + +<p>"We'll be off before daybreak, and I had not a chance earlier. I would +not have missed a minute of this evening for promotion to-morrow. Of +course, I'll pay for it later; but that's the usual rule, and partly why +I'm serving the nation as Trooper Cotton now," he said, with a mirthless +smile.</p> + +<p>"You are getting as bad as the sergeant," I answered impatiently. "Come +along when you have finished, if you're not overtired, and we'll smoke +one of our host's cigars together. He left the box for us beside the big +hearth in the hall."</p> + +<p>"I'll be there in ten minutes. Mackay's so confoundedly particular about +the arms," said Cotton.</p> + +<p>The fire was burning redly in the hall, though the lamps were out, when +I ensconced myself in a deep chair behind a deerhide screen quaintly +embroidered by Indian women. The cigar was a good one, and I had much to +think about; so it was not until a shaft of light streamed athwart the +screen that, looking round it, I noticed that Lucille Haldane, carrying +a candle, had entered the long room. She set it down on a table, and +stood still, glancing about her, while I effaced myself behind the +screen. The girl had cast her hair loose, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>it rippled in glossy +masses from her shoulders to the delicate inward curve of her waist, +setting forth the lithe shapeliness of her figure. Concluding that she +would withdraw as soon as she was satisfied that all was safe, I decided +it would be better if she remained unaware of my presence, and hoped +that Cotton would delay his coming. To judge by the soft footsteps, she +was returning, when a sudden coldness chilled the room. The light grew +uncertain, as though the candle flickered in a draught, and a door I had +not previously noticed opened noiselessly.</p> + +<p>Wondering what this might mean, I sat very still, and then stared +blankly, as a snow-whitened object came softly into the room. For a few +seconds I could almost have fancied it was a supernatural visitant +rather than a creature of flesh and blood, for the man's face was +ghastly, and he brought the chill of the grave with him. He was +bareheaded, his cheeks ashy gray, and clotted brown patches streaked the +rag bound round his forehead, while the snow was in his hair; but as he +moved forward I had no difficulty in recognizing him. I heard Lucille +Haldane draw in her breath with a gasp, and it was that which roused me +to action, but the intruder broke the silence first.</p> + +<p>"Please don't cry out. You are perfectly safe—and my life is in your +hands," he said.</p> + +<p>"Not exactly!" I broke in, and, flinging the screen sideways, stepped +between him and the girl. The stranger's hand dropped instinctively to +the holster at his waist, then he let it fall to his side.</p> + +<p>"You here, Rancher Ormesby! I freed your horse, and you have no further +cause for hunting me down," he said, with a composure which astonished +me. "I am sorry to alarm you, Miss Haldane, but it was the truth I told +you. I will not be taken, and it rests with you either to call the +troopers or to turn me out to freeze in the snow."</p> + +<p>In spite of his terrifying appearance, it was clear that the man was not +a ruffian. He spoke with deference, and his voice betrayed consideration +for the girl; and again <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>a sense of compassion came upon me. Still, +there was my host's daughter to consider, and I turned towards her.</p> + +<p>"Will you go away and leave him to me?" I said.</p> + +<p>Lucille Haldane, glancing from one of us to the other, shook her head; +and I think we must have formed a striking tableau as we stood where the +candle-light flickered athwart one small portion of the long shadowy +room. The girl's face was pale, but a sudden wave of color swept across +it when, with a sinuous movement of her neck, she flung back the +lustrous masses of her hair. She was dressed as I had last seen her, +except that the lace collar was missing, and her full white throat +gleamed like ivory. Yet, though her voice trembled a little, she showed +small sign of fear.</p> + +<p>"Will you tell me how you came here?" she asked, and as the question +applied to either, we both answered it.</p> + +<p>"I have been here some little time, and feared to surprise you; but am +very glad it happened so," I said, and the stranger followed me.</p> + +<p>"Rancher Ormesby is unjustified in his inference. I came in by the +ante-room window. Earlier in the evening I lay outside in the lee of the +building watching you, and I felt that I might risk trusting you, so I +waited for an opportunity. I knew the troopers were here; but I was +freezing in the snow, and I wondered whether, out of charity, you would +give me a little food and let me hide in an outbuilding until the +blizzard blows over?"</p> + +<p>Lucille Haldane's fear, if it ever lasted more than a moment, had +vanished, and her eyes glistened with womanly pity, for the man's +strength was clearly spent; but she drew herself up a little. "What have +you done to come to this?" said she.</p> + +<p>"I am afraid I should tire you, and somebody might surprise us, before I +told you half," he answered logically. "You must take my word that all I +did was to resist by force the last effort of an extortioner to complete +my ruin. He lent me money, and after I had paid it back nearly twice +over he tried to seize the little that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>remained between me and +destitution. There was a fracas and he was shot—though the wound was +only trifling."</p> + +<p>I believed the terse story, and saw that Lucille Haldane did also. Then +I grew anxious lest Cotton should come in before she had made her +decision. "There is not a minute to lose. Your father at least should +know. Had you not better tell him while I stay here?" I said.</p> + +<p>"I don't think so. He has told me that I am mistress at Bonaventure, and +I might rouse the troopers in calling him," the girl answered steadily, +turning from me to the intruder. "I think I can believe you, and you +will find sleigh-robes in the harness-room at the end of the long +stable. Slip up the ladder and crawl in among the hay. The sergeant +would never suspect your presence there."</p> + +<p>"And Rancher Ormesby?" asked the other, with a glance at me.</p> + +<p>"Will accept the mistress of Bonaventure's decision," I answered dryly. +"But I am expecting one of the troopers, and you are risking your +liberty every second you stay."</p> + +<p>"He is starving," said Lucille Haldane. "There is brandy in that +sideboard, Mr. Ormesby, and I can find cold food in the kitchen. +Ah!—--"</p> + +<p>I had forgotten, while I strained my ears, that Cotton's moccasins would +give no warning as he came down the passage, and I hurried forward, at +the girl's exclamation, a second too late to bolt the door. He came in +before I reached it, and halted at sight of the outlaw, gripping the +edge of the table as suddenly as though struck by a bullet. He was a lad +of spirit, and I saw there was some special cause for his consternation, +and that he was also apparently oblivious of the presence of two of the +party.</p> + +<p>"Good Lord! Is it you, Boone, we have been chasing all day?" he said.</p> + +<p>I seized a chair-back and measured the distance between myself and the +fugitive as I noticed the venomous pistol glint in his hand. But he +lowered the muzzle when <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>he saw Cotton clearly, and, with a glance in +Miss Haldane's direction, let the weapon fall out of sight behind his +thigh.</p> + +<p>"It is," he answered steadily. "What in heaven's name brought—you—to +Canada, Charlie Cotton, and thrust you in my way? It was in a very +different character from your present one that I last saw you."</p> + +<p>Both apparently forgot the spectators in their mutual surprise, though +Lucille Haldane stared at them wide-eyed, which was small wonder, +considering that she was a romantic girl forced for the first time to +play a part in what threatened to prove an unpleasantly realistic +tragedy. It was hardly possible for her not to guess that these two had +been friends in very different circumstances.</p> + +<p>Cotton leaned heavily on the table, and, I fancied, groaned; then +straightened himself and answered in a strained voice that sounded very +bitter: "It would be useless to return the compliment, though the +contrast is more marked in your case. I didn't see your face, and the +name on our warrant suggested nothing. This is Her Majesty's uniform, at +least—though I would give ten years' pay if it weren't. Can't you see +that I'm Trooper Cotton, and must skulk away a deserter unless I arrest +you?"</p> + +<p>"There does not seem to be much choice," Boone said grimly. "Heaven +knows how little there is to attract any man in the life I have been +leading; but there is one good cause why I should not be Quixotic enough +to give myself up to oblige you. No! Stand back, Charlie Cotton—I don't +want to hurt you."</p> + +<p>The pistol barrel glinted as it rose into sight again, and, though no +one had spoken in more than a hoarse whisper before, a heavy silence +settled upon the room, through which I thought I could hear the girl +catch at her breath. I stood between her and the two men, but I was at +my wits' end as to what should be done. By this time my sympathies were +enlisted on the side of the unfortunate rancher; but the girl's presence +complicated the affair. It seemed imperative that she should be safely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> +out of the way before either an alarm was given or a struggle ensued. +Yet she had refused to vacate the position, and I realized that she +meant it. Meantime, Cotton's face was a study of indecision and disgust. +The lad was brave enough, but it seemed as though the mental struggle +had partly crippled his physical faculties. With a gesture of dismay he +turned suddenly to me.</p> + +<p>"It's a horrible combination, Ormesby. Of course, I can't tell anybody +all, but I knew this man well, and was indebted to him in the old +country. Now he has somehow broken the laws of the Dominion, and I'm +bound by my oath of service to arrest him. There is no other course +possible. Boone, I can't help it. Will you surrender quietly?"</p> + +<p>"No!" was the answer. "My liberty is precious because I have work to do. +Move or call out at your peril, Charlie!"</p> + +<p>The climax was evidently approaching, and still I could do nothing for +fear of jeopardizing Lucille Haldane's safety if I precipitated it. The +young lad, unarmed as he was, stiffened himself as for a spring, and I +wondered whether I could reach his opponent's pistol arm with the +chair-leg in time when the trooper moved or shouted. Then, because +feminine wits are often quicker than our own, I saw the girl's eyes were +fixed on me, as, unnoticed by the others, she pointed towards the +candle. Another second passed before I understood her; then, for the +light stood on the corner of the table nearest me, I swept one arm out, +and there was sudden darkness as I hurled it sideways across the room. +The door into the main passage swung to, and Cotton fell over something +as he groped his way towards it, while, though strung up in a state of +tension, I smiled, hearing—what he did not—somebody brush through the +other door, which it was evident had escaped his notice.</p> + +<p>Next, feeling that the girl was mistress of the position, I stirred the +sinking fire until a faint brightness shone out from the hearth. It just +sufficed to reveal Lucille Haldane standing with her back to the door +the fugitive had not passed through. This quick-witted maneuver +suf<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>ficed to deceive the bewildered representative of the law. "You +cannot pass, Trooper Cotton," she said.</p> + +<p>The lad positively groaned. "Do you know that you are disgracing me +forever, Miss Haldane?" he said, in a hoarse appeal. "You must let me +pass!"</p> + +<p>The girl resolutely shook her head, and the dying light showed me her +slender fingers tightly clenched on the handle of the door. "I will see +that you do not suffer; but I am mistress of this house, and I think you +are an English gentleman, Trooper Cotton," she said.</p> + +<p>Then, with an air of desperation, the lad turned to me. "Won't you try +to persuade her, Ormesby?"</p> + +<p>"No," I said dryly. "I am Miss Haldane's guest, and not a police +officer. I am sorry for you, Cotton, but you have done your best, and +even if you forget your own traditions I'll certainly see you show her +due respect. It is not your fault that I have twice your strength, but +it will be if, while Miss Haldane remains here, you summon your comrades +by a shout."</p> + +<p>"Confound you! You never thought——" he broke out; but, ceasing +abruptly, he left the sentence incomplete; and, feeling that there were +two sides to the question, I stood aside while he commenced a circuit of +the room, which he might have done earlier. Still, Lucille Haldane did +not move, for each moment gained might be valuable, until, with an +ejaculation, he discovered and sprang through the other door. Then, +hurrying to her side, I laid my hand reassuringly on the girl's arm and +found she was trembling like a leaf as I drew the door open.</p> + +<p>"You must not lose a moment, and I think you should tell your father; +but you can trust me to manage Cotton and keep what has passed a +secret," I said.</p> + +<p>There was a faint "Thank you"; while hardly had she flitted down the +passage than a shout rang out, and hurrying as for my life, I found +Cotton pounding on the inner door of the ante-room. Noticing that the +window was shut, I seized his shoulder and gripped it hard. "Pull +yourself together, and remember, that whatever tale you tell, Miss +Haldane does not figure in it," I said. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>"A horse would be no use to +him; but I'll make sure by a run to the stable while you acquaint the +sergeant."</p> + +<p>It was still snowing, and the drifts were deep, but I managed to plunge +my feet into the hollows left by somebody who had preceded me, and there +was a bottle of brandy in my pocket. I returned, floundering as heavily +as possible along my outward tracks—for one learns a good deal when +trailing wandering steers or stalking antelope—and met Cotton, who now +carried his carbine. It was evident that he was bent on discharging his +duty thoroughly, for when I announced that no horses were missing, he +answered shortly: "Thanks; but I'm going myself to see. Mackay and Mr. +Haldane are waiting for you."</p> + +<p>I smiled to myself. Trooper Cotton had acquired small proficiency in the +art of tracking, and I knew that my footprints would not only deceive +him, but that, following them, he would obliterate evidence that might +have been conclusive to the sergeant's practiced eyes. All the male +inmates of Bonaventure had gathered, half-dressed, in the hall, and +Sergeant Mackay, who was asking questions, turned to me. "Ye were here +when he came in, Rancher Ormesby?"</p> + +<p>"I was," I answered. "I didn't hear him until he was in the room; but he +seemed starving, and presumably ran the risk in the hope of obtaining +food."</p> + +<p>"Why did ye not seize him or raise the alarm?" asked the sergeant; and I +shrugged my shoulders.</p> + +<p>"I was wholly unarmed, and he is a desperate man with a pistol. You may +remember mentioning that his capture was not my business."</p> + +<p>"I mind that I have seen ye take as heavy risks when, for a five-dollar +wager, ye drove a loaded sledge over the rotten ice," said the sergeant, +with a searching glance at me. "While ye did nothing Trooper Cotton came +in to help ye?"</p> + +<p>"Just so! He had no weapon either, but appeared quite willing to face +the outlaw's pistol, when the candle went out, and the man must have +slipped out by the second door in the dark. I made for the stables at +once, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>but all the horses were safe. My own, I discovered earlier, had +come back by itself."</p> + +<p>"Ye showed little sense," said Mackay; while Haldane glanced curiously +at me. "What would he do with a horse in two foot of snow? There are +points I'm no' clear about; but there'll be time for questions later. +Ah! Found ye anything, Trooper Cotton?"</p> + +<p>"No," said the lad. "Nothing but the footprints made by Ormesby; and I +can only presume that, there being no lee on that side, the wind would +fill the horse-thief's track with snow. He would never risk trying the +outbuildings when he knew that we were here."</p> + +<p>"No," was the sergeant's answer. "He'll be for the ravine. We'll take +our leave, Mr. Haldane, with thanks for your hospitality, leaving the +horses in the meantime. It is a regret to me we have brought this +disturbance upon ye."</p> + +<p>Two minutes later the police had vanished into the snow, and in another +ten Bonaventure was almost silent again. I went back to my couch and +slept soundly, being too wearied to wonder whether I had done well or +ill. Next morning Haldane called me into a room of his own.</p> + +<p>"My daughter has told me what took place last night, and while, in one +sense, I'm indebted to you, Ormesby, I really can't decide whether you +showed a lamentable lack of judgment in abetting her," he said. "She is +a brave little soul, but does not always spare time to think. Frankly, I +wish this thing had not come about as it did."</p> + +<p>He spoke seriously, but there was a kindliness in his eyes, and it was +easy to see that Carson Haldane's younger daughter was his idol, which +slightly puzzled me. There were those who heaped abuse upon his head, +and it is possible his financial operations did not benefit everybody, +for when men grow rich by speculation somebody must lose. There are, +however, many sides to every nature, and I always found him an upright, +kindly gentleman, while only those who knew him best could guess that he +was faithful to a memory, and that the gracious influence of one he had +lost still swayed him.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>"I am sorry if I acted indiscreetly, sir; but I could think of no other +course at the time," I said. "Do you know where the man is now?"</p> + +<p>"It is sometimes unwise to ask questions, and I have not inquired too +closely," and Haldane laid his hand on my shoulder. "It must be our +secret, Ormesby, and I should prefer that Miss Haldane did not share it; +this—I suppose one must call it an escapade—might trouble her. I +presume you could rely on that lad's discretion. He was evidently not +brought up for a police trooper."</p> + +<p>"I think you could depend on him, sir; and, as you know, a good many +others in this country follow vocations they were never intended for."</p> + +<p>"Well, we will say no more on that subject," he answered. "The doctors +tell me I have been working under too great a strain, and as they +recommend quiet and relaxation, I decided to try six months' practical +ranching. My partner will no doubt arrange that other folks pay the +bill; but this is hardly a peaceful beginning."</p> + +<p>Haldane laughed before he added, significantly: "In one respect I'm duly +grateful, Ormesby, and—in confidence—here is a proof of it. You are +staking high on the future of this region. Well, the railroad will be +built, which will naturally make a great difference in the value of +adjacent land. You will, however, remember that, in accordance with +medical advice, I am now ranching for my health."</p> + +<p>I remembered it was said that Carson Haldane could anticipate long +before anybody else what the powers at Ottawa would sanction or veto, +and that a hint from him was valuable. "It is good news, and I presume +that Bonaventure will have extended its boundaries by the time you +recover, sir," I said.</p> + +<p>That evening Sergeant Mackay returned to requisition provisions, and +departed again. He was alone, and very much disgusted, having no news of +the fugitive. He did not revisit Bonaventure during the next day I +remained there, and presumably the man he sought slipped away when the +coast was clear. Perhaps the fact that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>the whirling drifts would +obliterate his tracks had deceived the sergeant, and we supposed the +contrabandists who dealt in prohibited liquor had smuggled him across +the American frontier. The night before I took my leave Beatrice Haldane +looked across at her sister, who sat sewing near the stove, and then at +me.</p> + +<p>"Since you recovered your horse I am not altogether sorry the hunted man +got away," she said. "There are, however, two things about the affair +which puzzle me—how the candlestick my sister carried when she made the +rounds reached the table in the hall where it is never left; and why I +should find the candle it contained under the sideboard in the room the +intruder entered! Can you suggest any solution, Mr. Ormesby?"</p> + +<p>I felt uncomfortable, knowing that Beatrice Haldane was not only clever +herself, but the daughter of a very shrewd man, while her eyes were +fixed steadily on me. Lucille's head bent lower over her sewing, and, +though I would have given much to answer frankly, I felt that she +trusted me. So I said, as indifferently as I could: "There might be +several, and the correct one very simple. Somebody must have knocked the +candlestick over in his hurry and forgotten about it. Have you been +studying detective literature latterly?"</p> + +<p>Beatrice Haldane said nothing further; but I realized that I had +incurred her displeasure, and was not greatly comforted by the grateful +glance her sister flashed at me.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE TIGHTENING OF THE NET</span></h2> + + +<p>It was a hot morning of early summer when I rode up the low rise to my +house at Gaspard's Trail. A few willows straggled behind one side of it, +but otherwise it rose unsheltered from the wind-swept plain, which, +after a transitory flush of greenness, had grown dusty white again. I +had been in the saddle since sunrise, when the dewy freshness had +infused cheerfulness and vigor into my blood, but now it was with a +feeling of dejection I reined in my horse and sat still, looking about +me.</p> + +<p>The air was as clear as crystal, so that the birches far off on the +western horizon cut sharply against the blue. All around the rest of the +circle ran an almost unbroken sweep of white and gray, streaked in one +place by the dust of alkali rolling up from a strip of bitter water, +which flashed like polished steel. Long plow-furrows stretched across +the foreground, but even these had been baked by pitiless sunshine to +the same monotony of color, and it was well I had not sown the whole of +them, for sparse, sickly blades rose in the wake of the harrows where +tall wheat should have been. Behind these stood the square log dwelling +and straggling outbuildings of logs and sod, all of a depressing +ugliness, while two shapeless yellow mounds, blazing under the sunshine, +represented the strawpile granaries. There was no touch of verdure in +all the picture, for it had been a dry season, which boded ill for me.</p> + +<p>Presently a horse and a rider, whose uniform was whitened by the fibrous +dust, swung out of a shallow ravine—or <i>coulée</i>, as we called them—and +Trooper Cotton cantered towards me. "Hotter than ever, and I suppose +that accounts for your downcast appearance," <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>he said. "I've never seen +weather like it. Even the gophers are dead."</p> + +<p>"It grows sickening; but you are wrong in one respect," I answered +ruefully. "All the gophers in the country have collected around my grain +and wells. As they fall in after every hearty meal of wheat, we have +been drinking them. You are just in time for breakfast, and I'll be glad +of your company. One overlooks a good deal when things are going well, +but the sordid monotony of these surroundings palls on one now and +then."</p> + +<p>"You are not the only man who feels it," said the trooper, while a +temporary shadow crossed his face. "You have been to Bonaventure too +often, Ormesby. Of course, it's delightful to get into touch with things +one has almost forgotten, but I don't know that it's wise for a poor +man, which is, perhaps, why I allowed Haldane to take me in last night. +You, however, hardly come into the same category."</p> + +<p>"I shall soon, unless there's a change in the weather," I answered with +a frown. "But come in, and tell me what Haldane—or his daughters—said +to you."</p> + +<p>"I didn't see much of Miss Haldane," said Cotton, as we rode on +together. "Of course, she's the embodiment of all a woman of that kind +should be; but I can't help feeling it's a hospitable duty when she +talks to me. You see I've forgotten most of the little I used to know, +and she is, with all respect, uncomfortably superior to an average +individual."</p> + +<p>I was not pleased with Trooper Cotton, but did not tell him so. +"Presumably you find Miss Lucille understands you better?" I answered, +with a trace of ill-humor.</p> + +<p>The lad looked straight at me. "I'm not responsible for the weather, +Ormesby," he said, a trifle stiffly. "Still, since you have put it so, +it's my opinion that Miss Lucille Haldane would understand anybody. She +has the gift of making you feel it also. To change the subject, however, +I was over warning Bryan about his fireguard furrows, and yours hardly +seem in accordance with the order."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>I laughed, and said nothing further until a man in a big straw hat +appeared in the doorway. "Who's that?" asked Cotton, drawing his bridle.</p> + +<p>"Foster Lane," I answered. "He came over yesterday."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said the trooper, pulling out his watch. "On reflection, perhaps I +had better not come in. I am due at the Cree reserve by ten, and, as my +horse is a little lame, I don't want to press him. This time you will +excuse me."</p> + +<p>His excuse was certainly lame, as I could see little the matter with the +horse; and, being short of temper that morning, I answered sharply: "I +won't press you; but is it a coincidence that you remember this only +when you recognize Lane?"</p> + +<p>Trooper Cotton, who was frank by nature and a poor diplomatist, looked +uneasy. "I don't want to offend you, Ormesby, but one must draw the line +somewhere, and I will not sit down with that man," he said. "I know he's +your guest, but you would not let me back out gracefully, and, if it's +not impertinent, I'll add that I'm sorry he is."</p> + +<p>"I congratulate you on being able to draw lines, but just now I myself +cannot afford to be particular," I answered dryly; and when, with a +feeble apology, Cotton rode away, it cost me an effort to greet the +other man civilly.</p> + +<p>As breakfast was ready, he took his place at the table, and glanced at +me whimsically. Foster Lane was neither very prepossessing nor +distinctly the reverse in appearance. He was stout, and somewhat flabby +in face, with straw-colored hair and a thick-lipped mouth; but while his +little eyes had a humorous twinkle, there was a suggestion of force as +well as cunning about him. He was of middle age, and besides +representing a so-styled "development company" was, by profession, land +agent, farmers' financier, and mortgage jobber, and, as naturally +follows, a usurer.</p> + +<p>"Say, I'm not deaf yet, Ormesby," he commenced, with coarse good-humor. +"Particular kind of trooper <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>that one, isn't he? Is he another broken-up +British baronet's youngest son, or—because they only raise his kind in +the old country—what has the fellow done?"</p> + +<p>"He's a friend of mine," I answered. "I never inquired of him. Still, +I'm sorry you overheard him."</p> + +<p>"That's all right," was the answer. "My hide is a pretty thick one; and +one needs such a protection in my business. Give a dog a bad name and +you may as well hang him, Rancher Ormesby, although I flatter myself I'm +a necessity in a new country. How many struggling ranchers would go +under in a dry season but for my assistance; and how many fertile acres +now growing the finest wheat would lie waste but for me? Yet, when I ask +enough to live on, in return, every loafer without energy or foresight +abuses me. It's a very ungrateful world, Ormesby."</p> + +<p>Lane chuckled as he wiped his greasy forehead, and paused before he +continued: "I've been thinking all night about carrying over the loan +you mentioned, and though money's scarce just now, this is my +suggestion. I'll let you have three-fourths of its present appraised +value on Crane Valley, and you can then clear Gaspard's Trail, and +handle a working balance. I'd sooner do that than carry over—see?"</p> + +<p>I set down my coffee cup because I did not see. I had expected he would +have exacted increased interest on the loan due for repayment, and +interest in Western Canada is always very high; but it seemed curious +that he should wish to change one mortgage for another. It also struck +me that if, in case I failed to make repayment, Crane Valley would be +valuable to him, it should be worth at least as much to me.</p> + +<p>"That would not suit me," I said.</p> + +<p>"No?" and Lane spoke slowly, rather as one asking a question than with a +hint of menace. "Feel more like letting me foreclose on you?"</p> + +<p>"You could not do that, because I should pay you off," I said. "I could +do it, though there's no use denying that it would cripple me just now. +As of course you know, whatever I could realize on at present, when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +everybody is short of money and trade at a standstill, should bring +twice as much next season. That is why I wish the loan to run on."</p> + +<p>"Well!" And Lane helped himself before he answered. "In that case, I'll +have to tax you an extra ten per cent. It seems high, but no bank would +look at encumbered property or a half-developed place like Crane Valley. +Take it, or leave it, at six months' date. That would give you time to +sell your fat stock and realize on your harvest."</p> + +<p>I fancied there was a covert sneer in the last words, because I had +faint hope of any harvest, and answered accordingly. "It seems +extortionate, but even so, should pay me better than sacrificing now."</p> + +<p>"Money's scarce," said Lane suavely. "I'm going on to Lawrence's, and +will send you in the papers. Lend me as good a horse as you have for a +day or two."</p> + +<p>I did not like the man's tone, and the request was too much like an +order; but I made no further comment; though a load seemed lifted from +me when he rode away, and I started with my foreman to haul home prairie +hay. It was fiercely hot, and thick dust rolled about our light wagon, +while each low rise, cut off as it were from the bare levels, floated +against the horizon. The glare tired one's vision, and, half-closing my +aching eyes, I sank into a reverie. For eight long years I had toiled +late and early, taxing the strength of mind and body to the utmost. I +had also prospered, and lured on by a dream, first dreamed in England, I +grew more ambitious, breaking new land and extending my herds with +borrowed capital. That had also paid me until a bad season came, and +when both grain and cattle failed, Lane became a menace to my +prosperity. It was a bare life I and my foreman lived, for every dollar +hardly won was entrusted in some shape to the kindly earth again, and no +cent wasted on comforts, much less luxuries; but I had seldom time to +miss either of them, and it was not until Haldane brought his daughters +to Bonaventure that I saw what a man with means and leisure might <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>make +of his life. Then came the reaction, and there were days when I grew +sick of the drudgery and heavy physical strain; but still, spurred on +alternately by hope and fear, I relaxed no effort.</p> + +<p>Now, artificial grasses are seldom sown on the prairie where usually the +natural product grows only a few inches high, and as building logs are +scarce, implements are often kept just where they last were used. It was +therefore necessary to seek hay worth cutting in a dried-out slough, or +swamp, and next to find the mower, which might lie anywhere within a +radius of four miles or so. We came upon them both together, the mower +lying on its side, red with rust, amid a stretch of waist-high grass. +The latter was harsh and wiry, heavy-scented with wild peppermint, and +made ready for us by the sun.</p> + +<p>There were, however, preliminary difficulties, and I had worked myself +into a state of exasperation before the rusty machine could be induced +to run. After a vigorous hammering and the reckless use of oil the pair +of horses were at last just able to haul it, groaning vehemently, +through the dried-up swamp. I was stripped almost to the skin by this +time, the dust that rose in clouds turned to mire upon my dripping +cheeks and about my eyes, while bloodthirsty winged creatures hovered +round my head.</p> + +<p>"This," said Foreman Thorn, as he wiped the red specks from his face and +hands, "is going to be a great country. We can raise the finest insects +on the wide earth already. The last time I was down to Traverse a man +came along from somewhere with a gospel tent, and from what he said +there wasn't much chance for anyone to raise cattle. He'd socked it to +us tolerable for half-an-hour at least, when Tompson's Charlie gets up +and asks him: 'Did you ever break half-thawn sod with oxen?' 'No, my +man; but this interruption is unseemly,' says he. 'It's not a +conundrum,' says Charlie. 'Did you ever sleep in a mosquito muskeg or +cut hay in a dried-out slough?' and the preacher seeing we all wanted an +answer, shakes his head. 'Then you start in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>and try, and find out that +there are times when a man must talk or bust, before you worry us,' says +Charlie. But who's coming along now?"</p> + +<p>I had been too busy to pay much attention to the narrative or to notice +a rattle of wheels, and I looked up only when a wagon was drawn up +beside the slough. A smooth-shaven man, with something familiar about +his face, sat on the driving-seat smiling down at me.</p> + +<p>"Good-morning, Rancher Ormesby. Wanting any little pictures of yourself +to send home to friends in the old country?" he said, pointing to what +looked like the lens of a camera projecting through the canvas behind +him. "I'll take you for half-a-dollar, as you are, if you'll give me the +right to sell enlargements as a prairie study."</p> + +<p>The accent was hardly what one might have expected from one of the +traveling adventurers who at intervals wandered across the country, and +I looked at the speaker with a puzzled air. "I have no time to spare for +fooling, and don't generally parade half-naked before either the public +or my civilized friends," I said.</p> + +<p>"Some people look best that way," answered the other, regarding me +critically; whereupon Thorn turned round and grinned. "The team and tall +grass would make an effective background. Stand by inside there, Edmond. +It's really not a bad model of a bare throat and torso, and as I don't +know that your face is the best of you, the profile with a shadow on it +would do—just so! Say, I wonder did you know those old canvas overalls +drawn in by the leggings are picturesque and become you? There—I'm much +obliged to you."</p> + +<p>A faint click roused me from the state of motionless astonishment his +sheer impudence produced, and when I strode forward Thorn's grin of +amusement changed to one of expectancy. "You don't want any +hair-restorer, apparently, though I've some of the best in the Dominion +at a dollar the bottle; but I could give you a salve for the +complexion," continued the traveler, and I stopped suddenly when about +to demand the destruction of the negative or demolish his camera.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>"Good heavens, Boone! Is it you; and what is the meaning of this +mummery?" I asked, staring at him more amazed than ever.</p> + +<p>"Just now I'm called Adams, if you please," said the other, holding out +his hand. "I hadn't an opportunity for thanking you for your forbearance +when we met at Bonaventure, but I shall not readily forget it. This is +not exactly mummery. It provides me with a living, and suits my purpose. +I could not resist the temptation of trying to discover whether you +recognized me, or whether I was playing my part artistically."</p> + +<p>"Are you not taking a big risk, and why don't you exploit a safer +district?" I asked; and the man smiled as he answered: "I don't think +there's a settler around here who would betray me even if he guessed my +identity, and the troopers never got a good look at me. I live two or +three hundred miles east, you see, and the loss of a beard and mustache +alters any man's appearance considerably. I also have a little business +down this way. Have you seen anything of Foster Lane during the last +week or two?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," I said. "He has just ridden over from my place to Lawrence's, in +Crane Valley."</p> + +<p>"You have land there, too," said Boone, as though aware of it already; +and when I nodded, added: "Then if you are wise you will see that devil +does not get his claws on it. I presume you are not above taking a hint +from me?"</p> + +<p>I looked straight at him. "I know very little of you except that there +is a warrant out for your arrest, and I am not addicted to taking advice +from strangers."</p> + +<p>Boone returned my gaze steadily without resentment, and I had time to +take note of him. He was a tall, spare, sinewy man, deeply bronzed like +most of us; but now that he had, as it were, cast off all pertaining to +the traveling pedlar, there was an indefinite something in his speech +and manner which could hardly have been acquired on the prairie. He did +not look much over thirty, but his forehead was seamed, and from other +signs one might have fancied he was a man with a pain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>ful history. Then +he flicked the dust off his jean garments with the whip, and laughed a +little.</p> + +<p>"I am an Englishman, Rancher Ormesby, and, needless to say, so are you. +We are not a superfluously civil people, and certain national +characteristics betray you. I fancy we shall be better acquainted, and, +that being so, feel prompted to tell you a story which, after what +passed at Bonaventure, you perhaps have a right to know. You will stop a +while for lunch, anyway, and if you have no objections I will take mine +along with you."</p> + +<p>I could see no reasonable objection to this, and presently we sat +together under the wagon for the sake of coolness, while, when the mower +ceased its rattle, the dust once more settled down upon the slough. It +was almost too hot to eat; there was no breath of wind, and the glare of +the sun-scorched prairie grew blinding.</p> + +<p>"I should not wonder if you took most kindly to indirect advice, and +there is a moral to this story," said Boone, when I lit my pipe. "Some +years ago a disappointed man, who knew a little about land and horses, +came out from the old country to farm on the prairie, bringing with him +a woman used hitherto to the smoother side of life. He saw it was a good +land and took hold with energy, believing the luck had turned at last, +while the woman helped him gallantly. For a time all went well with +them, but the loneliness and hardship proved too much for the woman, +whose strength was of the spirit and not of the body, and she commenced +to droop and pine. She made no complaint, but her eyes lost their +brightness, and she grew worn and thin, while the man grew troubled. She +had already given up very much for him. He saw his neighbors prospering +on borrowed capital, and, for the times were good, determined to risk +sowing a double acreage. That meant comfort instead of privation if all +went well, and, toiling late and early, he sowed hope for a brighter +future along with the grain. So far it is not an uncommon story."</p> + +<p>I nodded, when the speaker, pausing, stared somberly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>towards the +horizon, for since that English visit I also had staked all I hoped for +in the future on the chances of the seasons.</p> + +<p>"The luck went against him," the narrator continued. "Harvest frost, +drought, and summer hail followed in succession, and when the borrowed +money melted the man who held the mortgage foreclosed. He was within his +rights in this, but he went further, for while there were men in that +district who would, out of kindliness or as a speculation, have bought +up the settler's possessions at fair prices, the usurer had his grasp +also on them, and when a hint was sent them they did nothing. Therefore +the auction was a fraud and robbery, and all was bought up by a +confederate for much less than its value. There was enough to pay the +loan off—although the interest had almost done so already—but not +enough to meet the iniquitous additions; and the farmer went out ruined +on to Government land with a few head of stock a richer man he had once +done a service to gave him; but the woman sickened in the sod hovel he +built. There was no doctor within a hundred miles, and the farmer had +scarcely a dollar to buy her necessaries. Even then the usurer had not +done with him. He entered proceedings to claim the few head of cattle +for balance of the twice-paid debt. The farmer could not defend himself; +somebody took money for willful perjury to evade a clause of the +homestead exemptions, and the usurer got his order. The woman lay very +ill when he came with a band of desperadoes to seize the cattle. They +threatened violence; a fracas followed, and the farmer's hands were, for +once, unsteady on the rifle he did not mean to use, for when a drunken +cowboy would have ransacked his dwelling the trigger yielded +prematurely, and the usurer was carried off with a bullet through his +leg. The woman died, and was buried on a lonely rise of the prairie; and +the man rode out with hatred in his heart and a price upon his head. You +should know the rest of the story—but the sequel is to follow. It was +not without an effort or a motive I told it you."</p> + +<p>I stretched out my hand impulsively towards the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>speaker. "It is +appreciated. I need not ask one name, but the other——"</p> + +<p>"Is Foster Lane; and in due time he shall pay in full for all."</p> + +<p>Boone's voice, which had grown a trifle husky, sank with the last words +to a deeper tone, and the sinewy right hand he raised for a moment fell +heavily, tight-clenched, upon his knee. He said nothing further for a +while, but I felt that if ever the day of reckoning came one might be +sorry for Foster Lane.</p> + +<p>Presently he shrugged his shoulders and rose abruptly. "I have a case of +pomade to sell the Swedes over yonder, and if my luck is good, some +photographs to take," he said, resuming his former manner. "I presume +you wouldn't care to decorate your house with tin-framed oleographs of +German manufacture. I have a selection, all of the usual ugliness. +Whatever happens, one must eat, you know. Well, Lane's gone into Crane +Valley, and it happens I'm going that way, too. This, I hope, is the +beginning of an acquaintance, Ormesby."</p> + +<p>He sold Thorn a bottle of some infallible elixir before he climbed into +his tented wagon, and left me troubled as he jolted away across the +prairie. One thing, however, I was resolved upon, and that was to pay +off Foster Lane at the earliest opportunity. By parting with my best +stock at a heavy sacrifice it seemed just possible to accomplish it.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<br /> +<span class="smalltext">A SURPRISE PARTY</span></h2> + + +<p>Except when the snow lies deep one has scanty leisure on the prairie, +and when Adams departed Thorn and I hurriedly recommenced our task. We +had lost time to make up, and vied with each other; for I had discovered +that, even in a country where all work hard, much more is done for the +master who can work himself. Pitching heavy trusses into a wagon is not +child's play at that temperature, but just then the exertion brought +relief, and I was almost sorry when Thorn went off with the lurching +vehicle, leaving me to the mower and my thoughts. The latter were not +overpleasant just then. Still, the machine needed attention, and the +horses needed both restraint and encouragement, for at times they seemed +disposed to lie down, and at others, maddened by the insects, inclined +to kick the rusty implement into fragments, and I grew hoarse with +shouting, while the perspiration dripped from me.</p> + +<p>It was towards six o'clock, and the slanting sunrays beat pitilessly +into my face, which was thick with fibrous grime, when, with Thorn +lagging behind, I tramped stiffly beside the wagon towards my house. My +blue shirt was rent in places; the frayed jean jacket, being minus its +buttons, refused to meet across it; and nobody new to the prairie would +have taken me for the owner of such a homestead as Gaspard's Trail. +Thick dust, through which mounted figures flitted, rolled about the +dwelling, and a confused bellowing mingled with the human shouts that +rose from behind the long outbuildings.</p> + +<p>"It's Henderson's boys bringing shipping stock along. Somebody's been +squeezing him for money or he wouldn't sell at present," said Thorn, who +rejoined me. "They'll camp here to-night and clean up the larder. I +guess most everybody knows how Henderson feeds them."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>There are disadvantages attached to the prairie custom of free +hospitality, and I surmised that Henderson's stock riders might have +pushed on to the next homestead if they had not known that we kept a +good table at Gaspard's Trail. Nevertheless, I was thankful that no +stranger need ever leave my homestead hungry, and only wondered whether +my cook's comments would be unduly sulphurous. When I reached the +wire-fenced corral, which was filled with circling cattle and an +intolerable dust, a horseman flung his hand up in salute.</p> + +<p>"We're bound for the Indian Spring Bottom with an H triangle draft," he +said. "The grass is just frizzled on the Blackfeet run, and we figured +we'd camp right here with you to-night."</p> + +<p>"That's all right; but couldn't you have fetched Carson's by dusk +without breaking anybody's neck; and yonder beasts aren't branded +triangle H," I said.</p> + +<p>The horseman laughed silently in prairie fashion. "Well, we might and we +mightn't; but Carson's a close man, and I've no great use for stale +flapjacks and glucose drips. No, sir, I'm not greedy, and we'll just let +Carson keep them for himself. Those beasts marked dash circle are the +best of the lot. Lane's put the screw on Redmond, and forced him to +part. Redmond's down on his luck. He's crawling round here somewhere, +cussing Lane tremendous."</p> + +<p>"Lane seems to own all this country," I answered irritably. "Has he got +a hold on your master, too? I told him and Redmond I was saving that +strip of sweet prairie for myself."</p> + +<p>"He will own all the country, if you bosses don't kick in time," was the +dry answer. "I don't know how ours is fixed, but he's mighty short in +temper, and you've no monopoly of unrecorded prairie. Say, it might save +your boys a journey if we took your stock along with us and gave them a +chance before this draft cleans all the sweet grass up. Redmond told me +to mention it."</p> + +<p>The offer was opportune, and I accepted it; then hurried towards the +galvanized iron shed which served as summer quarters for the general +utility man who acted <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>as cook. He was a genius at his business, though +he had learned it on board a sailing ship. He was using fiery language +as he banged his pans about. "It's a nice state of things when a +cattle-whacking loafer can walk right in and tell me what he wants for +his supper," he commenced. "General Jackson! it's bad enough when a +blame cowboy outfit comes down on one like the locusts and cleans +everything up, but it's worse just when I'm trying to fix a special +high-grade meal."</p> + +<p>"I'm not particular. What is good enough for a cowboy is good enough for +a rancher any time," I said; and the cook, who was despotic master of +his own domain, jerked his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of +the house. "Guess it mightn't be to-night. Get out, and give me a fair +show. You're blocking up the light."</p> + +<p>I went on towards the house, wondering what he could mean, but halted on +the threshold of our common room, a moment too late. We had worked night +and day during spring and early summer, and the sparely-furnished room +was inches deep in dust. Guns, harness I had no time to mend, and +worn-out garments lay strewn about it, save where, in a futile attempt +to restore order, I had hurled a pile of sundries into one corner. +Neither was I in exactly a condition suitable for feminine society, and +Beatrice Haldane, who had by some means preserved her dainty white dress +immaculate, leaned back in an ox-hide chair regarding me with quiet +amusement. Her father lounged smoking in the window seat, and it was his +younger daughter who, when I was about to retreat, came forward and +mischievously greeted me.</p> + +<p>"I believe you were ready to run away, Mr. Ormesby, and you really don't +seem as much pleased to see us as you ought to be," she said. "You know +you often asked us to visit you, so you have brought this surprise party +on your own head."</p> + +<p>"I hope you will not suffer for your rashness, but you see those men out +there. They generally leave famine behind them when they come," I said.</p> + +<p>The girl nodded. "They are splendid. I have been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>talking to them, and +made one sit still while I drew him. Please don't trouble about supper. +I have seen cookie, and he's going to make the very things I like."</p> + +<p>Miss Haldane's eyebrows came down just a trifle, and I grew uneasy, +wondering whether it was the general state of chaos or my own appearance +which had displeased her; but Haldane laughed heartily before he broke +in: "Lucille is all Canadian. She has not been to Europe yet, and I am +not sure that I shall send her. She has examined the whole place +already, and decided that you must be a very——"</p> + +<p>The girl's lips twitched with suppressed merriment, but she also +reddened a little; and I interposed: "A very busy man, was it not? Now +you must give me ten minutes in which to make myself presentable."</p> + +<p>I was glad to escape, and, for reasons, withdrew sideways in crab +fashion, while what suspiciously resembled smothered laughter followed +me. By good luck, and after upsetting the contents of two bureaus upon +the floor, I was able to find garments preserved for an occasional visit +to the cities, and, flinging the window open, I hailed a man below to +bring me a big pail of water. He returned in ten minutes with a very +small one, and with the irate cook expostulating behind him, while I +feared his comments would be audible all over the building.</p> + +<p>"Cook says the well's playing out, and washing's foolishness this +weather. The other pail's got dead gophers in it, and Jardine allows he +caught cookie fishing more of them out of the water he used for the +tea."</p> + +<p>"Fling them out, and for heaven's sake let me have the thing. I'm +getting used to gophers, and dead ones can't bite you," I said, fearing +that if the indignant cook got to close quarters the precious fluid +might be spilled. Then while I completed my toilet Cotton came in.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I was hardly civil this morning," he commenced. "I'm out for +four days' fire-guard inspecting, and thought I'd come round and tell +you——"</p> + +<p>"That you saw the Bonaventure wagon heading in this direction," I +interposed. "Well, you're always wel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>come at Gaspard's Trail, and I +presume you won't feel tempted to draw the line at my present guests."</p> + +<p>Cotton dropped into my one sound chair. "I suppose I deserve it, +Ormesby. We shall not get such opportunities much longer, and one can't +help making the most of them," he said.</p> + +<p>We went down together; and there was no doubt that the cook had done his +best, while Haldane laughed and his younger daughter looked very demure +when, as we sat down at table, I stared about my room. It had lost its +bare appearance, the thick dust had gone, and there was an air of +comfort about it I had never noticed before.</p> + +<p>"You see what a woman's hand can do. Lucille couldn't resist the +temptation of straightening things for you," observed the owner of +Bonaventure. "She said the place resembled a——"</p> + +<p>The girl blushed a little, and shook her head warningly at her father, +while, as she did so, her bright hair caught a shaft of light from the +window and shimmered like burnished gold. For a moment it struck me that +she equaled her sister in beauty; and she was wholly bewitching with the +mischief shining in her eyes. There was, however, a depth of kindliness +beneath the mischief, and I had seen the winsome face grow proud with a +high courage one night when the snows whirled about Bonaventure. +Nevertheless, I straightway forgot it when Beatrice Haldane set to work +among the teacups at the head of the table, for her presence +transfigured the room. I had often, as I sat there through the bitter +winter nights, pictured her taking a foremost place in some scene of +brightness in London or Montreal, but never presiding at my poor table +or handling my dilapidated crockery with her dainty fingers. She did it, +as she did everything, very graciously; while, to heighten the contrast, +the lowing of cattle and the hoarse shouts of those who drove them, +mingled with whipcracks and the groaning of jolting wagons, came in +through the open windows.</p> + +<p>For a time the meal progressed satisfactorily. Haldane was excellent +company, and I had almost forgotten my fears that some untoward accident +might happen, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>when his younger daughter asked: "What is a gopher, Mr. +Cotton? I have heard of them, but never saw one."</p> + +<p>I projected a foot in his direction under the table, regretting I had +discarded my working boots, and Haldane, dropping his fork, looked up +sharply.</p> + +<p>"A little beast between a rat and a squirrel, which lives in a hole in +the ground. There are supposed to be more of them round Gaspard's Trail +than anywhere in Canada," answered the trooper, incautiously. "That's +quite correct, Ormesby. You cannot contradict me."</p> + +<p>I did not answer, but grew uneasy, seeing that he could not take a hint; +and the girl continued: "Are they fond of swimming?"</p> + +<p>"I don't think so," answered Cotton, with a slightly puzzled air; and +then added, with an infantile attempt at humor, for which I longed to +choke him: "I'm not a natural historian, but Ormesby ought to know. I +found him not long ago in a very bad temper fishing dozens of dead ones +out of his well. Perhaps they swam too long, and were too tired to climb +out, you know."</p> + +<p>Lucille Haldane, who had been thirsty, gave a little gasp and laid her +hand on the cup Cotton would have passed on for replenishing. Her sister +glanced at her with some surprise, and then quietly set down her own, +while I grew hot all over and felt savagely satisfied by the way he +winced that this time I had got my heel well down on Cotton's toe. Then +there was an awkward silence until Haldane, leaning back in his chair, +laughed boisterously when the lad, attempting to retrieve one blunder, +committed another.</p> + +<p>"I am afraid there are a good many at Bonaventure, and it is not +Ormesby's fault, you see. It is almost impossible for anybody to keep +them out of the wells in dry weather; but nobody minds a few gophers in +this country."</p> + +<p>Haldane had saved the situation; but his elder daughter filled no more +teacups, and both my fair guests seemed to lose their appetite, while I +was almost glad when the meal I had longed might last all night was over +and Lucille and her father went out to inspect the cattle. I, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>however, +detained Cotton, who was following them with alacrity.</p> + +<p>"Your jokes will lead you into trouble some day, and it's a pity you +couldn't have displayed your genius in any other direction," I said.</p> + +<p>"You need not get so savage over a trifle," he answered apologetically. +"I really didn't mean to upset things—it was an inspiration. No man +with any taste could be held responsible for his answers when a girl +with eyes like hers cross-questions him. You really ought to cultivate a +better temper, Ormesby."</p> + +<p>I let him go, and joined Beatrice Haldane, who had remained behind the +rest. She did not seem to care about horses and cattle, and appeared +grateful when I found her a snug resting-place beneath the strawpile +granary.</p> + +<p>"You are to be complimented, since you have realized at least part of +your aspirations," she said, as she swept a glance round my possessions. +"Is it fair to ask, are you satisfied with—this?"</p> + +<p>I followed her eyes with a certain thrill of pride. Wheat land, many of +the dusty cattle, broad stretch of prairie, barns, and buildings were +mine, and the sinewy statuesque horsemen, who came up across the levels +behind further bunches of dappled hide and tossing horns, moved at my +bidding. By physical strain and mental anxiety I had steadily extended +the boundaries of Gaspard's Trail, and, had I been free from Lane, would +in one respect have been almost satisfied. Then I looked up at my +companion, whose pale-tinted draperies and queenly head with its +clustering dark locks were outlined against the golden straw, and a +boldness, as well as a great longing, came upon me.</p> + +<p>"It is a hard life, but a good one," I said. "There is no slackening of +anxiety and little time for rest, but the result is encouraging. When I +took hold, with a few hundred pounds capital, Gaspard's Trail was +sod-built and its acreage less than half what it is at present; but this +is only the beginning, and I am not content. Bad seasons do not last +forever, and in spite of obstacles I hope the extension will continue +until it is the largest <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>holding on all this prairie; but even that +consummation will be valuable only as the means to an end."</p> + +<p>Beatrice Haldane looked at me with perfect composure. "Is it all worth +while, and how long have you been so ambitious?" she asked, with a +smile, the meaning of which I could not fathom.</p> + +<p>"Since a summer spent in England showed me possibilities undreamed of +before," I said; and while it is possible that the vibration in my voice +betrayed me, the listener's face remained a mask. Beatrice Haldane was +already a woman of experience.</p> + +<p>"One might envy your singleness of purpose, but there are things which +neither success nor money can buy," she said. "Probably you have no time +to carefully analyze your motives, but it is not always wise to take too +much for granted. Even if you secured all you believe prosperity could +give you you might be disappointed. Wiser men have found themselves +mistaken, Rancher Ormesby."</p> + +<p>"You are right in the first case," I answered. "But in regard to the +other, would not the effort be proof enough? Would any man spend the +best years of his life striving for what he did not want?"</p> + +<p>"Some have spent the whole of it, which was perhaps better than having +the longer time for disappointment," answered the girl, with a curious +smile. "But are we not drifting, as we have done before, into a +profitless discussion of subjects neither of us knows much about? +Besides, the sun is swinging farther west and the glare hurts my eyes, +while father and Lucille appear interested yonder."</p> + +<p>Beatrice Haldane always expressed herself quietly, but few men would +have ventured to disregard her implied wishes, and I took the hint, +fearing I had already said too much. Gaspard's Trail was not yet the +finest homestead on the prairie, and the time to speak had not arrived. +When we joined Haldane it was a somewhat stirring sight we looked upon. +A draft of my own cattle came up towards the corral at a run, mounted +men shouting as they cantered on each flank, while one, swinging <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>a whip +twice, raced at a gallop around the mass of tossing horns when the herd +would have wheeled and broken away from the fence in a stampede. The +earth vibrated to the beat of hoofs; human yells and a tumultuous +bellowing came out of the dust; and I sighed with satisfaction when, +cleverly turned by a rider, who would have lost his life had his horse's +speed or his own nerve failed him, the beasts surged pell-mell into the +enclosure. Much as I regretted to part with them, their sale should set +me free of debt.</p> + +<p>Then the flutter of a white dress caught my eye, and I saw Lucille +Haldane, who, it seemed, had already pressed the foreman into her +service, applauding when Thorn, cleverly roping a beast, reined in his +horse, and, jerking it to a standstill, held it for her inspection. It +no doubt pleased him to display his skill, but I saw it was with Thorn, +as it had been with the sergeant, a privilege to interest the girl. She +walked close up to the untamed creature, which, with heaving sides and +spume dripping from its nostrils, seemed to glare less angrily at her, +while Thorn appeared puzzled as he answered her rapid questions, and +Haldane leaned on the rails with his face curiously tender as he watched +her. Trooper Cotton, coming up, appropriated Miss Haldane with boyish +assurance, and her father turned to me.</p> + +<p>"My girl has almost run me off my feet, and now that she has taken +possession of your foreman, I should be content to sit down to a quiet +smoke," he said. "Will you walk back to the house with me?"</p> + +<p>I could only agree, but I stopped on the way to speak to one of the men +who had brought in the cattle. He was a struggling rancher, without +enterprise or ability, and generally spoken of with semi-contemptuous +pity. "I'm obliged to you, Redmond, for suggesting that you would take +my draft along; but why didn't you come in and take supper with the +rest? This sort of banquet strikes me as the reverse of neighborly," I +said.</p> + +<p>The man fidgeted as he glanced at the dirty handkerchief containing +eatables beside him. "I figured you had quite enough without me, and I +don't feel in much humor <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>for company just now," he said. "This season +has hit me mighty hard."</p> + +<p>"Something more than the season has hit him," commented Haldane, as we +proceeded. "If ever I saw a weak man badly ashamed of himself, that was +one. You can't think of any underhand trick he might have played you +lately?"</p> + +<p>"No," I answered lightly. "He is a harmless creature, and has no +possible reason for injuring me."</p> + +<p>"Quite sure?" asked Haldane, with a glance over his shoulder as we +entered the door. "I've seen men of his kind grow venomous when driven +into a corner. However, it's cool and free from dust in here. Sit down +and try this tobacco."</p> + +<p>Haldane was said to be a shrewd judge of his fellowmen, but I could see +no cause why Redmond should cherish a grudge against me, and knew he had +spoken the truth when he said the seasons had hit him hardly. It was +currently reported that he was heavily in debt, and the stock-rider had +suggested that Lane was pressing him. When Haldane had lighted a cigar +he took a roll of paper off the table and tossed it across to me, +saying, "Is that your work, Ormesby?"</p> + +<p>"No. I never saw it before," I answered, when a glance showed me that +the paper contained a cleverly drawn map of our vicinity, and Haldane +nodded.</p> + +<p>"To tell the truth, I hardly expected it was. Some of your recent +visitors must have dropped it, and as my daughter found it among the +litter during the course of her improvements, and asked whether it +should be preserved, I could not well help seeing what it was. Look at +the thing again, and tell me what you conclude from it."</p> + +<p>"That whoever made it had a good eye for the most valuable locations in +this district," I answered, thoughtfully. "He has also shaded with the +same tint part of my possessions in Crane Valley."</p> + +<p>"Exactly!" and Haldane gazed intently into the blue cigar smoke. "Does +it strike you that the man who made the map intended to acquire those +locations, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>that, considering the possible route of the railway, he +showed a commendable judgment?"</p> + +<p>"It certainly does so now," I answered; and Haldane favored me with a +searching glance. "Then when you discover who it is, keep your eyes on +him, and especially beware of giving him any hold on you."</p> + +<p>I suspected that Lane had made the map, and it is a pity I did not take +Haldane into my full confidence; but misguided pride forbade it, and we +smoked in silence until the opportunity was lost, for he rose, saying: +"No peace for the wicked; the girls are returning. Great heavens! I +thought the child had broken her neck!"</p> + +<p>While Thorn went round by the slip-rails, a slender, white-robed figure +on a big gray horse sailed over the tall fence and came up towards the +house at a gallop, followed by the startled foreman. Haldane, whose +unshakable calm was famous in Eastern markets, quivered nervously, and I +felt relieved that there had been no accident, for it was a daring leap. +Then, while Cotton and Beatrice Haldane followed, Lucille came in +flushed and exultant.</p> + +<p>"We have had a delightful time, father, and you must leave me in charge +of Bonaventure when you go East," she said. "But where did you get the +lady's saddle, Mr. Ormesby?"</p> + +<p>"It is not mine," I answered, smiling. "It belongs to my neighbor's +sister, Sally Steel. She rode a horse over here for Thorn to doctor."</p> + +<p>I regretted the explanation too late. Steel was a good neighbor, but +common report stigmatized his sister as a reckless coquette, and by the +momentary contraction of Beatrice Haldane's forehead I feared that she +had heard the gossip. If this were so, however, she showed no other sign +of it.</p> + +<p>When a delicious coolness preceded the dusk it was suggested that Cotton +should sing to us, and he did so, fingering an old banjo of mine with no +mean skill. I managed to find a place by Beatrice Haldane's side, and +when the pale moon came out and the air had the quality of snow-cooled +wine, her sister sang in turn to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>trooper's accompaniment. I +remember only that it was a song free from weak sentimentality, with an +heroic undertone; but it stirred me, and a murmur of voices rose from +the shadows outside. Then Foreman Thorn stood broad hat in hand, in the +doorway.</p> + +<p>"If it wouldn't be a liberty, miss, the boys would take it as an honor +if you would sing that, or something else, over again. They've never +heard nothing like it, even down to Winnipeg," he said.</p> + +<p>The girl blushed a little, and looked at me. "They were kind to me. Do +you really think it would please them?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"If it doesn't they will be abominably ungrateful; but although we are +not conventional, the request strikes me as a liberty," I said, noticing +that her sister did not seem wholly pleased.</p> + +<p>"Tell them I will do my best," was the answer, and, after a conference +with Cotton, Lucille Haldane walked towards the open door. There was no +trace of vanity or self-consciousness in her bearing. It was pure +kindliness which prompted her, and when she stood outside the building, +with the star-strewn vault above her, and the prairie silver-gray at her +feet, bareheaded, slight, and willowy in her thin white dress, it seemed +small wonder that the dusty men who clustered about the wire fence swung +down their broad hats to do her homage.</p> + +<p>Perfect stillness succeeded, save for sounds made by the restless +cattle; then the banjo tinkled, and a clear voice rang out through the +soft transparency of the summer night: "All day long the reapers!"</p> + +<p>There was a deep murmur when the last tinkle of the banjo sank into +silence, a confused hum of thanks, and teamster and stock-rider melted +away, and Lucille Haldane, returning, glanced almost apologetically at +me.</p> + +<p>"I just felt I had to please them," she said. "Even if you older people +smile, I am proud of this great country, and it seems to me that these +are the men who are making it what it will some day be. Don't you think +that we who live idly in the cities owe a good deal to them?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>Haldane laid his hand caressingly on his daughter's arm. "Impulsive as +ever—but perhaps you are right," he said. "In any case, it will be +after midnight before we get home, and you might ask for our team, +Ormesby."</p> + +<p>Every man about Gaspard's Trail helped to haul up the wagon and harness +the spirited team, while, in spite of Cotton's efforts, Thorn insisted +on handing my youngest guest into the vehicle; and it was with some +difficulty I exchanged parting civilities with the rest as the vehicle +rolled away amid the stockmen's cheers.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">A HOLOCAUST</span></h2> + + +<p>It was late one sultry night when I sat moodily beside an open window in +my house at Gaspard's Trail. I had risen before the sun that morning, +but, though tired with a long day's ride, I felt restless and +ill-disposed to sleep. Thomas Steel, whose homestead stood some leagues +away, lounged close by with his unlighted pipe on his knee and his +coarse sun-faded shirt flung open showing his bronzed neck and the paler +color of his ample chest. He was about my own age and possessed the +frame of a gladiator, but there was limp dejection in his attitude.</p> + +<p>"It's just awful weather, but there's a change at hand," he said. "It +will be too late for some of us when it comes."</p> + +<p>I merely nodded, and glanced out through the window. Thick darkness +brooded over the prairie, though at intervals a flicker of sheet +lightning blazed along the horizon and called up clumps of straggling +birches out of the obscurity. A fitful breeze which eddied about the +building set the grasses sighing, but it was without coolness, and laden +with the smell of burning. Far-off streaks of crimson shone against the +sky in token that grass-fires were moving down-wind across the prairie. +They would, however, so far as we could see, hurt nobody. Steel fidgeted +nervously until I began to wonder what was the matter with him, and when +he thrust his chair backwards I said irritably: "For heaven's sake sit +still. You look as ill at ease as if you had been told off to murder +somebody."</p> + +<p>The stalwart farmer's face darkened. "I feel 'most as bad, and have been +waiting all evening to get the trouble out," he said. "Fact is, I'm +borrowing money, and if <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>you could let me have a few hundred dollars it +would mean salvation."</p> + +<p>I laughed harshly to hide my dismay. The prairie settlers stand by one +another in time of adversity, and in earlier days Steel had been a good +friend to me; but the request was singularly inopportune. Two bad +seasons had followed each other, when the whole Dominion labored under a +commercial depression; and though my estate was worth at ordinary values +a considerable sum, it was only by sacrificing my best stock I could +raise money enough to carry it on.</p> + +<p>"If I get anything worth mentioning for the beasts I'll do my utmost, +and by emptying the treasury perhaps I can scrape up two or three +hundred now. What do you want with it?" I said.</p> + +<p>"I thought you would help me," answered Steel, with a gasp of relief. +"I've been played for the fool I am. I got a nice little book from the +---- Company, and it showed how any man with enterprise could get ahead +by the aid of borrowed capital. Then its representative—very affable +man—came along and talked considerable. I was a bit hard pressed, and +the end was that he lent me money. There were a blame lot of charges, +and the money seemed to melt away, while now, if I don't pay up, he'll +foreclose on me."</p> + +<p>I clenched my right hand viciously, for the man who had trapped poor +Steel had also a hold on me, and I began to cherish a growing fear of +the genial Lane.</p> + +<p>"It's getting a common story around here," I said. "That man seems bent +on absorbing all this country, but if only for that very reason we're +bound to help each other to beat him. It will be a hard pull, but, +though it all depends on what the stock fetch, I'll do the best I can."</p> + +<p>Steel was profuse in his thanks, and I lapsed into a by no means +overpleasant reverie. So some time passed until a glare of red and +yellow showed up against the sky where none had been before.</p> + +<p>"Looks like a mighty big fire. There's long grass feeding it, and it has +just rolled over a ridge," said Steel. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>"Seems to me somewhere near the +Indian Spring Bottom, but Redmond and the other fellow would drive the +stock well clear."</p> + +<p>Flinging my chair back I snatched a small compass from a shelf, laid it +on the window-ledge, and, kneeling behind it, with a knife blade held +across the card I took the bearings of the flame. "It's coming right +down on the bottom, and though by this time the stock is probably well +clear, I'm a little uneasy about it. We'll ride over and make quite +sure," I said.</p> + +<p>"Of course!" Steel answered, and seemed about to add something, but +thought better of it and followed me towards the stable. Thorn, who was +prompt of action, had also seen the fire, for he was already busy with +the horses; and inside of five minutes we were sweeping at a gallop +across the prairie. Save for the intermittent play of lightning the +darkness was Egyptian; and the grass was seamed by hollows and deadly +badger-holes; but the broad blaze streamed higher for a beacon, and, +risking a broken neck, I urged on the mettled beast beneath me. Grass +fires are common, and generally are harmless enough in our country; but +that one seemed unusually fierce, and an indefinite dread gained on me +as the miles rolled behind us.</p> + +<p>"It's the worst I've seen for several seasons. Whole ridge is blazing," +panted Steel, as, with a great crackling, we swept neck and neck +together through the tall grass of a slough in the midst of which +Thorn's horse blundered horribly. Then we dipped into a ravine, reeling +down the slope and splashing through caked mire where a little water had +been. Every moment might be precious, and turning aside for nothing, we +rode straight across the prairie, while at last I pressed the horse +fiercely as a long rise shut out the blaze. Once we gained its crest the +actual conflagration would be visible. The horse was white with lather, +and I was almost blinded with sweat and dust when we gained the summit. +Drawing bridle, I caught at my breath. The Sweetwater ran blood red +beneath us, and the whole mile-wide hollow through which it flowed was +filled with fire, while some distance <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>down stream on the farther side a +dusky mass was discernible through the rolling smoke which blew in long +wisps in that direction. It seemed as though a cold hand had suddenly +been laid on my heart, for the mass moved, and was evidently composed of +close-packed and panic-stricken beasts.</p> + +<p>"It's the Gaspard draft held up by the wing fence!" a voice behind me +rose in a breathless yell.</p> + +<p>I smote the horse, and we shot down the declivity. How the beast kept +its footing I do not know, for there were thickets of wild berries and +here and there thin willows to be smashed through; but we went down at a +mad gallop, the clods whirling behind us and the wind screaming past, +until we plunged into the Sweetwater through a cloud of spray. In places +soft mire clogged the sinking hoofs, in others slippery shingle rolled +beneath them, while the stream seethed whitely to the girth; but +steaming, panting, dripping, we came through, and I dashed, +half-blinded, into the smoke. A confused bellowing came out of the +drifting wreaths ahead, and there was a mad beat of hoofs behind, but I +could see little save the odd shafts of brightness which leaped out of +the vapor as I raced towards the fire. Then somebody cried in warning, +and the horse reared almost upright as—while I wrenched upon the +bridle—a running man staggered out of the smoke. A red blaze tossed +suddenly aloft behind him, and as he turned the brightness smote upon +his blackened face. It was set and savage, and the hair was singed upon +his forehead.</p> + +<p>"It's blue ruin. The green birches are burning, and all your beasts are +corraled in the fence wings," he gasped. "Fire came over the rise +without warning, in Redmond's watch. Somehow he got the rest clear, but +your lot stampeded and the wire brought them up. I'm off to the shanty +for an ax—but no living man could get them out."</p> + +<p>Thorn pulled up his plunging horse as the other spoke, and for a few +seconds I struggled with the limpness of dismay. Then I said hoarsely: +"If the flame hasn't lapped the wings yet, we'll try."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>By this time the horses were almost in a state of panic, and Thorn's +nearly unseated him, but we urged them into the vapor towards the fence. +Fences were scarce in our district then, but after a dispute as to the +grazing I had shared the cost of that one with another man, partly +because it would be useful when sheep washing was forward and would +serve as a corral when we cut out shipping stock. It consisted of only +two wings at right angles—a long one towards the summit of the rise, +and another parallel to the river, which flowed deep beneath that rotten +bank; but the beasts on each side would seldom leave the rich grass in +the hollow to wander round the unclosed end, and if driven into the +angle two riders could hold the open mouth. Now I could see that the +simple contrivance might prove a veritable death-trap to every beast +within it.</p> + +<p>It was with difficulty we reached the crest of the rise, but we passed +the wing before the fire, which now broke through the driving vapor, a +wavy wall of crimson, apparently two fathoms high, closing in across the +full breadth of the hollow at no great pace, but with a relentless +regularity. Then I rode fiercely towards the angle or junction of the +wires where the beasts were bunched together as in the pocket of a net. +Thorn and Steel came up a few seconds later.</p> + +<p>The outside cattle were circling round and jostling each other, +thrusting upon those before them; the inside of the mass was as compact +as if rammed together by hydraulic pressure, and, to judge by the +bellowing, those against the fence were being rent by the barbs or +slowly crushed to death. Our cattle wander at large across the prairie +and exhibit few characteristics of domestic beasts. Indeed, they are at +times almost dangerous to handle, and when stampeded in a panic a +squadron of cavalry would hardly turn them. Yet the loss of this draft +boded ruin to me, and it was just possible that if we could separate one +or two animals from the rest and drive them towards the end of the fence +the others might follow. The mouth of the net might remain open for a +few minutes yet.</p> + +<p>"I guess it's hopeless, but we've just got to try," said <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>Thorn, who +understood what was in my mind. "Start in with that big one. There's not +a second to lose."</p> + +<p>Steel, leaning down from the saddle, drove his knife-point into the rump +of one beast, and when it wheeled I thrust my horse between it and the +herd and smote it upon the nostrils with my clenched fist, uselessly. +The terrified creature headed round again, jamming me against its +companions, and when my horse backed clear, one of my legs felt as +though it were broken. This, however, was no time to trouble about minor +injuries or be particular on the score of humanity; and while Thorn +endeavored to effect a diversion by twisting one beast's tail I pricked +another savagely. It wheeled when it felt the pain, and when it turned +again with gleaming horns and lowered head Steel pushed recklessly into +the opening. Then a thick wisp of smoke filled my eyes, and I did not +see how it happened, but man and horse had gone down together when the +vapor thinned, and the victorious animal was once more adding its weight +to the pressure on the rear of the surging mass.</p> + +<p>Steel was up next moment, struggling with his horse, which, with bared +teeth, was backing away from him at full length of its bridle; but, +answering my shout, he said breathlessly: "I don't know whether half my +bones are cracked or not, but they feel very much like it. It's no good, +Ormesby. We'll have to cut the fence from the other side, and if we fool +here any longer we'll lose the horses, too."</p> + +<p>I saw there was truth in this, and almost doubted if we could clear the +fence wing now. It was at least certain that nothing we could do there +would extricate the terrified beasts; and when Steel got himself into +the saddle we started again at a gallop. There was less smoke, and what +there was towered vertically in a lull of the breeze; but the crackling +flame tossed higher and higher. For a moment I fancied it had cut us off +within the fence, which would have made a dangerous leap; but though the +terrified horses were almost beyond guidance, fear lent them speed, and +with very little room to spare Steel and I shot round the end of the +wire.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>"Look out for the setting-up post nearest the corner, and slack the +turn-screws until the wire goes down, while I try to cut the strand +close in to the herd!" I roared "Is Thorn behind you?"</p> + +<p>"No," the answer came back. "Good Lord! we've left him inside the +fence!"</p> + +<p>I managed to pull my horse up, when a glance showed me the foreman's +stalwart figure silhouetted against the crimson flame as he strove to +master his plunging horse. It was evident that the horse had refused to +face the fire, which now rolled right up the wings of the fence.</p> + +<p>"Come down and let him go! You can either climb the wires or crawl under +them!" I shouted, wondering whether the crackling of the flame drowned +my husky voice.</p> + +<p>"This horse is worth three hundred dollars, and he's either going +through or over," the answer came back; and I shouted in warning, for it +appeared impossible to clear that fence, though the beast, which was not +of common bronco stock, had good imported blood in him. Then there was a +yell from the foreman as he recklessly shot forward straight at the +fence. The horse was ready to face anything so long as he could keep the +fire behind him, and I held my breath as he rose at the wire. Our horses +are not good jumpers, and the result seemed certain. His knees struck +the topmost wire; there was a heavy crash; and the man, shooting forward +as from a catapult, alighted with a sickening thud, while the poor brute +rolled over and lay still on the wrong side of the fence. Thorn rose, +but very shakily, and I was thankful I had lost only some three hundred +dollars, which I could very badly spare.</p> + +<p>"Nothing given out this trip," he spluttered. "I've dropped my knife, +though. Go on and try the cutting. I'll follow when I can."</p> + +<p>In another few moments I dismounted abreast of the angle, and hitched +the bridle round a strand of the wire, knowing that the possibility of +getting away almost instantaneously when my work was done might make +all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>the difference between life and death. The fence was tall, built of +stout barbed wire strained to a few screw standards and stapled to thick +birch posts. I had neither ax nor nippers, only a long-bladed knife, and +densely packed beasts were wedging themselves tighter and tighter +against the other side of the barrier. Already some had fallen and been +trampled out of existence, while others seemed horribly mangled and +torn. The man who had gone for an ax had not reappeared, and I regretted +I had not bidden him take one of our horses, for the shanty was some +distance away.</p> + +<p>Slashing through the laces I dragged off one boot. Its heel was heavy +and might serve for a mallet, and holding the blade of my knife on the +top strand close against a post, I smote it furiously. The wire was not +nicked half through when it burst beneath the pressure, and a barb on +its flying end scored my face so that the blood trickled into my mouth +and eyes; but the next wire was of treble twist, and as I struck and +choked I regretted the thoroughness with which we had built the fence. +The knife chipped under the blows I rained upon it, and when I shortened +the blade its end snapped off. In a fit of desperation I seized the +lacerating wires with my naked fingers and tore at them frenziedly, but +what the pressure on the other side failed to accomplish the strength of +twenty men might not do, so when in a few seconds reason returned to me +I picked up what remained of the knife and set to work again. There was +still no sign of Thorn, and as the wires did not slacken it was plain +that Steel had failed to loose the straining screws without convenient +tools. Three slender cords of steel alone pent in the stock that were to +set me free of debt, but I had no implements with which to break them, +so they also held me fast to be dragged down helpless to beggary.</p> + +<p>At last the wire I struck at bent outward further, and when I next +brought the boot heel down there was a metallic ringing as one strand +parted, and I shouted in breathless triumph, knowing the other must +follow. The fire was close behind the pent-up herd now, and I guessed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> +that very shortly my life would depend on my horse's speed. Just then +Steel dashed up, mounted, shouting: "Into the saddle with you. The fence +is going!"</p> + +<p>I saw him unhitch my horse's bridle and struggle to hold the beast ready +between himself and me, but I meant to make quite certain of my part, so +I brought the boot heel down thrice again. Then I leaped backward, +clutched at the bridle, and scrambled to the saddle as a black mass +rolled out of the gap where the wire flew back. I remember desperately +endeavoring to head the horse clear of it along the fence, and wondering +how many of the cattle would fall over the remaining wires and be +crushed before their carcasses formed a causeway for the rest; but the +horse was past all guidance; and now that the fence had lost its +continuity more fathoms of it went down and the dusky mass poured over +it. Then something struck me with a heavy shock, the horse stumbled as I +slipped my feet out of the stirrups, and we went down together. I saw +nothing further, though I could feel the earth tremble beneath me; then +this sensation faded, and I was conscious of only a numbing pain beneath +my neck and my left arm causing me agony. After this there followed a +space of empty blackness.</p> + +<p>When I partly recovered my faculties the pain was less intense, though +my left arm, which was tied to my side, felt hot and heavy, and the +jolting motion convinced me that I lay in the bottom of a wagon.</p> + +<p>"Did you get the stock clear?" I gasped, striving to raise my head from +the hay truss in which it was almost buried; and somebody who stooped +down held a bottle to my lips.</p> + +<p>"Don't you tell him," a subdued voice said, and the man, who I think was +Steel, came near choking me as he poured more spirit than I could +swallow down my throat and also down my neck.</p> + +<p>"That's all right. Don't worry. We're mighty thankful we got you," he +said.</p> + +<p>Then the empty blackness closed in on me again, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>I lay still, +wondering whether I were dead and buried, and if so, why the pricking +between shoulder and breast should continue so pitilessly; until that +ceased in turn, and I had a hazy idea that someone was carrying me +through an interminable cavern; after which there succeeded complete +oblivion.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">A BITTER AWAKENING</span></h2> + + +<p>The first day on which my attendants would treat me as a rational being +was a memorable one to me. It must have been late in the morning when I +opened my eyes, for the sun had risen above the level of the open +window, and I lay still blinking out across the prairie with, at first, +a curious satisfaction. I had cheated death and been called back out of +the darkness to sunlight and life, it seemed. Then I began to remember, +and the pain in the arm bound fast to my side helped to remind me that +life implied a struggle. Raising my head, I noticed that there had been +changes made in my room, and a young woman standing by the window +frowned at me.</p> + +<p>"I guess all men are worrying, but you're about the worst I ever struck, +Rancher Ormesby. Just you lie back till I fix you, or I'll call the boys +in to tie you fast with a girth."</p> + +<p>She was a tall, fair, well-favored damsel, with a ruddy countenance and +somewhat bold eyes; but I was disappointed when I saw her clearly, even +though her laugh was heartsome when I answered humbly: "I will try not +to trouble you if you don't mean to starve me."</p> + +<p>Miss Sally Steel, for it was my neighbor's sister, shouted to somebody +through the window, and then turned to the man who rose from a corner. +"You just stay right where you are. When I call cookie I'll see he +comes. I've been running this place as it ought to be run, and you won't +know Gaspard's when you get about, Rancher Ormesby."</p> + +<p>The man laughed, and I saw it was Thorn, though I did not know then that +after doing my work and his own during the day he had watched the +greater part of every night beside me.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>"Feeling pretty fit this morning?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Comparatively so," I answered. "I should feel better if I knew just +what happened to me and to the stock. You might tell me, beginning from +the time the fence went down."</p> + +<p>"If he does there'll be trouble," broke in Miss Steel, who, I soon +discovered, had constituted herself autocratic mistress of Gaspard's +Trail. "He must wait until you have had breakfast, anyway." And I saw +the cook stroll very leisurely towards the window carrying a tray.</p> + +<p>"Was anybody calling?" he commenced, with the exasperating slowness he +could at times assume; and then, catching sight of me, would have +clambered in over the low window-sill but that Miss Steel stopped him.</p> + +<p>"Anybody calling! I should think there was—and when I want people +they'll come right along," she said. "No; you can stop out there—isn't +all the prairie big enough for you? There'll be some tone about this +place before I'm through," and the cook grinned broadly as he caught my +eye.</p> + +<p>Miss Steel's voice was not unpleasant, though it had a strident ring, +and her face was gentle as she raised me on a heap of folded blankets +with no great effort, though I was never a very light weight, after +which, between my desire to please her and a returning appetite, I made +a creditable meal.</p> + +<p>"That's a long way better," she said approvingly. "Tom brought a fool +doctor over from Calgary, who said you'd got your brain mixed and a +concussion of the head. 'Fix up his bones and don't worry about anything +else,' I said. 'It would take a steam hammer to make any concussion +worth talking of on Rancher Ormesby's head.'"</p> + +<p>"Thorn has not answered my question," I interrupted; and Miss Steel +flashed a glance at the foreman, who seemed to hesitate before he +answered. "It happened this way: You were a trifle late lighting out +when you'd cut the fence. Steel said one of the beasts charged you, and +after that more of them stampeded right over you. The horse must have +kept some of them off, for he was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>stamped out pretty flat, and it was a +relief to hear you growling at something when we got you out."</p> + +<p>"How did you get me out?" I asked, and Thorn fidgeted before he +answered: "It wasn't worth mentioning, but between us Steel and I +managed to split the rush, and the beasts went by on each side of us."</p> + +<p>"At the risk of being stamped flat, too! I might have expected it of you +and Steel," I said; and the girl's eyes sparkled as she turned to the +foreman.</p> + +<p>"Then Steel went back for the wagon after we found you had an arm and a +collarbone broken. I rode in to the railroad and wired for a doctor. +Sally came over to nurse you, and a pretty tough time she has had of it. +You had fever mighty bad."</p> + +<p>"There's no use in saying I'm obliged to both of you, because you know +it well," I made shift to answer; and Sally Steel stroked the hair back +from my forehead in sisterly fashion as she smiled at Thorn. "But what +about the stock? Did they all get through?"</p> + +<p>Thorn's honest face clouded, and Sally Steel laid her plump hand on my +mouth. "You're not going to worry about that. A herd of cattle stampeded +over you and you're still alive. Isn't that good enough for you?"</p> + +<p>I moved my head aside. "I shall worry until I know the truth. All the +beasts could not have got out. How many did?" I asked.</p> + +<p>Thorn looked at Sally, then sideways at me, and I held my breath until +the girl said softly: "You had better tell him."</p> + +<p>"Very few," said the foreman; and I hoped that my face was as +expressionless as I tried to make it when I heard the count. "Some of +those near the fence got clear, and some didn't. Steel had grubbed up a +post, and when the wires slacked part of the rest got tangled up and +went down, choking the gap. It was worse than a Chicago slaughter-house +when the fire rolled up."</p> + +<p>"The horses, too? How long have I been ill, and has any rain fallen?" I +asked, with the strange steadiness that sometimes follows a crushing +blow, and Thorn moodily shook his head.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>"Both horses done for. You've been ill 'bout two weeks, I think. No rain +worth mentioning—and the crop is clean wiped out."</p> + +<p>There was silence for some minutes, and Sally Steel patted my uninjured +shoulder sympathetically. Then I pointed to a litter of papers on the +table, and inquired if there were any letters in Lane's writing. Thorn +handed me one reluctantly, and it was hard to refrain from fierce +exclamation as I read the laconic missive. Lane regretted to hear of my +accident, but the scarcity of money rendered it necessary to advise me +that as I had not formally accepted his terms, repayment of the loan was +overdue, and he would be obliged to realize unless I were willing to +pledge Crane Valley or renew the arrangement at an extra five per cent. +on the terms last mentioned.</p> + +<p>"Bad news?" said Sally. "Then I guess Thorn sha'n't worry you any more; +but it's just when things look worst the turn comes. That team will be +bolting soon, Thorn. I'll sit right back in the corner, and until you +want to talk to me you can forget I'm there."</p> + +<p>The high-pitched voice sank to a gentler tone, and I felt grateful to +Sally Steel. Her reckless vagaries often formed a theme for laughter +when the inhabitants of the prairie foregathered at settlement or store; +but there was a depth of good-nature, as well as an overdaring love of +mischief in her, and not infrequently a blessing accompanied the jest. +Thorn was moving towards the door when, recollecting another point, I +beckoned him.</p> + +<p>"How was it that when they had, or should have had, time enough, +Henderson's man and Redmond did not stop the cattle bunching in the +fence? It's very unlike our ways if they made no effort to save my +beasts as well as their own masters' property," I said.</p> + +<p>Foreman Thorn looked troubled, and I saw that Sally was watching him +keenly. "I don't understand it rightly, and I guess no man ever will," +he said. "Of course, we struck Henderson's Jo with just that question, +and this is what he made of it. He and Redmond were camping in Torkill's +deserted sod-house, and when <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>they saw the fires were bad that night, +Redmond said he'd ride round the cattle. Their own lot was pretty well +out of harm's way, east of the fence, but Jo told him to take a look at +yours. Redmond started, and, as Jo knew that he'd be called if he were +wanted, he went off to sleep."</p> + +<p>"That does not explain much," I interjected, when Thorn halted, rubbing +his head as though in search of inspiration.</p> + +<p>"There isn't an explanation. Jo, waking later, saw the fire coming right +down the hollow and started on foot for the fence. There was no sign of +Redmond anywhere. Jo couldn't get the stock out, and he couldn't cut the +fence, and he was going back for an ax when we met him. You know all the +rest—'cept this. Steel and I were standing over you, and the fire was +roasting the beasts mixed up in the fence, when Redmond comes along. The +way he stood, the flame shone right on his face. It seemed twisted, and +the man looked like a ghost. He stood there blinking at the beasts—and +it wasn't a pretty sight—then shook all over as he stooped down and +looked at you. There was a good deal of blood about you from the horse.</p> + +<p>"'What the devil's wrong with you? Stiffen yourself up!' says Steel; and +Redmond's voice cracked in the middle as he answered him: 'I'm feeling +mighty sick. Is he dead?'</p> + +<p>"'Looks pretty near it. If you'd seen those beasts clear he mightn't +have come to this. Here, take a drink. We'll want you presently,' says +Steel, and went on strapping you together with a girth and bridle, while +I watched Redmond with one eye. As you know, there was never much grit +in the creature, and he had another shivering fit.</p> + +<p>"'Get out until you're feeling better. That kind of thing's catching, +and we've lots to do,' I said; and he laughs with a cackle like an +hysterical woman, and blinks straight past me. Steel and I figured he'd +got hold of some smuggled whisky and been drinking bad, but afterwards +Henderson's Jo said no.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>"'It's murder. My God! It's horrible—an' he never done anyone no harm,' +he says, and falls to cussing somebody quietly. I can talk pretty +straight when I'm hot myself, but that was ice-cold swearing with venom +in it, and when he got on to Judas, with the devil in his eyes, I ripped +up a big sod and plugged him on the head with it.</p> + +<p>"'If you don't let up or quit I'll pound the life out of you,' says +Steel.</p> + +<p>"Well, we got you fixed so you couldn't make the damage worse, and when +Steel went for the wagon and I looked around for Redmond he was gone. +Don't know what to think of it, anyway, 'cept his troubles or bad whisky +had turned his head. You see he was never far from crazy."</p> + +<p>"Why didn't one of you get hold of him and make him talk next day?" I +asked; and Thorn looked at me curiously.</p> + +<p>"Because he'd gone. Lit out to nobody knows where and stopped there. I +don't know just what to think, myself."</p> + +<p>Sally took Thorn by the shoulders and thrust him out, but he left me +with sufficient, and unpleasant, food for reflection. The stock I had +counted on were gone. Also, when it was above all things desirable that +I should be up and doing, I must lie still for weeks, useless as a log. +One thing at least I saw clearly, and that was the usurer's purpose to +absorb my property; and as I lay with throbbing forehead and +tight-clenched fingers, which had grown strangely white, I determined +that he should have cause to remember the struggle before he +accomplished it. That Redmond had been driven by him into shameful +treachery appeared too probable, though there was no definite proof of +it, and the thought stiffened my resolution. My scattered neighbors, +patient as they were, were ill to coerce and would doubtless join me in +an effort before the schemer's machinations left us homeless.</p> + +<p>Then I could hardly check a groan as I remembered all that the brief +glimpses of a brighter life at Bona<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>venture had suggested. A few months +earlier it had appeared possible that with one or two more good seasons +I might even have attained to it; but since then a gulf had opened +between Beatrice Haldane and me, and the best I could hope for was a +resumption of what now seemed hopeless drudgery. It was a bitter +awakening, and I almost regretted that Steel and Foreman Thorn had not +been a few seconds later when the fence went down. An hour passed, and +Sally Steel, bringing a chair over to my side, offered to read to me +what she said was a real smart shadowing story. I glanced at the +invincible detective standing amid a scene of bloodshed, depicted on the +cover of the journal she held up, and declined with due civility.</p> + +<p>"I am afraid my nerves are not good enough. I should sooner you talked +to me, Sally," I said.</p> + +<p>She laughed coquettishly, and there was no doubt that Steel's sister was +handsome, as women on that part of the prairie go. Sun and wind had +ripened the color in her face, her teeth were white as ivory, her lips +full and red, and perhaps most men would have found pleasure watching +the sparkle of mischief that danced in her eyes as she answered +demurely: "That would be just too nice. What shall we talk about?"</p> + +<p>"You might tell me who was the first to come ask about me," I said.</p> + +<p>The girl stretched out one plump arm with a comprehensive gesture. "They +all came, bringing things along, most of them. Even the little +Icelander; he loaded up his wagon with a keg of herrings—said they were +best raw—and lumps of grindstone bread. Oh, yes; they all came, and I +was glad to see them, 'cept when some of their wives came with them."</p> + +<p>"They are kind people in this country; but how could the women worry +you? In any case, I think you would be equal to them," I commented; and, +somewhat to my surprise, the girl first blushed, and then looked +positively wicked.</p> + +<p>"They—well, they would ask questions, and said <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>things, when they found +Tom was down to Brandon," she answered enigmatically. "Still, I guess I +was equal to most of them. 'Rancher Ormesby's not sending the hat round +yet, and that truck is not fit for any sick man to eat when it's just +about half-cooked,' I said. 'You can either take it back or leave it for +Thorn to worry with. Fresh rocks wouldn't hurt his digestion. Just now +I'm way too busy to answer conundrums.'"</p> + +<p>Sally seemed glad to abandon that topic, and did not look quite pleased +when I hazarded another question, with suppressed interest, but as +carelessly as I could: "Did anybody else drive over?"</p> + +<p>The girl laughed a trifle maliciously, and yet with a certain enjoyment. +"Oh, yes. One day, when I was too busy for anything, the people from +Bonaventure drove over, and wanted to take you back. I don't know why, +but the way Haldane's elder daughter looked about the place just got my +back up. 'You can't have him. This is where he belongs,' I said.</p> + +<p>"'But he is ill, and this place is hardly fit for him. There are no +comforts, and we could take better care of him,' said the younger one, +and I turned round to her.</p> + +<p>"'That's just where you're wrong. Rancher Ormesby has lived here for +eight years, and when he's sick he has plenty friends of his own kind to +take care of him. I'm one of them, and we don't dump our sick people on +to strangers,' I said.</p> + +<p>"The elder one she straightens herself a little, as though she didn't +like my talk. 'He could not be as comfortable as he would be at +Bonaventure, which is the most important thing. We will ask the doctor; +and have you any right to place obstacles in the way of Mr. Ormesby's +recovery?' says she, and that was enough for me.</p> + +<p>"'I've all the right I want,' I answered. 'I'm running Gaspard's Trail, +and if you can find a man about the place who won't jump when I want +him, you needn't believe me. That makes me a busy woman—see?—so I'll +not keep you. Go back to Bonaventure, and don't <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>come worrying the +people he belongs to about Rancher Ormesby.'"</p> + +<p>I groaned inwardly, and only by an effort concealed my blank +consternation. "What did they say next?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Nothing much. The younger one—and I was half sorry I'd spoken straight +to her—opened her eyes wide. The elder one she looks at me in a way +that made me feel fit to choke her, while Haldane made a little bow. 'I +have no doubt he is in capable hands, and we need not trouble you +further. No, I don't think you need mention that we called,' says he."</p> + +<p>Sally tossed her head with an air of triumph as she concluded, and I lay +very still, for it was too late to pray for deliverance from my friends, +though of all the rude succession this was about the most cruel blow. +What mischievous fiend had prompted the quick-tempered girl to turn upon +the Haldanes I could never surmise, but jealousy might have had +something to do with it, for Trooper Cotton had once been a favorite of +hers. In any case, the result appeared disastrous, for, while I believed +her no more than thoughtless, there was no disguising the fact that some +of the settlers' less-favored daughters spoke evil of Sally Steel, and I +feared their stories had reached Bonaventure.</p> + +<p>When five minutes or so had passed she looked at me somewhat shyly. +"You're not mad?" she said.</p> + +<p>"I could hardly be vexed with you, whatever happened, after all you have +done for me. I was only thinking," I made shift to answer. "Still, you +might have been a little more civil, Sally."</p> + +<p>For a moment or two the girl appeared almost penitent; then she bent her +head towards my own, and again the mischief crept into her eyes.</p> + +<p>"I'd have brought them in to a banquet, if I had only guessed," she +said; and with a thrill of laughter she slipped out of the room. It was +with sincere relief I saw her go, for I was in no mood for the somewhat +pointed prairie banter, and felt that, in spite of her mani<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>fold +kindnesses, I could almost have shaken Sally Steel. Then I turned my +head from the light, remembering I was not only a ruined man without +even power to move, but had left a discordant memory with the friends +whose good opinion I most valued, and whom now I might never again meet +on the old terms.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">HOW REDMOND CAME HOME</span></h2> + + +<p>The weather continued pitilessly hot and dry, when, one afternoon, +Trooper Cotton, returning from a tour of fireguard inspection, sat near +the window-seat in which I lay at Gaspard's Trail. I was glad of his +company, because the sight of the parched prairie and bare strip of +plowland was depressing. Barns and granary alike were empty, for the +earth had failed to redeem her promise that season, and an unnatural +silence brooded over Gaspard's Trail.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what has come over this country," the trooper said. "One +used to get a cheery word everywhere, but now farmer and stockman can +hardly answer a question civilly, and the last fellow I spoke to about +his fireguards seemed inclined to assault me. Presumably it's the bad +times, and I'll be thankful when they improve. It might put some of you +into a more pleasant humor."</p> + +<p>"If you had said bad men you might have been nearer the mark," I +answered dryly. "We are a peaceable people, but there's an oppression +worse than any governmental tyranny, and from the rumors in the air it's +not impossible some of us may try to find our own remedy if we are +pushed too far."</p> + +<p>"That's a little indefinite," said Cotton, with a laugh. "If you mean +taking the law into your own hands, there would be very unpleasant work +for me. Still, I'm sorry for all of you, especially those whom that +flabby scoundrel Lane seems to be squeezing. He's been driving to and +from the railroad a good deal of late, and it's curious that twice when +I struck his trail two traveling photographers turned up soon after him. +One was a most amusing rascal, but I did not see the other, who was busy +inside the wagon tent, and who apparently man<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>aged the camera. I'll show +you a really tolerable picture of me he insisted on taking."</p> + +<p>It struck me that Boone, or Adams, had twice run a serious risk; but I +said nothing, and Cotton, fumbling inside his tunic, tossed a litter of +papers on the table. These were mostly official, but there were odd +letters among them, for the trooper was not remarkable for preciseness, +and I noticed a crest upon some of the envelopes, while, after shuffling +them, he flung me a small card, back uppermost. I was surprised when, +turning it over, the face of Lucille Haldane met my gaze.</p> + +<p>"It is a charming picture; but that is only natural, considering the +original. How did you get this, Cotton?" I said.</p> + +<p>The trooper snatched it from me, and a darker color mantled his +forehead. "Confound it! I never meant to show you that," he said.</p> + +<p>"So I surmised," I answered dryly; and the lad frowned as he thrust the +picture out of sight.</p> + +<p>"You will understand, Ormesby, that Miss Haldane did not give me this. +I—well—I discovered it."</p> + +<p>"Wasn't it foolish of you?" I asked quietly; and the trooper, who, +strange to say, did not seem to find my tone of paternal admonition +ludicrous, answered impulsively: "I don't know why I should strip for +your inspection, Ormesby, or why I should not favor you with a +well-known reply; but it is perhaps best that you should not +misunderstand the position. I know what you are thinking, but I haven't +forgotten I'm Trooper Cotton—nor am I likely to. It's a strange life, +Ormesby, and the men who live it go under occasionally. This—God bless +her—is merely something to hold on by."</p> + +<p>I made no answer, for there was nothing appropriate I could find to say; +but it occurred to me that Lucille Haldane might never receive a higher +compliment than this lad's unexpectant homage.</p> + +<p>"Here is the right one, and you will obliterate the other from your +memory," he said, passing me a second photograph. "The fellow who took +it knows how to handle a camera."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>It was evident he did; and, knowing who he was, the irony of the +circumstances impressed me as I examined the picture. "He has an +artistic taste and an eye for an effective pose. Are you going to send +any copies to your people in England, Cotton?" I said.</p> + +<p>"No," answered the lad quietly; "they might not be pleased with it. +Well, I dare say, you have guessed long ago that I am one of the legion. +Most of my people were soldiers, which was why, when I had two dollars +left, I offered the nation my services at Regina; but I am the first of +them to wear a police private's uniform."</p> + +<p>I nodded sympathetically, and the trooper, who looked away from me out +of the window, said: "Talk of the devil! All men, it is said, are equal +in this country, but I fancy there's a grade between most of us and your +acquaintance, Foster Lane. The fellow has passed the corral, and I can't +get out without meeting him."</p> + +<p>I nodded with a certain grim sense of anticipation, for I had determined +to speak very plainly to Foster Lane, and knew that Cotton could, on +occasion, display a refined insolence that was signally exasperating. +The next moment Lane came in, red-faced and perspiring, and greeted me +with his usual affability.</p> + +<p>"I'm on the way to recovery, but unable to ride far, which explains my +request for a visit," I said; and Lane waved his large hands +deprecatingly.</p> + +<p>"Business is business, and you need not apologize, because although I +have come two hundred miles you will find first-class expenses charged +for in the bill. I can't smoke on horseback. Will you and the trooper +try one of these?"</p> + +<p>"No, thanks," said Cotton, with an inflection in his voice and a look in +his half-closed eyes that would have warned a more sensitive person; but +Lane, still holding out the cigar-case, added with mild surprise: "By +the price I paid for them they ought to be good."</p> + +<p>"I don't doubt it," drawled Cotton, glancing languidly at the speaker. +"But a few of what you would call British prejudices still cling to me, +and I take cigars and things only from my friends—you see?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>The stout man laughed a little, though there was malice in his eye. "And +we are not likely to be acquainted? You are, one might presume, a scion +of the English aristocracy, come out to recruit your health or wait +until it's a little less sultry in the old country."</p> + +<p>"I would hardly go so far!"—and Cotton drawled out the words, as he +turned upon his heel. "More unlikely things have happened. At present I +have the honor of serving her Majesty as—a police trooper."</p> + +<p>Lane handed me his cigar-case when the lad strolled out of the door, but +I was in no mood to assume an unfelt cordiality. "I am not inclined for +smoking. Hadn't we better come straight to business?" I said.</p> + +<p>Lane struck a match, and stretched his legs along the window-seat, +though he closed the case with a snap. "Why, certainly! You are ready to +redeem the mortgage on Gaspard's Trail?"</p> + +<p>He spoke pleasantly, though there was a sneer in his eyes, and he had +both lighted his cigar, in spite of my hint, and laid his dusty boots on +the cushions with a cool assurance that made me long to personally +chastise him. "You probably know that I am not," I said.</p> + +<p>"I did hear you had lost some cattle," he answered indifferently. "Well, +in that case, I wait your proposition."</p> + +<p>"I am open to renew the loan at the original interest until this time +next year, when, no matter what I may have to part with, it will be paid +off. You have already had a very fair return on your money," I said.</p> + +<p>"It can't be done," and Lane looked thoughtfully at his cigar. "I'll +carry you on that long at double interest, or make you a bid outright +for Crane Valley."</p> + +<p>"There is no reason in your first offer; you asked only fifty per cent. +increase last time, which was enough in all conscience. What do you want +with Crane Valley?"</p> + +<p>Lane smiled benignly. "You didn't accept that offer formally. Crane +Valley's a pretty location, and I've taken a fancy to it."</p> + +<p>I took time to answer, and set my brain to work. The advantage lay with +the enemy, but, while it appeared <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>certain that he would dispossess me +of Gaspard's Trail, I determined to hold on to Crane Valley. "You can't +have it, and I will not pay the extortionate interest. That, I think, is +plain enough," I said.</p> + +<p>The financier shrugged his shoulders. "I hope you won't be sorry. I +haven't quite decided on my program, but you will hear what it is when +I'm ready. Have you got your own fixed?"</p> + +<p>"I will have soon," I answered, my indignation gaining the mastery. +"There is no advantage to be gained by further circumlocution, and you +may as well know that I will give you as much trouble as possible before +you plunder me. In the first place, if we find Redmond, I shall try to +strike you for conspiracy."</p> + +<p>"Do you know where Redmond is?" and there was a curious note in the +speaker's voice, though I stolidly refrained from any sign of either +negation or assent. "Neither do I; but I have my suspicions that he +won't be much use to you if you do find him. The man is half-crazy, +anyway. Did you ever hear about the fool bullfrog and the ox, Rancher +Ormesby?"</p> + +<p>He leaned back against the logs, and chuckled so complacently at his own +conceit that it was hard to believe this easy-tempered creature was +draining half my neighbors' blood; but I was filled with a great +loathing for him.</p> + +<p>"Your simile isn't a good one, even if it fits the case. An ox is a +hard-working, honest, and useful kind of beast; but there's no use +bandying words," I said.</p> + +<p>"Just so!" and Lane rose lazily. "It's rather a pity you sent for me, +because you have not had much for your money. Being rather pressed just +now, I won't stay."</p> + +<p>I had no intention of requesting him to do so, for the air seemed +clearer without him, and presently Cotton returned. For the first time, +I told him all my suspicions concerning Redmond, and he looked grave as +he listened. "It would have saved some people sorrow if I could only +have run that horse-leach in," he commented, gazing regretfully after +the diminishing figure <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>of the rider. "Yes; it's curious about Redmond. +Lane was over at his place a little while before your accident, and I +believe afterwards as well, and since then nobody has seen Redmond. I'll +have a talk with Mackay, and put some of our men on his trail. If he's +still on top of the prairie they'll find him."</p> + +<p>Cotton rode away; and late that evening Steel returned from his own +holding with a very grim face, while the eyes of his sister were +suspiciously red.</p> + +<p>"I'm to be sold up, and am turned out now," he said. "Lane, who won't +wait any longer, is foreclosing, and he'll fix things so there will be +no balance left. God knows what's to become of Sally and me."</p> + +<p>"You need not trouble about Sally," the girl said, with a flash in her +eyes. "We'll worry along somehow, and we'll live to see that devil +sorry."</p> + +<p>Practical counsel seemed the best sympathy, and after asking a few +questions, I said: "This is going to be a grain-producing country, and +there are plenty acres ready for breaking and horses idle at Crane +Valley. When Lane seizes Gaspard's Trail, as he probably will, we must +see what can be done with them on the share arrangement; and meantime, +since I paid two hired men off, there is plenty for you to do here +helping me."</p> + +<p>Steel eventually agreed, and as soon as I was fit for the saddle I rode +over to Mackay's quarters; but, though he stated that if Redmond were +anywhere in the Territories he would sooner or later be found, nothing +had so far resulted from his inquiries.</p> + +<p>It was some weeks later, and towards the close of a sultry afternoon, +when I rode homewards with Cotton and Steel towards the Sweetwater. We +had much thunder that season, and though there had been a heavy storm +the night before, a stagnant, oppressive atmosphere still hung over the +prairie. It suited the somber mood of two of the party, while even +Cotton seemed unusually subdued.</p> + +<p>Steel's possessions had been sold off that day, and bought up at +ridiculously inadequate prices by two strangers, who we all suspected +had been financed by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>Lane. Few of us had a dollar to spare, and the +auctioneer, who was also probably under the money-lender's thumb, +demanded proof of ability to make the purchase when one or two neighbors +attempted to force up the bidding. Steel rode with slack bridle and his +head bent, and I was heavy of heart, for I held Gaspard's Trail only on +sufferance, and the same fate must soon overtake me. The prairie +stretched before us a desolate waste, fading on the horizon into gray +obscurity, and, together with the gloom of the heavens above, its +forlorn aspect increased my depression. So we came moodily to the dip to +the Sweetwater, and I saw Mackay standing beside a deeper pool below. A +rapid flowed into the head of it, and the lines of froth shone with a +strange lividness. The time was then perhaps an hour before sunset. When +we dismounted to water and rest the horses, Mackay turned sharply and +glanced at Cotton.</p> + +<p>"All went off quietly?" And the trooper nodded.</p> + +<p>"Yes," I said. "We have a long patience, Sergeant; but there were signs +on some of the faces that things may go differently some day."</p> + +<p>"Ay?" said the sergeant, fixing his keen eyes on me as he stood, a lean, +bronze-skinned statue beside the river. "What were ye meaning, Rancher +Ormesby?"</p> + +<p>"I was merely giving you a hint," I said. "We have paid all demanded +from us and kept the law, but now, when the powers that rule us stand by +and watch us ground out of existence to enrich a few unprincipled +schemers, it is hard to say what might not happen."</p> + +<p>"Ye did well," was the dry answer. "It will be my business to see ye +keep it still; but in this country any man has liberty to talk just as +foolishly as it pleases him. Can the law change the seasons for ye, or +protect the careless from their own improvidence? But let be. I'm older +than most o' ye, and have seen that there's a measure set on +oppression."</p> + +<p>He concluded with a curious assurance which approached solemnity; but +Steel added, with a Western expletive, that he had already let be until +he was ruined. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>Then I broke in: "If I can find Redmond and wring the +truth from him I hope to prove that the limit has been reached; and I +purpose, in the first place, to see what the law will do for me. Have +you any word of him?"</p> + +<p>"No," and the sergeant's tone was very significant. "If he were still +above the prairie-sod we should have found him. But there was a bit +freshet last night—and I am expecting him."</p> + +<p>Steel, I fancied, shivered, and though the speaker might well be +mistaken, anything that served to divert our thoughts was a relief, and +for a while we lay among the grasses, smoking silently. The sky was +heavily overcast, there was no breath of air astir, and the slow gurgle +of the river drifted mournfully down the hollow. For some reason, I felt +strangely restless and expectant, as though something unusual would +shortly happen. A faint drumming of hoofs rose up from somewhere far off +across the prairie, as well as a sound which might have been made by an +approaching wagon.</p> + +<p>"That's Lane striking south for the railroad with a few of the boys +behind him," Steel said listlessly. "There'll be thunder before he +reaches it, and Lardeau's team is wild, but there's no use hoping +they'll bolt and break Lane's neck for him. Accidents do not happen to +that kind of man."</p> + +<p>A little time had passed, and the beat of horses' feet broke in a +rhythmic measure through the heavy stillness, when Cotton, who had +followed his sergeant along the bank, raised a shout, and I leaped to my +feet, for something that circled with the current was drifting down +stream. We ran our hardest, and, for I was not strong yet, the others +were standing very silent, with tense faces and staring eyes, when I +rejoined them.</p> + +<p>"Yon's Redmond," said Sergeant Mackay. "I was expecting him."</p> + +<p>The object he pointed to slid slowly by abreast of us, and I felt a +shock of physical nausea as I stared at it. At that distance it was +without human semblance, a mere shapeless mass of sodden clothing, save +for the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>faint white glimmer of a face; but the shock gave place to a +fit of sullen fury. Heaven knows I cherished no anger against the +unfortunate man. Indeed, from the beginning, I had regarded him as a +mere helpless tool; but death had robbed me of my only weapon, and I +remembered Lane's prediction that Redmond would be of little use to me +if I found him.</p> + +<p>"If one of ye has a lariat ye had better bring it," said Sergeant +Mackay.</p> + +<p>We followed the object down stream. It floated slowly, now +half-submerged, now rising more buoyantly, with the blanched countenance +turned towards the murky heavens, out of which the light was fading, +until Steel, poising himself upon the bank, deftly flung a coupled +lariat. The noose upon its end took hold, and I shrank backwards when we +drew what it held ashore, for Redmond's face was ill to look upon, and +seemed to mock me with its staring eyes.</p> + +<p>"Stan' clear!" said the sergeant, perhaps feeling speech of any kind +would be a relief, for nobody showed the least desire to crowd upon him. +"If it had not been for the regulations a drop of whisky would have been +acceptable, seeing that it's my painful duty to find out how he came by +his end."</p> + +<p>The words were excusable, but there was no whisky forthcoming; and +though, perhaps, only one man in a hundred would have undertaken that +gruesome task, the sergeant went through it with the grim thoroughness +which characterized all his actions.</p> + +<p>"There's no sign of a blow or bullet that I can find, and I'm thinking +only the Almighty knows whether he drowned himself or it was accidental +death. Ye can identify him, all of ye?"</p> + +<p>We thought we could, but had been so intent that nobody noticed the +trampling of horses' hoofs until a wagon was drawn up close by, and +several riders reined in their beasts.</p> + +<p>"Here's a man who ought to," said Steel. "Come down and swear to your +partner, Lane."</p> + +<p>Turning, I saw my enemy start as he looked over <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>the side of the wagon +at what lay before him. Every eye was fixed upon him, and Steel stood +quietly determined by the wheel.</p> + +<p>"I'm in a hurry, and don't fill the post of coroner," the former said.</p> + +<p>"Will you come down?" Steel added; and there was a low growl from the +assembly, while Lane shrank back from that side of the vehicle. "I guess +it's certain this man was the last to see Redmond alive."</p> + +<p>"Drive on!" said Lane to the teamster; but the man hesitated, while, +when his employer snatched up the reins, there was another murmur deeper +than before, and mounted men closed about the wagon, their figures +cutting blackly against the fading light. Why they were journeying +homewards in such company I did not learn, but, overtaking it, they had +perhaps ridden beside the wagon for the purpose of expressing their +frank opinion of its occupant.</p> + +<p>"Ye cannot pass until ye have answered my questions," said Sergeant +Mackay. "If he does not dismount ye have authority to help him, Steel. +Ye will hold the horses, Trooper Cotton."</p> + +<p>Lane slowly climbed down the wheel, and neither Mackay nor Cotton +interfered when, as he showed signs of remaining at the foot of it, +Steel's hand closed firmly on his neck and forced him forwards, +apparently much against his wishes. Then the ruined farmer held him, +protesting savagely, beside the body of his victim. It was, in its own +way, an impressive scene—the erect, soldierly figures of the uniformed +troopers, the circle of silent mounted men, who moved only to sooth +their uneasy horses, and the white-faced man who shivered visibly as he +looked down at the sodden heap at his feet. There was also, even had the +two been strangers, ample excuse for him.</p> + +<p>"While protesting that this is an outrage, I am ready to answer your +questions," he said huskily.</p> + +<p>"Who is this man? Did ye know him?" asked the sergeant, whose face +remained woodenly impassive.</p> + +<p>"Rancher Redmond, by his clothing," was the an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>swer. "Yes; if necessary, +I think I could swear to him." And the sergeant asked again: "When and +where did ye last see him?"</p> + +<p>"In the birch <i>coulée</i>, at dusk, three weeks past Tuesday. That would +make it——" But the financier seemed unable to work out the simple sum, +and concluded: "You can figure the date for yourself."</p> + +<p>"What business had ye with him?" and the sergeant smiled dryly at the +answer: "That does not concern you."</p> + +<p>"Maybe no. If ye have good reasons for not telling I will not press ye, +though ye may be called upon to speak plainly. Do ye know how he came +into the river?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Lane, a trifle too vehemently.</p> + +<p>"Do ye know of any reason why he should have drowned himself?" And Lane +turned upon the questioner savagely:</p> + +<p>"I'll make you all suffer for your inference! Why should I know? I +challenge the right of anyone but a coroner to detain me."</p> + +<p>"I'll let ye see my authority at the station if I find it necessary to +take ye there," said the sergeant grimly. "Noo will ye answer? Do ye +know why this man ye had dealings with should wish to destroy himself?"</p> + +<p>"You're presuming a good deal," was the answer; and Lane's face grew +malevolent as he glanced at Steel and me. "How do you know he did +destroy himself, anyway; and if he did, I guess it's an open secret he +had trouble with Ormesby and Steel."</p> + +<p>I sprang forward, but Cotton laid a heavy hand on my shoulder, and there +was a threatening ejaculation from one of the bystanders. "Well, to +satisfy you, I solemnly declare I am in no way connected with what has +befallen the deceased rancher, and know of no reason why he should have +attempted his life. This isn't a court; but because I'm in a hurry, and +to stop chattering tongues, I call heaven to witness it is the truth."</p> + +<p>I believed that, after a villainous attempt to divert suspicion to me, +the man was deliberately perjuring him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>self, and several of the +bystanders must have believed it, too. Most of them were not wholly free +from superstition, and their faces were almost expectant as they stood +strung up and intent about the dead man under the deepening gloom. Then +a flicker of pale lightning filled the hollow. Each face was lit up for +a second, and Lane's was livid; and, when the flash faded, the dusk +seemed to deepen suddenly, and a boom of distant thunder rolled from +swelling level to level across the prairie. Thunder had been very +frequent during the last few weeks, but the listeners seemed to find the +coincidence significant.</p> + +<p>"Ye can pass," said the sergeant, whose voice seemed a trifle unsteady. +"But it will be on horseback, and we may want ye later. Lardeau—it's a +charity—ye will lend Redmond the wagon."</p> + +<p>"You can't have it," said Lane. "I have a long journey before me and a +rheumatic thigh. If you take the wagon I hired what am I to do?"</p> + +<p>"You can ride with Redmond. His house is on your way, and you can't hurt +him, anyway. The poor devil's beyond you now," said a stern voice; and +Lane, who allowed the teamster to help him onto one of the horses which +was replaced, departed hurriedly.</p> + +<p>"I congratulate ye," said Sergeant Mackay significantly. "He was a +fellow-creature, boys. Who'll help me lift him in? We will e'en need the +same service ourselves some day."</p> + +<p>I shuddered, but took my place with Steel among the rest; and when the +task was accomplished, the latter expressed both our feelings as he +said: "I wouldn't for five hundred dollars do that again; but it seemed +the poor devil's due after what we said about him. I guess he wasn't +quite responsible, and was driven to it; but, when it comes to the +reckoning, God help the man who drove him."</p> + +<p>It was dark when we gained the level and followed the creaking wagon +that jolted before us across the prairie. Few words were spoken. A low +rumbling of thunder rolled across the great emptiness, while now <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>and +then a pale blue flash fell athwart the lathered horses and set faces of +the men. "The beasts," said one big farmer, "know considerably more than +they can tell. Look at the near one sweating! I guess they find Redmond +or the load he's carrying mighty heavy."</p> + +<p>"Then," added another voice, which broke harshly through the thuds of +hoofs, "ten teams wouldn't move the man who rode away."</p> + +<p>The ways of the prairie dwellers are in some respects modern and crudely +new; but the Highland servants of the Hudson's Bay Company and the +French half-breed <i>voyageur</i> have between them left us a dowry of quaint +belief and superstition; and the growl of the thunder and the black +darkness made a due impression on most of those who brought Redmond +home. For my part I was thankful when a lonely log-house loomed up ahead +and the wagon came to a standstill. Four men, improvising a stretcher, +took up their burden, and halted as Sergeant Mackay and another, neither +of whom seemed to care about his errand, knocked on the door.</p> + +<p>A young woman opened it, holding aloft a lamp, and under its uncertain +light her face showed drawn and pale. I breathed harder, and heard some +of those about me murmur compassionately, for she looked very frail and +young to bear what must follow. The sergeant's words did not reach us, +but a swift glare of blue flame, that left us dazzled, broke in upon +them. The whole space about the building was flooded with temporary +brilliancy, and Redmond's daughter must have seen us standing about the +wagon and the bearers waiting, for she dropped the lantern (which Mackay +seized in time), and caught at the logs which framed the door as if for +support. A minute must have passed before the slight form once more +stood erect upon the threshold.</p> + +<p>"Mackay thinks of everything," Steel said in my ear. "He sent Gordon off +to bring his wife along. There's only the half-breed here, and she'll +need a white woman with her to-night, poor soul."</p> + +<p>"Bring him in," said a low voice; and before the sergeant could prevent +her, the speaker, snatching up the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>lantern, moved forward to meet the +bearers. It was no sight for young eyes, and I saw Steel shudder; but +there was wild Erse blood in the girl, and, holding one arm up, she +stood erect, facing us again.</p> + +<p>"This was my father, and he was a kind man to me," she said, with a +choking gasp that was not a sob, and from which her voice broke high and +shrill. "For the sake of a few acres and cattle he was driven to his +death, and may black sorrow follow the man who ruined him. Sorrow and +bitterness, with the fear that will drive sleep from him and waste him +blood and bone until he takes the curse of the widow and orphan with him +into the flame of hell!"</p> + +<p>Then the eerie voice sank again, and it was with a strange dignity she +concluded: "I thank you, neighbors. You can bring him in."</p> + +<p>Another paler flash lit up the prairie as they carried Redmond in, and, +when a wagon came bouncing up to the fence, Steel said: "Here's Mrs. +Gordon; they have lost no time. Are you coming back, Ormesby? I've had +about enough of this."</p> + +<p>I had no wish to linger, and when we rode homewards through the deluge +that now thrashed our faces, the sergeant, who overtook us, said: "Man, +I feel creepy! She's no' quite canny, and yon was awesome."</p> + +<p>"It was impressive; but you can't attach much importance to that poor +girl's half-distracted raving," I said, partly to convince myself.</p> + +<p>"Maybe no," said Sergeant Mackay. "Superstition, ye say; but I'm +thinking there's a judgment here as well as hereafter, and I'd no' care +to carry yon curse about with me."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX<br /> +<span class="smalltext">A PRAIRIE STUDY</span></h2> + + +<p>So Redmond came home, and we buried him the following night by +torchlight on a desolate ridge of the prairie. It was his daughter who +ordered this; and if some of those who held aloft the flaming tow +guessed his secret they kept it for the sake of the girl who stood with +a stony, tearless face beside the open grave. He had doubtless yielded +to strong compulsion when driven into a corner from which, for one of +his nature, there was no escape, and now that he was dead, I had +transferred my score against him to the debit of the usurer. As we rode +home after the funeral I said something of the kind to Steel, who agreed +with me.</p> + +<p>"If you concluded to try it, Thorn and Jo and I, taking our affidavits +as to what we saw that night, might make out a case for you; but I don't +know that we could fix it on Lane, and it strikes me as mean to drag a +dead man into the fuss for nothing," he said. "Redmond has gone to a +place where he can't testify, but he has left his daughter, and she +already has about all she can stand."</p> + +<p>"Strikes me that way, too; and Lane's too smart to be corraled," added +Thorn.</p> + +<p>"We'll get even somehow without Redmond, and to that end you two will +have to run Gaspard's Trail," I said. "I'm going down to Montreal with +Carolan's cattle."</p> + +<p>A project had for some little time been shaping itself in my mind. I had +a small reversionary interest in some English property, and though it +would be long before a penny of it could accrue to me, it seemed just +possible to raise a little money on it. Considering Western rates of +interest, nobody in Winnipeg would trouble <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>with such an investment, but +I had a distant and prosperous kinsman in Montreal who might find some +speculator willing. Montreal was, however, at least two thousand miles +away, and traveling expensive; but the Carolan brothers had promptly +accepted my offer to take charge of their cattle destined for Europe, +which implied free passes both ways. It was not the mode of traveling +one would have expected a prosperous rancher to adopt, but I needed +every available dollar for the approaching struggle, and was well +content when, after the untamed stock had nearly wrecked the railroad +depot, we got them on board the cars.</p> + +<p>The only time I ever saw Sergeant Mackay thoroughly disconcerted was +that morning. We came up out of the empty prairie riding on the flanks +of the herd. The beasts had suffered from the scarcity of water and were +in an uncertain temper, while, as luck would have it, just as they +surged close-packed between the bare frame houses, Mackay and a trooper +came riding down the unpaved street of the little prairie town. There +was no opening either to right or to left, and the more prudent +storekeepers put up their shutters.</p> + +<p>"Look as if they owned the universe, them police," said the man who +cantered up beside me. "Sure, it would take the starch out of them if +anything did start the cattle."</p> + +<p>Mackay pulled up his horse and looked dubiously at the mass of tossing +horns rolling towards him. "'Tis not in accordance with regulations to +turn a big draft loose on a peaceful town. Why did ye not split them +up?" he said. "Ye could be held responsible if there's damage done."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid these beasts don't understand regulations, and I had to +bring them as best I could," I answered; and my assistant shouted, "Get +out of the daylight, sergeant, dear, while your shoes are good."</p> + +<p>Mackay seemed to resent this familiarity, and sat still, with one hand +on his hip, an incarnation of official dignity, though he kept his eyes +upon the fast advancing herd until the big freight locomotive which was +await<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>ing us set up a discordant shrieking, and backed a row of clanging +cars across the switches. That was sufficient for the untamed cattle. +With a thunder of pounding hoofs they poured tumultuously down the +rutted street, and I caught a brief glimpse of the sergeant hurriedly +wheeling his horse before everything was blotted out by the stirred-up +dust. The streets of a prairie town are inches deep in powdered loam all +summer and in bottomless sloughs all spring.</p> + +<p>A wild shout of "Faugh-a-ballagh!" rang out; and I found myself riding +faster than was prudent along the crazy plank sidewalk to pass and, if +possible, swing the stampeding herd into the railroad corral. How my +horse gained the three-foot elevation and avoided falling over the +dry-goods bales and flour bags which lay littered everywhere, I do not +remember; but my chief assistant, Dennis, who, yelling his hardest, +charged recklessly down the opposite one, afterwards declared that his +beast climbed up the steps like a kitten. Then, as I drew a little +ahead, Mackay became dimly visible, riding bareheaded, as though for his +life, with the horns, that showed through the tossed-up grit, a few +yards behind him. Fortunately the stockyard gates were open wide, and +Dennis came up at a gallop in time to head the herd off from a charge +across the prairie, while a second man and I turned their opposite wing. +Mackay did his best to wheel his horse clear of the gates, but the beast +was evidently bent on getting as far as possible from the oncoming mass, +and resisted bit and spur. Then there was a great roar of laughter from +loungers and stockyard hands as the dust swept up towards heaven and the +drove thundered through the opening.</p> + +<p>"Where's the sergeant?" I shouted; and Dennis, who chuckled so that his +speech was thick, made answer: "Sure, he's in the corral. The beasts +have run him in, but it's mighty tough beef they'd find him in the old +country."</p> + +<p>Dennis was right, for when the haze thinned the sergeant appeared, as +white as a miller, flattened up against the rails, while a playful steer +curveted in the vicinity, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>as though considering where to charge him. He +was extricated by pulling down the rails, and accepted my apologies +stiffly.</p> + +<p>"This," he said, disregarding the offer of a lounger to wash him under +the locomotive tank, "is not just what I would have expected of ye, +Rancher Ormesby."</p> + +<p>While the stock were being transferred to the cars amid an almost +indescribable tumult, I met Miss Redmond on the little sod platform.</p> + +<p>"I am glad I have met you, because I am going to Winnipeg, and may never +see you again," she said. "There is much I do not understand, but I feel +you have been wronged, and want to thank you for your consideration."</p> + +<p>Redmond's daughter had received some training in an Eastern convent, it +was said, and I found it hard to believe that the very pale, +quietly-spoken girl was the one who had called down the curses upon +Foster Lane. Still, I knew there was a strain of something akin to +insanity in that family, and that, in addition, she was of the changeful +nature which accompanies pure Celtic blood.</p> + +<p>"You should not indulge in morbid fancies, and you have very little +cause for gratitude. We were sincerely sorry for you, and tried to do +what we could," I said.</p> + +<p>Ailin Redmond fixed her black eyes intently upon me, and I grew uneasy, +seeing what suggested a smoldering fire in them. "You are not clever +enough to deceive a woman," she said, with a disconcerting composure. "I +do not know all, but perhaps I shall some day, and then, whatever it +costs me, you and another person shall see justice done. It may not be +for a long time, but I can wait; and I am going away from the prairie. +Still, I should like to ask you one question—how did your cattle get +inside the fence?"</p> + +<p>"The fire drove them; but instead of fretting over such things, you must +try to forget the last two months as soon as possible," I answered as +stoutly as I could, seeking meanwhile an excuse for flight, which was +not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>lacking. "Those beasts will kill somebody if I neglect them any +longer."</p> + +<p>Ailin Redmond held out her hand to me, saying very quietly: "I shall +never forget, and—it is no use protesting—a time will come when I +shall understand it all clearly. Until then may the good saints protect +you from all further evil, Rancher Ormesby."</p> + +<p>As I hurried away a tented wagon lurched into the station, and when I +last saw Redmond's daughter she stood near the lonely end of the +platform talking earnestly with the traveling photographer.</p> + +<p>Dennis had not recovered from his merriment when, much to the +satisfaction of those we left behind, the long cars rolled out of the +station, while many agents remembered our visit to the stations which +succeeded. Blinding dust and fragments of ballast whirled about the cars +as the huge locomotive hauled them rocking over the limitless levels. +From sunrise to sunset the gaunt telegraph poles reeled up from the +receding horizon, growing from the size of matches to towering spars as +they came, and then slowly diminishing far down the straight-ruled line +again. For hours we lay on side-tracks waiting until one of the great +inter-ocean expresses, running their portion of the race round half the +globe, thundered past, white with the dust of a fifteen-hundred-mile +journey, and then, with cars and cattle complaining, we lurched on our +way again.</p> + +<p>At times we led the beasts out in detachments to water at wayside +stations, and there was usually much profanity and destruction of +property before we got them back again, and left the agent to assess the +damage to his feelings, besides splintered gangways and broken rails. It +was at Portage or Brandon, I think, that one showed me a warning +received by wire. "Through freight full of wild beasts coming along. +There'll be nothing left of your station if you let the lunatics in +charge of them turn their menagerie out."</p> + +<p>The beasts had, however, grown more subdued before the cars rolled +slowly into Winnipeg, and gave us little trouble when, leaving the +prairie behind, we sped, east<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>wards ever, past broad lake and foaming +river, into the muskegs of Ontario; so that I had time for reflection +when the great locomotive, panting on the grades, hauled us, poised +giddily between crag face and deep blue water, along the Superior shore. +The Haldanes were in Montreal, and I wondered, in case chance threw me +in their way, how they would greet me, and what I should say. I was +apparently a prosperous rancher when they last spoke with me, and a +tender of other men's cattle now, while it might well happen that in +their eyes a further cloud rested upon me.</p> + +<p>The long and weary journey came to an end at last, and when the big +engines ceased their panting beside the broad St. Lawrence I left Dennis +and his companions to divert themselves in Montreal after the fashion of +their kind, and, arraying myself in civilized fashion, proceeded to my +relative's offices.</p> + +<p>A clerk said that Mr. Leyland, who was absent, desired me to follow him +to his autumn retreat, but I first set about the business which had +brought me, unassisted. Nobody, however, would entertain the species of +investment I had to propose, and it was with a heavy heart I boarded the +cars again some days later.</p> + +<p>Leyland and his wife appeared unaffectedly glad to see me at their +pretty summer-house, which stood above the smooth white shingle fringing +a wide lake, and at sunset that evening I lay smoking among the boulders +of a point, while his son and heir sat close by interrogating me. Part +of the lake still reflected the afterglow, and after the monotonous +levels of the prairie it rested my eyes to see the climbing pines tower +above it in shadowy majesty. Their drowsy scent was soothing, and +through the dusk that crept towards me from their feet, blinking lights +cast trembling reflections across the glassy water. Several prosperous +citizens retired at times to spend their leisure in what they termed +camping on the islets of that lake.</p> + +<p>"Air you poor and wicked?" asked the urchin, inspecting me critically.</p> + +<p>"Very poor, and about up to the average for iniq<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>uity," I said; and the +diminutive questioner rubbed his curly locks as though puzzled.</p> + +<p>"Well, you don't quite look neither," he commented. "Poor men don't wear +new store clothes. The last one I saw had big holes in his pants, and +hadn't eaten nothing for three weeks, he said. Pop, he spanked me good +'cos I gave him four dollars off'n the bureau to buy some dinner with. +Say, how long was it since you had a square meal, anyway? You did mighty +well at supper. I was watching you."</p> + +<p>"It is about two months since I had a meal like that and then it was +because a friend of mine gave it to me," I answered truthfully; and +Leyland junior rubbed his head again.</p> + +<p>"No—you don't look very low down, but you must be," he repeated. "Pop +was talking 'bout you, and he said: 'You'll do your best to see the poor +devil has a good time, 'Twoinette. From what I gather he needs it pretty +bad.'"</p> + +<p>I laughed, perhaps somewhat hollowly, for the child commented: "Won't +you do that again? It's just like a loon. There's one lives over yonder, +and he might answer. Ma, she says people should never make a noise when +they laugh; but when I sent Ted on the roof to get my ball, and he fell +into the rain-butt, she just laughed worse than you, and her teeth came +out."</p> + +<p>"Your mother would probably spank you for telling that to strangers. But +who is Ted?" I said, remembering that a loon is a water-bird that sets +up an unearthly shrieking in the stillness of the night; and the urchin +rebuked me with the cheerful disrespect for his seniors which +characterizes the Colonial born.</p> + +<p>"Say, was you forgotten when brains were given out? He's just Ted Caryl, +and I think he's bad. Pop says his firm's meaner than road agents. He +comes round evenings and swops business lies with Pop, 'specially when +Bee is here, but he can't be clever. Ma says he don't even know enough +to be sure which girl he wants. They is two of them, and I like Lou +best."</p> + +<p>"Why?" I asked, because the urchin seemed to ex<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>pect some comment; and +he proceeded to convince me. "They is both pretty, but Lou is nicest. I +found it out one day I'd been eating corduroy candy, and Bee she just +dropped me when I got up on her knee. She didn't say anything, but she +looked considerable. Then I went to Lou, and she picked me up and gave +me nicer candies out of a gilt-edge box. Ma says she must have been an +angel, because her dress was all sticky, and I think she is. There was +one just like her with silver wings in the church at Sault Chaudiere. +One night Ma and them was talking 'bout you, and Bee sits quite still as +if she didn't care, but she was listening. Lou, she says: 'Poor——' I +don't think it was poor devil."</p> + +<p>"Do you know where little boys who tell all they hear go to?" I asked; +and Leyland junior pointed to a dusky sail that showed up behind the +island before he answered wearily: "You make me tired. I've been asked +that one before. Here's Ted and the others coming. I'm off to see what +they have brought for me."</p> + +<p>He vanished among the boulders, and, filling my pipe again, I kept +still, feeling no great inclination to take part in the casual chatter +of people with whose customs I had almost lost touch. I was struck by +the resemblance of the names the child mentioned to those of Haldane's +daughters, but both were tolerably common, and it did not please me that +Mrs. Leyland should make a story of my struggles for the amusement of +strangers. So some time had passed before I entered the veranda of the +little wooden house, and, as it was only partially lighted by a shaded +lamp, managed to find a place almost unobserved in a corner. Thus I had +time to recover from my surprise at the sight of Beatrice and Lucille +Haldane seated at a little table beneath the lamp. Two men I did not +know leaned against the balustrade close at hand, and several more were +partly distinguishable in the shadows. From where I sat some of the +figures were projected blackly against a field of azure and silver, for +the moon now hung above the lake. Beatrice Haldane was examining what +appeared to be a bound collection of photographic reproductions.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>"Yes. As Mrs. Leyland mentions, I have met the original of this picture, +and it is a good one, though it owes something to the retoucher," she +said; and I saw my hostess smile wickedly at her husband when somebody +said: "Tell us about him. How interesting!"</p> + +<p>Beatrice Haldane answered lightly: "There is not much to tell. The +allegorical title explains itself, if it refers to the edict that it is +by the sweat of his brow man shall earn his bread, which most of our +acquaintances seem to have evaded. The West is a hard, bare country, and +its inhabitants, though not wholly uncivilized, hard men. I should like +to send some of our amateur athletes to march or work with them. This +one is merely a characteristic specimen."</p> + +<p>I wondered what the subject of the picture was, but waited an +opportunity to approach the speaker, while, as I did so, a young man +said: "I should rather like to take up your sister's challenge. Pulling +the big catboat across here inside an hour without an air of wind was +not exactly play; but can you tell us anything more about these tireless +Westerners, Miss Lucille?"</p> + +<p>The younger girl, who sat quietly, with her hands in her lap, looked up. +"It is the fashion never to grow enthusiastic; but I am going to tell +you, Ted. Those men were always in real earnest, and that is why they +interested me; but I shouldn't take up the challenge if I were you. We +call this camping. They lie down to sleep on many a journey in a snow +trench under the arctic frost, ride as carelessly through blinding +blizzard as summer heat, and, I concluded, generally work all day and +half the night. They are not hard in any other sense, but very generous, +though they sometimes speak, as they live, very plainly."</p> + +<p>Some of the listeners appeared amused, others half-inclined to applaud +the girl, and there was a little laughter when Miss Haldane interposed: +"This is my sister's hobby. Some of them, you may remember, seem to live +upon gophers, Lucille."</p> + +<p>Lucille Haldane did not appear pleased at this interruption; but the +flush of animation and luster in her <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>eyes wonderfully became her. "I do +not know that even gophers would be worse than the canned goose livers +and other disgusting things we import for their weight in silver," she +said. "All I saw in the West pleased me, and, because I am a Canadian +first and last, I don't mind being smiled at for admitting that I am +very glad I have seen the men who live there at their work. They are +doing a great deal for our country."</p> + +<p>"They could not have a stancher or prettier champion, my dear," said a +gray-haired man who sat near me. "It would be hard to grow equally +enthusiastic about your profession, Ted."</p> + +<p>"It is Miss Haldane's genius which makes the most of everybody's good +points," answered a young man with a frank face and stalwart appearance, +turning towards me. "I am afraid the rest of us would see only a tired +and dusty farmer who looked as though twelve hours' sleep would be good +for him. What's your idea of the West? If I remember Mrs. Leyland +correctly, you come from the land of promise, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"We certainly work tolerably hard out there, but it is no great credit +to us when we have to choose between that and starvation; and the West +is the land of disappointment as well as promise," I answered dryly.</p> + +<p>The rest glanced around in our direction, and Mrs. Leyland laughed +mischievously. "If any of you are really interested, my friend here, who +came in so quietly, would, I dare say, answer your questions. Let me +present you, Rancher Ormesby."</p> + +<p>I bowed as, endeavoring to remember the names that followed, I moved +towards the chair beside her when she beckoned. It lay full in the +light, and I noticed blank surprise in the faces turned towards me. +Beatrice Haldane dropped the album, and for some reason the clear rose +color surged upwards from her sister's neck. I stooped to recover the +book, which lay open, and then stared at it with astonishment and +indignation, for the face of the man standing beside a weary team, +waist-deep in the tall grass of a slough, was unmistakably my <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>own. I +had forgotten the click of the camera shutter that hot morning.</p> + +<p>"It was hardly fair of my hostess not to warn me, and this print was +published without my knowledge or consent," I said. "Still, it shows how +we earn a living in my country, and I can really tell you little more. +We resemble most other people in that we chiefly exert ourselves under +pressure of necessity—and one would prefer to forget that fact during a +brief holiday."</p> + +<p>The listeners either smiled or nodded good-humoredly and it was Lucille +Haldane who held out her hand to me, while her elder sister returned my +salutation with a civility which was distinct from cordiality. How Mrs. +Leyland changed the situation I do not remember, nor how, when some of +the party were inspecting fire-flies in the grasses by the lake, I found +myself beside Beatrice Haldane at the end of the veranda. I had schooled +myself in preparation for a possible meeting, but she looked so +beautiful with the moonlight on her that I spoke rashly.</p> + +<p>"We parted good friends—but no one could have hoped you felt the +slightest pleasure at the present meeting."</p> + +<p>"Frankness is sometimes irksome to both speaker and listener," said the +girl, turning her dark eyes upon me steadily. "Can you not be satisfied +with the possibility of your being mistaken?"</p> + +<p>"No," I answered doggedly, and she smiled. "Then suppose one admitted +you had surmised correctly?"</p> + +<p>"I should ask the cause," and Beatrice Haldane, saying nothing, looked a +warning, which, being filled with an insane bitterness, I would not +take. "It would hurt me to conclude that those you honored with your +friendship on the prairie would be less welcome here."