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diff --git a/38286.txt b/38286.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9a35830 --- /dev/null +++ b/38286.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9713 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Protector, 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 Protector + +Author: Harold Bindloss + +Release Date: December 12, 2011 [EBook #38286] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PROTECTOR *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Canada Team at http://www.pgdpcanada.net + + + + + +[Illustration: "Two steps took him up to the waist, and he had +trouble in finding solid bottom at the next." (Chap, xvii.)] + + + + + THE PROTECTOR + + BY + + HAROLD BINDLOSS + + + Author of "The Impostor," "Hawtrey's Deputy," + "The Pioneer," etc., etc. + + + WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED + LONDON, MELBOURNE AND TORONTO + 1918 + + + + + CONTENTS + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. A FRIEND IN NEED 5 + II. A BREEZE OF WIND 14 + III. AN AFTERNOON ASHORE 24 + IV. A CHANGE OF ENVIRONMENT 31 + V. THE OLD COUNTRY 39 + VI. UPON THE HEIGHTS 46 + VII. STORM-STAYED 54 + VIII. LUCY VANE 62 + IX. CHISHOLM PROVES AMENABLE 69 + X. WITH THE OTTER HOUNDS 75 + XI. VANE WITHDRAWS 85 + XII. VANE GROWS RESTLESS 95 + XIII. A NEW PROJECT 101 + XIV. VANE SAILS NORTH 109 + XV. THE FIRST MISADVENTURE 114 + XVI. THE BUSH 120 + XVII. VANE POSTPONES THE SEARCH 127 + XVIII. JESSIE CONFERS A FAVOUR 132 + XIX. VANE FORESEES TROUBLE 140 + XX. THE FLOOD 146 + XXI. VANE YIELDS A POINT 151 + XXII. EVELYN GOES FOR A SAIL 161 + XXIII. VANE PROVES OBDURATE 169 + XXIV. JESSIE STRIKES 177 + XXV. THE INTERCEPTED LETTER 187 + XXVI. ON THE TRAIL 196 + XXVII. THE END OF THE SEARCH 201 + XXVIII. CARROLL SEEKS HELP 212 + XXIX. JESSIE'S CONTRITION 222 + XXX. CONVINCING TESTIMONY 234 + XXXI. VANE IS REINSTATED 243 + + + + + THE PROTECTOR + + + + CHAPTER I + + A FRIEND IN NEED. + + +A light breeze was blowing down the inlet, scented with the smell of the +firs, and the tiny ripples it chased across the water splashed musically +against the bows of the canoe. There was a thud as the blade struck the +water, and the long, light hull forged onwards with slightly lifted, +bird's-head prow, while the two men swung forward for the next stroke +with a rhythmic grace of motion. They knelt, facing forward, in the +bottom of the craft; and dissimilar as they were in features and, to +some extent, in character, the likeness between them was stronger than +the difference. Both bore the unmistakable stamp of a wholesome life +spent in vigorous labour in the open. Their eyes were clear, and like +those of most bushmen singularly steady; their skin was +weather-darkened, and they were leanly muscular. + +On either side of the lane of green water giant firs, Cedars and +balsams, crept down the rocky hills to the whitened driftwood fringe. +They formed part of the great coniferous forest which rolls westwards +from the wet coast range of Canada's Pacific province, and, overleaping +the Strait, spreads across the rugged and beautiful wilderness of +Vancouver Island. Ahead, clusters of little frame houses showed up here +and there in openings among the trees, and a small sloop, towards which +the canoe was heading, lay anchored near the wharf. + +The men had plied the paddle during most of that day, from inclination +rather than necessity, because they could have hired Siwash Indians to +undertake the labour for them, had they been so minded. They were, +though their appearance did not suggest it, moderately prosperous; but +their prosperity was of recent date, and they had been accustomed to +doing everything for themselves, as are most of the men who dwell among +the woods and ranges of British Columbia. + +Vane, who knelt nearest the bows, was twenty-seven years of age, and he +had spent nine of them chopping trees, driving cattle, poling canoes, +and assisting in the search for useful minerals among the snow-clad +ranges. He wore a wide, grey felt hat which had lost its shape from +frequent wettings, an old shirt of the same colour, and blue duck +trousers, rent in places; but the light attire revealed a fine muscular +symmetry. He had brown hair and brown eyes, and a certain warmth of +colouring which showed through the deep bronze of his skin hinted at a +sanguine and somewhat impatient temperament. + +His companion, Carroll, had lighter hair and grey eyes, and his +appearance was a little less vigorous and a little more refined, though +he, too, had toiled hard and borne many privations in the wilderness. +His dress resembled Vane's. The two had located a valuable mineral +property some months earlier, and though this does not invariably +follow, had held their own against city financiers during the +negotiations that preceded the floating of a company to work the mine. +That they had succeeded in securing a good deal of the stock was largely +due to Vane's pertinacity, and said something for his acumen; but both +had been trained in a very hard school. + +As the wooden houses ahead rose higher and the sloop's grey hull grew +into sharper shape upon the clear green shining of the brine, Vane broke +into a snatch of song. + + "Had I the wings of a dove, I would fly, + Just for to-night, to the Old Country." + +He stopped and laughed. "It's nine years since I've seen it, but I can't +get those lines out of my head. Perhaps it's because of the girl who +sang them. Somehow, I felt sorry for her. She had remarkably fine eyes." + +"Sea-blue," said his companion. "I don't grasp the connection between +the last two remarks." + +"Neither do I," Vane admitted. "I suppose there isn't one. But they +weren't sea-blue, unless you mean the depth of indigo, when you're out +of sounding. They're Irish eyes." + +"You're not Irish. There's not a trace of the Celt in you, unless it's +your habit of getting indignant with the folks who don't share your +views." + +"No, sir," answered Vane. "By birth, I'm North Country--England, I mean. +Over there, we're respectable before everything, and smart at getting +hold of whatever's worth having. As a matter of fact, you Ontario +Scotsmen are mighty like us." + +"You certainly came out well ahead of those city men who put up the +dollars," said Carroll. "I guess it's in the blood, though I fancied +they would take the mine from you." + +Vane brought his paddle down with a thud. "'Just for to-night, to the +Old Country,'" he hummed, and added: "It sticks to one." + +"Why did you leave the Old Country?" + +"That's a blamed injudicious question to ask, but you shall have an +answer. There was a row at home--I was a sentimentalist then and just +eighteen--and as the result of it I came out to Canada." His voice +changed and grew softer. "I hadn't many relatives, and except one +sister, they're all gone now. That reminds me--she's not going to +lecture for the county education authorities any longer." + +The sloop was close ahead, and, slackening the paddling they ran +alongside. Vane glanced at his watch when they had climbed on board. + +"Supper will be finished at the hotel," he remarked. "You had better get +the stove lighted. It's your turn, and that rascally Siwash seems to +have gone off again. If he's not back when we're ready, we'll sail +without him." + +Carroll, accordingly, prepared the meal, and when they had finished it +they lay on deck smoking with a content which was not altogether +accounted for by a satisfied appetite. They had spent several anxious +months, during which they had come very near the end of their slender +resources, arranging for the exploitation of the mine, and now at last +the work was over. Vane had that day made his final plans for the +construction of a road and wharf by which the ore could be economically +shipped for reduction, or as the alternative to this, for the erection +of a small smelting plant. They had bought the sloop as a convenient +means of conveyance and shelter, since they could live in some comfort +on board. Now they could take their ease for a while, which was a very +unusual thing to both of them. + +"I suppose you're bent on sailing this craft back?" Carroll said at +length, "We could hire a couple of Siwash to take her home while we rode +across the island and got the cars to Victoria. Besides, there's that +steamboat coming down the coast to-night." + +"Either way would cost a good deal extra, Vane pointed out. + +"That's true," Carroll agreed with an amused look, "You could charge it +to the Company." + +Vane laughed. "You and I have a big stake in the concern, and I haven't +got used to spending money unnecessarily yet. I've been mighty glad to +earn 2.50 by working from sun-up until dark, though I didn't always get +it afterwards. So have you." + +"How are you going to dispose of your dollars, then? You have a balance +in cash, as well as the shares." + +"It has occurred to me that I might spend a few months in the Old +Country. Have you ever been over?" + +"I was across some time ago, but if you would sooner I went with you, +I'll come along. We could start as soon as we've arranged the few +matters left open in Vancouver." + +Vane was glad to hear it. He knew little about Carroll's antecedents, +but the latter was obviously a man of education, and they had been +comrades for the last three years. During that time they had learnt to +trust each other, and to bear with each other's idiosyncrasies. Filling +his pipe again as he lay in the fading sunlight, Vane looked back on the +nine years he had passed in Canada; and allowing for the periods of +exposure to cold and wet, and the almost ceaseless toil, he admitted +that he might have spent them more unpleasantly. + +Having quarrelled with his relatives, he had come out with only a few +pounds and had promptly set about earning a living with his hands. When +he had been in the country several years, however, a friend of the +family had sent him a small sum, and the young man had made a judicious +use of the money. The lot he bought outside a wooden town doubled in +value, and the share he took in a new orchard paid him well; but he had +held aloof from the cities, and his only recklessness had been +prospecting journeys into the wilderness. Prospecting for minerals is at +once an art and a gamble, but even in this direction, in which he had +had keen wits against him, Vane had held his own; but there was one side +of life with which he was practically unacquainted. + +There are no social amenities on the rangeside or in the bush, and women +are scarce. Vane had lived in Spartan simplicity; his passions had +remained unstirred, and now he was seven-and-twenty, sound and vigorous +of body and, as a rule, level of head. At length, however, there was to +be a change. He had earned an interlude of leisure, and he meant to +enjoy it, without, as he prudently determined, making a fool of himself. + +Presently Carroll took his pipe from his mouth. + +"Are you going ashore to the show to-night?" he asked. + +"Yes," said Vane lazily. "It's a long while since I've struck another +entertainment of any kind, and that yellow-haired mite's dancing is one +of the prettiest things I've seen." + +"You've been twice already," Carroll pointed out. "The girl with the +blue eyes sings her first song rather well." + +"I think so," Vane agreed with a significant absence of embarrassment. +"In this case a good deal depends upon the singing--the interpretation, +don't they call it? The thing's on the border, and I've struck places +where they'd have made it gross; but the girl only brought out the +mischief. Strikes me she didn't see there was anything else in it." + +"That's curious, considering the crowd she goes about with," Carroll +suggested. "Aren't you cultivating a critical faculty?" + +Vane disregarded the ironical question. "She's Irish; that accounts for +a good deal." He paused and looked thoughtful. "If I knew how to do it, +I'd like to give the child who dances five dollars. It must be a tough +life, and her mother--the woman at the piano--looks ill. I wonder why +they came to a place like this?" + +"Struck a cold streak at Nanaimo, the storekeeper told me," Carroll +replied. "Anyway, since we're to start at sun-up, I'm staying here." +Then he smiled. "Has it struck you that your attendance in the front +seats is liable to misconception?" + +His companion rose without answering and dropped into the canoe. +Thrusting her off, he drove the craft towards the wharf with vigorous +strokes, and Carroll shook his head whimsically as he watched him. + +"Anybody except myself would conclude that he was waking up at last," he +said. + +A minute or two later, Vane swung himself up on to the wharf and strode +into the wooden settlement. There were one or two hydraulic mines and a +pulp mill in the vicinity, and though the place was by no means +populous, a company of third-rate entertainers had arrived some days +earlier. On reaching the rude wooden building in which they had given +their performance and finding it closed, he accosted a lounger. + +"What's become of the show?" he asked. + +"Busted," replied the man. "Didn't take the boys' fancy, and the crowd +went out with the stage this afternoon, though I heard that two of the +women stayed behind." + +Vane turned away with a slight sense of compassion. He, however, +dismissed the matter from his mind, and having been kneeling in a +cramped position in the canoe most of the day, decided to stroll along +the waterside before going back to the sloop. + +Great firs stretched out their sombre branches over the smooth shingle, +and now the sun had gone their clean resinous smell was heavy on the +dew-cooled air. Here and there brushwood grew among out-cropping rock, +and catching sight of what looked like a stripe of woven fabric beneath +a brake, he strode towards it. Then he stopped with a start, for a young +woman lay with her face hidden from him in an attitude of dejected +abandonment. He was about to turn away softly, when she started and +looked up at him. Her eyes were wet, but they were of the deep blue he +had described to Carroll, and he stood still. + +"You shouldn't give way like that," he said. + +It was all he could think of; but he spoke without obtrusive assurance +or pronounced embarrassment, and the girl, who shook out her crumpled +skirt over one little foot with a swift movement, choked back a sob, and +favoured him with a glance of keen scrutiny as she rose to a sitting +posture. She was quick at reading character--the life she led had made +that necessary--and his manner and appearance were reassuring. She, +however, said nothing, and sitting down on a neighbouring boulder, he +took out his pipe from force of habit. + +"Well," he added, in much the same tone as he would have used to a +distressed child, "what's the trouble?" + +She told him, speaking on impulse. "They've gone off and left me. The +takings didn't meet expenses." + +"That's bad," said Vane gravely. "Do you mean they've left you alone?" + +"No," replied the girl; "in a way it's worse than that. I suppose I +could go--somewhere--but there's Mrs. Marvin and Elsie." + +"The child who danced?" + +The girl assented, and Vane looked thoughtful. + +"The three of you stick together," he suggested. + +"Of course. Mrs. Marvin's the only friend I have." + +"Then I suppose you've no idea what to do?" + +His companion confessed it, and explained that it was the cause of her +distress and that they had had bad luck of late. Vane could understand +that as he looked at her; her dress was shabby, and he fancied she had +not been bountifully fed. + +"If you stayed here a few days, you could go out with the next stage, +and get on to Victoria with the cars," he said. He paused and continued +diffidently: "It could be arranged with the hotel-keeper." + +She laughed in a half-hysterical manner, and he remembered that fares +were high in the country. + +"I suppose you have no money," he added, with blunt directness. "I want +you to tell Mrs. Marvin that I'll lend her enough to take you all to +Victoria." + +Her face crimsoned, which was not quite what he had expected, and he +suddenly felt embarrassed. + +"No," she replied; "I can't do that. For one thing, it would be too late +when we got to Victoria. I think we could get an engagement if we +reached Vancouver in time to get to Kamloops by----" + +Vane knitted his brows when he heard the date, and it was a moment or +two before he spoke. + +"Then," he said, "there's only one way you can do so. There's a little +steamboat coming down the coast to-night, and I had half thought of +intercepting her and handing the skipper some letters to post in +Victoria. He knows me. That's my sloop yonder, and if I put you on board +the steamer, you'd reach Vancouver in good time. We would have sailed at +sun-up anyway." + +The girl hesitated, which struck Vane as natural, and turned partly from +him. He surmised that she did not know what to make of his offer, though +her need was urgent. In the meanwhile he stood up. + +"Come along and talk it over with Mrs. Marvin," he went on. "I'd better +tell you I'm Wallace Vane of the Clermont mine. Of course, I know your +name from the programme." + +She rose and they walked back to the hotel. Once more it struck him that +the girl was pretty and graceful. On reaching the hotel, he sat down on +the verandah while she went in, and a few minutes later the elder woman +came out and looked at him much as the girl had done. He grew hot under +her gaze and repeated his offer in the curtest terms. + +"If this breeze holds, we'll put you on board the steamer soon after +daybreak," he explained. + +The woman's face softened, and he recognised now that there had been +suspicion in it. "Thank you," she added, "we'll come." Then she added +with an eloquent gesture: "You don't know what it means to us." + +Vane merely took off his hat and turned away, but a minute or two +afterwards he met the hotel-keeper. + +"Do these people owe you anything?" he asked. + +"Five dollars," answered the man. + +Vane handed him a bill. "Take it out of this, and make any excuse you +like. I'm going to put them on board the steamboat." + +The man made no comment, and Vane, striding down to the beach, sent a +hail ringing across the water. Carroll appeared on the sloop's deck and +answered him. + +"Hallo!" he cried. "What's the trouble?" + +"Get ready the best supper you can manage for three people as quick as +you can." + +Then he turned away in a hurry, wondering rather uneasily what Carroll +would say when he grasped the situation. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A BREEZE OF WIND. + + +There were signs of a change in the weather when Vane walked down to the +wharf with his passengers, for a cold wind which had sprung up struck an +eerie sighing from the sombre firs and sent the white mists streaming +along the hillside. There was a watery moon in the sky, and on reaching +the end of the wharf Vane fancied that the singer hesitated; but the +elder woman laid her hand upon the girl's arm reassuringly and she got +into the canoe. In a few minutes Vane ran the craft alongside the sloop +and saw the amazement in Carroll's face by the glow from the cabin +skylight. He, however, fancied that his comrade would rise to the +occasion and he handed his guests up. + +"My partner, Carroll. Mrs. Marvin and her daughter; Miss Kitty Blake. +You have seen them already," he said. "They're coming down with us to +catch the steamer." + +Carroll bowed, and Vane, who thrust back the cabin slide, motioned the +others below. The place was brightly lighted by a nickelled lamp, though +it was scarcely four feet high and the centreboard trunk occupied the +middle of it. A wide, cushioned locker ran along each side a foot above +the floor, and a swing table, fixed above the trunk, filled up most of +the space between. There was no cloth upon the table, but it was +invitingly laid out with canned fruit, coffee, hot flapjacks, and a big +lake trout. + +"You must help yourselves while we get sail upon the boat," said Vane. +"The saloon's at your disposal, my partner and I have the fo'c'sle. You +will notice there are blankets yonder, and as we'll have smooth water +most of the way you should get some sleep." + +He withdrew, closing the slide, and went forward with Carroll to shorten +in the cable; but when they stopped beside the bitts his companion broke +into a soft laugh. + +"Is there anything to amuse you?" Vane asked curtly. + +"Well," said Carroll with an air of reflection, "it strikes me you're +making a rather unconventional use of your new prosperity, and it might +be prudent to consider how your friends in Vancouver may regard the +adventure." + +Vane sat down upon the bitts and took out his pipe. "One trouble in +talking to you is that I never know whether you're in earnest or not. +You trot out your cold-blooded worldly wisdom, and then you grin at it." + +"I think that's the only philosophic attitude," replied Carroll. "It's +possible to grow furiously indignant with the restraints stereotyped +people lay on one; but on the whole it's wiser to bow to them and +chuckle. After all, they've some foundation." + +Vane looked up at him sharply. + +"You've been right in the advice you have given me more than once: you +seem to know how prosperous and what you call stereotyped folks look at +things. But you've never explained where you got the knowledge." + +"That," said Carroll, "is quite another matter." + +"Anyway," continued Vane, "there's one remark of yours I'd like to +answer. You would, no doubt, consider I made a legitimate use of my +money when I entertained that crowd of city people--some of whom would +have plundered me if they could have managed it--in Vancouver. I didn't +grudge it, but I was a little astonished when I saw the wine and cigar +bill. It struck me that the best of them scarcely noticed what they +got--I think they'd been up against it at one time, as we have; and it +would have done the rest of the guzzlers good if they'd had to work all +day with the shovel on pork and flapjacks. But we'll let that go. What +have you and I done that we should swill in champagne, while a girl with +a face like that one below and a child who dances like a fairy haven't +enough to eat? You know what I paid for the last cigars. What confounded +hogs we are!" + +Carroll laughed outright. There was not an ounce of superfluous flesh +upon his comrade, who was hardened and toughened by determined labour, +and the term hog appeared singularly inappropriate. + +"Well," said Carroll, "you'll no doubt get used to the new conditions by +and by, and in regard to your latest exploit there's a motto on your +insignia of the Garter which might meet the case. But hadn't we better +heave her over her anchor?" + +They seized the chain and as it ran below a sharp, musical rattle rang +out, for the hollow hull flung back the metallic clinking like a +sounding board. When the cable was short-up, they grasped the halyards +and the big gaff mainsail rose flapping up the mast. They set it and +turned to the headsails, for though, strictly speaking, a sloop only +carries one, the term is loosely applied in places, and as Vane had +changed her rig there were two of them. + +"It's a fair wind, and I expect we'll find more weight in it lower +down," said Carroll. "We'll let the staysail lie and run her with the +jib." + +They set the jib and broke out the anchor. Vane took the helm, and the +sloop, slanting over until her deck on one side dipped close to the +frothing brine, drove away into, the darkness. The lights of the +settlement faded among the trees, and when Carroll coming aft flung a +strip of canvas over the skylight, his comrade could see the black hills +and climbing firs on both sides slip by. Sliding vapours streaked them, +a crisp splashing sound made by the curling ripples followed the vessel; +the canoe surged along noisily astern, and the frothing and gurgling +grew louder at the bows. They were running down one of the deep, +forest-shrouded inlets which, resembling the Norwegian fiords, pierce +the Pacific littoral of Canada. + +"I wonder how the wind is outside," Vane said. + +Carroll looked round and saw the white mists stream athwart the pines on +a promontory they were skirting. "That's more than I can tell. In these +troughs among the hills it either blows straight up or directly down, +and I dare say we'll find it different when we reach the sound. One +thing's certain--there's some weight in it now." + +Vane nodded agreement, though an idea that troubled him crept into his +mind. "I understand the steamboat skipper will run in to land some +Siwash he's bringing down. It will be awkward in the dark if the wind's +onshore." + +Carroll made no comment, and they drove on, until as they swept round +the point the sloop, slanting sharply, dipped her lee rail in the froth. + +"We'll have to tie down a reef," he said. + +Vane told him to take the tiller and scrambling forward, rapped upon the +cabin side, which he flung back. Mrs. Marvin lay upon the leeward locker +with a blanket across her and the little girl at her feet; Miss Blake +sat on the weather one with a book in her hand. + +"We're going to take some sail off the boat," he said. "You needn't be +disturbed by the noise." + +"When do you expect to meet the steamer?" Miss Blake inquired. + +"Not for two or three hours, anyway," Vane answered, with a hint of +uncertainty in his voice. Then, as he fancied the girl had noticed it, +he closed the slide. + +"Down helm!" he said to Carroll, and there was a banging and thrashing +of canvas as the sloop came up into the wind. They held her there, with +the jib aback, while they hauled the canoe on board, which was not an +easy task, and then with difficulty hove down a reef in the mainsail. It +was heavy work, because there was nobody at the helm, and the craft +falling off once or twice as they leaned out upon the boom with toes on +her depressed lee rail, threatened to hurl them into the frothing water. +Neither of them were trained sailors, but on that coast with its inlets +and sounds and rivers the wanderer learns to handle sail and paddle and +canoe-pole. + +They finished their task, and when Vane seized the helm Carroll sat down +under the shelter of the coaming, out of the flying spray. + +"We'll probably have some trouble putting your friends on board the +steamer, even if she runs in," he remarked. "What are you going to do if +there's no sign of her?" + +"It's a question I've been shirking for the last half-hour," Vane +confessed. + +"I'd like to point out that it would be very slow work beating back up +this inlet, and if we did so there isn't a stage across the island for +several days. No doubt you remember you have to see that contractor on +Thursday, and there's the directors' meeting." + +"It's uncommonly awkward," Vane answered dubiously. + +Carroll laughed. "It strikes me your guests will have to stay where they +are, whether they like it or not; but there's one consolation--if this +wind is from the north-west, which is most likely, it will be a fast run +to Victoria. And now I'll try to get some sleep." + +He disappeared down a scuttle forward, leaving Vane somewhat disturbed +in mind. He had merely contemplated taking his guests for a few hours' +run, but to have them on board for, perhaps, several days was a very +different thing. Besides, he was far from sure that they would +understand the necessity for the latter, in which case the situation +might become difficult. In the meanwhile, the sloop drove on, until at +last towards morning the beach fell back on each hand and she met the +long swell tumbling in from the Pacific. The wind was from the +north-west and blowing moderately hard; there was no light yet in the +sky above the black heights to the east of him, and the swell grew +higher and steeper, breaking white here and there. The sloop plunged +over it wildly, hurling the spray aloft, and it cost him a determined +effort to haul his sheets in as the wind drew ahead. Shortly afterwards, +the beach faded altogether on one hand, and he saw that the sea was +piled up into foaming ridges. It seemed most improbable that the steamer +would run in to land her Indian passengers, and he drove the sloop on +with showers of stinging brine beating into her wet canvas and whirling +about him. + +By and by he noticed that a stream of smoke was pouring from the short +funnel of the stove, and soon afterwards the cabin slide opened. Miss +Blake crept out and stood up in the well, gazing forward while she +clutched the coaming. + +Day was now breaking, and Vane could see that her thin dress was blown +flat against her. There was something graceful in her pose, and it +struck him that she had a very pretty slender figure. + +"Where's the steamer?" she asked. + +It was a question Vane had dreaded; but he answered it honestly: "I +can't tell you. It's very likely that she has gone straight on to +Victoria." + +He read suspicion in her suddenly hardening face. + +"You expected this when you asked us to come on board!" she cried. + +"No," said Vane, whose face grew hot. "On my honour, I did nothing of +the kind. There was only a moderate breeze when we left, and when it +freshened enough to make it unlikely that the steamer would run in, I +was as vexed as you seem to be. As it happened, I couldn't go back. I +must get on to Victoria as soon as possible." + +She looked at him searchingly. + +"Then what are we to do?" she asked. + +There was distress in the cry, but Vane answered it in his most +matter-of-fact tone: "So far as I can see, you can only reconcile +yourself to staying on board. We'll have a fresh fair wind for Victoria +once we're round the next head, and with luck we ought to get there late +to-night." + +"You're sure you'll be there, then?" + +"I'm sorry I can't even promise that: it depends upon the weather," he +replied. "But you mustn't stand up in the spray. You're getting wet +through." + +She still clung to the coaming, but he fancied that her misgivings were +vanishing; and he spoke again: "How are Mrs. Marvin and the little girl? +I see you have lighted the stove." + +The girl sat down, shivering, in the partial shelter of the coaming, and +at last a gleam of amusement which he thought was partly compassionate +shone in her eyes. + +"I'm afraid they're--far from well. That was why I lighted the fire; I +wanted to make them some tea. I thought you wouldn't mind." + +Vane smiled. "Everything's at your service. Go and get your breakfast, +and put on a coat you'll find below if you come out again." + +She disappeared, and Vane felt relieved. Though the explanation had +proved less difficult than he had anticipated, he was glad that it was +over. Half an hour later she appeared again, carrying a loaded tray, and +he wondered at the ease of her movements, for the sloop was plunging +viciously. + +"I've brought you some breakfast. You have been up all night," she said. + +Vane laughed. "As I can only take one hand from the helm, you will have +to cut up the bread and canned stuff for me. Draw that box out and sit +down beneath the coaming if you mean to stay." + +She did as he told her. The well was some four feet long, and the bottom +of it about half that distance below the level of the deck. As the +result of this, she sat close to his feet, while he balanced himself on +the coaming, gripping the tiller. He noticed that she had brought an +oilskin jacket with her. + +"Hadn't you better put this on first? There's a good deal of spray," she +said. + +Vane struggled into the jacket with some difficulty, and she smiled as +she handed him up a slice of bread and canned meat. "I suppose," she +said, "you can only manage one piece at once?" + +"Thank you. That's about as much as you could expect one to be capable +of, even allowing for the bushman's appetite. I'm surprised to see you +looking so fresh." + +"Oh!" said the girl, "I used to go out with the mackerel boats at home; +we lived at the ferry. It was a mile across the lough, and with the wind +westerly the sea worked in." + +"The lough?" said Vane. "I told Carroll you were from the Green Isle." + +It struck him that this was, perhaps, imprudent, since it implied that +they had been discussing her; but, on the other hand, he thought the +candour of the statement was in his favour. Then he added: "Have you +been long out here?" + +Her face grew wistful. "Four years," she answered. "I came out with +Larry--he's my brother. He was a forester at home, and he took small +contracts for clearing land. Then he married--and I left him." + +Vane made a sign of comprehension. "I see. Where's Larry now?" + +"He went to Oregon. There was no answer to my last letter; I've lost +sight of him." + +"And you go about with Mrs. Marvin? Is her husband alive?" + +Sudden anger flared up in the girl's blue eyes, though, he knew it was +not directed against him. + +"Yes," she said. "It's a pity he is. Men of his kind always seem to +live." + +It occurred to Vane, that Miss Blake, who had evidently a spice of +temper, could be a staunch partisan; and he also noticed that now he had +inspired her with some degree of trust in himself, her conversation was +marked by an ingenious candour. For all that, she changed the subject. + +"Another piece, or some tea?" she asked. + +"Tea first," said Vane, and they both laughed when she afterwards handed +him a double slice of bread. + +"These sandwiches strike me as unusually nice," he informed her. "It's +exceptionally good tea, too." + +The blue eyes gleamed with amusement, "You have been in the cold all +night--but I was once in a restaurant." She watched the effect of this +statement on him. "You know I really can't sing--I was never taught, +anyway, though there were some of the settlements where we did rather +well." + +Vane hummed a few bars of a song. "I don't suppose you realise what one +ballad of yours has done. I'd almost forgotten the Old Country, but the +night I heard you I felt I must go back and see it again. What's more, +Carroll and I are going shortly; it's your doing." + +This was a matter of fact, but Kitty Blake had produced a deeper effect +on him, although he was not aware of it yet. + +"It's a shame to keep you handing me things to eat," he added +disconnectedly. "Still, I'd like another piece." + +She smiled, delighted, as she passed the food to him. "You can't help +yourself and steer the boat. Besides--after the restaurant--I don't mind +waiting on you." + +Vane made no comment, but he watched her with satisfaction while he ate, +and as one result of it the sloop plunged heavily into the frothing sea. +There was no sign of the others, and they were alone on the waste of +tumbling water in the early dawn. The girl was pretty, and there was a +pleasing daintiness about her. + +She belonged to the people--there was no doubt of that; but then Vane +had a strong faith in the people, native-born and adopted, of the +Pacific slope. It was from them he had received the greatest kindnesses +he could remember. They were cheerful optimists; indomitable grapplers +with forest and flood, who did almost incredible things with axe and saw +and giant-powder. They lived in lonely ranch houses, tents, and rudely +flung up shacks; driving the new roads along the rangeside, risking life +and limb in wild-cat adits. They were quick to laughter and reckless in +hospitality. + +Then with an effort he brushed the hazy thoughts away. Kitty Blake was +merely a guest of his; in another day he would land her in Victoria, and +that would be the end of it. He was assuring himself of this when +Carroll crawled up through the scuttle forward and came aft to join +them. In spite of his prudent reflections, Vane was by no means certain +that he was pleased to see him. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +AN AFTERNOON ASHORE. + + +Half the day had slipped by, when the breeze freshened further and the +sun broke through. The sloop was then rolling wildly as she drove along +with the peak of her mainsail lowered before a big following sea. Vane +looked thoughtful as he gripped the helm, because a head ran out from +the beach he was following three or four miles way, and he would have to +haul the boat up to windward to get round it. This would bring the +combers upon her quarter, or, worse still, abeam. Kitty Blake was below; +Mrs. Marvin had made no appearance yet, and he spoke to Carroll, who was +standing in the well. + +"The sea's breaking more sharply, and we'd get uncommonly wet before we +hammered round yonder head," he said. "There's an inlet on this side of +it where we ought to find good shelter." + +"The trouble is that if you stay there long you'll be too late for the +directors' meeting," Carroll answered. + +"They can't have the meeting without me, and, if it's necessary, they +can wait," Vane pointed out. "I've had to. Many an hour I've spent +cooling my heels in offices before the head of the concern could find +time to attend to me. No doubt it was part of the game, and done to +impress me with a due sense of my unimportance." + +"It's possible," Carroll agreed, smiling. + +Kitty Blake made her appearance in the cabin entrance just then, and +Vane smiled at her. + +"We're going to give you a rest," he announced. "There's an inlet close +ahead where we should find smooth water, and we'll put you all ashore +until the wind drops." + +There was no suspicion in the girl's face now, and she gave him a +grateful glance before she disappeared below with the consoling news. + +Soon afterwards, Vane luffed into a tiny bay, where the sloop rode +upright in the sunshine, with loose canvas flapping softly in a faint +breeze while the cable rattled down. + +They got the canoe over, and when he had landed Mrs. Marvin and her +little girl, both of whom looked very woebegone and the worse for the +voyage, into her, Vane glanced round. + +"Isn't Miss Blake coming?" he asked. + +Mrs. Marvin, who was suggestively pallid, smiled. "She's changing her +dress." She glanced at her own crumpled attire and added: "I'm past +thinking of such things as that." + +They waited some minutes, and then Vane called to Kitty, who appeared in +the entrance to the cabin, "Won't you look in the locker, and bring +anything you think would be nice? We'll make a fire and have supper on +the beach; if it isn't first-rate, you'll be responsible." + +A few minutes later they paddled ashore, and Vane landed them on a strip +of shingle with a wall of rock behind it, to which dark firs clung in +the rifts and crannies. The sunshine streamed into the hollow, the wind +was cut off, and not far away a crystal stream came splashing down a +ravine. + +Vane, who had brought an axe, made a fire of resinous wood, and Carroll +and Kitty prepared a bountiful supper. After it was finished Carroll +carried the plates away to the stream, towards which Mrs. Marvin and the +little girl followed him, and Vane and Kitty were left beside the fire. +She sat on a log of driftwood, and he lay on the warm shingle with his +pipe in his hand. The clear green water splashed and tinkled upon the +pebbles close at his feet, and a faint, elfin sighing fell from the firs +above them. It was very old music, the song of the primeval wilderness, +and though he had heard it often, it had a strange, unsettling effect +upon him as he languidly watched his companion. There was no doubt that +she was pleasant to look upon; but although he failed to recognise this +clearly, it was to a large extent an impersonal interest he took in her. +She was not so much an attractive young woman with qualities that +pleased him, as a type of something that had so far not come into his +life; something which he vaguely felt that he had missed. One could have +fancied that by some deep-sunk intuition she surmised this fact, and +felt the security of it. + +"So you believe you can get an engagement if you reach Vancouver in +time," he said at length. Kitty assented, and he asked, "How long will +it last?" + +"I can't tell. Perhaps a few weeks. It depends upon how the boys are +pleased with the show." + +"It must be a hard life," Vane broke out. "You must make very +little--scarcely enough, I suppose, to carry you on from one engagement +to another. After all, weren't you as well off at the restaurant? Didn't +they treat you properly?" + +She coloured a little at the question. "Oh, yes; at least, I have no +fault to find with the man who kept it, or his wife." + +Vane made a hasty sign of comprehension. He supposed that the difficulty +had arisen from the conduct of one or more of the regular customers. He +felt he would very much like to meet the man whose undesired attentions +had driven his companion from her occupation. + +"Did you never try to learn keeping accounts or typewriting?" he asked. + +"I tried it once, but the mill shut down." + +"I've an idea that I could find you a post," Vane made the suggestion +casually, though he was troubled by an inward diffidence. + +He saw a tinge of warmer colour creep into the girl's cheeks. + +"No," she said decidedly. "It wouldn't do." + +The man knitted his brows, though he fancied that she was right. "Well," +he replied, "I don't want to be officious--but how can I help?" + +"You can't help at all." + +Vane, who saw that she meant it, lay smoking in silence for a minute or +two. Then Carroll came up with Mrs. Marvin and the child, and he felt +strongly stirred when the little girl walked up to him shyly with a +basket filled with shells. He drew her down beside him, with an arm +about her waist, while he examined her treasures, and then glancing up +met Kitty's eyes and felt his face grow hot with an emotion he failed to +analyse. The child was delicate; life had scanty pleasure to offer her, +but now she was happy. + +"They're so pretty, and there are lots of them," she said. "Can't we +stay here longer and gather some more?" + +"Yes," said Vane, conscious that Carroll, who had heard the question, +was watching him. "You shall stay and get as many as you want. I'm +afraid you don't like the sloop." + +"No," replied the child gravely, "I don't like it when it jumps. After I +woke up it jumped all the time." + +"Never mind," said Vane. "The boat will keep still to-night, and I don't +think there'll be any waves to roll her about to-morrow. We'll bring you +ashore first thing in the morning." + +He talked to her for a few minutes, and then strolled along the beach +with Carroll. + +"Why did you promise that child to stay here?" Carroll asked. + +"Because I felt like doing so." + +"I needn't remind you that you've an appointment with Horsfield about +the smelter, and there's a meeting of the board next day. If we started +now and caught the first steamer across, you wouldn't have much time to +spare." + +"That's correct. I shall have to wire from Victoria that I've been +detained." + +Carroll laughed expressively. "Do you mean to keep your directors +waiting to please a child?" + +"I suppose that's one reason. Anyway, I don't propose to hustle the +little girl and her mother on board the steamer helpless with sea +sickness," He paused and a gleam of humour crept into his eyes. "As I +told you, I've no objection to letting the directors wait my pleasure." + +"But they set the concern on its feet." + +"Just so," said Vane coolly. "On the other hand, they got excellent +value for their services--and I found the mine. What's more, during the +preliminary negotiations most of them treated me very casually." + +"Well?" said Carroll. + +"There's going to be a difference now, I've a board of directors; one +way or another, I've had to pay for the privilege pretty dearly; but I +don't intend that they should run the Clermont mine." + +Carroll glanced at him with open amusement. There had been a marked +change in Vane since he had floated the company, but it was one that did +not astonish his comrade. Carroll had long suspected him of latent +capabilities, which had suddenly sprung to life. + +"You ought to see Horsfield before you meet the board," he pointed out. + +"I'm not sure," Vane answered. "In fact, I'm uncertain whether I'll give +Horsfield the contract, even if we decide about the smelter. I don't +want a man with too firm a hold up against me." + +"But if he put his money in with the idea of getting certain pickings?" + +"He didn't explain his intentions, and I made no promises," Vane +answered dryly. "He'll get his dividends; that'll satisfy him." + +They rejoined the others, and when the white mists crept lower down from +the heights above and the chill of the dew was in the air, Vane launched +the canoe. + +"It's getting late, and there's a long run in front of us to-morrow," he +informed his passengers. "The sloop will lie as still as if moored in a +pond, and you'll have her all to yourselves. Carroll and I are going to +camp ashore." + +He paddled them off to the boat, and coming back with some blankets cut +a few armfuls of spruce twigs in a ravine and spread them out beside the +fire. Then sitting down just clear of the scented smoke, he lighted his +pipe and asked an abrupt question: "What do you think of Kitty Blake?" + +"Well," said Carroll cautiously, "I must confess that I've taken some +interest in the girl; partly because you were obviously doing so. In a +general way, what I noticed rather surprised me. It wasn't what I +expected." + +"You smart folks are as often wrong as the rest of us. I suppose you +looked for cold-blooded assurance, tempered by what one might call +experienced coquetry?" + +"Something of the kind," Carroll agreed. "As you say, I was wrong. There +are only two ways of explaining Miss Blake, and the first's the one that +would strike most people. That is, she's acting a part, possibly with an +object; holding her natural self in check, and doing it cleverly." + +Vane laughed scornfully. "I wouldn't have entertained that idea for five +minutes." + +"Then," said Carroll, "there's the other explanation. It's simply that +the girl's life hasn't affected her. Somehow she has kept fresh and +wholesome." + +"There's no doubt of it," said Vane shortly. + +"You offered to help her in some way?" + +"I did; I don't know how you guessed it. I said I'd find her a +situation. She wouldn't hear of it." + +"She was wise," said Carroll. "Vancouver isn't a very big place yet, and +the girl has more sense than you have. What did you say?" + +"Nothing. You interrupted us. But I'm going to sleep." + +He rolled himself up in his blanket and lay down among the soft spruce +twigs, but Carroll sat still in the darkness and smoked his pipe out. +Then he glanced at his comrade, who lay still, breathing evenly. + +"No doubt you'll be considered fortunate," he said, apostrophizing him +half aloud. "You've had power and responsibility thrust upon you. What +will you make of them?" + +Then he, too, lay down, and only the soft splash of the tiny ripples +broke the silence while the fire sank lower. + +They sailed next morning and eventually arrived in Victoria after the +boat which crossed the Strait had gone, but the breeze was fair from the +westwards, and after dispatching a telegram Vane put to sea again. The +sloop made a quick passage, and for most of the time her passengers +lounged in the sunshine on her gently-slanted deck. It was evening when +they ran through the Narrows into Vancouver's land-locked harbour. + +Half an hour later, Vane landed his passengers, and it was not until he +had left them they discovered that he had thrust a roll of paper +currency into the little girl's hand. Then he and Carroll set off for +the C.P.R. hotel. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A CHANGE OF ENVIRONMENT. + + +On the evening after his arrival in Vancouver, Vane, who took Carroll +with him, paid a visit to one of his directors and, in accordance with +the invitation, reached the latter's dwelling some little time before +the arrival of other guests, whose acquaintance it was considered +advisable that he should make. + +Vane and his companion were ushered into a small room with an uncovered +floor and simple, hardwood furniture. It was obviously a working room, +for, as a rule, the work of the Western business man goes on +continuously except when he is asleep; but a somewhat portly lady with a +good-humoured face reclined in a rocking-chair. A gaunt, elderly man of +rugged appearance rose from his seat at a writing-table as his guests +entered. + +"So ye have come at last," he said. "I had you shown in here, because +this room is mine, and I can smoke when I like. The rest of the house is +Mrs. Nairn's, and it seems that her friends do not appreciate the smell +of my cigars. I'm not sure that I can blame them." + +Mrs. Nairn smiled placidly. "Alec," she explained, "leaves them lying +everywhere, and I do not like the stubs on the stairs. But sit ye down +and he will give ye one." + +Vane felt at home with both of them. He had met people of their kind +before, and, allowing for certain idiosyncrasies, considered them the +salt of the Dominion. Nairn had done good service to his adopted +country, developing her new industries, with some profit to himself, for +he was of Scottish extraction; but while close at a bargain he could be +generous afterwards. When his guests were seated he laid two cigar boxes +on the table. + +"Those," he said, pointing to one of them, "are mine. I think ye had +better try the others; they're for visitors." + +Vane, who had already noticed the aroma of the cigar that was +smouldering on a tray, decided that he was right, and dipped his hand +into the second box, which he passed to Carroll. + +"Now," said Nairn, "we can talk comfortably, and Clara will listen. +Afterwards it's possible she will favour me with her opinion." + +Mrs. Nairn smiled at them encouragingly, and her husband proceeded: "One +or two of my colleagues were no pleased at ye for putting off the +meeting." + +"The sloop was small, and it was blowing rather hard," Vane explained. + +"Maybe," said Nairn. "For all that, the tone of your message was not +altogether conciliatory. It informed us that ye would arrange for the +postponed meeting at your earliest convenience. Ye didna mention ours." + +"I pointed that out to him, and he said it didn't matter," Carroll broke +in, laughing. + +Nairn spread out his hands in expostulation, but there was dry +appreciation in his eyes. "Young blood must have its way." Then he +paused. "Ye will not have said anything to Horsfield yet about the +smelter?" + +"No. So far, I'm not sure it would pay us to put up the plant, and the +other man's terms were lower." + +"Maybe," Nairn answered, and he made the word very expressive. "Ye have +had the handling of the thing; but henceforward it will be necessary to +get the sanction of the board. However, ye will meet Horsfield to-night. +We expect him and his sister." + +Vane thought he had been favoured with a hint, but he also fancied that +his host was not inimical and was merely reserving his judgment. The +latter changed the subject. + +"So ye're going to England for a holiday," he remarked. "Ye'll have +friends who'll be glad to see ye?" + +"I've one sister and no other near relatives, but I expect to spend some +time with folks you know. The Chisholms are old family friends and, as +you will remember, it was through them I first approached you." Then +obeying one of the impulses which occasionally swayed him he turned to +Mrs. Nairn. "I'm grateful to them for sending me the letter of +introduction to your husband. He didn't treat me as the others did when +I first went round this city with a few mineral specimens." + +He had expected nothing when he spoke, but there was a responsive look +in the lady's face which hinted that he had made a friend; and as a +matter of fact, he owed a good deal to his host. + +"So ye are meaning to stay with Chisholm," Nairn exclaimed. "We had +Evelyn here two years ago and Clara said something about her coming out +again." + +"I never heard of that, but it's nine years since I saw Evelyn." + +"Then there's a surprise in store for ye," said Nairn. "I believe +they've a bonny place, and there's no doubt Chisholm will make ye +welcome." + +The slight pause was expressive. It implied that Nairn, who had a +somewhat biting humour, could furnish a reason for Chisholm's +hospitality if he desired, and Vane was confirmed in this supposition +when he saw the warning look which his hostess cast at her husband. + +"It's likely that we'll have Evelyn again in the fall," she broke in. +"It's a very small world, Mr. Vane." + +"It's a far cry from Vancouver to England," said Vane. "How did you come +to know Chisholm?" + +Nairn answered him. "Our acquaintance began with business, and he's a +kind of connection of Colquhoun's." + +Colquhoun was a man of some importance, who held a Crown appointment, +and Vane felt inclined to wonder why Chisholm had not sent him a letter +to him. Afterwards he guessed at the reason, which was not flattering to +himself or his host. The latter and he chatted awhile on business +topics, until there was a sound of voices below, and going down in +company with Mrs. Nairn they found two or three new arrivals in the +entrance hall. More came in, and when they sat down to supper, Vane was +given a place beside a lady whom he had already met. + +Jessie Horsfield was about his own age; tall and slight of figure, with +regular features, a rather colourless face, and eyes of a cold, light +blue. There was, however, something which Vane considered striking in +her appearance, and he was gratified by her graciousness to him. Her +brother sat almost opposite to them, a tall, spare man, with an +expressionless countenance, except for the aggressive hardness in his +eyes. Vane had noticed this look in them, and it had roused his dislike; +but he had not observed it in those of Miss Horsfield, though it was +present now and then. Nor did he realise that while she chatted, she was +unobtrusively studying him; She had not favoured him with much notice +when she was in his company on a previous occasion; he had been a man of +no importance then. + +"I suppose you are glad you have finished your work in the bush," she +remarked presently. "It must be nice to get back to civilisation." + +"Yes," Vane assented; "it's remarkably nice after living for nine years +in the wilderness." + +A fresh dish was laid before him, and his companion smiled. "You didn't +get things of this kind among the pines." + +"No," said Vane. "In fact, cookery is one of the chopper's trials. You +come back dead tired, and often very wet, to your lonely tent, and then +there's a fire to make and supper to get before you can rest. It happens +now and then that you're too played out to trouble, and go to sleep +instead." + +"Dreadful," said the girl, sympathetically. "But you have been in +Vancouver before." + +"Except on the last occasion, I stayed down near the water-front. We +were not provided with luxurious quarters or suppers of this kind then." + +Jessie nodded. "It's romantic, and though you must be glad it's over, +there must be some satisfaction in feeling that you owe the change to +your own efforts. Doesn't it give you a feeling that in some degree +you're master of your fate? I fancy I should like that." + +It was subtle flattery, and there were reasons why it appealed to the +man. He had wandered about the province in search of employment, besides +being beaten down at many a small bargain by more fortunately situated +men. Now, however, he had resolved that there should be a difference: +instead of begging favours, he would dictate terms. + +"I should have imagined it," he said, in answer to her last remark, and +he was right, for Jessie Horsfield was a clever woman, who loved power +and influence. Then she abruptly changed the subject. + +"It was you who located the Clermont mine, wasn't it?" she asked. "I +read something about it in the papers; I think they said it was copper." + +This vagueness was misleading, because her brother had given her a good +deal of information about the mine. + +"Yes," said Vane, who was willing to take up any subject she suggested; +"it's copper, but there's some silver combined with it. Of course, the +value of any ore depends upon two things--the percentage of the metal, +and the cost of extracting it." + +She waited with flattering interest, and he added: "In both respects, +Clermont produce is promising." + +After that he did not remember what they talked about; but the time +passed rapidly and he was surprised when Mrs. Nairn rose and the company +drifted away by twos and threes towards the verandah. Left by himself a +moment, he came upon Carroll sauntering down a corridor, and the latter +stopped him. + +"I've had a chat with Horsfield," he remarked. + +"Well?" said Vane. + +"He may have merely meant to make himself agreeable, and he may have +wished to extract information about you. If the latter was his object, +he was not successful." + +"Ah!" said Vane thoughtfully. "Nairn's straight, anyway, and to be +relied upon. I like him and his wife." + +"So do I," Carroll agreed. + +He moved away, and a few moments later Horsfield joined Vane, who had +strolled out on to the verandah. + +"I don't know if it's a very suitable time to mention it, but are you +any nearer a decision about that smelter yet?" he said. "Candidly, I'd +like the contract." + +"No," said Vane. "I can't make up my mind, and I may postpone the matter +indefinitely. It might prove more profitable to ship the ore out for +reduction." + +Horsfield examined his cigar. "Of course, I can't press you; but I may +perhaps suggest that as we'll have to work together in other matters, I +might be able to give you a quid pro quo." + +"That occurred to me," said Vane, "On the other hand, I don't know how +much importance I ought to attach to the consideration." + +His companion laughed with apparent good-humour. "Oh, well!" he +answered, "I must wait until you're ready." + +He strolled away, and presently joined his sister. + +"How does Vane strike you?" he asked. "You seem to get on with him." + +"I've an idea that you won't find him easy to influence, and the girl +looked at her brother pointedly. + +"I'm inclined to agree with you," said Horsfield. "In spite of that, +he's a man worth cultivating." + +He passed on to speak to Nairn, and by and by Vane sat down beside +Jessie in a corner of a big room. It was simply furnished, but spacious +and lofty and looked out across the verandah. It was pleasant to lounge +there and feel that Miss Horsfield had good-naturedly taken him under +her wing, which seemed to describe her attitude. + +"As Mrs. Nairn tells me you are going to England, I suppose we shall not +see you in Vancouver for some months," she said presently. "This city +really isn't a bad place to live in." + +Vane felt gratified. She implied that he would be an acquisition and +included him among the number of her acquaintances. "I fancy I shall +find it a particularly pleasant one," he responded. "Indeed, I'm +inclined to be sorry I've made arrangements to leave it very shortly." + +"That is pure good-nature," his companion laughed. + +She changed the subject, and Vane found her conversation entertaining. +She said nothing of any consequence, but she knew how to make a glance +or a changed inflection expressive. He was sorry when she left him, but +she smiled at him before she moved away. + +"If you and Mr. Carroll care to call, I am generally at home in the +afternoon," she said. + +She crossed the room, and Vane, who joined Nairn, remained near him +until he took his departure. + +It was late the next afternoon, and an Empress liner from China and +Japan had arrived an hour or two earlier, when he and Carroll reached +the C.P.R. station. The Atlantic train was waiting, and an unusual +number of passengers were hurrying about the cars. They were, for the +most part, prosperous people, business men and tourists from England, +going home that way, and when Vane found Mrs. Marvin and Kitty, he was +once more conscious of a stirring of compassion. Kitty smiled at him +diffidently. + +"You have been so kind," she began, and, pausing, added with a tremor in +her voice: "But the tickets----" + +"Pshaw!" said Vane. "If it will ease your mind, you can send me what +they cost after the first full house you draw." + +"How shall we address you?" + +"Clermont Mineral Exploitation. I don't want to think I'm going to lose +sight of you." + +Kitty turned away from him a moment, and then looked back. + +"I'm afraid you must make up your mind to that," she said. + +Vane could not remember his answer, though he afterwards tried; but just +then an official strode along beside the cars calling to the passengers, +and when a bell began tolling Vane hurried the girl and her companions +on to a platform. Mrs. Marvin entered the car, Elsie held up her face to +kiss him before she disappeared, and he and Kitty were left alone. She +held out her hand, and a liquid gleam crept into her eyes. + +"We can't thank you properly," she said. "Good-bye." + +"No," Vane protested. "You mustn't say that." + +"Yes," said Kitty firmly. "It's good-bye. You'll be carried on in a +moment." + +Vane gazed down at her, and afterwards wondered at what he did; but she +looked so forlorn and desolate, and the pretty face was so close to him. +Stooping swiftly, he kissed her, and had a thrilling fancy that she did +not recoil; then the cars lurched forward, and he swung himself down. