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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/38747-8.txt b/38747-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..55380c8 --- /dev/null +++ b/38747-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11664 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Thrice Armed, 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: Thrice Armed + +Author: Harold Bindloss + +Release Date: February 1, 2012 [EBook #38747] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THRICE ARMED *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +THRICE ARMED + +BY HAROLD BINDLOSS + +Author of "Winston of the Prairie," "Delilah of the +Snows," "By Right of Purchase," "Lorimer +of the Northwest," etc. + +[Illustration] + +NEW YORK +FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY +PUBLISHERS + +Copyright, 1908, by +FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. JIMMY RENOUNCES HIS CAREER 1 + II. TO WINDWARD 12 + III. JIMMY MAKES FRIENDS 24 + IV. IN THE TOILS 35 + V. VALENTINE'S PAID HAND 46 + VI. A VISION OF THE SEA 60 + VII. BLOWN OFF 73 + VIII. JIMMY TAKES COMMAND 84 + IX. MERRIL TIGHTENS THE SCREW 97 + X. ELEANOR WHEELOCK 108 + XI. AT AUCTION 120 + XII. THE "SHASTA" SHIPPING COMPANY 134 + XIII. THE "SHASTA" GOES TO SEA 145 + XIV. IN DISTRESS 159 + XV. ELEANOR'S BITTERNESS 172 + XVI. UNDER RESTRAINT 184 + XVII. THE RANCHER'S ANSWER 196 + XVIII. ELEANOR SPEAKS HER MIND 209 + XIX. WOOD PULP 220 + XX. ANTHEA MAKES A DISCOVERY 233 + XXI. JIMMY GROWS RESTLESS 244 + XXII. ASHORE 254 + XXIII. ANTHEA GROWS ANXIOUS 265 + XXIV. JORDAN KEEPS HIS PROMISE 276 + XXV. AN UNDERSTANDING 285 + XXVI. ELEANOR HOLDS THE CLUE 296 + XXVII. JORDAN'S SCHEME 306 + XXVIII. DISABLED ENGINES 317 + XXIX. UNDER COMPULSION 329 + XXX. AN EYE FOR AN EYE 344 + XXXI. MERRIL CAPITULATES 354 + XXXII. ELEANOR RELENTS 364 + + + + +Thrice Armed + + + + +CHAPTER I + +JIMMY RENOUNCES HIS CAREER + + +It was with somewhat mixed feelings, and a curious little smile in his +eyes, that Jim Wheelock stood with a brown hand on the _Tyee_'s wheel as +the deep-loaded schooner slid out through Vancouver Narrows before a +fresh easterly breeze. Dim heights of snow rose faintly white against +the creeping dusk above her starboard hand, and the busy British +Columbian city, girt with mazy wires and towering telegraph poles, was +fading slowly amidst the great black pines astern. An aromatic smell of +burning followed the schooner, and from the levels at the head of the +Inlet a long gray smear blew out across the water. A fire which had, as +not infrequently happens, passed the bounds of somebody's clearing was +eating its way into that part of the great coniferous forest that rolls +north from Oregon to Alaska along the wet seaboard of the Pacific Slope. + +The schooner was making her six knots, with mainboom well out on her +quarter and broad wisps of froth washing off beneath her bows, slanted +until her leeward scuppers were close above the sliding foam. Wheelock +stood right aft, with his shoulders just above the roof of the little +deckhouse, and, foreshortened as the vessel was, she seemed from that +point of view a mere patch of scarred and somewhat uncleanly deck +surmounted by a towering mass of sail. Two partly seen figures were busy +bending on a gaff-topsail about the foot of her foremast, and Wheelock +turned as one of them came slouching aft when the sail had been sent +aloft. The man wore dungaree and jean, with a dilapidated oilskin coat +over them, for the wind was keen. He appeared to be at least fifty years +of age. Leaning against the rail, he grinned at Wheelock confidentially. + +"She'll make a short trip of it if this breeze holds," he said. "I guess +you find things kind of different from what they were in the +mail-boats?" + +Jim Wheelock nodded as he pulled up a spoke of his wheel, for it was +that difference that had brought the smile to his eyes. It was several +years now since he had touched a vessel's wheel, or done more than raise +a directing hand to the trimly uniformed quartermaster who controlled +the big liner's steering engine. He was twenty-eight years of age, and +held an extra-master's certificate, and he had just completed the year's +training in a big British warship which gave him his commission as a +lieutenant R.N.R. It was certainly a distinct change to figure as +supernumerary on board the Canadian coasting schooner _Tyee_, but he did +not resent the fact that it was the grizzled, hard-faced man leaning on +the rail beside him who had brought him there. + +"Aren't you going to get the main gaff-topsail on to her? We'll carry +smooth water with us 'most across the Straits," he said. + +This was not to the purpose, as both of them felt, but it gave the other +man the opening for which he had been looking. + +"No," he replied, "I guess not. We'll feel the wind fresher when she +draws out from the land, and there's a streak of dry rot in her mainmast +round the partners. That stick was sound right through when we put it +into her, but it has stood the wind and weather quite a while, and I +guess it's getting shaky, like its owner." + +Now, the redwood logs hewn in the British Columbian forest as a rule +make excellent masts, but they naturally deteriorate with time, and in +some of them there is hidden a latent cause of trouble which now and +then leads to premature decay. Jimmy was aware of this, and fancied that +he knew why his companion had reminded him of it. It was scarcely two +hours since he had arrived on board the _Tyee_. He had made a long +journey to join her, because his father's kinsman Prescott, her mate, +had sent for him; and now, though he almost shrank from asking for the +information, there were points on which it was necessary that the latter +should enlighten him. He leaned on his wheel in silence a minute or two +and the smile died out of his eyes. Prescott regarded him steadily. + +Jim Wheelock, who hitherto had taken life lightly, could bear +inspection, for he was a personable man, as more than one of the young +women who traveled in the big liner of which he had been mate had +decided, and he had seldom experienced much difficulty in finding a +pretty partner at any of the dances given to the warship's officers. He +had whimsical blue eyes, and, though he was Colonial-born, a face of the +fair, clean-skinned English type, which had in it an occasional +suggestion of latent force. He had a well-proportioned frame, and his +life in the mail-boats, and the R.N.R. training, had set their stamp on +him. Just then he was attired incongruously in an old skin-cap, battered +gum-boots which reached to his knees, trousers showing signs of wear, +and a steamboat mate's jacket with gilt buttons on it, in much the same +condition; but, in spite of that, he did not appear the kind of man one +would have expected to come upon steering a coasting schooner. + +"What do you think about my father, Bob?" he asked. + +"What I said in the letter," the other man replied. "I guess you ought +to understand it, now you've seen him. Tom's going to looard fast, 'most +as fast"--and he seemed to search for a metaphor--"as a center-boarder +when her board won't come down. It kind of struck me it was 'bout time +you came home and looked after things and him. That's why I wrote you. +He'd have never done it, anyway." + +Jim Wheelock knew this was true. Prescott's letter, which had come to +hand at Portsmouth just after he had finished his navy training, had +somewhat startled him, and, as the result of it, he had forthwith +started for Vancouver, traveling second-class and by Colonist car, as +one does not gain very much financially by serving in the R.N.R. On +arriving there he had been further startled by the change in his father +whom he had last seen several years earlier when Tom Wheelock was, +apparently, at least, beyond the reach of adversity as the owner of +several small coasting vessels, one of which he insisted on sailing +personally, though this had not seemed needful at the time. It was +evident to Jimmy that he had been going to leeward very fast in several +ways since then. + +"Yes," he said, "that is a sure thing. When did the change begin? I +mean, when did things first go wrong with him?" + +"When he lost the _Fish-hawk_--that was 'most four years ago. Anyway, +that was when I began to notice it. Then the cannery people put on their +steamboat, and he couldn't keep the _Eagle_ going without their trade. +She lay ashore in a bad berth with a big load of Wellington coal in her, +and it cost him about a thousand dollars before she was fit for sea +again. Things were slack that season, and he gave Merril a bond for the +money. I guess that made the real trouble. Merril's a mighty hard man, +and he has been putting the screw on him." + +Jim Wheelock looked thoughtful. "A thousand dollars isn't such a great +deal of money, after all. The old man seemed to have plenty of it when I +left home." + +"Well," said Prescott dryly, "it's quite certain he hasn't got it now, +and I've more than a notion that there's a big bond on the _Tyee_. Why +did he bring your sister Ellen back from Toronto?" + +Jim Wheelock did not know. He had, in fact, once or twice asked himself +the same question without finding an answer. His sister Eleanor, who was +an ambitious and capable young woman, was now earning a pittance by +teaching at a ranch near New Westminster; but she had never given him +any reason in her letters for abandoning the studies she had gone East +to pursue in Toronto. + +"Anyway," said Prescott, "it's quite clear to me that your father needs +a man with sense and snap to stand right behind him and see that he +worries out of Merril's clutches. I don't know whether you can do it--I +can't--I'm no use at business. Tom and I were always honest. Then, +supposing you can do that, you're 'bout half-way through with the +thing." + +"Only half-way?" + +"'Bout that. Tom's been drifting to looard. You want to brace him sharp +up on the wind again." + +He broke off somewhat abruptly, for the scuttle slide in the deckhouse +roof was flung back, and a man below lifted his head above it. + +"Come right down and get your supper, Jimmy. Bob will take your wheel," +he said. + +Jimmy left the helm to Prescott, and with an effort he braced himself +for the interview before him as he descended to the little stuffy cabin. +It was dimly lighted by an oil-lamp that creaked as it swung, though the +_Tyee_ was ploughing her way westward steadily as yet. A little stove +made it almost intolerably hot, and the swirl of brine beneath the lee +quarter filled it with a sound that was like the rattle of sliding +gravel. Jimmy sat down, and ate the pork, potatoes, fresh bread, and +desiccated apples set before him, which he surmised might be considered +somewhat of a banquet on board the _Tyee_, and then he took out his pipe +and turned toward his father as he filled his pannikin again with strong +green tea. He had arrived in Vancouver only that afternoon, and they +had had no time for conversation in the hurry of getting to sea. + +"Take some whisky in it?" asked Tom Wheelock. "It's not much of a supper +after what you've been used to on board the liners." + +"No, thanks," said Jimmy. "I'm glad I didn't miss you." + +"Got your wire," said Wheelock, who helped himself liberally to the +whisky. "We weren't through with the loading until yesterday, and, +though the folks want those sawmill fixings bad, I figured we could wait +another twenty-four hours. It's good to see you sitting there; but I +don't know yet what brought you over. It's quite a long way." + +Jimmy spent some time in filling his pipe. He was a truthful person, and +Prescott, who wrote the letter, had pledged him to secrecy; then, too, +he was by no means certain that his father would appreciate what either +of them had done, or would consider it in any way necessary. He also had +scarcely got used to the change in his circumstances and surroundings, +and did not feel quite at ease. On the last liner he sailed in, the +officers dined in the saloon, and, though the battleship's wardroom was +less luxurious, it was, at least, very different from the _Tyee_'s +quarter-cabin. Tin pannikins and plates of indurated ware lay on a +soiled, uncovered table; a grimy brown blanket from the skipper's bunk +trailed down across the locker that served as a settee; and the fish-oil +lamp smelt horribly. Then he glanced at his father, who sat silent, +sipping his tea, which was freely laced with whisky. + +Tom Wheelock was by no means dressed as neatly as most of the Vancouver +wharf-hands, and he looked like a man who had lost heart, and pride as +well. He was gaunt and big-boned, with a seaman's weather-darkened face, +but there was weariness and something that suggested vacancy in its +expression. He and Jimmy had the same blue eyes, and they were kindly +and honest in the case of each; but Tom Wheelock's were a trifle watery, +and there was a certain bagginess under them, while his mouth was slack. +In fact, the man, as his son recognized, appeared to have sunk into a +state of limpness that was mental as well as physical. + +"Well," said Jimmy, with a little laugh, "I don't quite know. There +were, you see, several reasons. To begin with, I had to come out of the +mail-boat for my year's training, and when that was over there were a +good many men on the Company's list to be worked off before they wanted +me again. Trade is slack over there, and it seemed wiser to await my +turn. After all, it doesn't cost so much to come across second-class and +Colonist; and I guessed you would be glad to see me." + +"So I am;" and there was no doubt that Wheelock meant it. "I've been +wanting you quite a while, Jimmy. Things aren't going well with me. Take +some whisky?" + +It was evident to Jimmy that his father already had taken as much as was +good for most men; and he did not often shrink from a responsibility, +that is, when he recognized it as such, which is now and then a little +difficult when one is young. + +"Well," he said, "this time I guess I will." + +He took the bottle, and, after helping himself sparingly, contrived to +slip it out of sight on the locker. + +"How's Eleanor?" he asked. + +"Quite well; but though she has her mother's grit, life's hard on the +girl. Ellen could have done 'most anything if she'd got her diplomas, or +whatever they are, and I had figured I'd do something for one of my +children when I sent her back East. It was your mother's brother--the +brains come from that side of the family--did everything for you. A kind +of pity you and he quarreled, Jimmy!" + +Jimmy smiled drily as he remembered the year he had spent in Winnipeg +with the grim business man before the call of the sea that he was born +to listen to grew irresistible and the rupture came. Young as he was +then, he had proved himself equal in strength of purpose to the hard old +man, and had gone to sea in an English ship. It cost his father fifty +pounds for his outfit and premium, and that was all that Tom Wheelock +had done for him. He had made his own way into the steamers, and the +extra-master certificate and the commission in the R.N.R. he owed to +himself. Now it was evident that he must renounce all that they might +bring him--at least, for a while. + +"I don't think we ever would have hit it off together; and I can't help +a fancy that, after all, he didn't blame me very much for taking my own +way in spite of him," he said. "Still, it is a pity Eleanor had to come +back. I suppose keeping her in Toronto was out of the question?" + +Wheelock's eyes seemed to grow a trifle bloodshot, and his voice sank to +a hoarser note. "Quite. I might have done it but for the bond I gave +Merril when the _Eagle_ went ashore. It wasn't that big a one, but he +fixed up quite a lot of things I never figured on. I was to insure to +full value, and have her repaired whenever his surveyor considered she +wanted it. Twice the man ran me up a big unnecessary bill, and I had to +go to Merril for the money. Now the boat's his, and there's a bond on +the _Tyee_. When the old man goes under, you'll remember who it was +squeezed the life out of him, Jimmy. Say, where d'you put that whisky?" + +"I'm not quite through with it yet;" and Jimmy, who did not pass it to +him, smiled reassuringly. "Anyway, I wouldn't worry too much about +Merril. I've a few dollars laid by, and I'm going to stay right here and +look after you. Bob Prescott tells me the Siwash wants to go ashore, and +that makes a berth for me. It's scarcely likely the Company will want me +for three months or more." + +The old man looked at him with a gleam of comprehension in his watery +eyes. "Jimmy," he said, "you have been a good son--and it wasn't quite +my fault I never did anything for you. Your mother was often ailing, and +when I sent her East twice to the specialists the freights I was getting +would scarcely foot the bill. Oh, yes, things were generally tight with +me. Now they're tight again; but when Merril wants my blood you've come +back to see it out with me." + +He made a gesture of weariness. "Well, I guess I'll turn in. I've been +trailing round the city most of the day after a man who owes me forty +dollars--and I'm 'way from being as young as I used to be." + +He climbed somewhat stiffly into his bunk, and Jimmy went up on deck. It +was dark now, and the _Tyee_, leaning down until the foot of her lee +bulwarks was almost in the foam, swept through the dark water with a +leisurely dip and swing. A dim star or two hung over her mastheads, and +the peak of the big gaff-topsail swung athwart them a little blacker +than the night; but there was no shimmer of light on all the water, and +the schooner swung out to westward, vague and shadowy, with one blurred +shape gripping her straining wheel. It reminded Jimmy of the +sailing-ship days when he had set his teeth and borne what came to +him--wet and cold, utter weariness, want of sleep, purposeless +exactions, and brutal hazing. Those black days had gone. He had lived +through them, and had been about to reap his reward when the summons had +come and he had gone back West to his duty. The broken-down man in the +little cabin needed him, as Jimmy, who tried not to admit the greatness +of the change in him, realized. Then he turned as Prescott spoke to him +from the wheel. + +"Now you've had a talk to him, I guess you'll understand why I sent for +you," he said. "You've got to take hold and straighten things. Tom's +been letting go fast." + +Jimmy Wheelock said nothing, but he knew that in the meanwhile he must +put his career aside; and once more he set his lips and braced himself +to face the task before him as he had done often in the sailing-ship +days. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +TO WINDWARD + + +Two days had slipped away since Jimmy joined the _Tyee_, when, with her +dew-wet canvas slatting at every roll, she crept out from the narrow +waters into the Pacific. Astern of her the Olympians towered high above +the forests of Washington, a great serrated ridge of frosted silver that +cut coldly white against the blue of the morning sky. To starboard the +shore of Vancouver Island rose, a faint blur of misty pines, and ahead +the sea was dimmed by drifting vapors out of which the long swell swung +glassily. At times a wandering zephyr crisped it with a darker smear, +and the _Tyee_ crawled ahead a little. Then she stopped again, heaving +her bows high out of the oily sea, while everything in her banged and +rattled. + +There was nothing that any one on board her could do but wait for the +breeze and wonder whether it would come from the right direction. Jimmy +sat on the deckhouse with his pipe in his hand, and Tom Wheelock, whose +face looked careworn in the early light and showed pasty gray patches +amidst its bronze, glanced westward a trifle anxiously as he held the +jerking wheel. + +"It's a kind of pity we lost that breeze," he said. "The people up +yonder want those sawmill fixings, and with the wind from the east we'd +'most have fetched the Inlet to-night. There was talk of somebody +putting a steamboat on, but the mill's a small one, and they figured +they'd give me a show as long as I could keep them going. I've got to do +it. There's a living in the contract." + +Then his face hardened suddenly, and he sighed. "That is, there would +have been if Merril hadn't got his grip on me. That man wants +everything." + +He appeared about to say something further, but just then Prescott flung +the scuttle slide back, and a smell of coffee and frizzling pork flowed +out of it. + +"If you want your breakfast, Tom, I guess you'd better get it," he said, +and lumbered round the deckhouse toward the wheel. + +Wheelock went below, and Jimmy, who seemed to forget that he had meant +to light his pipe, glanced thoughtfully at Prescott. + +"Who is this Merril, Bob?" he asked. + +Prescott made a vague gesture. "I guess he's everything. He has a finger +in most of what goes on in this Province, and feels round with it for +the money. Calls himself general broker and ship-store dealer; but he +has money in everything, from bush ranches to steamboats." + +"You mean he holds stock in them?" + +"No," said Prescott, "I guess I don't. I'm not smart at business, and +Tom isn't either, or he'd never have let Merril get his claws on him; +but it's quite plain to me that stocks don't count along with mortgages +and bonds. When you buy stock you take your chances, and quite often +that's 'bout all; but when you hold a bond at a big interest you usually +get the ship or mill. Anyway, that's how Merril fixes it." + +Jimmy lighted his pipe, but he looked more thoughtful than ever, as, in +fact, he was. Hitherto, he had taken life lightly, for, after all, wet +and cold, screaming gale and stinging spray, are things one gets used to +and faces unconcernedly; but Jimmy could recognize a responsibility, and +he realized that there was now to be a change. Tom Wheelock was growing +prematurely old and shaky, and it was, it seemed, his son's part to free +him from the load of debt that was crushing him, if this by any means +could be done; if not, at least to share it with him. He feared it would +be the latter. Hitherto he had waged only the clean, primitive strife +with the restless sea; but he did not shrink from the prospect of the +meaner and more arduous conflict with the wiles of man and the forces of +capital, or consider that in renouncing his career he was doing a +commendable thing. He was by no means brilliant intellectually, though +he had a certain shrewdness and a ready wit; and it only occurred to him +that the course he had decided on was the obvious one. He did not even +think it worth while to mention that he had done so, which indeed would +have been unnecessary, since Prescott seemed to take it for granted. + +"I believe you had the wind from the east for several days," he said. +"Why didn't you run across before?" + +"Well," replied Prescott reflectively, "we might have done so, but Tom +didn't seem greatly stuck on trying it. Took time over his loading when +he got your wire. Perhaps he didn't want to leave you hanging round +Vancouver until we got back again." + +Jimmy said nothing--he had partly expected this; and while he smoked his +second pipe, the vapors were rolled apart, and the breeze came down on +them. Unfortunately it came from the northwest, which, as the sawmill +they were bound for stood at the head of a deep inlet on the west coast +of Vancouver Island, was ahead of them; so for a while they let her +stretch out into the Pacific, close-hauled upon the starboard tack. + +The _Tyee_ was comparatively fast, and, under all the sail they could +pile on to her, excepting the main gaff-topsail, she drove along with a +wide curl of foam under her lee bow and the froth lapping high and white +on her side. Then by degrees the long roll of the Pacific heaved itself +up into steep, blue-sided seas with tops of incandescent whiteness, and +as she lurched over them the spray whirled in filmy clouds from her +plunging bows. Still the breeze freshened, and by noon they hove her to +with jibs aback while they hauled two reefs down in her mainsail, and it +became necessary for somebody to crawl out to the end of its tilting +boom, which stretched a good fathom beyond her stern. Prescott was a +little too old for that work; Tom Wheelock held the wheel; and the +Siwash deck-hand was busy forward. Jimmy laughed as he swung himself up +to the footrope. + +"It's several years since I've done anything of this kind, but I dare +say I can tie those after-points in," he said. + +He clawed his way out, and, as he hung with waist across the spar and +both hands busy while the _Tyee_, flinging the spray all over her, +plunged upon the long, foam-tipped roll, a big Empress liner came up +from the eastward, white and majestic. She drove close by the schooner +with a slow and stately dip and swing, and Jimmy Wheelock, clinging to +the _Tyee_'s reef-points, smiled somewhat curiously as he glanced up at +her. Her tall side rose above him like a wall, and he saw the cluster of +saloon passengers beneath the tier of deckhouses move toward the rail to +gaze down upon the little dingy vessel, and the two trim officers high +above them in the sunshine on the slanting bridge. That was his +world--one in which steam did the hard work, and man merely pressed the +telegraph handle or laid a finger on a spoke of the little steering +wheel; but it was a world on which he had turned his back, and there was +nothing to be gained by repining. + +He broke two of his nails before he finished his task and dropped from +the footrope to the _Tyee_'s deck, and the liner had sunk to a gleaming +white blur and a smoke-trail on the rim of the sea before they had +reefed the foresail and once more got way on her. Then Prescott grinned +at Jimmy as he glanced toward the fading smear of vapor. + +"A head-wind's quite a little matter to that boat," he said. "I guess +you'd feel more at home on board of her?" + +Jimmy laughed good-humoredly. "Perhaps I would, but after all I don't +know that it counts for very much." + +They came round some hours later, and, heading her in for the land on +the other tack, found how little they had made to windward, whereupon +there followed a consultation. Prescott was for running back and coming +to an anchor in smooth water to wait for a shift of wind, but Wheelock +would go on. He blinked at the white sea to windward with watery eyes, +while the _Tyee_, putting her bows in, flung the spray all over her; but +there was a certain grimness in Tom Wheelock's eyes, for, if he was not +smart at business, he was at least a resolute seaman. + +"Those sawmill people want their fixings, and if we're to hold on to +their contract I guess they've got to have them," he said. "She should +thrash down to the Inlet by to-morrow night. I figure she'd go along a +little easier without her staysail." + +They hauled it down; but the _Tyee_, being loaded deep with heavy +machinery, was not appreciably drier afterward, and by the time the +angry, saffron sunset faded off the foam-crested sea, she put her bows +in somewhat frequently. Then there was a thud as she charged a big +comber, and the frothy cataract that seethed in over her weather rail +swirled aft a foot deep, while the spray blew all over her. Jimmy, +buttoned to the throat in oilskins, stood at her wheel dripping, through +four hours of darkness; and then, crawling down into the little cabin, +which was intolerably foul, flung himself into his bunk and +incontinently fell asleep, with the thud and swish of falling water +going on above him. When he awakened, his first proceeding was to grope +for the button that would summon a steward boy to bring him his morning +coffee, but as he could not find it he looked around and saw his wet +oilskins, which had shaken off the hook, sliding amidst the water up and +down the _Tyee_'s cabin floor. Then he remembered suddenly, and, +dropping from his bunk, put on the oilskins and went up on deck. + +A sheet of spray temporarily blinded him as he crawled out of the +scuttle, and then there was little to be seen but a haze of it flying +athwart a gray sea lined by frothy ridges and smears of low-driving +cloud. The _Tyee_'s slanted mastheads seemed to rake through the latter, +and she was wet everywhere; but she was still hammering to windward with +bows that swung up streaming over the long seas. On the one hand, a +dingy smear, that might have been a point with pines on it, lifted +itself out of the grayness, and Tom Wheelock pointed to it as he swayed +with his wheel. His wet face was almost gray, and Jimmy could see the +suggestive bagginess under his eyes. + +"I guess we should fetch the Inlet by dark if it doesn't harden any +more; but we'll have another reef down now you're up," he said. + +They got the reef in with some difficulty, for all of them were needed +to haul the leech-earing down; and, because the Siwash hand was a better +boatman than sailor, Jimmy went out to the end of the boom again to tie +the after-points. When he came back the _Tyee_ proceeded a little more +dryly, with the big gray seas that were topped with livid froth and had +deep hollows between them rolling up in long succession to meet her. She +went through some of them, for the sawmill machinery was a dead-weight +in her, and a white cataract foamed across her forward. When she plunged +into one that was larger than usual, Prescott, who now stood knee deep +at her wheel, shook his head. + +"Tom didn't ought to expect it of her," he said. "He wouldn't have held +her at it if he hadn't been mighty afraid of losing that contract." + +Jimmy made no answer. He understood by this time how his father was +circumstanced, and had discovered already that the man who stands +between the devil and the deep sea cannot afford to be particular. +Merril, who held a bond on the _Tyee_, might, it seemed, very well stand +for the devil. + +They thrashed her to windward most of that day. The sea got worse, and +there was not a dry stitch on any of them; but just at sunset the clouds +were rent apart, and Wheelock, who was standing on the deckhouse, +pointed to something that loomed amidst the vapor as they reeled +inshore. + +"The head!" he said. "The Inlet's about two miles beyond it." + +Prescott glanced at Jimmy as he pulled up the wheel. "With a blame ugly +tide-rip setting dead to windward across the mouth of it!" + +Jimmy said nothing, though naturally he was aware that when the ocean +streams run against the breeze they are very apt to pile up whatever sea +there is into curling, hollow-crested combers. A craft of the _Tyee_'s +size will often snugly ride out a hard gale--that is, if she is hove-to +under a strip or two of canvas; but to drive her to windward when she +must meet the onslaught of the seas, and go through them, is an +altogether different matter, and it seemed to him that she was already +doing as much as any one reasonably could expect from her. Then his +father came down from the deckhouse. + +"Well," he said, "she has got to go through it; those people want their +fixings. I guess we'll heave her round." + +The words were simple, but they implied a good deal. Wheelock could have +heaved his schooner to, or could have run away for shelter in another +inlet down the coast; but, as he had said, the sawmill people wanted +their machinery, and when he must choose between it and the devil he +would sooner face his ancient enemy the sea. Its attack was honest and +open, and the man with nerve enough might meet and withstand the charge +of its seething combers. Quickness of hand and rude, primitive valor +counted here, but it was otherwise in the insidious conflict with the +human schemer. Tom Wheelock's eyes were watery, but there was a snap in +them as he signed to Prescott and laid his hands on the wheel. + +"Get forward, Jimmy, and tend your head-sheets," he said. "We'll have +her round." + +She came round, but none too readily; and as they stretched out seaward +Jimmy had a brief vision of great rocks and hollows filled with pines +that opened out and closed on one another. Then as he glanced to +windward he saw the seatops heave athwart a blaze of crimson and saffron +low down under ragged wisps of cloud. + +They brought her round again presently, and she reeled in shoreward to +weather the second head on that side of the Inlet, with her little +three-reefed mainsail wet to its peak and the two jibs above her +bowsprit streaming at every plunge, while the big combers in the tideway +smote her weather-bow and poured out to leeward in long wisps of brine. +Still, she was slowly opening up the sheltered Inlet, and it was only a +question whether she would go clear enough of the head on that tack. It +was, however, a somewhat momentous question, for it seemed to Jimmy very +doubtful whether she would come round with them again. + +Tom Wheelock stayed at the helm, and the head that had grown dim again +lifted its vast rock wall higher and higher out of the whirling vapors +that streamed amid the shadowy pines. It grew very close to them, but +the _Tyee_ was half-buried forward most of the time, and the break +beyond the crag, where smooth water lay, had crept a little forward +instead of aft from under her lee-bow when a comber higher than the rest +hove itself up to weather, and fell upon her. It foamed across her +forward, and when it went seething aft as she swung her bows up there +was a crash, and Tom Wheelock loosed the spinning wheel. + +Jimmy saw him strike the bulwark and Prescott clutch him; but, knowing +that the plunge would probably make an end of the schooner if she rammed +another sea, he sprang to the wheel. She was coming up when he seized +it, which almost threw him over it, and there was a bang like a +rifle-shot as one of her streaming jibs was blown away. The veins +swelled on his forehead as he forced the helm up, and as the _Tyee_ fell +off on her course again he had a momentary vision of a great wall of +rock that seemed to be creeping up on them. He also saw a man lying in +the water that sluiced about her deck, while another who strove to hold +him with one hand clung to a stanchion. Then, while he set his teeth and +braced himself against the drag of the wheel, he could discern nothing +but a haze of flying brine, and could feel the hard-pressed vessel +strain and tremble under him. + +He did not know how long the tension lasted, nor for a minute or two did +he see much of Prescott and his father; but at last the rocks seemed to +slide away, and the _Tyee_ drove through the furious turmoil in the +mouth of the Inlet. Then the wind fell suddenly, and, rising upright, +the dripping schooner slid forward beneath long ranks of misty pines. He +left the helm to the Siwash, and Prescott and he between them got +Wheelock down into the little cabin. He gasped when they had put him +into his bunk and poured a liberal measure of raw whisky down his +throat. + +"Well," he said faintly, "I guess we've saved that contract. You +weathered the head?" + +"We did," answered Prescott. "Jimmy grabbed the wheel in time. Seems to +me we had 'bout twenty fathoms to spare. Feel as if you'd broke anything +inside you?" + +Tom Wheelock moved himself a little, and groaned. "No," he said, "I +guess I haven't; but it hurt me considerably when I washed up against +the rail. Mightn't have felt it one time, but I'm getting old and shaky. +Anyway, you can light out and get your anchor clear. I'm feeling kind of +dizzy." + +Prescott went up the ladder, but Jimmy stayed where he was, and did not +go up on deck until his father's eyes closed. It was quite dark, and he +could see only vague, shadowy mountains black against the sky. +Presently, a long Siwash canoe with several men paddling hard on board +her came sliding down the dim lane of water that seemed to wind into +the heart of the forests. She stopped alongside, and a man climbed on +board. + +"We've been expecting you the last two days, and I'm glad you got in +now," he said. "Merril, who talks of running a steamer up this coast, +has been worrying our Vancouver people to make him an offer for their +carrying. It's quite likely they'd have made a deal with him if you'd +kept us waiting." + +They made the canoe fast, and the _Tyee_ slowly crept on beneath the +shadowy mountains and the misty pines, for only a faint air of wind +disturbed the deep stillness here. Jim Wheelock, however, noticed very +little as he leaned on the rail with a vindictive hatred in his heart +for the man who, it seemed, was bent upon his father's ruin. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +JIMMY MAKES FRIENDS + + +They had landed the machinery, and partly loaded the _Tyee_ with dressed +lumber, when Jimmy Wheelock, who was aching in every limb after a day's +arduous toil, sat, cigar in hand, in the office of the sawmill manager. +It was singularly untidy as well as unclean, for few men in that country +have time to consider their comfort. Odd bottles of engine-oil and +samples of belting lay amid the litter of sketches and specifications, +while the plates and provision-cans on the table suggested that the +manager and his guest had just finished their evening meal. The window +was open wide, and a clean smell of freshly cut cedar drifted in with +the aromatic fragrance of the pines. From where he sat Wheelock could +see them rolling up the steep hillside with the white mists streaming +athwart them, and the narrow lane of clear, green water winding past +their feet. There was deep stillness among them, for the mill was silent +at last, and it was only now and then that a voice rose faintly from the +little wooden settlement which straggled up the riverside. + +The manager, dressed in a store jacket and trousers of jean, lay upon +what seemed to be a tool-chest, and he had, like Wheelock, a cigar of +exceptional flavor in his hand. He was a young, dark-eyed man, somewhat +spare of frame, and when he spoke, his quick, nervous gestures rather +than his accent, which was by no means marked, proclaimed him an +American of the Pacific Slope. It was characteristic that Wheelock, who +had spent less than a week in his company, already felt on familiar +terms with him. He had discovered that it is usually difficult to make +the acquaintance of an insular Englishman in anything like that time. + +"Old man feeling any better this afternoon?" inquired his companion. + +"He says so;" and Jimmy looked thoughtful, as he had done somewhat +frequently of late, though this had not been a habit of his. "Still, he +was flung rather heavily against the rail, and, though he insisted on +working, I'm not quite satisfied about him." + +The American nodded comprehendingly. "Parents are a responsibility now +and then. I lost mine, though. Raised myself somehow down in Washington. +Anyway, your father has been going down grade fast the two years I've +known him, and I'm sorry. He's a straight man. I like him." + +A trace of darker color crept into Jimmy's bronze, though he was aware +that candor of that kind is usual on the Pacific Slope, and there was +nothing he could resent in his companion's manner. However, he made no +answer, and the American spoke again. + +"I'm glad you got in on time. As I told Prescott, Merril has a notion of +going into the coasting trade, and wants our carrying. He has a pull on +some of our stockholders, but I don't like the man, and you'll get our +freight as long as you can keep us going. Why did you let the old man +borrow that money from Merril?" + +"I wasn't here. In fact, it's only a few weeks since I left an English +ship at Portsmouth." + +"Mail-boat?" + +"No," said Jimmy; "a warship." + +The American looked at him hard a moment, and then made a little gesture +with the hand that held the cigar. He had seen Jimmy Wheelock carrying +boards on his shoulder all that day, and now he was dressed in the +Canadian wharf-hand's jean; but he had no difficulty in believing him. + +"Lieutenant in your second fighting line? Came back to look after the +old man?" he said. "Well, I guess he needs you. You want to keep your +eye on Merril, too. If you don't, he'll have the schooner. It's a sure +thing." + +Jimmy realized, without knowing exactly why, that he could give this +man, whom he had met only a few days ago, his confidence. + +"The same thing has occurred to me," he said. "Do you mind telling me +what you know about Merril?" + +"No; it's only what everybody else knows. Merril's a machine for +stamping money--out of anything. Got a ship-supply store in Vancouver, +and is working himself into the general carrying business. Lends money +on vessels, and fits them out. He'll give you a long credit, at a blame +long interest, and by and by he gets the vessel, or a controlling share +in her. He can't touch the express freight and passenger traffic--knows +too much to kick against the C.P.R. or the big sound steamers; but +there's the general freight for the mines, sawmills and canneries up and +down the coast, and his vessels won't cost him much the way he buys +them. The trade's going to be a big one. If I'd forty thousand dollars +I'd buy a steamer." + +Jimmy's eyes twinkled. "A steamboat isn't a sawmill. Would you know how +to run her?" + +The American laughed. "If I didn't, I guess I could learn. It can't be +harder than playing the fiddle, and I've worried into that." + +He stopped a moment, and then announced quietly with the almost dramatic +abruptness which usually characterized him: "Anyway we'd make something +of it. I'd put you in command of her." + +"I wonder what leads you to believe I would suit you?" said Jimmy +reflectively. + +His companion waved his cigar. "Saw you packing lumber. You stayed right +with the contract, though you'd never done the thing before. Know what +the first few days are--I've been there. Stacked two-inch planks in +Washington when I was seventeen and my strength hadn't quite come to me, +and went home at nights walking double, with every joint in my body +aching. Then they started me log-wedging, and that's 'most enough to +break a weak man's heart. Still, I stayed with it, and now I'm drawing +royalties on my swing-frame and gang-saw patents, and hold stock in +several mills!" + +This was, perhaps, a trifle egotistical; but then it was, or would have +been in most other countries, somewhat of an achievement for one, who +had commenced with the lowest and most brutal labor, to make himself +patentee, manager and stockholder, while still a very young man; and +Jimmy had met mail-boat officers who gave themselves a good many airs on +the strength of possessing a refined taste in uniform tailoring and a +prepossessing personality. Individually, he felt it was more reasonable +to be satisfied with one's ability to invent and run a mill. Just then, +however, the door opened, and another man came in. He wore a blue shirt +which fell open at the neck for want of buttons, and jean trousers which +were very old and torn, and there were smears of oil and paint on his +hands. + +"I came to ask when you are going to saw me those fir frames, Jordan?" +he said. + +"Take a cigar!" said the American, and turned to Jimmy, with a grin. +"Ever heard of Thoreau who lived at Walden Pond?" + +Jimmy had, as it happened, read his book on board one of the mail-boats, +though he scarcely would have fancied that Jordan had done so. The +latter indicated the newcomer with a wave of his hand. + +"Well," he said, "that's another of them, though he lives in a yacht and +his name is Valentine. There are men--and they're not all cranks--who +seem to think the life most other people lead isn't good enough for +them." + +Valentine, who looked very different