</p> + +<p>She raised her head a little with the Haldane's pride, which, though +never paraded, was unmistakable. "You should have learned to know us +better. Neither your prosperity nor the reverse would have made any +difference."</p> + +<p>"Then is there no explanation?" I asked, forgetting everything under the +strain of the moment; and it was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>evident that Beatrice Haldane shared +her sister's courage, for, though there was a darker spot in the center +of her cheek she answered steadily: "There is. We are disappointed in +you, Rancher Ormesby."</p> + +<p>Then, without another word, she turned away, and presently the rattle of +oars and a gleam of moonlit canvas told that the catboat was returning +across the lake.</p> + +<p>"I hope you have enjoyed the meeting with your friends," said Mrs. +Leyland, presently. "Very much, I assure you," I answered, with an +effort which I hope will be forgiven me.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X<br /> +<span class="smalltext">A TEMPTATION</span></h2> + + +<p>Leyland had a weakness for what he termed hardening himself by +occasional feats of endurance, from which it resulted that I spent +several days in his company wandering, with a wholly unnecessary load of +camp gear upon my back, through a desolation of uncomfortably wooded +hills. Now it is not easy for a business man of domesticated habits to +emulate a pack mule and enjoy the proceeding, and when Mrs. Leyland, +after burdening her husband with everything she could think of, desired +to add a small tin bath, there was little difficulty in predicting that +our journey would not be extensive. Having a load of fifty pounds +already, I ignored the suggestion that I might carry the bath, and +hurried Leyland off before his spouse could further hamper us. One thick +blanket, a kettle, and a few pounds of provisions would have amply +sufficed, so a large-sized tent seemed to be distinctly superfluous, to +say nothing of the bag filled with hair-brushes, towels, and scented +soap.</p> + +<p>Leyland commenced the march with enthusiasm, and certainly presented a +picturesque appearance as he plodded along in leather jacket and fringed +leggings, with the folded tent upon his shoulders and a collection of +tin utensils jingling about him. I was somewhat similarly caparisoned, +and, because it would have hurt his feelings, I overcame the temptation +to fling half my load into a creek we crossed, though this would have +greatly pleased me. A fourth of the weight would have sufficed for a +two-hundred-mile journey in the West.</p> + +<p>"There is nothing like judicious exercise for bracing one's whole +system," panted my companion, when we had covered the first league in +two hours or so. "How a wide prospect like this rests the vision. Say, +can't we sit down and enjoy it a little?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>I nodded agreement, and we spent most of that day in sitting down and +smoking, while, as it happened, a sudden breeze blew the tent over upon +us at midnight, and anybody who has crawled clear of the thrashing +canvas in such circumstances can guess what followed. Leyland, as +generally happens, wriggled headforemost into what might be termed the +pocket of the net, and it cost me some trouble to extricate him. Next +morning he awoke with a toothache and general shortness of temper, as a +result of trying to sleep in the rain, and appeared much less certain +about the benefits to be derived from such excursions.</p> + +<p>"If you will let me pick out the few things we really want and throw the +rest away, I'll engage that you will enjoy the remainder of the march," +I said.</p> + +<p>"I wish I could, but it can't be done," and Leyland, staring ruefully at +his load, shook his head. "'Twoinette's so—so blamed systematic, and if +one of those brushes was missing she'd have to start in from the +beginning with a whole new toilet outfit. Of course, you don't +understand these things yet, but you will some day. A wife with cultured +tastes requires to be considered accordingly."</p> + +<p>I was resting on one elbow gazing up between the pine branches at the +blue of the sky, with the clean-scented needles crackling under me, and +made no answer. Nevertheless, it struck me that I might find too much +culture irksome, especially if it implied that I must carry half my +household sundries upon my back whenever I started on an expedition. +Hitherto I had not considered this side of the question when indulging +in certain roseate visions, but as Leyland spoke there opened up +unpleasant possibilities of having to stand by, a mere director, clear +of the heat and dust of effort, and pay others to do the work I found +pleasure in. Then as I reflected that there was small need to trouble +about such eventualities, a face, that was not Beatrice Haldane's, rose +up before my fancy. It was forceful as well as pretty, quick to express +sympathy and enthusiasm; and I decided that the man who won Lucille<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> +Haldane would have a helpmate who would encourage instead of restrain +his energies, and, if need be, take her place beside him in the +struggle. Then I dismissed the subject as having nothing to do with me.</p> + +<p>Leyland seemed loath to resume his rambles, and on the following +morning, after he had, I fancy, lain awake abusing the mosquitoes all +night, his patience broke down. "I'm getting too old to enjoy this +description of picnic as I used to," he said. "The fact is, if I mule +this confounded bric-à-brac around much longer I shall drop in my +tracks."</p> + +<p>"Shall we turn back?" I asked him.</p> + +<p>The tired man shook his head. "We'll strike for water, and if we can't +find a canoe anywhere you can build a raft. I wouldn't crawl through any +more of those muskegs for a thousand dollars."</p> + +<p>I had no objections, and Leyland's comments became venomous during the +march, for the lake was distant, and the pine woods thick. He fell into +thickets, and shed his burden broadcast across the face of each steeper +descent, so that it cost us many minutes to collect it again, and once +we spent an hour in the mire of a muskeg on hands and knees in search of +a vine-pattern mustard spoon. Leyland, who became profane during the +proceedings, said his wife might consider that its loss would destroy +the harmony of a whole dinner service. At last, however—my comrade, +panting heavily, and progressing with a crab-like gait, because he had +wrenched one knee and blistered a heel—the broad lake showed up beneath +the blazing maple leaves ahead. They were donning their full glories of +gold and crimson before the coming of the frost.</p> + +<p>"Thank heaven!" said Leyland with fervent sincerity. "I'll sit here +forever unless you can find something that will float me home."</p> + +<p>He limped on until we were clear of the trees, and then flung himself +down among the boulders with a gasp of relief, for fortune had treated +him kindly. There was a fresh breeze blowing, and the broad stretch of +water was streaked by lines of frothy white; but we had come out <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>upon a +sheltered bay, and a big catboat lay moored beneath a ledge. A group of +figures rose from about a crackling fire, there was a shout of +recognition, and the young man I had been introduced to as Ted Caryl +came forward to greet us.</p> + +<p>"Just in time! The kettle's boiling; but have you been practicing for a +strong-man circus, Leyland?" he said. My companion, still retaining his +recumbent position, answered dryly: "I have been taking exercise and +diverting myself."</p> + +<p>"So one might have fancied from your exhilarated appearance," commented +Caryl. "We can give you a passage home by water if you have had enough +of it."</p> + +<p>"I'll go no other way if I have to swim," said Leyland grimly.</p> + +<p>Then the younger man turned to me: "Do you happen to know anything about +seamanship?"</p> + +<p>"I spent all my spare time as a youngster helping to sail small craft on +the English coast, and was considered a fair helmsman for my age," I +said; and Caryl patted my shoulder approvingly.</p> + +<p>"It's a mercy, because I know just next to nothing. Put up as a yacht +club member, and bought this craft—she's a daisy—for five hundred +dollars to give the girls a sail. Brought them down, with a light fair +wind, smart enough, but though it's gone round, the thing don't steer +the way she ought to in a breeze. So I've been getting mighty anxious as +to how I'm to take them home again, and feel too scared to say so."</p> + +<p>I looked at the craft, which was a half-decked boat, evidently fitted +with a center-board, of the broad-beamed shallow type common on the +American coast. She carried no bowsprit, her lofty mast was stepped +almost in her bows, and the combination of heavy spars, short body, and +wide, flat stern, presaged difficulties for an unskilled helmsman when +running before any strength of breeze. "I think you have some reason for +your misgivings," I said. "If the wind freshens much I should almost +recommend you to camp here all night."</p> + +<p>We had by this time approached the fire, and I noticed, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>with a slight +inward hesitation, that Haldane's daughter and an elderly lady were busy +preparing tea. Perhaps it was this which prevented Beatrice from +noticing me, but Lucille came forward and greeted us. "You have arrived +at an opportune moment. Supper is just about ready, and if it is not so +good as the one you gave us at Gaspard's Trail, we will try to do our +best for you," she said.</p> + +<p>"Have you not forgotten that evening yet?" I asked. A transitory +expression I did not quite comprehend became visible in the girl's face +when she answered my smile. It was pleasant to think she recalled the +evening of which I had not forgotten the smallest incident.</p> + +<p>"It was something so new to me, and you were all so kind," she said.</p> + +<p>There was dismay when Caryl announced my opinion, though the rest +decided to postpone a decision in the hope that the weather might +improve, and it seemed useless to inform them that the reverse appeared +more probable. A pine forest rolled down to the water's edge, and when +the meal had been dispatched I lounged with my back against a tree, when +Leyland came up. "You look uncommonly lazy—more played out than I. We +want you to enjoy your stay with us, and I hope I have not tired you," +he said.</p> + +<p>I laughed a little, because Leyland was hardly likely to tire any man +fresh from the arduous life of the prairie. "It's an oasis in the +desert, and you have made me so comfortable that I shall almost shrink +from going back," I said, truthfully enough; for, before I left, the +strain at Gaspard's Trail had grown acute.</p> + +<p>"Then what do you want to go back for, anyway?" asked Leyland, who +during the afternoon had made several pertinent inquiries concerning my +affairs. "There are chances for a live man in the cities—in fact I know +of one or two. No doubt for a time it's experience, but it strikes me +that this cattle roasting and losing of grain crops must mean a big loss +of opportunities as well as grow monotonous."</p> + +<p>Leyland, I fancied, had not previously noticed that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>Miss Haldane was +seated on a fallen log close beside us, and in the circumstances I was +by no means pleased when he turned to her. "Don't you think everybody +should make the most of all that's in them?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Somewhat to my surprise the girl looked straight at me as she answered: +"Considering the question in the abstract, I agree with you. It seems to +me the duty of every man with talents to take the place he was meant for +among his peers instead of frittering them away."</p> + +<p>There was an unusual earnestness in what she said, which both surprised +me and reminded me of the days in England; for Beatrice Haldane's +conversation had latterly been marked by a somewhat cynical languidness. +Nevertheless, the inference nettled me.</p> + +<p>"Talent is a somewhat vague term; but suppose any unprofessional person +possessed it, what career among the thick of his fellows would you +recommend—the acquisition of money on the markets, or politics? Both +are closed to the poor man," I said.</p> + +<p>It may have been fancy, but a faint angry sparkle seemed to creep into +Miss Haldane's eyes as she answered: "Are there no others? It seems to +me the place for such a person is where civilization moves fastest in +the cities. Whether we progress towards good or evil you cannot move +back the times, and it is force of intellect, or successful scheming if +you will, which commands the best the world can offer now. As an outside +observer, it seems to me that, considering the tendency towards +centralization and combinations of capital, the individual who, refusing +to accept the altered conditions, insists on remaining an independent +unit, must soon go under or take a helot's place. Don't you think so, +Mr. Leyland?"</p> + +<p>"That's what I mean, but you have put it more clearly," said Leyland +approvingly. "I was hoping Ormesby might see it that way."</p> + +<p>Understanding my host's manner I guessed that if I hinted at +acquiescence this would lead up to a definite offer, and it appeared +that both, in their own way, were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>bent on persuading me. The temptation +was alluring, when disaster appeared imminent, and I afterwards wondered +how it was I did not yield. Wounded pride or sheer obstinacy may, +however, have restrained me, for one of the most bitter things is to own +one's self beaten; but even then I felt that my place was on the +prairie. On the one hand there was only the prospect of grinding care +and often brutal labor, which wore the body to exhaustion and blunted +the mental faculties; on the other, at least some rest and leisure, +contact with culture and refinement, and perhaps even yet a vague +possibility of drawing nearer to the woman beside me. At that moment, +however, Lucille Haldane halted in front of us, and the trifling +incident helped to turn the scale. Young as she was, her views were +mine, and for some unfathomable reason I shook off what seemed a weak +tendency to yield when I met her gaze.</p> + +<p>"It will be a bad day for the Dominion when what is happening across the +frontier becomes general here," I said. "It is the number of independent +units which makes for the real prosperity of this country, and the +suggestion that there is only scope for intellect and force of will in +the cities can hardly pass unchallenged. The smallest wheat grower has +to use the same foresight in his degree as a railroad financier, and it +probably requires more stamina to hold out against bad seasons and the +oppression of scheming land-grabbers than is requisite, say, in +engineering a grain corner against adverse markets. Then, if one gets +back to principles, does it not appear that the poorest breaker of +virgin land who calls wheat up out of the idle sod is of more use to the +community than the gambler in his produce who creates nothing?"</p> + +<p>"There is no use arguing with any man who thinks that way," said Leyland +solemnly, and Beatrice Haldane laughed; but whether at his comment or at +my opinion did not appear.</p> + +<p>"Here is an ally for you. You are looking very wise, Lucille," she said +languidly.</p> + +<p>"I did not hear all you said, but I think Mr. Ormesby is partly right," +was the frank answer. "I just stopped <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>on my way to the boat to get some +wrappings. It soon grows chilly."</p> + +<p>The girl refused our offers of assistance. Somebody called Leyland away, +and I was left alone, possibly against both our wishes, in Beatrice +Haldane's company. Still, it was an opportunity that might not occur +again, and I determined to turn it to good account.</p> + +<p>"Although you expressed strong disapproval not long ago, one could have +fancied you were not speaking from a wholly impersonal standpoint and +meant to give me good advice," I said.</p> + +<p>The spirit which had carried Haldane triumphantly through commercial +panic was not lacking in either of his daughters, and the elder one +quietly took up the challenge. "Perhaps the other could not be thrust +aside, and I have wondered whether you are wise in staking all your +future on the chances of success on the prairie. There are greater +possibilities in the busy world that lies before you now, but presently +habit and the force of associations will bind you to the soil, and you +must remain a raiser of cattle and sower of grain. Is it not possible +for the monotony and drudgery to drag one down to a steadily sinking +level?"</p> + +<p>The words stung me. I had done my best in my vocation, and it seemed had +failed therein. Neither was it impossible that the last sentence +possessed a definite meaning, and suppressed longing and resentment +against the pressure of circumstances held me silent after I had managed +to check the rash answer that rose to my lips. Then a shout broke +through the pause which followed, and Beatrice Haldane sprang to her +feet. "Lucille has set the boat adrift! Go and help her if you can!" she +said.</p> + +<p>A glance showed me the catboat sliding out towards open water before the +angry white ripples that crisped the little bay, for here the wind, +deflected by a hollow, blew freshly off-shore. A slight white-clad +figure stood on the fore deck, and I shouted: "Jump down and fling the +anchor over!"</p> + +<p>"There is no anchor!" the answer reached me faintly; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>and I set off +across a strip of shingle and boulders at a floundering run.</p> + +<p>The rest of the company were gathered in dismay upon a rocky ledge when +I came up, and Caryl tore off his jacket. Leyland turned to me, with +consternation in his face, as he said: "Ted must have tied some fool +knot and she's blowing right out across the lake. None of us can swim."</p> + +<p>"It's my fault, and I'm going to try, anyway. The water cannot be deep +inside here," gasped the valiant Caryl.</p> + +<p>I saw that, for inland waters, a tolerable sea was running where the +true wind blew straight down the lake, sufficient to endanger the +catboat if she drifted without control athwart it. There was evidently +no time to lose, and I turned angrily upon Caryl. "If you jump in here +you will certainly drown, and that will help nobody," I said.</p> + +<p>Then, seeing some feet of water below the ledge, I launched myself out +headforemost. The ripples ran white behind me when I rose, and there was +no great difficulty in swimming down-wind, even when cumbered by +clothing; but the boat's side and mast exposed considerable surface to +the blast, and she had blown some distance to leeward before I overtook +her. It also cost me time and labor to crawl on board—an operation +difficult in deep water—but it was accomplished, and, turning to the +girl, I said cheerfully: "You need not be frightened. We shall beat back +in a few minutes if you will help me."</p> + +<p>Lucille Haldane showed the courage she had showed one snowy night at +Bonaventure, for there was confidence in her face as she answered: "I +will do whatever you tell me, and I'm not in the least afraid."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">IN PERIL OF THE WATERS</span></h2> + + +<p>Again I hazarded a glance about me. The shallow-draughted craft had +already drifted a distance off-shore, and was listing over under the +pressure of the wind upon her lofty mast. The white ripples had grown to +short angry surges, and because darkness was approaching and the narrow +bay difficult to work into, it was evident we must lose no time in +getting back again. There was no anchor on board, and if I reefed the +sail (or rolled up the foot of it to reduce the area) the boat would +meanwhile increase her distance from the beach. It therefore seemed +necessary to attempt to thrash back under the whole mainsail.</p> + +<p>"Will you shove the centerboard down by the iron handle, and then take +hold of the tiller, Miss Haldane?" I said.</p> + +<p>The girl, stooping, thrust at the handle projecting from the trunk +containing the drawn-up center keel. The iron plate should have dropped +at a touch, but did not, and I sprang to her side when she said: +"Something must be holding it fast."</p> + +<p>She was right. Caryl had either bent the plate by striking a rock or a +piece of driftwood had jammed into the opening, for, do what I would, +the iron refused to fall more than a third of its proper distance, and +it was with a slight shock of dismay I relinquished the struggle. A +sailing craft of any description will only work to windward in zigzags +diagonally to the breeze, and then only provided there is enough of her +under water to provide lateral resistance, which the deep center keel +should have supplied. As it was, I must attempt to remedy the deficiency +by press of canvas at the risk of a capsize.</p> + +<p>Fortunately my companion was quick-witted and cool, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>and, standing at +the helm, followed my instructions promptly, while I dragged at the +halliards, and the loose folds of sailcloth rose thrashing overhead. I +was breathless when the sail was set, but sprang aft to the helm, lifted +the girl to the weather deck, and perched myself as high on that side as +I could, with the mainsheet round my left wrist and my right hand on the +tiller, wondering if the mast would bear the strain. The boat swayed +down until her leeward deck was buried in a rush of foam and her bending +mast slanted half way to the horizontal. Little clouds of spray shot up +from her weather bow as, gathering way, she swept ahead, and then they +gave place to sheets of water, which lashed our faces, and, sluicing +deep along the decks, poured over the coaming ledge into the open well. +Still, we were in comparatively smooth water where one could risk a +little, and while the straining mainsheet, which I dare not make fast, +sawed into my wrist, I glanced at my companion. Her hat was +sodden—already her hair clung in soaked clusters to her forehead, and +her wet face showed white against the dark water which raced past us. +Yet it was still confident, and her voice was level as she said: "Let me +help you. That rope is cutting your wrist."</p> + +<p>I could have smiled at the thought of those slender fingers sharing that +strain; but thinking it would be well to keep her attention occupied, +nodded, and was a trifle surprised at the relief when the girl seized +the hard wet hemp. "If I say—let go—lift your hands at once," I said.</p> + +<p>We were now tearing through the water at such pace that the boat flung a +good deal of what she displaced all over her, but a glance at the dark +pines ashore showed that she was making very little to windward, while, +when I looked over my shoulder at the boiling wake astern, it was too +plainly evident that, owing to the loss of the centerboard, we were +driving bodily sideways as well as ahead. Also the snowy froth which +lapped higher up the lee deck was perilously near the coaming protecting +the open well. Still, our expectant friends stood clustered among the +boulders fringing one horn of the bay, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>and I saw that Caryl held a rope +in his hand. We might just pass within reach of it on the next tack.</p> + +<p>"We must come round. Slip down, and climb up on the opposite side as the +sail swings over," I said, carefully shoving the tiller down.</p> + +<p>There was a thrashing of canvas as the boat came round, and I breathed +more easily as, gathering way on the opposite tack, she headed well up +for the boulder point where Caryl was somewhat awkwardly swinging the +coil of rope. The point drew nearer and nearer, and I could see Beatrice +Haldane standing rigidly still against the somber pines, when, as +ill-luck would have it, the dark branches set up a roaring as a wild +gust swept down. The boat swayed further over. Most of her forward was +buried in a rush of foam, and the water poured steadily into the well; +but I still held fast the sheet which would have loosed the sail, for we +might reach the rope in another two minutes. The gust increased in +violence. Foam and water poured over the coamings in cataracts, and, +seeing that otherwise a capsize was inevitable, I released the sheet. +The canvas rattled furiously, the craft swayed upright and commenced to +blow away sternforemost like a feather, while I dropped into the bottom +of her, ankle deep in water.</p> + +<p>"There is no help for it—we must reef. Take the tiller, and hold +it—so," I said.</p> + +<p>It was not without an effort I tied the tack, or forward corner of the +mainsail, down; then, floundering aft, hauled the afterside of it down +to the boom. That accomplished and the sail thus reduced by some two +feet all along its foot, there remained to be tied the row of short +lines, or reef points, which would hold the discarded portion when +rolled up; and when part of these were knotted it was with misgivings I +leaped up on the after-deck. The long, jerking boom projected a fathom +beyond the stern, and I must hold on by my toes while leaning out over +the water as I pulled the reef points at that end together.</p> + +<p>"I am going to trust you with the safety of both of us, Miss Haldane," I +said. "When you see the boom <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>swing inwards pull the tiller towards you +before it flings me off."</p> + +<p>The girl had grown a little paler, and her hands trembled on the helm, +but she answered without hesitation: "Don't be longer than you can +help—but I understand."</p> + +<p>She showed a fine intelligence and a perfect self-command, or our voyage +might have ended abruptly; so the reefing was accomplished, and I +resumed the helm. Meanwhile, however, we had drifted well out into the +lake, and a few minutes of sailing proved that under her reduced canvas +the boat would not beat back to the windward shore. The figures among +the boulders had faded into the deepening gloom, but, assuming a +cheerfulness I did not feel, I said: "It is quite impossible to return, +and as it is growing too late to look for a safe landing or path through +the bush, we must head for home and send back horses for the others. It +will be a fair wind."</p> + +<p>"I was afraid so," said the girl with a shiver. "But I hope we shall not +be very long on the way. We spent five hours coming."</p> + +<p>I knew we should travel at a pace approaching a steamer's, provided the +craft could be kept from filling; but, enlarging upon the former point, +I tried to conceal the latter possibility, as I put the helm up; and the +craft, rising upright, but commencing to roll horribly, raced away +down-wind towards open water. Once out of the point's shelter, short but +angry waves raced white behind her, for one may find sufficient turmoil +of waters when a fresh gale sweeps the Canadian lakes. The rolling grew +wilder, the long boom splashed heavily into the white upheavals that +surged by on each side, and our progress became a series of upward +rushes and swoops, until at times I feared the craft would run her bows +under and go down bodily. Once I caught my companion glancing over the +stern, and, knowing how ugly oncoming waves appear when they heave up +behind a running vessel, I laid a hand on her shoulder and gently turned +her head aside.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>"There! You must look only that way, and tell me if you see any islands +across our course," I said.</p> + +<p>It was practically dark now, but I could distinguish the whiteness of +her wet face, and see her shiver violently. My jacket was spongy, I had +nothing to wrap her in, but she looked so wet and pitiful that I drew +her towards me and slipped a dripping arm protectingly about her. +Lucille Haldane made no demur. The wild rolling, the flying spray, and +the rush of short tumbling ridges must have been sufficiently +terrifying, and perhaps she found the contact reassuring.</p> + +<p>One hand was all I needed. There was now nothing any unassisted man +could do except keep the craft straight before wind and sea, but it was +quite sufficient for one who had lost much of his dexterity with the +tiller, and at times the boat twisted on a white crest in imminent peril +of rolling over. Worse than all, the waves that smote the flat stern +commenced to splash on board, and the water inside the boat rose +rapidly. Already the floorings were floating, and I dare not for a +second loose the tiller. It was Lucille Haldane who solved the +difficulty.</p> + +<p>"Is not all that water getting dangerous?" she asked, with chattering +teeth; and, knowing her keenness, I saw there was no use attempting to +hide the fact.</p> + +<p>"Why did you not tell me so earlier?" she continued. "It is only right +that I should do my share, and I can at least throw some of it out."</p> + +<p>"You are not fit for such work, and must sit still. At this pace we +shall see the lights of Leyland's house soon," I said, tightening my +hold on her; but the girl shook off my grasp.</p> + +<p>"I am not so helpless that I cannot make an effort to do what is so +necessary," she said. "Let me go, Mr. Ormesby, or I shall never forgive +you. Where is the bailer?"</p> + +<p>I pointed to it, and even in face of the necessity it hurt me to see her +alternately kneeling in the water that surged to and fro and trying to +hold herself upright while she raised and emptied the heavy bucket. +Often she <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>upset its contents over herself or me, and several times a +lurch flung her cruelly against the coaming; but she persevered with +undiminished courage until she stumbled in a savage roll and struck her +head. Then she clung to the coaming, the water draining from her, and, +not daring to move from the tiller, I could do nothing but growl +anathemas upon the boat's owner, until the girl sank down in the stern +sheets beside me.</p> + +<p>"I must rest a little," she said. "But what were you saying, Mr. +Ormesby?"</p> + +<p>"Only that I should like to hang the man who invented this unhandy rig, +and Caryl for tempting you on board such a craft," I answered, hoping +she had not heard the whole of my remarks. "You poor child, it is +shameful that you should have to do such work; and, whatever happens, +you shall not try again."</p> + +<p>Her tresses, released from whatever bound them, streamed in the wind +about her, and she seemed to shrink a little from me as she struggled +with them. "It is not Caryl's fault. I clumsily let the rope go when I +was pulling the boat in, and as it is some little time since I was a +child, I do not care to be treated as one. Have I not done my best?" she +asked.</p> + +<p>"You have done gallantly; more than many men unused to +seamanship—Caryl, for instance—could. All this is due to his +stupidity," I answered; and fancied there was a trace of resentment in +her voice as she said: "Poor Ted! He is brave enough, at least. I know +he cannot swim, and yet he was about to plunge into deep water when you +stopped him."</p> + +<p>It appeared wholly ridiculous, but, even then, Lucille Haldane's defense +of Caryl irritated me. "He is responsible for all you are suffering, and +I can't forgive him for it. Was that not rather the action of a +lunatic?" I answered shortly.</p> + +<p>A wave, which, breaking upon the flat stern, deluged my shoulders and +drenched my companion afresh, cut short the colloquy; but I caught sight +of a faint twinkle ahead, and restrained her with a wet hand when she +would have resumed the bailing. It was also by gentle <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>force, for this +time she resisted, that I drew her down beside me so that I partly +shielded her from the spray, and the water came in as it willed as we +drove onwards through thick obscurity. Still, the light rose higher +ahead, and I strained my eyes to catch the first loom of Leyland's +island. Large boulders studded the approach to it, and we might come to +grief if we struck one of them.</p> + +<p>It was now blowing viciously hard, the boat, half-buried in a white +smother, would scarcely steer, and the bright light from a window ahead +beat into my eyes, bewildering my vision. I could, however, dimly make +out pines looming behind it, and the beat of yeasty surges, which warned +me it would be risky to attempt a landing on that beach. There would be +shelter on the leeward side of the island, but a glance at the +balloon-like curves of the lifting mainsail showed that we could not +clear its end upon the course we were sailing. We must jibe, or swing +the mainsail over, which might result in a capsize.</p> + +<p>"I want your help, Miss Haldane. Go forward and loose the rope you will +find on your right-hand side near the mast," I said; and as the girl +obeyed, the light shone more fully upon the dripping boat. I had a +momentary vision of several dark figures on the veranda, and then, while +I held my breath, saw only the slight form of the girl, with draggled +dress and wet hair streaming, swung out above the whiteness of rushing +foam as she wrenched at the halliard, which had fouled. Then the head of +the sail swung down, and as she came back panting, the steering demanded +all my attention.</p> + +<p>"Hold fast to the coaming here," I said, as, dragging with might and +main at the sheet, I put the tiller up.</p> + +<p>The craft twisted upon her heel, the sail swung aloft, and then, while +the sheet rasped through my fingers, chafing the skin from them, there +was a heavy crash as the boom lurched over. The boat swayed wildly under +its impetus, buried one side deep, and a shout, which might have been a +cry of consternation, reached me faintly. Then she shook herself free, +and reeled away into the blackness on a different course.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>The head of the island swept by, and we shot into smoother water with a +spit of shingle ahead, on which I ran the craft ashore, and it was with +sincere relief I felt the shock of her keel upon the bottom. Lucille +Haldane said something I did not hear while she lay limp and wet and +silent in my arms, as, floundering nearly waist-deep, I carried her +ashore and then towards a path which led to the house. The night was +black, the way uneven, but perhaps because I was partly dazed I did not +set down my burden. She had helped me bravely, and it was only now, when +the peril had passed, I knew how very fearful I had been for her safety. +Indeed, it was hard to realize she was yet free from danger, and in +obedience to some unreasoning instinct I still held her fast, until she +slipped from my grasp. A few minutes later a light twinkled among the +trees, voices reached us, and Haldane, followed by several others, came +up with a lantern.</p> + +<p>He stooped and kissed his daughter, then, turning, held out his hand to +me. "Thank God!—but where is Beatrice?" he said.</p> + +<p>I told him, my teeth rattling as I spoke, and without further words we +went on towards the house. Nevertheless, the fervent handclasp and +quiver in Haldane's voice were sufficiently eloquent. When we entered +the house, where Mrs. Leyland took charge of Lucille, Haldane, asking +very few questions, looked hard at me. "I shall not forget this +service," he said quietly. "In the meantime get into some of Leyland's +things as quickly as you can. We are going to pull the boat ashore under +shelter of the island and requisition a wagon at Rideau's farm. I +believe we can reach the others by an old lumbermen's trail."</p> + +<p>It was in vain I offered my services as guide. Haldane would not accept +them, and set out with the assistants whom, fearing some accident, he +had brought with him, while I had changed into dry clothing when his +daughter came in. What she had put on I do not know, but it was probably +something of Mrs. Leyland's intended for evening wear; and, in contrast +to her usual almost girlish attire, it became her. She had suddenly +changed, as it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>were, into a woman. Her dark lashes were demurely +lowered, but her eyes were shining.</p> + +<p>"You are none the worse," I said, drawing out a chair for her; and she +laughed a little.</p> + +<p>"None; and I even ventured to appear in this fashion lest you should +think so. I also wanted to thank you for taking care of me."</p> + +<p>Lucille Haldane's voice was low and very pleasant to listen to, but I +wondered why I should feel such a thrill of pleasure as I heard it.</p> + +<p>"Shouldn't it be the reverse? You deserve the thanks for the way you +helped me, though I am sorry it was necessary you should do what you +did. Let me see your hands," I said.</p> + +<p>She tried to slip them out of sight, but I was too quick and, seizing +one, held it fast, feeling ashamed and sorry as I looked down at it. The +hard ropes had torn the soft white skin, and the rim of the bucket or +the coaming had left dark bruises. Admiration, mingled with pity, forced +me to add: "It was very cruel. I called you child. You are the bravest +woman I ever met!"</p> + +<p>The damask tinge deepened a little in her cheeks, and she strove to draw +the hand away, but I held it fast, continuing: "No man could have +behaved more pluckily; but—out of curiosity—were you not just a little +frightened?"</p> + +<p>The lashes fell lower, and I was not sure of the smile beneath them. "I +was, at first, very much so; but not afterwards. I thought I could trust +you to take care of me."</p> + +<p>"I am afraid I seemed very brutal; but I would have given my life to +keep you safe," I said. "That, however, would have been very little +after all. It is not worth much just now to anybody."</p> + +<p>I was ashamed of the speech afterwards, especially the latter part of +it, but it was wholly involuntary, and the events of the past few hours +had drawn, as it were, a bond of close comradeship between my companion +in peril and myself.</p> + +<p>"I think you are wrong, but I am glad you have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>spoken, because I wanted +to express my sympathy, and feared to intrude," she said. "We heard that +bad times had overtaken you and your neighbors, and were very sorry. +Still, they cannot last forever, and you will not be beaten. You must +not be, to justify the belief father and I have in you."</p> + +<p>The words were very simple, but there was a naïve sincerity about them +which made them strangely comforting, while I noticed that Mrs. Leyland, +who came in just then, looked at us curiously. I sat out upon the +veranda until late that night, filled with a contentment I could not +quite understand. To have rendered some assistance to Beatrice Haldane's +sister and won her father's goodwill seemed, however, sufficient ground +for satisfaction, and I decided that this must be the cause of it.</p> + +<p>The rest of the party returned overland next day, and during the +afternoon Haldane said to me: "I may as well admit that I have heard a +little about your difficulties, and Leyland has been talking to me. If +you don't mind the plain speaking, one might conclude that you are +somewhat hardly pressed. Well, it seems to me that certain incidents +have given me a right to advise or help you, and if you are disposed to +let the mortgaged property go, I don't think there would be any great +difficulty in finding an opening for you. There are big homesteads in +your region financed by Eastern capital."</p> + +<p>He spoke with sincerity and evident goodwill; but unfortunately Haldane +was almost the last person from whom I could accept a favor. "I am, +while grateful, not wholly defeated, and mean to hold on," I said. +"Would you, for instance, quietly back out of a conflict with some +wealthy combine and leave your opponents a free hand to collect the +plunder?"</p> + +<p>Haldane smiled dryly. "It would depend on circumstances; but in a +general way I hardly think I should," he said. "You will, however, +remember advice was mentioned, and I believe there are men who would +value my counsel."</p> + +<p>I shook my head. "Heaven knows what the end will <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>be; but I must worry +through this trouble my own way," I said.</p> + +<p>Haldane was not offended, and did not seem surprised. "You may be wrong, +or you may be right; but if you and your neighbors are as hard to +plunder as you are slow to take a favor, the other gentlemen will +probably earn all they get," he said. "I presume you have no objections +to my wishing you good luck?"</p> + +<p>It was the next evening when I met Beatrice Haldane beside the lake. +"And so you are going back to-morrow to your cattle?" she said.</p> + +<p>"Yes," I answered. "It is the one course open to me, and the only work +for which I am fitted." And Miss Haldane showed a faint trace of +impatience.</p> + +<p>"If you are sure that is so, you are wise," she said.</p> + +<p>Before I could answer she moved away to greet Mrs. Leyland, and some +time elapsed before we met again, for I bade Leyland farewell next +morning.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE SELLING OF GASPARD'S TRAIL</span></h2> + + +<p>The surroundings were depressing when, one evening, Steel and I rode +home for the last time to Gaspard's Trail. The still, clear weather, +with white frost in the mornings and mellow sunshine all day long, which +follows the harvest, had gone, and the prairie lay bleak and gray under +a threatening sky waiting for the snow. Crescents and wedges of wild +fowl streaked the lowering heavens overhead as they fled southward in +endless processions before the frost. The air throbbed with the beat of +their pinions which, at that season, emphasizes the human shrinking from +the winter, while the cold wind that shook the grasses sighed most +mournfully.</p> + +<p>There was nothing cheering in the prospect for a man who badly needed +encouragement, and I smiled sardonically when Steel, who pushed his +horse alongside me, said: "There's a good deal in the weather, and this +mean kind has just melted the grit right out of me. I'll be mighty +thankful to get in out of it, and curl up where it's warm and snug +beside the stove. Sally will have all fixed up good and cheerful, and +the west room's a cozy place to come into out of the cold."</p> + +<p>"You must make the most of it to-night, then, for we'll be camping on +straw or bare earth to-morrow," I said. "Confound you, Steel! Isn't it a +little unnecessary to remind me of all that I have lost?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't mean it that way," said the other, with some confusion. "I +felt I had to say something cheerful to rouse you up, and that was the +best I could make of it. Anyway, we'll both feel better after supper, +and I'm hoping we'll yet see the man who turned you out in a tight +place."</p> + +<p>"You have certainly succeeded," I answered dryly. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>"When a man is forced +to stand by and watch a rascal cheat him out of the result of years of +labor, you can't blame him for being a trifle short in temper, and, if +it were not for the last expectation you mention, I'd turn my back +to-morrow on this poverty-stricken country. As it is——"</p> + +<p>"We'll stop right here until our turn comes some day. Then there'll be +big trouble for somebody," said Steel. "But you've got to lie low, +Ormesby, and give him no chances. That man takes everyone he gets, and, +if one might say it, you're just a little hot in the head."</p> + +<p>"One's friends can say a good deal, and generally do," I answered +testily. "How long have you set up as a model of discretion, Steel? +Still, though there is rather more sense than usual in your advice, +doesn't it strike you as a little superfluous, considering that Lane has +left us no other possible course?"</p> + +<p>Steel said nothing further, and I was in no mood for conversation. +Gaspard's Trail was to be sold on the morrow, and Lane had carefully +chosen his time. The commercial depression was keener than ever, and +there is seldom any speculation in Western lands at that time of the +year. It was evidently his purpose to buy in my possessions.</p> + +<p>A cheerful red glow beat out through the windows of my dwelling when we +topped the last rise, but the sight of it rather increased my moodiness, +and it was in silence, and slowly, we rode up to the door of Gaspard's +Trail. Sally Steel met us there, and her eyelids were slightly red; but +there was a vindictive ring in her voice as she said: "Supper's ready, +and I'm mighty glad you've come. This place seems lonesome. Besides, I'm +'most played out with talking, and I've done my best to-day. Those +auctioneering fellows have fixed up everything, but it isn't my fault if +they don't know how mean they are. They finished with the house in a +hurry, and one of them said: 'I can't stand any more of that +she-devil.'"</p> + +<p>"He did! Where are they now?" asked Steel, drop<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>ping his horse's bridle +and staring about him angrily; but, after a glance at Sally, who +answered my unspoken question with a nod, I seized him by the shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Steady! Who is hot-headed now?" I said.</p> + +<p>Steel strove to shake off my grasp until his sister, who laughed a +little, turned towards him. "I just took it for a compliment, and +there's no use in your interfering," she said. "I guess neither of them +feels proud of himself to-night, and a cheerful row with somebody would +spoil all the good I've done. They're camping yonder in the stable, but +you'll tie up the horses in the empty barn."</p> + +<p>Sally Steel was a stanch partisan, and, knowing what I did of her +command of language, I felt almost sorry for the men who had been +exposed to it a whole day in what was, after all, only the execution of +their duty. Before Steel returned, one of them came out of the stable +and approached me, but, catching sight of Sally, stopped abruptly, and +then, as though mustering his courage, came on again.</p> + +<p>"I guess you're Mr. Ormesby, and I'm auctioneer's assistant," he said. +"One could understand that you were a bit sore, but I can't see that +it's my fault, anyway; and from what we heard, you don't usually turn +strangers into the stable."</p> + +<p>The man spoke civilly enough, and I did not approve of his location; but +the rising color in Sally's face would have convinced anybody who knew +her that non-interference was the wisest policy.</p> + +<p>"It is about the first time we have done so, but this lady manages my +house, and, if you don't like your quarters, you must talk to her," I +said.</p> + +<p>The man cast such a glance of genuine pity upon me that it stirred me to +faint amusement, rather than resentment, while the snap, as we called it +on the prairie, which crept into Sally's eyes usually presaged an +explosion.</p> + +<p>"If that's so, I guess I prefer to stop just where I am," he said.</p> + +<p>We ate our supper almost in silence, and little was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>spoken afterwards. +Sally did her best to rouse us, but even her conversation had lost its +usual bite and sparkle, and presently she abandoned the attempt. I +lounged in a hide chair beside the stove, and each object my eyes rested +on stirred up memories that were painful now. The cluster of splendid +wheat ears above the window had been the first sheared from a bounteous +harvest which had raised great hopes. I had made the table with my own +fingers, and brought out the chairs, with the crockery on the varnished +shelf, from Winnipeg, one winter, when the preceding season's operations +had warranted such reckless expenditure. The dusty elevator warrant +pinned to the wall recalled the famous yield of grain which—because +cattle had previously been our mainstay—had promised a new way to +prosperity, and now, as I glanced at it, led me back through a sequence +of failure to the brink of poverty. Also, bare and plain as it was, that +room appeared palatial in comparison with the elongated sod hovel which +must henceforward shelter us at Crane Valley.</p> + +<p>The memories grew too bitter, and at last I went out into the darkness +of a starless night, to find little solace there. I had planned and +helped to build the barns and stables which loomed about me—denied +myself of even necessities that the work might be better done; and now, +when, after years of effort and sordid economy, any prairie settler +might be proud of them, all must pass into a stranger's hands, for very +much less than their value. Tempted by a dazzling possibility, I had +staked too heavily and had lost, and there was little courage left in me +to recommence again at the beginning, when the hope which had hitherto +nerved me was taken away. Steel and his sister had retired before I +returned to the dwelling, and I was not sorry.</p> + +<p>The next day broke gloomily, with a threat of coming storm, but, as it +drew on, all the male inhabitants of that district foregathered at +Gaspard's Trail. They came in light wagons and buggies and on horseback, +and I was touched by their sympathy. They did not all express it neatly. +Indeed, the very silence of some was most <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>eloquent; but there was no +mistaking the significance of the deep murmur that went up when Lane and +two men drove up in a light wagon. The former was dressed in city +fashion in a great fur-trimmed coat, and his laugh grated on me, as he +made some comment to the auctioneer beside him. Then the wagon was +pulled up beside the rank of vehicles, and the spectators ceased their +talking as, dismounting, he stood, jaunty, genial, and <i>débonnaire</i>, +face to face with the assembly.</p> + +<p>Even now the whole scene rises up before me—the threatening low-hung +heavens, the desolate sweep of prairie, the confused jumble of +buildings, the rows of wagons, and the intent, bronzed faces of the men +in well-worn jean. All were unusually somber, but, while a number +expressed only aversion, something which might have been fear, mingled +with hatred, stamped those of the rest. Every eye was fixed on the +little portly man in the fur coat who stood beside the wagon looking +about him with much apparent good-humor. Lane was not timid, or he would +never have ventured there at all; but his smile faded as he met that +concentrated gaze. Those who stared at him were for the most part +determined men, and even with the power of the law behind him, and two +troopers in the background, some slight embarrassment was not +inexcusable.</p> + +<p>"Good-morning to you, boys. Glad to see so many of you, and I hope +you'll pick up bargains to-day," he said; and then twisted one end of +his mustache with a nervous movement; when again a growl went up. It was +neither loud nor wholly articulate, though a few vivid epithets broke +through it, and the rest was clearly not a blessing. Several of the +nearest men turned their backs on the speaker with as much parade as +possible.</p> + +<p>"Don't seem quite pleased at something," he said to me. "Well, it don't +greatly matter whether they're pleased or not. May as well get on to +business. You've had your papers, and didn't find anything to kick +against, Ormesby?"</p> + +<p>"It is hardly worth while to ask, considering your <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>experience in such +affairs. The sooner you begin and finish, the better I'll be pleased," I +said.</p> + +<p>The auctioneer's table had been set up in the open with the ticketed +implements arranged behind it and the stock and horses in the +wire-fenced corral close beside. He was of good repute in his business, +and I felt assured of fair play from him, at least, though I could see +Lane's purpose in bringing him out from Winnipeg. The latter was too +clever to spoil a well-laid scheme by any superfluous petty trickery, +and with that man to conduct it nobody could question the legitimacy of +the sale. There was an expectant silence when he stood up behind his +table.</p> + +<p>"What is one man's gain is another man's loss, and I feel quite certain, +from what I know of the prairie, that none of you would try to buy a +neighbor's things way under their cost," he commenced. "It's mighty hard +to make a fortune in times like these, you know, but anybody with sound +judgment, and the money handy, has his opportunity right now. You're +going to grow wheat and raise beef enough down here to feed the world +some day. It's a great country, and the best bit in it you'll find +scheduled with its rights and acreage as the first lot I have to offer +you—the Gaspard's Trail holding with the buildings thereon. The soil, +as you all know, will grow most anything you want, if you scratch it, +and the climate——"</p> + +<p>"Needs a constitution of cast iron to withstand it," interjected a young +and sickly Englishman, who had benefited less than he expected from a +sojourn on the prairie. His comment was followed by a query from another +disappointed individual: "Say, what about the gophers?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not selling you any climate," was the ready answer. "Even the +gopher has its uses, for without some small disadvantages the fame of +your prosperity would bring out all Europe here. Now, gentlemen, I'm +offering you one of the finest homesteads on the prairie. Soil of +unequaled fertility, the best grass between Winnipeg and Calgary, with +the practical certainty of a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>railroad bringing the stock cars to its +door, and the building of mills and elevators within a mile from this +corral."</p> + +<p>Here Lane, standing close to the table, whispered something—unobserved, +he doubtless thought—to the auctioneer, whose genial face contracted +into a frown. Lane had, perhaps, forgotten the latter was not one of the +impecunious smaller fry who, it was suggested, occasionally accepted +more than hints from him.</p> + +<p>"The holder of the mortgage evidently considers that the railroad will +not be built, and it is very good of him to say so—in the +circumstances; but we all know what a disinterested person he is," +continued the auctioneer; and the honest salesman had, at least, secured +the crowd's goodwill. A roar of derisive laughter and appreciation of +the quick-witted manner in which he had punished unjustified +interference followed the sally. "That, after all, is one person's +opinion only; and I heard from Ottawa that the road would be built. I +want your best bids for the land and buildings, with the stock cars +thrown in. You'll never get a better chance; but not all at once, +gentlemen."</p> + +<p>During the brief interval which followed I was conscious of quivering a +little under the suspense. The property, if realized at normal value, +should produce sufficient to discharge my liabilities several times +over; but I dreaded greatly that, under existing conditions, a balance +of debt would be left sufficient to give Lane a hold on me when all was +sold. The auctioneer's last request was superfluous, for at first nobody +appeared to have any intention of bidding at all, and there was an +impressive hush while two men from the cities, who stood apart among the +few strangers, whispered together. Meanwhile I edged close in to the +table so that I might watch every move of my adversary.</p> + +<p>"Lane wasn't wise when he tried to play that man the way he did," said +Steel, who stood beside me, but I scarcely heeded him, for Carson +Haldane, who must have reached Bonaventure very recently, nodded to me +as he took his seat in a chair Thorn brought him.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>Then one of the strangers named a ridiculously small sum, which Steel, +amid a burst of laughter from all those who knew the state of his +finances, immediately doubled, whereupon the bidder advanced his offer +by a hundred dollars.</p> + +<p>"Another five hundred on to that!" cried Steel; and when my foreman, +Thorn, followed his cue with a shout of, "I'll go three hundred better," +the merriment grew boisterous. The spectators were strung up and +uncertain in their mood. Very little, I could see, would rouse them to +fierce anger, and, perhaps, for that reason any opening for mirth came +as a relief to them. I had now drawn up close behind the table which +formed the common center for every man's attention, and, scanning the +faces about it, saw Lane's darken when the stranger called out +excitedly, "I'll raise him two hundred and fifty."</p> + +<p>Lane rewarded Thorn with a vicious glance, and growled under his breath. +Next he whispered something to the auctioneer, who disregarded it, while +a few minutes later the bidder, holding his hand up for attention, said:</p> + +<p>"I withdraw my last offer. I came here to do solid business and not fool +away my time competing with irresponsible parties who couldn't put up +enough money to buy the chicken-house. Is this a square sale, Mr. +Auctioneer, or is anybody without the means to purchase to be allowed to +force up genuine buyers for the benefit of the vendor?"</p> + +<p>"That's Lane's dummy, and I'm going to do some talking now," said Steel.</p> + +<p>I was inclined to fancy that the usurer, perhaps believing there was no +such thing as commercial honesty, had badly mistaken his man, or that +the auctioneer, guided by his own quick wits, saw through his scheme, +for he smote upon the table for attention.</p> + +<p>"This is a square sale, so square that I can see by the vendor's looks +he would sooner realize half-value than countenance anything irregular. +I took it for granted that these gentlemen had the means to purchase,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> +as I did in your own case. No doubt you can all prove your financial +ability."</p> + +<p>"One of them is still in debt," added the bidder.</p> + +<p>I had moved close behind Lane, and fancied I heard him say softly to +himself: "I'll fix you so you'll be sorry for your little jokes +by-and-by."</p> + +<p>A diversion followed. Goodwill to myself, hatred of the usurer, and +excitement, may perhaps have prompted them equally, for after the +would-be purchaser's challenge those of my neighbors who had escaped +better than the rest clustered about Steel, who had hard work to record +the rolls of paper money thrust upon him. Hardly had his rival laid down +a capacious wallet upon the table than Steel deposited the whole beside +it.</p> + +<p>"I guess that ought to cover my call, and now I want to see the man who +called me irresponsible," he said. "That's enough to raise me, but to +hint that any honest man would back up the thief of a mortgage holder is +an insult to the prairie."</p> + +<p>A roar of laughter and approval followed, but the laughter had an +ominous ring in it; and I saw Sergeant Mackay, who had been sitting +still as an equine statue in his saddle on the outskirts of the crowd, +push his horse through the thickest of the shouting men. He called some +by name, and bantered the rest; but there was a veiled warning behind +his jest, and two other troopers, following him, managed to further +separate the groups. The hint was unmistakable, and the shouting died +away, while, as the auctioneer looked at the money before him, the man +who had been bidding glanced covertly at Lane.</p> + +<p>"If you are satisfied with the good faith of these gentlemen, I'll let +my offer stand," he said.</p> + +<p>"It doesn't count for much whether he does or not," said Haldane +languidly. "I'll raise him two hundred and fifty."</p> + +<p>"I'm not satisfied with his," broke in the irrepressible Steel. "I can't +leave my money lying round right under that man's hand, Mr. Auctioneer. +No, sir; I won't feel easy until I've put it where it's safer. Besides, +he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>called me a friend of the mortgage holder, and I'm waiting for an +apology."</p> + +<p>The stranger from the cities grew very red in face, and a fresh laugh, +which was not all good-humor, went up from the crowd; but, as the +auctioneer prepared to grapple with this new phase of affairs, a man in +uniform reined in a gray horse beside the speaker, and looked down at +him. There was a faint twinkle in his eyes, though the rest of his +countenance was grim, and he laid a hard hand on the other's shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Ye'll just wait a while longer, Charlie Steel," he said. "I'm thinking +ye will at least be held fully responsible for anything calculated to +cause a breach of the peace."</p> + +<p>Thereafter the bidding proceeded without interruption, Haldane and his +rival advancing by fifties or hundreds of dollars, while, when the +prairie syndicate's united treasury was exhausted, which happened very +soon, a few other strangers joined in. Meanwhile, the suspense had grown +almost insupportable to me. That I must lose disastrously was certain +now, but I clung to the hope that I might still start at Crane Valley +clear of debt. Haldane was bidding with manifest indifference, and at +last he stopped.</p> + +<p>The auctioneer, calling the price out, looked at him, but Carson Haldane +shook his head, and said, with unusual distinctness: "The other +gentlemen may have it. I have gone further than I consider justifiable +already."</p> + +<p>I saw Lane glance at him with a puzzled expression, and next moment try +to signal the stranger, who was clearly in league with him, and fail in +the attempt to attract his attention. Then I held my breath, for, after +two more reluctant bids, there was only silence when the auctioneer +repeated the last offer.</p> + +<p>"Is there anyone willing to exceed this ridiculous figure? It's your +last chance, gentlemen. Going, going——" And my hopes died out as he +dropped the hammer.</p> + +<p>"Nothing left but to make the best of it," said Steel; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>which was very +poor consolation, for I could see nothing good at all in the whole +affair.</p> + +<p>There was much brisker bidding for the implements, working oxen, and +remnant of the stock, which were within the limits of my neighbors, and +who did their best; but the prices realized were by comparison merely a +drop in the bucket, and I turned away disconsolate, knowing that the +worst I feared had come to pass. All the borrowed money had been sunk in +the improvement of that property, and now the mortgage holder, who had +even before the sale been almost repaid, owned the whole of it, land and +improvements, and still held a lien on me for a balance of the debt.</p> + +<p>Haldane met me presently, and his tone was cordial as he said: "Where +are you thinking of spending the night?"</p> + +<p>"At Crane Valley with the others," I answered shortly. "Steel and my +foreman are going to help me to restart there."</p> + +<p>"I want you to come over to Bonaventure for a few days instead," he +said. "A little rest and change will brace you for the new campaign, and +I am all alone, except for my younger daughter."</p> + +<p>I looked him squarely in the face, seeing that frankness was best. "My +wits are not very keen to-day, and I am a little surprised," I said. +"May I ask why you bid at all for my recent property? You must have +known it was worth much more than your apparent limit."</p> + +<p>Haldane smiled good-humoredly; but, in spite of this, his face was +inscrutable. "'When I might at least have run the price up,' you wish to +add. Well, I had to redeem a promise made somewhat against my better +judgment, and I stopped—when it seemed advisable. This, as you may +discover, Ormesby, is not the end of the affair, and, if I could have +helped you judiciously, you may be sure that I would. In the meantime, +are you coming back to Bonaventure with me?"</p> + +<p>He had told me practically nothing, and yet I trusted him, while the +knowledge that his daughter had bidden <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>him take measures on my behalf +was very soothing. After all, Beatrice Haldane had not forgotten me. "It +is very kind of you, and I should be glad to do so, sir," I said.</p> + +<p>I found Lane at the table as soon as the sale was over, and he held out +a sheet of paper. "You can verify the totals at leisure, but you will +see it leaves a balance due me," he said. "It is rather a pity, but the +new purchaser requires immediate possession, though he might allow you +to use the house to-night. Ah! here he is to speak for himself."</p> + +<p>The stranger, who indorsed the statement, looked first at Lane and then +at me in sidelong fashion. There was nothing remarkable about him except +that he had hardly the appearance of a practical farmer, but the +malicious enjoyment his master's eyes expressed, and something in his +voice, set my blood on fire. Indeed, I was in a humor to turn on my best +friend just then.</p> + +<p>"Nothing would induce me to enter a house which belonged to—you," I +said, turning to Lane. "So far you have won hands down; but neither you +nor your tool has quite consummated your victory. I shall see both of +you sorry you ever laid your grasping hands on this property."</p> + +<p>"You may be right in one way," answered Lane. "You'll remember what +happened to the fool bullfrog, and you're looking tolerably healthy +yet."</p> + +<p>I had hardly spoken before I regretted it. The words were useless and +puerile; but my indignation demanded some outlet. In any case, Lane +shrugged his shoulders and the other man grinned, while I had clearly +spoken more loudly than I intended, for several bystanders applauded, +and when I moved away Sergeant Mackay overtook me. "I'm surprised at ye, +Rancher Ormesby," he said. "Ye have not shown your usual discretion."</p> + +<p>"I would not change it for yours," I answered. "It is evidently +insufficient to warn you that there are times when preaching becomes an +impertinence."</p> + +<p>Mackay only shook his head. He wheeled his horse, and, with two troopers +behind him, rode towards the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>wagon which Lane was mounting. A deep +growl of execration went up, and the farewell might have been warmer but +for the troopers' presence. As it was, he turned and ironically saluted +the sullenly wrathful crowd as the light wagon lurched away across the +prairie. Then I was left homeless, and was glad to feel Haldane's touch +on my arm. "Light this cigar and jump in. The team are getting +impatient, and Lucille will be wondering what has kept us so long," he +said.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">AN UNFORTUNATE PROMISE</span></h2> + + +<p>Haldane could command any man's attention when he chose to exert +himself, and, I fancied, made a special effort on my behalf during his +homeward journey. As a result of this I almost forgot that I was a +homeless and practically ruined man as I listened to his shrewd +predictions concerning the future of that region, or occasionally +ventured to point out improbabilities in some of them. The depression, +however, returned with double force when we came into sight of +Bonaventure soon after dusk, and with it a curious reluctance to face +the young mistress of the homestead.</p> + +<p>Lucille Haldane was my junior by several years. Indeed, on our first +meeting I had considered her little more than a girl, but since then a +respect for her opinions, and a desire to retain her approval, had been +growing upon me. Perhaps it was because her opinions more or less +coincided with my own, but this fact would not account for the +undeniable thrill of pleasure which had followed her naïve announcement +that she believed in me. Hitherto, with one exception, I had figured +before her as a successful man, and I positively shrank from appearing +as one badly beaten and brought down by his own overconfident folly. I +remembered how she once said: "You must not disappoint us."</p> + +<p>This seemed wholly absurd, but the worst bitterness I had yet +experienced made itself felt when Haldane pulled up his team, and, +pointing to a figure on the threshold of his homestead, said: "Lucille +must have been getting impatient. She is watching for us."</p> + +<p>I allowed him to precede me by as long a space as possible, while I +lingered to assist the hired man with a refractory buckle, and then it +was with an effort I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>braced myself for the interview. Haldane had +vanished into the house, but the slight, graceful figure still waited +upon the threshold, and I wondered, with a strange anxiety, what his +daughter would say to me.</p> + +<p>The question was promptly answered, for, as I entered the hall, feeling +horribly ashamed and with doubtless a very wooden face, Lucille Haldane +held out both hands to me. Her manner was half-shy, wholly +compassionate, and I stood quite still a while comforted by the touch of +the little soft fingers which I held fast within my own. Then she said +very simply: "I am so sorry, but you will have better fortune yet."</p> + +<p>A lamp hung close above us, and it was, perhaps, as well that it did, +for the relief which followed the quiet words that vibrated with +sincerity was more inimical to rational behavior than the previous +causeless hesitation. Lucille Haldane looked more girlish than ever and +most bewitchingly pretty as, glancing up at me, partly startled by my +fervent grasp, she drew her hands away. She seemed the incarnation of +innocence, freshness, and gentle sympathy, and, perhaps as a result of +the strain lately undergone, there came upon me an insane desire to +stoop and kiss her as, or so at least it seemed, a brother might have +done.</p> + +<p>She may have grown suspicious, for feminine perceptions are keen, and, +though the movement was graceful and not precipitate, a distance of +several feet divided us next moment, and we stood silent, looking at +each other, while my heart beat at what appeared double its usual rate.</p> + +<p>"You have given me new hope, and those were the kindest words I have +ever heard," I said. "I think you meant them."</p> + +<p>Lucille Haldane's manner changed. The change was indefinite, but it +existed, and it was with a smile she answered me. "Of course I did. One +does not generally trouble to deceive one's friends; and we are friends, +are we not, Mr. Ormesby?"</p> + +<p>"No one could desire a better, and I hope we shall always remain so," I +answered, with an attempt at a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>bow; and the girl, turning, preceded me +into the big central hall.</p> + +<p>"What kept you so long, Ormesby? One could almost have fancied you had +become possessed of an unusual bashfulness," said Haldane, when we came +in; and I glanced apologetically at his daughter before I answered him.</p> + +<p>"Something of the kind happened, and my excuse is that I had very little +cause for self-confidence. Now, however, I am only ashamed of the +hesitation."</p> + +<p>"You deserve to be," said Haldane, with a mock severity which veiled a +certain pride. "Fortunately, the young mistress of Bonaventure atones +for her father's shortcomings, and so long as she rules there will +always be a welcome for anybody in adversity here, as well as the best +we can give to harassed friends. It is a convenient arrangement, for +while, according to my unsuccessful rivals, I grow rich by paralyzing +industries and unscrupulous gambling upon the markets, Lucille assists +me to run up a counter score by proxy."</p> + +<p>The girl's face flushed a little, and it was pleasant to see the quick +indignation sparkle in her eyes. "You never did anything unscrupulous; +and I do not think we are very rich," she said.</p> + +<p>One might have fancied that Haldane was gratified, though he smiled +whimsically and turned in my direction as he answered: "The last +assertion, at least, is true if it proves anything, for it is tolerably +hard to acquire even a competence nowadays by strictly honest means, +isn't it, Ormesby? You, however, do not know the inconvenience of having +an uncomfortably elevated standard fixed for one to live up to, and I am +seriously contemplating a reckless attack on some national industry to +prove its impossibility."</p> + +<p>The girl's confidence in her father was supreme, for, though this time +she laughed, it was evident she did not believe a word of this. "It is +well you are known by your actions and not your speeches," she said. +"There are commercial combinations which deserve to be attacked. +Why"—and her tone grew serious enough<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>—"do you not crush the man or +men who are doing so much mischief in our vicinity?"</p> + +<p>Haldane looked at his daughter, and then across at me, and, while +slightly ironical good-humor was stamped on his face, it was a mask. +There was more than one side to his character, and, when it pleased him +to be so, there was nobody more inscrutable. "It is a rather extensive +order, and men of that stamp are generally hard to crush," he said. +"Still, if those mistaken doctors should conspire to forbid me more +profitable employment, I might, perhaps, make the attempt some day."</p> + +<p>This was vague enough, but I felt that Haldane had intended the hint for +me. There was no further reference to anything financial, for +henceforward both my host and his daughter laid themselves out to help +me to forget my troubles, and were so successful in this that I even +wondered at myself. The troubles were certainly not far away, but the +financier's anecdotes and his daughter's comments proved so entertaining +that they diminished and melted into a somber background.</p> + +<p>When Lucille left us Haldane sat chatting with me over his cigar, and at +last he said abruptly: "I dare say you wondered at my half-hearted +action to-day?"</p> + +<p>"I did, sir," I answered; and the financier nodded good-humoredly.</p> + +<p>"There is nothing to equal plain speaking, Ormesby. When a man knows +just what he wants and asks for it he stands the best chance of +obtaining it, though I don't always act in accordance with the maxim +myself. Well, I made a few bids somewhat against my better judgment +because I had promised to, and then ceased because it seemed best to me +that, since you could not hold it, Lane should acquire the property."</p> + +<p>"I don't quite see the reason, sir. On the other hand, a stiff advance +in prices would have meant a good deal to me," I said.</p> + +<p>Haldane answered oracularly: "That gentleman's funds are not +inexhaustible, and he already holds what one might call foreclosure +options on a good deal of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>property. I should not be sorry to see him +take hold of further land so long as it did not lie west of Gaspard's +Trail. It is possible that he has, as we say in the vernacular, bitten +off more than he can chew—considering the present scarcity of money. I +should take heart if I were you, and hold on to Crane Valley whatever it +costs you."</p> + +<p>"Can't you speak a little more directly?" I asked.</p> + +<p>Haldane shook his head. "I am not in a position to do so yet; but, if +surmises turn into certainties, I will some day. Meanwhile, are you open +to train some of the Bonaventure colts, and look after my surplus stock +on a profit-division basis? I have more than my staff can handle."</p> + +<p>"I should be very glad to do so," I answered, seeing that while the +offer was prompted by kindness it had also its commercial aspect. "But, +if there is anything going on, say, some plan for the exploitation of +this district in opposition to Lane, can I not take my part in it?"</p> + +<p>"I have heard of no such scheme; and, if I had, you could help it most +by driving new straight furrows and raising further cattle," said +Haldane, with an enigmatical smile. "There are games which require a +lifelong experience from the men who would succeed in them; and, because +Rome was not built in a day, perhaps you were wiser to stick to your +plowing, Ormesby. One gets used to the excitement of the other life, but +the strain remains, and that is one reason why you see me at Bonaventure +again."</p> + +<p>My host's words encouraged me. It was true he had said very little, but +that was always Haldane's way; and, seeing that he now desired to change +the subject, I followed his lead. "I hope your health is not failing you +again, sir?" I said.</p> + +<p>"Save for one weakness, my general health is good enough," was the quiet +answer. "Still, the weakness is there, and for the second time this year +physicians have ordered an interval of quietness and leisure. One has to +pay the penalty for even partial success, you know, and I am not so +young or vigorous as I used to be."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>"Then, if I may ask the question, why not abandon altogether an +occupation which tries you, sir?"</p> + +<p>Haldane smiled over his cigar, but a shadow crossed his face. "We are +what the Almighty made us, Ormesby, and I suppose the restless gaming +instinct was born in me. Even in my enforced leisure down here it is +almost too strong for me, and I indulge in it on a minor scale by way of +recreation. I can't sit down and quietly rust into useless inactivity. +Further, while handling a good deal of money, my private share is +smaller than many folks suppose it, and I have my daughters' future to +ensure. Both have been brought up to consider a certain amount of luxury +as necessary."</p> + +<p>I do not think the last words were intended as a hint, for had Haldane +considered the latter necessary it is hardly likely I should have been +welcomed so often at Bonaventure. In any case it would have been +superfluous, for I had already faced the worst, and decided that +Beatrice Haldane must remain what she had always been to me—an ideal to +be worshiped in the abstract and at a distance. Strangest of all, once +the knowledge was forced on me, I found it possible to accept the +position with some degree of resignation. All this flashed through my +mind as I looked into the wreaths of smoke, and then Haldane spoke:</p> + +<p>"Have you come across that photographer fellow lately?"</p> + +<p>"Not for some time. Do you wish to see him?" I answered, with a slightly +puzzled air.</p> + +<p>"I think I should like to"—and Haldane's voice changed from its +reflective tone. "Do you know who he is, Ormesby?"</p> + +<p>"I should hardly care to say without consulting him, sir," I answered; +and Haldane laughed.</p> + +<p>"You need not trouble, because I do. If you chance upon him tell him +what I said. Getting late, isn't it? Good-night to you!"</p> + +<p>He left me equally relieved and mystified, and that I should feel any +relief at all formed part of the mystery. Whatever was the cause of it, +I was neither utterly cast <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>down nor desperate when I sought my couch, +and I managed to sleep soundly.</p> + +<p>That was the first of several visits to Bonaventure. The acreage of +Crane Valley was ample, but the house a mere elongated sod hovel, of +which Miss Steel monopolized the greater portion, although I reflected +grimly that in existing circumstances it was quite good enough for me. +Our life there was dreary enough, and, at times, I grew tired of Sally's +alternate blandishments and railleries; so, when the frost bound fast +the sod and but little could be done for land and cattle, it was very +pleasant to spend a few days amid the refinement and comfort which ruled +at Bonaventure. During one of my journeys there I met Cotton, and rode +some distance with him across the prairie. I could see there was +something he wished to say, but his usually ample confidence seemed to +fail him, and finally he bade me farewell with visible hesitation where +our ways parted. I had, however, scarcely resumed my journey before he +hailed me, and when I checked my horse he rode back in my direction with +resolve and irresolution mingled in his face.</p> + +<p>"You are in a great hurry. There was something I wanted to ask," he +commenced. "Do you think this frost will hold, Ormesby?"</p> + +<p>"You have a barometer in the station, haven't you?" I answered, +regarding him ironically. "Cotton, you have something on your mind +to-day, and it is not the frost. Out with it, man. I'm in no way +dangerous."</p> + +<p>"I have," he answered, with a slight darkening of the bronze in his +face. "It is not a great thing, but your paternal advice and cheap +witticisms pall on me now and then. Curious way to ask a favor, isn't +it? But that is just what I'm going to do."</p> + +<p>"We'll omit the compliments. Come to the point," I said; and the trooper +made the plunge he had so much hesitated over.</p> + +<p>"I want you to ride out on Wednesday night and meet Freighter Walker +coming in from the rail. As you know, he generally travels all night by +the Bitter <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>Lakes trail. Ask him for a packet with my name on the label, +then tear that label off and give Mail-carrier Steve the packet +addressed to Miss Haldane. Those confounded people at the rail post +office chatter so about every trifle, and Steve is too thick in the head +to notice anything. My rounds make it quite impossible for me to go +myself, and that fool of a freighter would certainly lose or smash the +thing before he passed our way on his return journey. It is not asking +too much, is it?"</p> + +<p>"No," I said readily, seeing the eagerness in the trooper's eyes, though +that statement implied a long, cold night's ride. "Miss Haldane is, +however, in Ottawa."</p> + +<p>"I don't care where she is," said Cotton. "Confound—of course, I mean +it's very good of you; but there's no use in assuming stupidity. It is +Miss Lucille Haldane I mean, you know."</p> + +<p>"I might certainly have guessed it," I said dryly. "It is no business of +mine, Cotton, but in return for your compliments I can't help asking, do +you think Haldane would appreciate it?"</p> + +<p>Cotton straightened himself in his saddle, and I was sorry for him. He +looked very young with that light in his eyes and the hot blood showing +through his tan; also, I fancied, very chivalrous.</p> + +<p>"Don't be under any misapprehension, Ormesby," he said quietly. "That +packet merely contains an article I heard Miss Haldane lamenting that +she could not obtain. It is of no value, only useful; but Thursday is +her birthday, and I think she would be pleased to have it. Being Trooper +Cotton, I should never have presumed to send a costly present, and you +do not for a moment suppose Miss Lucille would appreciate the trifle for +anything beyond its intrinsic utility. This is the second time you have +forced me to point out the absurdity of your conclusions."</p> + +<p>I was angry with him both for his infatuation and obtuseness, for it +struck me that in the circumstances the simple gift was made in a +dangerously graceful fashion, and calculated to appeal to a young +woman's sympathies. "I can't offer you advice?" I said.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>"No," was the answer. "One might surmise that you needed all your +abilities in that direction for yourself. Still, to prevent your drawing +any unwarranted inference, I may repeat that it would be quite +unnecessary."</p> + +<p>"I understand," I said somberly, feeling that there were two of us in +the same position. "Very glad to oblige you. The times are out of joint +for all of us just now, Cotton. Good-night—and, on consideration, I +think the frost will hold."</p> + +<p>We rode in different directions, and because I had made that unfortunate +promise it was late on Wednesday night when I prepared to leave +Bonaventure quietly. Haldane had journeyed to the railroad and could not +return before midnight at earliest. Lucille informed me that she would +be busy with some household affairs, and, as I could be back by morning, +it seemed possible that neither would miss me. Having promised the +trooper secrecy, I did not wish to answer questions or name excuses.</p> + +<p>As ill-luck would have it, the last person I desired to meet chanced +upon me, as, well wrapped in furs, I was slipping towards the door, and +I must have looked confused when Lucille Haldane said: "Where are you +going, Mr. Ormesby?"</p> + +<p>"A little ride," I answered. "I have—I have some business to do, and +after two idle days begin to long for exercise."</p> + +<p>The girl looked hard at me, and I saw she recognized that the excuse was +very lame. "There is nobody living within reach of a short ride. Will +you return to-night?" she asked.</p> + +<p>It was most unfortunate, for I did not wish to anticipate the trooper's +gift. "I hardly think so," I answered. "Now, I will make a bargain with +you. If you will keep my departure a secret, you will discover what my +errand is very shortly."</p> + +<p>"Very well," said Lucille Haldane; though she still seemed curious. "A +safe journey to you, but I don't envy you the exercise."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>I afterwards had cause to abuse Trooper Cotton and his errand, but I +swung myself into the saddle, and, when I reached the Bitter Lakes +trail, I patrolled it for two long hours under the nipping frost. No +lumbering ox-team, however, crawled up out of the white prairie, though +as yet the moon was in the sky; and I decided that the freighter had, as +he sometimes did, taken another trail. It then, fortunately, occurred to +me that I had promised to inspect some horses with a small rancher +living four or five leagues away, and so determined to do so in the +morning. A deserted sod-house stood at no great distance, which the +scattered settlers kept supplied with fuel. It served as a convenient +half-way shelter for those who must break their long journey to the +railroad settlement, and I set out for it at a canter. As I did so the +moon dipped, and darkness settled on the prairie.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE BURNING OF GASPARD'S TRAIL</span></h2> + + +<p>The hole in the roof of the sod-house had been insufficiently stopped, +the green birch billets stored in a corner burned sulkily in the rusty +stove, so that the earth-floored room was bitterly cold. Still, after +tying my horse at one end of it, and partly burying myself in a heap of +prairie hay, I managed to sink into a light slumber. I awakened feeling +numbed all through, with the pain at the joints which results from +sleeping insufficiently protected in a low temperature, and looked about +me shivering. There was not a spark in the stove, the horse was stamping +impatiently, and, when a sputtering match had shown me that it was after +two in the morning, I rose stiffly. Anything appeared better than slowly +freezing there, and I strode out into the night, leading the horse by +the bridle.</p> + +<p>A cold wind swept the prairie, and it was very dark; but, when we had +covered a league or so, and the exercise had warmed me, a dull red glare +appeared on the horizon. A grass fire was out of the question at that +season, and it was evident that somebody's homestead was burning. I was +in the saddle the next moment and riding fast towards the distant blaze. +The frozen sod was rough, the night very black, and haste distinctly +imprudent; but I pressed on recklessly, haunted by a fear that the scene +of the conflagration was Bonaventure. Reaching the edge of a rise, I +pulled the horse up with a sense of vast relief, for a struggling birch +bluff gave me my bearings and made it plain that neither Haldane's +homestead nor his daughter could be in peril.</p> + +<p>Then it dawned on me that the fire was at Gaspard's Trail and I sat +still a minute, irresolute. I had no doubt that the recent purchaser was +merely acting for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>Lane, and I felt tempted to resume my journey; but +curiosity, or the instinct which calls out each prairie settler when his +neighbor's possessions are in jeopardy, was too strong for me, and I +rode towards the blaze, but much more slowly. It was one thing to risk a +broken limb when danger appeared to threaten Bonaventure, but quite +another to do so for the sake of an unscrupulous adversary. It would +have been well for me had I obeyed the first impulse which prompted +me—and turned my back upon the fire.</p> + +<p>An hour had passed before I reached the house which had once been mine, +and, after tethering the horse in shelter of an unthreatened granary, I +proceeded to look about me. Gaspard's Trail was clearly doomed. One end +of the dwelling had fallen in. The logs, dried by the fierce summer, +were blazing like a furnace, and a column of fire roared aloft into the +blackness of the night. Showers of sparks drove down-wind, barns and +stables were wrapped in smoke; but, although the blaze lighted up the +space about them, there was nobody visible. This was in one respect not +surprising, because the nearest homestead stood a long distance away, +but, as the new owner had an assistant living with him, I wondered what +had become of them. From the position of the doors and windows they +could have had no difficulty in escaping, so, deciding that if the +ostensible proprietor had deserted his property I was not called on to +burn myself, I proceeded to prowl about the buildings in case he should +be sheltering inside one of them.</p> + +<p>Finally I ran up against him carrying an armful of tools out of a shed, +and he dropped them at sight of me. "Hallo! Where did you spring from? +Blamed hard luck, isn't it?" said he.</p> + +<p>Niven, for that was his name, did not appear greatly disconcerted, or +was able to face his loss with enviable tranquillity. He was a lanky, +thin-faced man, with cunning eyes, and I did not like the way he looked +at me.</p> + +<p>"I was out on the prairie and saw the blaze. Where's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>your hired man; +and is there nothing better worth saving than these?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"I haven't seen Wilkins since he woke me up," was the answer. "He +shouted that the place was burning, and he'd run the horses out of the +stable and on to the prairie, while I hunted up odd valuables and +dressed myself. He must have done it and ridden off to the nearest ranch +for help, for I haven't seen him since. The fire had got too good a hold +for us to put it out."</p> + +<p>If I had hitherto entertained any doubts as to the ownership of +Gaspard's Trail, the speaker's manner would have dissipated them. No man +would, in the circumstances, have wasted time in speech had his own +property been in danger; and the sight of the homestead, which I had +spent the best years of my life in building, now burning without an +effort being made to save it, filled me with indignation.</p> + +<p>"You're the man who used to own this place, aren't you?" asked Niven, +with a sidelong glance. "Should have thought you would have had enough +of it; but you might as well help heave these things out, now you're +here."</p> + +<p>The question was innocent, if unnecessary, for I had spoken to him at +the sale; but the manner in which he put it made me long to assault him, +and I answered wrathfully: "I'll see you and your master burned before I +move a hand!"</p> + +<p>"I'm my own master, worse luck!" said the other coolly, before he +commenced to gather up his load; and then turned again as another man +came up breathless.</p> + +<p>"Is that you, Ormesby. Come to see the last of it?" he said; and I saw +that the newcomer was Boone, or Adams, the photographer.</p> + +<p>"I don't quite know what I came for," I answered. "Probably out of +curiosity. It's too late to save anything, even if there were more water +in the well than there used to be."</p> + +<p>Boone nodded as he glanced towards the house. It was burning more +fiercely than ever. The straw roof of the stable, which stood not far +away, was also well <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>alight, and we could scarcely hear each other's +voices through the crackling of blazing logs and the roaring of the +flame. It was moodily I watched it toss and tower, now straight aloft, +now hurled earthwards by the wind in bewildering magnificence. After +many a hard day's toil I had robbed myself of much needed sleep to +fashion what the pitiless fire devoured, and it seemed as though I had +given my blood to feed the flame, and that the hopes which had nerved me +had dissipated like its smoke. "I can guess what you're feeling, but a +bad failure is sometimes the best way to success. You will get over it," +said Boone.</p> + +<p>I was grateful, but I did not answer him, for just then a rattle of +wheels broke through the roar of the conflagration, and two jolting +wagons lurched into the glare. Black figures on horseback followed, and +a breathless man ran up. "Trooper came round and warned us, and there's +more behind. Looks as if we'd come too late," he said.</p> + +<p>We formed the center of an excited group in a few more minutes, for +Niven had joined us, and, when he had answered some of the many +questions, he asked one in turn. "It was my man Wilkins warned you?"</p> + +<p>"I guess not," was the answer. "Trooper Chapleau saw the blaze on his +rounds"; and, when the others had stated how the news had been passed on +to them, the new owner said: "Then where in the name of thunder has the +fool gone?"</p> + +<p>A swift suspicion flashed upon me, and I glanced at Adams; but his face +was serene enough, and, when the question remained unanswered, another +thought struck me. "Did you see him lead the horses out?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"No," was the answer. "He was good at handling beasts, and I was way too +busy to worry about him. Must have done it long ago. I made sure he'd +lit out to ask for assistance, when I saw the door had swung to."</p> + +<p>I twisted round on my heel. "Who's coming with me to the stable, boys?" +I asked.</p> + +<p>The men looked at me and then at the fire. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>stable was built of the +stoutest logs obtainable, packed with sod, and its roof of branches, +sod, and straw piled several feet thick to keep out the frost. A +wind-driven blaze eddied about one end of it, but the rest of the low +edifice appeared uninjured as far as we could see it through the smoke. +The glare beat upon the weather-darkened faces of the spectators, which +glowed like burnished copper under it; but, if devoid of malicious +satisfaction, I thought I could read a resolve not to interfere stamped +on most of them.</p> + +<p>"There's nothing of yours inside, and this fellow says the teams are +clear," said one. "A bigger fire wouldn't stop us if the place was +Ormesby's; but when the man who allows he owns it does nothing I'll not +stir a finger to pull out a few forks and pails for that black thief +Lane."</p> + +<p>His comrades nodded, and another man said: "It's justice. Boys, you'll +remember the night we brought Redmond home?"</p> + +<p>I knew the first speaker's statement was true enough. One and all would +have freely risked their lives to assist even a stranger who had dealt +fairly with them; but they were stubborn men, unused to oppression, and +recent events had roused all the slow vindictiveness that lurked within +them. I felt very much as they did; but, remembering something, I was +not quite certain that the teams were out of the stable, and the dumb +beasts had served me well. Before I could speak a police trooper came up +at a gallop. "Hallo! What are you gaping at? Can't you stir around and +pull anything clear of harm's way, boys?" he shouted.</p> + +<p>"We're not a Montreal fire brigade, and I forgot my big helmet," said +one.</p> + +<p>"Not a stir," interjected another.</p> + +<p>"We'd pull the very sod up off the corral if you'd run Lane in for +wholesale robbery," added a third; and it was not until the hoarse laugh +which followed died away that I found my opportunity.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid the horses are inside there, boys," I said. "It's not their +fault they belong to Lane, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>whether you come along or not, I'm going +to liberate them."</p> + +<p>There was a change in a moment. I never saw even the most unfortunate +settler ill-use his beast, though all young plow oxen and half-broken +broncos, besides a good many old ones, are sufficiently exasperating. +"Ormesby's talking now," said somebody; and there was an approving +chorus. "Get the poor brutes clear, anyway. Coming right along!" Then I +started for the stable at a run, with the rest of the company hard +behind me.</p> + +<p>Thick smoke rolled between us and the door, and when we halted just +clear of the worst of it a bright blaze shot up from the thatch. The +heat scorched our faces, and one or two fell back with heads averted; +but the sound of a confused trampling reached us from the building. +"We've got to get in before the poor brutes are roasted, and do it +mighty smartly," said somebody.</p> + +<p>That at least was evident; but the question how it was to be +accomplished remained, for I recoiled, blinded and choking, at the first +attempt, before I even reached the door. I had framed it, with my own +hands, of stout tenoned logs, so that it would fit tightly to keep out +the frost. One of the posts loosened by the fire had settled, apparently +since the last person entered the building. Another man went with me the +second time, but though we managed to reach the handle the door remained +immovable, and once more we reeled back beaten, when a strip of blazing +thatch fell almost on our heads. Because the roof fed it, the fire was +mostly on the outside of the building.</p> + +<p>"Solid as a rock," gasped my companion. "Say, somebody find a lariat and +we'll heave her out by the roots."</p> + +<p>A rope was found and with difficulty hitched about the handle, after +which a dozen strong men grasped the slack of it. A glance at their +faces, illumined by the glare, showed that the thought of the suffering +beasts had roused them, and they were in earnest now. There <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>was a heave +of brawny shoulders, a straining of sinewy limbs, and the line of bodies +swayed backwards as one, when a voice rose: "All together! Heave your +best!"</p> + +<p>I felt the straining hemp contract within my grasp. Trampling feet +clawed for a firmer hold on the frozen sod, and I could hear the men +behind me panting heavily. The door remained fast, however, and again a +breathless voice encouraged us: "This time does it! Out she comes!"</p> + +<p>The rope creaked, the trampling increased, and a man behind kicked me +cruelly on the ankle during his efforts; but instead of the jammed door, +its handle came out, and the next moment we went down together in one +struggling heap. "There was a good birch log by the granary. We'll use +it for a ram," I gasped.</p> + +<p>Two men brought the log, which was unusually long and heavy for that +region, where the stoutest trees are small, and Boone and I staggered +with the butt of it into the smoke. The rest grasped the thinner end, +swung it back, and drove the other forward with all the impetus they +could furnish. The door creaked, but the most manifest result was the +fall of a further strip of burning thatch on us.</p> + +<p>"We must manage this time," spluttered Boone. "If we once let go it will +be too late before anyone else takes hold again."</p> + +<p>Once more the door defied us. The heat was almost stifling, the smoke +thicker than ever; but, choking, panting, and dripping with +perspiration, we managed to swing and guide the end of the log until the +battered frame went down with a crash, and we two reeled over it into +the building. The fire which traveled along the roof had eaten a portion +out, but though one strip of the interior was flooded with lurid light, +the smoke of a burning hay pile rolled about the rest. A horse was +squealing in agony; one stall partition had been wrenched away, and +another kicked to pieces; while two panic-stricken brutes blundered +about the building. The rest were plunging and straining at their +tethers, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>there was a curious look in Boone's face as he turned to +me.</p> + +<p>"Somebody will risk being kicked to death before we get them out. I wish +we could give their owner the first chance," he said.</p> + +<p>Several of the agonized beasts had been in times of loneliness almost as +human friends to me. Others had, in their own dumb faithful way, helped +me to realize my first ambitions, and the sight of their suffering +turned me savage. "Do you know anything of this?" I asked.</p> + +<p>Boone wheeled around on me with a menace in his eyes, but apparently +mastering his temper with an effort, laughed unpleasantly. "No. Take +care you are not asked the same question. Are you disposed to let the +horses roast while we quarrel?"</p> + +<p>The latter, at least, was out of the question, and I had only paused to +gather breath and consider a plan of operations, for it is by no means +easy to extricate frantic beasts from a burning building. The others in +the meantime were gathering around, and we set about it as best we +could. At times thick smoke wreaths blew into our eyes, the heat grew +insupportable, and the first horse I freed would have seized me with its +teeth but that I smote it hard upon the nostrils. Two men were knocked +down and trampled on, another badly kicked, but amid an indescribable +confusion the task was accomplished, until only one badly burned horse, +and another with a broken leg, remained inside the building.</p> + +<p>"We can't leave them to grill," I said. "Thorn used to keep an old +shotgun inside the chop-chest lid."</p> + +<p>It was Boone who brought me the weapon, and the burned horse was quickly +put out of its misery; but a portion of the roof fell in as I ran +towards the other. This one lay still, and, I saw, recognized me. It had +carried me gallantly on many a weary ride, and was the one on which +Lucille Haldane had leaped across the fence. I felt like a murderer when +it turned its eyes on me with an almost human appeal, for all that I +could do was to press the deadly muzzle against its head. The shock of +the detonation shook down a shower of blazing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>fragments, and I had +turned away with a horrible sense of guilt, when somebody shouted, +"There's a man in the end stall!"</p> + +<p>The stall was hidden by the smoke, but, now that the emptied stable was +quieter, a voice reached us faintly through the vapor: "Won't anyone +take me out of this?"</p> + +<p>Several of us made a rush in that direction; but, so far as memory +serves, only Boone and I reached the stall, and, groping around it +blindly, came upon something which resembled a human form. We lifted it +between us, and the man both groaned and swore; then, staggering through +the vapor, we came, blackened, burned a little, and half-asphyxiated, +into the open. The rest were already outside, and, when we laid down our +burden, they stood about him, panting.</p> + +<p>"You've nearly killed me between you, boys, but it wasn't your fault," +he gasped. "Horse fell over me when I tried to turn him loose." The +half-articulate words which followed suspiciously suggested that the +sufferer was cursing somebody, and I caught the name of Lane before he +lapsed into semi-consciousness.</p> + +<p>"It's pretty simple," one of the onlookers said. "The way Ormesby fixed +that door, it shut itself. He got some bones smashed, and was turned +half-silly by the shock. Couldn't make us hear him even if he had sense +enough. My place is the nearest, and I'll take him along."</p> + +<p>I heard my name called softly, and saw Boone standing apart from the +rest. "I want to ask why you spoke as you did a little while ago?" he +said.</p> + +<p>"I did not stop to reflect just then, but I'll hear your explanation if +you care to volunteer one before I apologize," I said.</p> + +<p>"I was camped under a bluff with the wagon when I saw the blaze, and as +the distance was not great, I came in on foot," was the answer. "That is +the simple truth. Do you believe it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," I said, for his manner impressed me. "In turn, you also hinted +something."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>"I was giving you a warning," said Boone. "You are dealing with a +dangerous man, and can't you see that if there is any doubt concerning +the fire's origin a charge might be worked up against you? Be careful +what you say; but as I see the sergeant yonder, you need not mention my +presence unless it is necessary."</p> + +<p>I alluded to Haldane's desire to see him, and, when he vanished, +followed the rest into the presence of Sergeant Mackay, who, ubiquitous +as usual, had mysteriously appeared. He sat motionless in his saddle, +with slightly compressed lips, though his keen eyes moved along the +encircling faces. It was evident that he was making an official inquiry, +and the owner of the homestead was speaking.</p> + +<p>"My name is Niven, late of the Brandon district, and I purchased this +property recently," he said.</p> + +<p>"Any partners?" asked the sergeant; and I noticed a gleam of what +appeared malicious satisfaction in the other's face as he answered: "No. +You will find my name recorded as sole owner. All was right when I +turned in about ten o'clock, but I didn't notice the time when my hired +man Wilkins roused me to say the house was burning. Had too much to +think about. Can't suggest any cause for the fire, and it doesn't count +much, anyway, for the result is certain. House and stable burned +out—and all uninsured."</p> + +<p>"Had ye any other hired man than Wilkins?" interposed the sergeant; and +Niven answered: "No. Stable didn't seem to be burning when I first got +up, but Wilkins said it was swept by sparks and he'd get the horses out. +One of them must have knocked him down, and he was only found at the +last minute."</p> + +<p>"Who was the first man ye met when ye went out?" asked the sergeant.</p> + +<p>"My predecessor—Ormesby," said Niven.</p> + +<p>Mackay appeared to meditate before he spoke again: "Where did ye meet +him, and what did he say?"</p> + +<p>"Slipping around the corner of a shed, and he said he'd see me burnt +before he stirred a hand to help," <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>was the prompt answer. Then Mackay +questioned several others before he turned to me.</p> + +<p>"How did ye happen to come to Gaspard's Trail, Henry Ormesby?"</p> + +<p>"I was riding out from Bonaventure to intercept the freighter and saw +the blaze," I answered indignantly. "I certainly refused to help Niven +at first, for I had little cause for goodwill towards him or the man +behind him; but afterwards I saved most of his working beasts."</p> + +<p>There was a murmur of assent from the bystanders, but the sergeant, +disregarding it, spoke again: "Did ye meet the freighter?"</p> + +<p>"No," I said bluntly.</p> + +<p>Mackay smiled. "Ye did not. I passed him an hour gone by on the Buffalo +trail. What was your business with him?"</p> + +<p>"To ask him for a package."</p> + +<p>"All that should be easily corroborated," was the answer; and I was glad +that the examination was over, for, remembering Boone's warning, it +appeared that my answers might give rise to unpleasant suspicions. It +also struck me that, in the hurry and confusion, nobody had noticed him +or remembered it if they had done so, while, somewhat strange to say, +after the last brief interview I had full confidence in his statement +that he knew nothing about the origin of the fire.</p> + +<p>"I'm thinking that will do in the meantime. Chapleau, ye'll ride in to +the depot and wire for a surgeon. Now, boys, are any of ye willing to +take Niven home?" asked Mackay.</p> + +<p>Apparently none of them were willing, though at last two offers were +reluctantly made. It was the only time I ever saw the prairie settlers +deficient in hospitality; but the man's conduct had confirmed their +suspicions as to his connection with Lane, which was sufficient to +prejudice the most generous. "Maybe he would be comfortable if I took +him along with me," Mackay said dryly.</p> + +<p>Thereupon the assembly broke up, and I rode back to Bonaventure, +reaching it with the first of the daylight, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>blackened and singed, +while, as it happened, Lucille Haldane was the first person I met. +"Where have you been? Your clothes are all burned!" she said.</p> + +<p>"Gaspard's Trail is burned down and I helped to save some of the +horses," I answered wearily; and I never forgot the girl's first +startled look. She appeared struck with a sudden consternation. It +vanished in a moment, and, though she looked almost guilty, her answer +was reassuring.</p> + +<p>"Of course; that is just what you would do. But you are tired and must +rest before you tell me about it."</p> + +<p>I was very tired, and slept until noon, when I told my story to Haldane +and his daughter together. The former made very few comments, but +presently I came upon Lucille alone, and laid my hand on her shoulder as +I said: "Do you know that somebody suggested it was I who burned +Gaspard's Trail?"</p> + +<p>The girl's color came and went under my gaze; then she lifted her head +and met it directly. "I—I was afraid you might be suspected, and for +just a moment or two, when you first came in looking like a ghost, I did +not know what to think," she said. "But it was only because you startled +me so."</p> + +<p>"I would not like to think that you could believe evil against me," I +said; and Lucille drew herself up a little. "Do not be ungenerous. As +soon as I could reason clearly I knew it was quite—quite impossible."</p> + +<p>"I hope any work of that kind is," I said; and Lucille Haldane, turning +suddenly, left me.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV<br /> +<span class="smalltext">BEAUTY IN DISGUISE</span></h2> + + +<p>Winter passed very monotonously with us in the sod-house at Crane +Valley. When the season's work is over and the prairie bound fast by +iron frost, the man whom it has prospered spends his well-earned leisure +visiting his neighbors or lounging contentedly beside the stove; but +those oppressed by anxieties find the compulsory idleness irksome, and I +counted the days until we could commence again in the spring. The +goodwill of my neighbors made this possible, for one promised +seed-wheat, to be paid for when harvest was gathered in; another placed +surplus stock under my charge on an agreement to share the resultant +profit, while Haldane sent a large draft of young horses and cattle he +had hardly hands enough to care for, under a similar arrangement.</p> + +<p>I accepted these offers the more readily because, while prompted by +kindness, the advantages were tolerably equal to all concerned. So the +future looked slightly brighter, and I hoped that better times would +come, if we could hold out sufficiently long. The debt I still owed +Lane, however, hung as a menace over me, while although—doubtless +because it suited him—he did not press me for payment, the extortionate +interest was adding to it constantly. Some of my neighbors were in +similar circumstances, and at times we conferred together as to the best +means of mutual protection.</p> + +<p>In the meantime the fire at Gaspard's Trail was almost forgotten—or so, +at least, it seemed. Haldane, much against his wishes, spent most of the +winter at Bonaventure; but his elder daughter remained in Montreal. +Boone, the photographer, appeared but once, and spent the night with us. +He looked less like the average Eng<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>lishman than ever, for frost and +snow-blink had darkened his skin to an Indian's color, and when supper +was over I watched him languidly as we lounged smoking about the stove. +Sally Steel had managed to render the sod-house not only habitable but +comfortable in a homely way, and though she ruled us all in a somewhat +tyrannical fashion, she said it was for our good.</p> + +<p>"There's a little favor I want to ask of you, Ormesby, but I suppose you +are all in one another's confidence?" said Boone.</p> + +<p>"Yes," I answered. "We are all, in one sense, partners, with a capital +of about ten dollars, and are further united by the fear of a common +enemy."</p> + +<p>Boone laughed silently, though his face was a trifle sardonic. "That is +as it should be, and you may have an opportunity for proving the +strength of the combination before very long. I have, as I once told +you, a weakness for horses and cattle, and I couldn't resist purchasing +some at a bargain a little while ago. I want you to take charge of them +for me. Here are particulars, and my idea of an equitable agreement." He +laid a paper on the table, and I glanced through it. The conditions were +those usual in arrangements of the kind, which were not then uncommon, +but though cattle and horses were lamentably cheap, they could not be +obtained for nothing, and the total value surprised me.</p> + +<p>"We are as honest as most people down this way, and we take one +another's word without any use for spilling ink," observed the +irrepressible Sally.</p> + +<p>"I once heard of a grasping storekeeper being badly beaten over a deal +in butter by a clever young lady," said Boone; and Steel laughed, while +his sister frowned.</p> + +<p>"He deserved it, but you seem to know just everything," she said.</p> + +<p>"Some people are born clever, and some handsome; but it is really not my +fault," said Boone, with a smile at Sally. "For instance, I know what +Ormesby is thinking. He is wondering where I got the money to pay for +those beasts."</p> + +<p>The laugh was against me, but I answered frankly: <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>"That was in my +thoughts; but I also wondered what I had done to merit the trouble you +have taken to do me a kindness."</p> + +<p>"Don't flatter yourself," said Boone. "It is a matter of business, and +equally possible that I wished to do some other person the opposite. You +must decide to-night, because I have a new assortment of beautifiers and +cosmetics in my wagon which I must set about vending to-morrow. They +would not, of course, be of any use to Miss Sally, but I am going on to +the Swedish settlement where the poor people need them."</p> + +<p>It was not delicate flattery, but Boone was quick at judging his +listener's capacity, and it pleased Miss Steel—the more so because a +certain Scandinavian damsel was her principal rival in the question of +comeliness. She drew herself up a little, while Boone smiled +whimsically. "You know it is true," he said.</p> + +<p>The man had always interested me. He was at home anywhere, and his +tongue equally adept at broad prairie raillery or finely modulated +English. Yet one could see that there was a shadow upon him.</p> + +<p>"You need have no compunction, Ormesby. I really made only one +successful attempt at housebreaking in my life," he said. "Do you accept +the offer?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, with many thanks; though I don't quite see why you make it in +writing," I said. "There are, however, a good many other things I don't +comprehend just now, and sometimes I feel that I am being moved here and +there blindly to suit other persons' unknown purposes. The position does +not please me."</p> + +<p>Boone laughed. "There is something in the fancy. You are the king's +bishop, and I'm not sure that as yet even the players quite know their +own game. Of course you are aware that Lane holds a power of attachment +against you?"</p> + +<p>"At present there is nothing but the prairie sod to attach, though I +don't see why he does not at once grab as much as he is entitled to of +that," I said. "If I get enough time I may be able to pay him off after +harvest."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>"I hope you will," was Boone's answer; and, changing the topic, he +entertained us with the quaintest anecdotes.</p> + +<p>Some time had passed since that evening, and spring had come suddenly, +when I commenced my plowing. Hitherto little wheat had been grown so far +West, but the soil was good, and I knew that sooner or later there would +be grain elevators in Crane Valley. Though the sub-soil was still +frozen, the black clods that curled in long waves from the mold-board's +side were steaming under the April sun; and as I tramped down the +quarter-mile furrow my spirits rose with the freshness of the spring. It +was good to be up and doing again, and the coming months of strain and +effort would help me to forget. Thorn and Steel, who were also plowing, +shouted jests as they passed, and it was with a contentment long strange +to us we rested at noon. Some distance divided the breaking from the +house, and we lay on the warm grasses, basking in the radiance of the +cloudless sun over our simple meal.</p> + +<p>The whole prairie was flooded with it, the air sweet and warm, and we +recommenced our task with pulses which throbbed in unison with that of +reawakening nature. The long months of darkness and deathlike cold had +gone, green blades presaging the golden ears would soon shoot upwards +from every furrow, and one drank in the essence of hope eternal in every +breath of air. Anxiety faded into insignificance, and one rejoiced in +the mere possession of physical strength, while the tender greenness +checkering the frost-nipped sod testified again that seed time and +harvest should not fail so long as the world rolled onward from darkness +into light.</p> + +<p>We came home more cheerful than we had been for months, but I felt an +instinctive foreboding when I saw Cotton talking to Sally beside the +corral fence. She was apparently bantering him, but there was +satisfaction in his face, as, after some jests of hers, he glanced at +the stripes on his sleeve.</p> + +<p>"I guess he's much too proud to look at you. They've made him a +corporal!" said Sally.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>There was a contrast between us. Spring plowing is not cleanly work, and +the mire which clung about our leggings had also freely spattered our +old jean overalls. Cotton was immaculate in new uniform, and sat, a +trim, soldierly figure, on his freshly caparisoned horse.</p> + +<p>"Here is a note for you from Bonaventure," he said. "I was riding in to +the railroad with some dispatches and to bring out our pay when Miss +Haldane asked me to give it to you."</p> + +<p>I saw a faint sparkle in Sally's eyes at the mention of Bonaventure, as +I said: "It was very good of you to ride so far round. Your superiors +are punctilious, are they not?"</p> + +<p>"With the exception of Mackay, who's away, they don't leave one much +discretion," said the corporal. "Still, I have time to spare, and don't +suppose anybody will be much the wiser. In any case, Miss Haldane said +the note was urgent, and—though having to call at the reservation I +might have passed this way on my homeward journey—I came at once."</p> + +<p>The missive brought a frown to my face. "Our hired men are busy, and +Corporal Cotton will kindly take you this," it ran. "Father, who went +East for a day or two, writes me to let you know immediately that Lane +is coming over shortly to attach your horses and cattle."</p> + +<p>I saw at once that if the money-lender seized our working beasts in the +midst of plowing, when nobody had a team to spare, our prospects of a +harvest would be ruined. However, I reflected with grim satisfaction +that the beasts were not mine, and that every man is entitled to protect +the property entrusted to him. "Read that," I said, passing it to Thorn. +"You had better start after supper and let the South-side boys know. +I'll warn the others, and it strikes me that Lane will have his work cut +out to drive off a single head."</p> + +<p>We had forgotten the bearer of the message, though once or twice I heard +Sally's voice and Cotton's laugh; but on turning towards the house I saw +he had backed his horse away from the corral and was somewhat du<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>biously +regarding the fence. Sally leaned against it watching him with an +assumption of ironical admiration.</p> + +<p>"I'll see that you keep your promise if I win," he said; and the girl +laughed mockingly.</p> + +<p>"If you don't I'll try not to cry over you," she retorted; and I guessed +the madcap had made some wager with him that he could not leap the +fence. Sally afterwards declared penitently that she never fancied he +would attempt it; but I could see by the lad's face he meant to take the +risk.</p> + +<p>"Your horse is not fresh enough, and you'll certainly break your neck!" +I shouted.</p> + +<p>Cotton glanced over his shoulder, then gathered up his bridle, while, as +I ran towards him, Sally's heart must have failed her, for she called +out: "Don't! I'll pay forfeit!"</p> + +<p>We were both too late. The corporal had touched the beast with the +spurs, and man and horse were flying towards the tall and well-braced +fence. I held my breath as I watched, for I had nailed the birch poles +home securely, and had not much faith in the beast's leaping powers. It +launched itself into the air, then there was a crash, and the top rail +flew into splinters, while horse and rider parted company. The former, +after rolling over, scrambled to its feet, but the uniformed figure +smote the ground with a distressful thud and lay very still. Sally +screamed, and must have climbed the fence, for when we had run around by +the slip rails she was bending over the limp figure stretched upon the +sod. Her eyes were wide with terror.</p> + +<p>"He is dead, and I have killed him," she said.</p> + +<p>I bent down with misgivings, for Cotton did not move, and there was +something peculiar about his eyes. "Can you hear us? Are you badly +hurt?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"What's that?" he answered drowsily; and I gathered courage, remembering +symptoms noticeable in similar cases; but Thorn had administered a dose +of prohibited whisky before he became intelligible. I was not wholly +sorry for Sally, but seeing that she had been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>sufficiently punished, I +said: "There are no bones broken, and his pulse is regaining strength."</p> + +<p>Cotton's scattered senses were evidently returning, for he looked up, +saying: "I'm only shaken, Miss Steel, and I won the bet. Don't be in a +hurry, Ormesby; I hardly fancy I could get up just yet."</p> + +<p>We waited several minutes, then, forcibly refusing Miss Steel's +assistance, carried him into the house and laid him on a makeshift couch +in our general-room. His color was returning, but his face was awry with +pain, and, so he expressed it, something had given way inside his back. +It was a dismal termination to an inspiriting day, and the old +depression returned with double force as I glanced at the untasted meal +on the table, at Lucille Haldane's note, and around the disordered room. +Sally looked badly frightened, Steel very grim, and Cotton seemed to be +suffering.</p> + +<p>"It will pass presently, and you had better get your supper," he said. +"I must try to eat a morsel, for I have a long way to ride to-night."</p> + +<p>"You are not going to move off that couch until morning at least," I +said. But the corporal answered: "I simply must. Is the horse all +right?"</p> + +<p>"Doesn't seem much the worse," said Steel; and Sally held a teacup to +the corporal's lips, and afterwards coaxed him very prettily to eat a +little. Seeing this, the rest of us attacked the cold supper, for we had +duties that must be attended to. Returning to the house some little time +later, I found that Sally had disappeared and Cotton was standing +upright. He moved a few paces, and then halted, leaning heavily on the +table, while his face grew gray with pain.</p> + +<p>"Lie down at once. You are not fit to move," I said.</p> + +<p>"It means degradation and heaven knows what besides unless I can reach +the depot to-night," he said. "Mackay is away, and the other man's a +cast-iron martinet, while I have just got my stripes and a hint of +something better. You see we are not supposed to undertake private +errands when under definite orders, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>and there are special reports and a +receipt for the pay in my wallet."</p> + +<p>He made another attempt to reach the door, then staggered, and, grasping +his arm, I settled him with some difficulty once more on the couch. "You +are right. There's nothing left but to face the inevitable," he said, +trying to check a groan.</p> + +<p>I forgot my own anxieties in my regret. "I am very sorry this should +have happened," I said. "You were far too generous; but can't one of us +take in the papers and get the money?"</p> + +<p>Cotton tried to smile, though his fingers twitched. "Miss Haldane asked +me; and it would be no use. They wouldn't give you the money, and if +they did, how would that get over the fact that I'm lying here helpless? +Why couldn't it have happened on the return journey?"</p> + +<p>"Did you tell Miss Haldane you were running a risk?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Would one naturally do so when she asked a favor?" he answered, with a +trace of indignation.</p> + +<p>It was of course absurd of Corporal Cotton, but I felt very sorry for +him when he laid his head down with a groan, and I subsequently surmised +that Sally had overheard part, at least, of the conversation, for when +the lad, who had perhaps not wholly recovered from the weakness of the +shock, sank into sleep, she called me.</p> + +<p>"It's all my fault, and I'll never forgive myself; but I never guessed +he'd rush the fence," she said. "They couldn't put him in prison?"</p> + +<p>"They might turn him out of the service, which, in his eyes, would be +worse," I answered dryly. "It should be a lesson to you, Sally. You +can't help being pretty, but that is no reason why you should so often +lead some unfortunate man into difficulties."</p> + +<p>Sally's penitent expression vanished, and there was a flash in her eyes. +"You are so foolish, all of you, and I guess you needn't look wise, +Harry Ormesby. He is perhaps a little worse than the rest—and that's +why one likes him. When he wakes, you and Charlie have just <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>got to take +those tight things off him and put him in your berth. If anybody wants +him the next day or two they'll have to tackle me."</p> + +<p>We did so presently, and, after seeing that our patient was comfortable, +Sally returned, wearing his uniform tunic. "How does this fit me?" she +asked.</p> + +<p>Steel looked angry, and I grew thoughtful. Nobody who knew her was, as a +rule, astonished at Sally's actions, but she asked the question soberly, +with no trace of mischief.</p> + +<p>"Do you wish me to say that you would look well in anything?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"I don't. You can tell lies enough when you trade horses," she answered +tartly. "It's a plain question—how does this thing fit me?"</p> + +<p>"Tolerably well," and I surveyed her critically. "It is a trifle large, +but if you don't draw it in too much at the waist it wouldn't fit you +badly. Are you going to turn police trooper, Sally?"</p> + +<p>Miss Steel was not generally bashful, but she looked a trifle confused +as she answered: "Don't ask any more fool questions."</p> + +<p>I went out soon afterwards to overhaul a plow under a shed, and had +spent considerable time over it, when Steel approached with a lantern. +"Have you seen anything of Sally?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"No," I answered carelessly. "What mischief has she been contriving +now?"</p> + +<p>"That's just what I'm anxious to know; that, and where the corporal's +horse is," he said. "They're both missing, and Cotton's fast asleep. +I"—and Steel used a few illegal expletives before he continued—"I +can't find his uniform either."</p> + +<p>"It must be somewhere. You can't have looked properly," I said; and +Steel restrained himself with an effort.</p> + +<p>"You can try yourself, and I'd give a hundred dollars, if I had it, to +see you find it," he said.</p> + +<p>I hurriedly left the plow, but though we hunted everywhere could +discover no trace of the missing uniform. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>"I didn't think we would," +said the harassed brother, with a groan of dismay. "She's—well, the +Lord only knows what Sally would do if she took the notion, and there's +no shirking the trouble. I've got to find out if she has the whole blame +outfit on."</p> + +<p>"I'll leave you to settle that point," I said; and hearing the locked +door of Sally's portion of the house wrenched open and garments being +hurled about, I surmised that Steel was prosecuting his inquiries. He +flung the split door to with a crash when he came out, leaving, as I saw +by a brief glimpse, ruin behind him, and he grew very red in the face as +he looked at me.</p> + +<p>"It will be a mighty relief when she marries somebody," he said +gloomily. "The only comfort is that you're a sensible man, and one could +trust you, Ormesby. You will never breathe a word of this. There's no +use trying to catch her, for she can get as much out of a beast as any +man."</p> + +<p>I pledged myself willingly, smothering a wild desire to laugh; and, as +it happened, it was I who met the truant riding home very wearily two +days later. Her mount was a chestnut, while Cotton's horse was gray, and +there was a bundle strapped before her. Still, except for a spattering +of mire, she was dressed in a manner befitting a young lady, and +actually blushed crimson when I accosted her.</p> + +<p>"Where have you been, Sally, and where did you get the horse?"</p> + +<p>"In to the railroad; and I borrowed him from Carsley's wife. They'll +send the corporal's over," she said. "I'm very tired, Harry Ormesby. +Won't you get me supper instead of worrying me?"</p> + +<p>Silence seemed best, and I could not resist the appeal, and so hurried +back to set about the supper; while what passed between brother and +sister I do not know, though when they came in together Sally appeared +triumphant and Steel in a very bad humor.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to see whether you have let the patient starve. You'll come +along with me," she said, when she came out of her own quarters, with no +trace of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>journey about her. We entered the lean-to shed, which +Steel and I occupied together, and found Cotton better in health, though +as depressed as he had been all day. Sally held out a bag and a handful +of documents towards him.</p> + +<p>"There are your papers and money. Now all you have to do is to get well +again," she said demurely.</p> + +<p>There was no mistaking the relief in the corporal's face, and he +positively clutched at the articles she handed him. "You don't know what +this has saved me from. But how did you get them?"</p> + +<p>A flush of tell-tale color crept into Sally's cheeks, and I noticed that +her voice was not quite steady as she answered him. "You must solemnly +promise never to ask that again, or to tell anyone you were not at the +depot yourself. Nobody will ask you, we fixed it up so well. Now +promise, before I take them back again."</p> + +<p>The lad did so, and Sally glanced at me. "If Harry Ormesby ever tells +you I'll poison him."</p> + +<p>I do not think Corporal Cotton ever discovered Sally's part, or who +personated him, though he apparently suspected both Steel and myself; +but when we went out together I turned to the girl: "Just one question, +and then we'll forget it. How did you manage at the depot, Sally?"</p> + +<p>Miss Steel avoided my glance, but she laughed. "It was very dark, there +was only a half-trimmed lamp, and the agent was 'most asleep. It's +pretty easy, anyway, to fool a man," she said.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE DEFENSE OF CRANE VALLEY</span></h2> + + +<p>It was two days before Cotton could be sent to the police outpost in a +wagon, but, so far as we could gather, the officer temporarily in charge +took it for granted he had been injured on his homeward ride around by +the Indian reserve which would have led him through Crane Valley. Some +time, however, passed before he was fit for the saddle. Meanwhile Steel +and I discussed Lane's latest move, and the best means of counteracting +it.</p> + +<p>"If we knew just what he wanted it would give us a better show, but we +don't, and Lane doesn't tell anybody," my comrade observed gloomily.</p> + +<p>"It's tolerably clear that he wants Crane Valley," said I. And Steel +proceeded: "Then why doesn't he sail in and take all he's entitled to?"</p> + +<p>"A part would not satisfy him when he wants it all," I said. "If he +seizes the working beasts and breeding stock now we shall be left +helpless for the season. He will take just enough to cripple me, and +leave me still in debt, while it would be useless to try to raise money +to pay him off until the question of the railroad is settled."</p> + +<p>"Will it ever be built?" asked Steel.</p> + +<p>"It must be, some day; but whether that will be before we are ruined or +buried, heaven only knows," I said. "Haldane seems to think the time +will not be long, and judging by his tactics, Lane agrees with him. +Still, the newspapers take an opposite view."</p> + +<p>"If it isn't"—and Steel frowned at the harness he was mending—"what +will we poor fools do?"</p> + +<p>"Stand Lane off as long as possible, and then strike for the mines in +British Columbia. That, however, concerns the future, and we have first +to decide what we will do if Lane arrives to-morrow."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>Steel's face grew somber, but he waited until I added: "Then, because +they're not my beasts as yet, if he can take them by main force—and I +almost hope he'll try—he is welcome to do so."</p> + +<p>"Now you're talking," and Steel smote a dilapidated saddle until the +dust leaped forth from it. "The law on debt liens is mighty mixed, but I +figure that the man who can keep hold has the best of it. Jacques, +Gordon, and the rest will stand by us solid, and I'd work two years for +nothing to get a fair chance at Lane."</p> + +<p>We both determined on resistance; but it struck me that ours was a very +forlorn hope, and that the odds were heavily against two plain farmers, +equally devoid of legal knowledge and of capital, who had pitted +themselves against a clever, unscrupulous man with the command of +apparently an unlimited amount of money.</p> + +<p>Lane did not come next day, nor the following one.</p> + +<p>Indeed, a number passed without bringing any word of him, and because +idleness meant disaster, we perforce relaxed our vigilance and resumed +our plowing. I had just yoked a pair of oxen to a double plow one +morning, when Boone's wagon came lurching up as fast as two whitened +horses could haul it across the prairie.</p> + +<p>"Lane came in with a hard-looking band of rascals by the Pacific Mail +last night," he said. "They had got whisky somewhere, and smashed the +hotel windows because Imrie wouldn't get them supper in the middle of +the night. He would start as soon as they were partly sober. Are you +prepared to protect your property, Ormesby?"</p> + +<p>"I am ready to protect other people's, which will suit me a good deal +better in this instance," I said, with a certain satisfaction that the +time for open resistance had come at last, though Lane had cunningly +chosen a season when every man's presence was necessary at his own +homestead.</p> + +<p>"Don't count too much on that," said Boone. "If you have no documentary +evidence, even the actual owners might have difficulty in substantiating +your claim. Now you see why I demanded a written agree<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>ment. It strikes +me that in this case possession is everything."</p> + +<p>"If I can keep whole in body until sundown, possession will remain with +us," I said. "But there is no time to spare for talking. It will take +hours to bring my neighbors up."</p> + +<p>"Of course you arranged with Haldane to send you assistance?" said +Boone; and hurled out an expletive when I answered stolidly: "That is +just what I did not do. I do not even know whether he is at home. It is +not necessary to drag all one's friends into a private quarrel."</p> + +<p>"Goodness knows why you are so unwarrantably proud, and it is not worth +while wasting time over that question now," said Boone. "Roll up your +thick-headed stockmen. I'm going on to Bonaventure for the one man whose +presence would be worth a hundred of them."</p> + +<p>He lashed his horses as he spoke, and I roused myself to action, while +long before his wagon dipped over the rim of the prairie Thorn had set +out at a gallop to bring our neighbors in. A neighbor may dwell from one +to ten leagues away in that country. This left only Steel and me to hold +Crane Valley, with the exception of Sally. The girl absolutely refused +to leave us, and it may not have been by accident that several +heavy-handled brushes lay convenient beside the stove. The stock were +driven off as far as we dare follow them across the prairie, and we +hoped they would remain unseen in a hollow; the working horses were made +fast in the stable; and when a few head of pedigree cattle had been +secured in the corral, we could only sit down and wait the siege.</p> + +<p>I spent several hours perched most uncomfortably on the roof with a pair +of glasses; but though the day was clear, nothing appeared above the rim +of the prairie. It spread all around the horizon in low rolling rises, +empty and desolate. My eyes grew dazzled, the continued use of the +glasses produced a distressful headache; but still nothing moved on +either rise or level, and it was a relief <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>when at last Sally hailed me: +"Come down and get your dinner; scenery won't feed anybody."</p> + +<p>I had forgotten there was such a thing as food, and my throat and lips +were dry; but on descending I was surprised to find myself capable of +making an excellent meal.</p> + +<p>"You'll feel considerably better after that," said Sally, who watched +our efforts with much approval. "I guess you have forgotten you had no +breakfast, either of you."</p> + +<p>"That's so," assented her brother. "It's the first time I ever forgot it +in my life. Say, what are you going to do with that big hasp-bar, +Sally?"</p> + +<p>Miss Steel's movements were perhaps a little nervous, but she was +evidently not troubled by timidity. "I figured if anybody wanted to come +poking in here it might keep them out—if it was nicely warmed," she +said.</p> + +<p>"You must do nothing rash; and you must keep out of harm's way, Sally," +I said sternly. "They would be justified in seizing my household +property."</p> + +<p>"There's mighty little of it." And Miss Steel glanced around the room +with contempt. "Do you figure Lane would come out hundreds of miles for +your old crockery? Anything that's pretty round this place is mine, and +I'm anxious to see the man who's going to take it from me."</p> + +<p>I looked at the excited girl and then at her brother, who shook his head +in signal that further remonstrance would be useless. My ideas +respecting women had changed of late, and I somewhat resented the fact +that they would not be content to sit still and be worshiped, but must +insist on playing an active, and often a leading, part in all that +happened.</p> + +<p>"When Sally has made up her mind there's no use for anybody to talk," +said Steel.</p> + +<p>I had hardly mounted to the roof again before a line of diminutive +objects straggled up above the horizon, and I called down: "They're +coming!"</p> + +<p>"Which way?" was the eager question; and Steel stamped when I answered +moodily: "From the south."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>"Lane's outfit. Can't you see the others?" he shouted.</p> + +<p>I swept the glasses around the circumference of the prairie, and my +voice was thick with disappointment as I answered: "No."</p> + +<p>"Then you and I will have all we can do; and I wish to the Lord Sally +were anywhere else," said Steel.</p> + +<p>The diminutive figures rapidly resolved themselves into mounted men, +with a wagon behind them, but still all the rest of the prairie was +empty, and each time Steel asked the question: "Can't you see them yet?" +I grew more doggedly savage as I answered: "No."</p> + +<p>At last, when the money-lender's party were close at hand, I called out +that three horsemen were just visible in the north. "That's Gordon; +Jacques and the rest can't be here for a long while. It's time to come +down," said Steel.</p> + +<p>I came down, guessing that Lane, being on a lower level, could not see +our allies, and waited with Steel, apparently unarmed, though we had +weapons handy, in the space between the house and the stable. Sally had +disappeared inside the dwelling, and I trusted that she would remain +there. Presently, amid a rattle of gear and a confused trampling, a band +of men rode up to the homestead and ranged themselves in rude order on +each side of a wagon, some of them yelling in imitation of the American +cowboy as they wheeled. They were unkempt, dirty, and dissolute in +appearance, and I was not altogether surprised to see that most of them +were English or Americans. One finds very little errant rascality on the +Canadian prairie, perhaps because our money is very hardly earned, and +there are few people worth exploiting there; but odd specimens exported +from the great Republic and from the Old Country by disgusted friends +gravitate towards the smaller Western cities when they find life in the +waste too hard, and Lane had evidently collected some of the worst of +them. He sat in the wagon, smoking, and actually smiled at me.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>"Kind of surprise party, isn't it, Ormesby?" he said. "I've come round +to collect what I can in accordance with the notice served on you. +Here's a wallet full of papers, and this gentleman represents legal +authority. He had a partner, but we lost him. Now, I've no personal +feeling against you, and won't give you any trouble if it can be +avoided."</p> + +<p>Strange to say, I believed he spoke no more than the truth, and regarded +us dispassionately as merely a source from which a little profit might +be wrung. Neither Steel nor I, however, could look at the matter with +equal calmness. We were standing for our rights, and ready to strike for +shelter and daily bread, while the memory of former wrongs and a fierce +revolt against the rich man's oppression fired our blood. Nevertheless, +I remembered that it was necessary to gain time, and answered as coolly +as I could:</p> + +<p>"In the first place, the stock and horses belong to my neighbors, and in +the second, you will be overstepping limits if you violently break into +any part of my homestead. Neither does the law allow any private +individual to gather a band of ruffians and forcibly seize his debtor's +property."</p> + +<p>Lane probed his cigar with slow deliberateness. "You are growing quite +smart, Ormesby; but isn't it a pity you didn't display your acumen +earlier? I don't know that a stable can be considered a dwelling under +the homestead regulations, and there's nothing to prevent any man from +hiring assistance to drive home sequestrated cattle. It is this +gentleman's business to seize them, not mine. Neither is it clear how +far a proved agreement to feed another person's stock frees them of a +lien for debt. Have you got any in writing?"</p> + +<p>It was evident that, in homely parlance, my adversary held the best end +of the stick. The administration of justice is necessarily somewhat +rough-and-ready in the West, and I saw that the representative of legal +authority was at least two-thirds drunk. I also had little doubt that +Lane's mercenaries would act independently of him; while if they +exceeded legal limits there would <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>be only our testimony to prove it +against a dozen witnesses. Possession was evidently everything.</p> + +<p>Lane had possibly guessed my thoughts, for he said: "Don't be mad enough +to start a circus, Ormesby. We have come a long way for the beasts, and +mean to get them. Can't you see that we could beat you if it came to +testimony? And I don't mind admitting that these rascals are not +particular."</p> + +<p>His tranquillity enraged me, but I managed to answer him: "If you drive +a hoof off you will have to defend your action against richer men than +I."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'll take my chances. It would cost them piles of money, and they +would gain nothing then," he said. "Say, officer, hadn't you better +begin?"</p> + +<p>"Gotsh any papersh to prove objection?" demanded that individual, +turning to me. And I took no pains to hide my disgust as I answered: "If +I had I should not trouble to show them to you."</p> + +<p>Steel, however, broke in: "We have. I'll show you a receipt for so many +beasts to be fattened for Roland Adams."</p> + +<p>"Whersh you keep them?" demanded the other.</p> + +<p>"Where you won't find them; 'way back on the prairie," Steel answered +triumphantly.</p> + +<p>It was a blunder, for the other, who had a little shrewdness left, +straightened himself. "Then all the beastsh heah belong to someone +else," he said, with a tipsy leer, and waved his hand to the rest. "No +papersh worth a shent. Whasher foolin' for? We'll just walk into the +stable."</p> + +<p>Several men sprang from their saddles, but Steel reached the door ahead +of them, and stood with his back against it, swinging a great birch +staff. "Nobody comes in here," he said.</p> + +<p>I was at his side the next moment with a keen hay-fork, and the men +halted in a semi-circle at the sight of our grim faces.</p> + +<p>"These points will reach anybody within six feet," I said.</p> + +<p>"Better quit fooling while your hide's whole. There's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>'most a dozen of +us," said one, while another criticised my personal appearance in +uncomplimentary terms. One or two in the background advised their +comrades as to how we might best be maimed, but stood fast themselves, +for Steel was big and brawny, and looked coolly murderous as he balanced +the heavy staff; while whoever looked at me did so over the twin points +of steel. The interlude lasted at least a minute, and I listened with +strained attention for the thud of hoofs. Gordon could not be far off, +but he remained invisible behind a low rise, even if the buildings had +not obscured our view. Then a newcomer shoved his way through the rest, +and I saw that he was the genuine article as he stood before me in +Montana cattle-rider's dress.</p> + +<p>"It's a mighty poor show you're making, boys," he said contemptuously. +"Stand out of my way. You can pick up the pieces when I've done with +them."</p> + +<p>He danced up and down a few paces and yelled, either to bewilder or to +impress us, and I was conscious of a grim amusement, while Steel watched +him narrowly. Then, for the man had spirit enough, he leaped at Steel +like a panther, with something in his hand that twinkled. He was, +however, a second too late, for the birch staff met him in the center of +his face, and, falling like a log, he lay where he fell. Steel +deliberately snapped the knife beneath his heel, and Lane shouted +something as my comrade said: "The next man I down at that trick will +get his skull smashed in."</p> + +<p>There was a wrathful cry from the others, which convinced me that if we +took our eyes off them for an instant the rush would come; but they +hesitated, and Steel, standing poised with one foot forward and baleful +eyes, made the staff whistle round his head. "You're a mighty long time +beginning. Who's next—or maybe you only brought one man along?" he +said.</p> + +<p>"Where's that blamed officer? I guess this is his job," said one; but +the worthy mentioned drew further back from the edge of the group.</p> + +<p>"Deputsh you my authority. Thish not a house. Only beastsh live in +stables," he explained.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>"Better get it over. Sail in!" said one of the biggest, and there was a +shout of "Look out!" from Steel.</p> + +<p>Four or five men made a rush upon us, and, not wishing to inflict lethal +injuries unless my life were threatened, I had barely time to reverse +the fork before they were within striking distance. Another reeled +backwards headlong beneath the staff, and, knowing that a thrust is more +effective and harder to evade than a blow, I used the long-hafted fork, +blunt-end foremost, as a pike with considerable success. The struggle +continued for perhaps a minute, and was sharp while it lasted. Several +times a panting man got within my guard, and Steel brought him down; but +I was struck heavily, and had only a blurred vision of waving arms, +scowling faces, and the whirling staff, while the air seemed filled with +discordant shouts of encouragement from those outside. Either by sheer +force of desperation, or by the power of better weapons, we wore them +out, and the group broke up. One or two limped badly as they straggled +back, some swore, and there was blood on the faces and garments of the +rest.</p> + +<p>"One fellow got me badly on the chest," said Steel, who breathed +heavily, and I was conscious of several painful spots; and when I had +recovered breath I saw that Lane had drawn his wagon back some distance, +and was apparently upbraiding his bodyguard in no measured terms.</p> + +<p>"Jump clear!" cried Steel presently, and I sprang aside a moment too +late, for an exultant shout went up when a heavy billet struck me on the +head. I felt the blood trickle warm and sticky into one eye, and I fell +against the door feeling faint and sick, then stiffened myself again, +with the fork held points foremost this time. Lane, it seemed, had lost +control of his followers, and would doubtless rely on hard swearing to +protect himself from unfortunate consequences, for I now suspected there +would be bloodshed unless help arrived very shortly.</p> + +<p>"They're going for the house, and Sally's inside <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>there," cried Steel; +and for the first time I remembered that the dwelling was unprotected, +and feared that the girl had not slipped away, as she might have done by +a rear window.</p> + +<p>One of Lane's men reached the threshold before we did, and three or four +others followed hard upon his heels. The door was wide open, and I +sincerely trusted that Sally had made her escape. She had not, however, +for the handle of a long brush swung out, and the first ruffian who +rushed at the entrance staggered backwards against the comrade behind +him. Steel flung him headlong the next moment; the rest yielded passage +before the tines of the fork, and we sprang into the house, while our +enemy's reinforcements came up at a run. So far we had succeeded better +than might have been expected, but our adversaries were growing furious, +and the defense of our property no longer appeared the main question. +The girl had dropped the brush and grasped a red-ended iron bar.</p> + +<p>"Give it to me, and reach down that rifle, Sally," I gasped, and while +Steel dragged up furniture for a barricade, the rest, not knowing its +magazine was empty, recoiled before the Winchester muzzle.</p> + +<p>"I'll be through in another minute. Keep them out," Steel said.</p> + +<p>A brief respite followed, for the iron was glowing still, and our +enemies' supply of missiles was evidently exhausted; but as we waited, +wondering what would happen next, I heard a beat of hoofs, and Sally +cried out triumphantly as three well-mounted men swept up at a gallop.</p> + +<p>"Ride over them!" shouted somebody. Warning cries went up, there was a +scattering of Lane's ruffians, and the leading horseman pulled up his +beast just outside the door. He was dripping with perspiration, +bespattered all over, and his horse was white with lather.</p> + +<p>"Couldn't get through earlier. Jacques' boys are away, but we sent a man +to look for them, and he'll bring them along," he said.</p> + +<p>We were very glad to see Rancher Gordon and his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>sturdy followers, +though it was bad news he brought. Further reinforcements could hardly +arrive in time to be of service, and where we had expected more than a +dozen we must be content with three. Meanwhile, Lane's men had mounted +and were trotting off across the prairie.</p> + +<p>"They have probably gone in search of the loose stock. Come in. We have +got to talk over our next step," I said.</p> + +<p>The newcomers did so, and we were all glad of a breathing space. My head +was somewhat badly cut, several purple bruises adorned my comrade's +countenance, and the rest had ridden a long way in furious haste. At +first the conference was conducted in half-breathless gasps, then the +voices deepened into a sonorous ring, and I can recall the intent +bronzed faces turned towards me, the thoughtful pauses when each speaker +had aired his views, and how the slanting sunlight beat into the partly +shadowed room. Last of all Rancher Gordon spoke: "We are waiting to hear +your notions, Ormesby."</p> + +<p>"The stable and corral must be held at any cost," I said, smearing my +hands as I tried to clear my eye, while red drops splashed from them on +to the table. "While that ought to be possible, we are hardly strong +enough to force a fight in the open unless it is necessary. Lane's +rascals may not find the stock, and may only be trying to draw us off, +so my decision is to remain here. If they are successful we can see them +from the roof, and must run the risk of taking their plunder from them. +Should we fail we could follow them when our friends turn up."</p> + +<p>"That's about my notion. We'll see you through with it," said Gordon +quietly.</p> + +<p>We had waited a considerable time before Steel hailed us from the roof +that he could see our enemies riding south behind a bunch of cattle, and +we mounted forthwith. There were now three rifles among us, but we had +agreed these were not to be used unless somebody fired upon us. Riders +and cattle dipped into a hollow, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>and we had covered several miles +before we sighted them again. Lane and the representative of authority +no longer accompanied them. The whole body wheeled around and halted +when we came up. There was sweet grass in the hollow, so the cattle +halted too, and for a space we sat silent, looking at one another. I +dare not risk a blunder in face of such odds, though I determined to +make an effort to recover the stock.</p> + +<p>"You make us tired," said the American, whose face was partly covered by +a dirty rag. "Go to perdition, before we make you!"</p> + +<p>He waved his arm around the horizon, as though to indicate where the +place in question lay, and I edged my horse a little nearer to him. He +was the leading spirit, and it seemed possible that we might perhaps +disperse the rest if I could dismount him. The man had evidently +recovered from Steel's blow.</p> + +<p>"We are not going away without the cattle, and you can see there are +more of us now, while two proved too many for you before," I said, still +decreasing the distance between us; but my adversary perhaps divined my +intention, for a short barrel glinted in his hand when he raised it.</p> + +<p>"It's going to be different this time. Keep back while you're safe," he +said.</p> + +<p>There was apparently no help for it, and I was not quite certain he +would shoot, so balancing the long fork, lance fashion, I tightened my +grip on the bridle, when Gordon drove his horse against me and gripped +it violently. "Hold on; the boys are coming!" he said.</p> + +<p>Friends and foes alike had been too intent to notice anything beyond +each other during the past few minutes; but now a drumming of hoofs rose +from behind the rise which shut in the hollow. Then a drawn-out line of +mounted men came flying down the slope, and Steel flung his hat up with +a triumphant yell. "It's the Bonaventure boys," he said. "There's Adams +and Miss Haldane leading them."</p> + +<p>The American looked in my direction, and raised his hand in ironical +salute. "I'm sorry to miss a clinch with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>you. It would have been a good +one, but I can't stay," he said. "Get on, you skulking coyotes. Unless +you're smart in lighting out those cow drivers won't leave much of you."</p> + +<p>His subordinates took the hint, and bolted down the hollow as hard as +they could ride, while I drew a deep breath and turned towards the +rescue party.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE RAISING OF THE SIEGE</span></h2> + + +<p>They were splendid horsemen who rode to our assistance, and their beasts +as fine; but a slight figure led them a clear length ahead. In another +minute Gordon's men copied their leader, who trotted forward with his +broad hat at his knee, and I rode bareheaded with—though I had +forgotten this—an ensanguined face, to greet the mistress of +Bonaventure. She was glowing with excitement, and I had never seen +anything equal the fine damask in her cheeks. She started at the sight +of me, and then impulsively held out a well-gloved hand.</p> + +<p>"I hope you are not badly hurt?" she said.</p> + +<p>"Only cut a trifle," I answered, gripping the little hand fervently. +"You have done a great deal for us, and no doubt prevented serious +bloodshed. It was wonderfully——"</p> + +<p>"Don't. It was not in any way wonderful. My father was absent when Mr. +Boone brought me the news, and, as you know, I am responsible for the +prosperity of Bonaventure in his absence. Our cattle were in jeopardy."</p> + +<p>She ceased abruptly, and grew pale, while I felt ashamed when I saw the +cause of it. My hands had been reddened from clearing my eyes, and glove +and wrist were foul with crimson stains. Courageous as she was, the girl +had sickened at the sight of them.</p> + +<p>"I can't excuse myself. You must try to forgive me," I said. "Please +don't look at it."</p> + +<p>Lucille Haldane promptly recovered from the shock of repulsion. "How +could you help it—and you were hurt protecting our cattle. I can see +the brand on some," she said. "It was very foolish of me to show such +weakness."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>"You must come back to the house with me at once and rest," I said. "I'm +indebted to you, boys, but the best way you could help me would be to +drive those cattle into the corral. Then, for you are probably tired and +hungry, come up and see what Sally Steel can find for you."