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE OLD COUNTRY. + + +A month had passed since Vane said good-bye to Kitty, when he and +Carroll alighted one evening at a little station in the north of +England. + +The train went on, and Vane stood still, looking about him with a +poignant recollection of how he had last waited on that platform, sick +at heart, but gathering his youthful courage for the effort that he must +make. It all came back to him; the dejection, the sense of loneliness; +for he was then going out to the Western Dominion in which he had not a +friend. Now he was returning prosperous and successful. But once again +the feeling of loneliness was with him--most of those whom he had left +behind had made a longer journey than his. + +Then he noticed an elderly man in livery approaching, and held out his +hand with a smile of pleasure. + +"You haven't changed a bit, Jim," he said. + +"A bit stiffer in the joints, and maybe a bit sourer," was the answer; +then the man's wrinkled face relaxed. "I'm main glad to see thee, Mr. +Wallace. Master wad have come, only he'd t' gan t' Manchester suddenly." + +Vane helped him to place their baggage in the trap, and then, gathering +up the reins, bade him sit behind. After half an hour's ride through a +country rolled in ridge and valley, Vane pulled up where a stile path +led across a strip of meadow. + +"You can drive round; we'll be there before you," he said to the groom +as he got down. + +Carroll and he crossed the meadow, and passing round a clump of larches, +came suddenly into sight of an old grey house with a fir wood rolling +down the hillside close behind it. The building was long and low, +weather-worn and stained with lichens where the creepers and climbing +roses left the stone exposed. The bottom row of mullioned windows opened +upon a terrace, and in front of the latter ran a low wall with a mossy +coping on which was placed urns bright with geraniums. It was pierced by +an opening approached by shallow stairs on which a peacock stood, and +between them and the two men stretched a sweep of lawn. A couple of +minutes later a lady met them in the hall, and held out her hand to Vane +effusively. She was middle-aged, and had once been handsome, Carroll +thought, but there were wrinkles about her eyes, which had a hint of +hardness in them. + +"Welcome home, Wallace," she said. "It should not be difficult to look +upon the Dene as that--you were here so often once upon a time." + +"Thank you," said Vane. "I felt tempted to ask Jim to drive me round by +the Low Wood; I wanted to see the place again." + +"I'm glad you didn't," and the lady smiled sympathetically. "The house +is shut up and going to pieces. It would have been depressing to-night." + +Vane presented Carroll. Mrs. Chisholm's manner was gracious; but for no +particular reason Carroll wondered if she would have extended the same +welcome to either, had his comrade not come back the discoverer of a +mine. + +"Tom was sorry he couldn't wait to meet you, but he had to leave for +Manchester on some urgent business," she informed Vane, and looked round +as a girl with disordered hair came up to them. + +"This is Mabel," she said. "I hardly think you will remember her." + +"I've carried her across the meadow," smilingly remarked Vane. + +The girl greeted the strangers demurely, and favoured Vane with a +critical gaze. "So you're Wallace Vane--who found the Clermont mine. +Though I don't remember you, I've heard a good deal about you lately. +Very pleased to make your acquaintance." + +Vane's eyes twinkled as he shook hands with her. Her manner was quaintly +formal, but he fancied there was a spice of mischief hidden behind it, +and in the meanwhile Carroll, watching his hostess, surmised that her +daughter's remarks had not altogether pleased her. She, however, chatted +with them until the man who had driven them appeared with their baggage, +when they were shown their respective rooms. + +Vane was the first to go down, and reaching the hall found nobody there, +though a clatter of dishes and clink of silver suggested that a meal was +being laid out in an adjoining room. Sitting down near the hearth, he +looked about him. + +His eyes rested on many objects that he recognised, but as his glance +travelled to and fro it occurred to him that much of what he saw +conveyed a hint that economy was needful. + +By and by he heard a patter of feet, and looking up saw a girl +descending the stairs in the fading stream of light. She was clad in +trailing white, which gleamed against the dark oak and rustled softly as +it flowed about a tall, finely-outlined and finely-poised figure. She +had hair of dark brown with paler lights in its curling tendrils, +gathered back from a neck that showed a faintly warmer whiteness, than +the snowy fabric beneath it. It was, however, her face which seized +Vane's attention; the level brows, the quiet, deep brown eyes, the +straight, cleanly-cut nose, and the subtle suggestion of steadfastness +and pride which they all conveyed. He rose with a cry that had pleasure +and eagerness in it: "Evelyn!" + +She came down, moving lightly but, as he noticed, with a rhythmic grace, +and laid a firm, cool hand in his. + +"I'm glad to see you back, Wallace," she said. "But you have changed." + +"I'm not sure that's kind. In some ways you haven't changed at all; I +would have known you anywhere." + +"Nine years is a long time to remember any one." + +Vane had seen few women during that period; but he was not a fool, and +he recognised that this was no occasion for an attempt at gallantry. +There was nothing coquettish in Evelyn's words, nor were they ironical. +She had answered in the tranquil, matter-of-fact manner which, as he +remembered, usually characterised her. + +"It's a little while since you landed, isn't it?" she added. + +"A week," said Vane. "I'd some business in London, and then I went on to +look up Lucy. She had just gone up to town, and I missed her. I shall go +up again to see her as soon as she answers my note." + +"It won't be necessary. She's coming here for a fortnight very soon." + +"That's kind," said Vane. "Whom have I to thank for suggesting it?" + +"Does it matter? It was a natural thing to ask your only sister--who is +a friend of mine. We have plenty of room, and the place is quiet." + +"It used not to be. If I remember, your mother generally had it full +part of the year." + +"Things have changed," said Evelyn quietly. + +Vane was baffled by something in her manner. Evelyn had never been +effusive--that was not her way--but now, while she was cordial, she did +not seem disposed to resume their acquaintance where it had been broken +off. After all, he could hardly have expected this. + +"Mabel is like you, as you used to be," he said. "It struck me as soon +as I saw her; but when she began to talk there was a difference." + +"Yes," she said. "I think you're right in both respects. Mopsy has the +courage of her convictions. She's an open rebel." + +There was no bitterness in her tone. Evelyn's manner was never pointed, +but Vane fancied that she had said a meaning thing, one that might +explain what he found puzzling in her attitude, when he held the key to +it. Then she went on: "Mopsy was dubious about you before you arrived, +but I'm pleased to say she now seems reassured." + +Then Carroll came down, and a few moments later Mrs. Chisholm appeared +and they went in to dinner in a low-ceilinged room. Nobody said anything +of importance, but by and by Mabel turned to Vane. + +"I suppose you have brought your pistols with you," she said. + +"I never owned one," Vane informed her. + +The girl looked at him with an excellent assumption of incredulity. +"Then you have never shot anybody in British Columbia?" + +Carroll laughed, as if this greatly pleased him, but Vane's face was +rather grave as he answered her. + +"No," he said. "I'm thankful I haven't." + +"Then the West must be getting what the Archdeacon--he's Flora's +husband, you know--calls decadent," the girl retorted. + +"She's incorrigible," Mrs. Chisholm interposed with a smile. + +Carroll, who was sitting next to Mabel, leaned towards her +confidentially. "In case you feel badly disappointed, I'll let you into +a secret," he said. "When we feel real savage, we take the axe instead." + +Evelyn fancied that Vane winced at this, but Mabel looked openly +regretful. + +"Can either of you pick up a handkerchief going at full gallop on +horseback?" she inquired. + +"I'm sorry I can't, and I've never seen Wallace do so," Carroll +answered, laughing, and Mrs. Chisholm shook her head at her daughter. + +"Miss Clifford complained of your inattention to the study of English +last quarter," she said severely. + +Mabel made no answer, though Vane thought it would have relieved her to +grimace, and by and by the meal came to an end. Some time afterwards, +Mrs. Chisholm rose from her seat in the drawing-room. + +"We keep early hours at the Dene, but you will retire when you like," +she said. "As Tom is away, I had better tell you that you will find +syphons and whisky in the smoking-room. I have had the lamp lighted." + +"Thank you," Vane replied with a smile. "I'm afraid you have taken more +trouble on our account than you need have done. Except on special +occasions we have generally confined ourselves to strong green tea." + +Mabel looked at him in amazement. "Oh!" she said, "the West is certainly +decadent. You should be here when the otter hounds are out. Why, it was +only----" + +She broke off abruptly beneath her mother's withering glance, and when +they were left alone, Vane and Carroll strolled out upon the terrace, +pipe in hand. + +"I suppose you could put in a few weeks here," Vane remarked. + +"I could," Carroll replied. "There's an--atmosphere--about these old +houses that appeals to me, perhaps because we have nothing like it in +Canada. Besides, I think your friends mean to make things pleasant." + +"I'm glad you like them." + +Carroll understood that his comrade would not resent a candid expression +of opinion. "I do; the girls in particular. They interest me. The +younger one's of a type that's common in our country, though it's +generally given room for free development into something useful there. +Mabel's chaffing at the curb. It remains to be seen if she'll kick, and +hurt herself in doing so, presently." + +Vane, who remembered that Evelyn had said something to the same effect, +had already discovered that Carroll possessed a keen insight in certain +matters. + +"And her sister?" he suggested. + +"You won't mind my saying that I'm inclined to be sorry for her? She has +learned repression--been driven into line. That girl has character, but +it's being cramped and stunted. You live in walled-in compartments in +this country." + +Vane strolled along the terrace thoughtfully. He was not offended, and +he understood his companion's attitude. Like other men of education and +good upbringing, driven by unrest or disaster to the untrammelled life +of the bush, Carroll had gained sympathy as well as knowledge. Facing +facts candidly, he seldom indulged in decided protest against any of +them. On the other hand, Vane was on occasion liable to outbreaks of +indignation. + +"Well," said the latter at length, "I guess it's time to go to bed." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +UPON THE HEIGHTS. + + +Vane rose early next morning, as he had been accustomed to do, and +taking a towel with him made his way across dewy meadows and between +tall hedgerows to the tarn. Stripping where the rabbit-cropped sward met +the mossy boulders, he swam out joyously, breasting the little ripples +which splashed and sparkled beneath the breeze that had got up with the +sun. Coming back where the water lay in shadow beneath a larch wood, +which as yet had not wholly lost its vivid green, he disturbed the +paddling moor-hens and put up a mallard from a clump of swaying reeds. +Then he dressed and turned homewards. + +Scrambling over a limestone wall tufted thick with parsley fern, he +noticed Mabel stooping down over an object which lay among the heather +where a rough cartroad approached a wooden bridge. On joining her, he +saw that it was a finely-built canoe with a hole in one bilge she was +examining. She looked up at him ruefully, as she said, "Very sad, isn't +it? That stupid Little did it with his clumsy cart." + +"I think it could be mended," Vane replied. + +"Old Beavan--he's the wheelwright--said it couldn't, and dad said I +could hardly expect him to send the canoe back to Kingston. He bought it +for me at an exhibition." Then a thought seemed to strike her. "Perhaps +you had something to do with canoes in Canada?" + +"I used to pole one loaded with provisions up a river, and carry the lot +round several falls. You're fond of paddling." + +"I love it. I used to row the fishing-punt, but it's too old to be safe, +and now the canoe's smashed I can't go out." + +"Well," said Vane, "we'll walk across and see what we can find in +Beavan's shop." + +They crossed the heath to a tiny hamlet nestling in a hollow of a +limestone crag. There Vane made friends with the wheelwright, who +regarded him dubiously at first, and obtained a piece of larch board +from him. The grizzled North countryman watched him closely as he set a +plane, which is a delicate operation, and then raised no objection when +Vane made use of his work bench. After that, Vane, who had sawn up the +board, borrowed a few tools and copper nails, and he and Mabel went back +to the canoe. On the way she glanced at him curiously. + +"I wasn't sure old Beavan would let you have the things," she remarked. +"It isn't often he'll lend even a hammer, but he seemed to take to you; +I think it was the way you handled his plane." + +"It's strange what little things win some people's good opinion, isn't +it?" + +"Oh! don't," she exclaimed. "That's how the Archdeacon talks. I thought +you were different." + +The man acquiesced in the rebuke, and after an hour's labour at the +canoe, scraped the red lead he had used off his hands, and sat down +beside the craft. By and by he became conscious that his companion was +regarding him with what seemed to be approval. + +"I really think you'll do, and we'll get on," she informed him. "If you +had been the wrong kind you would have worried about your red hands. +Still, you could have rubbed them on the heather, instead of on your +socks." + +"I might have thought of that," Vane agreed. "But, you see, I've been +accustomed to wearing old clothes. Anyway, you'll be able to launch the +canoe as soon as the joint's dry." + +"There's one thing I should have told you," the girl replied. "Dad would +have sent the canoe away to be mended if it hadn't been so far. He's +very good when things don't ruffle him; but he hasn't been fortunate +lately. The lead mine takes a good deal of money." + +Vane admired her loyalty, and refrained from taking advantage of her +candour, though there were one or two questions he would have liked to +ask. When he was last in England, Chisholm had been generally regarded +as a man of means, though it was rumoured that he was addicted to +hazardous speculations. Mabel, who did not seem to mind his silence, +went on: + +"I heard Stevens--he's the gamekeeper--tell Beavan that dad should have +been a rabbit because he's so fond of burrowing. No doubt, that meant he +couldn't keep out of mines." + +Vane made no comment, and to change the subject, reminded her: "Don't +you think it's getting on for breakfast time?" + +"It won't be for a good while yet. We don't get up early, and though +Evelyn used to, it's different now. We went out on the tarn every +morning, even in the rain; but I suppose that's not good for one's +complexion, though bothering about such things doesn't seem to be worth +while. Aunt Julia couldn't do anything for Evelyn, though she had her in +London for some time. Flora is our shining light." + +"What did she do?" Vane inquired. + +"She married the Archdeacon, and he isn't so very dried up. I've seen +him smile when I talked to him." + +"I'm not astonished at that, Mabel." + +His companion looked up at him demurely. "My name's not Mabel--to you. +I'm Mopsy to the family, but my special friends call me Mops. You're one +of the few people one can be natural with, and I'm getting sick--you +won't be shocked at that--of having to be the opposite." + +Half an hour later, Vane, who had seldom had to wait so long for it, sat +down to breakfast. All he saw spoke of ease and taste and leisure. +Evelyn, who sat opposite him, looked wonderfully fresh in her white +dress. Mopsy was as amusing as she dared to be; but he felt drawn back +to the restless world again as he glanced at his hostess and saw the +wrinkles round her eyes and a hint of cleverly-hidden strain in her +expression. He fancied a good deal could be inferred from the fragments +of information her youngest daughter had let drop. + +It was the latter who suggested that they should picnic upon the summit +of a lofty hill, from which there was a striking view; and as this met +with the approval of Mrs. Chisholm, who excused herself from +accompanying them, they set out an hour later. The day was bright, with +glaring sunshine, and a moderate breeze drove up wisps of ragged cloud +that dappled the hills with flitting shadow. + +Vane carried the provisions in a fishing-creel, and on leaving the head +of the valley they climbed leisurely up easy slopes, slipping on the +crisp hill grass now and then. By and by they plunged into tangled +heather on a bolder ridge, which was rent by black gullies, down which +at times wild torrents poured. This did not trouble either of the men, +but Vane was surprised at the ease with which Evelyn threaded her way +across the heath. She wore a short skirt, and he noticed the supple +grace of her movements and the delicate colour the wind had brought into +her face. She had changed since they left the valley. She seemed to have +flung off something, and her laugh had a gayer ring; but while she +chatted with him he was still conscious of a subtle reserve in her +manner. + +Climbing still, they reached the haunts of the cloud-berries and brushed +through broad patches of the snowy blossoms that open their gleaming +cups among the moss and heather. + +Then turning the flank of a steep ascent, they reached the foot of a +shingly scree, and sat down to lunch in the warm sunshine, where the +wind was cut off by the peak above. Beneath them a great rift opened up +among the rocks, and far beyond the blue lake in the depths of it they +caught the silver gleam of the distant sea. + +The creel was promptly emptied, and when Mabel afterwards took Carroll +away to see if he could get up a chimney in some neighbouring crags, +Vane lay resting on one elbow not far from Evelyn. She was looking down +the long hollow, with the sunshine upon her face. + +"You didn't seem to mind the climb," he said. + +"I enjoyed it. I am fond of the mountains, and I have to thank you for a +day among them." + +On the surface, the words offered an opening for a complimentary +rejoinder, but Vane was too shrewd to seize it. He had made one venture, +and he surmised that a second one would not please her. + +"They're almost at your door," he said. "One would imagine you could +indulge in a scramble among them whenever if pleased you." + +"There are a good many things that look so close and still are out of +reach," Evelyn answered with a smile that somehow troubled him. Then her +manner changed. "You are content with this?" + +Vane gazed about him; at purple crags in shadow, glistening threads of +water that fell among the rocks, and long slopes that lay steeped in +softest colour, under the summer sky. + +"Content is scarcely the right word for it," he assured her. "If it +wasn't so still and serene up here, I'd be riotously happy. There are +reasons for this quite apart from the scenery: for one, it's pleasant to +feel that I need do nothing but what I like for the next few months." + +"The sensation must be unusual. I wonder if, even in your case, it will +last so long." + +Vane laughed and stretched out one of his hands. It was lean and brown, +and she could see the marks of old scars on the knuckles. + +"In my case," he answered, "it has only come once in a lifetime, and if +it isn't too presumptuous, I think I've earned it." He indicated his +battered fingers. "That's the result of holding a wet and slippery +drill, but those aren't the only marks I carry about with me--though +I've been more fortunate than many fine comrades." + +"I suppose one must get hurt now and then," said Evelyn, who had noticed +something that pleased her in his voice as he concluded. "After all, a +bruise that's only skin-deep doesn't trouble one long, and no doubt some +scars are honourable. It's slow corrosion that's the deadliest." She +broke off with a laugh, and added: "Moralising's out of place on a day +like this, and they're not frequent in the North. In a way, that's their +greatest charm." + +Vane nodded. + +"Yes," he said. "On the face of it, the North is fickle, though to those +who know it that's a misleading term. To some of us it's always the +same, and its dark grimness makes you feel the radiance of its smile. +For all that, I think we're going to see a sudden change in the +weather." + +Half of the wide circle their view would have commanded was cut off by +the scree, but long wisps of leaden cloud began to stream across the +crags above, intensifying, until it seemed unnatural, the glow of light +and colour on the rest. + +"I wonder if Mopsy is leading Mr. Carroll into any mischief; they have +been gone some time," said Evelyn. "She has a trick of getting herself, +and other people into difficulties. I suppose he is an old friend of +yours, unless, perhaps, he's acting as your secretary." + +Vane's eyes twinkled. "If he came in any particular capacity, it's as +bear-leader. You see, there are a good many things I've forgotten in the +bush, and as I left this country young, there are no doubt some I never +learned." + +"And so you make Mr. Carroll your confidential adviser. How did he gain +the necessary experience?" + +"That," replied Vane, "is more than I can tell you, but I'm inclined to +believe he has been at one of the universities; Toronto, most likely. +Anyhow, on the whole he acts as a judicious restraint." + +"But don't you really know anything about him?" + +"Only what some years of close companionship have taught me." + +Evelyn looked surprised, and he spread out his hands in a humorous +manner. "A good many people have had to take me in that way, and they +seemed willing to do so; the thing's not uncommon in the West. Why +should I be more particular than they were?" + +Just then Mabel and Carroll appeared. The latter's garments were stained +in places as if he had been scrambling over mossy rocks, and his pockets +bulged. + +"We've found some sundew and two ferns I don't know, as well as all +sorts of other things," she announced. + +"That's correct," said Carroll; "I've got them. I guess they're going to +fill up most of the creel." + +Mabel superintended their transfer, and then addressed the others +generally: "I think we ought to go up the Pike now, when we have the +chance. It isn't much of a climb from here. Besides, the quickest way +back to the road is across the top and down the other side." + +Evelyn agreed, and they set out, following a sheep-path which skirted +the screes, until they left the bank of sharp stones behind, and faced a +steep ascent. Parts of it necessitated a breathless scramble, and the +sunlight faded from the hills as they climbed, while thicker wisps of +cloud drove across the ragged summit. They reached the latter at length +and stopped, bracing themselves against a rush of chilly breeze, while +they looked down upon a wilderness of leaden-coloured rock. Long trails +of mist were creeping in and out among the crags, and here and there +masses of it gathered round the higher slopes. + +"I think the Pike's grandest in this weather," Mabel declared. "Look +below, Mr. Carroll, and you'll see the mountain is like a starfish. It +has prongs running out from it." + +Carroll did as she directed him, and noticed three diverging ridges +springing off from the shoulder of the peak. Their crests, which were +narrow, led down towards the valley, but their sides fell in rent and +fissured crags to great black hollows. + +"You can get down two of them," Mabel went on. "The first is the nearest +to the road, but the third's the easiest. It takes you to the Hause; +that's the gap between it and the next hill." + +A few big drops began to fall, and Evelyn cut her sister's explanations +short. + +"We had better make a start at once," she said. + +They set out, Mabel and Carroll leading and drawing farther away from +the two behind; and the rain began in earnest as they descended. Rock +slope and scattered stones were slippery, and Vane found it difficult to +keep his footing on some of their lichened surfaces. He, however, was +relieved to see that his companion seldom hesitated, and they made their +way downwards cautiously, until, near the spot where the three ridges +diverged, they walked into a belt of drifting mist. The peak above them +was suddenly blotted out, and Evelyn bade Vane hail Carroll and Mabel, +who had disappeared. He sent a shout ringing through the vapour, and +caught a faint and unintelligible reply, after which a flock of sheep +fled past and dislodged a rush of sliding stones. Vane heard the latter +rattle far down the hillside, and when he called again a blast of chilly +wind whirled his voice away. There was a faint echo above him, and then +silence again. + +"It looks as if they were out of hearing, and the slope ahead of us +seems uncommonly steep by the way those stones went down," he remarked. +"Do you think Mabel has taken Carroll down the Stanghyll ridge?" + +"I can't tell," said Evelyn. "It's comforting to remember that she knows +it better than I do. I think we ought to make for the Hause; there's +only one place that's really steep. Keep up to the left a little; the +Scale Crags must be close beneath us." + +They moved on cautiously, skirting what seemed to be a pit of profound +depth in which dim vapours whirled, while the rain, which grew thicker, +beat into their faces. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +STORM-STAYED. + + +The weather was not the only thing that troubled Vane as he stumbled on +through the mist. Any unathletic tourist from the cities could have gone +up without much difficulty by the way they had ascended, but it was +different coming down on the opposite side of the mountain. There, their +route laid across banks of sharp-pointed stones that rested lightly on +the steep slope, interspersed with out-cropping rocks which were growing +dangerously slippery; and a wilderness of crags pierced by three great +radiating chasms lay beneath. + +After half an hour's arduous scramble, he decided that they must be +close upon the top of the last rift, and stood still for a minute +looking about him. The mist was now so thick that he could scarcely see +thirty yards ahead, but the way it drove past him indicated that it was +blowing up a hollow. On one hand a rampart of hillside loomed dimly out +of it; in front there was a dark patch that looked like the face of a +dripping rock; and between the latter and the hill a boggy stretch of +grass ran back into the vapour. Then he turned, and glanced at Evelyn +with some concern. Her skirt was heavy with moisture, and the rain +dripped from the brim of her hat, but she smiled at him reassuringly. + +"It's not the first time I've got wet," she said. + +Vane felt relieved on one account. He had imagined that a woman hated to +feel draggled and untidy, and he was willing to own that in his case +fatigue usually tended towards shortness of temper. Though the scramble +had scarcely taxed his powers, he fancied that Evelyn, had already done +as much as one could expect of her. + +"I must prospect about a bit," he said. "Scardale's somewhere below us; +but if I remember, it's an awkward descent to the head of it, and I'm +not sure of the right entrance to the Hause." + +"I've only once been down this way, and that was a long while ago," +Evelyn replied. + +Vane left her, and plodded away across the grass. When he had grown +scarcely distinguishable in the haze, he turned and waved his hand. + +"I know where we are; the head of the beck's close by," he cried. + +Evelyn joined him at the edge of a trickle of water splashing in a peaty +hollow, and they followed it down, seeing only odd strips of hillside +amidst the vapour, until at length the ground grew softer and Vane, +going first, sank among the long green moss almost to his knees. + +"That won't do. Stand still, please," he said. "I'll try a little to the +right." + +He tried in one or two directions; but wherever he went he sank over his +boots, and, coming back, he informed his companion that they had better +go straight ahead. + +"I know there's no bog worth speaking of; the Hause is a regular tourist +track," he added, and suddenly stripped off his jacket. "First of all, +you'll put this on; I'm sorry I didn't think of it before." + +Evelyn demurred, and he rolled up the jacket. "You have to choose +between doing what I ask and watching me pitch it into the beck," he +declared. "I'm a rather determined person, and it would be a pity to +throw the thing away, particularly as the rain hasn't got through it +yet." + +She yielded, and after he had held up the garment while she put it on, +he spoke again: + +"There's another thing; I'm going to carry you for the next hundred +yards, or possibly farther." + +"No," said Evelyn firmly. "On that point my determination is as strong +as yours." + +Vane made a sign of acquiescence. "You can have your way for a minute; I +expect it will be long enough." + +He was correct, Evelyn moved forward a pace or two, and then stopped +with the skirt she had gathered up brushing the quivering emerald moss, +and her boots, which were high ones, hidden in the latter. She had some +difficulty in pulling them out. Then Vane coolly picked her up. + +"All you have to do is to keep still for the next few minutes," he +informed her in a most matter-of-fact voice. + +Evelyn did not move, though had he shown any sign of self-conscious +hesitation she would at once have shaken herself loose. He was conscious +of a thrill and a certain stirring of his blood, but this, he decided, +must be sternly ignored, and his task occupied most of his attention. It +was not an easy one, and he stumbled once or twice, but he accomplished +it and set the girl down safely on firmer ground. + +"Now," he said, "there's only the drop to the dale, but we must +endeavour to keep out of the beck." + +His voice and air were unembarrassed, though he was breathless, and +Evelyn fancied that in this and the incident of the jacket he had +revealed the forceful, natural manners of the West. It was the first +glimpse she had had of them, though she had watched for one, and she was +not displeased. The man had merely done what was most advisable, with +practical sense. + +A little farther on, a shoot of falling water swept out of the mist +above and came splashing down a crag, spread out in frothing threads. It +flowed across their path, reunited in a deep gully which they sprang +across, and then fell tumultuously into the beck, which was now ten or +twelve feet below on one side of them. They clung to the rock as they +traced it downwards, stepping cautiously from ledge to ledge. At times a +stone plunged into the mist beneath them, and Vane grasped the girl's +arm or held out a steadying hand, but he was never fussy or needlessly +concerned. When she wanted help, it was offered at the right moment; but +that was all, and she thought that had she been alarmed, which was not +the case, her companion's manner would have been more comforting than +persistent solicitude. He was, she decided, one who could be relied upon +in an emergency. + +Though caution was still necessary, the next stage of the journey was +easier, and by and by they reached a winding dale. They followed it +downwards, splashing through water part of the time, and at length came +into sight of a cluster of little houses standing between a river and a +big fir wood. + +"It must be getting on towards evening," said Evelyn. "Mopsy and Carroll +probably went down the Ridge, and as it runs out lower down the valley, +they'll be almost at home." + +"It's six o'clock," said Vane, glancing at his watch. "You can't walk +home in the rain, and it's a long while since lunch. If Adam Bell and +his wife are still at the 'Golden Fleece,' we'll get something to eat +there and borrow you dry clothes. He'll drive us home afterwards." + +Evelyn made no objections. She was very wet and beginning to feel weary, +and they were some distance from home. She restored him his jacket, and +a few minutes later they entered an old hostelry which, like many others +among these hills, was a farm as well as an inn. The landlady, who +recognised Vane with pleased surprise, took Evelyn away with her, and +afterwards provided Vane with some of her husband's clothes. Then she +lighted a fire, and when she had laid out a meal in the guest-room, +Evelyn came in, attired in a dress of lilac print. + +"It's Maggie Bell's," she explained demurely. "Her mother's things were +rather large. Adam is away at a sheep auction, and they have only the +trap he went in, but they expect him back in an hour or so." + +"Then we must wait," said Vane. "Worse misfortunes have befallen me." + +They made an excellent meal, and then Vane drew up a wicker chair to the +fire for Evelyn and sat down opposite to her. Outside, the rain dripped +from the mossy flagstone eaves, and the song of the river stole in +monotonous cadence into the room. + +Evelyn was silent and Vane said nothing for a while. He had been in the +air all day, and though this was nothing new to him, he was content to +sit lazily still and leave the opening of conversation to his companion. +In the meanwhile it was pleasant to glance towards her now and then. The +pale-tinted dress became her, and he felt that the room would have +looked less cheerful had she been away. + +The effect she had on him was difficult to analyse, though he lazily +tried. She appealed to him by the grace of her carriage, the poise of +her head, her delicate colouring, and the changing lights in her eyes; +but behind these points something stronger and deeper was expressed +through them. He fancied she possessed qualities he had not hitherto +encountered, which would become more precious when they were fully +understood. He thought of her as wholesome in mind; one who sought for +the best; but she was also endowed with an ethereal something that could +not be defined. + +Then a simile struck him: she was like the snow that towers high into +the empyrean in British Columbia; in which he was wrong, for there was +warm human passion in the girl, though it was sleeping yet. By and by, +he told himself, he was getting absurdly sentimental, and he +instinctively fumbled for his pipe and stopped. Evelyn noticed this and +smiled. + +"You needn't hesitate," she said. "The Dene is redolent of cigars, and +Gerald smokes everywhere when he is at home." + +"Is he likely to turn up?" Vane asked. "It's ever so long since I've +seen him." + +"I'm afraid not. In fact, Gerald's rather under a cloud just now. I may +as well tell you this, because you are sure to hear of it sooner or +later. He has been extravagant, and, as he assures us, extraordinarily +unlucky." + +"Stocks and shares?" suggested Vane, who was acquainted with some of the +family tendencies. + +Evelyn hesitated a moment. "That would have been more readily forgiven +him. I believe he has speculated on the turf as well." + +Vane was surprised, since he understood that Gerald Chisholm was a +barrister, and betting on the turf was not an amusement he would have +associated with that profession. + +"Then," he said thoughtfully, "I must run up and see him later on." + +Evelyn felt sorry she had spoken. Gerald needed help, which his father +was not in a position to offer. She was not censorious of other people's +faults; but it was impossible to be blind to some aspects of her +brother's character, and she would have preferred that Vane should not +meet Gerald while the latter was embarrassed by financial difficulties. +She changed the subject. + +"Several of the things you told me about your life in Canada interested +me," she said. "It must have been bracing to feel that you depended upon +your own efforts and stood on your own feet, free from all the hampering +customs that are common here." + +"The position has its disadvantages. You have no family influence behind +you; nothing to fall back upon. If you can't make good your footing you +must go down. It's curious that just before I came over here a lady I +met in Vancouver expressed an opinion very like yours. She said it must +be pleasant to feel that one was, to some extent at least, master of +one's fate." + +"Then she merely explained my meaning more clearly than I have done." + +"One could have imagined that she has everything she could reasonably +wish for. If I'm not transgressing, so have you. It's strange you should +both harbour the same idea." + +"I don't think it's uncommon among young women nowadays. There's a +grandeur in the thought that one's fate lies in the hands of the high +unseen powers; but to allow one's life to be moulded by--one's +neighbours' prejudices and preconceptions is a different matter. +Besides, if unrest and human striving were sent, was it only that they +should be repressed?" + +Vane sat silent a moment or two. He had noticed the brief pause and +fancied that she had changed one of the words that followed it. He did +not think it was her neighbours' opinions she most chafed against. + +"It's not a point I've been concerned about," he replied at length. "In +a general way, I did what I wanted." + +"Which is a privilege that is denied to us." Evelyn spoke without +bitterness, and added a moment later: "What do women who are left to +their own resources do in Western Canada?" + +"Some of them marry; I suppose that's the most natural thing," said Vane +with an air of reflection that amused her. "Anyway, they have plenty of +opportunities. There's a preponderating number of unattached young men +in the newly-opened parts of the Dominion." + +"Things are different here, or perhaps we want more than they do across +the Atlantic," said Evelyn. "What becomes of the others?" + +"They wait in the hotels; learn stenography and typewriting, and go into +offices and stores." + +"And earn just enough to live upon meagrely? If their wages are high, +they must pay out more. That follows, doesn't it?" + +"To some extent." + +"Is there nothing better open to them?" + +"No," said Vane thoughtfully; "not unless they're trained for it and +become specialised. That implies peculiar abilities and a systematic +education with one end in view: you can't enter the arena to fight for +the higher prizes unless you're properly armed. The easiest way for a +woman to acquire power and influence is by a judicious marriage. No +doubt it's the same here." + +"It is," replied Evelyn smiling. "A man is more fortunately situated." + +"I suppose he is. If he's poor, he's rather walled in, too; but he +breaks through now and then. In the newer countries he gets an +opportunity." + +Vane abstractedly examined his pipe, which he had not lighted yet. It +was clear that the girl was dissatisfied with her surroundings, and had +for some reason temporarily relaxed the restraint she generally laid +upon herself; but he felt that if she were wise, she would force herself +to be content. She was of too fine a fibre to plunge into the struggle +that many women had to wage, and though he did not doubt her courage, +she had not been trained for it. He had noticed that among men it was +the cruder and less developed organisations that proved hardiest in +adverse situations; one needed a strain of primitive vigour. There was, +it seemed, only one means of release for her, and that was a happy +marriage. But a marriage could not be happy unless the suitor was all +that she desired, and Evelyn would be fastidious, though her family +would, no doubt, only look for wealth and station. He imagined that this +was where the trouble lay. He would wait and keep his eyes open. Shortly +after he arrived at this decision, there was a rattle of wheels outside +and the landlord, who came in, greeted him with rude cordiality. In +another minute or two Vane handed Evelyn into the gig, and Bill drove +them home through the rain. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +LUCY VANE. + + +Bright sunshine streamed down out of a cloudless sky when Vane stood +talking with his sister upon the terrace in front of the Dene one +afternoon shortly after his ascent of the Pike in Evelyn's company. He +leaned against the low wall, frowning, for Lucy had hitherto avoided a +discussion of the subject which occupied their attention, and now, as he +would have said, he could not make her listen to reason. + +She stood in front of him, with the point of her parasol pressed firmly +into the gravel, and her lips set, though there was a smile which +suggested forbearance in her eyes. Lucy was tall and spare of figure; a +year younger than her brother, and of somewhat determined character. She +earned her living in a northern manufacturing town by lecturing on +domestic economy for the public authorities. Vane understood that she +also took part in Suffrage propaganda. She had a thin, forceful face, +which was seldom characterised by repose. + +"After all," Vane broke out, "what I've been urging is a very natural +thing. I don't like to think of your being forced to work as you are +doing, and I've tried to show that it wouldn't cost me any self-denial +to make you an allowance. There's no reason why you should be at the +beck and call of those committees any longer." + +Lucy's smile grew plainer. "I don't think that describes my position +very accurately." + +"It's possible," Vane agreed with a trace of dryness. "No doubt you +insist on the chairman or lady president giving way to you; but that +doesn't affect the question. You have to work, anyway." + +"But I like it, and it keeps me in some degree of comfort." + +The man turned half impatiently and glanced about him. The front of the +old grey house was flooded with light, and the lawn below the terrace +glowed luminously green. The shadows of the hollies and cypresses were +thin and unsubstantial, but where a beach overarched the grass, Evelyn +and Mrs. Chisholm, attired in light draperies, reclined in basket +chairs. Carroll, who wore thin grey tweed, stood close by, talking to +Mabel, and Chisholm sat a little apart upon a bench with a newspaper in +his hand. He looked half asleep, and a languorous, stillness pervaded +the whole scene. + +"Wouldn't you like this kind of thing as well?" he asked. "Of course, I +mean what it implies--the power to take life easily and get as much +enjoyment as possible out of it. It wouldn't be difficult, if you would +only take what I'd be glad to give you." He indicated the languid +figures in the foreground. "You could, for instance, spend your time +among folks like these; and, after all, it's what you were meant to do." + +"Well," said Lucy, "I believe I'm more at home with the other kind of +folks--those in poverty, squalor, and ignorance. I've an idea they've a +stronger claim on me, but that's not a point I can urge. The fact is, +I've chosen my career, and there are practical reasons why I shouldn't +abandon it. I had a good deal of trouble in getting a footing, and if I +fell out now, it would be harder still to take my place in the ranks +again." + +"But you wouldn't require to do so." + +"I can't be sure. I don't want to hurt you; but, after all, your success +was sudden, and one understands that it isn't wise to depend upon an +income derived from mining properties." + +"None of you ever did believe in me." + +"I suppose there's some truth in that; you really did give us some +trouble. Somehow you were different--you wouldn't fit in--though I +believe the same thing applied to me, for that matter." + +"And now you don't expect my prosperity to last?" + +The girl hesitated, but she was candid by nature. "Perhaps I had better +answer. You have it in you to work determinedly and, when it's +necessary, to do things that men with less courage would shrink from; +but I doubt if yours is the temperament that leads to success. You +haven't the huckster's instincts; you're not cold-blooded enough. You +wouldn't cajole your friends or truckle to your enemies." + +"If I adopted the latter course, it would be very much against the +grain," Vane confessed. + +Lucy laughed. "Well," she said, "I mean to go on earning my living; but +you can take me up to London for a few days and buy me some hats and +things. Then I don't mind you giving something to the Emancipation +Society." + +"I don't know if I believe in emancipation or not, but you can have ten +guineas." + +"Thank you," said Lucy, glancing round towards Carroll, who was +approaching them with Mabel. "I'll give you a piece of advice--stick to +that man. He's cooler and less headstrong than you are; he'll prove a +useful friend." + +Carroll came up just then. "What are you two talking about?" he asked. +"You look animated." + +"Wallace has just promised me ten guineas to assist the movement for the +emancipation of women," Lucy answered pointedly. "I may mention that our +society's efforts are sadly restricted by the lack of funds." + +"He's now and then a little inconsequential in his generosity," Carroll +rejoined. "I didn't know he was interested in that kind of thing, but as +I don't like to be outdone by my partner, I'll subscribe the same." + +"Thanks," said Lucy, who made an entry in a pocket-book in a +businesslike manner. + +They strolled along the terrace together, and as they went down the +steps to the lawn, Carroll inquired with a smile, "Have you tackled +Chisholm yet?" + +"I would have done so had it appeared likely to have been of any use, +but I never waste powder and shot," Lucy replied. "A man of his +restricted views would sooner subscribe handsomely to put us down." + +Carroll turned to his comrade. "Are you regretting the ten guineas? You +don't look pleased." + +"No," said Vane; "the fact is, I wanted to do something which wasn't +allowed. I've met with the same disillusionment here as I did in British +Columbia." + +Lucy looked up at her brother. "Did you attempt to give somebody money +there?" + +"I did," said Vane shortly. "It's not worth discussing, and anyway she +wouldn't listen to me." + +They strolled on, Vane frowning, while Carroll, who had seen signs of +suppressed interest in Lucy's face, smiled unobserved. Neither he nor +the others had noticed Mabel, who was following them. + +They joined the rest, and some time afterwards, Mrs. Chisholm addressed +Carroll, who was lying back in a deep chair with his eyes, which were +half closed, turned in Lucy's direction. + +"Are you asleep, or thinking hard?" she asked. + +"Not more than half asleep," Carroll protested. "I was trying to +remember 'A Dream of Fair Women.' It struck me as a suitable occupation +for a drowsy summer afternoon in a place like this, but I must confess +that it was Miss Vane who put it into my head. She reminded me of one or +two of the heroines not long ago, when she was championing the cause of +the suffragist." + +"You mustn't imagine that English women in general sympathise with her, +or that such ideas are popular at the Dene," Mrs. Chisholm rejoined. + +Carroll smiled reassuringly. "I wouldn't have imagined the latter for a +moment. But, as I said, on an afternoon of this kind one can be excused +for indulging in romantic fancies; and don't you see what brought those +old-time heroines into my mind--I mean the elusive resemblance to their +latter-day prototype?" + +Mrs. Chisholm looked puzzled. "No," she declared. "One of them was +Greek, another early English, and the finest of all was the Hebrew maid. +As they couldn't even have been like one another, how could they have +collectively borne a resemblance to anybody else?" + +"That's logical, on the surface. To digress, why do you most admire +Jephthah's daughter, the gentle Gileadite?" + +His hostess affected surprise. "Isn't it evident, when one remembers her +patient sacrifice, her fine sense of family honour?" + +Carroll felt that this was much the kind of sentiment one could have +expected from her; and he did her justice in believing that it was +genuine and that she was capable of acting up to her convictions. His +glance rested on Vane for a moment, and the latter was startled as he +guessed his comrade's thought. + +Evelyn sat near him, reclining languidly in a wicker chair. She had been +silent and, now her face was in repose, the signs of reserve and +repression were plainer than ever. There was, however, pride in it, and +he felt that she was endowed with a keener and finer sense of family +honour than her mother. Her brother's career was threatened by the +results of his own imprudence, and though her father could hardly be +compared with the Gileadite warrior, there was, Vane imagined, a +disturbing similarity between the two cases. It was unpleasant to +contemplate the possibility of this girl's being called upon to bear the +cost of her relations' misfortunes or follies. Carroll, however, looked +across at Lucy with a smile. + +"You don't agree with Mrs. Chisholm?" he suggested. + +"No," said Lucy firmly. "Leaving the instance in question out, there are +too many people who transgress and then expect somebody else--a woman as +a rule--to serve as a sacrifice." + +"I don't agree, either," Mabel broke in. "I'd sooner have been Cleopatra +or Joan or Arc--only she was burned, poor thing." + +"That was only what she might have expected. An unpleasant fate +generally overtakes people who go about disturbing things," Mrs. +Chisholm said severely. + +The speech was characteristic, and the others smiled. It would have +astonished them had Mrs. Chisholm sympathised with the rebel idealist +whose beckoning visions led to the clash of arms. Then Vane turned to +his comrade. + +"Aren't you getting off the track?" he asked. "I don't see the drift of +your previous remarks." + +"Well," said Carroll, with an air of reflection, "there must be, I +think, a certain distinctive stamp upon those who belong to the leader +type; I mean the folks who are capable of doing striking and heroic +things. Apart from this, I've been studying you English--and it has +struck me that there's occasionally something imperious, or rather +imperial, in the faces of your women in the most northern counties. I +can't define the thing, but it's there--in the line of nose, the mouth, +and I think most marked in the brows. It's not Saxon, or Norse, or +Danish. I'd sooner call it Roman." + +Vane was slightly astonished. He had seen that look in Evelyn's face, +and now, for the first time, he recognised it in his sister's. + +"I wonder if you have hit it," he said with a laugh. "You can reach the +Wall from here in a day's ride." + +"The Wall?" + +"The Roman Wall; Hadrian's Wall. I believe one authority states they had +a garrison of 100,000 men to keep it." + +Chisholm joined the group. He was a tall, rather florid-faced man with a +formal manner, dressed immaculately in creaseless clothes. + +"The point Carroll raises is interesting," he remarked. "While I don't +know how long it takes for a strain to die out, there must have been a +large civil population living near the wall, and we know that the +characteristics of the Teutonic peoples, who followed the Romans, still +remain." + +Nobody else had any comment to make, and when by and by the group broke +up, Evelyn was left alone for a few minutes with Mabel. + +"Gerald should have been sent to Canada instead of Oxford," she said. +"Then he might have got as rich as Wallace Vane and Mr. Carroll." + +"What makes you think they're rich?" Evelyn asked with reproof in her +tone. + +"Oh!" said Mabel, "we all knew they were rich before they came, and they +were giving Lucy guineas for the suffragists an hour ago. They must have +a good deal of money to waste it like that. Besides, I think Wallace +wanted her to take some more, and he seemed quite vexed when he said +he'd tried to give money to somebody else in Canada, who wouldn't have +it. As he said--she--it must have been a woman--but I don't think he +meant to mention that. It slipped out." + +"You had no right to listen," Evelyn retorted severely; but the +information sank into her mind, and she afterwards remembered it. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +CHISHOLM PROVES AMENABLE. + + +Vane spent a month at the Dene with quiet satisfaction, and when at last +he left for London and Paris he gladly promised to come back for another +few weeks before he sailed for Canada. He stayed some time in Paris, +because Carroll insisted on it, but it was with eagerness he went north +again. For one reason--and he laid some stress upon this--he longed for +the moorland air and the rugged fells, though he also admitted that +Evelyn's society enhanced their charm for him. + +At last, shortly before setting out on the journey, he took himself to +task and endeavoured to determine what his feelings towards her were, +but he signally failed to elucidate the point. It was only clear that he +was more contented in her presence, and that, apart from her physical +comeliness, she had a stimulating effect upon his mental faculties, +although so far as he could remember she seldom said anything +remarkable. Then he wondered how she regarded him, and to this question +he could find no answer. For the most part there was a reserve he found +more piquant than deterrent about her, and he was conscious that while +willing to talk with him freely she was still holding him off at arm's +length. + +On the whole, he could not be absolutely sure that he desired to get +much nearer. Though he failed to admit this clearly, his attitude was +largely one of respectful admiration with a vein of compassion in it. +Evelyn was unhappy, and out of harmony with her relatives, which he +could understand more readily because their ideas often jarred on him. + +He had been back at the Dene a fortnight, when one morning he walked out +of the hamlet where the wheelwright's shop was with a telegram in his +hand. Sitting down on the wall of a bridge close by, he turned to +Carroll, who had accompanied him. + +"I think you have Nairn's code in your wallet," he said. "We'll decipher +the thing." + +Carroll laid the message upon a smooth stone and set to work with a +pencil. + +"'Situation highly satisfactory,'" he read aloud, and commented: "It +must be, if Nairn paid for another word; 'highly's' not in the code." +Then he went on with the deciphering: "'Result of reduction exceeds +anticipations. Stock, 30 premium. Your presence not immediately +required.'" + +"That's distinctly encouraging," said Vane. "Now they're getting farther +in, the ore must be carrying more silver." + +"It's fortunate. I ran through the bank account last night, and you have +spent a lot of money. It confirms my opinion that you have expensive +friends." + +Vane frowned at this, but Carroll continued undeterred: "You want +pulling up after the way you have been indulging in a reckless +extravagance, which I feel compelled to point out is new to you. The +cheque drawn in favour of Gerald Chisholm rather astonished me. Have you +said anything about it to his relatives?" + +"I haven't," Vane answered shortly. + +"Then, judging by the little I saw of him, I should consider it most +unlikely that he has made any allusion to the matter. The next cheque +was more surprising; I mean the one you gave his father." + +"They were both loans." + +"Have you any expectation of getting the money back?" + +"What has that to do with you?" + +Carroll spread out his hands. "Only this--I think you need looking +after. We can't stay here indefinitely. Hadn't you better get back to +Vancouver before your English friends ruin you?" + +"I'll go in three or four weeks, not before." + +Carroll sat silent a minute or two; and then he looked his companion +squarely in the face. + +"Is it your intention to marry Evelyn Chisholm?" + +"I don't know what has put that into your mind." + +"I should be astonished if it hadn't suggested itself to her family," +Carroll retorted. + +"I'm far from sure it's an idea they'd entertain with any great favour. +For one thing, I can't live here." + +"Try them, and see. Show them Nairn's telegram when you mention the +matter." + +Vane swung himself down from the wall. + +"It's very possible that I may do so," he informed his comrade. "But +we'll get along." + +His heart beat more rapidly than usual as they turned back towards the +house, but he was perfectly composed when, some little time later, he +sat down beside Chisholm, who was lounging away the morning on the lawn. + +"I've been across to the village for a telegram I expected," he +announced. "The news is encouraging." + +He read it to Chisholm, who had determined on the line he meant to +follow. + +"You're a fortunate man," he said. "There's probably no reasonable wish +that you can't gratify." + +"There are things one can't buy with dollars," Vane replied. + +"That is very true. They're often the most valuable. On the other hand, +some of them may now and then be had for the asking. Besides, when one +has a sanguine temperament, it's difficult to believe that anything one +sets one's heart upon is quite unattainable." + +Vane wondered if he had been given a hint. Chisholm's manner was +suggestive and Carroll's remarks had had an effect on him. He sat +silent, and Chisholm spoke again: "If I were in your place, I should +feel I had all I could desire within my reach." + +Vane was becoming sure that his comrade had been right. Chisholm would +not have harped upon the same idea unless he had intended to convey some +particular meaning, but the man's methods roused Vane's dislike. He +could face opposition, and he would sooner have been discouraged than +judiciously prompted. + +"Then if I offered myself as a suitor for Evelyn, you would not think me +presumptuous?" he said. + +Chisholm was somewhat surprised at his abruptness, but he smiled +reassuringly. + +"No," he said; "I can't see why I should do so. You are in a position to +maintain a wife in comfort, and I don't think anybody could take +exception to your character." He paused a moment. "I suppose you have +some idea of how Evelyn regards you?" + +"I haven't the faintest notion," Vane confessed. "That's the trouble." + +"Would you like me to mention the matter?" + +"No," said Vane decidedly. "In fact, I must ask you not to do anything +of the kind. I only wished to make sure of your good will, and now I'm +satisfied on that point, I'd sooner wait, and speak--when it seems +judicious." + +Chisholm nodded. "Yes," he said indulgently, "I dare say that would be +wisest." + +Vane, who thanked him, waited. He fancied that the transaction, which +seemed the best name for it, was not complete yet; but he meant to leave +what should follow to his companion. He would not help the man. + +"There's a matter which had better be mentioned now, distasteful as it +is," Chisholm said at length. "I can settle nothing upon Evelyn. As you +must have guessed, my affairs are in a far from promising state. Indeed, +I'm afraid I may have to ask your indulgence when the loan falls due, +and I don't mind confessing that the prospect of Evelyn's making what I +think is a suitable marriage is a relief to me." + +Vane's feelings were somewhat mixed, but contempt figured prominently +among them. He could find no fault with Chisholm's desire to safeguard +his daughter's future, but he was convinced that the man looked for more +than this. He felt he had been favoured with a delicate hint, to which +his companion expected an answer. + +"Well," he said curtly, "you need not be concerned about the loan. To go +a little farther, I should naturally take an interest in the welfare of +my wife's relatives. I don't think I can say anything more in the +meanwhile." + +He knew that he might have spoken more plainly without offence, when he +saw Chisholm's smile, but the latter looked satisfied. + +"Those are the views I expected you to hold," he declared. "I believe +Mrs. Chisholm will share my gratification if you find Evelyn disposed to +listen to you." + +Vane left him shortly afterwards with a sense of shame. He felt he had +bought the girl and that, if she ever heard of it, she would find it +hard to forgive him for the course he had taken. By and by he met +Carroll, who looked at him inquiringly. + +"I've had a talk with Chisholm," said Vane. "It has upset my temper--I +feel mean. There's no doubt that you were right." + +Carroll smiled and showed that he could guess what was in his comrade's +mind. "I wouldn't worry too much about the thing," he replied. "The girl +probably understands the situation. It's not pleasant, but I expect +she's more or less resigned to it. She can't help herself." + +Vane gazed at him with anger. "Does that make it any better? Is it any +comfort to me?" + +"Take her out of it. If she has any liking for you, she'll thank you for +doing so afterwards." + +Vane, who made no answer, strode away, and nobody saw any more of him +for an hour or two. + +He had her father's consent, but he felt he could not plead his cause +with Evelyn just then. With her parents on his side, she was at a +disadvantage, and he shrank from the thought that she might be forced +upon him against her will. This was not what he desired, and she might +hate him for it afterwards. She was very alluring; there had been signs +of an unusual gentleness in her manner, but he wanted time to win her +favour, aided only by such gifts as he had been endowed with. It cost +him a determined effort, but he made up his mind to wait. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +WITH THE OTTER HOUNDS. + + +A week or two had slipped away since Vane's eventful interview, when he +lounged upon the terrace after breakfast chatting with Carroll. + +Suddenly a long, faint howl came up the valley, and was answered by +another in a deeper note. Then a confused swelling clamour, which +slightly resembled the sound of chiming bells, broke out, softened by +the distance. Carroll stopped and listened. + +"What in the name of wonder is that?" he asked. "The first of it +reminded me of a coyote howling, but the rest's more like the noise the +timber wolves make in the bush at night." + +"You haven't made a bad shot," Vane laughed. "It's a pack of otter +hounds hot upon the scent." + +The sound ceased as suddenly as it had begun, but a few moments later +Mabel came running towards the men. + +"I knew the hounds met at Patten Brig, but Jim was sure they'd go +down-stream," she cried breathlessly. "They're coming up, and I think +they're at the pool below the village. Get two poles--you'll find some +in the tool-shed--and come along at once." + +She clambered into the house through a window, calling for Evelyn, and +Carroll smiled. + +"We have our orders," he remarked. "I suppose we'd better go." + +"It's one of the popular sports up here," said Vane. "You may as well +see it." + +They set out a few minutes later, accompanied by Evelyn, while Mabel +hurried on in front and reproached them for their tardiness. + +At length, after crossing several wet fields, they came into a rushy +meadow on the edge of the river, which spread out into a wide pool, +fringed with alders which had not yet lost their leaves and the barer +withes of osiers. There was a swift stream at the head of it, and a long +rippling shallow at the tail, and a very mixed company was scattered +along the bank and in the water. + +A red-coated man with whip and horn stood in the tail outflow, and three +or four more with poles in their hands were spread out across the stream +behind him. These and one or two in the head stream appeared by their +dress to belong to the hunt, but the rest, among whom were a few women, +were attired in everyday garments and of different walks in life: +artisans, labourers, people of leisure, and a belated tourist or two. + +Three or four big hounds were swimming aimlessly up and down the pool; a +dozen more or thereabouts trotted to and fro along the water's edge, +stopping to sniff and give tongue in an uncertain manner now and then; +but there was no sign of an otter. + +Carroll looked round with a smile when his companions stopped. "There'll +be very little work done in this neighbourhood to-day," he said. "I'd no +idea there were so many folks in the valley with time to spare. The only +thing that's missing is the beast they're after." + +"An otter is an almost invisible creature," Evelyn explained, "You very +seldom see one, unless it's hard pressed by the dogs. There are a good +many in the river, but even the trout fishers, who are about at sunrise +in the hot weather and wade in the dusk, rarely come across them. Are +you going to take a share in the hunt?" + +"No," replied Carroll, glancing humorously at his pole. "I don't know +what I brought this thing for, unless it was because Mopsy sent me for +it. I'd sooner stay and watch with you. Splashing through a river after +a little beast which I don't suppose they'd let an outsider kill doesn't +interest me, and I don't see why I should want to kill it, anyway. Some +of you English people have sporting ideas I can't understand. I struck a +young man the other day--a well-educated man by the look of him--who was +spending the afternoon happily with a ferret by a corn stack, killing +rats with a club. He seemed uncommonly pleased with himself because he'd +got four of them." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Mabel, "you're as bad as the silly people who call +killing things cruelty. I wouldn't have thought it of you." + +"I've seen him," said Vane, "drop a deer going almost as fast as a +locomotive through thick brush, with a single-shot rifle, and I believe +he once assisted in killing a panther in a thicket you couldn't see two +yards ahead in. The point is, that he meant to eat the deer, and the +panther had been taking a rancher's hogs." + +"Then I'm sorry I brought him," said Mabel decidedly. "He's not a +sportsman." + +"I really think there's some excuse for the more vigorous sports," +Evelyn declared. "Of course, you can't eliminate a certain amount of +cruelty; but admitting that, isn't it just as well that men who live in +a luxurious civilisation should be willing to plod through miles of +heather after grouse, risk their limbs on horseback, or spend hours in +cold water? These are bracing things; they imply moral discipline. It +can't be nice to ride at a dangerous fence, or flounder down a rapid +after an otter when you're stiff with cold. The effort to do so must be +wholesome." + +"A sure thing," Carroll agreed. "The only drawback is that when you've +got your fox or otter, it isn't worth anything. A good many of the folks +in the newer lands have to make something of the kind of effort you +described every day. In their case, the results are waggon-trails, +valleys cleared for orchards, new branch railroads. I suppose it's a +matter of opinion, but if I'd put in a season's risky work I'd sooner +have a piece of land to grow fruit on, or a share in a mineral +claim--you get plenty of excitement in prospecting--than a fox's tail. +But there are people in Canada who wouldn't agree with me." + +He strolled along the water's edge with Evelyn, and presently looked +round. + +"Mopsy's gone, and I don't see Vane," he said. + +"After all, he's one of us. If you're born in the North Country, it's +hard to keep out of the river when you hear the otter hounds." + +They took up their station behind a growth of alders, and for a while +the dogs went trotting by in twos and threes or swam about the pool, but +nothing else broke the surface of the leaden-coloured water. Then there +was a cry, an outbreak of shouting, a confused baying, and half a dozen +hounds dashed past. Evelyn stretched out her hand. + +"Look!" she said. + +Carroll saw a small grey spot--the top of the otter's head--moving +across the slacker part of the pool, with a very slight, wedge-shaped +ripple trailing away from it. It sank next moment; a bubble or two rose, +and then there was nothing but the smooth flow of water. + +A horn called shrilly, a few whip-cracks rang out like pistol shots, and +the dogs took to the water, swimming slowly here and there. Men +scrambled along the bank and while some, entering the river, reinforced +the line spread out across the head rapid, others joined the second row, +wading steadily up-stream, and splashed about as they advanced with +iron-tipped poles. Nothing rewarded their efforts; the dogs turned and +went down-stream; and then suddenly everybody ran or waded towards the +tall outflow. A clamour of shouting and baying broke out, and +floundering men and swimming dogs went down the stream together in a +confused mass. Then there was silence, and the hounds came out and +trotted to and fro along the bank, up which dripping men clambered after +them. Evelyn laughed as she pointed to Vane, who looked wetter than +most, among the leading group. + +"I don't suppose he meant to go in. It's in the blood," she said. + +"There's no reason why he shouldn't, if it amuses him," Carroll replied. + +A little later, the dogs were driven in again, and this time the whole +of the otter's head was visible as it swam, up-stream. The animal was +flagging, and on reaching shoaler water it sprang out altogether now and +then, rising and falling in the stronger stream with a curious +serpentine motion. In fact, as head and body bent in the same sinuous +curves, it looked less like an animal than a plunging fish. The men +guarding the rapid stood ready with their poles, and more were wading +and splashing up both sides of the pool. The otter's pace was getting +slower; sometimes it seemed to stop, and now and then it vanished among +the ripples. Carroll saw that Evelyn's face was intent, though there +were signs of shrinking in it. + +"Now," he said, "I'll tell you what you are thinking--you want that poor +little beast to get away." + +"I believe I do," Evelyn confessed. + +They watched with strained attention. The girl could not help it, +though, she dreaded the climax. Her sympathies were now with the hard +pressed, exhausted creature that was making a desperate fight for life. +The pursuers were close behind it, the swimming dogs leading them; and +ahead lay a foaming rush of water which did not seem more than a foot +deep with men spread out across it. The shouting from the bank had +ceased, and everybody waited in tense expectancy, when the otter +disappeared. + +The dogs reached the rapid, where they were washed back a few yards +before they could make head up-stream. Men who came splashing close upon +their tails left the river to scramble along its edge; and then stopped +abruptly, while the dogs swam in an uncertain manner about the still +reach beyond. They came out in a few minutes, and scampered up and down +among the stones, evidently at fault, for there was no sign of the otter +anywhere. The hunted creature had crept up the rush of water among the +feet of those who watched for it, and vanished unseen into the +sheltering depths beyond. + +Evelyn sighed with relief. "I think it will escape," she said. "The +river's rather full after the rain, which is against the dogs, and there +isn't another shallow for some distance. Shall we go on?" + +They strolled forward behind the dogs, which were again moving +up-stream; but they turned aside to avoid a wood, and it was some time +later when they came out upon a rocky promontory dropping steeply to the +river. The hunt was now widely scattered about the reach. Men crept +along slippery ledges above the water, and moved over steeply-slanting +slopes, half hidden among the trees. + +A few were in the river, and three or four of the dogs were swimming; +the rest, spread out in twos and threes, trotted to and fro among the +undergrowth, Carroll did not think they were following any scent, but a +figure creeping along the foot of the rock not far away presently seized +his attention. + +"It's Mopsy," he said. "The foothold doesn't look very safe among those +stones, and there seems to be deep water below." + +He called out in warning, but the girl did not heed. The willows were +thinner at the spot she had reached, and, squeezing herself through +them, she leaned down, clinging to an alder branch. + +"He's gone to holt among the roots," she cried. + +Three or four men came running along the opposite bank and apparently +decided that she was right, for the horn was sounded and here and there +a dog broke through the underbrush; then, just as the first-comers +reached the rapid, there was a splash. It was a moment or two before +Evelyn or Carroll, who had been watching the dogs, realised what had +happened, and then the blood ebbed from the girl's face. Mabel had +disappeared. + +Running a few paces forward, Carroll saw what looked like a bundle of +spread-out garments swing round in an eddy. It washed in among the +willows, and he heard a faint cry. + +"Somebody help me, quick; I've caught a branch." + +He could not see the girl now, but an alder bough was bending sharply, +and he flung a rapid glance around him. The summit of the rock he stood +upon rose above the trees, and though he would have faced the risky fall +had there been a better landing, it seemed impossible to alight among +the stones without a broken leg. Further down-stream he might reach the +water by a reckless jump, because the promontory sloped towards it +there; but he would not be able to swim back against the current. His +position was a painful one; it looked as if there was nothing that he +could do. + +Next moment men and dogs went scrambling and swimming down the rapid; +but they were in hot pursuit of the otter, which had left its +hiding-place, and it was evident that the girl had escaped their +attention. Carroll shouted savagely as his comrade appeared among the +tail of the hunt below. The others were too occupied to heed, or perhaps +concluded that he was urging them on; but Vane, who was in the water, +seemed to understand. In another few minutes he was swimming down the +pool along the edge of the alders. Then Carroll saw that Evelyn expected +him to take some part in the rescue. + +"Get down before it's too late!" she cried. + +Carroll spread out his hands, as if to beg her forbearance, and while +every impulse urged him to the leap he endeavoured to keep his head. + +"I can't do any good just now," he answered, knowing he was right and +yet feeling horribly ashamed. "She's holding on, and Wallace will reach +her in a moment or two." + +Evelyn broke out on him in an agony of fear and anger. "You coward!" she +cried. "Will you let her drown?" + +She turned and ran forward, but Carroll, dreading that she meant to +attempt the descent, seized her shoulder and held her fast. While he +grappled with her, Vane's voice rose from below, and he let his hands +drop. + +"Wallace has her! There's no more danger," he said. + +Evelyn suddenly recovered some degree of calm. + +Standing, breathless, a pace or two apart, they saw Vane and the girl +appear from beneath the willows and wash away down-stream. The man was +swimming but he was hampered by his burden, and once he and Mabel sank +almost from sight in a whirling eddy. Carroll said nothing, but he +turned and ran along the sloping ridge, until where the fall was less +and the trees were thinner he leaped out into the air. He broke through +the alders amidst a rustle of bending boughs and disappeared; but a +moment later his head rose out of the water close beside Vane, and the +two men went down-stream with Mabel between them. + +Evelyn scrambled wildly along the ridge, and when she reached the foot +of it Vane was helping Mabel up the sloping bank of gravel. The girl's +drenched garments clung about her, her wet hair was streaked across her +face; but she seemed able to stand, and she was speaking in jerky gasps. +The hunt had swept on through shoaler water, but there was a cheer from +the stragglers across the river. Evelyn clutched her sister, half +laughing, half sobbing, and incoherently upbraided her. Mabel shook +herself free, and her first remark was characteristic. + +"Oh!" she said, "don't make a silly fuss." Then she tried to shake out +her dripping skirt. "I'm only wet through, Wallace, take me home." + +Vane picked her up, which was what she seemed to expect, and the others +followed when he pushed through the underbush towards a neighbouring +meadow. Evelyn, however, was still a little unnerved, and when they +reached a gap in a wall she stopped, and leaning against the stones +turned to Carroll. + +"I think I'm more disturbed than Mopsy is," she said. "What I felt must +be some excuse for me. I'm sorry for what I said; it was unjustifiable." + +"Anyway, it was perfectly natural; but I must confess that I felt some +temptation to make a fool of myself. I might have jumped into those +alders, but it's most unlikely that I could have got out of them." + +Evelyn looked at him with a faint respect. She had not troubled to point +out that he had not flinched from the leap, when it seemed likely to be +of service. + +"How had you the sense to think of that?" she asked. + +"I suppose it's a matter of practice," Carroll answered with amusement. +"One can't work among the ranges and rivers without learning to make the +right decision rapidly. When you don't, you get badly hurt. The thing +has to be cultivated, it's not instinctive." + +Evelyn was struck by the explanation. This acquired coolness was a finer +thing, and undoubtedly more useful than hot-headed gallantry, though she +admired the latter. + +"Wallace was splendid in the water," she broke out, uttering part of her +thoughts aloud. + +"I thought rather more of him in the city," Carroll replied. "That kind +of thing was new to him, and I'm inclined to believe I'd have let the +folks he had to negotiate with have the mine for a good deal less than +what he eventually got for it. But I've said something about that +before, and after all I'm not here to play Boswell." + +The girl was surprised at the apt allusion; it was not what she would +have expected from the man. Since she had not recovered her composure, +she forgot what Vane had told her about him, and her comment was an +incautious one. "How did you hear of him?" + +Carroll parried this with a smile. + +"Oh!" he said, "you don't suppose you can keep those old fellows to +yourselves--they're international. But hadn't we better be getting on? +Let me help you through the gap." + +They reached the Dene some time later, and Mabel, very much against her +wishes, was sent to bed, while shortly afterwards Carroll came across +Vane, who had changed his clothes, strolling up and down among the +shrubberies. + +"What are you doing here?" he asked. + +Vane looked embarrassed. "For one thing, I'm keeping out of Mrs. +Chisholm's way; she's inclined to be effusive. For another, I'm trying +to decide what I ought to do. We'll have to pull out very shortly, and I +had meant to have had an interview with Evelyn to-day. That's why I feel +uncommonly annoyed with Mopsy for falling in." + +Carroll made a grimace. "If that's how it strikes you, any advice I +could offer would be wasted. A sensible man would consider it a +promising opportunity." + +"And trade upon it." + +"Do you really want the girl?" + +"That impression's firmly in my mind," said Vane, curtly. + +"Then you had better pitch your quixotic notions overboard, and tell her +so." + +Vane made no answer, and Carroll, seeing that his comrade was not +inclined to be communicative, left him. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +VANE WITHDRAWS. + + +Dusk was drawing on when Vane strolled along the terrace in front of the +Dene. + +He was preoccupied and eager, but fully aware of the need for coolness, +because it was very possible that he might fail in the task he had in +hand. By and by he saw Evelyn, whom he had been waiting for, cross the +opposite end of the terrace, and moving forward he joined her at the +entrance to a shrubbery walk. A big, clipped yew with a recess in which +a seat had been placed stood close by. + +"I've been sitting with Mopsy," said Evelyn. "She seems very little the +worse for her adventure--thanks to you." She hesitated, and her voice +grew softer. "I owe you a heavy debt--I am very fond of Mopsy." + +"It's a great pity she fell in," Vane declared. + +Evelyn looked at him with surprise. She scarcely thought he could regret +the efforts he had made on her sister's behalf, but that was what his +words implied. + +"The trouble is that the thing might seem to give me some claim on you, +and I don't want that," he explained. "It cost me no more than a +wetting; I hadn't the least difficulty in getting her out." + +His companion was still puzzled. She could find no fault with him for +being modest about his exploit, but that he should make it clear that he +did not require her gratitude seemed to her unnecessary. + +"For all that, you did bring her out," she persisted. + +"I don't seem to be beginning very fortunately," Vane replied. "What I +mean is, that I don't want to urge my claim, if I have one. I'd sooner +be taken on my merits." He paused a moment with a smile. "That's not +much better, is it? But it partly expresses what I feel. Leaving Mopsy +out altogether, let me try to explain--I don't wish you to be influenced +by anything except your own idea of me. I'm saying this because one or +two points that seem in my favour may have a contrary effect." + +Evelyn made no answer, and he indicated the seat. "Won't you sit down, I +have something more to say." + +The girl did as he suggested, and his smile faded. "Now," he went on, +"you won't be astonished if I ask if you will marry me?" + +He stood looking down on her with an impressive steadiness of gaze. She +could imagine him facing the city men, from whom he had extorted the +full value of his mine, in the same fashion, and in a later instance, so +surveying the eddies beneath the osiers when he had gone to Mabel's +rescue. She felt that they had better understand one another. + +"No," she said; "if I must be candid, I am not astonished." Then the +colour crept into her cheeks, is she met his gaze. "I suppose it is an +honour and it is undoubtedly a--temptation." + +"A temptation?" + +"Yes," said Evelyn, mustering her courage to face a crisis she had +dreaded. "It is only due to you that you should hear the truth--though I +think you suspect it. I have some liking for you." + +"That is what I wanted you to own," Vane broke in. + +She checked him with a gesture. Her manner was cold, and yet there was +something in it that stirred him more than her beauty. + +"After all," she answered, "It does not go very far, and you must try to +understand. I want to be quite honest, and what I have to say +is--difficult. In the first place, things are far from pleasant for me +here; I was expected to make a good marriage, and I had my chance in +London; I refused to profit by it, and now I'm a failure. I wonder if +you can realise what a temptation it is to get away." + +"Yes," he said; "it makes me savage to think of it. I can, at least, +take you out of all this. If you hadn't had a very fine courage, you +wouldn't have told me." + +Evelyn smiled a curious wry smile. + +"It has only prompted me to behave, as most people would consider, +shamelessly; but there are times when one must get above that point of +view. Besides, there's a reason for my candour. Had you been a man of +different stamp, it's possible that I might have been driven into taking +the risk. We should both have suffered for a time, but through open +variance we might have reached an understanding--not to intrude on one +another. As it is, I could not do you that injustice, and I should +shrink from marrying you with only a little cold liking." + +The man held himself firmly in hand. Her calmness had infected him, and +he felt that this was not an occasion for romantic protestations, even +had he felt capable of making them, which was not the case. As a matter +of fact, such things were singularly foreign to his nature. + +"Even that would go a long way with me, if I could get nothing better," +he declared. "Besides, you might change. I could surround you with some +comfort; I think I could promise not to force my company upon you; I +believe I could be kind." + +"Yes," assented Evelyn; "I shouldn't be afraid of harshness from you; +but it seems impossible that I should change. You must see that you +started handicapped from the beginning. Had I been free to choose, it +might have been different; but I have lived for some time in shame and +fear, hating the thought that some one would be forced on me." + +He said nothing, and she went on. "Must I tell you? You are the man." + +His face grew hard and for a moment he set his lips tight. It would have +been a relief to express his feelings concerning his host just then. + +"If you don't hate me for it now, I'm willing to take the risk," he said +at length. "It will be my fault if you hate me in the future; I'll try +not to deserve it." + +He imagined she was yielding, but she roused herself with an effort. + +"No," she said. "Love on one side may go a long way, if it is strong +enough--but it must be strong to overcome the many clashes of thought +and will. Yours"--she looked at him steadily--"would not stand the +strain." + +Vane started. "You are the only woman I ever wished to marry." He paused +with a forcible gesture. "What can I say to convince you?" + +She smiled softly. "I'm afraid it's impossible. If you had wanted me +greatly, you would have pressed the claim you had in saving Mopsy, and I +would have forgiven you that; you would have urged any and every claim. +As it is, I suppose I am pretty"--her lips curled scornfully--"and you +find some of your ideas and mine agree. It isn't half enough. Shall I +tell you that you are scarcely moved as yet?" + +It flashed upon Vane that he was confronted with the reality. Her beauty +had appealed to him, but without rousing passion, for there was little +of the sensual in this man. Her other qualities, her reserved +graciousness, which had a tinge of dignity in it; her insight and +comprehension, had also had their effect; but they had only awakened +admiration and respect. He desired her as one desires an object for its +rarity and preciousness; but this, as she had told him, was not enough. +Behind her physical and mental attributes, and half revealed by them, +there was something deeper: the real personality of the girl. It was +elusive, mystic, with a spark of immaterial radiance which might +brighten human love with its transcendent glow; but, as he dimly +realised, if he won her by force, it might recede and vanish altogether. +He could not, with strong ardour, compel its clearer manifestation. + +"I think I am as moved as it is possible for me to be," he said. + +Evelyn shook her head. "No; you will discover the difference some day, +and then you will thank me for leaving you your liberty. Now I beg you +to leave me mine and let me go." + +Vane stood silent a minute or two, for the last appeal had stirred him +to chivalrous pity. He was shrewd enough to realise that if he persisted +he could force her to come to him. Her father and mother were with him; +she had nothing--no common-place usefulness or trained abilities--to +fall back upon if she defied them. But it was unthinkable that he should +brutally compel her. + +"Well," he said at length, "I must try to face the situation; I want to +assure you that it is not a pleasant one to me. But there's another +point. I'm afraid I've made things worse for you. Your people will +probably blame you for sending me away." + +Evelyn did not answer this, and he broke into a little grim smile. +"Now," he added, "I think I can save you any trouble on that +score--though the course I'm going to take isn't flattering, if you look +at it in one way. I want you to leave me to deal with your father." + +He took her consent for granted, and leaning down laid a hand lightly on +her shoulder. "You will try to forgive me for the anxiety I have caused +you. The time I've spent here has been very pleasant, but I'm going back +to Canada in a few days. Perhaps you'll think of me without bitterness +now and then." + +He turned away, and Evelyn sat still, glad that the strain was over, and +thinking earnestly. The man was gentle and considerate as well as +forceful, and she liked him. Indeed, she admitted that she had not met +any man she liked as much, but that was not going very far. Then she +began to wonder at her candour, and to consider if it had been +necessary. It was curious that this was the only man she had ever taken +into her confidence; and her next suitor would probably be a much less +promising specimen. On the other hand, it was consoling to remember that +eligible suitors for the daughter of an impoverished gentleman were +likely to be scarce. + +It had grown dark when she rose and, entering the house, went up to +Mabel's room. The girl looked at her sharply as she came in. + +"So you have got rid of him," she said. "I think you're very silly." + +"How did you know?" Evelyn asked with a start. + +"I heard him walking up and down the terrace, and I heard you go out. +You can't walk over raked gravel without making a noise. He went along +to join you, and it was a good while before you came back at different +times. I've been waiting for this the last day or two." + +Evelyn sat down with a strained smile. "Well," she said, "I have sent +him away." + +Mabel regarded her indignantly. "Then you'll never get another chance +like this one. If you had only taken him I could have worn decent +frocks. Nobody could call the last one that." + +This was a favourite grievance and Evelyn ignored it; but Mabel had more +to say. "I suppose," she went on, "you don't know that Wallace has been +getting Gerald out of trouble?" + +"Are you sure of that?" Evelyn asked sharply. + +"Yes," said Mabel; "I'll tell you what I know. Wallace saw Gerald in +London--he told us that--and we all know that Gerald couldn't pay his +debts a little while since. You remember he came down to Kendal and went +on and stayed the next night with the Claytons. It isn't astonishing +that he didn't come here after the row there was on the last occasion." + +"Go on," said Evelyn. "What has his visit to the Claytons to do with +it?" + +"Well," said Mabel, "you don't know that I saw Gerald in the afternoon. +After all, he's the only brother I've got; and as Jim was going to the +station with the trap I made him take me. The Claytons were in the +garden; we were scattered about, and I heard Frank and Gerald, who had +strolled off from the others, talking. Gerald was telling him about some +things he'd bought; they must have been expensive, because Frank asked +him where he got the money. Gerald laughed, and said he'd had an +unexpected stroke of luck that had set him straight again. Now, of +course, Gerald got no money from home, and if he'd won it he would have +told Frank how he did so. Gerald always would tell a thing like that." + +Evelyn was filled with confusion and hot indignation. She had little +doubt that Mabel's surmise was correct. + +"I wonder if he has told anybody, though it's scarcely likely," she +said. + +"Of course he hasn't. We all know what Gerald is. Wallace ought to get +his money back, now you have sent him away," Mabel, who had waited a +moment or two, went on. "But, of course, that's most unlikely. It +wouldn't take Gerald long to waste it." + +Evelyn rose, and, making some excuse, left the room. A suspicion which +had troubled her more than Gerald's conduct had lately crept into her +mind, and it now thrust itself upon her attention--several things +pointed to the fact that her father had taken a similar course to that +which her brother had taken. She felt that had she heard Mabel's +information before the interview with Vane, she might have yielded to +him in an agony of humiliation. Mabel had summed up the situation with +stinging candour and crudity--Vane, who had been defrauded, was entitled +to recover the money he had parted with. For a few moments Evelyn was +furiously angry with him, and then, growing calmer, she recognised that +this was unreasonable. She could not imagine any idea of a compact +originating with the man, and he had quietly acquiesced in her decision. + +Soon after she left her sister, Vane walked into the room which Chisholm +reserved for his own use. Chisholm was sitting at the table with some +papers in front of him and a cigar in his hand, and Vane drew out a +chair and lighted his pipe before he addressed him. + +"I've made up my mind to sail on Saturday, instead of next week," he +said. + +"You have decided rather suddenly, haven't you?" + +Vane knew that what his host wished to inquire about was the cause of +his decision, and he meant to come to the point. He was troubled by no +consideration for the man. + +"The last news I had indicated that I was wanted," he replied. "After +all, there was only one reason why I have abused Mrs. Chisholm's +hospitality so long." + +"Well?" said Chisholm, with an abruptness which hinted at anxiety. + +"You will remember what I asked you some time ago. I had better say that +I abandon the idea." + +Chisholm started, and his florid face grew redder while Vane, in place +of embarrassment, was conscious of a somewhat grim amusement. It seemed +strange that a man of Chisholm's stamp should have any pride, but he +evidently possessed it. + +"What am I to understand by that?" he asked with some asperity. + +"I think what I said explained it. Bearing in mind your and Mrs. +Chisholm's influence, I've an idea that Evelyn might have yielded, if +I'd strongly urged my suit; but that was not by any means what I wanted. +I'd naturally prefer a wife who married me because she wished to do so. +That's why, after thinking the thing over, I've decided to--withdraw." + +Chisholm straightened himself in his chair, in fiery indignation, which +he made no attempt to conceal. + +"You mean that after asking my consent and seeing more of Evelyn, you +have changed your mind. Can't you understand that it's an unpardonable +confession; one which I never fancied a man born and brought up in your +station could have brought himself to make." + +Vane looked at him with an impassive face. "It strikes me as largely a +question of terms--I mayn't have used the right one. Now you know how +the matter stands, you can describe it in any way that sounds nicest. In +regard to your other remark, I've been in a good many stations, and I +must admit that until lately none of them were likely to promote much +delicacy of sentiment." + +"So it seems," Chisholm was almost too hot to sneer. "But can't you +realise how your action reflects upon my daughter?" + +Vane held himself in hand. He had only one object: to divert Chisholm's +wrath from Evelyn to himself and he thought he was succeeding in this. +For the rest, he cherished a strong resentment against the man. + +"It can't reflect upon her, unless you talk about it, and both you and +Mrs. Chisholm have sense enough to refrain from doing so," he answered +dryly. "I can't flatter myself that Evelyn will grieve over me." Then +his manner changed. "Now we'll get down to business. I don't purpose to +call that loan in, which will, no doubt, be a relief to you." + +He rose leisurely and, strolling out of the room, met Carroll shortly +afterwards in the hall. The latter glanced at him sharply. + +"What have you been doing?" he inquired. "There's a look I seem to +remember in your eye." + +"I suppose I've been outraging the rules of decency, but I don't feel +ashamed. I've been acting the uncivilised Westerner, though it's +possible that I rather strained the part. To come to the point, however, +we pull out for the Dominion first thing to-morrow." + +Carroll asked no further questions. He did not think it would serve any +purpose, and he contented himself with making arrangements for their +departure, which they took early on the morrow. Vane had a brief +interview with Mabel, who shed some tears over him, and then by her +contrivance secured a word or two with Evelyn alone. + +"Now," he said, "it's possible that you may hear some hard things of me, +and I count upon your not contradicting them. After all, I think you owe +me that favour. There's just another matter--as I won't be here to +trouble you, try to think of me leniently." + +He held her hand for a moment and then turned away, and a few minutes +later he and Carroll left the Dene. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +VANE GROWS RESTLESS. + + +Vane had been back in Vancouver a fortnight when he sat one evening on +the verandah of Nairn's house in company with his host and Carroll, +lazily looking down upon the inlet. + +Nairn referred to one of the papers in his hand. + +"Horsfield has been bringing up that smelter project again, and there's +something to be said in favour of his views," he remarked. "We're paying +a good deal for reduction." + +"We couldn't keep a smelter going at present," Vane objected. + +"There are two or three low-grade mineral properties in the +neighbourhood of the Clermont that have only had a little development +work done on them," Nairn pointed out. "They can't pay freight on their +raw product; but I'm thinking we'd encourage their owners to open up the +mines, and get their business, if we had a smelter handy." + +"It wouldn't amount to much," Vane replied. "Besides, there's another +objection--we haven't the dollars to put up a thoroughly efficient +plant." + +"Horsfield's ready to find part of them and do the work." + +"I know he is," said Vane. "He's suspiciously eager. The arrangement +would give him a pretty strong hold upon the company; there are ways in +which he could squeeze us." + +"It's possible. But, looking at it as a personal matter, there are +inducements he could offer ye. Horsfield's a man who has the handling of +other folks' dollars, as weel as a good many of his own. It might be +wise to stand in with him." + +"So he hinted," Vane answered shortly. + +"Your argument was about the worst you could have used, Mr. Nairn," +Carroll broke in, laughing. + +"Weel," said Nairn, good-humouredly, "I'm no urging it. I would not see +your partner make enemies for the want of a warning." + +"He'd probably do so, in any case; it's a gift of his," said Carroll. +"On the other hand, it's fortunate he has a way of making friends: the +two things sometimes go together." + +Vane turned to Nairn with signs of impatience. "It might save trouble if +I state that while I'm a director of the Clermont I expect to be content +with a fair profit on my stock in the company." + +"He's modest," Carroll commented. "What he means is that he doesn't +propose to augment that profit by taking advantage of his position." + +"It's a creditable idea, though I'm no sure it's as common as might be +desired. While I have to thank ye for it, I would not consider the +explanation altogether necessary," said Nairn, whose eyes twinkled. Then +he addressed Vane: "Now we come to another point--the company's a small +one, the mine is doing satisfactorily, and the moment's favourable for +the floating of mineral properties. If we got an option on the +half-developed claims near the Clermont and went into the market, it's +likely that an issue of new stock would meet with investors' favour." + +"I suppose so," said Vane. "I'll support such a scheme, when I can see +how an increased capital could be used to advantage and I am convinced +about the need for a smelter. At present, that's not the case." + +"I mentioned it as a duty--ye'll hear more of it; for the rest, I'm +inclined to agree with ye," Nairn replied. + +A few minutes later he went into the house with Carroll, and as they +entered it he glanced at his companion. "In the present instance, Mr. +Vane's views are sound," he said. "But I see difficulties before him." + +"So do I. When he grapples with him it will be by a frontal attack." + +"A bit of compromise is judicious now and then." + +"In a general way it's not likely to appeal to my partner. When he can't +get through by direct means, there'll be something wrecked. You had +better understand what kind of man he is." + +"It's no the first time I've been enlightened upon the point." + +Shortly after they had disappeared, Miss Horsfield came out of another +door, and Vane rose when she approached him. + +"Mrs. Nairn told me I would find you and the others in the verandah," +she informed him. "She said she would join you presently, and it was too +fine to stay in." + +"I think she was right," Vane replied. "As you see, I'm alone. Nairn and +Carroll have just deserted me, but I can't complain. What pleases me +most about this house is that you can do what you like in it, +and--within limits--the same thing applies to this city." + +Jessie laughed, and sank gracefully into the chair he drew forward. + +"Yes," she said. "I think that would please you. But how long have you +been back?" + +"A fortnight, since yesterday." + +There was a hint of reproach in the glance Jessie favoured him with. +"Then I think Mrs. Nairn might have brought you over to see us." + +Vane wondered if she meant she was surprised he had not come of his own +accord, and he was mildly flattered. + +"I was away at the mine a good deal of the time," he replied +deprecatingly. + +"I wonder if you are sorry to get back?" + +Turning a little, Vane indicated the climbing city, rising tier on tier +above its water front; and then the broad expanse of blue inlet and the +faint white line of towering snow. + +"Wouldn't anything I could say in praise of Vancouver be trifle +superfluous?" he asked. + +Jessie recognised that he had parried her question neatly, but this did +not deter her. She was anxious to learn if he had felt any regret in +leaving England, or, to be more concise, if there was anybody in that +country whom he had reluctantly parted from. She admitted that the man +attracted her. There was a breezy freshness about him, and though she +was acquainted with a number of young men whose conversation was +characterised by snap and sparkle, they needed toning down. This miner +was set apart from them by something which he had doubtless acquired in +youth in the older land. + +"That wasn't quite what I meant," she said. "We don't always want to be +flattered, and I'm in search of information. You told me you had been +nine years in this country, and life must be rather different yonder. +How did it strike you after the absence?" + +"It's difficult to explain," Vane replied with an air of amused +reflection which hinted that he meant to get away from the point. "On +the whole, I think I'm more interested in the question how I struck +them. It's curious that whereas some folks insist upon considering me +English here, I've a suspicion that they looked upon me as a typical +colonial there." + +"One wouldn't like to think you resented it." + +"How could I? This land sheltered me when I was an outcast, and set me +on my feet." + +"Ah!" said Jessie, "you are the kind we don't mind taking in. The rest +go back and abuse us. But you haven't given me very much information +yet." + +"Then," said Vane, "the best comparison is supplied by my first +remark--that in this city you can do what you like. You're rather fenced +in yonder, which, if you're of a placid disposition, is, no doubt, +comforting, because it shuts out unpleasant things. On the other hand, +if you happen to be restless and active, the fences are inconvenient, +because you can't always climb over, and it is not considered proper to +break them down. Still, having admitted that, I'm proud of the old land. +It's only the fences that irritate me." + +"Fences would naturally be obnoxious to you. But we have some here." + +"They're generally built loose, of split-rails, and not nailed. An +energetic man can pull off a bar or two and stride over. If it's +necessary, he can afterwards put them up again, and there's no harm +done." + +"Would you do the latter?" + +Vane's expression changed. "No," he said. "I think if there were +anything good on the other side, I'd widen the gap so that the less +agile and the needy could crawl through." He smiled at her. "You see, I +owe some of them a good deal. They were the only friends I had when I +first tramped, jaded and footsore, about the province." + +Jessie was pleased with his answer. She had heard of the bush choppers' +free hospitality, and she thought it was a graceful thing that he should +acknowledge his debt to them. + +"Now at last you'll be content to rest a while," she suggested. "I dare +say you deserve it." + +"It's strange you should say that, because just before you came out of +the house I was thinking that I'd sat still long enough," Vane answered +with a laugh. "It's a thing that gets monotonous. One must keep going +on." + +"Then," said Jessie, "take care you don't walk over a precipice some day +when you have left all the fences behind. But I've kept you from your +meditations, and I had better see if Mrs. Nairn is coming." + +She left him, and he was lighting a cigar when he noticed a girl whose +appearance seemed familiar in the road below. Moving along the verandah, +he recognised her as Kitty, and hastily crossed the lawn towards her. +She was accompanied by a young man whom Vane had once seen in the city, +but she greeted him with evident pleasure. + +"Tom," she said, when they had exchanged a few words, "this is Mr. +Vane," Then turning to Vane she added: "Mr. Drayton." + +Vane, who liked the man's face and manner, shook hands with him, and +then looked back at Kitty. + +"What are you doing now, and how are little Elsie and her mother?" he +inquired. + +Kitty's face clouded. "Mrs. Marvin's dead. Elsie's with some friends at +Spokane, and I think she's well looked after. I've given up the stage. +Tom"--she explained shyly--"didn't like it. Now I'm with some people at +a ranch near the Fraser on the Westminster road. There are two or three +children and I'm fond of them." + +Drayton smiled. "She won't be there long. I've wanted to meet you for +some time, Mr. Vane. They told me at the office that you were away." + +"Ah!" said Vane, "I suppose my congratulations won't be out of place. +Won't you ask me to the wedding?" + +Kitty blushed. "Will you come?" + +"Try," said Vane, and Drayton broke in: + +"There's nobody we would sooner see. I'm heavily in your debt, Mr. +Vane." + +"Oh, pshaw!" rejoined Vane. "Come and see me any time: to-morrow, if you +can manage it." + +Drayton said he would do so, and shortly afterwards he and Kitty moved +away, but Vane, who turned back across the lawn, was not aware that +Jessie had watched the meeting from the verandah and had recognised +Kitty, whom she had once seen at the station. She had already +ascertained that the girl had arrived at Vancouver in his company, +which, in view of the opinion she had formed about him, somewhat puzzled +her; but she said one must endeavour to be charitable. Besides, having +closely watched the little group, she was inclined to believe from the +way Vane shook hands with the man that there was no danger to be +apprehended from Kitty. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A NEW PROJECT. + + +Vane was sitting alone in the room set apart for the Clermont Company in +Nairn's office, when Drayton was shown in. He took the chair Vane +pointed to and lighted a cigar the latter gave him. + +"Now," he began with some diffidence, "you cut me off short when I met +you the other day, and one of my reasons for coming over was to get +through with what I was saying then. It's just this--I owe you a good +deal for taking care of Kitty; she's very grateful, and thinks no end of +you, I want to say I'll always feel you have a claim on me." + +Vane smiled at him. It was evident that Kitty had taken her lover into +her confidence with regard to her trip on board the sloop, and, that she +had done so said a good deal for her. + +"It didn't cost me any trouble," Vane replied. "We were coming down to +Vancouver, anyway." + +Drayton's embarrassment became more obvious. "It cost you some dollars; +there were the tickets. Now I feel I have to----" + +Vane stopped him. "When you are married to Miss Blake you can pay me +back, if it will be a relief to you. When's the wedding to be?" + +"In a couple of months," said Drayton, who saw it would be useless to +protest. "I'm a clerk in the Winstanley mills, and, as one of the staff +is going, I'll get a move up then. We are to be married as soon as I +do." + +He said a little more on the same subject, and then, after a few +moments' silence added: "I wonder if the Clermont business keeps your +hands full, Mr. Vane." + +"It doesn't. It's a fact I'm beginning to regret." + +Drayton appeared to consider. "Well," he said, "folks seem to regard you +as a rising man with snap in him, and there's a matter I might, perhaps, +bring before you. Let me explain. I've taken an interest, outside my +routine work in the lumber trade of this province and its subsidiary +branches. I figured any knowledge I could pick up might stand me in some +dollars some day. So far"--he smiled ruefully--"it hasn't done so." + +"Go on," said Vane, whose curiosity was aroused. + +"Well, I think that pulping spruce--paper spruce--is likely to be scarce +soon. The supply's not unlimited and the world's consumption is going up +by jumps." + +"There's a good deal of timber you could make pulp of in British +Columbia alone," Vane interposed. + +"Sure. But there's not a very great deal of spruce that could be milled +into high-grade paper pulp; and it's rapidly getting worked out in most +other countries. Then, as a rule, it's mixed up with the firs, cedars +and cypresses; and that means the cutting of logging roads to each +cluster of milling trees. There's another point--a good deal of the +spruce lies back from water or a railroad, and it would be costly to +bring in milling plant or pack the pulp out." + +"That's obvious," said Vane: "for you might have to haul every pound of +freight over a breakneck divide." + +Drayton leaned forward confidentially. "Then if one struck high-grade +paper spruce--a valley full of it--with water power and easy access to +the sea, there ought to be dollars in the thing?" + +"Yes," said Vane, with growing interest. "That is very probable." + +"I could put you on the track of such a valley," Drayton replied. + +"We had better understand each other. Do you want to sell me the +information, and have you offered it to anyone else?" + +His companion answered with the candour he had expected. "The one or two +folks I've spoken to don't seem anxious to consider it. It's mighty hard +for a small man to launch a project." + +"As a rule, it is." + +"Then," Drayton continued, "the idea's not my own. It was a mineral +prospector--a relative of mine--who struck the valley on his last trip. +He's an old man, and he came down played out and sick. Now I guess he's +slowly dying." He paused a moment. "Would you like to see him?" + +"I'll go with you now, if it's convenient," Vane replied. + +They crossed the city to where a row of squalid frame shacks stood on +its outskirts. In one which they entered, a gaunt man, with grizzled +hair lay upon a rickety bed. A glance showed Vane that the man was very +frail. Drayton, who explained the cause of his visit, motioned Vane to +sit down, and the prospector fixed his eyes upon the latter. + +"I've heard of you. You're the man who located the Clermont--and put the +project through," he said. "You had the luck. I've been among the ranges +half my life, and you can see how much I've made of it. When I struck a +claim worth anything, somebody else got the money." + +Vane had reasons for believing that this was not an uncommon experience; +but the man went on again: "Well, you look straight, and I've got to +take some chances; it's my last stake. We'll get down to business; I'll +tell you about that spruce." + +He spoke for a few minutes, and then asked abruptly: "What are you going +to offer?" + +Vane had not been certain that he would make any offer at all; but, as +had befallen him before, the swift decision flashed instinctively into +his mind. + +"If I find that the timber and its location come up to your account of +it, I'll pay you so many dollars down--whatever we can agree upon--when +I get my lease from the land office," he said. "Then I'll make another +equal payment the day we start the mill. But I don't bind myself to +record the timber or put up a mill, unless I'm convinced it's worth +while." + +"I'd sooner take less dollars and a small share in the concern; and +Drayton must stand in." + +"It's a question of terms," Vane replied. "I'll consider your views." + +They discussed it for a while, and when they had at length arrived at a +provisional understanding, the prospector made a sign of acquiescence. +"We'll let it go at that; but the thing will take time, and I'll never +get the money. If you exercise your option, you'll sure pay it down to +Seely?" + +"Celia's his daughter," Drayton explained. "He has no one else. She's a +waitress at the ---- House in the city." He named an hotel of no great +standing. "Comes home at nights and looks after him." + +Vane glanced round the room. It was evident that Celia's earnings were +small; but he noticed several things which suggested that she had +lavished loving care upon the sick man, probably at the cost of severe +self-denial. + +"Yes," he answered; "I'll promise that. But, as I pointed out, while we +have agreed upon the two payments, I reserve the right of deciding what +share your daughter and Drayton are to take afterwards within the limits +sketched out. I can't fix it definitely until I've seen the +timber--you'll have to trust me." + +The prospector once more looked at him steadily, and then implied by a +gesture that he was satisfied. + +The man fumbled under his pillow, and produced a piece cut out from a +map of the province, with rough pencil notes on the back of it. + +"It was on my last prospecting trip I found the spruce," he said. "I'd +been looking round for the Company I was with, and I figured I'd strike +the coast over the range. The creeks were full of snow-water, and as I +was held up here and there before I could get across, provisions began +to run short. By and by I fell sick; but I had to get out of the +mountains, and I was pushing on for the Strait when I struck the place +where the spruce is. After that, I got kind of muddled in the head, but +I went down a long valley on an easy grade and struck some Siwash curing +the last of the salmon. The trouble is, I was too sick to figure exactly +where the small inlet they were camped by lies. They took me back with +them to their rancherie--you could find that--and sailed me across to +Comox by and by. I came down on a steamboat, and the doctor told me I'd +made my last journey." + +Vane expressed his sympathy. The narrative has been crudely +matter-of-fact, but he had been out on the prospecting trail often +enough to fill in the details the sick man omitted. + +"How far was the valley from the inlet?" he asked. + +"I can't tell you. I think I was four days on the trail, but it might +have been more. I was too sick to remember. Anyway, there was a creek +you could run the logs down." + +Vane nodded. "Well," he said, "how far was the inlet from the +rancherie?" + +"I was in the canoe part of one night and some of the next day. Guess +thirty miles wouldn't be far out." + +"That's something to go upon." + +Vane rose. "If Drayton will come along with me, I'll send him back with +a hundred dollars. It's part of the first payment--but your getting it +now should make things a little easier for Celia." + +"But you haven't located the spruce yet." + +"I'm going to locate it, if the thing's anyway possible." Vane shook +hands with the man. "I expect to get off up the Strait very shortly." + +The prospector looked at him with relief and gratitude in his eyes, +"You're white--and I guess you'd be mighty hard to beat." + +Vane touched Drayton's arm, and when they reached the street, his +companion glanced at him with open admiration. + +"I'm glad I brought you across," he broke out. "You have a way of +getting hold of folks, making them believe in you. Hartley hasn't a word +in writing, but he knows you mean to act square with him. Kitty felt the +same thing--it was why she came down in the sloop with you." + +Vane smiled, though there was a trace of embarrassment in his manner. +"Now you mention it, you were equally confiding. We have only arrived at +a rather indefinite understanding about your share yet." + +"We'll leave it at that," said the other. "I haven't struck anybody else +in this city who would hear about the thing. Anyway, I'd prefer a few +shares in the concern, as mentioned, instead of money. If you get the +thing on foot, I guess it will go." + +During the rest of the day Vane was busy on board the sloop, but in the +evening he walked over to Horsfield's house with Mrs. Nairn, and found +Jessie and her brother at home. Horsfield presently took him to his +smoking-room. + +"About that smelter," he said. "Haven't you make your mind up yet?" + +"Isn't it a matter for the board?" Vane asked suggestively. "There are +several directors." + +Horsfield laughed. "We'll face the fact; they'll do what you decide +upon." + +Vane did not reply to this. "Well," he said, "at present we couldn't +keep a smelter big enough to be economical going, and I'm doubtful if we +would get much ore from the other properties you were talking to Nairn +about." + +"Did he say it was my idea?" + +"He didn't: I'd reasons for assuming it. Those properties, however, are +of no account." + +Horsfield waited expectantly, and Vane went on: "If it seems possible +that we can profitably increase our output later by means of further +capital, we'll put up a smelter. But in that case it might be economical +to do the work ourselves." + +"Who would superintend it?" + +"I would, if necessary." + +Horsfield smiled in a significant manner. "Aren't you inclined to take +hold of too much? When you have plenty in your hands, it's good policy +to leave a little for somebody else. Sometimes the person who benefits +is willing to reciprocate." + +The hint was plain, and Nairn had said sufficient on another occasion to +make it clearer; but Vane did not respond. + +"If we gave the work out, it would be an open tender," he said. "There +would be no reason why you shouldn't make a bid." + +Horsfield found it difficult to conceal his disgust. He had no desire to +bid on an open tender, which would prevent his obtaining anything beyond +the market price. + +"The question must stand over until I come back," Vane resumed. "I'm +going up the west coast shortly and may be away some little time." + +They left the smoking-room soon afterwards, and when they strolled back +to the other, Vane sat down near Jessie. + +"I hear you are going away," she began. + +"Yes," said Vane; "I'm going to look for pulping timber." + +"But why do you want pulping timber?" + +"It can sometimes be converted into dollars." + +"Isn't there every prospect of your obtaining a good many already? Are +you never satisfied?" + +"I suppose I'm open to take as many as I can get," Vane answered with an +air of humorous consideration. "The reason probably is that I've had +very few until lately. Still, I don't think it's altogether the dollars +that are driving me." + +"If it's the restlessness you once spoke of, you ought to put a check on +it and try to be content. There's danger in the longing to be always +going on." + +"It's a common idea that a small hazard gives a thing an interest." + +Jessie shot a swift glance at him, and she had, as he noticed, +expressive eyes. + +"Be careful!" she said. "After all, it's wiser to keep within safe +limits, and not climb over too many fences." She hesitated, and her +voice grew softer. "You have friends who would be sorry if you got +hurt." + +The man was a little stirred; she was alluring physically, while +something in her voice had its effect on him. Evelyn, however, still +occupied his thoughts, and he smiled at his companion. + +"Thank you," he said. "I like to believe it." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +VANE SAILS NORTH. + + +It was growing dusk on the evening of Vane's departure when he walked +out of Nairn's room. His host was with him, and when they entered an +adjacent room, where a lamp was burning, the older man's face relaxed +into a smile as he saw Jessie Horsfield talking to his wife. Vane +stopped a few minutes to speak to them, and it was Jessie who gave the +signal for the group to break up. + +"I must go," she said to Mrs. Nairn. "I've already stayed longer than I +intended. I'll let you have those patterns back in a day or two." + +"Mair patterns!" Nairn exclaimed with dry amusement. "It's the second +lot this week; ye're surely industrious, Jessie. Women"--he addressed +Vane--"have curious notions of economy. They will spend a month knitting +a thing to give to somebody who does not want it, when they could buy it +for half a dollar done better by machinery. I'm no saying, however, that +it does not keep them out of mischief." + +Jessie laughed. "I don't think many of us are industrious in that, way +now. After all, isn't it a pity that so many of the beautiful old +handicrafts are dying out? No loom, for instance, could turn out some of +the things your wife makes. They're matchless." + +"She has an aumrie--ye can translate it trunk--full of them," said +Nairn. "It's no longer customary to scatter them ower the house." + +Mrs. Nairn's smile was half a sigh. "There were no books, and no mony +amusements, when I was young," she said to Jessie. "We sat through the +long winter forenights, counting stitches, at Burnfoot, under the +Scottish moors. That, my dear, was thirty years ago." + +She shook hands with Vane, who left the house with Jessie, and watched +them cross the lawn. + +"I'm thinking ye'll no see so much of Jessie for the next few weeks," +Nairn, who had accompanied her to the door, remarked. "Has she shown ye +any of yon knick-knacks when she finished them." + +His wife shook her head at him reproachfully. "Alec," she said, "ye're +now and then hasty in jumping at conclusions." + +"Maybe," replied Nairn. "I'm no infallible, but the fault ye mention is +no common in the land where we were born. I'm no denying that Jessie has +enterprise, but how far it will carry her in this case is mair than I +can tell." + +He smiled as he recalled a scene at the station some time ago, and Mrs. +Nairn looked up at him. + +"What is amusing ye, Alec?" she asked. + +"It was just a bit idea no worth the mentioning," said Nairn. "I think +it wouldna count." He paused, and resumed with an air of reflection: "A +young man's heart is whiles inconstant and susceptible." + +Mrs. Nairn, who ignored the last remark, went into the house, and in the +meanwhile Jessie and Vane walked down the road until they stopped at a +gate, Jessie held out her hand. + +"I'm glad I met you to-night," she said. "You will allow me to wish you +every success?" + +"Thank you," he replied. "It's nice to feel one has the sympathy of +one's friends." + +He turned away, and Jessie stood watching him as he strode down the +road. There was, she thought, something that set him apart from other +men in his fine poise and swing. She was, however, forced to confess +that, although he had answered her courteously, there had been no warmth +in his words. + +As it happened, Vane was just then conscious of a slight relief. He +admired Jessie, and he liked Nairn and his wife; but they belonged to +the city, which he was on the whole glad to leave behind. He was going +back to the shadowy woods, where men lived naturally, and the lust of +fresh adventure was strong in him. + +On reaching the wharf he found Kitty and Celia Hartley, whom he had not +met hitherto, awaiting him with Carroll and Drayton. A boat lay at the +steps, and he and Carroll rowed the others off to the sloop. The moon +was just rising from behind the black firs at the inlet's inner end, and +a little cold wind faintly scented with resinous fragrance, that blew +down across them, stirred the water into tiny ripples that flashed into +silvery radiance here and there. + +A soft glow shone out from the skylights to welcome them as they +approached the sloop, and when, laughing gaily, they clambered on board, +Carroll led the way to the tiny saloon, which just held them all. It was +brightly lighted by two nickelled lamps; flowers were fastened against +the panelling, and clusters of them stood upon the table, which was +covered with a spotless cloth. Vane took the head of it and Carroll +modestly explained that only part of the supper had been prepared by +him. The rest he had obtained in the city, out of regard for the guests, +who, he added, had not lived in the bush. + +Carroll started the general chatter, which went on after the meal was +over, and nobody appeared to notice that Kitty sat with her hand in +Drayton's amidst the happy laughter. Even Celia, who had her grief to +grapple with, smiled bravely. Vane had given them champagne, the best in +the city, though they drank sparingly; and at last, when Celia made a +move to rise, Drayton stood up with his glass in his hand. + +"We must go, but there's something to be done," he said. "It's to thank +our host and wish him success. It's a little boat he's sailing in, but +she's carrying a big freight if our good wishes count for anything." + +They emptied the glasses, and Vane replied: "My success is yours. You +have all a stake in the venture, and that piles up my responsibility. If +the spruce is still in existence, I've got to find it." + +"And you're going to find it," said Drayton confidently. + +Then Vane divided the flowers between Celia and her companion, but when +they went up on deck Kitty raised one bunch and kissed it. + +"Tom won't mind," she said. "Take that one back from Celia and me." + +They got down into the boat. Then, while the girls called back to Vane, +Drayton rowed away, and the boat was fading out of sight when Kitty's +voice reached the men on board. She was singing a well-known Jacobite +ballad. + +"Considering what his Highland followers suffered on his account and +what the women thought of him," said Carroll, "some of the virtues they +credited the Young Chevalier with must have been real," He raised his +hand. "You may as well listen." + +Vane stood still a moment with the blood hot in his face, and the +refrain rang more clearly across the sparkling water: + + "Better lo'ed ye cannot be, + Will ye no come back again?" + +"I don't know if you feel flattered, but I've an idea that Kitty and +Celia would go into the fire for you, and Drayton seems to share their +confidence," Carroll resumed, in his most matter-of-fact tone. + +Vane began to shake the mainsail loose. "I believe we both talked rather +freely to-night; but we have to find the spruce." + +"So you have said already," Carroll pointed out. "Hadn't you better +heave the boom up with the topping lift?" + +They got the mainsail on to her, broke out the anchor and set the jib; +and as the boat slipped away before a freshening breeze Vane sat at the +helm, while Carroll stood on the foredeck, coiling up the gear. The moon +was higher now; the broad sail gleamed a silvery grey; the ripples, +which were getting bigger, flashed and sparkled as they streamed back +from the bows, and the lights of the city dropped fast astern. Vane was +conscious of a keen exhilaration. He had started on a new adventure; he +was going back to the bush, and he knew that no matter how his life +might change, the wilderness would always call to him. In spite of this, +however, he was, as he had said, conscious of an unusual responsibility. +Hitherto he had fought for what he could get for himself; but now +Kitty's future partly depended upon his efforts, and his success would +be of vast importance to Celia. + +He had a very friendly feeling towards both the girls. Indeed, all the +women he had met of late had attracted him in different ways, but Evelyn +stood apart from all. + +She appealed less to his senses and intellect than she did to a +sublimated something in the depths of his nature; and it somehow seemed +fitting that her image should materialise before his mental vision as +the sloop drove along under the cloudless night sky, while the moonlight +poured down glamour on the shining water. Evelyn harmonised with such +things as these. + +It was true that she had repulsed him; but that, he remembered, once +more with a sense of compunction, was what he deserved for entering into +an alliance against her with her venial father. He was glad now that he +had acquiesced in her dismissal of him, since to have stood firm and +broken her to his will would have brought disaster upon both of them. He +felt that she had not wholly escaped him, after all: by and by he would +go back and seek her favour by different means. Then she might, perhaps, +forgive him and listen. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE FIRST MISADVENTURE. + + +The breeze freshened fiercely with the red and fiery dawn, and Vane, who +had gone below, was advised of it by being flung off the locker on which +he sat with coffee and biscuits before him, in the saloon. The jug, +overturning, spilled its contents upon his person, the biscuits were +scattered, but he picked himself up in haste and scrambled out into the +well. He found the sloop slanted over with a good deal of her lee deck +submerged in rushing foam, and Carroll bracing himself against the +strain upon the tiller. + +"I'll let her come up when you're ready," Carroll remarked. "We had +better get some sail off her, if we mean to hold on to the mast." + +He put down his helm, and the sloop, forging round to windward, rose +upright, with her heavy mainboom banging to and fro. After that, they +were desperately busy for the next few minutes, and Vane wished they had +engaged a hand in Vancouver, instead of waiting to hire a Siwash +somewhere up the coast. There was a headsail to haul to windward, which +was difficult, and the mainsheet to get in; and then the two men, +standing on the slippery inclined deck, struggled hard to haul the +canvas down to the boom. The jerking spar smote them in the ribs; once +or twice the reefing tackle beneath it was torn from their hands; but +they mastered the sail, tying two reefs in it, to reduce its size, and +the craft afterwards drove away with her lee rail just awash. + +"You had better go down and get some biscuits," Vane said to his +comrade. "You mayn't have an opportunity later." + +"It looks like that," Carroll agreed. "The wind's backing northwards, +and that means more of it before long. You can call if you want me." + +He disappeared below, and Vane sat at the helm with a frown on his face. +He knew that the breeze would increase and draw ahead, which was +unfortunate, because they would have to beat, fighting for every fathom +they slowly made. There was no help for it, and he buttoned his jacket +against the spray, while by the time Carroll came up the sloop was +plunging sharply; pitching showers of stinging brine all over her when +the bows went down. They drove her at it stubbornly most of the day, +making but little to windward, while the seas got bigger and whiter, +until they had some trouble to keep the light boat they carried upon the +deluged deck. At last, when she came bodily aft amidst a frothing +cascade which poured into the well, Vane brought the sloop round, and +they stretched away to the eastwards, until they could let go the anchor +in smooth water beneath a wall of rock. They were very wet, and stiff +with cold, for winter was drawing near. + +"We'll get supper," said Vane. "If the breeze drops at dusk, we'll go on +again." + +Having eaten little since dawn, they enjoyed the meal, and Carroll would +have been content to remain at anchor afterwards. The tiny saloon was +comfortably warm, and it would be pleasanter to lounge away the evening +on a locker with his pipe, instead of sitting amidst the bitter spray at +the helm. But Vane was proof against his companion's hints. + +"With a head wind, we'll be some time working up to the rancherie, and +then we have thirty miles of coast to search for the inlet Hartley +reached," he said. "After that, there's the valley to locate; he was +uncertain how far it lay from the beach." + +"It couldn't be very far. You wouldn't expect a man who was sick to make +any great pace." + +"I can imagine a man who knew he must reach the coast before he started +making a pretty vigorous effort. Do you remember the time we crossed the +divide in the snow?" + +"I could remember it, if I wanted," said Carroll with a shiver. "It's +about the last thing I'm anxious to do." + +"The trouble is that there are many valleys in this strip of country, +and we may have to try a number before we strike the right one," Vane +went on. "I can't spend very much time over this search. As soon as the +man we put in charge of the mine has tried his present system long +enough to give us something to figure on, I want to see what can be done +to increase our output. We haven't marketed very much refined metal +yet." + +"There's no doubt it would be advisable," Carroll, who looked after +their finances, answered. "As I've pointed out, you have spent a good +deal of the cash you got when you turned the Clermont over to the +company. In fact, that's one reason why I didn't try to head you off +this timber-hunting scheme. You can't spend many dollars over it, and if +the spruce comes up to expectations, you ought to get them back. It +would be a fortunate change, after your extravagance in England." + +"That is a subject I don't want to talk about. We'll go up and see what +the weather's like." + +Carroll shivered when they stood in the well. A nipping wind came down +across the darkening firs ashore, but there was no doubt that it had +fallen somewhat, and he resigned himself when Vane began to pull the +tiers off the mainsail. + +In a few minutes they were under way, the sloop heading out towards open +water with two reefs down in her mainsail; a great and ghostly shape of +slanted canvas that swept across the dim, furrowed plain of sea. By +midnight the breeze was as strong as ever, but they had clear moonlight +and they held on; the craft plunging with flooded decks through the +white combers, while Carroll sat at the helm, battered by spray and +stung with cold. + +When Vane came up an hour or two later, the sea was breaking viciously. +They held on and, soon after day broke with its first red flush +ominously high in the eastern sky, stretched in towards the land, with a +somewhat sheltered bay opening up beyond a foam-fringed point ahead of +them. Carroll glanced dubiously at the white turmoil, in the midst of +which black fangs of rock appeared, before he turned to his companion. + +"Will she weather the point on this tack?" he asked. + +"She'll have to," said Vane, who was steering. + +They stood on, though it occurred to Carroll that they were not opening +up the bay very rapidly. The light was growing, and he could now discern +the orderly phalanxes of white-topped combers that crumpled into chaotic +spouting on the point's outer end. The sloop would not last long if she +touched bottom there; but once more, after a glance at his companion's +face, he kept silent. After all, Vane was leader, and when he looked as +he did then he usually resented advice. The mouth of the bay grew wider, +until Carroll could see most of the forest-girt shore on one side of it; +but the surf upon the point was also growing unpleasantly near. Wisps of +spray whirled away from it and vanished among the scrubby firs clinging +to the fissured crags behind. The sloop, however, was going to windward, +for Vane was handling her with skill, and she had almost cleared the +point when there was a bang, and the sloop stopped suddenly. The comber +to windward that should have lifted her up broke all over her; flinging +the boat on deck upon the saloon skylight, and pouring inches deep over +the coaming into the well. Vane was hurled from the tiller and cut his +forehead, for his wet face was smeared with blood, but he had seized a +big oar to shove her off when she swung upright, moved, and struck +again. The following sea hove her up; there was another less violent +crash, and while Vane dropped the oar and grasped the helm she suddenly +shot ahead. + +"She'll go clear," he shouted, "Jump below and see if she's damaged." + +Carroll got no farther than the scuttle, for the saloon floorings on the +depressed side were already awash and he could hear an ominous splashing +and gurgling. + +"It's pouring into her," he reported. + +Vane nodded. "You'll have to pump." + +"We passed an opening some miles to lee. Wouldn't it be better if you +ran back there?" Carroll suggested. + +"No," said Vane; "I won't run a yard. There's another inlet not far +ahead, and we'll stand on until we reach it. I'd put her on the beach +here, only that she'd go to pieces with the first shift of wind to the +westward." + +Carroll agreed with this opinion; but there is a great difference +between running to leeward with the sea behind the vessel, and thrashing +to windward when it is ahead, and he hesitated. + +"Get the pump started. We're going on," Vane said shortly. + +The pump was, fortunately, a powerful one, and they had nearly two miles +of smoother water before they stretched out of the bay upon the other +track; but when they did so Carroll, who glanced down again through the +scuttle, could not flatter himself that he had reduced the water. + +After half an hour of it, he was breathless and exhausted, and Vane took +his place. The sea was higher, the sloop wetter than she had been, and +there was no doubt that the water was rising fast inside her. Carroll +wondered how far ahead the inlet his companion had mentioned lay, and +the next two hours were anxious ones to both of them. Turn about, they +pumped with savage determination and went back, gasping, to the helm, to +thrash the boat on. They drove her remorselessly; and she went through +the combers, swept and streaming, while the spray scourged the +helmsman's face as he gazed to weather. Their arms and shoulders ached +from working in a cramped position, but since there was no help for it, +they toiled doggedly, until at last the crest of a crag they were +heading for sloped away in front of them. + +A few minutes later, they drove past the end of it into a broad lane of +water with long ranks of firs dropping steeply to its edge. The wind was +suddenly cut off; the combers fell away, and the sloop crept slowly up +the inlet, which wound, green and placid, among the hills. Vane strode +to the scuttle and looked down at the flood which splashed languidly to +and fro below. + +"It's fortunate that we're in. Another half-hour would have seen the end +of her," he said. "Let her come up a little. There's a smooth beach to +yonder cove." + +She slid in quietly, scarcely rippling the smooth surface of the tiny +basin, about which there rose great black firs, and Carroll laid her on +the beach. + +"Now," said Vane, "drop the boom on the shore side, to keep her from +canting over; and then we'll get breakfast. We'll see where she's +damaged when the tide ebbs." + +Since most of their stores had lain in the flooded lockers, from which +there had been no time to extricate them, the meal was not an appetising +one. They were, however, glad of it, and, rowing ashore afterwards, they +lay on the shingle in the sunshine while the sloop was festooned with +their drying clothes. + +"If she has only split a plank or two we can patch her up," Vane +remarked, "There are all the tools we'll want in the locker." + +"Where will you get new planks from?" Carroll inquired. "I don't think +we have any spikes that would go through the frames." + +"That," said Vane, "is the trouble. I expect I'll have to make a trip +across to Comox for them in a sea canoe. We're sure to come across a few +Siwash somewhere in the neighbourhood. I can't say that this expedition +is beginning fortunately." + +"There's no doubt on that point," Carroll agreed. + +"Well," said Vane, "she has to be patched up, and until I find that +spruce I'm going on." + +Carroll made no comment. It was not worthwhile to object when Vane was +obviously determined. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE BUSH. + + +It was a quiet evening, nearly a fortnight after the arrival of the +sloop, and pale sunshine streamed into the cove. Little glittering +ripples lapped lazily along the shingle, and the placid surface of the +inlet was streaked with faint blue lines where wandering airs came down +from the heights above. Now and then an elfin sighing fell from the +ragged summits of the tall black firs, but it died away again, and +afterwards the silence was only broken by the pounding of a heavy hammer +and the crackle of a fire. + +Carroll sat beside the latter, alternately holding a stout plank up to +the blaze and dabbing its hot surface with a dripping mop. A big sea +canoe lay drawn up near the spot, and one of its copper-skinned Siwash +owners sat amongst the shingle, stolidly watching the white men. His +comrade was inside the sloop, holding a big stone against one of her +frames, while Vane crouched outside her, swinging a hammer. + +Vane, who was stripped to shirt and trousers, had arrived from Comox +across the Strait at dawn that morning in the sea canoe. It was a long +trip and they had had wild weather on the outward journey, but he had +set to work with characteristic energy as soon as he landed. Now, though +the sun was low, he was working rather harder than ever, with the flood +tide, which would shortly compel him to desist, creeping up to his feet. + +Carroll, who watched him with quiet amusement, was on the whole content +that the tide was rising, because his comrade had firmly declined to +stop for dinner, and he was conscious of a sharpened appetite. It was +comforting to reflect that Vane would be unable to get the plank into +place before the evening meal, because if there had been any prospect of +his doing so, he would certainly have postponed the latter. + +By and by he stopped a moment and turned to Carroll. "If you were any +use in an emergency, you'd be holding up for me instead of that wooden +image inside," he remarked. "He will back the stone against any frame +except the one I'm nailing." + +"The difficulty is that I can't be in two places at the same time," +Carroll pointed out. "Shall I leave this plank? You can't get it in +to-night." + +"I'm going to try," Vane answered grimly. + +He turned round to direct the Siwash and then cautiously hammered in one +of the wedges a little farther, after which, swinging back the hammer, +he struck a heavy blow. The result was disastrous, for there was a crash +and one of the shores shot backwards, striking him on the knee. He +jumped with a savage cry, and next moment there was a sharp snapping, +and the end of the plank sprang out. Then another shore gave way, and +when the plank fell clattering at his feet he whirled the hammer round +his head, and hurled it violently into the bush. This appeared to afford +him some satisfaction, and he strode up the beach, with the blood +dripping from the knuckles of one hand. + +"That's the blamed Siwash's fault," he said. "I couldn't get him to back +up when I put the last spike in." + +"Hadn't you better tell him to come out?" Carroll suggested. + +"No," said Vane. "If he hasn't sense enough to see that he isn't wanted, +he can stay where he is all night. Are you going to get supper, or must +I do that, too?" + +Carroll set about preparing the meal, which the two Siwash partook of +and afterwards departed, with some paper currency. Then Vane, walking +down the beach, came back with the plank, and after lighting his pipe, +pointed to one or two broken nails in it. + +"That's the cause of the trouble," he said. "It cost me a week's journey +to get the package of galvanised spikes--I could have managed to split a +plank or two out of one of these firs. The storekeeper fellow assured me +they were specially annealed for heading up. If I knew who the +manufacturers were, I'd have pleasure in telling them what I think of +them. If they set up to make spikes, they ought to make them, and empty +every keg that won't stand the test on to the scrap heap." + +Carroll smiled. The course his partner had indicated was the one he +would have adopted. He was characterised by a somewhat grim idea of +efficiency, and never spared his labour to attain it, though the latter +fact had now and then its inconveniences for those who had co-operated +with him, as Carroll had discovered. The latter had no doubt that Vane +would put the planks in, if he spent a month over the operation. + +"I wouldn't have had this trouble if you'd been handier with tools," he +resumed. + +"My abilities aren't as varied as yours, and the thing is bad economy," +Carroll replied. "Skill of the kind you mentioned is worth about three +dollars a day." + +"You were getting two dollars for shovelling in a mining ditch, when I +first met you." + +"I was," Carroll assented good-humouredly; "I believe another month or +two of it would have worn me out. It's considerably pleasanter and more +profitable to act as your understudy; but a fairly proficient carpenter +might have bungled the latter." + +Vane looked embarrassed. "Let it pass; I've a pernicious habit of +expressing myself unfortunately. Anyhow, we'll start again on those +planks first thing to-morrow." + +He stretched out his aching limbs beside the fire, and languidly watched +the firs grow dimmer and the mists creep in ghostly trails down the +steep hillside, until Carroll broke the silence. + +"Wallace," he said, "wouldn't it be wiser if you met that fellow +Horsfield to some extent?" + +"No," said Vane decidedly. "I have no intention of giving way an inch. +It would only encourage the man to press me on another point, if I did. +I'm going to have trouble with him, and the sooner it comes the better. +There's only room for one controlling influence in the Clermont mine." + +"In that case it might be as well to stay in Vancouver as much as +possible and keep your eye on him." + +"The same idea has struck me since we sailed," Vane said. "The trouble +is that until I've decided about the pulp mill he'll have to go +unwatched, for the same reason that prevented you from holding up for me +and steaming the plank." + +"If any unforeseen action of Horsfield's made it necessary, you could +let this pulp project drop." + +"No," said Vane, "You ought to understand why that's impossible. +Drayton, Kitty and Hartley count upon my exertions. They're poor folks +and I can't go back on them. If we can't locate the spruce or it doesn't +seem likely to pay for working up, there's nothing to prevent my +abandoning the undertaking; but I'm not at liberty to do so just because +it would be a convenience to myself. Hartley got my promise before he +told me where to search." + +He strolled away to the tent they had pitched on the edge of the bush, +but Carroll sat a while smoking beside the fire. He was suspicious of +Horsfield, and foresaw trouble, more particularly now his comrade had +undertaken a project which seemed likely to occupy a good deal of his +attention. Hitherto, Vane had owed part of his success to his faculty of +concentrating all his powers upon one object. + +They rose at dawn next morning, and by sunset had fitted the new planks. +Two days later, they sailed to the northwards, and eventually found the +rancherie Hartley had mentioned, where they had expected to hire a +guide. The rickety wooden building, however, was empty, and Vane pushed +on again. He had now to face an unseen difficulty because there were a +number of openings in that strip of coast, and Hartley's description was +of no great service in deciding which was the right one. + +During the next day or two, they looked into several bights, and seeing +no valleys opening out of them, went on again, until one evening they +ran into an inlet with a forest-shrouded hollow at the head of it. Here +they moored the sloop close in with a sheltered beach, and after a +night's rest got ready their packs for the march inland. + +They had a light tent without poles, which could be cut when wanted; two +blankets, an axe, and one or two cooking utensils, besides their +provisions. + +In front of them a deep trough opened up in the hills, but it was filled +with giant forest, through which no track led, and only those who have +traversed the dim recesses of the primeval bush can fully understand +what this implies. The west winds swept through that gateway, reaping as +they went, and here and there tremendous trees lay strewn athwart each +other with their branches spread abroad in horrible tangles. Some had +fallen amidst the wreckage left by previous gales, which the forest had +partly made good, and there was scarcely a rod of the way that was not +obstructed by half rotten trunks. Then there were thick bushes, and an +undergrowth of willows where the soil was damp with thorny brakes and +matted fern in between. In places, the growth was almost like a wall, +and the men, who skirted the inlet, were glad to scramble forward among +the rough boulders and ragged driftwood at the water's edge for some +minutes at a time, until it was necessary to leave the beach behind. + +After the first few minutes, there was no sign of the gleaming water. +They had entered a region of dim green shade, where the moist air was +heavy with resinous smells. The trunks rose about them in tremendous +columns; thorns clutched their garments, and twigs and brittle branches +snapped beneath their feet. The day was cool, but the sweat of tense +effort dripped from them, and when they stopped for breath at the end of +an hour, Vane estimated that they had gone a mile. + +"I'll be content if we can keep this up," he said. + +"It isn't likely," Carroll, who glanced down at a big rent in his +jacket, replied with a trace of dryness. + +A little farther on, they waded with difficulty through a large stream, +and Carroll, who stopped, glanced round at a deep rift in a crag on one +side of them. + +"I don't know if that could be considered a valley, but we may as well +look at it," he suggested. + +They scrambled towards it, and reaching gravelly soil, where the trees +were thinner, Vane surveyed the opening. It was very narrow, and +appeared to lose itself among the rocks. The size of the creek which +flowed out of it was no guide, because those ranges are scored by +running water. + +"We won't waste time over that ravine," he said. "I noticed a wider one +farther on, and we'll see what it's like, though Hartley led me to +understand that he came down a straight and gently-sloping valley. The +one we're in answers the description." + +It was two hours before they reached the second opening, and then Vane, +unstrapping his packs, clambered up the steep face of a crag. When he +came back his face was thoughtful and, sitting down, he lighted his +pipe. + +"This search seems to take us longer than I expected," he said. "To +begin with, there are a number of inlets, all of them pretty much alike, +along this part of the coast; but I needn't go into the reasons for +supposing that this is the one Hartley visited. Taking it for granted +that we're right, we're up against another difficulty. So far as I could +make out from the top of that rock, there's a regular series of ravines +running back into the hills." + +"Hartley told you he came straight down to tidewater, didn't he?" + +"That's not much of a guide," Vane replied. "The slope of every fissure +seems to run naturally from the inland watershed to this basin. Hartley +was sick, and it was raining all the time; and coming out of any of +these ravines he'd only have to make a slight turn to reach the water. +What's more, he could only tell me he was heading roughly west and +allowing that there was no sun visible, that might have meant either +north-west or south-west, which gives us the choice of searching the +hollows on either side of the main valley. Now, it strikes me as most +probable that he came down the latter; but we have to face the question +whether we should push straight on, or search every opening that might +be called a valley?" + +"What's your idea?" Carroll rejoined. + +"That we ought to go into the thing systematically and look at every +ravine we come to." + +"I guess you're right, but I don't move another step to-night." + +"I've no wish to urge you. There's hardly a joint in my body that +doesn't ache." Vane flung down his pack and stretched himself with an +air of relief. "That's what comes of civilisation and soft living. It +would be nice to sit still while somebody brought me my supper." + +As there was nobody to do so, he took up the axe and set about hewing +chips off a fallen trunk, while Carroll made a fire. Then he cut the +tent poles, and a few armfuls of twigs for a bed, and in half an hour +the camp was pitched and a meal prepared. They afterwards lay a while, +smoking and saying little, beside the sinking fire, the red light of +which flickered upon the massy trunks and fell away again. Then they +crawled into the tent and wrapped their blankets round them. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +VANE POSTPONES THE SEARCH. + + +When Vane rose early next morning, there was frost in the air, and when +breakfast was ready the men ate hastily, eager for the exertion that +would put a little warmth into them. + +"We had it a good deal colder on other trips; I suppose I've been +getting luxurious, since I seem to resent it now," said Vane. "There's +no doubt that winter's beginning earlier than I expected up here; As +soon as you can strike the tent, we'll move on." + +The valley grew wilder and more rugged as they proceeded. In places, its +bottom was filled with muskegs, cumbered with half-submerged, decaying +trunks of fallen trees; and when they could not spring from one falling +log to another they sank in slime and water to the knee. They entered +transverse valleys, and after hours of exhausting labour, abandoned the +search of each in turn and plodded back to the one they had been +following. Their boots and clothing suffered; their packs were rent upon +their backs, and, since men engaged in such work must be generously fed, +their provisions diminished rapidly. + +At length, one lowering afternoon, they were brought to a standstill by +the river, which forked into two branches, one of which came foaming out +on a cleft in the rocks. This would have mattered less had it flowed +across the level; but just there it had scored itself out a deep hollow, +from which the roar of its turmoil rose in long reverberations. Carroll, +who was aching all over, stood upon the brink, and first of all gazed +ahead. He surmised from the steady ascent and the contours of the hills +that the valley was dying out, and that they should reach the head of it +in another day's journey. The higher summits, however, were veiled in +leaden mist, and there was a sting in the cold breeze that blew down the +hollow and set the ragged firs wailing. Then he glanced dubiously at the +dim, green water, which swirled in deep eddies and boiled in white +confusion among the fangs of rock sixty or seventy feet below. Not far +away the stream was wider and he supposed in consequence shallower, +though it ran furiously. + +"It doesn't look encouraging, and we have no more food left than will +take us back to the sloop if we're economical," he said. "Do you think +it's worth while going on?" + +"I haven't a doubt about it," Vane declared. "We ought to reach the head +of the valley and get back here in two or three days." + +"Three days will make a big hole in the provisions." + +"Then we'll have to put up with short rations," Vane rejoined. + +"If you're determined, we may as well get on." + +He stepped cautiously over the edge of the descent, and went down a few +yards with a run, while loosened soil and stones slipped away under him. +Then he clutched a slender tree, and proceeded as far as the next on his +hands and knees. After that, it was necessary to swing himself over a +ledge, and he was on the whole astonished when he alighted safely on one +below, from which he could scramble down to the narrow strip of gravel +between rock and water. He was standing, breathless, looking at the +latter, when Vane joined him. The stones dipped sharply, and two or +three large boulders, ringed about with froth, rose near the middle of +the stream, which seemed to be running slacker on the other side of +them. + +There was nothing to show how deep it was, but Carroll braced himself +for an effort and sturdily plunged in. + +Two steps took him up to the waist, and he had trouble in finding solid +bottom at the next, because the gravel rolled and slipped away beneath +his feet in the strong stream. The current also dragged hard at his +limbs, and he set his lips tight when it crept up to his ribs. Then he +lost his footing, and was washed away, plunging and floundering, with +now and then one toe resting momentarily upon the bottom, until he was +hurled against the first of the boulders with a crash that almost drove +the little remaining breath out of his body. He clung to it desperately, +gasping hard; and then with a determined struggle contrived to reach the +second stone, against which the stream pressed him, without finding any +support for his feet. A moment or two later, Vane was washed down +towards him, and grabbing at the boulder held on by it. They said +nothing to each other, but they looked at the sliding water between them +and the opposite bank. Carroll was getting horribly cold, and felt the +power ebbing out of him; he thought if he must swim across he had better +do so at once. + +Launching himself forward, he felt the flood lap his breast, but as his +arms went in he struck something violently with one leg and found that +he could stand up on a submerged ledge. This carried him a yard or two, +and though he stepped over the end of the ledge into deeper water, he +reached a strip of shelving shingle, up which he staggered. Vane +overtook him, and they scrambled up the slope ahead, which was a little +less steep than the one they had descended. The work warmed them +slightly, and they needed it, but as they strode on again, keeping to +the foot of the hillside where the timber was less dense, a cold rain +drove into their faces. It grew steadily thicker; the straps began to +gall their wet shoulders, and their saturated clothing clung heavily +about their limbs. In spite of this, they went on until nightfall, when +it was difficult to make a fire, and after a reduced supper found a +little humid warmth in their wet blankets. + +The next day's work was much the same, only that they crossed no rivers +and it rained harder; and, when evening came, Carroll, who had burst one +boot, was limping badly. They made camp among the dripping firs which +partly sheltered them from the bitter wind, and shortly after supper +both fell asleep. + +At evening next day they reached the head of the valley. It was still +raining and heavy mists obscured the summits of the hills, but above the +lower slopes of rocks glimmering snow ran up into the vapour. There were +a few balsams and hemlocks about them, but no sign of a spruce. + +"Now," said Carroll, "I expect you'll be satisfied." + +Vane was no nearer to owning himself defeated than he had been when they +first set out. "We know there's no spruce in this valley; and that's +something," he replied. "When we come back again we'll try the next +one." + +"It has cost us a good deal to make sure of the fact." + +Vane's expression changed. "We haven't ascertained the cost just yet. As +a rule, you don't make up the bill until you're through with the +undertaking; and it may be a longer one than either of us think. Now +we'll turn upon our tracks." + +Carroll recalled his speech afterwards, but just then he only hitched +his burden a little higher on his aching shoulders as he plodded after +his comrade down the rain-swept hollow, and he had good cause to +remember the march to the inlet. It rained most of the way, and their +clothes were never dry; parts of them, indeed, flowed in tatters about +their aching limbs, and before they had covered half the distance their +boots were dropping to pieces. What was more important, their provisions +were rapidly running out, and they marched on a few handfuls of food, +carefully apportioned twice daily. At last one night they lay down +hungry, with empty bags, to sleep shelterless in the rain, for they had +thrown their tent away; and Carroll had some difficulty in getting on +his feet next morning. + +"I believe I can hold out until sundown, though I'm far from sure of +it," he said. "You'll have to leave me behind if we don't strike the +inlet then." + +"We'll strike it in the afternoon," Vane assured him. + +They set out as soon as they had reslung their packs, and Carroll limped +and stumbled. He managed, however, to keep pace with Vane, and some time +after noon the latter cried out as a twinkling gleam among the trees +caught his eye. Then the shuffling pace grew faster, and they were +breathless when at last they stopped and dropped their burdens beside +the boat. It was only at the third or fourth attempt they got her down +to the water, and the veins were swollen high on Vane's flushed forehead +when at last he sat down, panting heavily, on her gunwale. + +"We ran her up quite easily, though we had the slope to face then," he +remarked. + +"You could scarcely expect to carry boats about without trouble, after a +march like the one we've made," Carroll pointed out. + +They ran her in and pulled off to the sloop. When they sat down in the +little saloon, in which there was a mirror, Vane grinned. + +"I knew you looked a deadbeat, but I'd no idea I was quite so bad," he +said. "Anyhow, we'll get the stove lighted and some dry things on. The +next question is--what shall we have for supper?" + +"That's simple," Carroll answered. "Everything that's most tempting and +the whole of it." + +Some little time later, they flung their boots and rent garments +overboard and sat down to a feast. The plates were empty when they rose, +and in another hour both of them were wrapped in heavy slumber. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +JESSIE CONFERS A FAVOUR. + + +It was blowing fresh next morning from the south-east, which was right +ahead, and Vane's face was hard when he and Carroll got the boat on deck +and set about tying down two reefs in the mainsail. + +They got sail upon the sloop and drove her out into a confused head sea, +through which she laboured with flooded decks, making very little to +windward. When night came, a deluge killed the breeze, and next day she +lay rolling wildly in a heavy calm, while light mist narrowed in the +horizon and a persistent drizzle poured down upon the smoothly-heaving +sea. Then they had light variable winds, and their provisions were once +more running out when they drew abreast of a little coaling port. +Carroll suggested running in and going on to Victoria by train, but they +had hardly decided to do so when the fickle breeze died away, and the +tide-stream bore them past to the south. They had no longer a stitch of +dry clothing left, and they were again upon reduced rations. + +Still bad fortune dogged them, for that night a fresh head wind sprang +up and held steadily while they thrashed her south, swept by stinging +spray. Their tempers grew shorter under the strain, and their bodies +ached from the chill of their soddened garments and sitting hour by hour +at the helm. At last the breeze fell, and shortly afterwards a trail of +smoke and a half seen strip of hull emerged from the creeping haze +astern of them. + +"A lumber tug," said Vane. "She seems to have a raft in tow, and it will +probably be for Drayton's people. If you'll edge in towards her, I'll +send him word that we're on the way." + +There was very little wind just then and presently the tug was close +alongside, pitching her bows out of the slow swell, while a mass of +timber, wonderfully chained together, surged along astern. A shapeless +oil-skinned figure stood outside her pilot-house, balancing itself +against the heave of the bridge, which slanted and straightened. + +"Winstanley?" Vane shouted. + +The figure waved an arm, as if in assent, and Vane raised his voice +again. "Report us to Mr. Drayton. We'll come along as fast as we can." + +The man turned and pointed to the misty horizon, astern. "You'll get it +from the north before to-morrow." + +Then the straining tug and long wet line of working raft drew ahead, +while the sloop crawled on, close-hauled, towards the south. Late that +night, however, the mists melted away, and a keen rushing breeze that +came out of the north crisped the water. She sprang forward when the +ripples reached her; the flapping canvas went to sleep, and while each +slack rope tightened a musical tinkle broke out at the bows. It grew +steadily louder, and when the sun swung up red above the eastern hills, +she had piled the white froth to her channels and was driving forward +merrily, with little sparkling seas tumbling, foam-tipped, after her. +The wind fell light as the sun rose higher, but she ran on all day, and +the western sky was still blazing with a wondrous green when she stole +into Vancouver harbour. + +The light faded as they crept across the inlet before a faint breeze, +but when they had got the anchor over and the boat into the water, +Carroll made out two dim figures standing on the wharf and waved a hand +to them. + +"It's Drayton, I think," he said. "Kitty's with him." + +They pulled ashore, and Drayton shook hands with them. + +"I've been looking out for you since noon," he said. "What about that +spruce?" + +There was eagerness in his voice, and Vane's face clouded. "We couldn't +find a trace of it." + +Drayton's disappointment was obvious, though he tried to hide it. +"Well," he said resignedly, "I've no doubt you did all you could." + +"Of course," Kitty broke in. "We're quite sure of that." + +Vane thanked her with a glance; he felt sorry for her and Drayton. They +were strongly attached to each other, and he had reason for believing +that even with the advanced salary the man expected to get they would +find it needful to study strict economy. + +"I'm going to make another attempt. I expect some of our difficulties +will vanish after I've had a talk with Hartley," he said. + +Kitty looked grave. "That's impossible," she answered softly. "Hartley +died a week ago." + +Vane started. + +"I'm sorry," he said. "How's Celia?" + +"She's very sick." There was concern in Kitty's voice. "Hartley got +worse soon after you left, and she sat up all night with him after her +work for the last two weeks. Now she's broken down, and she doesn't seem +to know if they'll take her back again at the hotel." + +"I must go and see her," said Vane. "But won't you and Drayton come with +us and have dinner?" + +Drayton explained that this was out of the question--Kitty's employer, +who had driven in that afternoon, was waiting with his team; and the +party left the wharf together. A few minutes later, Vane shook hands +with the girl and her companion. + +"Don't lose heart," he said. "We're far from beaten yet." + +They separated, and after dinner Vane, who rejoiced in the unusual +luxury of clean, dry clothes, walked across to call on Nairn. He was +shown into a room where Jessie Horsfield was sitting, but she rose with +a slight start when he came in. Vane, who had been preoccupied since he +had heard Kitty's news, did not notice it, and Jessie's manner was +reposeful and quietly friendly when she held out her hand. + +"So you have come back?" she said. "Have you succeeded in your search?" + +Vane was gratified. It was pleasant to feel that she was interested in +his undertaking. + +"No," he confessed. "I'm afraid I have failed." + +"Then," said Jessie, with reproach in her voice, "you have disappointed +me." + +It was skilful flattery, since she had conveyed the impression that she +had expected him to succeed, which implied that she held a high opinion +of his abilities. + +"After all, you must have had a good deal against you," she resumed +consolingly. "Won't you sit down and tell me about it? Nairn, I +understand, is writing some letters, and he sent for Mrs. Nairn just +before you came in." + +She indicated a chair beside the open hearth and Vane sat down opposite +her, where a low screen cut them off from the rest of the room. Vane, +who was still stiff and aching from exposure to the cold and rain, +revelled in the unusual sense of comfort. In addition to this, his +companion's pose was singularly graceful, and the ease of it and the +friendly smile with which she regarded him somehow implied that they +were on excellent terms. + +"It's very nice to be here again," he said. + +Jessie looked up at him languidly. He had spoken as he felt, on impulse, +which was more gratifying than an obvious desire to pay her a compliment +would have been. + +"I suppose you wouldn't get many comforts in the bush," she suggested. + +"No," said Vane. "Comforts of any kind are remarkably scarce up yonder. +As a matter of fact, I can't imagine a country where the contrasts +between the luxuries of civilisation and the other thing are sharper. +But that wasn't exactly what I meant." + +"Then what did you mean?" + +"I don't know that it's worth explaining," Vane answered with an air of +consideration. "We have rather luxurious quarters at the hotel, but this +room is somehow different. It's restful--I think it's homely--in-fact, +as I said, it's nice to be here." + +Jessie understood that he had been attempting to analyse his feelings, +and had failed clearly to recognise that her presence contributed to the +satisfaction he was conscious of. She had no doubt that if he were a man +of average susceptibility, the company of an attractive woman would have +some effect on him after his sojourn in the wilds; but whether she had +produced any deeper effect she could not determine. Nor did it appear +judicious to prompt him unduly. + +"But won't you tell me your adventures?" she said. + +It required a few leading questions to start him, but at length he told +the story. + +"You see," he said in conclusion, "it was lack of definite knowledge as +much as the natural obstacles that brought us back--and I've been +troubled about the thing since we landed." + +Jessie's manner invited his confidence. "I wonder," she said softly, "if +you would care to tell me why?" + +"Hartley's dead, and I understand his daughter has broken down after +nursing him. It's doubtful if her situation can be kept open, and it may +be some time before she's strong enough to look for another." He +hesitated. "In a way, I feel responsible for her." + +"You really aren't responsible in the least," Jessie declared. "Still, I +can understand the idea troubling you. Would you like me to help you?" + +"I can hardly ask it, but it would be a relief to me," Vane answered +with obvious eagerness. + +"Then, if you'll tell me her address, I'll go to see her, and we'll +consider what can be done." + +Vane leaned forward impulsively. "You have taken a weight off my mind. +It's difficult to thank you properly." + +"I don't suppose it will give me any trouble. Of course, it must be +embarrassing to feel you had a helpless young woman on your hands." + +Then a thought flashed into her mind, as she remembered what she had +seen at the station some months ago. "I wonder if the situation is an +altogether unusual one to you," she continued. "Have you never let your +pity run away with your judgment before?" + +"You wouldn't expect me to proclaim my charities," Vane objected +humorously which was the only means of parrying the question that +occurred to him. + +"I think you are trying to put me off. You haven't given me an answer." + +"I believe I was able to make things easier for somebody else not very +long ago," Vane confessed, reluctantly, but without embarrassment. "I +now see that I might have done harm without meaning to do so. It's +sometimes extraordinarily difficult to help folks--which is why I'm so +grateful for your offer." + +For the next few moments Jessie sat silent. It was clear that she had +misjudged him, for although she was not one who demanded too much from +human nature, the fact that Kitty Blake had arrived in Vancouver in his +company had undoubtedly rankled in her mind. Now she acquitted him of +any blame, and it was a relief to do so. She changed the subject +abruptly. + +"I suppose you will make another attempt to find timber?" she suggested. + +"Yes," said Vane. "In a week or two." + +He had hardly spoken when Mrs. Nairn came in and welcomed him with her +usual friendliness. + +"I'm glad to see ye, though ye're looking thin," she said. "Why did ye +not come straight to us, instead of going to the hotel? Ye would have +got as good a supper as they would give ye there." + +"I haven't a doubt of it," Vane declared. "On the other hand, I hardly +think even one of your suppers would quite have put right the defect in +my appearance you mentioned. You see, the cause of it has been at work +for some time." + +Mrs. Nairn regarded him with half-amused compassion. "If ye'll come ower +every evening, we'll soon cure that. I would have been down sooner if +Alec, who's writing letters, had not kept me. There was a matter or two +he wanted to ask my opinion on." + +"I think that was very wise of him." + +His hostess smiled. "For one thing, we had a letter from Evelyn Chisholm +this afternoon. She'll be out to spend some time with us in about a +month." + +"Evelyn's coming here?" Vane exclaimed, with a sudden stirring of his +heart. + +"And why should she not come?" Mrs. Nairn inquired. "I told ye some time +ago that we partly expected her. Ye were-na astonished then." + +She appeared to expect an explanation of the change in his attitude, and +as he volunteered none she drew him a few paces aside. + +"If I'm no betraying a confidence; Evelyn writes that she'll be glad to +get away a while. Now, I've been wondering why she should be anxious to +leave home." + +She looked at him fixedly, and to his annoyance he felt his face grow +hot. Mrs. Nairn had quick perceptions, and was now and then painfully +direct. + +"It struck me that Evelyn was not very comfortable there," he replied. +"She seemed out of harmony with her people." + +Mrs. Nairn glanced at him again with amusement in her eyes. "It's no +unlikely. The reason may serve--for the want of a better." Then she +changed her tone. "Ye'll away up to Alec; he told me to send ye." + +Vane went out of the room, but he left Jessie in a thoughtful mood. She +had seen him start at the mention of Evelyn, and it struck her as +significant, since she had heard that he had spent some time with the +Chisholms; On the other hand there was the obvious fact that he had been +astonished to hear that Evelyn was coming out, which implied that their +acquaintance had not progressed far enough to warrant the girl's +informing him. Besides, Evelyn would arrive for a month, and Jessie +reflected that she would probably see a good deal of Vane in the +meanwhile. She now felt glad that she had promised to look after Celia +Hartley, which would, no doubt, necessitate her consulting with him +every now and then. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +VANE FORESEES TROUBLE. + + +Nairn was sitting at a writing-table when Vane entered his room, and +after a few questions about his journey, he handed the younger man one +of the papers that lay in front of him. + +"It's a report from the mine," he said. + +Vane carefully studied the document. + +"It only brings us back to our last conversation on the subject," he +remarked when his host glanced at him inquiringly. "We have the choice +of going on as we are doing, or extending our operations by an increase +of capital. In the latter case, our total earnings might be larger, but +I hardly think there would be as good a return on the money actually +sunk. Taking it all round, I don't know what to think; but if it +appeared that there was a moral certainty of making a satisfactory +profit on the new stock, I should consent." + +Nairn chuckled. "A moral certainty is no a very common thing in mining." + +"I believe Horsfield's in favour of the scheme. How far would you trust +that man?" Vane inquired. + +"About as far as I could fling a bull by the tail. The same thing +applies to both of them." + +"He has some influence. He'd find supporters." + +Nairn saw that the meaning of his last remark which implied that he had +no more confidence in Jessie than he had in her brother, had not been +grasped by his companion, but he did not consider it judicious to make +it plainer. Instead, he gave Vane another piece of information: +"Horsfield and Winter work into each other's hands." + +"But Winter has no interest in the Clermont." + +Nairn smiled sourly. "He holds no shares in the mine, but there's no +much in the shape of mineral developments yon man has no an interest in. +Since ye do not seem inclined to yield Horsfield a point or two, it +might pay ye to watch the pair of them." + +Vane, who was aware that Winter was a person of some importance in +financial circles, remained silent for a couple of minutes. "Now," he +said, at length, "every dollar we have in the Clermont is usefully +employed and earning a satisfactory profit. Of course, if we put the +concern on the market, we might get more than it is worth from +investors; but that doesn't greatly appeal to me." + +"It's unnecessary to point out that a director's interest is no +invariably the same as that of his shareholders," Nairn rejoined. + +"It's an unfortunate fact. But I'd be no better off if I only got the +same actual return on a larger amount of what would be watered stock." + +"There's sense in that. I'm no urging the scheme--there are other points +against it," answered Nairn. + +"Well," said Vane, "I'll go up and look round the mine and then we'll +have another talk about the matter." + +They changed the subject, but Vane walked back to his hotel in a +thoughtful frame of mind, and finding Carroll in the smoking-room +related his conversation with Nairn. + +"I'm a little troubled about the situation," he concluded. "The Clermont +finances are now on a sound basis, but it might after all prove +advantageous to raise further capital, and in such a case we would, +perhaps, lie open to attack. Nairn's inclined to be cryptic in his +remarks; but he seems to hint that it would be advisable to make +Horsfield some concession--in other words, to buy him off." + +"Which is a course you have objections to?" + +"Yes," said Vane, "very decided ones." + +"I think that, in a general way, Nairn's advice is sensible. Where +mining and other schemes are floated, there are men who make a good +living out of the operations. They're trained to the business; they've +control of the dollars; and when a new thing's put on the market, they +consider they've the first claim on the pickings." + +"You needn't elaborate the point," Vane broke in impatiently. + +"You made your appearance in this city as a poor and unknown man with a +mine to sell," Carroll went on. "Disregarding tactful hints, you laid +down your terms and stuck to them. Launching your venture without +considering their views, you did the gentlemen I've mentioned out of +their accustomed toll, and I've no doubt that some of them were +indignant. It's a thing you wouldn't expect them to sanction. Now, +however, one who has probably others behind him is making overtures to +you. You ought to consider it a compliment; a recognition of ability. +The question is--Do you mean to slight these advances and go on as you +have begun?" + +"That's my present intention," Vane answered. + +"Then you needn't be astonished if you find yourself up against a +determined opposition by and by," said Carroll. + +"I think my friends will stand by me." Vane looked at him steadily. + +"Thanks. I've merely been pointing out what you may expect, and hinting +at the most judicious course--though the latter's rather against my +natural inclinations. I'd better add that I've never been particularly +prudent, and the opposite policy appeals to me. If we're forced to clear +for action, we'll nail the flag to the mast." + +It was spoken lightly; because the man was serious, but Vane knew he had +an ally who would support him with unflinching staunchness. + +"I'm far from sure it will be needful," he replied, and they talked +about other matters until they strolled off to their rooms. + +They spent the next week in the city, where Vane was kept occupied; +after which they sailed once more for the north; and pushed inland until +they were stopped by snow among the ranges, without finding the spruce. +The journey proved as toilsome as the previous one, and both the men +were worn out when they reached the coast. Vane was determined on making +a third attempt, but he informed Carroll that they would visit the mine +before proceeding to Vancouver. They had heavy rain during the voyage +down the Strait, and when on the day after reaching port, the jaded +horses they had hired plodded up the sloppy trail to the mine, a +pitiless deluge once more poured down on them. + +The light was growing dim among the dripping firs, and a deep-toned roar +came throbbing across their shadowy ranks. By and by Vane; who was +leading, turned and glanced back at Carroll. + +"I've never heard the river so plainly before," he said. "It must be +unusually swollen." + +Since the mine was situated on a narrow level flat between the hillside +and the river, Carroll understood the anxiety in his comrade's voice; +and urging the wearied horses they pressed on a little faster. It was +almost dark when they reached the edge of an opening in the firs, and +saw a cluster of iron-roofed, wooden buildings and a tall chimney stack, +in front of which the unsightly ore-dump extended. Wet and chilled and +worn out as the men were, there was comfort in the sight; but Vane +noticed that a shallow lake stretched between him and the buildings. On +one side of it there was a broad strip of tumbling foam, which rose and +fell in confused upheavals and filled the forest with the roar it made. +Vane drove his horse into the water, and dismounting among the stumps +before the ore-dump, found a wet and soil-stained man awaiting him. A +long trail of smoke floated away from the iron stack behind him, and +through the sound of the river there broke the clank and thud of +hard-driven pumps. + +"You have got a big head of steam up, Salter," he said. + +The man nodded. "We want it. It's taking me all my time to keep the +water out of the workings. Leave your horses--I'll send along for +them--and I'll show you what we've been doing after supper." + +"I'd sooner go now, while I'm wet," Vane answered. + +They went down into the mine. The approach looked like a canal, and they +descended the shallow shaft amidst a thin cascade. The tunnel they +reached slanted, for the lode dipped, and the lights that twinkled here +and there among the timbering showed shadowy, half-naked figures toiling +in water which rose well up their boots. Further streams of it ran in +from fissures, and Vane's face grew grave as he plodded through the +flood with a lamp in his hand. He spent an hour in the workings, asking +Salter a question now and then, and afterwards went back with him to one +of the sheds, where he dressed in dry clothes and sat down to a meal. + +When it was over and the table had been cleared, he lay in a canvas +chair beside the stove, in which resinous billets snapped and crackled +cheerfully. The deluge roared upon the iron roof; the song of the river +rose and fell, filling the place with sound; and now and then the +pounding and clanking of the pumps broke in. + +Vane examined the sheet of figures Salter handed him. Then he carefully +turned over some of the pieces of stone the table was partly covered +with. + +"There's no doubt those specimens aren't so promising, and the cost of +extraction is going up," he said at length. "I'll have a talk with Nairn +when I get back, but in the meanwhile it looks as if we were going to +have trouble with the water." + +"It's a thing I've been afraid of for some time," Salter answered. "We +can keep down any leakage that comes in through the rocks, though it +means driving the pumps hard, but an inrush from the river would beat +us." + +Vane let the matter drop, and an hour later he retired to his wooden +berth. In a few minutes he was fast asleep, but was awakened by a shrill +note, which he recognised as the whistle of the engine. It was sounding +the alarm, and next moment he was struggling into his clothing; then the +door swung open and Salter stood in the entrance, lantern in hand, with +water trickling from him. There was keen anxiety in his expression. + +"Flood's lapping the bank top now," he said. "There's a jamb in the +narrow place at the head of the rapid, and the water's backing up. I'm +going along with the boys." + +He vanished as suddenly as he had appeared, and Vane dragged on his +jacket. If the mine were drowned, operations might be stopped for a +considerable time. What was more, it would precipitate a crisis in the +affairs of the company and necessitate an increase of its capital, which +he would sooner avoid. + +He was outside in less than a minute and stood still looking about him, +while the deluge lashed his face and beat his clothing against his +limbs. He could only make out a blurred mass of climbing trees on one +side, and a strip of foam cutting through the black level which he +supposed was water, in front of him. His trained ears, however, gave him +a little information, for the clamour of the flood was broken by a sharp +snapping and crashing, which he knew was made by driftwood driving +furiously against the boulders. In that region, the river banks are +encumbered here and there with great logs, partly burned by forest +fires, reaped by gales, or brought down from the hill-sides by falls of +frost-loosened soil. A flood higher than usual sets them floating, and +on subsiding sometimes leaves them packed in a gorge or stranded in a +shallow to wait for the next big rise. Now they were driving down and, +as Salter had said, jambing at the head of the rapid. + +Suddenly a column of fierce white radiance leaped up lower down-stream +and Vane knew that a big compressed air lamp had been carried to the +spot where the driftwood was gathering. Even at a distance, the +brightness of the glare dazzled him, so that he could see nothing else +when he headed towards it. He collided with a fir stump and struck it +with his knee, and in another minute the splashing about his feet warned +him that he was entering the water. Having no wish to walk into the main +stream, he floundered to one side. He was, however, getting nearer to +the blaze, and by and by he made out a swarm of figures scurrying about +beneath it. Some of them had saws or axes, for he caught the gleam of +steel, and broke into a run; and presently Carroll, whom he had +forgotten, came up, calling to him. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE FLOOD. + + +When he reached the blast lamp, which was raised on a tall tripod, Vane +stood with his back to the pulsating blaze while he grasped the details +of a somewhat impressive scene. A little up-stream of him the river +leaped out of the darkness, breaking into foaming waves, and a wall of +dripping firs flung back the roar it made, the first rows of serried +trunks standing out hard and sharp in the fierce white light. Nearer +where he stood, a projecting spur of rock narrowed in the river, which +boiled tumultuously against its foot, while about half-way across the +top of a giant boulder rose above the flood. + +Vane could only just see it, because a mass of driftwood, which was +momentarily growing, stretched from bank to bank. A big log, drifting +down sideways, had brought up upon the boulder and once fixed had seized +and held fast each succeeding trunk. Some had been driven partly out +upon those that had preceded them; some had been drawn beneath the +latter, and catching the bottom had jambed. Then the rest had been +wedged by the current into the gathering mass; trunks, branches, and +brushwood all finding a place. When the stream is strong, a jamb, as it +is called, usually extends downwards, as well as rises, as the water it +pens back increases in depth, until it forms a solid barrier from +surface to bed. If it occurs during a log-drive, the river is choked +with lumber. Bent figures were at work with axes at the shoreward end of +the mass; others had crawled out along the logs, in search of another +point where they could advantageously be attacked; but Vane, watching +them with practised eyes, decided that they were largely throwing their +toil away. Next, he glanced down-stream; but powerful as the light was, +it did not pierce far into the darkness and the rain, and the mad white +rush of the rapid vanished abruptly into the surrounding gloom. Then he +caught the clink of a hammer on a drill, and seeing Salter not far away +strode towards him. + +"How are you getting to work?" he asked. + +Salter pointed to the foot of the rock they stood upon. "I reckoned if +we could put a shot in yonder, we might cut out stone enough to clear +the butts of the larger logs that are keying up the jamb." + +"You're wasting time--starting at the wrong place." + +"It's possible, but what am I to do? I'd sooner split that boulder or +chop down to the king log there, but the boys can't get across." + +"I think I could," Vane answered. "I'll try, if it's necessary." + +Salter expostulated, "I want to point out that you're the boss director +of this company. I don't know what you're making out of it, but you can +hire men to do the kind of work you think of undertaking for three +dollars a day." + +"We'll let the boys try it, if they're willing." Vane raised his voice. +"Are any of you open to earn twenty dollars? I'll pay that to the man +who'll put a stick of giant-powder in yonder boulder, and another twenty +to whoever can find the king log and chop it through." + +Three or four of them crept cautiously along the driftwood bridge. It +heaved and worked beneath them; the foam sluiced across it, and the +stream forced the thinner tops of shattered trees above the barrier. It +was obvious that the men were risking life and limb, and there was a cry +from the rest when one of them went down and momentarily disappeared. He +scrambled to his feet again, but those behind him stopped, bracing +themselves against the stream, knee-deep in rushing froth. Most of them +had followed rough and dangerous occupation in the bush; but they were +not professional river-Jacks trained to high proficiency in log-driving, +and one turning shouted to the watchers on the bank. + +"This jamb's not solid," he explained. "She's working open and shutting; +and you can't tell where the breaks are." He stooped and rubbed his leg, +and Vane understood him to add: "Figured I had it smashed." + +Vane swung round towards Carroll, who was standing close by. "We give +them a lead." + +Salter ventured another remonstrance: "Stay where you are. How are you +going to manage if the boys can't tackle the thing?" + +"They haven't as much at stake as I have," was Vane's reply. "I'm a +director of the company as you pointed out. Give me two sticks of +giant-powder, some fuse, and detonators." + +After cramming the blasting material into his pocket, Vane called to +Carroll: "Are you coming with me?" + +"Since I can't stop you, I suppose I'd better go," Carroll replied. + +They sprang down the bank. Vane crawled out on the working timber, with +Carroll, who carried a heavy hammer, a few feet behind him. The perilous +bridge they traversed groaned beneath their feet, but they had joined +the other men before they came to any particularly troublesome opening. +Then the cluster of wet figures was brought up by a gap filled with +leaping foam, in the midst of which brushwood swung to and fro and +projecting branches ground on one another. Whether there was solid +timber a foot or two beneath, or only the entrance to some cavity by +which the stream swept through the barrier, there was nothing to show, +but Vane set his lips and jumped. He alighted on something that bore +him, and when the others followed, floundering and splashing, the +deliberation which had hitherto characterised their movements suddenly +deserted them. They had reached the limit beyond which it was no longer +useful. + +When they had crossed the gap, Vane and those behind him blundered on in +hot fury. They had risen to the demand on them, and the curious psychic +change had come; now they must achieve success or face annihilation. But +in this there was nothing unusual; it is the alternative offered to many +a log-driver, miner, and sailor-man. + +Neither Vane nor Carroll, nor any of those who assisted them, had any +clear recollection of what they did. Somehow they reached the boulder; +somehow they plied axe or iron-hooked peevie, while the unstable, +foam-lapped platform rocked beneath their feet. Every movement entailed +a peril no one could calculate, but they savagely toiled on. When Vane +began to swing a hammer above a drill, or whom he got it from, he did +not know, any more than he remembered when he had torn off and thrown +away his jacket, though the sticks of giant-powder, which had been in +his pocket, lay close by upon the stone. Sparks sprang from the drill +which Carroll held and fell among the coils of snaky fuse; but that did +not trouble either, and it was only when Vane was breathless that he +changed places with his companion. + +About them, bowed figures that breathed in stertorous gasps grappled +desperately with grinding, smashing logs. Sometimes they were forced up +in harsh distinctness by a dazzling glare; sometimes they faded into +blurred shadows as the pulsating flame upon the bank sank a little or +was momentarily blown aside; but all the while gorged veins rose on +bronzed foreheads and toil-hardened muscles were taxed to the uttermost. +At last, when a trunk rolled beneath him, Carroll missed a stroke and +realised with a shock of dismay that it was not the drill he had brought +his hammer down upon. + +"I couldn't help it," he gasped. "Where did I hit you?" + +"Get on," Vane said hoarsely. "I can hold the drill." + +Carroll struck for a few more minutes, after which he flung down the +hammer and inserted the giant-powder into the holes sunk in the stone. +Next he lighted the fuse; and, warning the others, they hastily +recrossed the dangerous bridge. They had reached the edge of the forest +when a flash sprang up amidst the foam and a sharp crash was followed by +a deafening, drawn-out uproar. Rending, grinding, smashing, the jamb +broke up, hammered upon the partly shattered boulder, and carrying it +away or driving over it washed in tremendous ruin down the rapid. When +the wild clamour had subsided, Salter gave the men some instructions, +and then as they approached the lamp noticed Vane's reddened hand. + +"That looks a nasty smash; you want to get it seen to," he remarked. + +"I'll get it dressed at the settlement; we'll make an early start +to-morrow," said Vane. "We were lucky in breaking the jamb; but you'll +have the same trouble over again any time a heavy flood brings down an +unusual quantity of driftwood." + +"It's what I'd expect," agreed Salter. + +"Then something will have to be done to prevent it. I'll go into the +matter when I reach the city." + +Carroll and Vane walked back to the shack, where the former bound up his +comrade's injured hand, and, after a rest, left the mine early next +morning. Vane got his hand dressed when they reached the little mining +town at the head of the railroad, and on the following day they arrived +in Vancouver. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +VANE YIELDS A POINT. + + +The short afternoon was drawing towards its close when Vane came out of +a building in Hastings Street, Vancouver. + +"The meeting went satisfactorily, taking it all round," he remarked to +Carroll, who was with him. + +"I think so," agreed his companion. "But I'm far from sure that +Horsfield was pleased with the stockholders' decision." + +Vane nodded in a thoughtful manner. After returning from the mine, he +had gone inland to examine a new irrigation property he had been asked +to take an interest in, and had only got back in time for a meeting of +the Clermont shareholders, which Nairn had arranged in his absence. The +meeting was just over, and though Vane had been forced to yield to a +majority on some points, he had secured the abandonment of a proposition +he considered dangerous. + +"Though I don't see what the man could have gained by it, I'm inclined +to believe that if Nairn and I had been absent he'd have carried his +reconstruction scheme," he said. "That wouldn't have pleased me." + +"I thought it injudicious," Carroll commented. + +"It was only because we must raise more money I agreed to the issue of +the new shares," Vane went on. "We ought to pay a fair dividend on such +a moderate sum." + +"You think you'll get it?" + +"I've not much doubt." + +Vane was capable and forceful; but his abilities were rather of a +practical than a diplomatic order, and he was occasionally addicted to +headstrong action. Knowing that he had a very cunning antagonist +intriguing against him, his companion had misgivings. + +"Shall we walk back to the hotel?" he asked. + +"No," said Vane; "I'll go across and see how Celia Hartley's getting on. +I'm afraid I've been forgetting her." + +"Then I'll come too. You may need me; there are matters you're not to be +trusted with alone." + +Just then Nairn came down the steps and waved his hand to them. "Ye will +no forget that Mrs. Nairn is expecting both of ye this evening." + +He passed on, and they set off together across the city towards the +district where Celia lived. Though the quarter in question may have been +improved out of existence since, some little time ago rows of low-rented +shacks stood upon mounds of sweating sawdust which had been dumped into +a swampy hollow. Leaky, frail, and fissured, they were not the kind of +places any one who could help it would choose to live in; but Vane found +the sick girl still installed in one of the worst of them. She looked +pale and haggard; but she was busily at work upon some millinery, and +the light of a tin lamp showed Drayton and Kitty Blake sitting near her. + +"You oughtn't to be at work; you don't look fit," Vane said to Celia, +and hesitated a moment before he continued: "I'm sorry we couldn't find +that spruce; but, as I told Drayton, we're going back to try again." + +The girl smiled bravely. "Then you'll find it next time. I'm glad I'm +able to do a little; it brings a few dollars in." + +"But what are you doing?" + +"Making hats. I did one for Miss Horsfield, and afterwards friends of +hers sent me some more to trim. She said she'd try to get me some work +from one of the big stores." + +"But you're not a milliner, are you?" said Vane, who felt grateful to +Jessie for the practical way in which she had kept her promise to +assist. + +"Celia's something better," Kitty broke in. "She's a genius." + +The others laughed, and Vane, anxious to turn the conversation away from +Miss Horsfield's action, led them on to general chatter, under cover of +which he drew Drayton to the door. + +"The girl looks far from fit," he said. "Has the doctor been over +lately?" + +"Two or three days ago," answered Drayton. "We've been worried about +her. It's out of the question that she should go back to the hotel, and +she can only manage to work a few hours daily. There's another +thing--the clerk of the fellow who owns these shacks has just been along +for his rent. It's overdue." + +"Where's he now?" + +Drayton laughed, for the sounds of a vigorous altercation rose from +farther up the unlighted street. "I guess he's yonder, having some more +trouble with his collecting." + +"I'll fix that matter, anyway," said Vane, who disappeared into the +darkness. + +It was some time later when he re-entered the shack, and waited until a +remark of Celia's gave him a lead. + +"You're really a partner in the lumber scheme," he said. "I can't see +why you shouldn't draw some of your share of the proceeds beforehand." + +"The first payment isn't to be made until you find the spruce and get +your lease," the girl reminded him. "You've already paid a hundred +dollars we had no claim upon." + +"That doesn't matter; I'm going to find it." + +"Yes," said Celia, with a look of confidence, "I think you will. But," +and a flicker of colour crept into her thin face--"I can't take any more +money until it's done." + +Vane, failing in another attempt to shake her resolution, dropped the +subject, and soon afterwards he and Carroll took their departure. They +were sitting in their hotel, waiting for dinner, when Carroll, who lay +in a luxurious chair, looked up lazily. + +"What are you thinking about so hard?" he inquired. + +Vane glanced meaningly round the elaborately furnished room. "There's a +contrast between all this and that rotten shack. Did you notice that +Celia never stopped sewing while we were in?" + +"I did," said Carroll. "I suppose you're going to propound another +conundrum of a kind I've heard before--why you should have so many +things you don't particularly need while Miss Hartley must go on sewing, +when she's hardly able for it, in her most unpleasant shack? I don't +know if the fact that you found a mine answers the question; but if it +doesn't the thing's beyond your philosophy." + +"Come off," Vane bade him with signs of impatience. "Your moralising +gets on one's nerves. Anyhow, I straightened out one difficulty--I found +the rent man, who'd been round worrying her, and got rid of him." + +Carroll groaned in mock dismay, which covered some genuine annoyance +with himself. + +"What's the matter?" Vane inquired. "Do you want a drink?" + +"I'll get over it," Carroll informed him. "It isn't the first time I've +suffered from the same complaint. But I'd like to point out that your +chivalrous impulses may be the ruin of you some day. Why didn't you let +Drayton settle with the man? You gave him a cheque, I suppose?" + +"I did; I'd only a few loose dollars on me. Now I see what you're +driving at, and I want to say that any little reputation I possess can +pretty well take care of itself." + +"Just so. No doubt it will be necessary; but you're not the only person +concerned." + +"But who's likely to take notice of the thing?" + +"I can't tell; but you make enemies as well as friends, and you're +walking in slippery places which you're not altogether accustomed to. +You can't meet your difficulties with the axe here." + +"That's true," assented Vane, and they went in to dinner. + +After the meal, they walked across to Nairn's, and when they had been +ushered into a room in which several other guests were assembled, Vane +sat down on a sofa, beside Jessie Horsfield. + +"I want to thank you; I was over at Miss Hartley's this afternoon," he +began. + +"I understood you were at the mining meeting." + +"So I was; your brother would tell that----" + +Vane broke off, remembering that he had defeated Horsfield. + +"You were opposed to him; but it doesn't follow that I share all his +views. Perhaps I ought to be a stauncher partisan." + +"If you'll be just to both of us, I'll be satisfied." + +"I suppose that means you're convinced of the equity of your cause," she +suggested. + +"I expect I deserve the rebuke, but aren't you trying to switch me off +the subject?" Vane answered with a laugh. "It's Celia Hartley I want to +talk about." + +He did her injustice; Jessie felt that she had earned his gratitude, and +she had no objection to his expressing it. + +"It was a happy thought of yours to give her hats and things to make; +I'm ever so much obliged to you. I felt you could be trusted to think of +the right thing. An ingenious idea of that kind would never have +occurred to me." + +"It was very simple; I noticed a hat and dress of hers which she owned +she had made. The girl has some talent; I'm only sorry I can't keep her +busy." + +"Couldn't you give her an order for a dozen hats? I'd be glad to be +responsible." + +"The difficulty would be the disposal of them. They would be of no use +to you, and I couldn't allow you to present them to me." + +"I wish I could," Vane declared. "You certainly deserve them." + +This was satisfactory, so far as it went, though Jessie would have +preferred that his desire to bestow the favour should have sprung from +some other motive than a recognition of her services to Celia Hartley. +She was, however, convinced that his only feeling towards the girl was +one of compassion. Then she saw that he was looking at her with +half-humorous annoyance in his face. + +"Are you grieved I won't take those hats?" she asked. + +"I am," Vane confessed and proceeded to explain with unnecessary +ingenuousness: "I'm still more vexed with the state of things its +typical of--I suppose I mean the restrictedness of this civilised life. +When you want to do anything in the bush, you take the axe and set about +it; but here you're continually running up against some artificial +obstacle." + +"One understands that it's worse in England," said Jessie. "But in +regard to Miss Hartley, I'll recommend her to my friends as far as I +can." + +Just then Vane made an abrupt movement, and Jessie realised by his +expression that he had suddenly become oblivious of her presence. She +had no doubt about the reason for this, because Evelyn Chisholm entered +the room. The lamplight fell upon her as she crossed the threshold, and +Jessie recognised unwillingly that she looked surprisingly handsome. +Handsome, however, was not the word Vane would have used. He thought +Evelyn looked exotic, highly cultivated, strangely refined, as though +she had grown up in a rarefied atmosphere in which nothing rank could +thrive. Though Evelyn had her faults, the impression she made on him +was, perhaps, more or less justifiable. + +Then he remembered that the girl had been offered to him and he had +refused the gift. He wondered how he had exerted the necessary strength +of will, for he was conscious that admiration, respect, pity, had now +changed and melted into sudden passion. His blood tingled and, as it +happened, no change of his expression was lost upon his companion. + +Laying a check upon his thoughts, he resumed a desultory conversation +with Jessie, though he betrayed himself several times during it, and at +length she let him go. It was, however, some time before he secured a +place beside Evelyn. He was now quiet and self-contained. + +"Nairn promised me a surprise this evening, but it has exceeded all my +expectations," he said. "How are your people?" + +Evelyn informed him that their health was satisfactory, and added, +watching him the while: "Gerald sent his best remembrances." + +"Ah!" said Vane in a casual manner, "I'm glad to have them." + +Evelyn was now convinced that Mabel had been correct in concluding that +he had assisted Gerald financially, though she was aware that nothing +would induce either of the men to acquaint her with the fact. + +"I understood from Mrs. Nairn that you were away in the bush," she said. + +He turned and regarded her steadily. "That was the case, and I'm shortly +going off again. Perhaps it's fortunate that I may be away some time. It +will leave you more at ease." + +The last remark was more of a question than an assertion, and Evelyn +knew the man could be direct. She also esteemed candour. + +"No," she said; "I wouldn't wish you to think that--and I wouldn't like +to believe that I had anything to do with driving you away." + +Vane saw a faintly warmer tone show through the clear pallor of her +skin; but while his heart beat faster than usual he felt that she meant +just what she said and nothing more. He must proceed with caution, which +was, on the whole, foreign to him; and shortly afterwards he left her. + +When he had gone, Evelyn sat thinking about him. She had shrunk from the +man in rebellious alarm when her parents would have bestowed her hand on +him; but even then, and undoubtedly afterwards, she had felt that there +was something in his nature which would have attracted her, had she been +willing to allow it to do so. Now, though he had said nothing to rouse +it, the feeling was stronger. Then she remembered with a rather curious +smile her father's indignation when Vane had withdrawn from the field. +He had done this because she had appealed to his generosity, and she had +been grateful to him; but, unreasonable as she admitted the faint +resentment she was conscious of to be, the recollection of the fact that +he had yielded to her wishes was somehow bitter. + +In the meanwhile, Carroll had taken his place by Jessie's side. + +"I understand you steered your comrade satisfactorily through the +meeting to-day," she began. + +"No," objected Carroll, "I can't claim any credit for doing so. In +matters of the kind, Vane takes full control, and I'm willing to own +that he drove us all, including your brother, on the course he chose." + +"Then it's in other matters you exercise a little judicious pressure on +the helm?" + +The man looked at her in well-assumed admiration of her keenness. "I +don't know how you guessed it, but I suppose it's a fact. It's, however, +an open secret that Vane's now and then unguardedly ingenuous; indeed, +there are respects in which he's a babe by comparison, we'll say, with +either of us." + +"That's rather a dubious compliment," Jessie informed him. "What do you +think of Miss Chisholm? I suppose you saw a good deal of her in +England?" + +"I spent a month or two in her company; so did Vane. I fancy she's +rather like him in several ways; and there are reasons for believing +that he thinks a good deal of her." + +Having watched Vane carefully when Evelyn came in, Jessie was inclined +to agree with him, and she glanced round the room. One or two people +were moving about and the rest were talking in little groups; but there +was nobody very near, and she fancied that she and her companion were +safe from interruption. + +"What were some of the reasons?" she asked. + +Carroll had expected some question of this description, and had decided +to answer it plainly, because it seemed probable that Jessie would get +the information out of him in one way or another. He had also another +motive, which he thought a commendable one. Jessie had obviously taken a +certain interest in Vane, but it could not have gone very far as yet, +and Vane did not reciprocate it. The latter was, however, impulsive, +while Jessie was calculating and clever, and Carroll, who was slightly +afraid of her, foresaw that complications might follow any increase of +friendliness between her and his comrade. He thought it would be better +if she left Vane alone. + +"Well," he said, "since you have asked, I'll try to tell you." + +He proceeded to recount what had passed at the Dene and Jessie listened, +with an expressionless face. + +"So he gave her up--because he admired her?" she said at length. + +"That's my view of it," Carroll agreed. + +Jessie made no comment, but he felt that she was hardly hit, which was +not what he had anticipated. He began to wonder if he had acted +judiciously and he glanced about the room. It did not seem considerate +to study her expression then. A few moments later she turned to him with +a smile in which there was the faintest hint of strain. + +"I daresay you are right; but there are one or two people I haven't +spoken to," she said and moved away from him. + +Some time after this Mrs. Nairn came upon Carroll standing for the +moment alone. "It's no often one sees ye looking moody," she informed +him. "Was Jessie no gracious?" + +"That," said Carroll, smiling, "is not the difficulty. I'm an +unsusceptible and somewhat inconspicuous person, not worth powder and +shot, so to speak, for which I'm sometimes thankful. I believe it saves +me a good deal of trouble." + +"Then, is it something Vane has done that is on your mind? Doubtless, ye +feel him a responsibility?" + +"He's all that," Carroll confessed. "Still, you see, I've constituted +myself his guardian; I don't know why, because he'd probably be very +vexed if he suspected it." + +"The gods give ye a good conceit o' yourself!" Mrs. Nairn exclaimed. + +"I need it," said Carroll humbly. "This afternoon I let him do a most +injudicious thing, and now I've done another which I fear is worse. On +the whole, I think I'd better take him away to the bush. He'd be safer +there." + +"Ye will not, no just now," declared his hostess firmly. + +Carroll made a sign of resignation. "Oh, well," he said, "if you say so, +I'm quite willing to stand out and let things alone. Too many cooks are +apt to spoil the kail." + +Mrs. Nairn left him, but she afterwards once or twice glanced +thoughtfully at Vane and Evelyn, who had once more drawn together. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +EVELYN GOES FOR A SAIL. + + +It was about the middle of the morning and Vane sat in Nairn's office. +Specimens of ore lately received from the mine were scattered about a +table, and Nairn had some papers in his hand. + +"Weel?" he said, when Vane, after examining two or three of the stones +abruptly flung them down. + +"The ore's running poorer," Vane admitted. "On the other hand, I partly +expected this, and there's better stuff in the reef. We're a little too +high; I look for more encouraging results when we start the lower +heading." + +He went into details of the new operations and, when he had finished, +Nairn, who had been jotting down some figures, looked up. + +"Yon workings will cost a good deal," he pointed out. "Ye'll no be able +to make a start until we're sure of the money." + +"We ought to get it." + +"A month or two ago I would have agreed with ye, but general investors +are kittle cattle, and the applications for the new stock are no +numerous." + +"The plain English of it is that the mine is not so popular as it was," +said Vane impatiently. + +"I'm thinking something of the kind," Nairn agreed, and then proceeded +with a cautious explanation: "The result of the first reduction and the +way ye forced the concern on the market secured ye notice. Folks put +their money on ye, looking for sensational developments, and when the +latter are no forthcoming they feel a bit sore." + +"There's nothing discouraging in our accounts. Even if the ore all ran +as poor as that"--Vane pointed to the specimens on the table--"the mine +could be worked on a paying basis. We have issued no statements that +could spread alarm." + +"Just so," said Nairn. "What was looked for was mair than a paying +basis--ye have no come up to expectations. Forby, it's my opinion that +damaging reports have somehow leaked out from the mine. I see clouds on +the horizon." + +"Bendle pledged himself to take up a big block of the shares," pointed +out Vane. "If Howitson does the same, as he said he would, our position +would be secure. As soon as it was known that they were largely +interested, others would follow them." + +"Now ye have it in a nutshell--it would put a wet blanket on the project +if they both backed down. In the meanwhile we cannot hurry them." + +Vane rose. "We'll leave it at that. I've promised to take Mrs. Nairn and +Miss Chisholm for a sail." + +He went out and had got rid of the slight uneasiness the interview had +occasioned him before he reached the water-front, where he found Mrs. +Nairn and Evelyn awaiting him with Carroll in attendance. In another few +minutes they were rowing off to the sloop, and as they approached her +the elder lady glanced with approval at the craft, which swam, a +gleaming ivory shape, upon the shining green brine. + +"Ye have surely been painting the boat," she said. "Was that for us?" + +Vane disregarded the last question. "She wanted it, and paint's +comparatively cheap." + +It was a little thing, but Evelyn was pleased. The girls had not been +greatly considered at the Dene, and it was flattering to recognise that +the man had thought it worth while to decorate his craft in her honour. +She did not ask herself if he had wished to please her; he had invited +her for a sail some days ago, and he was thorough in everything he did. +He handed her and Mrs. Nairn on board and when they sat down in the +well, he and Carroll proceeded to hoist the mainsail. It looked +exceedingly large as it thrashed and fluttered above their heads, and +there seemed to be a bewildering quantity of ropes, but Evelyn was +chiefly interested in watching Vane. + +He was wonderfully quick, but no movement was wasted. His face was +intent, his glances sharp, and she liked the crisp, curt way in which he +spoke to Carroll. The man's task was, in one sense, not important, but +he was absorbed in it. Then, while Carroll slipped the moorings, he ran +up the headsails, and springing aft, seized the tiller as the boat, +slanting over, began to forge through the water. It was the first time +Evelyn had ever travelled under sail and, receptive as she was of all +new impressions, she sat silent a few minutes rejoicing in the sense of +swift and easy motion. The inlet was crisped by small white ripples, and +the boat with her boom broad off on her quarter drove through them; a +sparkling wedge of foam on her lee bow and a stream of froth sluicing +past her sides. Overhead, the great inclined sail cut, sharply white, +against the dazzling blue, and close by her Vane sat gripping the +tiller. + +They swept out through the gate of the Narrows, and Vane luffed the boat +up to a moderately fresh breeze. "It's off the land, and we'll have +fairly smooth water," he explained, and added: "How do you like +sailing?" + +"It's glorious on a day like this," she declared and looked back towards +the distant snow. "If anything more were wanted, there are the +mountains, too." + +Vane smiled, but there was a suggestive sparkle in his eyes. "Yes," he +said; "we have them both, and that's something to be thankful for. The +sea and the mountains: the two grandest things in this world." + +"If you think that, how did you reconcile yourself to the city?" + +"I'm not sure I've done so." He indicated the gleaming heights. "I'm +going back up yonder very soon." + +Mrs. Nairn glanced at Carroll, who affected to be busy with a rope; then +she turned to Vane. "It will no be possible with winter coming on." + +"It's not really so bad then," Vane declared. "Besides, I expect to get +my work done before the hardest weather's due." + +"But ye cannot leave Vancouver until ye have settled about the mine." + +"I don't want to," Vane admitted. "That's not quite the same thing." + +"It is with a good many people," Carroll interposed with a smile. + +In the meanwhile, they were driving out to the southwards, opening up +the Strait, with the forests to port growing smaller and the short seas +increasing in size. The breeze was cold, but the girl was warmly clad +and the easy motion in no way troubled her. The rush of keen salt air +stirred her blood, and all round her were spread wonderful harmonies of +silver-laced blue and green, through which the straining fabric that +carried her swept on. The mountains were majestic, but except when +tempests lashed their crags or torrents swept their lower slopes they +were wrapped in eternal repose; the sea was filled with ecstatic motion. + +"The hills have their fascination; it's a thing I know," she said, to +draw the helmsman out. "I think I should like the sea, too; but at first +sight its charm isn't quite so plain." + +"You have started him," interposed Carroll. "He won't refuse that +challenge!" + +Vane accepted it with a smile which meant more than good-humoured +indulgence. "Well," he began, "the sea's the same everywhere, unbridled, +unchanging; a force that remains as it was in the beginning. Once you're +out of harbour, under sail, you have done with civilisation. It has +possibly provided you with excellent gear, but it can do no more; you +stand alone, stripped for the struggle with the elements." + +"Is it always a struggle?" Evelyn asked, to prompt him. + +"Always. The sea's as treacherous as the winds that vex it; pitiless, +murderous. When you have only sail to trust to, you can never relax your +vigilance; you must watch the varying drift of clouds and the swing of +the certain tides. There's nothing and nobody to fall back upon when the +breeze pipes its challenge; you have sloughed off civilisation and must +stand or fall by the raw natural powers man is born with, and chief +among them is the capacity for brutal labour. The thrashing sail must be +mastered; the tackle cracking with the strain must be hauled in. Perhaps +that's the charm of it for some of us whose lives are pretty smooth--it +takes one back, as I said, to the beginning." + +"But haven't human progress and machines made everybody's lives more +smooth?" + +Vane laughed somewhat grimly. "Oh, no; I think that can never be done. +So far, somebody pays for the other's ease. At sea, in the mine, and in +the bush, man still grapples with a rugged, naked world." + +The girl was pleased. She had drawn him out, and she thought he had in +speaking kept a fair balance between too crude a mode of colloquial +expression and poetic elaboration. There was, she knew, a vein of poetic +conception in him, and the struggle he had hinted at could only be +described fittingly in heroic language. It was, in one sense, a pity +that those who had the gift of it and cultivated imagination had, for +the most part, never been forced into the fight; but that was, perhaps, +not a matter of much importance. There were plenty of men, such as her +companion, endowed with endurance, who if they seldom gave their +thoughts free rein, rejoiced in the struggle; and by them the world's +sternest work was done. + +"After all," she said, "we have the mountains in civilised England." + +Vane did not respond with the same freedom this time. He was inclined to +think he had spoken too unrestrainedly. + +"Yes," he agreed, smiling; "you can walk about them--where you won't +disturb the grouse--and they're grand enough; but if you look down you +can see the motor dust trails and the tourist coaches in the valleys." + +"But why shouldn't people enjoy themselves in that way?" + +"I can't think of any reason. No doubt, most of them have earned the +right to do so. But you can't rip up those hills with giant-powder where +you feel inclined, or set to work to root out some miles of forest. The +Government encourages that kind of thing here." + +"And that's the charm?" + +"Yes," said Vane. "I suppose it is." + +"I'd better explain," Carroll broke in. "Men of a certain temperament +are apt to fall a prey to fantasies in the newer lands; any common sense +they once possessed seems to desert them. After that they're never +happy, except when they're ripping things--such as big rocks and +trees--to pieces, and though they'll tell you it's only to get out +minerals or clear a ranch, they're wrong. Once they get the mine or +ranch they don't care about it, and set to work wrecking things again. +Isn't that so, Mrs. Nairn?" + +"There are such crazy bodies," agreed the-lady. "I know one or two, but +if I had my way with them they should find one mine, or build one +saw-mill." + +"And then," said Carroll, "you would chain them up for good by marrying +them." + +"I would like to try, but I'm no sure it would act in every case. I have +come across some women as bad as the men; they would drive their +husbands on. Maybe"--and she smiled in a half-wistful manner--"it's as +well to do something worth the remembering when ye are young. There's a +long time to sit still in afterwards." + +Half in banter, and half in earnest, they had given Evelyn a hint of the +master passion of the true colonist, whose pride is in his burden. +Afterwards, Mrs. Nairn led the conversation, until Carroll laid out in +the saloon a somewhat elaborate lunch which he had brought from the +hotel. Then the others went below, leaving Vane at the helm; and Carroll +looked at him ruefully when they came up again. + +"I'm afraid Miss Chisholm's disappointed," he explained. + +"No," said Evelyn; "that would be most ungrateful. I only expected a +more characteristic example of sea cookery. After what Mr. Vane told us, +a lunch like the one you provided, with glass and silver, struck me as +rather an anachronism." + +"It's better to be broken in to sea cookery gently," Vane interposed +with some dryness. + +"It's a poor compliment to take it for granted that we're afraid of a +little hardship. Besides, I don't think you're right." + +Vane, who left the helm to Carroll, went below, and the latter smiled at +Evelyn. + +"He won't be long," he informed her. "He hasn't got rid of his primitive +habits yet." + +Vane came up satisfied in about ten minutes, and glancing about him +before he resumed the helm, noticed that it was blowing fresher, but it +did not inconvenience the party, and as they ran homewards the breeze +gradually died away. The broad inlet lay still in the moonlight when +they crept across it with the water lapping very faintly about the bows, +and it was over a mirror-like surface they rowed ashore. Nairn was +waiting at the foot of the steps, and Evelyn walked back with him, +feeling, she could not tell exactly why, that she had been drawn closer +to the sloop's helmsman. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +VANE PROVES OBDURATE. + + +Vane spent two or three weeks very pleasantly in Vancouver, for Evelyn, +of whom he saw a good deal, was gracious to him. The embarrassment both +had felt on their first meeting in the Western city had speedily +vanished; they had resumed their acquaintance on what was ostensibly a +purely friendly footing, and, since both avoided any reference to what +had taken place in England, it had ripened into a mutual confidence. + +This would have been less probable in the older country, where they +would have been continually reminded of what the Chisholm family had +expected of them; but the past seldom counts for much in the new and +changeful West, whose inhabitants look forward to the future. Indeed, +there is something in its atmosphere which banishes regret and +retrospection; and when Evelyn looked back at all, she felt inclined to +wonder why she had once been so troubled by the man's satisfaction with +her company. She decided that this could not have been the result of any +aversion from him, and that it was merely an instinctive revolt against +the part her parents had wished to force upon her. Chisholm and his wife +had blundered as such people often do, for it is possible that had they +adopted a perfectly neutral attitude everything would have gone as they +desired. + +Their mistake was nevertheless a natural one. Somewhat exaggerated +reports of Vane's prosperity had reached them; but while they coveted +the advantages his wealth might offer their daughter, in their secret +hearts they looked upon him as something of a barbarian, which idea the +opinions he occasionally expressed in their hearing did not dispel. Both +feared that Evelyn regarded him in the same light, and it accordingly +became evident that a little pressure might be required. In spite of +their prejudices, they did not shrink from applying it. + +In the meanwhile, several people in Vancouver watched the increase of +friendliness between the girl and Vane. Mrs. Nairn and her husband did +so with benevolent interest, and it was by the former's adroit +management, which Evelyn did not often suspect, that they were thrown +more and more into each other's company. Jessie Horsfield, however, +looked on with bitterness. She was a strong-willed young woman who had +hitherto generally contrived to obtain what she had set her heart upon, +and she had set it upon this man. Indeed, she had fancied that he +returned the feeling, but disillusionment had come on the evening when +he had unexpectedly met Evelyn. Her resentment against the girl grew +steadily stronger, until it threatened to prove dangerous on +opportunity. + +There were, however, days when Vane was disturbed in mind. Winter was +coming on, and although it is rarely severe on the southern seaboard, it +is by no means the season one would choose for an adventure among the +ranges of the northern wilderness. Unless he made his search for the +spruce very shortly, he might be compelled to postpone it until the +spring, at the risk of being forestalled; but there were two reasons +which detained him. He thought he was gaining ground in Evelyn's esteem, +and he feared the effect of absence; while there was no doubt that the +new issue of the Clermont shares was in very slack demand. To leave the +city might cost him a good deal, but he had pledged himself to go. + +The latter fact was uppermost in his mind one evening when he set off to +call upon Celia Hartley, and, as it happened, Evelyn and Mrs. Nairn were +driving past as he turned off from a busy street towards the quarter in +which she lived. It had been dark some little time, but Evelyn had no +difficulty in recognising him. Indeed, she watched him for a few moments +while he passed on into a more shadowy region, where the gloom and +dilapidation of the first small frame houses were noticeable, and she +wondered what kind of people inhabited it. She did not think Mrs. Nairn +had noticed Vane. + +"You have never taken me into the district on our left," she said. + +"I'm no likely to," was the answer. "We're no proud of it." + +"I suppose the Chinese and other aliens live there," Evelyn suggested. + +"They do," said Mrs. Nairn with some dryness. "I'm no sure, however, +that they're the worst." + +"But one understands that you haven't a criminal population." + +"We have folks who're on the fringe of it, only we see they live all +together. People who would be respectable live somewhere else, except, a +few who have to consider cheapness, but it's no a recommendation to be +seen going into yon quarter after dark." + +This left Evelyn thoughtful, since she had undoubtedly seen Vane going +there. She considered herself a judge of character and generally trusted +her intuitions, and she believed the man's visit to the neighbourhood in +question admitted of some satisfactory explanation. On the other hand, +she felt that her friends should be beyond suspicion. Taking it all +round, she was rather vexed with Vane, and it cost her some trouble to +drive the matter out of her mind, though she succeeded in doing so. + +She did not see Vane next day, but the latter called upon Nairn at his +office during the afternoon. + +"Have you had any more applications for the new stock?" he asked. + +"I have not," said Nairn. "Neither Bendle nor Howiston has paid up yet." + +"Investors are shy; that's a fact," Vane confessed. "It's unfortunate. +I've already put off my trip north as long as possible; I wanted to see +things on a satisfactory basis before I went." + +"A prudent wish. I would advise ye to carry it out." + +"What do you mean by that?" + +"Something like this: If the money's no forthcoming, we may be compelled +to fall back upon a different plan, and, unless ye're to the fore, the +decision of a shareholders' meeting might not suit ye. Considering the +position and the stock ye hold, any views ye might express would carry +mair weight than mine could do in your absence." + +Vane drummed with his fingers on the table. "I suppose that's the case; +but I've got to make the journey. With moderately good fortune it +shouldn't take me long." + +"Ye would be running some risk if anything delayed ye and we had to call +a meeting before ye got back." + +"I see that, but it can't be helped. I expect to be back before I'm +wanted. Anyway, I could leave you authority to act on my behalf." + +After a further attempt to dissuade him, Nairn spread out one hand +resignedly. "He who will to Cupar maun be left to gang," he said. +"Whiles, I have wondered why any one should be so keen on getting there, +but doubtless a douce Scottish town has mair attractions for a sensible +person than the rugged North-West in winter time." + +Vane, who smiled at this, went out and left him; and when he reached +home Nairn briefly recounted the interview to his wife over his evening +meal. Evelyn, who was with them, listened attentively. + +"Yon man will no hear reason," Nairn concluded. "He's thrawn." + +Evelyn had already noticed that her host, for whom she had a strong +liking, spoke broader Scots when he was either amused or angry, and she +supposed that Vane's determination disturbed him. + +"But why should he persist in leaving the city, when it's to his +disadvantage to do so, as you lead one to believe it is?" she asked. + +"If the latter's no absolutely certain, it's very likely," Nairn +informed her. + +"You have only answered half my question," Evelyn pointed out. + +Mrs. Nairn smiled. "Alec," she said, "is reserved by nature, but if +ye're anxious for an answer I might tell ye." + +"Anxious hardly describes it," Evelyn replied. + +"Then we'll say curious. The fact is, Vane made a bargain with a sick +prospector, in which he undertook to locate some timber the man had +discovered away among the mountains. He was to pay the other a share of +its value when he got his Government licence." + +"Is the timber very valuable?" + +"No," broke in Nairn. "One might make a fair business profit out of +pulping it, though the thing's far from certain." + +"Then why is Mr. Vane so keen on finding it?" + +The question gave Mrs. Nairn a lead, but she decided to say no more than +was necessary. "The prospector died, but that bound the bargain tighter, +in Vane's opinion. The man died without a dollar, leaving a daughter +worn-out and ill with nursing him. According to the arrangement, his +share will go to the girl." + +"Then," said Evelyn, "Mr. Vane is really undertaking the search in order +to keep his promise to a man who is dead; and he will not even postpone +it, because if he did so this penniless girl might, perhaps, lose her +share? Isn't that rather fine of him?" + +"On the whole, ye understand the position," Nairn agreed, "If ye desire +my view of the matter, I would merely say that yon's the kind of man he +is." + +Evelyn made no further comment, though the last common phrase struck her +as a most eloquent tribute. She had heard Vane confess that he did not +want to go north at present, and she now understood that to do so might +jeopardise his interests in the mine; but he was undoubtedly going. He +meant to keep his promise--this was what one would expect of him. + +As it happened, he took her for a drive among the Stanley pines one mild +afternoon a few days later, and though she knew she would regret his +departure she was unusually friendly. Vane rejoiced at it, but he had +already decided that he must endeavour to proceed with caution and +content himself in the meanwhile with the part of trusted companion. For +this reason, he chatted lightly, which he felt was safer, during most of +the drive, but he once or twice responded without reserve when, by +chance or design, she asked a leading question. + +"I wonder if you ever feel any regret at having left England for this +country," she said. + +"I did so pretty often when I first came out," he answered. "In those +days, I had to work in icy water, and carry massive lumps of rock." + +"I dare say regret was a very natural feeling then; but that wasn't +quite what I meant." + +"So I supposed," Vane confessed. "Well, I'd better own that when I spent +a week or two in England--at the Dene--I began to think I missed a good +deal by not staying at home. It struck me that the life you led had a +singular charm. Everything went so smoothly there among the sheltering +hills. One felt that care and anxiety could not creep in. Somehow the +place reminded me of Avalon." + +"The impression was by no means correct," said Evelyn. "But I don't +think you have finished. Won't you go on?" + +"Then if I get out of my depth you mustn't blame me. By and by I +discovered that charm wasn't the right word--the place was permeated +with a narcotic spell." + +"Narcotic?" said Evelyn. "Do you think the term's more appropriate?" + +"I do," Vane declared, "Narcotics, one understands, are insidious +things. If you take them regularly, in small doses, they increase their +hold on you, until you become wrapped up in dreams and unrealities. If, +however, you get too big a dose at the beginning, it leads to a vigorous +revulsion. It's nature's warning and remedy." + +"You're not flattering," said Evelyn. "But I almost fancy you are +right." + +"We are told that man was made to struggle; to use all his powers. If he +rests too long beside the still backwaters of life in fairylike dales, +they're apt to atrophy, and he finds himself slack and nerveless when he +goes out to face the world again." + +Evelyn nodded, for she had felt and striven against the insidious +influence he spoke of. She had now and then left the drowsy dale for a +while; but the life she had then caught glimpses of was equally +sheltered, one possible only to the favoured few. Even the echoes of the +real tense struggle seldom passed its boundaries. + +"But you confessed not long ago that you loved the Western wilderness," +she said. "You have spent a good deal of time in it; you expect to do so +again. After all, isn't that only exchanging one beautiful, tranquil +region for another? The bush must be even quieter than the English +dales." + +"I expect I haven't made the point quite clear. When one goes up into +the bush it's not to lounge and dream there, but to make war upon it +with the axe and drill." He pulled up his team and pointed to a clump of +giant trees. "Look here. That's Nature's challenge to man in this +country." + +Evelyn confessed that it was a very impressive one. The great trunks ran +up far aloft, tremendous columns, before their higher portions were lost +in the vaulted roof of sombre greenery. They dwarfed the rig and team; +she felt herself a pigmy by comparison. + +"They're rather bigger than the average," her companion resumed. "Still, +that's the kind of thing you run up against when you buy land to make a +ranch of or clear the ground for a mine. Chopping, sawing up, splitting +those giants doesn't fill one with languorous dreams; the only ones our +axe-men indulge in materialise. It's a bracing struggle. There are +leagues and leagues of trees, shrouding the valleys in a shadow that has +lasted since the world was young; but you see the dawn of a wonderful +future breaking in as the long ranks go down." + +Once more, without clearly intending it, he had stirred the girl. He had +not spoken in that rather fanciful style to impress her; she thought he +had, trusting in her comprehension, merely given his ideas free rein. +But in doing so he had somehow made her hear the clear trumpet-call to +action, which, for such men, rings through the roar of the river and the +song of the tall black pines. + +"Ah!" she said, "I dare say it's a fine life in many ways, but it must +have its drawbacks. The flesh must shrink from them." + +"The flesh?" he said and laughed. "In this land it takes second +place--except, perhaps, in the cities." Then he turned and looked at her +curiously. "Why should you talk of shrinking? The bush couldn't daunt +you; you have courage." + +The girl's eyes sparkled, but it was not at the compliment. His words +rang with freedom, the freedom of the heights, where heroic effort was +the rule in place of luxury. She longed now, as she had often done, to +escape from bondage, to break away. + +"Ah, well," she said, half-wistfully, "I expect it's fortunate that such +courage as I have may never be put to the test." + +Though reticence was difficult, Vane made no comment. He had spoken +unguardedly already, and he had decided that caution was desirable. As +it happened, an automobile came up when he restarted his team, and he +looked round as he drove on again. + +"It's curious that I never heard the thing," he said. + +"I didn't either," said Evelyn, and added, as if any explanation were +needed: "I was too engrossed in the trees. But I think Miss Horsfield +was in it." + +"Was she?" said Vane in a very casual manner, and Evelyn, for no reason +that she was willing to admit, was pleased. + +She had not been mistaken. Jessie Horsfield was in the automobile, and +she had had a few moments in which to study Vane and his companion. The +man's look and the girl's expression had struck her as significant; and +her lips set ominously tight as the car sped on. She felt she almost +hated Vane, and there was no doubt that she entirely hated the girl at +his side. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +JESSIE STRIKES. + + +It was the afternoon before Vane's departure for the north, and Evelyn, +sitting alone for the time being in Mrs. Nairn's drawing-room, felt +disturbed by the thought of it. She sympathised with his object, but she +supposed there was a certain risk attached to the journey, and that +troubled her. In addition to this there was another point on which she +was not altogether pleased. She had twice seen Vane acknowledge a bow +from a very pretty girl whose general appearance suggested that she did +not belong to Evelyn's own walk of life, and that very morning she had +noticed him crossing a street in the young woman's company. Vane, as it +happened, had met Kitty Blake by accident and had asked her to accompany +him on a visit to Celia. + +Evelyn did not think she was of a jealous disposition, and jealousy +appeared irrational in the case of a man whom she had dismissed as a +suitor; but the thing rankled in her mind. While she considered it, +Jessie Horsfield entered the room. + +"I'm here by invitation, to join Vane's other old friends in giving him +a good send-off," she explained. + +Evelyn noticed that Jessie laid some stress upon her acquaintance with +Vane, and wondered if she had any motive for doing so. + +"I suppose you have known him for some time," she said. + +"Oh, yes," was the careless answer. "My brother was one of the first to +take him up when he came to Vancouver." + +The phrase jarred on Evelyn. It savoured of patronage; besides, she did +not like to think that Vane owed anything to the Horsfields. + +"Though I don't know much about it, I understood they were opposed to +each other," she said coldly. + +"Their business interests don't coincide; but it doesn't follow that +they should disagree about anything else. My brother did all he could to +dissuade Vane from going on with his search for the timber until the +winter was over." + +"I think it is rather fine of him to persist in it," Evelyn declared. + +Jessie smiled, though she felt venomous just then. "Yes," she agreed; +"one undoubtedly feels that. Besides, the thing's so characteristic of +him; the man's impulsively generous and not easily daunted. He possesses +many of the rudimentary virtues, as well as some of the corresponding +weaknesses, which is very much what one would look for." + +"What do you mean by that?" Evelyn inquired, suppressing her resentment. +Though she was not prepared to pose as Vane's advocate, she was +conscious of a growing antagonism against her companion. + +"It's difficult to explain, and I don't know that the subject's worth +discussing," said Jessie. "However, what I think I meant was +this--Vane's of a type that's not uncommon in the West, and it's a type +one finds interesting. He's forcibly elementary, which is the only way I +can express it; the restraints the rest of us submit to don't bind him; +he breaks through them." + +This, so Evelyn fancied, was more or less correct. Indeed, the man's +disregard of hampering customs had pleased her, but she allowed that +some restraints were needful. As it happened, her companion followed up +the same train of thought. + +"When one breaks down or gets over fences, it's necessary to +discriminate," she went on lightly. "Men of the Berserker type, however, +are more addicted to going straight through the lot. In a way, they're +consistent--having smashed one barrier, why should they respect the +next?" + +Jessie, as she was quite aware, was playing a dangerous game; one that +might afterwards be exposed. Still, the latter possibility was of less +account because detection would come too late if she were successful. +She was acquainted with the salient points of Evelyn's character. + +"They're consistent, if not always very logical," she concluded after a +pause. "One endeavours to make allowances for men of that description." + +Something in her tone roused Evelyn to sudden imperious anger. It was +intolerable that this woman should offer excuses for Vane. + +"What particular allowances do you feel it needful to make in Mr. Vane's +case?" she asked. + +Now she was faced by the direct question, Jessie hesitated. As a rule, +she was subtle, but she could be ruthlessly frank, and she was possessed +by a hatred of the girl beside her. + +"You have forced me to an explanation," she expostulated. "The fact is +that while he has a room at the hotel he has an--establishment--in a +different neighbourhood. Unfortunately, what you could best describe as +a Latin quarter is a feature of some Western towns." + +It was a shock to Evelyn; one she found it hard to face, though she was +not convinced. The last piece of information agreed with something Mrs. +Nairn had told her; but although she had on one occasion had the +testimony of her eyes in support of it, Jessie's first statement sounded +incredible. + +"It's impossible," she declared. + +Jessie smiled in a bitter manner. "It's unpleasant, but it can't be +denied. He undoubtedly pays the rent of a shack in the neighbourhood I +mentioned." + +Evelyn sat tensely still for a moment or two. She dared not give rein to +her feelings, she would not betray herself; but composure was extremely +difficult. + +"If that is so, how is it that he is received everywhere--at your house +and by Mrs. Nairn?" she asked. + +Jessie shrugged her shoulders. "People in general are the more or less +charitable in the case of a successful man. Apart from that, Mr. Vane +has a good many excellent qualities. As I said, one has to make +allowances." + +Just then, to Evelyn's relief, Mrs. Nairn came in, and though the girl +suffered during the time, it was half an hour before she could find an +excuse for slipping away alone. Then, sitting in the gathering darkness, +in her own room, she set herself to consider, as dispassionately as +possible, what she had heard. It was exceedingly difficult to believe +the charge; but Jessie's assertion was definite enough, and one which, +if incorrect, could be readily disproved. Nobody would say such a thing +unless it could be substantiated, and that led Evelyn to consider why +Jessie had given her the information. She had obviously done so with at +least a trace of malice; but this could hardly have sprung from +jealousy, because Evelyn could not think that a woman would vilify a man +for whom she had any tenderness. Besides, she had seen Vane entering the +part of the town indicated, where he could not have had any legitimate +business. Hateful as the suspicion was, it could not be contemptuously +dismissed. Then she granted that she had no right to censure the man; he +was not accountable to her for his conduct; but calm reasoning carried +her no farther. She was once more filled with intolerable disgust and +burning indignation. Somehow she had come to believe in Vane, and he had +turned out an impostor. + +It was about an hour later when Vane and Carroll entered the house with +Nairn and proceeded to the latter's room, where he offered them cigars. + +"So ye're all ready to sail the morn?" he said. + +Vane, who nodded, handed him some papers. "There's your authority to act +in my name if it's required. I expect to be back before there's much +change in the situation; but I'll call at Nanaimo, where you can wire me +if anything turns up during the three days it may take us to get there." + +"I suppose there's no use in my saying anything more now; but I can't +help pointing out that, as head of the concern, you have a certain duty +to the shareholders which you seem inclined to disregard," Carroll +remarked. + +"I've no doubt their interests will be as safe in Nairn's hands as in +mine," Vane rejoined. + +"I fail to see why ye could no have let the whole thing stand over until +the spring," said Nairn. "The spruce winna run away." + +"I'd have done so had it been a few years earlier, but the whole country +is overrun with mineral prospectors and timber-righters now. Every +month's delay gives somebody else a chance of getting in ahead of me." + +"Weel," said Nairn resignedly. "I can only wish ye luck, but should ye +be detained up yonder, if one of ye could sail across to Comox to see if +there's any mail there, it would be wise to do so." He waved his hand. +"No more of that; we'll consider what tactics I had better adopt in case +of delay." + +An hour had passed before they went down to join the guests who were +arriving for the evening meal. As a rule, the Western business man, who +is more or less engrossed in his occupation, except when he is asleep, +enjoys little privacy; and his friends sometimes compared Nairn's +dwelling to the rotunda of an hotel. The point of this was that people +of all descriptions who have nothing better to do are addicted to +strolling into the combined bazaar and lounge which is attached to many +Canadian hostelries. + +As it happened, Vane sat next to Evelyn at table; but after a quiet +reply to his first observation, she turned and talked to the man on her +other side. Since the latter, who was elderly and dull, had only two +topics--the most efficient means of desiccating fruit and the lack of +railroad facilities--Vane was somewhat astonished that she appeared +interested in his conversation, and by and by he tried again. He was not +more successful this time, and his face grew warm as he realised that +Evelyn was not inclined to talk to him. Being a very ordinary mortal and +not particularly patient, he was sensible of some indignation, which was +not diminished when, on looking round, Jessie Horsfield, who sat +opposite, favoured him with a compassionate smile. He took his part in +the general conversation, however, and the meal was over and the guests +were scattered about the adjoining rooms, when, after impatiently +waiting for the opportunity, he found Evelyn alone. She was standing +with one hand on a table, looking rather thoughtful. + +"I've come to ask what I've done," he began. + +Evelyn, who was not prepared for this blunt directness, felt +disconcerted, but she broke into a chilly smile. + +"The question's rather indefinite, isn't it?" she said. "Do you expect +me to be acquainted with all your recent actions?" + +"Then I'll put the thing in another way--do you mind telling me how I +have offended you?" + +The girl almost wished that she could do so. Appearances were badly +against him, but she felt that if he declared himself innocent she could +take his word in the face of overwhelming testimony to the contrary, +Unfortunately, however, it was unthinkable that she should plainly state +the charge. + +"Do you suppose I should feel warranted in forming any opinion upon your +conduct?" she retorted. + +"But you have formed one, and it isn't favourable." + +The girl hesitated a moment, but she had the courage of her convictions, +and she felt impelled to make some protest. + +"That," she said, looking him in the eyes, "is perfectly true." + +He looked more puzzled than guilty, and once more she chafed against the +fact that she could give him no opportunity of defending himself. + +"Well," he said, "I'm sorry; but it brings us back to my first +question." + +The situation was becoming painful as well as embarrassing, and Evelyn, +perhaps unreasonably, grew more angry with the man. + +"I'm afraid," she said "you are either clever at dissembling or have no +imagination." + +Vane held himself in hand with an effort, "I dare say you're right on +the latter point," he informed her. "It's a fact I'm sometimes thankful +for. It leaves one more free to go straight ahead. Now, as I see the +dried-fruit man coming in search of you, and you evidently don't mean to +answer me, I can't urge the matter." + +He turned away and left her wondering why he had abandoned his usual +persistency, unless it was that an uneasy conscience had driven him from +the field. It did not occur to her that the man had, under strong +provocation, merely yielded to the prompting of a somewhat hasty temper. +In the meanwhile, he crossed the room in an absent-minded manner, and +presently found himself near Jessie, who made room for him at her side. + +"It looks as if you were in disgrace to-night," she said, and waited +with concealed impatience for his answer. If Evelyn had been clever or +bold enough to give him a hint as to what he was suspected of, Jessie +foresaw undesirable complications. + +"I think I am," he owned without reflection. "The trouble is, that while +I may deserve it on general grounds, I'm unconscious of having done +anything very reprehensible in particular." + +Jessie was sensible of considerable relief. The man was sore and +resentful; he would not press Evelyn for an explanation, and the breach +would widen. In the meanwhile she must play her cards skilfully. + +"Then that fact should sustain you," she rejoined. "We shall miss you +after to-morrow; more than one of us. Of course, it's too late to tell +you that you were not altogether wise in resolving to go." + +"Everybody has been telling me the same thing for the last few weeks," +Vane informed her. + +"Then I'll only wish you every success. It's a pity Bendle and the other +man haven't paid up yet." + +She met his surprised look with an engaging smile. "You needn't be +astonished. There's not very much goes on in the city that I don't hear +about--you know how men talk business here; and it's interesting to look +on, even when one can't actually take a hand in the game. It's said the +watchers sometimes see most of it." + +"To tell the truth, it's the uncertainty as to what those two men might +do that has been chiefly worrying me." + +"I believe I understand the position; they've been hanging fire, haven't +they? But I've reasons for believing they'll come to a decision before +very long." + +Vane looked troubled, "That's interesting, but I ought to warn you that +your brother----" + +"I've no intention of giving him away, and, as a matter of fact, I think +you are a little prejudiced against him. After all, he's not your +greatest danger. There's a cabal against you among your shareholders." + +She knew by the way he looked at her that he admired her acumen. "Yes," +he agreed; "I've suspected that." + +"There are two courses open to you; the first is to put off your +expedition." + +The answer was to the effect she had anticipated. "I can't do so, for +several reasons." + +"The other is to call at Nanaimo and wait until, we'll say, next +Thursday. If there's need for you to come back, I think it will arise by +then; but it might be better if you called at Comox too--after you leave +the latter you'll be unreachable. Well, if it seems necessary, I'll send +you a warning. If you hear nothing, you can go on." + +Vane reflected hastily. Jessie, as she had told him, had opportunities +of picking up valuable information about the business done in that city, +and he had confidence in her. + +"Thank you," he said. "It will be the second service you have done me, +and I appreciate it. Anyway, I promised Nairn I'd call at Nanaimo, in +there was a wire from him." + +"It's a bargain, and now we'll talk of something else," said Jessie, and +she drew him into an exchange of badinage, until noticing that Evelyn +once or twice glanced at her with some astonishment she presently got +rid of him. She could understand Evelyn's attitude and did not wish her +friendliness with the offender to appear unnatural after what she had +said about him. + +At length the guests began to leave, but most of them had gone when Vane +rose to take his departure. His host and hostess went with him to the +door, but though he once or twice glanced round eagerly, there was no +sign of Evelyn. He lingered a few moments on the threshold after Mrs. +Nairn had given him a kindly send-off; but nobody appeared in the +lighted hall, and after another word with Nairn he went moodily down the +steps to join Jessie and Carroll, who were waiting for him below. As the +group walked down the garden path, Mrs. Nairn looked at her husband. + +"I do not know what has come over Evelyn this night," she remarked. + +Nairn followed Jessie's retreating figure with distrustful eyes. "Weel," +he said, "I'm thinking yon besom may have had a hand in the thing." + +Then he turned, and they went in. + +A few minutes later, Jessie, standing where the light of a big lamp +streamed down upon her through the boughs of a leafless maple, bade Vane +farewell at her brother's gate. + +"If my good wishes can bring you success, it will most certainly be +yours," she said; and there was something in her voice which faintly +stirred the man, who was feeling very sore. + +"Thank you," he said, and she did not immediately withdraw the hand she +had given him. He was grateful to her, and thought she looked unusually +pretty with the sympathy shining in her eyes. + +"You will not forget to wait at Nanaimo and Comox?" she went on. + +"No," said Vane. "If you recall me, I'll come back at once; if not, I'll +go on with a lighter heart, knowing that I can safely stay away." + +Jessie said nothing further, and he moved on. She felt that she had +scored, and she knew when to stop. The man had given her his full +confidence. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE INTERCEPTED LETTER. + + +The wind was fresh from the north-west when Vane drove the sloop out +through the Narrows in the early dawn and saw a dim stretch of +white-flecked sea in front of him. Landlocked as they are by Vancouver +Island, the long roll of the Pacific cannot enter those waters; but they +are now and then lashed into short, tumbling seas, sufficient to make +their passage difficult for a craft no larger than the sloop. Carroll +frowned when a comber struck the weather bow and a shower of stinging +spray whipped his face. + +"Right ahead again," he remarked. "But as I suppose you're going on, +we'd better stretch straight across on the starboard tack; we'll get +smoother water along the island shore." + +They let her go, and Vane sat at the helm, hour after hour, drenched +with spray, hammering her mercilessly into the frothy seas. They could +have done with a second reef down, for the deck was swept and sluicing, +and most of the time the lee rail was buried deep in rushing foam; but +Vane showed no intention of shortening sail. Nor did Carroll, who saw +that his comrade was disturbed in temper, suggest it: resolute action +had, he knew, a soothing effect on Vane. As a matter of fact, the latter +needed soothing. Of late, he had felt that he was making steady progress +in Evelyn's favour, and now she had most unexplainably turned against +him; but, rack his brain as he would, he could not discover the reason. +That he was conscious of no offence only made the position more galling. + +In the meanwhile, the boat engrossed more and more of his attention. It +was a relief to drive her hard at some white-topped sea, and watch her +bows disappear in it with a thud, while it somehow eased his mind to see +the smashed-up brine fly half the height of her drenched mainsail. There +was also satisfaction in feeling the strain on the tiller when, swayed +down by a fiercer gust, she plunged through the combers with the froth +swirling, perilously close to the coaming, along her half-submerged +deck. + +The day was cold; the man, who was compelled to sit almost still in a +nipping wind, was soon wet through, but this in some curious way further +tended to restore his accustomed optimism and good-humour. He had partly +recovered both, when, as the sloop drove through the whiter turmoil +whipped up by a vicious squall, there was a crash forward. + +"Down helm!" shouted Carroll. "The bobstay's gone." + +He scrambled towards the bowsprit, which, having lost its principal +support, swayed upward, in peril of being torn away by the sagging jib. +Vane, who first rounded up the boat into the wind, followed him; and for +several minutes they had a struggle with the madly-flapping sail, before +they flung it, bundled up, into the well. Then they ran in the bowsprit, +and Vane felt glad that, although the craft had been rigged in the usual +Western fashion, he had changed that by giving her a couple of headsails +in place of one. + +"She'll trim with the staysail, if we haul another reef down," he said. + +It cost them some labour, but they were warmer afterwards, and when they +went on again Vane glanced at the bowsprit. + +"We'll try to get a bit of galvanised steel in Nanaimo," he said. "I +can't risk another smash." + +"You had better be prepared for one, if you mean to drive her as you +have been doing." Carroll flung back the saloon scuttle. "You'd have +swamped her in another hour or two; the cabin floorings are all awash." + +"Then hadn't you better pump her out?" retorted Vane. "After that, you +can light the stove. It's beginning to dawn on me that it's a long while +since I had anything to eat." + +By and by they made a bountiful if somewhat primitive meal, in turn, +sitting in the dripping saloon, which was partly filled with smoke, and +Carroll sighed for the comforts he had abandoned. He did not, however, +mention his regrets, because he did not expect his comrade's sympathy. + +The craft, being under reduced sail, drove along more easily during the +rest of the afternoon, and they ran into a little colliery town on the +following day. There Vane replaced the broken bobstay with a solid piece +of steel, and then sat down to write a letter, while Carroll stretched +his cramped limbs ashore. + +The letter was addressed to Evelyn, and he found it difficult to express +himself as he desired. The spoken word, as he had discovered, is now and +then awkward to use, but the written one is more evasive still, and he +shook his head ruefully over the production when he laid down his pen. +This was, perhaps, unnecessary, for, having grown calm, he had framed a +terse and forcible appeal to the girl's sense of justice, which would in +all probability have had its effect on her had she received it. Though +he hardly realised it, the few simple words were convincing. + +Having received no news from Nairn or Jessie, they sailed again in a day +or two, bound for Comox, farther along the coast, where there was a +possibility of communications overtaking them; but in the meanwhile +matters which concerned them were moving forward in Vancouver. + +It was rather early one afternoon when Jessie called upon a friend of +hers and found her alone. Mrs. Bendle was a young and impulsive woman +from one of the eastern cities, and she had not made many friends in +Vancouver yet, though her husband, whom she had lately married, was a +man of some importance there. + +"I'm glad to see you," she said, greeting Jessie eagerly. "It's a week +since anybody has been in to talk to me and Tom's away again." + +Jessie made herself comfortable in an easy-chair, before she referred to +one of her companion's remarks. + +"Where has Mr. Bendle gone now?" she asked. + +"Into the bush to look at a mine. He left this morning, and it will be a +week before he's back. Then he's going across the Selkirks with that +Clavering man about some irrigation scheme." + +This suggested one or two questions, which Jessie desired to ask, but +she did not frame them immediately. "It must be dull for you," she said +sympathetically. + +"I don't mean to complain," her companion informed her. "Tom's +reasonable; the last time I said anything about being left alone he +bought me the pair of ponies." + +"You're fortunate in several ways; there are not a great many people who +can make such presents. But while everybody knows how your husband has +been successful lately, I'm a little surprised that he's able to go into +Clavering's irrigation scheme. It's an expensive one; but I understand, +they intend to confine it to a few, which means that those interested +will have to subscribe handsomely." + +"Tom," said her companion, "likes to have a number of different things +in hand. He told me it was wiser when I said I couldn't tell my friends +back East what he really is, because he seemed to be everything at once. +But your brother's interested in a good many things too, isn't he?" + +"I believe so," answered Jessie. "Still, I'm pretty sure he couldn't +afford to join Clavering and at the same time take up a big block of +shares in Mr. Vane's mine." + +"But Tom isn't going to do the latter now." + +Jessie was almost startled; this was valuable information which she +could scarcely have expected to obtain so easily. There was more she +desired to ascertain, but she had no intention of making any obvious +inquiries. + +"It's generally understood that Mr. Vane and your husband are on good +terms," she said. "You know him, don't you?" + +"I've met him at one or two places, and I like him, but when I mention +him, Tom smiles. He says it's unfortunate Mr. Vane can only see one +thing at once, and that the one which lies right in front of his eyes. +For all that I've heard him own that the man is likeable." + +"Then it's a pity he's unable to stand by him now." + +"I really believe Tom was half sorry he couldn't do so last night. He +said something that suggested it. I don't understand much about these +matters, but Howitson was here, talking business, until late." + +Jessie was satisfied. Her hostess's previous incautious admission had +gone a long way, but to this was added the significant information that +Bendle was inclined to be sorry for Vane. The fact that he and Howitson +had decided on some joint action after a long private discussion implied +that there was trouble in store for the absent man, unless he could be +summoned to deal with the crisis in person. Jessie wondered if Nairn +knew anything about the matter yet, and decided that she would try to +sound him. In the meanwhile, she led her companion away from the +subject, and they discussed millinery and such matters until she took +her departure. + +It was early in the evening when she reached Nairn's house, which she +had thought it better to arrive at a little before he came home, and was +told that Mrs. Nairn and Miss Chisholm were out but were expected back +shortly. Evelyn had been by no means cordial to her since their last +interview, and Mrs. Nairn's manner had been colder; but Jessie decided +to wait, and for the second time that day fortune seemed to play into +her hands. + +It was dark outside, but the entrance hall was brightly lighted, and she +could see into it from where she sat. Highly-trained domestics are +generally scarce in the West, and the maid had left the door of the room +open. By and by there was a knock at the outer door and a young lad came +in with some letters in his hand. He explained to the maid that he had +been to the post office and had brought his employer's private mail. +Then he withdrew, and the maid, who first laid the letters carelessly on +a little table, also retired, banging a door behind her. The concussion +shook down the letters, and several, fluttering forward with the sudden +draught, fell near the threshold of the room. Jessie rose to replace +them. + +When she reached the door, she stopped abruptly, for she recognised the +writing on one envelope. There was no doubt it was from Vane, and she +noticed that it was addressed to Miss Chisholm. Jessie picked it up, and +when she had laid the others upon the table stood with it in her hand. + +"Has the man no pride?" she said, half aloud. + +Then she looked about her, listening, greatly tempted, and considering. +There was no sound in the house; Evelyn and Mrs. Nairn were out, and she +was cut off from its other occupants by a closed door. Nobody would know +that she had entered the hall, and if the letter were subsequently +missed it would be unlikely that any question regarding its +disappearance would ever be asked. If there was no response from Evelyn, +Vane, she thought, would not renew his appeal. Jessie had no doubt that +the letter contained an appeal of some kind, which might lead to a +reconciliation, and she knew that silence is often more potent than an +outbreak of anger. She had only to destroy the letter, and the breach +between the two people whom she desired to separate would widen +automatically. + +There was little risk of detection, but standing tensely still, with set +lips and her heart beating faster than usual, she shrank from the +decisive action. She could still replace the letter, and look for other +means of bringing about what she wished. She was self-willed, and +endowed with few troublesome principles, but until she had poisoned +Evelyn's mind against Vane she had never done anything flagrantly +dishonourable. Then, while she waited, irresolute, a fresh temptation +seized her in the shape of a burning desire to learn what the man had to +say. He would reveal his feelings in the message, and she could judge +the strength of her rival's influence over him. + +Yet she hesitated, with a half-instinctive recognition of the fact that +the decision she must make was an eventful one. She had transgressed +grievously in one recent interview with Evelyn, but, while she had no +idea of making reparation, she could, at least, stop short of a second +offence. She had perhaps, not gone too far yet, but if she ventured a +little farther, she might be driven on against her will and become +inextricably involved in an entanglement of dishonourable treachery. + +The issue hung in the balance--the slightest thing would have turned the +scale--when she heard footsteps outside and the tinkle of a bell. Moving +with a start, she slipped back into the room just before the maid opened +the adjacent door. In another moment or two, she thrust the envelope +inside her dress, and gathered her composure as Mrs. Nairn and Evelyn +entered the hall. The former approached the table and turned over the +handful of letters. + +"Two for ye from England, Evelyn, and one or two for me," she said, and, +as Jessie noticed, flashed a quick glance at her companion. "Nothing +else," she added. "I had thought Vane would maybe send a bit note from +one of the Island ports to say how he was getting on." + +Then Jessie rose to greet her hostess. The question was decided; it was +too late to replace the letter now. She could not remember what they +talked about during the next half-hour, but she took her part until +Nairn came in, and contrived to have a word with him before leaving. +Mrs. Nairn had gone out to give some instructions about supper and, when +Evelyn followed her, Jessie turned to Nairn. + +"Mr. Vane would be at Comox now," she said. "Have you any idea of +recalling him? Of course, I know a little about the Clermont affairs." + +Nairn glanced at her with thoughtful eyes. "I'm no acquainted with any +reason that would render such a course necessary." + +Evelyn reappeared shortly after this, and on the whole Jessie was glad +of it, but she excused herself from staying for the evening meal, and +walked home thinking hard. It was needful that Vane should be recalled, +and though he had written to Evelyn, she still meant to send him word. +He would be grateful to her, and, indignant and wounded as she was, she +would not own herself beaten. She would warn the man, and afterwards, +perhaps allow Nairn to send him a second message. + +On reaching her brother's house she went straight to her own room and +tore open the envelope. The colour receded from her face as she read, +and sinking into a chair she sat still with hands clenched. The message +was terse, but it was stirringly candid, and even where the man did not +fully reveal his feelings in his words she could read between the lines. +There was no doubt that he had given his heart unreservedly into her +rival's keeping. + +For a while she sat still, and then, stooping swiftly, seized the +letter, which she had dropped, and rent it into fragments. Her eyes had +grown hard and cruel; love of the only kind she was capable of had +suddenly turned to hate. What was more, it was a hate that could be +gratified. + +A little later, Horsfield came in, and though she was very composed now, +she noticed that he looked at her in an unusual manner once or twice +during the meal that followed. + +"You make me feel you have something on your mind," she said at length. + +"That's a fact," Horsfield confessed. The man was attached to and rather +proud of his sister. + +"Well?" + +Horsfield leaned forward confidentially. "See here," he said, "I've +always imagined that you would go far, and I'm anxious to see you do so. +I wouldn't like you to throw yourself away." + +His sister could take a hint, but there was information she desired, and +the man was speaking with unusual reserve. + +"Oh!" she said, with a slight show of impatience, "you must be plainer." + +"Then you have seen a good deal of Vane, and, in case you have any +hankering after his scalp, I think I'd better mention that there's +reason to believe he won't be worth powder and shot before very long." + +"Ah!" said Jessie, with a calmness which was difficult to assume, "you +may as well understand that there is nothing between Vane and me. I +suppose you mean that Howitson and Bendle are turning against him?" + +"Something like that," Horsfield agreed in a tone which implied that her +answer had afforded him relief. "The man has trouble in front of him." + +Jessie changed the subject. What she had gathered from Mrs. Bendle was +fully confirmed, but she had made up her mind. Evelyn's lover might wait +for the warning which could save him, but he should wait in vain. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +ON THE TRAIL. + + +It was a long, wet sail up the coast with the wind ahead, and Carroll +was content, when, on reaching Comox, Vane announced his intention of +stopping there until the mail came in. Immediately after its arrival, +Carroll went ashore, and came back empty-handed. + +"Nothing," he said. "Personally, I'm pleased. Nairn could have advised +us here if there had been any striking developments since we left the +last place." + +"I wasn't expecting to hear from him," Vane replied. + +Carroll read keen disappointment in his face, and was not surprised, +although the absence of any message meant that it was safe for them to +go on with their project, which should have afforded his companion +satisfaction. + +They got off shortly afterwards and stood out to the northwards. + +Most of that day and the next two they drifted with the tides through +narrowing waters, though now and then for a few hours they were wafted +on by light and fickle winds. At length they crept into the inlet where +they had landed on the previous voyage, and on the morning after their +arrival set out on the march. There was on this occasion reason to +expect more rigorous weather, and the load each carried was an almost +crushing one. Where the trees were thinner, the ground was frozen hard, +and even in the densest bush the undergrowth was white and stiff with +frost, while, when they could see aloft through some chance opening, a +forbidding grey sky hung over them. + +On approaching the rift in the hillside which he had glanced at when +they first passed that way, Vane stopped a moment. + +"I looked into that place before, but it didn't seem worth while to +follow it up," he said. "If you'll wait, I'll go a little farther along +it." + +Though the air was nipping, Carroll, who was breathless, was content to +remain where he was, and he spent some time sitting upon a log before a +faint shout reached him. Then he rose, and making his way up the hollow, +found his comrade standing upon a jutting ledge. + +"I thought you were never coming," the latter remarked. "Climb up; I've +something to show you." + +Carroll joined him with difficulty, and Vane stretched out his hand. + +"Look yonder," he said. + +Carroll looked and started. They stood in a rocky gateway with a river +brawling down the chasm beneath them; but a valley opened up in front. +Filled with sombre forest, it ran back almost straight between +stupendous walls of hills. + +"It answers Hartley's description," he said. "After all, I don't think +it's extraordinary we should have taken so much trouble to push on past +the right place." + +"How's that?" Vane demanded. + +Carroll sat down and filled his pipe. "It's the natural result of +possessing a temperament like yours. Somehow, you've got it firmly fixed +into your mind that everything worth doing must be hard." + +"I've generally found it so." + +"I think," said Carroll, grinning, "you've generally made it so. There's +a marked difference between the two. If any means of doing a thing looks +easy, you at once conclude it can't be the right way, which is a mode of +reasoning that has never convinced me. In my opinion, it's more sensible +to try the easiest method first." + +"As a rule, that leads to your having to fall back upon the other one; +and a frontal attack on a difficulty's often quicker than considering +how you can work round its flank. In this case I'll own we have wasted a +lot of time and taken a good deal of trouble that might have been +avoided. But are you going to sit here and smoke?" + +"Until I've finished my pipe," Carroll answered. "I expect we'll find +tobacco, among other things, getting pretty scarce before this +expedition ends." + +He carried out his intention, and they afterwards pushed on up the +valley during the rest of the day. It grew more level as they proceeded, +and in spite of the frost, which bound the feeding snows, there was a +steady flow of water down the river, which was free from rocky barriers. +Vane, who now and then glanced at the latter attentively, stopped when +dusk was drawing near, and fixed his gaze on the long ranks of trees +that stretched away in front of him; fretted spires of sombre greenery +lifted high above a colonnade of mighty trunks. + +"Does anything in connection with this bush strike you?" he asked. + +"Its stiffness, if that's what you mean," Carroll suggested, smiling. +"These big conifers look as if they'd been carved. They're impressive, +in a way, but they're too artificial." + +"That's not what I mean," Vane informed him impatiently. + +"To tell the truth," said Carroll, "I didn't suppose it was. Anyway, +these trees aren't spruce. They're red cedar, the stuff they make the +roofing shingles of." + +"Precisely. Just now, shingles are in good demand in the Province, and +with the wooden towns springing up on the prairie, Western millers can +hardly send roofing material across the Rockies fast enough. Besides +this, I haven't struck a creek more adapted for running logs down, and +the last sharp drop to tidewater would give power for a mill. I'm only +puzzled that none of the timber-lease prospectors has recorded the +place." + +"That's easy to understand," said Carroll. "Like you, they'd no doubt +first search the most difficult spots to get at." + +They went on in another minute, and pitched their light tent beside the +creek when darkness fell. + +"By the by, I thought you were disappointed when you got no mail at +Comox," Carroll remarked at length, feeling that he was making something +of a venture. + +"I was," said Vane. + +This was not encouraging, but Carroll persisted. "That's strange, +because your hearing nothing from Nairn left you free to go ahead, +which, one would suppose, was what you wanted." + +Vane, as it happened, was in a confidential mood; though usually averse +from sharing his troubles, he felt he needed sympathy. "I'd better +confess I wrote Miss Chisholm a few lines from Nanaimo." + +"Ah!" said Carroll softly; "and she didn't answer you. Now, I couldn't +well help noticing that you were rather in her bad graces that night at +Nairn's. No doubt, you're acquainted with the reason?" + +"I'm not," Vane replied. "That's just the trouble." + +Carroll reflected. He had an idea that Miss Horsfield was somehow +connected with the matter, but this was a suspicion he could not +mention. + +"Well," he said, "as I pointed out, you're addicted to taking the +hardest way. When we came up here before, you marched past this valley, +chiefly because it was close at hand; but I don't want to dwell on that. +Has it occurred to you that you did something of the same kind when you +were at the Dene? The way that was then offered you was easy." + +"This is not the kind of subject one cares to talk about; but you ought +to know I couldn't allow them to force Miss Chisholm upon me against her +will. It was unthinkable! Besides, looking at it in the most +cold-blooded manner, it would have been foolishness, for which we'd both +have to pay afterwards." + +"I'm not so sure of that," said Carroll thoughtfully. "There were the +Sabine women among other instances. Didn't they cut off their hair to +make bow-strings for their abductors?" + +His companion made no answer, and Carroll, deciding that he had ventured +as far as was prudent, talked of something else until they crept into +the little tent, and soon afterwards they fell asleep. + +They started with the first of the daylight next morning, but the timber +grew denser and more choked with underbrush as they proceeded, and for +several days they wearily struggled through it and the clogging masses +of tangled, withered fern. Besides this, they were forced to clamber +over fallen trunks, when the ragged ends of the snapped-off branches +caught their loads. Their shoulders ached, their boots were ripped, +their feet were badly galled; but they held on stubbornly, plunging +deeper into the mountains all the while. + +Soon after setting out one morning, they climbed a clearer hillside to +look about them. High up ahead, the crest of the white range gleamed +dazzlingly against leaden cloud in a burst of sunshine; below, dark +forest, still wrapped in gloom, filled all the valley; and in between, +on the middle slopes, a belt of timber touched by the light shone with a +curious silvery lustre. Though it was some distance off, probably a +day's journey, allowing for the difficulty of the march, Vane gazed at +it earnestly. The trees were bare--there was no doubt of that, for the +dwindling ranks, diminished by the distance, stood out against the +snow-streaked rock like rows of rather thick needles set upright. Their +straightness and the way they glistened suggested the resemblance. + +"Ominous, isn't it?" Carroll said at length. "If this is the valley +Hartley came down, and everything points to that, we should be getting +near the spruce." + +Vane's face grew set. "Yes," he agreed. "There has been a big fire up +yonder; but whether it has swept the lower ground or not is more than I +can tell. We'll find out early to-morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +THE END OF THE SEARCH. + + +The two men made a hurried breakfast in the cold dawn and not long +afterwards they were struggling through thick timber, when the light +suddenly grew a little clearer. Carroll remarked upon the fact and +Vane's face hardened. + +"We're either coming to a swamp, or the track the fire has swept is +close in front," the latter said. + +A thicket lay before him, but he smashed savagely through the midst of +it, the undergrowth snapping and crackling about his limbs. Then there +was a network of tangled branches to be crossed, and afterwards, +reaching slightly clearer ground, he broke into a run. Three or four +minutes later, he stopped, breathless and ragged, with his rent boots +scarcely clinging to his feet; and Carroll, who came up with him, gazed +eagerly about. + +The living forest rose behind them, an almost unbroken wall, but ahead +the trees ran up in detached and blackened spires. Their branches had +vanished; every cluster of sombre-green needles and delicate spray had +gone; the great rampikes, as they are called, looked like shafts of +charcoal. About their feet lay crumbling masses of calcined wood which +grew more and more numerous where there were open spaces farther on and +then the bare, black columns ran on again, up the valley and the steep +hill benches on either hand. It was a weird scene of desolation; +impressive to the point of being appalling in its suggestiveness of +widespread ruin. + +For the space of a minute the men gazed at it; and then Vane, stretching +out his hand, pointed to a snow-sheeted hill. + +"That's the peak Hartley mentioned," he said in a voice which was +strangely incisive. "Give me the axe." + +He took it from his comrade and, striding forward, attacked the nearest +rampike. Twice the keen blade sank noiselessly overhead, scattering a +black dust in the frosty air; and then there was a clear, ringing thud. +After that, Vane smote on with a determined methodical swiftness, until +Carroll grabbed his shoulder. + +"Look out!" he cried. "It's going." + +Vane stepped back a few paces; the trunk reeled and rushed downwards: +there was a deafening crash, and they were enveloped in a cloud of +gritty dust. Through the midst of it they dimly saw two more great +trunks collapse; and then somewhere up the valley a series of thundering +shocks, which both knew were not echoes, broke out. The sound jarred +upon Carroll's nerves, as the thud of the felled rampike had not done, +but Vane picked up one of the chips and handed it to him. + +"We have found Hartley's spruce," he said. + +Carroll did not answer for a minute. After all, when defeat must be +faced, there was very little to be said, though his companion's +expression troubled him. Its grim stolidity was portentous. + +"I suppose," he remarked at length, "nothing could be done with it?" + +Vane pointed to the butt of the tree, which showed a space of clean wood +surrounded by a blackened rim. + +"You can't make marketable pulp of charcoal, and the price would have to +run pretty high before it would pay for ripping most of the log away to +get at the residue," he answered harshly. + +"But there may be some unburned spruce farther on," Carroll urged. + +"It's possible," said Vane. "I'm going to find out." + +This was a logical determination; but, in spite of his recent +suggestion, Carroll realised that he would have abandoned the search +there and then, had the choice been left to him, in which he did not +think he was singular. After all they had undergone, the shock of the +disappointment was severe. He could have faced a failure to locate the +spruce with some degree of philosophical calm; but to find it at last, +useless, was very much worse. But he did not expect his companion to +turn back yet: before he desisted, Vane would seek for and examine every +unburned tree. What was more, Carroll, who thought the search could +serve no purpose, would have to accompany him. Then the latter noticed +that Vane was waiting for him to speak, and he decided that this was a +situation which he had better endeavour to treat lightly. + +"I think I'll have a smoke," he said. "I'm afraid any remarks I could +make wouldn't do justice to the occasion. Language has its limits." + +He sat down on the charred log and took out his pipe before he +proceeded: "A brulee's not a nice place to wander about in when there's +any wind, and I've an idea there's some coming, though it's quiet now." + +Shut in, as they were, in the deep hollow with the towering snows above +them, it was impressively still; and in conjunction with the sight of +the black desolation the deep silence reacted upon Carroll's nerves. He +longed to escape from it, to make a noise, though this, if done +unguardedly, might bring more of the rampikes thundering down. He could +hear tiny flakes of charcoal falling from them, and though the fire had +long gone out, a faint and curious crackling, as if the dead embers were +stirring. He wondered if this were some effect of the frost; it struck +him as disturbing and weird. + +"We'll work right round the brulee," said Vane. "Then I suppose we had +better head back for Vancouver, though we'll look at that cedar as we go +down. Something might be made of it; I'm not sure we've thrown our time +away." + +"You wouldn't be sure of such a thing," said Carroll. "It isn't in you." + +Vane disregarded this. A new constructive policy was already springing +up out of the wreck of his previous plans. "There's a good mill site on +the inlet, but as it's a long way from the railroad we'll have to +determine whether it would be cheaper to tow the logs down or split them +up on the spot," he went on. "I'll talk it over with Drayton; he'll no +doubt be useful, and there's no reason why he shouldn't earn his share." + +"Do you believe the arrangement you made with Hartley applies to the +cedar?" + +"Of course," said Vane. "I don't know that the other parties could +insist upon the original terms--we can discuss that later; but, though +it may be modified, the arrangement stands." + +His companion considered the matter dispassionately, as an abstract +proposition. Here was a man, who, in return for certain information +respecting the whereabouts of a marketable commodity, had undertaken to +find and share it with his informant. The commodity had proved to be +valueless, but during the search for it he had incidentally discovered +something else. Was he under any obligation to share the latter with his +informant's heirs? + +Carroll decided that the question could only be answered in the +negative; but he had no intention of disputing his comrade's point of +view. In the first place, this would probably only make Vane more +determined or ruffle his temper; and in the second Carroll, who felt +very dubious about the prospect of working the cedar profitably, was +neither a covetous nor an ambitious person, which was, perhaps, on the +whole, fortunate for him. + +Vane, as his partner realised, was ambitious; but in place of aspiring +after wealth or social prominence--the latter of which had, indeed, of +late began to pall on him--his was a different aim; to rend the hidden +minerals from the hills, to turn forests into dressed lumber, to make +something grow. Dollars are often, though not always, made that way; but +while he affected no contempt for them, in Vane's case their acquisition +was undoubtedly not the end. Fortunately, he was not altogether singular +in this respect. + +When he next spoke, there was, however, no hint of altruistic sentiment +in his curt inquiry: "Are you going to sit there until you freeze?" + +Carroll got up, and they spent the rest of the day plodding through the +brulee, with the result that when darkness fell Vane had abandoned all +idea of working the spruce. Next morning, they set out for the inlet, +and one afternoon during the journey they came upon several fallen logs +lying athwart each other with their branches spread in a horrible tangle +between. Vane proceeded to walk along one log, which was tilted up +several yards above the ground, balancing himself carefully upon the +rounded surface; and Carroll followed until the end of a broken branch, +which he evidently had not noticed, caught in the leader's clothes. Next +moment there was a sharp snapping, and Vane plunged down into the tangle +beneath, while Carroll stood still and laughed. It was not an uncommon +accident. + +Vane, however, did not reappear; nor was there any movement among the +half-rotten boughs and withered sprays, and Carroll, moving forward +hastily, looked down into the hole. He was disagreeably surprised to see +his comrade lying, rather white in face, upon his side. + +"I'm afraid you'll have to chop me out," he said, and his voice was +hoarse. "Get to work; I can't move my leg." + +Moving farther along the log, Carroll dropped to the ground, which was +less encumbered there, and spent the next quarter of an hour hewing a +passage to his comrade. Then as he stood beside him, hot and panting, +Vane looked up. + +"It's my lower leg; the left," he said. "Bone's broken; I felt it snap." + +Carroll turned from him for a moment in consternation. Looking out +between the branches, he could see the lonely hills tower, pitilessly +white, against the blue of the frosty sky, and the rigid firs running +back as far as his vision reached upon their lower slopes. There was no +touch of life in all the picture; everything was silent and motionless, +and its desolation came near to appalling him. When he looked round +again, Vane smiled wryly. + +"If this had happened farther north, it would have been the end of me," +he said. "As it is, it's awkward." + +The word struck Carroll as singularly inadequate, but he made an effort +to gather his courage when his companion broke off with a groan of pain. + +"It's lucky we helped that doctor when he set Pete's leg at Bryant's +mill," he said. "Can you wait a few minutes?" + +Vane's face was beaded with damp now, but he tried to smile. "It strikes +me," he answered, "I'll have to wait a mighty long time." + +Carroll turned and left him. He was afraid to stand still and think, but +action was a relief. It was some time before he returned with several +strips of fabric cut from the tent curtain, and the neatest splints he +could extemporise from slabs of stripped-off bark, and the next +half-hour was a trying one to both of them. Sometimes Vane assisted him +with suggestions--once he reviled his clumsiness--and sometimes he lay +silent with his face awry and his lips tight set; but at length it was +done, and Carroll stood up, breathing hard. + +"I'll fasten you on to a couple of skids and pull you out," he said. +"Then I'll make camp." + +He managed it with difficulty, pitched the tent above Vane, whom he +covered with their blankets, and made a fire outside. + +"Are you comfortable now?" he inquired. + +Vane looked up at him with a somewhat ghastly grin. "I suppose I'm about +as comfortable as could be expected. Anyhow, I've got to get used to the +thing. Six weeks is the shortest limit, isn't it?" + +Carroll confessed that he did not know, and presently Vane resumed: +"It's lucky that the winters aren't often very cold so near the coast." + +The temperature struck Carroll as low enough, but he made no answer. To +his disgust, he could think of no cheering observation, for there was no +doubt that the situation was serious. They were cut off from the sloop +by leagues of tangled forest which a vigorous man would find it +difficult to traverse, and it would be weeks before Vane could use his +leg; no human assistance could be looked for, and they had only a small +quantity of provisions left. Besides this, it would not be easy to keep +the sufferer warm in rigorous weather. + +"I'll make supper. You'll feel better afterwards," he said at length. + +"Then don't be too liberal," Vane warned him. + +The latter fell into a restless doze after the meal, and it was dark +when he opened his eyes again. + +"I can't sleep any more, and we may as well talk--there are things to be +arranged," he said. "In the first place, as soon as I feel a little +easier, you'll have to sail across to Comox and hire some men to pack me +out. When you've sent them off, you'll make for Vancouver, and get a +timber licence and find out how matters are going on." + +"That," said Carroll firmly, "is out of the question. Nairn can look +after our mining interests--he's a capable man--and if the thing's too +much for him they can go to smash. Besides, they won't give you a timber +licence without full particulars of area and limits, and we've blazed no +boundaries. Anyhow, I'm staying right here." + +Vane began to protest, but Carroll raised his hand. "Argument's not +conducive to recovery. You're on your back, unfortunately, and I'll give +way to you, as usual, as soon as you're on your feet again, but not +before." + +"I'd better point out that we'll both be hungry by then. The provisions +won't last long." + +"Then I'll look for a deer as soon as I think you can be left. And now +we'll try to talk of something more amusing." + +"Can you see anything humorous in the situation?" + +"I can't," Carroll confessed. "Still, there may be something of that +description which I haven't noticed yet. By the way, the last time we +were at Nairn's, I happened to cross the room near where you and Miss +Horsfield were sitting, and I heard her ask you to wait for something at +Nanaimo or Comox. I thought it curious." + +"She told me to wait, so she could send me word to come back, if it was +needful." + +"Ah!" said Carroll; "I won't ask why she was willing to do so--it +concerns you more than me--but I fancy that as regards your interests in +the Clermont a warning from her would be worth as much as one from +Nairn; that is, if she could be depended on." + +"Have you any doubt upon the subject?" + +"Don't get angry. Perhaps I've talked too much. We have to think of your +injury." + +"I'm not likely to forget it," Vane informed him. "But I dare say you're +right in one respect--as an amusing companion you're a dead failure, and +talking isn't as easy as I imagined." + +He lay silent afterwards, and, though he had disclaimed any desire for +sleep, worn by the march and pain, as he was, his eyes presently closed. +Carroll, however, sat long awake, and afterwards admitted that he felt +badly afraid. Deer are by no means numerous in some parts of the bush; +they had not seen one during the journey; and though there was a little +food left on board her, it was a long way to the sloop. + +Once or twice, for no obvious reason, he drew aside the tent flap and +looked out. The sky was cloudless and darkly blue, and a sickle moon +gleamed in it, keen and clear with frost. Below, the hills were washed +in silver, majestic, but utterly cheerless; and lower still the serrated +tops of the rigid firs cut against the dreary whiteness. After each +glimpse of them, Carroll drew his blanket tighter round him with a +shiver. Very shortly, when the little flour and pork were gone and their +few cartridges had been expended, he would be reduced to the condition +of primitive man. Cut off from all other resources, he must then wrest +what means of subsistence he could from the snowy wilderness by brute +strength and cunning and such instruments as he could make with his +unassisted hands, except that an axe of Pennsylvania steel was better +than a stone one. Civilisation has its compensations, and Carroll longed +for a few more of them that night. + +On rising next morning, he found the frost keener, and he spent the day +and a number of those that followed in growing anxiety, which was only +temporarily lessened when he once succeeded in killing a deer. There was +almost a dearth of animal life in the lonely valley. Sometimes at first, +Vane was feverish; often he was irritable, and the recollection of the +three or four weeks he spent with him afterwards haunted Carroll like a +nightmare. At last, when he had spent several days in vain search for a +deer and the provisions were almost exhausted, he and his companion held +a council of emergency. + +"There's no use in arguing," Vane declared. "You'll rig me a shelter of +green boughs outside the tent and close to the fire. I can move from the +waist upwards, and if it's necessary, drag myself with my hands. Then +you can chop enough cord-wood to last a while, cook my share of the +eatables, and leave me while you go down to the sloop. There's half a +bag of flour and a few other things I'd be uncommonly glad of on board +her." + +Carroll expostulated; but it was evident that his companion was right, +and next morning he started for the inlet, taking with him the smallest +possible portion of their provisions. So long as he had enough to keep +him from fainting on the way, it was all he required, because he could +renew his stores on board the boat. The weather broke during the march; +driving snow followed him down the valley, and by and by gave place to +bitter rain. The withered underbush was saturated, the soil was soddened +with melting snow, and after the first scanty meal or two he dare risk +no delay. He felt himself flagging from insufficient food, and it was +obvious that he must reach the sloop before he broke down. He had +tobacco, but that failed to stay the gnawing pangs, and before the march +was done he was on the verge of exhaustion; forcing himself onward, +drenched, and grim of face; scarcely able to keep upon his bleeding +feet. + +It was falling dusk and blowing fresh when he limped down the beach and +with a last effort launched the light dinghy and pulled off to the +sloop. She rode rather deep in the water, but that did not trouble him. +Most wooden craft leak more or less, and it was a considerable time +since he had pumped her out. Clambering wearily on board, he made the +dinghy fast; and then stood still a moment or two, looking about him +with his hand on the cabin side. Thin flakes of snow drifted past him; +the firs were rustling eerily ashore, and ragged wisps of cloud drove by +low down above their tops. Little frothy ripples flecked the darkening +water with streaks of white and splashed angrily against the bows of the +craft. The prospect was oppressively dreary, and the worn-out man was +glad that he was at last in shelter and could snatch a few hours' rest. + +Thrusting back the slide, he stepped below and lighted the lamp. The +brightening glow showed him that the boat's starboard side was wet high +up, and, though there was a good deal of water in her, this puzzled him, +until an explanation suggested itself. They had moored the craft +carefully, but he supposed she must have dragged her anchor or kedge and +swung in near enough the shore to ground towards low-tide. Then, as the +tide left her, she would fall over on her starboard bilge, because they +had lashed the heavy boom down on that side, and the water in her would +cover the depressed portion of her interior. This reasoning was probably +correct; but he did not foresee the result, until after lighting the +stove and putting on the kettle, he opened the provision locker, which +was to starboard. Then he saw with a shock of dismay that the stock of +food they had counted on was ruined. The periodically submerged flour +bag had rotted and burst, and most of its contents had run out into the +water as the boat righted with the rising tide; the prepared cereals, +purchased to save cooking, had turned to mouldy pulp; and the few other +stores were in much the same condition. There were only two sound cans +of beef, and a few ounces of unspoiled tea in a canister. + +Carroll's courage failed him as he realised it, but he felt that he must +eat and sleep before he could grapple with the situation. He would allow +himself a meal and a few hours' rest; and crawling out while the kettle +boiled, he shortened in the cable and plied the pump. Then he went +below, and feasted on preserved beef and tea, gauging the size of each +slice with anxious care, until he reluctantly laid the can aside. After +that, he filled his pipe and, stretching out his aching limbs on the +port locker, which was comparatively dry, soon sank into heavy sleep. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +CARROLL SEEKS HELP. + + +Carroll slept for several hours before he awakened and sat up on the +locker, shivering. He had left the hatch slightly open, and a confused +uproar reached him from outside--the wail of wind-tossed trees; the +furious splash of ripples against the bows; and the drumming of the +halliards upon the mast. There was no doubt that it was blowing hard; +but the wind was off the land, and the sloop in shelter. + +Filling his pipe, he set himself to think, and promptly decided that it +would have been better had he gone down to the sloop in the beginning, +before the provisions had been spoiled, instead of in the end. +Reluctance to leave his helpless companion had mainly prevented him from +doing this, but he had also been encouraged by the possibility of +obtaining a deer now and then. It was clear that he had made a mistake +in remaining, but it was not the first time he had done so, and the +point was unimportant. The burning question was: What must he do now? + +It would obviously be useless to go back with rations that would barely +suffice for the march: Vane still had food enough to keep life in one +man for a little while. On the other hand, it would not be a long sail +to Comox with a strong northerly wind; and if the sloop would face the +sea that was running he might return with assistance before his +comrade's scanty store was exhausted. Getting out the mildewed chart, he +laid off his course, carefully trimmed and lighted the binnacle lamp, +and going up on deck hauled in the kedge anchor. He could not break the +main one out, though he worked savagely with a tackle, and deciding to +slip it, he managed to lash three reefs in the mainsail and hoist it +with the peak left down. Then he sat down to gather breath--for the work +had been cruelly heavy--before he let the cable run and hoisted the jib. + +She paid off when he put up his helm, and the black loom of trees ashore +vanished. He thought he could find his way out of the inlet, but he only +knew that he had done so when the angry ripples that splashed about the +boat suddenly changed to confused tumbling combers. They foamed up in +swift succession on her quarter, but he fancied she would withstand +their onslaught, so long as he could prevent her from screwing up to +windward when she lifted. It would need constant care, and if he failed, +the next comber would, no doubt, break on board. His task was one that +would have taxed the vigilance of a strong, well-fed man, and Carroll +had already nearly reached the limit of his powers. + +His case, however, was by no means an unusual one. The cost of the +subjugation of the wilderness is the endurance of hunger and thirst, +cold and crushing fatigue; and somebody pays to the uttermost farthing. +Carroll, sitting drenched, strung up, and hungry, at the helm, was +merely playing his part in the struggle, though he found it cruelly +hard. + +It was pitch dark, but he must gaze ahead and guess the track of the +pursuing seas by the angle of the spouting white ridge abreast of the +weather shrouds. He had a compass, but when his course did not coincide +with safety it must be disregarded. The one essential thing was to keep +the sloop on top, and to do so he had frequently to let her fall off +dead before the mad white combers that leaped out of the dark. By and +by, his arms began to ache from the strain of the tiller, and his wet +fingers grew stiff and claw-like. The nervous strain was also telling, +but that could not be helped; he must keep the craft before the sea or +go down with her. There was one consolation--she was travelling at a +furious speed. + +At length, morning broke over a leaden sea that was seamed with white; +and he glanced longing at the meat-can on the locker near his feet. He +could reach it by stooping, though he dare not leave the helm, but he +determined to wait until noon before he broke his fast again. It could +not be very far to Comox, but the wind might drop. Then he began to +wonder how he had escaped the perils of the night. He had come down what +was really a wide and not quite straight sound passing several unlighted +islands. Before starting, he had decided that he would run so long and +then change his course a point or two, but he could not be sure that he +had done so. He had a hazy recollection of seeing surf, and once a faint +loom of land, but he supposed he had avoided it half-consciously or that +chance had favoured him. + +In the afternoon, the wind changed a little, backing to the north-west; +the sky grew brighter, and he made out shadowy land over his starboard +quarter. By and by he recognised it with a start. It was the high ridge +north of Comox, and as he had run farther than he had expected, he must +try to hoist the peak of the mainsail and haul her on the wind. There +was danger in rounding her up, but it must be faced, though a sea foamed +across her as he put down his helm. Another followed, but he scrambled +forward and struggled desperately to hoist the downhanging gaff. The +halliards were swollen; he could scarcely keep his footing on the +deluged deck that slanted steeply under him. He thought he could have +mastered the banging canvas had he been fresh; but, worn out as he was, +drenched with spray, and buffeted by the shattered tops of the seas, the +task was beyond his power. Giving it up, he staggered back, breathless +and almost nerveless, to the helm. + +He could not reach Comox, which lay to windward, with the sail half-set, +but it was only seventy miles or thereabouts to Nanaimo and not very +much farther to Vancouver. The breeze would be fair to either, and he +could charter a launch or tug for the return journey. Letting her go +before the sea again, he ate some canned meat ravenously, tearing it +with one hand. + +Shortly afterwards, a grey mass rose out of the water to port and he +supposed it was Texada. There were mines on the island, and he might be +able to engage a rescue party; but he reflected that he could not beat +the sloop back to windward unless the breeze fell, which it showed no +signs of doing. It would be more prudent to go on to Vancouver, where he +would be sure of getting a steamer, but he closed with the long island a +little, and dusk was falling when he made out a boat in the partial +shelter of a bight. Standing in closer, he saw that there were two men +in the craft, and driving down upon her he backed the jib and ran +alongside. + +There was a crash as he struck the boat, and an astonished and angry man +clutched the sloop's rail. + +"Now what in the name of thunder?" he began, and stopped, struck by +Carroll's ragged appearance. + +"Can you take this sloop to Vancouver?" the latter inquired. + +"I could if it was worth while," was the cautious answer. "It will be a +mighty wet run." + +"Seven dollars a day, until you're home again," said Carroll. "A bonus +if you can sail her with the whole reefed mainsail up--I won't stick at +a few dollars. Can your partner pull that boat ashore alone? If not, +cast her adrift, I'll buy her." + +"He'll make the beach," said the other, jumping on board. "Seven dollars +sounds a square deal. I won't put the screw on you." + +"Then help me hoist the peak," Carroll bade him. "After that, you can +take the helm; I'm played out." + +The man, who shouted something to his companion, seized the halliards; +and the sloop drove on again furiously; with an increased spread of +canvas, while Carroll stood holding on by the coaming while the boat +dropped back. + +"I'll leave you to it," he informed the new helmsman. "It's twenty-four +hours since I've had more than a bite or two of food, and some weeks +since I had a decent meal." + +"You look like it," the other informed him. "Been up against it +somewhere?" + +Carroll, who did not reply, crawled below and managed to light the stove +and make a kettleful of tea. He drank a good deal of it, and nearly +emptied the remaining small meat-can, which he presently held out for +his companion's inspection, standing beneath the hatch. + +"There's some tea left, but this is all there is to eat on board the +craft," he said. "You're hired to take her to Vancouver--and you'd +better get there as soon as you can." + +The bronzed helmsman nodded. "She won't be long on the way if the mast +holds up." + +"Have you seen any papers lately?" Carroll inquired. "I've been up in +the bush and I'm interested in the Clermont mine. It looked as if there +might be some changes in the company's prospects when I went away." + +"I noticed a bit about it in the Colonist a while back," was the answer. +"They sold out to another concern, or amalgamated with it; I don't +remember which." + +Carroll was not astonished. The news, which implied that he must be +prepared to face a more or less serious financial reverse struck him as +a fitting climax to his misadventures. + +"It's pretty much what I expected, and I'm going to sleep," he said. "I +don't want to be wakened before it's necessary." + +He crawled below, and he had hardly stretched himself out upon the +locker before his eyes closed. When he opened them, feeling more like +his usual self, he saw that the sun was above the horizon, and +recognised by the boat's motion that the wind had fallen. Going out, he +found her driving through the water under her whole mainsail and the +helmsman sitting stolidly at the tiller. The man stretched out a hand +and pointed to the hazy hills to port. + +"We'll fetch the Narrows some time before noon," he said. "If you'll +take the helm, I guess we'll halve that meat for breakfast." + +His prediction proved correct, for Carroll reached his hotel about +midday, and hastily changing his clothes, set off to call on Nairn. He +had not recovered his mental equipoise, and in spite of his long, sound +sleep, he was still badly jaded physically. On arriving at the house, he +was shown into a room where Mrs. Nairn and her husband were sitting with +Evelyn, waiting for the midday meal. The elder lady rose with a start of +astonishment when he walked in. + +"Man," she said, "what's wrong? Ye're looking like a ghost." + +It was not an inapt description. Carroll's face was worn and haggard, +and his clothes hung slack on him. + +"I've been feeling rather unsubstantial of late, as the result of a +restricted diet," he answered with a smile, and sat down in the nearest +chair, while Nairn regarded him with carefully suppressed curiosity. + +"Ye're ower lang in coming," he remarked. "Where did ye leave your +partner?" + +Carroll sat silent a moment or two, his eyes fixed on Evelyn. It was +evident that his sudden appearance unaccompanied by Vane, which he felt +had been undesirably dramatic, had alarmed her. At first he felt +compassionate, and then he was suddenly possessed by hot indignation. +This girl, with her narrow prudish notions and cold-blooded nature, had +presumed to condemn his comrade, unheard, for an imaginary offence. The +thing was at once ludicrous and intolerable; if his news brought her +dismay, let her suffer. His nerves, it must be remembered, were not in +their normal condition. + +"Yes," he said, in answer to his host's first remark; "I've gathered +that we have failed to save the situation. But I don't know exactly what +has happened; you had better tell me." + +Mrs. Nairn made a sign of protest, but her husband glanced at her +restrainingly. + +"Ye will hear his news in good time," he informed her, and turned to +Carroll. "In a few words, the capital wasna subscribed; it leaked out +that the ore was running poor and we held an emergency meeting. With +Vane away, I could put no confidence into the shareholders--they were +anxious to get from under--and Horsfield brought forward an amalgamation +scheme: his friends would take the property over, on their valuation. I +and a few others were outvoted; the scheme went through, and when the +announcement steadied the stock, which had been tumbling down, I +exercised the authority given me and sold your shares and Vane's at +considerably less than their face value. Ye can have particulars later. +What I have to ask now is: Where is Vane?" + +The man's voice grew sharp; the question was flung out like an +accusation, but Carroll still looked at Evelyn. He felt very bitter +against her. + +"I left him in the bush with no more than a few days' provisions and a +broken leg," he said. + +Then, in spite of Evelyn's efforts to retain her composure, her face +blanched; and Carroll's anger vanished, because the truth was clear. +Vane had triumphed through disaster; his peril and ruin had swept his +offences away. The girl, who had condemned him in his prosperity, would +not turn away from him in misfortune. In the meanwhile, the others sat +silent, gazing at the bearer of evil news, until he spoke again. + +"I want a tug to take me back at once, if she can be got," he said. +"I'll pick up a few men along the water-front." + +Nairn rose and went out of the room. The tinkle of a telephone bell +reached those who remained, and he came back a minute or two later. + +"I've sent Whitney round," he announced. "He'll come across if there's a +boat to be had, and now ye look as if ye needed lunch." + +"It's several weeks since I had one," said Carroll with a smile. + +The meal was brought in, but for a while he talked as well as ate; +relating his adventures in somewhat disjointed fragments, while the rest +sat listening. He was also pleased to notice something which suggested +returning confidence in him in Evelyn's intent eyes as the tale +proceeded. When at last he had made the matter clear, he added: "If I +keep you waiting, you'll excuse me." + +His hostess watched his subsequent efforts with candid approval, and, +looking up once or twice, he saw sympathy in the girl's face, instead of +the astonishment or disgust he had half expected. When he had finished, +his hostess rose and Carroll stood up, but Nairn signed to him to resume +his place. + +"I'm thinking ye had better sit still a while and smoke," he said. + +Carroll was glad to do so, and he and Nairn conferred together, until +the latter was called to the telephone. + +"Ye can have the Brodick boat at noon to-morrow," he said on his return. + +"That won't do," Carroll objected heavily. "Send Whitney round again; I +must sail to-night." + +He had some difficulty in getting out the words, and when he rose his +eyes were half closed. Walking unsteadily, he crossed the room and sank +into a big lounge. + +"I think," he resumed, "if you don't mind, I'll go to sleep." + +Nairn merely nodded, and when, after sitting silent a minute or two, he +went softly out, the worn-out man was already wrapped in profound +slumber. As it happened, Nairn received another call by telephone and +left in haste for his office, without speaking to his wife; with the +result that the latter and Evelyn, returning to the room by and by in +search of Carroll, found him lying still. The elder lady raised her hand +in warning as she bent over the sleeper, and then, taking up a light +rug, spread it gently over him, Evelyn, too, was stirred to sudden pity, +for the man's attitude was eloquent of exhaustion. + +They withdrew gently and had reached the corridor when Mrs. Nairn turned +to the girl. + +"When he first came in, ye blamed that man for deserting his partner," +she said. + +Evelyn confessed it, and her hostess smiled meaningly. "Are ye no rather +ready to blame?" + +"I'm afraid I am," said Evelyn, with the colour creeping into her face, +as she remembered an instance in which she had condemned another person +hastily. + +"In this case," said her companion, "ye were very foolish. The man came +down for help, and if he could not get it, he would go back his lone; if +all the way was barred with ice and he must walk on his naked feet. Love +of woman's strong and the fear of death is keen, but ye will find now +and then a faith between man and man that neither would sever." She +paused and looked at the girl fixedly as she asked: "What of him that +could inspire it?" + +Evelyn did not answer. She had never seen her hostess in this mood, and +she was also stirred; but the elder lady went on again: "The virtue of a +gift lies in part, but no altogether, with the giver. Whiles, it may be +bestowed unworthily, but I'm thinking it's no often. The bond that will +drag Carroll back to the North again, to his death if it is needful, has +no been spun from nothing." + +Evelyn had no doubt that Mrs. Nairn was right. Loyalty, most often, +demanded a worthy object to tender service to; it sprang from implicit +confidence, mutual respect, and strong appreciation. It was not without +a reason Vane had inspired it in his comrade's breast; and this was the +man she had condemned. The latter fact, however, was by comparison a +very minor trouble. Vane was lying, helpless and alone, in the snowy +wilderness, in peril of his life, and she knew that she loved him. She +realised now, when it might be too late, that had he in reality been +stained with dishonour, she could have forgiven him. Indeed, it had only +been by a painful effort she had maintained some show of composure since +Carroll had brought the disastrous news and she felt she could not keep +it up much longer. + +What she said to Mrs. Nairn she could not remember, but escaping from +her, she retired to her own room, to lie still and grapple with an agony +of fear and contrition. + +It was two hours later when she went down and found Carroll, who still +looked drowsy, about to go out. His hostess had left him for a moment in +the hall, and meeting the girl's eyes, he smiled at her reassuringly. + +"Don't be anxious; I'll bring him back," he said. + +Then Mrs. Nairn appeared, and in a few moments Carroll went out without +another word to Evelyn. She did not ask herself why he had taken it for +granted that she would be anxious; she was beyond any petty regard for +appearances. It was consoling to remember that he was Vane's tried +comrade; one of the men who kept their word. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +JESSIE'S CONTRITION. + + +After leaving Mrs. Nairn, Carroll walked towards Horsfield's residence +in a thoughtful mood, because he felt it incumbent upon him to play a +part he was not particularly fitted for in a somewhat delicate matter. +Uncongenial as his task was, it was one which could not be left to Vane, +who was even less to be trusted with the handling of such affairs; and +Carroll had resolved, as he would have described it, to straighten out +things. + +His partner had somehow offended Evelyn, and though she was now disposed +to forgive him, the recollection of his suppositious iniquity might +afterwards rankle in her mind. Though Vane was innocent of any conduct +she could with reason take exception to, it was first of all needful to +ascertain the exact nature of the charge against him. Carroll, who had +for several reasons preferred not to press this question upon Evelyn, +had a strong suspicion that Jessie Horsfield was at the bottom of the +trouble. There was also a clue to follow--Vane had paid the rent of +Celia Hartley's shack; and he wondered if Jessie could by any means have +heard of it. If she had done so the matter would be simplified, because +he had a profound distrust of her. A recent action of hers was, he +thought, sufficient to justify this attitude. + +He found her at home, reclining gracefully in an easy-chair in her +drawing-room, and though she did not seem astonished to see him, he +fancied her expression hinted at suppressed concern. + +"I heard you had arrived alone, and I intended to come over and make +inquiries as soon as I thought Mrs. Nairn would be at liberty," she +informed him. + +Carroll had found the direct attack effective in Evelyn's case, and he +determined to try it again. "Then," he began, "it says a good deal for +your courage." He had never doubted that she possessed the latter +quality, and she displayed it now. + +"So," she said calmly, "you have come as an enemy." + +"Not exactly; it didn't seem worth while. Though there's no doubt you +betrayed us--Vane waited for the warning you could have sent--so far as +it concerns our ruined interests in the Clermont, the thing's done and +can't be mended. We'll let that question go. The most important point is +that if you had recalled us, as you promised, Vane would now be safe and +sound." + +This shot told. The girl's face became less imperturbable; there was +eagerness and a suggestion of fear in it. "Then has any accident +happened to him?" she asked sharply. + +"He's lying in the bush, helpless, in imminent peril of starvation." + +"Go on," said the girl, with signs of strain clearly perceptible in her +voice. + +Carroll was brief, but he made her understand the position, after which +she turned upon him imperiously. "Then why are you wasting your time +here?" + +"It's a reasonable question. I can't get a tug to take me back until +noon to-morrow." + +"Ah!" said Jessie, and added: "You will excuse me for a minute." + +She left him astonished. He had not expected her to take him at a +disadvantage, as she had done with her previous thrust, and now he did +not think she had slipped away to hide her feelings. That did not seem +necessary in Jessie's case, though he believed she was more or less +disturbed. She came back presently, looking calm, and sat down again. + +"My brother will be here in a quarter of an hour," she informed him. +"Things are rather slack, and he had half promised to take me for a +drive; I have called him up through the telephone." + +Carroll did not see how this bore upon the subject of their +conversation, but he left her to take the lead. + +"Did Vane tell you I had promised to warn him?" she asked. + +"To do him justice, he let it out before he quite realised what he was +saying. I'd better own that I partly surprised him into giving me the +information." + +"The expedient seems a favourite one with you," said Jessie. "I suppose +no news of what has happened here can have reached him?" + +"None. If it's any consolation, he has still an unshaken confidence in +you." Carroll assured her with blunt bitterness. + +The girl showed faint signs of confusion, but she sat silent for the +next few moments, and during them it flashed upon her companion with +illuminating light that he had heard Celia Hartley say Miss Horsfield +had found her orders for millinery. This confirmed his previous +suspicion that Jessie had discovered who had paid the rent of Celia's +shack, and that she had with deliberate malice informed Evelyn, +distorting her account so that it would tell against Vane. There were +breaks in the chain of reasoning which led him to this conclusion, but +he did not think Jessie would shrink from such a course, and he +determined to try a chance shot. + +"Vane's inclined to be trustful and his rash generosity has once or +twice got him into trouble," he remarked, and went on as if an +explanation were needed: "It's Miss Hartley's case I'm thinking about +just now. I've an idea he asked you to look after her. Am I right?" + +As soon as he had spoken he knew he had hit the mark. Jessie did not +openly betray herself, but there are not many people who can remain +absolutely unmoved when unexpectedly asked a startling question. +Besides, the man was observant, and had strung up all his faculties for +the encounter. He saw one of her hands tighten on the arm of her chair +and a hint of uneasiness in her eyes, and it sufficed him. + +"Yes," she said; "I recommended her to some of my friends. I understand +she is getting along satisfactorily." + +Carroll felt compelled to admire her manner. He believed she loved his +comrade and had nevertheless tried to ruin him in a fit of jealous rage. +She was now keenly regretting her success, but though he thought she +deserved to suffer, she was bravely facing the trying situation. It was +one that was rife with dramatic possibilities, and he was grateful to +her for avoiding them. + +"You are going back to-morrow," she said after a brief silence. "I +suppose you will have to tell your partner what you have discovered here +as soon as you reach him?" + +Carroll had not intended to spare her, but now he felt almost +compassionate, and he had one grain of comfort to offer. "I must tell +him that his shares in the Clermont have been sacrificed. I wonder if +that is all you meant?" + +Jessie met his inquiring gaze with something very like an appeal; and +then spread out her hands in a manner to indicate that she threw herself +upon his mercy. + +"It is not all I meant," she confessed. + +"Then, if it's any relief to you, I'll confine myself to telling him +that he has been deprived of his most valuable property. I dare say the +news will hit him hard enough; but though he may afterwards discover +other facts for himself, on the whole I shouldn't consider it likely. As +I said, he's confiding and slow to suspect." + +He read genuine gratitude, which he had hardly expected, in the girl's +face; but he raised his hand and went on in the rather formal manner +which he felt was the only safe one to assume. "I had, however, better +mention that I am going to call upon Miss Hartley. After that I shall be +uncommonly thankful to start back for the bush." He paused, and +concluded with a sudden trace of humour: "I'll own that I feel more at +home with the work that waits me there." + +Jessie made a little gesture which, while it might have meant anything, +was somehow very expressive, and just then there were footsteps outside. +Next moment Horsfield walked into the room. + +"So you're back," he said. + +"Yes," said Carroll shortly. "Beaten at both ends--there's no use in +hiding it." + +Horsfield showed no sign of satisfaction, and Carroll afterwards +admitted that the man behaved very considerately. + +"Well," he said, "though you may be surprised to hear it, I'm sorry. +Unfortunately, our interests clashed, and I naturally looked after mine. +Once upon a time, I thought I could have worked hand in hand with Vane; +but our ideas did not coincide, and your partner is not the man to yield +a point or listen to advice." + +Carroll was aware that Horsfield had by means which were far from +honourable deprived him of a considerable portion of his possessions. He +had also betrayed his fellow shareholders in the Clermont mine, selling +their interests, doubtless for some benefit to himself, to another +company. For all that, Carroll recognised that since he and Vane were +beaten, as he had confessed, recriminations and reproaches would be +useless as well as undignified. He preferred to face defeat calmly. + +"It's the fortune of war," he replied. "What you say about Vane is +correct; but although it is not a matter of much importance now, it was +impossible from the beginning that your views and his ever should +agree." + +"Too great a difference of temperament? I dare say you're right. Vane +measures things by a different standard--mine's perhaps more adapted to +the market-place. But where have you left him?" + +"In the bush. Miss Horsfield will, no doubt, give you particulars; I've +just told her the tale." + +"She called me up at the office and asked me to come across at once. +Will you excuse us for a few minutes?" + +They went out together, and Jessie, who came back alone, sat down and +looked at Carroll in a diffident manner. + +"I suppose," she said, "one could hardly expect you to think of either +of us very leniently; but I must ask you to believe that I am sincerely +distressed to hear of your partner's accident. This was a thing I could +never have anticipated; but there are amends I can make. Every minute +you can save is precious, isn't it?" + +Carroll agreed, and she resumed: "Then I can get you a tug. My brother +tells me the Atlin's coming across from Victoria and should be here +early this evening. He has gone back to the office to secure her for +you, though she was fixed to go off for a log boom." + +"Thank you," said Carroll. "It's a great service." + +Jessie hesitated. "I think my brother would like to say a few words when +he returns. Can I offer you some tea?" + +"I think not," said Carroll, smiling. "For one thing, if I sit still +much longer, I shall, no doubt, go to sleep again, as I did at Nairn's, +which would be neither seemly nor convenient, if I'm to sail this +evening. Besides, now we've arranged an armistice, it might be wiser not +to put too much strain on it!" + +"An armistice?" + +"I think that describes it." Carroll's manner grew significant. "The +word implies a cessation of hostilities--on certain terms." + +Jessie could take a hint, and his meaning was clear. Unless she forced +him to do so, he would not betray her to his comrade, who might never +discover the part she had played; but he had given her a warning, which +might be bluntly rendered as, "Hands off." There was only one course +open to her--to respect it. She had brought down the man she loved, but +it was clear that he was not for her, and now the unreasoning fury which +had driven her to strike had passed, she was troubled with contrition. +There was nothing left except to retire from the field, and it was +better to do so gracefully. For all that, there were signs of strain in +her expression as she capitulated. + +"Well," she said, "I have given you a proof that you have nothing to +fear from me. My brother is the only man in Vancouver who could have got +you that tug for this evening; I understand the saw-mill people are very +much in need of the logs she was engaged to tow." + +She held out her hand and Carroll took it, though he had not expected to +part from her on friendly terms. + +"I owe you a deal for that," he said and turned away. + +His task, however, was only half complete when he left the house, and +the remaining portion was the more difficult, but he meant to finish it. +He preferred to take life lightly; he had trifled with it before +disaster had driven him out into the wilds; but there was resolution in +the man, and he could force himself to play an unpleasant part when it +was needful. Fortune also favoured him, as she often does those who +follow the boldest course. + +He had entered Hastings Street when he met Kitty and Celia. The latter +looked thin and somewhat pale, but she was moving briskly, and her face +was eager when she shook hands with him. + +"We have been anxious about you--there was no news," she said. "Is Mr. +Vane with you? How have you got on?" + +"We found the spruce," said Carroll. "It's not worth milling--a forest +fire has wiped most of it out--but we struck some shingling cedar we may +make something of." + +"But where's Mr. Vane?" + +"In the bush; I've a good deal to tell you about him, but we can't talk +here. I wonder if we could find a quiet place in a restaurant, or if the +park would be better." + +"The park," said Kitty decidedly. + +They reached it in due time and Carroll, who had refused to say anything +about Vane on the way, found the girls a seat in a grove of giant firs +and sat down opposite to them. Though it was winter, the day, as is +often the case near Vancouver, was pleasantly mild. + +"Now," he began, "my partner is a singularly unfortunate person. In the +first place, the transfer of the Clermont property, which you have no +doubt heard of, means a serious loss to him, though he is not ruined +yet. He talks of putting up a shingling mill, in which Drayton will be +of service, and if things turn out satisfactory you will be given an +interest in it." + +He added the last sentence as an experiment, and was satisfied with the +result. + +"Never mind our interests," cried Kitty. "What about Mr. Vane?" + +For the third time since his arrival, Carroll made the strongest appeal +he could to womanly pity, drawing with a purpose a vivid picture of his +comrade's peril and suffering. Nor was he disappointed, for he saw +consternation, compassion, and sympathy in the girls' faces. So far, the +thing had been easy, but now he hesitated, and it was with difficulty he +nerved himself for what must follow. + +"He has been beaten out of his stock in the mine; he's broken down in +health and in danger; but, by comparison, that doesn't count for very +much with him," he continued. "He has another trouble, and though I'm +afraid I'm giving things away in mentioning it, if it could be got over, +it would help him to face the future and set him on his feet again." + +Then he briefly recounted the story of Vane's regard for Evelyn, making +the most of his sacrifice in withdrawing from the field, and again he +realised that he had acted wisely. A love affair appealed to his +listeners, and there was a romance in this one that heightened the +effect of it. + +"But Miss Chisholm can't mean to turn from him now," said Celia. + +Carroll looked at her meaningly. "No; she turned from him before he +sailed. She heard something about him." + +His companions appeared astonished. "But she couldn't have heard +anything that anybody could mind," Kitty exclaimed indignantly. "He's +not that kind of man." + +"It's a compliment," said Carroll. "I think he deserves it. At the same +time, he's a little rash, and now and then a man's generosity is open to +misconception. In this case, I don't think one could altogether blame +Miss Chisholm." + +Kitty glanced at him sharply and then at Celia, who at first looked +puzzled and afterwards startled. Then the blood surged into Kitty's +cheeks. "Oh!" she said, as if she were breathless, "I was once afraid of +something like this. You mean we're the cause of it?" + +The course he followed was hateful to Carroll, but the tangle could not +be straightened without somebody's feelings being hurt, and it was his +comrade he was most concerned about. + +"Yes," he said quietly; "I believe you understand the situation." + +He saw the fire in Kitty's eyes and that Celia's face was also flushed, +but he did not think their anger was directed against him. They knew the +world they lived in, and, for that matter, he could share their +indignation. He resented the fact that a little thing should bring such +swift suspicion upon them. He was, however, not required to face any +disconcerting climax. + +"Well," said Celia, "why did you tell us this?" + +"I think you both owe Vane something, and you can do him a great favour +now," Carroll informed her. + +Kitty looked up at him. "Don't ask me too much, Mr. Carroll. I'm Irish, +and I feel like killing somebody." + +"It's natural," said Carroll, with a sympathetic smile. "I've now and +then felt much the same thing; it's probably unavoidable in a world like +this. However, I think you ought to call upon Miss Chisholm, after I've +gone, though you had better not mention that I sent you. You can say you +came for news of Vane--and add anything you consider necessary." + +The girls looked at one another, and at length, though it obviously cost +her a struggle, Kitty said to Celia firmly: "We will have to go." Then +she faced round towards Carroll. "If Miss Chisholm won't believe us +she'll be sorry we came." + +Carroll made her a slight inclination. "She'll deserve it, if she's not +convinced. But it might be better if you didn't approach her in the mood +you're in just now." + +Kitty rose, signing to Celia, and he turned back with them towards the +city, feeling a certain constraint in their company and yet conscious of +a strong relief. It had grown dark when he returned to Nairn's house. + +"Where have ye been?" his host inquired. "I had a clerk seeking ye all +round the city. I cannot get ye a boat before the morn." + +Carroll saw that Mrs. Nairn shared her husband's desire to learn how he +had been occupied. Evelyn was also in the room. + +"There were one or two little matters that required attention, and I +managed to arrange them satisfactorily," he said. "Among other things, +I've got a tug and I expect to sail in an hour or two. Miss Horsfield +found me the vessel." + +He noticed Evelyn's interest, and was rather pleased to see it. If she +were disposed to be jealous of Jessie, it could do no harm. Nairn, +however, frowned. + +"I'm thinking it might have been better if ye had not troubled Jessie," +he commented. + +"I'm sorry I can't agree with you," Carroll retorted. "The difference +between this evening and noon to-morrow is a big consideration." + +"Weel," said Nairn resignedly, "I canna deny that." + +Carroll changed the subject, but some time later Mrs. Nairn sat down +near him in the temporary absence of her husband and Evelyn. + +"We will no be disturbed for two or three minutes," she said. "Ye +answered Alec like a Scotsman before supper and put him off the track, +though that's no so easy done." + +"You're too complimentary," he declared. "The genuine Caledonian caution +can't be acquired by outsiders. It's a gift." + +"I'll no practise it now," said the lady. "Ye'er no so proud of yourself +for nothing. What have ye been after?" + +Carroll crossed his finger tips and looked at her over them. "Since you +ask the question, I may say this: If Miss Chisholm has two lady visitors +during the next few days, you might make sure she sees them." + +"What are their names?" + +"Miss Hartley, the daughter of the prospector who sent Vane off to look +for the timber; Miss Blake who, as you have probably heard, once came +down the west coast with him, in company with an elderly lady and +myself." + +Mrs. Nairn started; then she looked thoughtful, and finally broke into a +smile of open appreciation. + +"Now," she said, "I understand. I did not think it of ye. Ye're no far +from a genius." + +"Thanks," said Carroll modestly. "I believe I succeeded better than I +could have expected, and perhaps than I deserved." + +Then they were interrupted, for Nairn walked hastily into the room. + +"There's one of the Atlin's deck hands below," he announced. "He's come +on here from Horsfield's to say the boat's ready with a full head of +steam up, and the packers ye hired are waiting on the wharf." + +Carroll rose and became in a moment intent and eager. "Tell him I'll be +down almost as soon as he is," he said. "You'll have to excuse me." + +Two minutes later, he left the house, and fervent good wishes followed +him from the party on the stoop. He did not stop to acknowledge them, +but shortly afterwards the blast of a whistle came ringing across the +roofs from beside the water-front. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +CONVINCING TESTIMONY. + + +One afternoon three or four days after Carroll had sailed, Evelyn sat +alone in Mrs. Nairn's drawing-room, a prey to confused regrets and keen +anxiety. She had recovered from the first shock caused by Carroll's +news, but though she could face the situation more calmly, she could +find no comfort anywhere--Vane was lying helpless and famishing, in the +frost-bound wilderness. She knew she loved the man; indeed, she had +really known it for some time, and it was that which had made Jessie's +revelation so bitter. Now, fastidious in thought and feeling as she was, +she wondered if she had been too hard upon him; it was becoming more and +more difficult to believe that he could have justified her disgust and +anger, but this was not what troubled her most. She had sent him away +with cold disfavour; he was threatened by many dangers; it was horrible +to think of what might befall him before assistance arrived, and yet she +could not drive the haunting dread out of her mind. + +She was in this mood when a maid announced that two visitors wished to +see her; and when they were shown in, she found it difficult to hide her +astonishment as she recognised in Kitty the very attractive girl she had +once seen in Vane's company. It was this which prompted her to assume a +chilling manner, though she asked her guests to be seated. Neither of +them appeared altogether at her ease, and there was, indeed, a rather +ominous sparkle in Kitty's blue eyes. The latter began the conversation. + +"Mr. Carroll was in town not long ago," she said. "Have you had any news +of him since he sailed?" + +Evelyn did not know what to make of the question, and she answered +coldly: "No; we do not expect any word for some time." + +"I'm sorry," said Kitty. "We're anxious about Mr. Vane." + +On the surface, the announcement appeared significant, but the girls' +boldness in coming to her for news was unexplainable to Evelyn. Puzzled +as she was, her attitude became more discouraging. + +"You know him, then?" she said. + +Something in her tone made Celia's cheeks burn and she drew herself up. + +"Yes," she said; "we know him, both of us; I guess it's astonishing to +you; but I met him first when he was poor, and getting rich hasn't +spoiled Mr. Vane." + +Evelyn was once more puzzled--the girl's manner savoured less of +assurance than of wholesome pride which had been injured. Kitty, +however, broke in: + +"We had no cards to send in; but I'm Kathleen Blake, and this is Celia +Hartley--it was her father sent Mr. Vane off to look for the spruce." + +"Ah!" said Evelyn, a little more gently, addressing Celia; "I understand +your father died." + +Kitty flashed a commanding glance at Celia, who spoke: "Yes; that is +correct. He left me ill and worn out, without a dollar, and I don't know +what I should have done if Mr. Vane hadn't insisted on giving Drayton a +little money for me, on account, he said, because I was a partner in the +venture. Then Miss Horsfield got me some work to do at home among her +friends. Mr. Vane must have asked her to: it would be like him." + +Evelyn sat silent for a few moments. Celia had given her a good deal of +information in answer to a very simple remark; but she was most +impressed by the statement that Jessie, who had prejudiced her against +Vane, had helped the girl at his request. It was difficult to believe +she would have done so had there been any foundation for her +insinuations. If Celia spoke the truth, and Evelyn somehow felt this was +the case, the whole thing was extraordinary. + +"Now," said Celia, "it's no way surprising I'm grateful to Mr. Vane and +anxious to hear if Mr. Carroll has reached him." This was spoken with a +hint of defiance, but the girl's voice changed. "I am anxious. It's +horrible to think of a man like him freezing in the bush." + +Her concern was so genuine and yet somehow so innocent that Evelyn's +heart softened. + +"Yes," she said; "it's dreadful." Then she asked a question: "Who's the +Mr. Drayton you mentioned?" + +Kitty blushed becomingly; this was her lead. "He's a kind of partner in +the lumber scheme; I'm going to marry him. He's as firm a friend of Mr. +Vane's as any one. There's a reason for that--I was in a very tight +place once, left without money in a desolate settlement where there was +nothing I could do, when Mr. Vane helped me. But, perhaps, that wouldn't +interest you." + +For a moment her doubts still clung to their hold in Evelyn's mind; and +then she suddenly drove the last of them out, with a stinging sense of +humiliation. She could not distrust this girl; it was Jessie's +suggestion that was incredible. + +"It would interest me very much," she said. + +Kitty told her story effectively, but with caution, laying most stress +upon Vane's compassion for the child and her invalid mother. She was +rather impressed by Miss Chisholm, but she supposed the latter was +endowed with some of the failings common to human nature. + +Evelyn listened to her with confused emotions and a softened face. She +was convinced of the truth of the simple tale, and the thought of Vane's +keeping his monied friends and directors waiting in Vancouver in order +that a tired child might rest and gather shells upon a sunny beach +stirred her deeply. It was so characteristic; exactly what she would +have expected him to do. + +"Thank you," she said quietly when Kitty had finished; and then, +flinging off the last of her reserve, she asked a number of questions +about Drayton and Celia's affairs. Before her visitors left all three +were on friendly terms, but Evelyn was glad when they took their +departure. + +She wanted to be alone to think, though, in spite of the relief she was +conscious of, her thoughts were far from pleasant, and foremost among +them figured a crushing sense of shame. She had wickedly misjudged a man +who had given her many proofs of the fineness of his character; the evil +she had imputed to him was born of her own perverted imagination. She +was no better than the narrow-minded, conventional Pharisees she +detested, who were swift to condemn out of the uncleanness of their +self-righteous hearts. Then, as she began to reason, it flashed upon her +that she was, perhaps, wronging herself. Her mind had been cunningly +poisoned by an utterly unscrupulous and wholly detestable woman, and she +flamed out into a fit of imperious anger against Jessie. She had a hazy +idea that this was not altogether reasonable, since she was to some +extent fastening the blame she deserved upon another person; but it did +not detract from the comfort the indulgence in her indignation brought +her. + +When she had grown calmer, Mrs. Nairn came in, and Mrs. Nairn was a +discerning lady. It was not difficult to lead Evelyn on to speak of her +visitors, for the girl's pride was broken and she felt in urgent need of +sympathy; but when she had described the interview she felt impelled to +avoid any discussion of its more important issues. + +"I was surprised at the girl's manner," she concluded. "It must have +been embarrassing to them; but they were really so delicate over it, and +they had so much courage." + +Mrs. Nairn smiled. "Although one has travelled with third-rate strolling +companies and the other has waited in an hotel? Weel, maybe your +surprise was natural. Ye cannot all at once get rid of the ideas and +prejudices ye were brought up with." + +"I suppose that was it," said Evelyn thoughtfully. + +Her companion's eyes twinkled. "Then, if ye're to live among us happily, +ye'll have to try. In the way ye use the words, some of the leading men +in this country were no brought up at all." + +"Do you imagine that I'm going to live here?" + +Mrs. Nairn gathered up one or two articles she had brought into the room +with her and moved towards the door, but before she reached it she +looked back at the girl. + +"It occurred to me that the thing was no altogether impossible," she +said. + +An hour afterwards, Evelyn went down into the town with her, and in one +of the streets they came upon Jessie leaving a store. The latter was not +lacking in assurance and she moved forward to meet them, but Evelyn +gazed at her with a total disregard of her presence and walked quietly +on. There was neither anger nor disdain in her attitude; to have shown +either would have been a concession she could not make. The instincts of +generations of gently-reared Englishwomen were aroused, as well as the +revulsion of an untainted nature from something unclean. + +Jessie's cheeks turned crimson and a malevolent light flashed into her +eyes as she crossed the street. Mrs. Nairn noticed her expression and +smiled at her companion. + +"I'm thinking it's as weel ye met Jessie after she had got the boat for +Carroll," she said. + +The remark was no doubt justified, but the fact that Jessie had been +able to offer valuable assistance failed to soften Evelyn towards her. +It was merely another offence. + +In the meanwhile the tug had steamed northwards, towing the sloop which +would be required, and, after landing the rescue party at the inlet, +steamed away again. Before she had disappeared Carroll began his march, +and his companions long remembered it. Two of them were accustomed to +packing surveyors' stores through the seldom-trodden bush, and the +others had worked in logging camps and chopped new roads; but though +they did not spare themselves, they lacked their leader's stimulus. +Carroll, with all his love of ease, could rise to meet an emergency, and +he wore out his companions before the journey was half done. He scarcely +let them sleep; he fed them on canned stuff to save delay in lighting +fires, and he grew more feverishly impatient with every mile they made. +He showed it chiefly by the tight set of his lips and the tension in his +face, though now and then, when fallen branches or thickets barred the +way, he fell upon the obstacles with the axe in silent fury. For the +rest, he took the lead and kept it, and the others, following with +shoulders aching from the pack straps, and laboured breath, suppressed +their protests. + +Like many another made in that country, it was an heroic journey, one in +which mind and body were taxed to the limit. Delay might prove fatal; +the loads were heavy. Fatigue seized the shrinking flesh, but the +unrelenting will, trained in such adventures, mercilessly spurred it on. +Toughened muscle is useful and in the trackless North can seldom be +dispensed with; but man's strength does not consist of that alone; there +are occasions when the stalwart fall behind and die. + +In front of them, as they progressed, lay the unchanging forest, +tangled, choked with fallen wreckage, laced here and there with stabbing +thorns; appalling and almost impenetrable to the stranger. They must +cleave their passage, except where they could take to the creek for an +easier way and wade through stingingly cold water or flounder over +slippery fangs of rock and ice-encrusted stones. There was sharp frost +among the ranges and the brush they broke through was generally burdened +with clogging snow. They went on, however, and on the last day Carroll +drew away from those who followed him. It was dark when he discovered +that he had lost them, but that did not matter, for now and then faint +moonlight came filtering down and he was leaving a plain trail behind. +His shoulders were bleeding beneath the biting straps; he was on the +verge of exhaustion; but he struggled forward, panting heavily, and +rending his garments to rags as he smashed through the brakes in the +darkness. + +The night--it seemed a very long one--was nearly over, when he +recognised the roar of a rapid that rang in louder and louder pulsations +across the snow-sprinkled bush. He was not far from the end now, and he +became conscious of an unnerving fear. The ground was ascending sharply +and when he reached the top of the slope the question he shrank from +would be answered for him; if there was no blink of light among the +serried trunks, he would have come too late. + +He reached the summit and his heart jumped; then he clutched at a +drooping branch to support himself, shaken by a reaction that sprang +from relief. A flicker of uncertain radiance fell upon the trees ahead +and down the bitter wind there came the reek of pungent smoke. After +that, for the bush was slightly more open, Carroll believed he ran, and +presently came crashing and stumbling into the light of the fire. Then +he stopped, too stirred and out of breath to speak, for Vane lay where +the red glow fell upon his face, smiling up at him. + +"Well," he said, "you've come. I've been expecting you, but on the whole +I got along not so badly." + +Carroll flung off his pack and sat down beside the fire; then he fumbled +for his pipe and began to fill it hurriedly with trembling fingers. + +"Sorry I couldn't get through sooner," he explained. "The stores on +board the sloop were spoiled; I had to go on to Vancouver. But there are +things to eat in my pack." + +"Hand it across," said Vane. "I haven't been faring sumptuously the last +few days. No, sit still; I'm supple enough from the waist up." + +He proved it by the way he leaned to and fro as he opened the pack and +distributed part of its contents among the cooking utensils, while +Carroll, who assisted now and then, did not care to speak. The sight of +the man's gaunt face and the eagerness in his eyes prompted him to an +outbreak of feeling which was rather foreign to his nature and which he +did not think Vane would appreciate. When the meal was ready, the latter +looked up at him. + +"I've no doubt this journey cost you something, partner," he said. + +Then they ate cheerfully, and Carroll, who watched his friend's efforts +with appreciation, told his story in broken sentences--sometimes with +his mouth rather full, for he had not troubled about much cooking since +he left the inlet. Afterwards, they lighted their pipes, but by and by +Carroll's fell from his relaxing grasp. + +"I can't get over this sleepiness," he explained. "I believe I disgraced +myself in Vancouver by going off in the most unsuitable places." + +"I dare say it was natural," said Vane with some dryness. "Anyway, +hadn't you better hitch yourself a little farther from the fire?" + +Carroll did so and lay still afterwards, but Vane kept watch during the +rest of the night, until in the dawn the packers appeared. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +VANE IS REINSTATED. + + +Breakfast was over and the two men, wrapped in blankets, lay on opposite +sides of the fire. Now that they had a supply of provisions, haste was +not a matter of importance, and the rescue party needed a rest. Carroll +was aching all over his body and somewhat disturbed in mind, because he +had not said anything about their financial affairs to his comrade yet, +and the subject must be mentioned. + +"What about the Clermont?" Vane asked at length. "You needn't trouble +about breaking the news; come right to the point." + +"Then to all intents and purposes the company has gone under; it's been +taken over by Horsfield's friends. Nairn has sold our stock--at +considerably less than its face value"; and Carroll added a brief +account of the absorption of the concern. + +"Ah!" said Vane, whose face set hard. "I anticipated something of the +kind last night; I saw how you kept clear of the matter." + +"But you said nothing." + +"No," said Vane. "I'd had time to consider the thing while I lay here, +and it didn't look as if I could have got an intelligible account out of +you. But you may as well mention how much Nairn got for the shares." + +He lay smoking silently for a few minutes after Carroll told him, and +the latter was strongly moved to sympathy since he thought it was not +his financial reverse but one indirect result of it which would hit his +comrade hardest. + +"Well," said Vane grimly, "I suppose I've done what my friends would +consider a mad thing in coming up here, and I must face the reckoning." + +Carroll wondered if their conversation could be confined to the surface +of the subject, because there were depths it would be better to leave +undisturbed. + +"After all, you're far from broke," he said as cheerfully as he could. +"You have what the Clermont stock brought in, and you may make something +out of this shingle-splitting scheme." + +There was bitterness in Vane's laugh. "When I left Vancouver for +England, I was generally supposed to be well on the way to affluence, +and there was some foundation for the idea. I had floated the Clermont +in the face of opposition; people believed in me; I could have raised +what dollars I required for any new undertaking. Now a good deal of my +money and my prestige is gone: folks have very little confidence in a +man who has shown himself a failure. Besides, I may be a cripple." + +Carroll could guess his companion's thoughts. There was a vein of +stubborn pride in him, and he had, no doubt, decided it was unfitting +that Evelyn's future should be linked to that of a ruined man. This was +an exaggerated view, because Vane was in reality far from ruined, and +even if he had been so, he had in him the ability to recover from his +misfortunes. Still, the man was obstinate and generally ready to make a +sacrifice for an idea. Carroll, however, consoled himself with the +reflection that Evelyn would probably have something to say upon the +subject if she were given an opportunity, and he thought Mrs. Nairn +would contrive that she had one. + +"I can't see any benefit in making things out as considerably worse than +they are," he said. + +"Nor can I," Vane agreed. "After all, I was getting pretty tired of the +city, and I suppose I can raise enough to put up a small-power mill. It +will be a pleasant change to take charge for a year or two in the bush. +I'll make a start at the thing as soon as I'm able to walk." + +This was significant, because it implied that he did not intend to +remain in Vancouver, where he would have been able to enjoy Evelyn's +company; but Carroll made no comment, and by and by Vane spoke again. + +"Didn't you mention last night that it was through Miss Horsfield you +got the tug?" he asked. "I was thinking about something else at the +time." + +"Yes," said Carroll. "She made Horsfield put some pressure on the people +who had previously hired the boat." + +"Ah!" said Vane, "that's rather strange." + +For a moment he looked puzzled, but almost immediately his face grew +impassive, and Carroll knew that he had some idea of Jessie's treachery. +He was, however, sure that any suspicions his comrade entertained would +remain locked up in his breast. + +"I'm grateful to her, anyway," the latter resumed. "I believe I could +have held out another day or two, but it wouldn't have been pleasant." + +Carroll began to talk about the preparations for their return, which he +soon afterwards set about making, and early next morning they started +for the sloop, carrying Vane upon a stretcher they had brought. Though +they had to cut a passage for it every here and there, they reached the +vessel safely, and after some trouble in getting him below and on to a +locker, Carroll decided to sail straight for Vancouver. They were +favoured with moderate fair winds, and though the boat was uncomfortably +crowded, she made a quick passage and stole in through the Narrows as +dusk was closing down one tranquil evening. + +As it happened, Evelyn had spent part of the afternoon on the +forest-crested rise above the city, up which new dwellings were then +creeping, though they have, no doubt, spread beyond it and back into the +bush by now. From there she could look down upon the inlet and she had +visited the spot frequently during the last few days, watching eagerly +for a sail that did not appear. There had been no news of Carroll since +the skipper of the tug reported having landed him, and the girl was +tormented by doubts and anxieties. She had just come back and was +standing in Mrs. Nairn's sitting-room, when she heard the tinkle of the +telephone bell. A moment or two later her hostess entered hastily. + +"It's a message from Alec," she cried. "He's heard from the wharf: +Vane's sloop's crossing the harbour. I'll away down to see Carroll +brings him here." + +Evelyn turned to follow her, but Mrs. Nairn waved her back. "No," she +said firmly, "ye'll bide where ye are. See they get plenty lights on--at +the stair-head and in the passage--and the room on the left of it +ready." + +She was gone in another moment and Evelyn, who carried out her +instructions, afterwards waited with what patience she could assume. At +last there was a rattle of wheels outside, followed by a voice giving +orders, and then a tramp of feet. The sounds brought her a strange +inward shrinking, but she ran to the door, and saw two tattered men +awkwardly carrying a stretcher up the steps, while Carroll and another +assisted them. Then the light fell upon its burden, and half prepared as +she was, she started in dismay. Vane, whom she had last seen in vigorous +health, lay partly covered with an old blanket which had slipped off him +to the waist, and his jacket looked a mass of rags. His hat had fallen +aside, and his face showed hollow and worn and pinched. Then he saw her +and a light sprang into his eyes, but next moment Carroll's shoulder hid +him, and the men plodded on towards the stairs. They ascended them with +difficulty, and the girl waited until Carroll came down. + +"I noticed you at the door, and I expect you were a little shocked at +the change in Vane," he said. "What he has undergone has pulled him +down, but if you had seen him when I first found him, you'd have been +worse startled. He's getting on quite satisfactorily." + +Evelyn was relieved to hear it; but Carroll, who had paused, continued: +"As soon as the doctor comes, we'll make him more presentable; but as +I'm not sure about the last bandages I put on, he can't be moved till +then. Afterwards, he'll no doubt hold an audience." + +There was nothing to do but wait, and Evelyn again summoned her +patience. Before long a doctor arrived, and Carroll followed him to +Vane's room alone. The latter's face was very impassive, though Carroll +waited in tense suspense while the doctor stripped off the bandages and +bark supports from the injured leg. He examined it attentively, and then +looked round at Carroll. + +"You fixed that limb when it was broken in the bush?" he said. + +"Yes," said Carroll, with a desperate attempt to treat the matter +humourously. "But I really think we both had a hand in the thing. My +partner favoured me with his views; I disclaim some of the +responsibility." + +"Then I guess you've been remarkably fortunate, which is perhaps the +best way of expressing it." + +Vane raised his head and fixed his eyes upon the speaker. "It won't have +to be rebroken? I'll be able to walk without a limp?" + +"I should say the latter's very probable." + +Vane's eyes glistened and he let his head fall back. + +"It's good news; better than I expected. Now if you could fix me up +again, I'd like to get dressed. I've felt like a hobo long enough." + +The doctor nodded indulgently. "We can venture to change that state of +affairs, but I'll superintend the operation." + +It was some time before Vane's toilet was completed, and then Carroll +surveyed him with humorous admiration. + +"You do us credit, and now I suppose I can announce that you'll +receive?" he said. + +Nairn and his wife and Evelyn came in, and the former, who shook hands +with Vane very heartily, afterwards looked down at him with twinkling +eyes. + +"I'd have been glad to see ye, however ye had come," he said, and Vane +fully believed him. "For a' that, this is no the way I could have wished +to welcome ye." + +"When a man won't take his friends' advice, what can he expect?" said +Vane. + +"Let it be a warning. If the making of your mark and dollars is your +object, ye must stick to it and think of nothing else. Ye cannot +accumulate riches by spreading yourself, and philanthropy's no +lucrative, except maybe to a few." + +"It's good counsel, but I'm thinking that's a pity," his wife remarked. +"What would ye say, Evelyn?" + +The girl was aware that the tone of light banter had been adopted to +cover deeper feelings, which those present shrank from expressing; but +she ventured to give her thoughts free rein. + +"I agree with you in one respect," she said. "But I can't believe that +the object mentioned is Mr. Vane's only one. He would never be willing +to pay the necessary price." + +It was a delicate compliment, uttered in all sincerity, and Vane's worn +face grew warm. He was, however, conscious that it would be safer to +avoid being serious, and he smiled. + +"Well," he said, "looking for timber rights is apt to prove expensive, +too. I had a haunting fear I might be lame, until the doctor banished +it. I'd better own that I'd no great confidence in Carroll's surgery." + +Carroll, keeping strictly to the line the others had chosen, made him an +ironical bow, but Evelyn was not to be deterred. + +"It was foolish of you to be troubled," she declared. "It isn't a fault +to be wounded in an honourable fight, and even if the mark remains there +is no reason why one should be ashamed of it." + +Mrs. Nairn glanced at the girl rather sharply, but Carroll came to his +comrade's assistance. + +"Strictly speaking, there wasn't a wound," he pointed out. "Fortunately +it was what is known as a simple fracture. If it had been anything else, +I'm inclined to think I couldn't have treated it." + +Nairn chuckled, as if this met with his approval, but his wife turned +round and they heard a patter of footsteps on the stairs. + +"Yon bell has kept on ringing since we came up," she said. "I left word +I was no to be disturbed. Weel"--as the door opened--"what is it, +Minnie?" + +"The reception-room's plumb full," announced the maid, who was lately +from the bush. "If any more folks come along, I won't know where to put +them." + +Now the door was open, Evelyn could hear a murmur of voices on the floor +below, and next moment the bell rang violently again, which struck her +as a testimonial to the injured man. Vane had not spent a long time in +Vancouver, but he had the gift of making friends. Having heard of the +sloop's arrival, they had come to inquire for him, and there was +obviously a number of them. + +Mrs. Nairn glanced interrogatively at Carroll. "It does not look as if +they could be got rid of by a message." + +"I guess he's fit to see them," Carroll answered. "We'll hold the levee. +If he'd only let me, I'd like to pose him a bit." + +Mrs. Nairn, with Evelyn's assistance, did so instead, rearranging the +cushions about the man, in spite of his confused and half-indignant +protests; and during the next half hour the room was generally full. +People walked in, made sympathetic inquiries, or exchanged cheerful +banter, until Mrs. Nairn forcibly dismissed the last of them. After this +she declared that Vane must go to sleep, and paying no heed to his +assertion that he had not the least wish to do so, she led her remaining +companions away. + +A couple of hours had passed when she handed Evelyn a large tumbler +containing a preparation of whipped-up eggs and milk. + +"Ye might take him this and ask if he would like anything else," she +said. "I'm weary of the stairs and I would not trust Minnie. She's +handiest at spilling things." + +"It's the third and I'd better say firmly, the limit," Carroll remarked. +Then he assumed an aggrieved expression as Evelyn moved off with a tray. +"I can't see why I couldn't have gone. I believe I've discharged my +duties as nurse satisfactorily." + +Evelyn shared his suspicions. Her hostess's artifice was a transparent +one, but she nevertheless fell in with it. She had only seen Vane in the +company of others; this might be the same again to-morrow, and there was +something to be said. By intuition as much as reason, she knew that +there was something working in his mind, something that troubled him and +might trouble her. It excited her apprehension and animated her with a +desire to combat it. That she might be compelled to follow an +unconventional course did not matter. This man was hers--and she could +not let him go. + +She entered his room collectedly. He was lying, neatly dressed, upon a +couch, with his shoulders raised against the end of it, for he had +thrown the cushions which had supported him upon the floor. As she came +in, he leaned down in an attempt to recover them, and finding himself +too late, looked up guiltily. The fact that he could move with so much +freedom was a comfort to the girl. She set down the tray on a table near +him. + +"Mrs. Nairn has sent you this," she said, and the laugh they both +indulged in drew them together. + +Then her mood changed, and her heart yearned over him. He had gone away +a strong, self-confident, prosperous man, and he had come back defeated; +broken in health and fortune and terribly worn. Her pity shone in her +softening eyes. + +"Do you wish to sleep?" she asked. + +"No," Vane assured her; "I'd a good deal sooner talk to you." + +"Well," said Evelyn, "I have something to say. I'm afraid I was rather +unpleasant to you the evening before you sailed. I was sorry for it +afterwards; it was flagrant injustice." + +"Then I wonder why you didn't answer the letter I wrote at Nanaimo." + +"For a very good reason; I never got it." + +Vane considered this for a few moments. "After all," he said, "it +doesn't matter now. I'm acquitted?" + +"Absolutely." + +"Do you know," he said, "I've still no idea of my offence?" + +Evelyn was exceedingly glad to hear it, but a warmth crept into her +face, and as the blood showed through the delicate skin he fixed his +eyes intently upon her. + +"It was all a mistake; I'm sorry still," she declared penitently. + +"Oh," he said in a different tone; "I wouldn't trouble about it. The +satisfaction of being acquitted outweighs everything else. Besides, I've +made a number of rather serious mistakes myself. The search for that +spruce, for instance, is supposed to be one." + +"No," said Evelyn decidedly; "whoever thinks that is wrong. It is a very +fine thing you have done. It doesn't matter in the least that you were +unsuccessful." + +"You believe that?" + +"Of course. How could I believe anything else?" + +The man's face changed again, and once more she read the signs. Whatever +doubts and half-formed resolutions--and she had some idea of them--had +been working in his mind were dissipating. + +"Well," he said, "I've sacrificed the best of my possessions and +destroyed the confidence of folks who, to serve their ends, would have +helped me on. Isn't that a serious thing?" + +"No; it's really a most unimportant one; I"--and the slight pause gave +the assertion force--"I really mean it." + +Vane partly raised himself with one arm and there was no doubting the +significance of his intent gaze. + +"I believe I made another blunder--in England. I should have had more +courage and have faced the risk. But you might have turned against me +then." + +"I don't think that's likely," said Evelyn, lowering her eyes. + +The man leaned forward towards her, but the hand he stretched out fell +short, and the trivial fact once more roused her compassion for his +helplessness. + +"You can only mean one thing," he said. "You wouldn't be afraid to face +the future with me now?" + +"I wouldn't be afraid at all," said Evelyn quietly. + +By and by Mrs. Nairn tapped at the door and smiled rather broadly when +she came in; then she shook her head in reproach. + +"Ye should have been asleep a while since," she said to Vane, and turned +to Evelyn. "Is this the way ye intend to look after him?" + +She waved the girl towards the door and when she joined her in the +passage kissed her effusively. + +"Ye've got the man I would have chosen for ye," she said. + + THE END. + + London: Ward, Lock & Co., Ltd. + + + + +WARD, LOCK & CO.'S + +TWO-SHILLING FICTION + +Crown 8vo. Cloth Gilt. With Illustrations. 2/. net. + + 1 Lawrence Clavering A. E. W. Mason + 3 Limitations E. F. Benson + 7 Roger Trewinion Joseph Hocking + 8 Half a Hero Anthony Hope + 10 A Study in Scarlet A. Conan Doyle + 12 To Leeward F. Marion Crawford + 13 Comedies of Courtship A. Hope + 16 Lady Barbarity J. C. Snaith + 17 As We Forgive Them Wm. Le Queux + 18 Hawtrey's Deputy Harold Bindloss + 19 The Peer and the Woman E. P. Oppenheim + 21 Mr. Witt's Widow Anthony Hope + 22 The Unknown Lady Justus M. Forman + 24 Lord Stranleigh, Philanthropist Robert Barr + 25 The Master Mummer E. P. Oppenheim + 28 The Postmaster of Market Deignton E. P. Oppenheim + 29 The Sign of the Stranger Wm. Le Queux + 32 False Evidence E. P. Oppenheim + 33 The Tickencote Treasure Wm. Le Queux + 34 Mirabel's Island Louis Tracy + 35 White Walls Max Pemberton + 36 The Lovers Eden Phillpotts + 38 The Vow Paul Trent + 39 The Purple Robe Joseph Hocking + 40 The Trustee Harold Bindloss + 41 Expiation E. P. Oppenheim + 42 Mysteries Wm. Le Queux + 43 The Foundling Paul Trent + 44 The Betrayal E. P. Oppenheim + 45 The Wastrel Harold Bindloss + 46 The Room of Secrets Wm. Le Queux + 47 The Opening Door Justus M. Forman + 48 Lest We Forget Joseph Hocking + 49 The Long Arm E. P. Oppenheim + 52 The Allinson Honour Harold Bindloss + 53 The Open Road Halliwell Sutcliffe + 54 The Master of Merripit Eden Phillpotts + 55 Max Logan Paul Trent + 56 An Enemy Hath Done This Joseph Hocking + 57 Mysterious Mr. Sabin E. P. Oppenheim + 59 The Heir to the Throne A. W. Marchmont + 60 Blake's Burden Harold Bindloss + 61 A Daughter of the Marionis E. P. Oppenheim + 63 The White Lie Wm. Le Queux + 64 Uncle Peter's Will Silas K. Hocking + 65 Lord Stranleigh Abroad Robert Barr + 66 The Six Rubies Justus M. Forman + 67 Leila and Her Lover Max Pemberton + 68 The Secret of the Reef Harold Bindloss + 69 The Blind Spot Justus M. Forman + 70 Nesbit's Compact Paul Trent + 73 The White Horses Halliwell Sutcliffe + 74 A Lovers' Tale Maurice Hewlett + 75 Delia Blanchflower Mrs. Humphry Ward + 76 The Coming of the King Joseph Hocking + 77 The Admirable Carfew Edgar Wallace + 82 A Chateau in Picardy Halliwell Sutcliffe + 85 Bentley's Conscience Paul Trent + 88 Frey and His Wife Maurice Hewlett + 90 The Crimson Field Halliwell Sutcliffe + 91 The Flying Girl Richard Marsh + 94 The Annexation Society J. S. Fletcher + 97 A Prince of this World Joseph Hocking + 98 Sir Vincent's Patient Headon Hill + 100 The Comlyn Alibi Headon Hill + 101 Weapons of Mystery Joseph Hocking + 102 The Gay Hazard Halliwell Sutcliffe + 103 His One Talent Harold Bindloss + +WARD, LOCK & Co., London, Melbourne & Toronto. + + + + +WINDSOR MAGAZINE + +THE IDEAL ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY has achieved the Most Brilliant Success of +the day. The list of Contributors to THE WINDSOR is unrivalled, for it +includes all the most popular Novelist Writers and Artists. Here are the +names of a few of them:-- + + RUDYARD KIPLING CUTCLIFFE HYNE + SIR H. RIDER HAGGARD HAROLD BINDLOSS + ANTHONY HOPE A. E. W. MASON + MAURICE HEWLETT SIR A. CONAN DOYLE + SIR GILBERT PARKER JEROME K. JEROME + W. J. LOCKE MARY CHOLMONDELEY + H. G. WELLS JUSTUS MILES FORMAN + HALL CAINE E. F. BENSON + I. ZANGWILL MRS. F. A. STEEL + MAARTEN MAARTENS GERTRUDE PAGE + H. B. MARRIOTT WATSON EDEN PHILLPOTTS + H. A. VACHELL BARONESS ORCZY + W. W. JACOBS HALLIWELL SUTCLIFFE + BARRY PAIN KEBLE HOWARD + BEATRICE HARRADEN CHARLES G. D. 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