from any of the yachtsmen Jimmy had +seen on the English coast or elsewhere, sat down, and the latter was a +trifle astonished when he said, "That wasn't why Thoreau went to Walden. +He was an abolitionist, and made Walden a station for running niggers +into Canada. Anyway, why does a man want to go into business and slave +to pile up money, when he can have the greatest thing in nature for +nothing at all?" + +"What's that?" asked Jordan. "It's not the young woman one may take a +fancy to; she usually costs a good deal." + +Valentine laughed softly, and looked hard at Jimmy. "Though you earn +your bread upon it, I think you know. There's nothing in this little +world to compare with the sea!" + +Then he stretched out his hand for the cigar-box. "I'll take two. It's +the brand your directors use. Saw those frames to-morrow, or I'll come +round and raise the roof for you. In the meanwhile, if you'll come +along, Mr. Wheelock, I'll show you my boat." + +Jordan grinned at Jimmy. "Better go along. You'll have to see her, +anyway." + +The two went out and left him, and as they paddled down the Inlet past +the endless ranks of climbing pines whose aromatic odors were heavy in +the dew-chilled air, Valentine glanced at his companion. + +"This world was made good, except the cities; but nothing was made much +better than that smell," he said. "It doesn't put unrest and longing +into you like the smell of the sea-grass and the sting of the powdered +spray; there's tranquillity and sound sleep in it; and, too, it gives +one comprehension." + +This was not what Jimmy would have expected from his companion, but he +understood. In that deep rift of the ranges where no wild wind ever +entered, and the sunlight called up clean, healing savors from the +solemn pines, one could realize that there was a beneficent purpose +behind the scheme of things, and that the world was good. Still, Jimmy +usually kept any fancies of that kind to himself. + +"The introduction seems familiar," he said. "I almost fancy I have heard +something very much like it before." + +"It's quite likely;" and Valentine laughed. "It has been said of several +other things, including tobacco." + +"You come here often?" + +"Usually to refit. It's quiet and clean; and I like Jordan. He's a man +with a mind, and straight, so far as it can be expected of any one in +business." + +"You don't follow any?" + +Valentine smiled somewhat curiously. "I'm a pariah. I take toll of the +deer and halibut instead of my fellow-men--that is, except when I +charter the boat now and then. Still, it's only when money is scarce +that I shoot and fish for the market. You see, I'm not in any sense of +the word a yachtsman. I live at sea because I like it. The boat makes an +economical home." + +Jimmy felt that this was as much as he was intended to know, and he +asked no more questions until presently they slid alongside a powerful +cutter of some thirty tons, which lay moored with an anchor outshore and +a breast-rope to the pines. Valentine took him into the little plainly +fitted forecastle where he lived, and afterwards led him through the +ornate saloon and white-enameled after-cabin. "That," he said, as they +went up the ladder again, "is for the charterers, though I'm by no means +sure the next lot will be pleased. It's a little difficult to get the +smell of halibut out of her." + +"You sail her alone?" asked Jimmy, who sat down on the skylights. + +"Generally. Wages run high in this country. But I have to ship a man or +two when any of the city people charter her. She's not so much of a +handful when you get used to her." + +He did not seem to expect Jimmy to talk, and they sat silent a while, +the latter smoking thoughtfully as he looked about him. It was growing +dark, and the lower pines were wrapped in fleecy mist, out of which a +rigid branch rose raggedly here and there; but the heights of the range +still cut hard and sharp against the cold blueness of the evening sky. +Westward, a soft smoky glow burned faintly behind a great hill shoulder, +and, for no sound reached them from the little settlement, it was +impressively still. + +Jimmy felt the vague influence of the country creeping over him. It is a +land of wild grandeur, empty for the most part as yet, though it is rich +in coal and iron as well as in gold and silver, and its hillsides are +draped with forests whose timber would supply the world. It is also, as +he seemed to feel, for the bold man, a land of possibilities. +Enterprise, and even labor, is worth a good deal there; and Jimmy felt +that if his heart were stout enough such a land might have more to offer +him than a mate's berth on a heavily mortgaged schooner. Jordan +evidently believed that one might achieve affluence by making the +requisite effort, and Jimmy considered himself equally as capable as the +sawmiller. Still, as he sat there in the dewy stillness breathing the +clean scent of the pines, he realized that there was also something to +be said for his companion's attitude. He asked and strove for nothing, +but was content to live and enjoy what was so bountifully given him. +Perhaps Valentine guessed where his thoughts were leading him, for once +more he broke into his little soft laugh. + +"One is as well off here as in the cities," he said. "Are you one of the +hustlers like Jordan yonder?" + +Though it was growing dark, Jimmy, disregarding the question, looked at +him thoughtfully. "Do you know? Have you tried the other thing?" + +"Oh, yes!" said Valentine, with a wry smile in his eyes. "I have tried +them both, and that is one reason why I'm here. You haven't answered me; +though, after all, I guess it's an unnecessary question." + +This time Jimmy laughed. "I don't know that I have any option. It seems +that a life of the kind Jordan leads will be forced on me. There are +circumstances in which one's inclinations don't count for very much, you +see. Anyway, it's almost time I turned in; I've been loading lumber +since early morning." + +Valentine got into the dory, and paddled him to the little wharf where +the _Tyee_ was lying. + +"Come off again, and any time you see the boat along the coast I'll +expect you on board," he said. + +Jimmy climbed on board the schooner, and, descending to the little +cabin, found his father lying propped up in his bunk. His eyes were more +watery than ever, and when he spoke his voice was a trifle thick. The +light of the fish-oil lamp projected his worn face blackly in gaunt +profile on the bulkhead. + +"Been talking to Jordan? He's a man to make friends with," he said. +"Guess he and the other young ones with blood and grit in them are going +to set their mark on this country. It mayn't count against you if you +leave the mail-boats, Jimmy. Manhood stands first here, though my day +has gone. Perhaps I fooled my chances, or didn't see them when they +came. But you're going to be smarter; you have red blood and brains." + +Jimmy said nothing. He had noticed already that Tom Wheelock had fallen +into a habit of inconsequent rambling, and there were times when it +pained him to listen. The old man, who did not seem to notice his +silence, went on: + +"You got them from your mother, as Eleanor has done. She died--and I'm +often thankful--before the bad days came. Guess it would break her heart +if she could see her husband now, a played-out, broken man, with a bond +on which he can't pay the interest on his last vessel. Maybe things +would have been different if she had lived. I was never smart at +business--I am a sailorman--and it was your mother who showed me how to +build the fleet up and save the money to buy each new boat. When you +went to sea we had four of them. Now they're all gone. The last was the +_Fish-hawk_, and she lies in six fathoms where she drove across the +Qualyclot reef with her starboard bilge ground in." + +"Merril doesn't own the _Tyee_ yet," said Jimmy. + +"No," said Wheelock drowsily; "but unless you know enough to stop him +he's going to. You'll have nothing, Jimmy, when I'm gone; but you'll +remember it was that man squeezed the blood out of me. Anyway, it won't +be long. I'm played out, and kind of tired of it all. Couldn't worry +through without your mother. Never was smart at business--I am a +sailorman. It was she who made me boss of the Wheelock fleet, and now I +guess she's waiting for the old and broken man." + +His elbow slipped from under him, and, falling back, he lay inert and +silent, with eyes that slowly closed, and his face showing very gaunt +and unhealthily pallid in patches under the fish-oil lamp. There was no +longer any suggestion of strength in it, for dejection had slackened his +mental grip as indulgence had sapped the vigor of his body. Jimmy +Wheelock, who remembered what his father had been, felt a haze creep +across his eyes as he gazed at him, and then a sudden thrill of anger +seemed to fill his blood with fire. Merril, who held a bond on the +_Tyee_, had, it seemed, a good deal to answer for. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +IN THE TOILS + + +It was a month later when Jimmy Wheelock stood leaning on the _Tyee_'s +rail one morning, while she lay alongside a sawmill wharf at Vancouver. +The Siwash deck-hand had left them, and Jimmy, who had done his work, +was very hot and grimy after trimming ballast in the hold. He and +Prescott were waiting for another few loads of it, and expected that the +_Tyee_ would go to sea shortly after they got them. This, however, was +by no means certain, since a surveyor had come on board a few days ago, +and Tom Wheelock, who had been summoned to Merril's office, had not yet +come back. + +It was then about eleven o'clock, and the broad Inlet sparkled in a +blaze of sunshine, with a fresh breeze that came off from the black pine +forests crisping it into little splashing ripples. Jimmy was glad of the +chill of it on his dripping face, and as grateful for the respite from +toil with the shovel, as he gazed at the climbing city. It rose with the +dark pines creeping close up to it, ridged with mazy wires and towering +poles, roof above roof, up the low rise, and the air was filled with the +sound of its activity. A train of ponderous freight-cars rolled clanging +along the wharf; a great locomotive with tolling bell was backing more +cars in; and the scream of saws rang stridently through the clatter of +the winches as Empress liner and sound steamer hove their cargo in. +Jimmy Wheelock had, of course, gazed upon a similar scene in other +ports, but there was, he seemed to feel, a difference here. + +In this new land the toiler was not bound by iron laws of caste and +custom forever to his toil. The Mountain Province was awakening to a +recognition of its wealth, and there was room in it and to spare for men +with brains as well as men with muscle. There were forests to be +cleared, roads to be built, and mine adits to be driven, and nobody +troubled himself greatly about the antecedents of his hired hand. If the +latter professed himself able to do what was required of him, he was, as +they say in that country, given a show. Jimmy also knew that where all +were ready to attempt the impossible, and toiled as, except in the New +West, man has seldom toiled before, it was the English sailormen, +runagates from their vessels, who had built the most perilous railroad +trestles, and marched with the vanguard when the treasure-seekers pushed +their way into the wilderness of rock and snow. He felt as he listened +to the scream of the saws and the tolling of the locomotive bells that +amid all that feverish activity there must be some scope for him, which +was reassuring, since it was becoming clear that he would have to find +some means of supporting himself and his father before very long. + +Then he looked around as Prescott, who touched his arm, pointed to a +trim white cutter which was sliding through the flashing water with an +inclined spire of sail above her and a swath of foam at her lee bow. + +"I guess that's Valentine's _Sorata_," he said. "Got the biggest topsail +on her, and she has a deck-plank in. If she'd only her lower canvas, +most men would find her quite a big handful to sail alone. It's when he +rounds up to his mooring the circus will begin." + +The _Sorata_ came straight on toward them, close-hauled on the wind, +until they could hear the hissing of the brine that swept a foot deep +along her slanted deck; then there was a banging of canvas, and she +swung as on a pivot, while a bent figure with its back against her +tiller became furiously busy. Slanting sharply, she drove away on the +other tack, and shot in with canvas shaking between a great four-masted +ship and a steamer with white tiers of decks. Then her head-sails +dropped, and she stopped with a big iron buoy which Valentine seized +with his boat-hook close beneath her bowsprit. After that there was a +rattle of chain, and Prescott made a gesture of approval. + +"Smart," he said. "I guess there are not many men in this Province who +could have brought her up in that berth without another hand on board." + +Valentine appeared to see them, for he waved his hand; but the next +minute Jimmy, who looked around, lost his interest in him, for Tom +Wheelock was coming slowly across the wharf. He walked wearily, with +head bent and dejection expressed in every languid movement. Prescott's +face grew troubled as he glanced at him. + +"I guess we're not going to sea to-day," he said. "Your father has more +to carry than he can stand. That--Merril has been putting the screw on +him." + +Wheelock dropped somewhat heavily upon the _Tyee_'s deck, and, though +they looked at him questioningly, he said nothing to either of them as +he made his way to the little after-cabin. When he reached it, he sat +down and wiped his forehead before he poured himself out a stiff drink +of whisky; then he made a little, hopeless gesture as he turned to +Jimmy, who stood at the foot of the ladder with Prescott in the scuttle +behind him. + +"You'll stop loading that ballast," he said. "I'm fixed this time. I +guess Merril has the ship. Carpenters to come on board to-morrow, and as +far as I can figure, eight hundred dollars won't see them clear. Besides +that, it's a sure thing we'll lose the coast mill contract." + +Jimmy said nothing, but he set his lips tight, and Tom Wheelock had +finished his whisky before he looked at him again. His eyes were +half-closed, and he sat huddled and limp, with one hand trembling on his +glass, a broken man. + +"Carpenters will be here to-morrow. I guess there's no use stopping +them--I've got to see the thing right out," he said. "Still, you can +tell the boys we don't want that ballast. I feel kind of shaky, and I'm +going to lie down. Not as strong as I used to be, Jimmy, and I haven't +quite got over that thump I got against the rail." + +Jimmy made a sign to Prescott and went up the ladder, and when he stood +on deck the grizzled sailorman wondered at the change in him. There was +no geniality in his blue eyes now, and his face was set and grim, for +pity was struggling within him with a vindictive hatred of the man who +had brought his father down. Tom Wheelock, it was evident, had been +brought low in more ways than one. + +"If you'll see about that ballast, I'll go straight to Merril's office. +I want this thing made clear," he said. + +"Well," advised Prescott, "I'd walk round a few blocks first; you want +to simmer down before you talk to a man like that. Go slow, and get a +round turn on your temper." + +Jimmy, who made no answer, swung himself up on the wharf, and it was not +until he had traversed part of the water-front that he remembered it +might have been advisable to change his clothes. He was still clad in +blue jean freely smeared with the red soil that he had been shoveling in +the hold, and his face and hands were grimy and damp with perspiration. +Still, that did not seem to matter greatly, since, after all, it was a +costume quite in accordance with his station. The days when he had worn +a naval uniform had passed. + +Striding into an office in a great stone building, he accosted a clerk, +who said that Mr. Merril was busy, and then appeared to grow a trifle +disconcerted under Jimmy's gaze. The latter smiled at him grimly. + +"Then it's probably fortunate that I'm not busy at all," he said. "In +fact, I'm quite prepared to stay here until this evening; and since +there seems to be only one door to the place it will perhaps save Mr. +Merril inconvenience if he sees me now. You can explain that to him." + +The clerk, who grinned at one of his companions, disappeared, and, +coming back, ushered the insistent visitor into a sumptuously furnished +office; and, when the door closed behind him, Jimmy was a little +astonished to find himself as collected as he had ever been in his +life. He was one of the men who do not quite realize their own +capabilities until driven by necessity into strenuous action. An elderly +gentleman with a pallid and somewhat expressionless face, dressed with a +precision not altogether usual in that country, looked up at him. + +"Well?" he said inquiringly. + +Jimmy drew forward a chair, and sat down uninvited. "You know my name," +he said. "I want to understand exactly why you are sending those +carpenters on board the schooner?" + +Merril looked at him gravely, but Jimmy did not appear to find his gaze +in any way troublesome. + +"I don't think you have anything to do with the matter," he said. +"Still, out of courtesy----" + +"No," interrupted Jimmy; "I'm not asking a favor, only anticipating +things a little. It is, I am afraid, quite likely that I shall have to +take over the schooner before very long." + +"Then, in accordance with a clause in the agreement, the vessel must be +kept in efficient repair to the satisfaction of a qualified surveyor. +The man I sent down reports that she needs a new mast, decks relaid, and +a good deal of new planking about her water-line. Your father has +particulars." + +"I suppose," said Jimmy very quietly, "there would be nothing gained by +asking you to allow the repairs to stand over until we have brought down +one or two more loads of lumber. I expect you know it will cost us the +sawmill contract if we lay the schooner off now?" + +Merril made a little gesture. "I'm afraid not. I can't afford to take +the risk of having the schooner lost, to oblige you, and the fact that +you may not carry out the sawmill contract naturally does not concern +me." + +"Has it occurred to you that we might question your surveyor's report? +Half the repairs are quite unnecessary, as you no doubt know. Why the +man recommended them is, of course, a question I'm not going into, +though it wouldn't be very difficult to hit on the reason. There are, +however, other men of his profession in this city." + +Again Merril looked at him steadily, with a faint, sardonic gleam, which +was more galling than anger, in his eyes. "You will, of course, do what +you consider advisable, but if the repairs are not made I shall apply +for an injunction to stop you from going to sea; and the law is somewhat +costly. The redemption instalment and interest are overdue, and if your +father has any money with him, one would fancy it would be more prudent +for him to settle his obligations than to give it to the lawyers." + +Jimmy realized that this was incontrovertible. Unless the arrears were +paid within a fixed time, Merril could foreclose on the vessel and sell +her to somebody acting in concert with him, which was, no doubt, what he +wished to do. There was, it seemed, no wriggling out of his grip; and, +though he felt it would be useless, Jimmy resolved to appeal to his +sense of fairness. + +"So far as I can figure, you have been paid in interest and charges +about forty cents on every dollar you lent; and you still hold a bond +for the original amount," he said. "That would be enough to satisfy +most men; and all we ask is a little time and consideration. You could +let those repairs stand over, and could wait a while for your interest. +It will most certainly be paid if we can keep hold of the sawmill +contract." + +"I'm afraid you are wasting time;" and Merril glanced at the papers +before him. "There are several reasons which make it necessary for me to +insist on your father's carrying out the conditions of his bond. He owes +me a good deal of money now." + +A hard glint crept into Jimmy's blue eyes, and there was a trace of +hoarseness in his voice. "I want you to understand that it will crush +him," he said. "He is an old and broken man, and you would lose nothing +by a little clemency. I will take every dollar of his debts upon +myself." + +"I'm sorry, but it can't be helped," said Merril, with a shrug of his +shoulders which seemed to suggest that his patience was becoming +exhausted. "The conditions laid down must be carried out." + +Jimmy rose slowly. Every nerve in him tingled, though there was only the +ominous scintillation in his eyes to indicate what he was feeling. +Laying one hand on Merril's desk, he looked down at him, and they faced +each other so for, perhaps, half a minute. The man who held in his grasp +many a small industry in that Province shrank inwardly beneath the +sailor's gaze. + +"Then," said Jimmy, with a slow forcefulness that was the more +impressive because of the restraint he put upon himself, "you shall have +your money, and everything else that is due you. If I live long +enough--all--my father's debt will certainly be paid." + +He went out; and Merril, to whom an interview of this description was +not exactly a novelty, was for once a little uneasy in his mind. There +was a certain suggestion of steadfastness in the seafarer's manner that +he did not like, and he felt that he could be relied on to keep his +promise if the opportunity were afforded him. Still, the bondholder +fancied it would not be insuperably difficult to contrive