</p> + +<p>The newcomers hesitated, and inquired whether they might not pursue and +chastise our adversaries instead, but Lucille Haldane rebuked them. "You +will do just what Rancher Ormesby tells you," she said; and, turning +towards me, added: "I am ready to go with you."</p> + +<p>Lucille was still a trifle pale, and wondering, because I could not see +myself, that one with so much spirit should be affected by such a small +thing, I presently dismounted and led her horse by the bridle. I had +torn off the offending glove, and when we halted by the corral would +have removed the stains from the wrist with a handkerchief.</p> + +<p>"No," said Lucile, snatching her hand away just too late, with a gesture +of dismay, "do not touch it with that, please."</p> + +<p>Then I remembered that the handkerchief had last been used to rub out +the fouled breach of a gun. The girl looked at the blur of red and black +which resulted from my efforts, and frowned, then broke out into a +rippling laugh. "Beatrice said your ways were refreshingly primitive, +and I think she was right," she said.</p> + +<p>The laugh put heart into me, but I still held the bridle with an +ensanguined hand close beside the little smeared one; and so, followed +by as fine an escort as a princess could desire, we came to my door side +by side.</p> + +<p>However, when I helped Lucille Haldane from the saddle I had misgivings +concerning the reception Steel's sister might accord her. Sally's +loyalty to her friends was worthy of her name; but she was stanchly +democratic, more than a little jealous, and not addicted to concealing +her prejudices. The fears were groundless. Sally was waiting in the +doorway she had defended, and while I hoped for the best, the two stood +a moment face to face. They were both worthy of inspection, though <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>the +contrast between them was marked. Haldane's daughter was slight and +slender, with grace and refinement stamped equally on every line of her +delicately chiseled face and on the curve of her dainty figure down to +the little feet beneath the riding skirt. Sally was round and ruddy of +countenance, stalwart in frame, with the carriage of an Amazon, and, I +think, could have crushed Lucille with a grip of her arms; but both had +an ample portion of the spirit of their race.</p> + +<p>Then Steel's sister, stepping forward, took both the girl's hands within +her own, stooped a little, and kissed her on each cheek, after which she +drew her into the house, leaving her brother and myself equally +astonished. He looked at me whimsically, and though I tried, I could not +frown.</p> + +<p>"That's about the last thing I expected. How does it strike you?" he +said. "Afraid of committing yourself? Well, I don't mind allowing I +expected most anything else. All women are curious, but there's no +understanding Sally."</p> + +<p>We were not left long to wonder, for Miss Steel reappeared in the +doorway.</p> + +<p>"You two still standing there as if there were nothing to do! Get a big +fire on in the outside stove and kill about half the chickens. You're +not to come in, Harry Ormesby, until I've fixed you so you're fit to be +seen."</p> + +<p>I feared that Lucille heard her, and wondered what she thought. Our mode +of life was widely different from that at Bonaventure and from what +would have been for me possible had I not fallen into the hands of Lane.</p> + +<p>We slew the chickens with the assistance of the newcomers, and sat down +on the grass to pluck them, a fowl for every guest, although I was +slightly uncertain whether that would be sufficient. There is a +similarity between the very old and the very new, and ancient poets +perhaps best portray the primitive, sometimes heroic, life of effort the +modern stockrider and plowman lead on the prairie.</p> + +<p>"Why did you bring Miss Haldane, Boone? You <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>should have known better +than to allow her to run the slightest risk," I said, on opportunity; +and the photographer smiled enigmatically.</p> + +<p>"Miss Haldane did not ask my permission, and I am doubtful whether +anybody could have prevented her. She said she was mistress of +Bonaventure, and the way the men stirred when she told them was proof +enough that one could believe her."</p> + +<p>Presently Sally came out with a roll of sticking-plaster, and, while +every bachelor present offered assistance and advice, she proceeded to +"fix me," as she expressed it. Then, amid a burst of laughter, she stood +back a little to survey her work with pride.</p> + +<p>"I guess you can come in. You look too nice for anything. Gordon and +Adams, you'll walk in, too. The rest will find all you want in the cook +shed, and it will be your own fault if you don't help yourselves."</p> + +<p>I was a little astonished when, with a cloth bound round my head, I +entered the house, for Miss Steel was in some respects a genius. There +was no trace of disorder. Sally was immaculately neat; Lucille Haldane +might never have passed the door of Bonaventure; and the two had +apparently become good friends, while a table had been set out with +Sally's pretty crockery, and, as I noticed, an absolutely spotless +cloth, which was something of a rarity. I was glad of the presence of +Boone, for Gordon was a big, gaunt, silent man, and the events of the +day had driven any conversational gifts we possessed out of both Steel +and myself. When it pleased him, Adams, by which name alone he was known +to the rest, could entertain anybody, and that, too, in their own +particular idiom. There was no trace of the pedlar about him now, and +his English was the best spoken in the Old Country. I noticed Lucille +Haldane looked hard at him when she took her place at the table.</p> + +<p>"It is curious, but I have been haunted by a feeling that we have met +before to-day," she said. "If I am mistaken, it must have been somebody +who strongly resembles you."</p> + +<p>For just a moment Boone looked uneasy, but he an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>swered with a smile: "I +don't monopolize all the good looks on the prairie."</p> + +<p>The girl flashed a swift sidelong glance at me, and I feared my +countenance was too wooden to be natural. "I am sure of the resemblance +now, though there is a change. It was one evening at Bonaventure, was it +not?" she said. "Have you forgotten me?"</p> + +<p>"That would be impossible," and Boone bent his head a little as he made +the best of it. "I see that, if necessary I could rely on Miss Haldane's +kindness a second time."</p> + +<p>Lucille looked thoughtful, Sally inquisitive, and I feared the latter +might complicate circumstances by attempting to probe the mystery. +Neither Gordon nor Steel noticed anything, but Boone was a judge of +character and Lucille keen of wit. He asked nothing further, but I saw a +question in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"I think you could do so," she said. "You seem to have trusty friends, +Rancher Ormesby; though that is not surprising on the prairie."</p> + +<p>The words were simply spoken, and wholly unstudied; but Lucille Haldane +had a very graceful way, and there was that in her eyes which brought a +sparkle into those of Sally, and I saw had made the silent Gordon her +slave. Her gift of fascination was part of her birthright, and she used +it naturally without taint of artifice.</p> + +<p>"Could anybody doubt it after to-day?" I said.</p> + +<p>Then Boone smiled dryly. "I suppose it devolves upon me to acknowledge +the compliment, and I am afraid that some of his friends are better than +he deserves," he said. "At least, I am willing to testify that Rancher +Ormesby does not importune them, for I never met any man slower to +accept either good advice or well-meant assistance. Have you not found +it so, Miss Steel?"</p> + +<p>"All you men are foolish, and most of you slow," Sally answered archly. +"I had to convince one with a big hard brush to-day."</p> + +<p>This commenced the relation of reminiscences, mostly humorous, of the +affray, for we could afford to laugh, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>and all joined in the burst of +merriment which rose from outside when several horsemen came up at a +gallop across the prairie. A stockrider of Caledonian extraction had +borrowed my banjo to amuse his comrades, and they appreciated his irony +when he played the new arrivals in to the tune of "The Campbells are +coming."</p> + +<p>Then he took off his hat to the uniformed figure which led the advance. +"Ye're surely lang in comin', Sergeant, dear," he said.</p> + +<p>There was another roar of laughter, and I heard Mackay's voice. "It was +no' my fault, and ye should ken what kind of horses ye sell the +Government; but now I'm here I'm tempted to arrest the whole of ye for +unlawful rioting!"</p> + +<p>He halted in the doorway with displeasure in his face, and, disregarding +my invitation, waited until Miss Haldane bade him be seated, while +before commencing an attack upon a fowl, he said dryly: "Maybe I had +better begin my business first. It would be a poor return to eat your +supper and than arrest ye, Ormesby."</p> + +<p>"You had better make sure of the supper, and if you can take me out of +the hands of my allies you are welcome to," I said.</p> + +<p>Boone's lips twitched once or twice as though in enjoyment of a hidden +joke as he discoursed with the sergeant upon the handling of mounted men +and horses. He showed, I fancied, a curious knowledge of cavalry +equipment and maneuvers, and Mackay was evidently struck with his +opinions. I also saw Lucille Haldane smile when the sergeant said: "If +ever ye pass my station come in and see me. It's a matter o' regret to +me I had not already met ye."</p> + +<p>"Thanks," said Boone, just moving his eyebrows as he looked across at +me. "I narrowly missed spending some time in your company a little while +ago."</p> + +<p>"And now to business," said Mackay, with a last regretful glance at the +skeletonized chicken. "From what I gather ye are all of ye implicated. I +would like an account from Mr. Adams and Miss Haldane first."</p> + +<p>"How did you come here instead of Gardiner; and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>how do you know there +is anything for you to trouble about?" I asked, and the sergeant showed +a trace of impatience.</p> + +<p>"Gardiner goes back to-morrow. Ye are my own particular sheep, and it +would take a new man ten years to learn the contrariness of ye. I heard +some talk at the railroad and came on in a hurry. Do ye usually nail +your stable or cut your own head open, Rancher Ormesby?"</p> + +<p>Each in turn furnished an account of the affray, I last of all; and +Mackay expressed no opinion until Lucille Haldane asked him: "Was it not +justifiable for me to take measures to protect my father's cattle?"</p> + +<p>"Supposing the Bonaventure brand had not been on that draft, and Lane's +men retained possession, what would ye have done?" was the shrewd +rejoinder; and Lucille smiled as she looked steadily at the speaker.</p> + +<p>"I really think, sergeant, that I should have ridden over them."</p> + +<p>Mackay seemed to struggle with some natural feeling; but the silent +rancher smote the table. "By the Lord, you would, and I'd have given +five hundred dollars to go through beside you!" he said.</p> + +<p>"Ye are quite old enough to ken better," said Mackay sententiously; and +the rancher squared his shoulders as he answered:</p> + +<p>"I'm as good as any two of your troopers yet, and was never run into a +cattle corral. When I'm old enough to be useless I'll join the police."</p> + +<p>"What were ye meaning?" asked the sergeant.</p> + +<p>Gordon laughed. "Just that, for a tired man, it's a nice soft berth. You +take your money and as much care as you can that you never turn up until +the trouble's over!"</p> + +<p>Before Mackay could retort, Lucille, smiling, raised her hand. "I think +you should both know better, and I want you to tell me, sergeant, what +will be the end of this. Surely nobody has any right to drive off cattle +and horses that don't belong to him?"</p> + +<p>Mackay looked somewhat troubled, and one could <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>guess that while eager +to please the fair questioner, he shrank with official caution from +committing himself. "It's not my part to express an opinion on points +that puzzle some lawyers," he said. "Still, I might tell ye that it will +cost one man his position. Human nature's aye deceitful, Miss Haldane, +and if Rancher Ormesby prosecuted them it would be just two or three +men's word against a dozen. Forby, they might make out illegal +resistance against him!"</p> + +<p>"Sergeant," said Lucille Haldane, looking at him severely, "dare you +tell me that you would not take the word of three ranchers against the +oath of a dozen such men as Lane?"</p> + +<p>Mackay smiled, though he answered dryly: "They're both hard to manage, +and ungrateful for their benefits; but maybe I would. Still, I am, ye +see, neither judge nor jury. Would ye prefer a charge against them, +Ormesby?"</p> + +<p>I was willing enough to do so, but had already reflected. Every moment +of my time was needed, the nearest seat of justice was far away, and it +would be only helping Lane if I wasted days attempting to substantiate a +charge. I also surmised by his prompt disappearance when the fracas +became serious that it would be very difficult to implicate my enemy, +even if he did not turn the tables on me. Boone, when I looked at him, +made a just perceptible negative movement with his head.</p> + +<p>"I must leave this affair to the discretion of the police," I said. +"Several of Lane's friends have good cause to be sorry for themselves +already, and it is hardly likely his action will be repeated."</p> + +<p>Mackay said nothing further, and shortly afterwards Lucille said she +must take her departure. Sally stood smiling in the doorway while the +riders of Bonaventure did her homage, and those whose compliments did +not please her suffered for their clumsiness. When I rode out with +Lucille Haldane there was a lifting of wide hats, and the sergeant, +sitting upright in his saddle, saluted <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>her as we passed with several +splendid horsemen riding on each side.</p> + +<p>I afterwards heard that Sally said to him mischievously: "I guess you +men don't quite know everything. How long did it take you to break your +troopers in? Yonder's a slip of a girl who knows nothing of discipline +or drill, and there's not a man in all that outfit wouldn't ride right +into the place where bad policemen go if she told him to. As good as +your troopers, aren't they? What are you thinking now?"</p> + +<p>The sergeant followed her pointing hand, and, as it happened, Lucille +and I were just passing beyond the rise riding close together side by +side. Mackay looked steadily after us, and doubtless noticed that +Lucille rode very well. "I would not blame them. I'm just thinking I'm +sorry for Corporal Cotton," he said.</p> + +<p>Sally looked away across the prairie, and, turning, saw a faint smile +fade out of the sergeant's face. "What do you mean? Can't you ever talk +straight like a sensible man?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"The corporal's young, an' needs considerable convincing," was the dry +answer.</p> + +<p>When we dipped beyond the rise I turned to Lucille Haldane. "What did +you think of Sally? She is a stanch ally, but not always effusive to +strangers," I said.</p> + +<p>I could not at the moment understand Lucille Haldane's expression. The +question was very simple, but the girl showed a trace of confusion, and +was apparently troubled as to how she should frame the answer. This did +not, however, last long, and when she raised her eyes to mine there was +in them the same look of confidence there had been when she said, "I +believe in you." It was very pleasant to see.</p> + +<p>"I think a great deal of her, and must repeat what I said already. You +have very loyal friends. Miss Steel told me at length how kind you had +been to her and her brother, and I think they will fully repay you."</p> + +<p>My wits must have been sharpened, for I understood, and blessed both +Sally and the speaker. If Lucille Hal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>dane, being slow to think evil, +had faith in those she knew, it was possible she was glad of proof to +justify the confidence, and Sally must have furnished it.</p> + +<p>"They have done so already," I said.</p> + +<p>There was always something very winning about my companion, but she had +never appeared so desirable as she did just then. The day was drawing +towards its close, and the light in the west called up the warm coloring +that the wind and sun had brought into her face and showed each grace of +the slight figure silhouetted against it. The former was, perhaps, not +striking at first sight, though, with its setting of ruddy gold, and its +hazel eyes filled with swift changes, it was pretty enough; but its +charm grew upon one, and I noticed that when she patted the horse's neck +the dumb beast moved as though it loved her. There was nothing of the +Amazon about its rider except her courage.</p> + +<p>"I have heard a good deal about your enemy and yourself of late, but +there are several points that puzzle me, and, though I know you have his +sympathies, father is not communicative," she said. "For instance, if +you do not resent the allusion, he could with so little trouble have +made a difference in the result of your sale."</p> + +<p>"How could that be?" I asked, merely to see how far the speaker's +interest in my affairs had carried her, and she answered: "Even if there +had been nothing we needed at Bonaventure he could have made the others +pay fair prices for all they bought. I cannot understand why he said it +was better not to do so."</p> + +<p>I also failed to understand; but a light broke in upon me. "Did you +suggest that he should?" I asked, and the girl answered with some +reluctance: "Yes; was it not natural that I should?"</p> + +<p>"No one who knew you could doubt it," I said; and Lucille Haldane +presently dismissed me. I sat still and watched her and her escort +diminish across the long levels, and then rode slowly back towards Crane +Valley. Remembering Haldane's mention of a promise, the news that it was +his younger daughter who sent him to my assistance brought at first a +shock of disappointment. I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>had already convinced myself that Beatrice +Haldane must remain very far beyond my reach, but the thought that she +had remembered me and sent what help she could had been comforting, +nevertheless. Now it seemed that she had forgotten, and that that +consolation must be abandoned, too. And yet the disappointment was not +so crushing but that I could bear it with the rest. What might have been +had passed beyond the limits of possibility, and there was nothing in +the future to look forward to except a struggle against poverty and the +wiles of my enemy.</p> + +<p>Steel took my horse when I rode up to the house, and it was a +coincidence that his first remark should be: "We beat him badly this +time and he'll lie low a while. Then I guess you'll want both eyes open +when he tries his luck again."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE VIGIL-KEEPER</span></h2> + + +<p>It was a clear starlit night when I rode across a tract of the +Assiniboian prairie, some two hundred miles east of Crane Valley. A +half-moon hung in the cloudless ether, and the endless levels, lying +very silent under its pale radiance, seemed to roll away into infinity. +They had no boundary, for the blueness above them melted imperceptibly +through neutral gradations into the earth below, which, gathering +strength of tone, stretched back again to the center of the lower circle +a vast sweep of silvery gray.</p> + +<p>There was absolute stillness, not even a grass blade moved; but the air +was filled with the presage of summer, and the softness of the carpet, +which returned no sound beneath the horse's feet, had its significance. +That sod had been bleached by wind-packed snow and bound into iron +hardness by months of arctic frost. Bird and beast had left it, and the +waste had lain empty under the coldness of death; but life had once more +conquered, and the earth was green again. Even among the almost +unlettered born upon it there are few men impervious to the influence of +the prairie on such a night; and in days not long gone by the half-breed +<i>voyageurs</i> told strange stories of visions seen on it during the lonely +journeys they made for the great fur-trading company. Its vastness and +its emptiness impresses the human atom who becomes conscious of an +indefinite awe or is uplifted by an exaltation which vanishes with the +dawn, for there are times when, through the silence of measureless +spaces, man's spirit rises into partial touch with the greater things +unseen.</p> + +<p>My errand was prosaic enough—merely to buy cattle for Haldane and +others on a sliding-scale arrangement. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>I could see a possibility of +some small financial benefit, and that being so had reluctantly left +Crane Valley, where I was badly needed, because the need of money was +even greater. Also, as time was precious, I had decided to travel all +night instead of spending it as a guest of the last farmer with whom I +bargained. I was at that time neither very imaginative nor +oversentimental; but the spell of the prairie was stronger than my will, +and, yielding to it, I rode dreamily, so it seemed, beyond the reach of +petty troubles and the clamor of our sordid strife into a shadowy land +of peace which, defying the centuries, had retained unchanged its solemn +stillness. The stars alone sufficed to call up the fancy, for there +being neither visible heavens nor palpable atmosphere, only a blue +transparency, the eye could follow the twinkling points of flame far +backwards from one to another through the unknown spaces beyond our +little globe. Nothing seemed impossible on such a night, and only the +touch of the bridle and the faint jingle of metal material.</p> + +<p>It was in this mood that I became conscious of a shadow object near the +foot of a rise. It did not seem a natural portion of the prairie, and +when I had covered some distance it resolved itself into a horse and a +dismounted man. His broad hat hung low in his hand, his head was bent, +and he stood so intent that I had almost ridden up to him before he +turned and noticed me. Then, as I checked my horse, I saw that it was +Boone.</p> + +<p>"What has brought you here?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"That I cannot exactly tell you when we know so little of the influences +about us on such a night as this. It is at least one stage of a +pilgrimage I must make," he said.</p> + +<p>Had this answer been given me in the sunlight I should have doubted the +speaker's mental balance, but one sets up a new standard of sanity on +the starlit prairie on a night of spring, and I saw only that the spell +was also upon him. He held a great bunch of lilies (which do not grow on +the bare Western levels) in one hand, and his face was changed. Even in +Boone's reckless <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>humor there had been a sardonic vein which sometimes +added a sting to the jest, and I knew what the shadow was that accounted +for his fits of silent grimness. Now he seemed strangely calm, but +rather reverent than sad.</p> + +<p>"I cannot understand you," I said.</p> + +<p>"No?" he answered quietly. "How soon you have forgotten; but you helped +me once. Come, and I will show you."</p> + +<p>He tethered his horse to an iron peg, beckoned me to do the same, and +then, moving forward until we stood on the highest of the rise, pointed +to something that rose darkly from the grass. Then I remembered, and +swung my hat to my knee, as my eyes rested on a little wooden cross. +Following the hand he stretched out, I could read the rude letters cut +on it—"Helen Boone."</p> + +<p>He stooped, and, I fancied with some surprise, lifted a glass vessel +from beneath a handful of withered stalks. He shook them out gently, +laid the fresh blossoms in their place, and a faint fragrance rose like +incense through the coolness of the dew. Then he turned, and I followed +him to where we had left the horses. "There are still kind souls on this +earth, and one of them placed that vessel under the last flowers I left. +You have a partial answer to your question now."</p> + +<p>I bent my head, and seeing that he was not averse to speech, said +quietly: "You come here sometimes? It is a long journey."</p> + +<p>"Yes," was the answer; and Boone's voice vibrated. "She who sleeps there +gave up a life of luxury for me; and is a three-hundred-mile journey too +much to make, or a summer night too long to watch beside her? I am drawn +here, and there are times when one wonders if it is possible for us to +rise into partial communion with those who have passed into the darkness +before us."</p> + +<p>"It is all," I answered gravely, "a mystery to me. Can you conceive such +a possibility?"</p> + +<p>"Not in any tangible shape to such as I, but this at least I know. In +spite of the destruction of the mortal clay, when I can see my way no +further, and lose courage <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>in my task, fresh strength comes to me after +a night spent here."</p> + +<p>"Your task?" I said. "I guessed that there was a motive behind your +wanderings."</p> + +<p>"There is one," and Boone's voice rose to its natural level. "The wagon +journeys suit it well. Had Lane ruined me alone I should have tried to +pay my forfeit for inexperience and the risk I took gracefully; but when +I saw the woman, who had lain down so much for me, fading day by day +that he might add to his power of oppressing others the money which +would have saved her life, the case was different. The last part he +played in the pitiful drama was that of murderer, and the loss he +inflicted on me one that could never be forgiven."</p> + +<p>"And you are waiting revenge?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"No." Boone looked back towards the crest of the rise. "At first I did +so, but it is justice that prompts me now. I have a full share of human +passions, and once I lay in wait for him with a rifle—my throat parched +and a fire of torment in my heart; but when he passed at midnight within +ten paces I held my hand and let him go. Perhaps it was because I could +not take the life of even that venomous creature in cold blood, and +feared he would not face me. Perhaps another will was stronger than my +own, for, with every purpose strained against what seemed weakness, it +was borne in on me that I could not force him to stand with a weapon, +and that I dare not kill him groveling. Then the power went out of me, +and I let him go. Yet I have twice lain long hours in hot sand under a +deadly rifle fire, Ormesby. There are many mysteries, and as yet it is +very little that we know."</p> + +<p>"But you are following him still, are you not?" I asked. And Boone +continued: "As I said, it is for justice, and it was here I learned the +difference. I would not take the reptile's life unless he met me armed +in the daylight, which he would never do; but for the sake of +others—you and the rest, whose toil and blood he fattens on—I am +waiting and working for the time when, without a crime, it may be +possible to end his career of evil."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>We were both silent for a few minutes, and I felt that Boone's task, +self-imposed or otherwise, was a worthy one. Lane was a man without +either anger or compassion—an incarnation of cunning and avarice more +terrible to human welfare than any legendary monster of the olden time. +It was no figure of speech to declare that he fattened on poor men's +blood and agony, and his overthrow could not be anything but a blessing. +Still, it was in prosaic speech that, considering the practical aspect +of the question, I said: "I wish you luck, but you will need a long +patience, besides time and money."</p> + +<p>"I have them," was the answer. "The first was the hardest to acquire. +Time—I could wait ages if I knew the end was certain; and, as to money, +when it came too late to save her, someone died in the old country, and +part of the property fell to me. Well, you can guess my purpose—using +all means short of bloodshed and perjury to take him in his own net. She +who sleeps there was pitiful and gentle, but she hated oppression and +cruelty, and I feel that if she knows—and I think it is so—she would +smile on me."</p> + +<p>Boone's face was plain before me under the moon. It was quietly +confident, calm, and yet stamped with a solemn purpose. He had, it +seemed, mastered his passions, and would perhaps be the more dangerous +because he followed tirelessly, with brain unclouded by hatred or +impatience. I felt that there was much I should say in the shape of +encouragement and sympathy, but the only words that rose to my lips +were: "He has fiendish cunning."</p> + +<p>"And I was once a careless fool!" said Boone. "Still, the most cunning +forget, and blunder at times. I, however, can never forget, and when he +does, it will be ill for Lane. I have—I don't know why—spoken to you, +Ormesby, as I have spoken to no man in the Dominion before, and I feel I +need ask no promise of you. I am going east with the sunrise, but I must +be alone now."</p> + +<p>I left him to keep his vigil with his dead, and camped in a hollow some +distance away. That is to say, I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>tethered the horse, rolled a thick +brown blanket round me, and used the saddle for a pillow. There was no +hardship in this. The grasses, if a trifle damp, were soft and springy, +the night still and warm; and many a better man has slept on a worse bed +in the Western Dominion. Slumber did not, however, come at first, and I +lay watching the stars, neither asleep nor wholly awake, until they grew +indistinct, and a woman's figure, impalpable as the moonlight, gathered +shape upon a rise of the prairie.</p> + +<p>It was borne in on me that this was Helen Boone risen from her sleep; +for she was ethereal, and her face with its passionless calmness not +that of a mortal, while no shadow touched the grasses when she passed, +and, fading, gave place or changed into one I knew. Haldane's elder +daughter looked down at me from the rise, but she, too, seemed of +another world, wearing a cold serenity and a beauty that was not of this +earth. She also changed with a marvelous swiftness before my bewildered +vision, and it was now Lucille Haldane who moved across the prairie with +soft words of pity on her lips and yet anger in her eyes. She, at least, +appeared not transcendental, but a living, breathing creature of flesh +and blood subject to human weaknesses, and I raised myself on one elbow +to speak to her.</p> + +<p>The prairie was empty. Nothing moved on it; even the horse stood still, +while, when I sank back again, moonlight and starlight went out +together; and perhaps it was as well, for, sleeping or waking, a plain +stock-raiser has no business with such fancies, and next morning I +convinced myself that I had dreamed it all. I had doubtless done so, and +the explanation was simple. The influence of the night, or the words of +Boone, had galvanized into abnormal activity some tiny convolution of +the brain; but, even that once granted, it formed the beginning, not the +end, of the question, and Boone had, it seemed, supplied the best +solution when he said we know so little as yet.</p> + +<p>The sun was lifting above the prairie when I set out in search of Boone +with my horse's bridle over my arm. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>I met him swinging across the +springy sod in long elastic strides, but there was nothing about him +which suggested one preyed upon by morbid fancies or the visionary. His +eyes were a little heavy, but that was all, for with both of us the +dreams of the night had melted before the rising sun. The air had been +freshened by the dew, and the breeze, which dried the grasses, roused +one to a sense of human necessities and the knowledge that there was a +day's work to be done. I was also conscious of an unfanciful and very +prosaic emptiness.</p> + +<p>"I wonder where we could get anything to eat. I have a long ride before +me," said Boone, when he greeted me.</p> + +<p>"It can hardly be safe for you to be seen anywhere in this +neighborhood," I said; and Boone smiled.</p> + +<p>"I walked openly into the railroad depot and asked for a package +yesterday. You forget that I partly changed my appearance, while, so far +as memory serves, only two police troopers occasionally saw me. The +others?—you should know your own kind better, Ormesby. Do you think any +settler in this region would take money—and Lane offered a round +sum—for betraying me?"</p> + +<p>"No," I answered with a certain pride; "that is to say, not unless he +were a nominee of the man you name."</p> + +<p>No proof of this was needed, but one was supplied us. A man who +presently strode out of a hollow stopped and stared at Boone. He was, to +judge from his appearance, one of the stolid bushmen who come out West +from the forests of Northern Ontario—tireless men with ax and plow, but +with little knowledge of anything else.</p> + +<p>"I'm kind of good at remembering faces, and I've seen you before," he +said. "You are the man who used to own my place."</p> + +<p>"How often have you seen me?" asked Boone.</p> + +<p>"Once in clear daylight, twice back there at night," answered the +stranger.</p> + +<p>"Did you know that you could have earned a good <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>many dollars by telling +the police as much?" asked Boone; and the other regarded him with a +frown.</p> + +<p>"I'm a peaceable man when people will let me be; but I don't take that +kind of talk from anybody."</p> + +<p>"I was sure, or I shouldn't have asked you," said Boone. "They don't +raise mean Canadians yonder in the country you came from among the rocks +and trees. You're not overrich, either, are you? to judge from my own +experience, for I put more money into the land than I ever took out of +it. However, that doesn't concern the main thing. Just now I'm a hungry +man."</p> + +<p>The big axman's face relaxed, and he laughed the deep, almost silent, +laugh which those like him learn in the shadow of the northern pines. +There is as little mirth in it as there is in most of their hard lives, +but one can generally trust them with soul and body.</p> + +<p>"Breakfast will be ready soon's I get home. You just come along," he +said.</p> + +<p>We followed him to the log-house which had risen beside Boone's +dilapidated dwelling. A neatly-dressed, dark-haired woman was busy about +the stove, and our host presented us very simply. "Here's the man who +shot the money-lender, and a partner, Lou."</p> + +<p>The woman, who laid down the pan she held, cast a quick glance of +interest at my companion. "We have seen you, and wondered why you never +looked in," she said.</p> + +<p>"Did you twice do a great kindness for me?" asked Boone.</p> + +<p>The woman's black eyes softened. "Sure, that was a little thing, and +don't count for much. The posies were so pretty, and I figured they'd +keep fresh a little longer," she said.</p> + +<p>"It was one of the little things which count the most," said Boone.</p> + +<p>Thereupon the woman's olive-tinted face flushed into warmer color, while +her long-limbed spouse observed: "She's of the French habitant stock, +and their ways of showing they haven't forgotten aren't the same as +ours."</p> + +<p>Breakfast was set before us, and I think Boone had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>made firm friends of +our hosts before we finished the meal. He had abilities in this +direction. They, on their part, were very simple people, the man silent +for the most part, rugged in face, and abrupt when he spoke, but shrewd +in his own way it seemed withal, and probably as generous as he was hard +at a bargain. His wife was of the more emotional Latin stock, quick in +her movements, and one might surmise equally quick in sympathy.</p> + +<p>"You are not the man who bought the place at the sale," said Boone, at +length. "I can remember him tolerably well, and, if I couldn't, one +would hardly figure you were likely to work under Lane."</p> + +<p>"No!" and the farmer laughed his curious laugh again. "No. I shouldn't +say. We never worked for any master since my grandfather got fired for +wanting his own way by the Hudson's Bay, and I guess neither Lane nor +the devil could handle the rest of us. He once came round to try."</p> + +<p>"How?" I asked, and the gaunt farmer sighed a little as he filled his +pipe. "This way. He was open to finance me to buy up a poor devil's +place, and if I'd had a little less temper and a little more sense I +might have obliged him, and landed a good pile of money, too."</p> + +<p>"He's just talking. Don't you believe him," broke in the woman, with an +indignant glance at her spouse.</p> + +<p>I fancied Boone saw the drift of this, which was more than I did, and +the farmer nodded oracularly in his direction when I asked: "What did +you do instead?"</p> + +<p>"Just reached for a big ox-goad, and walked up to him like a blame +millionaire or a hot-headed fool. Them negotiations broke right off, and +he lit out across the prairie talking 'bout assaults and violences at +twenty mile an hour. Some other man will know better, and that's just +how Lane will get badly left some day."</p> + +<p>The woman laughed immoderately. "It was way better'n a circus," she +said. "He didn't tell you he rammed the ox-goad into the skittish horse, +and Lane he just hugged the beast."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>The picture of the full-fledged Lane, who made a very poor figure in the +saddle at any time, careering panic stricken across the prairie with his +arms about the neck of a bolting horse appealed to me; but as to the +possibility of the usurer's future discomfiture I was still in the dark, +and asked for enlightenment.</p> + +<p>"It's easy," said the farmer. "Lane he squeezes somebody until he can't +hold on to his property, then he puts up the money and another man buys +the place dirt-cheap for him, in his own name. Suppose that man goes +back on Lane? 'This place is my own,' says he. Well, he's recorded +owner, isn't he? and I figure Lane wouldn't be mighty keen on dragging +that kind of case into the courts."</p> + +<p>"But he wouldn't put any man in unless he had him by the throat," said +I; and the farmer grinned.</p> + +<p>"Juss so! He'll choke some fellow with grit in him a bit too much some +day, and when the wrong breed of scoundrel is jammed right up between +the devil and the sea, it's quite likely he'll go for the devil before +he starts swimming."</p> + +<p>"I"—and Boone regarded the farmer fixedly—"quite agree with you. Do +you mind telling me what you gave for this place?"</p> + +<p>Our host named the sum without hesitation, adding that he would be glad +to show us over it; and Boone's face grew somber as he said: "It is more +than twice what it was sold for when it was stolen from me."</p> + +<p>We walked around the plowed land, inspected the stock, stables, and +barns, and when, after a cordial parting with our hosts, we rode away, +Boone turned to me: "It was an ordeal, and harrowing to see what might +have been but for an insatiable man's cunning and my poverty. Another +half-hour of the memories would have been too much for me. Well, we can +let that pass. They were kind souls, and this last lesson may have been +necessary. Strange, isn't it, that the simple are sometimes shrewder +than the wise?"</p> + +<p>"For instance?" I said; and Boone smiled significantly.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>"Yonder very plain farmer has hit upon a weak spot in Lane's armor which +the keenest brain on this prairie—I don't mean my own, of course—has +hitherto failed to see."</p> + +<p>Soon afterwards we separated, each going his different way.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE WORK OF AN ENEMY</span></h2> + + +<p>Whatever action the police took concerning Lane's descent upon Crane +Valley was not apparent, and Thorn may have been justified in deciding +that they took none at all. However that may have been, Lane left us in +peace for a while, and it was not by his own hands that the next bolt +was launched against me. He preferred, as a rule, to strike through +another person's agency, and usually contrived it so that when trouble +resulted the agent bore the brunt of it.</p> + +<p>I was tramping behind the seeder one fine morning, alternately watching +the somewhat unruly team and the trickle of golden grain into the good +black loam, when two horsemen appeared on the prairie. They headed for +the homestead, and living in a state of expectancy, as we then did, I +shared the misgivings of Thorn. "They're coming our way in a hurry, +sure; and the sight of anyone whose business I don't know worries me +just now," he said.</p> + +<p>"If it's bad news we'll learn it soon enough," I said. "Go on to the end +of the harrowing. That we'll have a frost-nipped harvest if we're not +through with the sowing shortly is the one thing certain."</p> + +<p>The two horsemen drew nearer, and it appeared that both wore uniform, +while I caught the glint of carbines. This in itself was significant, +and I wondered whether Mackay had discovered the identity of Boone. +Shortly I recognized the sergeant and Cotton, who a little later drew +bridle beside the seeder. Mackay's face was expressionless, but Cotton +looked distinctly unhappy, and once more I felt sorry for Boone.</p> + +<p>"I have a word for ye. Will ye walk to the house with me?" said the +former. I glanced at Cotton, who, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>stooping, pretended to examine his +carbine. Thorn appeared suspicious, for he dropped the lines he held, +and his eyes grew keen.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry that is the one thing I can't do just now, when every moment +of this weather is precious," I said. "If you can't wait until we stop +at noon, there's no apparent reason why you shouldn't state your +business here."</p> + +<p>"Ye had better come," said Mackay, looking very wooden. "Forby, I'm +thinking ye will sow no more to-day."</p> + +<p>"I'm not in the humor for joking, and intend to continue sowing until it +is too dark to see," I answered shortly. "Have you any authority to +prevent me?"</p> + +<p>"I have," said the sergeant. "Well, if ye will have it—authority to +arrest ye on a charge of unlawfully burning the homestead of Gaspard's +Trail."</p> + +<p>Astonishment, dismay, and anger held me dumb between them for a few +moments. Then, as the power of speech returned, I said: "Confound you, +Mackay! You don't think I could possibly have had any hand in that?"</p> + +<p>"It's no' my business to think," was the dry answer; "I'm here to carry +out orders. What was it ye were observing, Foreman Thorn?"</p> + +<p>"Only that Niven or Lane was a mighty long time finding this thing out; +and that, while nobody expects too much from the police, we never +figured they were clean, stark, raging lunatics," said Thorn.</p> + +<p>"I'm no' expecting compliments," said Mackay. "Ye will do your duty, +Corporal Cotton."</p> + +<p>"You can put that thing back. I'm not a wild beast, and have sense +enough to see that I must wait for satisfaction until some of your +chiefs at headquarters hear of your smartness," I said. Then Cotton +positively hung his head as he let the carbine slip back into its +holster, while Mackay stared after the departing Thorn, who made for the +homestead as fast as he could run.</p> + +<p>"What is his business?" he said.</p> + +<p>"His own!" I answered shortly. "Unless you have also a warrant for his +arrest, it would be injudicious of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>you to stop him. Thorn has an ugly +temper, and would be justified in resenting the interference. What is +your program?"</p> + +<p>"To ride in to the railroad whenever ye are ready, and deliver ye safely +in Empress City."</p> + +<p>"I suppose one can only make the best of it; but considering that you +were probably consulted before a warrant was issued, I can't help +feeling astonished," I said. "However, there is no use in wasting words, +and an hour will suffice me to get ready in."</p> + +<p>I left the team standing before the seeder, careless as to what became +of them, for, even if acquitted, I felt that my career was closed at +last. No forced labor could make up for time lost now, and, because +justice in the West is slow, it was perfectly clear why the charge had +been made. There was a scene with Sally when we reached the homestead, +and Cotton fled before her biting comments on police sagacity. Even +Mackay winced under certain allusions, and when I asked him: "Am I +permitted to talk to my housekeeper alone?" assented readily.</p> + +<p>"Ye may," he said, "and welcome; I do not envy ye."</p> + +<p>If Sally's tongue could be venomous, her brain was keen, and, as Steel +was absent, it was with confidence I left instructions with her. Thorn +had vanished completely, and the girl only looked mysterious when +questioned concerning him. At length all was ready, and turning in the +saddle as we rode away, I waved my hat to Sally, who stood in the +doorway of the homestead with eyes suspiciously dim. I wondered, with a +strange lack of interest, whether I should ever see either it or her +again. Cotton also saluted her, and the girl suddenly moved forward a +pace, holding up her hand.</p> + +<p>"Make sure of your prisoner, Sergeant," she said. "What's the use of +talking justice to the poor man when he's ground down by the thief with +capital? We're getting tired—we have waited for that justice so +long—and I give you and the fools or rogues behind you warning that if +you jail Ormesby, the boys will come for him with rifles a hundred +strong."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>Mackay touched his beast with the spurs, and as we passed out of +earshot, said to me: "If the boys have her spirit I'm thinking it's not +impossible. Your friends are not judicious, Henry Ormesby."</p> + +<p>"They are stanch, at least, and above being bought," I said; and Mackay +stiffened.</p> + +<p>"What were ye meaning?"</p> + +<p>"I think my meaning was plain enough," I answered him.</p> + +<p>Many leagues divided us from the railroad, and the way seemed very long. +The dejection that settled upon me brought a physical lassitude with it, +and I rode wearily, jolting in the saddle before the journey was half +done. Since the memorable night at Bonaventure, when I first met Boone, +trouble after trouble had crowded on me, and, supported by mere +obstinacy when hope had gone, I still held on. Now it seemed the end had +come, and, at the best, I must retire beaten to earn a daily wage by the +labor of my hands if I escaped conviction as a felon. Lane would absorb +Crane Valley, as he had done Gaspard's Trail. As if in mockery the +prairie had donned its gayest robe of green, and lay flooded with +cloudless sunshine.</p> + +<p>Mackay made no further advances since my last repulse, but rode silently +on my right hand, Cotton on my left, holding back a little so that I +could not see him, and so birch bluff, willows, and emerald levels +rolled up before us and slid back to the prairie's rim until, towards +dusk on the second day, cubes of wooden houses and a line of gaunt +telegraph poles loomed up ahead.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad," said Corporal Cotton, breaking into speech at last. "I don't +know if you'll believe it, Ormesby, but this has been a sickening day to +me. I'm tired of the confounded service—I'm tired of everything."</p> + +<p>"Ye're young and tender on the bit, and without the sense to go canny +when it galls ye. What ails ye at the service anyway?" interposed the +sergeant.</p> + +<p>"I'll say nothing about some of the duties. They're a part of the +contract," answered Cotton. "Still, I never <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>bargained to arrest my best +friends when I became a policeman."</p> + +<p>"Friends!" said Mackay. "Who were ye meaning?" and Cotton turned in my +direction with the face of one who had narrowly escaped a blunder.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you asking useless questions? I mean Rancher Ormesby."</p> + +<p>"I observed ye used the plural," said Mackay.</p> + +<p>Cotton answered shortly: "When one is going through a disgusting duty to +the best of his ability, he may be forgiven a trifling lapse in +grammar."</p> + +<p>The light was failing as we rode up to the station some time before the +train was due, and looking back, I saw several diminutive objects on the +edge of the prairie. They were, I surmised, mounted settlers coming in +for letters or news, but except that the blaze of crimson behind them +forced them up, it would have been hard to recognize the shapes of men +and beasts. Round the other half of the circle the waste was fading into +the dimness that crept up from the east, and feeling that I had probably +done with the prairie, and closed another chapter of my life, I turned +my eyes towards the string of giant poles and the little railroad +station ahead.</p> + +<p>There were fewer loungers than usual about it, but when we dismounted, +Cotton started as two feminine figures strolled side by side down the +platform, and said something softly under his breath.</p> + +<p>"What has surprised you?" I asked, and he pointed towards the pair.</p> + +<p>"Those are Haldane's daughters, by all that is unfortunate!"</p> + +<p>There was no avoiding the meeting. Darkness had not settled yet, and +Mackay, who failed to recognize the ladies, was regarding us +impatiently. "I'll do my best, and they may not notice anything +suspicious," the corporal said.</p> + +<p>We moved forward, Mackay towards the office, Cotton hanging behind me, +but, as ill-luck would have it, both ladies saw us when we reached the +track, and before <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>I could recover from my dismay, I stood face to face +with Beatrice Haldane. She was, it seemed to me, more beautiful than +ever, but I longed that the earth might open beneath me.</p> + +<p>"It is some time since I have seen you, and you do not look well," she +said. "You once described the Western winters as invigorating; but one +could almost fancy the last had been too much for you."</p> + +<p>"I cannot say the same thing, and if we had nothing more than the +weather to contend with, we might preserve our health," I said. "I did +not know you were at Bonaventure, or I should have ridden over to pay my +respects to you."</p> + +<p>Beatrice Haldane did not say whether this would have given her pleasure +or otherwise. Indeed, her manner, if slightly cordial, was nothing more, +and I found it desirable to study a rail fastening when I saw her sister +watching me.</p> + +<p>"I arrived from the East only a few days ago, and we are now awaiting my +father, who had some business down the line. Are you going out with the +train?"</p> + +<p>"I am going to Empress," I said; and Lucille Haldane interposed: "That +is a long way; and the last time he met you, you told father you were +too busy to visit Bonaventure. Who will see to your sowing—and will you +stay there long?"</p> + +<p>I heard Corporal Cotton grind his heel viciously into the plank beneath +him; and I answered, in desperation:</p> + +<p>"I do not know. I am afraid so."</p> + +<p>Perhaps the girl noticed by my voice that all was not well. Indeed, +Beatrice also commenced to regard the corporal and myself curiously.</p> + +<p>"What has happened, Mr. Ormesby? You look positively haggard?" the +younger sister said. "Why are you keeping in the background, Corporal +Cotton? Have you done anything to be ashamed of?" Then she ceased with a +gasp of pained surprise, and I read consternation in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"You have guessed aright. I am not making this journey of my own will," +I said.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>Beatrice Haldane turned with a swift movement, which brought us once +more fully face to face, and, unlike her sister, she was strangely cold +and grave.</p> + +<p>"Is it permissible to ask any questions?" she said, and her even tone +stung me to the quick. One whisper against the speaker would have roused +me to fury.</p> + +<p>"Everybody will know to-morrow or the next day, and I may as well tell +you now," I said, in a voice which sounded, even in my own ears, hoarse +with bitterness. "I am to be tried for burning down the homestead of +Gaspard's Trail."</p> + +<p>Beatrice Haldane certainly showed surprise, but she seemed more +thoughtful than indignant, and still fixed me with her eyes. They were +clear and very beautiful, but I had begun to wonder if a spark of human +passion would ever burn within them.</p> + +<p>"It is absurd—preposterous. Come here at once, Sergeant!" a clear young +voice with a thrill of unmistakable anger in it said; but Mackay seemed +desirous of backing into the station agent's office instead.</p> + +<p>"I want you," added Lucille Haldane. "Come at once, and tell me why you +have done this."</p> + +<p>The sergeant's courage was evidently unequal to the task, for with a +brief, "I will try to satisfy ye when I have transacted my business," he +disappeared into the office, and I turned again to Beatrice Haldane.</p> + +<p>"You see it is unfortunately true; but you do not appear astonished," I +said.</p> + +<p>Beatrice Haldane looked at me sharply, but without indignation, for she +was always mistress of herself, and before she could speak her sister +broke in: "Do you wish to make us angry, when we are only sorry for you, +Mr. Ormesby? Everybody knows that neither you nor any rancher in this +district could be guilty. Corporal Cotton, will you inquire if your +superior has finished his business, and tell him that I am waiting?"</p> + +<p>"The old heathen deserves it!" said Cotton aside to me, as, with +unfeigned relief, he hurried away, and it was only by an effort I +refrained from following him. The interview was growing painful in the +extreme. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>Still, I was respited, for Beatrice Haldane turned from us +suddenly.</p> + +<p>"What can this mean? There is a troop of horsemen riding as for their +lives towards the station," she said.</p> + +<p>It was growing dark, but not too dark to see a band of mounted men +converge at a gallop upon the station, and for the first time I noticed +how the loungers stared at them, and heard the jingle of harness and +thud of drumming hoofs. None of them shouted or spoke. They came on in +ominous silence, the spume flakes flying from the lathered beasts, the +clods whirling up, until a voice cried:</p> + +<p>"Two of you stand by to hold up the train! The rest will come along with +me!"</p> + +<p>Amid a musical jingling, the horses were pulled up close beside the +track, and men in embroidered deerskin with broad white hats and men in +old blue-jean leaped hurriedly down. Several carried rifles, while, +guessing their purpose, I pointed towards the frame houses across the +unfenced track. "You must go at once, Miss Haldane. There may be a +tumult," I said.</p> + +<p>Lucille seemed reluctant, Beatrice by no means hurried, and I do not +remember whether I bade either of them farewell, for as the newcomers +came swiftly into the station a gaunt commanding figure holding a +carbine barred their way, and Corporal Cotton leaped out from the +office. The station agent, holding a revolver, also placed himself +between them and me.</p> + +<p>"What are ye wanting, boys?" a steady voice asked; and the men halted +within a few paces of the carbine's muzzle. I could just see that they +were my friends and neighbors, and I noticed that one who rode up and +down the track seemed inclined to civilly prevent the ladies from +retiring to the wooden settlement. Perhaps he feared they intended to +raise its inhabitants.</p> + +<p>"We want Harry Ormesby," answered a voice I recognized as belonging to +Steel. "Stand out of the daylight, Sergeant. We have no call to hurt +you."</p> + +<p>"I'm thinking that's true," said Mackay; and I ad<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>mired his coolness as +he stood alone, save for the young corporal, grimly eying the crowd. "It +will, however, be my distressful duty to damage the first of ye who +moves a foot nearer my prisoner. Noo will ye hear reason, boys, or will +I wire for a squadron to convince ye? Ormesby ye cannot have, and will +ye shame your own credit and me?"</p> + +<p>There was a murmur of consultation, but no disorderly clamor. The men +whom Thorn had raised to rescue me were neither habitual brawlers nor +desperadoes, but sturdy stock-riders and tillers of the soil, smarting +under a sense of oppression. They were all fearless, and would, I knew, +have faced a cavalry brigade to uphold what appeared their rights, but +they were equally averse to any bloodshed or violence that was not +necessary.</p> + +<p>"There's no use talking, Sergeant," somebody said. "We don't go back +without our man, and it will be better for all of us if you release him. +You know as well as we do there's nothing against him."</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, I could not well interfere without precipitating a crisis. +The station agent, who stated that Mackay had deputed him authority, +stood beside me with the pistol in his hand. Neither was I certain what +my part would be, for, stung to white heat by Beatrice Haldane's +coldness, which suggested suspicion, and came as a climax to a series of +injuries, I wondered whether it might not be better to make a dash for +liberty and leave the old hard life behind me. There might be better +fortune beyond the Rockies, and I felt that Lane would not have +instigated the charge of arson unless he saw his way to substantiate it.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, I could watch the others with a strange and almost +impersonal curiosity—the group of men standing with hard hands on the +rifle barrels ready for a rush; the grim figure of the sergeant, and the +young corporal poised with head held high, left foot flung forward, and +carbine at hip, in front of them.</p> + +<p>"We'll give you two minutes in which to make up your mind. Then, if you +can't climb down, and anything un<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>pleasant happens, it will be on your +head. Can't you see you haven't the ghost of a show?" said one.</p> + +<p>Turning my eyes a moment, I noticed a fan-shaped flicker swinging like a +comet across the dusky waste far down the straight-ruled track, and when +a man I knew held up his watch beneath a lamp, I had almost come to a +decision. If the sergeant had shown any sign of weakness it is perhaps +possible that decision might have been reversed; but Mackay stood as +though cast in iron, and equally unyielding. I would at least have no +blood shed on my account, and would not leave my friends to bear the +consequences of their unthinking generosity. Meanwhile, stock-rider and +teamster were waiting in strained attention, and there was still almost +a minute left to pass when a light hand touched my shoulder, and Lucille +Haldane, appearing from behind me, said: "You must do something. Go +forward and speak to them immediately." She was trembling with +eagerness, but the station agent stood on my other side, and he was +woodenly stolid.</p> + +<p>"Put down that weapon. I will speak to them," I said.</p> + +<p>"You're healthier here," was the suspicious answer; and chiefly +conscious of the appeal and anxiety in Lucille Haldane's eyes, I turned +upon him.</p> + +<p>"Stand out of my way—confound you!" I shouted.</p> + +<p>The man fingered the pistol uncertainly, and I could have laughed at his +surmise that the sight of it would have held me then. Before, even if he +wished it, his finger could close on the trigger, I had him by the +wrist, and the weapon fell with a clash. Then I lifted him bodily and +flung him upon the track, while, as amid a shouting, Cotton sprang +forward, Mackay roared: "Bide ye, let him go!"</p> + +<p>The shouting ceased suddenly when I stood between my friends and the +sergeant with hands held up. "I'll never forget what you have done, +boys; but it is no use," I said; and paused to gather breath, amid +murmurs of surprise and consternation. "In the first place, I can't drag +you into this trouble."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>"We'll take the chances willing," a voice said, and there was a grim +chorus of approval. "We've borne enough, and it's time we did +something."</p> + +<p>"Can't you see that if I bolted now it would suit nobody better than +Lane? Boys, you know I'm innocent——"</p> + +<p>Again a clamor broke out, and somebody cried: "It was Lane's own man who +did it, if anybody fired Gaspard's Trail!"</p> + +<p>"He may not be able to convict me, and if instead of rushing the +sergeant you will go home and help Thorn with the sowing, we may beat +him yet," I continued. "Even if I am convicted, I'll come back again, +and stay right here until Lane is broken, or one of us is dead."</p> + +<p>The hoot of a whistle cut me short, the brightening blaze of a great +headlamp beat into our faces, and further speech was out of the +question, as with brakes groaning the lighted cars clanged in.</p> + +<p>"Be quick, Sergeant, before they change their minds!" I shouted, and +Mackay and Cotton scrambled after me on to a car platform. No train that +ever entered that station had, I think, so prompt dispatch, for Cotton +had hardly opened the door of the vestibule than the bell clanged and +the huge locomotive snorted as the cars rolled out. I had a momentary +vision of the agent, who seemed partly dazed, scowling in my direction, +a group of dark figures swinging broad-brimmed hats, and Lucille Haldane +standing on the edge of the platform waving her hand to me. Then the +lights faded behind us, and we swept out, faster and faster, across the +prairie.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX<br /> +<span class="smalltext">LEADEN-FOOTED JUSTICE</span></h2> + + +<p>I had spent a number of weary days awaiting trial, when a visitor was +announced, and a young, smooth-shaven man shown into my quarters. He +nodded to me pleasantly, seated himself on the edge of the table, and +commenced: "Your friends sent me along. I hope to see you through this +trouble, Rancher, and want you to tell me exactly how your difficulties +began. Think of all the little things that didn't strike you as quite +usual."</p> + +<p>"I should like to hear in the first place who you are. I know your name +is Dixon, but that does not convey very much," I said.</p> + +<p>The stranger laughed good-humoredly. "And such is fame! Now I had +fancied everybody who read the papers knew my name, and that I had won +some small reputation down at Winnipeg. Anyway, I'm generally sent for +in cases with a financial origin."</p> + +<p>Then I remembered, and looked hard at the speaker. The last sentence was +justified, but he differed greatly from one's idea of the typical +lawyer. He was not even neatly dressed, and his manner singularly lacked +the preciseness of the legal practitioner.</p> + +<p>"I must apologize, for I certainly have read about you," I said. "It was +perhaps natural that as I did not send for you I should be surprised at +your taking an interest in my case. I am, however, afraid I cannot +retain you, for the simple reason that I don't know where to raise +sufficient money to recompense any capable man's services."</p> + +<p>"Aren't you a little premature? My clients don't usually plead poverty +until I send in my bill," was the answer. "You own a tolerably extensive +holding in Crane Valley, don't you?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>"I do; but nobody, except one man with whom I would not deal, would buy +a foot of it just now," I answered. Then, acceding to the other's +request, I supported the statement by a brief account of my +circumstances. "All this is quite beside the question," I concluded.</p> + +<p>"No!" said Dixon. "As a matter of fact, I find it interesting. Won't you +go on and bring the story down to the present?"</p> + +<p>I did so, and the man's face had changed, growing intent and keen before +I concluded.</p> + +<p>"I should rather like to manage this affair for you," he said. "My +fees!—well, from what one or two people said about you, I can, if +necessary, wait for them."</p> + +<p>"You will probably never be paid. Who was it sent for you?"</p> + +<p>"Charles Steel, who was, however, not quite so frank about finances as +you seem to be," was the answer. "It was also curious, or otherwise, +that I was requested to see what could be done by two other gentlemen +who offered to guarantee expenses. That is about as much as I may tell +you. You are not the only person with an interest in the future of the +Crane Valley district."</p> + +<p>"I seem to be used as a stalking-horse by friends and enemies alike, and +get the benefit of the charges each time they miss their aim. The part +grows irksome," I said dryly. "However, if you are willing to take the +risks, I need capable assistance badly enough."</p> + +<p>Dixon seemed quite willing, and asked further questions. "You seem a +little bitter against the sergeant. What kind of man is he?" he said. "I +mean, has he a tolerably level head, or is he one of the discipline-made +machines who can comprehend nothing not included in their code of +rules?"</p> + +<p>"I used to think him singularly shrewd, but recent events have changed +my opinion, and you had better place him in the latter category," I +said; and Dixon chuckled over something.</p> + +<p>"Very natural! I must see him. From what you <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>said already, he doesn't +strike me as a fool. Well, I don't think you need worry too much, Mr. +Ormesby."</p> + +<p>Dixon had resumed his careless manner before he left me, and, for no +particular reason, I felt comforted. We had several more interviews +before the trial began, and I can vividly remember the morning I was +summoned into court. It was packed to suffocation, and the brilliant +sunshine that beat in through the long windows fell upon faces that I +knew. Their owners were mostly poor men, and I surmised had covered the +long distance on horseback, sleeping on the prairie, to encourage me. +There was, indeed, when I took my stand a suppressed demonstration that +brought a quicker throb to my pulses and a glow into my face. It was +comforting to know that I had their approbation and sympathy. If the +life I had caught brief glimpses of at Bonaventure was not for me, these +hard-handed, tireless men were my equals and friends—and I was proud of +them.</p> + +<p>So it was in a clear, defiant voice I pleaded "Not guilty!" and +presently composed myself to listen while Sergeant Mackay detailed my +arrest. Bronzed faces were turned anxiously upon him when he was asked: +"Did the prisoner volunteer any statement, or offer resistance?"</p> + +<p>Mackay looked down at the men before him, and there was a significant +silence in the body of the court. Then, with a faint twinkle in his +eyes, he answered: "There was a bit demonstration at the station in the +prisoner's favor, but he assisted us in maintaining order. The charge, +he said, was ridiculous."</p> + +<p>This I considered a liberal view to take of what had passed and my own +comments, and, though I knew that Mackay was never addicted to unfairly +making the most of an advantage, I remembered Dixon's opinion. If he +were actuated by any ulterior motive, I had, however, no inkling of what +it might be.</p> + +<p>Nothing of much further importance passed until the man who had +preferred the charge against me took his stand; when, watching him +intently, I was puzzled by his attitude. He appeared irresolute, though +I felt tol<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>erably certain that his indecision was quite untinged with +compunction on my account. He had also a sullen look, which suggested +one driven against his will, and, twice before he spoke, made a slight +swift movement, as though under the impulse of a changed resolution.</p> + +<p>"I am the owner of the lands and remains of the homestead known as +Gaspard's Trail," he said. "I bought them at public auction when sold by +the gentleman who held the prisoner's mortgage. Twice that day the +latter threatened both of us, and his friends raised a hostile +demonstration. He told me to take care of myself and the property, for +he would live to see me sorry; but I didn't count much on that. Thought +he was only talking when naturally a little mad. Have had cause to +change my opinions since. I turned in early on the night of the fire and +slept well, I and my hired man, Wilkins, being the only people in the +house. Wilkins wakened me about two in the morning. 'Get up at once! +Somebody has fired the place!' he said.</p> + +<p>"I got up—in a mighty hurry—and got out my valuables. One end of the +house was 'most red-hot. There wasn't much furniture in it. The prisoner +had cleared out 'most everything, whether it was in the mortgage +schedule or whether it was not; but there was enough to keep me busy +while Wilkins lit out to save the horses. Wind blew the sparks right on +to the stable. I went out when I'd saved what I could, and as Wilkins +had been gone a long time, concluded he'd made sure of the horses. Met +the prisoner when I was carrying tools out of a threatened shed. Asked +him to help me. 'I'll see you burned before I stir a hand,' he said. +Noticed he was skulking round the corner of a shed, and seemed kind of +startled at the sight of me, but was too rattled to think of much just +then. Didn't ask him anything more, but seeing the fire had taken hold +good, sat down and watched it. Yes, sir, I told somebody it wasn't +insured.</p> + +<p>"By-and-by the prisoner came back with a dozen ranchers. Didn't seem +friendly, or even civil, most of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>them, and there was nothing I could +do. Then I got worried about Wilkins, for he'd been gone a long time, +and the stable was burning bad. One of the ranchers said he'd make sure +there were no beasts inside it, and the prisoner and the rest went +along. They found Wilkins with some bones broken, and got him and the +horses out between them. Then, when the place was burnt out, Sergeant +Mackay rode up. I was homeless; but none of the ranchers would take me +in. Somebody said he wasn't sorry, and I'd got my deserts. Believe it +was the prisoner; but can't be certain. That's all I know except that +before I turned in I saw all the lamps out and fixed up the stove. Am +certain the fire didn't start from them.</p> + +<p>"I was hunting among the ruins with Wilkins a little while ago when I +found a flattened coal-oil-tin under some fallen beams in the kitchen. I +never used that oil, but heard at the railroad store that the prisoner +did. Mightn't have taken the trouble to inquire, but that I found close +beside it a silver match-box. It was pretty well worn, but anyone who +will look at it close can read that it was given to H. Ormesby. +Considering the prisoner must have dropped it there, I handed both to +the police."</p> + +<p>When Niven mentioned the match-box I started as though struck by a +bullet. It was mine, undoubtedly, and most of my neighbors had seen it. +That it was damning evidence in conjunction with the oil-tin, and had +been deliberately placed there for my undoing, I felt certain. There was +a half-audible murmur in the court while the judge examined the +articles, and I read traces of bewilderment and doubt in the faces +turned towards me. That these men should grow suspicious roused me to a +sense of unbearable injury, and I sent my voice ringing through the +court. "It is an infamous lie! I lost the match-box, or it was stolen +from me with a purpose, a month after the fire."</p> + +<p>The judge dropped his note-book, the prosecutor smiled significantly; +but I saw that the men from the prairie believed me, and that was very +comforting. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>Something resembling a subdued cheer arose from various +parts of the building.</p> + +<p>"Silence!" said the judge sternly. "An interruption is neither +admissible nor seemly, prisoner. You will be called on in turn."</p> + +<p>"We need not trouble about the prisoner's denial, which was perhaps +natural, if useless, because the witness' statement will be fully borne +out by the man who was present when he found the match-box," said the +lawyer for the Crown. "I will now call Sergeant Mackay again."</p> + +<p>Mackay's terse testimony was damaging, and aroused my further +indignation. I had not expected that he would either conceal or enlarge +upon anything that would tell against me; but had anticipated some trace +of reluctance, or that he would wait longer for questions between his +admissions. Instead, he stood rigidly erect, and reeled off his +injurious testimony more like a speaking automaton than a human being.</p> + +<p>"A trooper warned me that he had seen a reflected blaze in the sky," he +said. "We mounted and rode over to Gaspard's Trail. Arriving there I +found a number of men, including the owner, Niven, and the prisoner. +Niven said the place was not insured. They were unable to do anything. I +see no need to describe the fire. The house was past saving; but the +ranchers, with the prisoner among them, broke into the burning stable to +bring out the horses, which had been overlooked, and found the hired +man, Wilkins, partly suffocated in a stall. He was badly injured, but +bore out the owner's statement that lamps and stove were safe when they +retired.</p> + +<p>"I proceeded to question the spectators. Knew them all as men of good +character, and as they had newly ridden in, saw no reason to suspect +more than one in case the fire was not accidental. Asked Niven whom he +first met, and he said it was the prisoner, shortly after the fire broke +out. Stated he met him slipping through the shadow of a shed, and the +prisoner refused to assist him. Was not surprised at this, knowing the +prisoner bore Niven little goodwill since the latter bought his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> +property. Had heard him threaten him and another man supposed to be +connected with him in the purchase of Gaspard's Trail."</p> + +<p>"What reason have you to infer that any other man was concerned in the +purchase of Gaspard's Trail?" asked the prosecutor; and Mackay answered +indifferently:</p> + +<p>"It was just popular opinion that he was finding Niven the money."</p> + +<p>"We need not trouble about popular opinion," said the lawyer somewhat +hurriedly. "We will now proceed to the testimony of the hired man, +Thomas Wilkins."</p> + +<p>Thomas Wilkins was called for several times, but failed to present +himself, and a trooper who hurried out of court came back with the +tidings that he had borrowed a horse at the hotel and ridden out on the +prairie an hour ago. Since then nobody had seen him.</p> + +<p>The Crown prosecutor fidgeted, the judge frowned, and there was a +whispering in the court, until the former rose up: "As Wilkins is one of +my principal witnesses, I must suggest an adjournment."</p> + +<p>It cost me an effort to repress an exclamation. I had already been kept +long enough in suspense, and suspecting that Wilkins did not mean to +return, knew that a lengthened adjournment would be almost equally as +disastrous as a sentence.</p> + +<p>"Have you no information whatever as to why he has absented himself?" +asked the judge. Receiving a negative answer, he turned towards the +trooper: "Exactly what did you hear at the hotel?"</p> + +<p>"Very little, sir," was the answer. "He didn't tell anybody where he was +going, but just rode out. The hotelkeeper said he guessed Wilkins had +something on his mind by the way he kicked things about last night."</p> + +<p>"It will be the business of the police to find him as speedily as +possible. In the meantime, I can only adjourn the case until they do, +unless the prisoner's representative proceeds with the examination of +witnesses," said the judge.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>Dixon was on his feet in a moment. "With the exception of Sergeant +Mackay and the witness Niven, who will be further required by my legal +friend, I do not purpose to trouble the witnesses," he said. "While I +can urge no reasonable objection to the adjournment, it is necessary to +point out that it will inflict a grievous injury on one whom I have +every hope of showing is a wholly innocent man. It is well known that +this is the one time of the year when the prairie rancher's energies are +taxed to the utmost, and the loss of even a few days now may entail the +loss of the harvest or the ruin of the stock. My client has also +suffered considerably from being brought here to answer what I cannot +help describing as an unwarranted charge, and it is only reasonable that +bail should be allowed."</p> + +<p>"Is anyone willing to offer security?" asked the judge.</p> + +<p>There was a few moments' silence, and then a hum of subdued voices as a +man rose up; while I could scarcely believe my eyes when I saw it was +Boone. In spite of the slight change in his appearance, he must have +been aware that he was running a serious risk, for his former holding +lay almost within a day's journey. I could also see that some of the +spectators started as they recognized him.</p> + +<p>"I shall be glad to offer security for the prisoner's reappearance, so +far as my means will serve," he said.</p> + +<p>"You are a citizen of this place, or have some local standing?" asked +the judge.</p> + +<p>Boone answered carelessly: "I can hardly claim so much; but a good many +people know me further west, and I am prepared to submit my bank-book as +a guarantee."</p> + +<p>He had scarcely finished, when another man I had not noticed earlier +stood up in turn. "I am authorized by Carson Haldane, of Bonaventure, to +offer bail to any extent desired."</p> + +<p>The judge beckoned both of them to sit down again, and called up a +commissioned police officer and Sergeant Mackay. Then I felt slightly +hopeful, guessing that a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>good deal depended on Mackay's opinion. The +others drew aside, and my heart throbbed fast with the suspense until +the judge announced his decision.</p> + +<p>"As the charge is a serious one, and the police hope to find the missing +witness very shortly, I must, in the meantime, refuse to allow bail."</p> + +<p>I had grown used to the crushing disappointment which follows +short-lived hope; but the shock was hard to meet. It seemed only too +probable that Lane or his emissaries had spirited Wilkins away, and +would not produce him until it was too late to save my crop. Still, +there was no help for it, and I followed the officer who led me back to +my quarters with the best air of stolidity I could assume.</p> + +<p>"What did you think of it?" asked Dixon, who came in presently with a +smile on his face; and I answered ruefully: "The less said the better. +It strikes me as the beginning of the final catastrophe, and if Wilkins +substantiates the finding of the match-box, conviction must follow. What +is the usual term of detention for such offenses?"</p> + +<p>"You needn't worry about that," was the cheerful answer. "Things are +going just about as well as they could. There'll be a second +adjournment, and then perhaps another."</p> + +<p>"And I must lie here indefinitely while my crops and cattle go to ruin! +That is hardly my idea of things going well; and if you are jesting, it +is precious poor humor," I broke in.</p> + +<p>Dixon laughed. "I am not jesting in the least. You seem to be one of +those people, Ormesby, who believe everything will go to ruin unless +they hold control themselves. Now, it would not surprise me, if, on your +return, you found your crops and cattle flourishing. Further, the +prosecution hold a poor case, and I expect, when my turn comes, to see +it collapse. There isn't so much as you might fancy in the match-box +incident. The men who burn down places don't generally leave such things +about. I have had a talk with the sergeant, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>and, though he's closer +than an oyster, I begin to catch a glimmering of his intentions."</p> + +<p>"Why can't you explain them then? I'm growing tired of hints, and feel +tempted to tell my mysterious well-wishers to go to the devil together, +and leave me in peace," I said.</p> + +<p>"A little ill-humor is perhaps excusable," was the tranquil answer. "It +is wisest not to prophesy until one is sure, you know. Now, I'm open, as +I said, to do my best for you; but in that case you have just got to let +me set about it independently. Usual or otherwise, it is my way."</p> + +<p>"Then I suppose I'll have to let you. Your reputation should be a +guarantee," I answered moodily, and Dixon lifted his hat from the table.</p> + +<p>"Thanks!" he said dryly. "It is, in fact, the only sensible thing you +can do."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">AGAINST TIME</span></h2> + + +<p>Dixon's prediction proved correct. When I was brought into court a +second time there was still no news of Wilkins, and after further +testimony of no importance the case was again adjourned. This time, +however, bail was allowed, and Boone and Rancher Gordon stood surety for +me. The latter was by no means rich, and had, like the rest of us, +suffered severe losses of late. Dixon was the first to greet me when I +went forth, somewhat moodily, a free man for the time being.</p> + +<p>"You don't look either so cheerful or grateful as you ought to be," he +said.</p> + +<p>"You are wrong in one respect. I am at least sincerely grateful for your +efforts."</p> + +<p>Dixon, in defiance of traditions, smote me on the shoulder. "Then what's +the matter with the cheerfulness?"</p> + +<p>"It is not exactly pleasant to have a charge of this description hanging +over one indefinitely, and I have already lost time that can never be +made up," I said. "Lane will no doubt produce his witness when he +considers it opportune, and there is small encouragement to work in the +prospect of spending a lengthy time in jail while one's possessions go +to ruin."</p> + +<p>"You think Lane had a hand in his disappearance?" Dixon asked +thoughtfully; and when I nodded, commented: "I can't quite say I do. My +reasons are not conclusive, and human nature's curious, anyway; but I'm +not sure that Wilkins will, if he can help it, turn up at all. However, +in the meantime, the dinner we're both invited to will put heart into +you."</p> + +<p>He slipped his arm through mine, and led me into the leading hotel, +where, as it was drawing near the time <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>for the six o'clock supper, +every man turned to stare at us as we passed through the crowded bar and +vestibule. I was making for the general dining-room when Dixon said: "Go +straight ahead. It was not easy to manage, but our hosts were determined +to do the thing in style."</p> + +<p>He flung a door open, and Boone and Gordon greeted me in turn, while I +had never seen a menu in a Western hostelry to compare with that of the +following meal. Perhaps Gordon noticed my surprise, for he said: "It was +Adams who fixed up all this, and came near having a scrimmage with the +hotelkeeper about the wine. 'This comes from California, and I prefer it +grown in France. Those labels aren't much use to any man with a sense of +taste,' says he. This brand, wherever they grew it, is quite good enough +for me, but I'm wondering where Adams learned the difference."</p> + +<p>Boone smiled at me. "I have," he said, "a good memory, and learned a +number of useful things during a somewhat varied experience."</p> + +<p>The meal was over and the blue cigar smoke curled about us, when I +turned to Gordon: "There are two things I should like to ask you. First, +and because I know what losses you have had to face, how you raised the +money to liberate me in the generous way you did; and, second, how many +acres are left unsown at Crane Valley?"</p> + +<p>The gaunt rancher fidgeted before he answered: "You have said 'Thank +you' once, and I guess that's enough. You're so blame thin in the hide, +and touchy, Ormesby; and it wasn't I who did it—at least not much of +it."</p> + +<p>Dixon appeared to be amused, and when Gordon glanced appealingly at +Boone the latter only smiled and shook his head; seeing which, I said +quietly: "In short, you sent round the hat?"</p> + +<p>There was no doubt that the chance shot had told, for Gordon rose, very +red in face, to his feet. "That's just what I didn't. Don't you know us +yet? Send round the hat when the boys knew you were innocent and just +how I was fixed! No, sir. They came right in, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>each bringing his roll of +bills with him, and if I'd wanted twice as much they'd have raised it. +And now I've given them away—just what they made me promise not to."</p> + +<p>I had anticipated the answer, but it stirred me, nevertheless, and while +Gordon stared at me half angry, half ashamed of his own vehemence, I +filled a wine-glass to the brim. "Here's to the finest men and stanchest +comrades on God's green earth," I said, looking steadily at him.</p> + +<p>It was Dixon who brought us down to our normal level, for, setting his +glass down empty, he commented: "You're not overmodest, Ormesby, +considering that you are one of them. Still, I think you're right. +People in the East are expecting a good deal from you and the good +country that has been given you."</p> + +<p>Gordon joined in the lawyer's laugh, but I broke in: "You have not +answered my second question."</p> + +<p>"Well!" and the rancher smiled mischievously. "You're so mighty +particular that I don't know what to say. Still, things looked pretty +tolerable last time I was down to Crane Valley."</p> + +<p>Dixon accompanied us to the station when it was time to catch the train, +and as he stood on the car platform said to me: "It's probably no use to +tell you not to worry, but I'd sit tight in my saddle and think as +little as possible about this trouble if I were you."</p> + +<p>He dropped lightly from the platform, cigar in hand, as the train pulled +out, and, though most unlike the traditional lawyer in speech or +agility, left me with a reassuring confidence in his skill.</p> + +<p>It was early morning when I rode alone towards Crane Valley, feeling, in +spite of Dixon's good advice, distinctly anxious. It is true that Thorn +and Steel were both energetic, but no man can drive two teams at once, +and it was my impression that, having more at stake, I could do +considerably more in person than either of them. I had small comfort in +the reflection that, after all, the question how much had been +accomplished was immaterial, because there was little use in sowing +where, while I lay in jail, an enemy might reap, and I urged <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>my horse +when I drew near the hollow in which the homestead lay, and then pulled +him up with a jerk. Gordon had said things had been going tolerably +well, but this proved a very inadequate description. The plowed land had +all been harrowed and sown, and beyond it lay the shattered clods of +fresh breaking, where I guessed oats had been sown under the sod newly +torn from the virgin prairie. Ten men of greater endurance could not +have accomplished so much, and I sat still, humbled and very grateful, +with eyes that grew momentarily dim, fixed on the wide stretch of black +soil steaming under the morning sun. It seemed as though a beneficent +genie had been working for my deliverance while I lay, almost +despairing, in the grip of the law.</p> + +<p>Then Steel, springing out from the door of the sod-house, came up at a +run, with Thorn behind him. It was strangely pleasant to see the elation +in their honest faces, and Steel's shout of delight sent a thrill +through me.</p> + +<p>"This is the best sight I've seen since you left us," he panted, +wringing my hand. "Thorn's that full up with satisfaction he can't even +run. We knew Dixon and Adams would see you through between them."</p> + +<p>"Has Dixon been down here?" I asked, for the lawyer had not told me so; +and Thorn, who came up, gasped: "Oh, yes; and a Winnipeg man he sent +down went round with Adams 'most everywhere. Say, did you strike Niven +for compensation?"</p> + +<p>"No," I answered, a trifle ruefully. "I am only free on bail, and not +acquitted yet."</p> + +<p>Steel's jaw dropped, and his dismay would have been ludicrous had it not +betrayed his whole-hearted friendship, while Thorn's burst of sulphurous +language was an even more convincing testimony. Again I felt a curious +humility, and something enlarged in my throat as I looked down at them.</p> + +<p>"If I can't stand Lane off with you two and the rest behind me I shall +deserve all I get, and we must hope for the best," I said. "But if you +could handle three teams each you could not have done all this."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>Thorn, who was not usually vociferous in expressing his sentiments, +appeared glad of this diversion, and, after a glance at the plowed land, +strove to smile humorously. "Think you could have done it any better +yourself?"</p> + +<p>"It's a fair hit," I answered. "You know exactly how much I can do. Let +me down easily. How did you manage it?"</p> + +<p>"We didn't manage anything," said Thorn. "No, sir. The boys, they did it +all. Everybody came or sent a hired man, and blame quaint plowing some +of them cow-chasers done. Put up a dollar sweepstake and ran races with +the harrows, they did, and Steel talked himself purple before he stopped +them. They've busted the gang-plow, and one said he ought to have been a +dentist by the way he pulled out the cultivator teeth."</p> + +<p>"And where did you come in?" I asked, and duly noted the effort it cost +Steel to follow his comrade's lead.</p> + +<p>"We just lay back and turned the good advice on," he said. "Tom, he led +the prayer meeting when, after supper, they turned loose on Lane. Oh, +yes, we rode in and out for provisions. Sally, she would have the best +in the settlement, and sat up all night cooking. Don't know how you'll +feel when you see the grocery bill."</p> + +<p>"I can tell you now," I said. "I feel that there's nothing in the whole +Dominion too good for them—or you—and I'd be glad, if necessary, to +sell my shirt to pay the bill."</p> + +<p>We went on to the house together, and Sally, hiding her disappointment, +plunged with very kindly intentions into a spirited description of her +visitors' feats. "That's a testimonial," she said, pointing through the +window to an appalling pile of empty tins. "I just had to get them when +some of the boys brought their own provisions in. I set one of them +peeling potatoes all night to convince him."</p> + +<p>"Peeling potatoes?" I interpolated; and Steel, smiling wickedly, +furnished the explanation.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>"Sally was busy in the shed when he came along, and wanted to help her +considerable. 'Feel like peeling half a sackful?' says Sally; and when +the fool stockman allowed he'd like it better than anything, says she, +'Then, as I'm tired, you can.' She just left him with it, while she +talked to the other man; but there was grit in him, and he peeled away +until morning. Wanted to marry her, too, he did."</p> + +<p>Sally's glance foreboded future tribulation for the speaker, and Thorn +frowned; but Steel, disregarding it, concluded gravely: "Dessay he might +have done it, but he heard Sally turn loose on me one day, and took +warning."</p> + +<p>In spite of the shadow hanging over me, it was good to be at home, and +perhaps the very uncertainty as to its duration made the somewhat sordid +struggle of our life at Crane Valley almost attractive. Lane, it seemed +only too probable, would crush us in the end, but there was satisfaction +in the thought that every hour's work well done would help us to prolong +our resistance. So the days of effort slipped by until I received a +notice to present myself at court on a specified date, and, there being +much to do, I delayed my departure until the last day. Steel insisted on +accompanying me to the railroad, but protested against the time of +starting. "One might fancy you were fond of jail by the hurry you're in +to get back to it," he said. "We could catch the cars if we left hours +later."</p> + +<p>"It's as well to be on the right side," I said; for I had been in a +state of nervous impatience all day. Wilkins had been found, and now +that a decision appeared certain, I grew feverishly anxious to learn the +best—or the worst.</p> + +<p>It was a day in early summer when we set out and pushed on at a good +pace, though already the sun shone hot. Steel, indeed, suggested there +was no need for haste, but after checking my beast a little, I shot +ahead again. "It might be your wedding you were going to!" he said.</p> + +<p>We had covered part of the distance left to traverse <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>on the second day +when a freighter's lumbering ox-team crawled out of a ravine, and Steel +pulled up beside him. "I don't know if you're mailing anything East, but +you're late if you are," said the teamster.</p> + +<p>"Then there's something wrong with the sun," said Steel. "If he's +keeping his time bill we're most two hours too soon."</p> + +<p>"You would have been last week," answered the other; while a sudden +chill struck through me as I remembered the promised acceleration of the +transcontinental express. "They've improved the track in the Selkirks +sooner than they expected, and they're rushing the Atlantic hummer +through on the new schedule this month instead of next."</p> + +<p>Before he concluded I had snatched out my watch and simultaneously +touched the beast with the spurs. The next moment the timepiece was +swinging against my belt, and, with eyes fixed on the willows before me, +I was plunging at a reckless gallop down the side of the ravine. The +horse was young and resented the punishment, but I had no desire to hold +him, and the further he felt inclined to bolt the better it would please +me. So we smashed through the thinner willows, and somehow reeled down +an almost precipitous slope, reckless of the fact that there was a creek +at the bottom, while the trail wound round towards a bridge, until the +hoofs sank into the soft ground, and we came floundering towards the +tall growth by the water's edge. There the spurs went in again, and the +beast, which knew nothing of jumping, rather rushed than launched itself +at the creek. There was a splash and a flounder, a fountain of mire and +water shot up, and green withes parted before me as we charged through +the willows on the farther bank. The slope was soft and steep beneath +the climbing birches, and by the time we were half way up the beast had +relinquished all desire to bolt; but my watch showed me that go he must, +and it was without pity I drove him at the declivity. Meantime, a thud +of hoofs followed us, and when, racing south across the levels, we <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>had +left the ravine two miles behind, Steel came up breathless.</p> + +<p>"Can you do it, Harry?" he panted.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid not," I shouted. "Still, if I kill the horse under me, I'm +going to try. He's carrying a good many poor men's money."</p> + +<p>A hurried calculation had proved conclusively that if the train were +punctual I should miss it by more than an hour, and there was, of +course, not another until the following day. Still, it was a long climb +from Vancouver City up through the mountains of British Columbia to the +Kicking Horse Pass in the Rockies, and there then remained a wide +breadth of prairie for the mammoth locomotives to traverse. Sometimes, +when the load was heavy, they lost an hour or two on the wild up-grade +through the cañons. I was ignorant of legal procedure, but greatly +feared that my non-appearance in the court would entail the forfeiture +of the sureties, and, as the session was near an end, postpone the trial +indefinitely. Therefore the train must be caught if it were in the power +of horseflesh to accomplish it, and I settled myself to ride as for my +life.</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't the Port Arthur freight do?" shouted Steel.</p> + +<p>"No," I answered. "It's the Atlantic Express or nothing! You can pick +those things up on your homeward journey."</p> + +<p>Without checking the beast I managed to loosen the valise strapped +before me, and hurled it down upon the prairie. It contained all I +possessed in the shape of civilized apparel except what I rode in, and +that was mired all over from the flounder through the creek; but the +horse already carried weight enough. It was now blazing noon, and in the +prairie summer the sun is fiercely hot. Here and there the bitter dust +of alkali rolled across the waste, crusting our dripping faces and the +coats of the lathered beasts. My eyelashes grew foul and heavy, blurring +my vision, so that it was but dimly I saw the endless levels crawl up +from the far <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>horizon. A speck far down in the distance grew into the +altitude of a garden plant, and, knowing what it must be, I pressed my +heels home fiercely, waiting for what seemed hours until it should +increase into a wind-dwarfed tree.</p> + +<p>It passed. There was nothing but the dancing heat to break the great +monotony of grass, while the gray streak where it cut the sky-line +rolled steadily back in mockery of our efforts to reach it. Yet I was +soaked in perspiration, and Steel was alkali white. There was a steady +trickle into my eyes, and the taste of salt in my mouth, while the +drumming of hoofs rose with a staccato thud-thud, like distant rifle +fire, and the springy rush of the beasts beneath us showed how fast we +were traveling. Steel shook his head as we raced up a rise which had +tantalized me long, stirrup to stirrup and neck to neck, while the clots +from the dripping bits drove past like flakes of wind-whirled snow.</p> + +<p>"If you want to get there, Ormesby, this won't do," he said. "You'd +break the heart of the toughest beast inside another hour."</p> + +<p>"The need would justify a worse loss," I panted, snatching out my watch. +"We have pulled up thirty minutes, but are horribly behind still. Men +who can't afford to lose it have put up the stakes I am riding for."</p> + +<p>Steel made a gesture of comprehension, but once more shook his head. "My +beast's the better, and he's carrying a lighter weight, but he'll never +last at the pace we're making. Save your own a little, and when he's +dead beat I'll let up and change with you. I'll hang on in the meantime +in case one of them comes to grief over a badger-hole. It's your one +chance if you're bent on getting through."</p> + +<p>I would at that moment have gladly sold the rest of my life for the +certainty of catching the train. To give my enemy no advantage was a +great thing, and I felt that absence when my name was called would +prejudice the most confiding against me. But that was, after all, a +trifle compared with what I owed the men who <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>had probably stripped +themselves of necessities to help me, and I felt that if I failed them a +shame which could never be dissipated would follow me. Nevertheless, +Steel's advice was sound, and I tightened my grip on the bridle with a +smothered imprecation. Then my heart grew heavier, for the horse needed +no pulling, and responded with an ominous alacrity.</p> + +<p>We were still leagues from the railroad, and the miles of grasses +flitted towards us ever more slowly. The last clump of birches took half +an hour to raise, and the willows which fled behind us had been five +long minutes taking the shape of trees. My watch was clenched in one +hand, and, while bluff and ravine crawled, its fingers raced around the +dial with an agonizing rapidity in testimony of the feebleness of flesh +and blood when pitted against steel and steam. The clanging cars had +swept clear of the foothills long ago, and the track ran straight and +level across the prairie, a smooth empty road for the Accelerated to +save time on in its race between the Pacific and the Laurentian +waterway. When the prairie grew blurred before us, as it sometimes did, +I could see instead the two huge locomotives veiled in dust and smoke +thundering with a pitiless swiftness down the long converging rails, +while the drumming of hoofs changed into the roar of wheels whose speed +would brand me with dishonor. Yet we were doing all that man or beast +could do, and at last a faint ray of hope and a new dismay came upon me. +The difference in time had further lessened, but my horse was failing.</p> + +<p>"Go on as you're going," shouted Steel, edging his whitened beast +nearer. "I'm riding a stone lighter, and this beast has another hour's +work left in him."</p> + +<p>I went on, the horse growing more and more feeble and blundering in his +stride, until at last, when it was a case of dismount or do murder, I +dropped stiffly from the saddle. Steel was down in a second, and in +another my jacket and vest were off, and I laid my foot to the stirrup +in white shirt and trousers, with a handkerchief knotted around my +waist.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>"You'll startle the folks in Empress, and you can't strip off much +more," said Steel.</p> + +<p>"I'd ride into the depot naked sooner than rob the boys," I said; and +was mounted before my comrade could reopen his mouth. When he did so his +"Good luck!" sounded already faint and far away.</p> + +<p>Steel's horse had more life left in him—one could feel it in his +stride; but now that there was some hope of success I rode with more +caution, sparing him up the low rises, and trying, so far as one might +guess it, to keep within a very small margin of his utmost strength. So +we pressed on until all the prairie grew dim to me, and my only distinct +sensation was the rush of the cool wind. Then a flitting birch bluff +roused me once more to watch, and minute by minute I strained my eyes +for the first glimpse of the tall poles heralding the railroad track. At +last a row of what looked like matches streaked the horizon, and grew in +size until something that rose and fell with the heave of the prairie +sea became visible beneath. Then, as we topped one of its grassy waves, +a cluster of distant cubes loomed up, and a glance at the watch's racing +fingers warned me that I was already behind the time that the train was +due to reach the settlement. It might have passed; and a new torture was +added until, when in an agony of suspense, I strained my eyes towards +the west, a streak of whiteness crept out of the horizon.</p> + +<p>The run of the Accelerated was at that time regarded as a national +exploit, forming, as it did, part of a new link binding Japan and +London—the East and the West; and I knew the conductor would hardly +have waited for one of his own directors. The white streak rapidly grew +larger; something sparkled beneath it, and there was flash of twinkling +glass through the dust and steam. I fixed my eyes on the station, and +taxed every aching sinew in hand and heel, for the weakening beast must +bring me there in time or die. A smoke cloud, with bright patches +beneath it, rolled up to the station when I was nearly half a mile away. +The horse was reeling under me, the power had gone out of the leaden +hands <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>on switch and bridle, and—for the tension had produced a +vertigo—my sight was almost gone.</p> + +<p>Hearing, however, still remained, and shouts of encouragement reached +me, while I could dimly see the station close ahead, and shapeless +figures apparently waving hats and arms. The clang of a big bell rang in +my ears, the twin locomotives snorted, and I fell from the saddle, +sprang towards the track, and clutched at the sliding rails of a car +platform. I missed them; the car, swaying giddily, so it seemed, rolled +past, and I hurled myself bodily at the next platform. Somebody clutched +my shoulder and dragged me up, and I fell with a heavy crash against the +door of a vestibule.</p> + +<p>"Just in time," said a man in uniform. "Say, are you doing this for a +wager, or are some mad cow-chasers after you?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">BAD TIDINGS</span></h2> + + +<p>The dust was rolling about the cars and the gaunt poles whirled past +before I could recover breath to answer the astonished conductor. Then +it was with a gasp I said: "Won't you get me a little water?"</p> + +<p>The man vanished, and I sat still vacantly noticing how the prairie +reeled behind me until the door slid open and he returned with a tin +vessel and a group of curious passengers behind him. A piece of ice +floated in the former, and a man held out a flask. "I guess it won't +hurt him, adulterated some," he said.</p> + +<p>Never before had I tasted so delicious a draught. Hours of anxiety and +effort under a blazing sun had parched and fouled my lips, and my throat +was dry as unslaked lime. The tin vessel was empty when I handed it +back, and the railroad official looked astonished as he turned it upside +down for the spectators' information. "I guess a locomotive tank would +hardly quench that thirst of yours," he said.</p> + +<p>"Thanks. I'll get up. It was not for amusement I boarded your train as I +did," I said, and the rest opened a passage for me into the long +Colonist car. There was a mirror above the basins in the vestibule, and +a glance into it explained their curiosity. The white shirt had burst in +places; the grime of alkali had caked on my face, leaving only paler +circles about the eyes. Hardened mire crusted the rest of my apparel, +and each movement made it evident to me that portions of the epidermis +had been abraded from me.</p> + +<p>"It's not my business how passengers board these cars, so long as +they're tolerably decent, and can pay their fare," observed the +conductor. "Still, although we're not particular, we've got to dress you +a little be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>tween us; and it mightn't be too much to ask what brought +you here in such an outfit?"</p> + +<p>It was evident that the others were waiting to ask the same question, +and I answered diplomatically: "I have money enough to take me to +Empress at Colonist fare, and was half way to the depot to catch the +cars on the old schedule before I discovered you had commenced the +accelerated service. Then I flung off every ounce of weight that might +lose me the race."</p> + +<p>"You must have had mighty important business," somebody said; and the +door at the opposite end opened as I answered dryly: "I certainly had."</p> + +<p>"Hallo! Great Columbus! Is that you, Ormesby?" a voice which seemed +familiar said; and, turning angrily, I saw a storekeeper with whom I had +dealt staring at me in bewilderment.</p> + +<p>"Ormesby!" the name was repeated by several passengers, and I read +sudden suspicion in some of the faces, and sympathy in the rest, while +one of them, with Western frankness, asked: "You're the Rancher Ormesby +we've been reading about?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," I answered, making a virtue of necessity. "I am on my way to +surrender for trial, and redeem my bail. Now you can understand my +hurry."</p> + +<p>Several of the passengers nodded, and the dealer said: "It's tolerably +plain you can't go like that; they're that proud of themselves in +Empress they'd lock you up. So I'll try to find you something in my +gripsack. Still, while I concluded you never done the thing, I'd like to +hear you say straight off you know nothing about the burning of +Gaspard's Trail."</p> + +<p>"Then listen a second," I answered. "You have my word for it, that I +know no more what caused the fire than you do. You will be able to read +my defense in the papers, and I need not go into it here."</p> + +<p>"That's enough for me," was the answer. "Now, gentlemen, if you have got +anything you can lend my friend here in your valises, I'll guarantee +they're either replaced or returned. Some of you know me, and here's my +business card."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>It may be curious, but I saw that most of those present, and they were +all apparently from parts of the prairie, fully credited my statement, +and one voiced the sentiments of the rest when he said: "I'll do the +best I can. If Mr. Ormesby had played the fire-bug, he wouldn't be so +mighty anxious to get back to court again."</p> + +<p>The position was humiliating, but no choice was left me. I must either +accept the willing offers or enter Empress half naked, and accordingly I +made a hasty selection among the garments thrust upon me. Twenty minutes +spent in the lavatory, with the colored porter's assistance, produced a +comforting change, and when I returned to the car, one of the most +generous lenders surveyed me with pride as well as approval.</p> + +<p>"You do us credit, Rancher, and you needn't worry about the thanks. +We've no use for them," he said. "Hope you'll get off; but if you are +sent up for burning down that place, I'll be proud of having helped to +outfit a famous man."</p> + +<p>Perhaps my face was ludicrous with its mingled expressions of gratitude +and disgust at this naïve announcement, for a general laugh went up +which I finally joined in, and that hoarse merriment gave me the freedom +of the Colonist car. Rude burlesque is interspersed amid many a tragedy, +and I had seen much worse situations saved by the grace of even coarse +humor. Thereafter no personal questions were asked, and most of my +fellow-travelers treated me with a delicacy of consideration which is +much less uncommon than one might suppose among the plain, hard-handed +men who wrest a living out of the prairie.</p> + +<p>Night had closed in some time earlier when I strolled out across the +platform of the car and leaned upon the rails of the first-class before +it. Tired physically as I was, the nervous restlessness which followed +the mental strain would, I think, have held me wakeful, even if there +had been anything more than a bare shelf of polished maple, which finds +out every aching bone, to sleep on. This, however, was not the case, for +those <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>who travel Colonist must bring their own bedding, or do without +it. It was a glorious summer night, still and soft and effulgent with +the radiance of the full moon which hung low above the prairie, while +the sensation of the swift travel was bracing.</p> + +<p>There was no doubt that the Accelerated was making up lost time; and the +lurching, clanking, pounding, roar of flying wheels, and panting of +mammoth engines both soothed and exhilarated me. They were in one sense +prosaic and commonplace sounds, but—so it seemed to me that night—in +another a testimony to man's dominion over not only plant and beast upon +the face of the earth, but also the primeval forces which move the +universe. Further, the diapason of the great drivers and Titanic +snorting, rising and falling rhythmically amid the pulsating din, broke +through the prairie's silence as it were a triumphant hymn of struggle +and effort, and toil all-conquering, as dropping the leagues behind it +the long train roared on. I knew something of the cost, paid in the +sweat of tremendous effort, and part in blood and agony, of the smooth +road along which the great machines raced across the continent.</p> + +<p>Perhaps I was overstrung, and accordingly fanciful; but I gathered fresh +courage, which was, indeed, badly needed, and I had grown partly +reassured and tranquil, when the door creaked behind me and there was a +light step on the platform. Then, turning suddenly, I found myself +within a foot of Lucille Haldane. She was bareheaded. The moon shone on +her face, which, as I had dreamed of it, looked at once ethereal and +very human under the silvery light. This, at least, was not a fancy born +of overtaxed nerves, for while given to heartsome merriment, daring, and +occasionally imperious, there was a large share of the spiritual in the +character of the girl. Shrewd, she certainly was, yet wholly fresh and +innocent, and at times I had seen depths of pity and sympathy which it +seemed were not wholly earthly in her eyes. When one can name and number +all the mysterious forces that rule the heart or brain of man, it may be +possible to tell why, when Beatrice Haldane's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>idealized image was ever +before me, I would have done more for her sister than for any living +woman.</p> + +<p>We were both a little surprised at the encounter, and I fancied I had +seen a momentary shrinking from me in the eyes of the girl. This at once +furnished cause for wonder, and hurt me. She had shown no shrinking at +our last meeting.</p> + +<p>"I did not expect to meet you when I came out for the sake of coolness. +Are you going East?" I said.</p> + +<p>Lucille Haldane was usually frank in speech, but she now appeared to be +perplexed by, and almost to resent, the question. "Yes. I have some +business which cannot be neglected in that direction," she said.</p> + +<p>"Is Miss Haldane or your father on board the train?" I asked, and +Lucille seemed to hesitate before she answered:</p> + +<p>"No. My father is in Winnipeg, and Beatrice has gone to Montreal; but +Mrs. Hansen, our housekeeper, is here with me."</p> + +<p>I was partly, but not altogether, relieved by this information. It was +no doubt foolish, but I had been at first afraid that every one of my +friends from Bonaventure had seen in what manner I boarded the train. I +would have given a good deal to discover whether Lucille had witnessed +the spectacle, but I did not quite see how to acquire the knowledge.</p> + +<p>"It must be important business which takes you East alone," I said +idly—to gain time in which to frame a more leading question; but the +words had a somewhat startling effect. A trace of indignation or +confusion became visible in the girl's face as she answered: "I have +already told you it is business which cannot be neglected; and if you +desire any further information I fear I cannot give it to you. Now, +suppose we reverse the positions. What has made you so unusually +inquisitive to-night, Mr. Ormesby?"</p> + +<p>The positions were reversed with a vengeance, somewhat to my disgust. I +had neither right nor desire to pry into Lucille Haldane's affairs, and +yet felt feverishly anxious to discover how much or how little she <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>had +seen at the station. It was no use to reason with myself that this was +of no importance, for the fact remained.</p> + +<p>"I must apologize if I seemed inquisitive," I said. "It would have been +impertinence, but I will make a bargain with you. If you will tell me +whether you boarded the cars immediately the train came in, and what +seat you took, I will tell you the cause of it."</p> + +<p>This struck me as a clever maneuver, for if, as I hoped, she had seen +nothing, the story would certainly reach Bonaventure, and it seemed much +better that she should hear it first, and carefully toned down, from my +own lips. Lucille Haldane's face cleared instantaneously, and there was +a note of relief in her laugh.</p> + +<p>"Must you always make a bargain? You remember the last," but here she +broke off suddenly and favored me with a wholly sympathetic glance. "I +did not mean to recall that unfortunate night. You should come to the +point always, for you are not brilliant in diplomacy, and shall have +without a price the information you so evidently desire. I was standing +on the car platform when you rode up to the station."</p> + +<p>We are only mortal, and I fear I ground one heel, perhaps audibly, but +certainly viciously, into the boards beneath me. Still, I am certain +that my lips did not open. Nevertheless, I was puzzled by the sparkle in +Lucille Haldane's eyes which the radiant moonlight emphasized. There was +more than mischief in it, but what the more consisted of I could not +tell. "Have you forgotten the virtues of civilized self-restraint?" she +asked demurely.</p> + +<p>I could see no cause for these swift changes, which would probably have +bewildered any ordinary man, and I made answer: "It may be so; but on +this occasion, at least, I said nothing."</p> + +<p>Lucille Haldane laughed, and laid her hand lightly on my arm as the cars +jolted. "Then you certainly looked it; but I am not blaming you. I saw +you ride into the station, and I hardly grasp the reason for so much +modesty. I do not know what delayed you, but I know you <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>were trying to +redeem the trust your neighbors placed in you."</p> + +<p>I was apparently a prey to all disordered fancies that night, for it +seemed a desecration that the little white hand should even bear the +touch of another man's jacket, and I lifted it gently into my own hard +palm. Also, I think I came desperately near stooping and touching it +with my lips. Be that as it may, in another second the opportunity was +lacking, for Lucille grasped the rails with it some distance away from +me, and leaned out over them to watch the sliding prairie, her light +dress streaming about her in the whistling draught.</p> + +<p>"The cars were very stuffy, and I am glad I came out. It is a perfectly +glorious night," she said.</p> + +<p>The remark seemed very disconnected, but she was right. The prairie +there was dead-level, a vast, rippling silver sea overhung by a spangled +vault of softest indigo. In spite of the rattling ballast and puffs of +whirled-up dust the lash of cool wind was grateful, and the rush of the +clanking cars stirred one's blood. Still, in contrast to their bulk and +speed, the slight figure in the fluttering white dress seemed very frail +and insecure as it leaned forth from the rails, and I set my teeth when, +with a sudden swing and a giddy slanting, we roared across a curving +bridge. Before the dark creek whirled behind us I had flung my arm +partly around the girl's waist and clenched the rails in front of her.</p> + +<p>"I am quite safe," she said calmly, after a curious glance at me. "You +look positively startled."</p> + +<p>"I was so," I answered, speaking no more than the truth, for the fright +had turned me cold; and she once more looked down at the whirling +prairie.</p> + +<p>"That was very unreasonable. You are not responsible for me."</p> + +<p>Perhaps the fright had rendered me temporarily light-headed, for I +answered, on impulse: "No; on the other hand, you are responsible for +me."</p> + +<p>"I?" the girl said quietly, with a demureness which was not all mockery. +"How could that be? Such a responsibility would be too onerous for me."</p> + +<p>"Why it should be I cannot tell you; but it is the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>truth," I said. +"Twice, when a crisis had to be faced, it was your opinions that turned +the scale for me; and I think that, growing hopeless, I should have +allowed Lane to rob me and gone elsewhere in search of better fortune +had it not been for the courage you infused into me. Once or twice also +you pointed the way out of a difficulty, and the clearness of your views +was almost startling. The most curious thing is that you are so much +younger than I."</p> + +<p>I had spoken no more than the truth, and was conscious of a passing +annoyance when Lucille Haldane laughed. "There is no overcoming +masculine vanity; and I once heard my father say you were in some +respects very young for your age," she said. "I am afraid it was +presumption, but I don't mind admitting I am glad if any chance word of +mine nerved you to continue your resistance." Her voice changed a little +as she added: "Of course, that is because your enemy's work is evil, and +I think you will triumph yet."</p> + +<p>Neither of us spoke again for a time, and I remember reflecting that +whoever won Lucille Haldane would have a helpmate to be proud of in this +world and perhaps, by virtue of what she could teach him, follow into +the next. I could think so the more dispassionately because now both she +and her sister were far above me, though, knowing my own kind, I +wondered where either could find any man worthy.</p> + +<p>So the minutes slipped by while the great express raced on, and blue +heavens and silver prairie unrolled themselves before us in an +apparently unending panorama. There had been times when I considered +such a prospect dreary enough, but it appeared surcharged with a strange +glamour that moonlit night.</p> + +<p>"Will Miss Haldane return to Bonaventure?" I asked, at length.</p> + +<p>"I hardly think so," said the girl. "We have very different tastes, you +know; and as father will not keep more than one of us with him, we can +both gratify them. Beatrice will leave for England soon, and in all +probability will not visit Bonaventure again."</p> + +<p>She looked at me with a strange expression as she <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>spoke, and when her +meaning dawned on me I was conscious of a heavy shock. I had braced +myself to face the inevitable already, but the knowledge was painful +nevertheless, and my voice was not quite steady when I said: "You imply +that Miss Haldane is to be married shortly?"</p> + +<p>"It is not an impossible contingency."</p> + +<p>Lucille spoke gravely, and I wondered whether she had guessed the full +significance of the intimation. Perhaps my face had grown a little +harder, or the tightening of my fingers on the rail betrayed me, for she +looked up very sympathetically. "I thought it would be better that you +should know."</p> + +<p>There was such kindness stamped on her face that my heart went out to +her, and it was almost huskily I said: "I thank you. You have keen +perceptions."</p> + +<p>Lucille smiled gravely. "One could see that you thought much of +Beatrice—and I was sorry that it should be so."</p> + +<p>Her tone seemed to challenge further speech, and presently I found words +again: "It was an impossible dream, almost from the beginning; but I +awakened to the reality long ago. Still, nothing can rob me of the +satisfaction of having known your sister and you, and your influence has +been good for me. One can at least cherish the memory; and even a wholly +impossible fancy has its benefits."</p> + +<p>The girl colored, and said quietly: "It is not our fault that you +overrate us, and one finds the standard others set up for one irksome. +And yet you cannot be easily influenced, from what I know."</p> + +<p>"Heaven knows how weak and unstable I have been at times, but I learned +much that was good for me at Bonaventure, and should, whatever happens, +desire to keep your good opinion," I said.</p> + +<p>"I think you will always do that," said the girl, moving towards the +door. "It is growing late, but before I go I want to ask you to go to +your trial to-morrow with a good courage, and not to be astonished at +anything you hear or see. If you are, you must try to re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>member that we +Canadians actually are, as our orators tell us, a free people, and that +the prairie farmers do not monopolize all our love of justice."</p> + +<p>She brushed lightly past me, and the prairie grew dim and desolate as +the door clicked to. I had long dreaded the news just given me, but such +expectations do not greatly lessen one's sense of loss. Still, it may +have been that my senses were too dulled to feel the worst pain, and I +sat down on the top step of the platform with my arm through the railing +in a state of utter weariness and dejection, which mercifully acted as +an anesthetic. How long I watched the moonlit waste sweep past the +humming wheels I do not know; but tired nature must have had her way, +for it was early morning when a brakeman fell over me, and by the time +the resultant altercation was concluded, the clustered roofs of Empress +rose out of the prairie.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">LIBERTY</span></h2> + + +<p>Sleep had brought me a brief forgetfulness, but the awakening was not +pleasant when I painfully straightened my limbs on the jolting platform, +while the twin whistles shrieked ahead. Every joint ached from the +previous day's exertions, my borrowed garments were clammy with dew, and +I shivered in the cold draught that swept past the slowing cars. The sun +had not cleared the grayness which veiled the east, and, frowned down +upon by huge elevators which rose higher and higher against a lowering +sky, the straggling town loomed up depressingly out of the surrounding +desolation. The pace grew slower, a thicket of willows choked with empty +cans and garbage slid by, then the rails of the stockyards closed in on +each hand, and we jolted over the switches into the station, which was +built, as usual, not in, but facing, the prairie town.</p> + +<p>There was no sign of life in its ill-paved streets, down which the dust +wisps danced; bare squares of wooden buildings, devoid of all +ornamentation, save for glaring advertisements which emphasized their +ugliness, walled them in, and the whole place seemed stamped with the +dreariness which characterizes most prairie towns when seen early on a +gloomy morning by anybody not in the best of spirits. My +fellow-passengers were apparently asleep, but I was the better pleased, +having no desire for speech, and I dropped from the platform as soon as +the locomotive stopped. Hurrying out of the station, I did not turn +around until a row of empty farm wagons hid the track, which action was +not without results.</p> + +<p>One hotel door stood open, but knowing that its tariff <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>was not in +accordance with my finances, I passed it by and patrolled the empty +streets until the others, or a dry goods store, should make ready for +business. One of the latter did so first, and when I entered a mirror +showed that the decision was not unnecessary. The borrowed jacket was +far too small, the vest as much too large, while somebody's collar cut +chokingly into my sunburnt neck. Still, the prices the sleepy clerk +mentioned were prohibitive, and after wasting a little time in somewhat +pointed argument—of which he had the better—I strode out of the store, +struggling with an inclination to assault him. Western storekeepers are +seldom characterized by superfluous civility, and there are +disadvantages attached to a life in a country so free that, according to +one of its sayings, any man who cannot purchase boots may always walk +barefooted.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what the outfit you've got on cost you, and shouldn't +wonder, by the way it fits, if you got it cheap," he said. "We don't +turn out our customers like scarecrows, anyway, and if you'd had the +money we would have tried to make a decent show of you."</p> + +<p>I was nevertheless able, after almost emptying my purse, to replace at +least the vest and jacket at a rival establishment, whose proprietor +promised to forward the borrowed articles to their legitimate owners. I +afterwards discovered that they never received them.</p> + +<p>"You look smart as a city drummer, the top half of you, but it makes the +rest look kind of mean. You want to live up to that coat," he said, +after a critical survey.</p> + +<p>"I can't do it at the price, unless you will take your chances of +getting paid when the stock go East," I said; and the dealer shook his +head sorrowfully.</p> + +<p>"We don't trade that way with strangers, and I don't know you."</p> + +<p>I was in a reckless mood, and some puerile impulse prompted me to +astonish him. "My name is Henry Ormesby!"</p> + +<p>The man positively gasped, and then, with Western keenness, prepared to +profit by the opportunity. "I'll <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>fit you out all for nothing if you'll +walk round to the photographer's and give me your picture with a notice +to stick in the window that you think my things the best in town," he +said. "It would be worth money every time the prairie boys come in, and +I don't mind throwing a little of it into the bargain."</p> + +<p>This was exasperating, but I could not restrain a mirthless laugh; and, +leaving the enterprising dealer astonished that any man should refuse +such an offer, I hurried out of the store; but by the time the breakfast +hour arrived all trace of even sardonic humor had left me. It was with +difficulty I had raised sufficient ready money for the journey, and +there now remained but two or three silver coins in my pocket, while, +remembering that the dealer had been justified in pointing out the +desirability of a complete renovation, I reflected gloomily that it +would be useless, because, in all probability, the nation would shortly +feed and clothe me. I also remembered how I had seen men with heavy +chains on their ankles road-making before the public gaze in a British +Columbian town.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile I was very hungry, and presently sat down to a simple +breakfast in a crowded room. While waiting a few minutes my eyes fell on +a commercial article in a newspaper, which, while noting a revival of +trade, deplored the probable abandonment of much needed railroad +extension. The writer appeared well posted, and mentioned the road we +hoped so much from as one of the works which would not be undertaken. I +laid down the journal with a sigh, and noticed that the men about me +were discussing the coming trial.</p> + +<p>"I expect they'll send Ormesby up," said one man, between his rapid +gulps. "Don't know whether he done it, but he threatened the other +fellow, and said he'd see him roasted before he helped; while that +match-box would fix most anybody up."</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't know," observed a neighbor. "The match-box looks bad; but +I guess if I'd been burning a place up I shouldn't have forgotten it. +Still, it might be fatal unless he could disown it. As to the other +thing, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>I don't count much on what he said. A real fire-bug would have +kept his mouth shut and helped all he was worth instead of saying +anything."</p> + +<p>"I'm offering five to one he goes up. Any takers?" said the first +speaker; and it was significant that, although most Westerners are keen +at a bet, nobody offered.</p> + +<p>"I'd do it for less, 'cept for the match-box," said one.</p> + +<p>I managed to finish my breakfast, feeling thankful that—because (so +their appearance suggested) those who sat at meat had driven in from the +prairie to enjoy the spectacle—none of them recognized me. The odds, in +their opinion, were more than five to one against me, and I agreed with +them. Slipping out I found Dixon, and reported my presence to the +police; and, after what seemed an endless waiting at the court, it was +early afternoon when Dixon said to me: "They'll be ready in five +minutes, and I want you to keep a tight rein on your temper, Ormesby. I +can do all the fancy talking that is necessary. You can keep your heart +up, too. There are going to be surprises for everyone to-day."</p> + +<p>I was called in a few minutes, and if the court had been thronged on +previous occasions, it was packed to suffocation now. It was a bare, +ugly, wood-built room, even dirtier than it was dingy. Neither is there +anything impressive, save, perhaps, to the culprit, about the +administration of Western justice, and I was thankful for a lethargy +which helped me to bear the suspense with outward indifference. Nothing +striking marked the first part of the proceedings, and I sat listening +to the drawl of voices like one in a dream. Some of the spectators +yawned, and some fidgeted, until there was a sudden stir of interest as +the name "Thomas Wilkins" rang through the court.</p> + +<p>"I guess that's the prosecution's trump ace," said a man beneath me.</p> + +<p>I became suddenly intent as this witness took his stand. He was of the +usual type of Canadian-born farm hand, bronzed and wiry, but not heavily +built, and hazarded <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>what I fancied was a meaning glance at me. I could +not understand it, for he seemed at once ashamed and exultant.</p> + +<p>"I was hired by Rancher Niven to help him at Gaspard's Trail, and +remember the night of the fire well. Guess anybody who'd been trod on by +a horse and left with broken bones to roast would," he said; and +proceeded to confirm Niven's testimony. This was nothing new, and the +interest slackened, but revived again when the witness approached the +essential part of his story, and I could hear my own heart thumping more +plainly than the slow drawling voice.</p> + +<p>"I was round at the wreck of the homestead some time after the fire. +Don't know the date, but Niven made a note of it. Kind of precise man he +was. The place wasn't all burnt to the ground, and Niven he crawls in +under some fallen logs into what had been the kitchen. The door opened +right on to the prairie, and anybody could slip in if they wanted to. +Niven grabbed at something on the floor. 'Come along and take a look at +this,' says he; and I saw it was a silver match-box he held up. There +was 'H. Ormesby' not quite worn off it. Niven he prospects some more, +and finds a flattened coal-oil tin. Yes, sir, those you are holding up +are the very things. 'We don't use that brand of oil, and buy ours in +bigger cans,' says he."</p> + +<p>I could see by the spectators' faces it was damaging testimony, and +Dixon's serene appearance was incomprehensible, while, for the benefit +of those ignorant of Western customs, it may be explained that kerosene +is sold in large square tins for the settler's convenience in several +parts of the Dominion.</p> + +<p>"I went over to the store with Niven next day," continued the witness. +"The man who kept it allowed that Rancher Ormesby was about the only man +he sold that brand to in small cans."</p> + +<p>There were signs of subdued sensation, and Wilkins continued: "We gave +them both to Sergeant Mackay, and by-and-by I was summoned to come here +and testify. I came right along; then it struck me it was mean to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>help +in sending up the man who'd saved my life. So I just lit out and hid +myself until the police trailed me."</p> + +<p>It was news to hear that Lane had no hand in the witness's +disappearance; and again he flashed an apparently wholly unwarranted, +reassuring glance in my direction. Then, while I wondered hopelessly +whether Dixon could shake his testimony, the latter stood up.</p> + +<p>"I purpose to ask Thomas Wilkins a few questions later, and will not +trouble him about the match-box, being perfectly satisfied as to the +accuracy of the facts he states," he said.</p> + +<p>I could see the spectators stare at him in surprise, and, wondering if +he had lost his senses, settled myself to listen as the storekeeper +deposed to selling me oil of the description mentioned, adding +reluctantly that very few others took the same size of can. This, and a +lengthy speech, closed the prosecutor's case, and it seemed, when he had +finished, that nothing short of a miracle could save me. The audience +was also evidently of the same opinion.</p> + +<p>Dixon commenced feebly by submitting evidence as to my uprightness of +character, which his opponent allowed to pass unchallenged with a +somewhat contemptuous indifference. Then he said: "It will be remembered +that in his evidence Sergeant Mackay deposed that the witness Niven told +him the burning homestead was not insured, and I will call the Western +agent of a famous fire office."</p> + +<p>The evidence of the gentleman in question was brief and to the point. "I +have heard the statement that Gaspard's Trail was not insured, and can't +understand it. The witness Niven took out a policy three months before +the fire, and sent in his claim straight off to me. The company declined +to meet it until this case was settled. Am I quite certain, or can I +offer any explanation? Well, here's our premium receipt foil and record +of the policy. Can't suggest any explanation, except that somebody is +lying."</p> + +<p>This was received with some sensation, and Dixon smiled at me as if +there were more in store. "You will observe that the witness Niven +cannot be considered a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>very truthful person. I will recall Thomas +Wilkins," he said.</p> + +<p>Wilkins had lost his shamefacedness when he reappeared. "I said the +prisoner saved my life, and meant just that," he said, answering a +question. "It was he who took me out of the fire, and I had sense enough +to see he was leading the boys who saved all Niven's horses. It's my +opinion—you don't want opinions? Well, I'll try to pitch in the solid +facts."</p> + +<p>"Your master went East for a few days before the fire and brought a case +of groceries home with him," said Dixon. "Will you tell us if you opened +that case?"</p> + +<p>"I did," was the answer. "He sent me into the station for it with the +check. Said our storekeeper was a robber, and he'd saved money by buying +down East. It was a blame heavy case, so I started to open it in the +wagon, and had just pulled the top off when Niven came along."</p> + +<p>"Did you see anything except groceries in it?" asked Dixon; and there +was a stirring in the court when Wilkins answered: "I did. I had lit on +to the top of three coal-oil tins when the boss came in."</p> + +<p>"Did he look pleased at your diligence?"</p> + +<p>"No, sir. He looked real mad. 'If you'll do what you're asked to without +mixing up my private things it will be good enough for me. Get your +horses fixed right now,' he said."</p> + +<p>"You are sure about the oil tins? Were they large or small—and did you +ever see them or the groceries again?"</p> + +<p>"Dead sure," was the answer. "I stowed the groceries in the kitchen, but +never saw the oil. It was a smaller size than we used, any way. Didn't +think much about it until I read a paper about this trial not long ago. +Begin to think a good deal now."</p> + +<p>I drew in a deep breath, and the movements of expectant listeners grew +more audible when, reminded that his impressions were not asked for, +Wilkins stepped down. Hope was beginning to dawn, for I could see that +Dixon was on the trail of a conspiracy. Everybody <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>seemed eager, the +prosecutor as much so as the rest, and there was a deep silence when +Dixon folded up the paper on which he had been making notes.</p> + +<p>"My next witness is Miss Lucille Haldane, of Bonaventure," he said.</p> + +<p>There was a low murmur, every head was turned in the same direction, and +I grew hot with shame and indignation when Haldane's younger daughter +walked into the witness stand. It seemed to me a desecration that she +should be dragged forward into an atmosphere of crime as part of the +spectacle before a sea of curious faces, and I had never felt the +enforced restraint so horribly oppressive as when I read admiration in +some of them. Had it been possible to wither up Dixon with a glance it +is hardly likely that he would ever have handled a case again. The girl +looked very young and pretty as, with a patch of almost hectic color in +each cheek, and a brightness in her eyes, she took her place. She wore +no veil, and held herself proudly as, without sign of weakness, she +looked down at the assembly. While she did so there was, without +articulate sound, something that suggested wonder and approval in the +universal movement, and I heard a man beneath me say: "She's a daisy. +Now we're coming right into the business end of the play."</p> + +<p>"You know the prisoner, Ormesby?" asked Dixon; and though her voice was +low, its clear distinctness seemed to permeate the building as she +answered: "I do. He is a friend of my father's, and visited us at +Bonaventure occasionally."</p> + +<p>"Did you ever see a silver match-box in his possession, and, if so, +could you describe it?"</p> + +<p>"I did, on several occasions. He wore it hooked on to his watch-chain, +and once handed it to me to light a lamp with. It had an oak-leaf +engraving with a partly obliterated inscription—'From —— to H. +Ormesby.'"</p> + +<p>"I think that is an accurate description," said Dixon; and when the +judge, who held up a little silver object and passed it on to the jury, +signified assent, I glanced in savage bewilderment at the speaker. It +had appeared <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span>shameful cruelty to hale that delicate girl into a crowded +court; now it also appeared sheer madness. She never once glanced in my +direction, but stood with head erect, one hand resting on the rails, +where the pitiless sunlight beat full upon her, with eyes fixed only on +the judge; but in spite of her courage I could see that her lips +trembled, while the little gloved fingers tightened spasmodically on the +rails. Then I hung my head for very shame that I had been the unwitting +cause of such an ordeal, feeling that I would prefer to suffer ten +convictions rather than that she should become a subject for discussion +in every saloon, and the free commentary of the Western press, even if +she could have saved me.</p> + +<p>"When did you last see the match-box?" asked Dixon.</p> + +<p>"On the morning of the Wednesday in the third week after the fire. I am +sure of the day, because the visit of some friends from Montreal +impressed it on my memory. Henry Ormesby had stayed all night at +Bonaventure and left early in the morning. A maid brought me the +match-box, which she had found on the bureau, with one or two articles +of clothing; and as he did not return I told her to slip the match-box +inside the packet and forward them. I forgot the incident until the +trial recalled it."</p> + +<p>As Lucille ceased it flashed upon me that I had wondered how the +match-box had made its way into a pocket in which I never carried it. +Then I was borne down by a great wave of gratitude to the girl who, it +seemed, had saved me. She was rigorously cross-examined, and, while I do +not know whether the prosecutor exceeded due limits in his efforts to +shake her evidence, I grew murderously inclined towards him as I noticed +how his victim's color came and went, and the effort it cost her not to +shrink under the questions. But her courage rose with the emergency, and +when the indignation crept into her eyes there was several times subdued +applause as her answer to some innuendo carried a rebuke with it.</p> + +<p>At last the approbation was no more subdued, but swelled into a hoarse +murmur which filled all the court when she drew herself up at the +question: "And it was because you were a firm friend of the prisoner's +you recol<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>lected all this so opportunely, and, in spite of the +diffidence any lady in your position would feel, volunteered to give +evidence?"</p> + +<p>The damask patch had spread to Lucille Haldane's forehead, but instead +of being downcast her eyes were filled with light. "No," she said; and +the vibration in her voice had a steely ring. "It was because I am a +Canadian, and accordingly desired to see justice done to an innocent +man. Can you consider such a desire either uncommon or surprising?"</p> + +<p>A full minute had elapsed before the case proceeded, during which an +excitable juryman rose and seemed on the point of haranguing the +assembly until a comrade dragged him down. Then laughter broke through +the murmurs as he gesticulated wildly amid shouts of "Order."</p> + +<p>A Scandinavian domestic quaintly corroborated her mistress's statement, +and there was no doubt that the scale was turned; but Dixon did not +leave his work half-completed, and the next witness confirmed this +evidence.</p> + +<p>"I keep the Railroad Hotel. It's not a saloon, but a hotel, with a big +H," he said. "Know Harry Ormesby well. Saw him about three weeks after +the fire lighting a cigar I gave him from a silver match-box. Oh, yes, +I'm quite sure about the box; had several times seen the thing before. +Was pretty busy when the boys started smoking round the stove after +supper, and forgot to pick up something bright beneath Ormesby's chair. +Was going to tell him he'd dropped his box, when somebody called me. The +boys cleared out when the cars came in, and I saw Niven among them. Knew +him as a customer—don't want to as a friend. Got too much of the coyote +about him. My Chinaman was turning out the lights when I saw somebody +slip back quietly. He grabbed at something by the chair, and went out by +the other door. There was only a light in the passage left, and I didn't +quite recognize him. Could swear it wasn't Ormesby, and think he was +more like Niven. Asked Niven about it afterwards, and he said it wasn't +he; didn't see Ormesby, but wired his lawyer when I'd read the papers.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> +Don't believe Ormesby had enough malice in him to burn up a hen-house."</p> + +<p>There were further signs of sensation, and Sergeant Mackay was called +again. He had ridden over to Gaspard's Trail the day following the fire, +and decided to clear out the refuse dump, he said. Then the whole +audience grinned, when, being asked why he did so, he glanced at the +jury as if for sympathy, answering: "I was thinking I might find +something inside it. A man must do his duty, but it was a sairly +distressful operation." He found two unopened coal-oil tins resembling +the flattened one, and was certain by the appearance of the dump they +had been placed there some time before the fire.</p> + +<p>There was no further evidence. Dixon said very little, but that little +told. The jury had scarcely retired before one of them reappeared, and, +with a rush of blood to my forehead and a singing in my ears, I caught +the words—"Not guilty!"</p> + +<p>Then, when the judge, and even the prosecuting counsel, said he fully +concurred, the murmurs swelled until they filled the court again; and +presently I was standing outside, a free man, in the center of an +excited crowd, for Western citizens are desperately fond of any +sensation. How many cigars and offers of liquid refreshment were thrust +upon me I do not remember, but they were overwhelmingly numerous, and I +was grateful when Dixon came to the rescue.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Ormesby is much obliged to you, gentlemen, but it's quiet he wants +just now," he said; while we had hardly reached the leading hotel where +Dixon led me than there was a clamor in the direction of the court, and +I looked at him inquiringly.</p> + +<p>"I expect they've issued a warrant for Niven on a charge of conspiracy +or arson, and the boys have heard of it," he said. "However, I have had +sufficient professional occupation for to-day, and we're going to get +supper and afterwards enjoy ourselves as we can."</p> + +<p>I had, nevertheless, determined to thank my benefactress first, and, +ignoring Dixon's advice, sent up my name. I was informed that Miss +Haldane would re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>ceive nobody, and the lawyer smiled dryly when I +returned crestfallen. "I don't think you need feel either hurt or +surprised," he said.</p> + +<p>The inhabitants of the prairie towns differ from the taciturn plainsmen +in being vociferously enthusiastic and mercurial, and to my disgust the +citizens came in groups to interview me, while one, who shoved his way +into our quarters by main force, said the rest would take it kindly if I +made a speech to them.</p> + +<p>"You can tell them I feel honored, but nobody can charge me with ever +having done such a thing in my life," I said; and the representatives of +the populace retired, to find another outlet for their energies, as we +presently discovered.</p> + +<p>"I owe my escape solely to a lady's courage and your skill, Dixon; but +why didn't you try to implicate Lane?" I said; and the lawyer laughed.</p> + +<p>"Any reasonable man ought to be satisfied with the verdict and +demonstration. It would have been difficult, if not useless, while I +fancy that if Lane is allowed a little more rope his time will shortly +come," he said. "Hallo! Here are more enthusiastic citizens desirous of +interviewing you."</p> + +<p>"Keep them out for heaven's sake," I said; but before Dixon could secure +the door Sergeant Mackay strode in.</p> + +<p>"I have come to congratulate ye. It will be a lesson til ye, Ormesby," +he announced.</p> + +<p>I did not see the hand he held out. "I'm in no mood for sermons, and +can't appreciate your recent actions as they perhaps deserve," I said; +and the sergeant's eyes twinkled mischievously.</p> + +<p>"It should not be that difficult; and ye have the consolation that we +served the State," he said. "It was in the interests of justice +we—well—we made use of ye to stalk the other man."</p> + +<p>"There's no use pretending I'm grateful," I commenced; but Dixon broke +into a boisterous laugh, and the sergeant's face grew so humorous that +my own relaxed and we made friends again. The reunion had not long been +consummated when a rattle of wheels, followed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>by the tramp of many feet +and the wheezy strains of a cornet, rose from below, and, striding to +the window, I said with dismay: "Lock the door. They're coming with a +band and torches now."</p> + +<p>"I'm thinking ye need not," said Mackay dryly. "It's a farewell to Miss +Haldane they're giving."</p> + +<p>We gathered at the opened window, looking down at a striking spectacle. +A vehicle stood waiting, and behind it, lighted by the glow of kerosene +torches, a mass of faces filled the street. The heads were uncovered +almost simultaneously, and Lucille Haldane appeared upon the hotel +steps, with her attendants behind her. At first she shrank back a little +from the gaze of the admiring crowd, to whom her spirit and beauty had +doubtless appealed; but when one of them urged something very +respectfully, with his hat in his hand, she moved forward a pace and +stood very erect, a slight but queenly figure, looking down at them.</p> + +<p>"I am honored, gentlemen," she said falteringly, though her voice gained +strength. "It was merely a duty I did, but I am gratified that it +pleased you, just because it shows that all of us are proud of our +country and eager, for its credit, to crush oppression and see justice +done to the downtrodden."</p> + +<p>The street rang with the cheer that followed, and when Dixon seized his +hat the action was infectious. The next minute we were moving forward +amid the ranks of the enthusiastic crowd behind the vehicle, which +jolted slowly towards the station; and I discovered later that the +uncomfortable sensation at the back of my neck was caused by the hot oil +from a torch, which dripped upon it. In the meantime I noticed nothing +but the sea of faces, the tramp of feet, and the final burst of cheering +at the station, in which Mackay, holding aloft his forage cap, joined +vociferously.</p> + +<p>"It's only fit and proper. She's as good and brave as she's bonny," he +said.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV<br /> +<span class="smalltext">A SECRET TRIBUNAL</span></h2> + + +<p>Some little time had elapsed since my acquittal, when, one pleasant +summer morning, I rode out from the railroad settlement bound for +Bonaventure. The air was soft and balmy, the sunshine brilliant, and the +prairie sod, which, by that time, had in most years grown parched and +dry, formed a springy green carpet beneath the horse's feet. There had +but once before been such a season within my memory, and my spirits were +almost as buoyant as the wallet in my pocket was heavy. The lean years +had passed and left us, perhaps a little more grave in face and quiet in +speech, to look forward to a brightening future, while the receipts I +had brought back from the nearest town meant freedom at least.</p> + +<p>I was also unwearied in body, for the roll of paper money in the wallet +had made a vast difference to me, and instead of riding all night after +a long railroad journey, I had slept and breakfasted well at the wooden +hotel. Indeed, I almost wondered whether I were the same man who had +previously ridden that way in a state of sullen desperation, spurred on +by hatred and dogged obstinacy instead of hope. Now I was, however, +rather thankful than jubilant, for my satisfaction was tempered by a +perhaps unusual humility. Steel, Thorn, and I had, in our own blundering +fashion, made the best fight we could, but it was the generosity of +others and the winds of heaven which had brought us the victory.</p> + +<p>Distance counts for little in these days, when the steel track and the +modern cargo steamer together girdle the face of the globe; and the loss +of others had been our gain. There had been scarcity in Argentina, and +Australian grass was shriveling for want of rain. Famine had smitten +India, and the great cattle-barons beyond our <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>frontier had been +overbusily engaged, attempting the extermination of the smaller +settlers, to attend their legitimate business; so buyers in Europe were +looking to Canada for wheat and cattle. Our own beasts had flourished, +and before the usual season we had driven every salable head in to the +railroad, riding in force behind them. That drive and the events which +followed it were worth remembering.</p> + +<p>I sold the cattle in Winnipeg for excellent prices, and deducting my own +share of the proceeds, took the first train westward to visit Lane, and +paid him down three-fourths of the balance of the loan. Having bought +wisdom dearly, I took a lawyer with me. Lane showed neither surprise nor +chagrin, though he must have felt both, and I could almost admire the +way he bore defeat. He was less a man than a money-making machine, and +the more to be dreaded for his absence of passion. Rage was apparently +as unknown to him as pity, and, though he knew he had lost Crane Valley, +and with it the completion of a well-laid scheme, he actually pushed a +cigar-box towards me as he signed the receipt. I drew a deep breath of +relief as I passed the papers to the lawyer, for the harvest would more +than cover what remained of the debt, and then I laid down certain sums +on behalf of others. Lane smiled almost affably as he tossed the +quittances upon the table.</p> + +<p>"They're all in order, Rancher. A capable man don't need to use +second-rate trickery, and I'm open to allow that the bull-frog was hard +to squash," he said.</p> + +<p>I pocketed the documents and went out in silence. Speech would have been +useless, because the man had no sensibilities that could be wounded; but +the interview struck me as a grotesquely commonplace termination of a +struggle which had cost me months of misery. Indeed, I found it hard to +convince myself that what had happened was real, and the heavy burden +flung off at last. Being by no means a mere passionless money-making +machine, I had, nevertheless, not finished with Lane.</p> + +<p>It was evening the next day when I reached Bonaventure, and was shown +into the presence of its owner, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>who had lately returned there from the +East. He looked haggard, and did not rise out of the chair he lounged +in, though his voice was cordial. "You have been successful, Ormesby. I +can see it by your face," he said.</p> + +<p>"I have, sir," I answered. "More so than I dared to hope, and I fancy +you will be astonished when you count these bills. The Bonaventure draft +played a leading part in my release, and now I find it difficult to +realize that the luck has changed at last."</p> + +<p>It was not quite dark outside, but the curtains were drawn, and Haldane +sat beside a table littered with papers under a silver reading-lamp. His +face looked curiously ascetic and thin, but the smile in his keen eyes +was genial. Boone sat opposite him smoking, and nodded good-humoredly to +me.</p> + +<p>"You will soon get used to prosperity, and there is no occasion for +gratitude," Haldane said, tossing the roll of paper money across the +table, but taking up the account I laid beside it. "I notice that you +have earned me a profit of twenty per cent. You have tolerable business +talents in your own direction, Ormesby, and I shall expect your good +counsel in the practical management of Bonaventure which I have +undertaken."</p> + +<p>"The management of Bonaventure?" I said, and Haldane's forehead grew +wrinkled as he nodded.</p> + +<p>"Exactly. The verdict has been given. No more exciting corners or +supposititious heaping up of unearned increments for me. I am sentenced +by the specialists to a dormant life and open-air exercise, and have +accordingly chosen the rearing of cattle on the salubrious prairie."</p> + +<p>I guessed what that sentence meant to a man of his energies; but he had +accepted it gracefully, and I was almost startled when he said: "Do you +know that I envied you, Ormesby, even when things looked worst for you?"</p> + +<p>I could only murmur a few not overappropriate words of sympathy, though +I fancied that had Haldane been under the same grip he might have envied +me less.</p> + +<p>"It takes time to grow used to idleness, which is why <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>I sent for you +to-night," he said, with a swift resumption of his usual tone. "I +purpose to teach Lane that he is not altogether so omnipotent as he +believes himself—partly by way of amusement and to forward certain +views of my own, and partly because my younger daughter insists that he +is a menace to every honest man on the prairie. Boone appears inclined +to agree with her."</p> + +<p>"I might even go a little further, sir," said Boone.</p> + +<p>Haldane ignored the comment, and pointed to the papers, of which there +appeared to be a bushel. "I have been posting myself in my new +profession, and conclude that the prospects for grain and live stock are +encouraging," he said. "News from Chile, California, and the Austral, +all confirm this view; and, remembering it, we will consider Lane's +position. Boone has taken considerable pains to discover that, as I +expected, his resources are far from inexhaustible, and circumstances +point to the fact that he has set his teeth in too big a morsel. At +present neither the speculative public nor would-be emigrants have +grasped the position, and therefore Lane would get little if he realized +on his stolen lands just now."</p> + +<p>"That is plain; but what results from it?" I said.</p> + +<p>"Prosperity to poor men, according to my daughter;" and Haldane's smile +was not wholly cynical. "We purpose that he should realize as soon as +possible. Boone discovered that he is raising money to carry on by +quietly selling out his stock in the Investment Company which has +consistently backed him, and I feel inclined for a speculation in that +direction, especially as the public will shortly be invited to increase +the company's capital. Lastly, I am in possession of accurate +information, while Lane is not. Contrary to general opinion, the +railroad will be hurried through very shortly."</p> + +<p>It was great news, and the possible downfall of my enemy perhaps the +least of it. It implied swift prosperity for all that district, and +while I stared at the speaker the blood surged to my forehead. Though +fate had robbed me of the best, part of what I had toiled, and fought, +and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>suffered for was to come about at last; and the calmness of the +others appeared unnatural. Haldane's eyes were keen, but he showed no +sign of unusual interest; Boone's face was merely grim, and I guessed +that the man whose heel had been on my neck would fare ill between them.</p> + +<p>"If he had used legitimate weapons one could almost be sorry for him," I +said. "It will try even his nerve to lose all he has plotted for when +the prize is actually, if he knew it, within his grasp."</p> + +<p>"He deserves no mercy," Boone broke in. "This is justice, Ormesby, +neither more nor less; and unless we cripple him once for all he will +take hold again with the first bad season. What you will shortly hear +should demonstrate the necessity for decisive measures; but our host +forgot to mention that he declines to profit individually by this +opportunity."</p> + +<p>"If anyone wishes to learn my virtues he can apply to certain company +promoters in Montreal," said Haldane languidly. "Boone will remember +that I came here to farm for my health, and have been coerced into +assisting at this Vehmgericht. Those wheels, however, give warning that +the first sitting will commence."</p> + +<p>A minute or two later I started wrathfully to my feet as Niven was +ushered into the room. He on his part seemed equally astonished, and, I +think, would have backed out again, but that Boone adroitly slammed the +door behind him. It may be mentioned that he had been tried in my place, +and, to the disgust of Sergeant Mackay, just escaped conviction.</p> + +<p>"I need not introduce Mr. Ormesby, who will kindly resume his place," +said Haldane pleasantly. "Sit down and choose a cigar if you feel like +it. You sent word you wanted to talk to me?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't want to talk to that man;" and Niven scowled at me, while +Haldane shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"I can't turn him out, you see. Now hadn't you better explain what you +want with me?"</p> + +<p>There was a languid contempt beneath the speaker's surface good-humor +which was not lost on the fidgeting <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>man; but he lighted a cigar with an +air of bravado, and commenced:</p> + +<p>"Thinking over things, I figured both you and Adams had your knife in +Lane;" and Haldane's mild surprise was excellently assumed. "Well, I've +got my own knife in him, too. It's this way. Lane put up the money for +me to buy out Ormesby, and made a mighty close bargain, thinking I +daren't kick. It would have been inconvenient, and I didn't mean to; but +when those blame police ran me in for a thing I never done, he just +turns his back, and wouldn't put up a dollar to defend me! 'I've no use +for blunderers of your kind,' says he."</p> + +<p>"One could understand that it is necessary for him to make sure of his +subordinates' abilities," said Haldane reflectively; and Niven, who +stared hard at him, appeared to gulp down something before he proceeded.</p> + +<p>"Well, he can't fool with me, and it comes to this. I'm recorded owner +of Gaspard's Trail; paid for it with my own check—Lane fixed that up. +Now, what I want to ask you is, how's Lane going to turn me out if I +hold on to the place? Strikes me he can't do it."</p> + +<p>In spite of this assurance the speaker looked distinctly eager until +Haldane answered: "We need not discuss the moral aspect of the case, +because it apparently hasn't one, and you might not understand it if it +had. Speaking from a purely business point of view, I feel tolerably +certain that, in the circumstances, he would not take legal proceedings +against you, though I have no doubt he might arrange the affair in some +other way."</p> + +<p>"Feel quite sure?" asked Niven. And Haldane answered: "I may say I do."</p> + +<p>Niven's grin of triumph would have sickened any honest man, but I was +not sorry for his employer. "I guess I'll take my chances of the other +way, and I'm coming straight to business. Will you stand behind me? It's +not going to be a charity. There is money in Gaspard's Trail, and I'm +open to make a fair deal with the man who sees me through."</p> + +<p>I saw Haldane's lips set tightly for a moment, and my hand itched for a +good hold of Niven's collar; but the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>master of Bonaventure next +regarded him with a quiet amusement which appeared disconcerting.</p> + +<p>"I fancy your worthy master was correct when he described you as a +blunderer," he said. "It would be quite impossible for me to make a +bargain of that—or any other—kind with you. You might also have added +that he inspired you to more than the buying of Gaspard's Trail."</p> + +<p>There was pluck in Niven, for he laughed offensively. "I got my verdict, +and if you won't deal I may as well be going. Anyhow, you've told me +what I most wanted to know."</p> + +<p>He departed without further parley, and Haldane smiled at me. "It would +have been a pity to detain him, and Lane was wrong in choosing an +understudy he could not scare into submission. That rascal will hold on +to Gaspard's Trail, and the loss of it will further hamper his master."</p> + +<p>Some little time passed, and Boone, who appeared impatient, said at +last: "She is late; but Gordon may have been too busy to drive her over +earlier, and she promised me faithfully that she would come."</p> + +<p>Haldane said nothing, though he seemed dubious until there was another +sound of wheels, and I had a second surprise when a lady was ushered +into the room, for I could scarcely believe my eyes when I saw that it +was Redmond's daughter. She had changed greatly from the girl who called +down vengeance on the oppressor when we brought her father home, +although the glitter in her eyes and the intentness of her face showed +the strain of emotional nature in her. Still, she was handsomely and +tastefully dressed, and carried herself with dignity.</p> + +<p>"This is Mr. Haldane, Miss Redmond, and I am sure he will be grateful to +you for coming," said Boone, who I noticed appeared relieved when the +new arrival laid a packet on the table. "I may explain for Ormesby's +benefit that Miss Redmond, who is winning fame as a singer, has +something of importance to show him," he added.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>The girl's hand was very cold when it touched my own, and her movements +nervous as she drew a book in tattered binding out of its wrappings.</p> + +<p>"I hope Mrs. Gordon will spare you as long as possible, and that your +visit to the prairie will do you good," said Haldane, placing a chair +for her.</p> + +<p>"Once I fancied I could never look at the prairie without a shudder, but +of late I have been longing for sunshine and air, and shall perhaps be +happier when this is over," said the girl. "It is a very hard thing I +have to do, and I must tell you the whole painful story."</p> + +<p>"We can understand that it must be," said Haldane gently.</p> + +<p>"When I left home for Winnipeg I joined a second-rate variety company. I +had inherited a gift for singing, and those who heard me were pleased +with the old Irish ballads my mother taught me. So there was soon no +fear of poverty, and I was trying to bury the past, when, the night I +first sang to a packed audience in Winnipeg, it was once more dragged up +before me. I came home from what the newspapers said was a triumph, and +because one critic had questioned a verse of an old song I looked for a +book of my mother's among the relics I had brought from the prairie. I +found—this—instead."</p> + +<p>Ailin Redmond ceased with a little gasp. And glancing at the dilapidated +account book she touched, I wondered what power it could have had to +change her triumph into an agony.</p> + +<p>"I sat all that night beside the stove trying to force myself to burn +the book, and yet afraid," she continued. "Perhaps we are superstitious; +but I felt that I dare not, and its secret has been a very burden ever +since. Sometimes I thought of the revenge it would give me, and yet I +could not take it without blackening my father's memory. So I kept +silence until my health commenced to fail under the strain, and meeting +Mr. Boone at Brandan, where I sang at the time Mr. Ormesby's trial +filled the papers, I felt I must tell him part of my discovery. Had the +trial not ended as it did he would have consulted with Lawyer Dixon. +Afterwards, though I hated Lane the more, I pledged Mr. Boone to +secrecy, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>and kept silent until, when I could bear the load no longer, I +told my trouble to Père Louis. 'If you only desire vengeance it would be +better to burn the book; but if you can save innocent men from +persecution and prevent the triumph of the wicked, silence would be a +sin,' he said. Then I wrote to Mr. Boone and told him I would show the +papers to Mr. Ormesby."</p> + +<p>I opened the battered volume handed me with a strong sense of +anticipation, and, as I did so, the girl shrank back shivering. +Redmond's writing was recognizable, and I thrilled alternately with pity +and indignation against another person as I read his testimony. Omitting +other details, the dated entries, arranged in debit and credit fashion, +told the whole story.</p> + +<p>"Deep snow and stock very poor," the first I glanced at ran. "Received +from Ormesby three loads of hay. Sure 'tis a decent neighbor, for he +wouldn't take no pay. Entered so, if I ever have the luck, to send it +back to him.</p> + +<p>"Plow-oxen sick; horse-team sore-backed; seven days' plowing done by +Ormesby, say—money at harvest, or to be returned in help stock driving.</p> + +<p>"Fifty dollars loan from Ormesby; see entry overdue grocery bill."</p> + +<p>"Is it necessary for me to read any more of these?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"No. If you are satisfied that he at least recognized the debt, pass on +to the other marked pages," answered the writer's daughter.</p> + +<p>I set my lips as I did so, for there was only one inference to be drawn +from the following entries, which ran dated in a series: "Demand for +fifteen hundred dollars from Lane. No credit, ten dollars in the house. +Lane came over, and part renewed the loan in return for services to be +rendered. Black curses on the pitiless devil! Took twenty head of prime +stock, to be driven to the hollow with Ormesby's. Started out with the +stock for Gaspard's Trail."</p> + +<p>There were no further entries, and Miss Redmond, who had been watching +me, said, with a perceptible effort:</p> + +<p>"You will remember all those dates well. Now read <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span>what is written on +the loose leaf. When I came in one night the book lay on the table with +that leaf projecting; but as my father was always fretting over the +accounts, I did not glance at it as I replaced the book."</p> + +<p>The writing was blurred and scrawling—the work of an unstable man in a +moment of agony; and some of the half-coherent sentences ran: "It was +Lane and his master the devil who drove me. I did not mean to do what I +did; but when the fire came down, remembered he said 'any convenient +accident.' I knew it was murder when I saw Ormesby with the blood on his +face." Further lines were almost unintelligible, but I made out, "Judas. +No room on earth. Lane says he is dying fast. You will hate the man who +drove me for ever and ever."</p> + +<p>I folded up the paper, and, not having read the whole of it, handed it +to the girl. "I am almost sorry you were brave enough to show me this; +but I can only try to forget it," I said.</p> + +<p>Miss Redmond's eyes were dry; but she moved as if in physical pain, and +clenched one hand as she said: "That secret has worn me down for weary +months, and I dare not change my mind again. I shall never rest until it +is certain that wicked man shall drive no one else to destruction. You +must show Mr. Haldane all you have read."</p> + +<p>Haldane laid down the book, and sat silent for at least a minute. "Will +you please tell us, Miss Redmond, how far you can allow us to make use +of this?" he said.</p> + +<p>The girl shuddered before she answered: "It must not be made public; but +if in any other way you can strike Lane down, I will leave it you. You +can hardly guess what all this has cost me; but, God forgive me, the +hate I feel is stronger than shame—and his last words are burned into +my brain."</p> + +<p>Ailin Redmond rose as she spoke, and I saw that part of Père Louis's +admonition had fallen upon stony ground. Her face and pose were what +they had been when she had bidden us bring the dead man in. She came of +a passionate race; but there had also been a signal lack of balance in +her father's temperament, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>perhaps it was this very strain of +wildness which had made her singing a success.</p> + +<p>Haldane, with expressions of sympathy, led her to the door, and +returning, sat staring straight before him with a curious expression. "I +don't know that the stolid, emotionless person is not far the happiest," +he said at last. "She must have suffered a good deal—poor soul; and, +even allowing that you had not seen those pitiful papers, I'm doubtful +if you acted quite wisely, Boone. However, the question now is: how are +we going to use them?"</p> + +<p>"Nobody but ourselves must see them," I managed to answer, savage as I +was.</p> + +<p>"I would make one exception," said the owner of Bonaventure. "That one +is the man responsible. It can be no enlightenment to him, and the fact +that he would not suspect us of any reluctance to make the most of our +power, strengthens our ability to deal with him."</p> + +<p>Our conference ended shortly, and when we joined the others I saw that +Lucille Haldane had taken Redmond's daughter under her wing. How she had +managed it, of course I do not know; but the latter appeared comforted +already, and there was a gentle dimness instead of the former hard +glitter in her eyes. Then, and it was not for the first time, I felt +that I could have bowed down and worshiped the Mistress of Bonaventure.</p> + +<p>It was evident that Boone had also been observant, for he afterwards +said, with unusual gravity: "Women resembling Miss Lucille Haldane are +the salt of this sorrowful world. There was only one I ever knew to +compare with her, and she, being too good for it, was translated to +what, if only because she was called there, must be a better."</p> + +<p>I agreed with his first statement entirely, and took his word for the +rest; but made no answer. Boone did not appear to desire one, and again +a strange longing filled his eyes while the shadow crept into his face. +I remembered it was written that the heart knows its own bitterness.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV<br /> +<span class="smalltext">A CHANGE OF TACTICS</span></h2> + + +<p>The fires of sunset were fading low down on the verge of the prairie +when I spoke for the last time with Beatrice Haldane, as it happened, +beside the splendid wheat. It was changing from green to ochre, and +there was a play of varied light athwart the rigid blades, which in its +own way emphasized the symmetry of the tall figure in pale-tinted +draperies. Miss Haldane was stately of presence, but it was symbolic of +the difference between us that while we of the prairie ever turned our +eyes instinctively towards the West, she stood looking back towards +civilization and the darkening East, with a cold green brilliancy +burning behind her head. It matched the face projected against it, which +was that of a statue, perfect in modeling, as I still think, if almost +as colorless and serene. Beatrice Haldane was very beautiful, and every +curve and fold of the simple dress was immaculate and harmonious because +it seemed a part of her.</p> + +<p>My threadbare jean clung shapelessly about me, there was thick dust on +my old leggings and a rent in my broad hat, which trifles were, by +comparison, not without significance. Beatrice Haldane was clearly born +to take a leading place, with the eyes of many upon her, where life +pulsed fastest in the older world. I was a plain rancher, conscious, in +spite of theories concerning its dignity, of the brand of rude labor and +the stain of the soil; but at least my eyes were opened so that I had +seen the utter impossibility of a once cherished dream.</p> + +<p>"The prairie is very beautiful to-night, and surely this grain promises +a splendid yield," she said. "I am glad that it is so, for it will leave +a pleasant memory. I shall probably never stand beside the wheat again."</p> + +<p>This, I knew, was true. Beatrice Haldane would <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>leave for Montreal and +Paris in a day or two, and, paying Bonaventure a farewell visit, she had +ridden over with her father, who had business with me. Strange to say, I +could now contemplate her approaching marriage with equanimity.</p> + +<p>"There are many drawbacks, but it is a good country," I answered +thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>Beatrice Haldane looked at me, and again I felt that she could still +draw my soul to the surface for inspection if she desired to. I also +fancied she knew her power, and wished to exercise it, but not from +pride in its possession.</p> + +<p>"And yet you can now hardly hope for more than a laborious life and +moderate prosperity. The prairie is often dreary, and the toil almost +brutalizing. Are you still content?"</p> + +<p>The sympathy in the voice robbed the words of any sting, and I answered +cheerfully: "It is all that you say; but there are compensations, and I +think no effort is thrown away. I can only repeat the old argument. One +can feel that he is playing a useful part in a comprehensive scheme even +in the muddiest tramp down a half-thawn furrow, and that every ear of +wheat called up or added head of cattle is needed by the world. Perhaps +the chief care of three-fourths of humanity concerns their daily bread. +Of course, our principal motive is the desire to attain our own, and you +may not understand that there is a satisfaction in the mere discovering +of how much one can do without, and, possibly as a result of this, that +one's physical nature rises equal to the strain."</p> + +<p>"And what do you gain—the right to work still harder?" she asked. "I +can grasp the half-formed ideal in your mind, and it is old, for +thousands of years before Thoreau men enlarged on it. Still, it has +always seemed to me that the realization is only possible to the very +few, and to the rest the result mostly destructive to the intellect."</p> + +<p>I laughed a little. "And I am very much of the rank and file; but at +least I have no hope of emulating either <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span>the medieval devotees or the +modern Hindoo visionaries. We practice self-denial from the prosaic lack +of money, or to save a little to sink in a longer furrow, and endure +fatigue more often to pay our debts than to acquire a bank balance. Yet +the result is not affected. The world is better fed."</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said thoughtfully. "It seems that whatever your motives may +be these things possess virtue in themselves—but the virtues do not +necessarily react upon those who practice them."</p> + +<p>"That is true," I answered. "Perhaps it is the motives that count."</p> + +<p>Beatrice Haldane looked away towards the dying fires. "There was a time +when you would not have been content."</p> + +<p>The wondrous green transparency had almost gone, the dew touched the +wheat, and we stood alone in the emptiness, under the hush that crept up +with the dimness from the east, and through which one could almost hear +the thirsty grasses drink. I knew now that I had never loved Beatrice +Haldane as a man usually loves a woman, but had offered an empty homage +to an unreality. Still, the semblance had once been real enough to me, +and I could not wholly hold my peace and let her go. Furthermore, both +she and her sister possessed the gift of forcing one's inmost thoughts, +and there was a power in the quiet voice stronger than my will.</p> + +<p>"No. I once had my ambitions and an ideal," I said. "At first their +realization seemed possible, but I had my lesson. Even when I knew the +ideal was unattainable, the knowledge did not decrease its influence, +and now, while smiling at past presumption, I can at least cherish the +memory. I think you must have known part of this."</p> + +<p>Beatrice Haldane had by knowledge attained to a perfection of +simplicity, and, while my own was either the result of ignorance or born +in me, we met upon it as man and woman—the latter too queenly to stoop +to any small assumption of diffidence.</p> + +<p>"I guessed it long ago, and there was a time when I was pleased," she +said. "However, it was doubtless <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span>well for you that, when contact with +the world taught me what we both were, I knew it was impossible. When we +met again on the prairie, you could not see that I was not the girl you +knew in England. She had, in the meantime, bought enlightenment dearly; +though whether it or her earlier fancies were nearer the hidden truth +she does not know."</p> + +<p>"In one respect you can never change to me," I said. "The sunny-faced +girl in England will always live in my memory."</p> + +<p>Beatrice Haldane smiled, though the fast fading light showed the +weariness in her eyes. "Until you find the substance better than the +shadow; and she must always have been unreal. Still, we are not proof +against such assurances, and I am even now partly pleased to hear you +say so. Do you know that you have shamed me, Harry Ormesby?"</p> + +<p>"That would be impossible," I said; and my companion smiled.</p> + +<p>"Hold fast by your blunt directness if you are wise," she said. "I was +blinded by the critical faculty, and you rebuked me by clinging to your +visionary ideal, while I—misjudged you. I do not mind admitting now +that it hurt me, the more so when I found that Lucille, being—and there +is truth in the phrase—unspotted by the world, believed in you +implicitly. It was because of this I allowed you to speak as you have +done. I felt that I must ask your forgiveness, because we shall probably +never meet again."</p> + +<p>Whether Beatrice Haldane was correct in her own estimate I do not know; +but she was the most queenly woman I had ever met, and I lifted the rent +hat as I said: "Circumstances betrayed me, and you could do no wrong. +Even if that had been possible, how far would one suspicion count +against all that the girl in England has done for me? Now it only +remains for us to part good friends—and with full sincerity I wish you +every happiness."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," said Beatrice quietly; and without another word we walked +back towards the house to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>gether through the velvet dusk. I noticed that +Lucille glanced at us sharply as we entered.</p> + +<p>"You will not forget our appointment in Winnipeg," said Haldane, as they +drove away; and I stood still long after the vehicle had melted into the +prairie. What I thought I do not remember; but it was with a dreamy +calmness that, now the worst had passed, I returned to Crane Valley.</p> + +<p>Reluctance mingled with my anticipation when I proceeded to Winnipeg at +the appointed time. The harvest was almost ready, and a brief holiday +possibly justifiable in anticipation of that time of effort; but the +journey was long and expensive, while, after our severe economies, I had +fallen into the habit of slow consideration each time I spent a dollar. +Steel laughed when I said so, and pointed to the grain. "It's easier to +get used to prosperity than the other thing," he said. "There is plenty +money yonder to start you again. If necessary you can remember you have +earned a good time."</p> + +<p>The sight of the long waves of deepening ochre that rolled before the +warm breeze was very reassuring, though belief came slowly, and for days +I had feared some fresh disaster. Their rhythmical rustle, swelled by +the murmur of the wheat heads and the patter of the oats, made sweet +music, for their undertone was hope, while the flash and flicker of the +bending blades presaged the glitter of hard-won gold—gold that would +set me a free man again. Then I was ashamed, and my voice a trifle +husky, as I said: "I am certainly going to Winnipeg, Steel. If it had +not been for the others the harvest would have left me in the grip of +Lane, and now that the time has come I mean to stand by them."</p> + +<p>I boarded the cars the more contentedly that there was a note in my +pocket from Lucille Haldane. "Father tells me the time is ripe for you +and your friends to strike at last," it ran. "I want to ask you to +assist him in every way you can; and I wait anxiously to hear of your +success."</p> + +<p>I did not understand the whole plan of campaign, but gathered that +Haldane, with the support of our prairie <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span>committee, would make a "bear" +attack on the company—which, while Lane held stock in it, had largely +financed him—and I looked forward with keen interest to the struggle. +We others had done our best with plow and bridle, not to mention birch +staff and fork; but we had hitherto acted chiefly on the defensive, and +now an attack was to be pushed home with the aid of money and a superior +intellect.</p> + +<p>Haldane was in excellent spirits when, accompanied by Boone, he greeted +me in Winnipeg station. "I feel less rusty already, and you look several +years younger than you did a few months ago," he said. "But we have +breakfast ready, and can talk comfortably over it."</p> + +<p>The meal was a luxurious one, and Haldane's explanations interesting. +"Mr. Boone has taken a great deal of trouble to inquire into Lane's +affairs, with the assistance of a man Dixon recommended. Considering the +difficulties, I hardly think I should have succeeded better myself," he +said.</p> + +<p>Boone said this was an unmerited compliment; and Haldane laughed. "Well, +the result, as anticipated, is this. Lane has most of his money locked +up in mortgages which he does not wish to foreclose on immediately, +while we conclude that the rest is represented by shares in the +Territories Investment Company, which concern proposes to increase its +capital, and, as somebody has been trying to sell that stock quietly in +small lots, one may decide that he is short of money. We purpose to +scare off buyers and depreciate his shares by selling them in handfuls +as publicly as possible; or, in other words, to hammer the company."</p> + +<p>"There are two points I am not clear about," I said. "We have not the +stock to sell; and wouldn't it be a trifle hard on innocent +shareholders?"</p> + +<p>"We are finding out your capacities by degrees," said Haldane, with a +quizzical glance at me. "In the first place, we take the risk of being +able to procure the stock when frightened holders rush on the market. If +they don't—well, there will be a difficulty. In the second place, there +are no innocent holders, or only a very few. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>The corporation is a +semi-private concern—combination of second-rate sharpers of your +friend's own kidney; and the few outsiders are professional speculators +who take such risks as they come—they are only now thinking of an +appeal to the general public. Here is the latest balance sheet, and I +presume you are not anxious to see a continuance of that dividend wrung +out of your friends on the prairie."</p> + +<p>My anger flamed up once more as I glanced at the figures. I had seen how +that profit was earned—not by the company's agents, but by careworn men +and suffering women, who toiled under a steadily increasing burden, +which was crushing the life out of them. I had also received a laconic +message from a combination of such as these: "Have paid in —— dollars +to the B. O. M. We'll sell our boots to back you if Haldane's standing +in. Do the best you can."</p> + +<p>Then I brought my fist down on the table as I said: "I'd walk out a +beggar to-morrow before that should happen. If this concern lives only +by such plunder, for heaven's sake let us demolish it. I can't eat +another morsel. Isn't it time to begin?"</p> + +<p>Haldane smiled, and touched a bell. "My principal broker should be +waiting."</p> + +<p>A little, spectacled man, with a shrill voice and insignificant +appearance, was ushered in, and, as I inspected him, Haldane's choice +reminded me of the Hebrew shepherd's sling. He appeared a very feeble +weapon to use against the giant who had oppressed us so grievously. +"Territories have been offering at several dollars' reduction," he said. +"Don't know why, unless it's the railroad uncertainty. You couldn't get +hold of one under full premium until lately."</p> + +<p>The speaker, in spite of his declared ignorance, answered Haldane's +smile; and the latter said: "You can begin at a further five dollars +down. Come round in the afternoon and tell us how you are progressing. +Isn't there a race meeting somewhere about this place to-day?"</p> + +<p>The broker said there was; and I was astonished when <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>Haldane suggested +that we might as well attend it, for this part of the conflict was +evidently to be fought on wholly novel lines. We drove to the meeting, +and after the monotony of Crane Valley the sight of the light-hearted +crowd, the hum of voices and laughter, the gay dresses, and, above all, +the horses, was exhilarating. Nevertheless, it was some time before the +scene compelled my whole attention, for the issues of the business which +had brought me to Winnipeg appeared far too serious to justify such +trifling. By degrees, however, I yielded to the influence of the +stirring spectacle, and was at length amazed to find myself shouting +wildly with the rest when a handsome chestnut broke out from the ruck of +galloping horses a furlong from the post. Then, indeed, for a few +seconds I was oblivious of everything but the silk-clad figure and the +beautiful animal rushing past the dim sea of faces in the blaze of +sunshine behind, while the roar of hoofs and the human clamor set me +quivering. It was all so different from anything I had heard or seen on +the silent prairie. Boone returned presently, and I stared at the silver +coins he placed in my palm.</p> + +<p>"You don't look satisfied, Ormesby, with the result of your few dollars. +Are you sorry I did not lay a decent stake, or have you been infected by +Lane?" he said; and I answered him dryly: "I'm sorry that, without +telling me, you staked anything at all. It is so long since I had any +money to risk on such amusements—and it does not seem fair to the +anxious men waiting on the prairie."</p> + +<p>Haldane laughed. "It is generally wise to make the most of a pleasant +interlude, because the average man does not get too many of them. If +this strikes you as trifling, Ormesby, you will find grim enough +amusement before we are through."</p> + +<p>It was afternoon when we returned to the city, and we recommenced the +campaign by a sumptuous lunch, during which the broker came in. "I've +been offering Territories until I'm hoarse," he said. "There was some +surprise and talking, but nobody wanted to buy; and, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span>while it's an +honor to serve you, I don't see much of a commission in this."</p> + +<p>"You will, if I know my opponents," said Haldane significantly. "Take +off two more dollars, and, if there are any buyers, don't let them think +you're not in earnest. You can put another of your friends on."</p> + +<p>The broker departed and left me wondering. It struck me that to reduce +the value by open quotations should have been enough, without saddling +ourselves with contracts when we did not hold the stock; but it seemed +that cautious slowness was not Haldane's way. He next insisted on +playing billiards with me, and he played as well as I did badly, for my +fingers had grown stiff from the grip of the plow-stilts and bridle, and +we had small opportunity for such amusements on the prairie. Nothing of +importance happened during the remainder of the day, but I have a clear +recollection of how the throb of life from the busy city reacted on me +as we sat together on a balcony outside the smoking-room after dinner. +It was a hot night, and the streets were filled with citizens seeking +coolness in the open air. The place seemed alive with moving figures +that came and went endlessly under the glare of the great arc lights, +while the stir and brilliancy appeared unreal to me. The air throbbed +with voices, the clank of great freight trains in the station, and the +hum of trolley cars; while only one narrow strip of sky appeared between +the rows of stores, and that strip was barred by a maze of interlacing +wires. I felt as though I had awakened from a century's sleep on the +prairie.</p> + +<p>"Somewhat different from Crane Valley," said Haldane, pointing with his +cigar towards the crowded wires. "I wonder how many of those are charged +with our business—it is tolerably certain that some of them are. We +have cheerfully thrown down the glove, and now the forces of fire and +air and water are all pressed into the service of spreading our +challenge across the continent. There's a mammoth printing machine in +yonder building reeling it off by the thousands of copies every hour in +its commercial reports, and those papers will be rushed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span>east and west +to warn holders in Quebec or Vancouver to-night. Also, by this time, +Lane, wherever he is, will be spending money like water to keep the +wires humming. Feel uneasy about the explosion now that you have helped +to fire the train?"</p> + +<p>"I feel curious both as to why you should take so much trouble to help +us, sir, and as to the enemy's first move," I said.</p> + +<p>"To keep myself from rusting, for one thing, and because Lane is one man +too many down our way," was the careless answer. "If that does not +appear a sufficient motive I may perhaps mention another when we have +won. As to the other affair, Lane will, so long as his means hold out, +buy—or urge his friends to—while we sell. Just how far can you and the +men behind you go?"</p> + +<p>I named a sum, which Haldane noted. "With what Boone and I have decided +to put up it will be enough if all goes well. If not—but we will not +trouble about that. This contract strikes me as a trifle too big for +Lane," he said.</p> + +<p>I retired early, but scarcely slept all night. I felt that the struggle +would commence in earnest on the morrow, and Haldane's words had warned +me that our nerve and treasury might be taxed to the utmost before we +made good the challenge we had so lightly, it seemed to me, sent +broadcast across the Dominion.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE TURNING OF THE TIDE</span></h2> + + +<p>I rose early next morning, and a stroll through the awakening city, +which was cool and fresh as yet, braced me for the stress of the day. +Haldane looked thoughtful at breakfast; Boone was silent and +suspiciously stolid, for he betrayed himself by the very slowness with +which he folded back the newspaper brought him to expose the commercial +reports. He handed it to Haldane, who nodded, saying nothing. It was a +relief to me, at least, when the meal was over, but afterwards the +morning passed very heavily, for I spent most of it haunting a dark +telephone box, where Haldane received and dispatched cabalistic +messages. I did not approve of conflict of this description, in which +the uninitiated could neither follow the points lost or won nor see the +enemy, and I should have preferred the hay-fork and a background of +sunlit prairie.</p> + +<p>Noon seemed a very long time coming, and the report of the broker who +arrived with it far from reassuring. "We have sold a fair block of +stock, and I brought you the contracts to sign," he said. "Settlement +and all conditions as usual. Each time that we offered a round lot +Graham's salesman and another man took them up."</p> + +<p>"Lane is taking hold. He has stirred up his allies," said Haldane. "I'll +put my name to these papers, and you can call down another few dollars +when you start again. I suppose there is no other person selling?"</p> + +<p>"No," said the broker. "There were a good many other men curious about +our game, and I fancy one or two of them had instructions; but they did +nothing. We'll work up a sensation during the afternoon."</p> + +<p>It would have greatly pleased me to hear of other persons parting with +their shares; but Haldane still <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>looked confident, and Boone appeared to +place implicit faith in his generalship. I, however, grew more and more +anxious as the afternoon dragged by, for my sense of responsibility to +the men behind me increased when each tinkle of the telephone bell was +followed by a message reporting further sales. Somebody was steadily +taking up the stock we offered, and when, for the fourth time, Haldane +had answered my question, "Any sign of weakness yet?" in the negative, I +could stay indoors no longer, and found it a relief to stride briskly +through the busy streets towards a grain buyer's offices.</p> + +<p>My own personal risk was heavy enough, but I knew also what it had cost +my prairie neighbors to raise the sum they had credited me with, and I +felt that, if beaten, I dare not return and face them with the news +that, losing all in an unsuccessful gamble, we had left them doubly +helpless at the mercy of a triumphant enemy. The interview with the +grain merchant was, however, in a measure comforting. He admitted that +prices were improving, stated approximate figures which almost surprised +me, and volunteered the information that when my crop should be gathered +he would be glad to make me an offer. Although prospects were good in +Western Canada, cereals were scarce everywhere else; and I returned so +involved in mental calculations that I walked into several citizens, one +of whom swore fluently. He wore toothpick-pointed shoes, and in my +abstraction I had, it seemed, trodden cruelly on his toes.</p> + +<p>Boone came up while I attempted to apologize, and tapped me on the +shoulder. "What do you think of this amusement, Ormesby? It seems to +have had the effect of dazing you," he said. "You were walking right +past the hotel as though your eyes were shut."</p> + +<p>"To be candid, I think very little of it," I said. "Still, I was +puzzling over a slightly complicated sum to ascertain how much—counting +every remaining beast, salable implement, and load of grain—would, when +I have paid off Lane, remain my own."</p> + +<p>"Planning your campaign for next year?" asked Boone, with a trace of +dryness.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span>"No," I answered. "It will not be a great deal, but I'm open to stake +the last cent on beating Lane."</p> + +<p>"Good man!" said Boone. "We are going to beat him; and, to show that I +am prepared to back my convictions, I may say that I have already +hypothecated every pennyworth of my English property."</p> + +<p>Haldane was waiting for us when we came in. "Our men have had a busy +afternoon. All the shares they offered were bought up, and there is no +sign of any weakness yet," he said.</p> + +<p>We formed a somewhat silent company during the earlier portion of the +evening. Haldane sat busy, pencil in hand, and finally passed a page of +his notebook across to us. "I don't quite know who is backing Lane, but +his purse is a tolerably long one," he said. "You see, we must produce +shares, or the difference between their value at that time and the price +we sold at, to this extent on settling day, Ormesby."</p> + +<p>"Of which nobody would apparently sell us one," I answered ruefully.</p> + +<p>Haldane nodded. "You mean, of course, to-day. A good many people may be +willing to do so before this hour to-morrow—if not it will be time then +to consider seriously. Meanwhile, the best we can do is to seek innocent +relaxation, and I see that Miss Redmond is singing at the opera house."</p> + +<p>I was hardly in the mood to enjoy a concert, though I was curious to +hear Redmond's daughter; but inaction had grown almost insufferable and +when we took our places in the crowded building I felt glad that I had +come. The sight of the close-packed multitude and the hum of many voices +helped to hold in check my nervous restlessness. Nevertheless, though a +lover of music, I scarcely heard a word of the first three songs, and +only became intent when a clapping of hands rolled round the building as +a dark-haired girl stood forward in the glare of the footlights. It was +evidently she who had drawn the perspiring crowd together, and that +alone was an eloquent testimonial, considering the temperature.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span>Ailin Redmond was very plainly dressed, and she smiled her +acknowledgments with a simplicity that evidently pleased the audience, +while perhaps in compliment to them she wore as sole adornment a few +green maple leaves. Then I settled myself to listen, and continued +almost spell-bound to the end of the song, wondering where the girl I +had seen herding cattle barefooted not very long ago had acquired such +power. She was not, from a technical view, perhaps, a finished singer; +but Western audiences can feel, if, for the most part, they cannot +criticise; and I think she drove the full meaning of the old Irish +ballad home to the hearts of all of them. A wailing undertone rang +through it, and the effect of the whole was best expressed as uncanny. +It was no doubt the strangeness of her themes, and the contrast she +presented to her stereotyped rivals, which had led to the girl's +success.</p> + +<p>In any case the applause was vociferous, and continued until the singer +returned and stood still, with hands lightly clasped, looking, not at +the expectant audience, but directly at us. There was a curious +expression in her eyes, which were fixed steadily on myself and Haldane +beside me. Then I gained understanding as she commenced to sing, for +there was no mistaking the fact that she meant the song for us. It was a +clever resetting of such an old-world ballad as I think no Anglo-Saxon +could have written; its burden was a mourning over ancient wrongs and +hunger for revenge; but the slender, dark-haired girl held the power to +infuse her spirit into me. My lips and hands closed tight as I saw, what +I think she wished me to, Helen Boone dying in a sod hovel, and the +wagon that bore the dead man rolling through murky blackness across the +prairie.</p> + +<p>Then I shook all misgivings from me, feeling that though every acre and +bushel of grain must go, and we failed, they would be well spent in an +attempt to pull down the man who had brought about such things. That +others might suffer with him counted little then. They had clutched at +their dividends—dividends wrung <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span>by him out of the agony of poor men; +and their ignorance, which was scarcely possible, did not free them from +responsibility.</p> + +<p>There was dead stillness for several seconds between the accompanist's +final chord and the tumultuous applause which the slightly puzzled +audience accorded, while, when it died away, I saw that Boone's forehead +was beaded and his lips slightly quivering. Even Haldane appeared less +than usually at ease.</p> + +<p>"Miss Redmond is a young lady of uncommon and even uncomfortable gifts," +he said. "Women, as you will discover some day, Ormesby, are responsible +for most of the mischief that goes on, as well as a large amount of +good. For instance, it was the encouragement of one of them which helped +to start me on this campaign, and now, when slightly doubtful respecting +the wisdom of the step, another must sing eerie songs to me with a +purpose. I think we will walk round and call on her."</p> + +<p>We did so, and Redmond's daughter did not keep us waiting long. She +sailed down a broad stairway and stood smiling under the glaring lamps, +very slight and slim and graceful, so that it seemed fitting Haldane +should bend over the hand she gave him.</p> + +<p>"There is no need for my poor compliments after the verdict of the +multitude; but did you sing that song to us?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the girl quietly, while the smile sank out of her eyes. "We +have a good many friends and hear much gossip, so I knew at once who was +directing the attack on Lane's company. As to the song—I had some +slight education down East, you know—its choice was not without a +meaning. You will remember how, on the eve of battle, Shakespeare's +ghosts prophesied to one man ruin and to another victory?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Haldane, looking puzzled, "I think I do."</p> + +<p>"Then"—and Ailin Redmond seemed to shiver a little—"do you think there +are no ghosts on the prairie?"</p> + +<p>"I have not met any of them," said Haldane; and the girl answered with +infectious gravity: "That does not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span>prove there are none; and, even if +you call it a childish fancy, I felt as I sang that they will bring you +victory to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"You are far too clever and pretty to fill your head with such fancies, +my dear," said Haldane. And when we went out into the open he repeated, +with a shrug of his shoulders: "In spite of her talents, that is a most +uncomfortable young woman; but heaven send her prophecy comes true."</p> + +<p>Again I passed a restless night, but our agent procured us admission +into the inner precincts of the exchange on the morrow, and as I +listened to the eager shouting and watched the excited groups surge +about the salesmen, I began to comprehend the fascination that +speculation wields over its votaries. Our little spectacled broker, +however, held my eye as he flitted to and fro, and now and then with a +strident cry gathered a mob of gesticulating men about him. Somebody +accepted his offers on each occasion, and he approached us with an +almost dismayed expression when the market closed at noon.</p> + +<p>"You are an old hand at this business, sir, but I feel it's my duty to +warn you that things don't look well," he said. "Your friends of the +opposition are evidently able to stand considerable hammering. The sum +you mentioned would be no use now to pull us straight; and unless +there's a break pretty soon they'll squeeze you like a screw vice on +settling day. It would be hard to figure the price they'll make you +pay."</p> + +<p>"You don't suppose I haven't foreseen such a contingency," said Haldane. +"The break will probably come this afternoon—if not, to-morrow. Tell +your allies to sell further small lots down at a moderate reduction."</p> + +<p>Our lunch was, as the others had been, luxurious; but my throat was dry, +and I could not eat. Boone's appetite had also failed, and I may have +guessed aright at part of his story when I saw him, after thrice +emptying his glass, glance still thirstily at the wine, and then thrust +the decanter away.</p> + +<p>"It is time to consider," said Haldane. "Unless somebody is soon scared +into selling, Lane's company <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span>will be able to fleece us horribly on +settling day; but experience of such affairs teaches me that sooner or +later the smaller holders must break under a persistent hammering. Now, +I don't mind admitting that I did not anticipate such an obstinate +defense; and the cause of my interference is mainly this: I had promised +to take my younger daughter on a trip to Europe, but am not overfond of +traveling, and Lucille is tolerably contented with her own country; so +when she first suggested and then insisted that I should make a campaign +fund of what it would cost I was not wholly sorry to agree, and figured +that, with careful handling, the money might be sufficient to scare Lane +into making some rash move. At present it seems that I was mistaken, and +that before we break him I must throw Bonaventure into the scale. You +may save your protests, gentlemen; I'm a born speculator, and my +daughter has set her heart on this thing. If she hadn't, I'd have a very +great reluctance to being beaten by a single-horse-power company."</p> + +<p>"Every acre of Crane Valley I can find a buyer for goes in, too," I +said; and Boone added quietly: "You have my last dollar, sir, already."</p> + +<p>Nothing of moment happened until next day, but it appeared to me that +there was an almost insupportable tension in the very atmosphere. Our +chief broker was clearly excited, and his tone significant, when he +called to inform us that, while no other sellers had followed his +challenge, only very small parcels of the stock he offered were being +taken up; and so the matter stood until the afternoon.</p> + +<p>I was now anxious as well as determined. It did not require much +knowledge of such affairs for me to realize that unless other persons +flung their shares on the market we should be left absolutely at the +mercy of the men who had the stock to sell; and while I had nerved +myself to part with everything, it would be inexpressibly galling to +strip myself to enable Lane to reap a handsome profit. Neither do I +think it was mere lust of revenge that impelled me. The man was a menace +to the prosperity of every struggling rancher, and had shown no mercy; +while<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span>—setting aside the fact that he himself deserved none—it seemed +that my neighbors' right to existence depended on our efforts to +overthrow him. Haldane appeared unusually serious when I glanced at him.</p> + +<p>"If nothing happens in an hour we shall have to hold a council as to how +we may cut our losses," he said.</p> + +<p>Half an hour passed very slowly, and then, warned by a message, we +strolled into the market to find there was comparative silence in the +long echoing room, as those who congregated there grew languid and +drowsy under the heat of the afternoon. Its atmosphere seemed +suffocating, and before I had been present long the suspense reacted +upon me physically, for my throat resembled a lime-kiln and the +superficial arteries of my forehead throbbed painfully. Boone, at +intervals, moistened his dry lips with his tongue, and Haldane alone +leaned calmly against a pillar jotting down figures in the notebook he +held.</p> + +<p>Then a few listless men gathered round a broker, and suddenly became +intent, while a murmur of interest rose through the drowsy heat. The +voices grew louder, the group swelled, and I started at the call: "Any +more of you with Territories to sell?"</p> + +<p>"It must be Lane's last throw," said Haldane quietly. "Ah! The tide is +turning. There is somebody who doesn't belong to us making a deal with +him."</p> + +<p>The bystanders surged to and fro about the speakers in a manner that +reminded me of corraled cattle; others hurried towards them, and our +broker's voice rang out: "I'll trade with you at two dollars better."</p> + +<p>Then there was a confused shouting, "I'll beat him by another! Two more +dollars down!" and every unoccupied man in the room joined the crowd, +out of which rose indistinguishable offers, comments, questions, and +counter-offers. These swelled into a deafening clamor, but through them +all I could hear or feel the hurried beating of my heart, and my voice +sounded hollow as I touched Haldane's arm. "Tell me the meaning of it," +I said.</p> + +<p>"We have beaten them," said Haldane quietly. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span>"There are other men +hurrying to sell. The weak holders have broken at last, and, because a +panic is infectious, most of the others will follow them. Ah! It is +beginning. There go the telegrams, and I hear both telephone bells. The +fun will commence in earnest when the answers come in; and, meanwhile, a +breath of fresher air would brace one. You may have noticed that it's a +trifle choky inside here."</p> + +<p>I had, but my feet seemed glued to the floor and my eyes on the swaying +crowd, so that it cost me an effort to tear them free and follow Boone +and Haldane into the open air. He presently led us into the grateful +coolness of a big basement saloon, and, scarcely drawing breath, I +emptied the contents of a tumbler filled with iced liquid, and then I +looked at Boone, who had pushed aside the glass set before him and +reached for the ice bowl.</p> + +<p>"I have bought my experience, Ormesby," he said, with a smile which once +more flashed a sidelight on his history. "In times like these it is +better to confine one's self to nature's distillery. A cigar? No, thank +you, sir. Do you feel like smoking, Ormesby?"</p> + +<p>I did not, for, in spite of the cool beverage, the bite of tobacco would +have been insufferable then; but Haldane lay back in a big lounge +chewing a cigar. He said nothing whatever, and though he appeared +satisfied, the lines on his forehead had deepened and his face appeared +older. In spite of my impatience we must have remained nearly an hour +before our leader rose a little stiffly and proceeded with unusual +slowness towards the scene of the conflict. It was raging fiercely. Some +of the speculators howled like wild beasts; others wrestled with their +fellows to reach the clear space in the center of the ring; and, +standing on the plinth of a column, I could see gesticulating men hard +at work with their notebooks. How they were able to record any bargain +or to comprehend any offer amid that pandemonium was more than I could +discover; for everybody interested appeared to be shouting at once, and +the rest of the assembly cheering them on. One irate individual, indeed, +dragged a neighbor backwards by the collar, and then plunged <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span>blindly +into the midst of the circle when the other, retaliating, drove his hat +down over his eyes.</p> + +<p>Haldane listened keenly for several minutes, and then turned to me. +"It's going our way, Ormesby. Holders are getting out as fast as they +can, and various speculative gentlemen who have been waiting for the +first sign of weakness are hammering them. We have done our part, and +can safely leave the rest to them. See if you can give our broker this +note for me, and then, if you have had sufficient excitement, we will +take a drive somewhere until dinner's ready."</p> + +<p>I had certainly had sufficient excitement in that form to last the rest +of my life, and I managed to reach the broker without personal injury, +after which we solaced ourselves with a drive through the city and +across some very uninteresting prairie. I saw little of either, and was +conscious of scarcely anything beyond the all-important fact that Lane's +power was broken, and henceforward my neighbors would enjoy the fruits +of their own labor instead of swelling heavy dividends with +three-fourths of them.</p> + +<p>When we returned to the hotel our agent, who appeared in an exultant +mood, was waiting us, and he positively beamed upon Haldane as he said: +"It's an honor to work for a man with your nerve and judgment, sir, and +we have whipped the last grit out of them. I let up altogether when I +saw every outside 'bear' come ramping in; and, if you're inclined that +way, we might cover a little quietly without stiffening prices."</p> + +<p>I do not know what Haldane's instructions were. Indeed, the reaction of +relief prevented my remembering anything at all very clearly, except +that, as we sat at dinner, Haldane said: "I shouldn't wonder if those +physicians were right, and I think I have made my last stake this +afternoon. I dare say you understand, Ormesby, that as we could now +purchase the stock below the price at which we sold there will be a +profit in the transaction. Individually, I did not undertake this matter +as a speculation."</p> + +<p>Haldane made light of our anxiety lest he should have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span>suffered. "I have +long known I should have to sink into idleness, and it was a good piece +of work to retire on," he said. "But what about the profit?"</p> + +<p>I had no hesitation about the answer. "It was no desire of profit that +brought me here; and as one experience of the kind is sufficient, I +intend henceforward to stick to my horses and cattle. I will not touch a +dollar of the money beyond actual expenses, and would propose that, +setting aside any portion necessary to secure us against reprisals and +to complete our work, the rest should be handed to Miss Haldane to +distribute as she thinks best in charity."</p> + +<p>Boone expressed his full compliance, and Haldane smiled at me. "Do you +think you can run up a contra account in that way, Ormesby?"</p> + +<p>"I believe we are justified; but, justified or not, I will not touch a +dollar of the gains," I said. "I am going back to the prairie to-morrow, +to express our deepest gratitude to Miss Haldane. As to yourself, sir, a +good many hard-pressed men will never forget you."</p> + +<p>Then Boone rose up gravely with a wine-glass in his hand. "The task is +too big for Ormesby, or any other man," he said. "May every good thing +follow the Mistress of Bonaventure."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">ILLUMINATION</span></h2> + + +<p>The binders were clanking through the wheat when I next met Haldane at +Crane Valley. Having embarked upon his new career with characteristic +energy, he rode over from Bonaventure with his daughter to watch our +harvesting, and incidentally came near bewildering me with his +questions. Some of them were hard to answer, and I felt a trace of +irritation, as well as surprise, that a few hours' observation should +enable him to hit upon the best means of overcoming difficulties which +had cost me months of experimenting to discover.</p> + +<p>Thorn, I remember, stared at him in wonder, and afterwards observed: +"You and I have just got to keep on trying until we find out the best +way of fixing things, and if our way's certain, it's often expensive. +That man just chews on his cigar, and it comes to him. When I take up my +located land and get worried about the money, I'm going to try +cigar-smoking."</p> + +<p>"You will have considerably less of it if you experiment with the brand +that Haldane keeps," I answered, jerking the lines, and my binder rolled +on again behind the weary team. When each minute was worth a silver +coin, we dare not spare the beasts, and I had worn out four of them in +as many days, and then sat almost nodding in the driving seat, with a +deep sense of satisfaction in my heart which I was too tired to express.</p> + +<p>Oat sheaves ridging the bleached prairie blazed in yellow ranks before +my heavy eyes, and each heave of the binder's arms flung out behind me a +truss of golden wheat. The glare was blinding, for we worked under the +full heat of a scorching afternoon, as we had done, and would do, by the +pale light of the moon. Thick dust rolled about us, clogging my lashes +and fouling the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span>coats of the beasts, while the crackle of the flinty +stems, the rasp of shearing knives, the rhythm of trampling hoofs, and +the clink of metal throbbing harmoniously through the drowsy heat, were +flung back by other machines at work across the grain. There is, +however, a limit to human powers, and I must have been driving +mechanically, and nearly asleep, when a clicking warned me that it was +time to fit another spool of twine. I remember that during the operation +I envied the endurance of the soulless, but otherwise almost human, +machine.</p> + +<p>Steel came up with his binder before it was completed, a creak and thud +and tinkle swelling in musical crescendo as the jaded team loomed nearer +through the dust. There was a flash of varnished wood that rose and +fell, and twinkling metal, and I saw the driver sitting stiffly with +hands, that were almost blackened, clenched on the lines, peering +straight before him out of half-closed eyes, while the moisture that ran +from his forehead washed copper-tinted channels through the grime. It +was by an effort he held himself to his task; but that was nothing +unusual, for the prairie does not yield up her riches lightly, and by +the golden wake he left behind him the effort was justified. The earth +had been fruitful that season, and harvest had not failed; while, having +sown in deep dejection, uncertain who would reap, it was a small thing +to strain one's strength to the utmost to gather the bounteous yield. We +were already free, and every revolution of the binder's arms set us so +much farther on the road to prosperity.</p> + +<p>Twice I jerked the lines, but the team stood still; and I was preparing +to encourage them more vigorously, when Haldane and his daughter +approached. Both had insisted on my leaving them to their own devices, +and now Lucille appeared to regard the beasts and myself +compassionately.</p> + +<p>"They look very tired, and they have done so much," she said, glancing +down the long rows of piled-up grain. "Is not that sufficient to justify +your resting a little?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>"I am afraid not," I answered with a somewhat rueful smile. "You see, +prosperity has made us greedy, while all the grain cut up to the present +belongs to Lane."</p> + +<p>The girl looked indignant—Haldane thoughtful. "I have been wondering +whether you would feel inclined to contest his claim for the balance of +the debt," he said. "Considering that he has taken from you twice the +value of his loan, and the story in Miss Redmond's book, you might be +ethically and legally justified."</p> + +<p>"No," I said. "I made the bargain, and I intend to keep my part of it. +That accomplished, I shall have the fewer scruples about using every +effort to utterly crush the man. All we cut henceforward is my own, and +I can only repeat that I should be glad to devote every bushel to help +forward his defeat."</p> + +<p>"I think you are right," said Lucille Haldane, with a trace of pride in +her approval, though her eyes were mischievous as she continued: "It is, +however, unfortunate you are so very busy, because, as father is riding, +and as the team are a little wild, we hoped you would drive them home +for me."</p> + +<p>I climbed down from the iron saddle, shouting to Steel, and Lucille +smiled demurely. "We could not tear you away from that machine when you +would grudge every minute," she said. "Remember that Bonaventure is a +long way off, and, even if we allowed it, you could hardly return before +to-morrow."</p> + +<p>I nevertheless fancied she was pleased at my eagerness, and, for Haldane +had passed on, I felt suddenly oppressed by the recognition of what I +owed her. Yet had it been possible I should not have lightened the debt. +I looked down at her gravely, noticing how young and fresh and slender +she seemed—bright as the blaze of sunshine in which she stood—and then +I pointed towards the long ranks of sheaves and the sea of stately ears.</p> + +<p>"I am not in the least inconsistent, and should not be if every moment +were thrice as precious," I said. "I remember most plainly that you gave +me all this. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span>Strange as it may seem, it is, nevertheless, perfectly +true."</p> + +<p>The girl blushed prettily, and then glanced from me towards the tired +horses and the standing machine, after which her eyes rested with +approval on the stalwart form of Thorn, who came up urging on his +plodding team.</p> + +<p>"It would be something to be proud of, if one could believe you, +Rancher; but I am not wholly pleased with the last part of the speech," +she said, with a faint, half-mocking inclination of the head. "I can +guess what you are thinking, and you are a trifle slow to learn. Women +are very well in their own place, are they not? However, you find it +perplexing when they will not stay there, but, because some of them grow +tired of breathing incense, they descend and interfere in masculine +affairs. It is truly strange that there should be more forces in the +world than those centered in big dusty men and splendid horses!"</p> + +<p>"You must be a witch; but I am learning by degrees," I said. And the +girl laughed merrily.</p> + +<p>"You have not progressed very far, to judge by the comparison. Witches +were usually pictured as malevolent, old, and ugly."</p> + +<p>"I meant a beneficent fairy; but the surprise was not quite unnatural," +I said. "Who could suspect in such a slender and fragile person the +power she possesses to banish gloom and poverty? Legions of men and +horses could not accomplish so much."</p> + +<p>"Now you go too far in the opposite direction," and my companion shook +her head. "It is the sense of balance you need."</p> + +<p>The sun-blaze turned the clustered hair under her wide hat into the +likeness of burnished gold—the gold of our own Northwest, with a +coppery warmth in it—but the light in her hazel eyes eclipsed its +brilliancy. The lithe figure fitted its gorgeous background of yellow +radiancy, and again I felt all my pulses quicken as I paid Haldane's +daughter silent homage. Magnificent as the wheat, alike to eye and +understanding, when <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span>one remembered its mission, her presence seemed the +crown and complement of all that splendid field. It was hard to refrain +from telling her so, and possibly my voice was not pitched quite in its +normal key when I said: "It is short of the truth, but there is just one +thing I should like to know, and that is whether any other motive than +pure benevolence prompted you."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>Then I answered boldly: "Because it would be worth the rest to fancy +that in some small measure it was due to individual goodwill towards +Rancher Ormesby."</p> + +<p>The girl looked away from me across the grain, and, as she turned her +head, it was with a thrill of pleasure, which may not have been wholly +artistic, that I noticed the polished whiteness of her neck and a +dainty, pink-tinted little ear that peeped out from the clusters of her +hair. Then she laughed, perhaps at Thorn, who argued quaintly, if +forcibly, with his reluctant beasts, and turned to me.</p> + +<p>"If you desire another motive, you may conclude, as you heard before, +that it was love of justice; which really ought to satisfy you."</p> + +<p>"It is a creditable one," I answered. "But I fear that it does not."</p> + +<p>We left Crane Valley shortly, Haldane on horseback, his +daughter—because something had gone wrong with the Bonaventure +vehicle—beside me in our light wagon, which, if it in no way resembled +the cumbrous contrivance bearing that name in England, was, I was +uneasily conscious, by no means overclean. On the way we met the +threshers, and stronger teams hauling the machines towards Crane Valley, +for our threshing is done mostly in the field. We stopped to bid them +hurry, and Haldane, learning they had met Gordon, whom he desired to +see, bade us proceed while he looked for the rancher. I was not sorry to +do so, and accordingly it was without him that we approached the dip to +the Sweetwater hollow.</p> + +<p>The afternoon was waning, and the air very still. The tiny birch leaves +had ceased their whispering; but <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span>the sound of running water came +musically out of their cool shadow. All the winding valley was rolled in +green, an oasis of verdure in the sweep of white-bleached prairie; and, +pulling the team up between the first of the slender trunks, I pointed +down towards the half-seen lane of sliding water.</p> + +<p>"I might never have known you if it had not been for a trifling accident +by yonder willow clump," I said. "I remember your sister suggested that +very night that our meeting might be the first scene of a drama, and, +considering all that has happened since then, her prediction has proved +strangely accurate."</p> + +<p>Lucille Haldane nodded. "It is a coincidence that I was thinking of the +same thing, and wondering, now that the play must be drawing towards its +close, what the end will be. The meeting must, however, have been +unlucky for you, because all your troubles date from that beginning."</p> + +<p>"And my privileges," I answered, smiling. "The present is at least a +happy augury. When I met Boone beside the river there was not a leaf on +the birches, and their branches were moaning under a blast which makes +one shiver from mere recollection. Remember the harvest at Crane Valley, +and look down on yonder shining water and cool greenery. It was you who +brought us the sunshine, and even the memory of the dark days is now +melting like that night's snow."</p> + +<p>"That is exaggerated sentiment, and I have heard invertebrate youths in +the cities say such things more neatly," commented the girl, with an air +of mock severity, and then glanced dreamily into the hollow; while, as +silence succeeded, fate sent a little sting-fly to take a part—as, to +confound man's contriving, trifles often do—in ending the play. The +team were ill-broken broncos which had already given me trouble, and +when the fly bored with envenomed proboscis through the hide of one, the +beast flung up his head and kicked savagely.</p> + +<p>The reins which I held loosely were whisked away, and before it was +possible to recover them both horses had bolted. The light wagon lurched +giddily, and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span>next moment it swept like a toboggan down the +declivity.</p> + +<p>"Hold fast!" I shouted, leaning recklessly down; and the first shock of +enervating consternation vanished when I gripped the reins. Still, there +was cold fear at my heart when, bracing both feet against the +wagon-front, I strove uselessly to master the team. The brutes' mouths +seemed made of iron, impervious to the bit; the slope was long and +steep; birches and willows straggled athwart it everywhere; and the soil +was treacherous. I could not break them from the gallop, and not daring +to risk the sharp bends of the zigzag trail, I let them go straight for +the slide of water in the bottom of the hollow.</p> + +<p>It was not the first time I had been run away with. A fall from a +stumbling horse or a wagon upset is a very common and, considering the +half-tamed beasts we use, by no means surprising accident in our +country; but at first it was only by a fierce effort I shook off an +almost overmastering terror as I contemplated the danger to my +companion. I hazarded one glance at her and saw that her face was white +and set, then dare look at nothing but the reeling trees ahead. I +strained every sinew to swing the team clear of them. Sometimes the +beasts responded, sometimes they did not, and it was by a miracle the +trunks went by. The wagon bounced more wildly, the slope grew steeper, +and even if I could have checked the team this would only have +precipitated a catastrophe. So, helpless, I clung to the reins until the +end came suddenly.</p> + +<p>Several birches barred our way; the brutes would swerve neither to right +nor to left; and with a hoarse shout of warning I strove desperately to +hold them straight for the one passage, wondering whether there was room +enough in the narrow gap between the trunks. It was immediately evident +that there was not. Simultaneously with a heavy shock, the wagon +appeared to dissolve beneath me and I was hurled bodily into the air. +Fortunately I alighted upon soft ground, headforemost, and perhaps, for +that reason, escaped serious in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span>jury. It is possible that, in different +circumstances, I might have lain still partly stupefied, or spent some +time in ascertaining whether any bones had broken; but, as it was, I +sprang to the overturned wagon, breathless with fear.</p> + +<p>Lucille Haldane lay, mercifully, just clear of it, a pitiful white +figure, and my heart stood still as I bent over her. She was pale and +limp as a crushed lily, and as beautiful; and it was with awe I dropped +on one knee beside her. There was no sign of any breathing, coldness +seemed to emanate from her waxlike skin, and though I had seen many +accidents, I dare scarcely venture to lay a finger on the slackly +throbbing artery in her wrist. Then I groaned aloud, borne down with an +overwhelming grief, for with the suddenness of a lightning flash I knew +the words spoken but such a little while ago had been more than true. It +was she who had brought all the sunshine and sweetness into my life. +Reason and power of action returned with the knowledge, and I started +for the river at a breathless run, smashing savagely through every +cluster of dwarf willows which barred my way, filled my hat with the +cold water, and, returning, dashed it on her face. The action appeared +brutal, but terror was stronger than any sentimental fancies then, and I +dare neglect no chance with that precious life at stake.</p> + +<p>The slender form moved a little, and it was with relief unspeakable I +heard a fluttering sigh; then I raised the wet head upon my knee, and +fell to chafing the cold hands vigorously. The time may have been five +minutes, or less, but I had never spent such long days in my life as +those seconds while I waited, quivering in every limb, for some further +sign of returning animation. It was very still in the hollow, and the +song of the hurrying water maddened me. Its monotonous cadence might +drown the faint breathing for which I listened with such intensity. Even +in that space of agony two other incidents flashed through my memory, +and I understood my fear during the dark voyage, and on the moonlit +night when the cars lurched across the bridge. Life <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span>would be very empty +if the breath died out of that tender, shaken body.</p> + +<p>The suspense was mercifully ended. Lucille Haldane half opened her eyes, +and looked up at me without recognition, closed them, and caught at her +breath audibly, while I held her hands fast in a restraining grasp. +Then, as she looked up again, the blood came back, mantling the clear +skin, and she said, brokenly: "I fell out of the wagon, did I not? How +long have I been here?—and my head is wet. I—I must get up."</p> + +<p>I still held one hand fast; but, stooping, slipped one arm beneath her +shoulder and raised her a little. "You must wait another few moments +first."</p> + +<p>The girl appeared reluctant, but made no resistance, and when finally I +raised her to her feet I found it was necessary to lean against a birch +trunk to hide the fit of trembling that seized me.</p> + +<p>"I am not much hurt," she said; and my voice broke as I interjected: +"Thank God for it!"</p> + +<p>I fancied that Lucille Haldane, shaken as she was, flashed a swift +sidelong glance at me, and that the returning color did not diminish in +her cheek; then she said hurriedly: "Yes, I am not hurt, but I see the +horses yonder, and you had better make sure of them. We are still some +distance from home."</p> + +<p>I turned without further speech, and found the vicious brutes, which had +broken the wagon-pole, held fast by the tangled gear which had fouled a +fallen tree. It was almost with satisfaction I saw the bolter had lamed +himself badly. There was a change in Lucille Haldane when I led them +back. She had recovered her faculties, but not her old frank +friendliness, and said, almost sharply: "The wagon is useless. What do +you propose to do?"</p> + +<p>"To fold up the rug in the box and make some kind of saddle for you," I +said, and proceeded to do so, cutting up the gear, which was almost new, +so recklessly that my companion seemed even then surprised.</p> + +<p>"Do you know that you are destroying a good many dollars' worth of +harness?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"It would not greatly matter if I spoiled a dozen sets <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span>so long as you +reached home safely, and it is a very small fine for my carelessness," I +answered. "I should never have forgiven myself if you had been injured; +but are you—quite—sure that you are none the worse?"</p> + +<p>"I do not think I am much the better," said the girl. "Still, I am not +badly hurt, and it was not your fault."</p> + +<p>Though still languid in her movements, she seemed chary of accepting +much assistance when I helped her into the improvised saddle, and then, +because the other horse was useless, I waded through the ford with my +hand on the bridle. It was some distance to Bonaventure, and my +companion was not communicative, but I did not find the silence irksome. +Conflicting emotions would have made me slow of speech, and I was +content with the fact that she rode beside me whole in limb and +unspoiled in beauty. Indeed, so much had the sight of her lying white +and apparently lifeless impressed me that I cast many apprehensive +glances in her direction before I could convince myself that all was +well.</p> + +<p>Haldane, who overtook us, desired me to remain at Bonaventure; but every +pair of hands was needed at Crane Valley, and I wished for solitude. So, +stiffly mounting a borrowed horse, I set off homeward across the +prairie. I had risen at three that morning, after an insufficient rest, +and was worn out in body, but clear in mind, for a time, at least, while +the brilliancy of the starshine and the silence of the waste helped me +to think. I was by turns thankful, ashamed, dejected, and eager to +clutch at an elusive hope. Illumination had followed disillusion, and I +knew at last that even while I was uplifted by vain imaginings, Lucille +Haldane had, little by little, and unwittingly, extended her dominion +over my heart. I had, it seemed, spent the best years of my life +striving after an unattainable and shadowy ideal, while perhaps the real +living substance, endowed with the best of all pertaining to flesh and +blood, lay within my grasp. It was true that the mistress of Bonaventure +was much too good for me; but with all her graces she was of like fiber +to us, and her few weaknesses <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span>rendered her more desirable in proof of +the fact. That Beatrice Haldane was worthy of all adulation remained +equally true; but it was hard to comprehend how, blinded by folly, I had +mistaken the respect I paid her for the warm tide of passion which now +pulsed through me. Neither was the latter of sudden origin, for, looking +back, I could see how, little by little, and imperceptibly, admiration, +gratitude, and tenderness, had merged into it until terror opened my +eyes and full understanding came at last.</p> + +<p>There remained, however, one burning question—did Lucille Haldane, in +any degree, reciprocate what I felt?—and this lacked an answer. Knowing +her generous nature, it was clear that what she had done for me had not +been done wittingly for a lover; but, on the other hand, I could recall +many trifles which may have had their significance. Thus alternate hopes +and fears surged through my brain until, when I had decided that, being +yet a poor man, I must wait the advent of the railroad, at least, before +putting my fate to the test, my thoughts commenced to wander, and I must +have guided the horse mechanically, for his sudden stopping roused me +with a jerk to recognize the corral at Crane Valley. There is a limit +beyond which no emotion may galvanize into continued activity the +exhausted body, and we not infrequently reach it on the prairie. I do +not know whether I was asleep or awake when I led the beast into the +stable, but the sun was high when Sally Steel roused me from a couch of +trampled hay unpleasantly near his feet.</p> + +<p>"You have had a tolerable sleep, and don't seem particular where you +camp," she said. "Come right along, and do your best with the second +breakfast I've got waiting."</p> + +<p>I glanced with consternation at my watch. "Why didn't one of the others +waken me? Do you know it's ten o'clock, Sally?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Just because I wouldn't let them! You've got to last through harvest, +anyway, and I guess Miss Haldane <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span>wouldn't have much use for a dead +man," said Sally, and was retiring with mischievous laughter, when I +recalled her.</p> + +<p>"You have been too good a friend to me to make such jokes again," I +said.</p> + +<p>"I'm not the only one. All the folks are talking," said the girl.</p> + +<p>Thereupon I answered grimly: "If I hear any of them amusing themselves +in that fashion I shall do my best to choke them."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE ENEMY CAPITULATES</span></h2> + + +<p>Some time had elapsed since the overturning of the wagon, and I had seen +nothing of Lucille Haldane, when, one evening, I visited Bonaventure at +her father's request. All had gone well in the interval. The last bushel +of grain had been threshed and sold, and the balance of my debt to Lane, +with every surcharge his ingenuity could invent, wiped out. Haldane, who +remained some time in Winnipeg with Boone, had also concluded operations +successfully, for, as he had foreseen, once the turning point was passed +he had no lack of allies eager to assist in plundering the vanquished, +and, before these had satisfied their rapacity he had been able to +unobtrusively cover most of our sales without advancing prices. Boone +explained that the new assailants considered the purchases a last effort +on the part of the company's supporters. Also—because there is little +mercy for the beaten—impoverished storekeeper and plundered farmer +commenced to air their grievances, and it became evident that the +company, or those whom it financed, had occasionally exceeded the limits +of the law.</p> + +<p>It was accordingly to a meeting of what Haldane called the Vehmgericht +that I was summoned, and on arriving at Bonaventure I found Gordon and +several of our neighbors already there. The day had been sunny, but our +autumn nights are sharp, with a sting of frost in the air, which made +the crackling fire in the open hearth acceptable. A shaded silver lamp +flung a soft light about the room, which in no way suggested that it was +to be used for a tribunal. There were decanters, cigar boxes, and +British Columbian fruit on the table, while Haldane lounged in a velvet +chair, with feet, neatly en<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span>cased in patent leather, stretched out +towards the fire. All this seemed inappropriate to the occasion, even +though I had grown used to Haldane's way.</p> + +<p>A glance at the others, however, showed that they were in deadly +earnest. The men were lean and hard and grim, and their weather-darkened +faces bore the stamp of the conflict. Some of them had long overworked +brain and body, half-fed, that Lane and those who backed him might reap +an iniquitous profit. Others had seen wife and daughter toiling in the +dust of the harrows or riding weary leagues behind the herds, and had +not forgotten. I noticed they accepted Haldane's offers of wine and +tobacco dubiously, and I surmised it was only personal respect for him +that prevented disapproving comments on this manner of procedure.</p> + +<p>Boone doubtless guessed their thoughts, for he said whimsically: "I see +no reason why you shouldn't have a good time, boys. There are easier +ways of killing a coyote than beating his head in with the butt of a +gun, and I can assure you that we mean solid business. For one, I find +these cigars better than the tin flag plug."</p> + +<p>"Tin flag!" and a man with wrinkles round his eyes laughed harshly. +"Dried willow bark had to do for us. This kind of thing takes time to +get used to after living for 'most two years on damaged flour and +molasses. Maybe you're used to luxuries, and don't know what it is to +see the wife fall sick when one couldn't raise a decent morsel to feed +her."</p> + +<p>Boone's face grew as stern as that of the speaker, and the shadow I knew +crept into his eyes. "I think I do. My wife died for want of comforts +that Lane might twice collect his debt, and I am not likely to forget it +to-night," he said.</p> + +<p>A silence followed, and through it I heard one or two of the others draw +a deep breath, while their faces hardened as they, too, remembered +grievous injuries. For my own part I was grimly expectant, for I had +suffered long enough, and had sufficient sense to know that it was not +often that struggling men had such an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span>opportunity for dictating terms +to a powerful adversary. We were all, I think, democratic in the word's +most liberal sense, cherishing no grievance against the rich, and quick +to recognize advantages offered us by capitalists' legitimate +enterprise; but, now that the balance had swung to our side, we were +equally determined to place further mischief beyond the power of the man +who, for the sake of a few dollars, would have crushed us out of +existence. It appeared a duty to the community; but I had not studied +human nature sufficiently to discover exactly how far that motive +influenced me.</p> + +<p>"If none of you have any further suggestions to make, I want to ask if +you are willing to leave this affair to me," said Haldane presently. +"Lane in his own way is a smart man, and would be quick to seize an +advantage which anybody, speaking without consideration, might give him. +I offer my services merely because, during an extensive business +experience, I have had to deal with such men before."</p> + +<p>"There is nobody in the Dominion better able to handle this case for +us," said Boone; and the others nodded assent.</p> + +<p>"We'll sit quieter than graven images unless he turns vicious, if you'll +draw his sting," said one. "That's no use, anyway," a comrade +interjected. "The insect would grow another one. What we want is his +blame back broken."</p> + +<p>"I will, metaphorically speaking, try to oblige you both," said Haldane, +with a smile. "He is a little weak in the spine already, or he would +have declined to meet us at all."</p> + +<p>Nobody made any further comment, but the eyes of most of us were turned +expectantly upon the clock, until at last Gordon stood up when a rattle +of wheels drew nearer. "This is going to be a great night, boys," he +said. "The pernicious insect's come."</p> + +<p>Lane entered, and nodded to us all comprehensively when he saw that +Haldane did not hold out his hand. The man's assurance was apparently +boundless, for he was at first sight as <i>débonnaire</i> and almost as +genial as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span>ever—almost, but not quite, for when he moved nearer the +lamp I noticed a shiftiness in his eyes and an occasional contraction at +the corners of his mouth.</p> + +<p>"This is a little business meeting, and we appreciate your attendance; +but the former is no reason why you should not be comfortable," said +Haldane. "Sit down and help yourself to anything you take a fancy to. I +need not introduce any of these gentlemen."</p> + +<p>Lane was not readily taken aback, for, while we afterwards had cause to +believe he had never discovered the movements of Boone, he looked at him +significantly, but without surprise. "I know—all—of them. With thanks, +I will," he said. "As to the visit, I am always ready to oblige my +clients; but as you know time means money, it remains to be seen on +whose bill I shall charge it."</p> + +<p>I took the last sentence as a preliminary defiance, and fancied Haldane +did so, too; but he only laughed as he said: "I should not wonder if you +were not paid that bill."</p> + +<p>Lane nodded, as though he understood that the swords were crossed; and +when he poured out a glass of wine the rest of us prepared to watch the +duel, with the comforting assurance that our champion was armed with the +better weapons, as well as with the justice of his quarrel. It was +characteristic of the enemy that he smiled indulgently when, as he +raised his glass to his lips, Steel and another man thrust their own +aside. The inference could not have been plainer.</p> + +<p>"Suppose we come straight to business," said Haldane presently. "It may +save time if I recapitulate what is known of your position. If I am +wrong in details you can, of course, correct me."</p> + +<p>"You can sail ahead," and Lane, stretching out his feet, leaned back in +his chair in an attitude of contemplative attention.</p> + +<p>"To commence with, you hold a number of mortgages on land in this +vicinity, from which, after recouping yourself for the loan, you are +still drawing what I venture to call extortionate interest. These and +your <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span>shares in the Territories Investment—which cannot be sold—I +believe represent your assets. Also, after taking first-class legal +opinion, we find that, owing, shall I say, to indiscretions on your +part, it may be possible to prevent your foreclosing on several of those +mortgages, while one subordinate, I believe, refuses to be turned out of +Gaspard's Trail. On the other hand, you have certain tolerably extensive +liabilities I need not enumerate, and you want money badly. Law suits +are expensive, and you have a promising crop of them on hand. It was +with a view of obtaining it you suggested the issue of new Territories +stock, and, seeing that hang fire, unobtrusively endeavored to sell your +shares. I don't think the public would look at either just now. In +short, you have taken too big a mouthful; you can't hold on without +money, and you can't obtain that because, for some reason, respectable +banks fight shy of you. It will simplify matters if you admit all this."</p> + +<p>"I'm not going to admit anything," Lane said sturdily, after drinking +another glass of wine.</p> + +<p>Haldane smiled as he answered: "In that case we will take for granted +what I have said. Now, we have the money, time, and determination to +fight you over every mortgage, and to rake up, as a claim for damages, +every indiscretion."</p> + +<p>One of the listeners chuckled in a manner expressive of surprise and +satisfaction when Haldane ceased, and through the brief stillness which +followed I could feel, if I could not see, that the others were in a +state of strung-up expectancy.</p> + +<p>"Better come to the point," Lane said. "The question is, what do you +want from me?"</p> + +<p>"It's pretty simple," was Haldane's answer. "We want you out of this +country. It's unfortunate that we can't help considering you an obstacle +in the way of its prosperity; but, not being highway robbers, we are +open to make you a fair offer for your property. Here is a schedule I +have drawn up, and you will see by examination that we purpose to buy +the mortgages at their face value, paying you any interest due at +current bank <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span>rates. We also purpose to buy back, on the same +conditions, the lands on which you have already foreclosed."</p> + +<p>Lane was difficult to astonish, but now he actually gasped; and several +of those present, who were still within his clutches, sprang to their +feet. "A glacier wouldn't be cooler than you!" Lane said. "You must know +they're worth, or will be, about three times as much."</p> + +<p>"Exactly," said Haldane; and Gordon and another chuckled silently. "That +is just why we want to see you safely out of this country. The man who +drives that kind of bargain gives nobody else a show. Please sit down, +gentlemen; I'll answer your questions later."</p> + +<p>I think Lane, in spite of his refusal to admit anything, must have felt +himself driven into a corner. Indeed, for almost the first time during +my acquaintance with him he showed signs of temper, for his lips +straightened and there was a gleam of malice in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Your hand looks a good one, but it's not good enough," he said. "I'm +going to tell you to do your worst. Say, don't you count too much on Mr. +Haldane, the rest of you. If this is fun to him, it's bread and cheese +to me, and I don't let up on my living easily. Stand out from under +before he gets tired and the roof falls on you. You all know me."</p> + +<p>The listeners had good reason to do so; but they had not only lost their +fear of him—the fear which makes a coward of a brave man when he +becomes a debtor—but had found his yoke so galling that they would have +risked the worst by defying him in spite of it. He must have read as +much in the contemptuous laugh and lowering faces.</p> + +<p>"I think we could beat you with it; but we hold still better cards," +said Haldane quietly. "For instance, you have squeezed Niven a little +too hard, and he is prepared to risk his liberty to testify on one or +two points against you. I refer to incidents connected with Gaspard's +Trail."</p> + +<p>Lane brought his hand down on the table, and, for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span>some unexplainable +reason, I actually believed him as he said: "Gaspard's Trail was burnt +by accident."</p> + +<p>"We won't question the statement," said Haldane. "It was, at least, an +accident that you were quick to profit by. This ace, however, takes the +trick. Just run through this account book, and—remembering that we can +produce Miss Redmond, and three men, who will swear to what her father +said when Ormesby's cattle, which did not get there by accident, were +burned in the fence—consider what might be done with it."</p> + +<p>Lane seemed to shake himself together after he had read the first few +entries; while, watching him closely, I once more saw the tell-tale +contraction at the corners of his mouth. This was the only sign he made, +however, save that presently he moved forward a little in his chair, +which was close before the fire, and held up the torn-out page as though +he wished the lamplight to fall on it more directly. The action, which +was made very naturally, suggested nothing to myself or even to Haldane; +but when the reader moved again, Boone rose suddenly and laid a +restraining hand on his arm.</p> + +<p>"You have had time enough to grasp the significance of what is written +there, and I'll take the papers back," he said. "Of course, knowing whom +we dealt with, we have a duly attested copy."</p> + +<p>I do not know whether Lane had actually intended to destroy part at +least of the dead man's testimony or not, but he was capable of +anything, and the fire was hot. In any case, he calmly handed book and +paper back to Boone with the careless comment: "You thought of that? +Must be considerably smarter than you used to be."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Boone dryly, "I have learned a good deal since I first met +you. We will now, with Mr. Haldane's concurrence, give you five, or, if +necessary, ten, minutes in which to consider your decision."</p> + +<p>Without being in the least sorry for him, I fancied I could understand +Lane's feelings, and his state of mind could not have been enviable. It +is true that Haldane's offer allowed him a fair return for all sums +invested, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span>perhaps almost as much as he would have obtained by +legitimate enterprise; but that must have been as nothing to the man who +had schemed for a fortune, while one could have fancied that he found it +inexpressibly galling to discover that those whom he had considered his +helpless dupes now held him at their mercy. Yet he showed small sign of +discomfiture, and his voice was steady as he said: "It's robbery; but +I'm open to admit you have fixed the thing tolerably neatly. Suppose it +was Dixon who gave you the pointers? This man here must have some grit, +for he knows that even now I could make it hot for him. Do you know who +he is?"</p> + +<p>"I consider the terms are liberal, and we arranged the affair +ourselves," said Haldane. "You could hardly expect Mr. Dixon to involve +himself in what I'm afraid is virtually the compounding of a felony. It +is also possible that some people would call our proceedings by +unpleasant names, but you left us no choice of weapons. We might have +squeezed you further, but I believe it's wise to leave a back way open +for a beaten enemy. I am perfectly acquainted with Mr. Boone's history, +and understand that now that his work is finished—for most of the +scheme was his—he will surrender himself to the police. He does not, +however, apprehend any trouble with them, because by the time he +surrenders, the prosecutor will have removed himself across the +frontier. Now, hadn't you better consider your decision?"</p> + +<p>Lane sat still for at least five minutes, and I could see that some of +the rest were not quite convinced that the battle was over. They had +experienced such a taste of his quality that they probably expected some +bold counter-move rather than submission. Nevertheless, the man was +beaten, for at last he said: "It's your game. I must have the money +down, and your solemn promise you'll make no use of what you know until +I'm across the frontier."</p> + +<p>"If you will meet me at Gordon's at noon to-morrow we'll settle the bill +together," said Haldane quietly; and rose as if to signify that the +interview was over.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span>Lane no longer looked jaunty, for, although he evinced no great dismay, +there was a subtle change in him as he also rose and brushed the dust +off his hat. "Everybody gets tripped up now and then, and must make the +best of it," he said. "Quaint, isn't it, that it should be a man of +Ormesby's kind who most helped to bring me up? Well, it seems I can't +stay any longer with you, boys; but no one knows what may happen, and +I'll try to square the deal with you if ever I come back again."</p> + +<p>Nobody answered him, and with a shrug of his shoulders he passed out of +the room; and though I fancied that was the last I should see of him, I +was mistaken.</p> + +<p>Then Boone said reflectively: "I wonder whether we have been too easy +with him, sir. I can't help feeling, by the way he yielded, that the +rascal has something up his sleeve."</p> + +<p>Before our host could answer he was plied with congratulations and +questions about the money for the redemption of the mortgages, and, +raising his hand for silence, stood up, smiling at the men before him.</p> + +<p>"I'll find part of it in the meantime, and there is the profit on the +campaign fund you raised," he said. "You needn't be bashful, gentlemen. +I'm a business man, and will have no objection to charging you three or +four per cent. more interest than the banks. It will, considering the +prospects, be money sunk on good security. Now that we have got our +stumbling block out of the way, I see possibilities for this district, +and am presently going to ask you to form a committee to consider +whether we can't put up a small flour mill or coöperative dairy."</p> + +<p>He proceeded to sketch out a project with a vigor of conception and a +grasp of practical details that astonished the listeners, who presently +departed with sincere, if not very neatly expressed, gratitude, and with +hope and exultation in their weather-darkened faces. I tried to express +my own sentiments and, I believe, failed, but Haldane smiled quaintly.</p> + +<p>"Don't make any mistake, Ormesby. I'm not setting <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span>up as a public +benefactor," he said. "One can't do absolutely nothing, and I don't +quite see why I shouldn't earn a few honest dollars where I can. I dare +say the others will profit, and I should prefer them as friends rather +than enemies; but this scheme is going to pay me—in fact, as you say +here—it has just got to."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE EXIT OF LANE</span></h2> + + +<p>Early one evening, after Lane's capitulation, I sat in the hall at +Bonaventure waiting its owner's return. Lucille Haldane occupied the +window-seat opposite me, embroidering with an assiduity which, while +slightly irritating, did not altogether displease me. Since the wagon +accident she had, in an indefinite manner, been less cordial, and I, on +my part, was conscious of an unwonted restraint in her presence. It is +unnecessary to say that she made a pretty picture with the square of +still sunlit prairie behind her, though her face was tantalizingly +hidden in shadow, and I could only admire the graceful pose of her +figure and the lissom play of the little white fingers across the +embroidery. The girl must have been sensible of my furtive regards, for +at last she laid down the sewing and looked up sharply.</p> + +<p>"Is there nothing among all those papers worth your attention, or have +you taken an interest in embroidery?" she asked, pointing to the +littered journals on the table. "Do you know that it is a little +disconcerting to be watched when at work?"</p> + +<p>I was uneasily conscious that my forehead grew hot, but hoped the hue +that wind and sun had set upon it would hide the fact. "Don't you think +the trespass was almost justifiable?" I said. "You are responsible for +spoiling us; and unaccustomed prosperity must be commencing to make me +lazy. I was thinking."</p> + +<p>"That is really interesting," said the girl. "Has sudden prosperity also +rendered you incapable of expressing your thoughts in speech?"</p> + +<p>In this case, circumstances had certainly done so. I had been thinking +how pretty and desirable the speaker looked; but the trouble was that, +although silence cost <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span>me an effort, I could not tell her so. I hoped to +say as much, and more besides, some day; but this moment was not +opportune. Lucille Haldane was mistress of Bonaventure, and I as yet a +struggling man, who, thanks to her good nature and her father's business +skill, had barely escaped sinking into poverty. It would be time to +speak when my position was a little more secure. Meanwhile, in spite of +the sternly repressed longing and uncertainty which daily grew more +painful, it was very pleasant to bask in the sunshine of her presence, +and I dare not risk ending the privilege prematurely.</p> + +<p>"I was thinking what a change has come over this part of the prairie," I +said, framing but one portion of my thoughts into words. "Not long ago +one saw nothing but anxious faces and gloomy looks, while now, I fancy, +there is only one downcast man in all this vicinity, and he the one from +whom your father and Boone have just parted. The change, considering +that a single person is chiefly responsible, is almost magical; but, +remembering a past rebuke, that hardly sounds very pretty, does it?"</p> + +<p>Lucille Haldane laughed mischievously. "To one of the superior sex; but +are you not forgetting that this season the heavens fought for you? It +certainly might have been more neatly expressed. Do you know that the +education you mentioned is not yet quite finished?"</p> + +<p>"I know there is much you could teach me if you would," I said, with a +humility which was not assumed, choking down bolder words which had +almost forced themselves into utterance; and perhaps the effort left its +trace on me, for Lucille turned her head towards the prairie.</p> + +<p>"Here is Sergeant Mackay. I wonder what he wants," she said.</p> + +<p>Mackay, dusty and damp with perspiration, was ushered in a few minutes +later, and for the first time I felt all the bitterness of jealousy as I +saw the friendly manner in which the girl greeted Cotton, who followed +him. There was nothing of the coquette in Lucille Haldane, and the +knowledge of this added to the sting; but I did <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span>not think that even she +was always so unnecessarily gracious. Mackay, however, appeared intent +and grim, and by no means in a humor for casual conversation.</p> + +<p>"I'm wanting your father and fresh horses at once, Miss Haldane," he +said. "Ye had a visit from Lane yesterday?"</p> + +<p>"We certainly had. What do you want with him?" asked Lucille. And Mackay +smiled dryly when I added a similar question.</p> + +<p>"Just his body, and your assistance as a loyal subject, Henry Ormesby. +Ye were once good enough to say ye could not expect too much from the +police; but it's long since your natural protectors had eyes on the +thief who was robbing ye. Niven, when he wasn't quite sober, told a +little story, and there's another bit question of a debt agreement +forgery. Ye will let us have the horses, Miss Haldane?"</p> + +<p>Lucille bade them follow her, and I heard her giving orders to one of +the hired men. Then she returned alone in haste to me. "You saw where my +father put the book Miss Redmond gave him?" she said.</p> + +<p>"Yes," I answered, wondering. "He locked it inside that bureau and put +the keys into his pocket."</p> + +<p>The girl wrenched at the handle, and I noticed by the creaking of the +bureau how strong, in spite of her slenderness, she was. The lock would +not yield, and she turned imperiously to me. "Don't waste a moment, but +smash that drawer in!"</p> + +<p>"It is a beautiful piece of maple, and why do you wish to destroy it?" I +said, and, for she had a high spirit, fancied Lucille Haldane came near +stamping one little foot impatiently.</p> + +<p>"Can you not do the first thing I ask you without asking questions?" she +said.</p> + +<p>There was nothing more to be said, and stooping for the poker, I whirled +it around my head. One end of the bar doubled on itself, but the front +of the drawer crushed in, and when I had wrenched out the fragments, +Lucille drew forth the book.</p> + +<p>"I know what my father promised, and there is Miss <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span>Redmond to consider. +She has suffered too much already," she said, tearing out whole pages in +hot hurry. "Sergeant Mackay is much less foolish than I once heard you +call him, and I have no doubt suspects something of this. Can't you see +that he could force us to give the papers up? I am going to burn them."</p> + +<p>"That at least you shall not do," I said, taking them from her with as +much gentleness as possible, but by superior force, and then positively +quailed before the anger and astonishment in the girl's face.</p> + +<p>"You are still so afraid of Lane that you would risk bringing fresh +sorrow on that poor girl in order to protect yourself?" she said, with +biting scorn.</p> + +<p>"No," I answered stolidly, without pausing for reflection. "I only wish +to declare it was I who destroyed this evidence, if there is any trouble +over the affair."</p> + +<p>I tore the book to pieces and rammed the fragments deep among the +burning logs as I spoke, and when this was accomplished I did not look +up until Lucille Haldane called me by name. Gentle as she could be, I +had a wholesome respect for her wrath.</p> + +<p>"I deserved it," she said, with a bewitching deepening of the crimson in +her cheeks and a shining in her eyes. "You will forgive me. I had not +time to think."</p> + +<p>Thereupon I longed for eloquence, or Boone's ready wit; but no neat +speech came to my relief, and while I racked my clouded brains the girl +must have guessed what was taking place, for merriment crept into her +eyes. Then, just as an inspiration dawned on me, as usual, too late, a +hurried tread drew nearer along the passage.</p> + +<p>"It is Sergeant Mackay, and he must not come in here," said my companion +with a nervous laugh, as she glanced at the shattered bureau. "Is it +quite impossible for you to hurry?" Then before I realized what was +happening, she had placed one hand on my shoulder and positively hustled +me out of the door. Hardly knowing what I did, I clutched at the little +fingers, and missed them, and the next moment I plunged violently into +the astonished sergeant.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Ormesby is ready, and so are the horses. I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span>hope your chase will be +successful," a voice, which sounded a little uneven (though there was a +trace of laughter in it) said, and the door swung to.</p> + +<p>Mackay looked at me curiously; and when we had mounted, said: "I'm +asking no questions, but yon was surely a bit summary dismissal!"</p> + +<p>"It's just as well you are not, because I am afraid I should not answer +them," I said, and Mackay frowned upon his subordinate when Cotton +laughed.</p> + +<p>We had ridden a league before he vouchsafed any explanation. "I could +not call in my other men in time, and as we may have to divide forces, +demanded your assistance in virtue of the powers entrusted me," he said +formally. "We'll call first at Gordon's on the odd chance our man is +there, and pick up Adams, though Lane's away hot-foot for the rail by +now, I'm thinking. He had no' a bad nerve to cut it so fine."</p> + +<p>"Did the confounded rascal know there was a warrant out?" I gasped, +almost pulling my horse up in my indignation, as I remembered Boone's +hint.</p> + +<p>"We did not advertise the fact, but yon man knows everything, and I'm +no' saying it's quite impossible," Mackay answered dryly. "But what ails +ye that ye're drawing bridle, Harry Ormesby?"</p> + +<p>I drove the spurs in the next second and shot clear a length ahead, and, +though the Bonaventure horses were good, the others had hard work to +catch me during the next mile or two. If Lane suspected the issue of the +warrant, he had victimized us to the end, for he had tricked us into +furnishing him with not only the means of escape, but sufficient ready +money to start him upon a fresh career in another land. We met Boone and +Haldane returning from Gordon's ranch, and while the former advised the +sergeant that Lane must be well on his way to the station by this time, +I drew Haldane aside and hurriedly related what had happened at +Bonaventure.</p> + +<p>"Lane is a capable rascal, and will certainly catch the westbound train. +There is little to be gained either by wiring the bank," he said. "He +insisted on taking <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span>a large share in paper currency, and as the draft +was one I had by me, he would no doubt arrange for his friends to cash +it before I could warn the drawer. Do you know the bureau you smashed in +cost me sixty dollars, Ormesby?"</p> + +<p>I was endeavoring to express my contrition when Haldane laughed. "I am +not sure that you are the only person responsible for the destruction of +my furniture."</p> + +<p>Mackay had started before our conversation was finished, and it cost +Boone and me a long gallop to come up with him, while it was only by +dint of hard riding that we eventually reached the station some hours +after the departure of the train. Mackay first of all wired to the +stations down the line, and then explained: "That's just a useless duty. +Yon man is keen enough to know he might find the troopers waiting for +him. He'll leave the cars at the flag station where there's nobody to +detain him, and, buying a horse at the first ranch, strike south for the +border. It would be desirable that we grip him before he reaches it."</p> + +<p>Because various formalities must be gone through before a Canadian +offender is handed over by the Americans, this was clear enough, though +I did not see how it was to be accomplished, until Mackay had exchanged +high words with the station agent. A freight locomotive and an empty +stock car rolled out of the siding, and we took our places therein, men +and horses together.</p> + +<p>"Sorry I haven't got a new bogie drawing-room for you, but it's getting +time the police gave some other station a share of their business," said +the exasperated railroad official. I also overheard him tell the +engineer: "You have got to be back by daylight, and needn't be +particular about shaking them."</p> + +<p>It was not the fault of the engineer if he did not shake the life out of +us. Canadian lines are neither metalled nor ballasted with much +solidity; and with only one car to steady it the huge machine appeared +to leap over each inequality of the track. There was also nipping frost +in the air, the prairie glittered under the stars, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span>and bitter draughts +pulsed through the lurching car. It was not an easy matter to keep the +horses on their feet or to maintain our own balance, but the swish of +the dust and the rattle of flung-up ballast brought some comfort as an +indication of our speed.</p> + +<p>"It's a steeplechase already," gasped Boone, holding on by a head-rope +as we roared across a bridge. "I looked at the gauge-glass, and the +engineer can hardly have full steam up yet. We'll be lucky to escape +with whole limbs when he has."</p> + +<p>The prediction was fully justified, for the bouncing, jolting, and +hammering increased with the pace, and I made most of the journey +holding fast by a very cold rail as for my life, while half-seen through +the rush of ballast I watched the prairie race past. When one could look +forward there was nothing visible but a field of dancing stars and a +smear of white below, athwart which the blaze of the great headlamp +drove onwards with the speed of a comet. All of us were thankful when +the locomotive was pulled up before a lonely shed, and while we dragged +the horses out the man who drove it, grinning at his stoker, said: "I +guess there's no bonus for beating the record on this contract?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Mackay dryly. "Ye have the satisfaction of knowing ye served +the State."</p> + +<p>By good fortune we found a sleepy man in the galvanized iron shed, and +he informed us that Lane had alighted from the last train and started on +foot towards the nearest ranch, which lay about a league away. Inside of +fifteen minutes we were pounding on its door, and the startled owner +said that the man we asked for had bought a good horse from him, and +inquired the shortest route to the American frontier.</p> + +<p>"Four hours' start," said Mackay, as we proceeded again. "Ye can add +another three for the making of inquiries and searching for his trail. +It will be a close race, I'm thinking."</p> + +<p>It certainly proved so, as well as a long one, because we lost much time +halting at lonely ranches, and still more in riding in wrong directions; +for Lane had evi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span>dently picked up somebody, perhaps a contrabandist, +well versed in the art of laying a false trail. Neither did he strike +straight for the border, and after dividing and joining forces several +times, it was late one evening when we found ourselves close behind him.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! A man like that paid me forty dollars to swap horses with him +and his partner, it might be an hour ago," said the last rancher at +whose dwelling we stopped. "Seemed in a mighty hurry to reach Montana. +How long might it take you to reach the frontier? Well, that's a +question of horses, and I've no more in my corral. You ought to get +there by daylight, or a little earlier. Follow the wheel trail and +you'll see a boundary stake on the edge of the big <i>coulée</i> to the left +of it."</p> + +<p>Though we had twice changed horses, our beasts were jaded; but there was +solace in the thought that Lane was an indifferent rider, and must have +almost reached the limits of his endurance, while, though used to the +saddle, I was too tired to retain more than a blurred impression of that +last night's ride. There was no moon, but the blue heavens were thick +with twinkling stars, and the prairie glittered faintly under the white +hoar frost. It swelled into steeper rises than those we were used to, +while at times we blundered down the crumbling sides of deep hollows, +destitute of verdure, in which the bare earth rang metallically beneath +the hoofs. Still, the wheel trail led straight towards the south, and, +aching all over, we pushed on, as best we could, until I grew too drowsy +even to notice my horse's stumbles or to speculate what the end would +be. Before that happened, however, I had considered the question and +decided that there was no need for any scruples in seizing Lane if the +chance fell to me. We had merely promised to refrain from pressing one +particular charge against the fugitive, and were willing to keep our +bargain, though he on his part had deceived us into making it.</p> + +<p>At last, when only conscious of the cruel jolting and the thud of tired +hoofs which rose and fell in a drowsy cadence through the silence, +Mackay's voice roused me, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span>and I fancied I made out two mounted figures +faintly projected against the sky ahead. "Yon's them, and ye'll each do +your best. We're distressfully close on the frontier now," he said.</p> + +<p>Once more the spurs sank into the jaded beast, and when it responded I +became suddenly wide awake. It was bitterly cold and that hour in the +morning when man's vitality sinks to its lowest ebb; but one and all +braced themselves for the final effort. Boone, in spite of all that I +could do, drew out ahead, and we followed as best we might, blundering +down into gullies and over rises where the grass grew harsh and high, +while thrice we lost the man who led us as well as the fugitives. +Nevertheless, they hove into sight again before a league had passed, and +it even seemed that we gained a little on the one who lagged behind, +until, at last, the blue of the heavens faded, and grayness gathered in +the east.</p> + +<p>It spread over half the horizon; the two figures before us grew more +distinct; and Boone rode almost midway between ourselves and them, when, +as though by magic, the first one disappeared. Mackay roared to Cotton +when, topping a rise, there opened before us a winding hollow, and +Boone, wheeling his horse, waved an arm warningly.</p> + +<p>"It's the wrong man doubling. Come on your hardest until the trail +forks, and then try left and right!" he shouted before he, too, sank +from view beneath the edge of the hollow.</p> + +<p>There were birches in the ravine as well as willow groves, and the +fugitives had vanished among them, leaving no trace behind. There were, +unfortunately, also several trails, and, because time was precious, the +noise we made pressing up and down them would have prevented our hearing +any sound. Mackay, who in spite of this, sat still listening, used a +little illicit language, and rated Cotton for no particular cause, while +I had managed to entangle myself in a thicket, when Boone's voice fell +sharply from the opposite rise: "Gone away! He has taken to the open!"</p> + +<p>With many a stumble we compassed the steep ascent, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span>and, as we gained +the summit, the growing light showed me a solitary figure already +diminishing down a stretch of level prairie. "It's our last chance!" +roared Mackay, pointing to what looked like a break in the grasses +ahead. "I'm fearing yon's the boundary."</p> + +<p>Our beasts were worn out, their riders equally so; but we called up the +last of our failing strength to make a creditable finish of the race. +The <i>coulée</i> was left behind us, and Lane's figure grew larger ahead, +for Mackay, who certainly did not wish to, declared he could see no +boundary post. Then as the first crimson flushed the horizon, a lonely +homestead rose out of the grass, and when Lane rode straight for it the +sergeant swore in breathless gasps. A little smoke curled from its +chimney, for the poorer ranchers rise betimes in that country. We saw +Lane drop from the saddle and disappear within the door, while when we +drew bridle before it, two gaunt brown-faced men came out and regarded +us stolidly.</p> + +<p>"What place is this?" asked Mackay with a gasp.</p> + +<p>One of them seemed to consider before he answered him: "Well, it's +generally allowed to be Todhunter's Wells."</p> + +<p>"That's not what I want," said the sergeant. "Where's the boundary?" +This time the other man laughed as he pointed backwards across the +prairie we had traversed.</p> + +<p>"'Bout a league behind you. No, sir; you're not in Canada. This, as the +song says, is 'the land of the free.' You'll find the big stake by the +<i>coulée</i>, if you don't believe me."</p> + +<p>"Beaten!" said Mackay, dropping his bridle; and added aside: "Whisky +smugglers by their manners, I'm thinking." As we endeavored to master +our disappointment, Lane himself appeared in the doorway. He looked very +weary, his fleshy face was haggard and mottled by streaks of gray; but +the humorous gleam I hated shone mockingly in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Sorry to disappoint you, Sergeant, but you can't complain about the +chase!" he said. "Even Cannuck <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span>policemen and amateur detectives aren't +recognized here; and as there are two respectable witnesses, I'm afraid +you'll have to apply to the Washington authorities. You can tell Mr. +Haldane, Ormesby, that there's no use in stopping his check. I don't +think there is anything else I need say, except that, as I have booked +all the accommodation here, they might give you breakfast at the ranch +in the <i>coulée</i>."</p> + +<p>He actually nodded to us, and thrusting his hands into his pockets, +leaned against the lintel of the door with an air of amusement which was +not needed to remind us that he was master of the situation, and for the +last time set my blood on fire. There was, however, nothing to be gained +by virulence, and when Mackay, who disdained to answer a word, wheeled +his jaded horse, we silently followed him towards the <i>coulée</i>.</p> + +<p>"I wish the Americans joy of him," the grizzled sergeant said, at +length. "There's just one bit consolation—we can very well spare him; +and ye'll mind what the douce provost said in the song—'Just e'en let +him be; the toon is weel quit o' that deil o' Dundee.'"</p> + +<p>Boone, smiling curiously, closed with the speaker. "There is one thing I +expected he did not do, and as it could hardly be due to magnanimity, he +must have forgotten it," he said. "You will not go back empty-handed, +Sergeant. Are you aware that you hold a warrant for me?"</p> + +<p>Mackay pulled his horse up and stared at him. "I cannot see the point of +yon joke," he said.</p> + +<p>"There isn't one," was the answer. "Now that my work is finished, I see +no further need of hiding the fact that, while you knew me as Adams, my +name is—Boone."</p> + +<p>Mackay still stared at him, then laughed a little, as it were in +admiration, but silently. "I'm understanding a good deal now—and that +was why ye helped run yon thief down. Well, I'll take your parole, and +I'm thinking ye will have little trouble since the prosecutor's gone."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE LAST TOAST</span></h2> + + +<p>Lane troubled us no further, and there came a time when those who had +suffered under him, and at last assisted in his overthrow, would laugh +boisterously at my narrative of his hasty exit from the prairie with the +troopers hard upon his heels. They appeared to consider the description +of how, with characteristic audacity, he bade us an ironical farewell +one cold morning from the doorway of a lonely ranch an appropriate +finale, and bantered the sergeant upon his tardiness. The latter would +answer them dryly that the Dominion was well quit of Lane.</p> + +<p>Some time, however, passed before this came about, and meanwhile winter +closed in on the prairie. It was, save for one uncertainty which greatly +troubled me, a tranquil winter—for I had, in addition to promising +schemes for the future, a balance in the bank—but not wholly +uneventful. Before the first snow had fallen, men with theodolites and +compasses invaded Crane Valley, and left inscribed posts behind them +when they passed. This was evidently a preliminary survey; but it showed +the railroad was coming at last, although, as the men could tell us +nothing, there remained the somewhat important question whether it would +follow that or an alternative route.</p> + +<p>Also, a month or two later, Thorn and Steel sought speech with me, the +former looking almost uncomfortable when his companion said: "I've been +talking with Haldane about taking up my old place, and don't see how to +raise the money, or feel very keen over it. We never did much good there +since my father went under. The fact is, we two pull well together, and +you have the longest head. Won't you run both places and make me a kind +of foreman with a partner's interest?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span>The suggestion suited me in many ways, but bearing in mind what might be +possible, I saw a difficulty. "I dare say we might make a workable +arrangement, and I couldn't find a better partner; but haven't you +Sally's interests to consider?" I said.</p> + +<p>Steel smiled in an oracular fashion. "That's Tom's business," he said, +with a gesture, which, though I think it was involuntary, suggested that +he felt relieved of a load. "Sally is a daisy, and I've done my best for +her; but though there's nobody got more good points, I don't mind +allowing she was a blame big handful now and then. Of course, we are all +friends here!"</p> + +<p>"We won't be if you start in apologizing for Sally," broke in the +stalwart Thorn; and as I glanced at his reddened face, a light dawned on +me.</p> + +<p>"That's all right!" said the smiling brother. "There's no use in wasting +words on him. He has had fair warning, and I'm not to blame."</p> + +<p>It struck me that the best thing I could do was to shake hands with the +wrathful foreman, and I did it very heartily.</p> + +<p>"He will think differently some day, and you will have a good wife, +Tom," I said. "We'll miss you both badly at Crane Valley, but must try +to give you a good start off when you take up your preëmpted land."</p> + +<p>It must be recorded that henceforward Sally was a model of virtue, so +much so that I marveled, while at times her brother appeared to find it +hard to conceal his astonishment. She was more subdued in manner and +gentle in speech, while I could now understand the soft light which +filled her eyes when they rested upon my foreman. The former spirit, +however, still lurked within her, for returning to the house one evening +when spring had come around again, I saw Cotton, who had once been a +favorite of hers, leap out of the door with a brush whirling through the +air close behind him.</p> + +<p>"What is the meaning of this, Cotton?" I asked sharply, and the +corporal, who looked slightly sheepish, glanced over his shoulder as +though expecting another missile.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span>"The truth is that I don't quite know," he said. "Perhaps Miss Steel is +suffering from a bad toothache or something of the kind to-day."</p> + +<p>"That does not satisfy me," I said, as severely as I could, hoping he +would not discover it was mischief which prompted me. "I presume my +housekeeper did not eject you without some reason?"</p> + +<p>"Why don't you ask her, then?" said Cotton awkwardly. "Still, I suppose +an explanation is due to you if you insist on it. I went in to talk to +Sally while I waited for you, and said something—perfectly innocent, I +assure you, about—— Well—confound it—if I did say I'd been +heartbroken ever since I saw her last, was that any reason why she +should hurl a brush at me? She used to appreciate that kind of foolery."</p> + +<p>"Circumstances alter cases," I said dryly. "Don't you know that Sally +will leave here as Mrs. Thorn in a few weeks or so?"</p> + +<p>"On my word of honor, I didn't," and Cotton laughed boyishly. "Go in and +make my peace with her, if you can. I am positively frightened to. Say +I'm deeply contrite and—confoundedly hungry."</p> + +<p>Supper was just ready, but there were only four plates on the table, and +when I ventured to mention that Cotton waited repentant and famishing +without, Sally regarded me stonily. "He can just stay there and starve," +she said.</p> + +<p>Even Thorn, who, I think, knew Sally's weak points and how they were +counterbalanced by the warm-heartedness which would have covered much +worse sins, laughed; but the lady remained implacable, and, as a result +of it, Cotton hungry without, until—when the meal was almost +finished—Dixon, who was accompanied by Sergeant Mackay, astonished us +by alighting at the door. He brought startling news.</p> + +<p>The first carloads of rails and ties for the new road were ready for +dispatching, and it would pass close by my possessions; while, after we +had recovered from our excitement, he said: "I have been searching for +a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span>Corporal Cotton, and heard he might be here. Do you know where he +is?"</p> + +<p>I looked at Sally, who answered for me frigidly: "You might find him +trying to keep warm in the stable."</p> + +<p>Dixon appeared astonished, and Mackay's eyes twinkled, while after some +consideration the autocrat at the head of the table said: "If it's +important business, Charlie may tell him that he may come in."</p> + +<p>Cotton seemed glad to obey the summons, and knowing that he had ridden a +long way since his last meal, I signaled Dixon to wait, when Sally, +relenting, set a double portion before him. It was, therefore, some time +later when the lawyer, glancing in his direction, said: "You are Charles +Singlehurst Cotton, born at Halton Edge in the county of Warwick, +England?"</p> + +<p>The effect was electrical. Cotton thrust back his plate and straightened +himself, staring fixedly at the speaker with wrath in his gaze. "I am +Corporal C. Cotton of the Northwest Police, and whether I was born in +England or Canada concerns only myself."</p> + +<p>Dixon smiled indulgently, and Mackay, looking towards me, nodded his +head with a complacent air of one who has witnessed the fulfilment of +his prophecy.</p> + +<p>"If I had any doubts before, after inspecting a photograph of you, I +have none at present," the former said. "Mr. Ormesby forgot to mention +that I am a lawyer by profession, and Messrs. James, Tillotson & James, +of London, whose name you doubtless know, requested me through a +correspondent to search for you. Having business with Mr. Haldane, I +came in person. Have you any objection to according me a private +interview?"</p> + +<p>Cotton looked at me interrogatively, and I nodded. "You can safely trust +even family secrets to Mr. Dixon. He is, or will be, one of the foremost +lawyers in the Dominion."</p> + +<p>Dixon made me a little semi-ironical bow, and when he and Cotton passed +out together into my own partic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span>ular sanctum, a lean-to shed, Mackay +beamed upon me. "Man, did I not tell ye?" he said.</p> + +<p>It was some time before Cotton came back, looking grave and yet elated, +and turning towards us, said: "Mr. Dixon has brought me unexpected news, +both good and bad. It is necessary that I should accompany him to +Winnipeg. Sergeant, you have the power to grant me a week's leave of +absence?"</p> + +<p>Mackay pursed his lips up, and, with overdone gravity, shook his head. +"I'm fearing we cannot spare ye with the new mounts to train."</p> + +<p>Dixon chuckled softly. "I'm afraid Charles Singlehurst Cotton will break +no more police horses for you. He has a good many of another kind of his +own," he said. "He has also influential relatives who require his +presence in England shortly, and have arranged things so that your chief +authorities will probably release him before his term of service is +completed. The signature to this note should remove any scruples you may +have about granting him leave."</p> + +<p>Mackay drew himself up, and returned the letter with the air of one +acknowledging a commander's orders, then let his hand drop heavily on +Cotton's shoulder. His tone was slightly sardonic, but there was a very +kindly look in his eyes as he said: "Ye'll no' be above accepting the +congratulations of the hard old sergeant who licked ye into shape. It +was no' that easy, and maybe it galled ye some; but ye have learned a +few useful things while ye rode with the Northwest troopers ye never +would have done in England. We took ye, a raw liddie, some bit overproud +of himself, and now I'm thinking we'll miss ye when we send ye back the +makings of a man. Away ye go with Mr. Dixon so long as it's necessary."</p> + +<p>It struck me as a graceful thought, for Cotton stood straight, as on +parade, with the salute to a superior, as he said: "I'll report for duty +in seven days, sir," then laid his brown hand in Mackay's wrinkled palm. +"Every word's just as true as gospel, and I'll thank you in years to +come."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span>He took my arm and drew me out upon the starlit prairie. "I can't sleep +to-night, and my horse is lame. You will lend me one," he said. Then +when I asked whether he was not going with Dixon to the station, he +laughed, and flung back his head.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to spend all night in the saddle. It will be best for me," he +said. "I'll tell you the whole story later, and, meantime, may say that +over the sea, yonder, somebody is dead. I know what usually sends such +men as I out here, but while I should like you to remember that I +neither broke any law of the old country nor injured any woman, I +wouldn't see which side my bread was buttered—and there are various +ways of playing the fool."</p> + +<p>"We have Mackay's assurance that the Colonial cure has proved a success, +and in all seriousness you have my best wishes for the future," I said.</p> + +<p>The corporal answered gravely: "If it had not I should never venture to +visit Bonaventure to-morrow, as I intend doing."</p> + +<p>"Visit Bonaventure?" I said, a little thickly.</p> + +<p>"Of course!" said Cotton, with both exultation and surprise in his tone. +"Can't you see the best this news may have made possible to me?"</p> + +<p>I was thankful that the kindly darkness hid my face, and turned towards +the stables without a word; while, after the corporal had mounted, I +found it very hard to answer him when he said simply, yet with a great +air of friendship: "Although you were irritating sometimes, Ormesby, you +were the first man I ever spoke frankly to in this country. Won't you +wish me luck?"</p> + +<p>"If she will have you, there is no good thing I would not wish for you +both," I said; but in spite of my efforts my voice rang hollow, and I +was thankful when Cotton, who did not seem to notice it, rode away.</p> + +<p>I did not return to the house until long after the drumming of hoofs, +growing fainter and fainter, had finally died away, and said little +then. I even flung the journals Dixon brought, which were full of the +new railroad, unread, away. My rival was young and handsome, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span>generous, +and likable, even in his weaknesses. He was also, as it now appeared, of +good estate and birth, and granting all that I could on my own side, the +odds seemed heavily in favor of Cotton, while a certain knowledge of the +worst would almost have been preferable to the harrowing uncertainty as +to how the Mistress of Bonaventure would make the comparison. It lasted +for two whole weeks—weeks which I never forgot; for I could not visit +Bonaventure until I learned whether Cotton's errand had resulted +successfully, and he sent no word to lessen the anxiety.</p> + +<p>At last I rode in to the settlement, whither I knew Haldane had gone to +inspect the progress of the road, and met Boone and Mackay on the +prairie. "Has Cotton returned?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"He has," said Mackay dryly. "This is his last day's duty. He loitered +at the settlement, and ye will meet him presently. I'm not understanding +what is wrong with him, but he's uncertain in the temper, and I'm +thinking that sudden good fortune does not agree with him."</p> + +<p>I met Cotton, riding very slowly and looking straight ahead. He pulled +up when I greeted him, and seeing the question in my eyes, ruefully +shook his head. "I've had my answer, Ormesby—given with a gentleness +that made it worse," he said.</p> + +<p>He must have misunderstood my expression, and perhaps my face was a +study just then, for he added grimly: "It is perfectly true, and really +not surprising. Hopeless from the first—and, I think, there is someone +else, though heaven knows where in the whole Dominion she would find any +man fit to brush the dust from her little shoes, including myself. Well, +there is no use repining, and I'll have years in which to get over it; +but it's lucky I'm leaving this country, and—for one can't shirk a +painful duty—I'll say good-by to you with the others at Bonaventure +to-morrow."</p> + +<p>I was glad that he immediately rode on, for while I pitied him, my heart +leaped within me. Had it happened otherwise I should have tried to wish +him well, and now <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span>my satisfaction, which was, nevertheless, stronger +than all such considerations, appeared ungenerous.</p> + +<p>When I reached it the usually sleepy settlement presented a stirring +scene. Long strings of flat cars cumbered the trebled sidetrack, rows of +huts had risen as by magic, and two big locomotives moved ceaselessly to +and fro. Dozens of oxen and horse teams hauled the great iron scoops +which tore the sod up to form the roadbed, while the air vibrated with +the thud of shovels, the ringing of hammers, and the clang of falling +rails. The track lengthened yard by yard as I stood and watched. In +another week or two the swarming toilers would have moved their mushroom +town further on towards Crane Valley, and I was almost oppressed by a +sense of what all this tremendous activity promised me. It meant at +least prosperity instead of penury, the realizing of ambitions, perhaps +a road to actual affluence; also it might be far more than this. I +scarcely saw Haldane until he grasped my hand.</p> + +<p>"It is a great day, Ormesby," he said. "No man can tell exactly how far +this narrow steel road may carry all of you. Still, one might almost say +that you have deserved it—and it has come at last."</p> + +<p>"It will either be the brightest day in all my life—or the worst," I +said. "Will you listen to me for two minutes, sir?"</p> + +<p>Haldane did so, and then leaned against a flat car, with the wrinkles +deepening on his forehead, for what appeared to be an inordinately long +time. "I may tell you frankly that I had not anticipated this—and am +not sure I should not have tried to prevent it if I had," he said. "I +know nothing that does not testify in your favor as an individual, +Ormesby; but, as even you admit, there are objections from one point of +view. Still, this road and our new schemes may do much for you and—— +Well, I never refused my daughter anything, and if she approves of you, +and you will not separate us altogether, I won't say no."</p> + +<p>I had expected nothing better, and dreaded a great deal worse; and my +pulses throbbed furiously when, after <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span>some further speech, Haldane +strolled away with a half-wistful, half-regretful glance at his daughter +who approached us as we spoke. She was in high spirits, and greeted me +cordially.</p> + +<p>"You ought to be happy, and you look serious. This is surely the best +you could have hoped for," she said.</p> + +<p>It seemed best to end the uncertainty at once, and yet, remembering +Cotton's fate, I was afraid. Nevertheless, mustering courage, I looked +straight at the speaker, and slowly shook my head. Lucille was always +shrewd, and I think she understood, for her lips quivered a little, and +the smile died out of her eyes.</p> + +<p>"You are difficult to satisfy. Is it not enough?" she said.</p> + +<p>Her voice had in it no trace of either encouragement or disdain, and a +boldness I had scarcely hoped for came upon me as I answered: "In itself +it is worth nothing to me. What you said is true, for I have set my +hopes very high. There is only one prize in the Dominion that would +satisfy me, and that is—you."</p> + +<p>Lucille moved a little away from me, and I could not see her face, for +she looked back towards the train of cars which came clanking down the +track; but for once words were given me, and when I ceased, she looked +up again. Though the rich damask had deepened in her cheek, there was a +significant question in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Are you sure you are not mistaken, Rancher Ormesby? Men do not always +know their own minds," she said.</p> + +<p>The underlying question demanded an answer, and I do not know how I +furnished it, for I had already found it bewildering when asked by +myself; but with deep humility I framed disjoined words, and gathered +hope once more when I read what might have been a faint trace of +mischief, and something more, in my companion's eyes.</p> + +<p>"It is not very convincing—but what could you say? And you are, after +all, not very wise," she said. "I wonder if I might tell you that I knew +part of this long ago; but the rest I did not know until the evening +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span>team bolted in the hollow. Still," and Lucille grew grave again, +"would it hurt you very much if I said I could not listen because I +feared you were only dreaming this time, too?"</p> + +<p>"It would drive me out of Canada a broken-hearted man," I said. "It was +you for whom I strove, always you—even when I did not know it—since +the first day I saw you. I would fling away all I own to-morrow, +and——"</p> + +<p>The words broke off suddenly, for Lucille looked up at me, shyly this +time, and from under half-lowered lashes. "I think," she said very +slowly, and with a pause, during which I did not breathe, "that would be +a pity, Harry Ormesby."</p> + +<p>It was sufficient. All that the world could give seemed comprised within +the brief sentence; and it was difficult to remember that we stood clear +in the eyes of the swarming toilers upon the level prairie. Neither do I +remember what either of us next said, for there was a glamour upon me; +but as we turned back towards Haldane, side by side, I hazarded a query, +and Lucille smiled. "You ask too many questions—are you not yet +content? Still, since you ask, I think I did not understand aright +either until a little while ago."</p> + +<p>Haldane appeared satisfied, though, perhaps, that is not the most +appropriate word, for he himself supplied a better one; and when we were +next alone, and I ventured thanks and protestations, laughed, in the +whimsical fashion he sometimes adopted, I think, to hide his inward +sentiments.</p> + +<p>"You need not look so contrite, for I suppose you could not help it; and +I am resigned," he said. "There. We will take all the rest for granted, +and you must wait another year." Then, although Haldane smiled again, he +laid his hand on my shoulder in a very kindly fashion as he added; +"Lucille might, like her sister, have shone in London and Paris; but it +seems she prefers the prairie—and, after all, I do not know that she +has not chosen well."</p> + +<p>The story of my failures, mistakes, and struggles <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span>ended then and there, +for henceforward, even when passing troubles rested upon us, I could +turn for counsel and comfort to a helpmate whose wisdom and sympathy +were equalled only by her courage. Nevertheless, two incidents linger in +my memory, and were connected with the last meeting of what had now +ceased to be a prairie tribunal at Bonaventure. It was an occasion of +festivity, but regret was mingled with it, for Boone and Cotton would +leave us that night, and there was not one of the bronzed men gathered +in the great hall at Bonaventure who would not miss them. Boone, it may +be mentioned, had, after entering into recognizances to appear if +wanted, been finally released from them by the police. At length Haldane +stood up at the head of the long table.</p> + +<p>"This has been a day to remember, and, I think, what we have decided +to-night will set its mark upon the future of the prairie," he said. +"Where all did well there were two who chiefly helped us to win what we +have done, and it is to our sorrow that one goes back to his own country +now that his work is well accomplished. We will not lightly forget him. +The other will, I hope, be spared to stay with you and share your +triumphs as he has done your adversity. I have to announce my daughter's +approaching marriage to your comrade, Henry Ormesby."</p> + +<p>It pleased me greatly that Cotton was the first upon his feet, and +Mackay the next, although it was but for a second, because, almost +simultaneously, a double row of weather-darkened men heaved themselves +upright. Cotton's face was flushed, and his eyes shone strangely under +the candlelight; but he looked straight at me as he solemnly raised the +glass in his hand.</p> + +<p>"The Mistress of Bonaventure: God bless her, and send every happiness to +both of them!" he said.</p> + +<p>The very rafters rang to the shout that followed, and it was the last +time that toast was honored, for when next my neighbors gathered round +me with goodwill and festivity, Lucille Haldane became mistress of the +new <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span>homestead which had replaced the sod-house at Crane Valley, instead +of Bonaventure.</p> + +<p>It was an hour later when she stood beside me, under the moonlight, +speeding the last of the guests. Boone halted before us, bareheaded, a +moment, with a curiously wistful look which was yet not envious, and his +hand on the bridle. "It was a good fight, but I shall never again have +such an ally as Miss Haldane," he said.</p> + +<p>He had barely mounted, when Cotton came up, and I felt my companion's +fingers tremble as, I think, from a very kindly impulse, she slipped +them from my arm. Cotton, however, was master of himself, and gravely +shook hands with both of us. "It was not an empty speech, Ormesby. I +meant every word of it. Heaven send you both all happiness," he said.</p> + +<p>He, too, vanished into the dimness with a dying beat of hoofs, and so +out of our life; and we two were left alone, hand in hand, with only the +future before us, on the moonlit prairie.</p> + + +<p class="theend">THE END</p> + +<hr class="wide" /> + + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the +original text have been corrected.</p> + +<p>In Chapter II, "the brand of serviture" was changed to "the brand of +servitude".</p> + +<p>In Chapter III, "a composure which astonished be" was changed to "a +composure which astonished me", and "he was bent in discharging his +duty" was changed to "he was bent on discharging his duty".</p> + +<p>In Chapter VII, "Becaues he'd gone" was changed to "Because he'd gone", +and a mismatched quotation mark was corrected after "Still, you might +have been a little more civil, Sally."</p> + +<p>In Chapter VIII, "it occured to me that Lucille Haldane" was changed to +"it occurred to me that Lucille Haldane".</p> + +<p>In Chapter IX, "every available dollar for the approaching stuggle" was +changed to "every available dollar for the approaching struggle".</p> + +<p>In Chapter X, a mismatched quotation mark was corrected before +"'Twoinette's so—so blamed systematic".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XI, "while I draged at the halliards" was changed to "while I +dragged at the halliards", "life your hands at once" was changed to +"lift your hands at once", "several dark figures on the varanda" was +changed to "several dark figures on the veranda", and "the shock of her +kneel upon the bottom" was changed to "the shock of her keel upon the +bottom".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XII, "you have won lands down" was changed to "you have won +hands down".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XV, "a little worse than he rest" was changed to "a little +worse than the rest".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XVI, "the time for open resistance had come a last" was +changed to "the time for open resistance had come at last", a missing +period was added after "who watched our efforts with much approval", and +"the memory of former wongs" was changed to "the memory of former +wrongs".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XVII, "snatching here hand away" was changed to "snatching +her hand away".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXII, "panting of mammonth engines" was changed to "panting +of mammoth engines".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXIII, "feed and cloth me" was changed to "feed and clothe +me", a missing period was added after "her eyes were filled with light", +and "igoring Dixon's advice" was changed to "ignoring Dixon's advice".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXIV, "I picketed the documents" was changed to "I pocketed +the documents", and "too a big morsel" was changed to "too big a +morsel".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXVII, "was I was uneasily conscious" was changed to "was, I +was uneasily conscious".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXVIII, "a promising crop of them an hand" was changed to "a +promising crop of them on hand", and "unobstrusively endeavored to sell" +was changed to "unobtrusively endeavored to sell".</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXIX, a period was changed to a question mark after "it is a +little disconcerting to be watched when at work", "the sped of a comet" +was changed to "the speed of a comet", and "shone mockingly in his ayes" +was changed to "shone mockingly in his eyes".</p> + +<p>Several words (such as bull-frog and candle-light) were hyphenated +inconsistently in the original text.</p></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Mistress of Bonaventure, by Harold Bindloss + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MISTRESS OF BONAVENTURE *** + +***** This file should be named 38144-h.htm or 38144-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/1/4/38144/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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 Mistress of Bonaventure + +Author: Harold Bindloss + +Release Date: November 26, 2011 [EBook #38144] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MISTRESS OF BONAVENTURE *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +THE MISTRESS OF BONAVENTURE + +BY HAROLD BINDLOSS + +Author of "Alton of Somasco," "The Dust of Conflict," +"The Cattle-Baron's Daughter," etc. + +_ONLY AUTHORIZED EDITION_ + +[Illustration] + +NEW YORK +FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY +PUBLISHERS + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER PAGE + I. THE SWEETWATER FORD 1 + II. BONAVENTURE RANCH 10 + III. A MIDNIGHT VISITOR 22 + IV. THE TIGHTENING OF THE NET 34 + V. A SURPRISE PARTY 45 + VI. A HOLOCAUST 58 + VII. A BITTER AWAKENING 68 + VIII. HOW REDMOND CAME HOME 78 + IX. A PRAIRIE STUDY 92 + X. A TEMPTATION 104 + XI. IN PERIL OF THE WATERS 113 + XII. THE SELLING OF GASPARD'S TRAIL 124 + XIII. AN UNFORTUNATE PROMISE 137 + XIV. THE BURNING OF GASPARD'S TRAIL 147 + XV. BEAUTY IN DISGUISE 159 + XVI. THE DEFENSE OF CRANE VALLEY 170 + XVII. THE RAISING OF THE SIEGE 183 + XVIII. THE VIGIL-KEEPER 194 + XIX. THE WORK OF AN ENEMY 205 + XX. LEADEN-FOOTED JUSTICE 216 + XXI. AGAINST TIME 226 + XXII. BAD TIDINGS 238 + XXIII. LIBERTY 248 + XXIV. A SECRET TRIBUNAL 261 + XXV. A CHANGE OF TACTICS 272 + XXVI. THE TURNING OF THE TIDE 282 + XXVII. ILLUMINATION 293 +XXVIII. THE ENEMY CAPITULATES 305 + XXIX. THE EXIT OF LANE 315 + XXX. THE LAST TOAST 326 + + + + +The Mistress of Bonaventure + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE SWEETWATER FORD + + +After relaxing its iron grip a little so that we hoped for spring, +winter had once more closed down on the broad Canadian prairie, and the +lonely outpost was swept by icy draughts, when, one bitter night, +Sergeant Mackay, laying down his pipe, thrust fresh billets into the +crackling stove. It already glowed with a dull redness, and the light +that beat out through its opened front glinted upon the carbines, belts, +and stirrups hung about the rough log walls. + +"'Tis for the rebuking of evildoers an' the keeping of the peace we're +sent here to patrol the wilderness, an' if we're frozen stiff in the +saddle 'tis no more than our duty," said the sergeant, while his eyes +twinkled whimsically. "But a man with lands an' cattle shows a +distressful want o' judgment by sleeping in a snow bank when he might be +sitting snug in a club at Montreal. 'Tis a matter o' wonder to me that +ye are whiles so deficient in common sense, Rancher Ormesby. Still, I'm +no' denying ye showed a little when ye brought that whisky. 