that the +occasion did not arise. + +Next day the carpenters duly arrived on board the _Tyee_, and when they +took possession there was nothing for any one else to do, which was +partly why it happened that Jimmy sat smoking on the skylights of the +_Sorata_'s saloon one hot afternoon. He had told Valentine, who lay near +him on the warm deck, part of his troubles. There was scarcely a breath +of air, and the smoke of the big mills hung in a long trail above the +oily Inlet and floated in a filmy cloud athwart the towering pines. The +tapping of the carpenters' mallets on board the _Tyee_ came faintly +across the water. + +"It will be three weeks, anyway, before you get your new deck in, and it +may be longer," said Valentine. "All the carpenters on this coast are +going up to the new railroad trestles, where they're getting almost any +price they ask. What are you going to do in the meanwhile?" + +Jimmy said he did not know, and was sorry this was the case. He had +discovered that board costs a good deal in that country, and while the +_Tyee_ was practically gutted it would be necessary to live ashore. +Valentine appeared to ruminate, and then looked up at him. + +"Well," he said reflectively, "I'm going up the coast, and I want an +experienced skipper. That's easy, because I know too much about +charterers to let them have my boat without taking me. Yachting's just +becoming popular here. Next, there's to be a capable cook, and that +could be contrived, because, although Louis is about the worst cook I +know, they needn't find it out until we're well away to sea. The third +man is the difficulty. He's to be warranted sober, reliable, and +intelligent, since he may be required to take the young ladies out +fishing in the dory. All to be civil and clean, and provided with +suitable uniform. It's in the charter. They appear to be particular +people." + +Jimmy laughed. "Evidently. Still, I don't quite see what it all has to +do with me, since I'm not going. Where's the man you had when you took +the last party?" + +"On the wharf; he'll never come back again with me. He was a blue-water +man, and one day he broke loose and got at the charterers' whisky. Tried +to kiss one of the young ladies as he was carrying her on board the +dory, and, though I threw him in afterward, her father made considerable +unpleasantness over the thing." + +He stopped a moment, and looked at Jimmy with a whimsical twinkle in his +eyes. "Now, I don't know any reason why you shouldn't come if you feel +like it. You seem reasonably sober, and I guess you could be civil. +Charterers aren't quite so trying here as one would fancy they are in +the Old Country. I've been there; but on the Pacific Slope we haven't +yet branded the people who work as quite outside the pale. You could put +on the steamboat jacket, and I've an old man-o'-war cap with gold +letters on it. The man who left it on board the _Sorata_ privately +discharged himself from one of the Pacific squadron. It was a dark +night, and he was almost drowned when I got him. Well, it would bring +you twelve dollars a week, all found--it's what I'd have to pay another +man--besides being a favor to me." + +Jimmy laughed outright. He had his cares just then, but he was, after +all, a young man of somewhat whimsical temperament, and the prospect of +the adventure appealed to him. The twelve dollars a week were more +attractive still, since he had reasons for believing that the small sum +he had brought with him to Vancouver would be badly wanted before very +long, and while the _Tyee_ lay idle he could not trench upon his +father's scanty store. + +"Well," he said, "it sounds a crazy kind of thing, but that is, perhaps, +why it attracts me. I'll come." + +Valentine smiled. "Then you'll come off early to-morrow, and try to +remember you're a blue-water man who has hired out to me. You want to +get yourself up kind of smartly. We'll go below and see what I've got. +It's in the charter." + +Half an hour later Jimmy was rowed ashore, and he walked back to the +wharf where the _Tyee_ was lying with, for the first time during several +weeks, a smile in his eyes. It would be a relief to forget his troubles +for a week or two, and his father would not need him in the meanwhile. +Naturally he did not know that the crazy venture on which he had +embarked was to have somewhat important results for him as well as for +other people. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +VALENTINE'S PAID HAND + + +It was about five o'clock in the evening when Jimmy stood on the +Vancouver wharf beside an express wagon, from which the teamster had +just flung down what appeared to him an inordinate quantity of baggage. +He was then attired in a steamboat officer's jacket, from which he had +removed a row of buttons as well as the braid on the cuffs, an old pair +of Valentine's white duck trousers carefully mended with sail-sewing +twine, a pair of canvas shoes with a burst in one of them, and a +somewhat dilapidated man-o'-war cap. In this get-up he expected to pass +muster as a professional yacht-hand, though as yet there were very few +men who followed that calling in Vancouver or Victoria. Had he been +brought up in England he might have felt a little more uncomfortable +than he did, but the average Westerner is troubled by no false pride, +and is usually willing to earn the money he requires by any means +available. Still, Jimmy was not altogether at ease, for he had, at least +to some extent, become endued with his comrades' notions during the time +he had spent in the mail-boats and the English warship. + +A little farther up the wharf Valentine was talking to a gray-haired +gentleman whose immaculate blue serge, level voice, and formal attitude +seemed to stamp him as different from the men of the Pacific Slope, who +have as a rule no time to waste in considering appearances. Two young +ladies stood not very far away, and, though the breeze was no more than +pleasantly cool, one of them was wrapped in a long cloak and shawl. +Jimmy could not see the other very well because of the wagon, but when +she moved across the wharf her lithe step and graceful carriage at least +suggested vigorous health. + +By and by the rattle of a neighboring steamer's winch ceased suddenly, +and he heard the voice of the elderly gentleman, who had been glancing +in his direction. + +"I suppose that is your man," he said, with a clear English intonation. +"Couldn't you have got him up a little more smartly? That man-o'-war +cap, for instance, is a little out of keeping with the rest of his +things." + +Jimmy saw Valentine's badly suppressed smile, and caught his answer. "He +was in one of the warships, sir, and is a reliable man. I can warrant +him civil and sober." + +"Well," said the other, "we may as well go off while he brings down the +baggage." + +The party moved toward the _Sorata_'s dory, and Jimmy was not exactly +pleased when he found himself left to carry their baggage, which +appeared to be unusually heavy, down a flight of awkward steps. It was +not very long since he had stood beside a mail-boat's hatch, and merely +raised a hand now and then while her deck-hands stowed the baggage under +his direction; but he found something faintly humorous in the situation +until, hampered by an awkward load, he lost his balance and fell down +the steps. Still, he contrived to deposit the charterers' possessions +at the water's edge, and when Valentine came back he packed them into +the dory, and about fifteen minutes later staggered into the little +white ladies' cabin on board the _Sorata_ with a big trunk in his arms. +One of the girls was busy unstrapping a valise, but the other looked +around as he came in. + +"Put it there!" she said, with a swift glance at him, and then, though +he noticed that apparently she had something in her hand, she seemed to +change her mind and turned around again. + +Jimmy went out backwards, with a faint warmth in his face, and when he +had brought in the rest of the baggage he went up and assisted Louis, +their third hand, to break out the anchor and get the _Sorata_ under +way. She was sliding out through the Narrows when he dropped through the +scuttle into the forecastle, and found Valentine filling a tray. + +"It's part of your business to carry the baggage," he said. "You want to +remember they're particular people, and you're expected to make yourself +generally useful and agreeable. Still, I guess there's no need to talk +as you would in a mail-boat's saloon." + +Jimmy took the tray, but, as it happened, the _Sorata_ lurched on the +wash from a passing steamer as he went through the sliding door in the +bulk-head, and, plunging into the saloon with arms stretched out, he +fell against the table. It was a moment or two before he partly +recovered his equanimity, and then, as he looked about him, a hoarse +laugh fell through the open skylights. To make things worse, he fancied +that the elderly gentleman cast a suspicious glance at him, while he was +quite sure that there was a twinkle in one of the young ladies' eyes. +She leaned back somewhat wearily upon a locker cushion, and her face was +thin and fragile; but her companion sat upright, and Jimmy saw that she +also was regarding him. She was tall and somewhat large of frame, with a +quiet face that had something patrician in it, and reposeful brown eyes. +Jimmy fancied that she and the others must have heard the laugh above. + +"It's only that idiot Louis, sir," he said. "It's a habit he has. You'll +hear him laugh to himself now and then when he's at the helm." + +Then it occurred to him that he was speaking more familiarly than an +Englishman would probably expect a yacht-hand to do, and, pulling +himself up abruptly, he commenced to lay out the table and pour the +coffee. + +"You take sugar, miss?" he asked. + +"She does," said the man dryly. "When a spoon is not available she +prefers her own fingers." + +The delicate girl laughed a little, and Jimmy felt his face grow warm, +for he was conscious that her companion was watching him with quiet +amusement; but he contrived to find the spoons he had forgotten, and +when he was about to withdraw the girl with the brown eyes made a little +sign. + +"I suppose we are at liberty to read any of those books?" she asked, +pointing to the hanging shelves. "They are the skipper's?" + +Jimmy knew what she was thinking, because the works in question were by +no means of the kind one would have expected a professional yacht-hirer +to own or to appreciate. He also knew that the forecastle slide was +open, and that Valentine was probably listening. + +"Of course, miss," he said; "take any of them, if you can understand +them. I think it's more than the skipper does. Still, he has a little +education, and bought them cheap at book sales. They give a kind of tone +to the boat." + +"I see," said the girl with the reposeful eyes, and Jimmy backed out in +haste. He fancied a little ripple of musical laughter broke out after he +had closed the forecastle slide. Then he glanced deprecatingly at +Valentine, who did not appear by any means pleased with him. + +"I didn't expect too much from you, but the last piece of gratuitous +foolery might have been left out," he said. "Did you ever come across a +yacht steward who took passengers into his confidence in the casual way +you do?" + +"No," said Jimmy candidly, "I don't think I ever did. Now, I don't in +the least know what came over me, but I can't remember ever losing my +head in quite the same way before. It must have been the way the girl +with the brown eyes looked at me. In fact, she seemed to be looking +right through me. Who is she?" + +"Miss Merril." + +"Ah!" said Jimmy, a trifle sharply. "Still, it doesn't seem to be an +unusual name in this country, and, after all, one couldn't hold her +responsible for her father's doings--if she is the one I mean. It's +quite possible they wouldn't please her if she were acquainted with +them. In fact, it's distinctly probable." + +"I wonder why you seem so sure of that? She is the one you mean." + +"From her face. You couldn't expect a girl with a face like that to +approve of anything that was not----" + +He saw Valentine's smile, and broke off abruptly. "Anyway, it doesn't +matter in the least to either of us. What is she doing here, and who are +the others?" + +Valentine laughed. "I don't think I suggested that it did. The man is +Austerly, of the Crown-land offices, and English, as you can see--one of +the men with a family pull on somebody in authority in the Old Country. +I believe he was a yacht-club commodore at home. The delicate girl's his +daughter. Not enough blood in her--phthisis, too, I think--and it's +quite likely she has been recommended a trip at sea. Miss Merril is, I +understand, a friend of hers, and she evidently knows something of +yachting too." + +"What do you know about phthisis?" + +A shadow suddenly crept into Valentine's brown face. "Well," he said +quietly, "as it happens, I do know a little too much." + +Jimmy asked no more questions, but got his supper, and contrived to keep +out of the passengers' way until about ten o'clock that night, when he +sat at the helm as the _Sorata_ fled westward before a fresh breeze. To +port, and very high above her, a cold white line of snow gleamed +ethereally under the full moon. A long roll tipped by flashing froth +came up behind her, and she swung over it with the foam boiling at her +bows and her boom well off, rolling so that her topsail which cut black +against the moonlight swung wildly athwart the softly luminous blue. + +Jimmy was watching a long sea sweep by and break into a ridge of +gleaming froth, when Miss Merril came out from the little companion and +stood close beside him with the silvery light upon her. She had a soft +wrap of some kind about her head and shoulders, and, though he could not +at first see her face, the way the fleecy fabric hung emphasized her +shapely figure. + +"I wonder whether you would let me steer?" she asked. + +For a moment or two Jimmy hesitated. The _Sorata_ was carrying a good +deal of sail, and running rather wildly, while he knew that a very small +blunder at the tiller would bring her big main-boom crashing over, the +result of which might be disaster. Still, there was something in the +girl's manner which, for no reason that he could think of, impressed him +with confidence. He felt that she would not have asked him for the helm +merely out of caprice, or unless she could steer. + +"Well," he said, remembering he was supposed to be a yacht-hand, "we +will see what kind of a show you make at it, miss. Take hold, and try to +keep her bowsprit on the island. It's the little black smear in the +moonlight yonder." + +The girl apparently had no difficulty in doing it, though for a while he +crouched upon the side-deck with a brown hand close beside the ones she +laid on the tiller. Then as, feeling reassured, he relaxed his grasp, +she appeared to indicate her hands with a glance. + +"They are really stronger than you seem to think," she said, "and I have +sailed a yacht before." + +Jimmy laughed. "I only thought they were very pretty." + +The girl looked around at him a moment, without indignation, but with a +grave inquiry in her eyes which Jimmy, who suddenly remembered the rôle +he was expected to play, found curiously disconcerting. + +"What made you say that?" she asked. + +"I really don't know;" and Jimmy had sense enough not to make matters +worse by admitting that he had said anything unusual. "It seemed to come +to me naturally. Perhaps it was because they--are--pretty." + +This time Miss Merril laughed. "Well," she said, "I should just as soon +they were capable. But don't you think she would steer easier with the +sheet slacked off a foot or two?" + +Jimmy had thought so already, but while he let the sheet run around a +cleat he asked himself whether this was intended as a tactful reminder +that he was merely expected to do what was necessary on board the +vessel. On the whole he did not think it was. One has, after all, a +certain license at sea; and though he had naturally met young ladies on +board the mail-boats who apparently found pleasure in treating every man +not exactly of their own station with frigid discourtesy, he fancied +that Miss Merril differed from them. However, he sat silent and out of +the way upon the _Sorata_'s counter, until presently a lordly, +four-masted ship swept up out of the soft blueness of the night. + +She crossed the _Sorata_'s bows, braced up on the wind, and, for she +carried American cotton sailcloth, she gleamed majestically white, with +four great spires of slanted canvas tapering from the great arch of her +courses to the little royals that swayed high up athwart the blue above +a long line of dusky hull. It was hove up on the side nearest the +_Sorata_, and the sea frothed white beneath her bows, which piled it +high in a filmy, flashing cloud. Miss Merril could hear the roar of +parted water, and, as the great vessel drove by, the refrain of a +sighing chantey that fell amidst a sharp clanking from the black figures +on her spray-drenched forecastle. + +"Ah!" she said, "that is a picture to remember. I wonder what those men +have undergone, and where they come from?" + +Jimmy smiled, presuming that she was addressing him, though he could not +be sure of it. + +"Well," he said, "I should fancy they have borne 'most everything that a +man could be expected to face, except want of food, while they thrashed +her round the Horn. She's American, and, if they drive men hard on board +their ships, they at least usually feed them well." + +"You know what they have done?" + +Jimmy laughed, and forgot his man-o'-war cap as he saw that she was +interested. "I believe I do. They've crawled out on those long topsail +yards probably once every watch by night and day, clawing at thundering +folds of hard, drenched canvas, while the ship lay with her rail in the +water when the Cape Horn squalls came down thick with blinding snow. +Then they've crawled down with bleeding hands and broken nails, and +flung themselves, in their dripping oilskins, into a soddened bunk to +snatch a couple of hours' sleep before they were roused to get sail on +her again. They have lived for days on cold provisions soaked in brine +when the galley fire was drowned out, and it is very likely have not +stripped a long boot off for a week. She carries a high rail, but the +icy sea that chilled them to the bone has poured across it at every +roll." + +"Ah!" said the girl; "going west it would be to windward. In one way +it's almost an epic. I suppose it's always more or less like that?" + +"Yes," said Jimmy; "one of the epics nobody has ever written, perhaps +because nobody really could. There are a good many of them. As you say, +when one has to fight to windward, things generally happen more or less +that way." + +Miss Merril turned and looked at him as he sat on the _Sorata_'s counter +in the navy cap, and a smile crept into her eyes. + +"Still," she said, "perhaps it is, after all, worth while to face them." + +They both remembered that afterward, but in the meanwhile it did not +strike Jimmy as in any way incongruous that she should talk to him in +such a fashion or credit him with more comprehension than one would +expect from a professional yacht-hand. + +"I don't know," he said simply. "One's heart is apt to fail when one +looks forward and sees only the snow-squalls to drive one back to +leeward, and the steep head seas." + +Then he stood up suddenly with a little laugh as Louis came slouching +aft from the forecastle scuttle. + +"I'm relieved, and I had better see whether they want anything in the +saloon," he said. + +It appeared that they wanted nothing, and when he crawled into the +forecastle Valentine looked at him with evident curiosity. + +"You had apparently a good deal to say to Miss Merril," he observed. +"Might one ask what you found to talk about?" + +"The last topic was whether it is worth while to hang on and fight one's +way to windward when the outlook is black. If I understood her +correctly, she seems to believe it is." + +Valentine grinned sardonically. "Did you discuss it like a German +philosopher, or as a forecastle hand? I suppose it never struck you that +it's rather an unusual subject for a yachting roustabout to go into with +a young lady passenger?" + +"It is," agreed Jimmy, making a little deprecatory gesture. "I'm afraid +I didn't remember that before; but it probably doesn't matter, since +it's hardly likely that she did either." + +His comrade looked at him, and shook his head. "You can believe that--at +your age?" he said. "My dear man, a young woman of Miss Merril's +intelligence would notice anything that wasn't quite in character the +moment you said it. Still, that is your affair. It's the other one I'm +worrying about." + +"The other one?" + +"Miss Austerly. The girl's very sick--probably worse than her father +realizes--and it's rather on my conscience that I told them that Louis +could cook. Anyway, if this breeze holds we'll bring up off Victoria +early to-morrow, and though we're not going in, I'll slip ashore before +breakfast and see what one can pick up at the stores." + +Jimmy asked him no more questions, but crept into his bunk. About nine +o'clock on the morrow, when the _Sorata_ was lying in a bight on the +south coast of Vancouver Island, he was aroused by the dory bumping +alongside, and he went out on deck. It was then raining hard, and all he +could see was a stretch of gray sea and a strip of dripping boulder +beach on which a little white surf was breaking. There was a good deal +of water in the dory, and Valentine's oilskins were dripping when he +climbed out of her with several packages under his arm. Stores open +early in that country. + +"Now," he said, "you can bail her out, and come down in half an hour +when I've fixed up a breakfast that any one could eat." + +Jimmy did so, but it was with some little diffidence that he carried the +tray into the saloon. It occurred to him that Miss Merril might regret +that she had unbent so far the previous night, and he wondered uneasily +whether he had ventured further than was advisable. He was also +conscious for the first time that the repairs Valentine had made in his +garments were less artistic than evident. The girl, however, looked up +with a smile, which might have meant anything, and afterward confined +her attention to the articles he was laying on the table. There were +Chinese preserved dainties and fruit from California, as well as the +ordinary fare. + +"An unusually good breakfast," said Austerly. "Does your skipper always +treat his charterers so well?" + +"Yes, sir," said Jimmy. "That is, when he can. You see, he couldn't get +these things in Vancouver; there isn't the same demand for them as there +is in the capital." + +Austerly did not appear altogether satisfied with the ingenious +explanation, but he said nothing further. Indeed, he was not a man who +said very much on any occasion; and while he commenced his breakfast +Miss Merril looked at Jimmy with her little disconcerting smile. Still, +there was no malice in it. + +She was as fresh that morning as when she came off the previous evening, +though both Austerly and his daughter appeared a trifle the worse for +the night's run. Miss Merril was wholly unostentatious in speech or +bearing, and there was a certain gracious tranquillity about her which +suggested latent vigor instead of languidness. She was then, he decided +tolerably correctly, in her twenty-fifth year, brown-haired and +brown-eyed, with broad, low forehead, unusually straight brows, and, in +spite of her smile, a curiously steady gaze. Her face was a full oval, +her mouth by no means small, and, while he had seen women of a somewhat +similar type whose vigor was tinged with coarseness or a hint of +sensuality, there was about this girl a certain daintiness of thought +and speech, and a quiet dignity. What she said was, however, +sufficiently prosaic. + +"I presume that means he went to Victoria for the extra stores this +morning; but how did he get there? It must be some distance, from what I +know of the coast, and he would have a head-wind all the way back." + +"He walked," said Jimmy. "It's necessary for him. One doesn't get very +much exercise of that kind at sea. In fact, he walks miles whenever he +can." + +Miss Austerly appeared a trifle astonished, and her father looked up +from his coffee. + +"It's a trifle difficult to understand how he manages it," he said. +"One would consider the _Sorata_ forty feet long." + +Jimmy felt Miss Merril's gaze upon him, and, as had happened before, his +ingenuity failed him. Her smile vaguely suggested comprehension, and, +for no ostensible reason, that disturbed him. He also saw Louis grinning +down at him through the skylights. + +"Sugar, sir?" he said; and this was so evidently an inspiration that +Miss Austerly laughed, and when her father said that he had been offered +it twice already, Jimmy went out with all the haste available. He closed +the forecastle slide somewhat noisily, and then sat down and frowned at +Valentine. + +"Well?" said the latter dryly. "Been making an exhibition of yourself +again?" + +"I'm afraid I have," said Jimmy. "If it happens another time you can +carry the things in yourself and see how nice it is. Still, I don't +quite know why I lost my head. I have naturally met quite a few young +ladies in my time. I suppose it's wearing that confounded cap and these +more confounded clothes." + +He kicked one foot out, and disgustedly contemplated a burst white shoe, +while the duck trousers cracked. Valentine leaned back against the +bulkhead and laughed. + +"Don't be rash, or they'll split; and the jacket's opening at a seam," +he said. "It's rather a pity a man can't rise above his clothes. Anyway, +you may as well give Louis a hand to get the mainsail on to her. As soon +as they've finished breakfast we'll break out the anchor." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A VISION OF THE SEA + + +There was rain and thick weather for several days, during which the +_Sorata_ crept northward slowly along the wild West Vancouver coast. +Austerly, it appeared, had business with an Indian agent who lived up an +inlet near which the restless white prospectors were encroaching on a +Siwash reserve. The boat was wet and clammy everywhere, though a bark +fire burned in the little saloon stove. Miss Austerly lay for the most +part silent on the leeward settee with a certain wistful patience in her +hollow face which roused Jimmy's compassion. He noticed that Valentine's +voice was gentler than usual when he mentioned her, and wondered why it +was so, though his comrade did not favor him with an adequate +explanation then or afterward. + +At last one afternoon the drizzle ceased, and, during most of it, Miss +Merril sat at the tiller with Jimmy's oilskin jacket round her shoulders +to shield her from the spray, while the _Sorata_ drove northward, +close-hauled, across the long gray roll of the Pacific which was tipped +with livid foam. Sometimes she swung over it, with dripping jib hove +high, but at least as often she dipped her bows in the creaming froth +and flung the brine aft in showers, while all the time the half-seen +shore unrolled itself to starboard in a majestic panorama. + +Great surf-lapped rocks rose out of the grayness, and were lost in it +again; forests athwart which the vapors streamed in smoky wisps rolled +by; and at times there were brief entrancing visions of a towering +range, phantoms of mountains that vanished and appeared again. There was +water on the lee-deck; showers of it drove into the drenched mainsail's +luff; but still Miss Merril sat at the tiller with her damp hair blown +about her forehead, a patch of carmine in her cheeks, and a gleam in her +eyes. She seemed, as she swung with the plunging fabric when the counter +rose streaming high above the froth that swept astern, wholly in harmony +with the motive of the scene; and at this Jimmy wondered a little now +and then, though he discovered afterward that Anthea Merril almost +invariably fitted herself to her surroundings. There are men and women +with that capacity, which is, perhaps, born of comprehension and +sympathy. + +Her grasp was firm and steady on the straining helm, her gaze quick to +notice each gray comber that broke as it came down on them; but, when he +looked at her, Jimmy saw in her eyes something deeper than the thrill of +the encounter with the winds of heaven and the restless sea. He could +find no fitting name for it. It eluded definition, but it had its +effect; and he felt that a man might go far and do more than thrash a +yacht to windward with such a companion, though he also realized that +this was, after all, no concern of his. Apart from that, her quiet +courage and readiness were noticeable, though it was, perhaps, her +understanding that appealed most to him. Anthea Merril never asked an +unnecessary question. She seemed able to grasp one's thoughts and +motives in a fashion that set those with whom she conversed at their +ease, and when in her company Jimmy usually forgot his yacht-hand's +garments and the man-o'-war cap. + +It was toward sunset that evening, and Miss Austerly was sitting well +wrapped up on a locker in the cockpit, when the vapor melted and was +blown away, as not infrequently happens about that time at sea. The +dingy clouds that veiled the sky were rent, and a blaze of weird, +coppery radiance smote the tumbling seas, which changed under it to +smears of incandescent whiteness with ruddy gleams in them, and ridges +of flashing green. It was sudden and bewildering, impelling one to hold +one's breath. But a more glorious pageant leaped out of the dimness over +the starboard hand. Walls of rock that burned with many colors sprang +into being, with somber pines streaming upward behind them, and far +aloft there were lifted gleaming heights of never-trodden snow whose +stainless purity was intensified by their gray and turquoise shadows. + +The vision was vouchsafed them, steeped in an immaterial splendor, for +perhaps five minutes, and then it faded as though it had never been. +Miss Austerly, who had gazed at it rapt and eager-eyed, drew in her +breath. + +"Ah!" she said; "if it was only to see that, I am glad I came--it may be +the last time." + +Jimmy, who was sitting on the skylights, saw the apprehension in Anthea +Merril's eyes as she glanced down for a moment into the fragile face of +her companion, and he fancied that Valentine did so too; but the girl +smiled wistfully. + +"Still," she said, "it is a good deal to have seen the glory of this +world, and one would almost fancy that other one--where the sea is +glassy--could not be much more beautiful." + +There was a hint of reproach in Anthea Merril's quiet voice, which +reached Jimmy. + +"Nellie," she said, "you have morbid fancies now and then. We brought +you on this trip to make you cheerful and strong." + +The sick girl smiled again, and the pallor of her fragile face +intensified the faint shining of her eyes. "I think you know that I +shall never get strong again, and, after all, why should I wish to stay +here when I may leave my pains and weaknesses behind me? You can't +understand that. You have the vigor of the sea in you--and the world +before you." + +It apparently occurred to Valentine that he was hearing too much, for he +stood up, swaying while the _Sorata_ plunged, and called to Austerly +through one of the open skylights of the saloon. + +"We'll have the breeze down on us twice as hard in a few minutes, sir, +and there's an inlet we could lie snug in not far astern," he said. +"It's quite likely we might come across a Siwash or two who would pole +you up the river at the head of the inlet to within easy reach of the +agent's place, to-morrow." + +"Very well!" said Austerly; "you can run her away." + +It appeared advisable, for the _Sorata_ buried her bows in a smother of +frothing brine and dipped her lee-deck deep, as a blast swept down. +Valentine glanced at Miss Merril somewhat dubiously. + +"Do you think you could jibe her all standing?" he asked. + +Jimmy almost expected Anthea Merril to say that she could not, for, +unless the helmsman is skilful, when a cutter-rigged craft is brought +round, stern to a fresh breeze, her great mainsail with the ponderous +boom along the foot of it is apt to swing over with disastrous violence. +There was, however, no hesitation in the girl's face, and Valentine made +a little gesture that implied rather more than resignation. + +"When you're ready!" he said. "Stand by, Jimmy!" + +They laid hands on the hard, wet sheet, and, while the girl swayed with +the helm, and the _Sorata_ came round, stern to sea, dragged the big +mainboom in foot by foot until it hung over them, lifting, with the +great bellying sail ready to swing. Then, though nobody knew quite how +it happened, Jimmy got a loose turn of the rope about his arm as a sea +washed in across the counter. In another second or two the boom would +swing over, and it seemed very probable that his arm would at least be +broken. While the tightening hemp ground into his flesh, he saw the +color ebb in Valentine's face, and then the girl's voice reached him +sharp and insistent. + +"Now!" was all she said. + +The _Sorata_'s bows swung a trifle further, and no more. The boom went +up with a jerk, and, while the blood started from Jimmy's compressed +arm, came down again. For a second the turn of rope slackened, and he +shook it clear. Then the sheet whirred through the quarter-blocks as +the great sail swung over, and the _Sorata_ rolled until one side of her +was deep in the foam. She shook herself out of it, and Jimmy, who forgot +the man-o'-war cap and what he was supposed to be, saw the girl's eyes +fixed on him with a faint smile in them, and made her a little +inclination. He felt that she was asking him a question. + +"Thank you!" he said simply. "I don't think I was unduly frightened. I +seemed to know you would not fail me." + +Anthea Merril made no answer, but a slight flush crept into her cheek. +She was very human, and it was in one sense an eloquent compliment. Then +Jimmy went forward to haul the staysail down, though he found he had to +do it with one hand, and he was kept busy until he went down with +Valentine into the little forecastle, when the _Sorata_ lay snug in a +strip of still green water close beneath the dusky pines. Louis had just +gone ashore with the dory to gather bark for fuel, and, for the scuttle +was open, they could hear the splash of his oars through the deep +stillness that was emphasized by the murmur of falling water. Valentine +sat on a locker with the lamplight on his bronzed face, which was a +trifle grave. + +"Rain again, and I'd sooner lose my next charter than have bad weather +now," he said. + +"Why?" asked Jimmy. + +His comrade made a sign of impatience. "Didn't you hear what that girl +said--it was the last time? She knew that she was right, too, though +it's probably only natural that her father wouldn't believe it. A last +treat she's getting--and she's as fond of the sea as I am, or you are +either." + +Jimmy did not know why he smiled, but perhaps it was because he was +stirred a little and did not wish to show it. In any case, Valentine +frowned at him. + +"Oh, yes," he said, "I know. It's a dog's life, and other things; but +you wouldn't quit it, anyway, and that's not the question. Can't you +understand what that sickly girl's life has been, with all that other +women might expect to have denied her?" + +There was a certain hoarse insistence in Valentine's inquiry, from which +it seemed to Jimmy, who had noticed the solicitude with which he had +endeavored to minister in every way to the comfort or pleasure of their +delicate passenger, that his companion had some special reason for +understanding what the girl's lot had been. + +"Well," he said reflectively, "one would suppose that to be born +foredoomed is hard upon such as Miss Austerly." + +Valentine made a little abrupt gesture. "It's evident they once had a +yacht of their own. Any one could see how fond of it she is; and I'm +taking her father's money--he hasn't too much of it--like a--moneylender +that she may have a last taste of the one thing she can take pleasure +in. Lord, when one has so much for nothing, what selfish hogs we are!" + +"It can't be helped, anyway. You couldn't offer a favor to a man like +Austerly." + +"No;" and Valentine frowned. "He's a man with all the condemned +prejudices of his class, and he would, naturally, sooner see his +daughter's one wish ungratified. After all, women now and then rate the +value of things more justly than we do. There's Miss Merril who came +with them, and somehow it was she who brought this trip about. She has +her pride, full measure of it, but she has sense as well, sense of +proportion, and if we had only her to deal with we'd let every other +charter slide and go south to-morrow to find the summer." + +Jimmy was not in the least astonished. He had, of course, listened to a +certain amount of forecastle ribaldry, though, after all, conversation +and badinage of that nature is, at least, as frequent in a mail-boat's +smoking-room; but he knew the ways of his fellows, and it seemed a very +natural thing to him that Valentine the pariah should in his own fashion +reveal these depths of chivalrous compassion. He had seen hard-handed +men of coarse fiber do many a gentle deed with a curse on their lips +that was probably worth a good deal more than a conventional platitude. +Still, it would have been wholly extraordinary if he had mentioned +anything of this. + +"One would fancy Miss Merril has a good deal of character," he said. + +"Too much for the man she marries, if there's anything small and mean in +him. That's a girl with a capacity for doing more than sail a boat to +windward well, and she will probably expect a good deal. In one way +there's something humorous in the fact that her father is one of the +----est rogues in this Province, though there are naturally a good many +people who look up to him. Of course, she isn't aware of it yet. Brought +up back East, I believe, and somebody told me she had lived a good deal +with her mother's people. It probably means trouble for her when she +understands the reality." + +He rose with a little shrug of his shoulders. "I'm talking like an old +woman, and these things have nothing to do with us. We have our wet +watches to keep at sea, and perhaps we are better off than the rest of +them because that is all. You can turn in if you want to; I'll wait for +Louis." + +Five minutes later Jimmy crawled into his bunk, and fell fast asleep. +When he awakened, he found that the day had broken still and sunny. +There was a Siwash rancherie a mile or two up the Inlet, and when an +Indian had been found who would carry a message through the forest, +Austerly, who never forgot what was due to a Crown-land official, +decided to stay where he was and allow the agent to visit him. He was +not in any way an active man, and appeared quite content to sit in the +cockpit reading, when Valentine, who had procured a Siwash river +canoe--a long, light shell of cedar with some two feet beam--offered to +take his daughter up the Inlet to see the rancherie. Miss Austerly was +pleased to go with him, and Anthea Merril, who watched the knife-edge +craft slide away, turned to Jimmy. + +"If you will get the trolling-spoon I will go fishing," she said. + +"Yes, miss," said Jimmy, touching his cap--a thing that is very seldom +done in Western Canada. Hauling the dory alongside, he handed her into +it. Then he dipped the oars, and they slid slowly up the Inlet with the +silver and vermilion spoon trailing astern. He had laid Valentine's +shot-gun across the thwarts. + +The lane of clear green water was, perhaps, two hundred yards wide, and +the stately pines which shroud all that lonely coast rose in somber +ranks on either side, distilling their drowsy fragrance as their +motionless needles dried in the sun. There was not a sound when the +splash of Valentine's paddle died away, and Jimmy dipped his oars +leisurely, now and then venturing a glance at his companion. It seemed +to him that the big white hat she wore became her wonderfully well, and +it is possible that she guessed as much and did not resent it, for Jimmy +was, after all, a personable man. + +"Your skipper is very good to Nellie Austerly," she said. "I am rather +pleased with him because of it. There are, naturally, not many things in +which she can take any great interest." + +"I suppose," said Jimmy reflectively, "there are people who would +consider it good of him, but, in one way, it really isn't. It doesn't +cost him anything, and he can't help it. That man would do what he could +for anybody who didn't want to take advantage of him. What's more, he +would do it almost without realizing what he was about." + +"Do you know why he lives as he does at sea?" + +"I don't. Probably because he likes it." + +Anthea Merril smiled. "Is that all? It has not occurred to you that +there is, perhaps, a reason why he and Nellie Austerly understand each +other?" + +"Both fond of the sea?" + +"That mightn't go far enough. Nellie has had to give up so much, or +rather it has been taken away from her. You can understand that?" + +Jimmy nodded assent. It had already occurred to him that his comrade +was a man who had lost something he greatly valued, and it did not +appear incongruous that Miss Merril should be speaking in this familiar +fashion to him. In fact, she frequently contrived to make him forget +that he was Valentine's hired hand and wore the man-o'-war cap. + +"What would a boat like the _Sorata_ cost to build?" she asked. + +"Perhaps four thousand dollars in this country." + +"Ah!" said the girl; "and with that sum one could probably set up a +store, buy one of the little sawmills near a rising settlement, or start +on one of the other paths that are supposed to lead to affluence." + +Jimmy laughed. "Supposing he owned the big Hastings mill, what more +could it offer a man with his views? As he will tell you, he gets what +he likes almost for nothing. He may be right, too. After all, it is +clean dirt one has to eat at sea." + +"There are not many men who could live as he does; the rest would go to +pieces. And isn't it rather shirking a responsibility?" + +"You mean that one ought to make money?" + +"I think one ought to take one's part in the struggle that is going to +make this the greatest Province in the Dominion; but not exactly for +that reason." Then Miss Merril apparently decided to change the subject. +"You had a good halibut season?" + +Jimmy saw the twinkle in her eyes, and understood it. "I hadn't. I'm +afraid I wouldn't know a halibut when I saw it. There are, one believes, +plenty of them, but so far very few people go fishing." + +"Then you were probably killing the Americans' seals?" + +"I wasn't. I am, I may mention, mate on board a lumber-carrying +schooner." + +His companion's nod might have meant anything. "I fancied," she said, +"you had not gone to sea very often as a yacht-hand." + +Jimmy, who was uncertain what she wished him to understand, pulled on +leisurely, until, as they crept along the shore, a widening ripple that +spread from beyond a point caught his eye, and, laying down the oars, he +reached for the gun. + +"I was told to bring back a duck for Miss Austerly if I could," he said. +"You don't mind?" + +Anthea Merril made a sign of indifference, and the dory slid on, until, +as they opened up a little bay, Jimmy flung up the gun, for a slowly +moving object swam in the midst of it. Then he felt a hand on his arm, +and a voice said sharply, "Put it down!" + +Jimmy did so before he saw the reason, and it was a moment later when he +noticed a string of little fluffy bodies stretched out from the shore. +The mother bird paddled toward them, and, disregarding her own danger, +strove to drive them back among the boulders. Then he saw the curious +gleam that was half anger and half compassion in his companion's eyes, +and felt his face grow a trifle hot. + +"I didn't know," he said. "It must be an unusually late brood. I never +noticed them. I shouldn't like you to think I did." + +"Open the gun, and take out the cartridges!" ordered his companion. + +"Very well, miss," said Jimmy, who could not resist the impulse of +adding, with a whimsical twinkle in his eyes: "Shall I take off the +trolling-spoon?" + +Anthea Merril laughed. "No," she said. "Still, I can't complain of the +suggestion. Head out from shore, and row faster." + +Jimmy said nothing further, but busied himself with his oars. He had +discovered by this time that he could talk more or less confidentially +with Anthea Merril only when it was her pleasure that he should do so, +and she was able to make it clear when that time had gone. Still, he did +not for a moment believe she would have been more gracious had her +companion not happened to be the _Sorata_'s paid hand. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +BLOWN OFF + + +The evening was cool and clear. Anthea Merril and Jimmy followed an +Indian path that wound through the primeval bush. On the one hand a +great, smooth-scarped wall of rock ran up far above the trees that clung +about its feet into the wondrous green transparency, but the light was +dying out down in the hollow where towering fir and cedar clustered. +They were great of girth and very old, and beneath them there was +silence and solemnity. + +Jimmy, who carried his companion's sketching materials, went first to +clear the dew-wet fern away, and the girl walked behind him silently; +but this was not because there had been any change in her attitude +toward him. Indeed, a certain camaraderie had grown up between them +during the few days they had spent fishing and wandering in the bush, +and there was, after all, nothing astonishing in this, for Jimmy was +guilty of no presumption, and social distinctions, which are, indeed, +not very marked in that country, do not count for much in the +wilderness. Still, that camaraderie had been a revelation to him, and he +was uneasily aware that during the rest of his life he would look back +upon the time when he had been Miss Merril's guide and attendant. + +They had been up the bank of a river that afternoon, and the girl, who +had spent an hour or two sketching a peak of the range, had remained +behind with Jimmy when the rest had retraced their steps to the Inlet +lest Miss Austerly should suffer from the chill of the dew. The two were +accordingly coming back alone, which, indeed, had happened several times +before. It was Anthea who spoke at last. + +"It will be dark very soon, and it might have been wiser if we had gone +back the way the others did," she said. "Still, this trail looked +nearer. I suppose it must come out at the Inlet?" + +"Oh, yes," said Jimmy. "I can hear the river, though it doesn't seem to +be quite where I expected. The others will be on the beach by now." + +"I shouldn't like to keep Nellie there," said Anthea. "Still, I scarcely +think they would wait long." + +"Of course not," said Jimmy. "Tom is as careful of her as if she were +his sister, and they wouldn't worry about our not turning up to go off +with them. They're probably getting used to it by this time." + +He realized next moment that this was, perhaps, not a particularly +tactful observation; but he could not see his companion's face, and, as +had happened before, he had sense enough not to make things worse by any +attempt to explain it, which Anthea Merril, who recognized that he had +spoken unreflectively, of course, noticed. What she thought of him--and +she had, naturally, formed certain opinions--did not appear until some +time later. + +In a few minutes he stopped abruptly where the trail wound round a +screen of salmon-berry, for a creek came splashing down across their +way. It appeared to be at least two feet deep, and when his companion +saw it she turned to him with a little exclamation. + +"Oh!" she said, "how are we going to get across? We certainly can't go +back." + +"I'm afraid not;" and Jimmy glanced dubiously at the sliding water. "It +will be dark in half an hour, and this bush is bad enough to get through +in the daylight. I'll go in anyway, and see how deep it is." + +He plodded through rather above his knees in water, which was mostly +freshly melted snow, and then turned and looked at the girl as she stood +regarding him somewhat curiously from the opposite bank. The light had +not quite gone yet, and he could see her standing, tall and supple and +shapely, with her white serge skirt gathered in one hand, and a patch of +crimson wine-berries at her feet. The great brown-and-gray trunk of a +redwood behind her forced up the fine outline of her figure, and made a +fitting background for the delicate coloring of the face that was turned +toward him. Then, as had happened once or twice before, a little thrill +ran through the man, and he glanced down at the sliding water. + +"You can't wade through, and there's no use trying to look for a spot +where it's not running quite so fast. I don't think a Siwash could get +through this bush," he said. + +He stopped somewhat abruptly, and was glad that the girl met his glance +without wavering, as she said, "Well?" + +Jimmy's tone was deprecatory. "There's only one way, Miss Merril. I must +carry you over." + +Anthea laughed, though it cost her a slight effort. She was, at least, +glad that he had addressed her unconcernedly, and as a yacht-hand would. +She was also quite aware that young ladies who go rowing in small +dories, or venture into the wilderness, have to submit to being carried +occasionally; but, for all that, she would sooner the suggestion had +been made by another man. + +"Do you really think you could?" she asked. + +Jimmy's eyes twinkled, which was more reassuring than any sign of +embarrassment. + +"Well," he said reflectively, and again she was pleased that he was very +matter-of-fact, and had sense enough to drop back into his rôle, "I +guess I'm used to carrying three-inch redwood planks." + +He came splashing through the water, though he did not look at her, and +in a moment or two she felt his arms about her. She wondered vaguely +whether he had often carried any one else, for it was, at least, evident +that he knew exactly what he meant to do, and she recognized the +strength the sea had given him, as he stepped down easily into the +creek, holding her high above the water, with the loose folds of her +skirt wrapped about her. Anthea was reasonably substantial, as she was, +of course, aware; but, though he twice floundered a little in the depths +of a pool, he set her down safe on the other side and stood before her +with flushed forehead, which was, as she promptly realized, in one +respect a mistake. He said nothing, and did not, indeed, look at her; +but as he drew in a deep breath from the physical effort she glanced at +him, and saw something in his face that suggested restraint. That +spoiled everything. + +"It is getting late," she said quietly. "Doesn't the path go on again?" + +They turned away, Jimmy walking first, for which she was thankful, +because the moment or two when they had stood silent had been more than +enough. There was nothing for which she could blame the man. His +demeanor had been everything that one could have expected; but she had +seen the momentary light in his eyes and the tightening of his lips, and +knew that their relations could never be exactly what they had been. +Something had come about, for the fact that he had found it necessary to +put a restraint upon himself had made a change. Perhaps he felt that +silence was inadvisable, and once more she appreciated the good sense +that prompted him to talk, much as a seaman would have done, of the +straightness of the shadowy redwoods they passed and their value as +masts, though this was naturally not a subject that greatly interested +her. + +When they reached the beach they found that Valentine had left them the +Siwash canoe; and the rest, with the exception of Nellie Austerly, were +sitting in the _Sorata_'s cockpit when Jimmy paddled alongside. Miss +Merril furnished a suitable explanation of their delay, but she +overlooked the fact that Valentine was acquainted with the bush about +that Inlet. + +"You must have struck the creek," he said. "I should have remembered to +tell you about it." + +He looked at Jimmy, but the latter wisely decided to leave it to Miss +Merril, and turned his attention to the canoe. He felt that she was +competent to handle the matter. + +"I was almost waist-deep when I last went through," said Valentine, who +did not display his usual perspicacity. "How did you get across?" + +Anthea dismissed the subject with perfect composure. "Then there could +not have been anything like so much water. Jimmy helped me over." + +Jimmy went forward, and disappeared through the scuttle into the +forecastle, and some little while later Valentine came down and looked +at him with a dry smile. + +"I don't yet understand how Miss Merril got across that creek," he said. + +"I fancied she told you;" and Jimmy felt his face grow warm. + +Valentine laughed. "Perhaps she did, but it seems to me that she wasn't +remarkably explicit." + +Jimmy said nothing, and presently climbed into his berth, where he lay +for a while trying to recall every incident of the journey he and Anthea +Merril had made through the shadowy bush, until it occurred to him that +he was only preparing trouble for himself by doing so, and he went to +sleep. + +It was raining when he awoke, and it rained for most of three days as +hard as it often does on that coast, until the crystal depths of the +Inlet grew turbid, and it flowed seaward between its dripping walls of +mountains like a river. At last one afternoon the clouds were rolled +away, and when fierce, glaring sunshine beat down Austerly decided that +he would go ashore to fish. The men went with him, Valentine to pull the +dory into the swollen river, Jimmy and Louis in the Siwash canoe to +gather bark for fuel. When they approached the beach where they usually +landed, Jimmy glanced thoughtfully at the great torn-up pines that went +sliding by. + +"If one of those logs drove across her it might start a plank," he said. +"Besides, there's every sign of a vicious breeze, and I think I'll go +off by and by and swing her in behind the next point. She would lie +snugger there out of the stream." + +Valentine looked up at the hard blue sky across which ragged cloud-wisps +were driving, and nodded. "It generally does blow quite fresh after rain +like what we have had," he said. "You could break the anchor out +yourself. I want Louis to get a good load of bark." + +Jimmy went ashore with Louis, who carried a big axe, but by and by he +left the latter busy, and wandered back to the beach. He did not like +the angry glare of sunlight and the way the wind fell in whirling gusts +down the steep hillside. As it happened, another big log drove by while +he stood among the boulders, and remembering that the two girls were +alone in the yacht, he launched the canoe, and sat still, just dipping +the paddle, while the stream swept him down to the _Sorata_. When he +boarded her she was swinging uneasily in a swirl of muddy current, and +Anthea, who sat in the cockpit, appeared pleased to see him. + +"One would almost fancy it was going to blow very hard," she said. + +Jimmy laughed. "I believe it is; but we should be snug against anything +in the little cove yonder with a rope or two ashore. I wonder whether +you could sheer her for me while I break out the anchor?" + +The girl went to the tiller, and while Jimmy, standing forward, plied +the little winch, the cable slowly rattled in. Then he broke out the +anchor, and the boat slid astern until a cove, where dark fir branches +stretched out over the still, deep water, opened up. Dropping the +anchor, he turned to the girl. + +"Starboard!" he said. + +Anthea shoved over her tiller; but the _Sorata_ did not swing into the +cove as Jimmy had expected her to do, for a blast that set the pines +roaring fell from the hillside and drove her out from the shore. Jimmy +let more chain run, and stood still looking about him, when he felt the +anchor grip. The sunlight had faded, obscured by ragged clouds, the tall +pines swayed above him, and the _Sorata_ had swung well out athwart the +stream. + +"Since I can't kedge her with this breeze, I'll take a line ashore and +warp her in," he said. + +It appeared advisable, for there were more pine-logs coming down, and he +pitched a coil of rope into the canoe; but the rest, as he discovered, +was much more difficult. Jimmy had been used to boats in which one could +stand up and row, while a Siwash river canoe is a very different kind of +craft. As a result, he several times almost capsized her, and lost a +good deal of ground when a gust struck her lifted prow; so that some +time had passed when the line brought him up still a few yards from the +beach. He looked around at the _Sorata_ with a shout. + +"I want a few more fathoms," he called. "Can you fasten on the other +line, Miss Merril?" + +He saw the girl, who moved forward along the deck, stop and clutch at a +shroud, but that was all, for just then the dark firs roared and the +water seethed white about him as he plied the paddle. The canoe turned +around in spite of him, drove out into the stream, and, while he strove +desperately to steer her, struck the _Sorata_ with a crash. The boat +lifted her side a little as he swung himself on board, and there was a +curious harsh grating forward. Anthea, who stepped down into the +cockpit, had lost her hat, and her hair whipped her face. + +"I think she has started her anchor," she said. + +Jimmy was sure of it when he ran forward and let several fathoms of +chain run without bringing her up, for the bottom was apparently shingle +washed down from the hillside. + +"We'll have to get the kedge over," he said. + +He dropped unceremoniously into the saloon, where Miss Austerly lay on +the settee, and tore up the floorings, beneath which, as space is +valuable on board a craft of the _Sorata_'s size, the smaller anchor is +sometimes kept. He could not, however, find it anywhere, and when he +swung himself, hot and breathless, out on deck, the yacht was driving +seaward stern foremost, taking her anchor with her, while the whole +Inlet was ridged with lines of white. Anthea Merril looked at him with +suppressed apprehension in her eyes. + +"We must get a warp ashore somehow," he said. "I might sheer her in +under the staysail." + +The girl went forward with him, and gasped as they hauled together at +the halyard which hoisted the sail; and when half of it was up, she sped +aft to the tiller, and Jimmy made desperate efforts to shorten in the +cable. There was another cove not far astern into which he might work +the boat. The anchor, however, came away before he expected it, and, +though he did not think it was the girl's fault, the half-hoisted sail +swung over, and the _Sorata_, in place of creeping back toward the +beach, drove away toward the opposite shore, where the stream swept over +ragged rock. Jimmy, jumping aft, seized the tiller, and while the Inlet +seethed into little splashing ridges the _Sorata_ swept on seaward with +the breeze astern. He stood still a moment, gasping, and then, while the +girl looked at him with inquiring eyes, signed her to take the helm +again. + +"I must get the trysail on her, and try to beat her back. We may be able +to do it--I don't know," he said. "It's deep water along those rocks, +and she'd chafe through and go down; otherwise I'd ram her ashore." + +He spent several arduous minutes tearing every spare sail out of the +stern locker before he reached the one he wanted, and it was at least +five minutes more before he had laced it to its gaff, while by then +there were only jagged rocks, over which the sea that washed into the +open entrance to the Inlet seethed whitely, under the _Sorata_'s lee. +Jimmy glanced at them, and quietly lashed the trysail gaff to the boom +before he turned to Anthea Merril. + +"I'm sorry," he said. "We couldn't stay her under the trysail with the +puffs twisting all ways flung back by the trees. Besides, she'd probably +drive down upon the reefs before I got it up. It's quite evident we +can't go ashore there." + +The girl glanced ahead, and her heart sank a little as she saw the long +Pacific roll heave across the opening in big gray slopes that were +ridged with froth. Then she turned to Jimmy, who stood regarding her +gravely in the steamboat jacket, burst shoes, and man-o'-war cap, and a +look of confidence crept into her eyes. She felt that this man could be +depended on. + +"We shall have to run out to sea?" she asked. + +Jimmy nodded, and she was glad that he answered frankly, as to one who +was his equal in courage. + +"There is no help for it," he said. "Still, she'll go clear of the shore +as she is, and I don't think we need be anxious about her when she's +under trysail in open water." + +Anthea looked at him again, with a spot of color in her cheek. + +"It may blow for several days," she said. "If I can help in any way----" + +"You can," said Jimmy abruptly. "Go down now and fix Miss Austerly and +yourself something to eat. You mightn't be able to do it afterwards. +Then you can bring me up some bread and coffee." + +Anthea disappeared into the saloon with her cheeks tingling and a +curious smile in her eyes. She understood what had happened. Now that +they were at close grip with the elements, Jimmy had asserted himself in +primitive fashion, and he could, she felt, be trusted to do his part. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +JIMMY TAKES COMMAND + + +Darkness was closing down on the waste of tumbling foam, and the +_Sorata_ was clear of the shore, when Jimmy made shift to hoist the +trysail reduced by two reefs to a narrow strip of drenched canvas. Then, +while Anthea Merril held the helm, he proceeded to set the little +spitfire jib. However, he clung to the weather-shrouds, gasping and +dripping with perspiration for the first few moments, because the +struggle with the trysail had tried his strength. Indeed, Anthea, who +stood bareheaded at the helm with her loosened hair whipping about her, +wondered how he had contrived to do it alone in that strength of wind. + +His figure, shapeless in the streaming oilskins, cut darkly against the +livid foam as the _Sorata_ swung her bows high above the sea, and then +was almost lost in a filmy cloud as she plunged and buried them in the +breast of a big comber. Suddenly, however, he dropped on hands and +knees, and, crouching with one arm around the forestay, hauled the strip +of canvas out along the bowsprit until once more a sea smote the +_Sorata_ and he sank into a rush of foam. The girl caught her breath as +she waited until the boat swung her head out again, for it was very +evident that the man alone stood between her and destruction. + +He swung into sight, clinging with an arm around jib and bowsprit until +he staggered to his feet, and a strip of sailcloth that went aloft beat +him with its wet folds amidst a frantic banging. Anthea scarcely dared +to look at him as he struggled with the rope that hoisted it, and she +gasped with relief when at last he came scrambling back and pushed her +from the tiller. + +"Thanks!" he said. "Go down and get Miss Austerly on to the leeward +settee, and then try to sleep. The boat ought to lie-to dryly until the +morning, but I can't leave the tiller." + +Anthea just heard him through the turmoil of the sea, and did not resent +the grasp he had laid on her shoulder. Quietly imperious as she usually +was, it seemed only fitting that she should obey him then. She went down +through the little companion, and Jimmy, pulling the slide to after her, +settled himself for his long night-watch as darkness rolled down upon +the sea. He was anxious, but not unduly so, for the boat was high of +side and able; and a comparatively small craft will usually ride out a +vicious breeze if one can keep her hove-to under a strip or two of sail, +so as to meet the sea while not forging through it with her weather-bow. +Indeed, after the first half-hour he felt somewhat reassured, and his +thoughts went back to a subject which had occupied them somewhat +frequently of late, and that, not unnaturally, was Anthea Merril. + +She was, he knew, the daughter of the man who was ruining his father, +but that was an incident and no fault of hers. It was, he fancied, clear +that she knew nothing about Merril's business operations, and was +unacquainted with one aspect of his character. In fact, it seemed to him +that there was a painful shock in store for her when she made the +discovery. He had never met a woman with so much that compelled his +appreciation besides her physical beauty. Her quiet graciousness and +courage had their effect on him, and he was sure, at least, that he +would never feel quite the same regard for anybody else. Indeed, he +admitted that she was a woman with whom he might have fallen in love had +circumstances been propitious, but, as they certainly were not, he +strove to assure himself that he had sense and will enough to refrain +from thinking more of her than was advisable. + +These reflections were, however, fragmentary, for the boat required +attention, and he fancied that a good deal of water was finding its way +into her. The _Sorata_ would not lie-to without somebody