'Tis +allowable to interpret the regulations with discretion in bitter +weather--an' here's a safe ride to ye!" + +A brighter beam that shot out called up the speaker's rugged face and +gaunt figure from the shadows. Although his lean, hard fingers closed +somewhat affectionately on a flask instead of on the bridle or carbine +they were used to, his profession was stamped on him, for Allan Mackay +was as fine a sample of non-commissioned cavalry officer as ever +patrolled the desolate marches of Western Canada--which implies a good +deal to those who know the Northwest troopers. He was also, as I knew, a +man acquainted with sorrow, who united the shrewdness of Solomon with a +childish simplicity and hid beneath his grim exterior a vein of +eccentric chivalry which on occasion led him into trouble. The blaze +further touched the face of a young English lad sitting in a corner of +the room. + +"Some of us were sent here for our sins, and some came for our health +when the temperature of our birthplaces grew a trifle high," he said. "I +don't know that anybody except Rancher Ormesby ever rode with us for +pleasure. Yet I'm open to admit the life has its compensations; and +Sergeant Mackay has given me many as good a run as I ever had with--that +is, I mean any man who must earn his bread might well find work he would +take less kindly to." + +The lad's momentary embarrassment was not lost on his officer, who +chuckled somewhat dryly as he glanced at him. "I'm asking no questions, +an' ye are not called on to testify against yourself," he said. "Maybe +ye rode fox-hunting on a hundred-guinea horse, an' maybe ye did not; but +ye showed a bit knowledge o' a beast, an' that was enough for me. +Meantime ye're Trooper Cotton, an' I'll see ye do your duty. To some, +the old country--God bless her--is a hard stepmother, an' ye're no' the +first she has turned the cold shoulder on and sent out to me." + +The worthy sergeant was apt to grow tiresome when he launched out into +his reminiscences, and, seeing that Trooper Cotton did not appreciate +the turn the conversation was taking, I broke in: "But you're forgetting +the outlaw, Mackay; and I'm not here for either health or pleasure. I +want to recover the mare I gave five hundred dollars for, and that ought +to excuse my company. What has the fellow who borrowed her done?" + +"Fired on a mortgage money-lender down in Assiniboia," was the answer. +"Maybe he was badly treated, for ye'll mind that the man who takes blood +money, as yon Lane has done, is first cousin to Judas Iscariot; but +that's no' my business. It is not allowable to shoot one's creditors in +the Canadian Dominion. What I'm wondering is where he is now; an' that +will be either striking north for the barrens or west for British +Columbia. It will be boot and saddle when Pete comes in, and meantime +we'll consider what routes would best fit him!" + +Mackay knew every bluff and ravine seaming a hundred miles of prairie; +and another silent man, rising from his bunk, stood beside myself and +Cotton as the sergeant traced lines across the table. Each represented +an alternative route the fugitive might take, and the places where the +hard forefinger paused marked a risky ford or lake on which the ice was +yielding. Mackay spent some time over it, as much for his own +edification as for ours, but I was interested, for I greatly desired to +recover the blood mare stolen from me. + +I was then five-and-twenty, fairly stalwart and tall of stature, and +seldom regretted that after a good education in England I had gone out +to Western Canada to assist a relative in raising cattle. The old man +was slow and cautious, but he taught me my business well before he died +suddenly and left me his possessions. Adding my small patrimony, I made +larger profits by taking heavier risks, and, for fortune had favored me, +and youth is no handicap in the Colonies, my homestead was one of the +finest in that section of the country. Save for occasional risks of +frost-bite and wild rides through blinding snow, the life had been +toilsome rather than eventful; but the day which, while we talked in the +outpost, was speeding westward across the pines of Quebec and the lakes +of Ontario to gild the Rockies' peaks was to mark a turning-point in my +history. + +Suddenly a beat of hoofs rose out of the night, there was a jingle +outside, and the cold set me shivering, when a man, who held a smoking +horse's bridle, stood by the open door. "Your man tried to buy a horse +from the reservation Crees, and, when they wouldn't trade, doubled on +his tracks, heading west for the Bitter Lakes. I've nearly killed my +beast to bring you word," he said. + +Horses stood ready in the sod stable behind the dwelling, and in less +than three minutes we were in the saddle and flitting in single file +across the prairie. It was about five o'clock in the morning, and, +though winter should have been over, it was very bitter. The steam from +the horses hung about us, our breath froze on our furs, but a Chinook +wind had swept the prairie clear of snow, and, though in the barer +places the ground rang like iron beneath us, the carpet of matted +grasses made moderately fast traveling possible. No word was spoken, +and, when the silent figures about me faded as they spread out to left +and right and only a faint jingle of steel or dull thud of hoofs +betokened their presence, I seemed to have ridden out of all touch with +warmth and life. + +The frost bit keen, the heavens were black with the presage of coming +storm, and the utter silence seemed the hush of death. Beast and bird +had long fled south, and I started when once the ghostly howl of a +coyote rose eerily and faintly from the rim of the prairie. + +By daylight we had left long leagues behind us, and I was the better +pleased that the fugitive's trail, of which we found signs, led back +towards my own homestead. For a brief five minutes the Rockies, seen +very far off across the levels, flushed crimson against the sky. Then +the line of spectral peaks faded suddenly, and we were left, four tiny +crawling specks, in the center of a limitless gray circle whose +circumference receded steadily as the hours went by. But the trail grew +plainer to the sergeant's practiced eyes, and, when we had crossed the +Bitter Lakes on rotten and but partially refrozen ice, he predicted that +we should come up with the fugitive by nightfall if our horses held out. +Mine was the best in the party, and, though not equal to the stolen +mare, the latter had already traveled fast and far. It was a depressing +journey. No ray of sunlight touched the widespread levels, and there was +neither smoke trail nor sign of human life in all that great desolation. +Hands and feet lost sense of feeling, the cold numbed one's very brain; +but the wardens of the prairie, used alike to sleep in a snow trench or +swim an icy ford, care little for adverse weather, and Mackay held on +with a slow tenacity that boded ill for the man he was pursuing. + +The light showed signs of failing when Trooper Cotton shouted, and we +caught sight of our quarry, a shadowy blur on the crest of a low rise +that seamed the prairie. "Ye may save your breath, for ye'll need it," +said Mackay. "It's a league from yon rise to the Sweetwater, an' there's +neither ice-bridge nor safe ford now. If he's across before we are we'll +no' grip him the night, I'm thinking--and there's ill weather brewing." + +Whip and heel were plied, and the worn-out beasts responded as best they +might. The man who had taught me stock and horse breeding knew his +business, and when my beast raced across the edge of the rise the +troopers were at least two hundred yards behind. Then the exultation of +the chase took hold of me, and my frozen blood commenced to stir as the +staunch beast beneath me swept faster and faster down the long gray +incline. At every stride I was coming up with the horse thief. A dusky +ridge of birches loomed ahead, shutting off the steep dip to the river. +Beyond this, there were thicker trees; and the light was failing; but +while all this promised safety for the pursued, I was gaining fast and +the troopers were dropping further behind. The fugitive had just reached +the timber when a light wagon lurched out from it, and I yelled to the +man who drove it to hold clear of my path. There was a hoarse shout away +to the left, and, when no answer came back, the crack of a carbine. A +repeating rifle banged against my back, and, feeling that its sling lay +within easy reach, I drove my heels home as I raced past the wagon. + +There was scarcely time for a side glance, but the one I risked set my +heart beating. Two feminine figures wrapped in furs sat within it, and +one smiled at me as I passed. The face that looked out from beneath the +fur cap was worth remembering, though it was several years since I had +last seen it in England. Haldane had brought his daughters with him when +he came out from Montreal to visit his Western possessions, it seemed; +but my horse was over the brink of the declivity before I could return +the greeting, and, bending low to clear the branches, I drove him +reeling and blundering down and down through willow undergrowth and +scattered birches on the track of the fugitive. I was but a plain +rancher, and it seemed presumptuous folly to neglect my lawful business +for a smile from Beatrice Haldane. + +It was growing dark among the birches, and flakes of feathery snow +sliding down between the branches filled my eyes, but I could see that +the distance between us was shortening more rapidly and that the man in +front of me reeled in his saddle when a branch smote him. The mare also +stumbled, and I gained several lengths. The drumming of hoofs and the +moan of an icy wind which had sprung up seemed to fill all the hollow. +White mist that slid athwart the birches hung over the Sweetwater in the +rift beneath, and--for the river had lately burst its chains of ice--I +felt sure that the man I followed would never make the crossing. Yet it +appeared certain that he meant to attempt it, for he rode straight at +the screen of willows that fringed the water's edge, vanished among +them, and I heard a crackling as his weary beast smashed through the +shoreward fringe of honeycombed ice. Then I saw nothing, for rattling +branches closed about me as the horse feebly launched himself at the +leap, while a denser whiteness thickened the mist. So far fortune had +favored me throughout the reckless ride; but it is not wise to tempt +fate too hardly, and the beast pitched forward when his hoofs descended +upon bare frozen ground. + +Had I worn boots my neck might have paid the penalty, but the soft +moccasins slipped free of the stirrups in time, and when I came down the +horse rolled over several yards clear of me. He was up next moment, but +moved stiffly, and stood still, trembling, when I grasped the bridle. +The saddle had slipped sideways, as though a girth buckle had yielded, +and I felt faint and dizzy, for the fall had shaken me. Nevertheless, I +unslung the rifle mechanically, when a hail reached me, and, turning, I +saw the man we had followed sitting still in his saddle, some twoscore +yards away, with the steam frothing white to his horse's knees. The +daylight had almost gone, the snow was commencing in earnest, but I +could make out that he was bareheaded and his face smeared with crimson, +perhaps from a wound the branch had made. It looked drawn and ghastly as +he sat stiffly erect against a background of hurrying water and falling +snow, with one hand on his hip and the other raised as though to command +attention. + +"You are Rancher Ormesby, whose horse I borrowed, I presume?" he said. +"Well, if you are wise you will give up the chase before worse befalls +you. I am armed, and I give you fair warning that I do not mean to be +taken. Go home to your stove and comforts. You have no quarrel with me." + +The clean English accent surprised me, and the rifle lay still in the +hollow of my left arm as I answered him: "Do you forget you are sitting +on the best mare I possess? The loss of several hundred dollars is more +than I can put up with; and your warning sounds rather empty when I +could hardly fail to pick you off with this rifle." + +I listened for the troopers' coming, but could hear only the fret of the +river and the moaning of the blast, for the wind was rising rapidly. It +was evident that the beast whose bridle I held was in no fit state to +attempt the crossing, and yet, though the stranger's cool assurance was +exasperating, I began to be conscious of a certain admiration and pity +for him. The man was fearless. He had been hunted like a wolf; and now, +left, worn out, wounded, and doubtless faint from want of food, to face +the wild night in the open, he had, it seemed, risked his last chance of +escape to warn me when he might have taken me at a disadvantage. + +He laughed recklessly. "Still, I hardly think you will. The mare is +done, and I pledge my word I'll turn her loose as soon as I'm clear of +the troopers. I have no grudge against you, but if you are wise you will +take no further chances with a desperate man. Go home, and be thankful +you have a place to shelter you." + +There would have been no great difficulty in bringing the man down at +that range, even in a bad light, and it is probable that nobody would +have blamed me; but, though I should willingly have ridden him down in +fair chase, I could not fire on him as he sat there at my mercy, for if +he was armed it must have been with a pistol--a very poor weapon against +a rifle. I might also have shot the horse; but one hesitates to +sacrifice a costly beast, even in the service of the State, and, strange +to say, I felt inclined to trust his promise. Accordingly, I did +neither; and when a great ice cake came driving down, and, raising his +hand again as though in recognition of my forbearance, he wheeled the +mare and vanished into a thicker rush of snow, I stood motionless and +let him go. Then, feeling more shaken and dizzy than before, I seized +the bridle and led the horse into the whirling whiteness that drove down +the slope. Darkness came suddenly. I could scarcely see the trees, and +it was by accident I stumbled upon the troopers dismounted and picking +their way. + +"Have ye seen him?" asked an object which looked like a polar bear and +proved to be the sergeant. + +"Yes," I answered shortly, deciding that it would not be well to fully +explain how I had let our quarry slip through my fingers. "If he has not +drowned himself in the river he has got away. I was close upon him when +my horse fell and threw me badly. Are you going to try the crossing, +too?" + +There are few bolder riders than the Northwest troopers, but Mackay +shook his head. "I'm thinking it would be a useless waste of Government +property an' maybe of a trooper's life," he said. "No man could find him +in this snow, and if he lives through the night, which is doubtful, +we'll find his trail plain in the morning. We'll just seek shelter with +Haldane at Bonaventure." + +I do not know how we managed to find the Bonaventure ranch. The wind had +suddenly freshened almost to a gale, and, once clear of the river +hollow, we met the full force of it. The snow that whirled across the +desolate waste filled our eyes and nostrils, rendering breathing +difficult and sight almost impossible; but it may be that the instinct +of the horses helped us, for, making no effort at guidance, I trudged +on, clinging to the bridle of my limping beast, while half-seen +spectral objects floundered through the white haze on each side. +Nevertheless, the pain which followed the impact of the flakes on one +side of my half-frozen face showed that we were at least progressing in +a constant direction, and at last Trooper Cotton raised a hoarse halloo +as a faint ray of light pierced the obscurity. Then shadowy buildings +loomed ahead, and, blundering up against a wire fence, we staggered, +whitened all over, to the door of Bonaventure. + +It was flung wide open at our knock, banged to again, and while a +trooper went off with the horses to the stable the rest of us, partly +stupefied by the change of temperature, stood in the lamp-lit hall +shaking the white flakes from us. A man of middle age, attired in a +fashion more common in the cities than in the West, stretched out his +hand to me. + +"I am glad to see you, Ormesby; and, of course, you and your companions +will spend the night here," he said cordially. "My girls told me they +had met you, and we were partly expecting your company. Apparently the +malefactor got away, Sergeant Mackay?" + +"We did not bring him with us, but he'll not win far this weather," was +the somewhat rueful answer. The master of Bonaventure smiled a little. + +"He deserves to escape if he can live through such a night; and I'm +inclined to be sorry for the poor devil," he said. "However, you have +barely time to get into dry things before supper will be ready. We +expect you all to join us, prairie fashion." + +The welcome was characteristic of Carson Haldane, who could win the +goodwill of most men, either on the prairie or in the exclusive circles +of Ottawa and Montreal. It was also characteristic that he called the +evening meal, as we did, supper; though when he was present a state of +luxury, wholly unusual on the prairie, reigned at Bonaventure. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +BONAVENTURE RANCH + + +"We are waiting for you," said Haldane, smiling, as he stood in the +doorway of the room where, with some misgivings, and by the aid of +borrowed sundries, we had made the best toilets we could. "You are not a +stranger, Ormesby, and must help to see your comrades made comfortable. +Sergeant, my younger daughter is enthusiastic about the prairie, and you +will have a busy time if you answer all her questions, though I fear she +will be disappointed to discover that nobody has ever scalped you." + +Mackay drew himself up stiffly, as if for his inspection parade, and a +white streak on his forehead showed the graze a bullet had made. Young +Cotton smiled wryly as he glanced at his uniform, for it was probably +under very different auspices he had last appeared in the society of +ladies; and I was uneasily conscious of the fact that the black leather +tunic which a German teamster had given me was much more comfortable +than becoming. I might have felt even more dissatisfied had I known that +my fall had badly split the tunic up the back. That, however, did not +account for the curious mingling of hesitation and expectancy with which +I followed our host. + +During a brief visit to England some years ago I had met Miss Haldane at +the house of a relative, and the memory had haunted me during long +winter evenings spent in dreamy meditation beside the twinkling stove +and in many a lonely camp when the stars shone down on the waste of +whitened grass through the blue transparency of the summer night. The +interval had been a time of strenuous effort with me, but through all +the stress and struggle, in stinging snowdrift and blinding dust of +alkali, I had never lost the remembrance of the maiden who whiled away +the sunny afternoons with me under the English elms. Indeed, the +recollection of the serene, delicately cut face and the wealth of dusky +hair grew sharper as the months went by, until it became an abstract +type of all that was desirable in womanhood, rather than a prosaic +reality. Now I was to meet its owner once more in the concrete flesh. It +may have been merely a young man's fancy, born of a life bare of +romance, but I think that idealization was good for me. + +Haldane held a door open, saying something that I did not catch; but +young Cotton, whose bronzed color deepened for a moment, made a courtly +bow, and the big grizzled sergeant smiled at me across the table as he +took his place beside a laughing girl, while I presently found myself +drawing a chair back for Beatrice Haldane, who showed genuine pleasure +as she greeted me. Her beauty had increased during the long interval. +The clustering dark hair and the dark eyes were those I remembered well, +and if her face was a trifle colorless and cold I did not notice it. She +had grown a little more full in outline and more stately in bearing, but +the quiet graciousness which had so impressed me still remained. + +"It is a long time since we met, and you have changed since then," she +said pleasantly. "When you raced past our wagon I hardly recognized you. +That, however, was perhaps only to be expected; but one might wonder +whether you have changed otherwise, too. I recollect you were +refreshingly sanguine when I last saw you." + +This was gratifying. That I should have treasured the remembrance of +Beatrice Haldane was only natural; but it was very pleasant to hear from +her own lips that she had not forgotten me. Her intention was doubtless +kindly, and it was inherited courtesy, for Haldane did most things +graciously. + +"The light was dim, and this life sets its stamp on most of us," I said. +"May one compliment you on your powers of memory? Needless to say, I +recognized you the moment I saw you." + +Miss Haldane smiled a little. "A good memory is useful; but do you wish +me to return the compliment?" + +"No," and I looked at her steadily. "But there is a difference. In your +world men and events follow each other in kaleidoscopic succession, and +each change of the combinations must dim the memory of the rest. With us +it is different. You will see how we live--but, no; I hardly think you +will--for Bonaventure is not a typical homestead, and the control of it +can be only a pastime with your father." + +"And yet it is said that whatever Carson Haldane touches yields him +dividends; but proceed," interposed Miss Haldane. + +"With us each day is spent in hurried labor; and it is probably well +that it is, for otherwise the loneliness and monotony might overpower +any man with leisure to brood and think. Heat, frost, and fatigue are +our lot; and an interlude resembling the one in which I met you means, +as a glimpse of a wholly different life, so much to us. We dream of it +long afterwards, and wonder if ever the enchanted gates will open to us +again. Now, please don't smile. This is really not exaggeration!" + +"Which gates? You are not precise," said my companion, and laughed +pleasantly when, smiling, too, I answered, "One might almost say--of +Paradise!" + +"It must be the Moslem's paradise, then," she said. "Still, I hardly +fancy a stalwart prairie rancher would pose well as the Peri, and, by +way of consolation, you can remember that there are disappointments +within those gates, and those who have acquired knowledge beyond them +sometimes envy the illusions of those without. No, you have not changed +much in some respects, Mr. Ormesby. You must talk to my sister +Lucille--she will agree with you." + +Her manner was very gracious, in spite of the badinage; but there was a +faint trace of weariness and sardonic humor in her merriment which +chilled me. The dark-haired girl I remembered had displayed a power of +sympathy and quick enthusiasm which had apparently vanished from my +present companion. + +"I am curious to hear if you have verified the optimistic views you once +professed," she added languidly. + +I laughed a little dryly. Being younger then, and led on by a very +winsome maiden's interest, I had talked with perhaps a little less than +becoming modesty of the possibilities open to a resolute man in the new +lands of the West, and laid it down as an axiom that determination was a +sure password to success. + +"You should be merciful. That was in my callow days," I said. +"Nevertheless, with a few more reservations, I believe it is possible +for those who can hope and hold on to realize their ambition in this +country, whether it be the evolution of a prosperous homestead from a +strip of Government land and a sod hovel--or more desirable things. The +belief is excusable, because one may see the proof of it almost every +day. I even fancied, when in England, that you agreed with me." + +There was a faint mischievous sparkle in Miss Haldane's eyes, but she +answered with becoming gravity: "Wisdom, as you seem to intimate, comes +with age, and it is allowable to change one's opinions. Now it seems to +me that all things happen, more often against our will than as the +result of it, when the invisible powers behind us decree. For instance, +who could have anticipated yesterday that we two should meet to-night at +table, or who could say whether this assembly, brought about by a +blizzard, may not be the first scene of either a tragedy or a comedy?" + +I was more at home when Haldane turned the conversation upon practical +matters, such as wheat and cattle, than when discussing abstract +possibilities; but I afterwards remembered that my fair companion's +speech was prophetic, and, as I glanced about, it struck me that there +were dramatic possibilities in the situation. We were a strangely +assorted company, and to one who had spent eight years in the wilderness +the surroundings were striking. Tall wax candles in silver standards, +flickering a little when the impact of the snow-laden gale shook the +lonely dwelling, lighted the table. The rest of the long room was +wrapped in shadow, save when the blaze from the great open hearth flung +forth its uncertain radiance. The light flashed upon cut glass and +polished silver, and forced up against the dusky background the faces of +those who sat together. + +Carson Haldane, owner of Bonaventure, which he occasionally visited, sat +at the head of the table, a clean-shaven, dark-haired man of little more +than middle age, whose slightly ascetic appearance concealed a very +genial disposition. He was a man of mark, a daring speculator in mills +and lands and mines, and supposed to be singularly successful. Why he +bought Bonaventure ranch, or what he meant to do with it, nobody seemed +to know; but he acted in accordance with the customs of the place in +which he found himself, and because the distinctions of caste and wealth +are not greatly recognized on the prairie there was nothing incongruous +in his present company. Sergeant Mackay--lean, bronzed, and saturnine +when the humor seized him--now bent his grizzled head with keen gray +eyes that twinkled as he chatted to the fresh-faced girl in the simple +dress beside him. I knew this was Lucille Haldane, but had hardly +glanced at her. Cotton had evidently forgotten that he was a police +trooper, and, when he could, broke in with some boyish jest or English +story told in a different idiom from that which he generally adopted. He +seemed unconscious that he was recklessly betraying himself. + +"You must not turn my daughter's head with your reminiscences, Sergeant. +She is inclined to be over-romantic already," Haldane said, with a +kindly glance at the girl. "Possibly, however, one may excuse her +to-night, for you gentlemen live the stories she delights in. By the +way, I do not quite understand how you allowed the evildoer to escape, +Ormesby." + +Being forced to an explanation, I described the scene by the river as +best I could, looking at the sergeant a trifle defiantly until, at the +conclusion, he said: "I cannot compliment ye, Rancher Ormesby." + +I was about to retort, when a clear young voice, with a trace of +mischief in its tone, asked: "What would you have done had you been +there, and why were you so far behind, Sergeant?" + +"We do not ride pedigree horses," said Mackay, a trifle grimly. "I +should have shot his beast, an' so made sure of him in the first place." + +Then there was a sudden silence, when the girl, who turned upon him with +a gesture of indignation, said: "It would have been cruel, and I am glad +he got away. I saw his face when he passed us, and it was so drawn and +haggard that I can hardly forget it; but it was not that of a bad man. +What crime had he committed that he should be hunted so pitilessly?" + +Young Cotton colored almost guiltily under his tan as the girl's +indignant gaze fell upon him, and for the first time I glanced at her +with interest. She was by no means to be compared with her sister, but +she had a brave young face, slightly flushed with carmine and relieved +by bright eyes that now shone with pity. In contrast to Beatrice's dark +tresses the light of the candles called up bronze-gold gleams in her +hair, and her eyes were hazel, while the voice had a vibration in it +that seemed to awaken an answering thrill. Lucille Haldane reminded me +of what her sister had been, but there was a difference. Slighter in +physique, she was characterized by a suggestion of nervous energy +instead of Beatrice's queenly serenity. The latter moved her shoulders +almost imperceptibly, but I fancied the movement expressed subdued +impatience, and her face a slightly contemptuous apology, while her +father laughed a little. + +"You must be careful, Sergeant. My younger daughter is mistress of +Bonaventure, and rules us all somewhat autocratically; but, as far as I +can gather, your perceptions were tolerably correct in this instance, +Lucille," he said. "The man fell into the grip of the usurer, who, as +usual, drained his blood; but, while what he did may have been ethical +justice, he broke the laws of this country, and perhaps hardly deserves +your sympathy." + +"No?" said Lucille Haldane, and her eyes glistened. "I wish you had not +told us what took place at the river, Mr. Ormesby. Here we sit, warm and +sheltered, while that man, who has, perhaps, suffered so much already, +wanders, hungry, faint, and bleeding, through this awful cold and snow. +Just listen a moment!" + +In the brief silence that followed I could hear the windows rattle under +the impact of the driving snow and the eerie scream of the blast. I +shivered a little, having more than once barely escaped with my life +when caught far from shelter under such conditions, and it was borne in +upon me that the outlaw might well be summoned before a higher tribunal +than an earthly court by morning. + +It was Beatrice Haldane, who, with, I noticed, a warning glance at her +sister, turned the conversation into a more cheerful channel, and I was +well content when some time later she took her place near me beside the +hearth, while Lucille opened the piano at her father's request. Possibly +neither her voice nor her execution might have pleased a critic; but as +a break in our monotonous daily drudgery the music enchanted us, and the +grizzled sergeant straightened himself very erect, while a steely glint +came into his eyes as, perhaps to atone for her speech at dinner, the +girl sang, with fire and pathos, a Jacobite ballad of his own country. +Its effect may have been enhanced by the novelty; but there was a power +in Lucille Haldane which is held only by the innocent in spirit whose +generous enthusiasms are still unblunted, and it seemed to me that the +words and chords rang alternately with a deathless devotion and the +clank of the clansmen's steel. + +"I cannot thank ye. It was just grand," said Mackay, shaken into unusual +eloquence, when the girl turned and half-shyly asked if he liked the +song, though, as the soft candle light touched it, her face was slightly +flushed. "Ye made one see them--the poor lads with the claymores, who +came out of the mist with a faith that was not bought with silver to die +for their king. Loyal? Oh, ay! starving, ill-led, unpaid, they were +loyal to the death! There's a pattern for ye, Trooper Cotton, who, if +ye'll mind what he tells ye, will hold Her Majesty's commission some day +when Sergeant Mackay's gone. Ye'll excuse me, Miss Haldane, but the +music made me speak." + +I noticed that Trooper Cotton seemed to flinch a moment at the mention +of a commission, as though it recalled unpleasant memories, and that the +worthy sergeant appeared slightly ashamed of his outbreak, while +Beatrice Haldane showed a quiet amusement at his Caledonian weakness for +improving the occasion. Lucille, however, smiled at him again. "I think +that is the prettiest compliment I have ever had paid my poor singing," +she said naively. "But I have done my duty. I wonder if you would sing +if we asked you, Mr. Cotton?" + +"Lucille is at an impressionable age," Beatrice Haldane said to me. +"Later she may find much that she now delights in obsolete and +old-fashioned. We have grown very materialistic in these modern days." + +"God forbid!" I answered. "And I think the sergeant could tell you true +stories of modern loyalty." + +"For instance?" and I answered doggedly. "You can find instances for +yourself if you try to see beneath the surface. There are some very +plain men on this prairie who could furnish them, I think. Did you ever +hear of Rancher Dane, who stripped himself of all his possessions to +advance the career of a now popular singer? She married another man when +fame came to her, and it is said he knew she would never be more than a +friend to him from the beginning." + +"I have," and the speaker's eyes rested on me with a faint and yet +kindly twinkle in them. "He was a very foolish person, although it is +refreshing to hear of such men. Even if disappointment follow +consummation, aspiration is good for one. It is more blessed to give +than to receive, you know." + +Here, to the astonishment of his superior officer, Cotton, who played +his own accompaniment, broke into song, and he not only sang passably +well, but made a special effort to do his best, I think; while I +remember reflecting, as I glanced at the lad in uniform and the rich +man's daughter, who sat close by, watching him, how strange all this +would have seemed to anyone unused to the customs of the prairie. Ours, +however, is a new land, wide enough to take in not only the upright and +the strong of hand, but the broken in spirit and the outcast whom the +older country thrusts outside her gates; and, much more often than one +might expect, convert them into sturdy citizens. The past history of any +man is no concern of ours. He begins afresh on his merits, and by right +of bold enterprise or industry meets as an equal whatever substitute for +the older world's dignitaries may be found among us. How it is one +cannot tell, but the brand of servitude, with the coarseness or cringing +it engenders, fades from sight on the broad prairie. + +Beatrice Haldane presently bade me go talk to her sister, and though I +did so somewhat reluctantly, the girl interested me. I do not remember +all we said, and probably it would not justify the effort to recall it; +but she was pleasantly vivacious of speech, and genuinely interested in +the answers to her numerous questions. At length, however, she asked, +with a half-nervous laugh: "Did you ever feel, Mr. Ormesby, that +somebody you could not see was watching you?" + +"No," I answered lightly. "In my case it would not be worth while for +anybody to do so, you see." And Lucille Haldane first blushed prettily +and then shivered, for no apparent reason. + +"It must be a fancy, but I--felt--that somebody was crouching outside +there in the snow. Perhaps it is because the thought of that hunted man +troubles me still," said she. + +"He would never venture near the house, but rather try to find shelter +in the depths of the ravine--however, to reassure you. I wonder whether +it is snowing as hard as ever, Sergeant," I said, turning towards Mackay +as I concluded. + +The casements were double and sunk in a recess of the thick log walls, +over which red curtains were not wholly drawn. I flung one behind my +shoulder, and when the heavy folds shut out the light inside I could see +for some little distance the ghostly glimmer of the snow. Then, +returning to my companion, I said quietly: "There is nobody outside, +and I should have seen footprints if there had been." + +Presently the two girls withdrew to attend to some household duties, and +Haldane, who handed a cigar box around, said to me: "Did you do well +last season, Ormesby, and what are your ideas concerning the prospects +down here?" + +"I was partly fortunate and partly the reverse," I answered. "As perhaps +you heard, I put less into stock and sowed grain largely. It is my +opinion that, as has happened elsewhere, the plow furrows will presently +displace many of the unfenced cattle-runs. It is hardly wise to put all +one's eggs into the same basket; but my plowing was not wholly +successful, sir." + +"It is a long way to Laurentian tide-water, and, assisted by Winnipeg +mills, the Manitoba men would beat you," said Haldane, with a shrewd +glance at me. + +"For the East they certainly would, sir," I answered. "But I see no +reason why, if we get the promised railroad, we should not have our own +mills; and we lie near the gates of a good market in British Columbia." + +Haldane nodded approval, and I was gratified. He was not a practical +farmer, but it was said that he rarely made a mistake concerning the +financial aspect of any industrial enterprise. + +"You may be right. I wish I had taken in the next ranch when I bought +Bonaventure. But, from what I gather, you have extended your operations +somewhat rapidly. Is it permissible to ask how you managed in respect to +capital?" + +The speaker's tone was friendly, and I did not resent the question. "I +borrowed on interest, sir; after three good seasons I paid off one loan, +and, seeing an opportunity, borrowed again. As it happened, I lost a +number of my stock; but this year should leave me with much more +plowland broken and liabilities considerably reduced." + +"You borrowed from a bank?" asked Haldane, and looked a little graver +when I answered, "No." + +It was, as transpired later, a great pity he spoke again before I told +him where I had obtained the money; but fate would have it so. + +"I have grown gray at the game you are commencing; but, unless you have +a gift for it, it is a dangerous one, and the facilities for obtaining +credit are the bane of this country," he said. "I don't wish to check +any man's enterprise, but I knew the man who started you, and promised +him in his last sickness to keep an eye on you. Take it as an axiom that +if you can't get an honest partner you should deal only with the banks. +Otherwise the mortgage speculator comes uppermost in the end. He'll +carry you over, almost against your wishes, when times are good, but +when a few adverse seasons run in succession, he will take you by the +throat when you least expect it. Your neighbors are panic-stricken; +nobody with money will look at your property, and the blood-sucker +seizes his opportunity." + +"But if he sold one up under such circumstances he could not recover his +loan, much less charges and interest," I interposed; and Haldane +laughed. + +"A man of the class I'm describing would not wish to recover in that +way. He is not short of money, and knows bad seasons don't last forever, +so he sells off your property for, say, half its value, recovers most of +what he lent, and still--remember the oppressive interest--holds you +fast for the balance. He also puts up a dummy to buy the place--at +depression value--pays a foreman to run it, and when times improve sells +the property on which you spent the borrowed money for twice as much." + +Haldane nodded to emphasize his remarks as he leaned forward towards me. +"The man you were hunting was handled in a similar fashion, and it +naturally made him savage. We are neighbors, Ormesby, and if ever you +don't quite see your way out of a difficulty you might do worse than +consult me." + +He moved towards the others when I thanked him, and left me slightly +troubled. I knew his offer was genuine, but being obstinately proud, +there were reasons why he would be the last man I should care to ask for +assistance in a difficulty. That I should ever have anything worth +offering Beatrice Haldane appeared at one time a chimerical fancy; but +though her father's words left their impression, I had made some +progress along the road to prosperity. Ever since the brief days I spent +in her company in England a vague purpose had been growing into definite +shape; but that night I had discovered, with a shock, that if the +difference in wealth between us had been lessened, she was far removed +by experience, as well as culture, from a plain stock-raiser. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A MIDNIGHT VISITOR + + +The snow had thinned a little, though it still blew hard, when, before +retiring, I borrowed a lantern and made a dash for the stable. The horse +which had fallen was a valuable one, and, remembering how stiffly he had +moved, I was anxious about him. Winter should have been over, and this +was its last effort, but the cold struck through me, and I knew by the +depth of the snow that a horse would be a useless incumbrance to the +fugitive, who could not have made a league in any direction. He was +probably hiding in the ravine, and it appeared certain that he would be +captured on the morrow. I was therefore the less surprised when the +stolen mare shuffled towards me. The man had at least kept his promise +to release her when useless; but I was still slightly puzzled as to how +the beast had found her own way to Bonaventure. This meant work for me, +and I spent some time in the long, sod-protected building, which was +redolent of peppermint in the prairie hay, before returning to the +dwelling. My moccasins made no sound as I came softly through the hall, +but it was not my fault that, when I halted to turn out and hang up the +lantern, voices reached me through an open door. + +"You are in charge here, and will see that the lamps and stoves are +safe, Lucille," one of them said. "What did you think about our guests?" + +"I liked them immensely; the sergeant was simply splendid," answered +another voice. "The young trooper was very nice, too. I did not see much +of Mr. Ormesby. He talked a good deal to you." + +There was no mistaking Beatrice Haldane's rippling laugh. "Rancher +Ormesby is amusing for a change. One grows to long for something +original after the stereotyped products of the cities. Contact with +primitive men and fashions acts, for a time, as a tonic, although too +much of it might serve as, say, an emetic." + +It was a pity it had not occurred to me to rattle the lantern earlier, +for though women do not always mean what they say, this last observation +was not particularly gratifying. Neither was it quite what I had +expected from Beatrice Haldane. Whether the fair speaker guessed that +she had been overheard or not, I never knew; but because a ripple of +subdued laughter reached me as a door swung to, I surmised that her +sister had found cause for merriment. Tired as I was, I did not feel +immediately disposed for sleep, and, as Haldane had bidden us do just +what best pleased us, I looked into the troopers' quarters and found +Mackay and one of his subordinates, who had preferred to spend the +evening with the hired hands, asleep, and Cotton cleaning his carbine. + +"We'll be off before daybreak, and I had not a chance earlier. I would +not have missed a minute of this evening for promotion to-morrow. Of +course, I'll pay for it later; but that's the usual rule, and partly why +I'm serving the nation as Trooper Cotton now," he said, with a mirthless +smile. + +"You are getting as bad as the sergeant," I answered impatiently. "Come +along when you have finished, if you're not overtired, and we'll smoke +one of our host's cigars together. He left the box for us beside the big +hearth in the hall." + +"I'll be there in ten minutes. Mackay's so confoundedly particular about +the arms," said Cotton. + +The fire was burning redly in the hall, though the lamps were out, when +I ensconced myself in a deep chair behind a deerhide screen quaintly +embroidered by Indian women. The cigar was a good one, and I had much to +think about; so it was not until a shaft of light streamed athwart the +screen that, looking round it, I noticed that Lucille Haldane, carrying +a candle, had entered the long room. She set it down on a table, and +stood still, glancing about her, while I effaced myself behind the +screen. The girl had cast her hair loose, and it rippled in glossy +masses from her shoulders to the delicate inward curve of her waist, +setting forth the lithe shapeliness of her figure. Concluding that she +would withdraw as soon as she was satisfied that all was safe, I decided +it would be better if she remained unaware of my presence, and hoped +that Cotton would delay his coming. To judge by the soft footsteps, she +was returning, when a sudden coldness chilled the room. The light grew +uncertain, as though the candle flickered in a draught, and a door I had +not previously noticed opened noiselessly. + +Wondering what this might mean, I sat very still, and then stared +blankly, as a snow-whitened object came softly into the room. For a few +seconds I could almost have fancied it was a supernatural visitant +rather than a creature of flesh and blood, for the man's face was +ghastly, and he brought the chill of the grave with him. He was +bareheaded, his cheeks ashy gray, and clotted brown patches streaked the +rag bound round his forehead, while the snow was in his hair; but as he +moved forward I had no difficulty in recognizing him. I heard Lucille +Haldane draw in her breath with a gasp, and it was that which roused me +to action, but the intruder broke the silence first. + +"Please don't cry out. You are perfectly safe--and my life is in your +hands," he said. + +"Not exactly!" I broke in, and, flinging the screen sideways, stepped +between him and the girl. The stranger's hand dropped instinctively to +the holster at his waist, then he let it fall to his side. + +"You here, Rancher Ormesby! I freed your horse, and you have no further +cause for hunting me down," he said, with a composure which astonished +me. "I am sorry to alarm you, Miss Haldane, but it was the truth I told +you. I will not be taken, and it rests with you either to call the +troopers or to turn me out to freeze in the snow." + +In spite of his terrifying appearance, it was clear that the man was not +a ruffian. He spoke with deference, and his voice betrayed consideration +for the girl; and again a sense of compassion came upon me. Still, +there was my host's daughter to consider, and I turned towards her. + +"Will you go away and leave him to me?" I said. + +Lucille Haldane, glancing from one of us to the other, shook her head; +and I think we must have formed a striking tableau as we stood where the +candle-light flickered athwart one small portion of the long shadowy +room. The girl's face was pale, but a sudden wave of color swept across +it when, with a sinuous movement of her neck, she flung back the +lustrous masses of her hair. She was dressed as I had last seen her, +except that the lace collar was missing, and her full white throat +gleamed like ivory. Yet, though her voice trembled a little, she showed +small sign of fear. + +"Will you tell me how you came here?" she asked, and as the question +applied to either, we both answered it. + +"I have been here some little time, and feared to surprise you; but am +very glad it happened so," I said, and the stranger followed me. + +"Rancher Ormesby is unjustified in his inference. I came in by the +ante-room window. Earlier in the evening I lay outside in the lee of the +building watching you, and I felt that I might risk trusting you, so I +waited for an opportunity. I knew the troopers were here; but I was +freezing in the snow, and I wondered whether, out of charity, you would +give me a little food and let me hide in an outbuilding until the +blizzard blows over?" + +Lucille Haldane's fear, if it ever lasted more than a moment, had +vanished, and her eyes glistened with womanly pity, for the man's +strength was clearly spent; but she drew herself up a little. "What have +you done to come to this?" said she. + +"I am afraid I should tire you, and somebody might surprise us, before I +told you half," he answered logically. "You must take my word that all I +did was to resist by force the last effort of an extortioner to complete +my ruin. He lent me money, and after I had paid it back nearly twice +over he tried to seize the little that remained between me and +destitution. There was a fracas and he was shot--though the wound was +only trifling." + +I believed the terse story, and saw that Lucille Haldane did also. Then +I grew anxious lest Cotton should come in before she had made her +decision. "There is not a minute to lose. Your father at least should +know. Had you not better tell him while I stay here?" I said. + +"I don't think so. He has told me that I am mistress at Bonaventure, and +I might rouse the troopers in calling him," the girl answered steadily, +turning from me to the intruder. "I think I can believe you, and you +will find sleigh-robes in the harness-room at the end of the long +stable. Slip up the ladder and crawl in among the hay. The sergeant +would never suspect your presence there." + +"And Rancher Ormesby?" asked the other, with a glance at me. + +"Will accept the mistress of Bonaventure's decision," I answered dryly. +"But I am expecting one of the troopers, and you are risking your +liberty every second you stay." + +"He is starving," said Lucille Haldane. "There is brandy in that +sideboard, Mr. Ormesby, and I can find cold food in the kitchen. +Ah!----" + +I had forgotten, while I strained my ears, that Cotton's moccasins would +give no warning as he came down the passage, and I hurried forward, at +the girl's exclamation, a second too late to bolt the door. He came in +before I reached it, and halted at sight of the outlaw, gripping the +edge of the table as suddenly as though struck by a bullet. He was a lad +of spirit, and I saw there was some special cause for his consternation, +and that he was also apparently oblivious of the presence of two of the +party. + +"Good Lord! Is it you, Boone, we have been chasing all day?" he said. + +I seized a chair-back and measured the distance between myself and the +fugitive as I noticed the venomous pistol glint in his hand. But he +lowered the muzzle when he saw Cotton clearly, and, with a glance in +Miss Haldane's direction, let the weapon fall out of sight behind his +thigh. + +"It is," he answered steadily. "What in heaven's name brought--you--to +Canada, Charlie Cotton, and thrust you in my way? It was in a very +different character from your present one that I last saw you." + +Both apparently forgot the spectators in their mutual surprise, though +Lucille Haldane stared at them wide-eyed, which was small wonder, +considering that she was a romantic girl forced for the first time to +play a part in what threatened to prove an unpleasantly realistic +tragedy. It was hardly possible for her not to guess that these two had +been friends in very different circumstances. + +Cotton leaned heavily on the table, and, I fancied, groaned; then +straightened himself and answered in a strained voice that sounded very +bitter: "It would be useless to return the compliment, though the +contrast is more marked in your case. I didn't see your face, and the +name on our warrant suggested nothing. This is Her Majesty's uniform, at +least--though I would give ten years' pay if it weren't. Can't you see +that I'm Trooper Cotton, and must skulk away a deserter unless I arrest +you?" + +"There does not seem to be much choice," Boone said grimly. "Heaven +knows how little there is to attract any man in the life I have been +leading; but there is one good cause why I should not be Quixotic enough +to give myself up to oblige you. No! Stand back, Charlie Cotton--I don't +want to hurt you." + +The pistol barrel glinted as it rose into sight again, and, though no +one had spoken in more than a hoarse whisper before, a heavy silence +settled upon the room, through which I thought I could hear the girl +catch at her breath. I stood between her and the two men, but I was at +my wits' end as to what should be done. By this time my sympathies were +enlisted on the side of the unfortunate rancher; but the girl's presence +complicated the affair. It seemed imperative that she should be safely +out of the way before either an alarm was given or a struggle ensued. +Yet she had refused to vacate the position, and I realized that she +meant it. Meantime, Cotton's face was a study of indecision and disgust. +The lad was brave enough, but it seemed as though the mental struggle +had partly crippled his physical faculties. With a gesture of dismay he +turned suddenly to me. + +"It's a horrible combination, Ormesby. Of course, I can't tell anybody +all, but I knew this man well, and was indebted to him in the old +country. Now he has somehow broken the laws of the Dominion, and I'm +bound by my oath of service to arrest him. There is no other course +possible. Boone, I can't help it. Will you surrender quietly?" + +"No!" was the answer. "My liberty is precious because I have work to do. +Move or call out at your peril, Charlie!" + +The climax was evidently approaching, and still I could do nothing for +fear of jeopardizing Lucille Haldane's safety if I precipitated it. The +young lad, unarmed as he was, stiffened himself as for a spring, and I +wondered whether I could reach his opponent's pistol arm with the +chair-leg in time when the trooper moved or shouted. Then, because +feminine wits are often quicker than our own, I saw the girl's eyes were +fixed on me, as, unnoticed by the others, she pointed towards the +candle. Another second passed before I understood her; then, for the +light stood on the corner of the table nearest me, I swept one arm out, +and there was sudden darkness as I hurled it sideways across the room. +The door into the main passage swung to, and Cotton fell over something +as he groped his way towards it, while, though strung up in a state of +tension, I smiled, hearing--what he did not--somebody brush through the +other door, which it was evident had escaped his notice. + +Next, feeling that the girl was mistress of the position, I stirred the +sinking fire until a faint brightness shone out from the hearth. It just +sufficed to reveal Lucille Haldane standing with her back to the door +the fugitive had not passed through. This quick-witted maneuver +sufficed to deceive the bewildered representative of the law. "You +cannot pass, Trooper Cotton," she said. + +The lad positively groaned. "Do you know that you are disgracing me +forever, Miss Haldane?" he said, in a hoarse appeal. "You must let me +pass!" + +The girl resolutely shook her head, and the dying light showed me her +slender fingers tightly clenched on the handle of the door. "I will see +that you do not suffer; but I am mistress of this house, and I think you +are an English gentleman, Trooper Cotton," she said. + +Then, with an air of desperation, the lad turned to me. "Won't you try +to persuade her, Ormesby?" + +"No," I said dryly. "I am Miss Haldane's guest, and not a police +officer. I am sorry for you, Cotton, but you have done your best, and +even if you forget your own traditions I'll certainly see you show her +due respect. It is not your fault that I have twice your strength, but +it will be if, while Miss Haldane remains here, you summon your comrades +by a shout." + +"Confound you! You never thought----" he broke out; but, ceasing +abruptly, he left the sentence incomplete; and, feeling that there were +two sides to the question, I stood aside while he commenced a circuit of +the room, which he might have done earlier. Still, Lucille Haldane did +not move, for each moment gained might be valuable, until, with an +ejaculation, he discovered and sprang through the other door. Then, +hurrying to her side, I laid my hand reassuringly on the girl's arm and +found she was trembling like a leaf as I drew the door open. + +"You must not lose a moment, and I think you should tell your father; +but you can trust me to manage Cotton and keep what has passed a +secret," I said. + +There was a faint "Thank you"; while hardly had she flitted down the +passage than a shout rang out, and hurrying as for my life, I found +Cotton pounding on the inner door of the ante-room. Noticing that the +window was shut, I seized his shoulder and gripped it hard. "Pull +yourself together, and remember, that whatever tale you tell, Miss +Haldane does not figure in it," I said. "A horse would be no use to +him; but I'll make sure by a run to the stable while you acquaint the +sergeant." + +It was still snowing, and the drifts were deep, but I managed to plunge +my feet into the hollows left by somebody who had preceded me, and there +was a bottle of brandy in my pocket. I returned, floundering as heavily +as possible along my outward tracks--for one learns a good deal when +trailing wandering steers or stalking antelope--and met Cotton, who now +carried his carbine. It was evident that he was bent on discharging his +duty thoroughly, for when I announced that no horses were missing, he +answered shortly: "Thanks; but I'm going myself to see. Mackay and Mr. +Haldane are waiting for you." + +I smiled to myself. Trooper Cotton had acquired small proficiency in the +art of tracking, and I knew that my footprints would not only deceive +him, but that, following them, he would obliterate evidence that might +have been conclusive to the sergeant's practiced eyes. All the male +inmates of Bonaventure had gathered, half-dressed, in the hall, and +Sergeant Mackay, who was asking questions, turned to me. "Ye were here +when he came in, Rancher Ormesby?" + +"I was," I answered. "I didn't hear him until he was in the room; but he +seemed starving, and presumably ran the risk in the hope of obtaining +food." + +"Why did ye not seize him or raise the alarm?" asked the sergeant; and I +shrugged my shoulders. + +"I was wholly unarmed, and he is a desperate man with a pistol. You may +remember mentioning that his capture was not my business." + +"I mind that I have seen ye take as heavy risks when, for a five-dollar +wager, ye drove a loaded sledge over the rotten ice," said the sergeant, +with a searching glance at me. "While ye did nothing Trooper Cotton came +in to help ye?" + +"Just so! He had no weapon either, but appeared quite willing to face +the outlaw's pistol, when the candle went out, and the man must have +slipped out by the second door in the dark. I made for the stables at +once, but all the horses were safe. My own, I discovered earlier, had +come back by itself." + +"Ye showed little sense," said Mackay; while Haldane glanced curiously +at me. "What would he do with a horse in two foot of snow? There are +points I'm no' clear about; but there'll be time for questions later. +Ah! Found ye anything, Trooper Cotton?" + +"No," said the lad. "Nothing but the footprints made by Ormesby; and I +can only presume that, there being no lee on that side, the wind would +fill the horse-thief's track with snow. He would never risk trying the +outbuildings when he knew that we were here." + +"No," was the sergeant's answer. "He'll be for the ravine. We'll take +our leave, Mr. Haldane, with thanks for your hospitality, leaving the +horses in the meantime. It is a regret to me we have brought this +disturbance upon ye." + +Two minutes later the police had vanished into the snow, and in another +ten Bonaventure was almost silent again. I went back to my couch and +slept soundly, being too wearied to wonder whether I had done well or +ill. Next morning Haldane called me into a room of his own. + +"My daughter has told me what took place last night, and while, in one +sense, I'm indebted to you, Ormesby, I really can't decide whether you +showed a lamentable lack of judgment in abetting her," he said. "She is +a brave little soul, but does not always spare time to think. Frankly, I +wish this thing had not come about as it did." + +He spoke seriously, but there was a kindliness in his eyes, and it was +easy to see that Carson Haldane's younger daughter was his idol, which +slightly puzzled me. There were those who heaped abuse upon his head, +and it is possible his financial operations did not benefit everybody, +for when men grow rich by speculation somebody must lose. There are, +however, many sides to every nature, and I always found him an upright, +kindly gentleman, while only those who knew him best could guess that he +was faithful to a memory, and that the gracious influence of one he had +lost still swayed him. + +"I am sorry if I acted indiscreetly, sir; but I could think of no other +course at the time," I said. "Do you know where the man is now?" + +"It is sometimes unwise to ask questions, and I have not inquired too +closely," and Haldane laid his hand on my shoulder. "It must be our +secret, Ormesby, and I should prefer that Miss Haldane did not share it; +this--I suppose one must call it an escapade--might trouble her. I +presume you could rely on that lad's discretion. He was evidently not +brought up for a police trooper." + +"I think you could depend on him, sir; and, as you know, a good many +others in this country follow vocations they were never intended for." + +"Well, we will say no more on that subject," he answered. "The doctors +tell me I have been working under too great a strain, and as they +recommend quiet and relaxation, I decided to try six months' practical +ranching. My partner will no doubt arrange that other folks pay the +bill; but this is hardly a peaceful beginning." + +Haldane laughed before he added, significantly: "In one respect I'm duly +grateful, Ormesby, and--in confidence--here is a proof of it. You are +staking high on the future of this region. Well, the railroad will be +built, which will naturally make a great difference in the value of +adjacent land. You will, however, remember that, in accordance with +medical advice, I am now ranching for my health." + +I remembered it was said that Carson Haldane could anticipate long +before anybody else what the powers at Ottawa would sanction or veto, +and that a hint from him was valuable. "It is good news, and I presume +that Bonaventure will have extended its boundaries by the time you +recover, sir," I said. + +That evening Sergeant Mackay returned to requisition provisions, and +departed again. He was alone, and very much disgusted, having no news of +the fugitive. He did not revisit Bonaventure during the next day I +remained there, and presumably the man he sought slipped away when the +coast was clear. Perhaps the fact that the whirling drifts would +obliterate his tracks had deceived the sergeant, and we supposed the +contrabandists who dealt in prohibited liquor had smuggled him across +the American frontier. The night before I took my leave Beatrice Haldane +looked across at her sister, who sat sewing near the stove, and then at +me. + +"Since you recovered your horse I am not altogether sorry the hunted man +got away," she said. "There are, however, two things about the affair +which puzzle me--how the candlestick my sister carried when she made the +rounds reached the table in the hall where it is never left; and why I +should find the candle it contained under the sideboard in the room the +intruder entered! Can you suggest any solution, Mr. Ormesby?" + +I felt uncomfortable, knowing that Beatrice Haldane was not only clever +herself, but the daughter of a very shrewd man, while her eyes were +fixed steadily on me. Lucille's head bent lower over her sewing, and, +though I would have given much to answer frankly, I felt that she +trusted me. So I said, as indifferently as I could: "There might be +several, and the correct one very simple. Somebody must have knocked the +candlestick over in his hurry and forgotten about it. Have you been +studying detective literature latterly?" + +Beatrice Haldane said nothing further; but I realized that I had +incurred her displeasure, and was not greatly comforted by the grateful +glance her sister flashed at me. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE TIGHTENING OF THE NET + + +It was a hot morning of early summer when I rode up the low rise to my +house at Gaspard's Trail. A few willows straggled behind one side of it, +but otherwise it rose unsheltered from the wind-swept plain, which, +after a transitory flush of greenness, had grown dusty white again. I +had been in the saddle since sunrise, when the dewy freshness had +infused cheerfulness and vigor into my blood, but now it was with a +feeling of dejection I reined in my horse and sat still, looking about +me. + +The air was as clear as crystal, so that the birches far off on the +western horizon cut sharply against the blue. All around the rest of the +circle ran an almost unbroken sweep of white and gray, streaked in one +place by the dust of alkali rolling up from a strip of bitter water, +which flashed like polished steel. Long plow-furrows stretched across +the foreground, but even these had been baked by pitiless sunshine to +the same monotony of color, and it was well I had not sown the whole of +them, for sparse, sickly blades rose in the wake of the harrows where +tall wheat should have been. Behind these stood the square log dwelling +and straggling outbuildings of logs and sod, all of a depressing +ugliness, while two shapeless yellow mounds, blazing under the sunshine, +represented the strawpile granaries. There was no touch of verdure in +all the picture, for it had been a dry season, which boded ill for me. + +Presently a horse and a rider, whose uniform was whitened by the fibrous +dust, swung out of a shallow ravine--or _coulee_, as we called them--and +Trooper Cotton cantered towards me. "Hotter than ever, and I suppose +that accounts for your downcast appearance," he said. "I've never seen +weather like it. Even the gophers are dead." + +"It grows sickening; but you are wrong in one respect," I answered +ruefully. "All the gophers in the country have collected around my grain +and wells. As they fall in after every hearty meal of wheat, we have +been drinking them. You are just in time for breakfast, and I'll be glad +of your company. One overlooks a good deal when things are going well, +but the sordid monotony of these surroundings palls on one now and +then." + +"You are not the only man who feels it," said the trooper, while a +temporary shadow crossed his face. "You have been to Bonaventure too +often, Ormesby. Of course, it's delightful to get into touch with things +one has almost forgotten, but I don't know that it's wise for a poor +man, which is, perhaps, why I allowed Haldane to take me in last night. +You, however, hardly come into the same category." + +"I shall soon, unless there's a change in the weather," I answered with +a frown. "But come in, and tell me what Haldane--or his daughters--said +to you." + +"I didn't see much of Miss Haldane," said Cotton, as we rode on +together. "Of course, she's the embodiment of all a woman of that kind +should be; but I can't help feeling it's a hospitable duty when she +talks to me. You see I've forgotten most of the little I used to know, +and she is, with all respect, uncomfortably superior to an average +individual." + +I was not pleased with Trooper Cotton, but did not tell him so. +"Presumably you find Miss Lucille understands you better?" I answered, +with a trace of ill-humor. + +The lad looked straight at me. "I'm not responsible for the weather, +Ormesby," he said, a trifle stiffly. "Still, since you have put it so, +it's my opinion that Miss Lucille Haldane would understand anybody. She +has the gift of making you feel it also. To change the subject, however, +I was over warning Bryan about his fireguard furrows, and yours hardly +seem in accordance with the order." + +I laughed, and said nothing further until a man in a big straw hat +appeared in the doorway. "Who's that?" asked Cotton, drawing his bridle. + +"Foster Lane," I answered. "He came over yesterday." + +"Ah!" said the trooper, pulling out his watch. "On reflection, perhaps I +had better not come in. I am due at the Cree reserve by ten, and, as my +horse is a little lame, I don't want to press him. This time you will +excuse me." + +His excuse was certainly lame, as I could see little the matter with the +horse; and, being short of temper that morning, I answered sharply: "I +won't press you; but is it a coincidence that you remember this only +when you recognize Lane?" + +Trooper Cotton, who was frank by nature and a poor diplomatist, looked +uneasy. "I don't want to offend you, Ormesby, but one must draw the line +somewhere, and I will not sit down with that man," he said. "I know he's +your guest, but you would not let me back out gracefully, and, if it's +not impertinent, I'll add that I'm sorry he is." + +"I congratulate you on being able to draw lines, but just now I myself +cannot afford to be particular," I answered dryly; and when, with a +feeble apology, Cotton rode away, it cost me an effort to greet the +other man civilly. + +As breakfast was ready, he took his place at the table, and glanced at +me whimsically. Foster Lane was neither very prepossessing nor +distinctly the reverse in appearance. He was stout, and somewhat flabby +in face, with straw-colored hair and a thick-lipped mouth; but while his +little eyes had a humorous twinkle, there was a suggestion of force as +well as cunning about him. He was of middle age, and besides +representing a so-styled "development company" was, by profession, land +agent, farmers' financier, and mortgage jobber, and, as naturally +follows, a usurer. + +"Say, I'm not deaf yet, Ormesby," he commenced, with coarse good-humor. +"Particular kind of trooper that one, isn't he? Is he another broken-up +British baronet's youngest son, or--because they only raise his kind in +the old country--what has the fellow done?" + +"He's a friend of mine," I answered. "I never inquired of him. Still, +I'm sorry you overheard him." + +"That's all right," was the answer. "My hide is a pretty thick one; and +one needs such a protection in my business. Give a dog a bad name and +you may as well hang him, Rancher Ormesby, although I flatter myself I'm +a necessity in a new country. How many struggling ranchers would go +under in a dry season but for my assistance; and how many fertile acres +now growing the finest wheat would lie waste but for me? Yet, when I ask +enough to live on, in return, every loafer without energy or foresight +abuses me. It's a very ungrateful world, Ormesby." + +Lane chuckled as he wiped his greasy forehead, and paused before he +continued: "I've been thinking all night about carrying over the loan +you mentioned, and though money's scarce just now, this is my +suggestion. I'll let you have three-fourths of its present appraised +value on Crane Valley, and you can then clear Gaspard's Trail, and +handle a working balance. I'd sooner do that than carry over--see?" + +I set down my coffee cup because I did not see. I had expected he would +have exacted increased interest on the loan due for repayment, and +interest in Western Canada is always very high; but it seemed curious +that he should wish to change one mortgage for another. It also struck +me that if, in case I failed to make repayment, Crane Valley would be +valuable to him, it should be worth at least as much to me. + +"That would not suit me," I said. + +"No?" and Lane spoke slowly, rather as one asking a question than with a +hint of menace. "Feel more like letting me foreclose on you?" + +"You could not do that, because I should pay you off," I said. "I could +do it, though there's no use denying that it would cripple me just now. +As of course you know, whatever I could realize on at present, when +everybody is short of money and trade at a standstill, should bring +twice as much next season. That is why I wish the loan to run on." + +"Well!" And Lane helped himself before he answered. "In that case, I'll +have to tax you an extra ten per cent. It seems high, but no bank would +look at encumbered property or a half-developed place like Crane Valley. +Take it, or leave it, at six months' date. That would give you time to +sell your fat stock and realize on your harvest." + +I fancied there was a covert sneer in the last words, because I had +faint hope of any harvest, and answered accordingly. "It seems +extortionate, but even so, should pay me better than sacrificing now." + +"Money's scarce," said Lane suavely. "I'm going on to Lawrence's, and +will send you in the papers. Lend me as good a horse as you have for a +day or two." + +I did not like the man's tone, and the request was too much like an +order; but I made no further comment; though a load seemed lifted from +me when he rode away, and I started with my foreman to haul home prairie +hay. It was fiercely hot, and thick dust rolled about our light wagon, +while each low rise, cut off as it were from the bare levels, floated +against the horizon. The glare tired one's vision, and, half-closing my +aching eyes, I sank into a reverie. For eight long years I had toiled +late and early, taxing the strength of mind and body to the utmost. I +had also prospered, and lured on by a dream, first dreamed in England, I +grew more ambitious, breaking new land and extending my herds with +borrowed capital. That had also paid me until a bad season came, and +when both grain and cattle failed, Lane became a menace to my +prosperity. It was a bare life I and my foreman lived, for every dollar +hardly won was entrusted in some shape to the kindly earth again, and no +cent wasted on comforts, much less luxuries; but I had seldom time to +miss either of them, and it was not until Haldane brought his daughters +to Bonaventure that I saw what a man with means and leisure might make +of his life. Then came the reaction, and there were days when I grew +sick of the drudgery and heavy physical strain; but still, spurred on +alternately by hope and fear, I relaxed no effort. + +Now, artificial grasses are seldom sown on the prairie where usually the +natural product grows only a few inches high, and as building logs are +scarce, implements are often kept just where they last were used. It was +therefore necessary to seek hay worth cutting in a dried-out slough, or +swamp, and next to find the mower, which might lie anywhere within a +radius of four miles or so. We came upon them both together, the mower +lying on its side, red with rust, amid a stretch of waist-high grass. +The latter was harsh and wiry, heavy-scented with wild peppermint, and +made ready for us by the sun. + +There were, however, preliminary difficulties, and I had worked myself +into a state of exasperation before the rusty machine could be induced +to run. After a vigorous hammering and the reckless use of oil the pair +of horses were at last just able to haul it, groaning vehemently, +through the dried-up swamp. I was stripped almost to the skin by this +time, the dust that rose in clouds turned to mire upon my dripping +cheeks and about my eyes, while bloodthirsty winged creatures hovered +round my head. + +"This," said Foreman Thorn, as he wiped the red specks from his face and +hands, "is going to be a great country. We can raise the finest insects +on the wide earth already. The last time I was down to Traverse a man +came along from somewhere with a gospel tent, and from what he said +there wasn't much chance for anyone to raise cattle. He'd socked it to +us tolerable for half-an-hour at least, when Tompson's Charlie gets up +and asks him: 'Did you ever break half-thawn sod with oxen?' 'No, my +man; but this interruption is unseemly,' says he. 'It's not a +conundrum,' says Charlie. 'Did you ever sleep in a mosquito muskeg or +cut hay in a dried-out slough?' and the preacher seeing we all wanted an +answer, shakes his head. 'Then you start in and try, and find out that +there are times when a man must talk or bust, before you worry us,' says +Charlie. But who's coming along now?" + +I had been too busy to pay much attention to the narrative or to notice +a rattle of wheels, and I looked up only when a wagon was drawn up +beside the slough. A smooth-shaven man, with something familiar about +his face, sat on the driving-seat smiling down at me. + +"Good-morning, Rancher Ormesby. Wanting any little pictures of yourself +to send home to friends in the old country?" he said, pointing to what +looked like the lens of a camera projecting through the canvas behind +him. "I'll take you for half-a-dollar, as you are, if you'll give me the +right to sell enlargements as a prairie study." + +The accent was hardly what one might have expected from one of the +traveling adventurers who at intervals wandered across the country, and +I looked at the speaker with a puzzled air. "I have no time to spare for +fooling, and don't generally parade half-naked before either the public +or my civilized friends," I said. + +"Some people look best that way," answered the other, regarding me +critically; whereupon Thorn turned round and grinned. "The team and tall +grass would make an effective background. Stand by inside there, Edmond. +It's really not a bad model of a bare throat and torso, and as I don't +know that your face is the best of you, the profile with a shadow on it +would do--just so! Say, I wonder did you know those old canvas overalls +drawn in by the leggings are picturesque and become you? There--I'm much +obliged to you." + +A faint click roused me from the state of motionless astonishment his +sheer impudence produced, and when I strode forward Thorn's grin of +amusement changed to one of expectancy. "You don't want any +hair-restorer, apparently, though I've some of the best in the Dominion +at a dollar the bottle; but I could give you a salve for the +complexion," continued the traveler, and I stopped suddenly when about +to demand the destruction of the negative or demolish his camera. + +"Good heavens, Boone! Is it you; and what is the meaning of this +mummery?" I asked, staring at him more amazed than ever. + +"Just now I'm called Adams, if you please," said the other, holding out +his hand. "I hadn't an opportunity for thanking you for your forbearance +when we met at Bonaventure, but I shall not readily forget it. This is +not exactly mummery. It provides me with a living, and suits my purpose. +I could not resist the temptation of trying to discover whether you +recognized me, or whether I was playing my part artistically." + +"Are you not taking a big risk, and why don't you exploit a safer +district?" I asked; and the man smiled as he answered: "I don't think +there's a settler around here who would betray me even if he guessed my +identity, and the troopers never got a good look at me. I live two or +three hundred miles east, you see, and the loss of a beard and mustache +alters any man's appearance considerably. I also have a little business +down this way. Have you seen anything of Foster Lane during the last +week or two?" + +"Yes," I said. "He has just ridden over from my place to Lawrence's, in +Crane Valley." + +"You have land there, too," said Boone, as though aware of it already; +and when I nodded, added: "Then if you are wise you will see that devil +does not get his claws on it. I presume you are not above taking a hint +from me?" + +I looked straight at him. "I know very little of you except that there +is a warrant out for your arrest, and I am not addicted to taking advice +from strangers." + +Boone returned my gaze steadily without resentment, and I had time to +take note of him. He was a tall, spare, sinewy man, deeply bronzed like +most of us; but now that he had, as it were, cast off all pertaining to +the traveling pedlar, there was an indefinite something in his speech +and manner which could hardly have been acquired on the prairie. He did +not look much over thirty, but his forehead was seamed, and from other +signs one might have fancied he was a man with a painful history. Then +he flicked the dust off his jean garments with the whip, and laughed a +little. + +"I am an Englishman, Rancher Ormesby, and, needless to say, so are you. +We are not a superfluously civil people, and certain national +characteristics betray you. I fancy we shall be better acquainted, and, +that being so, feel prompted to tell you a story which, after what +passed at Bonaventure, you perhaps have a right to know. You will stop a +while for lunch, anyway, and if you have no objections I will take mine +along with you." + +I could see no reasonable objection to this, and presently we sat +together under the wagon for the sake of coolness, while, when the mower +ceased its rattle, the dust once more settled down upon the slough. It +was almost too hot to eat; there was no breath of wind, and the glare of +the sun-scorched prairie grew blinding. + +"I should not wonder if you took most kindly to indirect advice, and +there is a moral to this story," said Boone, when I lit my pipe. "Some +years ago a disappointed man, who knew a little about land and horses, +came out from the old country to farm on the prairie, bringing with him +a woman used hitherto to the smoother side of life. He saw it was a good +land and took hold with energy, believing the luck had turned at last, +while the woman helped him gallantly. For a time all went well with +them, but the loneliness and hardship proved too much for the woman, +whose strength was of the spirit and not of the body, and she commenced +to droop and pine. She made no complaint, but her eyes lost their +brightness, and she grew worn and thin, while the man grew troubled. She +had already given up very much for him. He saw his neighbors prospering +on borrowed capital, and, for the times were good, determined to risk +sowing a double acreage. That meant comfort instead of privation if all +went well, and, toiling late and early, he sowed hope for a brighter +future along with the grain. So far it is not an uncommon story." + +I nodded, when the speaker, pausing, stared somberly towards the +horizon, for since that English visit I also had staked all I hoped for +in the future on the chances of the seasons. + +"The luck went against him," the narrator continued. "Harvest frost, +drought, and summer hail followed in succession, and when the borrowed +money melted the man who held the mortgage foreclosed. He was within his +rights in this, but he went further, for while there were men in that +district who would, out of kindliness or as a speculation, have bought +up the settler's possessions at fair prices, the usurer had his grasp +also on them, and when a hint was sent them they did nothing. Therefore +the auction was a fraud and robbery, and all was bought up by a +confederate for much less than its value. There was enough to pay the +loan off--although the interest had almost done so already--but not +enough to meet the iniquitous additions; and the farmer went out ruined +on to Government land with a few head of stock a richer man he had once +done a service to gave him; but the woman sickened in the sod hovel he +built. There was no doctor within a hundred miles, and the farmer had +scarcely a dollar to buy her necessaries. Even then the usurer had not +done with him. He entered proceedings to claim the few head of cattle +for balance of the twice-paid debt. The farmer could not defend himself; +somebody took money for willful perjury to evade a clause of the +homestead exemptions, and the usurer got his order. The woman lay very +ill when he came with a band of desperadoes to seize the cattle. They +threatened violence; a fracas followed, and the farmer's hands were, for +once, unsteady on the rifle he did not mean to use, for when a drunken +cowboy would have ransacked his dwelling the trigger yielded +prematurely, and the usurer was carried off with a bullet through his +leg. The woman died, and was buried on a lonely rise of the prairie; and +the man rode out with hatred in his heart and a price upon his head. You +should know the rest of the story--but the sequel is to follow. It was +not without an effort or a motive I told it you." + +I stretched out my hand impulsively towards the speaker. "It is +appreciated. I need not ask one name, but the other----" + +"Is Foster Lane; and in due time he shall pay in full for all." + +Boone's voice, which had grown a trifle husky, sank with the last words +to a deeper tone, and the sinewy right hand he raised for a moment fell +heavily, tight-clenched, upon his knee. He said nothing further for a +while, but I felt that if ever the day of reckoning came one might be +sorry for Foster Lane. + +Presently he shrugged his shoulders and rose abruptly. "I have a case of +pomade to sell the Swedes over yonder, and if my luck is good, some +photographs to take," he said, resuming his former manner. "I presume +you wouldn't care to decorate your house with tin-framed oleographs of +German manufacture. I have a selection, all of the usual ugliness. +Whatever happens, one must eat, you know. Well, Lane's gone into Crane +Valley, and it happens I'm going that way, too. This, I hope, is the +beginning of an acquaintance, Ormesby." + +He sold Thorn a bottle of some infallible elixir before he climbed into +his tented wagon, and left me troubled as he jolted away across the +prairie. One thing, however, I was resolved upon, and that was to pay +off Foster Lane at the earliest opportunity. By parting with my best +stock at a heavy sacrifice it seemed just possible to accomplish it. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A SURPRISE PARTY + + +Except when the snow lies deep one has scanty leisure on the prairie, +and when Adams departed Thorn and I hurriedly recommenced our task. We +had lost time to make up, and vied with each other; for I had discovered +that, even in a country where all work hard, much more is done for the +master who can work himself. Pitching heavy trusses into a wagon is not +child's play at that temperature, but just then the exertion brought +relief, and I was almost sorry when Thorn went off with the lurching +vehicle, leaving me to the mower and my thoughts. The latter were not +overpleasant just then. Still, the machine needed attention, and the +horses needed both restraint and encouragement, for at times they seemed +disposed to lie down, and at others, maddened by the insects, inclined +to kick the rusty implement into fragments, and I grew hoarse with +shouting, while the perspiration dripped from me. + +It was towards six o'clock, and the slanting sunrays beat pitilessly +into my face, which was thick with fibrous grime, when, with Thorn +lagging behind, I tramped stiffly beside the wagon towards my house. My +blue shirt was rent in places; the frayed jean jacket, being minus its +buttons, refused to meet across it; and nobody new to the prairie would +have taken me for the owner of such a homestead as Gaspard's Trail. +Thick dust, through which mounted figures flitted, rolled about the +dwelling, and a confused bellowing mingled with the human shouts that +rose from behind the long outbuildings. + +"It's Henderson's boys bringing shipping stock along. Somebody's been +squeezing him for money or he wouldn't sell at present," said Thorn, who +rejoined me. "They'll camp here to-night and clean up the larder. I +guess most everybody knows how Henderson feeds them." + +There are disadvantages attached to the prairie custom of free +hospitality, and I surmised that Henderson's stock riders might have +pushed on to the next homestead if they had not known that we kept a +good table at Gaspard's Trail. Nevertheless, I was thankful that no +stranger need ever leave my homestead hungry, and only wondered whether +my cook's comments would be unduly sulphurous. When I reached the +wire-fenced corral, which was filled with circling cattle and an +intolerable dust, a horseman flung his hand up in salute. + +"We're bound for the Indian Spring Bottom with an H triangle draft," he +said. "The grass is just frizzled on the Blackfeet run, and we figured +we'd camp right here with you to-night." + +"That's all right; but couldn't you have fetched Carson's by dusk +without breaking anybody's neck; and yonder beasts aren't branded +triangle H," I said. + +The horseman laughed silently in prairie fashion. "Well, we might and we +mightn't; but Carson's a close man, and I've no great use for stale +flapjacks and glucose drips. No, sir, I'm not greedy, and we'll just let +Carson keep them for himself. Those beasts marked dash circle are the +best of the lot. Lane's put the screw on Redmond, and forced him to +part. Redmond's down on his luck. He's crawling round here somewhere, +cussing Lane tremendous." + +"Lane seems to own all this country," I answered irritably. "Has he got +a hold on your master, too? I told him and Redmond I was saving that +strip of sweet prairie for myself." + +"He will own all the country, if you bosses don't kick in time," was the +dry answer. "I don't know how ours is fixed, but he's mighty short in +temper, and you've no monopoly of unrecorded prairie. Say, it might save +your boys a journey if we took your stock along with us and gave them a +chance before this draft cleans all the sweet grass up. Redmond told me +to mention it." + +The offer was opportune, and I accepted it; then hurried towards the +galvanized iron shed which served as summer quarters for the general +utility man who acted as cook. He was a genius at his business, though +he had learned it on board a sailing ship. He was using fiery language +as he banged his pans about. "It's a nice state of things when a +cattle-whacking loafer can walk right in and tell me what he wants for +his supper," he commenced. "General Jackson! it's bad enough when a +blame cowboy outfit comes down on one like the locusts and cleans +everything up, but it's worse just when I'm trying to fix a special +high-grade meal." + +"I'm not particular. What is good enough for a cowboy is good enough for +a rancher any time," I said; and the cook, who was despotic master of +his own domain, jerked his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of +the house. "Guess it mightn't be to-night. Get out, and give me a fair +show. You're blocking up the light." + +I went on towards the house, wondering what he could mean, but halted on +the threshold of our common room, a moment too late. We had worked night +and day during spring and early summer, and the sparely-furnished room +was inches deep in dust. Guns, harness I had no time to mend, and +worn-out garments lay strewn about it, save where, in a futile attempt +to restore order, I had hurled a pile of sundries into one corner. +Neither was I in exactly a condition suitable for feminine society, and +Beatrice Haldane, who had by some means preserved her dainty white dress +immaculate, leaned back in an ox-hide chair regarding me with quiet +amusement. Her father lounged smoking in the window seat, and it was his +younger daughter who, when I was about to retreat, came forward and +mischievously greeted me. + +"I believe you were ready to run away, Mr. Ormesby, and you really don't +seem as much pleased to see us as you ought to be," she said. "You know +you often asked us to visit you, so you have brought this surprise party +on your own head." + +"I hope you will not suffer for your rashness, but you see those men out +there. They generally leave famine behind them when they come," I said. + +The girl nodded. "They are splendid. I have been talking to them, and +made one sit still while I drew him. Please don't trouble about supper. +I have seen cookie, and he's going to make the very things I like." + +Miss Haldane's eyebrows came down just a trifle, and I grew uneasy, +wondering whether it was the general state of chaos or my own appearance +which had displeased her; but Haldane laughed heartily before he broke +in: "Lucille is all Canadian. She has not been to Europe yet, and I am +not sure that I shall send her. She has examined the whole place +already, and decided that you must be a very----" + +The girl's lips twitched with suppressed merriment, but she also +reddened a little; and I interposed: "A very busy man, was it not? Now +you must give me ten minutes in which to make myself presentable." + +I was glad to escape, and, for reasons, withdrew sideways in crab +fashion, while what suspiciously resembled smothered laughter followed +me. By good luck, and after upsetting the contents of two bureaus upon +the floor, I was able to find garments preserved for an occasional visit +to the cities, and, flinging the window open, I hailed a man below to +bring me a big pail of water. He returned in ten minutes with a very +small one, and with the irate cook expostulating behind him, while I +feared his comments would be audible all over the building. + +"Cook says the well's playing out, and washing's foolishness this +weather. The other pail's got dead gophers in it, and Jardine allows he +caught cookie fishing more of them out of the water he used for the +tea." + +"Fling them out, and for heaven's sake let me have the thing. I'm +getting used to gophers, and dead ones can't bite you," I said, fearing +that if the indignant cook got to close quarters the precious fluid +might be spilled. Then while I completed my toilet Cotton came in. + +"Perhaps I was hardly civil this morning," he commenced. "I'm out for +four days' fire-guard inspecting, and thought I'd come round and tell +you----" + +"That you saw the Bonaventure wagon heading in this direction," I +interposed. "Well, you're always welcome at Gaspard's Trail, and I +presume you won't feel tempted to draw the line at my present guests." + +Cotton dropped into my one sound chair. "I suppose I deserve it, +Ormesby. We shall not get such opportunities much longer, and one can't +help making the most of them," he said. + +We went down together; and there was no doubt that the cook had done his +best, while Haldane laughed and his younger daughter looked very demure +when, as we sat down at table, I stared about my room. It had lost its +bare appearance, the thick dust had gone, and there was an air of +comfort about it I had never noticed before. + +"You see what a woman's hand can do. Lucille couldn't resist the +temptation of straightening things for you," observed the owner of +Bonaventure. "She said the place resembled a----" + +The girl blushed a little, and shook her head warningly at her father, +while, as she did so, her bright hair caught a shaft of light from the +window and shimmered like burnished gold. For a moment it struck me that +she equaled her sister in beauty; and she was wholly bewitching with the +mischief shining in her eyes. There was, however, a depth of kindliness +beneath the mischief, and I had seen the winsome face grow proud with a +high courage one night when the snows whirled about Bonaventure. +Nevertheless, I straightway forgot it when Beatrice Haldane set to work +among the teacups at the head of the table, for her presence +transfigured the room. I had often, as I sat there through the bitter +winter nights, pictured her taking a foremost place in some scene of +brightness in London or Montreal, but never presiding at my poor table +or handling my dilapidated crockery with her dainty fingers. She did it, +as she did everything, very graciously; while, to heighten the contrast, +the lowing of cattle and the hoarse shouts of those who drove them, +mingled with whipcracks and the groaning of jolting wagons, came in +through the open windows. + +For a time the meal progressed satisfactorily. Haldane was excellent +company, and I had almost forgotten my fears that some untoward accident +might happen, when his younger daughter asked: "What is a gopher, Mr. +Cotton? I have heard of them, but never saw one." + +I projected a foot in his direction under the table, regretting I had +discarded my working boots, and Haldane, dropping his fork, looked up +sharply. + +"A little beast between a rat and a squirrel, which lives in a hole in +the ground. There are supposed to be more of them round Gaspard's Trail +than anywhere in Canada," answered the trooper, incautiously. "That's +quite correct, Ormesby. You cannot contradict me." + +I did not answer, but grew uneasy, seeing that he could not take a hint; +and the girl continued: "Are they fond of swimming?" + +"I don't think so," answered Cotton, with a slightly puzzled air; and +then added, with an infantile attempt at humor, for which I longed to +choke him: "I'm not a natural historian, but Ormesby ought to know. I +found him not long ago in a very bad temper fishing dozens of dead ones +out of his well. Perhaps they swam too long, and were too tired to climb +out, you know." + +Lucille Haldane, who had been thirsty, gave a little gasp and laid her +hand on the cup Cotton would have passed on for replenishing. Her sister +glanced at her with some surprise, and then quietly set down her own, +while I grew hot all over and felt savagely satisfied by the way he +winced that this time I had got my heel well down on Cotton's toe. Then +there was an awkward silence until Haldane, leaning back in his chair, +laughed boisterously when the lad, attempting to retrieve one blunder, +committed another. + +"I am afraid there are a good many at Bonaventure, and it is not +Ormesby's fault, you see. It is almost impossible for anybody to keep +them out of the wells in dry weather; but nobody minds a few gophers in +this country." + +Haldane had saved the situation; but his elder daughter filled no more +teacups, and both my fair guests seemed to lose their appetite, while I +was almost glad when the meal I had longed might last all night was over +and Lucille and her father went out to inspect the cattle. I, however, +detained Cotton, who was following them with alacrity. + +"Your jokes will lead you into trouble some day, and it's a pity you +couldn't have displayed your genius in any other direction," I said. + +"You need not get so savage over a trifle," he answered apologetically. +"I really didn't mean to upset things--it was an inspiration. No man +with any taste could be held responsible for his answers when a girl +with eyes like hers cross-questions him. You really ought to cultivate a +better temper, Ormesby." + +I let him go, and joined Beatrice Haldane, who had remained behind the +rest. She did not seem to care about horses and cattle, and appeared +grateful when I found her a snug resting-place beneath the strawpile +granary. + +"You are to be complimented, since you have realized at least part of +your aspirations," she said, as she swept a glance round my possessions. +"Is it fair to ask, are you satisfied with--this?" + +I followed her eyes with a certain thrill of pride. Wheat land, many of +the dusty cattle, broad stretch of prairie, barns, and buildings were +mine, and the sinewy statuesque horsemen, who came up across the levels +behind further bunches of dappled hide and tossing horns, moved at my +bidding. By physical strain and mental anxiety I had steadily extended +the boundaries of Gaspard's Trail, and, had I been free from Lane, would +in one respect have been almost satisfied. Then I looked up at my +companion, whose pale-tinted draperies and queenly head with its +clustering dark locks were outlined against the golden straw, and a +boldness, as well as a great longing, came upon me. + +"It is a hard life, but a good one," I said. "There is no slackening of +anxiety and little time for rest, but the result is encouraging. When I +took hold, with a few hundred pounds capital, Gaspard's Trail was +sod-built and its acreage less than half what it is at present; but this +is only the beginning, and I am not content. Bad seasons do not last +forever, and in spite of obstacles I hope the extension will continue +until it is the largest holding on all this prairie; but even that +consummation will be valuable only as the means to an end." + +Beatrice Haldane looked at me with perfect composure. "Is it all worth +while, and how long have you been so ambitious?" she asked, with a +smile, the meaning of which I could not fathom. + +"Since a summer spent in England showed me possibilities undreamed of +before," I said; and while it is possible that the vibration in my voice +betrayed me, the listener's face remained a mask. Beatrice Haldane was +already a woman of experience. + +"One might envy your singleness of purpose, but there are things which +neither success nor money can buy," she said. "Probably you have no time +to carefully analyze your motives, but it is not always wise to take too +much for granted. Even if you secured all you believe prosperity could +give you you might be disappointed. Wiser men have found themselves +mistaken, Rancher Ormesby." + +"You are right in the first case," I answered. "But in regard to the +other, would not the effort be proof enough? Would any man spend the +best years of his life striving for what he did not want?" + +"Some have spent the whole of it, which was perhaps better than having +the longer time for disappointment," answered the girl, with a curious +smile. "But are we not drifting, as we have done before, into a +profitless discussion of subjects neither of us knows much about? +Besides, the sun is swinging farther west and the glare hurts my eyes, +while father and Lucille appear interested yonder." + +Beatrice Haldane always expressed herself quietly, but few men would +have ventured to disregard her implied wishes, and I took the hint, +fearing I had already said too much. Gaspard's Trail was not yet the +finest homestead on the prairie, and the time to speak had not arrived. +When we joined Haldane it was a somewhat stirring sight we looked upon. +A draft of my own cattle came up towards the corral at a run, mounted +men shouting as they cantered on each flank, while one, swinging a whip +twice, raced at a gallop around the mass of tossing horns when the herd +would have wheeled and broken away from the fence in a stampede. The +earth vibrated to the beat of hoofs; human yells and a tumultuous +bellowing came out of the dust; and I sighed with satisfaction when, +cleverly turned by a rider, who would have lost his life had his horse's +speed or his own nerve failed him, the beasts surged pell-mell into the +enclosure. Much as I regretted to part with them, their sale should set +me free of debt. + +Then the flutter of a white dress caught my eye, and I saw Lucille +Haldane, who, it seemed, had already pressed the foreman into her +service, applauding when Thorn, cleverly roping a beast, reined in his +horse, and, jerking it to a standstill, held it for her inspection. It +no doubt pleased him to display his skill, but I saw it was with Thorn, +as it had been with the sergeant, a privilege to interest the girl. She +walked close up to the untamed creature, which, with heaving sides and +spume dripping from its nostrils, seemed to glare less angrily at her, +while Thorn appeared puzzled as he answered her rapid questions, and +Haldane leaned on the rails with his face curiously tender as he watched +her. Trooper Cotton, coming up, appropriated Miss Haldane with boyish +assurance, and her father turned to me. + +"My girl has almost run me off my feet, and now that she has taken +possession of your foreman, I should be content to sit down to a quiet +smoke," he said. "Will you walk back to the house with me?" + +I could only agree, but I stopped on the way to speak to one of the men +who had brought in the cattle. He was a struggling rancher, without +enterprise or ability, and generally spoken of with semi-contemptuous +pity. "I'm obliged to you, Redmond, for suggesting that you would take +my draft along; but why didn't you come in and take supper with the +rest? This sort of banquet strikes me as the reverse of neighborly," I +said. + +The man fidgeted as he glanced at the dirty handkerchief containing +eatables beside him. "I figured you had quite enough without me, and I +don't feel in much humor for company just now," he said. "This season +has hit me mighty hard." + +"Something more than the season has hit him," commented Haldane, as we +proceeded. "If ever I saw a weak man badly ashamed of himself, that was +one. You can't think of any underhand trick he might have played you +lately?" + +"No," I answered lightly. "He is a harmless creature, and has no +possible reason for injuring me." + +"Quite sure?" asked Haldane, with a glance over his shoulder as we +entered the door. "I've seen men of his kind grow venomous when driven +into a corner. However, it's cool and free from dust in here. Sit down +and try this tobacco." + +Haldane was said to be a shrewd judge of his fellowmen, but I could see +no cause why Redmond should cherish a grudge against me, and knew he had +spoken the truth when he said the seasons had hit him hardly. It was +currently reported that he was heavily in debt, and the stock-rider had +suggested that Lane was pressing him. When Haldane had lighted a cigar +he took a roll of paper off the table and tossed it across to me, +saying, "Is that your work, Ormesby?" + +"No. I never saw it before," I answered, when a glance showed me that +the paper contained a cleverly drawn map of our vicinity, and Haldane +nodded. + +"To tell the truth, I hardly expected it was. Some of your recent +visitors must have dropped it, and as my daughter found it among the +litter during the course of her improvements, and asked whether it +should be preserved, I could not well help seeing what it was. Look at +the thing again, and tell me what you conclude from it." + +"That whoever made it had a good eye for the most valuable locations in +this district," I answered, thoughtfully. "He has also shaded with the +same tint part of my possessions in Crane Valley." + +"Exactly!" and Haldane gazed intently into the blue cigar smoke. "Does +it strike you that the man who made the map intended to acquire those +locations, and that, considering the possible route of the railway, he +showed a commendable judgment?" + +"It certainly does so now," I answered; and Haldane favored me with a +searching glance. "Then when you discover who it is, keep your eyes on +him, and especially beware of giving him any hold on you." + +I suspected that Lane had made the map, and it is a pity I did not take +Haldane into my full confidence; but misguided pride forbade it, and we +smoked in silence until the opportunity was lost, for he rose, saying: +"No peace for the wicked; the girls are returning. Great heavens! I +thought the child had broken her neck!" + +While Thorn went round by the slip-rails, a slender, white-robed figure +on a big gray horse sailed over the tall fence and came up towards the +house at a gallop, followed by the startled foreman. Haldane, whose +unshakable calm was famous in Eastern markets, quivered nervously, and I +felt relieved that there had been no accident, for it was a daring leap. +Then, while Cotton and Beatrice Haldane followed, Lucille came in +flushed and exultant. + +"We have had a delightful time, father, and you must leave me in charge +of Bonaventure when you go East," she said. "But where did you get the +lady's saddle, Mr. Ormesby?" + +"It is not mine," I answered, smiling. "It belongs to my neighbor's +sister, Sally Steel. She rode a horse over here for Thorn to doctor." + +I regretted the explanation too late. Steel was a good neighbor, but +common report stigmatized his sister as a reckless coquette, and by the +momentary contraction of Beatrice Haldane's forehead I feared that she +had heard the gossip. If this were so, however, she showed no other sign +of it. + +When a delicious coolness preceded the dusk it was suggested that Cotton +should sing to us, and he did so, fingering an old banjo of mine with no +mean skill. I managed to find a place by Beatrice Haldane's side, and +when the pale moon came out and the air had the quality of snow-cooled +wine, her sister sang in turn to the trooper's accompaniment. I +remember only that it was a song free from weak sentimentality, with an +heroic undertone; but it stirred me, and a murmur of voices rose from +the shadows outside. Then Foreman Thorn stood broad hat in hand, in the +doorway. + +"If it wouldn't be a liberty, miss, the boys would take it as an honor +if you would sing that, or something else, over again. They've never +heard nothing like it, even down to Winnipeg," he said. + +The girl blushed a little, and looked at me. "They were kind to me. Do +you really think it would please them?" she asked. + +"If it doesn't they will be abominably ungrateful; but although we are +not conventional, the request strikes me as a liberty," I said, noticing +that her sister did not seem wholly pleased. + +"Tell them I will do my best," was the answer, and, after a conference +with Cotton, Lucille Haldane walked towards the open door. There was no +trace of vanity or self-consciousness in her bearing. It was pure +kindliness which prompted her, and when she stood outside the building, +with the star-strewn vault above her, and the prairie silver-gray at her +feet, bareheaded, slight, and willowy in her thin white dress, it seemed +small wonder that the dusty men who clustered about the wire fence swung +down their broad hats to do her homage. + +Perfect stillness succeeded, save for sounds made by the restless +cattle; then the banjo tinkled, and a clear voice rang out through the +soft transparency of the summer night: "All day long the reapers!" + +There was a deep murmur when the last tinkle of the banjo sank into +silence, a confused hum of thanks, and teamster and stock-rider melted +away, and Lucille Haldane, returning, glanced almost apologetically at +me. + +"I just felt I had to please them," she said. "Even if you older people +smile, I am proud of this great country, and it seems to me that these +are the men who are making it what it will some day be. Don't you think +that we who live idly in the cities owe a good deal to them?" + +Haldane laid his hand caressingly on his daughter's arm. "Impulsive as +ever--but perhaps you are right," he said. "In any case, it will be +after midnight before we get home, and you might ask for our team, +Ormesby." + +Every man about Gaspard's Trail helped to haul up the wagon and harness +the spirited team, while, in spite of Cotton's efforts, Thorn insisted +on handing my youngest guest into the vehicle; and it was with some +difficulty I exchanged parting civilities with the rest as the vehicle +rolled away amid the stockmen's cheers. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A HOLOCAUST + + +It was late one sultry night when I sat moodily beside an open window in +my house at Gaspard's Trail. I had risen before the sun that morning, +but, though tired with a long day's ride, I felt restless and +ill-disposed to sleep. Thomas Steel, whose homestead stood some leagues +away, lounged close by with his unlighted pipe on his knee and his +coarse sun-faded shirt flung open showing his bronzed neck and the paler +color of his ample chest. He was about my own age and possessed the +frame of a gladiator, but there was limp dejection in his attitude. + +"It's just awful weather, but there's a change at hand," he said. "It +will be too late for some of us when it comes." + +I merely nodded, and glanced out through the window. Thick darkness +brooded over the prairie, though at intervals a flicker of sheet +lightning blazed along the horizon and called up clumps of straggling +birches out of the obscurity. A fitful breeze which eddied about the +building set the grasses sighing, but it was without coolness, and laden +with the smell of burning. Far-off streaks of crimson shone against the +sky in token that grass-fires were moving down-wind across the prairie. +They would, however, so far as we could see, hurt nobody. Steel fidgeted +nervously until I began to wonder what was the matter with him, and when +he thrust his chair backwards I said irritably: "For heaven's sake sit +still. You look as ill at ease as if you had been told off to murder +somebody." + +The stalwart farmer's face darkened. "I feel 'most as bad, and have been +waiting all evening to get the trouble out," he said. "Fact is, I'm +borrowing money, and if you could let me have a few hundred dollars it +would mean salvation." + +I laughed harshly to hide my dismay. The prairie settlers stand by one +another in time of adversity, and in earlier days Steel had been a good +friend to me; but the request was singularly inopportune. Two bad +seasons had followed each other, when the whole Dominion labored under a +commercial depression; and though my estate was worth at ordinary values +a considerable sum, it was only by sacrificing my best stock I could +raise money enough to carry it on. + +"If I get anything worth mentioning for the beasts I'll do my utmost, +and by emptying the treasury perhaps I can scrape up two or three +hundred now. What do you want with it?" I said. + +"I thought you would help me," answered Steel, with a gasp of relief. +"I've been played for the fool I am. I got a nice little book from the +---- Company, and it showed how any man with enterprise could get ahead +by the aid of borrowed capital. Then its representative--very affable +man--came along and talked considerable. I was a bit hard pressed, and +the end was that he lent me money. There were a blame lot of charges, +and the money seemed to melt away, while now, if I don't pay up, he'll +foreclose on me." + +I clenched my right hand viciously, for the man who had trapped poor +Steel had also a hold on me, and I began to cherish a growing fear of +the genial Lane. + +"It's getting a common story around here," I said. "That man seems bent +on absorbing all this country, but if only for that very reason we're +bound to help each other to beat him. It will be a hard pull, but, +though it all depends on what the stock fetch, I'll do the best I can." + +Steel was profuse in his thanks, and I lapsed into a by no means +overpleasant reverie. So some time passed until a glare of red and +yellow showed up against the sky where none had been before. + +"Looks like a mighty big fire. There's long grass feeding it, and it has +just rolled over a ridge," said Steel. "Seems to me somewhere near the +Indian Spring Bottom, but Redmond and the other fellow would drive the +stock well clear." + +Flinging my chair back I snatched a small compass from a shelf, laid it +on the window-ledge, and, kneeling behind it, with a knife blade held +across the card I took the bearings of the flame. "It's coming right +down on the bottom, and though by this time the stock is probably well +clear, I'm a little uneasy about it. We'll ride over and make quite +sure," I said. + +"Of course!" Steel answered, and seemed about to add something, but +thought better of it and followed me towards the stable. Thorn, who was +prompt of action, had also seen the fire, for he was already busy with +the horses; and inside of five minutes we were sweeping at a gallop +across the prairie. Save for the intermittent play of lightning the +darkness was Egyptian; and the grass was seamed by hollows and deadly +badger-holes; but the broad blaze streamed higher for a beacon, and, +risking a broken neck, I urged on the mettled beast beneath me. Grass +fires are common, and generally are harmless enough in our country; but +that one seemed unusually fierce, and an indefinite dread gained on me +as the miles rolled behind us. + +"It's the worst I've seen for several seasons. Whole ridge is blazing," +panted Steel, as, with a great crackling, we swept neck and neck +together through the tall grass of a slough in the midst of which +Thorn's horse blundered horribly. Then we dipped into a ravine, reeling +down the slope and splashing through caked mire where a little water had +been. Every moment might be precious, and turning aside for nothing, we +rode straight across the prairie, while at last I pressed the horse +fiercely as a long rise shut out the blaze. Once we gained its crest the +actual conflagration would be visible. The horse was white with lather, +and I was almost blinded with sweat and dust when we gained the summit. +Drawing bridle, I caught at my breath. The Sweetwater ran blood red +beneath us, and the whole mile-wide hollow through which it flowed was +filled with fire, while some distance down stream on the farther side a +dusky mass was discernible through the rolling smoke which blew in long +wisps in that direction. It seemed as though a cold hand had suddenly +been laid on my heart, for the mass moved, and was evidently composed of +close-packed and panic-stricken beasts. + +"It's the Gaspard draft held up by the wing fence!" a voice behind me +rose in a breathless yell. + +I smote the horse, and we shot down the declivity. How the beast kept +its footing I do not know, for there were thickets of wild berries and +here and there thin willows to be smashed through; but we went down at a +mad gallop, the clods whirling behind us and the wind screaming past, +until we plunged into the Sweetwater through a cloud of spray. In places +soft mire clogged the sinking hoofs, in others slippery shingle rolled +beneath them, while the stream seethed whitely to the girth; but +steaming, panting, dripping, we came through, and I dashed, +half-blinded, into the smoke. A confused bellowing came out of the +drifting wreaths ahead, and there was a mad beat of hoofs behind, but I +could see little save the odd shafts of brightness which leaped out of +the vapor as I raced towards the fire. Then somebody cried in warning, +and the horse reared almost upright as--while I wrenched upon the +bridle--a running man staggered out of the smoke. A red blaze tossed +suddenly aloft behind him, and as he turned the brightness smote upon +his blackened face. It was set and savage, and the hair was singed upon +his forehead. + +"It's blue ruin. The green birches are burning, and all your beasts are +corraled in the fence wings," he gasped. "Fire came over the rise +without warning, in Redmond's watch. Somehow he got the rest clear, but +your lot stampeded and the wire brought them up. I'm off to the shanty +for an ax--but no living man could get them out." + +Thorn pulled up his plunging horse as the other spoke, and for a few +seconds I struggled with the limpness of dismay. Then I said hoarsely: +"If the flame hasn't lapped the wings yet, we'll try." + +By this time the horses were almost in a state of panic, and Thorn's +nearly unseated him, but we urged them into the vapor towards the fence. +Fences were scarce in our district then, but after a dispute as to the +grazing I had shared the cost of that one with another man, partly +because it would be useful when sheep washing was forward and would +serve as a corral when we cut out shipping stock. It consisted of only +two wings at right angles--a long one towards the summit of the rise, +and another parallel to the river, which flowed deep beneath that rotten +bank; but the beasts on each side would seldom leave the rich grass in +the hollow to wander round the unclosed end, and if driven into the +angle two riders could hold the open mouth. Now I could see that the +simple contrivance might prove a veritable death-trap to every beast +within it. + +It was with difficulty we reached the crest of the rise, but we passed +the wing before the fire, which now broke through the driving vapor, a +wavy wall of crimson, apparently two fathoms high, closing in across the +full breadth of the hollow at no great pace, but with a relentless +regularity. Then I rode fiercely towards the angle or junction of the +wires where the beasts were bunched together as in the pocket of a net. +Thorn and Steel came up a few seconds later. + +The outside cattle were circling round and jostling each other, +thrusting upon those before them; the inside of the mass was as compact +as if rammed together by hydraulic pressure, and, to judge by the +bellowing, those against the fence were being rent by the barbs or +slowly crushed to death. Our cattle wander at large across the prairie +and exhibit few characteristics of domestic beasts. Indeed, they are at +times almost dangerous to handle, and when stampeded in a panic a +squadron of cavalry would hardly turn them. Yet the loss of this draft +boded ruin to me, and it was just possible that if we could separate one +or two animals from the rest and drive them towards the end of the fence +the others might follow. The mouth of the net might remain open for a +few minutes yet. + +"I guess it's hopeless, but we've just got to try," said Thorn, who +understood what was in my mind. "Start in with that big one. There's not +a second to lose." + +Steel, leaning down from the saddle, drove his knife-point into the rump +of one beast, and when it wheeled I thrust my horse between it and the +herd and smote it upon the nostrils with my clenched fist, uselessly. +The terrified creature headed round again, jamming me against its +companions, and when my horse backed clear, one of my legs felt as +though it were broken. This, however, was no time to trouble about minor +injuries or be particular on the score of humanity; and while Thorn +endeavored to effect a diversion by twisting one beast's tail I pricked +another savagely. It wheeled when it felt the pain, and when it turned +again with gleaming horns and lowered head Steel pushed recklessly into +the opening. Then a thick wisp of smoke filled my eyes, and I did not +see how it happened, but man and horse had gone down together when the +vapor thinned, and the victorious animal was once more adding its weight +to the pressure on the rear of the surging mass. + +Steel was up next moment, struggling with his horse, which, with bared +teeth, was backing away from him at full length of its bridle; but, +answering my shout, he said breathlessly: "I don't know whether half my +bones are cracked or not, but they feel very much like it. It's no good, +Ormesby. We'll have to cut the fence from the other side, and if we fool +here any longer we'll lose the horses, too." + +I saw there was truth in this, and almost doubted if we could clear the +fence wing now. It was at least certain that nothing we could do there +would extricate the terrified beasts; and when Steel got himself into +the saddle we started again at a gallop. There was less smoke, and what +there was towered vertically in a lull of the breeze; but the crackling +flame tossed higher and higher. For a moment I fancied it had cut us off +within the fence, which would have made a dangerous leap; but though the +terrified horses were almost beyond guidance, fear lent them speed, and +with very little room to spare Steel and I shot round the end of the +wire. + +"Look out for the setting-up post nearest the corner, and slack the +turn-screws until the wire goes down, while I try to cut the strand +close in to the herd!" I roared "Is Thorn behind you?" + +"No," the answer came back. "Good Lord! we've left him inside the +fence!" + +I managed to pull my horse up, when a glance showed me the foreman's +stalwart figure silhouetted against the crimson flame as he strove to +master his plunging horse. It was evident that the horse had refused to +face the fire, which now rolled right up the wings of the fence. + +"Come down and let him go! You can either climb the wires or crawl under +them!" I shouted, wondering whether the crackling of the flame drowned +my husky voice. + +"This horse is worth three hundred dollars, and he's either going +through or over," the answer came back; and I shouted in warning, for it +appeared impossible to clear that fence, though the beast, which was not +of common bronco stock, had good imported blood in him. Then there was a +yell from the foreman as he recklessly shot forward straight at the +fence. The horse was ready to face anything so long as he could keep the +fire behind him, and I held my breath as he rose at the wire. Our horses +are not good jumpers, and the result seemed certain. His knees struck +the topmost wire; there was a heavy crash; and the man, shooting forward +as from a catapult, alighted with a sickening thud, while the poor brute +rolled over and lay still on the wrong side of the fence. Thorn rose, +but very shakily, and I was thankful I had lost only some three hundred +dollars, which I could very badly spare. + +"Nothing given out this trip," he spluttered. "I've dropped my knife, +though. Go on and try the cutting. I'll follow when I can." + +In another few moments I dismounted abreast of the angle, and hitched +the bridle round a strand of the wire, knowing that the possibility of +getting away almost instantaneously when my work was done might make +all the difference between life and death. The fence was tall, built of +stout barbed wire strained to a few screw standards and stapled to thick +birch posts. I had neither ax nor nippers, only a long-bladed knife, and +densely packed beasts were wedging themselves tighter and tighter +against the other side of the barrier. Already some had fallen and been +trampled out of existence, while others seemed horribly mangled and +torn. The man who had gone for an ax had not reappeared, and I regretted +I had not bidden him take one of our horses, for the shanty was some +distance away. + +Slashing through the laces I dragged off one boot. Its heel was heavy +and might serve for a mallet, and holding the blade of my knife on the +top strand close against a post, I smote it furiously. The wire was not +nicked half through when it burst beneath the pressure, and a barb on +its flying end scored my face so that the blood trickled into my mouth +and eyes; but the next wire was of treble twist, and as I struck and +choked I regretted the thoroughness with which we had built the fence. +The knife chipped under the blows I rained upon it, and when I shortened +the blade its end snapped off. In a fit of desperation I seized the +lacerating wires with my naked fingers and tore at them frenziedly, but +what the pressure on the other side failed to accomplish the strength of +twenty men might not do, so when in a few seconds reason returned to me +I picked up what remained of the knife and set to work again. There was +still no sign of Thorn, and as the wires did not slacken it was plain +that Steel had failed to loose the straining screws without convenient +tools. Three slender cords of steel alone pent in the stock that were to +set me free of debt, but I had no implements with which to break them, +so they also held me fast to be dragged down helpless to beggary. + +At last the wire I struck at bent outward further, and when I next +brought the boot heel down there was a metallic ringing as one strand +parted, and I shouted in breathless triumph, knowing the other must +follow. The fire was close behind the pent-up herd now, and I guessed +that very shortly my life would depend on my horse's speed. Just then +Steel dashed up, mounted, shouting: "Into the saddle with you. The fence +is going!" + +I saw him unhitch my horse's bridle and struggle to hold the beast ready +between himself and me, but I meant to make quite certain of my part, so +I brought the boot heel down thrice again. Then I leaped backward, +clutched at the bridle, and scrambled to the saddle as a black mass +rolled out of the gap where the wire flew back. I remember desperately +endeavoring to head the horse clear of it along the fence, and wondering +how many of the cattle would fall over the remaining wires and be +crushed before their carcasses formed a causeway for the rest; but the +horse was past all guidance; and now that the fence had lost its +continuity more fathoms of it went down and the dusky mass poured over +it. Then something struck me with a heavy shock, the horse stumbled as I +slipped my feet out of the stirrups, and we went down together. I saw +nothing further, though I could feel the earth tremble beneath me; then +this sensation faded, and I was conscious of only a numbing pain beneath +my neck and my left arm causing me agony. After this there followed a +space of empty blackness. + +When I partly recovered my faculties the pain was less intense, though +my left arm, which was tied to my side, felt hot and heavy, and the +jolting motion convinced me that I lay in the bottom of a wagon. + +"Did you get the stock clear?" I gasped, striving to raise my head from +the hay truss in which it was almost buried; and somebody who stooped +down held a bottle to my lips. + +"Don't you tell him," a subdued voice said, and the man, who I think was +Steel, came near choking me as he poured more spirit than I could +swallow down my throat and also down my neck. + +"That's all right. Don't worry. We're mighty thankful we got you," he +said. + +Then the empty blackness closed in on me again, and I lay still, +wondering whether I were dead and buried, and if so, why the pricking +between shoulder and breast should continue so pitilessly; until that +ceased in turn, and I had a hazy idea that someone was carrying me +through an interminable cavern; after which there succeeded complete +oblivion. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A BITTER AWAKENING + + +The first day on which my attendants would treat me as a rational being +was a memorable one to me. It must have been late in the morning when I +opened my eyes, for the sun had risen above the level of the open +window, and I lay still blinking out across the prairie with, at first, +a curious satisfaction. I had cheated death and been called back out of +the darkness to sunlight and life, it seemed. Then I began to remember, +and the pain in the arm bound fast to my side helped to remind me that +life implied a struggle. Raising my head, I noticed that there had been +changes made in my room, and a young woman standing by the window +frowned at me. + +"I guess all men are worrying, but you're about the worst I ever struck, +Rancher Ormesby. Just you lie back till I fix you, or I'll call the boys +in to tie you fast with a girth." + +She was a tall, fair, well-favored damsel, with a ruddy countenance and +somewhat bold eyes; but I was disappointed when I saw her clearly, even +though her laugh was heartsome when I answered humbly: "I will try not +to trouble you if you don't mean to starve me." + +Miss Sally Steel, for it was my neighbor's sister, shouted to somebody +through the window, and then turned to the man who rose from a corner. +"You just stay right where you are. When I call cookie I'll see he +comes. I've been running this place as it ought to be run, and you won't +know Gaspard's when you get about, Rancher Ormesby." + +The man laughed, and I saw it was Thorn, though I did not know then that +after doing my work and his own during the day he had watched the +greater part of every night beside me. + +"Feeling pretty fit this morning?" he asked. + +"Comparatively so," I answered. "I should feel better if I knew just +what happened to me and to the stock. You might tell me, beginning from +the time the fence went down." + +"If he does there'll be trouble," broke in Miss Steel, who, I soon +discovered, had constituted herself autocratic mistress of Gaspard's +Trail. "He must wait until you have had breakfast, anyway." And I saw +the cook stroll very leisurely towards the window carrying a tray. + +"Was anybody calling?" he commenced, with the exasperating slowness he +could at times assume; and then, catching sight of me, would have +clambered in over the low window-sill but that Miss Steel stopped him. + +"Anybody calling! I should think there was--and when I want people +they'll come right along," she said. "No; you can stop out there--isn't +all the prairie big enough for you? There'll be some tone about this +place before I'm through," and the cook grinned broadly as he caught my +eye. + +Miss Steel's voice was not unpleasant, though it had a strident ring, +and her face was gentle as she raised me on a heap of folded blankets +with no great effort, though I was never a very light weight, after +which, between my desire to please her and a returning appetite, I made +a creditable meal. + +"That's a long way better," she said approvingly. "Tom brought a fool +doctor over from Calgary, who said you'd got your brain mixed and a +concussion of the head. 'Fix up his bones and don't worry about anything +else,' I said. 'It would take a steam hammer to make any concussion +worth talking of on Rancher Ormesby's head.'" + +"Thorn has not answered my question," I interrupted; and Miss Steel +flashed a glance at the foreman, who seemed to hesitate before he +answered. "It happened this way: You were a trifle late lighting out +when you'd cut the fence. Steel said one of the beasts charged you, and +after that more of them stampeded right over you. The horse must have +kept some of them off, for he was stamped out pretty flat, and it was a +relief to hear you growling at something when we got you out." + +"How did you get me out?" I asked, and Thorn fidgeted before he +answered: "It wasn't worth mentioning, but between us Steel and I +managed to split the rush, and the beasts went by on each side of us." + +"At the risk of being stamped flat, too! I might have expected it of you +and Steel," I said; and the girl's eyes sparkled as she turned to the +foreman. + +"Then Steel went back for the wagon after we found you had an arm and a +collarbone broken. I rode in to the railroad and wired for a doctor. +Sally came over to nurse you, and a pretty tough time she has had of it. +You had fever mighty bad." + +"There's no use in saying I'm obliged to both of you, because you know +it well," I made shift to answer; and Sally Steel stroked the hair back +from my forehead in sisterly fashion as she smiled at Thorn. "But what +about the stock? Did they all get through?" + +Thorn's honest face clouded, and Sally Steel laid her plump hand on my +mouth. "You're not going to worry about that. A herd of cattle stampeded +over you and you're still alive. Isn't that good enough for you?" + +I moved my head aside. "I shall worry until I know the truth. All the +beasts could not have got out. How many did?" I asked. + +Thorn looked at Sally, then sideways at me, and I held my breath until +the girl said softly: "You had better tell him." + +"Very few," said the foreman; and I hoped that my face was as +expressionless as I tried to make it when I heard the count. "Some of +those near the fence got clear, and some didn't. Steel had grubbed up a +post, and when the wires slacked part of the rest got tangled up and +went down, choking the gap. It was worse than a Chicago slaughter-house +when the fire rolled up." + +"The horses, too? How long have I been ill, and has any rain fallen?" I +asked, with the strange steadiness that sometimes follows a crushing +blow, and Thorn moodily shook his head. + +"Both horses done for. You've been ill 'bout two weeks, I think. No rain +worth mentioning--and the crop is clean wiped out." + +There was silence for some minutes, and Sally Steel patted my uninjured +shoulder sympathetically. Then I pointed to a litter of papers on the +table, and inquired if there were any letters in Lane's writing. Thorn +handed me one reluctantly, and it was hard to refrain from fierce +exclamation as I read the laconic missive. Lane regretted to hear of my +accident, but the scarcity of money rendered it necessary to advise me +that as I had not formally accepted his terms, repayment of the loan was +overdue, and he would be obliged to realize unless I were willing to +pledge Crane Valley or renew the arrangement at an extra five per cent. +on the terms last mentioned. + +"Bad news?" said Sally. "Then I guess Thorn sha'n't worry you any more; +but it's just when things look worst the turn comes. That team will be +bolting soon, Thorn. I'll sit right back in the corner, and until you +want to talk to me you can forget I'm there." + +The high-pitched voice sank to a gentler tone, and I felt grateful to +Sally Steel. Her reckless vagaries often formed a theme for laughter +when the inhabitants of the prairie foregathered at settlement or store; +but there was a depth of good-nature, as well as an overdaring love of +mischief in her, and not infrequently a blessing accompanied the jest. +Thorn was moving towards the door when, recollecting another point, I +beckoned him. + +"How was it that when they had, or should have had, time enough, +Henderson's man and Redmond did not stop the cattle bunching in the +fence? It's very unlike our ways if they made no effort to save my +beasts as well as their own masters' property," I said. + +Foreman Thorn looked troubled, and I saw that Sally was watching him +keenly. "I don't understand it rightly, and I guess no man ever will," +he said. "Of course, we struck Henderson's Jo with just that question, +and this is what he made of it. He and Redmond were camping in Torkill's +deserted sod-house, and when they saw the fires were bad that night, +Redmond said he'd ride round the cattle. Their own lot was pretty well +out of harm's way, east of the fence, but Jo told him to take a look at +yours. Redmond started, and, as Jo knew that he'd be called if he were +wanted, he went off to sleep." + +"That does not explain much," I interjected, when Thorn halted, rubbing +his head as though in search of inspiration. + +"There isn't an explanation. Jo, waking later, saw the fire coming right +down the hollow and started on foot for the fence. There was no sign of +Redmond anywhere. Jo couldn't get the stock out, and he couldn't cut the +fence, and he was going back for an ax when we met him. You know all the +rest--'cept this. Steel and I were standing over you, and the fire was +roasting the beasts mixed up in the fence, when Redmond comes along. The +way he stood, the flame shone right on his face. It seemed twisted, and +the man looked like a ghost. He stood there blinking at the beasts--and +it wasn't a pretty sight--then shook all over as he stooped down and +looked at you. There was a good deal of blood about you from the horse. + +"'What the devil's wrong with you? Stiffen yourself up!' says Steel; and +Redmond's voice cracked in the middle as he answered him: 'I'm feeling +mighty sick. Is he dead?' + +"'Looks pretty near it. If you'd seen those beasts clear he mightn't +have come to this. Here, take a drink. We'll want you presently,' says +Steel, and went on strapping you together with a girth and bridle, while +I watched Redmond with one eye. As you know, there was never much grit +in the creature, and he had another shivering fit. + +"'Get out until you're feeling better. That kind of thing's catching, +and we've lots to do,' I said; and he laughs with a cackle like an +hysterical woman, and blinks straight past me. Steel and I figured he'd +got hold of some smuggled whisky and been drinking bad, but afterwards +Henderson's Jo said no. + +"'It's murder. My God! It's horrible--an' he never done anyone no harm,' +he says, and falls to cussing somebody quietly. I can talk pretty +straight when I'm hot myself, but that was ice-cold swearing with venom +in it, and when he got on to Judas, with the devil in his eyes, I ripped +up a big sod and plugged him on the head with it. + +"'If you don't let up or quit I'll pound the life out of you,' says +Steel. + +"Well, we got you fixed so you couldn't make the damage worse, and when +Steel went for the wagon and I looked around for Redmond he was gone. +Don't know what to think of it, anyway, 'cept his troubles or bad whisky +had turned his head. You see he was never far from crazy." + +"Why didn't one of you get hold of him and make him talk next day?" I +asked; and Thorn looked at me curiously. + +"Because he'd gone. Lit out to nobody knows where and stopped there. I +don't know just what to think, myself." + +Sally took Thorn by the shoulders and thrust him out, but he left me +with sufficient, and unpleasant, food for reflection. The stock I had +counted on were gone. Also, when it was above all things desirable that +I should be up and doing, I must lie still for weeks, useless as a log. +One thing at least I saw clearly, and that was the usurer's purpose to +absorb my property; and as I lay with throbbing forehead and +tight-clenched fingers, which had grown strangely white, I determined +that he should have cause to remember the struggle before he +accomplished it. That Redmond had been driven by him into shameful +treachery appeared too probable, though there was no definite proof of +it, and the thought stiffened my resolution. My scattered neighbors, +patient as they were, were ill to coerce and would doubtless join me in +an effort before the schemer's machinations left us homeless. + +Then I could hardly check a groan as I remembered all that the brief +glimpses of a brighter life at Bonaventure had suggested. A few months +earlier it had appeared possible that with one or two more good seasons +I might even have attained to it; but since then a gulf had opened +between Beatrice Haldane and me, and the best I could hope for was a +resumption of what now seemed hopeless drudgery. It was a bitter +awakening, and I almost regretted that Steel and Foreman Thorn had not +been a few seconds later when the fence went down. An hour passed, and +Sally Steel, bringing a chair over to my side, offered to read to me +what she said was a real smart shadowing story. I glanced at the +invincible detective standing amid a scene of bloodshed, depicted on the +cover of the journal she held up, and declined with due civility. + +"I am afraid my nerves are not good enough. I should sooner you talked +to me, Sally," I said. + +She laughed coquettishly, and there was no doubt that Steel's sister was +handsome, as women on that part of the prairie go. Sun and wind had +ripened the color in her face, her teeth were white as ivory, her lips +full and red, and perhaps most men would have found pleasure watching +the sparkle of mischief that danced in her eyes as she answered +demurely: "That would be just too nice. What shall we talk about?" + +"You might tell me who was the first to come ask about me," I said. + +The girl stretched out one plump arm with a comprehensive gesture. "They +all came, bringing things along, most of them. Even the little +Icelander; he loaded up his wagon with a keg of herrings--said they were +best raw--and lumps of grindstone bread. Oh, yes; they all came, and I +was glad to see them, 'cept when some of their wives came with them." + +"They are kind people in this country; but how could the women worry +you? In any case, I think you would be equal to them," I commented; and, +somewhat to my surprise, the girl first blushed, and then looked +positively wicked. + +"They--well, they would ask questions, and said things, when they found +Tom was down to Brandon," she answered enigmatically. "Still, I guess I +was equal to most of them. 'Rancher Ormesby's not sending the hat round +yet, and that truck is not fit for any sick man to eat when it's just +about half-cooked,' I said. 'You can either take it back or leave it for +Thorn to worry with. Fresh rocks wouldn't hurt his digestion. Just now +I'm way too busy to answer conundrums.'" + +Sally seemed glad to abandon that topic, and did not look quite pleased +when I hazarded another question, with suppressed interest, but as +carelessly as I could: "Did anybody else drive over?" + +The girl laughed a trifle maliciously, and yet with a certain enjoyment. +"Oh, yes. One day, when I was too busy for anything, the people from +Bonaventure drove over, and wanted to take you back. I don't know why, +but the way Haldane's elder daughter looked about the place just got my +back up. 'You can't have him. This is where he belongs,' I said. + +"'But he is ill, and this place is hardly fit for him. There are no +comforts, and we could take better care of him,' said the younger one, +and I turned round to her. + +"'That's just where you're wrong. Rancher Ormesby has lived here for +eight years, and when he's sick he has plenty friends of his own kind to +take care of him. I'm one of them, and we don't dump our sick people on +to strangers,' I said. + +"The elder one she straightens herself a little, as though she didn't +like my talk. 'He could not be as comfortable as he would be at +Bonaventure, which is the most important thing. We will ask the doctor; +and have you any right to place obstacles in the way of Mr. Ormesby's +recovery?' says she, and that was enough for me. + +"'I've all the right I want,' I answered. 'I'm running Gaspard's Trail, +and if you can find a man about the place who won't jump when I want +him, you needn't believe me. That makes me a busy woman--see?--so I'll +not keep you. Go back to Bonaventure, and don't come worrying the +people he belongs to about Rancher Ormesby.'" + +I groaned inwardly, and only by an effort concealed my blank +consternation. "What did they say next?" I asked. + +"Nothing much. The younger one--and I was half sorry I'd spoken straight +to her--opened her eyes wide. The elder one she looks at me in a way +that made me feel fit to choke her, while Haldane made a little bow. 'I +have no doubt he is in capable hands, and we need not trouble you +further. No, I don't think you need mention that we called,' says he." + +Sally tossed her head with an air of triumph as she concluded, and I lay +very still, for it was too late to pray for deliverance from my friends, +though of all the rude succession this was about the most cruel blow. +What mischievous fiend had prompted the quick-tempered girl to turn upon +the Haldanes I could never surmise, but jealousy might have had +something to do with it, for Trooper Cotton had once been a favorite of +hers. In any case, the result appeared disastrous, for, while I believed +her no more than thoughtless, there was no disguising the fact that some +of the settlers' less-favored daughters spoke evil of Sally Steel, and I +feared their stories had reached Bonaventure. + +When five minutes or so had passed she looked at me somewhat shyly. +"You're not mad?" she said. + +"I could hardly be vexed with you, whatever happened, after all you have +done for me. I was only thinking," I made shift to answer. "Still, you +might have been a little more civil, Sally." + +For a moment or two the girl appeared almost penitent; then she bent her +head towards my own, and again the mischief crept into her eyes. + +"I'd have brought them in to a banquet, if I had only guessed," she +said; and with a thrill of laughter she slipped out of the room. It was +with sincere relief I saw her go, for I was in no mood for the somewhat +pointed prairie banter, and felt that, in spite of her manifold +kindnesses, I could almost have shaken Sally Steel. Then I turned my +head from the light, remembering I was not only a ruined man without +even power to move, but had left a discordant memory with the friends +whose good opinion I most valued, and whom now I might never again meet +on the old terms. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +HOW REDMOND CAME HOME + + +The weather continued pitilessly hot and dry, when, one afternoon, +Trooper Cotton, returning from a tour of fireguard inspection, sat near +the window-seat in which I lay at Gaspard's Trail. I was glad of his +company, because the sight of the parched prairie and bare strip of +plowland was depressing. Barns and granary alike were empty, for the +earth had failed to redeem her promise that season, and an unnatural +silence brooded over Gaspard's Trail. + +"I don't know what has come over this country," the trooper said. "One +used to get a cheery word everywhere, but now farmer and stockman can +hardly answer a question civilly, and the last fellow I spoke to about +his fireguards seemed inclined to assault me. Presumably it's the bad +times, and I'll be thankful when they improve. It might put some of you +into a more pleasant humor." + +"If you had said bad men you might have been nearer the mark," I +answered dryly. "We are a peaceable people, but there's an oppression +worse than any governmental tyranny, and from the rumors in the air it's +not impossible some of us may try to find our own remedy if we are +pushed too far." + +"That's a little indefinite," said Cotton, with a laugh. "If you mean +taking the law into your own hands, there would be very unpleasant work +for me. Still, I'm sorry for all of you, especially those whom that +flabby scoundrel Lane seems to be squeezing. He's been driving to and +from the railroad a good deal of late, and it's curious that twice when +I struck his trail two traveling photographers turned up soon after him. +One was a most amusing rascal, but I did not see the other, who was busy +inside the wagon tent, and who apparently managed the camera. I'll show +you a really tolerable picture of me he insisted on taking." + +It struck me that Boone, or Adams, had twice run a serious risk; but I +said nothing, and Cotton, fumbling inside his tunic, tossed a litter of +papers on the table. These were mostly official, but there were odd +letters among them, for the trooper was not remarkable for preciseness, +and I noticed a crest upon some of the envelopes, while, after shuffling +them, he flung me a small card, back uppermost. I was surprised when, +turning it over, the face of Lucille Haldane met my gaze. + +"It is a charming picture; but that is only natural, considering the +original. How did you get this, Cotton?" I said. + +The trooper snatched it from me, and a darker color mantled his +forehead. "Confound it! I never meant to show you that," he said. + +"So I surmised," I answered dryly; and the lad frowned as he thrust the +picture out of sight. + +"You will understand, Ormesby, that Miss Haldane did not give me this. +I--well--I discovered it." + +"Wasn't it foolish of you?" I asked quietly; and the trooper, who, +strange to say, did not seem to find my tone of paternal admonition +ludicrous, answered impulsively: "I don't know why I should strip for +your inspection, Ormesby, or why I should not favor you with a +well-known reply; but it is perhaps best that you should not +misunderstand the position. I know what you are thinking, but I haven't +forgotten I'm Trooper Cotton--nor am I likely to. It's a strange life, +Ormesby, and the men who live it go under occasionally. This--God bless +her--is merely something to hold on by." + +I made no answer, for there was nothing appropriate I could find to say; +but it occurred to me that Lucille Haldane might never receive a higher +compliment than this lad's unexpectant homage. + +"Here is the right one, and you will obliterate the other from your +memory," he said, passing me a second photograph. "The fellow who took +it knows how to handle a camera." + +It was evident he did; and, knowing who he was, the irony of the +circumstances impressed me as I examined the picture. "He has an +artistic taste and an eye for an effective pose. Are you going to send +any copies to your people in England, Cotton?" I said. + +"No," answered the lad quietly; "they might not be pleased with it. +Well, I dare say, you have guessed long ago that I am one of the legion. +Most of my people were soldiers, which was why, when I had two dollars +left, I offered the nation my services at Regina; but I am the first of +them to wear a police private's uniform." + +I nodded sympathetically, and the trooper, who looked away from me out +of the window, said: "Talk of the devil! All men, it is said, are equal +in this country, but I fancy there's a grade between most of us and your +acquaintance, Foster Lane. The fellow has passed the corral, and I can't +get out without meeting him." + +I nodded with a certain grim sense of anticipation, for I had determined +to speak very plainly to Foster Lane, and knew that Cotton could, on +occasion, display a refined insolence that was signally exasperating. +The next moment Lane came in, red-faced and perspiring, and greeted me +with his usual affability. + +"I'm on the way to recovery, but unable to ride far, which explains my +request for a visit," I said; and Lane waved his large hands +deprecatingly. + +"Business is business, and you need not apologize, because although I +have come two hundred miles you will find first-class expenses charged +for in the bill. I can't smoke on horseback. Will you and the trooper +try one of these?" + +"No, thanks," said Cotton, with an inflection in his voice and a look in +his half-closed eyes that would have warned a more sensitive person; but +Lane, still holding out the cigar-case, added with mild surprise: "By +the price I paid for them they ought to be good." + +"I don't doubt it," drawled Cotton, glancing languidly at the speaker. +"But a few of what you would call British prejudices still cling to me, +and I take cigars and things only from my friends--you see?" + +The stout man laughed a little, though there was malice in his eye. "And +we are not likely to be acquainted? You are, one might presume, a scion +of the English aristocracy, come out to recruit your health or wait +until it's a little less sultry in the old country." + +"I would hardly go so far!"--and Cotton drawled out the words, as he +turned upon his heel. "More unlikely things have happened. At present I +have the honor of serving her Majesty as--a police trooper." + +Lane handed me his cigar-case when the lad strolled out of the door, but +I was in no mood to assume an unfelt cordiality. "I am not inclined for +smoking. Hadn't we better come straight to business?" I said. + +Lane struck a match, and stretched his legs along the window-seat, +though he closed the case with a snap. "Why, certainly! You are ready to +redeem the mortgage on Gaspard's Trail?" + +He spoke pleasantly, though there was a sneer in his eyes, and he had +both lighted his cigar, in spite of my hint, and laid his dusty boots on +the cushions with a cool assurance that made me long to personally +chastise him. "You probably know that I am not," I said. + +"I did hear you had lost some cattle," he answered indifferently. "Well, +in that case, I wait your proposition." + +"I am open to renew the loan at the original interest until this time +next year, when, no matter what I may have to part with, it will be paid +off. You have already had a very fair return on your money," I said. + +"It can't be done," and Lane looked thoughtfully at his cigar. "I'll +carry you on that long at double interest, or make you a bid outright +for Crane Valley." + +"There is no reason in your first offer; you asked only fifty per cent. +increase last time, which was enough in all conscience. What do you want +with Crane Valley?" + +Lane smiled benignly. "You didn't accept that offer formally. Crane +Valley's a pretty location, and I've taken a fancy to it." + +I took time to answer, and set my brain to work. The advantage lay with +the enemy, but, while it appeared certain that he would dispossess me +of Gaspard's Trail, I determined to hold on to Crane Valley. "You can't +have it, and I will not pay the extortionate interest. That, I think, is +plain enough," I said. + +The financier shrugged his shoulders. "I hope you won't be sorry. I +haven't quite decided on my program, but you will hear what it is when +I'm ready. Have you got your own fixed?" + +"I will have soon," I answered, my indignation gaining the mastery. +"There is no advantage to be gained by further circumlocution, and you +may as well know that I will give you as much trouble as possible before +you plunder me. In the first place, if we find Redmond, I shall try to +strike you for conspiracy." + +"Do you know where Redmond is?" and there was a curious note in the +speaker's voice, though I stolidly refrained from any sign of either +negation or assent. "Neither do I; but I have my suspicions that he +won't be much use to you if you do find him. The man is half-crazy, +anyway. Did you ever hear about the fool bullfrog and the ox, Rancher +Ormesby?" + +He leaned back against the logs, and chuckled so complacently at his own +conceit that it was hard to believe this easy-tempered creature was +draining half my neighbors' blood; but I was filled with a great +loathing for him. + +"Your simile isn't a good one, even if it fits the case. An ox is a +hard-working, honest, and useful kind of beast; but there's no use +bandying words," I said. + +"Just so!" and Lane rose lazily. "It's rather a pity you sent for me, +because you have not had much for your money. Being rather pressed just +now, I won't stay." + +I had no intention of requesting him to do so, for the air seemed +clearer without him, and presently Cotton returned. For the first time, +I told him all my suspicions concerning Redmond, and he looked grave as +he listened. "It would have saved some people sorrow if I could only +have run that horse-leach in," he commented, gazing regretfully after +the diminishing figure of the rider. "Yes; it's curious about Redmond. +Lane was over at his place a little while before your accident, and I +believe afterwards as well, and since then nobody has seen Redmond. I'll +have a talk with Mackay, and put some of our men on his trail. If he's +still on top of the prairie they'll find him." + +Cotton rode away; and late that evening Steel returned from his own +holding with a very grim face, while the eyes of his sister were +suspiciously red. + +"I'm to be sold up, and am turned out now," he said. "Lane, who won't +wait any longer, is foreclosing, and he'll fix things so there will be +no balance left. God knows what's to become of Sally and me." + +"You need not trouble about Sally," the girl said, with a flash in her +eyes. "We'll worry along somehow, and we'll live to see that devil +sorry." + +Practical counsel seemed the best sympathy, and after asking a few +questions, I said: "This is going to be a grain-producing country, and +there are plenty acres ready for breaking and horses idle at Crane +Valley. When Lane seizes Gaspard's Trail, as he probably will, we must +see what can be done with them on the share arrangement; and meantime, +since I paid two hired men off, there is plenty for you to do here +helping me." + +Steel eventually agreed, and as soon as I was fit for the saddle I rode +over to Mackay's quarters; but, though he stated that if Redmond were +anywhere in the Territories he would sooner or later be found, nothing +had so far resulted from his inquiries. + +It was some weeks later, and towards the close of a sultry afternoon, +when I rode homewards with Cotton and Steel towards the Sweetwater. We +had much thunder that season, and though there had been a heavy storm +the night before, a stagnant, oppressive atmosphere still hung over the +prairie. It suited the somber mood of two of the party, while even +Cotton seemed unusually subdued. + +Steel's possessions had been sold off that day, and bought up at +ridiculously inadequate prices by two strangers, who we all suspected +had been financed by Lane. Few of us had a dollar to spare, and the +auctioneer, who was also probably under the money-lender's thumb, +demanded proof of ability to make the purchase when one or two neighbors +attempted to force up the bidding. Steel rode with slack bridle and his +head bent, and I was heavy of heart, for I held Gaspard's Trail only on +sufferance, and the same fate must soon overtake me. The prairie +stretched before us a desolate waste, fading on the horizon into gray +obscurity, and, together with the gloom of the heavens above, its +forlorn aspect increased my depression. So we came moodily to the dip to +the Sweetwater, and I saw Mackay standing beside a deeper pool below. A +rapid flowed into the head of it, and the lines of froth shone with a +strange lividness. The time was then perhaps an hour before sunset. When +we dismounted to water and rest the horses, Mackay turned sharply and +glanced at Cotton. + +"All went off quietly?" And the trooper nodded. + +"Yes," I said. "We have a long patience, Sergeant; but there were signs +on some of the faces that things may go differently some day." + +"Ay?" said the sergeant, fixing his keen eyes on me as he stood, a lean, +bronze-skinned statue beside the river. "What were ye meaning, Rancher +Ormesby?" + +"I was merely giving you a hint," I said. "We have paid all demanded +from us and kept the law, but now, when the powers that rule us stand by +and watch us ground out of existence to enrich a few unprincipled +schemers, it is hard to say what might not happen." + +"Ye did well," was the dry answer. "It will be my business to see ye +keep it still; but in this country any man has liberty to talk just as +foolishly as it pleases him. Can the law change the seasons for ye, or +protect the careless from their own improvidence? But let be. I'm older +than most o' ye, and have seen that there's a measure set on +oppression." + +He concluded with a curious assurance which approached solemnity; but +Steel added, with a Western expletive, that he had already let be until +he was ruined. Then I broke in: "If I can find Redmond and wring the +truth from him I hope to prove that the limit has been reached; and I +purpose, in the first place, to see what the law will do for me. Have +you any word of him?" + +"No," and the sergeant's tone was very significant. "If he were still +above the prairie-sod we should have found him. But there was a bit +freshet last night--and I am expecting him." + +Steel, I fancied, shivered, and though the speaker might well be +mistaken, anything that served to divert our thoughts was a relief, and +for a while we lay among the grasses, smoking silently. The sky was +heavily overcast, there was no breath of air astir, and the slow gurgle +of the river drifted mournfully down the hollow. For some reason, I felt +strangely restless and expectant, as though something unusual would +shortly happen. A faint drumming of hoofs rose up from somewhere far off +across the prairie, as well as a sound which might have been made by an +approaching wagon. + +"That's Lane striking south for the railroad with a few of the boys +behind him," Steel said listlessly. "There'll be thunder before he +reaches it, and Lardeau's team is wild, but there's no use hoping +they'll bolt and break Lane's neck for him. Accidents do not happen to +that kind of man." + +A little time had passed, and the beat of horses' feet broke in a +rhythmic measure through the heavy stillness, when Cotton, who had +followed his sergeant along the bank, raised a shout, and I leaped to my +feet, for something that circled with the current was drifting down +stream. We ran our hardest, and, for I was not strong yet, the others +were standing very silent, with tense faces and staring eyes, when I +rejoined them. + +"Yon's Redmond," said Sergeant Mackay. "I was expecting him." + +The object he pointed to slid slowly by abreast of us, and I felt a +shock of physical nausea as I stared at it. At that distance it was +without human semblance, a mere shapeless mass of sodden clothing, save +for the faint white glimmer of a face; but the shock gave place to a +fit of sullen fury. Heaven knows I cherished no anger against the +unfortunate man. Indeed, from the beginning, I had regarded him as a +mere helpless tool; but death had robbed me of my only weapon, and I +remembered Lane's prediction that Redmond would be of little use to me +if I found him. + +"If one of ye has a lariat ye had better bring it," said Sergeant +Mackay. + +We followed the object down stream. It floated slowly, now +half-submerged, now rising more buoyantly, with the blanched countenance +turned towards the murky heavens, out of which the light was fading, +until Steel, poising himself upon the bank, deftly flung a coupled +lariat. The noose upon its end took hold, and I shrank backwards when we +drew what it held ashore, for Redmond's face was ill to look upon, and +seemed to mock me with its staring eyes. + +"Stan' clear!" said the sergeant, perhaps feeling speech of any kind +would be a relief, for nobody showed the least desire to crowd upon him. +"If it had not been for the regulations a drop of whisky would have been +acceptable, seeing that it's my painful duty to find out how he came by +his end." + +The words were excusable, but there was no whisky forthcoming; and +though, perhaps, only one man in a hundred would have undertaken that +gruesome task, the sergeant went through it with the grim thoroughness +which characterized all his actions. + +"There's no sign of a blow or bullet that I can find, and I'm thinking +only the Almighty knows whether he drowned himself or it was accidental +death. Ye can identify him, all of ye?" + +We thought we could, but had been so intent that nobody noticed the +trampling of horses' hoofs until a wagon was drawn up close by, and +several riders reined in their beasts. + +"Here's a man who ought to," said Steel. "Come down and swear to your +partner, Lane." + +Turning, I saw my enemy start as he looked over the side of the wagon +at what lay before him. Every eye was fixed upon him, and Steel stood +quietly determined by the wheel. + +"I'm in a hurry, and don't fill the post of coroner," the former said. + +"Will you come down?" Steel added; and there was a low growl from the +assembly, while Lane shrank back from that side of the vehicle. "I guess +it's certain this man was the last to see Redmond alive." + +"Drive on!" said Lane to the teamster; but the man hesitated, while, +when his employer snatched up the reins, there was another murmur deeper +than before, and mounted men closed about the wagon, their figures +cutting blackly against the fading light. Why they were journeying +homewards in such company I did not learn, but, overtaking it, they had +perhaps ridden beside the wagon for the purpose of expressing their +frank opinion of its occupant. + +"Ye cannot pass until ye have answered my questions," said Sergeant +Mackay. "If he does not dismount ye have authority to help him, Steel. +Ye will hold the horses, Trooper Cotton." + +Lane slowly climbed down the wheel, and neither Mackay nor Cotton +interfered when, as he showed signs of remaining at the foot of it, +Steel's hand closed firmly on his neck and forced him forwards, +apparently much against his wishes. Then the ruined farmer held him, +protesting savagely, beside the body of his victim. It was, in its own +way, an impressive scene--the erect, soldierly figures of the uniformed +troopers, the circle of silent mounted men, who moved only to sooth +their uneasy horses, and the white-faced man who shivered visibly as he +looked down at the sodden heap at his feet. There was also, even had the +two been strangers, ample excuse for him. + +"While protesting that this is an outrage, I am ready to answer your +questions," he said huskily. + +"Who is this man? Did ye know him?" asked the sergeant, whose face +remained woodenly impassive. + +"Rancher Redmond, by his clothing," was the answer. "Yes; if necessary, +I think I could swear to him." And the sergeant asked again: "When and +where did ye last see him?" + +"In the birch _coulee_, at dusk, three weeks past Tuesday. That would +make it----" But the financier seemed unable to work out the simple sum, +and concluded: "You can figure the date for yourself." + +"What business had ye with him?" and the sergeant smiled dryly at the +answer: "That does not concern you." + +"Maybe no. If ye have good reasons for not telling I will not press ye, +though ye may be called upon to speak plainly. Do ye know how he came +into the river?" + +"No," said Lane, a trifle too vehemently. + +"Do ye know of any reason why he should have drowned himself?" And Lane +turned upon the questioner savagely: + +"I'll make you all suffer for your inference! Why should I know? I +challenge the right of anyone but a coroner to detain me." + +"I'll let ye see my authority at the station if I find it necessary to +take ye there," said the sergeant grimly. "Noo will ye answer? Do ye +know why this man ye had dealings with should wish to destroy himself?" + +"You're presuming a good deal," was the answer; and Lane's face grew +malevolent as he glanced at Steel and me. "How do you know he did +destroy himself, anyway; and if he did, I guess it's an open secret he +had trouble with Ormesby and Steel." + +I sprang forward, but Cotton laid a heavy hand on my shoulder, and there +was a threatening ejaculation from one of the bystanders. "Well, to +satisfy you, I solemnly declare I am in no way connected with what has +befallen the deceased rancher, and know of no reason why he should have +attempted his life. This isn't a court; but because I'm in a hurry, and +to stop chattering tongues, I call heaven to witness it is the truth." + +I believed that, after a villainous attempt to divert suspicion to me, +the man was deliberately perjuring himself, and several of the +bystanders must have believed it, too. Most of them were not wholly free +from superstition, and their faces were almost expectant as they stood +strung up and intent about the dead man under the deepening gloom. Then +a flicker of pale lightning filled the hollow. Each face was lit up for +a second, and Lane's was livid; and, when the flash faded, the dusk +seemed to deepen suddenly, and a boom of distant thunder rolled from +swelling level to level across the prairie. Thunder had been very +frequent during the last few weeks, but the listeners seemed to find the +coincidence significant. + +"Ye can pass," said the sergeant, whose voice seemed a trifle unsteady. +"But it will be on horseback, and we may want ye later. Lardeau--it's a +charity--ye will lend Redmond the wagon." + +"You can't have it," said Lane. "I have a long journey before me and a +rheumatic thigh. If you take the wagon I hired what am I to do?" + +"You can ride with Redmond. His house is on your way, and you can't hurt +him, anyway. The poor devil's beyond you now," said a stern voice; and +Lane, who allowed the teamster to help him onto one of the horses which +was replaced, departed hurriedly. + +"I congratulate ye," said Sergeant Mackay significantly. "He was a +fellow-creature, boys. Who'll help me lift him in? We will e'en need the +same service ourselves some day." + +I shuddered, but took my place with Steel among the rest; and when the +task was accomplished, the latter expressed both our feelings as he +said: "I wouldn't for five hundred dollars do that again; but it seemed +the poor devil's due after what we said about him. I guess he wasn't +quite responsible, and was driven to it; but, when it comes to the +reckoning, God help the man who drove him." + +It was dark when we gained the level and followed the creaking wagon +that jolted before us across the prairie. Few words were spoken. A low +rumbling of thunder rolled across the great emptiness, while now and +then a pale blue flash fell athwart the lathered horses and set faces of +the men. "The beasts," said one big farmer, "know considerably more than +they can tell. Look at the near one sweating! I guess they find Redmond +or the load he's carrying mighty heavy." + +"Then," added another voice, which broke harshly through the thuds of +hoofs, "ten teams wouldn't move the man who rode away." + +The ways of the prairie dwellers are in some respects modern and crudely +new; but the Highland servants of the Hudson's Bay Company and the +French half-breed _voyageur_ have between them left us a dowry of quaint +belief and superstition; and the growl of the thunder and the black +darkness made a due impression on most of those who brought Redmond +home. For my part I was thankful when a lonely log-house loomed up ahead +and the wagon came to a standstill. Four men, improvising a stretcher, +took up their burden, and halted as Sergeant Mackay and another, neither +of whom seemed to care about his errand, knocked on the door. + +A young woman opened it, holding aloft a lamp, and under its uncertain +light her face showed drawn and pale. I breathed harder, and heard some +of those about me murmur compassionately, for she looked very frail and +young to bear what must follow. The sergeant's words did not reach us, +but a swift glare of blue flame, that left us dazzled, broke in upon +them. The whole space about the building was flooded with temporary +brilliancy, and Redmond's daughter must have seen us standing about the +wagon and the bearers waiting, for she dropped the lantern (which Mackay +seized in time), and caught at the logs which framed the door as if for +support. A minute must have passed before the slight form once more +stood erect upon the threshold. + +"Mackay thinks of everything," Steel said in my ear. "He sent Gordon off +to bring his wife along. There's only the half-breed here, and she'll +need a white woman with her to-night, poor soul." + +"Bring him in," said a low voice; and before the sergeant could prevent +her, the speaker, snatching up the lantern, moved forward to meet the +bearers. It was no sight for young eyes, and I saw Steel shudder; but +there was wild Erse blood in the girl, and, holding one arm up, she +stood erect, facing us again. + +"This was my father, and he was a kind man to me," she said, with a +choking gasp that was not a sob, and from which her voice broke high and +shrill. "For the sake of a few acres and cattle he was driven to his +death, and may black sorrow follow the man who ruined him. Sorrow and +bitterness, with the fear that will drive sleep from him and waste him +blood and bone until he takes the curse of the widow and orphan with him +into the flame of hell!" + +Then the eerie voice sank again, and it was with a strange dignity she +concluded: "I thank you, neighbors. You can bring him in." + +Another paler flash lit up the prairie as they carried Redmond in, and, +when a wagon came bouncing up to the fence, Steel said: "Here's Mrs. +Gordon; they have lost no time. Are you coming back, Ormesby? I've had +about enough of this." + +I had no wish to linger, and when we rode homewards through the deluge +that now thrashed our faces, the sergeant, who overtook us, said: "Man, +I feel creepy! She's no' quite canny, and yon was awesome." + +"It was impressive; but you can't attach much importance to that poor +girl's half-distracted raving," I said, partly to convince myself. + +"Maybe no," said Sergeant Mackay. "Superstition, ye say; but I'm +thinking there's a judgment here as well as hereafter, and I'd no' care +to carry yon curse about with me." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A PRAIRIE STUDY + + +So Redmond came home, and we buried him the following night by +torchlight on a desolate ridge of the prairie. It was his daughter who +ordered this; and if some of those who held aloft the flaming tow +guessed his secret they kept it for the sake of the girl who stood with +a stony, tearless face beside the open grave. He had doubtless yielded +to strong compulsion when driven into a corner from which, for one of +his nature, there was no escape, and now that he was dead, I had +transferred my score against him to the debit of the usurer. As we rode +home after the funeral I said something of the kind to Steel, who agreed +with me. + +"If you concluded to try it, Thorn and Jo and I, taking our affidavits +as to what we saw that night, might make out a case for you; but I don't +know that we could fix it on Lane, and it strikes me as mean to drag a +dead man into the fuss for nothing," he said. "Redmond has gone to a +place where he can't testify, but he has left his daughter, and she +already has about all she can stand." + +"Strikes me that way, too; and Lane's too smart to be corraled," added +Thorn. + +"We'll get even somehow without Redmond, and to that end you two will +have to run Gaspard's Trail," I said. "I'm going down to Montreal with +Carolan's cattle." + +A project had for some little time been shaping itself in my mind. I had +a small reversionary interest in some English property, and though it +would be long before a penny of it could accrue to me, it seemed just +possible to raise a little money on it. Considering Western rates of +interest, nobody in Winnipeg would trouble with such an investment, but +I had a distant and prosperous kinsman in Montreal who might find some +speculator willing. Montreal was, however, at least two thousand miles +away, and traveling expensive; but the Carolan brothers had promptly +accepted my offer to take charge of their cattle destined for Europe, +which implied free passes both ways. It was not the mode of traveling +one would have expected a prosperous rancher to adopt, but I needed +every available dollar for the approaching struggle, and was well +content when, after the untamed stock had nearly wrecked the railroad +depot, we got them on board the cars. + +The only time I ever saw Sergeant Mackay thoroughly disconcerted was +that morning. We came up out of the empty prairie riding on the flanks +of the herd. The beasts had suffered from the scarcity of water and were +in an uncertain temper, while, as luck would have it, just as they +surged close-packed between the bare frame houses, Mackay and a trooper +came riding down the unpaved street of the little prairie town. There +was no opening either to right or to left, and the more prudent +storekeepers put up their shutters. + +"Look as if they owned the universe, them police," said the man who +cantered up beside me. "Sure, it would take the starch out of them if +anything did start the cattle." + +Mackay pulled up his horse and looked dubiously at the mass of tossing +horns rolling towards him. "'Tis not in accordance with regulations to +turn a big draft loose on a peaceful town. Why did ye not split them +up?" he said. "Ye could be held responsible if there's damage done." + +"I'm afraid these beasts don't understand regulations, and I had to +bring them as best I could," I answered; and my assistant shouted, "Get +out of the daylight, sergeant, dear, while your shoes are good." + +Mackay seemed to resent this familiarity, and sat still, with one hand +on his hip, an incarnation of official dignity, though he kept his eyes +upon the fast advancing herd until the big freight locomotive which was +awaiting us set up a discordant shrieking, and backed a row of clanging +cars across the switches. That was sufficient for the untamed cattle. +With a thunder of pounding hoofs they poured tumultuously down the +rutted street, and I caught a brief glimpse of the sergeant hurriedly +wheeling his horse before everything was blotted out by the stirred-up +dust. The streets of a prairie town are inches deep in powdered loam all +summer and in bottomless sloughs all spring. + +A wild shout of "Faugh-a-ballagh!" rang out; and I found myself riding +faster than was prudent along the crazy plank sidewalk to pass and, if +possible, swing the stampeding herd into the railroad corral. How my +horse gained the three-foot elevation and avoided falling over the +dry-goods bales and flour bags which lay littered everywhere, I do not +remember; but my chief assistant, Dennis, who, yelling his hardest, +charged recklessly down the opposite one, afterwards declared that his +beast climbed up the steps like a kitten. Then, as I drew a little +ahead, Mackay became dimly visible, riding bareheaded, as though for his +life, with the horns, that showed through the tossed-up grit, a few +yards behind him. Fortunately the stockyard gates were open wide, and +Dennis came up at a gallop in time to head the herd off from a charge +across the prairie, while a second man and I turned their opposite wing. +Mackay did his best to wheel his horse clear of the gates, but the beast +was evidently bent on getting as far as possible from the oncoming mass, +and resisted bit and spur. Then there was a great roar of laughter from +loungers and stockyard hands as the dust swept up towards heaven and the +drove thundered through the opening. + +"Where's the sergeant?" I shouted; and Dennis, who chuckled so that his +speech was thick, made answer: "Sure, he's in the corral. The beasts +have run him in, but it's mighty tough beef they'd find him in the old +country." + +Dennis was right, for when the haze thinned the sergeant appeared, as +white as a miller, flattened up against the rails, while a playful steer +curveted in the vicinity, as though considering where to charge him. He +was extricated by pulling down the rails, and accepted my apologies +stiffly. + +"This," he said, disregarding the offer of a lounger to wash him under +the locomotive tank, "is not just what I would have expected of ye, +Rancher Ormesby." + +While the stock were being transferred to the cars amid an almost +indescribable tumult, I met Miss Redmond on the little sod platform. + +"I am glad I have met you, because I am going to Winnipeg, and may never +see you again," she said. "There is much I do not understand, but I feel +you have been wronged, and want to thank you for your consideration." + +Redmond's daughter had received some training in an Eastern convent, it +was said, and I found it hard to believe that the very pale, +quietly-spoken girl was the one who had called down the curses upon +Foster Lane. Still, I knew there was a strain of something akin to +insanity in that family, and that, in addition, she was of the changeful +nature which accompanies pure Celtic blood. + +"You should not indulge in morbid fancies, and you have very little +cause for gratitude. We were sincerely sorry for you, and tried to do +what we could," I said. + +Ailin Redmond fixed her black eyes intently upon me, and I grew uneasy, +seeing what suggested a smoldering fire in them. "You are not clever +enough to deceive a woman," she said, with a disconcerting composure. "I +do not know all, but perhaps I shall some day, and then, whatever it +costs me, you and another person shall see justice done. It may not be +for a long time, but I can wait; and I am going away from the prairie. +Still, I should like to ask you one question--how did your cattle get +inside the fence?" + +"The fire drove them; but instead of fretting over such things, you must +try to forget the last two months as soon as possible," I answered as +stoutly as I could, seeking meanwhile an excuse for flight, which was +not lacking. "Those beasts will kill somebody if I neglect them any +longer." + +Ailin Redmond held out her hand to me, saying very quietly: "I shall +never forget, and--it is no use protesting--a time will come when I +shall understand it all clearly. Until then may the good saints protect +you from all further evil, Rancher Ormesby." + +As I hurried away a tented wagon lurched into the station, and when I +last saw Redmond's daughter she stood near the lonely end of the +platform talking earnestly with the traveling photographer. + +Dennis had not recovered from his merriment when, much to the +satisfaction of those we left behind, the long cars rolled out of the +station, while many agents remembered our visit to the stations which +succeeded. Blinding dust and fragments of ballast whirled about the cars +as the huge locomotive hauled them rocking over the limitless levels. +From sunrise to sunset the gaunt telegraph poles reeled up from the +receding horizon, growing from the size of matches to towering spars as +they came, and then slowly diminishing far down the straight-ruled line +again. For hours we lay on side-tracks waiting until one of the great +inter-ocean expresses, running their portion of the race round half the +globe, thundered past, white with the dust of a fifteen-hundred-mile +journey, and then, with cars and cattle complaining, we lurched on our +way again. + +At times we led the beasts out in detachments to water at wayside +stations, and there was usually much profanity and destruction of +property before we got them back again, and left the agent to assess the +damage to his feelings, besides splintered gangways and broken rails. It +was at Portage or Brandon, I think, that one showed me a warning +received by wire. "Through freight full of wild beasts coming along. +There'll be nothing left of your station if you let the lunatics in +charge of them turn their menagerie out." + +The beasts had, however, grown more subdued before the cars rolled +slowly into Winnipeg, and gave us little trouble when, leaving the +prairie behind, we sped, eastwards ever, past broad lake and foaming +river, into the muskegs of Ontario; so that I had time for reflection +when the great locomotive, panting on the grades, hauled us, poised +giddily between crag face and deep blue water, along the Superior shore. +The Haldanes were in Montreal, and I wondered, in case chance threw me +in their way, how they would greet me, and what I should say. I was +apparently a prosperous rancher when they last spoke with me, and a +tender of other men's cattle now, while it might well happen that in +their eyes a further cloud rested upon me. + +The long and weary journey came to an end at last, and when the big +engines ceased their panting beside the broad St. Lawrence I left Dennis +and his companions to divert themselves in Montreal after the fashion of +their kind, and, arraying myself in civilized fashion, proceeded to my +relative's offices. + +A clerk said that Mr. Leyland, who was absent, desired me to follow him +to his autumn retreat, but I first set about the business which had +brought me, unassisted. Nobody, however, would entertain the species of +investment I had to propose, and it was with a heavy heart I boarded the +cars again some days later. + +Leyland and his wife appeared unaffectedly glad to see me at their +pretty summer-house, which stood above the smooth white shingle fringing +a wide lake, and at sunset that evening I lay smoking among the boulders +of a point, while his son and heir sat close by interrogating me. Part +of the lake still reflected the afterglow, and after the monotonous +levels of the prairie it rested my eyes to see the climbing pines tower +above it in shadowy majesty. Their drowsy scent was soothing, and +through the dusk that crept towards me from their feet, blinking lights +cast trembling reflections across the glassy water. Several prosperous +citizens retired at times to spend their leisure in what they termed +camping on the islets of that lake. + +"Air you poor and wicked?" asked the urchin, inspecting me critically. + +"Very poor, and about up to the average for iniquity," I said; and the +diminutive questioner rubbed his curly locks as though puzzled. + +"Well, you don't quite look neither," he commented. "Poor men don't wear +new store clothes. The last one I saw had big holes in his pants, and +hadn't eaten nothing for three weeks, he said. Pop, he spanked me good +'cos I gave him four dollars off'n the bureau to buy some dinner with. +Say, how long was it since you had a square meal, anyway? You did mighty +well at supper. I was watching you." + +"It is about two months since I had a meal like that and then it was +because a friend of mine gave it to me," I answered truthfully; and +Leyland junior rubbed his head again. + +"No--you don't look very low down, but you must be," he repeated. "Pop +was talking 'bout you, and he said: 'You'll do your best to see the poor +devil has a good time, 'Twoinette. From what I gather he needs it pretty +bad.'" + +I laughed, perhaps somewhat hollowly, for the child commented: "Won't +you do that again? It's just like a loon. There's one lives over yonder, +and he might answer. Ma, she says people should never make a noise when +they laugh; but when I sent Ted on the roof to get my ball, and he fell +into the rain-butt, she just laughed worse than you, and her teeth came +out." + +"Your mother would probably spank you for telling that to strangers. But +who is Ted?" I said, remembering that a loon is a water-bird that sets +up an unearthly shrieking in the stillness of the night; and the urchin +rebuked me with the cheerful disrespect for his seniors which +characterizes the Colonial born. + +"Say, was you forgotten when brains were given out? He's just Ted Caryl, +and I think he's bad. Pop says his firm's meaner than road agents. He +comes round evenings and swops business lies with Pop, 'specially when +Bee is here, but he can't be clever. Ma says he don't even know enough +to be sure which girl he wants. They is two of them, and I like Lou +best." + +"Why?" I asked, because the urchin seemed to expect some comment; and +he proceeded to convince me. "They is both pretty, but Lou is nicest. I +found it out one day I'd been eating corduroy candy, and Bee she just +dropped me when I got up on her knee. She didn't say anything, but she +looked considerable. Then I went to Lou, and she picked me up and gave +me nicer candies out of a gilt-edge box. Ma says she must have been an +angel, because her dress was all sticky, and I think she is. There was +one just like her with silver wings in the church at Sault Chaudiere. +One night Ma and them was talking 'bout you, and Bee sits quite still as +if she didn't care, but she was listening. Lou, she says: 'Poor----' I +don't think it was poor devil." + +"Do you know where little boys who tell all they hear go to?" I asked; +and Leyland junior pointed to a dusky sail that showed up behind the +island before he answered wearily: "You make me tired. I've been asked +that one before. Here's Ted and the others coming. I'm off to see what +they have brought for me." + +He vanished among the boulders, and, filling my pipe again, I kept +still, feeling no great inclination to take part in the casual chatter +of people with whose customs I had almost lost touch. I was struck by +the resemblance of the names the child mentioned to those of Haldane's +daughters, but both were tolerably common, and it did not please me that +Mrs. Leyland should make a story of my struggles for the amusement of +strangers. So some time had passed before I entered the veranda of the +little wooden house, and, as it was only partially lighted by a shaded +lamp, managed to find a place almost unobserved in a corner. Thus I had +time to recover from my surprise at the sight of Beatrice and Lucille +Haldane seated at a little table beneath the lamp. Two men I did not +know leaned against the balustrade close at hand, and several more were +partly distinguishable in the shadows. From where I sat some of the +figures were projected blackly against a field of azure and silver, for +the moon now hung above the lake. Beatrice Haldane was examining what +appeared to be a bound collection of photographic reproductions. + +"Yes. As Mrs. Leyland mentions, I have met the original of this picture, +and it is a good one, though it owes something to the retoucher," she +said; and I saw my hostess smile wickedly at her husband when somebody +said: "Tell us about him. How interesting!" + +Beatrice Haldane answered lightly: "There is not much to tell. The +allegorical title explains itself, if it refers to the edict that it is +by the sweat of his brow man shall earn his bread, which most of our +acquaintances seem to have evaded. The West is a hard, bare country, and +its inhabitants, though not wholly uncivilized, hard men. I should like +to send some of our amateur athletes to march or work with them. This +one is merely a characteristic specimen." + +I wondered what the subject of the picture was, but waited an +opportunity to approach the speaker, while, as I did so, a young man +said: "I should rather like to take up your sister's challenge. Pulling +the big catboat across here inside an hour without an air of wind was +not exactly play; but can you tell us anything more about these tireless +Westerners, Miss Lucille?" + +The younger girl, who sat quietly, with her hands in her lap, looked up. +"It is the fashion never to grow enthusiastic; but I am going to tell +you, Ted. Those men were always in real earnest, and that is why they +interested me; but I shouldn't take up the challenge if I were you. We +call this camping. They lie down to sleep on many a journey in a snow +trench under the arctic frost, ride as carelessly through blinding +blizzard as summer heat, and, I concluded, generally work all day and +half the night. They are not hard in any other sense, but very generous, +though they sometimes speak, as they live, very plainly." + +Some of the listeners appeared amused, others half-inclined to applaud +the girl, and there was a little laughter when Miss Haldane interposed: +"This is my sister's hobby. Some of them, you may remember, seem to live +upon gophers, Lucille." + +Lucille Haldane did not appear pleased at this interruption; but the +flush of animation and luster in her eyes wonderfully became her. "I do +not know that even gophers would be worse than the canned goose livers +and other disgusting things we import for their weight in silver," she +said. "All I saw in the West pleased me, and, because I am a Canadian +first and last, I don't mind being smiled at for admitting that I am +very glad I have seen the men who live there at their work. They are +doing a great deal for our country." + +"They could not have a stancher or prettier champion, my dear," said a +gray-haired man who sat near me. "It would be hard to grow equally +enthusiastic about your profession, Ted." + +"It is Miss Haldane's genius which makes the most of everybody's good +points," answered a young man with a frank face and stalwart appearance, +turning towards me. "I am afraid the rest of us would see only a tired +and dusty farmer who looked as though twelve hours' sleep would be good +for him. What's your idea of the West? If I remember Mrs. Leyland +correctly, you come from the land of promise, don't you?" + +"We certainly work tolerably hard out there, but it is no great credit +to us when we have to choose between that and starvation; and the West +is the land of disappointment as well as promise," I answered dryly. + +The rest glanced around in our direction, and Mrs. Leyland laughed +mischievously. "If any of you are really interested, my friend here, who +came in so quietly, would, I dare say, answer your questions. Let me +present you, Rancher Ormesby." + +I bowed as, endeavoring to remember the names that followed, I moved +towards the chair beside her when she beckoned. It lay full in the +light, and I noticed blank surprise in the faces turned towards me. +Beatrice Haldane dropped the album, and for some reason the clear rose +color surged upwards from her sister's neck. I stooped to recover the +book, which lay open, and then stared at it with astonishment and +indignation, for the face of the man standing beside a weary team, +waist-deep in the tall grass of a slough, was unmistakably my own. I +had forgotten the click of the camera shutter that hot morning. + +"It was hardly fair of my hostess not to warn me, and this print was +published without my knowledge or consent," I said. "Still, it shows how +we earn a living in my country, and I can really tell you little more. +We resemble most other people in that we chiefly exert ourselves under +pressure of necessity--and one would prefer to forget that fact during a +brief holiday." + +The listeners either smiled or nodded good-humoredly and it was Lucille +Haldane who held out her hand to me, while her elder sister returned my +salutation with a civility which was distinct from cordiality. How Mrs. +Leyland changed the situation I do not remember, nor how, when some of +the party were inspecting fire-flies in the grasses by the lake, I found +myself beside Beatrice Haldane at the end of the veranda. I had schooled +myself in preparation for a possible meeting, but she looked so +beautiful with the moonlight on her that I spoke rashly. + +"We parted good friends--but no one could have hoped you felt the +slightest pleasure at the present meeting." + +"Frankness is sometimes irksome to both speaker and listener," said the +girl, turning her dark eyes upon me steadily. "Can you not be satisfied +with the possibility of your being mistaken?" + +"No," I answered doggedly, and she smiled. "Then suppose one admitted +you had surmised correctly?" + +"I should ask the cause," and Beatrice Haldane, saying nothing, looked a +warning, which, being filled with an insane bitterness, I would not +take. "It would hurt me to conclude that those you honored with your +friendship on the prairie would be less welcome here." + +She raised her head a little with the Haldane's pride, which, though +never paraded, was unmistakable. "You should have learned to know us +better. Neither your prosperity nor the reverse would have made any +difference." + +"Then is there no explanation?" I asked, forgetting everything under the +strain of the moment; and it was evident that Beatrice Haldane shared +her sister's courage, for, though there was a darker spot in the center +of her cheek she answered steadily: "There is. We are disappointed in +you, Rancher Ormesby." + +Then, without another word, she turned away, and presently the rattle of +oars and a gleam of moonlit canvas told that the catboat was returning +across the lake. + +"I hope you have enjoyed the meeting with your friends," said Mrs. +Leyland, presently. "Very much, I assure you," I answered, with an +effort which I hope will be forgiven me. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A TEMPTATION + + +Leyland had a weakness for what he termed hardening himself by +occasional feats of endurance, from which it resulted that I spent +several days in his company wandering, with a wholly unnecessary load of +camp gear upon my back, through a desolation of uncomfortably wooded +hills. Now it is not easy for a business man of domesticated habits to +emulate a pack mule and enjoy the proceeding, and when Mrs. Leyland, +after burdening her husband with everything she could think of, desired +to add a small tin bath, there was little difficulty in predicting that +our journey would not be extensive. Having a load of fifty pounds +already, I ignored the suggestion that I might carry the bath, and +hurried Leyland off before his spouse could further hamper us. One thick +blanket, a kettle, and a few pounds of provisions would have amply +sufficed, so a large-sized tent seemed to be distinctly superfluous, to +say nothing of the bag filled with hair-brushes, towels, and scented +soap. + +Leyland commenced the march with enthusiasm, and certainly presented a +picturesque appearance as he plodded along in leather jacket and fringed +leggings, with the folded tent upon his shoulders and a collection of +tin utensils jingling about him. I was somewhat similarly caparisoned, +and, because it would have hurt his feelings, I overcame the temptation +to fling half my load into a creek we crossed, though this would have +greatly pleased me. A fourth of the weight would have sufficed for a +two-hundred-mile journey in the West. + +"There is nothing like judicious exercise for bracing one's whole +system," panted my companion, when we had covered the first league in +two hours or so. "How a wide prospect like this rests the vision. Say, +can't we sit down and enjoy it a little?" + +I nodded agreement, and we spent most of that day in sitting down and +smoking, while, as it happened, a sudden breeze blew the tent over upon +us at midnight, and anybody who has crawled clear of the thrashing +canvas in such circumstances can guess what followed. Leyland, as +generally happens, wriggled headforemost into what might be termed the +pocket of the net, and it cost me some trouble to extricate him. Next +morning he awoke with a toothache and general shortness of temper, as a +result of trying to sleep in the rain, and appeared much less certain +about the benefits to be derived from such excursions. + +"If you will let me pick out the few things we really want and throw the +rest away, I'll engage that you will enjoy the remainder of the march," +I said. + +"I wish I could, but it can't be done," and Leyland, staring ruefully at +his load, shook his head. "'Twoinette's so--so blamed systematic, and if +one of those brushes was missing she'd have to start in from the +beginning with a whole new toilet outfit. Of course, you don't +understand these things yet, but you will some day. A wife with cultured +tastes requires to be considered accordingly." + +I was resting on one elbow gazing up between the pine branches at the +blue of the sky, with the clean-scented needles crackling under me, and +made no answer. Nevertheless, it struck me that I might find too much +culture irksome, especially if it implied that I must carry half my +household sundries upon my back whenever I started on an expedition. +Hitherto I had not considered this side of the question when indulging +in certain roseate visions, but as Leyland spoke there opened up +unpleasant possibilities of having to stand by, a mere director, clear +of the heat and dust of effort, and pay others to do the work I found +pleasure in. Then as I reflected that there was small need to trouble +about such eventualities, a face, that was not Beatrice Haldane's, rose +up before my fancy. It was forceful as well as pretty, quick to express +sympathy and enthusiasm; and I decided that the man who won Lucille +Haldane would have a helpmate who would encourage instead of restrain +his energies, and, if need be, take her place beside him in the +struggle. Then I dismissed the subject as having nothing to do with me. + +Leyland seemed loath to resume his rambles, and on the following +morning, after he had, I fancy, lain awake abusing the mosquitoes all +night, his patience broke down. "I'm getting too old to enjoy this +description of picnic as I used to," he said. "The fact is, if I mule +this confounded bric-a-brac around much longer I shall drop in my +tracks." + +"Shall we turn back?" I asked him. + +The tired man shook his head. "We'll strike for water, and if we can't +find a canoe anywhere you can build a raft. I wouldn't crawl through any +more of those muskegs for a thousand dollars." + +I had no objections, and Leyland's comments became venomous during the +march, for the lake was distant, and the pine woods thick. He fell into +thickets, and shed his burden broadcast across the face of each steeper +descent, so that it cost us many minutes to collect it again, and once +we spent an hour in the mire of a muskeg on hands and knees in search of +a vine-pattern mustard spoon. Leyland, who became profane during the +proceedings, said his wife might consider that its loss would destroy +the harmony of a whole dinner service. At last, however--my comrade, +panting heavily, and progressing with a crab-like gait, because he had +wrenched one knee and blistered a heel--the broad lake showed up beneath +the blazing maple leaves ahead. They were donning their full glories of +gold and crimson before the coming of the frost. + +"Thank heaven!" said Leyland with fervent sincerity. "I'll sit here +forever unless you can find something that will float me home." + +He limped on until we were clear of the trees, and then flung himself +down among the boulders with a gasp of relief, for fortune had treated +him kindly. There was a fresh breeze blowing, and the broad stretch of +water was streaked by lines of frothy white; but we had come out upon a +sheltered bay, and a big catboat lay moored beneath a ledge. A group of +figures rose from about a crackling fire, there was a shout of +recognition, and the young man I had been introduced to as Ted Caryl +came forward to greet us. + +"Just in time! The kettle's boiling; but have you been practicing for a +strong-man circus, Leyland?" he said. My companion, still retaining his +recumbent position, answered dryly: "I have been taking exercise and +diverting myself." + +"So one might have fancied from your exhilarated appearance," commented +Caryl. "We can give you a passage home by water if you have had enough +of it." + +"I'll go no other way if I have to swim," said Leyland grimly. + +Then the younger man turned to me: "Do you happen to know anything about +seamanship?" + +"I spent all my spare time as a youngster helping to sail small craft on +the English coast, and was considered a fair helmsman for my age," I +said; and Caryl patted my shoulder approvingly. + +"It's a mercy, because I know just next to nothing. Put up as a yacht +club member, and bought this craft--she's a daisy--for five hundred +dollars to give the girls a sail. Brought them down, with a light fair +wind, smart enough, but though it's gone round, the thing don't steer +the way she ought to in a breeze. So I've been getting mighty anxious as +to how I'm to take them home again, and feel too scared to say so." + +I looked at the craft, which was a half-decked boat, evidently fitted +with a center-board, of the broad-beamed shallow type common on the +American coast. She carried no bowsprit, her lofty mast was stepped +almost in her bows, and the combination of heavy spars, short body, and +wide, flat stern, presaged difficulties for an unskilled helmsman when +running before any strength of breeze. "I think you have some reason for +your misgivings," I said. "If the wind freshens much I should almost +recommend you to camp here all night." + +We had by this time approached the fire, and I noticed, with a slight +inward hesitation, that Haldane's daughter and an elderly lady were busy +preparing tea. Perhaps it was this which prevented Beatrice from +noticing me, but Lucille came forward and greeted us. "You have arrived +at an opportune moment. Supper is just about ready, and if it is not so +good as the one you gave us at Gaspard's Trail, we will try to do our +best for you," she said. + +"Have you not forgotten that evening yet?" I asked. A transitory +expression I did not quite comprehend became visible in the girl's face +when she answered my smile. It was pleasant to think she recalled the +evening of which I had not forgotten the smallest incident. + +"It was something so new to me, and you were all so kind," she said. + +There was dismay when Caryl announced my opinion, though the rest +decided to postpone a decision in the hope that the weather might +improve, and it seemed useless to inform them that the reverse appeared +more probable. A pine forest rolled down to the water's edge, and when +the meal had been dispatched I lounged with my back against a tree, when +Leyland came up. "You look uncommonly lazy--more played out than I. We +want you to enjoy your stay with us, and I hope I have not tired you," +he said. + +I laughed a little, because Leyland was hardly likely to tire any man +fresh from the arduous life of the prairie. "It's an oasis in the +desert, and you have made me so comfortable that I shall almost shrink +from going back," I said, truthfully enough; for, before I left, the +strain at Gaspard's Trail had grown acute. + +"Then what do you want to go back for, anyway?" asked Leyland, who +during the afternoon had made several pertinent inquiries concerning my +affairs. "There are chances for a live man in the cities--in fact I know +of one or two. No doubt for a time it's experience, but it strikes me +that this cattle roasting and losing of grain crops must mean a big loss +of opportunities as well as grow monotonous." + +Leyland, I fancied, had not previously noticed that Miss Haldane was +seated on a fallen log close beside us, and in the circumstances I was +by no means pleased when he turned to her. "Don't you think everybody +should make the most of all that's in them?" he asked. + +Somewhat to my surprise the girl looked straight at me as she answered: +"Considering the question in the abstract, I agree with you. It seems to +me the duty of every man with talents to take the place he was meant for +among his peers instead of frittering them away." + +There was an unusual earnestness in what she said, which both surprised +me and reminded me of the days in England; for Beatrice Haldane's +conversation had latterly been marked by a somewhat cynical languidness. +Nevertheless, the inference nettled me. + +"Talent is a somewhat vague term; but suppose any unprofessional person +possessed it, what career among the thick of his fellows would you +recommend--the acquisition of money on the markets, or politics? Both +are closed to the poor man," I said. + +It may have been fancy, but a faint angry sparkle seemed to creep into +Miss Haldane's eyes as she answered: "Are there no others? It seems to +me the place for such a person is where civilization moves fastest in +the cities. Whether we progress towards good or evil you cannot move +back the times, and it is force of intellect, or successful scheming if +you will, which commands the best the world can offer now. As an outside +observer, it seems to me that, considering the tendency towards +centralization and combinations of capital, the individual who, refusing +to accept the altered conditions, insists on remaining an independent +unit, must soon go under or take a helot's place. Don't you think so, +Mr. Leyland?" + +"That's what I mean, but you have put it more clearly," said Leyland +approvingly. "I was hoping Ormesby might see it that way." + +Understanding my host's manner I guessed that if I hinted at +acquiescence this would lead up to a definite offer, and it appeared +that both, in their own way, were bent on persuading me. The temptation +was alluring, when disaster appeared imminent, and I afterwards wondered +how it was I did not yield. Wounded pride or sheer obstinacy may, +however, have restrained me, for one of the most bitter things is to own +one's self beaten; but even then I felt that my place was on the +prairie. On the one hand there was only the prospect of grinding care +and often brutal labor, which wore the body to exhaustion and blunted +the mental faculties; on the other, at least some rest and leisure, +contact with culture and refinement, and perhaps even yet a vague +possibility of drawing nearer to the woman beside me. At that moment, +however, Lucille Haldane halted in front of us, and the trifling +incident helped to turn the scale. Young as she was, her views were +mine, and for some unfathomable reason I shook off what seemed a weak +tendency to yield when I met her gaze. + +"It will be a bad day for the Dominion when what is happening across the +frontier becomes general here," I said. "It is the number of independent +units which makes for the real prosperity of this country, and the +suggestion that there is only scope for intellect and force of will in +the cities can hardly pass unchallenged. The smallest wheat grower has +to use the same foresight in his degree as a railroad financier, and it +probably requires more stamina to hold out against bad seasons and the +oppression of scheming land-grabbers than is requisite, say, in +engineering a grain corner against adverse markets. Then, if one gets +back to principles, does it not appear that the poorest breaker of +virgin land who calls wheat up out of the idle sod is of more use to the +community than the gambler in his produce who creates nothing?" + +"There is no use arguing with any man who thinks that way," said Leyland +solemnly, and Beatrice Haldane laughed; but whether at his comment or at +my opinion did not appear. + +"Here is an ally for you. You are looking very wise, Lucille," she said +languidly. + +"I did not hear all you said, but I think Mr. Ormesby is partly right," +was the frank answer. "I just stopped on my way to the boat to get some +wrappings. It soon grows chilly." + +The girl refused our offers of assistance. Somebody called Leyland away, +and I was left alone, possibly against both our wishes, in Beatrice +Haldane's company. Still, it was an opportunity that might not occur +again, and I determined to turn it to good account. + +"Although you expressed strong disapproval not long ago, one could have +fancied you were not speaking from a wholly impersonal standpoint and +meant to give me good advice," I said. + +The spirit which had carried Haldane triumphantly through commercial +panic was not lacking in either of his daughters, and the elder one +quietly took up the challenge. "Perhaps the other could not be thrust +aside, and I have wondered whether you are wise in staking all your +future on the chances of success on the prairie. There are greater +possibilities in the busy world that lies before you now, but presently +habit and the force of associations will bind you to the soil, and you +must remain a raiser of cattle and sower of grain. Is it not possible +for the monotony and drudgery to drag one down to a steadily sinking +level?" + +The words stung me. I had done my best in my vocation, and it seemed had +failed therein. Neither was it impossible that the last sentence +possessed a definite meaning, and suppressed longing and resentment +against the pressure of circumstances held me silent after I had managed +to check the rash answer that rose to my lips. Then a shout broke +through the pause which followed, and Beatrice Haldane sprang to her +feet. "Lucille has set the boat adrift! Go and help her if you can!" she +said. + +A glance showed me the catboat sliding out towards open water before the +angry white ripples that crisped the little bay, for here the wind, +deflected by a hollow, blew freshly off-shore. A slight white-clad +figure stood on the fore deck, and I shouted: "Jump down and fling the +anchor over!" + +"There is no anchor!" the answer reached me faintly; and I set off +across a strip of shingle and boulders at a floundering run. + +The rest of the company were gathered in dismay upon a rocky ledge when +I came up, and Caryl tore off his jacket. Leyland turned to me, with +consternation in his face, as he said: "Ted must have tied some fool +knot and she's blowing right out across the lake. None of us can swim." + +"It's my fault, and I'm going to try, anyway. The water cannot be deep +inside here," gasped the valiant Caryl. + +I saw that, for inland waters, a tolerable sea was running where the +true wind blew straight down the lake, sufficient to endanger the +catboat if she drifted without control athwart it. There was evidently +no time to lose, and I turned angrily upon Caryl. "If you jump in here +you will certainly drown, and that will help nobody," I said. + +Then, seeing some feet of water below the ledge, I launched myself out +headforemost. The ripples ran white behind me when I rose, and there was +no great difficulty in swimming down-wind, even when cumbered by +clothing; but the boat's side and mast exposed considerable surface to +the blast, and she had blown some distance to leeward before I overtook +her. It also cost me time and labor to crawl on board--an operation +difficult in deep water--but it was accomplished, and, turning to the +girl, I said cheerfully: "You need not be frightened. We shall beat back +in a few minutes if you will help me." + +Lucille Haldane showed the courage she had showed one snowy night at +Bonaventure, for there was confidence in her face as she answered: "I +will do whatever you tell me, and I'm not in the least afraid." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +IN PERIL OF THE WATERS + + +Again I hazarded a glance about me. The shallow-draughted craft had +already drifted a distance off-shore, and was listing over under the +pressure of the wind upon her lofty mast. The white ripples had grown to +short angry surges, and because darkness was approaching and the narrow +bay difficult to work into, it was evident we must lose no time in +getting back again. There was no anchor on board, and if I reefed the +sail (or rolled up the foot of it to reduce the area) the boat would +meanwhile increase her distance from the beach. It therefore seemed +necessary to attempt to thrash back under the whole mainsail. + +"Will you shove the centerboard down by the iron handle, and then take +hold of the tiller, Miss Haldane?" I said. + +The girl, stooping, thrust at the handle projecting from the trunk +containing the drawn-up center keel. The iron plate should have dropped +at a touch, but did not, and I sprang to her side when she said: +"Something must be holding it fast." + +She was right. Caryl had either bent the plate by striking a rock or a +piece of driftwood had jammed into the opening, for, do what I would, +the iron refused to fall more than a third of its proper distance, and +it was with a slight shock of dismay I relinquished the struggle. A +sailing craft of any description will only work to windward in zigzags +diagonally to the breeze, and then only provided there is enough of her +under water to provide lateral resistance, which the deep center keel +should have supplied. As it was, I must attempt to remedy the deficiency +by press of canvas at the risk of a capsize. + +Fortunately my companion was quick-witted and cool, and, standing at +the helm, followed my instructions promptly, while I dragged at the +halliards, and the loose folds of sailcloth rose thrashing overhead. I +was breathless when the sail was set, but sprang aft to the helm, lifted +the girl to the weather deck, and perched myself as high on that side as +I could, with the mainsheet round my left wrist and my right hand on the +tiller, wondering if the mast would bear the strain. The boat swayed +down until her leeward deck was buried in a rush of foam and her bending +mast slanted half way to the horizontal. Little clouds of spray shot up +from her weather bow as, gathering way, she swept ahead, and then they +gave place to sheets of water, which lashed our faces, and, sluicing +deep along the decks, poured over the coaming ledge into the open well. +Still, we were in comparatively smooth water where one could risk a +little, and while the straining mainsheet, which I dare not make fast, +sawed into my wrist, I glanced at my companion. Her hat was +sodden--already her hair clung in soaked clusters to her forehead, and +her wet face showed white against the dark water which raced past us. +Yet it was still confident, and her voice was level as she said: "Let me +help you. That rope is cutting your wrist." + +I could have smiled at the thought of those slender fingers sharing that +strain; but thinking it would be well to keep her attention occupied, +nodded, and was a trifle surprised at the relief when the girl seized +the hard wet hemp. "If I say--let go--lift your hands at once," I said. + +We were now tearing through the water at such pace that the boat flung a +good deal of what she displaced all over her, but a glance at the dark +pines ashore showed that she was making very little to windward, while, +when I looked over my shoulder at the boiling wake astern, it was too +plainly evident that, owing to the loss of the centerboard, we were +driving bodily sideways as well as ahead. Also the snowy froth which +lapped higher up the lee deck was perilously near the coaming protecting +the open well. Still, our expectant friends stood clustered among the +boulders fringing one horn of the bay, and I saw that Caryl held a rope +in his hand. We might just pass within reach of it on the next tack. + +"We must come round. Slip down, and climb up on the opposite side as the +sail swings over," I said, carefully shoving the tiller down. + +There was a thrashing of canvas as the boat came round, and I breathed +more easily as, gathering way on the opposite tack, she headed well up +for the boulder point where Caryl was somewhat awkwardly swinging the +coil of rope. The point drew nearer and nearer, and I could see Beatrice +Haldane standing rigidly still against the somber pines, when, as +ill-luck would have it, the dark branches set up a roaring as a wild +gust swept down. The boat swayed further over. Most of her forward was +buried in a rush of foam, and the water poured steadily into the well; +but I still held fast the sheet which would have loosed the sail, for we +might reach the rope in another two minutes. The gust increased in +violence. Foam and water poured over the coamings in cataracts, and, +seeing that otherwise a capsize was inevitable, I released the sheet. +The canvas rattled furiously, the craft swayed upright and commenced to +blow away sternforemost like a feather, while I dropped into the bottom +of her, ankle deep in water. + +"There is no help for it--we must reef. Take the tiller, and hold +it--so," I said. + +It was not without an effort I tied the tack, or forward corner of the +mainsail, down; then, floundering aft, hauled the afterside of it down +to the boom. That accomplished and the sail thus reduced by some two +feet all along its foot, there remained to be tied the row of short +lines, or reef points, which would hold the discarded portion when +rolled up; and when part of these were knotted it was with misgivings I +leaped up on the after-deck. The long, jerking boom projected a fathom +beyond the stern, and I must hold on by my toes while leaning out over +the water as I pulled the reef points at that end together. + +"I am going to trust you with the safety of both of us, Miss Haldane," I +said. "When you see the boom swing inwards pull the tiller towards you +before it flings me off." + +The girl had grown a little paler, and her hands trembled on the helm, +but she answered without hesitation: "Don't be longer than you can +help--but I understand." + +She showed a fine intelligence and a perfect self-command, or our voyage +might have ended abruptly; so the reefing was accomplished, and I +resumed the helm. Meanwhile, however, we had drifted well out into the +lake, and a few minutes of sailing proved that under her reduced canvas +the boat would not beat back to the windward shore. The figures among +the boulders had faded into the deepening gloom, but, assuming a +cheerfulness I did not feel, I said: "It is quite impossible to return, +and as it is growing too late to look for a safe landing or path through +the bush, we must head for home and send back horses for the others. It +will be a fair wind." + +"I was afraid so," said the girl with a shiver. "But I hope we shall not +be very long on the way. We spent five hours coming." + +I knew we should travel at a pace approaching a steamer's, provided the +craft could be kept from filling; but, enlarging upon the former point, +I tried to conceal the latter possibility, as I put the helm up; and the +craft, rising upright, but commencing to roll horribly, raced away +down-wind towards open water. Once out of the point's shelter, short but +angry waves raced white behind her, for one may find sufficient turmoil +of waters when a fresh gale sweeps the Canadian lakes. The rolling grew +wilder, the long boom splashed heavily into the white upheavals that +surged by on each side, and our progress became a series of upward +rushes and swoops, until at times I feared the craft would run her bows +under and go down bodily. Once I caught my companion glancing over the +stern, and, knowing how ugly oncoming waves appear when they heave up +behind a running vessel, I laid a hand on her shoulder and gently turned +her head aside. + +"There! You must look only that way, and tell me if you see any islands +across our course," I said. + +It was practically dark now, but I could distinguish the whiteness of +her wet face, and see her shiver violently. My jacket was spongy, I had +nothing to wrap her in, but she looked so wet and pitiful that I drew +her towards me and slipped a dripping arm protectingly about her. +Lucille Haldane made no demur. The wild rolling, the flying spray, and +the rush of short tumbling ridges must have been sufficiently +terrifying, and perhaps she found the contact reassuring. + +One hand was all I needed. There was now nothing any unassisted man +could do except keep the craft straight before wind and sea, but it was +quite sufficient for one who had lost much of his dexterity with the +tiller, and at times the boat twisted on a white crest in imminent peril +of rolling over. Worse than all, the waves that smote the flat stern +commenced to splash on board, and the water inside the boat rose +rapidly. Already the floorings were floating, and I dare not for a +second loose the tiller. It was Lucille Haldane who solved the +difficulty. + +"Is not all that water getting dangerous?" she asked, with chattering +teeth; and, knowing her keenness, I saw there was no use attempting to +hide the fact. + +"Why did you not tell me so earlier?" she continued. "It is only right +that I should do my share, and I can at least throw some of it out." + +"You are not fit for such work, and must sit still. At this pace we +shall see the lights of Leyland's house soon," I said, tightening my +hold on her; but the girl shook off my grasp. + +"I am not so helpless that I cannot make an effort to do what is so +necessary," she said. "Let me go, Mr. Ormesby, or I shall never forgive +you. Where is the bailer?" + +I pointed to it, and even in face of the necessity it hurt me to see her +alternately kneeling in the water that surged to and fro and trying to +hold herself upright while she raised and emptied the heavy bucket. +Often she upset its contents over herself or me, and several times a +lurch flung her cruelly against the coaming; but she persevered with +undiminished courage until she stumbled in a savage roll and struck her +head. Then she clung to the coaming, the water draining from her, and, +not daring to move from the tiller, I could do nothing but growl +anathemas upon the boat's owner, until the girl sank down in the stern +sheets beside me. + +"I must rest a little," she said. "But what were you saying, Mr. +Ormesby?" + +"Only that I should like to hang the man who invented this unhandy rig, +and Caryl for tempting you on board such a craft," I answered, hoping +she had not heard the whole of my remarks. "You poor child, it is +shameful that you should have to do such work; and, whatever happens, +you shall not try again." + +Her tresses, released from whatever bound them, streamed in the wind +about her, and she seemed to shrink a little from me as she struggled +with them. "It is not Caryl's fault. I clumsily let the rope go when I +was pulling the boat in, and as it is some little time since I was a +child, I do not care to be treated as one. Have I not done my best?" she +asked. + +"You have done gallantly; more than many men unused to +seamanship--Caryl, for instance--could. All this is due to his +stupidity," I answered; and fancied there was a trace of resentment in +her voice as she said: "Poor Ted! He is brave enough, at least. I know +he cannot swim, and yet he was about to plunge into deep water when you +stopped him." + +It appeared wholly ridiculous, but, even then, Lucille Haldane's defense +of Caryl irritated me. "He is responsible for all you are suffering, and +I can't forgive him for it. Was that not rather the action of a +lunatic?" I answered shortly. + +A wave, which, breaking upon the flat stern, deluged my shoulders and +drenched my companion afresh, cut short the colloquy; but I caught sight +of a faint twinkle ahead, and restrained her with a wet hand when she +would have resumed the bailing. It was also by gentle force, for this +time she resisted, that I drew her down beside me so that I partly +shielded her from the spray, and the water came in as it willed as we +drove onwards through thick obscurity. Still, the light rose higher +ahead, and I strained my eyes to catch the first loom of Leyland's +island. Large boulders studded the approach to it, and we might come to +grief if we struck one of them. + +It was now blowing viciously hard, the boat, half-buried in a white +smother, would scarcely steer, and the bright light from a window ahead +beat into my eyes, bewildering my vision. I could, however, dimly make +out pines looming behind it, and the beat of yeasty surges, which warned +me it would be risky to attempt a landing on that beach. There would be +shelter on the leeward side of the island, but a glance at the +balloon-like curves of the lifting mainsail showed that we could not +clear its end upon the course we were sailing. We must jibe, or swing +the mainsail over, which might result in a capsize. + +"I want your help, Miss Haldane. Go forward and loose the rope you will +find on your right-hand side near the mast," I said; and as the girl +obeyed, the light shone more fully upon the dripping boat. I had a +momentary vision of several dark figures on the veranda, and then, while +I held my breath, saw only the slight form of the girl, with draggled +dress and wet hair streaming, swung out above the whiteness of rushing +foam as she wrenched at the halliard, which had fouled. Then the head of +the sail swung down, and as she came back panting, the steering demanded +all my attention. + +"Hold fast to the coaming here," I said, as, dragging with might and +main at the sheet, I put the tiller up. + +The craft twisted upon her heel, the sail swung aloft, and then, while +the sheet rasped through my fingers, chafing the skin from them, there +was a heavy crash as the boom lurched over. The boat swayed wildly under +its impetus, buried one side deep, and a shout, which might have been a +cry of consternation, reached me faintly. Then she shook herself free, +and reeled away into the blackness on a different course. + +The head of the island swept by, and we shot into smoother water with a +spit of shingle ahead, on which I ran the craft ashore, and it was with +sincere relief I felt the shock of her keel upon the bottom. Lucille +Haldane said something I did not hear while she lay limp and wet and +silent in my arms, as, floundering nearly waist-deep, I carried her +ashore and then towards a path which led to the house. The night was +black, the way uneven, but perhaps because I was partly dazed I did not +set down my burden. She had helped me bravely, and it was only now, when +the peril had passed, I knew how very fearful I had been for her safety. +Indeed, it was hard to realize she was yet free from danger, and in +obedience to some unreasoning instinct I still held her fast, until she +slipped from my grasp. A few minutes later a light twinkled among the +trees, voices reached us, and Haldane, followed by several others, came +up with a lantern. + +He stooped and kissed his daughter, then, turning, held out his hand to +me. "Thank God!--but where is Beatrice?" he said. + +I told him, my teeth rattling as I spoke, and without further words we +went on towards the house. Nevertheless, the fervent handclasp and +quiver in Haldane's voice were sufficiently eloquent. When we entered +the house, where Mrs. Leyland took charge of Lucille, Haldane, asking +very few questions, looked hard at me. "I shall not forget this +service," he said quietly. "In the meantime get into some of Leyland's +things as quickly as you can. We are going to pull the boat ashore under +shelter of the island and requisition a wagon at Rideau's farm. I +believe we can reach the others by an old lumbermen's trail." + +It was in vain I offered my services as guide. Haldane would not accept +them, and set out with the assistants whom, fearing some accident, he +had brought with him, while I had changed into dry clothing when his +daughter came in. What she had put on I do not know, but it was probably +something of Mrs. Leyland's intended for evening wear; and, in contrast +to her usual almost girlish attire, it became her. She had suddenly +changed, as it were, into a woman. Her dark lashes were demurely +lowered, but her eyes were shining. + +"You are none the worse," I said, drawing out a chair for her; and she +laughed a little. + +"None; and I even ventured to appear in this fashion lest you should +think so. I also wanted to thank you for taking care of me." + +Lucille Haldane's voice was low and very pleasant to listen to, but I +wondered why I should feel such a thrill of pleasure as I heard it. + +"Shouldn't it be the reverse? You deserve the thanks for the way you +helped me, though I am sorry it was necessary you should do what you +did. Let me see your hands," I said. + +She tried to slip them out of sight, but I was too quick and, seizing +one, held it fast, feeling ashamed and sorry as I looked down at it. The +hard ropes had torn the soft white skin, and the rim of the bucket or +the coaming had left dark bruises. Admiration, mingled with pity, forced +me to add: "It was very cruel. I called you child. You are the bravest +woman I ever met!" + +The damask tinge deepened a little in her cheeks, and she strove to draw +the hand away, but I held it fast, continuing: "No man could have +behaved more pluckily; but--out of curiosity--were you not just a little +frightened?" + +The lashes fell lower, and I was not sure of the smile beneath them. "I +was, at first, very much so; but not afterwards. I thought I could trust +you to take care of me." + +"I am afraid I seemed very brutal; but I would have given my life to +keep you safe," I said. "That, however, would have been very little +after all. It is not worth much just now to anybody." + +I was ashamed of the speech afterwards, especially the latter part of +it, but it was wholly involuntary, and the events of the past few hours +had drawn, as it were, a bond of close comradeship between my companion +in peril and myself. + +"I think you are wrong, but I am glad you have spoken, because I wanted +to express my sympathy, and feared to intrude," she said. "We heard that +bad times had overtaken you and your neighbors, and were very sorry. +Still, they cannot last forever, and you will not be beaten. You must +not be, to justify the belief father and I have in you." + +The words were very simple, but there was a naive sincerity about them +which made them strangely comforting, while I noticed that Mrs. Leyland, +who came in just then, looked at us curiously. I sat out upon the +veranda until late that night, filled with a contentment I could not +quite understand. To have rendered some assistance to Beatrice Haldane's +sister and won her father's goodwill seemed, however, sufficient ground +for satisfaction, and I decided that this must be the cause of it. + +The rest of the party returned overland next day, and during the +afternoon Haldane said to me: "I may as well admit that I have heard a +little about your difficulties, and Leyland has been talking to me. If +you don't mind the plain speaking, one might conclude that you are +somewhat hardly pressed. Well, it seems to me that certain incidents +have given me a right to advise or help you, and if you are disposed to +let the mortgaged property go, I don't think there would be any great +difficulty in finding an opening for you. There are big homesteads in +your region financed by Eastern capital." + +He spoke with sincerity and evident goodwill; but unfortunately Haldane +was almost the last person from whom I could accept a favor. "I am, +while grateful, not wholly defeated, and mean to hold on," I said. +"Would you, for instance, quietly back out of a conflict with some +wealthy combine and leave your opponents a free hand to collect the +plunder?" + +Haldane smiled dryly. "It would depend on circumstances; but in a +general way I hardly think I should," he said. "You will, however, +remember advice was mentioned, and I believe there are men who would +value my counsel." + +I shook my head. "Heaven knows what the end will be; but I must worry +through this trouble my own way," I said. + +Haldane was not offended, and did not seem surprised. "You may be wrong, +or you may be right; but if you and your neighbors are as hard to +plunder as you are slow to take a favor, the other gentlemen will +probably earn all they get," he said. "I presume you have no objections +to my wishing you good luck?" + +It was the next evening when I met Beatrice Haldane beside the lake. +"And so you are going back to-morrow to your cattle?" she said. + +"Yes," I answered. "It is the one course open to me, and the only work +for which I am fitted." And Miss Haldane showed a faint trace of +impatience. + +"If you are sure that is so, you are wise," she said. + +Before I could answer she moved away to greet Mrs. Leyland, and some +time elapsed before we met again, for I bade Leyland farewell next +morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE SELLING OF GASPARD'S TRAIL + + +The surroundings were depressing when, one evening, Steel and I rode +home for the last time to Gaspard's Trail. The still, clear weather, +with white frost in the mornings and mellow sunshine all day long, which +follows the harvest, had gone, and the prairie lay bleak and gray under +a threatening sky waiting for the snow. Crescents and wedges of wild +fowl streaked the lowering heavens overhead as they fled southward in +endless processions before the frost. The air throbbed with the beat of +their pinions which, at that season, emphasizes the human shrinking from +the winter, while the cold wind that shook the grasses sighed most +mournfully. + +There was nothing cheering in the prospect for a man who badly needed +encouragement, and I smiled sardonically when Steel, who pushed his +horse alongside me, said: "There's a good deal in the weather, and this +mean kind has just melted the grit right out of me. I'll be mighty +thankful to get in out of it, and curl up where it's warm and snug +beside the stove. Sally will have all fixed up good and cheerful, and +the west room's a cozy place to come into out of the cold." + +"You must make the most of it to-night, then, for we'll be camping on +straw or bare earth to-morrow," I said. "Confound you, Steel! Isn't it a +little unnecessary to remind me of all that I have lost?" + +"I didn't mean it that way," said the other, with some confusion. "I +felt I had to say something cheerful to rouse you up, and that was the +best I could make of it. Anyway, we'll both feel better after supper, +and I'm hoping we'll yet see the man who turned you out in a tight +place." + +"You have certainly succeeded," I answered dryly. "When a man is forced +to stand by and watch a rascal cheat him out of the result of years of +labor, you can't blame him for being a trifle short in temper, and, if +it were not for the last expectation you mention, I'd turn my back +to-morrow on this poverty-stricken country. As it is----" + +"We'll stop right here until our turn comes some day. Then there'll be +big trouble for somebody," said Steel. "But you've got to lie low, +Ormesby, and give him no chances. That man takes everyone he gets, and, +if one might say it, you're just a little hot in the head." + +"One's friends can say a good deal, and generally do," I answered +testily. "How long have you set up as a model of discretion, Steel? +Still, though there is rather more sense than usual in your advice, +doesn't it strike you as a little superfluous, considering that Lane has +left us no other possible course?" + +Steel said nothing further, and I was in no mood for conversation. +Gaspard's Trail was to be sold on the morrow, and Lane had carefully +chosen his time. The commercial depression was keener than ever, and +there is seldom any speculation in Western lands at that time of the +year. It was evidently his purpose to buy in my possessions. + +A cheerful red glow beat out through the windows of my dwelling when we +topped the last rise, but the sight of it rather increased my moodiness, +and it was in silence, and slowly, we rode up to the door of Gaspard's +Trail. Sally Steel met us there, and her eyelids were slightly red; but +there was a vindictive ring in her voice as she said: "Supper's ready, +and I'm mighty glad you've come. This place seems lonesome. Besides, I'm +'most played out with talking, and I've done my best to-day. Those +auctioneering fellows have fixed up everything, but it isn't my fault if +they don't know how mean they are. They finished with the house in a +hurry, and one of them said: 'I can't stand any more of that +she-devil.'" + +"He did! Where are they now?" asked Steel, dropping his horse's bridle +and staring about him angrily; but, after a glance at Sally, who +answered my unspoken question with a nod, I seized him by the shoulder. + +"Steady! Who is hot-headed now?" I said. + +Steel strove to shake off my grasp until his sister, who laughed a +little, turned towards him. "I just took it for a compliment, and +there's no use in your interfering," she said. "I guess neither of them +feels proud of himself to-night, and a cheerful row with somebody would +spoil all the good I've done. They're camping yonder in the stable, but +you'll tie up the horses in the empty barn." + +Sally Steel was a stanch partisan, and, knowing what I did of her +command of language, I felt almost sorry for the men who had been +exposed to it a whole day in what was, after all, only the execution of +their duty. Before Steel returned, one of them came out of the stable +and approached me, but, catching sight of Sally, stopped abruptly, and +then, as though mustering his courage, came on again. + +"I guess you're Mr. Ormesby, and I'm auctioneer's assistant," he said. +"One could understand that you were a bit sore, but I can't see that +it's my fault, anyway; and from what we heard, you don't usually turn +strangers into the stable." + +The man spoke civilly enough, and I did not approve of his location; but +the rising color in Sally's face would have convinced anybody who knew +her that non-interference was the wisest policy. + +"It is about the first time we have done so, but this lady manages my +house, and, if you don't like your quarters, you must talk to her," I +said. + +The man cast such a glance of genuine pity upon me that it stirred me to +faint amusement, rather than resentment, while the snap, as we called it +on the prairie, which crept into Sally's eyes usually presaged an +explosion. + +"If that's so, I guess I prefer to stop just where I am," he said. + +We ate our supper almost in silence, and little was spoken afterwards. +Sally did her best to rouse us, but even her conversation had lost its +usual bite and sparkle, and presently she abandoned the attempt. I +lounged in a hide chair beside the stove, and each object my eyes rested +on stirred up memories that were painful now. The cluster of splendid +wheat ears above the window had been the first sheared from a bounteous +harvest which had raised great hopes. I had made the table with my own +fingers, and brought out the chairs, with the crockery on the varnished +shelf, from Winnipeg, one winter, when the preceding season's operations +had warranted such reckless expenditure. The dusty elevator warrant +pinned to the wall recalled the famous yield of grain which--because +cattle had previously been our mainstay--had promised a new way to +prosperity, and now, as I glanced at it, led me back through a sequence +of failure to the brink of poverty. Also, bare and plain as it was, that +room appeared palatial in comparison with the elongated sod hovel which +must henceforward shelter us at Crane Valley. + +The memories grew too bitter, and at last I went out into the darkness +of a starless night, to find little solace there. I had planned and +helped to build the barns and stables which loomed about me--denied +myself of even necessities that the work might be better done; and now, +when, after years of effort and sordid economy, any prairie settler +might be proud of them, all must pass into a stranger's hands, for very +much less than their value. Tempted by a dazzling possibility, I had +staked too heavily and had lost, and there was little courage left in me +to recommence again at the beginning, when the hope which had hitherto +nerved me was taken away. Steel and his sister had retired before I +returned to the dwelling, and I was not sorry. + +The next day broke gloomily, with a threat of coming storm, but, as it +drew on, all the male inhabitants of that district foregathered at +Gaspard's Trail. They came in light wagons and buggies and on horseback, +and I was touched by their sympathy. They did not all express it neatly. +Indeed, the very silence of some was most eloquent; but there was no +mistaking the significance of the deep murmur that went up when Lane and +two men drove up in a light wagon. The former was dressed in city +fashion in a great fur-trimmed coat, and his laugh grated on me, as he +made some comment to the auctioneer beside him. Then the wagon was +pulled up beside the rank of vehicles, and the spectators ceased their +talking as, dismounting, he stood, jaunty, genial, and _debonnaire_, +face to face with the assembly. + +Even now the whole scene rises up before me--the threatening low-hung +heavens, the desolate sweep of prairie, the confused jumble of +buildings, the rows of wagons, and the intent, bronzed faces of the men +in well-worn jean. All were unusually somber, but, while a number +expressed only aversion, something which might have been fear, mingled +with hatred, stamped those of the rest. Every eye was fixed on the +little portly man in the fur coat who stood beside the wagon looking +about him with much apparent good-humor. Lane was not timid, or he would +never have ventured there at all; but his smile faded as he met that +concentrated gaze. Those who stared at him were for the most part +determined men, and even with the power of the law behind him, and two +troopers in the background, some slight embarrassment was not +inexcusable. + +"Good-morning to you, boys. Glad to see so many of you, and I hope +you'll pick up bargains to-day," he said; and then twisted one end of +his mustache with a nervous movement; when again a growl went up. It was +neither loud nor wholly articulate, though a few vivid epithets broke +through it, and the rest was clearly not a blessing. Several of the +nearest men turned their backs on the speaker with as much parade as +possible. + +"Don't seem quite pleased at something," he said to me. "Well, it don't +greatly matter whether they're pleased or not. May as well get on to +business. You've had your papers, and didn't find anything to kick +against, Ormesby?" + +"It is hardly worth while to ask, considering your experience in such +affairs. The sooner you begin and finish, the better I'll be pleased," I +said. + +The auctioneer's table had been set up in the open with the ticketed +implements arranged behind it and the stock and horses in the +wire-fenced corral close beside. He was of good repute in his business, +and I felt assured of fair play from him, at least, though I could see +Lane's purpose in bringing him out from Winnipeg. The latter was too +clever to spoil a well-laid scheme by any superfluous petty trickery, +and with that man to conduct it nobody could question the legitimacy of +the sale. There was an expectant silence when he stood up behind his +table. + +"What is one man's gain is another man's loss, and I feel quite certain, +from what I know of the prairie, that none of you would try to buy a +neighbor's things way under their cost," he commenced. "It's mighty hard +to make a fortune in times like these, you know, but anybody with sound +judgment, and the money handy, has his opportunity right now. You're +going to grow wheat and raise beef enough down here to feed the world +some day. It's a great country, and the best bit in it you'll find +scheduled with its rights and acreage as the first lot I have to offer +you--the Gaspard's Trail holding with the buildings thereon. The soil, +as you all know, will grow most anything you want, if you scratch it, +and the climate----" + +"Needs a constitution of cast iron to withstand it," interjected a young +and sickly Englishman, who had benefited less than he expected from a +sojourn on the prairie. His comment was followed by a query from another +disappointed individual: "Say, what about the gophers?" + +"I'm not selling you any climate," was the ready answer. "Even the +gopher has its uses, for without some small disadvantages the fame of +your prosperity would bring out all Europe here. Now, gentlemen, I'm +offering you one of the finest homesteads on the prairie. Soil of +unequaled fertility, the best grass between Winnipeg and Calgary, with +the practical certainty of a railroad bringing the stock cars to its +door, and the building of mills and elevators within a mile from this +corral." + +Here Lane, standing close to the table, whispered something--unobserved, +he doubtless thought--to the auctioneer, whose genial face contracted +into a frown. Lane had, perhaps, forgotten the latter was not one of the +impecunious smaller fry who, it was suggested, occasionally accepted +more than hints from him. + +"The holder of the mortgage evidently considers that the railroad will +not be built, and it is very good of him to say so--in the +circumstances; but we all know what a disinterested person he is," +continued the auctioneer; and the honest salesman had, at least, secured +the crowd's goodwill. A roar of derisive laughter and appreciation of +the quick-witted manner in which he had punished unjustified +interference followed the sally. "That, after all, is one person's +opinion only; and I heard from Ottawa that the road would be built. I +want your best bids for the land and buildings, with the stock cars +thrown in. You'll never get a better chance; but not all at once, +gentlemen." + +During the brief interval which followed I was conscious of quivering a +little under the suspense. The property, if realized at normal value, +should produce sufficient to discharge my liabilities several times +over; but I dreaded greatly that, under existing conditions, a balance +of debt would be left sufficient to give Lane a hold on me when all was +sold. The auctioneer's last request was superfluous, for at first nobody +appeared to have any intention of bidding at all, and there was an +impressive hush while two men from the cities, who stood apart among the +few strangers, whispered together. Meanwhile I edged close in to the +table so that I might watch every move of my adversary. + +"Lane wasn't wise when he tried to play that man the way he did," said +Steel, who stood beside me, but I scarcely heeded him, for Carson +Haldane, who must have reached Bonaventure very recently, nodded to me +as he took his seat in a chair Thorn brought him. + +Then one of the strangers named a ridiculously small sum, which Steel, +amid a burst of laughter from all those who knew the state of his +finances, immediately doubled, whereupon the bidder advanced his offer +by a hundred dollars. + +"Another five hundred on to that!" cried Steel; and when my foreman, +Thorn, followed his cue with a shout of, "I'll go three hundred better," +the merriment grew boisterous. The spectators were strung up and +uncertain in their mood. Very little, I could see, would rouse them to +fierce anger, and, perhaps, for that reason any opening for mirth came +as a relief to them. I had now drawn up close behind the table which +formed the common center for every man's attention, and, scanning the +faces about it, saw Lane's darken when the stranger called out +excitedly, "I'll raise him two hundred and fifty." + +Lane rewarded Thorn with a vicious glance, and growled under his breath. +Next he whispered something to the auctioneer, who disregarded it, while +a few minutes later the bidder, holding his hand up for attention, said: + +"I withdraw my last offer. I came here to do solid business and not fool +away my time competing with irresponsible parties who couldn't put up +enough money to buy the chicken-house. Is this a square sale, Mr. +Auctioneer, or is anybody without the means to purchase to be allowed to +force up genuine buyers for the benefit of the vendor?" + +"That's Lane's dummy, and I'm going to do some talking now," said Steel. + +I was inclined to fancy that the usurer, perhaps believing there was no +such thing as commercial honesty, had badly mistaken his man, or that +the auctioneer, guided by his own quick wits, saw through his scheme, +for he smote upon the table for attention. + +"This is a square sale, so square that I can see by the vendor's looks +he would sooner realize half-value than countenance anything irregular. +I took it for granted that these gentlemen had the means to purchase, +as I did in your own case. No doubt you can all prove your financial +ability." + +"One of them is still in debt," added the bidder. + +I had moved close behind Lane, and fancied I heard him say softly to +himself: "I'll fix you so you'll be sorry for your little jokes +by-and-by." + +A diversion followed. Goodwill to myself, hatred of the usurer, and +excitement, may perhaps have prompted them equally, for after the +would-be purchaser's challenge those of my neighbors who had escaped +better than the rest clustered about Steel, who had hard work to record +the rolls of paper money thrust upon him. Hardly had his rival laid down +a capacious wallet upon the table than Steel deposited the whole beside +it. + +"I guess that ought to cover my call, and now I want to see the man who +called me irresponsible," he said. "That's enough to raise me, but to +hint that any honest man would back up the thief of a mortgage holder is +an insult to the prairie." + +A roar of laughter and approval followed, but the laughter had an +ominous ring in it; and I saw Sergeant Mackay, who had been sitting +still as an equine statue in his saddle on the outskirts of the crowd, +push his horse through the thickest of the shouting men. He called some +by name, and bantered the rest; but there was a veiled warning behind +his jest, and two other troopers, following him, managed to further +separate the groups. The hint was unmistakable, and the shouting died +away, while, as the auctioneer looked at the money before him, the man +who had been bidding glanced covertly at Lane. + +"If you are satisfied with the good faith of these gentlemen, I'll let +my offer stand," he said. + +"It doesn't count for much whether he does or not," said Haldane +languidly. "I'll raise him two hundred and fifty." + +"I'm not satisfied with his," broke in the irrepressible Steel. "I can't +leave my money lying round right under that man's hand, Mr. Auctioneer. +No, sir; I won't feel easy until I've put it where it's safer. Besides, +he called me a friend of the mortgage holder, and I'm waiting for an +apology." + +The stranger from the cities grew very red in face, and a fresh laugh, +which was not all good-humor, went up from the crowd; but, as the +auctioneer prepared to grapple with this new phase of affairs, a man in +uniform reined in a gray horse beside the speaker, and looked down at +him. There was a faint twinkle in his eyes, though the rest of his +countenance was grim, and he laid a hard hand on the other's shoulder. + +"Ye'll just wait a while longer, Charlie Steel," he said. "I'm thinking +ye will at least be held fully responsible for anything calculated to +cause a breach of the peace." + +Thereafter the bidding proceeded without interruption, Haldane and his +rival advancing by fifties or hundreds of dollars, while, when the +prairie syndicate's united treasury was exhausted, which happened very +soon, a few other strangers joined in. Meanwhile, the suspense had grown +almost insupportable to me. That I must lose disastrously was certain +now, but I clung to the hope that I might still start at Crane Valley +clear of debt. Haldane was bidding with manifest indifference, and at +last he stopped. + +The auctioneer, calling the price out, looked at him, but Carson Haldane +shook his head, and said, with unusual distinctness: "The other +gentlemen may have it. I have gone further than I consider justifiable +already." + +I saw Lane glance at him with a puzzled expression, and next moment try +to signal the stranger, who was clearly in league with him, and fail in +the attempt to attract his attention. Then I held my breath, for, after +two more reluctant bids, there was only silence when the auctioneer +repeated the last offer. + +"Is there anyone willing to exceed this ridiculous figure? It's your +last chance, gentlemen. Going, going----" And my hopes died out as he +dropped the hammer. + +"Nothing left but to make the best of it," said Steel; which was very +poor consolation, for I could see nothing good at all in the whole +affair. + +There was much brisker bidding for the implements, working oxen, and +remnant of the stock, which were within the limits of my neighbors, and +who did their best; but the prices realized were by comparison merely a +drop in the bucket, and I turned away disconsolate, knowing that the +worst I feared had come to pass. All the borrowed money had been sunk in +the improvement of that property, and now the mortgage holder, who had +even before the sale been almost repaid, owned the whole of it, land and +improvements, and still held a lien on me for a balance of the debt. + +Haldane met me presently, and his tone was cordial as he said: "Where +are you thinking of spending the night?" + +"At Crane Valley with the others," I answered shortly. "Steel and my +foreman are going to help me to restart there." + +"I want you to come over to Bonaventure for a few days instead," he +said. "A little rest and change will brace you for the new campaign, and +I am all alone, except for my younger daughter." + +I looked him squarely in the face, seeing that frankness was best. "My +wits are not very keen to-day, and I am a little surprised," I said. +"May I ask why you bid at all for my recent property? You must have +known it was worth much more than your apparent limit." + +Haldane smiled good-humoredly; but, in spite of this, his face was +inscrutable. "'When I might at least have run the price up,' you wish to +add. Well, I had to redeem a promise made somewhat against my better +judgment, and I stopped--when it seemed advisable. This, as you may +discover, Ormesby, is not the end of the affair, and, if I could have +helped you judiciously, you may be sure that I would. In the meantime, +are you coming back to Bonaventure with me?" + +He had told me practically nothing, and yet I trusted him, while the +knowledge that his daughter had bidden him take measures on my behalf +was very soothing. After all, Beatrice Haldane had not forgotten me. "It +is very kind of you, and I should be glad to do so, sir," I said. + +I found Lane at the table as soon as the sale was over, and he held out +a sheet of paper. "You can verify the totals at leisure, but you will +see it leaves a balance due me," he said. "It is rather a pity, but the +new purchaser requires immediate possession, though he might allow you +to use the house to-night. Ah! here he is to speak for himself." + +The stranger, who indorsed the statement, looked first at Lane and then +at me in sidelong fashion. There was nothing remarkable about him except +that he had hardly the appearance of a practical farmer, but the +malicious enjoyment his master's eyes expressed, and something in his +voice, set my blood on fire. Indeed, I was in a humor to turn on my best +friend just then. + +"Nothing would induce me to enter a house which belonged to--you," I +said, turning to Lane. "So far you have won hands down; but neither you +nor your tool has quite consummated your victory. I shall see both of +you sorry you ever laid your grasping hands on this property." + +"You may be right in one way," answered Lane. "You'll remember what +happened to the fool bullfrog, and you're looking tolerably healthy +yet." + +I had hardly spoken before I regretted it. The words were useless and +puerile; but my indignation demanded some outlet. In any case, Lane +shrugged his shoulders and the other man grinned, while I had clearly +spoken more loudly than I intended, for several bystanders applauded, +and when I moved away Sergeant Mackay overtook me. "I'm surprised at ye, +Rancher Ormesby," he said. "Ye have not shown your usual discretion." + +"I would not change it for yours," I answered. "It is evidently +insufficient to warn you that there are times when preaching becomes an +impertinence." + +Mackay only shook his head. He wheeled his horse, and, with two troopers +behind him, rode towards the wagon which Lane was mounting. A deep +growl of execration went up, and the farewell might have been warmer but +for the troopers' presence. As it was, he turned and ironically saluted +the sullenly wrathful crowd as the light wagon lurched away across the +prairie. Then I was left homeless, and was glad to feel Haldane's touch +on my arm. "Light this cigar and jump in. The team are getting +impatient, and Lucille will be wondering what has kept us so long," he +said. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +AN UNFORTUNATE PROMISE + + +Haldane could command any man's attention when he chose to exert +himself, and, I fancied, made a special effort on my behalf during his +homeward journey. As a result of this I almost forgot that I was a +homeless and practically ruined man as I listened to his shrewd +predictions concerning the future of that region, or occasionally +ventured to point out improbabilities in some of them. The depression, +however, returned with double force when we came into sight of +Bonaventure soon after dusk, and with it a curious reluctance to face +the young mistress of the homestead. + +Lucille Haldane was my junior by several years. Indeed, on our first +meeting I had considered her little more than a girl, but since then a +respect for her opinions, and a desire to retain her approval, had been +growing upon me. Perhaps it was because her opinions more or less +coincided with my own, but this fact would not account for the +undeniable thrill of pleasure which had followed her naive announcement +that she believed in me. Hitherto, with one exception, I had figured +before her as a successful man, and I positively shrank from appearing +as one badly beaten and brought down by his own overconfident folly. I +remembered how she once said: "You must not disappoint us." + +This seemed wholly absurd, but the worst bitterness I had yet +experienced made itself felt when Haldane pulled up his team, and, +pointing to a figure on the threshold of his homestead, said: "Lucille +must have been getting impatient. She is watching for us." + +I allowed him to precede me by as long a space as possible, while I +lingered to assist the hired man with a refractory buckle, and then it +was with an effort I braced myself for the interview. Haldane had +vanished into the house, but the slight, graceful figure still waited +upon the threshold, and I wondered, with a strange anxiety, what his +daughter would say to me. + +The question was promptly answered, for, as I entered the hall, feeling +horribly ashamed and with doubtless a very wooden face, Lucille Haldane +held out both hands to me. Her manner was half-shy, wholly +compassionate, and I stood quite still a while comforted by the touch of +the little soft fingers which I held fast within my own. Then she said +very simply: "I am so sorry, but you will have better fortune yet." + +A lamp hung close above us, and it was, perhaps, as well that it did, +for the relief which followed the quiet words that vibrated with +sincerity was more inimical to rational behavior than the previous +causeless hesitation. Lucille Haldane looked more girlish than ever and +most bewitchingly pretty as, glancing up at me, partly startled by my +fervent grasp, she drew her hands away. She seemed the incarnation of +innocence, freshness, and gentle sympathy, and, perhaps as a result of +the strain lately undergone, there came upon me an insane desire to +stoop and kiss her as, or so at least it seemed, a brother might have +done. + +She may have grown suspicious, for feminine perceptions are keen, and, +though the movement was graceful and not precipitate, a distance of +several feet divided us next moment, and we stood silent, looking at +each other, while my heart beat at what appeared double its usual rate. + +"You have given me new hope, and those were the kindest words I have +ever heard," I said. "I think you meant them." + +Lucille Haldane's manner changed. The change was indefinite, but it +existed, and it was with a smile she answered me. "Of course I did. One +does not generally trouble to deceive one's friends; and we are friends, +are we not, Mr. Ormesby?" + +"No one could desire a better, and I hope we shall always remain so," I +answered, with an attempt at a bow; and the girl, turning, preceded me +into the big central hall. + +"What kept you so long, Ormesby? One could almost have fancied you had +become possessed of an unusual bashfulness," said Haldane, when we came +in; and I glanced apologetically at his daughter before I answered him. + +"Something of the kind happened, and my excuse is that I had very little +cause for self-confidence. Now, however, I am only ashamed of the +hesitation." + +"You deserve to be," said Haldane, with a mock severity which veiled a +certain pride. "Fortunately, the young mistress of Bonaventure atones +for her father's shortcomings, and so long as she rules there will +always be a welcome for anybody in adversity here, as well as the best +we can give to harassed friends. It is a convenient arrangement, for +while, according to my unsuccessful rivals, I grow rich by paralyzing +industries and unscrupulous gambling upon the markets, Lucille assists +me to run up a counter score by proxy." + +The girl's face flushed a little, and it was pleasant to see the quick +indignation sparkle in her eyes. "You never did anything unscrupulous; +and I do not think we are very rich," she said. + +One might have fancied that Haldane was gratified, though he smiled +whimsically and turned in my direction as he answered: "The last +assertion, at least, is true if it proves anything, for it is tolerably +hard to acquire even a competence nowadays by strictly honest means, +isn't it, Ormesby? You, however, do not know the inconvenience of having +an uncomfortably elevated standard fixed for one to live up to, and I am +seriously contemplating a reckless attack on some national industry to +prove its impossibility." + +The girl's confidence in her father was supreme, for, though this time +she laughed, it was evident she did not believe a word of this. "It is +well you are known by your actions and not your speeches," she said. +"There are commercial combinations which deserve to be attacked. +Why"--and her tone grew serious enough--"do you not crush the man or +men who are doing so much mischief in our vicinity?" + +Haldane looked at his daughter, and then across at me, and, while +slightly ironical good-humor was stamped on his face, it was a mask. +There was more than one side to his character, and, when it pleased him +to be so, there was nobody more inscrutable. "It is a rather extensive +order, and men of that stamp are generally hard to crush," he said. +"Still, if those mistaken doctors should conspire to forbid me more +profitable employment, I might, perhaps, make the attempt some day." + +This was vague enough, but I felt that Haldane had intended the hint for +me. There was no further reference to anything financial, for +henceforward both my host and his daughter laid themselves out to help +me to forget my troubles, and were so successful in this that I even +wondered at myself. The troubles were certainly not far away, but the +financier's anecdotes and his daughter's comments proved so entertaining +that they diminished and melted into a somber background. + +When Lucille left us Haldane sat chatting with me over his cigar, and at +last he said abruptly: "I dare say you wondered at my half-hearted +action to-day?" + +"I did, sir," I answered; and the financier nodded good-humoredly. + +"There is nothing to equal plain speaking, Ormesby. When a man knows +just what he wants and asks for it he stands the best chance of +obtaining it, though I don't always act in accordance with the maxim +myself. Well, I made a few bids somewhat against my better judgment +because I had promised to, and then ceased because it seemed best to me +that, since you could not hold it, Lane should acquire the property." + +"I don't quite see the reason, sir. On the other hand, a stiff advance +in prices would have meant a good deal to me," I said. + +Haldane answered oracularly: "That gentleman's funds are not +inexhaustible, and he already holds what one might call foreclosure +options on a good deal of property. I should not be sorry to see him +take hold of further land so long as it did not lie west of Gaspard's +Trail. It is possible that he has, as we say in the vernacular, bitten +off more than he can chew--considering the present scarcity of money. I +should take heart if I were you, and hold on to Crane Valley whatever it +costs you." + +"Can't you speak a little more directly?" I asked. + +Haldane shook his head. "I am not in a position to do so yet; but, if +surmises turn into certainties, I will some day. Meanwhile, are you open +to train some of the Bonaventure colts, and look after my surplus stock +on a profit-division basis? I have more than my staff can handle." + +"I should be very glad to do so," I answered, seeing that while the +offer was prompted by kindness it had also its commercial aspect. "But, +if there is anything going on, say, some plan for the exploitation of +this district in opposition to Lane, can I not take my part in it?" + +"I have heard of no such scheme; and, if I had, you could help it most +by driving new straight furrows and raising further cattle," said +Haldane, with an enigmatical smile. "There are games which require a +lifelong experience from the men who would succeed in them; and, because +Rome was not built in a day, perhaps you were wiser to stick to your +plowing, Ormesby. One gets used to the excitement of the other life, but +the strain remains, and that is one reason why you see me at Bonaventure +again." + +My host's words encouraged me. It was true he had said very little, but +that was always Haldane's way; and, seeing that he now desired to change +the subject, I followed his lead. "I hope your health is not failing you +again, sir?" I said. + +"Save for one weakness, my general health is good enough," was the quiet +answer. "Still, the weakness is there, and for the second time this year +physicians have ordered an interval of quietness and leisure. One has to +pay the penalty for even partial success, you know, and I am not so +young or vigorous as I used to be." + +"Then, if I may ask the question, why not abandon altogether an +occupation which tries you, sir?" + +Haldane smiled over his cigar, but a shadow crossed his face. "We are +what the Almighty made us, Ormesby, and I suppose the restless gaming +instinct was born in me. Even in my enforced leisure down here it is +almost too strong for me, and I indulge in it on a minor scale by way of +recreation. I can't sit down and quietly rust into useless inactivity. +Further, while handling a good deal of money, my private share is +smaller than many folks suppose it, and I have my daughters' future to +ensure. Both have been brought up to consider a certain amount of luxury +as necessary." + +I do not think the last words were intended as a hint, for had Haldane +considered the latter necessary it is hardly likely I should have been +welcomed so often at Bonaventure. In any case it would have been +superfluous, for I had already faced the worst, and decided that +Beatrice Haldane must remain what she had always been to me--an ideal to +be worshiped in the abstract and at a distance. Strangest of all, once +the knowledge was forced on me, I found it possible to accept the +position with some degree of resignation. All this flashed through my +mind as I looked into the wreaths of smoke, and then Haldane spoke: + +"Have you come across that photographer fellow lately?" + +"Not for some time. Do you wish to see him?" I answered, with a slightly +puzzled air. + +"I think I should like to"--and Haldane's voice changed from its +reflective tone. "Do you know who he is, Ormesby?" + +"I should hardly care to say without consulting him, sir," I answered; +and Haldane laughed. + +"You need not trouble, because I do. If you chance upon him tell him +what I said. Getting late, isn't it? Good-night to you!" + +He left me equally relieved and mystified, and that I should feel any +relief at all formed part of the mystery. Whatever was the cause of it, +I was neither utterly cast down nor desperate when I sought my couch, +and I managed to sleep soundly. + +That was the first of several visits to Bonaventure. The acreage of +Crane Valley was ample, but the house a mere elongated sod hovel, of +which Miss Steel monopolized the greater portion, although I reflected +grimly that in existing circumstances it was quite good enough for me. +Our life there was dreary enough, and, at times, I grew tired of Sally's +alternate blandishments and railleries; so, when the frost bound fast +the sod and but little could be done for land and cattle, it was very +pleasant to spend a few days amid the refinement and comfort which ruled +at Bonaventure. During one of my journeys there I met Cotton, and rode +some distance with him across the prairie. I could see there was +something he wished to say, but his usually ample confidence seemed to +fail him, and finally he bade me farewell with visible hesitation where +our ways parted. I had, however, scarcely resumed my journey before he +hailed me, and when I checked my horse he rode back in my direction with +resolve and irresolution mingled in his face. + +"You are in a great hurry. There was something I wanted to ask," he +commenced. "Do you think this frost will hold, Ormesby?" + +"You have a barometer in the station, haven't you?" I answered, +regarding him ironically. "Cotton, you have something on your mind +to-day, and it is not the frost. Out with it, man. I'm in no way +dangerous." + +"I have," he answered, with a slight darkening of the bronze in his +face. "It is not a great thing, but your paternal advice and cheap +witticisms pall on me now and then. Curious way to ask a favor, isn't +it? But that is just what I'm going to do." + +"We'll omit the compliments. Come to the point," I said; and the trooper +made the plunge he had so much hesitated over. + +"I want you to ride out on Wednesday night and meet Freighter Walker +coming in from the rail. As you know, he generally travels all night by +the Bitter Lakes trail. Ask him for a packet with my name on the label, +then tear that label off and give Mail-carrier Steve the packet +addressed to Miss Haldane. Those confounded people at the rail post +office chatter so about every trifle, and Steve is too thick in the head +to notice anything. My rounds make it quite impossible for me to go +myself, and that fool of a freighter would certainly lose or smash the +thing before he passed our way on his return journey. It is not asking +too much, is it?" + +"No," I said readily, seeing the eagerness in the trooper's eyes, though +that statement implied a long, cold night's ride. "Miss Haldane is, +however, in Ottawa." + +"I don't care where she is," said Cotton. "Confound--of course, I mean +it's very good of you; but there's no use in assuming stupidity. It is +Miss Lucille Haldane I mean, you know." + +"I might certainly have guessed it," I said dryly. "It is no business of +mine, Cotton, but in return for your compliments I can't help asking, do +you think Haldane would appreciate it?" + +Cotton straightened himself in his saddle, and I was sorry for him. He +looked very young with that light in his eyes and the hot blood showing +through his tan; also, I fancied, very chivalrous. + +"Don't be under any misapprehension, Ormesby," he said quietly. "That +packet merely contains an article I heard Miss Haldane lamenting that +she could not obtain. It is of no value, only useful; but Thursday is +her birthday, and I think she would be pleased to have it. Being Trooper +Cotton, I should never have presumed to send a costly present, and you +do not for a moment suppose Miss Lucille would appreciate the trifle for +anything beyond its intrinsic utility. This is the second time you have +forced me to point out the absurdity of your conclusions." + +I was angry with him both for his infatuation and obtuseness, for it +struck me that in the circumstances the simple gift was made in a +dangerously graceful fashion, and calculated to appeal to a young +woman's sympathies. "I can't offer you advice?" I said. + +"No," was the answer. "One might surmise that you needed all your +abilities in that direction for yourself. Still, to prevent your drawing +any unwarranted inference, I may repeat that it would be quite +unnecessary." + +"I understand," I said somberly, feeling that there were two of us in +the same position. "Very glad to oblige you. The times are out of joint +for all of us just now, Cotton. Good-night--and, on consideration, I +think the frost will hold." + +We rode in different directions, and because I had made that unfortunate +promise it was late on Wednesday night when I prepared to leave +Bonaventure quietly. Haldane had journeyed to the railroad and could not +return before midnight at earliest. Lucille informed me that she would +be busy with some household affairs, and, as I could be back by morning, +it seemed possible that neither would miss me. Having promised the +trooper secrecy, I did not wish to answer questions or name excuses. + +As ill-luck would have it, the last person I desired to meet chanced +upon me, as, well wrapped in furs, I was slipping towards the door, and +I must have looked confused when Lucille Haldane said: "Where are you +going, Mr. Ormesby?" + +"A little ride," I answered. "I have--I have some business to do, and +after two idle days begin to long for exercise." + +The girl looked hard at me, and I saw she recognized that the excuse was +very lame. "There is nobody living within reach of a short ride. Will +you return to-night?" she asked. + +It was most unfortunate, for I did not wish to anticipate the trooper's +gift. "I hardly think so," I answered. "Now, I will make a bargain with +you. If you will keep my departure a secret, you will discover what my +errand is very shortly." + +"Very well," said Lucille Haldane; though she still seemed curious. "A +safe journey to you, but I don't envy you the exercise." + +I afterwards had cause to abuse Trooper Cotton and his errand, but I +swung myself into the saddle, and, when I reached the Bitter Lakes +trail, I patrolled it for two long hours under the nipping frost. No +lumbering ox-team, however, crawled up out of the white prairie, though +as yet the moon was in the sky; and I decided that the freighter had, as +he sometimes did, taken another trail. It then, fortunately, occurred to +me that I had promised to inspect some horses with a small rancher +living four or five leagues away, and so determined to do so in the +morning. A deserted sod-house stood at no great distance, which the +scattered settlers kept supplied with fuel. It served as a convenient +half-way shelter for those who must break their long journey to the +railroad settlement, and I set out for it at a canter. As I did so the +moon dipped, and darkness settled on the prairie. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE BURNING OF GASPARD'S TRAIL + + +The hole in the roof of the sod-house had been insufficiently stopped, +the green birch billets stored in a corner burned sulkily in the rusty +stove, so that the earth-floored room was bitterly cold. Still, after +tying my horse at one end of it, and partly burying myself in a heap of +prairie hay, I managed to sink into a light slumber. I awakened feeling +numbed all through, with the pain at the joints which results from +sleeping insufficiently protected in a low temperature, and looked about +me shivering. There was not a spark in the stove, the horse was stamping +impatiently, and, when a sputtering match had shown me that it was after +two in the morning, I rose stiffly. Anything appeared better than slowly +freezing there, and I strode out into the night, leading the horse by +the bridle. + +A cold wind swept the prairie, and it was very dark; but, when we had +covered a league or so, and the exercise had warmed me, a dull red glare +appeared on the horizon. A grass fire was out of the question at that +season, and it was evident that somebody's homestead was burning. I was +in the saddle the next moment and riding fast towards the distant blaze. +The frozen sod was rough, the night very black, and haste distinctly +imprudent; but I pressed on recklessly, haunted by a fear that the scene +of the conflagration was Bonaventure. Reaching the edge of a rise, I +pulled the horse up with a sense of vast relief, for a struggling birch +bluff gave me my bearings and made it plain that neither Haldane's +homestead nor his daughter could be in peril. + +Then it dawned on me that the fire was at Gaspard's Trail and I sat +still a minute, irresolute. I had no doubt that the recent purchaser was +merely acting for Lane, and I felt tempted to resume my journey; but +curiosity, or the instinct which calls out each prairie settler when his +neighbor's possessions are in jeopardy, was too strong for me, and I +rode towards the blaze, but much more slowly. It was one thing to risk a +broken limb when danger appeared to threaten Bonaventure, but quite +another to do so for the sake of an unscrupulous adversary. It would +have been well for me had I obeyed the first impulse which prompted +me--and turned my back upon the fire. + +An hour had passed before I reached the house which had once been mine, +and, after tethering the horse in shelter of an unthreatened granary, I +proceeded to look about me. Gaspard's Trail was clearly doomed. One end +of the dwelling had fallen in. The logs, dried by the fierce summer, +were blazing like a furnace, and a column of fire roared aloft into the +blackness of the night. Showers of sparks drove down-wind, barns and +stables were wrapped in smoke; but, although the blaze lighted up the +space about them, there was nobody visible. This was in one respect not +surprising, because the nearest homestead stood a long distance away, +but, as the new owner had an assistant living with him, I wondered what +had become of them. From the position of the doors and windows they +could have had no difficulty in escaping, so, deciding that if the +ostensible proprietor had deserted his property I was not called on to +burn myself, I proceeded to prowl about the buildings in case he should +be sheltering inside one of them. + +Finally I ran up against him carrying an armful of tools out of a shed, +and he dropped them at sight of me. "Hallo! Where did you spring from? +Blamed hard luck, isn't it?" said he. + +Niven, for that was his name, did not appear greatly disconcerted, or +was able to face his loss with enviable tranquillity. He was a lanky, +thin-faced man, with cunning eyes, and I did not like the way he looked +at me. + +"I was out on the prairie and saw the blaze. Where's your hired man; +and is there nothing better worth saving than these?" I asked. + +"I haven't seen Wilkins since he woke me up," was the answer. "He +shouted that the place was burning, and he'd run the horses out of the +stable and on to the prairie, while I hunted up odd valuables and +dressed myself. He must have done it and ridden off to the nearest ranch +for help, for I haven't seen him since. The fire had got too good a hold +for us to put it out." + +If I had hitherto entertained any doubts as to the ownership of +Gaspard's Trail, the speaker's manner would have dissipated them. No man +would, in the circumstances, have wasted time in speech had his own +property been in danger; and the sight of the homestead, which I had +spent the best years of my life in building, now burning without an +effort being made to save it, filled me with indignation. + +"You're the man who used to own this place, aren't you?" asked Niven, +with a sidelong glance. "Should have thought you would have had enough +of it; but you might as well help heave these things out, now you're +here." + +The question was innocent, if unnecessary, for I had spoken to him at +the sale; but the manner in which he put it made me long to assault him, +and I answered wrathfully: "I'll see you and your master burned before I +move a hand!" + +"I'm my own master, worse luck!" said the other coolly, before he +commenced to gather up his load; and then turned again as another man +came up breathless. + +"Is that you, Ormesby. Come to see the last of it?" he said; and I saw +that the newcomer was Boone, or Adams, the photographer. + +"I don't quite know what I came for," I answered. "Probably out of +curiosity. It's too late to save anything, even if there were more water +in the well than there used to be." + +Boone nodded as he glanced towards the house. It was burning more +fiercely than ever. The straw roof of the stable, which stood not far +away, was also well alight, and we could scarcely hear each other's +voices through the crackling of blazing logs and the roaring of the +flame. It was moodily I watched it toss and tower, now straight aloft, +now hurled earthwards by the wind in bewildering magnificence. After +many a hard day's toil I had robbed myself of much needed sleep to +fashion what the pitiless fire devoured, and it seemed as though I had +given my blood to feed the flame, and that the hopes which had nerved me +had dissipated like its smoke. "I can guess what you're feeling, but a +bad failure is sometimes the best way to success. You will get over it," +said Boone. + +I was grateful, but I did not answer him, for just then a rattle of +wheels broke through the roar of the conflagration, and two jolting +wagons lurched into the glare. Black figures on horseback followed, and +a breathless man ran up. "Trooper came round and warned us, and there's +more behind. Looks as if we'd come too late," he said. + +We formed the center of an excited group in a few more minutes, for +Niven had joined us, and, when he had answered some of the many +questions, he asked one in turn. "It was my man Wilkins warned you?" + +"I guess not," was the answer. "Trooper Chapleau saw the blaze on his +rounds"; and, when the others had stated how the news had been passed on +to them, the new owner said: "Then where in the name of thunder has the +fool gone?" + +A swift suspicion flashed upon me, and I glanced at Adams; but his face +was serene enough, and, when the question remained unanswered, another +thought struck me. "Did you see him lead the horses out?" I asked. + +"No," was the answer. "He was good at handling beasts, and I was way too +busy to worry about him. Must have done it long ago. I made sure he'd +lit out to ask for assistance, when I saw the door had swung to." + +I twisted round on my heel. "Who's coming with me to the stable, boys?" +I asked. + +The men looked at me and then at the fire. The stable was built of the +stoutest logs obtainable, packed with sod, and its roof of branches, +sod, and straw piled several feet thick to keep out the frost. A +wind-driven blaze eddied about one end of it, but the rest of the low +edifice appeared uninjured as far as we could see it through the smoke. +The glare beat upon the weather-darkened faces of the spectators, which +glowed like burnished copper under it; but, if devoid of malicious +satisfaction, I thought I could read a resolve not to interfere stamped +on most of them. + +"There's nothing of yours inside, and this fellow says the teams are +clear," said one. "A bigger fire wouldn't stop us if the place was +Ormesby's; but when the man who allows he owns it does nothing I'll not +stir a finger to pull out a few forks and pails for that black thief +Lane." + +His comrades nodded, and another man said: "It's justice. Boys, you'll +remember the night we brought Redmond home?" + +I knew the first speaker's statement was true enough. One and all would +have freely risked their lives to assist even a stranger who had dealt +fairly with them; but they were stubborn men, unused to oppression, and +recent events had roused all the slow vindictiveness that lurked within +them. I felt very much as they did; but, remembering something, I was +not quite certain that the teams were out of the stable, and the dumb +beasts had served me well. Before I could speak a police trooper came up +at a gallop. "Hallo! What are you gaping at? Can't you stir around and +pull anything clear of harm's way, boys?" he shouted. + +"We're not a Montreal fire brigade, and I forgot my big helmet," said +one. + +"Not a stir," interjected another. + +"We'd pull the very sod up off the corral if you'd run Lane in for +wholesale robbery," added a third; and it was not until the hoarse laugh +which followed died away that I found my opportunity. + +"I'm afraid the horses are inside there, boys," I said. "It's not their +fault they belong to Lane, and whether you come along or not, I'm going +to liberate them." + +There was a change in a moment. I never saw even the most unfortunate +settler ill-use his beast, though all young plow oxen and half-broken +broncos, besides a good many old ones, are sufficiently exasperating. +"Ormesby's talking now," said somebody; and there was an approving +chorus. "Get the poor brutes clear, anyway. Coming right along!" Then I +started for the stable at a run, with the rest of the company hard +behind me. + +Thick smoke rolled between us and the door, and when we halted just +clear of the worst of it a bright blaze shot up from the thatch. The +heat scorched our faces, and one or two fell back with heads averted; +but the sound of a confused trampling reached us from the building. +"We've got to get in before the poor brutes are roasted, and do it +mighty smartly," said somebody. + +That at least was evident; but the question how it was to be +accomplished remained, for I recoiled, blinded and choking, at the first +attempt, before I even reached the door. I had framed it, with my own +hands, of stout tenoned logs, so that it would fit tightly to keep out +the frost. One of the posts loosened by the fire had settled, apparently +since the last person entered the building. Another man went with me the +second time, but though we managed to reach the handle the door remained +immovable, and once more we reeled back beaten, when a strip of blazing +thatch fell almost on our heads. Because the roof fed it, the fire was +mostly on the outside of the building. + +"Solid as a rock," gasped my companion. "Say, somebody find a lariat and +we'll heave her out by the roots." + +A rope was found and with difficulty hitched about the handle, after +which a dozen strong men grasped the slack of it. A glance at their +faces, illumined by the glare, showed that the thought of the suffering +beasts had roused them, and they were in earnest now. There was a heave +of brawny shoulders, a straining of sinewy limbs, and the line of bodies +swayed backwards as one, when a voice rose: "All together! Heave your +best!" + +I felt the straining hemp contract within my grasp. Trampling feet +clawed for a firmer hold on the frozen sod, and I could hear the men +behind me panting heavily. The door remained fast, however, and again a +breathless voice encouraged us: "This time does it! Out she comes!" + +The rope creaked, the trampling increased, and a man behind kicked me +cruelly on the ankle during his efforts; but instead of the jammed door, +its handle came out, and the next moment we went down together in one +struggling heap. "There was a good birch log by the granary. We'll use +it for a ram," I gasped. + +Two men brought the log, which was unusually long and heavy for that +region, where the stoutest trees are small, and Boone and I staggered +with the butt of it into the smoke. The rest grasped the thinner end, +swung it back, and drove the other forward with all the impetus they +could furnish. The door creaked, but the most manifest result was the +fall of a further strip of burning thatch on us. + +"We must manage this time," spluttered Boone. "If we once let go it will +be too late before anyone else takes hold again." + +Once more the door defied us. The heat was almost stifling, the smoke +thicker than ever; but, choking, panting, and dripping with +perspiration, we managed to swing and guide the end of the log until the +battered frame went down with a crash, and we two reeled over it into +the building. The fire which traveled along the roof had eaten a portion +out, but though one strip of the interior was flooded with lurid light, +the smoke of a burning hay pile rolled about the rest. A horse was +squealing in agony; one stall partition had been wrenched away, and +another kicked to pieces; while two panic-stricken brutes blundered +about the building. The rest were plunging and straining at their +tethers, and there was a curious look in Boone's face as he turned to +me. + +"Somebody will risk being kicked to death before we get them out. I wish +we could give their owner the first chance," he said. + +Several of the agonized beasts had been in times of loneliness almost as +human friends to me. Others had, in their own dumb faithful way, helped +me to realize my first ambitions, and the sight of their suffering +turned me savage. "Do you know anything of this?" I asked. + +Boone wheeled around on me with a menace in his eyes, but apparently +mastering his temper with an effort, laughed unpleasantly. "No. Take +care you are not asked the same question. Are you disposed to let the +horses roast while we quarrel?" + +The latter, at least, was out of the question, and I had only paused to +gather breath and consider a plan of operations, for it is by no means +easy to extricate frantic beasts from a burning building. The others in +the meantime were gathering around, and we set about it as best we +could. At times thick smoke wreaths blew into our eyes, the heat grew +insupportable, and the first horse I freed would have seized me with its +teeth but that I smote it hard upon the nostrils. Two men were knocked +down and trampled on, another badly kicked, but amid an indescribable +confusion the task was accomplished, until only one badly burned horse, +and another with a broken leg, remained inside the building. + +"We can't leave them to grill," I said. "Thorn used to keep an old +shotgun inside the chop-chest lid." + +It was Boone who brought me the weapon, and the burned horse was quickly +put out of its misery; but a portion of the roof fell in as I ran +towards the other. This one lay still, and, I saw, recognized me. It had +carried me gallantly on many a weary ride, and was the one on which +Lucille Haldane had leaped across the fence. I felt like a murderer when +it turned its eyes on me with an almost human appeal, for all that I +could do was to press the deadly muzzle against its head. The shock of +the detonation shook down a shower of blazing fragments, and I had +turned away with a horrible sense of guilt, when somebody shouted, +"There's a man in the end stall!" + +The stall was hidden by the smoke, but, now that the emptied stable was +quieter, a voice reached us faintly through the vapor: "Won't anyone +take me out of this?" + +Several of us made a rush in that direction; but, so far as memory +serves, only Boone and I reached the stall, and, groping around it +blindly, came upon something which resembled a human form. We lifted it +between us, and the man both groaned and swore; then, staggering through +the vapor, we came, blackened, burned a little, and half-asphyxiated, +into the open. The rest were already outside, and, when we laid down our +burden, they stood about him, panting. + +"You've nearly killed me between you, boys, but it wasn't your fault," +he gasped. "Horse fell over me when I tried to turn him loose." The +half-articulate words which followed suspiciously suggested that the +sufferer was cursing somebody, and I caught the name of Lane before he +lapsed into semi-consciousness. + +"It's pretty simple," one of the onlookers said. "The way Ormesby fixed +that door, it shut itself. He got some bones smashed, and was turned +half-silly by the shock. Couldn't make us hear him even if he had sense +enough. My place is the nearest, and I'll take him along." + +I heard my name called softly, and saw Boone standing apart from the +rest. "I want to ask why you spoke as you did a little while ago?" he +said. + +"I did not stop to reflect just then, but I'll hear your explanation if +you care to volunteer one before I apologize," I said. + +"I was camped under a bluff with the wagon when I saw the blaze, and as +the distance was not great, I came in on foot," was the answer. "That is +the simple truth. Do you believe it?" + +"Yes," I said, for his manner impressed me. "In turn, you also hinted +something." + +"I was giving you a warning," said Boone. "You are dealing with a +dangerous man, and can't you see that if there is any doubt concerning +the fire's origin a charge might be worked up against you? Be careful +what you say; but as I see the sergeant yonder, you need not mention my +presence unless it is necessary." + +I alluded to Haldane's desire to see him, and, when he vanished, +followed the rest into the presence of Sergeant Mackay, who, ubiquitous +as usual, had mysteriously appeared. He sat motionless in his saddle, +with slightly compressed lips, though his keen eyes moved along the +encircling faces. It was evident that he was making an official inquiry, +and the owner of the homestead was speaking. + +"My name is Niven, late of the Brandon district, and I purchased this +property recently," he said. + +"Any partners?" asked the sergeant; and I noticed a gleam of what +appeared malicious satisfaction in the other's face as he answered: "No. +You will find my name recorded as sole owner. All was right when I +turned in about ten o'clock, but I didn't notice the time when my hired +man Wilkins roused me to say the house was burning. Had too much to +think about. Can't suggest any cause for the fire, and it doesn't count +much, anyway, for the result is certain. House and stable burned +out--and all uninsured." + +"Had ye any other hired man than Wilkins?" interposed the sergeant; and +Niven answered: "No. Stable didn't seem to be burning when I first got +up, but Wilkins said it was swept by sparks and he'd get the horses out. +One of them must have knocked him down, and he was only found at the +last minute." + +"Who was the first man ye met when ye went out?" asked the sergeant. + +"My predecessor--Ormesby," said Niven. + +Mackay appeared to meditate before he spoke again: "Where did ye meet +him, and what did he say?" + +"Slipping around the corner of a shed, and he said he'd see me burnt +before he stirred a hand to help," was the prompt answer. Then Mackay +questioned several others before he turned to me. + +"How did ye happen to come to Gaspard's Trail, Henry Ormesby?" + +"I was riding out from Bonaventure to intercept the freighter and saw +the blaze," I answered indignantly. "I certainly refused to help Niven +at first, for I had little cause for goodwill towards him or the man +behind him; but afterwards I saved most of his working beasts." + +There was a murmur of assent from the bystanders, but the sergeant, +disregarding it, spoke again: "Did ye meet the freighter?" + +"No," I said bluntly. + +Mackay smiled. "Ye did not. I passed him an hour gone by on the Buffalo +trail. What was your business with him?" + +"To ask him for a package." + +"All that should be easily corroborated," was the answer; and I was glad +that the examination was over, for, remembering Boone's warning, it +appeared that my answers might give rise to unpleasant suspicions. It +also struck me that, in the hurry and confusion, nobody had noticed him +or remembered it if they had done so, while, somewhat strange to say, +after the last brief interview I had full confidence in his statement +that he knew nothing about the origin of the fire. + +"I'm thinking that will do in the meantime. Chapleau, ye'll ride in to +the depot and wire for a surgeon. Now, boys, are any of ye willing to +take Niven home?" asked Mackay. + +Apparently none of them were willing, though at last two offers were +reluctantly made. It was the only time I ever saw the prairie settlers +deficient in hospitality; but the man's conduct had confirmed their +suspicions as to his connection with Lane, which was sufficient to +prejudice the most generous. "Maybe he would be comfortable if I took +him along with me," Mackay said dryly. + +Thereupon the assembly broke up, and I rode back to Bonaventure, +reaching it with the first of the daylight, blackened and singed, +while, as it happened, Lucille Haldane was the first person I met. +"Where have you been? Your clothes are all burned!" she said. + +"Gaspard's Trail is burned down and I helped to save some of the +horses," I answered wearily; and I never forgot the girl's first +startled look. She appeared struck with a sudden consternation. It +vanished in a moment, and, though she looked almost guilty, her answer +was reassuring. + +"Of course; that is just what you would do. But you are tired and must +rest before you tell me about it." + +I was very tired, and slept until noon, when I told my story to Haldane +and his daughter together. The former made very few comments, but +presently I came upon Lucille alone, and laid my hand on her shoulder as +I said: "Do you know that somebody suggested it was I who burned +Gaspard's Trail?" + +The girl's color came and went under my gaze; then she lifted her head +and met it directly. "I--I was afraid you might be suspected, and for +just a moment or two, when you first came in looking like a ghost, I did +not know what to think," she said. "But it was only because you startled +me so." + +"I would not like to think that you could believe evil against me," I +said; and Lucille drew herself up a little. "Do not be ungenerous. As +soon as I could reason clearly I knew it was quite--quite impossible." + +"I hope any work of that kind is," I said; and Lucille Haldane, turning +suddenly, left me. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +BEAUTY IN DISGUISE + + +Winter passed very monotonously with us in the sod-house at Crane +Valley. When the season's work is over and the prairie bound fast by +iron frost, the man whom it has prospered spends his well-earned leisure +visiting his neighbors or lounging contentedly beside the stove; but +those oppressed by anxieties find the compulsory idleness irksome, and I +counted the days until we could commence again in the spring. The +goodwill of my neighbors made this possible, for one promised +seed-wheat, to be paid for when harvest was gathered in; another placed +surplus stock under my charge on an agreement to share the resultant +profit, while Haldane sent a large draft of young horses and cattle he +had hardly hands enough to care for, under a similar arrangement. + +I accepted these offers the more readily because, while prompted by +kindness, the advantages were tolerably equal to all concerned. So the +future looked slightly brighter, and I hoped that better times would +come, if we could hold out sufficiently long. The debt I still owed +Lane, however, hung as a menace over me, while although--doubtless +because it suited him--he did not press me for payment, the extortionate +interest was adding to it constantly. Some of my neighbors were in +similar circumstances, and at times we conferred together as to the best +means of mutual protection. + +In the meantime the fire at Gaspard's Trail was almost forgotten--or so, +at least, it seemed. Haldane, much against his wishes, spent most of the +winter at Bonaventure; but his elder daughter remained in Montreal. +Boone, the photographer, appeared but once, and spent the night with us. +He looked less like the average Englishman than ever, for frost and +snow-blink had darkened his skin to an Indian's color, and when supper +was over I watched him languidly as we lounged smoking about the stove. +Sally Steel had managed to render the sod-house not only habitable but +comfortable in a homely way, and though she ruled us all in a somewhat +tyrannical fashion, she said it was for our good. + +"There's a little favor I want to ask of you, Ormesby, but I suppose you +are all in one another's confidence?" said Boone. + +"Yes," I answered. "We are all, in one sense, partners, with a capital +of about ten dollars, and are further united by the fear of a common +enemy." + +Boone laughed silently, though his face was a trifle sardonic. "That is +as it should be, and you may have an opportunity for proving the +strength of the combination before very long. I have, as I once told +you, a weakness for horses and cattle, and I couldn't resist purchasing +some at a bargain a little while ago. I want you to take charge of them +for me. Here are particulars, and my idea of an equitable agreement." He +laid a paper on the table, and I glanced through it. The conditions were +those usual in arrangements of the kind, which were not then uncommon, +but though cattle and horses were lamentably cheap, they could not be +obtained for nothing, and the total value surprised me. + +"We are as honest as most people down this way, and we take one +another's word without any use for spilling ink," observed the +irrepressible Sally. + +"I once heard of a grasping storekeeper being badly beaten over a deal +in butter by a clever young lady," said Boone; and Steel laughed, while +his sister frowned. + +"He deserved it, but you seem to know just everything," she said. + +"Some people are born clever, and some handsome; but it is really not my +fault," said Boone, with a smile at Sally. "For instance, I know what +Ormesby is thinking. He is wondering where I got the money to pay for +those beasts." + +The laugh was against me, but I answered frankly: "That was in my +thoughts; but I also wondered what I had done to merit the trouble you +have taken to do me a kindness." + +"Don't flatter yourself," said Boone. "It is a matter of business, and +equally possible that I wished to do some other person the opposite. You +must decide to-night, because I have a new assortment of beautifiers and +cosmetics in my wagon which I must set about vending to-morrow. They +would not, of course, be of any use to Miss Sally, but I am going on to +the Swedish settlement where the poor people need them." + +It was not delicate flattery, but Boone was quick at judging his +listener's capacity, and it pleased Miss Steel--the more so because a +certain Scandinavian damsel was her principal rival in the question of +comeliness. She drew herself up a little, while Boone smiled +whimsically. "You know it is true," he said. + +The man had always interested me. He was at home anywhere, and his +tongue equally adept at broad prairie raillery or finely modulated +English. Yet one could see that there was a shadow upon him. + +"You need have no compunction, Ormesby. I really made only one +successful attempt at housebreaking in my life," he said. "Do you accept +the offer?" + +"Yes, with many thanks; though I don't quite see why you make it in +writing," I said. "There are, however, a good many other things I don't +comprehend just now, and sometimes I feel that I am being moved here and +there blindly to suit other persons' unknown purposes. The position does +not please me." + +Boone laughed. "There is something in the fancy. You are the king's +bishop, and I'm not sure that as yet even the players quite know their +own game. Of course you are aware that Lane holds a power of attachment +against you?" + +"At present there is nothing but the prairie sod to attach, though I +don't see why he does not at once grab as much as he is entitled to of +that," I said. "If I get enough time I may be able to pay him off after +harvest." + +"I hope you will," was Boone's answer; and, changing the topic, he +entertained us with the quaintest anecdotes. + +Some time had passed since that evening, and spring had come suddenly, +when I commenced my plowing. Hitherto little wheat had been grown so far +West, but the soil was good, and I knew that sooner or later there would +be grain elevators in Crane Valley. Though the sub-soil was still +frozen, the black clods that curled in long waves from the mold-board's +side were steaming under the April sun; and as I tramped down the +quarter-mile furrow my spirits rose with the freshness of the spring. It +was good to be up and doing again, and the coming months of strain and +effort would help me to forget. Thorn and Steel, who were also plowing, +shouted jests as they passed, and it was with a contentment long strange +to us we rested at noon. Some distance divided the breaking from the +house, and we lay on the warm grasses, basking in the radiance of the +cloudless sun over our simple meal. + +The whole prairie was flooded with it, the air sweet and warm, and we +recommenced our task with pulses which throbbed in unison with that of +reawakening nature. The long months of darkness and deathlike cold had +gone, green blades presaging the golden ears would soon shoot upwards +from every furrow, and one drank in the essence of hope eternal in every +breath of air. Anxiety faded into insignificance, and one rejoiced in +the mere possession of physical strength, while the tender greenness +checkering the frost-nipped sod testified again that seed time and +harvest should not fail so long as the world rolled onward from darkness +into light. + +We came home more cheerful than we had been for months, but I felt an +instinctive foreboding when I saw Cotton talking to Sally beside the +corral fence. She was apparently bantering him, but there was +satisfaction in his face, as, after some jests of hers, he glanced at +the stripes on his sleeve. + +"I guess he's much too proud to look at you. They've made him a +corporal!" said Sally. + +There was a contrast between us. Spring plowing is not cleanly work, and +the mire which clung about our leggings had also freely spattered our +old jean overalls. Cotton was immaculate in new uniform, and sat, a +trim, soldierly figure, on his freshly caparisoned horse. + +"Here is a note for you from Bonaventure," he said. "I was riding in to +the railroad with some dispatches and to bring out our pay when Miss +Haldane asked me to give it to you." + +I saw a faint sparkle in Sally's eyes at the mention of Bonaventure, as +I said: "It was very good of you to ride so far round. Your superiors +are punctilious, are they not?" + +"With the exception of Mackay, who's away, they don't leave one much +discretion," said the corporal. "Still, I have time to spare, and don't +suppose anybody will be much the wiser. In any case, Miss Haldane said +the note was urgent, and--though having to call at the reservation I +might have passed this way on my homeward journey--I came at once." + +The missive brought a frown to my face. "Our hired men are busy, and +Corporal Cotton will kindly take you this," it ran. "Father, who went +East for a day or two, writes me to let you know immediately that Lane +is coming over shortly to attach your horses and cattle." + +I saw at once that if the money-lender seized our working beasts in the +midst of plowing, when nobody had a team to spare, our prospects of a +harvest would be ruined. However, I reflected with grim satisfaction +that the beasts were not mine, and that every man is entitled to protect +the property entrusted to him. "Read that," I said, passing it to Thorn. +"You had better start after supper and let the South-side boys know. +I'll warn the others, and it strikes me that Lane will have his work cut +out to drive off a single head." + +We had forgotten the bearer of the message, though once or twice I heard +Sally's voice and Cotton's laugh; but on turning towards the house I saw +he had backed his horse away from the corral and was somewhat dubiously +regarding the fence. Sally leaned against it watching him with an +assumption of ironical admiration. + +"I'll see that you keep your promise if I win," he said; and the girl +laughed mockingly. + +"If you don't I'll try not to cry over you," she retorted; and I guessed +the madcap had made some wager with him that he could not leap the +fence. Sally afterwards declared penitently that she never fancied he +would attempt it; but I could see by the lad's face he meant to take the +risk. + +"Your horse is not fresh enough, and you'll certainly break your neck!" +I shouted. + +Cotton glanced over his shoulder, then gathered up his bridle, while, as +I ran towards him, Sally's heart must have failed her, for she called +out: "Don't! I'll pay forfeit!" + +We were both too late. The corporal had touched the beast with the +spurs, and man and horse were flying towards the tall and well-braced +fence. I held my breath as I watched, for I had nailed the birch poles +home securely, and had not much faith in the beast's leaping powers. It +launched itself into the air, then there was a crash, and the top rail +flew into splinters, while horse and rider parted company. The former, +after rolling over, scrambled to its feet, but the uniformed figure +smote the ground with a distressful thud and lay very still. Sally +screamed, and must have climbed the fence, for when we had run around by +the slip rails she was bending over the limp figure stretched upon the +sod. Her eyes were wide with terror. + +"He is dead, and I have killed him," she said. + +I bent down with misgivings, for Cotton did not move, and there was +something peculiar about his eyes. "Can you hear us? Are you badly +hurt?" I asked. + +"What's that?" he answered drowsily; and I gathered courage, remembering +symptoms noticeable in similar cases; but Thorn had administered a dose +of prohibited whisky before he became intelligible. I was not wholly +sorry for Sally, but seeing that she had been sufficiently punished, I +said: "There are no bones broken, and his pulse is regaining strength." + +Cotton's scattered senses were evidently returning, for he looked up, +saying: "I'm only shaken, Miss Steel, and I won the bet. Don't be in a +hurry, Ormesby; I hardly fancy I could get up just yet." + +We waited several minutes, then, forcibly refusing Miss Steel's +assistance, carried him into the house and laid him on a makeshift couch +in our general-room. His color was returning, but his face was awry with +pain, and, so he expressed it, something had given way inside his back. +It was a dismal termination to an inspiriting day, and the old +depression returned with double force as I glanced at the untasted meal +on the table, at Lucille Haldane's note, and around the disordered room. +Sally looked badly frightened, Steel very grim, and Cotton seemed to be +suffering. + +"It will pass presently, and you had better get your supper," he said. +"I must try to eat a morsel, for I have a long way to ride to-night." + +"You are not going to move off that couch until morning at least," I +said. But the corporal answered: "I simply must. Is the horse all +right?" + +"Doesn't seem much the worse," said Steel; and Sally held a teacup to +the corporal's lips, and afterwards coaxed him very prettily to eat a +little. Seeing this, the rest of us attacked the cold supper, for we had +duties that must be attended to. Returning to the house some little time +later, I found that Sally had disappeared and Cotton was standing +upright. He moved a few paces, and then halted, leaning heavily on the +table, while his face grew gray with pain. + +"Lie down at once. You are not fit to move," I said. + +"It means degradation and heaven knows what besides unless I can reach +the depot to-night," he said. "Mackay is away, and the other man's a +cast-iron martinet, while I have just got my stripes and a hint of +something better. You see we are not supposed to undertake private +errands when under definite orders, and there are special reports and a +receipt for the pay in my wallet." + +He made another attempt to reach the door, then staggered, and, grasping +his arm, I settled him with some difficulty once more on the couch. "You +are right. There's nothing left but to face the inevitable," he said, +trying to check a groan. + +I forgot my own anxieties in my regret. "I am very sorry this should +have happened," I said. "You were far too generous; but can't one of us +take in the papers and get the money?" + +Cotton tried to smile, though his fingers twitched. "Miss Haldane asked +me; and it would be no use. They wouldn't give you the money, and if +they did, how would that get over the fact that I'm lying here helpless? +Why couldn't it have happened on the return journey?" + +"Did you tell Miss Haldane you were running a risk?" I asked. + +"Would one naturally do so when she asked a favor?" he answered, with a +trace of indignation. + +It was of course absurd of Corporal Cotton, but I felt very sorry for +him when he laid his head down with a groan, and I subsequently surmised +that Sally had overheard part, at least, of the conversation, for when +the lad, who had perhaps not wholly recovered from the weakness of the +shock, sank into sleep, she called me. + +"It's all my fault, and I'll never forgive myself; but I never guessed +he'd rush the fence," she said. "They couldn't put him in prison?" + +"They might turn him out of the service, which, in his eyes, would be +worse," I answered dryly. "It should be a lesson to you, Sally. You +can't help being pretty, but that is no reason why you should so often +lead some unfortunate man into difficulties." + +Sally's penitent expression vanished, and there was a flash in her eyes. +"You are so foolish, all of you, and I guess you needn't look wise, +Harry Ormesby. He is perhaps a little worse than the rest--and that's +why one likes him. When he wakes, you and Charlie have just got to take +those tight things off him and put him in your berth. If anybody wants +him the next day or two they'll have to tackle me." + +We did so presently, and, after seeing that our patient was comfortable, +Sally returned, wearing his uniform tunic. "How does this fit me?" she +asked. + +Steel looked angry, and I grew thoughtful. Nobody who knew her was, as a +rule, astonished at Sally's actions, but she asked the question soberly, +with no trace of mischief. + +"Do you wish me to say that you would look well in anything?" I asked. + +"I don't. You can tell lies enough when you trade horses," she answered +tartly. "It's a plain question--how does this thing fit me?" + +"Tolerably well," and I surveyed her critically. "It is a trifle large, +but if you don't draw it in too much at the waist it wouldn't fit you +badly. Are you going to turn police trooper, Sally?" + +Miss Steel was not generally bashful, but she looked a trifle confused +as she answered: "Don't ask any more fool questions." + +I went out soon afterwards to overhaul a plow under a shed, and had +spent considerable time over it, when Steel approached with a lantern. +"Have you seen anything of Sally?" he asked. + +"No," I answered carelessly. "What mischief has she been contriving +now?" + +"That's just what I'm anxious to know; that, and where the corporal's +horse is," he said. "They're both missing, and Cotton's fast asleep. +I"--and Steel used a few illegal expletives before he continued--"I +can't find his uniform either." + +"It must be somewhere. You can't have looked properly," I said; and +Steel restrained himself with an effort. + +"You can try yourself, and I'd give a hundred dollars, if I had it, to +see you find it," he said. + +I hurriedly left the plow, but though we hunted everywhere could +discover no trace of the missing uniform. "I didn't think we would," +said the harassed brother, with a groan of dismay. "She's--well, the +Lord only knows what Sally would do if she took the notion, and there's +no shirking the trouble. I've got to find out if she has the whole blame +outfit on." + +"I'll leave you to settle that point," I said; and hearing the locked +door of Sally's portion of the house wrenched open and garments being +hurled about, I surmised that Steel was prosecuting his inquiries. He +flung the split door to with a crash when he came out, leaving, as I saw +by a brief glimpse, ruin behind him, and he grew very red in the face as +he looked at me. + +"It will be a mighty relief when she marries somebody," he said +gloomily. "The only comfort is that you're a sensible man, and one could +trust you, Ormesby. You will never breathe a word of this. There's no +use trying to catch her, for she can get as much out of a beast as any +man." + +I pledged myself willingly, smothering a wild desire to laugh; and, as +it happened, it was I who met the truant riding home very wearily two +days later. Her mount was a chestnut, while Cotton's horse was gray, and +there was a bundle strapped before her. Still, except for a spattering +of mire, she was dressed in a manner befitting a young lady, and +actually blushed crimson when I accosted her. + +"Where have you been, Sally, and where did you get the horse?" + +"In to the railroad; and I borrowed him from Carsley's wife. They'll +send the corporal's over," she said. "I'm very tired, Harry Ormesby. +Won't you get me supper instead of worrying me?" + +Silence seemed best, and I could not resist the appeal, and so hurried +back to set about the supper; while what passed between brother and +sister I do not know, though when they came in together Sally appeared +triumphant and Steel in a very bad humor. + +"I'm going to see whether you have let the patient starve. You'll come +along with me," she said, when she came out of her own quarters, with no +trace of the journey about her. We entered the lean-to shed, which +Steel and I occupied together, and found Cotton better in health, though +as depressed as he had been all day. Sally held out a bag and a handful +of documents towards him. + +"There are your papers and money. Now all you have to do is to get well +again," she said demurely. + +There was no mistaking the relief in the corporal's face, and he +positively clutched at the articles she handed him. "You don't know what +this has saved me from. But how did you get them?" + +A flush of tell-tale color crept into Sally's cheeks, and I noticed that +her voice was not quite steady as she answered him. "You must solemnly +promise never to ask that again, or to tell anyone you were not at the +depot yourself. Nobody will ask you, we fixed it up so well. Now +promise, before I take them back again." + +The lad did so, and Sally glanced at me. "If Harry Ormesby ever tells +you I'll poison him." + +I do not think Corporal Cotton ever discovered Sally's part, or who +personated him, though he apparently suspected both Steel and myself; +but when we went out together I turned to the girl: "Just one question, +and then we'll forget it. How did you manage at the depot, Sally?" + +Miss Steel avoided my glance, but she laughed. "It was very dark, there +was only a half-trimmed lamp, and the agent was 'most asleep. It's +pretty easy, anyway, to fool a man," she said. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE DEFENSE OF CRANE VALLEY + + +It was two days before Cotton could be sent to the police outpost in a +wagon, but, so far as we could gather, the officer temporarily in charge +took it for granted he had been injured on his homeward ride around by +the Indian reserve which would have led him through Crane Valley. Some +time, however, passed before he was fit for the saddle. Meanwhile Steel +and I discussed Lane's latest move, and the best means of counteracting +it. + +"If we knew just what he wanted it would give us a better show, but we +don't, and Lane doesn't tell anybody," my comrade observed gloomily. + +"It's tolerably clear that he wants Crane Valley," said I. And Steel +proceeded: "Then why doesn't he sail in and take all he's entitled to?" + +"A part would not satisfy him when he wants it all," I said. "If he +seizes the working beasts and breeding stock now we shall be left +helpless for the season. He will take just enough to cripple me, and +leave me still in debt, while it would be useless to try to raise money +to pay him off until the question of the railroad is settled." + +"Will it ever be built?" asked Steel. + +"It must be, some day; but whether that will be before we are ruined or +buried, heaven only knows," I said. "Haldane seems to think the time +will not be long, and judging by his tactics, Lane agrees with him. +Still, the newspapers take an opposite view." + +"If it isn't"--and Steel frowned at the harness he was mending--"what +will we poor fools do?" + +"Stand Lane off as long as possible, and then strike for the mines in +British Columbia. That, however, concerns the future, and we have first +to decide what we will do if Lane arrives to-morrow." + +Steel's face grew somber, but he waited until I added: "Then, because +they're not my beasts as yet, if he can take them by main force--and I +almost hope he'll try--he is welcome to do so." + +"Now you're talking," and Steel smote a dilapidated saddle until the +dust leaped forth from it. "The law on debt liens is mighty mixed, but I +figure that the man who can keep hold has the best of it. Jacques, +Gordon, and the rest will stand by us solid, and I'd work two years for +nothing to get a fair chance at Lane." + +We both determined on resistance; but it struck me that ours was a very +forlorn hope, and that the odds were heavily against two plain farmers, +equally devoid of legal knowledge and of capital, who had pitted +themselves against a clever, unscrupulous man with the command of +apparently an unlimited amount of money. + +Lane did not come next day, nor the following one. + +Indeed, a number passed without bringing any word of him, and because +idleness meant disaster, we perforce relaxed our vigilance and resumed +our plowing. I had just yoked a pair of oxen to a double plow one +morning, when Boone's wagon came lurching up as fast as two whitened +horses could haul it across the prairie. + +"Lane came in with a hard-looking band of rascals by the Pacific Mail +last night," he said. "They had got whisky somewhere, and smashed the +hotel windows because Imrie wouldn't get them supper in the middle of +the night. He would start as soon as they were partly sober. Are you +prepared to protect your property, Ormesby?" + +"I am ready to protect other people's, which will suit me a good deal +better in this instance," I said, with a certain satisfaction that the +time for open resistance had come at last, though Lane had cunningly +chosen a season when every man's presence was necessary at his own +homestead. + +"Don't count too much on that," said Boone. "If you have no documentary +evidence, even the actual owners might have difficulty in substantiating +your claim. Now you see why I demanded a written agreement. It strikes +me that in this case possession is everything." + +"If I can keep whole in body until sundown, possession will remain with +us," I said. "But there is no time to spare for talking. It will take +hours to bring my neighbors up." + +"Of course you arranged with Haldane to send you assistance?" said +Boone; and hurled out an expletive when I answered stolidly: "That is +just what I did not do. I do not even know whether he is at home. It is +not necessary to drag all one's friends into a private quarrel." + +"Goodness knows why you are so unwarrantably proud, and it is not worth +while wasting time over that question now," said Boone. "Roll up your +thick-headed stockmen. I'm going on to Bonaventure for the one man whose +presence would be worth a hundred of them." + +He lashed his horses as he spoke, and I roused myself to action, while +long before his wagon dipped over the rim of the prairie Thorn had set +out at a gallop to bring our neighbors in. A neighbor may dwell from one +to ten leagues away in that country. This left only Steel and me to hold +Crane Valley, with the exception of Sally. The girl absolutely refused +to leave us, and it may not have been by accident that several +heavy-handled brushes lay convenient beside the stove. The stock were +driven off as far as we dare follow them across the prairie, and we +hoped they would remain unseen in a hollow; the working horses were made +fast in the stable; and when a few head of pedigree cattle had been +secured in the corral, we could only sit down and wait the siege. + +I spent several hours perched most uncomfortably on the roof with a pair +of glasses; but though the day was clear, nothing appeared above the rim +of the prairie. It spread all around the horizon in low rolling rises, +empty and desolate. My eyes grew dazzled, the continued use of the +glasses produced a distressful headache; but still nothing moved on +either rise or level, and it was a relief when at last Sally hailed me: +"Come down and get your dinner; scenery won't feed anybody." + +I had forgotten there was such a thing as food, and my throat and lips +were dry; but on descending I was surprised to find myself capable of +making an excellent meal. + +"You'll feel considerably better after that," said Sally, who watched +our efforts with much approval. "I guess you have forgotten you had no +breakfast, either of you." + +"That's so," assented her brother. "It's the first time I ever forgot it +in my life. Say, what are you going to do with that big hasp-bar, +Sally?" + +Miss Steel's movements were perhaps a little nervous, but she was +evidently not troubled by timidity. "I figured if anybody wanted to come +poking in here it might keep them out--if it was nicely warmed," she +said. + +"You must do nothing rash; and you must keep out of harm's way, Sally," +I said sternly. "They would be justified in seizing my household +property." + +"There's mighty little of it." And Miss Steel glanced around the room +with contempt. "Do you figure Lane would come out hundreds of miles for +your old crockery? Anything that's pretty round this place is mine, and +I'm anxious to see the man who's going to take it from me." + +I looked at the excited girl and then at her brother, who shook his head +in signal that further remonstrance would be useless. My ideas +respecting women had changed of late, and I somewhat resented the fact +that they would not be content to sit still and be worshiped, but must +insist on playing an active, and often a leading, part in all that +happened. + +"When Sally has made up her mind there's no use for anybody to talk," +said Steel. + +I had hardly mounted to the roof again before a line of diminutive +objects straggled up above the horizon, and I called down: "They're +coming!" + +"Which way?" was the eager question; and Steel stamped when I answered +moodily: "From the south." + +"Lane's outfit. Can't you see the others?" he shouted. + +I swept the glasses around the circumference of the prairie, and my +voice was thick with disappointment as I answered: "No." + +"Then you and I will have all we can do; and I wish to the Lord Sally +were anywhere else," said Steel. + +The diminutive figures rapidly resolved themselves into mounted men, +with a wagon behind them, but still all the rest of the prairie was +empty, and each time Steel asked the question: "Can't you see them yet?" +I grew more doggedly savage as I answered: "No." + +At last, when the money-lender's party were close at hand, I called out +that three horsemen were just visible in the north. "That's Gordon; +Jacques and the rest can't be here for a long while. It's time to come +down," said Steel. + +I came down, guessing that Lane, being on a lower level, could not see +our allies, and waited with Steel, apparently unarmed, though we had +weapons handy, in the space between the house and the stable. Sally had +disappeared inside the dwelling, and I trusted that she would remain +there. Presently, amid a rattle of gear and a confused trampling, a band +of men rode up to the homestead and ranged themselves in rude order on +each side of a wagon, some of them yelling in imitation of the American +cowboy as they wheeled. They were unkempt, dirty, and dissolute in +appearance, and I was not altogether surprised to see that most of them +were English or Americans. One finds very little errant rascality on the +Canadian prairie, perhaps because our money is very hardly earned, and +there are few people worth exploiting there; but odd specimens exported +from the great Republic and from the Old Country by disgusted friends +gravitate towards the smaller Western cities when they find life in the +waste too hard, and Lane had evidently collected some of the worst of +them. He sat in the wagon, smoking, and actually smiled at me. + +"Kind of surprise party, isn't it, Ormesby?" he said. "I've come round +to collect what I can in accordance with the notice served on you. +Here's a wallet full of papers, and this gentleman represents legal +authority. He had a partner, but we lost him. Now, I've no personal +feeling against you, and won't give you any trouble if it can be +avoided." + +Strange to say, I believed he spoke no more than the truth, and regarded +us dispassionately as merely a source from which a little profit might +be wrung. Neither Steel nor I, however, could look at the matter with +equal calmness. We were standing for our rights, and ready to strike for +shelter and daily bread, while the memory of former wrongs and a fierce +revolt against the rich man's oppression fired our blood. Nevertheless, +I remembered that it was necessary to gain time, and answered as coolly +as I could: + +"In the first place, the stock and horses belong to my neighbors, and in +the second, you will be overstepping limits if you violently break into +any part of my homestead. Neither does the law allow any private +individual to gather a band of ruffians and forcibly seize his debtor's +property." + +Lane probed his cigar with slow deliberateness. "You are growing quite +smart, Ormesby; but isn't it a pity you didn't display your acumen +earlier? I don't know that a stable can be considered a dwelling under +the homestead regulations, and there's nothing to prevent any man from +hiring assistance to drive home sequestrated cattle. It is this +gentleman's business to seize them, not mine. Neither is it clear how +far a proved agreement to feed another person's stock frees them of a +lien for debt. Have you got any in writing?" + +It was evident that, in homely parlance, my adversary held the best end +of the stick. The administration of justice is necessarily somewhat +rough-and-ready in the West, and I saw that the representative of legal +authority was at least two-thirds drunk. I also had little doubt that +Lane's mercenaries would act independently of him; while if they +exceeded legal limits there would be only our testimony to prove it +against a dozen witnesses. Possession was evidently everything. + +Lane had possibly guessed my thoughts, for he said: "Don't be mad enough +to start a circus, Ormesby. We have come a long way for the beasts, and +mean to get them. Can't you see that we could beat you if it came to +testimony? And I don't mind admitting that these rascals are not +particular." + +His tranquillity enraged me, but I managed to answer him: "If you drive +a hoof off you will have to defend your action against richer men than +I." + +"Well, I'll take my chances. It would cost them piles of money, and they +would gain nothing then," he said. "Say, officer, hadn't you better +begin?" + +"Gotsh any papersh to prove objection?" demanded that individual, +turning to me. And I took no pains to hide my disgust as I answered: "If +I had I should not trouble to show them to you." + +Steel, however, broke in: "We have. I'll show you a receipt for so many +beasts to be fattened for Roland Adams." + +"Whersh you keep them?" demanded the other. + +"Where you won't find them; 'way back on the prairie," Steel answered +triumphantly. + +It was a blunder, for the other, who had a little shrewdness left, +straightened himself. "Then all the beastsh heah belong to someone +else," he said, with a tipsy leer, and waved his hand to the rest. "No +papersh worth a shent. Whasher foolin' for? We'll just walk into the +stable." + +Several men sprang from their saddles, but Steel reached the door ahead +of them, and stood with his back against it, swinging a great birch +staff. "Nobody comes in here," he said. + +I was at his side the next moment with a keen hay-fork, and the men +halted in a semi-circle at the sight of our grim faces. + +"These points will reach anybody within six feet," I said. + +"Better quit fooling while your hide's whole. There's 'most a dozen of +us," said one, while another criticised my personal appearance in +uncomplimentary terms. One or two in the background advised their +comrades as to how we might best be maimed, but stood fast themselves, +for Steel was big and brawny, and looked coolly murderous as he balanced +the heavy staff; while whoever looked at me did so over the twin points +of steel. The interlude lasted at least a minute, and I listened with +strained attention for the thud of hoofs. Gordon could not be far off, +but he remained invisible behind a low rise, even if the buildings had +not obscured our view. Then a newcomer shoved his way through the rest, +and I saw that he was the genuine article as he stood before me in +Montana cattle-rider's dress. + +"It's a mighty poor show you're making, boys," he said contemptuously. +"Stand out of my way. You can pick up the pieces when I've done with +them." + +He danced up and down a few paces and yelled, either to bewilder or to +impress us, and I was conscious of a grim amusement, while Steel watched +him narrowly. Then, for the man had spirit enough, he leaped at Steel +like a panther, with something in his hand that twinkled. He was, +however, a second too late, for the birch staff met him in the center of +his face, and, falling like a log, he lay where he fell. Steel +deliberately snapped the knife beneath his heel, and Lane shouted +something as my comrade said: "The next man I down at that trick will +get his skull smashed in." + +There was a wrathful cry from the others, which convinced me that if we +took our eyes off them for an instant the rush would come; but they +hesitated, and Steel, standing poised with one foot forward and baleful +eyes, made the staff whistle round his head. "You're a mighty long time +beginning. Who's next--or maybe you only brought one man along?" he +said. + +"Where's that blamed officer? I guess this is his job," said one; but +the worthy mentioned drew further back from the edge of the group. + +"Deputsh you my authority. Thish not a house. Only beastsh live in +stables," he explained. + +"Better get it over. Sail in!" said one of the biggest, and there was a +shout of "Look out!" from Steel. + +Four or five men made a rush upon us, and, not wishing to inflict lethal +injuries unless my life were threatened, I had barely time to reverse +the fork before they were within striking distance. Another reeled +backwards headlong beneath the staff, and, knowing that a thrust is more +effective and harder to evade than a blow, I used the long-hafted fork, +blunt-end foremost, as a pike with considerable success. The struggle +continued for perhaps a minute, and was sharp while it lasted. Several +times a panting man got within my guard, and Steel brought him down; but +I was struck heavily, and had only a blurred vision of waving arms, +scowling faces, and the whirling staff, while the air seemed filled with +discordant shouts of encouragement from those outside. Either by sheer +force of desperation, or by the power of better weapons, we wore them +out, and the group broke up. One or two limped badly as they straggled +back, some swore, and there was blood on the faces and garments of the +rest. + +"One fellow got me badly on the chest," said Steel, who breathed +heavily, and I was conscious of several painful spots; and when I had +recovered breath I saw that Lane had drawn his wagon back some distance, +and was apparently upbraiding his bodyguard in no measured terms. + +"Jump clear!" cried Steel presently, and I sprang aside a moment too +late, for an exultant shout went up when a heavy billet struck me on the +head. I felt the blood trickle warm and sticky into one eye, and I fell +against the door feeling faint and sick, then stiffened myself again, +with the fork held points foremost this time. Lane, it seemed, had lost +control of his followers, and would doubtless rely on hard swearing to +protect himself from unfortunate consequences, for I now suspected there +would be bloodshed unless help arrived very shortly. + +"They're going for the house, and Sally's inside there," cried Steel; +and for the first time I remembered that the dwelling was unprotected, +and feared that the girl had not slipped away, as she might have done by +a rear window. + +One of Lane's men reached the threshold before we did, and three or four +others followed hard upon his heels. The door was wide open, and I +sincerely trusted that Sally had made her escape. She had not, however, +for the handle of a long brush swung out, and the first ruffian who +rushed at the entrance staggered backwards against the comrade behind +him. Steel flung him headlong the next moment; the rest yielded passage +before the tines of the fork, and we sprang into the house, while our +enemy's reinforcements came up at a run. So far we had succeeded better +than might have been expected, but our adversaries were growing furious, +and the defense of our property no longer appeared the main question. +The girl had dropped the brush and grasped a red-ended iron bar. + +"Give it to me, and reach down that rifle, Sally," I gasped, and while +Steel dragged up furniture for a barricade, the rest, not knowing its +magazine was empty, recoiled before the Winchester muzzle. + +"I'll be through in another minute. Keep them out," Steel said. + +A brief respite followed, for the iron was glowing still, and our +enemies' supply of missiles was evidently exhausted; but as we waited, +wondering what would happen next, I heard a beat of hoofs, and Sally +cried out triumphantly as three well-mounted men swept up at a gallop. + +"Ride over them!" shouted somebody. Warning cries went up, there was a +scattering of Lane's ruffians, and the leading horseman pulled up his +beast just outside the door. He was dripping with perspiration, +bespattered all over, and his horse was white with lather. + +"Couldn't get through earlier. Jacques' boys are away, but we sent a man +to look for them, and he'll bring them along," he said. + +We were very glad to see Rancher Gordon and his sturdy followers, +though it was bad news he brought. Further reinforcements could hardly +arrive in time to be of service, and where we had expected more than a +dozen we must be content with three. Meanwhile, Lane's men had mounted +and were trotting off across the prairie. + +"They have probably gone in search of the loose stock. Come in. We have +got to talk over our next step," I said. + +The newcomers did so, and we were all glad of a breathing space. My head +was somewhat badly cut, several purple bruises adorned my comrade's +countenance, and the rest had ridden a long way in furious haste. At +first the conference was conducted in half-breathless gasps, then the +voices deepened into a sonorous ring, and I can recall the intent +bronzed faces turned towards me, the thoughtful pauses when each speaker +had aired his views, and how the slanting sunlight beat into the partly +shadowed room. Last of all Rancher Gordon spoke: "We are waiting to hear +your notions, Ormesby." + +"The stable and corral must be held at any cost," I said, smearing my +hands as I tried to clear my eye, while red drops splashed from them on +to the table. "While that ought to be possible, we are hardly strong +enough to force a fight in the open unless it is necessary. Lane's +rascals may not find the stock, and may only be trying to draw us off, +so my decision is to remain here. If they are successful we can see them +from the roof, and must run the risk of taking their plunder from them. +Should we fail we could follow them when our friends turn up." + +"That's about my notion. We'll see you through with it," said Gordon +quietly. + +We had waited a considerable time before Steel hailed us from the roof +that he could see our enemies riding south behind a bunch of cattle, and +we mounted forthwith. There were now three rifles among us, but we had +agreed these were not to be used unless somebody fired upon us. Riders +and cattle dipped into a hollow, and we had covered several miles +before we sighted them again. Lane and the representative of authority +no longer accompanied them. The whole body wheeled around and halted +when we came up. There was sweet grass in the hollow, so the cattle +halted too, and for a space we sat silent, looking at one another. I +dare not risk a blunder in face of such odds, though I determined to +make an effort to recover the stock. + +"You make us tired," said the American, whose face was partly covered by +a dirty rag. "Go to perdition, before we make you!" + +He waved his arm around the horizon, as though to indicate where the +place in question lay, and I edged my horse a little nearer to him. He +was the leading spirit, and it seemed possible that we might perhaps +disperse the rest if I could dismount him. The man had evidently +recovered from Steel's blow. + +"We are not going away without the cattle, and you can see there are +more of us now, while two proved too many for you before," I said, still +decreasing the distance between us; but my adversary perhaps divined my +intention, for a short barrel glinted in his hand when he raised it. + +"It's going to be different this time. Keep back while you're safe," he +said. + +There was apparently no help for it, and I was not quite certain he +would shoot, so balancing the long fork, lance fashion, I tightened my +grip on the bridle, when Gordon drove his horse against me and gripped +it violently. "Hold on; the boys are coming!" he said. + +Friends and foes alike had been too intent to notice anything beyond +each other during the past few minutes; but now a drumming of hoofs rose +from behind the rise which shut in the hollow. Then a drawn-out line of +mounted men came flying down the slope, and Steel flung his hat up with +a triumphant yell. "It's the Bonaventure boys," he said. "There's Adams +and Miss Haldane leading them." + +The American looked in my direction, and raised his hand in ironical +salute. "I'm sorry to miss a clinch with you. It would have been a good +one, but I can't stay," he said. "Get on, you skulking coyotes. Unless +you're smart in lighting out those cow drivers won't leave much of you." + +His subordinates took the hint, and bolted down the hollow as hard as +they could ride, while I drew a deep breath and turned towards the +rescue party. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE RAISING OF THE SIEGE + + +They were splendid horsemen who rode to our assistance, and their beasts +as fine; but a slight figure led them a clear length ahead. In another +minute Gordon's men copied their leader, who trotted forward with his +broad hat at his knee, and I rode bareheaded with--though I had +forgotten this--an ensanguined face, to greet the mistress of +Bonaventure. She was glowing with excitement, and I had never seen +anything equal the fine damask in her cheeks. She started at the sight +of me, and then impulsively held out a well-gloved hand. + +"I hope you are not badly hurt?" she said. + +"Only cut a trifle," I answered, gripping the little hand fervently. +"You have done a great deal for us, and no doubt prevented serious +bloodshed. It was wonderfully----" + +"Don't. It was not in any way wonderful. My father was absent when Mr. +Boone brought me the news, and, as you know, I am responsible for the +prosperity of Bonaventure in his absence. Our cattle were in jeopardy." + +She ceased abruptly, and grew pale, while I felt ashamed when I saw the +cause of it. My hands had been reddened from clearing my eyes, and glove +and wrist were foul with crimson stains. Courageous as she was, the girl +had sickened at the sight of them. + +"I can't excuse myself. You must try to forgive me," I said. "Please +don't look at it." + +Lucille Haldane promptly recovered from the shock of repulsion. "How +could you help it--and you were hurt protecting our cattle. I can see +the brand on some," she said. "It was very foolish of me to show such +weakness." + +"You must come back to the house with me at once and rest," I said. "I'm +indebted to you, boys, but the best way you could help me would be to +drive those cattle into the corral. Then, for you are probably tired and +hungry, come up and see what Sally Steel can find for you." + +The newcomers hesitated, and inquired whether they might not pursue and +chastise our adversaries instead, but Lucille Haldane rebuked them. "You +will do just what Rancher Ormesby tells you," she said; and, turning +towards me, added: "I am ready to go with you." + +Lucille was still a trifle pale, and wondering, because I could not see +myself, that one with so much spirit should be affected by such a small +thing, I presently dismounted and led her horse by the bridle. I had +torn off the offending glove, and when we halted by the corral would +have removed the stains from the wrist with a handkerchief. + +"No," said Lucile, snatching her hand away just too late, with a gesture +of dismay, "do not touch it with that, please." + +Then I remembered that the handkerchief had last been used to rub out +the fouled breach of a gun. The girl looked at the blur of red and black +which resulted from my efforts, and frowned, then broke out into a +rippling laugh. "Beatrice said your ways were refreshingly primitive, +and I think she was right," she said. + +The laugh put heart into me, but I still held the bridle with an +ensanguined hand close beside the little smeared one; and so, followed +by as fine an escort as a princess could desire, we came to my door side +by side. + +However, when I helped Lucille Haldane from the saddle I had misgivings +concerning the reception Steel's sister might accord her. Sally's +loyalty to her friends was worthy of her name; but she was stanchly +democratic, more than a little jealous, and not addicted to concealing +her prejudices. The fears were groundless. Sally was waiting in the +doorway she had defended, and while I hoped for the best, the two stood +a moment face to face. They were both worthy of inspection, though the +contrast between them was marked. Haldane's daughter was slight and +slender, with grace and refinement stamped equally on every line of her +delicately chiseled face and on the curve of her dainty figure down to +the little feet beneath the riding skirt. Sally was round and ruddy of +countenance, stalwart in frame, with the carriage of an Amazon, and, I +think, could have crushed Lucille with a grip of her arms; but both had +an ample portion of the spirit of their race. + +Then Steel's sister, stepping forward, took both the girl's hands within +her own, stooped a little, and kissed her on each cheek, after which she +drew her into the house, leaving her brother and myself equally +astonished. He looked at me whimsically, and though I tried, I could not +frown. + +"That's about the last thing I expected. How does it strike you?" he +said. "Afraid of committing yourself? Well, I don't mind allowing I +expected most anything else. All women are curious, but there's no +understanding Sally." + +We were not left long to wonder, for Miss Steel reappeared in the +doorway. + +"You two still standing there as if there were nothing to do! Get a big +fire on in the outside stove and kill about half the chickens. You're +not to come in, Harry Ormesby, until I've fixed you so you're fit to be +seen." + +I feared that Lucille heard her, and wondered what she thought. Our mode +of life was widely different from that at Bonaventure and from what +would have been for me possible had I not fallen into the hands of Lane. + +We slew the chickens with the assistance of the newcomers, and sat down +on the grass to pluck them, a fowl for every guest, although I was +slightly uncertain whether that would be sufficient. There is a +similarity between the very old and the very new, and ancient poets +perhaps best portray the primitive, sometimes heroic, life of effort the +modern stockrider and plowman lead on the prairie. + +"Why did you bring Miss Haldane, Boone? You should have known better +than to allow her to run the slightest risk," I said, on opportunity; +and the photographer smiled enigmatically. + +"Miss Haldane did not ask my permission, and I am doubtful whether +anybody could have prevented her. She said she was mistress of +Bonaventure, and the way the men stirred when she told them was proof +enough that one could believe her." + +Presently Sally came out with a roll of sticking-plaster, and, while +every bachelor present offered assistance and advice, she proceeded to +"fix me," as she expressed it. Then, amid a burst of laughter, she stood +back a little to survey her work with pride. + +"I guess you can come in. You look too nice for anything. Gordon and +Adams, you'll walk in, too. The rest will find all you want in the cook +shed, and it will be your own fault if you don't help yourselves." + +I was a little astonished when, with a cloth bound round my head, I +entered the house, for Miss Steel was in some respects a genius. There +was no trace of disorder. Sally was immaculately neat; Lucille Haldane +might never have passed the door of Bonaventure; and the two had +apparently become good friends, while a table had been set out with +Sally's pretty crockery, and, as I noticed, an absolutely spotless +cloth, which was something of a rarity. I was glad of the presence of +Boone, for Gordon was a big, gaunt, silent man, and the events of the +day had driven any conversational gifts we possessed out of both Steel +and myself. When it pleased him, Adams, by which name alone he was known +to the rest, could entertain anybody, and that, too, in their own +particular idiom. There was no trace of the pedlar about him now, and +his English was the best spoken in the Old Country. I noticed Lucille +Haldane looked hard at him when she took her place at the table. + +"It is curious, but I have been haunted by a feeling that we have met +before to-day," she said. "If I am mistaken, it must have been somebody +who strongly resembles you." + +For just a moment Boone looked uneasy, but he answered with a smile: "I +don't monopolize all the good looks on the prairie." + +The girl flashed a swift sidelong glance at me, and I feared my +countenance was too wooden to be natural. "I am sure of the resemblance +now, though there is a change. It was one evening at Bonaventure, was it +not?" she said. "Have you forgotten me?" + +"That would be impossible," and Boone bent his head a little as he made +the best of it. "I see that, if necessary I could rely on Miss Haldane's +kindness a second time." + +Lucille looked thoughtful, Sally inquisitive, and I feared the latter +might complicate circumstances by attempting to probe the mystery. +Neither Gordon nor Steel noticed anything, but Boone was a judge of +character and Lucille keen of wit. He asked nothing further, but I saw a +question in his eyes. + +"I think you could do so," she said. "You seem to have trusty friends, +Rancher Ormesby; though that is not surprising on the prairie." + +The words were simply spoken, and wholly unstudied; but Lucille Haldane +had a very graceful way, and there was that in her eyes which brought a +sparkle into those of Sally, and I saw had made the silent Gordon her +slave. Her gift of fascination was part of her birthright, and she used +it naturally without taint of artifice. + +"Could anybody doubt it after to-day?" I said. + +Then Boone smiled dryly. "I suppose it devolves upon me to acknowledge +the compliment, and I am afraid that some of his friends are better than +he deserves," he said. "At least, I am willing to testify that Rancher +Ormesby does not importune them, for I never met any man slower to +accept either good advice or well-meant assistance. Have you not found +it so, Miss Steel?" + +"All you men are foolish, and most of you slow," Sally answered archly. +"I had to convince one with a big hard brush to-day." + +This commenced the relation of reminiscences, mostly humorous, of the +affray, for we could afford to laugh, and all joined in the burst of +merriment which rose from outside when several horsemen came up at a +gallop across the prairie. A stockrider of Caledonian extraction had +borrowed my banjo to amuse his comrades, and they appreciated his irony +when he played the new arrivals in to the tune of "The Campbells are +coming." + +Then he took off his hat to the uniformed figure which led the advance. +"Ye're surely lang in comin', Sergeant, dear," he said. + +There was another roar of laughter, and I heard Mackay's voice. "It was +no' my fault, and ye should ken what kind of horses ye sell the +Government; but now I'm here I'm tempted to arrest the whole of ye for +unlawful rioting!" + +He halted in the doorway with displeasure in his face, and, disregarding +my invitation, waited until Miss Haldane bade him be seated, while +before commencing an attack upon a fowl, he said dryly: "Maybe I had +better begin my business first. It would be a poor return to eat your +supper and than arrest ye, Ormesby." + +"You had better make sure of the supper, and if you can take me out of +the hands of my allies you are welcome to," I said. + +Boone's lips twitched once or twice as though in enjoyment of a hidden +joke as he discoursed with the sergeant upon the handling of mounted men +and horses. He showed, I fancied, a curious knowledge of cavalry +equipment and maneuvers, and Mackay was evidently struck with his +opinions. I also saw Lucille Haldane smile when the sergeant said: "If +ever ye pass my station come in and see me. It's a matter o' regret to +me I had not already met ye." + +"Thanks," said Boone, just moving his eyebrows as he looked across at +me. "I narrowly missed spending some time in your company a little while +ago." + +"And now to business," said Mackay, with a last regretful glance at the +skeletonized chicken. "From what I gather ye are all of ye implicated. I +would like an account from Mr. Adams and Miss Haldane first." + +"How did you come here instead of Gardiner; and how do you know there +is anything for you to trouble about?" I asked, and the sergeant showed +a trace of impatience. + +"Gardiner goes back to-morrow. Ye are my own particular sheep, and it +would take a new man ten years to learn the contrariness of ye. I heard +some talk at the railroad and came on in a hurry. Do ye usually nail +your stable or cut your own head open, Rancher Ormesby?" + +Each in turn furnished an account of the affray, I last of all; and +Mackay expressed no opinion until Lucille Haldane asked him: "Was it not +justifiable for me to take measures to protect my father's cattle?" + +"Supposing the Bonaventure brand had not been on that draft, and Lane's +men retained possession, what would ye have done?" was the shrewd +rejoinder; and Lucille smiled as she looked steadily at the speaker. + +"I really think, sergeant, that I should have ridden over them." + +Mackay seemed to struggle with some natural feeling; but the silent +rancher smote the table. "By the Lord, you would, and I'd have given +five hundred dollars to go through beside you!" he said. + +"Ye are quite old enough to ken better," said Mackay sententiously; and +the rancher squared his shoulders as he answered: + +"I'm as good as any two of your troopers yet, and was never run into a +cattle corral. When I'm old enough to be useless I'll join the police." + +"What were ye meaning?" asked the sergeant. + +Gordon laughed. "Just that, for a tired man, it's a nice soft berth. You +take your money and as much care as you can that you never turn up until +the trouble's over!" + +Before Mackay could retort, Lucille, smiling, raised her hand. "I think +you should both know better, and I want you to tell me, sergeant, what +will be the end of this. Surely nobody has any right to drive off cattle +and horses that don't belong to him?" + +Mackay looked somewhat troubled, and one could guess that while eager +to please the fair questioner, he shrank with official caution from +committing himself. "It's not my part to express an opinion on points +that puzzle some lawyers," he said. "Still, I might tell ye that it will +cost one man his position. Human nature's aye deceitful, Miss Haldane, +and if Rancher Ormesby prosecuted them it would be just two or three +men's word against a dozen. Forby, they might make out illegal +resistance against him!" + +"Sergeant," said Lucille Haldane, looking at him severely, "dare you +tell me that you would not take the word of three ranchers against the +oath of a dozen such men as Lane?" + +Mackay smiled, though he answered dryly: "They're both hard to manage, +and ungrateful for their benefits; but maybe I would. Still, I am, ye +see, neither judge nor jury. Would ye prefer a charge against them, +Ormesby?" + +I was willing enough to do so, but had already reflected. Every moment +of my time was needed, the nearest seat of justice was far away, and it +would be only helping Lane if I wasted days attempting to substantiate a +charge. I also surmised by his prompt disappearance when the fracas +became serious that it would be very difficult to implicate my enemy, +even if he did not turn the tables on me. Boone, when I looked at him, +made a just perceptible negative movement with his head. + +"I must leave this affair to the discretion of the police," I said. +"Several of Lane's friends have good cause to be sorry for themselves +already, and it is hardly likely his action will be repeated." + +Mackay said nothing further, and shortly afterwards Lucille said she +must take her departure. Sally stood smiling in the doorway while the +riders of Bonaventure did her homage, and those whose compliments did +not please her suffered for their clumsiness. When I rode out with +Lucille Haldane there was a lifting of wide hats, and the sergeant, +sitting upright in his saddle, saluted her as we passed with several +splendid horsemen riding on each side. + +I afterwards heard that Sally said to him mischievously: "I guess you +men don't quite know everything. How long did it take you to break your +troopers in? Yonder's a slip of a girl who knows nothing of discipline +or drill, and there's not a man in all that outfit wouldn't ride right +into the place where bad policemen go if she told him to. As good as +your troopers, aren't they? What are you thinking now?" + +The sergeant followed her pointing hand, and, as it happened, Lucille +and I were just passing beyond the rise riding close together side by +side. Mackay looked steadily after us, and doubtless noticed that +Lucille rode very well. "I would not blame them. I'm just thinking I'm +sorry for Corporal Cotton," he said. + +Sally looked away across the prairie, and, turning, saw a faint smile +fade out of the sergeant's face. "What do you mean? Can't you ever talk +straight like a sensible man?" she asked. + +"The corporal's young, an' needs considerable convincing," was the dry +answer. + +When we dipped beyond the rise I turned to Lucille Haldane. "What did +you think of Sally? She is a stanch ally, but not always effusive to +strangers," I said. + +I could not at the moment understand Lucille Haldane's expression. The +question was very simple, but the girl showed a trace of confusion, and +was apparently troubled as to how she should frame the answer. This did +not, however, last long, and when she raised her eyes to mine there was +in them the same look of confidence there had been when she said, "I +believe in you." It was very pleasant to see. + +"I think a great deal of her, and must repeat what I said already. You +have very loyal friends. Miss Steel told me at length how kind you had +been to her and her brother, and I think they will fully repay you." + +My wits must have been sharpened, for I understood, and blessed both +Sally and the speaker. If Lucille Haldane, being slow to think evil, +had faith in those she knew, it was possible she was glad of proof to +justify the confidence, and Sally must have furnished it. + +"They have done so already," I said. + +There was always something very winning about my companion, but she had +never appeared so desirable as she did just then. The day was drawing +towards its close, and the light in the west called up the warm coloring +that the wind and sun had brought into her face and showed each grace of +the slight figure silhouetted against it. The former was, perhaps, not +striking at first sight, though, with its setting of ruddy gold, and its +hazel eyes filled with swift changes, it was pretty enough; but its +charm grew upon one, and I noticed that when she patted the horse's neck +the dumb beast moved as though it loved her. There was nothing of the +Amazon about its rider except her courage. + +"I have heard a good deal about your enemy and yourself of late, but +there are several points that puzzle me, and, though I know you have his +sympathies, father is not communicative," she said. "For instance, if +you do not resent the allusion, he could with so little trouble have +made a difference in the result of your sale." + +"How could that be?" I asked, merely to see how far the speaker's +interest in my affairs had carried her, and she answered: "Even if there +had been nothing we needed at Bonaventure he could have made the others +pay fair prices for all they bought. I cannot understand why he said it +was better not to do so." + +I also failed to understand; but a light broke in upon me. "Did you +suggest that he should?" I asked, and the girl answered with some +reluctance: "Yes; was it not natural that I should?" + +"No one who knew you could doubt it," I said; and Lucille Haldane +presently dismissed me. I sat still and watched her and her escort +diminish across the long levels, and then rode slowly back towards Crane +Valley. Remembering Haldane's mention of a promise, the news that it was +his younger daughter who sent him to my assistance brought at first a +shock of disappointment. I had already convinced myself that Beatrice +Haldane must remain very far beyond my reach, but the thought that she +had remembered me and sent what help she could had been comforting, +nevertheless. Now it seemed that she had forgotten, and that that +consolation must be abandoned, too. And yet the disappointment was not +so crushing but that I could bear it with the rest. What might have been +had passed beyond the limits of possibility, and there was nothing in +the future to look forward to except a struggle against poverty and the +wiles of my enemy. + +Steel took my horse when I rode up to the house, and it was a +coincidence that his first remark should be: "We beat him badly this +time and he'll lie low a while. Then I guess you'll want both eyes open +when he tries his luck again." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE VIGIL-KEEPER + + +It was a clear starlit night when I rode across a tract of the +Assiniboian prairie, some two hundred miles east of Crane Valley. A +half-moon hung in the cloudless ether, and the endless levels, lying +very silent under its pale radiance, seemed to roll away into infinity. +They had no boundary, for the blueness above them melted imperceptibly +through neutral gradations into the earth below, which, gathering +strength of tone, stretched back again to the center of the lower circle +a vast sweep of silvery gray. + +There was absolute stillness, not even a grass blade moved; but the air +was filled with the presage of summer, and the softness of the carpet, +which returned no sound beneath the horse's feet, had its significance. +That sod had been bleached by wind-packed snow and bound into iron +hardness by months of arctic frost. Bird and beast had left it, and the +waste had lain empty under the coldness of death; but life had once more +conquered, and the earth was green again. Even among the almost +unlettered born upon it there are few men impervious to the influence of +the prairie on such a night; and in days not long gone by the half-breed +_voyageurs_ told strange stories of visions seen on it during the lonely +journeys they made for the great fur-trading company. Its vastness and +its emptiness impresses the human atom who becomes conscious of an +indefinite awe or is uplifted by an exaltation which vanishes with the +dawn, for there are times when, through the silence of measureless +spaces, man's spirit rises into partial touch with the greater things +unseen. + +My errand was prosaic enough--merely to buy cattle for Haldane and +others on a sliding-scale arrangement. I could see a possibility of +some small financial benefit, and that being so had reluctantly left +Crane Valley, where I was badly needed, because the need of money was +even greater. Also, as time was precious, I had decided to travel all +night instead of spending it as a guest of the last farmer with whom I +bargained. I was at that time neither very imaginative nor +oversentimental; but the spell of the prairie was stronger than my will, +and, yielding to it, I rode dreamily, so it seemed, beyond the reach of +petty troubles and the clamor of our sordid strife into a shadowy land +of peace which, defying the centuries, had retained unchanged its solemn +stillness. The stars alone sufficed to call up the fancy, for there +being neither visible heavens nor palpable atmosphere, only a blue +transparency, the eye could follow the twinkling points of flame far +backwards from one to another through the unknown spaces beyond our +little globe. Nothing seemed impossible on such a night, and only the +touch of the bridle and the faint jingle of metal material. + +It was in this mood that I became conscious of a shadow object near the +foot of a rise. It did not seem a natural portion of the prairie, and +when I had covered some distance it resolved itself into a horse and a +dismounted man. His broad hat hung low in his hand, his head was bent, +and he stood so intent that I had almost ridden up to him before he +turned and noticed me. Then, as I checked my horse, I saw that it was +Boone. + +"What has brought you here?" I asked. + +"That I cannot exactly tell you when we know so little of the influences +about us on such a night as this. It is at least one stage of a +pilgrimage I must make," he said. + +Had this answer been given me in the sunlight I should have doubted the +speaker's mental balance, but one sets up a new standard of sanity on +the starlit prairie on a night of spring, and I saw only that the spell +was also upon him. He held a great bunch of lilies (which do not grow on +the bare Western levels) in one hand, and his face was changed. Even in +Boone's reckless humor there had been a sardonic vein which sometimes +added a sting to the jest, and I knew what the shadow was that accounted +for his fits of silent grimness. Now he seemed strangely calm, but +rather reverent than sad. + +"I cannot understand you," I said. + +"No?" he answered quietly. "How soon you have forgotten; but you helped +me once. Come, and I will show you." + +He tethered his horse to an iron peg, beckoned me to do the same, and +then, moving forward until we stood on the highest of the rise, pointed +to something that rose darkly from the grass. Then I remembered, and +swung my hat to my knee, as my eyes rested on a little wooden cross. +Following the hand he stretched out, I could read the rude letters cut +on it--"Helen Boone." + +He stooped, and, I fancied with some surprise, lifted a glass vessel +from beneath a handful of withered stalks. He shook them out gently, +laid the fresh blossoms in their place, and a faint fragrance rose like +incense through the coolness of the dew. Then he turned, and I followed +him to where we had left the horses. "There are still kind souls on this +earth, and one of them placed that vessel under the last flowers I left. +You have a partial answer to your question now." + +I bent my head, and seeing that he was not averse to speech, said +quietly: "You come here sometimes? It is a long journey." + +"Yes," was the answer; and Boone's voice vibrated. "She who sleeps there +gave up a life of luxury for me; and is a three-hundred-mile journey too +much to make, or a summer night too long to watch beside her? I am drawn +here, and there are times when one wonders if it is possible for us to +rise into partial communion with those who have passed into the darkness +before us." + +"It is all," I answered gravely, "a mystery to me. Can you conceive such +a possibility?" + +"Not in any tangible shape to such as I, but this at least I know. In +spite of the destruction of the mortal clay, when I can see my way no +further, and lose courage in my task, fresh strength comes to me after +a night spent here." + +"Your task?" I said. "I guessed that there was a motive behind your +wanderings." + +"There is one," and Boone's voice rose to its natural level. "The wagon +journeys suit it well. Had Lane ruined me alone I should have tried to +pay my forfeit for inexperience and the risk I took gracefully; but when +I saw the woman, who had lain down so much for me, fading day by day +that he might add to his power of oppressing others the money which +would have saved her life, the case was different. The last part he +played in the pitiful drama was that of murderer, and the loss he +inflicted on me one that could never be forgiven." + +"And you are waiting revenge?" I asked. + +"No." Boone looked back towards the crest of the rise. "At first I did +so, but it is justice that prompts me now. I have a full share of human +passions, and once I lay in wait for him with a rifle--my throat parched +and a fire of torment in my heart; but when he passed at midnight within +ten paces I held my hand and let him go. Perhaps it was because I could +not take the life of even that venomous creature in cold blood, and +feared he would not face me. Perhaps another will was stronger than my +own, for, with every purpose strained against what seemed weakness, it +was borne in on me that I could not force him to stand with a weapon, +and that I dare not kill him groveling. Then the power went out of me, +and I let him go. Yet I have twice lain long hours in hot sand under a +deadly rifle fire, Ormesby. There are many mysteries, and as yet it is +very little that we know." + +"But you are following him still, are you not?" I asked. And Boone +continued: "As I said, it is for justice, and it was here I learned the +difference. I would not take the reptile's life unless he met me armed +in the daylight, which he would never do; but for the sake of +others--you and the rest, whose toil and blood he fattens on--I am +waiting and working for the time when, without a crime, it may be +possible to end his career of evil." + +We were both silent for a few minutes, and I felt that Boone's task, +self-imposed or otherwise, was a worthy one. Lane was a man without +either anger or compassion--an incarnation of cunning and avarice more +terrible to human welfare than any legendary monster of the olden time. +It was no figure of speech to declare that he fattened on poor men's +blood and agony, and his overthrow could not be anything but a blessing. +Still, it was in prosaic speech that, considering the practical aspect +of the question, I said: "I wish you luck, but you will need a long +patience, besides time and money." + +"I have them," was the answer. "The first was the hardest to acquire. +Time--I could wait ages if I knew the end was certain; and, as to money, +when it came too late to save her, someone died in the old country, and +part of the property fell to me. Well, you can guess my purpose--using +all means short of bloodshed and perjury to take him in his own net. She +who sleeps there was pitiful and gentle, but she hated oppression and +cruelty, and I feel that if she knows--and I think it is so--she would +smile on me." + +Boone's face was plain before me under the moon. It was quietly +confident, calm, and yet stamped with a solemn purpose. He had, it +seemed, mastered his passions, and would perhaps be the more dangerous +because he followed tirelessly, with brain unclouded by hatred or +impatience. I felt that there was much I should say in the shape of +encouragement and sympathy, but the only words that rose to my lips +were: "He has fiendish cunning." + +"And I was once a careless fool!" said Boone. "Still, the most cunning +forget, and blunder at times. I, however, can never forget, and when he +does, it will be ill for Lane. I have--I don't know why--spoken to you, +Ormesby, as I have spoken to no man in the Dominion before, and I feel I +need ask no promise of you. I am going east with the sunrise, but I must +be alone now." + +I left him to keep his vigil with his dead, and camped in a hollow some +distance away. That is to say, I tethered the horse, rolled a thick +brown blanket round me, and used the saddle for a pillow. There was no +hardship in this. The grasses, if a trifle damp, were soft and springy, +the night still and warm; and many a better man has slept on a worse bed +in the Western Dominion. Slumber did not, however, come at first, and I +lay watching the stars, neither asleep nor wholly awake, until they grew +indistinct, and a woman's figure, impalpable as the moonlight, gathered +shape upon a rise of the prairie. + +It was borne in on me that this was Helen Boone risen from her sleep; +for she was ethereal, and her face with its passionless calmness not +that of a mortal, while no shadow touched the grasses when she passed, +and, fading, gave place or changed into one I knew. Haldane's elder +daughter looked down at me from the rise, but she, too, seemed of +another world, wearing a cold serenity and a beauty that was not of this +earth. She also changed with a marvelous swiftness before my bewildered +vision, and it was now Lucille Haldane who moved across the prairie with +soft words of pity on her lips and yet anger in her eyes. She, at least, +appeared not transcendental, but a living, breathing creature of flesh +and blood subject to human weaknesses, and I raised myself on one elbow +to speak to her. + +The prairie was empty. Nothing moved on it; even the horse stood still, +while, when I sank back again, moonlight and starlight went out +together; and perhaps it was as well, for, sleeping or waking, a plain +stock-raiser has no business with such fancies, and next morning I +convinced myself that I had dreamed it all. I had doubtless done so, and +the explanation was simple. The influence of the night, or the words of +Boone, had galvanized into abnormal activity some tiny convolution of +the brain; but, even that once granted, it formed the beginning, not the +end, of the question, and Boone had, it seemed, supplied the best +solution when he said we know so little as yet. + +The sun was lifting above the prairie when I set out in search of Boone +with my horse's bridle over my arm. I met him swinging across the +springy sod in long elastic strides, but there was nothing about him +which suggested one preyed upon by morbid fancies or the visionary. His +eyes were a little heavy, but that was all, for with both of us the +dreams of the night had melted before the rising sun. The air had been +freshened by the dew, and the breeze, which dried the grasses, roused +one to a sense of human necessities and the knowledge that there was a +day's work to be done. I was also conscious of an unfanciful and very +prosaic emptiness. + +"I wonder where we could get anything to eat. I have a long ride before +me," said Boone, when he greeted me. + +"It can hardly be safe for you to be seen anywhere in this +neighborhood," I said; and Boone smiled. + +"I walked openly into the railroad depot and asked for a package +yesterday. You forget that I partly changed my appearance, while, so far +as memory serves, only two police troopers occasionally saw me. The +others?--you should know your own kind better, Ormesby. Do you think any +settler in this region would take money--and Lane offered a round +sum--for betraying me?" + +"No," I answered with a certain pride; "that is to say, not unless he +were a nominee of the man you name." + +No proof of this was needed, but one was supplied us. A man who +presently strode out of a hollow stopped and stared at Boone. He was, to +judge from his appearance, one of the stolid bushmen who come out West +from the forests of Northern Ontario--tireless men with ax and plow, but +with little knowledge of anything else. + +"I'm kind of good at remembering faces, and I've seen you before," he +said. "You are the man who used to own my place." + +"How often have you seen me?" asked Boone. + +"Once in clear daylight, twice back there at night," answered the +stranger. + +"Did you know that you could have earned a good many dollars by telling +the police as much?" asked Boone; and the other regarded him with a +frown. + +"I'm a peaceable man when people will let me be; but I don't take that +kind of talk from anybody." + +"I was sure, or I shouldn't have asked you," said Boone. "They don't +raise mean Canadians yonder in the country you came from among the rocks +and trees. You're not overrich, either, are you? to judge from my own +experience, for I put more money into the land than I ever took out of +it. However, that doesn't concern the main thing. Just now I'm a hungry +man." + +The big axman's face relaxed, and he laughed the deep, almost silent, +laugh which those like him learn in the shadow of the northern pines. +There is as little mirth in it as there is in most of their hard lives, +but one can generally trust them with soul and body. + +"Breakfast will be ready soon's I get home. You just come along," he +said. + +We followed him to the log-house which had risen beside Boone's +dilapidated dwelling. A neatly-dressed, dark-haired woman was busy about +the stove, and our host presented us very simply. "Here's the man who +shot the money-lender, and a partner, Lou." + +The woman, who laid down the pan she held, cast a quick glance of +interest at my companion. "We have seen you, and wondered why you never +looked in," she said. + +"Did you twice do a great kindness for me?" asked Boone. + +The woman's black eyes softened. "Sure, that was a little thing, and +don't count for much. The posies were so pretty, and I figured they'd +keep fresh a little longer," she said. + +"It was one of the little things which count the most," said Boone. + +Thereupon the woman's olive-tinted face flushed into warmer color, while +her long-limbed spouse observed: "She's of the French habitant stock, +and their ways of showing they haven't forgotten aren't the same as +ours." + +Breakfast was set before us, and I think Boone had made firm friends of +our hosts before we finished the meal. He had abilities in this +direction. They, on their part, were very simple people, the man silent +for the most part, rugged in face, and abrupt when he spoke, but shrewd +in his own way it seemed withal, and probably as generous as he was hard +at a bargain. His wife was of the more emotional Latin stock, quick in +her movements, and one might surmise equally quick in sympathy. + +"You are not the man who bought the place at the sale," said Boone, at +length. "I can remember him tolerably well, and, if I couldn't, one +would hardly figure you were likely to work under Lane." + +"No!" and the farmer laughed his curious laugh again. "No. I shouldn't +say. We never worked for any master since my grandfather got fired for +wanting his own way by the Hudson's Bay, and I guess neither Lane nor +the devil could handle the rest of us. He once came round to try." + +"How?" I asked, and the gaunt farmer sighed a little as he filled his +pipe. "This way. He was open to finance me to buy up a poor devil's +place, and if I'd had a little less temper and a little more sense I +might have obliged him, and landed a good pile of money, too." + +"He's just talking. Don't you believe him," broke in the woman, with an +indignant glance at her spouse. + +I fancied Boone saw the drift of this, which was more than I did, and +the farmer nodded oracularly in his direction when I asked: "What did +you do instead?" + +"Just reached for a big ox-goad, and walked up to him like a blame +millionaire or a hot-headed fool. Them negotiations broke right off, and +he lit out across the prairie talking 'bout assaults and violences at +twenty mile an hour. Some other man will know better, and that's just +how Lane will get badly left some day." + +The woman laughed immoderately. "It was way better'n a circus," she +said. "He didn't tell you he rammed the ox-goad into the skittish horse, +and Lane he just hugged the beast." + +The picture of the full-fledged Lane, who made a very poor figure in the +saddle at any time, careering panic stricken across the prairie with his +arms about the neck of a bolting horse appealed to me; but as to the +possibility of the usurer's future discomfiture I was still in the dark, +and asked for enlightenment. + +"It's easy," said the farmer. "Lane he squeezes somebody until he can't +hold on to his property, then he puts up the money and another man buys +the place dirt-cheap for him, in his own name. Suppose that man goes +back on Lane? 'This place is my own,' says he. Well, he's recorded +owner, isn't he? and I figure Lane wouldn't be mighty keen on dragging +that kind of case into the courts." + +"But he wouldn't put any man in unless he had him by the throat," said +I; and the farmer grinned. + +"Juss so! He'll choke some fellow with grit in him a bit too much some +day, and when the wrong breed of scoundrel is jammed right up between +the devil and the sea, it's quite likely he'll go for the devil before +he starts swimming." + +"I"--and Boone regarded the farmer fixedly--"quite agree with you. Do +you mind telling me what you gave for this place?" + +Our host named the sum without hesitation, adding that he would be glad +to show us over it; and Boone's face grew somber as he said: "It is more +than twice what it was sold for when it was stolen from me." + +We walked around the plowed land, inspected the stock, stables, and +barns, and when, after a cordial parting with our hosts, we rode away, +Boone turned to me: "It was an ordeal, and harrowing to see what might +have been but for an insatiable man's cunning and my poverty. Another +half-hour of the memories would have been too much for me. Well, we can +let that pass. They were kind souls, and this last lesson may have been +necessary. Strange, isn't it, that the simple are sometimes shrewder +than the wise?" + +"For instance?" I said; and Boone smiled significantly. + +"Yonder very plain farmer has hit upon a weak spot in Lane's armor which +the keenest brain on this prairie--I don't mean my own, of course--has +hitherto failed to see." + +Soon afterwards we separated, each going his different way. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE WORK OF AN ENEMY + + +Whatever action the police took concerning Lane's descent upon Crane +Valley was not apparent, and Thorn may have been justified in deciding +that they took none at all. However that may have been, Lane left us in +peace for a while, and it was not by his own hands that the next bolt +was launched against me. He preferred, as a rule, to strike through +another person's agency, and usually contrived it so that when trouble +resulted the agent bore the brunt of it. + +I was tramping behind the seeder one fine morning, alternately watching +the somewhat unruly team and the trickle of golden grain into the good +black loam, when two horsemen appeared on the prairie. They headed for +the homestead, and living in a state of expectancy, as we then did, I +shared the misgivings of Thorn. "They're coming our way in a hurry, +sure; and the sight of anyone whose business I don't know worries me +just now," he said. + +"If it's bad news we'll learn it soon enough," I said. "Go on to the end +of the harrowing. That we'll have a frost-nipped harvest if we're not +through with the sowing shortly is the one thing certain." + +The two horsemen drew nearer, and it appeared that both wore uniform, +while I caught the glint of carbines. This in itself was significant, +and I wondered whether Mackay had discovered the identity of Boone. +Shortly I recognized the sergeant and Cotton, who a little later drew +bridle beside the seeder. Mackay's face was expressionless, but Cotton +looked distinctly unhappy, and once more I felt sorry for Boone. + +"I have a word for ye. Will ye walk to the house with me?" said the +former. I glanced at Cotton, who, stooping, pretended to examine his +carbine. Thorn appeared suspicious, for he dropped the lines he held, +and his eyes grew keen. + +"I'm sorry that is the one thing I can't do just now, when every moment +of this weather is precious," I said. "If you can't wait until we stop +at noon, there's no apparent reason why you shouldn't state your +business here." + +"Ye had better come," said Mackay, looking very wooden. "Forby, I'm +thinking ye will sow no more to-day." + +"I'm not in the humor for joking, and intend to continue sowing until it +is too dark to see," I answered shortly. "Have you any authority to +prevent me?" + +"I have," said the sergeant. "Well, if ye will have it--authority to +arrest ye on a charge of unlawfully burning the homestead of Gaspard's +Trail." + +Astonishment, dismay, and anger held me dumb between them for a few +moments. Then, as the power of speech returned, I said: "Confound you, +Mackay! You don't think I could possibly have had any hand in that?" + +"It's no' my business to think," was the dry answer; "I'm here to carry +out orders. What was it ye were observing, Foreman Thorn?" + +"Only that Niven or Lane was a mighty long time finding this thing out; +and that, while nobody expects too much from the police, we never +figured they were clean, stark, raging lunatics," said Thorn. + +"I'm no' expecting compliments," said Mackay. "Ye will do your duty, +Corporal Cotton." + +"You can put that thing back. I'm not a wild beast, and have sense +enough to see that I must wait for satisfaction until some of your +chiefs at headquarters hear of your smartness," I said. Then Cotton +positively hung his head as he let the carbine slip back into its +holster, while Mackay stared after the departing Thorn, who made for the +homestead as fast as he could run. + +"What is his business?" he said. + +"His own!" I answered shortly. "Unless you have also a warrant for his +arrest, it would be injudicious of you to stop him. Thorn has an ugly +temper, and would be justified in resenting the interference. What is +your program?" + +"To ride in to the railroad whenever ye are ready, and deliver ye safely +in Empress City." + +"I suppose one can only make the best of it; but considering that you +were probably consulted before a warrant was issued, I can't help +feeling astonished," I said. "However, there is no use in wasting words, +and an hour will suffice me to get ready in." + +I left the team standing before the seeder, careless as to what became +of them, for, even if acquitted, I felt that my career was closed at +last. No forced labor could make up for time lost now, and, because +justice in the West is slow, it was perfectly clear why the charge had +been made. There was a scene with Sally when we reached the homestead, +and Cotton fled before her biting comments on police sagacity. Even +Mackay winced under certain allusions, and when I asked him: "Am I +permitted to talk to my housekeeper alone?" assented readily. + +"Ye may," he said, "and welcome; I do not envy ye." + +If Sally's tongue could be venomous, her brain was keen, and, as Steel +was absent, it was with confidence I left instructions with her. Thorn +had vanished completely, and the girl only looked mysterious when +questioned concerning him. At length all was ready, and turning in the +saddle as we rode away, I waved my hat to Sally, who stood in the +doorway of the homestead with eyes suspiciously dim. I wondered, with a +strange lack of interest, whether I should ever see either it or her +again. Cotton also saluted her, and the girl suddenly moved forward a +pace, holding up her hand. + +"Make sure of your prisoner, Sergeant," she said. "What's the use of +talking justice to the poor man when he's ground down by the thief with +capital? We're getting tired--we have waited for that justice so +long--and I give you and the fools or rogues behind you warning that if +you jail Ormesby, the boys will come for him with rifles a hundred +strong." + +Mackay touched his beast with the spurs, and as we passed out of +earshot, said to me: "If the boys have her spirit I'm thinking it's not +impossible. Your friends are not judicious, Henry Ormesby." + +"They are stanch, at least, and above being bought," I said; and Mackay +stiffened. + +"What were ye meaning?" + +"I think my meaning was plain enough," I answered him. + +Many leagues divided us from the railroad, and the way seemed very long. +The dejection that settled upon me brought a physical lassitude with it, +and I rode wearily, jolting in the saddle before the journey was half +done. Since the memorable night at Bonaventure, when I first met Boone, +trouble after trouble had crowded on me, and, supported by mere +obstinacy when hope had gone, I still held on. Now it seemed the end had +come, and, at the best, I must retire beaten to earn a daily wage by the +labor of my hands if I escaped conviction as a felon. Lane would absorb +Crane Valley, as he had done Gaspard's Trail. As if in mockery the +prairie had donned its gayest robe of green, and lay flooded with +cloudless sunshine. + +Mackay made no further advances since my last repulse, but rode silently +on my right hand, Cotton on my left, holding back a little so that I +could not see him, and so birch bluff, willows, and emerald levels +rolled up before us and slid back to the prairie's rim until, towards +dusk on the second day, cubes of wooden houses and a line of gaunt +telegraph poles loomed up ahead. + +"I'm glad," said Corporal Cotton, breaking into speech at last. "I don't +know if you'll believe it, Ormesby, but this has been a sickening day to +me. I'm tired of the confounded service--I'm tired of everything." + +"Ye're young and tender on the bit, and without the sense to go canny +when it galls ye. What ails ye at the service anyway?" interposed the +sergeant. + +"I'll say nothing about some of the duties. They're a part of the +contract," answered Cotton. "Still, I never bargained to arrest my best +friends when I became a policeman." + +"Friends!" said Mackay. "Who were ye meaning?" and Cotton turned in my +direction with the face of one who had narrowly escaped a blunder. + +"Aren't you asking useless questions? I mean Rancher Ormesby." + +"I observed ye used the plural," said Mackay. + +Cotton answered shortly: "When one is going through a disgusting duty to +the best of his ability, he may be forgiven a trifling lapse in +grammar." + +The light was failing as we rode up to the station some time before the +train was due, and looking back, I saw several diminutive objects on the +edge of the prairie. They were, I surmised, mounted settlers coming in +for letters or news, but except that the blaze of crimson behind them +forced them up, it would have been hard to recognize the shapes of men +and beasts. Round the other half of the circle the waste was fading into +the dimness that crept up from the east, and feeling that I had probably +done with the prairie, and closed another chapter of my life, I turned +my eyes towards the string of giant poles and the little railroad +station ahead. + +There were fewer loungers than usual about it, but when we dismounted, +Cotton started as two feminine figures strolled side by side down the +platform, and said something softly under his breath. + +"What has surprised you?" I asked, and he pointed towards the pair. + +"Those are Haldane's daughters, by all that is unfortunate!" + +There was no avoiding the meeting. Darkness had not settled yet, and +Mackay, who failed to recognize the ladies, was regarding us +impatiently. "I'll do my best, and they may not notice anything +suspicious," the corporal said. + +We moved forward, Mackay towards the office, Cotton hanging behind me, +but, as ill-luck would have it, both ladies saw us when we reached the +track, and before I could recover from my dismay, I stood face to face +with Beatrice Haldane. She was, it seemed to me, more beautiful than +ever, but I longed that the earth might open beneath me. + +"It is some time since I have seen you, and you do not look well," she +said. "You once described the Western winters as invigorating; but one +could almost fancy the last had been too much for you." + +"I cannot say the same thing, and if we had nothing more than the +weather to contend with, we might preserve our health," I said. "I did +not know you were at Bonaventure, or I should have ridden over to pay my +respects to you." + +Beatrice Haldane did not say whether this would have given her pleasure +or otherwise. Indeed, her manner, if slightly cordial, was nothing more, +and I found it desirable to study a rail fastening when I saw her sister +watching me. + +"I arrived from the East only a few days ago, and we are now awaiting my +father, who had some business down the line. Are you going out with the +train?" + +"I am going to Empress," I said; and Lucille Haldane interposed: "That +is a long way; and the last time he met you, you told father you were +too busy to visit Bonaventure. Who will see to your sowing--and will you +stay there long?" + +I heard Corporal Cotton grind his heel viciously into the plank beneath +him; and I answered, in desperation: + +"I do not know. I am afraid so." + +Perhaps the girl noticed by my voice that all was not well. Indeed, +Beatrice also commenced to regard the corporal and myself curiously. + +"What has happened, Mr. Ormesby? You look positively haggard?" the +younger sister said. "Why are you keeping in the background, Corporal +Cotton? Have you done anything to be ashamed of?" Then she ceased with a +gasp of pained surprise, and I read consternation in her eyes. + +"You have guessed aright. I am not making this journey of my own will," +I said. + +Beatrice Haldane turned with a swift movement, which brought us once +more fully face to face, and, unlike her sister, she was strangely cold +and grave. + +"Is it permissible to ask any questions?" she said, and her even tone +stung me to the quick. One whisper against the speaker would have roused +me to fury. + +"Everybody will know to-morrow or the next day, and I may as well tell +you now," I said, in a voice which sounded, even in my own ears, hoarse +with bitterness. "I am to be tried for burning down the homestead of +Gaspard's Trail." + +Beatrice Haldane certainly showed surprise, but she seemed more +thoughtful than indignant, and still fixed me with her eyes. They were +clear and very beautiful, but I had begun to wonder if a spark of human +passion would ever burn within them. + +"It is absurd--preposterous. Come here at once, Sergeant!" a clear young +voice with a thrill of unmistakable anger in it said; but Mackay seemed +desirous of backing into the station agent's office instead. + +"I want you," added Lucille Haldane. "Come at once, and tell me why you +have done this." + +The sergeant's courage was evidently unequal to the task, for with a +brief, "I will try to satisfy ye when I have transacted my business," he +disappeared into the office, and I turned again to Beatrice Haldane. + +"You see it is unfortunately true; but you do not appear astonished," I +said. + +Beatrice Haldane looked at me sharply, but without indignation, for she +was always mistress of herself, and before she could speak her sister +broke in: "Do you wish to make us angry, when we are only sorry for you, +Mr. Ormesby? Everybody knows that neither you nor any rancher in this +district could be guilty. Corporal Cotton, will you inquire if your +superior has finished his business, and tell him that I am waiting?" + +"The old heathen deserves it!" said Cotton aside to me, as, with +unfeigned relief, he hurried away, and it was only by an effort I +refrained from following him. The interview was growing painful in the +extreme. Still, I was respited, for Beatrice Haldane turned from us +suddenly. + +"What can this mean? There is a troop of horsemen riding as for their +lives towards the station," she said. + +It was growing dark, but not too dark to see a band of mounted men +converge at a gallop upon the station, and for the first time I noticed +how the loungers stared at them, and heard the jingle of harness and +thud of drumming hoofs. None of them shouted or spoke. They came on in +ominous silence, the spume flakes flying from the lathered beasts, the +clods whirling up, until a voice cried: + +"Two of you stand by to hold up the train! The rest will come along with +me!" + +Amid a musical jingling, the horses were pulled up close beside the +track, and men in embroidered deerskin with broad white hats and men in +old blue-jean leaped hurriedly down. Several carried rifles, while, +guessing their purpose, I pointed towards the frame houses across the +unfenced track. "You must go at once, Miss Haldane. There may be a +tumult," I said. + +Lucille seemed reluctant, Beatrice by no means hurried, and I do not +remember whether I bade either of them farewell, for as the newcomers +came swiftly into the station a gaunt commanding figure holding a +carbine barred their way, and Corporal Cotton leaped out from the +office. The station agent, holding a revolver, also placed himself +between them and me. + +"What are ye wanting, boys?" a steady voice asked; and the men halted +within a few paces of the carbine's muzzle. I could just see that they +were my friends and neighbors, and I noticed that one who rode up and +down the track seemed inclined to civilly prevent the ladies from +retiring to the wooden settlement. Perhaps he feared they intended to +raise its inhabitants. + +"We want Harry Ormesby," answered a voice I recognized as belonging to +Steel. "Stand out of the daylight, Sergeant. We have no call to hurt +you." + +"I'm thinking that's true," said Mackay; and I admired his coolness as +he stood alone, save for the young corporal, grimly eying the crowd. "It +will, however, be my distressful duty to damage the first of ye who +moves a foot nearer my prisoner. Noo will ye hear reason, boys, or will +I wire for a squadron to convince ye? Ormesby ye cannot have, and will +ye shame your own credit and me?" + +There was a murmur of consultation, but no disorderly clamor. The men +whom Thorn had raised to rescue me were neither habitual brawlers nor +desperadoes, but sturdy stock-riders and tillers of the soil, smarting +under a sense of oppression. They were all fearless, and would, I knew, +have faced a cavalry brigade to uphold what appeared their rights, but +they were equally averse to any bloodshed or violence that was not +necessary. + +"There's no use talking, Sergeant," somebody said. "We don't go back +without our man, and it will be better for all of us if you release him. +You know as well as we do there's nothing against him." + +Meanwhile, I could not well interfere without precipitating a crisis. +The station agent, who stated that Mackay had deputed him authority, +stood beside me with the pistol in his hand. Neither was I certain what +my part would be, for, stung to white heat by Beatrice Haldane's +coldness, which suggested suspicion, and came as a climax to a series of +injuries, I wondered whether it might not be better to make a dash for +liberty and leave the old hard life behind me. There might be better +fortune beyond the Rockies, and I felt that Lane would not have +instigated the charge of arson unless he saw his way to substantiate it. + +Nevertheless, I could watch the others with a strange and almost +impersonal curiosity--the group of men standing with hard hands on the +rifle barrels ready for a rush; the grim figure of the sergeant, and the +young corporal poised with head held high, left foot flung forward, and +carbine at hip, in front of them. + +"We'll give you two minutes in which to make up your mind. Then, if you +can't climb down, and anything unpleasant happens, it will be on your +head. Can't you see you haven't the ghost of a show?" said one. + +Turning my eyes a moment, I noticed a fan-shaped flicker swinging like a +comet across the dusky waste far down the straight-ruled track, and when +a man I knew held up his watch beneath a lamp, I had almost come to a +decision. If the sergeant had shown any sign of weakness it is perhaps +possible that decision might have been reversed; but Mackay stood as +though cast in iron, and equally unyielding. I would at least have no +blood shed on my account, and would not leave my friends to bear the +consequences of their unthinking generosity. Meanwhile, stock-rider and +teamster were waiting in strained attention, and there was still almost +a minute left to pass when a light hand touched my shoulder, and Lucille +Haldane, appearing from behind me, said: "You must do something. Go +forward and speak to them immediately." She was trembling with +eagerness, but the station agent stood on my other side, and he was +woodenly stolid. + +"Put down that weapon. I will speak to them," I said. + +"You're healthier here," was the suspicious answer; and chiefly +conscious of the appeal and anxiety in Lucille Haldane's eyes, I turned +upon him. + +"Stand out of my way--confound you!" I shouted. + +The man fingered the pistol uncertainly, and I could have laughed at his +surmise that the sight of it would have held me then. Before, even if he +wished it, his finger could close on the trigger, I had him by the +wrist, and the weapon fell with a clash. Then I lifted him bodily and +flung him upon the track, while, as amid a shouting, Cotton sprang +forward, Mackay roared: "Bide ye, let him go!" + +The shouting ceased suddenly when I stood between my friends and the +sergeant with hands held up. "I'll never forget what you have done, +boys; but it is no use," I said; and paused to gather breath, amid +murmurs of surprise and consternation. "In the first place, I can't drag +you into this trouble." + +"We'll take the chances willing," a voice said, and there was a grim +chorus of approval. "We've borne enough, and it's time we did +something." + +"Can't you see that if I bolted now it would suit nobody better than +Lane? Boys, you know I'm innocent----" + +Again a clamor broke out, and somebody cried: "It was Lane's own man who +did it, if anybody fired Gaspard's Trail!" + +"He may not be able to convict me, and if instead of rushing the +sergeant you will go home and help Thorn with the sowing, we may beat +him yet," I continued. "Even if I am convicted, I'll come back again, +and stay right here until Lane is broken, or one of us is dead." + +The hoot of a whistle cut me short, the brightening blaze of a great +headlamp beat into our faces, and further speech was out of the +question, as with brakes groaning the lighted cars clanged in. + +"Be quick, Sergeant, before they change their minds!" I shouted, and +Mackay and Cotton scrambled after me on to a car platform. No train that +ever entered that station had, I think, so prompt dispatch, for Cotton +had hardly opened the door of the vestibule than the bell clanged and +the huge locomotive snorted as the cars rolled out. I had a momentary +vision of the agent, who seemed partly dazed, scowling in my direction, +a group of dark figures swinging broad-brimmed hats, and Lucille Haldane +standing on the edge of the platform waving her hand to me. Then the +lights faded behind us, and we swept out, faster and faster, across the +prairie. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +LEADEN-FOOTED JUSTICE + + +I had spent a number of weary days awaiting trial, when a visitor was +announced, and a young, smooth-shaven man shown into my quarters. He +nodded to me pleasantly, seated himself on the edge of the table, and +commenced: "Your friends sent me along. I hope to see you through this +trouble, Rancher, and want you to tell me exactly how your difficulties +began. Think of all the little things that didn't strike you as quite +usual." + +"I should like to hear in the first place who you are. I know your name +is Dixon, but that does not convey very much," I said. + +The stranger laughed good-humoredly. "And such is fame! Now I had +fancied everybody who read the papers knew my name, and that I had won +some small reputation down at Winnipeg. Anyway, I'm generally sent for +in cases with a financial origin." + +Then I remembered, and looked hard at the speaker. The last sentence was +justified, but he differed greatly from one's idea of the typical +lawyer. He was not even neatly dressed, and his manner singularly lacked +the preciseness of the legal practitioner. + +"I must apologize, for I certainly have read about you," I said. "It was +perhaps natural that as I did not send for you I should be surprised at +your taking an interest in my case. I am, however, afraid I cannot +retain you, for the simple reason that I don't know where to raise +sufficient money to recompense any capable man's services." + +"Aren't you a little premature? My clients don't usually plead poverty +until I send in my bill," was the answer. "You own a tolerably extensive +holding in Crane Valley, don't you?" + +"I do; but nobody, except one man with whom I would not deal, would buy +a foot of it just now," I answered. Then, acceding to the other's +request, I supported the statement by a brief account of my +circumstances. "All this is quite beside the question," I concluded. + +"No!" said Dixon. "As a matter of fact, I find it interesting. Won't you +go on and bring the story down to the present?" + +I did so, and the man's face had changed, growing intent and keen before +I concluded. + +"I should rather like to manage this affair for you," he said. "My +fees!--well, from what one or two people said about you, I can, if +necessary, wait for them." + +"You will probably never be paid. Who was it sent for you?" + +"Charles Steel, who was, however, not quite so frank about finances as +you seem to be," was the answer. "It was also curious, or otherwise, +that I was requested to see what could be done by two other gentlemen +who offered to guarantee expenses. That is about as much as I may tell +you. You are not the only person with an interest in the future of the +Crane Valley district." + +"I seem to be used as a stalking-horse by friends and enemies alike, and +get the benefit of the charges each time they miss their aim. The part +grows irksome," I said dryly. "However, if you are willing to take the +risks, I need capable assistance badly enough." + +Dixon seemed quite willing, and asked further questions. "You seem a +little bitter against the sergeant. What kind of man is he?" he said. "I +mean, has he a tolerably level head, or is he one of the discipline-made +machines who can comprehend nothing not included in their code of +rules?" + +"I used to think him singularly shrewd, but recent events have changed +my opinion, and you had better place him in the latter category," I +said; and Dixon chuckled over something. + +"Very natural! I must see him. From what you said already, he doesn't +strike me as a fool. Well, I don't think you need worry too much, Mr. +Ormesby." + +Dixon had resumed his careless manner before he left me, and, for no +particular reason, I felt comforted. We had several more interviews +before the trial began, and I can vividly remember the morning I was +summoned into court. It was packed to suffocation, and the brilliant +sunshine that beat in through the long windows fell upon faces that I +knew. Their owners were mostly poor men, and I surmised had covered the +long distance on horseback, sleeping on the prairie, to encourage me. +There was, indeed, when I took my stand a suppressed demonstration that +brought a quicker throb to my pulses and a glow into my face. It was +comforting to know that I had their approbation and sympathy. If the +life I had caught brief glimpses of at Bonaventure was not for me, these +hard-handed, tireless men were my equals and friends--and I was proud of +them. + +So it was in a clear, defiant voice I pleaded "Not guilty!" and +presently composed myself to listen while Sergeant Mackay detailed my +arrest. Bronzed faces were turned anxiously upon him when he was asked: +"Did the prisoner volunteer any statement, or offer resistance?" + +Mackay looked down at the men before him, and there was a significant +silence in the body of the court. Then, with a faint twinkle in his +eyes, he answered: "There was a bit demonstration at the station in the +prisoner's favor, but he assisted us in maintaining order. The charge, +he said, was ridiculous." + +This I considered a liberal view to take of what had passed and my own +comments, and, though I knew that Mackay was never addicted to unfairly +making the most of an advantage, I remembered Dixon's opinion. If he +were actuated by any ulterior motive, I had, however, no inkling of what +it might be. + +Nothing of much further importance passed until the man who had +preferred the charge against me took his stand; when, watching him +intently, I was puzzled by his attitude. He appeared irresolute, though +I felt tolerably certain that his indecision was quite untinged with +compunction on my account. He had also a sullen look, which suggested +one driven against his will, and, twice before he spoke, made a slight +swift movement, as though under the impulse of a changed resolution. + +"I am the owner of the lands and remains of the homestead known as +Gaspard's Trail," he said. "I bought them at public auction when sold by +the gentleman who held the prisoner's mortgage. Twice that day the +latter threatened both of us, and his friends raised a hostile +demonstration. He told me to take care of myself and the property, for +he would live to see me sorry; but I didn't count much on that. Thought +he was only talking when naturally a little mad. Have had cause to +change my opinions since. I turned in early on the night of the fire and +slept well, I and my hired man, Wilkins, being the only people in the +house. Wilkins wakened me about two in the morning. 'Get up at once! +Somebody has fired the place!' he said. + +"I got up--in a mighty hurry--and got out my valuables. One end of the +house was 'most red-hot. There wasn't much furniture in it. The prisoner +had cleared out 'most everything, whether it was in the mortgage +schedule or whether it was not; but there was enough to keep me busy +while Wilkins lit out to save the horses. Wind blew the sparks right on +to the stable. I went out when I'd saved what I could, and as Wilkins +had been gone a long time, concluded he'd made sure of the horses. Met +the prisoner when I was carrying tools out of a threatened shed. Asked +him to help me. 'I'll see you burned before I stir a hand,' he said. +Noticed he was skulking round the corner of a shed, and seemed kind of +startled at the sight of me, but was too rattled to think of much just +then. Didn't ask him anything more, but seeing the fire had taken hold +good, sat down and watched it. Yes, sir, I told somebody it wasn't +insured. + +"By-and-by the prisoner came back with a dozen ranchers. Didn't seem +friendly, or even civil, most of them, and there was nothing I could +do. Then I got worried about Wilkins, for he'd been gone a long time, +and the stable was burning bad. One of the ranchers said he'd make sure +there were no beasts inside it, and the prisoner and the rest went +along. They found Wilkins with some bones broken, and got him and the +horses out between them. Then, when the place was burnt out, Sergeant +Mackay rode up. I was homeless; but none of the ranchers would take me +in. Somebody said he wasn't sorry, and I'd got my deserts. Believe it +was the prisoner; but can't be certain. That's all I know except that +before I turned in I saw all the lamps out and fixed up the stove. Am +certain the fire didn't start from them. + +"I was hunting among the ruins with Wilkins a little while ago when I +found a flattened coal-oil-tin under some fallen beams in the kitchen. I +never used that oil, but heard at the railroad store that the prisoner +did. Mightn't have taken the trouble to inquire, but that I found close +beside it a silver match-box. It was pretty well worn, but anyone who +will look at it close can read that it was given to H. Ormesby. +Considering the prisoner must have dropped it there, I handed both to +the police." + +When Niven mentioned the match-box I started as though struck by a +bullet. It was mine, undoubtedly, and most of my neighbors had seen it. +That it was damning evidence in conjunction with the oil-tin, and had +been deliberately placed there for my undoing, I felt certain. There was +a half-audible murmur in the court while the judge examined the +articles, and I read traces of bewilderment and doubt in the faces +turned towards me. That these men should grow suspicious roused me to a +sense of unbearable injury, and I sent my voice ringing through the +court. "It is an infamous lie! I lost the match-box, or it was stolen +from me with a purpose, a month after the fire." + +The judge dropped his note-book, the prosecutor smiled significantly; +but I saw that the men from the prairie believed me, and that was very +comforting. Something resembling a subdued cheer arose from various +parts of the building. + +"Silence!" said the judge sternly. "An interruption is neither +admissible nor seemly, prisoner. You will be called on in turn." + +"We need not trouble about the prisoner's denial, which was perhaps +natural, if useless, because the witness' statement will be fully borne +out by the man who was present when he found the match-box," said the +lawyer for the Crown. "I will now call Sergeant Mackay again." + +Mackay's terse testimony was damaging, and aroused my further +indignation. I had not expected that he would either conceal or enlarge +upon anything that would tell against me; but had anticipated some trace +of reluctance, or that he would wait longer for questions between his +admissions. Instead, he stood rigidly erect, and reeled off his +injurious testimony more like a speaking automaton than a human being. + +"A trooper warned me that he had seen a reflected blaze in the sky," he +said. "We mounted and rode over to Gaspard's Trail. Arriving there I +found a number of men, including the owner, Niven, and the prisoner. +Niven said the place was not insured. They were unable to do anything. I +see no need to describe the fire. The house was past saving; but the +ranchers, with the prisoner among them, broke into the burning stable to +bring out the horses, which had been overlooked, and found the hired +man, Wilkins, partly suffocated in a stall. He was badly injured, but +bore out the owner's statement that lamps and stove were safe when they +retired. + +"I proceeded to question the spectators. Knew them all as men of good +character, and as they had newly ridden in, saw no reason to suspect +more than one in case the fire was not accidental. Asked Niven whom he +first met, and he said it was the prisoner, shortly after the fire broke +out. Stated he met him slipping through the shadow of a shed, and the +prisoner refused to assist him. Was not surprised at this, knowing the +prisoner bore Niven little goodwill since the latter bought his +property. Had heard him threaten him and another man supposed to be +connected with him in the purchase of Gaspard's Trail." + +"What reason have you to infer that any other man was concerned in the +purchase of Gaspard's Trail?" asked the prosecutor; and Mackay answered +indifferently: + +"It was just popular opinion that he was finding Niven the money." + +"We need not trouble about popular opinion," said the lawyer somewhat +hurriedly. "We will now proceed to the testimony of the hired man, +Thomas Wilkins." + +Thomas Wilkins was called for several times, but failed to present +himself, and a trooper who hurried out of court came back with the +tidings that he had borrowed a horse at the hotel and ridden out on the +prairie an hour ago. Since then nobody had seen him. + +The Crown prosecutor fidgeted, the judge frowned, and there was a +whispering in the court, until the former rose up: "As Wilkins is one of +my principal witnesses, I must suggest an adjournment." + +It cost me an effort to repress an exclamation. I had already been kept +long enough in suspense, and suspecting that Wilkins did not mean to +return, knew that a lengthened adjournment would be almost equally as +disastrous as a sentence. + +"Have you no information whatever as to why he has absented himself?" +asked the judge. Receiving a negative answer, he turned towards the +trooper: "Exactly what did you hear at the hotel?" + +"Very little, sir," was the answer. "He didn't tell anybody where he was +going, but just rode out. The hotelkeeper said he guessed Wilkins had +something on his mind by the way he kicked things about last night." + +"It will be the business of the police to find him as speedily as +possible. In the meantime, I can only adjourn the case until they do, +unless the prisoner's representative proceeds with the examination of +witnesses," said the judge. + +Dixon was on his feet in a moment. "With the exception of Sergeant +Mackay and the witness Niven, who will be further required by my legal +friend, I do not purpose to trouble the witnesses," he said. "While I +can urge no reasonable objection to the adjournment, it is necessary to +point out that it will inflict a grievous injury on one whom I have +every hope of showing is a wholly innocent man. It is well known that +this is the one time of the year when the prairie rancher's energies are +taxed to the utmost, and the loss of even a few days now may entail the +loss of the harvest or the ruin of the stock. My client has also +suffered considerably from being brought here to answer what I cannot +help describing as an unwarranted charge, and it is only reasonable that +bail should be allowed." + +"Is anyone willing to offer security?" asked the judge. + +There was a few moments' silence, and then a hum of subdued voices as a +man rose up; while I could scarcely believe my eyes when I saw it was +Boone. In spite of the slight change in his appearance, he must have +been aware that he was running a serious risk, for his former holding +lay almost within a day's journey. I could also see that some of the +spectators started as they recognized him. + +"I shall be glad to offer security for the prisoner's reappearance, so +far as my means will serve," he said. + +"You are a citizen of this place, or have some local standing?" asked +the judge. + +Boone answered carelessly: "I can hardly claim so much; but a good many +people know me further west, and I am prepared to submit my bank-book as +a guarantee." + +He had scarcely finished, when another man I had not noticed earlier +stood up in turn. "I am authorized by Carson Haldane, of Bonaventure, to +offer bail to any extent desired." + +The judge beckoned both of them to sit down again, and called up a +commissioned police officer and Sergeant Mackay. Then I felt slightly +hopeful, guessing that a good deal depended on Mackay's opinion. The +others drew aside, and my heart throbbed fast with the suspense until +the judge announced his decision. + +"As the charge is a serious one, and the police hope to find the missing +witness very shortly, I must, in the meantime, refuse to allow bail." + +I had grown used to the crushing disappointment which follows +short-lived hope; but the shock was hard to meet. It seemed only too +probable that Lane or his emissaries had spirited Wilkins away, and +would not produce him until it was too late to save my crop. Still, +there was no help for it, and I followed the officer who led me back to +my quarters with the best air of stolidity I could assume. + +"What did you think of it?" asked Dixon, who came in presently with a +smile on his face; and I answered ruefully: "The less said the better. +It strikes me as the beginning of the final catastrophe, and if Wilkins +substantiates the finding of the match-box, conviction must follow. What +is the usual term of detention for such offenses?" + +"You needn't worry about that," was the cheerful answer. "Things are +going just about as well as they could. There'll be a second +adjournment, and then perhaps another." + +"And I must lie here indefinitely while my crops and cattle go to ruin! +That is hardly my idea of things going well; and if you are jesting, it +is precious poor humor," I broke in. + +Dixon laughed. "I am not jesting in the least. You seem to be one of +those people, Ormesby, who believe everything will go to ruin unless +they hold control themselves. Now, it would not surprise me, if, on your +return, you found your crops and cattle flourishing. Further, the +prosecution hold a poor case, and I expect, when my turn comes, to see +it collapse. There isn't so much as you might fancy in the match-box +incident. The men who burn down places don't generally leave such things +about. I have had a talk with the sergeant, and, though he's closer +than an oyster, I begin to catch a glimmering of his intentions." + +"Why can't you explain them then? I'm growing tired of hints, and feel +tempted to tell my mysterious well-wishers to go to the devil together, +and leave me in peace," I said. + +"A little ill-humor is perhaps excusable," was the tranquil answer. "It +is wisest not to prophesy until one is sure, you know. Now, I'm open, as +I said, to do my best for you; but in that case you have just got to let +me set about it independently. Usual or otherwise, it is my way." + +"Then I suppose I'll have to let you. Your reputation should be a +guarantee," I answered moodily, and Dixon lifted his hat from the table. + +"Thanks!" he said dryly. "It is, in fact, the only sensible thing you +can do." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +AGAINST TIME + + +Dixon's prediction proved correct. When I was brought into court a +second time there was still no news of Wilkins, and after further +testimony of no importance the case was again adjourned. This time, +however, bail was allowed, and Boone and Rancher Gordon stood surety for +me. The latter was by no means rich, and had, like the rest of us, +suffered severe losses of late. Dixon was the first to greet me when I +went forth, somewhat moodily, a free man for the time being. + +"You don't look either so cheerful or grateful as you ought to be," he +said. + +"You are wrong in one respect. I am at least sincerely grateful for your +efforts." + +Dixon, in defiance of traditions, smote me on the shoulder. "Then what's +the matter with the cheerfulness?" + +"It is not exactly pleasant to have a charge of this description hanging +over one indefinitely, and I have already lost time that can never be +made up," I said. "Lane will no doubt produce his witness when he +considers it opportune, and there is small encouragement to work in the +prospect of spending a lengthy time in jail while one's possessions go +to ruin." + +"You think Lane had a hand in his disappearance?" Dixon asked +thoughtfully; and when I nodded, commented: "I can't quite say I do. My +reasons are not conclusive, and human nature's curious, anyway; but I'm +not sure that Wilkins will, if he can help it, turn up at all. However, +in the meantime, the dinner we're both invited to will put heart into +you." + +He slipped his arm through mine, and led me into the leading hotel, +where, as it was drawing near the time for the six o'clock supper, +every man turned to stare at us as we passed through the crowded bar and +vestibule. I was making for the general dining-room when Dixon said: "Go +straight ahead. It was not easy to manage, but our hosts were determined +to do the thing in style." + +He flung a door open, and Boone and Gordon greeted me in turn, while I +had never seen a menu in a Western hostelry to compare with that of the +following meal. Perhaps Gordon noticed my surprise, for he said: "It was +Adams who fixed up all this, and came near having a scrimmage with the +hotelkeeper about the wine. 'This comes from California, and I prefer it +grown in France. Those labels aren't much use to any man with a sense of +taste,' says he. This brand, wherever they grew it, is quite good enough +for me, but I'm wondering where Adams learned the difference." + +Boone smiled at me. "I have," he said, "a good memory, and learned a +number of useful things during a somewhat varied experience." + +The meal was over and the blue cigar smoke curled about us, when I +turned to Gordon: "There are two things I should like to ask you. First, +and because I know what losses you have had to face, how you raised the +money to liberate me in the generous way you did; and, second, how many +acres are left unsown at Crane Valley?" + +The gaunt rancher fidgeted before he answered: "You have said 'Thank +you' once, and I guess that's enough. You're so blame thin in the hide, +and touchy, Ormesby; and it wasn't I who did it--at least not much of +it." + +Dixon appeared to be amused, and when Gordon glanced appealingly at +Boone the latter only smiled and shook his head; seeing which, I said +quietly: "In short, you sent round the hat?" + +There was no doubt that the chance shot had told, for Gordon rose, very +red in face, to his feet. "That's just what I didn't. Don't you know us +yet? Send round the hat when the boys knew you were innocent and just +how I was fixed! No, sir. They came right in, each bringing his roll of +bills with him, and if I'd wanted twice as much they'd have raised it. +And now I've given them away--just what they made me promise not to." + +I had anticipated the answer, but it stirred me, nevertheless, and while +Gordon stared at me half angry, half ashamed of his own vehemence, I +filled a wine-glass to the brim. "Here's to the finest men and stanchest +comrades on God's green earth," I said, looking steadily at him. + +It was Dixon who brought us down to our normal level, for, setting his +glass down empty, he commented: "You're not overmodest, Ormesby, +considering that you are one of them. Still, I think you're right. +People in the East are expecting a good deal from you and the good +country that has been given you." + +Gordon joined in the lawyer's laugh, but I broke in: "You have not +answered my second question." + +"Well!" and the rancher smiled mischievously. "You're so mighty +particular that I don't know what to say. Still, things looked pretty +tolerable last time I was down to Crane Valley." + +Dixon accompanied us to the station when it was time to catch the train, +and as he stood on the car platform said to me: "It's probably no use to +tell you not to worry, but I'd sit tight in my saddle and think as +little as possible about this trouble if I were you." + +He dropped lightly from the platform, cigar in hand, as the train pulled +out, and, though most unlike the traditional lawyer in speech or +agility, left me with a reassuring confidence in his skill. + +It was early morning when I rode alone towards Crane Valley, feeling, in +spite of Dixon's good advice, distinctly anxious. It is true that Thorn +and Steel were both energetic, but no man can drive two teams at once, +and it was my impression that, having more at stake, I could do +considerably more in person than either of them. I had small comfort in +the reflection that, after all, the question how much had been +accomplished was immaterial, because there was little use in sowing +where, while I lay in jail, an enemy might reap, and I urged my horse +when I drew near the hollow in which the homestead lay, and then pulled +him up with a jerk. Gordon had said things had been going tolerably +well, but this proved a very inadequate description. The plowed land had +all been harrowed and sown, and beyond it lay the shattered clods of +fresh breaking, where I guessed oats had been sown under the sod newly +torn from the virgin prairie. Ten men of greater endurance could not +have accomplished so much, and I sat still, humbled and very grateful, +with eyes that grew momentarily dim, fixed on the wide stretch of black +soil steaming under the morning sun. It seemed as though a beneficent +genie had been working for my deliverance while I lay, almost +despairing, in the grip of the law. + +Then Steel, springing out from the door of the sod-house, came up at a +run, with Thorn behind him. It was strangely pleasant to see the elation +in their honest faces, and Steel's shout of delight sent a thrill +through me. + +"This is the best sight I've seen since you left us," he panted, +wringing my hand. "Thorn's that full up with satisfaction he can't even +run. We knew Dixon and Adams would see you through between them." + +"Has Dixon been down here?" I asked, for the lawyer had not told me so; +and Thorn, who came up, gasped: "Oh, yes; and a Winnipeg man he sent +down went round with Adams 'most everywhere. Say, did you strike Niven +for compensation?" + +"No," I answered, a trifle ruefully. "I am only free on bail, and not +acquitted yet." + +Steel's jaw dropped, and his dismay would have been ludicrous had it not +betrayed his whole-hearted friendship, while Thorn's burst of sulphurous +language was an even more convincing testimony. Again I felt a curious +humility, and something enlarged in my throat as I looked down at them. + +"If I can't stand Lane off with you two and the rest behind me I shall +deserve all I get, and we must hope for the best," I said. "But if you +could handle three teams each you could not have done all this." + +Thorn, who was not usually vociferous in expressing his sentiments, +appeared glad of this diversion, and, after a glance at the plowed land, +strove to smile humorously. "Think you could have done it any better +yourself?" + +"It's a fair hit," I answered. "You know exactly how much I can do. Let +me down easily. How did you manage it?" + +"We didn't manage anything," said Thorn. "No, sir. The boys, they did it +all. Everybody came or sent a hired man, and blame quaint plowing some +of them cow-chasers done. Put up a dollar sweepstake and ran races with +the harrows, they did, and Steel talked himself purple before he stopped +them. They've busted the gang-plow, and one said he ought to have been a +dentist by the way he pulled out the cultivator teeth." + +"And where did you come in?" I asked, and duly noted the effort it cost +Steel to follow his comrade's lead. + +"We just lay back and turned the good advice on," he said. "Tom, he led +the prayer meeting when, after supper, they turned loose on Lane. Oh, +yes, we rode in and out for provisions. Sally, she would have the best +in the settlement, and sat up all night cooking. Don't know how you'll +feel when you see the grocery bill." + +"I can tell you now," I said. "I feel that there's nothing in the whole +Dominion too good for them--or you--and I'd be glad, if necessary, to +sell my shirt to pay the bill." + +We went on to the house together, and Sally, hiding her disappointment, +plunged with very kindly intentions into a spirited description of her +visitors' feats. "That's a testimonial," she said, pointing through the +window to an appalling pile of empty tins. "I just had to get them when +some of the boys brought their own provisions in. I set one of them +peeling potatoes all night to convince him." + +"Peeling potatoes?" I interpolated; and Steel, smiling wickedly, +furnished the explanation. + +"Sally was busy in the shed when he came along, and wanted to help her +considerable. 'Feel like peeling half a sackful?' says Sally; and when +the fool stockman allowed he'd like it better than anything, says she, +'Then, as I'm tired, you can.' She just left him with it, while she +talked to the other man; but there was grit in him, and he peeled away +until morning. Wanted to marry her, too, he did." + +Sally's glance foreboded future tribulation for the speaker, and Thorn +frowned; but Steel, disregarding it, concluded gravely: "Dessay he might +have done it, but he heard Sally turn loose on me one day, and took +warning." + +In spite of the shadow hanging over me, it was good to be at home, and +perhaps the very uncertainty as to its duration made the somewhat sordid +struggle of our life at Crane Valley almost attractive. Lane, it seemed +only too probable, would crush us in the end, but there was satisfaction +in the thought that every hour's work well done would help us to prolong +our resistance. So the days of effort slipped by until I received a +notice to present myself at court on a specified date, and, there being +much to do, I delayed my departure until the last day. Steel insisted on +accompanying me to the railroad, but protested against the time of +starting. "One might fancy you were fond of jail by the hurry you're in +to get back to it," he said. "We could catch the cars if we left hours +later." + +"It's as well to be on the right side," I said; for I had been in a +state of nervous impatience all day. Wilkins had been found, and now +that a decision appeared certain, I grew feverishly anxious to learn the +best--or the worst. + +It was a day in early summer when we set out and pushed on at a good +pace, though already the sun shone hot. Steel, indeed, suggested there +was no need for haste, but after checking my beast a little, I shot +ahead again. "It might be your wedding you were going to!" he said. + +We had covered part of the distance left to traverse on the second day +when a freighter's lumbering ox-team crawled out of a ravine, and Steel +pulled up beside him. "I don't know if you're mailing anything East, but +you're late if you are," said the teamster. + +"Then there's something wrong with the sun," said Steel. "If he's +keeping his time bill we're most two hours too soon." + +"You would have been last week," answered the other; while a sudden +chill struck through me as I remembered the promised acceleration of the +transcontinental express. "They've improved the track in the Selkirks +sooner than they expected, and they're rushing the Atlantic hummer +through on the new schedule this month instead of next." + +Before he concluded I had snatched out my watch and simultaneously +touched the beast with the spurs. The next moment the timepiece was +swinging against my belt, and, with eyes fixed on the willows before me, +I was plunging at a reckless gallop down the side of the ravine. The +horse was young and resented the punishment, but I had no desire to hold +him, and the further he felt inclined to bolt the better it would please +me. So we smashed through the thinner willows, and somehow reeled down +an almost precipitous slope, reckless of the fact that there was a creek +at the bottom, while the trail wound round towards a bridge, until the +hoofs sank into the soft ground, and we came floundering towards the +tall growth by the water's edge. There the spurs went in again, and the +beast, which knew nothing of jumping, rather rushed than launched itself +at the creek. There was a splash and a flounder, a fountain of mire and +water shot up, and green withes parted before me as we charged through +the willows on the farther bank. The slope was soft and steep beneath +the climbing birches, and by the time we were half way up the beast had +relinquished all desire to bolt; but my watch showed me that go he must, +and it was without pity I drove him at the declivity. Meantime, a thud +of hoofs followed us, and when, racing south across the levels, we had +left the ravine two miles behind, Steel came up breathless. + +"Can you do it, Harry?" he panted. + +"I'm afraid not," I shouted. "Still, if I kill the horse under me, I'm +going to try. He's carrying a good many poor men's money." + +A hurried calculation had proved conclusively that if the train were +punctual I should miss it by more than an hour, and there was, of +course, not another until the following day. Still, it was a long climb +from Vancouver City up through the mountains of British Columbia to the +Kicking Horse Pass in the Rockies, and there then remained a wide +breadth of prairie for the mammoth locomotives to traverse. Sometimes, +when the load was heavy, they lost an hour or two on the wild up-grade +through the canyons. I was ignorant of legal procedure, but greatly +feared that my non-appearance in the court would entail the forfeiture +of the sureties, and, as the session was near an end, postpone the trial +indefinitely. Therefore the train must be caught if it were in the power +of horseflesh to accomplish it, and I settled myself to ride as for my +life. + +"Wouldn't the Port Arthur freight do?" shouted Steel. + +"No," I answered. "It's the Atlantic Express or nothing! You can pick +those things up on your homeward journey." + +Without checking the beast I managed to loosen the valise strapped +before me, and hurled it down upon the prairie. It contained all I +possessed in the shape of civilized apparel except what I rode in, and +that was mired all over from the flounder through the creek; but the +horse already carried weight enough. It was now blazing noon, and in the +prairie summer the sun is fiercely hot. Here and there the bitter dust +of alkali rolled across the waste, crusting our dripping faces and the +coats of the lathered beasts. My eyelashes grew foul and heavy, blurring +my vision, so that it was but dimly I saw the endless levels crawl up +from the far horizon. A speck far down in the distance grew into the +altitude of a garden plant, and, knowing what it must be, I pressed my +heels home fiercely, waiting for what seemed hours until it should +increase into a wind-dwarfed tree. + +It passed. There was nothing but the dancing heat to break the great +monotony of grass, while the gray streak where it cut the sky-line +rolled steadily back in mockery of our efforts to reach it. Yet I was +soaked in perspiration, and Steel was alkali white. There was a steady +trickle into my eyes, and the taste of salt in my mouth, while the +drumming of hoofs rose with a staccato thud-thud, like distant rifle +fire, and the springy rush of the beasts beneath us showed how fast we +were traveling. Steel shook his head as we raced up a rise which had +tantalized me long, stirrup to stirrup and neck to neck, while the clots +from the dripping bits drove past like flakes of wind-whirled snow. + +"If you want to get there, Ormesby, this won't do," he said. "You'd +break the heart of the toughest beast inside another hour." + +"The need would justify a worse loss," I panted, snatching out my watch. +"We have pulled up thirty minutes, but are horribly behind still. Men +who can't afford to lose it have put up the stakes I am riding for." + +Steel made a gesture of comprehension, but once more shook his head. "My +beast's the better, and he's carrying a lighter weight, but he'll never +last at the pace we're making. Save your own a little, and when he's +dead beat I'll let up and change with you. I'll hang on in the meantime +in case one of them comes to grief over a badger-hole. It's your one +chance if you're bent on getting through." + +I would at that moment have gladly sold the rest of my life for the +certainty of catching the train. To give my enemy no advantage was a +great thing, and I felt that absence when my name was called would +prejudice the most confiding against me. But that was, after all, a +trifle compared with what I owed the men who had probably stripped +themselves of necessities to help me, and I felt that if I failed them a +shame which could never be dissipated would follow me. Nevertheless, +Steel's advice was sound, and I tightened my grip on the bridle with a +smothered imprecation. Then my heart grew heavier, for the horse needed +no pulling, and responded with an ominous alacrity. + +We were still leagues from the railroad, and the miles of grasses +flitted towards us ever more slowly. The last clump of birches took half +an hour to raise, and the willows which fled behind us had been five +long minutes taking the shape of trees. My watch was clenched in one +hand, and, while bluff and ravine crawled, its fingers raced around the +dial with an agonizing rapidity in testimony of the feebleness of flesh +and blood when pitted against steel and steam. The clanging cars had +swept clear of the foothills long ago, and the track ran straight and +level across the prairie, a smooth empty road for the Accelerated to +save time on in its race between the Pacific and the Laurentian +waterway. When the prairie grew blurred before us, as it sometimes did, +I could see instead the two huge locomotives veiled in dust and smoke +thundering with a pitiless swiftness down the long converging rails, +while the drumming of hoofs changed into the roar of wheels whose speed +would brand me with dishonor. Yet we were doing all that man or beast +could do, and at last a faint ray of hope and a new dismay came upon me. +The difference in time had further lessened, but my horse was failing. + +"Go on as you're going," shouted Steel, edging his whitened beast +nearer. "I'm riding a stone lighter, and this beast has another hour's +work left in him." + +I went on, the horse growing more and more feeble and blundering in his +stride, until at last, when it was a case of dismount or do murder, I +dropped stiffly from the saddle. Steel was down in a second, and in +another my jacket and vest were off, and I laid my foot to the stirrup +in white shirt and trousers, with a handkerchief knotted around my +waist. + +"You'll startle the folks in Empress, and you can't strip off much +more," said Steel. + +"I'd ride into the depot naked sooner than rob the boys," I said; and +was mounted before my comrade could reopen his mouth. When he did so his +"Good luck!" sounded already faint and far away. + +Steel's horse had more life left in him--one could feel it in his +stride; but now that there was some hope of success I rode with more +caution, sparing him up the low rises, and trying, so far as one might +guess it, to keep within a very small margin of his utmost strength. So +we pressed on until all the prairie grew dim to me, and my only distinct +sensation was the rush of the cool wind. Then a flitting birch bluff +roused me once more to watch, and minute by minute I strained my eyes +for the first glimpse of the tall poles heralding the railroad track. At +last a row of what looked like matches streaked the horizon, and grew in +size until something that rose and fell with the heave of the prairie +sea became visible beneath. Then, as we topped one of its grassy waves, +a cluster of distant cubes loomed up, and a glance at the watch's racing +fingers warned me that I was already behind the time that the train was +due to reach the settlement. It might have passed; and a new torture was +added until, when in an agony of suspense, I strained my eyes towards +the west, a streak of whiteness crept out of the horizon. + +The run of the Accelerated was at that time regarded as a national +exploit, forming, as it did, part of a new link binding Japan and +London--the East and the West; and I knew the conductor would hardly +have waited for one of his own directors. The white streak rapidly grew +larger; something sparkled beneath it, and there was flash of twinkling +glass through the dust and steam. I fixed my eyes on the station, and +taxed every aching sinew in hand and heel, for the weakening beast must +bring me there in time or die. A smoke cloud, with bright patches +beneath it, rolled up to the station when I was nearly half a mile away. +The horse was reeling under me, the power had gone out of the leaden +hands on switch and bridle, and--for the tension had produced a +vertigo--my sight was almost gone. + +Hearing, however, still remained, and shouts of encouragement reached +me, while I could dimly see the station close ahead, and shapeless +figures apparently waving hats and arms. The clang of a big bell rang in +my ears, the twin locomotives snorted, and I fell from the saddle, +sprang towards the track, and clutched at the sliding rails of a car +platform. I missed them; the car, swaying giddily, so it seemed, rolled +past, and I hurled myself bodily at the next platform. Somebody clutched +my shoulder and dragged me up, and I fell with a heavy crash against the +door of a vestibule. + +"Just in time," said a man in uniform. "Say, are you doing this for a +wager, or are some mad cow-chasers after you?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +BAD TIDINGS + + +The dust was rolling about the cars and the gaunt poles whirled past +before I could recover breath to answer the astonished conductor. Then +it was with a gasp I said: "Won't you get me a little water?" + +The man vanished, and I sat still vacantly noticing how the prairie +reeled behind me until the door slid open and he returned with a tin +vessel and a group of curious passengers behind him. A piece of ice +floated in the former, and a man held out a flask. "I guess it won't +hurt him, adulterated some," he said. + +Never before had I tasted so delicious a draught. Hours of anxiety and +effort under a blazing sun had parched and fouled my lips, and my throat +was dry as unslaked lime. The tin vessel was empty when I handed it +back, and the railroad official looked astonished as he turned it upside +down for the spectators' information. "I guess a locomotive tank would +hardly quench that thirst of yours," he said. + +"Thanks. I'll get up. It was not for amusement I boarded your train as I +did," I said, and the rest opened a passage for me into the long +Colonist car. There was a mirror above the basins in the vestibule, and +a glance into it explained their curiosity. The white shirt had burst in +places; the grime of alkali had caked on my face, leaving only paler +circles about the eyes. Hardened mire crusted the rest of my apparel, +and each movement made it evident to me that portions of the epidermis +had been abraded from me. + +"It's not my business how passengers board these cars, so long as +they're tolerably decent, and can pay their fare," observed the +conductor. "Still, although we're not particular, we've got to dress you +a little between us; and it mightn't be too much to ask what brought +you here in such an outfit?" + +It was evident that the others were waiting to ask the same question, +and I answered diplomatically: "I have money enough to take me to +Empress at Colonist fare, and was half way to the depot to catch the +cars on the old schedule before I discovered you had commenced the +accelerated service. Then I flung off every ounce of weight that might +lose me the race." + +"You must have had mighty important business," somebody said; and the +door at the opposite end opened as I answered dryly: "I certainly had." + +"Hallo! Great Columbus! Is that you, Ormesby?" a voice which seemed +familiar said; and, turning angrily, I saw a storekeeper with whom I had +dealt staring at me in bewilderment. + +"Ormesby!" the name was repeated by several passengers, and I read +sudden suspicion in some of the faces, and sympathy in the rest, while +one of them, with Western frankness, asked: "You're the Rancher Ormesby +we've been reading about?" + +"Yes," I answered, making a virtue of necessity. "I am on my way to +surrender for trial, and redeem my bail. Now you can understand my +hurry." + +Several of the passengers nodded, and the dealer said: "It's tolerably +plain you can't go like that; they're that proud of themselves in +Empress they'd lock you up. So I'll try to find you something in my +gripsack. Still, while I concluded you never done the thing, I'd like to +hear you say straight off you know nothing about the burning of +Gaspard's Trail." + +"Then listen a second," I answered. "You have my word for it, that I +know no more what caused the fire than you do. You will be able to read +my defense in the papers, and I need not go into it here." + +"That's enough for me," was the answer. "Now, gentlemen, if you have got +anything you can lend my friend here in your valises, I'll guarantee +they're either replaced or returned. Some of you know me, and here's my +business card." + +It may be curious, but I saw that most of those present, and they were +all apparently from parts of the prairie, fully credited my statement, +and one voiced the sentiments of the rest when he said: "I'll do the +best I can. If Mr. Ormesby had played the fire-bug, he wouldn't be so +mighty anxious to get back to court again." + +The position was humiliating, but no choice was left me. I must either +accept the willing offers or enter Empress half naked, and accordingly I +made a hasty selection among the garments thrust upon me. Twenty minutes +spent in the lavatory, with the colored porter's assistance, produced a +comforting change, and when I returned to the car, one of the most +generous lenders surveyed me with pride as well as approval. + +"You do us credit, Rancher, and you needn't worry about the thanks. +We've no use for them," he said. "Hope you'll get off; but if you are +sent up for burning down that place, I'll be proud of having helped to +outfit a famous man." + +Perhaps my face was ludicrous with its mingled expressions of gratitude +and disgust at this naive announcement, for a general laugh went up +which I finally joined in, and that hoarse merriment gave me the freedom +of the Colonist car. Rude burlesque is interspersed amid many a tragedy, +and I had seen much worse situations saved by the grace of even coarse +humor. Thereafter no personal questions were asked, and most of my +fellow-travelers treated me with a delicacy of consideration which is +much less uncommon than one might suppose among the plain, hard-handed +men who wrest a living out of the prairie. + +Night had closed in some time earlier when I strolled out across the +platform of the car and leaned upon the rails of the first-class before +it. Tired physically as I was, the nervous restlessness which followed +the mental strain would, I think, have held me wakeful, even if there +had been anything more than a bare shelf of polished maple, which finds +out every aching bone, to sleep on. This, however, was not the case, for +those who travel Colonist must bring their own bedding, or do without +it. It was a glorious summer night, still and soft and effulgent with +the radiance of the full moon which hung low above the prairie, while +the sensation of the swift travel was bracing. + +There was no doubt that the Accelerated was making up lost time; and the +lurching, clanking, pounding, roar of flying wheels, and panting of +mammoth engines both soothed and exhilarated me. They were in one sense +prosaic and commonplace sounds, but--so it seemed to me that night--in +another a testimony to man's dominion over not only plant and beast upon +the face of the earth, but also the primeval forces which move the +universe. Further, the diapason of the great drivers and Titanic +snorting, rising and falling rhythmically amid the pulsating din, broke +through the prairie's silence as it were a triumphant hymn of struggle +and effort, and toil all-conquering, as dropping the leagues behind it +the long train roared on. I knew something of the cost, paid in the +sweat of tremendous effort, and part in blood and agony, of the smooth +road along which the great machines raced across the continent. + +Perhaps I was overstrung, and accordingly fanciful; but I gathered fresh +courage, which was, indeed, badly needed, and I had grown partly +reassured and tranquil, when the door creaked behind me and there was a +light step on the platform. Then, turning suddenly, I found myself +within a foot of Lucille Haldane. She was bareheaded. The moon shone on +her face, which, as I had dreamed of it, looked at once ethereal and +very human under the silvery light. This, at least, was not a fancy born +of overtaxed nerves, for while given to heartsome merriment, daring, and +occasionally imperious, there was a large share of the spiritual in the +character of the girl. Shrewd, she certainly was, yet wholly fresh and +innocent, and at times I had seen depths of pity and sympathy which it +seemed were not wholly earthly in her eyes. When one can name and number +all the mysterious forces that rule the heart or brain of man, it may be +possible to tell why, when Beatrice Haldane's idealized image was ever +before me, I would have done more for her sister than for any living +woman. + +We were both a little surprised at the encounter, and I fancied I had +seen a momentary shrinking from me in the eyes of the girl. This at once +furnished cause for wonder, and hurt me. She had shown no shrinking at +our last meeting. + +"I did not expect to meet you when I came out for the sake of coolness. +Are you going East?" I said. + +Lucille Haldane was usually frank in speech, but she now appeared to be +perplexed by, and almost to resent, the question. "Yes. I have some +business which cannot be neglected in that direction," she said. + +"Is Miss Haldane or your father on board the train?" I asked, and +Lucille seemed to hesitate before she answered: + +"No. My father is in Winnipeg, and Beatrice has gone to Montreal; but +Mrs. Hansen, our housekeeper, is here with me." + +I was partly, but not altogether, relieved by this information. It was +no doubt foolish, but I had been at first afraid that every one of my +friends from Bonaventure had seen in what manner I boarded the train. I +would have given a good deal to discover whether Lucille had witnessed +the spectacle, but I did not quite see how to acquire the knowledge. + +"It must be important business which takes you East alone," I said +idly--to gain time in which to frame a more leading question; but the +words had a somewhat startling effect. A trace of indignation or +confusion became visible in the girl's face as she answered: "I have +already told you it is business which cannot be neglected; and if you +desire any further information I fear I cannot give it to you. Now, +suppose we reverse the positions. What has made you so unusually +inquisitive to-night, Mr. Ormesby?" + +The positions were reversed with a vengeance, somewhat to my disgust. I +had neither right nor desire to pry into Lucille Haldane's affairs, and +yet felt feverishly anxious to discover how much or how little she had +seen at the station. It was no use to reason with myself that this was +of no importance, for the fact remained. + +"I must apologize if I seemed inquisitive," I said. "It would have been +impertinence, but I will make a bargain with you. If you will tell me +whether you boarded the cars immediately the train came in, and what +seat you took, I will tell you the cause of it." + +This struck me as a clever maneuver, for if, as I hoped, she had seen +nothing, the story would certainly reach Bonaventure, and it seemed much +better that she should hear it first, and carefully toned down, from my +own lips. Lucille Haldane's face cleared instantaneously, and there was +a note of relief in her laugh. + +"Must you always make a bargain? You remember the last," but here she +broke off suddenly and favored me with a wholly sympathetic glance. "I +did not mean to recall that unfortunate night. You should come to the +point always, for you are not brilliant in diplomacy, and shall have +without a price the information you so evidently desire. I was standing +on the car platform when you rode up to the station." + +We are only mortal, and I fear I ground one heel, perhaps audibly, but +certainly viciously, into the boards beneath me. Still, I am certain +that my lips did not open. Nevertheless, I was puzzled by the sparkle in +Lucille Haldane's eyes which the radiant moonlight emphasized. There was +more than mischief in it, but what the more consisted of I could not +tell. "Have you forgotten the virtues of civilized self-restraint?" she +asked demurely. + +I could see no cause for these swift changes, which would probably have +bewildered any ordinary man, and I made answer: "It may be so; but on +this occasion, at least, I said nothing." + +Lucille Haldane laughed, and laid her hand lightly on my arm as the cars +jolted. "Then you certainly looked it; but I am not blaming you. I saw +you ride into the station, and I hardly grasp the reason for so much +modesty. I do not know what delayed you, but I know you were trying to +redeem the trust your neighbors placed in you." + +I was apparently a prey to all disordered fancies that night, for it +seemed a desecration that the little white hand should even bear the +touch of another man's jacket, and I lifted it gently into my own hard +palm. Also, I think I came desperately near stooping and touching it +with my lips. Be that as it may, in another second the opportunity was +lacking, for Lucille grasped the rails with it some distance away from +me, and leaned out over them to watch the sliding prairie, her light +dress streaming about her in the whistling draught. + +"The cars were very stuffy, and I am glad I came out. It is a perfectly +glorious night," she said. + +The remark seemed very disconnected, but she was right. The prairie +there was dead-level, a vast, rippling silver sea overhung by a spangled +vault of softest indigo. In spite of the rattling ballast and puffs of +whirled-up dust the lash of cool wind was grateful, and the rush of the +clanking cars stirred one's blood. Still, in contrast to their bulk and +speed, the slight figure in the fluttering white dress seemed very frail +and insecure as it leaned forth from the rails, and I set my teeth when, +with a sudden swing and a giddy slanting, we roared across a curving +bridge. Before the dark creek whirled behind us I had flung my arm +partly around the girl's waist and clenched the rails in front of her. + +"I am quite safe," she said calmly, after a curious glance at me. "You +look positively startled." + +"I was so," I answered, speaking no more than the truth, for the fright +had turned me cold; and she once more looked down at the whirling +prairie. + +"That was very unreasonable. You are not responsible for me." + +Perhaps the fright had rendered me temporarily light-headed, for I +answered, on impulse: "No; on the other hand, you are responsible for +me." + +"I?" the girl said quietly, with a demureness which was not all mockery. +"How could that be? Such a responsibility would be too onerous for me." + +"Why it should be I cannot tell you; but it is the truth," I said. +"Twice, when a crisis had to be faced, it was your opinions that turned +the scale for me; and I think that, growing hopeless, I should have +allowed Lane to rob me and gone elsewhere in search of better fortune +had it not been for the courage you infused into me. Once or twice also +you pointed the way out of a difficulty, and the clearness of your views +was almost startling. The most curious thing is that you are so much +younger than I." + +I had spoken no more than the truth, and was conscious of a passing +annoyance when Lucille Haldane laughed. "There is no overcoming +masculine vanity; and I once heard my father say you were in some +respects very young for your age," she said. "I am afraid it was +presumption, but I don't mind admitting I am glad if any chance word of +mine nerved you to continue your resistance." Her voice changed a little +as she added: "Of course, that is because your enemy's work is evil, and +I think you will triumph yet." + +Neither of us spoke again for a time, and I remember reflecting that +whoever won Lucille Haldane would have a helpmate to be proud of in this +world and perhaps, by virtue of what she could teach him, follow into +the next. I could think so the more dispassionately because now both she +and her sister were far above me, though, knowing my own kind, I +wondered where either could find any man worthy. + +So the minutes slipped by while the great express raced on, and blue +heavens and silver prairie unrolled themselves before us in an +apparently unending panorama. There had been times when I considered +such a prospect dreary enough, but it appeared surcharged with a strange +glamour that moonlit night. + +"Will Miss Haldane return to Bonaventure?" I asked, at length. + +"I hardly think so," said the girl. "We have very different tastes, you +know; and as father will not keep more than one of us with him, we can +both gratify them. Beatrice will leave for England soon, and in all +probability will not visit Bonaventure again." + +She looked at me with a strange expression as she spoke, and when her +meaning dawned on me I was conscious of a heavy shock. I had braced +myself to face the inevitable already, but the knowledge was painful +nevertheless, and my voice was not quite steady when I said: "You imply +that Miss Haldane is to be married shortly?" + +"It is not an impossible contingency." + +Lucille spoke gravely, and I wondered whether she had guessed the full +significance of the intimation. Perhaps my face had grown a little +harder, or the tightening of my fingers on the rail betrayed me, for she +looked up very sympathetically. "I thought it would be better that you +should know." + +There was such kindness stamped on her face that my heart went out to +her, and it was almost huskily I said: "I thank you. You have keen +perceptions." + +Lucille smiled gravely. "One could see that you thought much of +Beatrice--and I was sorry that it should be so." + +Her tone seemed to challenge further speech, and presently I found words +again: "It was an impossible dream, almost from the beginning; but I +awakened to the reality long ago. Still, nothing can rob me of the +satisfaction of having known your sister and you, and your influence has +been good for me. One can at least cherish the memory; and even a wholly +impossible fancy has its benefits." + +The girl colored, and said quietly: "It is not our fault that you +overrate us, and one finds the standard others set up for one irksome. +And yet you cannot be easily influenced, from what I know." + +"Heaven knows how weak and unstable I have been at times, but I learned +much that was good for me at Bonaventure, and should, whatever happens, +desire to keep your good opinion," I said. + +"I think you will always do that," said the girl, moving towards the +door. "It is growing late, but before I go I want to ask you to go to +your trial to-morrow with a good courage, and not to be astonished at +anything you hear or see. If you are, you must try to remember that we +Canadians actually are, as our orators tell us, a free people, and that +the prairie farmers do not monopolize all our love of justice." + +She brushed lightly past me, and the prairie grew dim and desolate as +the door clicked to. I had long dreaded the news just given me, but such +expectations do not greatly lessen one's sense of loss. Still, it may +have been that my senses were too dulled to feel the worst pain, and I +sat down on the top step of the platform with my arm through the railing +in a state of utter weariness and dejection, which mercifully acted as +an anesthetic. How long I watched the moonlit waste sweep past the +humming wheels I do not know; but tired nature must have had her way, +for it was early morning when a brakeman fell over me, and by the time +the resultant altercation was concluded, the clustered roofs of Empress +rose out of the prairie. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +LIBERTY + + +Sleep had brought me a brief forgetfulness, but the awakening was not +pleasant when I painfully straightened my limbs on the jolting platform, +while the twin whistles shrieked ahead. Every joint ached from the +previous day's exertions, my borrowed garments were clammy with dew, and +I shivered in the cold draught that swept past the slowing cars. The sun +had not cleared the grayness which veiled the east, and, frowned down +upon by huge elevators which rose higher and higher against a lowering +sky, the straggling town loomed up depressingly out of the surrounding +desolation. The pace grew slower, a thicket of willows choked with empty +cans and garbage slid by, then the rails of the stockyards closed in on +each hand, and we jolted over the switches into the station, which was +built, as usual, not in, but facing, the prairie town. + +There was no sign of life in its ill-paved streets, down which the dust +wisps danced; bare squares of wooden buildings, devoid of all +ornamentation, save for glaring advertisements which emphasized their +ugliness, walled them in, and the whole place seemed stamped with the +dreariness which characterizes most prairie towns when seen early on a +gloomy morning by anybody not in the best of spirits. My +fellow-passengers were apparently asleep, but I was the better pleased, +having no desire for speech, and I dropped from the platform as soon as +the locomotive stopped. Hurrying out of the station, I did not turn +around until a row of empty farm wagons hid the track, which action was +not without results. + +One hotel door stood open, but knowing that its tariff was not in +accordance with my finances, I passed it by and patrolled the empty +streets until the others, or a dry goods store, should make ready for +business. One of the latter did so first, and when I entered a mirror +showed that the decision was not unnecessary. The borrowed jacket was +far too small, the vest as much too large, while somebody's collar cut +chokingly into my sunburnt neck. Still, the prices the sleepy clerk +mentioned were prohibitive, and after wasting a little time in somewhat +pointed argument--of which he had the better--I strode out of the store, +struggling with an inclination to assault him. Western storekeepers are +seldom characterized by superfluous civility, and there are +disadvantages attached to a life in a country so free that, according to +one of its sayings, any man who cannot purchase boots may always walk +barefooted. + +"I don't know what the outfit you've got on cost you, and shouldn't +wonder, by the way it fits, if you got it cheap," he said. "We don't +turn out our customers like scarecrows, anyway, and if you'd had the +money we would have tried to make a decent show of you." + +I was nevertheless able, after almost emptying my purse, to replace at +least the vest and jacket at a rival establishment, whose proprietor +promised to forward the borrowed articles to their legitimate owners. I +afterwards discovered that they never received them. + +"You look smart as a city drummer, the top half of you, but it makes the +rest look kind of mean. You want to live up to that coat," he said, +after a critical survey. + +"I can't do it at the price, unless you will take your chances of +getting paid when the stock go East," I said; and the dealer shook his +head sorrowfully. + +"We don't trade that way with strangers, and I don't know you." + +I was in a reckless mood, and some puerile impulse prompted me to +astonish him. "My name is Henry Ormesby!" + +The man positively gasped, and then, with Western keenness, prepared to +profit by the opportunity. "I'll fit you out all for nothing if you'll +walk round to the photographer's and give me your picture with a notice +to stick in the window that you think my things the best in town," he +said. "It would be worth money every time the prairie boys come in, and +I don't mind throwing a little of it into the bargain." + +This was exasperating, but I could not restrain a mirthless laugh; and, +leaving the enterprising dealer astonished that any man should refuse +such an offer, I hurried out of the store; but by the time the breakfast +hour arrived all trace of even sardonic humor had left me. It was with +difficulty I had raised sufficient ready money for the journey, and +there now remained but two or three silver coins in my pocket, while, +remembering that the dealer had been justified in pointing out the +desirability of a complete renovation, I reflected gloomily that it +would be useless, because, in all probability, the nation would shortly +feed and clothe me. I also remembered how I had seen men with heavy +chains on their ankles road-making before the public gaze in a British +Columbian town. + +Meanwhile I was very hungry, and presently sat down to a simple +breakfast in a crowded room. While waiting a few minutes my eyes fell on +a commercial article in a newspaper, which, while noting a revival of +trade, deplored the probable abandonment of much needed railroad +extension. The writer appeared well posted, and mentioned the road we +hoped so much from as one of the works which would not be undertaken. I +laid down the journal with a sigh, and noticed that the men about me +were discussing the coming trial. + +"I expect they'll send Ormesby up," said one man, between his rapid +gulps. "Don't know whether he done it, but he threatened the other +fellow, and said he'd see him roasted before he helped; while that +match-box would fix most anybody up." + +"Well, I don't know," observed a neighbor. "The match-box looks bad; but +I guess if I'd been burning a place up I shouldn't have forgotten it. +Still, it might be fatal unless he could disown it. As to the other +thing, I don't count much on what he said. A real fire-bug would have +kept his mouth shut and helped all he was worth instead of saying +anything." + +"I'm offering five to one he goes up. Any takers?" said the first +speaker; and it was significant that, although most Westerners are keen +at a bet, nobody offered. + +"I'd do it for less, 'cept for the match-box," said one. + +I managed to finish my breakfast, feeling thankful that--because (so +their appearance suggested) those who sat at meat had driven in from the +prairie to enjoy the spectacle--none of them recognized me. The odds, in +their opinion, were more than five to one against me, and I agreed with +them. Slipping out I found Dixon, and reported my presence to the +police; and, after what seemed an endless waiting at the court, it was +early afternoon when Dixon said to me: "They'll be ready in five +minutes, and I want you to keep a tight rein on your temper, Ormesby. I +can do all the fancy talking that is necessary. You can keep your heart +up, too. There are going to be surprises for everyone to-day." + +I was called in a few minutes, and if the court had been thronged on +previous occasions, it was packed to suffocation now. It was a bare, +ugly, wood-built room, even dirtier than it was dingy. Neither is there +anything impressive, save, perhaps, to the culprit, about the +administration of Western justice, and I was thankful for a lethargy +which helped me to bear the suspense with outward indifference. Nothing +striking marked the first part of the proceedings, and I sat listening +to the drawl of voices like one in a dream. Some of the spectators +yawned, and some fidgeted, until there was a sudden stir of interest as +the name "Thomas Wilkins" rang through the court. + +"I guess that's the prosecution's trump ace," said a man beneath me. + +I became suddenly intent as this witness took his stand. He was of the +usual type of Canadian-born farm hand, bronzed and wiry, but not heavily +built, and hazarded what I fancied was a meaning glance at me. I could +not understand it, for he seemed at once ashamed and exultant. + +"I was hired by Rancher Niven to help him at Gaspard's Trail, and +remember the night of the fire well. Guess anybody who'd been trod on by +a horse and left with broken bones to roast would," he said; and +proceeded to confirm Niven's testimony. This was nothing new, and the +interest slackened, but revived again when the witness approached the +essential part of his story, and I could hear my own heart thumping more +plainly than the slow drawling voice. + +"I was round at the wreck of the homestead some time after the fire. +Don't know the date, but Niven made a note of it. Kind of precise man he +was. The place wasn't all burnt to the ground, and Niven he crawls in +under some fallen logs into what had been the kitchen. The door opened +right on to the prairie, and anybody could slip in if they wanted to. +Niven grabbed at something on the floor. 'Come along and take a look at +this,' says he; and I saw it was a silver match-box he held up. There +was 'H. Ormesby' not quite worn off it. Niven he prospects some more, +and finds a flattened coal-oil tin. Yes, sir, those you are holding up +are the very things. 'We don't use that brand of oil, and buy ours in +bigger cans,' says he." + +I could see by the spectators' faces it was damaging testimony, and +Dixon's serene appearance was incomprehensible, while, for the benefit +of those ignorant of Western customs, it may be explained that kerosene +is sold in large square tins for the settler's convenience in several +parts of the Dominion. + +"I went over to the store with Niven next day," continued the witness. +"The man who kept it allowed that Rancher Ormesby was about the only man +he sold that brand to in small cans." + +There were signs of subdued sensation, and Wilkins continued: "We gave +them both to Sergeant Mackay, and by-and-by I was summoned to come here +and testify. I came right along; then it struck me it was mean to help +in sending up the man who'd saved my life. So I just lit out and hid +myself until the police trailed me." + +It was news to hear that Lane had no hand in the witness's +disappearance; and again he flashed an apparently wholly unwarranted, +reassuring glance in my direction. Then, while I wondered hopelessly +whether Dixon could shake his testimony, the latter stood up. + +"I purpose to ask Thomas Wilkins a few questions later, and will not +trouble him about the match-box, being perfectly satisfied as to the +accuracy of the facts he states," he said. + +I could see the spectators stare at him in surprise, and, wondering if +he had lost his senses, settled myself to listen as the storekeeper +deposed to selling me oil of the description mentioned, adding +reluctantly that very few others took the same size of can. This, and a +lengthy speech, closed the prosecutor's case, and it seemed, when he had +finished, that nothing short of a miracle could save me. The audience +was also evidently of the same opinion. + +Dixon commenced feebly by submitting evidence as to my uprightness of +character, which his opponent allowed to pass unchallenged with a +somewhat contemptuous indifference. Then he said: "It will be remembered +that in his evidence Sergeant Mackay deposed that the witness Niven told +him the burning homestead was not insured, and I will call the Western +agent of a famous fire office." + +The evidence of the gentleman in question was brief and to the point. "I +have heard the statement that Gaspard's Trail was not insured, and can't +understand it. The witness Niven took out a policy three months before +the fire, and sent in his claim straight off to me. The company declined +to meet it until this case was settled. Am I quite certain, or can I +offer any explanation? Well, here's our premium receipt foil and record +of the policy. Can't suggest any explanation, except that somebody is +lying." + +This was received with some sensation, and Dixon smiled at me as if +there were more in store. "You will observe that the witness Niven +cannot be considered a very truthful person. I will recall Thomas +Wilkins," he said. + +Wilkins had lost his shamefacedness when he reappeared. "I said the +prisoner saved my life, and meant just that," he said, answering a +question. "It was he who took me out of the fire, and I had sense enough +to see he was leading the boys who saved all Niven's horses. It's my +opinion--you don't want opinions? Well, I'll try to pitch in the solid +facts." + +"Your master went East for a few days before the fire and brought a case +of groceries home with him," said Dixon. "Will you tell us if you opened +that case?" + +"I did," was the answer. "He sent me into the station for it with the +check. Said our storekeeper was a robber, and he'd saved money by buying +down East. It was a blame heavy case, so I started to open it in the +wagon, and had just pulled the top off when Niven came along." + +"Did you see anything except groceries in it?" asked Dixon; and there +was a stirring in the court when Wilkins answered: "I did. I had lit on +to the top of three coal-oil tins when the boss came in." + +"Did he look pleased at your diligence?" + +"No, sir. He looked real mad. 