at the helm, +and he could only leave the tiller lashed for a few minutes now and then +while he labored at the little rotary pump. Once or twice when he did +so, a foot of brine came frothing into the cockpit across the coaming, +and he commenced to wonder how long the breeze would last, for he was +becoming sensible that another twelve hours of it would probably be as +much as he could stand. + +In the meanwhile the night was wearing through, and at last a faint +light crept up from the east across the waste of tumbling seas. They +were not by any means mountainous, for as a matter of fact it is very +probable that the biggest ocean sea scarcely exceeds forty feet between +its trough and summit, but they rolled up out of the northwest in a +continuous phalanx of steep, gray ridges crested with spouting froth +that looked quite big enough. The drift whirled across them, and now and +then wrapped the craft in wisps of filmy smoke, while Jimmy, with +smarting and temporarily blinded eyes, trusted to the feel of the +tiller. He was as wet as he could be, as well as stiff and cold, and it +was with relief and some astonishment that he saw the saloon companion +open, and Miss Merril appear with a plate and a jug of steaming coffee. + +Her skirt was woefully bedraggled, from which he surmised that there was +more water than there should be in the saloon, and her hair was promptly +powdered with glistening spray; but her face was quiet, and she sat down +collectedly, huddling herself on a locker, where the after bulkhead of +the saloon partly sheltered her. Jimmy dropped into the cockpit, and +crouched there with the tiller against his shoulder, for nobody could +have eaten in the face of that wind. Then he stretched out a hand for +the coffee. + +"I'm unusually glad to get it. It was very kind of you," he said. + +Anthea smiled. "Why?" she asked. "Are you sure it wasn't selfishness? We +couldn't take the boat home without you, and a man must eat if he has to +go on with this kind of task." + +Jimmy looked at her, and, finding no very apposite rejoinder, nodded. +"Well," he said, "I suppose he must; but did you get anything for +yourself or Miss Austerly? You can't live on nothing any more than I +can. At least, that's the conclusion I've come to after what I've +noticed in the mail-boat's saloons." + +He was aware that he had made a slip, but fancied it had escaped his +companion's attention, which, of course, displayed very little +perspicacity. In the meanwhile, he got a turn of the weather tiller line +round a cleat, and lowered himself further until he sat in the cockpit +with several inches of water swishing about him. + +"Nellie is asleep at last. I did not awaken her," said his companion. + +"That isn't all I asked. Did you get anything yourself?" + +The girl said she had not done so, and for a moment there was the +faintest suspicion of color in her face. + +"Then you will share what you have brought with me," said Jimmy. + +"There isn't a cup. I couldn't find one that wasn't broken. The +forecastle shelf has torn away." + +"You couldn't have kept the coffee in it if you had. Take what you want +before it gets cold," and Jimmy pointed to the jug. + +Anthea raised it to her lips, and then pushed it back along the cockpit +floor, while, though she had not meant to do so, she flashed a swift +glance at her companion when he held it in his hand. As it happened, +Jimmy looked at her just then, and she saw the little glint in his eyes. +He felt that she had done so, and, while he would not have had it +happen, let his gaze rest on her steadily while he made her a little +inclination. Then he drank, and, after he had thrust the plate in her +direction, broke off a portion of bread and canned meat; some of which +crumbled and stuck to his wet oilskins. + +He was quite aware that neither his attitude nor manner of eating was +especially graceful, but that could not be helped, and he laughed when +his companion clutched at the remnant on the plate. She smiled at him +too, and he wondered why they were both apparently so much at ease. +Still, it did not seem in any way an unusual or unfitting thing that he +and this delicately brought up girl should make their meal as equals in +the little dripping cockpit with a single plate and one drinking vessel +between them. He felt that it was as a comrade she regarded him, in +place of tolerating him from necessity, and he noticed that even under +the very uncomfortable conditions she ate daintily. + +"Where are we?" she asked at last. + +"About twenty miles to leeward of the Inlet, and perhaps eight off the +shore. At least, I should like to believe we are. How is it you look so +fresh, instead of worn out? Where did you learn to make yourself at home +in a boat?" + +"In Toronto," said Anthea. "I was there two years, and they are fond of +yachting in that city. I once did some sailing in England too. What do +you think of their boats? It is, perhaps, fortunate Valentine made the +_Sorata_ a cutter, as they generally do, instead of a sloop. You could +hardly have handled her under the latter's single headsail last night." + +"No," said Jimmy, "I don't think I could. If she had been rigged that +way she would probably have gone under by now. Still, I don't see why +you should expect me to know anything about English boats." + +Anthea smiled as she looked at him. "Perhaps you don't, though you don't +invariably express yourself as a man would who had never been away from +the Pacific Slope." + +"Well," said Jimmy reflectively, "it's not quite a sure thing that the +way they talk in an English ship's forecastle is very much nicer." + +"There are more places in a mail-boat than her forecastle." + +It seemed to Jimmy advisable to change the subject, and he made a little +grimace as he glanced at the plate. + +"I'm afraid I've cleaned up everything," he said. + +Anthea laughed. "Which is quite as it should be. I can get more, and you +can't. Still, perhaps you have left some coffee." + +Jimmy was about to point out that there was no cup, but refrained, for +it flashed on him that his companion was, of course, aware of this, and +he gravely handed her the jug. What her purpose was he did not know, and +indeed he was never clear on this point, though he fancied that she had +one; but it was, at least, evident that she was damp and chilled, and +needed the physical stimulant. The trifling act, it seemed, might +equally be a pledge of camaraderie, or a recognition of the fact that +they were for the time being no more than man and woman between whom all +distinctions had vanished in the face of peril; but he seemed to feel it +had a still deeper significance. He had once held her in his arms, and +now they had shared the same plate and drunk from the same vessel. + +Then the _Sorata_ reminded him that she required attention, for a sea +seethed on board her forward, and when it poured into the cockpit he +swung himself back to the coaming. A minute or two later he stretched +out his hand, and the girl drew in her breath as she glanced ahead, for +a sail materialized suddenly out of the vapor. It was suggestively +slanted, and a dusky strip that looked very small appeared beneath it +when it swung high on the crest of a sea. + +"Siwashes," said Jimmy; "one of their sea canoes. They have to keep her +running. She wouldn't lie-to." + +The craft drew abreast of them, traveling wonderfully fast, and Anthea +long remembered how she drove by the _Sorata_, hove half her length out +of water, riding on the ridge of a big gray sea. She was entirely open, +a long, narrow, bird-headed thing, and the foam she flung off forward +seemed to lap over her after-half. A little drenched spritsail was +spread from an insignificant mast, and four crouching figures with dusky +faces were partly visible amidst the wisps of spray that whirled about +her. One of them held a long paddle, and looked fixedly ahead; the +others gazed at the _Sorata_ expressionlessly until the craft swooped +down between two seas. Jimmy saw his companion's hands clench on the +coaming, and the color ebb from her face, and then she gasped as the +little strip of canvas swung into sight again. + +"Ah!" she said, "it's a trifle horrible to watch them; and what must it +be to steer her? How many of us in the cities know what the struggle for +existence really is?" + +Jimmy nodded assent. "At least," he said, "the thing is tolerably clear +to the men who live at sea. If that Siwash lost his nerve for a moment +the next comber would swallow the canoe. After all, the sea knows no +distinctions; white men and red men alike must face the strain." + +"In the big mail-boats too?" + +"Of course. I'm not sure it isn't a little heavier there. When you are +traveling as fast as a freight train there is little time to decide how +you will clear a crossing steamer, or to pick out green from yellow +among a blink of sliding lights. The man who fails is very apt to hurl +as much as fourteen thousand tons of hull and cargo into destruction, +and, perhaps, two thousand passengers into another world, though some +vessels now carry more than that. The owner seldom gets rich when he +doesn't; and there is, after all, no very great difference between his +lot and that of the Siwash, who stakes his life against the value of a +few salmon or halibut." + +He broke off with a laugh. "Hadn't you better go back? You are getting +very wet." + +Anthea did so, and it was almost noon when she came up again. Jimmy +still sat at the tiller, and his wet face looked a trifle worn; but the +breeze had softened, and as the girl glanced round her, a shaft of +sunlight fell suddenly upon the foaming sea. + +"Yes," said Jimmy, "it's blowing itself out. I expect we'll be able to +shake the reefs out of the trysail and beat up for the Inlet before it's +dark. If it were necessary I would run her before it now." + +"Wouldn't there be shelter in one of the inlets to leeward?" asked the +girl, with a very natural longing to escape from the strain and turmoil. + +"It's very probable," said Jimmy. "I dare say I could make one. Still, +you see----" + +He stopped, and Anthea flushed ever so slightly, for it was evident to +her that she and her companion could not extend that cruise +indefinitely in company with Valentine's hired man. + +"Of course!" she said. "Austerly will be horribly anxious. Well, if you +think you could leave the tiller lashed, I have dinner ready." + +"I believe I could. Still, it might be awkward to get back fast enough +from the forecastle in case of necessity." + +"I wonder," said the girl, "whether you have any very decided objections +to sitting down with us in the saloon? If you have, it would make it +necessary for Nellie or me to bring the things out to you." + +Jimmy fancied that the last was an inspiration, and after a glance to +windward went down into the saloon, which was very wet. Miss Austerly, +who seemed to have stood the shaking better than he expected, reclined +on one settee with her feet drawn up for the sake of dryness, and she +smiled at him. He wondered when he saw how the little swing-table was +set. Miss Merril, finding the crockery kept for charterers mostly +smashed, had apparently come upon Valentine's enameled and indurated +ware. + +There was no restraint upon any of them during the meal. The fact that +the breeze was undoubtedly falling would have been sufficient in itself +to restore their cheerfulness, but Jimmy was also sensible of a curious +exhilaration, and discoursed whimsically upon various topics besides the +sea. In fact, he was astonished to find that he had been away an hour +when at last he went back to the cockpit. The breeze was falling +rapidly, and before Anthea prepared the supper, which was, as usual in +that country, at about six o'clock, he had set the whole trysail, and +soon afterward he got the reefed mainsail up. By midnight the _Sorata_ +was close in with the coast, working fast to windward through smooth +water with her biggest topsail set, while a half-moon hung low in the +western sky. The sea gleamed silver under it, and scarcely half a mile +away dim hillsides and long ranks of somber pines half-veiled in fleecy +mists went sliding by. + +The soft gleam of the swinging lamps in the saloon shone out in faint +streams of colored radiance through the skylights, and, late as it was, +Nellie Austerly nestled well wrapped up on a locker in the cockpit. She +watched the long swell break away from beneath the bows in glittering +cascades, and Jimmy fancied he knew what she was thinking when she gazed +aloft at the tall spire of canvas that shone in the moonlight as white +as the peak ahead of them. It was a nocturne in blue and silver, and if +sound were wanted, the splashing at the bows and the deep rumble of the +surf emphasized the softer harmonies of the night. + +"You are not so very sorry we were blown off, after all?" he asked. + +The girl smiled. "No," she said; "I managed to sleep through a good deal +of it, and now I feel almost as fresh as if I had stayed ashore. +Besides, this would make up for anything. One could almost wish we could +sail south with the topsail up under the moonlight--forever. In spite of +the bad weather, I have been so well since I came to sea." + +"Just the three of us?" asked Jimmy unguardedly. + +He saw the twinkle in the girl's eyes as she glanced at her companion, +who sat close by. + +"I wonder," she said, "whether you would like that, Anthea? I almost +think I should." + +The moonlight sufficed to show the faint tinge of color in Anthea's +face, but she laughed. "And what about your father?" + +Nellie Austerly did not appear concerned. "It is very undutiful, for he +must have been anxious; but I really can't help feeling amused when I +think of him and Mr. Valentine being left on the beach to sleep in the +Siwash rancherie. One understands they are rather dreadful places, and +he is so horribly particular, you know." + +Anthea said nothing further, and presently the two girls went below, but +they were about again when, soon after six o'clock next morning, Jimmy +beat the _Sorata_ into the Inlet. Indeed, he left Anthea at the tiller +while he went into the saloon to look for a piece of spun yarn which +Valentine kept in one of the lockers. Nellie Austerly smiled at him as +he opened it. + +"I suppose we shall be in very soon, and I want to thank you now for +bringing me back safe," she said. "Anthea, of course, can thank you for +herself." + +Jimmy felt a trifle embarrassed. "I really don't see why she should. I +think the charter covers anything I have done." + +The girl made a little whimsical gesture. "Does it? You are not a +regular yacht-hand, really?" + +"I am, at least, mate of a lumber-carrying schooner, which comes to much +the same thing." + +The twinkle in Nellie Austerly's eyes grew plainer. "I can be quite +frank with Mr. Valentine and you, and perhaps it is because I like you +both. You can make what you think fit of that. Still, I haven't asked +you how long you have been on board the schooner, and one understands +there are a good many opportunities for men--like you and Mr. +Valentine--in this country." + +Jimmy was a little startled, for it almost seemed that she had guessed +his thoughts, but he smiled. + +"Valentine seems to have all he wants already. He is content with the +sea." + +The girl laughed. "Well," she said, "I don't think the sea would +altogether satisfy him. But I must not keep you here; hadn't you better +make sure Anthea isn't running us ashore?" + +Jimmy went up, and found the _Sorata_ was smoothly slipping by the +climbing pines; and a little later her dory with three white men in it +came sliding toward them as he hauled the topsail down. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +MERRIL TIGHTENS THE SCREW + + +The _Sorata_ went to sea again next morning, and one night a week later +she bore up for Vancouver before a westerly breeze. A thin crescent moon +had just cleared the dim white line of the mainland snow, and the sea +glittered faintly in her frothing wake under a vast sweep of dusky blue. +The big topsail swayed across it, blotting out the stars, and there was +a rhythmic splashing beneath the bows. + +Anthea Merril stood at the tiller outlined against the heave of sea, for +the night was warm and she was dressed in white. Nellie Austerly sat on +a locker in the cockpit, and her father on the saloon skylights with a +cigar in his hand. Valentine lay on the deck not far away, and Jimmy a +little further forward. + +"I suppose we will be in soon after daylight, and I'm sorry," said +Nellie Austerly. "It has been an almost perfect cruise in spite of the +bad weather. Don't you wish we were going back again, instead of home, +Anthea?" + +Jimmy roused himself to attention, for he would very much have liked to +hear Miss Merril's real thoughts on the matter; but she laughed. + +"I don't think it would be very much use if I did," she said. "One +can't go sailing always--and if you feel that that is a pity, you can +think of the rain and the wind." + +"Ah!" said Nellie Austerly, "one has to bear so much of them everywhere. +Sometimes one wonders whether life is all gray days and rain; but this +trip has made me better, and, perhaps, if Mr. Valentine will take us, we +will go back next year and revel once more in the sea and the +sunshine--we really had a good deal of the latter." + +Jimmy saw his comrade make a little abrupt movement, and guessed what he +was thinking, for he too realized that before another year Nellie +Austerly would in all probability have slipped away from the sad gray +weather to the shores of the glassy sea where there is eternal radiance. + +Then Austerly looked around, and his observation was very +matter-of-fact, as usual. + +"If circumstances are propitious, I should be glad to arrange it," he +said. "I certainly think Mr. Valentine has done everything he could for +us. Indeed, we owe it largely to him that this has been such a pleasant +trip." + +He appeared to expect some expression of approval, and Anthea laughed. +"Of course. It's only unfortunate he couldn't arrange the weather." + +"I wonder," said Nellie reflectively, "why you both leave Jimmy out?" + +There was a certain suggestiveness in the girl's tone which Jimmy +noticed, though he did not think her father did, and he wished it had +been light enough to see Anthea Merril's face; but unfortunately it was +not. She appeared to disregard the question, and glanced in Valentine's +direction. + +"Couldn't we have the big spinnaker up?" she asked. + +Valentine hesitated a little. The breeze was moderately fresh and the +_Sorata_ traveling fast enough, while it is not a very easy thing to +steer a craft running under the great three-cornered sail, which is apt +to swing over in case of a blunder at the tiller. + +"You could hold her steady before the wind?" he asked. + +"If I don't, I will make my father buy you a new mast," said Anthea. + +Valentine made a little gesture which was expressive of resignation. It +was, he had discovered, singularly hard to say no to Anthea Merril; but +it seemed to him that the new mast might be needed if she ventured too +far now. He and Jimmy between them got the great sail up and its boom +run out, though it cost them an effort; and then Jimmy glanced aft with +more than a trace of uneasiness at the white figure at the helm. The +_Sorata_ had now on each side of her a swelling mass of canvas that +dwarfed the narrow strip of hull, and she swung each of them high in +turn as she rolled viciously. Still, as far as Jimmy could see, the girl +stood very composedly at the tiller. Then, as the great mainboom went up +high above the sea, Valentine signed to him. + +"You had better get out and steady it," he said. "It wouldn't need much +to bring that boom over." + +Jimmy crawled out on the slippery spar, and sat astride near the end of +it, while Valentine made his way along the one beneath the spinnaker. +Their weight checked the lifting of the sails in some degree, but for +the first few minutes it seemed to Jimmy that they and their companions +were hazarding a good deal. If the girl at the helm let the tiller swing +a hand's-breadth too much when the _Sorata_, piling the froth about her, +rushed up a dim slope of water, either mainsail or spinnaker would swing +over, and the men on the booms would have no opportunity for attempting +to obviate the unpleasantness that would certainly succeed it. In all +probability they would be flung off headlong into the sea. Still, the +sail did not come over, for the _Sorata_ drove along straight before the +wind, and once more Jimmy paid silent homage to the girl at the tiller. + +He could see her only dimly, a blurred white shape against the dusky +sea, but he could imagine the little glow in her eyes and the way in +which her lips were pressed together. He had seen her look that way when +she sat beside him in the cockpit one wild morning as the _Sorata_ +plunged over the great Pacific combers, and it seemed to him that she +was one who would face difficulties and perils of any kind as +unwaveringly. Indeed, he was angry with himself for having fancied there +was any hazard at all in leaving her to steer the _Sorata_ under +spinnaker, for he felt that Anthea Merril must necessarily be capable of +carrying out anything she had undertaken. + +So he swung contentedly with the lifting boom, now hove high above the +dark water, now dropped down until his feet were almost in the streaming +froth, while shadowy islets clothed with pines sprang out of the sea +ahead, grew into solid blurs of blackness, and flitted by, until at last +Austerly said that his daughter must go below. Then Valentine and Jimmy +came in along the booms, stowed the spinnaker with some difficulty, and +dropped the topsail too, for the dim mainland shore was black ahead when +the rest left the deck to them. + +"That