'If you'll do what you're asked to without +mixing up my private things it will be good enough for me. Get your +horses fixed right now,' he said." + +"You are sure about the oil tins? Were they large or small--and did you +ever see them or the groceries again?" + +"Dead sure," was the answer. "I stowed the groceries in the kitchen, but +never saw the oil. It was a smaller size than we used, any way. Didn't +think much about it until I read a paper about this trial not long ago. +Begin to think a good deal now." + +I drew in a deep breath, and the movements of expectant listeners grew +more audible when, reminded that his impressions were not asked for, +Wilkins stepped down. Hope was beginning to dawn, for I could see that +Dixon was on the trail of a conspiracy. Everybody seemed eager, the +prosecutor as much so as the rest, and there was a deep silence when +Dixon folded up the paper on which he had been making notes. + +"My next witness is Miss Lucille Haldane, of Bonaventure," he said. + +There was a low murmur, every head was turned in the same direction, and +I grew hot with shame and indignation when Haldane's younger daughter +walked into the witness stand. It seemed to me a desecration that she +should be dragged forward into an atmosphere of crime as part of the +spectacle before a sea of curious faces, and I had never felt the +enforced restraint so horribly oppressive as when I read admiration in +some of them. Had it been possible to wither up Dixon with a glance it +is hardly likely that he would ever have handled a case again. The girl +looked very young and pretty as, with a patch of almost hectic color in +each cheek, and a brightness in her eyes, she took her place. She wore +no veil, and held herself proudly as, without sign of weakness, she +looked down at the assembly. While she did so there was, without +articulate sound, something that suggested wonder and approval in the +universal movement, and I heard a man beneath me say: "She's a daisy. +Now we're coming right into the business end of the play." + +"You know the prisoner, Ormesby?" asked Dixon; and though her voice was +low, its clear distinctness seemed to permeate the building as she +answered: "I do. He is a friend of my father's, and visited us at +Bonaventure occasionally." + +"Did you ever see a silver match-box in his possession, and, if so, +could you describe it?" + +"I did, on several occasions. He wore it hooked on to his watch-chain, +and once handed it to me to light a lamp with. It had an oak-leaf +engraving with a partly obliterated inscription--'From ---- to H. +Ormesby.'" + +"I think that is an accurate description," said Dixon; and when the +judge, who held up a little silver object and passed it on to the jury, +signified assent, I glanced in savage bewilderment at the speaker. It +had appeared shameful cruelty to hale that delicate girl into a crowded +court; now it also appeared sheer madness. She never once glanced in my +direction, but stood with head erect, one hand resting on the rails, +where the pitiless sunlight beat full upon her, with eyes fixed only on +the judge; but in spite of her courage I could see that her lips +trembled, while the little gloved fingers tightened spasmodically on the +rails. Then I hung my head for very shame that I had been the unwitting +cause of such an ordeal, feeling that I would prefer to suffer ten +convictions rather than that she should become a subject for discussion +in every saloon, and the free commentary of the Western press, even if +she could have saved me. + +"When did you last see the match-box?" asked Dixon. + +"On the morning of the Wednesday in the third week after the fire. I am +sure of the day, because the visit of some friends from Montreal +impressed it on my memory. Henry Ormesby had stayed all night at +Bonaventure and left early in the morning. A maid brought me the +match-box, which she had found on the bureau, with one or two articles +of clothing; and as he did not return I told her to slip the match-box +inside the packet and forward them. I forgot the incident until the +trial recalled it." + +As Lucille ceased it flashed upon me that I had wondered how the +match-box had made its way into a pocket in which I never carried it. +Then I was borne down by a great wave of gratitude to the girl who, it +seemed, had saved me. She was rigorously cross-examined, and, while I do +not know whether the prosecutor exceeded due limits in his efforts to +shake her evidence, I grew murderously inclined towards him as I noticed +how his victim's color came and went, and the effort it cost her not to +shrink under the questions. But her courage rose with the emergency, and +when the indignation crept into her eyes there was several times subdued +applause as her answer to some innuendo carried a rebuke with it. + +At last the approbation was no more subdued, but swelled into a hoarse +murmur which filled all the court when she drew herself up at the +question: "And it was because you were a firm friend of the prisoner's +you recollected all this so opportunely, and, in spite of the +diffidence any lady in your position would feel, volunteered to give +evidence?" + +The damask patch had spread to Lucille Haldane's forehead, but instead +of being downcast her eyes were filled with light. "No," she said; and +the vibration in her voice had a steely ring. "It was because I am a +Canadian, and accordingly desired to see justice done to an innocent +man. Can you consider such a desire either uncommon or surprising?" + +A full minute had elapsed before the case proceeded, during which an +excitable juryman rose and seemed on the point of haranguing the +assembly until a comrade dragged him down. Then laughter broke through +the murmurs as he gesticulated wildly amid shouts of "Order." + +A Scandinavian domestic quaintly corroborated her mistress's statement, +and there was no doubt that the scale was turned; but Dixon did not +leave his work half-completed, and the next witness confirmed this +evidence. + +"I keep the Railroad Hotel. It's not a saloon, but a hotel, with a big +H," he said. "Know Harry Ormesby well. Saw him about three weeks after +the fire lighting a cigar I gave him from a silver match-box. Oh, yes, +I'm quite sure about the box; had several times seen the thing before. +Was pretty busy when the boys started smoking round the stove after +supper, and forgot to pick up something bright beneath Ormesby's chair. +Was going to tell him he'd dropped his box, when somebody called me. The +boys cleared out when the cars came in, and I saw Niven among them. Knew +him as a customer--don't want to as a friend. Got too much of the coyote +about him. My Chinaman was turning out the lights when I saw somebody +slip back quietly. He grabbed at something by the chair, and went out by +the other door. There was only a light in the passage left, and I didn't +quite recognize him. Could swear it wasn't Ormesby, and think he was +more like Niven. Asked Niven about it afterwards, and he said it wasn't +he; didn't see Ormesby, but wired his lawyer when I'd read the papers. +Don't believe Ormesby had enough malice in him to burn up a hen-house." + +There were further signs of sensation, and Sergeant Mackay was called +again. He had ridden over to Gaspard's Trail the day following the fire, +and decided to clear out the refuse dump, he said. Then the whole +audience grinned, when, being asked why he did so, he glanced at the +jury as if for sympathy, answering: "I was thinking I might find +something inside it. A man must do his duty, but it was a sairly +distressful operation." He found two unopened coal-oil tins resembling +the flattened one, and was certain by the appearance of the dump they +had been placed there some time before the fire. + +There was no further evidence. Dixon said very little, but that little +told. The jury had scarcely retired before one of them reappeared, and, +with a rush of blood to my forehead and a singing in my ears, I caught +the words--"Not guilty!" + +Then, when the judge, and even the prosecuting counsel, said he fully +concurred, the murmurs swelled until they filled the court again; and +presently I was standing outside, a free man, in the center of an +excited crowd, for Western citizens are desperately fond of any +sensation. How many cigars and offers of liquid refreshment were thrust +upon me I do not remember, but they were overwhelmingly numerous, and I +was grateful when Dixon came to the rescue. + +"Mr. Ormesby is much obliged to you, gentlemen, but it's quiet he wants +just now," he said; while we had hardly reached the leading hotel where +Dixon led me than there was a clamor in the direction of the court, and +I looked at him inquiringly. + +"I expect they've issued a warrant for Niven on a charge of conspiracy +or arson, and the boys have heard of it," he said. "However, I have had +sufficient professional occupation for to-day, and we're going to get +supper and afterwards enjoy ourselves as we can." + +I had, nevertheless, determined to thank my benefactress first, and, +ignoring Dixon's advice, sent up my name. I was informed that Miss +Haldane would receive nobody, and the lawyer smiled dryly when I +returned crestfallen. "I don't think you need feel either hurt or +surprised," he said. + +The inhabitants of the prairie towns differ from the taciturn plainsmen +in being vociferously enthusiastic and mercurial, and to my disgust the +citizens came in groups to interview me, while one, who shoved his way +into our quarters by main force, said the rest would take it kindly if I +made a speech to them. + +"You can tell them I feel honored, but nobody can charge me with ever +having done such a thing in my life," I said; and the representatives of +the populace retired, to find another outlet for their energies, as we +presently discovered. + +"I owe my escape solely to a lady's courage and your skill, Dixon; but +why didn't you try to implicate Lane?" I said; and the lawyer laughed. + +"Any reasonable man ought to be satisfied with the verdict and +demonstration. It would have been difficult, if not useless, while I +fancy that if Lane is allowed a little more rope his time will shortly +come," he said. "Hallo! Here are more enthusiastic citizens desirous of +interviewing you." + +"Keep them out for heaven's sake," I said; but before Dixon could secure +the door Sergeant Mackay strode in. + +"I have come to congratulate ye. It will be a lesson til ye, Ormesby," +he announced. + +I did not see the hand he held out. "I'm in no mood for sermons, and +can't appreciate your recent actions as they perhaps deserve," I said; +and the sergeant's eyes twinkled mischievously. + +"It should not be that difficult; and ye have the consolation that we +served the State," he said. "It was in the interests of justice +we--well--we made use of ye to stalk the other man." + +"There's no use pretending I'm grateful," I commenced; but Dixon broke +into a boisterous laugh, and the sergeant's face grew so humorous that +my own relaxed and we made friends again. The reunion had not long been +consummated when a rattle of wheels, followed by the tramp of many feet +and the wheezy strains of a cornet, rose from below, and, striding to +the window, I said with dismay: "Lock the door. They're coming with a +band and torches now." + +"I'm thinking ye need not," said Mackay dryly. "It's a farewell to Miss +Haldane they're giving." + +We gathered at the opened window, looking down at a striking spectacle. +A vehicle stood waiting, and behind it, lighted by the glow of kerosene +torches, a mass of faces filled the street. The heads were uncovered +almost simultaneously, and Lucille Haldane appeared upon the hotel +steps, with her attendants behind her. At first she shrank back a little +from the gaze of the admiring crowd, to whom her spirit and beauty had +doubtless appealed; but when one of them urged something very +respectfully, with his hat in his hand, she moved forward a pace and +stood very erect, a slight but queenly figure, looking down at them. + +"I am honored, gentlemen," she said falteringly, though her voice gained +strength. "It was merely a duty I did, but I am gratified that it +pleased you, just because it shows that all of us are proud of our +country and eager, for its credit, to crush oppression and see justice +done to the downtrodden." + +The street rang with the cheer that followed, and when Dixon seized his +hat the action was infectious. The next minute we were moving forward +amid the ranks of the enthusiastic crowd behind the vehicle, which +jolted slowly towards the station; and I discovered later that the +uncomfortable sensation at the back of my neck was caused by the hot oil +from a torch, which dripped upon it. In the meantime I noticed nothing +but the sea of faces, the tramp of feet, and the final burst of cheering +at the station, in which Mackay, holding aloft his forage cap, joined +vociferously. + +"It's only fit and proper. She's as good and brave as she's bonny," he +said. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +A SECRET TRIBUNAL + + +Some little time had elapsed since my acquittal, when, one pleasant +summer morning, I rode out from the railroad settlement bound for +Bonaventure. The air was soft and balmy, the sunshine brilliant, and the +prairie sod, which, by that time, had in most years grown parched and +dry, formed a springy green carpet beneath the horse's feet. There had +but once before been such a season within my memory, and my spirits were +almost as buoyant as the wallet in my pocket was heavy. The lean years +had passed and left us, perhaps a little more grave in face and quiet in +speech, to look forward to a brightening future, while the receipts I +had brought back from the nearest town meant freedom at least. + +I was also unwearied in body, for the roll of paper money in the wallet +had made a vast difference to me, and instead of riding all night after +a long railroad journey, I had slept and breakfasted well at the wooden +hotel. Indeed, I almost wondered whether I were the same man who had +previously ridden that way in a state of sullen desperation, spurred on +by hatred and dogged obstinacy instead of hope. Now I was, however, +rather thankful than jubilant, for my satisfaction was tempered by a +perhaps unusual humility. Steel, Thorn, and I had, in our own blundering +fashion, made the best fight we could, but it was the generosity of +others and the winds of heaven which had brought us the victory. + +Distance counts for little in these days, when the steel track and the +modern cargo steamer together girdle the face of the globe; and the loss +of others had been our gain. There had been scarcity in Argentina, and +Australian grass was shriveling for want of rain. Famine had smitten +India, and the great cattle-barons beyond our frontier had been +overbusily engaged, attempting the extermination of the smaller +settlers, to attend their legitimate business; so buyers in Europe were +looking to Canada for wheat and cattle. Our own beasts had flourished, +and before the usual season we had driven every salable head in to the +railroad, riding in force behind them. That drive and the events which +followed it were worth remembering. + +I sold the cattle in Winnipeg for excellent prices, and deducting my own +share of the proceeds, took the first train westward to visit Lane, and +paid him down three-fourths of the balance of the loan. Having bought +wisdom dearly, I took a lawyer with me. Lane showed neither surprise nor +chagrin, though he must have felt both, and I could almost admire the +way he bore defeat. He was less a man than a money-making machine, and +the more to be dreaded for his absence of passion. Rage was apparently +as unknown to him as pity, and, though he knew he had lost Crane Valley, +and with it the completion of a well-laid scheme, he actually pushed a +cigar-box towards me as he signed the receipt. I drew a deep breath of +relief as I passed the papers to the lawyer, for the harvest would more +than cover what remained of the debt, and then I laid down certain sums +on behalf of others. Lane smiled almost affably as he tossed the +quittances upon the table. + +"They're all in order, Rancher. A capable man don't need to use +second-rate trickery, and I'm open to allow that the bull-frog was hard +to squash," he said. + +I pocketed the documents and went out in silence. Speech would have been +useless, because the man had no sensibilities that could be wounded; but +the interview struck me as a grotesquely commonplace termination of a +struggle which had cost me months of misery. Indeed, I found it hard to +convince myself that what had happened was real, and the heavy burden +flung off at last. Being by no means a mere passionless money-making +machine, I had, nevertheless, not finished with Lane. + +It was evening the next day when I reached Bonaventure, and was shown +into the presence of its owner, who had lately returned there from the +East. He looked haggard, and did not rise out of the chair he lounged +in, though his voice was cordial. "You have been successful, Ormesby. I +can see it by your face," he said. + +"I have, sir," I answered. "More so than I dared to hope, and I fancy +you will be astonished when you count these bills. The Bonaventure draft +played a leading part in my release, and now I find it difficult to +realize that the luck has changed at last." + +It was not quite dark outside, but the curtains were drawn, and Haldane +sat beside a table littered with papers under a silver reading-lamp. His +face looked curiously ascetic and thin, but the smile in his keen eyes +was genial. Boone sat opposite him smoking, and nodded good-humoredly to +me. + +"You will soon get used to prosperity, and there is no occasion for +gratitude," Haldane said, tossing the roll of paper money across the +table, but taking up the account I laid beside it. "I notice that you +have earned me a profit of twenty per cent. You have tolerable business +talents in your own direction, Ormesby, and I shall expect your good +counsel in the practical management of Bonaventure which I have +undertaken." + +"The management of Bonaventure?" I said, and Haldane's forehead grew +wrinkled as he nodded. + +"Exactly. The verdict has been given. No more exciting corners or +supposititious heaping up of unearned increments for me. I am sentenced +by the specialists to a dormant life and open-air exercise, and have +accordingly chosen the rearing of cattle on the salubrious prairie." + +I guessed what that sentence meant to a man of his energies; but he had +accepted it gracefully, and I was almost startled when he said: "Do you +know that I envied you, Ormesby, even when things looked worst for you?" + +I could only murmur a few not overappropriate words of sympathy, though +I fancied that had Haldane been under the same grip he might have envied +me less. + +"It takes time to grow used to idleness, which is why I sent for you +to-night," he said, with a swift resumption of his usual tone. "I +purpose to teach Lane that he is not altogether so omnipotent as he +believes himself--partly by way of amusement and to forward certain +views of my own, and partly because my younger daughter insists that he +is a menace to every honest man on the prairie. Boone appears inclined +to agree with her." + +"I might even go a little further, sir," said Boone. + +Haldane ignored the comment, and pointed to the papers, of which there +appeared to be a bushel. "I have been posting myself in my new +profession, and conclude that the prospects for grain and live stock are +encouraging," he said. "News from Chile, California, and the Austral, +all confirm this view; and, remembering it, we will consider Lane's +position. Boone has taken considerable pains to discover that, as I +expected, his resources are far from inexhaustible, and circumstances +point to the fact that he has set his teeth in too big a morsel. At +present neither the speculative public nor would-be emigrants have +grasped the position, and therefore Lane would get little if he realized +on his stolen lands just now." + +"That is plain; but what results from it?" I said. + +"Prosperity to poor men, according to my daughter;" and Haldane's smile +was not wholly cynical. "We purpose that he should realize as soon as +possible. Boone discovered that he is raising money to carry on by +quietly selling out his stock in the Investment Company which has +consistently backed him, and I feel inclined for a speculation in that +direction, especially as the public will shortly be invited to increase +the company's capital. Lastly, I am in possession of accurate +information, while Lane is not. Contrary to general opinion, the +railroad will be hurried through very shortly." + +It was great news, and the possible downfall of my enemy perhaps the +least of it. It implied swift prosperity for all that district, and +while I stared at the speaker the blood surged to my forehead. Though +fate had robbed me of the best, part of what I had toiled, and fought, +and suffered for was to come about at last; and the calmness of the +others appeared unnatural. Haldane's eyes were keen, but he showed no +sign of unusual interest; Boone's face was merely grim, and I guessed +that the man whose heel had been on my neck would fare ill between them. + +"If he had used legitimate weapons one could almost be sorry for him," I +said. "It will try even his nerve to lose all he has plotted for when +the prize is actually, if he knew it, within his grasp." + +"He deserves no mercy," Boone broke in. "This is justice, Ormesby, +neither more nor less; and unless we cripple him once for all he will +take hold again with the first bad season. What you will shortly hear +should demonstrate the necessity for decisive measures; but our host +forgot to mention that he declines to profit individually by this +opportunity." + +"If anyone wishes to learn my virtues he can apply to certain company +promoters in Montreal," said Haldane languidly. "Boone will remember +that I came here to farm for my health, and have been coerced into +assisting at this Vehmgericht. Those wheels, however, give warning that +the first sitting will commence." + +A minute or two later I started wrathfully to my feet as Niven was +ushered into the room. He on his part seemed equally astonished, and, I +think, would have backed out again, but that Boone adroitly slammed the +door behind him. It may be mentioned that he had been tried in my place, +and, to the disgust of Sergeant Mackay, just escaped conviction. + +"I need not introduce Mr. Ormesby, who will kindly resume his place," +said Haldane pleasantly. "Sit down and choose a cigar if you feel like +it. You sent word you wanted to talk to me?" + +"I didn't want to talk to that man;" and Niven scowled at me, while +Haldane shrugged his shoulders. + +"I can't turn him out, you see. Now hadn't you better explain what you +want with me?" + +There was a languid contempt beneath the speaker's surface good-humor +which was not lost on the fidgeting man; but he lighted a cigar with an +air of bravado, and commenced: + +"Thinking over things, I figured both you and Adams had your knife in +Lane;" and Haldane's mild surprise was excellently assumed. "Well, I've +got my own knife in him, too. It's this way. Lane put up the money for +me to buy out Ormesby, and made a mighty close bargain, thinking I +daren't kick. It would have been inconvenient, and I didn't mean to; but +when those blame police ran me in for a thing I never done, he just +turns his back, and wouldn't put up a dollar to defend me! 'I've no use +for blunderers of your kind,' says he." + +"One could understand that it is necessary for him to make sure of his +subordinates' abilities," said Haldane reflectively; and Niven, who +stared hard at him, appeared to gulp down something before he proceeded. + +"Well, he can't fool with me, and it comes to this. I'm recorded owner +of Gaspard's Trail; paid for it with my own check--Lane fixed that up. +Now, what I want to ask you is, how's Lane going to turn me out if I +hold on to the place? Strikes me he can't do it." + +In spite of this assurance the speaker looked distinctly eager until +Haldane answered: "We need not discuss the moral aspect of the case, +because it apparently hasn't one, and you might not understand it if it +had. Speaking from a purely business point of view, I feel tolerably +certain that, in the circumstances, he would not take legal proceedings +against you, though I have no doubt he might arrange the affair in some +other way." + +"Feel quite sure?" asked Niven. And Haldane answered: "I may say I do." + +Niven's grin of triumph would have sickened any honest man, but I was +not sorry for his employer. "I guess I'll take my chances of the other +way, and I'm coming straight to business. Will you stand behind me? It's +not going to be a charity. There is money in Gaspard's Trail, and I'm +open to make a fair deal with the man who sees me through." + +I saw Haldane's lips set tightly for a moment, and my hand itched for a +good hold of Niven's collar; but the master of Bonaventure next +regarded him with a quiet amusement which appeared disconcerting. + +"I fancy your worthy master was correct when he described you as a +blunderer," he said. "It would be quite impossible for me to make a +bargain of that--or any other--kind with you. You might also have added +that he inspired you to more than the buying of Gaspard's Trail." + +There was pluck in Niven, for he laughed offensively. "I got my verdict, +and if you won't deal I may as well be going. Anyhow, you've told me +what I most wanted to know." + +He departed without further parley, and Haldane smiled at me. "It would +have been a pity to detain him, and Lane was wrong in choosing an +understudy he could not scare into submission. That rascal will hold on +to Gaspard's Trail, and the loss of it will further hamper his master." + +Some little time passed, and Boone, who appeared impatient, said at +last: "She is late; but Gordon may have been too busy to drive her over +earlier, and she promised me faithfully that she would come." + +Haldane said nothing, though he seemed dubious until there was another +sound of wheels, and I had a second surprise when a lady was ushered +into the room, for I could scarcely believe my eyes when I saw that it +was Redmond's daughter. She had changed greatly from the girl who called +down vengeance on the oppressor when we brought her father home, +although the glitter in her eyes and the intentness of her face showed +the strain of emotional nature in her. Still, she was handsomely and +tastefully dressed, and carried herself with dignity. + +"This is Mr. Haldane, Miss Redmond, and I am sure he will be grateful to +you for coming," said Boone, who I noticed appeared relieved when the +new arrival laid a packet on the table. "I may explain for Ormesby's +benefit that Miss Redmond, who is winning fame as a singer, has +something of importance to show him," he added. + +The girl's hand was very cold when it touched my own, and her movements +nervous as she drew a book in tattered binding out of its wrappings. + +"I hope Mrs. Gordon will spare you as long as possible, and that your +visit to the prairie will do you good," said Haldane, placing a chair +for her. + +"Once I fancied I could never look at the prairie without a shudder, but +of late I have been longing for sunshine and air, and shall perhaps be +happier when this is over," said the girl. "It is a very hard thing I +have to do, and I must tell you the whole painful story." + +"We can understand that it must be," said Haldane gently. + +"When I left home for Winnipeg I joined a second-rate variety company. I +had inherited a gift for singing, and those who heard me were pleased +with the old Irish ballads my mother taught me. So there was soon no +fear of poverty, and I was trying to bury the past, when, the night I +first sang to a packed audience in Winnipeg, it was once more dragged up +before me. I came home from what the newspapers said was a triumph, and +because one critic had questioned a verse of an old song I looked for a +book of my mother's among the relics I had brought from the prairie. I +found--this--instead." + +Ailin Redmond ceased with a little gasp. And glancing at the dilapidated +account book she touched, I wondered what power it could have had to +change her triumph into an agony. + +"I sat all that night beside the stove trying to force myself to burn +the book, and yet afraid," she continued. "Perhaps we are superstitious; +but I felt that I dare not, and its secret has been a very burden ever +since. Sometimes I thought of the revenge it would give me, and yet I +could not take it without blackening my father's memory. So I kept +silence until my health commenced to fail under the strain, and meeting +Mr. Boone at Brandan, where I sang at the time Mr. Ormesby's trial +filled the papers, I felt I must tell him part of my discovery. Had the +trial not ended as it did he would have consulted with Lawyer Dixon. +Afterwards, though I hated Lane the more, I pledged Mr. Boone to +secrecy, and kept silent until, when I could bear the load no longer, I +told my trouble to Pere Louis. 'If you only desire vengeance it would be +better to burn the book; but if you can save innocent men from +persecution and prevent the triumph of the wicked, silence would be a +sin,' he said. Then I wrote to Mr. Boone and told him I would show the +papers to Mr. Ormesby." + +I opened the battered volume handed me with a strong sense of +anticipation, and, as I did so, the girl shrank back shivering. +Redmond's writing was recognizable, and I thrilled alternately with pity +and indignation against another person as I read his testimony. Omitting +other details, the dated entries, arranged in debit and credit fashion, +told the whole story. + +"Deep snow and stock very poor," the first I glanced at ran. "Received +from Ormesby three loads of hay. Sure 'tis a decent neighbor, for he +wouldn't take no pay. Entered so, if I ever have the luck, to send it +back to him. + +"Plow-oxen sick; horse-team sore-backed; seven days' plowing done by +Ormesby, say--money at harvest, or to be returned in help stock driving. + +"Fifty dollars loan from Ormesby; see entry overdue grocery bill." + +"Is it necessary for me to read any more of these?" I asked. + +"No. If you are satisfied that he at least recognized the debt, pass on +to the other marked pages," answered the writer's daughter. + +I set my lips as I did so, for there was only one inference to be drawn +from the following entries, which ran dated in a series: "Demand for +fifteen hundred dollars from Lane. No credit, ten dollars in the house. +Lane came over, and part renewed the loan in return for services to be +rendered. Black curses on the pitiless devil! Took twenty head of prime +stock, to be driven to the hollow with Ormesby's. Started out with the +stock for Gaspard's Trail." + +There were no further entries, and Miss Redmond, who had been watching +me, said, with a perceptible effort: + +"You will remember all those dates well. Now read what is written on +the loose leaf. When I came in one night the book lay on the table with +that leaf projecting; but as my father was always fretting over the +accounts, I did not glance at it as I replaced the book." + +The writing was blurred and scrawling--the work of an unstable man in a +moment of agony; and some of the half-coherent sentences ran: "It was +Lane and his master the devil who drove me. I did not mean to do what I +did; but when the fire came down, remembered he said 'any convenient +accident.' I knew it was murder when I saw Ormesby with the blood on his +face." Further lines were almost unintelligible, but I made out, "Judas. +No room on earth. Lane says he is dying fast. You will hate the man who +drove me for ever and ever." + +I folded up the paper, and, not having read the whole of it, handed it +to the girl. "I am almost sorry you were brave enough to show me this; +but I can only try to forget it," I said. + +Miss Redmond's eyes were dry; but she moved as if in physical pain, and +clenched one hand as she said: "That secret has worn me down for weary +months, and I dare not change my mind again. I shall never rest until it +is certain that wicked man shall drive no one else to destruction. You +must show Mr. Haldane all you have read." + +Haldane laid down the book, and sat silent for at least a minute. "Will +you please tell us, Miss Redmond, how far you can allow us to make use +of this?" he said. + +The girl shuddered before she answered: "It must not be made public; but +if in any other way you can strike Lane down, I will leave it you. You +can hardly guess what all this has cost me; but, God forgive me, the +hate I feel is stronger than shame--and his last words are burned into +my brain." + +Ailin Redmond rose as she spoke, and I saw that part of Pere Louis's +admonition had fallen upon stony ground. Her face and pose were what +they had been when she had bidden us bring the dead man in. She came of +a passionate race; but there had also been a signal lack of balance in +her father's temperament, and perhaps it was this very strain of +wildness which had made her singing a success. + +Haldane, with expressions of sympathy, led her to the door, and +returning, sat staring straight before him with a curious expression. "I +don't know that the stolid, emotionless person is not far the happiest," +he said at last. "She must have suffered a good deal--poor soul; and, +even allowing that you had not seen those pitiful papers, I'm doubtful +if you acted quite wisely, Boone. However, the question now is: how are +we going to use them?" + +"Nobody but ourselves must see them," I managed to answer, savage as I +was. + +"I would make one exception," said the owner of Bonaventure. "That one +is the man responsible. It can be no enlightenment to him, and the fact +that he would not suspect us of any reluctance to make the most of our +power, strengthens our ability to deal with him." + +Our conference ended shortly, and when we joined the others I saw that +Lucille Haldane had taken Redmond's daughter under her wing. How she had +managed it, of course I do not know; but the latter appeared comforted +already, and there was a gentle dimness instead of the former hard +glitter in her eyes. Then, and it was not for the first time, I felt +that I could have bowed down and worshiped the Mistress of Bonaventure. + +It was evident that Boone had also been observant, for he afterwards +said, with unusual gravity: "Women resembling Miss Lucille Haldane are +the salt of this sorrowful world. There was only one I ever knew to +compare with her, and she, being too good for it, was translated to +what, if only because she was called there, must be a better." + +I agreed with his first statement entirely, and took his word for the +rest; but made no answer. Boone did not appear to desire one, and again +a strange longing filled his eyes while the shadow crept into his face. +I remembered it was written that the heart knows its own bitterness. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +A CHANGE OF TACTICS + + +The fires of sunset were fading low down on the verge of the prairie +when I spoke for the last time with Beatrice Haldane, as it happened, +beside the splendid wheat. It was changing from green to ochre, and +there was a play of varied light athwart the rigid blades, which in its +own way emphasized the symmetry of the tall figure in pale-tinted +draperies. Miss Haldane was stately of presence, but it was symbolic of +the difference between us that while we of the prairie ever turned our +eyes instinctively towards the West, she stood looking back towards +civilization and the darkening East, with a cold green brilliancy +burning behind her head. It matched the face projected against it, which +was that of a statue, perfect in modeling, as I still think, if almost +as colorless and serene. Beatrice Haldane was very beautiful, and every +curve and fold of the simple dress was immaculate and harmonious because +it seemed a part of her. + +My threadbare jean clung shapelessly about me, there was thick dust on +my old leggings and a rent in my broad hat, which trifles were, by +comparison, not without significance. Beatrice Haldane was clearly born +to take a leading place, with the eyes of many upon her, where life +pulsed fastest in the older world. I was a plain rancher, conscious, in +spite of theories concerning its dignity, of the brand of rude labor and +the stain of the soil; but at least my eyes were opened so that I had +seen the utter impossibility of a once cherished dream. + +"The prairie is very beautiful to-night, and surely this grain promises +a splendid yield," she said. "I am glad that it is so, for it will leave +a pleasant memory. I shall probably never stand beside the wheat again." + +This, I knew, was true. Beatrice Haldane would leave for Montreal and +Paris in a day or two, and, paying Bonaventure a farewell visit, she had +ridden over with her father, who had business with me. Strange to say, I +could now contemplate her approaching marriage with equanimity. + +"There are many drawbacks, but it is a good country," I answered +thoughtfully. + +Beatrice Haldane looked at me, and again I felt that she could still +draw my soul to the surface for inspection if she desired to. I also +fancied she knew her power, and wished to exercise it, but not from +pride in its possession. + +"And yet you can now hardly hope for more than a laborious life and +moderate prosperity. The prairie is often dreary, and the toil almost +brutalizing. Are you still content?" + +The sympathy in the voice robbed the words of any sting, and I answered +cheerfully: "It is all that you say; but there are compensations, and I +think no effort is thrown away. I can only repeat the old argument. One +can feel that he is playing a useful part in a comprehensive scheme even +in the muddiest tramp down a half-thawn furrow, and that every ear of +wheat called up or added head of cattle is needed by the world. Perhaps +the chief care of three-fourths of humanity concerns their daily bread. +Of course, our principal motive is the desire to attain our own, and you +may not understand that there is a satisfaction in the mere discovering +of how much one can do without, and, possibly as a result of this, that +one's physical nature rises equal to the strain." + +"And what do you gain--the right to work still harder?" she asked. "I +can grasp the half-formed ideal in your mind, and it is old, for +thousands of years before Thoreau men enlarged on it. Still, it has +always seemed to me that the realization is only possible to the very +few, and to the rest the result mostly destructive to the intellect." + +I laughed a little. "And I am very much of the rank and file; but at +least I have no hope of emulating either the medieval devotees or the +modern Hindoo visionaries. We practice self-denial from the prosaic lack +of money, or to save a little to sink in a longer furrow, and endure +fatigue more often to pay our debts than to acquire a bank balance. Yet +the result is not affected. The world is better fed." + +"Yes," she said thoughtfully. "It seems that whatever your motives may +be these things possess virtue in themselves--but the virtues do not +necessarily react upon those who practice them." + +"That is true," I answered. "Perhaps it is the motives that count." + +Beatrice Haldane looked away towards the dying fires. "There was a time +when you would not have been content." + +The wondrous green transparency had almost gone, the dew touched the +wheat, and we stood alone in the emptiness, under the hush that crept up +with the dimness from the east, and through which one could almost hear +the thirsty grasses drink. I knew now that I had never loved Beatrice +Haldane as a man usually loves a woman, but had offered an empty homage +to an unreality. Still, the semblance had once been real enough to me, +and I could not wholly hold my peace and let her go. Furthermore, both +she and her sister possessed the gift of forcing one's inmost thoughts, +and there was a power in the quiet voice stronger than my will. + +"No. I once had my ambitions and an ideal," I said. "At first their +realization seemed possible, but I had my lesson. Even when I knew the +ideal was unattainable, the knowledge did not decrease its influence, +and now, while smiling at past presumption, I can at least cherish the +memory. I think you must have known part of this." + +Beatrice Haldane had by knowledge attained to a perfection of +simplicity, and, while my own was either the result of ignorance or born +in me, we met upon it as man and woman--the latter too queenly to stoop +to any small assumption of diffidence. + +"I guessed it long ago, and there was a time when I was pleased," she +said. "However, it was doubtless well for you that, when contact with +the world taught me what we both were, I knew it was impossible. When we +met again on the prairie, you could not see that I was not the girl you +knew in England. She had, in the meantime, bought enlightenment dearly; +though whether it or her earlier fancies were nearer the hidden truth +she does not know." + +"In one respect you can never change to me," I said. "The sunny-faced +girl in England will always live in my memory." + +Beatrice Haldane smiled, though the fast fading light showed the +weariness in her eyes. "Until you find the substance better than the +shadow; and she must always have been unreal. Still, we are not proof +against such assurances, and I am even now partly pleased to hear you +say so. Do you know that you have shamed me, Harry Ormesby?" + +"That would be impossible," I said; and my companion smiled. + +"Hold fast by your blunt directness if you are wise," she said. "I was +blinded by the critical faculty, and you rebuked me by clinging to your +visionary ideal, while I--misjudged you. I do not mind admitting now +that it hurt me, the more so when I found that Lucille, being--and there +is truth in the phrase--unspotted by the world, believed in you +implicitly. It was because of this I allowed you to speak as you have +done. I felt that I must ask your forgiveness, because we shall probably +never meet again." + +Whether Beatrice Haldane was correct in her own estimate I do not know; +but she was the most queenly woman I had ever met, and I lifted the rent +hat as I said: "Circumstances betrayed me, and you could do no wrong. +Even if that had been possible, how far would one suspicion count +against all that the girl in England has done for me? Now it only +remains for us to part good friends--and with full sincerity I wish you +every happiness." + +"Thank you," said Beatrice quietly; and without another word we walked +back towards the house together through the velvet dusk. I noticed that +Lucille glanced at us sharply as we entered. + +"You will not forget our appointment in Winnipeg," said Haldane, as they +drove away; and I stood still long after the vehicle had melted into the +prairie. What I thought I do not remember; but it was with a dreamy +calmness that, now the worst had passed, I returned to Crane Valley. + +Reluctance mingled with my anticipation when I proceeded to Winnipeg at +the appointed time. The harvest was almost ready, and a brief holiday +possibly justifiable in anticipation of that time of effort; but the +journey was long and expensive, while, after our severe economies, I had +fallen into the habit of slow consideration each time I spent a dollar. +Steel laughed when I said so, and pointed to the grain. "It's easier to +get used to prosperity than the other thing," he said. "There is plenty +money yonder to start you again. If necessary you can remember you have +earned a good time." + +The sight of the long waves of deepening ochre that rolled before the +warm breeze was very reassuring, though belief came slowly, and for days +I had feared some fresh disaster. Their rhythmical rustle, swelled by +the murmur of the wheat heads and the patter of the oats, made sweet +music, for their undertone was hope, while the flash and flicker of the +bending blades presaged the glitter of hard-won gold--gold that would +set me a free man again. Then I was ashamed, and my voice a trifle +husky, as I said: "I am certainly going to Winnipeg, Steel. If it had +not been for the others the harvest would have left me in the grip of +Lane, and now that the time has come I mean to stand by them." + +I boarded the cars the more contentedly that there was a note in my +pocket from Lucille Haldane. "Father tells me the time is ripe for you +and your friends to strike at last," it ran. "I want to ask you to +assist him in every way you can; and I wait anxiously to hear of your +success." + +I did not understand the whole plan of campaign, but gathered that +Haldane, with the support of our prairie committee, would make a "bear" +attack on the company--which, while Lane held stock in it, had largely +financed him--and I looked forward with keen interest to the struggle. +We others had done our best with plow and bridle, not to mention birch +staff and fork; but we had hitherto acted chiefly on the defensive, and +now an attack was to be pushed home with the aid of money and a superior +intellect. + +Haldane was in excellent spirits when, accompanied by Boone, he greeted +me in Winnipeg station. "I feel less rusty already, and you look several +years younger than you did a few months ago," he said. "But we have +breakfast ready, and can talk comfortably over it." + +The meal was a luxurious one, and Haldane's explanations interesting. +"Mr. Boone has taken a great deal of trouble to inquire into Lane's +affairs, with the assistance of a man Dixon recommended. Considering the +difficulties, I hardly think I should have succeeded better myself," he +said. + +Boone said this was an unmerited compliment; and Haldane laughed. "Well, +the result, as anticipated, is this. Lane has most of his money locked +up in mortgages which he does not wish to foreclose on immediately, +while we conclude that the rest is represented by shares in the +Territories Investment Company, which concern proposes to increase its +capital, and, as somebody has been trying to sell that stock quietly in +small lots, one may decide that he is short of money. We purpose to +scare off buyers and depreciate his shares by selling them in handfuls +as publicly as possible; or, in other words, to hammer the company." + +"There are two points I am not clear about," I said. "We have not the +stock to sell; and wouldn't it be a trifle hard on innocent +shareholders?" + +"We are finding out your capacities by degrees," said Haldane, with a +quizzical glance at me. "In the first place, we take the risk of being +able to procure the stock when frightened holders rush on the market. If +they don't--well, there will be a difficulty. In the second place, there +are no innocent holders, or only a very few. The corporation is a +semi-private concern--combination of second-rate sharpers of your +friend's own kidney; and the few outsiders are professional speculators +who take such risks as they come--they are only now thinking of an +appeal to the general public. Here is the latest balance sheet, and I +presume you are not anxious to see a continuance of that dividend wrung +out of your friends on the prairie." + +My anger flamed up once more as I glanced at the figures. I had seen how +that profit was earned--not by the company's agents, but by careworn men +and suffering women, who toiled under a steadily increasing burden, +which was crushing the life out of them. I had also received a laconic +message from a combination of such as these: "Have paid in ---- dollars +to the B. O. M. We'll sell our boots to back you if Haldane's standing +in. Do the best you can." + +Then I brought my fist down on the table as I said: "I'd walk out a +beggar to-morrow before that should happen. If this concern lives only +by such plunder, for heaven's sake let us demolish it. I can't eat +another morsel. Isn't it time to begin?" + +Haldane smiled, and touched a bell. "My principal broker should be +waiting." + +A little, spectacled man, with a shrill voice and insignificant +appearance, was ushered in, and, as I inspected him, Haldane's choice +reminded me of the Hebrew shepherd's sling. He appeared a very feeble +weapon to use against the giant who had oppressed us so grievously. +"Territories have been offering at several dollars' reduction," he said. +"Don't know why, unless it's the railroad uncertainty. You couldn't get +hold of one under full premium until lately." + +The speaker, in spite of his declared ignorance, answered Haldane's +smile; and the latter said: "You can begin at a further five dollars +down. Come round in the afternoon and tell us how you are progressing. +Isn't there a race meeting somewhere about this place to-day?" + +The broker said there was; and I was astonished when Haldane suggested +that we might as well attend it, for this part of the conflict was +evidently to be fought on wholly novel lines. We drove to the meeting, +and after the monotony of Crane Valley the sight of the light-hearted +crowd, the hum of voices and laughter, the gay dresses, and, above all, +the horses, was exhilarating. Nevertheless, it was some time before the +scene compelled my whole attention, for the issues of the business which +had brought me to Winnipeg appeared far too serious to justify such +trifling. By degrees, however, I yielded to the influence of the +stirring spectacle, and was at length amazed to find myself shouting +wildly with the rest when a handsome chestnut broke out from the ruck of +galloping horses a furlong from the post. Then, indeed, for a few +seconds I was oblivious of everything but the silk-clad figure and the +beautiful animal rushing past the dim sea of faces in the blaze of +sunshine behind, while the roar of hoofs and the human clamor set me +quivering. It was all so different from anything I had heard or seen on +the silent prairie. Boone returned presently, and I stared at the silver +coins he placed in my palm. + +"You don't look satisfied, Ormesby, with the result of your few dollars. +Are you sorry I did not lay a decent stake, or have you been infected by +Lane?" he said; and I answered him dryly: "I'm sorry that, without +telling me, you staked anything at all. It is so long since I had any +money to risk on such amusements--and it does not seem fair to the +anxious men waiting on the prairie." + +Haldane laughed. "It is generally wise to make the most of a pleasant +interlude, because the average man does not get too many of them. If +this strikes you as trifling, Ormesby, you will find grim enough +amusement before we are through." + +It was afternoon when we returned to the city, and we recommenced the +campaign by a sumptuous lunch, during which the broker came in. "I've +been offering Territories until I'm hoarse," he said. "There was some +surprise and talking, but nobody wanted to buy; and, while it's an +honor to serve you, I don't see much of a commission in this." + +"You will, if I know my opponents," said Haldane significantly. "Take +off two more dollars, and, if there are any buyers, don't let them think +you're not in earnest. You can put another of your friends on." + +The broker departed and left me wondering. It struck me that to reduce +the value by open quotations should have been enough, without saddling +ourselves with contracts when we did not hold the stock; but it seemed +that cautious slowness was not Haldane's way. He next insisted on +playing billiards with me, and he played as well as I did badly, for my +fingers had grown stiff from the grip of the plow-stilts and bridle, and +we had small opportunity for such amusements on the prairie. Nothing of +importance happened during the remainder of the day, but I have a clear +recollection of how the throb of life from the busy city reacted on me +as we sat together on a balcony outside the smoking-room after dinner. +It was a hot night, and the streets were filled with citizens seeking +coolness in the open air. The place seemed alive with moving figures +that came and went endlessly under the glare of the great arc lights, +while the stir and brilliancy appeared unreal to me. The air throbbed +with voices, the clank of great freight trains in the station, and the +hum of trolley cars; while only one narrow strip of sky appeared between +the rows of stores, and that strip was barred by a maze of interlacing +wires. I felt as though I had awakened from a century's sleep on the +prairie. + +"Somewhat different from Crane Valley," said Haldane, pointing with his +cigar towards the crowded wires. "I wonder how many of those are charged +with our business--it is tolerably certain that some of them are. We +have cheerfully thrown down the glove, and now the forces of fire and +air and water are all pressed into the service of spreading our +challenge across the continent. There's a mammoth printing machine in +yonder building reeling it off by the thousands of copies every hour in +its commercial reports, and those papers will be rushed east and west +to warn holders in Quebec or Vancouver to-night. Also, by this time, +Lane, wherever he is, will be spending money like water to keep the +wires humming. Feel uneasy about the explosion now that you have helped +to fire the train?" + +"I feel curious both as to why you should take so much trouble to help +us, sir, and as to the enemy's first move," I said. + +"To keep myself from rusting, for one thing, and because Lane is one man +too many down our way," was the careless answer. "If that does not +appear a sufficient motive I may perhaps mention another when we have +won. As to the other affair, Lane will, so long as his means hold out, +buy--or urge his friends to--while we sell. Just how far can you and the +men behind you go?" + +I named a sum, which Haldane noted. "With what Boone and I have decided +to put up it will be enough if all goes well. If not--but we will not +trouble about that. This contract strikes me as a trifle too big for +Lane," he said. + +I retired early, but scarcely slept all night. I felt that the struggle +would commence in earnest on the morrow, and Haldane's words had warned +me that our nerve and treasury might be taxed to the utmost before we +made good the challenge we had so lightly, it seemed to me, sent +broadcast across the Dominion. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE TURNING OF THE TIDE + + +I rose early next morning, and a stroll through the awakening city, +which was cool and fresh as yet, braced me for the stress of the day. +Haldane looked thoughtful at breakfast; Boone was silent and +suspiciously stolid, for he betrayed himself by the very slowness with +which he folded back the newspaper brought him to expose the commercial +reports. He handed it to Haldane, who nodded, saying nothing. It was a +relief to me, at least, when the meal was over, but afterwards the +morning passed very heavily, for I spent most of it haunting a dark +telephone box, where Haldane received and dispatched cabalistic +messages. I did not approve of conflict of this description, in which +the uninitiated could neither follow the points lost or won nor see the +enemy, and I should have preferred the hay-fork and a background of +sunlit prairie. + +Noon seemed a very long time coming, and the report of the broker who +arrived with it far from reassuring. "We have sold a fair block of +stock, and I brought you the contracts to sign," he said. "Settlement +and all conditions as usual. Each time that we offered a round lot +Graham's salesman and another man took them up." + +"Lane is taking hold. He has stirred up his allies," said Haldane. "I'll +put my name to these papers, and you can call down another few dollars +when you start again. I suppose there is no other person selling?" + +"No," said the broker. "There were a good many other men curious about +our game, and I fancy one or two of them had instructions; but they did +nothing. We'll work up a sensation during the afternoon." + +It would have greatly pleased me to hear of other persons parting with +their shares; but Haldane still looked confident, and Boone appeared to +place implicit faith in his generalship. I, however, grew more and more +anxious as the afternoon dragged by, for my sense of responsibility to +the men behind me increased when each tinkle of the telephone bell was +followed by a message reporting further sales. Somebody was steadily +taking up the stock we offered, and when, for the fourth time, Haldane +had answered my question, "Any sign of weakness yet?" in the negative, I +could stay indoors no longer, and found it a relief to stride briskly +through the busy streets towards a grain buyer's offices. + +My own personal risk was heavy enough, but I knew also what it had cost +my prairie neighbors to raise the sum they had credited me with, and I +felt that, if beaten, I dare not return and face them with the news +that, losing all in an unsuccessful gamble, we had left them doubly +helpless at the mercy of a triumphant enemy. The interview with the +grain merchant was, however, in a measure comforting. He admitted that +prices were improving, stated approximate figures which almost surprised +me, and volunteered the information that when my crop should be gathered +he would be glad to make me an offer. Although prospects were good in +Western Canada, cereals were scarce everywhere else; and I returned so +involved in mental calculations that I walked into several citizens, one +of whom swore fluently. He wore toothpick-pointed shoes, and in my +abstraction I had, it seemed, trodden cruelly on his toes. + +Boone came up while I attempted to apologize, and tapped me on the +shoulder. "What do you think of this amusement, Ormesby? It seems to +have had the effect of dazing you," he said. "You were walking right +past the hotel as though your eyes were shut." + +"To be candid, I think very little of it," I said. "Still, I was +puzzling over a slightly complicated sum to ascertain how much--counting +every remaining beast, salable implement, and load of grain--would, when +I have paid off Lane, remain my own." + +"Planning your campaign for next year?" asked Boone, with a trace of +dryness. + +"No," I answered. "It will not be a great deal, but I'm open to stake +the last cent on beating Lane." + +"Good man!" said Boone. "We are going to beat him; and, to show that I +am prepared to back my convictions, I may say that I have already +hypothecated every pennyworth of my English property." + +Haldane was waiting for us when we came in. "Our men have had a busy +afternoon. All the shares they offered were bought up, and there is no +sign of any weakness yet," he said. + +We formed a somewhat silent company during the earlier portion of the +evening. Haldane sat busy, pencil in hand, and finally passed a page of +his notebook across to us. "I don't quite know who is backing Lane, but +his purse is a tolerably long one," he said. "You see, we must produce +shares, or the difference between their value at that time and the price +we sold at, to this extent on settling day, Ormesby." + +"Of which nobody would apparently sell us one," I answered ruefully. + +Haldane nodded. "You mean, of course, to-day. A good many people may be +willing to do so before this hour to-morrow--if not it will be time then +to consider seriously. Meanwhile, the best we can do is to seek innocent +relaxation, and I see that Miss Redmond is singing at the opera house." + +I was hardly in the mood to enjoy a concert, though I was curious to +hear Redmond's daughter; but inaction had grown almost insufferable and +when we took our places in the crowded building I felt glad that I had +come. The sight of the close-packed multitude and the hum of many voices +helped to hold in check my nervous restlessness. Nevertheless, though a +lover of music, I scarcely heard a word of the first three songs, and +only became intent when a clapping of hands rolled round the building as +a dark-haired girl stood forward in the glare of the footlights. It was +evidently she who had drawn the perspiring crowd together, and that +alone was an eloquent testimonial, considering the temperature. + +Ailin Redmond was very plainly dressed, and she smiled her +acknowledgments with a simplicity that evidently pleased the audience, +while perhaps in compliment to them she wore as sole adornment a few +green maple leaves. Then I settled myself to listen, and continued +almost spell-bound to the end of the song, wondering where the girl I +had seen herding cattle barefooted not very long ago had acquired such +power. She was not, from a technical view, perhaps, a finished singer; +but Western audiences can feel, if, for the most part, they cannot +criticise; and I think she drove the full meaning of the old Irish +ballad home to the hearts of all of them. A wailing undertone rang +through it, and the effect of the whole was best expressed as uncanny. +It was no doubt the strangeness of her themes, and the contrast she +presented to her stereotyped rivals, which had led to the girl's +success. + +In any case the applause was vociferous, and continued until the singer +returned and stood still, with hands lightly clasped, looking, not at +the expectant audience, but directly at us. There was a curious +expression in her eyes, which were fixed steadily on myself and Haldane +beside me. Then I gained understanding as she commenced to sing, for +there was no mistaking the fact that she meant the song for us. It was a +clever resetting of such an old-world ballad as I think no Anglo-Saxon +could have written; its burden was a mourning over ancient wrongs and +hunger for revenge; but the slender, dark-haired girl held the power to +infuse her spirit into me. My lips and hands closed tight as I saw, what +I think she wished me to, Helen Boone dying in a sod hovel, and the +wagon that bore the dead man rolling through murky blackness across the +prairie. + +Then I shook all misgivings from me, feeling that though every acre and +bushel of grain must go, and we failed, they would be well spent in an +attempt to pull down the man who had brought about such things. That +others might suffer with him counted little then. They had clutched at +their dividends--dividends wrung by him out of the agony of poor men; +and their ignorance, which was scarcely possible, did not free them from +responsibility. + +There was dead stillness for several seconds between the accompanist's +final chord and the tumultuous applause which the slightly puzzled +audience accorded, while, when it died away, I saw that Boone's forehead +was beaded and his lips slightly quivering. Even Haldane appeared less +than usually at ease. + +"Miss Redmond is a young lady of uncommon and even uncomfortable gifts," +he said. "Women, as you will discover some day, Ormesby, are responsible +for most of the mischief that goes on, as well as a large amount of +good. For instance, it was the encouragement of one of them which helped +to start me on this campaign, and now, when slightly doubtful respecting +the wisdom of the step, another must sing eerie songs to me with a +purpose. I think we will walk round and call on her." + +We did so, and Redmond's daughter did not keep us waiting long. She +sailed down a broad stairway and stood smiling under the glaring lamps, +very slight and slim and graceful, so that it seemed fitting Haldane +should bend over the hand she gave him. + +"There is no need for my poor compliments after the verdict of the +multitude; but did you sing that song to us?" he said. + +"Yes," said the girl quietly, while the smile sank out of her eyes. "We +have a good many friends and hear much gossip, so I knew at once who was +directing the attack on Lane's company. As to the song--I had some +slight education down East, you know--its choice was not without a +meaning. You will remember how, on the eve of battle, Shakespeare's +ghosts prophesied to one man ruin and to another victory?" + +"Yes," said Haldane, looking puzzled, "I think I do." + +"Then"--and Ailin Redmond seemed to shiver a little--"do you think there +are no ghosts on the prairie?" + +"I have not met any of them," said Haldane; and the girl answered with +infectious gravity: "That does not prove there are none; and, even if +you call it a childish fancy, I felt as I sang that they will bring you +victory to-morrow." + +"You are far too clever and pretty to fill your head with such fancies, +my dear," said Haldane. And when we went out into the open he repeated, +with a shrug of his shoulders: "In spite of her talents, that is a most +uncomfortable young woman; but heaven send her prophecy comes true." + +Again I passed a restless night, but our agent procured us admission +into the inner precincts of the exchange on the morrow, and as I +listened to the eager shouting and watched the excited groups surge +about the salesmen, I began to comprehend the fascination that +speculation wields over its votaries. Our little spectacled broker, +however, held my eye as he flitted to and fro, and now and then with a +strident cry gathered a mob of gesticulating men about him. Somebody +accepted his offers on each occasion, and he approached us with an +almost dismayed expression when the market closed at noon. + +"You are an old hand at this business, sir, but I feel it's my duty to +warn you that things don't look well," he said. "Your friends of the +opposition are evidently able to stand considerable hammering. The sum +you mentioned would be no use now to pull us straight; and unless +there's a break pretty soon they'll squeeze you like a screw vice on +settling day. It would be hard to figure the price they'll make you +pay." + +"You don't suppose I haven't foreseen such a contingency," said Haldane. +"The break will probably come this afternoon--if not, to-morrow. Tell +your allies to sell further small lots down at a moderate reduction." + +Our lunch was, as the others had been, luxurious; but my throat was dry, +and I could not eat. Boone's appetite had also failed, and I may have +guessed aright at part of his story when I saw him, after thrice +emptying his glass, glance still thirstily at the wine, and then thrust +the decanter away. + +"It is time to consider," said Haldane. "Unless somebody is soon scared +into selling, Lane's company will be able to fleece us horribly on +settling day; but experience of such affairs teaches me that sooner or +later the smaller holders must break under a persistent hammering. Now, +I don't mind admitting that I did not anticipate such an obstinate +defense; and the cause of my interference is mainly this: I had promised +to take my younger daughter on a trip to Europe, but am not overfond of +traveling, and Lucille is tolerably contented with her own country; so +when she first suggested and then insisted that I should make a campaign +fund of what it would cost I was not wholly sorry to agree, and figured +that, with careful handling, the money might be sufficient to scare Lane +into making some rash move. At present it seems that I was mistaken, and +that before we break him I must throw Bonaventure into the scale. You +may save your protests, gentlemen; I'm a born speculator, and my +daughter has set her heart on this thing. If she hadn't, I'd have a very +great reluctance to being beaten by a single-horse-power company." + +"Every acre of Crane Valley I can find a buyer for goes in, too," I +said; and Boone added quietly: "You have my last dollar, sir, already." + +Nothing of moment happened until next day, but it appeared to me that +there was an almost insupportable tension in the very atmosphere. Our +chief broker was clearly excited, and his tone significant, when he +called to inform us that, while no other sellers had followed his +challenge, only very small parcels of the stock he offered were being +taken up; and so the matter stood until the afternoon. + +I was now anxious as well as determined. It did not require much +knowledge of such affairs for me to realize that unless other persons +flung their shares on the market we should be left absolutely at the +mercy of the men who had the stock to sell; and while I had nerved +myself to part with everything, it would be inexpressibly galling to +strip myself to enable Lane to reap a handsome profit. Neither do I +think it was mere lust of revenge that impelled me. The man was a menace +to the prosperity of every struggling rancher, and had shown no mercy; +while--setting aside the fact that he himself deserved none--it seemed +that my neighbors' right to existence depended on our efforts to +overthrow him. Haldane appeared unusually serious when I glanced at him. + +"If nothing happens in an hour we shall have to hold a council as to how +we may cut our losses," he said. + +Half an hour passed very slowly, and then, warned by a message, we +strolled into the market to find there was comparative silence in the +long echoing room, as those who congregated there grew languid and +drowsy under the heat of the afternoon. Its atmosphere seemed +suffocating, and before I had been present long the suspense reacted +upon me physically, for my throat resembled a lime-kiln and the +superficial arteries of my forehead throbbed painfully. Boone, at +intervals, moistened his dry lips with his tongue, and Haldane alone +leaned calmly against a pillar jotting down figures in the notebook he +held. + +Then a few listless men gathered round a broker, and suddenly became +intent, while a murmur of interest rose through the drowsy heat. The +voices grew louder, the group swelled, and I started at the call: "Any +more of you with Territories to sell?" + +"It must be Lane's last throw," said Haldane quietly. "Ah! The tide is +turning. There is somebody who doesn't belong to us making a deal with +him." + +The bystanders surged to and fro about the speakers in a manner that +reminded me of corraled cattle; others hurried towards them, and our +broker's voice rang out: "I'll trade with you at two dollars better." + +Then there was a confused shouting, "I'll beat him by another! Two more +dollars down!" and every unoccupied man in the room joined the crowd, +out of which rose indistinguishable offers, comments, questions, and +counter-offers. These swelled into a deafening clamor, but through them +all I could hear or feel the hurried beating of my heart, and my voice +sounded hollow as I touched Haldane's arm. "Tell me the meaning of it," +I said. + +"We have beaten them," said Haldane quietly. "There are other men +hurrying to sell. The weak holders have broken at last, and, because a +panic is infectious, most of the others will follow them. Ah! It is +beginning. There go the telegrams, and I hear both telephone bells. The +fun will commence in earnest when the answers come in; and, meanwhile, a +breath of fresher air would brace one. You may have noticed that it's a +trifle choky inside here." + +I had, but my feet seemed glued to the floor and my eyes on the swaying +crowd, so that it cost me an effort to tear them free and follow Boone +and Haldane into the open air. He presently led us into the grateful +coolness of a big basement saloon, and, scarcely drawing breath, I +emptied the contents of a tumbler filled with iced liquid, and then I +looked at Boone, who had pushed aside the glass set before him and +reached for the ice bowl. + +"I have bought my experience, Ormesby," he said, with a smile which once +more flashed a sidelight on his history. "In times like these it is +better to confine one's self to nature's distillery. A cigar? No, thank +you, sir. Do you feel like smoking, Ormesby?" + +I did not, for, in spite of the cool beverage, the bite of tobacco would +have been insufferable then; but Haldane lay back in a big lounge +chewing a cigar. He said nothing whatever, and though he appeared +satisfied, the lines on his forehead had deepened and his face appeared +older. In spite of my impatience we must have remained nearly an hour +before our leader rose a little stiffly and proceeded with unusual +slowness towards the scene of the conflict. It was raging fiercely. Some +of the speculators howled like wild beasts; others wrestled with their +fellows to reach the clear space in the center of the ring; and, +standing on the plinth of a column, I could see gesticulating men hard +at work with their notebooks. How they were able to record any bargain +or to comprehend any offer amid that pandemonium was more than I could +discover; for everybody interested appeared to be shouting at once, and +the rest of the assembly cheering them on. One irate individual, indeed, +dragged a neighbor backwards by the collar, and then plunged blindly +into the midst of the circle when the other, retaliating, drove his hat +down over his eyes. + +Haldane listened keenly for several minutes, and then turned to me. +"It's going our way, Ormesby. Holders are getting out as fast as they +can, and various speculative gentlemen who have been waiting for the +first sign of weakness are hammering them. We have done our part, and +can safely leave the rest to them. See if you can give our broker this +note for me, and then, if you have had sufficient excitement, we will +take a drive somewhere until dinner's ready." + +I had certainly had sufficient excitement in that form to last the rest +of my life, and I managed to reach the broker without personal injury, +after which we solaced ourselves with a drive through the city and +across some very uninteresting prairie. I saw little of either, and was +conscious of scarcely anything beyond the all-important fact that Lane's +power was broken, and henceforward my neighbors would enjoy the fruits +of their own labor instead of swelling heavy dividends with +three-fourths of them. + +When we returned to the hotel our agent, who appeared in an exultant +mood, was waiting us, and he positively beamed upon Haldane as he said: +"It's an honor to work for a man with your nerve and judgment, sir, and +we have whipped the last grit out of them. I let up altogether when I +saw every outside 'bear' come ramping in; and, if you're inclined that +way, we might cover a little quietly without stiffening prices." + +I do not know what Haldane's instructions were. Indeed, the reaction of +relief prevented my remembering anything at all very clearly, except +that, as we sat at dinner, Haldane said: "I shouldn't wonder if those +physicians were right, and I think I have made my last stake this +afternoon. I dare say you understand, Ormesby, that as we could now +purchase the stock below the price at which we sold there will be a +profit in the transaction. Individually, I did not undertake this matter +as a speculation." + +Haldane made light of our anxiety lest he should have suffered. "I have +long known I should have to sink into idleness, and it was a good piece +of work to retire on," he said. "But what about the profit?" + +I had no hesitation about the answer. "It was no desire of profit that +brought me here; and as one experience of the kind is sufficient, I +intend henceforward to stick to my horses and cattle. I will not touch a +dollar of the money beyond actual expenses, and would propose that, +setting aside any portion necessary to secure us against reprisals and +to complete our work, the rest should be handed to Miss Haldane to +distribute as she thinks best in charity." + +Boone expressed his full compliance, and Haldane smiled at me. "Do you +think you can run up a contra account in that way, Ormesby?" + +"I believe we are justified; but, justified or not, I will not touch a +dollar of the gains," I said. "I am going back to the prairie to-morrow, +to express our deepest gratitude to Miss Haldane. As to yourself, sir, a +good many hard-pressed men will never forget you." + +Then Boone rose up gravely with a wine-glass in his hand. "The task is +too big for Ormesby, or any other man," he said. "May every good thing +follow the Mistress of Bonaventure." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +ILLUMINATION + + +The binders were clanking through the wheat when I next met Haldane at +Crane Valley. Having embarked upon his new career with characteristic +energy, he rode over from Bonaventure with his daughter to watch our +harvesting, and incidentally came near bewildering me with his +questions. Some of them were hard to answer, and I felt a trace of +irritation, as well as surprise, that a few hours' observation should +enable him to hit upon the best means of overcoming difficulties which +had cost me months of experimenting to discover. + +Thorn, I remember, stared at him in wonder, and afterwards observed: +"You and I have just got to keep on trying until we find out the best +way of fixing things, and if our way's certain, it's often expensive. +That man just chews on his cigar, and it comes to him. When I take up my +located land and get worried about the money, I'm going to try +cigar-smoking." + +"You will have considerably less of it if you experiment with the brand +that Haldane keeps," I answered, jerking the lines, and my binder rolled +on again behind the weary team. When each minute was worth a silver +coin, we dare not spare the beasts, and I had worn out four of them in +as many days, and then sat almost nodding in the driving seat, with a +deep sense of satisfaction in my heart which I was too tired to express. + +Oat sheaves ridging the bleached prairie blazed in yellow ranks before +my heavy eyes, and each heave of the binder's arms flung out behind me a +truss of golden wheat. The glare was blinding, for we worked under the +full heat of a scorching afternoon, as we had done, and would do, by the +pale light of the moon. Thick dust rolled about us, clogging my lashes +and fouling the coats of the beasts, while the crackle of the flinty +stems, the rasp of shearing knives, the rhythm of trampling hoofs, and +the clink of metal throbbing harmoniously through the drowsy heat, were +flung back by other machines at work across the grain. There is, +however, a limit to human powers, and I must have been driving +mechanically, and nearly asleep, when a clicking warned me that it was +time to fit another spool of twine. I remember that during the operation +I envied the endurance of the soulless, but otherwise almost human, +machine. + +Steel came up with his binder before it was completed, a creak and thud +and tinkle swelling in musical crescendo as the jaded team loomed nearer +through the dust. There was a flash of varnished wood that rose and +fell, and twinkling metal, and I saw the driver sitting stiffly with +hands, that were almost blackened, clenched on the lines, peering +straight before him out of half-closed eyes, while the moisture that ran +from his forehead washed copper-tinted channels through the grime. It +was by an effort he held himself to his task; but that was nothing +unusual, for the prairie does not yield up her riches lightly, and by +the golden wake he left behind him the effort was justified. The earth +had been fruitful that season, and harvest had not failed; while, having +sown in deep dejection, uncertain who would reap, it was a small thing +to strain one's strength to the utmost to gather the bounteous yield. We +were already free, and every revolution of the binder's arms set us so +much farther on the road to prosperity. + +Twice I jerked the lines, but the team stood still; and I was preparing +to encourage them more vigorously, when Haldane and his daughter +approached. Both had insisted on my leaving them to their own devices, +and now Lucille appeared to regard the beasts and myself +compassionately. + +"They look very tired, and they have done so much," she said, glancing +down the long rows of piled-up grain. "Is not that sufficient to justify +your resting a little?" + +"I am afraid not," I answered with a somewhat rueful smile. "You see, +prosperity has made us greedy, while all the grain cut up to the present +belongs to Lane." + +The girl looked indignant--Haldane thoughtful. "I have been wondering +whether you would feel inclined to contest his claim for the balance of +the debt," he said. "Considering that he has taken from you twice the +value of his loan, and the story in Miss Redmond's book, you might be +ethically and legally justified." + +"No," I said. "I made the bargain, and I intend to keep my part of it. +That accomplished, I shall have the fewer scruples about using every +effort to utterly crush the man. All we cut henceforward is my own, and +I can only repeat that I should be glad to devote every bushel to help +forward his defeat." + +"I think you are right," said Lucille Haldane, with a trace of pride in +her approval, though her eyes were mischievous as she continued: "It is, +however, unfortunate you are so very busy, because, as father is riding, +and as the team are a little wild, we hoped you would drive them home +for me." + +I climbed down from the iron saddle, shouting to Steel, and Lucille +smiled demurely. "We could not tear you away from that machine when you +would grudge every minute," she said. "Remember that Bonaventure is a +long way off, and, even if we allowed it, you could hardly return before +to-morrow." + +I nevertheless fancied she was pleased at my eagerness, and, for Haldane +had passed on, I felt suddenly oppressed by the recognition of what I +owed her. Yet had it been possible I should not have lightened the debt. +I looked down at her gravely, noticing how young and fresh and slender +she seemed--bright as the blaze of sunshine in which she stood--and then +I pointed towards the long ranks of sheaves and the sea of stately ears. + +"I am not in the least inconsistent, and should not be if every moment +were thrice as precious," I said. "I remember most plainly that you gave +me all this. Strange as it may seem, it is, nevertheless, perfectly +true." + +The girl blushed prettily, and then glanced from me towards the tired +horses and the standing machine, after which her eyes rested with +approval on the stalwart form of Thorn, who came up urging on his +plodding team. + +"It would be something to be proud of, if one could believe you, +Rancher; but I am not wholly pleased with the last part of the speech," +she said, with a faint, half-mocking inclination of the head. "I can +guess what you are thinking, and you are a trifle slow to learn. Women +are very well in their own place, are they not? However, you find it +perplexing when they will not stay there, but, because some of them grow +tired of breathing incense, they descend and interfere in masculine +affairs. It is truly strange that there should be more forces in the +world than those centered in big dusty men and splendid horses!" + +"You must be a witch; but I am learning by degrees," I said. And the +girl laughed merrily. + +"You have not progressed very far, to judge by the comparison. Witches +were usually pictured as malevolent, old, and ugly." + +"I meant a beneficent fairy; but the surprise was not quite unnatural," +I said. "Who could suspect in such a slender and fragile person the +power she possesses to banish gloom and poverty? Legions of men and +horses could not accomplish so much." + +"Now you go too far in the opposite direction," and my companion shook +her head. "It is the sense of balance you need." + +The sun-blaze turned the clustered hair under her wide hat into the +likeness of burnished gold--the gold of our own Northwest, with a +coppery warmth in it--but the light in her hazel eyes eclipsed its +brilliancy. The lithe figure fitted its gorgeous background of yellow +radiancy, and again I felt all my pulses quicken as I paid Haldane's +daughter silent homage. Magnificent as the wheat, alike to eye and +understanding, when one remembered its mission, her presence seemed the +crown and complement of all that splendid field. It was hard to refrain +from telling her so, and possibly my voice was not pitched quite in its +normal key when I said: "It is short of the truth, but there is just one +thing I should like to know, and that is whether any other motive than +pure benevolence prompted you." + +"Why?" + +Then I answered boldly: "Because it would be worth the rest to fancy +that in some small measure it was due to individual goodwill towards +Rancher Ormesby." + +The girl looked away from me across the grain, and, as she turned her +head, it was with a thrill of pleasure, which may not have been wholly +artistic, that I noticed the polished whiteness of her neck and a +dainty, pink-tinted little ear that peeped out from the clusters of her +hair. Then she laughed, perhaps at Thorn, who argued quaintly, if +forcibly, with his reluctant beasts, and turned to me. + +"If you desire another motive, you may conclude, as you heard before, +that it was love of justice; which really ought to satisfy you." + +"It is a creditable one," I answered. "But I fear that it does not." + +We left Crane Valley shortly, Haldane on horseback, his +daughter--because something had gone wrong with the Bonaventure +vehicle--beside me in our light wagon, which, if it in no way resembled +the cumbrous contrivance bearing that name in England, was, I was +uneasily conscious, by no means overclean. On the way we met the +threshers, and stronger teams hauling the machines towards Crane Valley, +for our threshing is done mostly in the field. We stopped to bid them +hurry, and Haldane, learning they had met Gordon, whom he desired to +see, bade us proceed while he looked for the rancher. I was not sorry to +do so, and accordingly it was without him that we approached the dip to +the Sweetwater hollow. + +The afternoon was waning, and the air very still. The tiny birch leaves +had ceased their whispering; but the sound of running water came +musically out of their cool shadow. All the winding valley was rolled in +green, an oasis of verdure in the sweep of white-bleached prairie; and, +pulling the team up between the first of the slender trunks, I pointed +down towards the half-seen lane of sliding water. + +"I might never have known you if it had not been for a trifling accident +by yonder willow clump," I said. "I remember your sister suggested that +very night that our meeting might be the first scene of a drama, and, +considering all that has happened since then, her prediction has proved +strangely accurate." + +Lucille Haldane nodded. "It is a coincidence that I was thinking of the +same thing, and wondering, now that the play must be drawing towards its +close, what the end will be. The meeting must, however, have been +unlucky for you, because all your troubles date from that beginning." + +"And my privileges," I answered, smiling. "The present is at least a +happy augury. When I met Boone beside the river there was not a leaf on +the birches, and their branches were moaning under a blast which makes +one shiver from mere recollection. Remember the harvest at Crane Valley, +and look down on yonder shining water and cool greenery. It was you who +brought us the sunshine, and even the memory of the dark days is now +melting like that night's snow." + +"That is exaggerated sentiment, and I have heard invertebrate youths in +the cities say such things more neatly," commented the girl, with an air +of mock severity, and then glanced dreamily into the hollow; while, as +silence succeeded, fate sent a little sting-fly to take a part--as, to +confound man's contriving, trifles often do--in ending the play. The +team were ill-broken broncos which had already given me trouble, and +when the fly bored with envenomed proboscis through the hide of one, the +beast flung up his head and kicked savagely. + +The reins which I held loosely were whisked away, and before it was +possible to recover them both horses had bolted. The light wagon lurched +giddily, and the next moment it swept like a toboggan down the +declivity. + +"Hold fast!" I shouted, leaning recklessly down; and the first shock of +enervating consternation vanished when I gripped the reins. Still, there +was cold fear at my heart when, bracing both feet against the +wagon-front, I strove uselessly to master the team. The brutes' mouths +seemed made of iron, impervious to the bit; the slope was long and +steep; birches and willows straggled athwart it everywhere; and the soil +was treacherous. I could not break them from the gallop, and not daring +to risk the sharp bends of the zigzag trail, I let them go straight for +the slide of water in the bottom of the hollow. + +It was not the first time I had been run away with. A fall from a +stumbling horse or a wagon upset is a very common and, considering the +half-tamed beasts we use, by no means surprising accident in our +country; but at first it was only by a fierce effort I shook off an +almost overmastering terror as I contemplated the danger to my +companion. I hazarded one glance at her and saw that her face was white +and set, then dare look at nothing but the reeling trees ahead. I +strained every sinew to swing the team clear of them. Sometimes the +beasts responded, sometimes they did not, and it was by a miracle the +trunks went by. The wagon bounced more wildly, the slope grew steeper, +and even if I could have checked the team this would only have +precipitated a catastrophe. So, helpless, I clung to the reins until the +end came suddenly. + +Several birches barred our way; the brutes would swerve neither to right +nor to left; and with a hoarse shout of warning I strove desperately to +hold them straight for the one passage, wondering whether there was room +enough in the narrow gap between the trunks. It was immediately evident +that there was not. Simultaneously with a heavy shock, the wagon +appeared to dissolve beneath me and I was hurled bodily into the air. +Fortunately I alighted upon soft ground, headforemost, and perhaps, for +that reason, escaped serious injury. It is possible that, in different +circumstances, I might have lain still partly stupefied, or spent some +time in ascertaining whether any bones had broken; but, as it was, I +sprang to the overturned wagon, breathless with fear. + +Lucille Haldane lay, mercifully, just clear of it, a pitiful white +figure, and my heart stood still as I bent over her. She was pale and +limp as a crushed lily, and as beautiful; and it was with awe I dropped +on one knee beside her. There was no sign of any breathing, coldness +seemed to emanate from her waxlike skin, and though I had seen many +accidents, I dare scarcely venture to lay a finger on the slackly +throbbing artery in her wrist. Then I groaned aloud, borne down with an +overwhelming grief, for with the suddenness of a lightning flash I knew +the words spoken but such a little while ago had been more than true. It +was she who had brought all the sunshine and sweetness into my life. +Reason and power of action returned with the knowledge, and I started +for the river at a breathless run, smashing savagely through every +cluster of dwarf willows which barred my way, filled my hat with the +cold water, and, returning, dashed it on her face. The action appeared +brutal, but terror was stronger than any sentimental fancies then, and I +dare neglect no chance with that precious life at stake. + +The slender form moved a little, and it was with relief unspeakable I +heard a fluttering sigh; then I raised the wet head upon my knee, and +fell to chafing the cold hands vigorously. The time may have been five +minutes, or less, but I had never spent such long days in my life as +those seconds while I waited, quivering in every limb, for some further +sign of returning animation. It was very still in the hollow, and the +song of the hurrying water maddened me. Its monotonous cadence might +drown the faint breathing for which I listened with such intensity. Even +in that space of agony two other incidents flashed through my memory, +and I understood my fear during the dark voyage, and on the moonlit +night when the cars lurched across the bridge. Life would be very empty +if the breath died out of that tender, shaken body. + +The suspense was mercifully ended. Lucille Haldane half opened her eyes, +and looked up at me without recognition, closed them, and caught at her +breath audibly, while I held her hands fast in a restraining grasp. +Then, as she looked up again, the blood came back, mantling the clear +skin, and she said, brokenly: "I fell out of the wagon, did I not? How +long have I been here?--and my head is wet. I--I must get up." + +I still held one hand fast; but, stooping, slipped one arm beneath her +shoulder and raised her a little. "You must wait another few moments +first." + +The girl appeared reluctant, but made no resistance, and when finally I +raised her to her feet I found it was necessary to lean against a birch +trunk to hide the fit of trembling that seized me. + +"I am not much hurt," she said; and my voice broke as I interjected: +"Thank God for it!" + +I fancied that Lucille Haldane, shaken as she was, flashed a swift +sidelong glance at me, and that the returning color did not diminish in +her cheek; then she said hurriedly: "Yes, I am not hurt, but I see the +horses yonder, and you had better make sure of them. We are still some +distance from home." + +I turned without further speech, and found the vicious brutes, which had +broken the wagon-pole, held fast by the tangled gear which had fouled a +fallen tree. It was almost with satisfaction I saw the bolter had lamed +himself badly. There was a change in Lucille Haldane when I led them +back. She had recovered her faculties, but not her old frank +friendliness, and said, almost sharply: "The wagon is useless. What do +you propose to do?" + +"To fold up the rug in the box and make some kind of saddle for you," I +said, and proceeded to do so, cutting up the gear, which was almost new, +so recklessly that my companion seemed even then surprised. + +"Do you know that you are destroying a good many dollars' worth of +harness?" she asked. + +"It would not greatly matter if I spoiled a dozen sets so long as you +reached home safely, and it is a very small fine for my carelessness," I +answered. "I should never have forgiven myself if you had been injured; +but are you--quite--sure that you are none the worse?" + +"I do not think I am much the better," said the girl. "Still, I am not +badly hurt, and it was not your fault." + +Though still languid in her movements, she seemed chary of accepting +much assistance when I helped her into the improvised saddle, and then, +because the other horse was useless, I waded through the ford with my +hand on the bridle. It was some distance to Bonaventure, and my +companion was not communicative, but I did not find the silence irksome. +Conflicting emotions would have made me slow of speech, and I was +content with the fact that she rode beside me whole in limb and +unspoiled in beauty. Indeed, so much had the sight of her lying white +and apparently lifeless impressed me that I cast many apprehensive +glances in her direction before I could convince myself that all was +well. + +Haldane, who overtook us, desired me to remain at Bonaventure; but every +pair of hands was needed at Crane Valley, and I wished for solitude. So, +stiffly mounting a borrowed horse, I set off homeward across the +prairie. I had risen at three that morning, after an insufficient rest, +and was worn out in body, but clear in mind, for a time, at least, while +the brilliancy of the starshine and the silence of the waste helped me +to think. I was by turns thankful, ashamed, dejected, and eager to +clutch at an elusive hope. Illumination had followed disillusion, and I +knew at last that even while I was uplifted by vain imaginings, Lucille +Haldane had, little by little, and unwittingly, extended her dominion +over my heart. I had, it seemed, spent the best years of my life +striving after an unattainable and shadowy ideal, while perhaps the real +living substance, endowed with the best of all pertaining to flesh and +blood, lay within my grasp. It was true that the mistress of Bonaventure +was much too good for me; but with all her graces she was of like fiber +to us, and her few weaknesses rendered her more desirable in proof of +the fact. That Beatrice Haldane was worthy of all adulation remained +equally true; but it was hard to comprehend how, blinded by folly, I had +mistaken the respect I paid her for the warm tide of passion which now +pulsed through me. Neither was the latter of sudden origin, for, looking +back, I could see how, little by little, and imperceptibly, admiration, +gratitude, and tenderness, had merged into it until terror opened my +eyes and full understanding came at last. + +There remained, however, one burning question--did Lucille Haldane, in +any degree, reciprocate what I felt?--and this lacked an answer. Knowing +her generous nature, it was clear that what she had done for me had not +been done wittingly for a lover; but, on the other hand, I could recall +many trifles which may have had their significance. Thus alternate hopes +and fears surged through my brain until, when I had decided that, being +yet a poor man, I must wait the advent of the railroad, at least, before +putting my fate to the test, my thoughts commenced to wander, and I must +have guided the horse mechanically, for his sudden stopping roused me +with a jerk to recognize the corral at Crane Valley. There is a limit +beyond which no emotion may galvanize into continued activity the +exhausted body, and we not infrequently reach it on the prairie. I do +not know whether I was asleep or awake when I led the beast into the +stable, but the sun was high when Sally Steel roused me from a couch of +trampled hay unpleasantly near his feet. + +"You have had a tolerable sleep, and don't seem particular where you +camp," she said. "Come right along, and do your best with the second +breakfast I've got waiting." + +I glanced with consternation at my watch. "Why didn't one of the others +waken me? Do you know it's ten o'clock, Sally?" I asked. + +"Just because I wouldn't let them! You've got to last through harvest, +anyway, and I guess Miss Haldane wouldn't have much use for a dead +man," said Sally, and was retiring with mischievous laughter, when I +recalled her. + +"You have been too good a friend to me to make such jokes again," I +said. + +"I'm not the only one. All the folks are talking," said the girl. + +Thereupon I answered grimly: "If I hear any of them amusing themselves +in that fashion I shall do my best to choke them." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +THE ENEMY CAPITULATES + + +Some time had elapsed since the overturning of the wagon, and I had seen +nothing of Lucille Haldane, when, one evening, I visited Bonaventure at +her father's request. All had gone well in the interval. The last bushel +of grain had been threshed and sold, and the balance of my debt to Lane, +with every surcharge his ingenuity could invent, wiped out. Haldane, who +remained some time in Winnipeg with Boone, had also concluded operations +successfully, for, as he had foreseen, once the turning point was passed +he had no lack of allies eager to assist in plundering the vanquished, +and, before these had satisfied their rapacity he had been able to +unobtrusively cover most of our sales without advancing prices. Boone +explained that the new assailants considered the purchases a last effort +on the part of the company's supporters. Also--because there is little +mercy for the beaten--impoverished storekeeper and plundered farmer +commenced to air their grievances, and it became evident that the +company, or those whom it financed, had occasionally exceeded the limits +of the law. + +It was accordingly to a meeting of what Haldane called the Vehmgericht +that I was summoned, and on arriving at Bonaventure I found Gordon and +several of our neighbors already there. The day had been sunny, but our +autumn nights are sharp, with a sting of frost in the air, which made +the crackling fire in the open hearth acceptable. A shaded silver lamp +flung a soft light about the room, which in no way suggested that it was +to be used for a tribunal. There were decanters, cigar boxes, and +British Columbian fruit on the table, while Haldane lounged in a velvet +chair, with feet, neatly encased in patent leather, stretched out +towards the fire. All this seemed inappropriate to the occasion, even +though I had grown used to Haldane's way. + +A glance at the others, however, showed that they were in deadly +earnest. The men were lean and hard and grim, and their weather-darkened +faces bore the stamp of the conflict. Some of them had long overworked +brain and body, half-fed, that Lane and those who backed him might reap +an iniquitous profit. Others had seen wife and daughter toiling in the +dust of the harrows or riding weary leagues behind the herds, and had +not forgotten. I noticed they accepted Haldane's offers of wine and +tobacco dubiously, and I surmised it was only personal respect for him +that prevented disapproving comments on this manner of procedure. + +Boone doubtless guessed their thoughts, for he said whimsically: "I see +no reason why you shouldn't have a good time, boys. There are easier +ways of killing a coyote than beating his head in with the butt of a +gun, and I can assure you that we mean solid business. For one, I find +these cigars better than the tin flag plug." + +"Tin flag!" and a man with wrinkles round his eyes laughed harshly. +"Dried willow bark had to do for us. This kind of thing takes time to +get used to after living for 'most two years on damaged flour and +molasses. Maybe you're used to luxuries, and don't know what it is to +see the wife fall sick when one couldn't raise a decent morsel to feed +her." + +Boone's face grew as stern as that of the speaker, and the shadow I knew +crept into his eyes. "I think I do. My wife died for want of comforts +that Lane might twice collect his debt, and I am not likely to forget it +to-night," he said. + +A silence followed, and through it I heard one or two of the others draw +a deep breath, while their faces hardened as they, too, remembered +grievous injuries. For my own part I was grimly expectant, for I had +suffered long enough, and had sufficient sense to know that it was not +often that struggling men had such an opportunity for dictating terms +to a powerful adversary. We were all, I think, democratic in the word's +most liberal sense, cherishing no grievance against the rich, and quick +to recognize advantages offered us by capitalists' legitimate +enterprise; but, now that the balance had swung to our side, we were +equally determined to place further mischief beyond the power of the man +who, for the sake of a few dollars, would have crushed us out of +existence. It appeared a duty to the community; but I had not studied +human nature sufficiently to discover exactly how far that motive +influenced me. + +"If none of you have any further suggestions to make, I want to ask if +you are willing to leave this affair to me," said Haldane presently. +"Lane in his own way is a smart man, and would be quick to seize an +advantage which anybody, speaking without consideration, might give him. +I offer my services merely because, during an extensive business +experience, I have had to deal with such men before." + +"There is nobody in the Dominion better able to handle this case for +us," said Boone; and the others nodded assent. + +"We'll sit quieter than graven images unless he turns vicious, if you'll +draw his sting," said one. "That's no use, anyway," a comrade +interjected. "The insect would grow another one. What we want is his +blame back broken." + +"I will, metaphorically speaking, try to oblige you both," said Haldane, +with a smile. "He is a little weak in the spine already, or he would +have declined to meet us at all." + +Nobody made any further comment, but the eyes of most of us were turned +expectantly upon the clock, until at last Gordon stood up when a rattle +of wheels drew nearer. "This is going to be a great night, boys," he +said. "The pernicious insect's come." + +Lane entered, and nodded to us all comprehensively when he saw that +Haldane did not hold out his hand. The man's assurance was apparently +boundless, for he was at first sight as _debonnaire_ and almost as +genial as ever--almost, but not quite, for when he moved nearer the +lamp I noticed a shiftiness in his eyes and an occasional contraction at +the corners of his mouth. + +"This is a little business meeting, and we appreciate your attendance; +but the former is no reason why you should not be comfortable," said +Haldane. "Sit down and help yourself to anything you take a fancy to. I +need not introduce any of these gentlemen." + +Lane was not readily taken aback, for, while we afterwards had cause to +believe he had never discovered the movements of Boone, he looked at him +significantly, but without surprise. "I know--all--of them. With thanks, +I will," he said. "As to the visit, I am always ready to oblige my +clients; but as you know time means money, it remains to be seen on +whose bill I shall charge it." + +I took the last sentence as a preliminary defiance, and fancied Haldane +did so, too; but he only laughed as he said: "I should not wonder if you +were not paid that bill." + +Lane nodded, as though he understood that the swords were crossed; and +when he poured out a glass of wine the rest of us prepared to watch the +duel, with the comforting assurance that our champion was armed with the +better weapons, as well as with the justice of his quarrel. It was +characteristic of the enemy that he smiled indulgently when, as he +raised his glass to his lips, Steel and another man thrust their own +aside. The inference could not have been plainer. + +"Suppose we come straight to business," said Haldane presently. "It may +save time if I recapitulate what is known of your position. If I am +wrong in details you can, of course, correct me." + +"You can sail ahead," and Lane, stretching out his feet, leaned back in +his chair in an attitude of contemplative attention. + +"To commence with, you hold a number of mortgages on land in this +vicinity, from which, after recouping yourself for the loan, you are +still drawing what I venture to call extortionate interest. These and +your shares in the Territories Investment--which cannot be sold--I +believe represent your assets. Also, after taking first-class legal +opinion, we find that, owing, shall I say, to indiscretions on your +part, it may be possible to prevent your foreclosing on several of those +mortgages, while one subordinate, I believe, refuses to be turned out of +Gaspard's Trail. On the other hand, you have certain tolerably extensive +liabilities I need not enumerate, and you want money badly. Law suits +are expensive, and you have a promising crop of them on hand. It was +with a view of obtaining it you suggested the issue of new Territories +stock, and, seeing that hang fire, unobtrusively endeavored to sell your +shares. I don't think the public would look at either just now. In +short, you have taken too big a mouthful; you can't hold on without +money, and you can't obtain that because, for some reason, respectable +banks fight shy of you. It will simplify matters if you admit all this." + +"I'm not going to admit anything," Lane said sturdily, after drinking +another glass of wine. + +Haldane smiled as he answered: "In that case we will take for granted +what I have said. Now, we have the money, time, and determination to +fight you over every mortgage, and to rake up, as a claim for damages, +every indiscretion." + +One of the listeners chuckled in a manner expressive of surprise and +satisfaction when Haldane ceased, and through the brief stillness which +followed I could feel, if I could not see, that the others were in a +state of strung-up expectancy. + +"Better come to the point," Lane said. "The question is, what do you +want from me?" + +"It's pretty simple," was Haldane's answer. "We want you out of this +country. It's unfortunate that we can't help considering you an obstacle +in the way of its prosperity; but, not being highway robbers, we are +open to make you a fair offer for your property. Here is a schedule I +have drawn up, and you will see by examination that we purpose to buy +the mortgages at their face value, paying you any interest due at +current bank rates. We also purpose to buy back, on the same +conditions, the lands on which you have already foreclosed." + +Lane was difficult to astonish, but now he actually gasped; and several +of those present, who were still within his clutches, sprang to their +feet. "A glacier wouldn't be cooler than you!" Lane said. "You must know +they're worth, or will be, about three times as much." + +"Exactly," said Haldane; and Gordon and another chuckled silently. "That +is just why we want to see you safely out of this country. The man who +drives that kind of bargain gives nobody else a show. Please sit down, +gentlemen; I'll answer your questions later." + +I think Lane, in spite of his refusal to admit anything, must have felt +himself driven into a corner. Indeed, for almost the first time during +my acquaintance with him he showed signs of temper, for his lips +straightened and there was a gleam of malice in his eyes. + +"Your hand looks a good one, but it's not good enough," he said. "I'm +going to tell you to do your worst. Say, don't you count too much on Mr. +Haldane, the rest of you. If this is fun to him, it's bread and cheese +to me, and I don't let up on my living easily. Stand out from under +before he gets tired and the roof falls on you. You all know me." + +The listeners had good reason to do so; but they had not only lost their +fear of him--the fear which makes a coward of a brave man when he +becomes a debtor--but had found his yoke so galling that they would have +risked the worst by defying him in spite of it. He must have read as +much in the contemptuous laugh and lowering faces. + +"I think we could beat you with it; but we hold still better cards," +said Haldane quietly. "For instance, you have squeezed Niven a little +too hard, and he is prepared to risk his liberty to testify on one or +two points against you. I refer to incidents connected with Gaspard's +Trail." + +Lane brought his hand down on the table, and, for some unexplainable +reason, I actually believed him as he said: "Gaspard's Trail was burnt +by accident." + +"We won't question the statement," said Haldane. "It was, at least, an +accident that you were quick to profit by. This ace, however, takes the +trick. Just run through this account book, and--remembering that we can +produce Miss Redmond, and three men, who will swear to what her father +said when Ormesby's cattle, which did not get there by accident, were +burned in the fence--consider what might be done with it." + +Lane seemed to shake himself together after he had read the first few +entries; while, watching him closely, I once more saw the tell-tale +contraction at the corners of his mouth. This was the only sign he made, +however, save that presently he moved forward a little in his chair, +which was close before the fire, and held up the torn-out page as though +he wished the lamplight to fall on it more directly. The action, which +was made very naturally, suggested nothing to myself or even to Haldane; +but when the reader moved again, Boone rose suddenly and laid a +restraining hand on his arm. + +"You have had time enough to grasp the significance of what is written +there, and I'll take the papers back," he said. "Of course, knowing whom +we dealt with, we have a duly attested copy." + +I do not know whether Lane had actually intended to destroy part at +least of the dead man's testimony or not, but he was capable of +anything, and the fire was hot. In any case, he calmly handed book and +paper back to Boone with the careless comment: "You thought of that? +Must be considerably smarter than you used to be." + +"Yes," said Boone dryly, "I have learned a good deal since I first met +you. We will now, with Mr. Haldane's concurrence, give you five, or, if +necessary, ten, minutes in which to consider your decision." + +Without being in the least sorry for him, I fancied I could understand +Lane's feelings, and his state of mind could not have been enviable. It +is true that Haldane's offer allowed him a fair return for all sums +invested, perhaps almost as much as he would have obtained by +legitimate enterprise; but that must have been as nothing to the man who +had schemed for a fortune, while one could have fancied that he found it +inexpressibly galling to discover that those whom he had considered his +helpless dupes now held him at their mercy. Yet he showed small sign of +discomfiture, and his voice was steady as he said: "It's robbery; but +I'm open to admit you have fixed the thing tolerably neatly. Suppose it +was Dixon who gave you the pointers? This man here must have some grit, +for he knows that even now I could make it hot for him. Do you know who +he is?" + +"I consider the terms are liberal, and we arranged the affair +ourselves," said Haldane. "You could hardly expect Mr. Dixon to involve +himself in what I'm afraid is virtually the compounding of a felony. It +is also possible that some people would call our proceedings by +unpleasant names, but you left us no choice of weapons. We might have +squeezed you further, but I believe it's wise to leave a back way open +for a beaten enemy. I am perfectly acquainted with Mr. Boone's history, +and understand that now that his work is finished--for most of the +scheme was his--he will surrender himself to the police. He does not, +however, apprehend any trouble with them, because by the time he +surrenders, the prosecutor will have removed himself across the +frontier. Now, hadn't you better consider your decision?" + +Lane sat still for at least five minutes, and I could see that some of +the rest were not quite convinced that the battle was over. They had +experienced such a taste of his quality that they probably expected some +bold counter-move rather than submission. Nevertheless, the man was +beaten, for at last he said: "It's your game. I must have the money +down, and your solemn promise you'll make no use of what you know until +I'm across the frontier." + +"If you will meet me at Gordon's at noon to-morrow we'll settle the bill +together," said Haldane quietly; and rose as if to signify that the +interview was over. + +Lane no longer looked jaunty, for, although he evinced no great dismay, +there was a subtle change in him as he also rose and brushed the dust +off his hat. "Everybody gets tripped up now and then, and must make the +best of it," he said. "Quaint, isn't it, that it should be a man of +Ormesby's kind who most helped to bring me up? Well, it seems I can't +stay any longer with you, boys; but no one knows what may happen, and +I'll try to square the deal with you if ever I come back again." + +Nobody answered him, and with a shrug of his shoulders he passed out of +the room; and though I fancied that was the last I should see of him, I +was mistaken. + +Then Boone said reflectively: "I wonder whether we have been too easy +with him, sir. I can't help feeling, by the way he yielded, that the +rascal has something up his sleeve." + +Before our host could answer he was plied with congratulations and +questions about the money for the redemption of the mortgages, and, +raising his hand for silence, stood up, smiling at the men before him. + +"I'll find part of it in the meantime, and there is the profit on the +campaign fund you raised," he said. "You needn't be bashful, gentlemen. +I'm a business man, and will have no objection to charging you three or +four per cent. more interest than the banks. It will, considering the +prospects, be money sunk on good security. Now that we have got our +stumbling block out of the way, I see possibilities for this district, +and am presently going to ask you to form a committee to consider +whether we can't put up a small flour mill or cooperative dairy." + +He proceeded to sketch out a project with a vigor of conception and a +grasp of practical details that astonished the listeners, who presently +departed with sincere, if not very neatly expressed, gratitude, and with +hope and exultation in their weather-darkened faces. I tried to express +my own sentiments and, I believe, failed, but Haldane smiled quaintly. + +"Don't make any mistake, Ormesby. I'm not setting up as a public +benefactor," he said. "One can't do absolutely nothing, and I don't +quite see why I shouldn't earn a few honest dollars where I can. I dare +say the others will profit, and I should prefer them as friends rather +than enemies; but this scheme is going to pay me--in fact, as you say +here--it has just got to." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE EXIT OF LANE + + +Early one evening, after Lane's capitulation, I sat in the hall at +Bonaventure waiting its owner's return. Lucille Haldane occupied the +window-seat opposite me, embroidering with an assiduity which, while +slightly irritating, did not altogether displease me. Since the wagon +accident she had, in an indefinite manner, been less cordial, and I, on +my part, was conscious of an unwonted restraint in her presence. It is +unnecessary to say that she made a pretty picture with the square of +still sunlit prairie behind her, though her face was tantalizingly +hidden in shadow, and I could only admire the graceful pose of her +figure and the lissom play of the little white fingers across the +embroidery. The girl must have been sensible of my furtive regards, for +at last she laid down the sewing and looked up sharply. + +"Is there nothing among all those papers worth your attention, or have +you taken an interest in embroidery?" she asked, pointing to the +littered journals on the table. "Do you know that it is a little +disconcerting to be watched when at work?" + +I was uneasily conscious that my forehead grew hot, but hoped the hue +that wind and sun had set upon it would hide the fact. "Don't you think +the trespass was almost justifiable?" I said. "You are responsible for +spoiling us; and unaccustomed prosperity must be commencing to make me +lazy. I was thinking." + +"That is really interesting," said the girl. "Has sudden prosperity also +rendered you incapable of expressing your thoughts in speech?" + +In this case, circumstances had certainly done so. I had been thinking +how pretty and desirable the speaker looked; but the trouble was that, +although silence cost me an effort, I could not tell her so. I hoped to +say as much, and more besides, some day; but this moment was not +opportune. Lucille Haldane was mistress of Bonaventure, and I as yet a +struggling man, who, thanks to her good nature and her father's business +skill, had barely escaped sinking into poverty. It would be time to +speak when my position was a little more secure. Meanwhile, in spite of +the sternly repressed longing and uncertainty which daily grew more +painful, it was very pleasant to bask in the sunshine of her presence, +and I dare not risk ending the privilege prematurely. + +"I was thinking what a change has come over this part of the prairie," I +said, framing but one portion of my thoughts into words. "Not long ago +one saw nothing but anxious faces and gloomy looks, while now, I fancy, +there is only one downcast man in all this vicinity, and he the one from +whom your father and Boone have just parted. The change, considering +that a single person is chiefly responsible, is almost magical; but, +remembering a past rebuke, that hardly sounds very pretty, does it?" + +Lucille Haldane laughed mischievously. "To one of the superior sex; but +are you not forgetting that this season the heavens fought for you? It +certainly might have been more neatly expressed. Do you know that the +education you mentioned is not yet quite finished?" + +"I know there is much you could teach me if you would," I said, with a +humility which was not assumed, choking down bolder words which had +almost forced themselves into utterance; and perhaps the effort left its +trace on me, for Lucille turned her head towards the prairie. + +"Here is Sergeant Mackay. I wonder what he wants," she said. + +Mackay, dusty and damp with perspiration, was ushered in a few minutes +later, and for the first time I felt all the bitterness of jealousy as I +saw the friendly manner in which the girl greeted Cotton, who followed +him. There was nothing of the coquette in Lucille Haldane, and the +knowledge of this added to the sting; but I did not think that even she +was always so unnecessarily gracious. Mackay, however, appeared intent +and grim, and by no means in a humor for casual conversation. + +"I'm wanting your father and fresh horses at once, Miss Haldane," he +said. "Ye had a visit from Lane yesterday?" + +"We certainly had. What do you want with him?" asked Lucille. And Mackay +smiled dryly when I added a similar question. + +"Just his body, and your assistance as a loyal subject, Henry Ormesby. +Ye were once good enough to say ye could not expect too much from the +police; but it's long since your natural protectors had eyes on the +thief who was robbing ye. Niven, when he wasn't quite sober, told a +little story, and there's another bit question of a debt agreement +forgery. Ye will let us have the horses, Miss Haldane?" + +Lucille bade them follow her, and I heard her giving orders to one of +the hired men. Then she returned alone in haste to me. "You saw where my +father put the book Miss Redmond gave him?" she said. + +"Yes," I answered, wondering. "He locked it inside that bureau and put +the keys into his pocket." + +The girl wrenched at the handle, and I noticed by the creaking of the +bureau how strong, in spite of her slenderness, she was. The lock would +not yield, and she turned imperiously to me. "Don't waste a moment, but +smash that drawer in!" + +"It is a beautiful piece of maple, and why do you wish to destroy it?" I +said, and, for she had a high spirit, fancied Lucille Haldane came near +stamping one little foot impatiently. + +"Can you not do the first thing I ask you without asking questions?" she +said. + +There was nothing more to be said, and stooping for the poker, I whirled +it around my head. One end of the bar doubled on itself, but the front +of the drawer crushed in, and when I had wrenched out the fragments, +Lucille drew forth the book. + +"I know what my father promised, and there is Miss Redmond to consider. +She has suffered too much already," she said, tearing out whole pages in +hot hurry. "Sergeant Mackay is much less foolish than I once heard you +call him, and I have no doubt suspects something of this. Can't you see +that he could force us to give the papers up? I am going to burn them." + +"That at least you shall not do," I said, taking them from her with as +much gentleness as possible, but by superior force, and then positively +quailed before the anger and astonishment in the girl's face. + +"You are still so afraid of Lane that you would risk bringing fresh +sorrow on that poor girl in order to protect yourself?" she said, with +biting scorn. + +"No," I answered stolidly, without pausing for reflection. "I only wish +to declare it was I who destroyed this evidence, if there is any trouble +over the affair." + +I tore the book to pieces and rammed the fragments deep among the +burning logs as I spoke, and when this was accomplished I did not look +up until Lucille Haldane called me by name. Gentle as she could be, I +had a wholesome respect for her wrath. + +"I deserved it," she said, with a bewitching deepening of the crimson in +her cheeks and a shining in her eyes. "You will forgive me. I had not +time to think." + +Thereupon I longed for eloquence, or Boone's ready wit; but no neat +speech came to my relief, and while I racked my clouded brains the girl +must have guessed what was taking place, for merriment crept into her +eyes. Then, just as an inspiration dawned on me, as usual, too late, a +hurried tread drew nearer along the passage. + +"It is Sergeant Mackay, and he must not come in here," said my companion +with a nervous laugh, as she glanced at the shattered bureau. "Is it +quite impossible for you to hurry?" Then before I realized what was +happening, she had placed one hand on my shoulder and positively hustled +me out of the door. Hardly knowing what I did, I clutched at the little +fingers, and missed them, and the next moment I plunged violently into +the astonished sergeant. + +"Mr. Ormesby is ready, and so are the horses. I hope your chase will be +successful," a voice, which sounded a little uneven (though there was a +trace of laughter in it) said, and the door swung to. + +Mackay looked at me curiously; and when we had mounted, said: "I'm +asking no questions, but yon was surely a bit summary dismissal!" + +"It's just as well you are not, because I am afraid I should not answer +them," I said, and Mackay frowned upon his subordinate when Cotton +laughed. + +We had ridden a league before he vouchsafed any explanation. "I could +not call in my other men in time, and as we may have to divide forces, +demanded your assistance in virtue of the powers entrusted me," he said +formally. "We'll call first at Gordon's on the odd chance our man is +there, and pick up Adams, though Lane's away hot-foot for the rail by +now, I'm thinking. He had no' a bad nerve to cut it so fine." + +"Did the confounded rascal know there was a warrant out?" I gasped, +almost pulling my horse up in my indignation, as I remembered Boone's +hint. + +"We did not advertise the fact, but yon man knows everything, and I'm +no' saying it's quite impossible," Mackay answered dryly. "But what ails +ye that ye're drawing bridle, Harry Ormesby?" + +I drove the spurs in the next second and shot clear a length ahead, and, +though the Bonaventure horses were good, the others had hard work to +catch me during the next mile or two. If Lane suspected the issue of the +warrant, he had victimized us to the end, for he had tricked us into +furnishing him with not only the means of escape, but sufficient ready +money to start him upon a fresh career in another land. We met Boone and +Haldane returning from Gordon's ranch, and while the former advised the +sergeant that Lane must be well on his way to the station by this time, +I drew Haldane aside and hurriedly related what had happened at +Bonaventure. + +"Lane is a capable rascal, and will certainly catch the westbound train. +There is little to be gained either by wiring the bank," he said. "He +insisted on taking a large share in paper currency, and as the draft +was one I had by me, he would no doubt arrange for his friends to cash +it before I could warn the drawer. Do you know the bureau you smashed in +cost me sixty dollars, Ormesby?" + +I was endeavoring to express my contrition when Haldane laughed. "I am +not sure that you are the only person responsible for the destruction of +my furniture." + +Mackay had started before our conversation was finished, and it cost +Boone and me a long gallop to come up with him, while it was only by +dint of hard riding that we eventually reached the station some hours +after the departure of the train. Mackay first of all wired to the +stations down the line, and then explained: "That's just a useless duty. +Yon man is keen enough to know he might find the troopers waiting for +him. He'll leave the cars at the flag station where there's nobody to +detain him, and, buying a horse at the first ranch, strike south for the +border. It would be desirable that we grip him before he reaches it." + +Because various formalities must be gone through before a Canadian +offender is handed over by the Americans, this was clear enough, though +I did not see how it was to be accomplished, until Mackay had exchanged +high words with the station agent. A freight locomotive and an empty +stock car rolled out of the siding, and we took our places therein, men +and horses together. + +"Sorry I haven't got a new bogie drawing-room for you, but it's getting +time the police gave some other station a share of their business," said +the exasperated railroad official. I also overheard him tell the +engineer: "You have got to be back by daylight, and needn't be +particular about shaking them." + +It was not the fault of the engineer if he did not shake the life out of +us. Canadian lines are neither metalled nor ballasted with much +solidity; and with only one car to steady it the huge machine appeared +to leap over each inequality of the track. There was also nipping frost +in the air, the prairie glittered under the stars, and bitter draughts +pulsed through the lurching car. It was not an easy matter to keep the +horses on their feet or to maintain our own balance, but the swish of +the dust and the rattle of flung-up ballast brought some comfort as an +indication of our speed. + +"It's a steeplechase already," gasped Boone, holding on by a head-rope +as we roared across a bridge. "I looked at the gauge-glass, and the +engineer can hardly have full steam up yet. We'll be lucky to escape +with whole limbs when he has." + +The prediction was fully justified, for the bouncing, jolting, and +hammering increased with the pace, and I made most of the journey +holding fast by a very cold rail as for my life, while half-seen through +the rush of ballast I watched the prairie race past. When one could look +forward there was nothing visible but a field of dancing stars and a +smear of white below, athwart which the blaze of the great headlamp +drove onwards with the speed of a comet. All of us were thankful when +the locomotive was pulled up before a lonely shed, and while we dragged +the horses out the man who drove it, grinning at his stoker, said: "I +guess there's no bonus for beating the record on this contract?" + +"No," said Mackay dryly. "Ye have the satisfaction of knowing ye served +the State." + +By good fortune we found a sleepy man in the galvanized iron shed, and +he informed us that Lane had alighted from the last train and started on +foot towards the nearest ranch, which lay about a league away. Inside of +fifteen minutes we were pounding on its door, and the startled owner +said that the man we asked for had bought a good horse from him, and +inquired the shortest route to the American frontier. + +"Four hours' start," said Mackay, as we proceeded again. "Ye can add +another three for the making of inquiries and searching for his trail. +It will be a close race, I'm thinking." + +It certainly proved so, as well as a long one, because we lost much time +halting at lonely ranches, and still more in riding in wrong directions; +for Lane had evidently picked up somebody, perhaps a contrabandist, +well versed in the art of laying a false trail. Neither did he strike +straight for the border, and after dividing and joining forces several +times, it was late one evening when we found ourselves close behind him. + +"Oh, yes! A man like that paid me forty dollars to swap horses with him +and his partner, it might be an hour ago," said the last rancher at +whose dwelling we stopped. "Seemed in a mighty hurry to reach Montana. +How long might it take you to reach the frontier? Well, that's a +question of horses, and I've no more in my corral. You ought to get +there by daylight, or a little earlier. Follow the wheel trail and +you'll see a boundary stake on the edge of the big _coulee_ to the left +of it." + +Though we had twice changed horses, our beasts were jaded; but there was +solace in the thought that Lane was an indifferent rider, and must have +almost reached the limits of his endurance, while, though used to the +saddle, I was too tired to retain more than a blurred impression of that +last night's ride. There was no moon, but the blue heavens were thick +with twinkling stars, and the prairie glittered faintly under the white +hoar frost. It swelled into steeper rises than those we were used to, +while at times we blundered down the crumbling sides of deep hollows, +destitute of verdure, in which the bare earth rang metallically beneath +the hoofs. Still, the wheel trail led straight towards the south, and, +aching all over, we pushed on, as best we could, until I grew too drowsy +even to notice my horse's stumbles or to speculate what the end would +be. Before that happened, however, I had considered the question and +decided that there was no need for any scruples in seizing Lane if the +chance fell to me. We had merely promised to refrain from pressing one +particular charge against the fugitive, and were willing to keep our +bargain, though he on his part had deceived us into making it. + +At last, when only conscious of the cruel jolting and the thud of tired +hoofs which rose and fell in a drowsy cadence through the silence, +Mackay's voice roused me, and I fancied I made out two mounted figures +faintly projected against the sky ahead. "Yon's them, and ye'll each do +your best. We're distressfully close on the frontier now," he said. + +Once more the spurs sank into the jaded beast, and when it responded I +became suddenly wide awake. It was bitterly cold and that hour in the +morning when man's vitality sinks to its lowest ebb; but one and all +braced themselves for the final effort. Boone, in spite of all that I +could do, drew out ahead, and we followed as best we might, blundering +down into gullies and over rises where the grass grew harsh and high, +while thrice we lost the man who led us as well as the fugitives. +Nevertheless, they hove into sight again before a league had passed, and +it even seemed that we gained a little on the one who lagged behind, +until, at last, the blue of the heavens faded, and grayness gathered in +the east. + +It spread over half the horizon; the two figures before us grew more +distinct; and Boone rode almost midway between ourselves and them, when, +as though by magic, the first one disappeared. Mackay roared to Cotton +when, topping a rise, there opened before us a winding hollow, and +Boone, wheeling his horse, waved an arm warningly. + +"It's the wrong man doubling. Come on your hardest until the trail +forks, and then try left and right!" he shouted before he, too, sank +from view beneath the edge of the hollow. + +There were birches in the ravine as well as willow groves, and the +fugitives had vanished among them, leaving no trace behind. There were, +unfortunately, also several trails, and, because time was precious, the +noise we made pressing up and down them would have prevented our hearing +any sound. Mackay, who in spite of this, sat still listening, used a +little illicit language, and rated Cotton for no particular cause, while +I had managed to entangle myself in a thicket, when Boone's voice fell +sharply from the opposite rise: "Gone away! He has taken to the open!" + +With many a stumble we compassed the steep ascent, and, as we gained +the summit, the growing light showed me a solitary figure already +diminishing down a stretch of level prairie. "It's our last chance!" +roared Mackay, pointing to what looked like a break in the grasses +ahead. "I'm fearing yon's the boundary." + +Our beasts were worn out, their riders equally so; but we called up the +last of our failing strength to make a creditable finish of the race. +The _coulee_ was left behind us, and Lane's figure grew larger ahead, +for Mackay, who certainly did not wish to, declared he could see no +boundary post. Then as the first crimson flushed the horizon, a lonely +homestead rose out of the grass, and when Lane rode straight for it the +sergeant swore in breathless gasps. A little smoke curled from its +chimney, for the poorer ranchers rise betimes in that country. We saw +Lane drop from the saddle and disappear within the door, while when we +drew bridle before it, two gaunt brown-faced men came out and regarded +us stolidly. + +"What place is this?" asked Mackay with a gasp. + +One of them seemed to consider before he answered him: "Well, it's +generally allowed to be Todhunter's Wells." + +"That's not what I want," said the sergeant. "Where's the boundary?" +This time the other man laughed as he pointed backwards across the +prairie we had traversed. + +"'Bout a league behind you. No, sir; you're not in Canada. This, as the +song says, is 'the land of the free.' You'll find the big stake by the +_coulee_, if you don't believe me." + +"Beaten!" said Mackay, dropping his bridle; and added aside: "Whisky +smugglers by their manners, I'm thinking." As we endeavored to master +our disappointment, Lane himself appeared in the doorway. He looked very +weary, his fleshy face was haggard and mottled by streaks of gray; but +the humorous gleam I hated shone mockingly in his eyes. + +"Sorry to disappoint you, Sergeant, but you can't complain about the +chase!" he said. "Even Cannuck policemen and amateur detectives aren't +recognized here; and as there are two respectable witnesses, I'm afraid +you'll have to apply to the Washington authorities. You can tell Mr. +Haldane, Ormesby, that there's no use in stopping his check. I don't +think there is anything else I need say, except that, as I have booked +all the accommodation here, they might give you breakfast at the ranch +in the _coulee_." + +He actually nodded to us, and thrusting his hands into his pockets, +leaned against the lintel of the door with an air of amusement which was +not needed to remind us that he was master of the situation, and for the +last time set my blood on fire. There was, however, nothing to be gained +by virulence, and when Mackay, who disdained to answer a word, wheeled +his jaded horse, we silently followed him towards the _coulee_. + +"I wish the Americans joy of him," the grizzled sergeant said, at +length. "There's just one bit consolation--we can very well spare him; +and ye'll mind what the douce provost said in the song--'Just e'en let +him be; the toon is weel quit o' that deil o' Dundee.'" + +Boone, smiling curiously, closed with the speaker. "There is one thing I +expected he did not do, and as it could hardly be due to magnanimity, he +must have forgotten it," he said. "You will not go back empty-handed, +Sergeant. Are you aware that you hold a warrant for me?" + +Mackay pulled his horse up and stared at him. "I cannot see the point of +yon joke," he said. + +"There isn't one," was the answer. "Now that my work is finished, I see +no further need of hiding the fact that, while you knew me as Adams, my +name is--Boone." + +Mackay still stared at him, then laughed a little, as it were in +admiration, but silently. "I'm understanding a good deal now--and that +was why ye helped run yon thief down. Well, I'll take your parole, and +I'm thinking ye will have little trouble since the prosecutor's gone." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +THE LAST TOAST + + +Lane troubled us no further, and there came a time when those who had +suffered under him, and at last assisted in his overthrow, would laugh +boisterously at my narrative of his hasty exit from the prairie with the +troopers hard upon his heels. They appeared to consider the description +of how, with characteristic audacity, he bade us an ironical farewell +one cold morning from the doorway of a lonely ranch an appropriate +finale, and bantered the sergeant upon his tardiness. The latter would +answer them dryly that the Dominion was well quit of Lane. + +Some time, however, passed before this came about, and meanwhile winter +closed in on the prairie. It was, save for one uncertainty which greatly +troubled me, a tranquil winter--for I had, in addition to promising +schemes for the future, a balance in the bank--but not wholly +uneventful. Before the first snow had fallen, men with theodolites and +compasses invaded Crane Valley, and left inscribed posts behind them +when they passed. This was evidently a preliminary survey; but it showed +the railroad was coming at last, although, as the men could tell us +nothing, there remained the somewhat important question whether it would +follow that or an alternative route. + +Also, a month or two later, Thorn and Steel sought speech with me, the +former looking almost uncomfortable when his companion said: "I've been +talking with Haldane about taking up my old place, and don't see how to +raise the money, or feel very keen over it. We never did much good there +since my father went under. The fact is, we two pull well together, and +you have the longest head. Won't you run both places and make me a kind +of foreman with a partner's interest?" + +The suggestion suited me in many ways, but bearing in mind what might be +possible, I saw a difficulty. "I dare say we might make a workable +arrangement, and I couldn't find a better partner; but haven't you +Sally's interests to consider?" I said. + +Steel smiled in an oracular fashion. "That's Tom's business," he said, +with a gesture, which, though I think it was involuntary, suggested that +he felt relieved of a load. "Sally is a daisy, and I've done my best for +her; but though there's nobody got more good points, I don't mind +allowing she was a blame big handful now and then. Of course, we are all +friends here!" + +"We won't be if you start in apologizing for Sally," broke in the +stalwart Thorn; and as I glanced at his reddened face, a light dawned on +me. + +"That's all right!" said the smiling brother. "There's no use in wasting +words on him. He has had fair warning, and I'm not to blame." + +It struck me that the best thing I could do was to shake hands with the +wrathful foreman, and I did it very heartily. + +"He will think differently some day, and you will have a good wife, +Tom," I said. "We'll miss you both badly at Crane Valley, but must try +to give you a good start off when you take up your preempted land." + +It must be recorded that henceforward Sally was a model of virtue, so +much so that I marveled, while at times her brother appeared to find it +hard to conceal his astonishment. She was more subdued in manner and +gentle in speech, while I could now understand the soft light which +filled her eyes when they rested upon my foreman. The former spirit, +however, still lurked within her, for returning to the house one evening +when spring had come around again, I saw Cotton, who had once been a +favorite of hers, leap out of the door with a brush whirling through the +air close behind him. + +"What is the meaning of this, Cotton?" I asked sharply, and the +corporal, who looked slightly sheepish, glanced over his shoulder as +though expecting another missile. + +"The truth is that I don't quite know," he said. "Perhaps Miss Steel is +suffering from a bad toothache or something of the kind to-day." + +"That does not satisfy me," I said, as severely as I could, hoping he +would not discover it was mischief which prompted me. "I presume my +housekeeper did not eject you without some reason?" + +"Why don't you ask her, then?" said Cotton awkwardly. "Still, I suppose +an explanation is due to you if you insist on it. I went in to talk to +Sally while I waited for you, and said something--perfectly innocent, I +assure you, about---- Well--confound it--if I did say I'd been +heartbroken ever since I saw her last, was that any reason why she +should hurl a brush at me? She used to appreciate that kind of foolery." + +"Circumstances alter cases," I said dryly. "Don't you know that Sally +will leave here as Mrs. Thorn in a few weeks or so?" + +"On my word of honor, I didn't," and Cotton laughed boyishly. "Go in and +make my peace with her, if you can. I am positively frightened to. Say +I'm deeply contrite and--confoundedly hungry." + +Supper was just ready, but there were only four plates on the table, and +when I ventured to mention that Cotton waited repentant and famishing +without, Sally regarded me stonily. "He can just stay there and starve," +she said. + +Even Thorn, who, I think, knew Sally's weak points and how they were +counterbalanced by the warm-heartedness which would have covered much +worse sins, laughed; but the lady remained implacable, and, as a result +of it, Cotton hungry without, until--when the meal was almost +finished--Dixon, who was accompanied by Sergeant Mackay, astonished us +by alighting at the door. He brought startling news. + +The first carloads of rails and ties for the new road were ready for +dispatching, and it would pass close by my possessions; while, after we +had recovered from our excitement, he said: "I have been searching for +a Corporal Cotton, and heard he might be here. Do you know where he +is?" + +I looked at Sally, who answered for me frigidly: "You might find him +trying to keep warm in the stable." + +Dixon appeared astonished, and Mackay's eyes twinkled, while after some +consideration the autocrat at the head of the table said: "If it's +important business, Charlie may tell him that he may come in." + +Cotton seemed glad to obey the summons, and knowing that he had ridden a +long way since his last meal, I signaled Dixon to wait, when Sally, +relenting, set a double portion before him. It was, therefore, some time +later when the lawyer, glancing in his direction, said: "You are Charles +Singlehurst Cotton, born at Halton Edge in the county of Warwick, +England?" + +The effect was electrical. Cotton thrust back his plate and straightened +himself, staring fixedly at the speaker with wrath in his gaze. "I am +Corporal C. Cotton of the Northwest Police, and whether I was born in +England or Canada concerns only myself." + +Dixon smiled indulgently, and Mackay, looking towards me, nodded his +head with a complacent air of one who has witnessed the fulfilment of +his prophecy. + +"If I had any doubts before, after inspecting a photograph of you, I +have none at present," the former said. "Mr. Ormesby forgot to mention +that I am a lawyer by profession, and Messrs. James, Tillotson & James, +of London, whose name you doubtless know, requested me through a +correspondent to search for you. Having business with Mr. Haldane, I +came in person. Have you any objection to according me a private +interview?" + +Cotton looked at me interrogatively, and I nodded. "You can safely trust +even family secrets to Mr. Dixon. He is, or will be, one of the foremost +lawyers in the Dominion." + +Dixon made me a little semi-ironical bow, and when he and Cotton passed +out together into my own particular sanctum, a lean-to shed, Mackay +beamed upon me. "Man, did I not tell ye?" he said. + +It was some time before Cotton came back, looking grave and yet elated, +and turning towards us, said: "Mr. Dixon has brought me unexpected news, +both good and bad. It is necessary that I should accompany him to +Winnipeg. Sergeant, you have the power to grant me a week's leave of +absence?" + +Mackay pursed his lips up, and, with overdone gravity, shook his head. +"I'm fearing we cannot spare ye with the new mounts to train." + +Dixon chuckled softly. "I'm afraid Charles Singlehurst Cotton will break +no more police horses for you. He has a good many of another kind of his +own," he said. "He has also influential relatives who require his +presence in England shortly, and have arranged things so that your chief +authorities will probably release him before his term of service is +completed. The signature to this note should remove any scruples you may +have about granting him leave." + +Mackay drew himself up, and returned the letter with the air of one +acknowledging a commander's orders, then let his hand drop heavily on +Cotton's shoulder. His tone was slightly sardonic, but there was a very +kindly look in his eyes as he said: "Ye'll no' be above accepting the +congratulations of the hard old sergeant who licked ye into shape. It +was no' that easy, and maybe it galled ye some; but ye have learned a +few useful things while ye rode with the Northwest troopers ye never +would have done in England. We took ye, a raw liddie, some bit overproud +of himself, and now I'm thinking we'll miss ye when we send ye back the +makings of a man. Away ye go with Mr. Dixon so long as it's necessary." + +It struck me as a graceful thought, for Cotton stood straight, as on +parade, with the salute to a superior, as he said: "I'll report for duty +in seven days, sir," then laid his brown hand in Mackay's wrinkled palm. +"Every word's just as true as gospel, and I'll thank you in years to +come." + +He took my arm and drew me out upon the starlit prairie. "I can't sleep +to-night, and my horse is lame. You will lend me one," he said. Then +when I asked whether he was not going with Dixon to the station, he +laughed, and flung back his head. + +"I'm going to spend all night in the saddle. It will be best for me," he +said. "I'll tell you the whole story later, and, meantime, may say that +over the sea, yonder, somebody is dead. I know what usually sends such +men as I out here, but while I should like you to remember that I +neither broke any law of the old country nor injured any woman, I +wouldn't see which side my bread was buttered--and there are various +ways of playing the fool." + +"We have Mackay's assurance that the Colonial cure has proved a success, +and in all seriousness you have my best wishes for the future," I said. + +The corporal answered gravely: "If it had not I should never venture to +visit Bonaventure to-morrow, as I intend doing." + +"Visit Bonaventure?" I said, a little thickly. + +"Of course!" said Cotton, with both exultation and surprise in his tone. +"Can't you see the best this news may have made possible to me?" + +I was thankful that the kindly darkness hid my face, and turned towards +the stables without a word; while, after the corporal had mounted, I +found it very hard to answer him when he said simply, yet with a great +air of friendship: "Although you were irritating sometimes, Ormesby, you +were the first man I ever spoke frankly to in this country. Won't you +wish me luck?" + +"If she will have you, there is no good thing I would not wish for you +both," I said; but in spite of my efforts my voice rang hollow, and I +was thankful when Cotton, who did not seem to notice it, rode away. + +I did not return to the house until long after the drumming of hoofs, +growing fainter and fainter, had finally died away, and said little +then. I even flung the journals Dixon brought, which were full of the +new railroad, unread, away. My rival was young and handsome, generous, +and likable, even in his weaknesses. He was also, as it now appeared, of +good estate and birth, and granting all that I could on my own side, the +odds seemed heavily in favor of Cotton, while a certain knowledge of the +worst would almost have been preferable to the harrowing uncertainty as +to how the Mistress of Bonaventure would make the comparison. It lasted +for two whole weeks--weeks which I never forgot; for I could not visit +Bonaventure until I learned whether Cotton's errand had resulted +successfully, and he sent no word to lessen the anxiety. + +At last I rode in to the settlement, whither I knew Haldane had gone to +inspect the progress of the road, and met Boone and Mackay on the +prairie. "Has Cotton returned?" I asked. + +"He has," said Mackay dryly. "This is his last day's duty. He loitered +at the settlement, and ye will meet him presently. I'm not understanding +what is wrong with him, but he's uncertain in the temper, and I'm +thinking that sudden good fortune does not agree with him." + +I met Cotton, riding very slowly and looking straight ahead. He pulled +up when I greeted him, and seeing the question in my eyes, ruefully +shook his head. "I've had my answer, Ormesby--given with a gentleness +that made it worse," he said. + +He must have misunderstood my expression, and perhaps my face was a +study just then, for he added grimly: "It is perfectly true, and really +not surprising. Hopeless from the first--and, I think, there is someone +else, though heaven knows where in the whole Dominion she would find any +man fit to brush the dust from her little shoes, including myself. Well, +there is no use repining, and I'll have years in which to get over it; +but it's lucky I'm leaving this country, and--for one can't shirk a +painful duty--I'll say good-by to you with the others at Bonaventure +to-morrow." + +I was glad that he immediately rode on, for while I pitied him, my heart +leaped within me. Had it happened otherwise I should have tried to wish +him well, and now my satisfaction, which was, nevertheless, stronger +than all such considerations, appeared ungenerous. + +When I reached it the usually sleepy settlement presented a stirring +scene. Long strings of flat cars cumbered the trebled sidetrack, rows of +huts had risen as by magic, and two big locomotives moved ceaselessly to +and fro. Dozens of oxen and horse teams hauled the great iron scoops +which tore the sod up to form the roadbed, while the air vibrated with +the thud of shovels, the ringing of hammers, and the clang of falling +rails. The track lengthened yard by yard as I stood and watched. In +another week or two the swarming toilers would have moved their mushroom +town further on towards Crane Valley, and I was almost oppressed by a +sense of what all this tremendous activity promised me. It meant at +least prosperity instead of penury, the realizing of ambitions, perhaps +a road to actual affluence; also it might be far more than this. I +scarcely saw Haldane until he grasped my hand. + +"It is a great day, Ormesby," he said. "No man can tell exactly how far +this narrow steel road may carry all of you. Still, one might almost say +that you have deserved it--and it has come at last." + +"It will either be the brightest day in all my life--or the worst," I +said. "Will you listen to me for two minutes, sir?" + +Haldane did so, and then leaned against a flat car, with the wrinkles +deepening on his forehead, for what appeared to be an inordinately long +time. "I may tell you frankly that I had not anticipated this--and am +not sure I should not have tried to prevent it if I had," he said. "I +know nothing that does not testify in your favor as an individual, +Ormesby; but, as even you admit, there are objections from one point of +view. Still, this road and our new schemes may do much for you and---- +Well, I never refused my daughter anything, and if she approves of you, +and you will not separate us altogether, I won't say no." + +I had expected nothing better, and dreaded a great deal worse; and my +pulses throbbed furiously when, after some further speech, Haldane +strolled away with a half-wistful, half-regretful glance at his daughter +who approached us as we spoke. She was in high spirits, and greeted me +cordially. + +"You ought to be happy, and you look serious. This is surely the best +you could have hoped for," she said. + +It seemed best to end the uncertainty at once, and yet, remembering +Cotton's fate, I was afraid. Nevertheless, mustering courage, I looked +straight at the speaker, and slowly shook my head. Lucille was always +shrewd, and I think she understood, for her lips quivered a little, and +the smile died out of her eyes. + +"You are difficult to satisfy. Is it not enough?" she said. + +Her voice had in it no trace of either encouragement or disdain, and a +boldness I had scarcely hoped for came upon me as I answered: "In itself +it is worth nothing to me. What you said is true, for I have set my +hopes very high. There is only one prize in the Dominion that would +satisfy me, and that is--you." + +Lucille moved a little away from me, and I could not see her face, for +she looked back towards the train of cars which came clanking down the +track; but for once words were given me, and when I ceased, she looked +up again. Though the rich damask had deepened in her cheek, there was a +significant question in her eyes. + +"Are you sure you are not mistaken, Rancher Ormesby? Men do not always +know their own minds," she said. + +The underlying question demanded an answer, and I do not know how I +furnished it, for I had already found it bewildering when asked by +myself; but with deep humility I framed disjoined words, and gathered +hope once more when I read what might have been a faint trace of +mischief, and something more, in my companion's eyes. + +"It is not very convincing--but what could you say? And you are, after +all, not very wise," she said. "I wonder if I might tell you that I knew +part of this long ago; but the rest I did not know until the evening +the team bolted in the hollow. Still," and Lucille grew grave again, +"would it hurt you very much if I said I could not listen because I +feared you were only dreaming this time, too?" + +"It would drive me out of Canada a broken-hearted man," I said. "It was +you for whom I strove, always you--even when I did not know it--since +the first day I saw you. I would fling away all I own to-morrow, +and----" + +The words broke off suddenly, for Lucille looked up at me, shyly this +time, and from under half-lowered lashes. "I think," she said very +slowly, and with a pause, during which I did not breathe, "that would be +a pity, Harry Ormesby." + +It was sufficient. All that the world could give seemed comprised within +the brief sentence; and it was difficult to remember that we stood clear +in the eyes of the swarming toilers upon the level prairie. Neither do I +remember what either of us next said, for there was a glamour upon me; +but as we turned back towards Haldane, side by side, I hazarded a query, +and Lucille smiled. "You ask too many questions--are you not yet +content? Still, since you ask, I think I did not understand aright +either until a little while ago." + +Haldane appeared satisfied, though, perhaps, that is not the most +appropriate word, for he himself supplied a better one; and when we were +next alone, and I ventured thanks and protestations, laughed, in the +whimsical fashion he sometimes adopted, I think, to hide his inward +sentiments. + +"You need not look so contrite, for I suppose you could not help it; and +I am resigned," he said. "There. We will take all the rest for granted, +and you must wait another year." Then, although Haldane smiled again, he +laid his hand on my shoulder in a very kindly fashion as he added; +"Lucille might, like her sister, have shone in London and Paris; but it +seems she prefers the prairie--and, after all, I do not know that she +has not chosen well." + +The story of my failures, mistakes, and struggles ended then and there, +for henceforward, even when passing troubles rested upon us, I could +turn for counsel and comfort to a helpmate whose wisdom and sympathy +were equalled only by her courage. Nevertheless, two incidents linger in +my memory, and were connected with the last meeting of what had now +ceased to be a prairie tribunal at Bonaventure. It was an occasion of +festivity, but regret was mingled with it, for Boone and Cotton would +leave us that night, and there was not one of the bronzed men gathered +in the great hall at Bonaventure who would not miss them. Boone, it may +be mentioned, had, after entering into recognizances to appear if +wanted, been finally released from them by the police. At length Haldane +stood up at the head of the long table. + +"This has been a day to remember, and, I think, what we have decided +to-night will set its mark upon the future of the prairie," he said. +"Where all did well there were two who chiefly helped us to win what we +have done, and it is to our sorrow that one goes back to his own country +now that his work is well accomplished. We will not lightly forget him. +The other will, I hope, be spared to stay with you and share your +triumphs as he has done your adversity. I have to announce my daughter's +approaching marriage to your comrade, Henry Ormesby." + +It pleased me greatly that Cotton was the first upon his feet, and +Mackay the next, although it was but for a second, because, almost +simultaneously, a double row of weather-darkened men heaved themselves +upright. Cotton's face was flushed, and his eyes shone strangely under +the candlelight; but he looked straight at me as he solemnly raised the +glass in his hand. + +"The Mistress of Bonaventure: God bless her, and send every happiness to +both of them!" he said. + +The very rafters rang to the shout that followed, and it was the last +time that toast was honored, for when next my neighbors gathered round +me with goodwill and festivity, Lucille Haldane became mistress of the +new homestead which had replaced the sod-house at Crane Valley, instead +of Bonaventure. + +It was an hour later when she stood beside me, under the moonlight, +speeding the last of the guests. Boone halted before us, bareheaded, a +moment, with a curiously wistful look which was yet not envious, and his +hand on the bridle. "It was a good fight, but I shall never again have +such an ally as Miss Haldane," he said. + +He had barely mounted, when Cotton came up, and I felt my companion's +fingers tremble as, I think, from a very kindly impulse, she slipped +them from my arm. Cotton, however, was master of himself, and gravely +shook hands with both of us. "It was not an empty speech, Ormesby. I +meant every word of it. Heaven send you both all happiness," he said. + +He, too, vanished into the dimness with a dying beat of hoofs, and so +out of our life; and we two were left alone, hand in hand, with only the +future before us, on the moonlit prairie. + + +THE END + + + + +Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the +original text have been corrected. + +In Chapter II, "the brand of serviture" was changed to "the brand of +servitude". + +In Chapter III, "a composure which astonished be" was changed to "a +composure which astonished me", and "he was bent in discharging his +duty" was changed to "he was bent on discharging his duty". + +In Chapter VII, "Becaues he'd gone" was changed to "Because he'd gone", +and a mismatched quotation mark was corrected after "Still, you might +have been a little more civil, Sally." + +In Chapter VIII, "it occured to me that Lucille Haldane" was changed to +"it occurred to me that Lucille Haldane". + +In Chapter IX, "every available dollar for the approaching stuggle" was +changed to "every available dollar for the approaching struggle". + +In Chapter X, a mismatched quotation mark was corrected before +"'Twoinette's so--so blamed systematic". + +In Chapter XI, "while I draged at the halliards" was changed to "while I +dragged at the halliards", "life your hands at once" was changed to +"lift your hands at once", "several dark figures on the varanda" was +changed to "several dark figures on the veranda", and "the shock of her +kneel upon the bottom" was changed to "the shock of her keel upon the +bottom". + +In Chapter XII, "you have won lands down" was changed to "you have won +hands down". + +In Chapter XV, "a little worse than he rest" was changed to "a little +worse than the rest". + +In Chapter XVI, "the time for open resistance had come a last" was +changed to "the time for open resistance had come at last", a missing +period was added after "who watched our efforts with much approval", and +"the memory of former wongs" was changed to "the memory of former +wrongs". + +In Chapter XVII, "snatching here hand away" was changed to "snatching +her hand away". + +In Chapter XXII, "panting of mammonth engines" was changed to "panting +of mammoth engines". + +In Chapter XXIII, "feed and cloth me" was changed to "feed and clothe +me", a missing period was added after "her eyes were filled with light", +and "igoring Dixon's advice" was changed to "ignoring Dixon's advice". + +In Chapter XXIV, "I picketed the documents" was changed to "I pocketed +the documents", and "too a big morsel" was changed to "too big a +morsel". + +In Chapter XXVII, "was I was uneasily conscious" was changed to "was, I +was uneasily conscious". + +In Chapter XXVIII, "a promising crop of them an hand" was changed to "a +promising crop of them on hand", and "unobstrusively endeavored to sell" +was changed to "unobtrusively endeavored to sell". + +In Chapter XXIX, a period was changed to a question mark after "it is a +little disconcerting to be watched when at work", "the sped of a comet" +was changed to "the speed of a comet", and "shone mockingly in his ayes" +was changed to "shone mockingly in his eyes". + +Several words (such as bull-frog and candle-light) were hyphenated +inconsistently in the original text. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Mistress of Bonaventure, by Harold Bindloss + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MISTRESS OF BONAVENTURE *** + +***** This file should be named 38144.txt or 38144.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/1/4/38144/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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