girl has quite excellent nerves," said Valentine. "Still, what I +like about her is that she doesn't think it necessary to impress it on +you. Her husband won't have much to complain of if she ever marries +anybody, though I'm not sure that's certain." + +"Not certain?" said Jimmy. + +"No," replied Valentine reflectively. "A girl of her kind is apt to be +particular. The man who pleases her would have to be quite straight, and +it's scarcely likely he'd go to leeward either." + +Jimmy fancied that his comrade was right, though he said nothing, for +after all it was, as he compelled himself to admit, no concern of his. +However, he sighed a little as he went down and crawled into his cot, +leaving Valentine to feel his way along the dusky shore. + +It was early next morning when they rowed Austerly and his two +companions ashore, and the man shook hands with them on the wharf. + +"I feel that I am indebted to both of you," he said with somewhat +unusual diffidence. "In fact, I can't exactly consider that the +attention you have shown my daughter is no more than one would +expect--from the charter." + +He seemed to feel that he was becoming involved, and went on abruptly. +"She desires me to say that it would be a pleasure should either of you +care to call at any time." + +Jimmy left him to Valentine, and, when the latter had handed Miss +Austerly into the waiting vehicle, saw that Anthea Merril was looking at +him. + +"If you don't mind my saying so, I think that was rather good of +Austerly," she said. "You probably know his point of view, and I daresay +it cost him an effort. I think your comrade should go. Nellie finds him +amusing, and there is naturally not very much in her life that pleases +her." + +She stopped with a little soft laugh. "Mr. Wheelock--isn't it? I haven't +the least difficulty in saying as much as Austerly did. Any time you or +Mr. Valentine care to call I should be glad to receive you. Our house is +always open, and anybody will tell you where it is." + +Jimmy once more remembered that he had on a pair of burst canvas shoes, +as well as old duck trousers cobbled with sail twine, and a man-o'-war +cap that had grown shapeless with the rain. He also realized that his +companion was quite aware of it too. + +"I'm afraid it wouldn't be a very appropriate thing if I did," he said. + +Anthea looked at him steadily. "Pshaw!" she said. "Still, you really +can't expect me to urge you." + +Perhaps it was a slight relief to both of them that Valentine signed to +Jimmy just then. "They want this box," he said. "The rest of the things +are to wait for the express wagon." + +Jimmy, who turned away, heaved the box into the vehicle, and did not see +the curious little smile in Anthea Merril's eyes. In a few minutes she +had driven away, and, he fancied, had passed out of his life altogether. +He stood still on the wharf and sighed. + +"Well," said Valentine, "where are you going now?" + +"Straight back to the schooner," said Jimmy. "I see her lying outside +the steamboat yonder. You might bring my things across when you have +straightened up the boat." + +Valentine promised to do so, and Jimmy, who strode away, met Jordan, +whom he had not expected to see there, on the water-front. + +"What are you doing in Vancouver?" he asked. + +"Looking after my patent rights--among other things," said Jordan. "The +mill's shut down for two or three weeks anyway. Between the stone in the +water and the new detergent the directors insisted on my using, the +boiler has 'most turned herself inside out. Our people have their office +here, as you know, and my agreement with them only stands for another +month, while it seems that Merril has been buying up their stock. I'm +not sure his notions are going to suit me. You heard we had to break off +your father's contract?" + +"I hadn't, though I was afraid it would happen," said Jimmy, whose face +grew a trifle grim. "That was Merril's doing?" + +"It was. I couldn't help the thing. But we can't talk here; won't you +come along to my hotel?" + +Jimmy glanced at his garments, and Jordan grinned. "Those things don't +count for so much here," he said. "Anyway, there was a time when I +tramped into the wooden cities along Puget Sound looking way more like a +dead-beat than you do now. Still, if that's going to worry you, can't +you get a boat and take me for a sail?" + +Jimmy was sorry that it was out of the question. He had spent only a +few evenings with Jordan at the mill, but he liked the man, and was +vaguely sensible that Jordan liked him. + +"Valentine and I have just run in, and I must see how the old man is +getting along," he said. "After that I fancy I ought to go over to a +ranch on the Westminster road, and look up my sister. I haven't seen her +since I came home." + +"Well," said Jordan, "I've nothing on hand until to-morrow. What's the +matter with taking me? I'll hire a team somewhere and drive you. I can +drop you at the ranch, and go on to Westminster." + +They arranged it during the next few minutes, and then Jimmy was rowed +off to the _Tyee_. Prescott met him as he climbed on board, and a glance +at his face showed Jimmy that things had not been going well. + +"You will be wanted," he said. "Your father has been getting very shaky +since you went away, and I don't quite see how he's to hold on to the +schooner, now that he has lost that lumber contract and has to face the +carpenter's bill. Guess he's worrying over it. Hasn't got up the last +three days, and the doctor don't seem to know what is wrong with him." + +Jimmy went down into the little stern cabin with a sinking heart, and +found Tom Wheelock lying propped up in his berth. He looked very old and +haggard, and the perspiration stood beaded on his face, in which pale +patches showed through the bronze. + +"Glad you've got back, boy," he said. "You'll have to take hold +soon--that is, if there's anything left to get a grip on. The old man's +played out." + +This, it seemed to Jimmy, was painfully evident, and though he +contrived to hide it, a sense of dismay crept over him as he sat down. +Tom Wheelock looked played out, and though his son was ready to take up +his burden, he felt it would be heavy. He realized that through the +compassion he felt, and then a sudden fit of anger against the man who +had crushed his father came over him. The color darkened a trifle in his +face, but he put a restraint upon himself. + +"You'll be about again in a day or two," he said cheerily. "Now, tell me +all about it. But first of all, what is the matter with you?" + +The old man looked at him with a curious little smile. "The doctor Bob +brought off didn't quite seem to know, but I could have told him. Guess +I'm done, boy. It's quite likely I'll crawl out on deck for a little +while, but how's that going to count? Nobody's going to have any more +use for your father, Jimmy, and when the month is up Merril will take +the schooner from him." + +Jimmy clenched a big brown fist, but his voice was very quiet. "Well," +he said, "I want to understand what has happened since I went away." + +Wheelock reached out for the pipe that lay near him, and fumbled with +it, spilling the tobacco with shaky fingers, until Jimmy quietly took it +from him, and struck a match as he handed it back to him. The old man +raised himself a trifle as he lighted it, and then laid a trembling hand +on his son's arm. + +"I guess I've worked as hard as most other men, but somehow I don't seem +to have gone to windward as the rest did," he said. "Perhaps I was too +easy with the money, and a little slack in other ways. Still, your +blood's red, Jimmy, and there's a streak of hard sand in you. You got it +from your mother; it was she who made me. Hard work don't count, boy. +You want to get your elbows into the other people who're standing in +your way. Well, I'm glad there's that streak of grit in you. You'll get +those fingers on the throat of the man who brought your father down, and +gripe the life out of him, some day." + +He broke off abruptly, and fumbled with his pipe, which had gone out +again. "Let that go; it's fool talk, Jimmy. What do I want putting my +trouble on to you? Guess you'll have plenty of your own, boy." + +"I think I asked you to tell me what Merril had done," said Jimmy. + +"Kept us here under repairs while the lumber was piling up on the +sawmill wharf. I 'most guess he'd fixed the thing with the boss +carpenter. I was to bring all that the people at the Inlet cut for +Victoria or Vancouver down fast as it was ready, or they were to let up +on the contract; but Jordan would have made things easy if Merril hadn't +bought their stock and put the screw on hard." + +"It wouldn't be worth his while to buy the stock for that." + +"The thing's quite plain. He's playing a bigger game. Wants control of +all that's going on along that coast, and its carrying. Guess I can't +stop his getting the _Tyee_, and she's the second boat he has taken from +me. Well, I may get a freight of ore in a week or two, and, it's quite +likely, a load from a cannery--go up light--freight one way. How's that +going to count, though, when there's the carpenter's bill to meet, and +a big instalment on the bond with interest due?" + +"How much?" Jimmy asked, harshly. + +He sat silent a while, with a hard, set face, when his father told him. + +"Then he must have the vessel. Still, he'll have to sell her by +auction," he said by and by. + +"That won't count. When I've nobody to run the price up against him, +it's quite easy for a man like Merril to fix the thing. He'll get one of +his friends to buy her in at 'bout half her value, and the bond don't +quite call for that. It isn't everybody wants a vessel, and the few men +who do fix these things between them." + +Jimmy set his lips, and once more there was silence for a while. Then he +looked up with a little abrupt movement. "There's a question in front of +us to be faced--and I'm going to find the answer; but we won't talk any +more about it now. I'm going over with Jordan this afternoon to see +Eleanor. You can get along until to-night without me?" + +Wheelock made a sign of concurrence. "I guess it's a thing you ought to +do. Got a letter from her yesterday, and she was asking about you. +Eleanor's like you. Take after your mother, both of you, and, if +anything, the harder grit's in her. You have to remember, Jimmy, you +can't afford to show a soft spot when you're fighting a man like +Merril." + +He stopped a moment, with a sigh. "Guess he is too hard for your father. +Won't you light me this pipe again? My hand's shaky." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +ELEANOR WHEELOCK + + +Jordan was driving a spirited team along the water-front when Jimmy came +up from the wharf, and he smiled when the latter swung himself up into +the light, four-wheeled vehicle. Jimmy was dressed tastefully in his +English shore-going clothes, and now looked very much unlike a +yacht-hand. He was well endued physically, and, though the bronze in his +face and a certain steadiness of gaze betrayed his calling, there was an +indefinite but unmistakable stamp upon him which he had acquired on +board the big mail-boats, and perhaps also in a greater measure from his +comrades on the battleship. Jimmy had certainly not cultivated it, and +was, in fact, not aware that he possessed it, but his companion had +already recognized it. + +"Take a cigar, and light it before I let the team out. They look as if +they could go," he said. + +Jimmy did so, and then found it somewhat difficult to keep his seat as +his comrade sent the horses through the city as fast as they could lay +hoof to the ground, and out of it past the clustering wooden hovels in +its less reputable quarter, and up the slope that led into the shadowy +bush. Roads are not remarkable for their smoothness anywhere in that +country, but it was evident that Jordan liked fast traveling and could +handle a team. He laughed when Jimmy said so. + +"I come of farmer stock, and that's probably why I always had a notion +of the sea," he said. "If you look at it in one way, the thing's quite +natural." + +"I suppose it is," said Jimmy. "Why didn't you go to sea?" + +"It seemed to me one has mighty few chances of picking up money there, +though I found out quite early that the poor man has no great show +anywhere. It was a mortgage he couldn't pay off that broke up my +father." + +He stopped for a moment, with a little confidential gesture. "I guess +that's why I wanted to do what I could for your father. In one or two +ways he's very much like the man I buried back in Washington. He was +straight--and it wasn't his fault if he didn't whale all the meanness +out of me--but, when smartness means getting your grip on what belongs +to somebody else, he was just a trifle slow. He worked hard, and gave +every man a hundred cents' worth for his dollar--and that's quite likely +why there was mighty little but a mortgage on the ranch when he died." + +Jimmy was not astonished, in view of their short acquaintance, that his +companion should tell him this. He was aware that reticence is not a +prominent characteristic of the men of the Pacific Slope, and, besides +this, there was a rapidly growing sympathy between himself and Jordan. +Still, he sat silent, and his companion spoke again. + +"I was about sixteen then, and I saw I had to make out differently," he +said. "Well, somehow I've done it--looked on this life as a battle where +the hurt man gets no mercy, and I've cleared quite a little money on my +royalties--but now and then the memory of those old days on the ranch +comes back to me. Then I feel that if ever it's necessary for me to get +my knife into any kind of mortgage man, it will be red right to the hilt +when it comes out again." + +The snap in his companion's dark eyes and the hardening of his lips were +comprehensible to Jimmy, for he had once or twice been sensible of much +the same feeling. Jordan had, as is usual in the land to which he +belonged, expressed himself frankly, and perhaps a trifle crudely; but +Jimmy recognized that it was with very genuine tenderness and regret he +remembered the man he had buried long ago in Washington. He asked an +abrupt question, which did not, however, altogether change the subject. + +"Will you be here any time?" he said. + +"I don't quite know. There's no reason I shouldn't tell you what I can, +and I feel like talking now. I'm quite pleased to run that mill up the +Inlet for our people, that is, while they leave me to fix things as I +like them; but as I told you, Merril has been getting his grip on the +stock lately, and his views about the royalties on my patents don't +quite coincide with mine. I've a couple of other notions that will save +labor which our company has not bought up, and it's quite likely I'll +turn them over to the Hastings people. In the meanwhile I'm not going to +rush things, and it's probable I'll hang on until we've had the +stockholders' meeting." + +"Then it's Merril who is standing in your way?" + +Jordan smiled dryly. "Now you understand the thing. Seems to me neither +of us has any great reason to like that man." + +Nothing more was said on that point, and by and by they left the scented +shadow of the pines, and clattered across a wooden bridge which spanned +the turbid, green Fraser, into a stretch of sunlit meadows and oatfields +formed by the silt the great river had brought down. In due time they +reached a wooden ranch flanked by shadowy bush, and Jordan, pulling the +team up before it, glanced down the long white road that leads to New +Westminster, a few miles away. + +"I guess I'll go on to town, and come back for you," he said. "Still, +you had better make sure you're at the right place first." + +Jimmy got down, and a man who had apparently heard the beat of hoofs, +commenced to throw down the split slip-rails which in Western Canada +usually serve as gates. + +"Yes," he said, when Jimmy spoke to him, "this is Forster's ranch. In +fact, that is my name." + +He was dressed in the bush-rancher's jean, but he had a pleasant face +with a certain hint of refinement in it, and smiled when Jimmy told him +who he was. + +"Miss Wheelock's brother? Come right in and put your team up," he said. +"It's not more than an hour or so until supper. Your friend will come +with you?" + +Supper is usually served at six o'clock in that country, and in no way +differs from the other meals of the day; while nobody acquainted with +its customs would have considered it an unusual thing for the rancher +to extend the invitation to Jimmy's companion. Jordan once more glanced +down the road to New Westminster, and, though none of them knew it, a +good deal was to depend on the fact that he elected to stay. + +"Well," he said, turning to Jimmy, "I don't want to worry you, but the +fact is, one of the lumber people yonder has been writing me about my +gang-saw frame, and, after thinking the thing out last night, I'd sooner +hold him off a while. I'd have to call on the man if I drove into town, +and, after all, it might be wiser to keep clear of him." + +"Then you had better get down," said Forster. "While Miss Wheelock talks +to her brother you can walk round the ranch with me. I don't see many +strangers, and I'm by no means busy." + +Jordan got down, and, after spending an hour with Forster, was somewhat +astonished when he was presented to Miss Wheelock in the big general +room of the ranch. It was roughly paneled with cedar, very simply +furnished, and had, as usual, an uncovered floor, while the sunlight +that streamed through the uncurtained window fell upon the girl. She +stood still a moment looking at him when she had acknowledged his +greeting, and for once, at least, the sawmiller felt almost embarrassed, +for Eleanor Wheelock possessed, as her brother did not, a somewhat +striking personality. + +Jimmy might have passed for a quiet Englishman; but his sister was +typically Western in everything but speech--tall, wiry, and a trifle +straight of figure, but with something that was almost imperious in her +attitude. She had light hair like Jimmy's, but there was a reddish gleam +in it, and her eyes which had a glint in them were of a paler blue, +while her skin was of a curious colorless purity. Jordan could not +analyze her features, but he felt that she was beautiful, and there was +a suggestion of vigor about her that further attracted him. One would +scarcely have called her domineering, but she had not, as her brother +recognized, the quiet graciousness and composure which half-concealed +Anthea Merril's strength of character. Jordan, however, was not too +discriminating. He liked vigor in any guise, and he noticed that one of +the two little girls who had entered with her clung to her hand. + +"I think I passed you twice in Vancouver one day a month or two ago," +she said. + +Jordan made her a little inclination, and his Western candor was free +alike from awkwardness or any hint of presumption. + +"Then I didn't see you. If I had done so, I should certainly have +remembered it." + +Eleanor laughed, and turned to the others. "It's ten minutes since Jake +called you. Will you sit here, Jimmy, with Mr. Jordan next to you? Mrs. +Forster is away just now." + +She moved to the head of the table, and the usual ranch supper of pork, +potatoes, flapjacks, hot cakes, desiccated fruits, and green tea was +brought in. Forster, who appeared to be a man of education, made an +excellent host, but it was Eleanor and Jordan who led most of the +conversation, and there was delicacy as well as keenness in their +badinage. Almost an hour had passed before the party rose, which was a +very unusual thing in that country, for the Westerner seldom wastes much +time over his meals. Then, as it happened, it was Jimmy who walked +round the ranch with Forster, while Jordan sat on the veranda with +Eleanor and the little girls while the shadows of the firs crept slowly +up to it. They talked about a good many things, while each felt that +they were just skirting a confidence, until the little girl who sat next +to Jordan looked up at him gravely. + +"Why don't you go and see the cows with father and the other man?" she +asked. + +Jordan laughed, but he looked at Eleanor. "Well," he said, "for one +thing, I guess it's a good deal nicer here." + +Miss Wheelock met his glance with a directness which, had his +disposition and training been different, he might have found +disconcerting. She was, like himself, absolutely devoid of affectation, +and he felt that she was quietly making an estimate of him. Still, there +was not a great deal in his character that he had occasion to hide from +any one, and the evident sincerity of his observation was in itself an +excuse for it. It was characteristic of the girl that she let it pass, +not with the obvious intention of ignoring it because that appeared +advisable, but as though she had never heard it. When a thing did not +appeal to Eleanor Wheelock, she simply brushed it aside. + +"Have you met the Miss Merril Jimmy mentioned?" she asked. "I almost +fancy she is the girl I used to see now and then when I was in Toronto. +What is she like?" + +Jordan, who had met Anthea Merril in Vancouver, told her as well as he +was able, and Eleanor's lips set in a straight line. + +"One could fancy you were not fond of Miss Merril," he said. + +"I have never spoken to her; but I have no great reason to feel +well-disposed toward anybody of that family." + +"Ah!" said Jordan; "that means Jimmy has told you what Merril is doing. +I'm no friend of that man's either, but I'm not quite sure one could +reasonably hold the girl responsible for her father." + +"Especially when she's pretty? Still, she is his daughter, and must be +like him in some respects." + +Jordan's eyes twinkled. "Do you consider yourself like your father?" + +Eleanor flashed a swift glance at him. "You are keener than I expected. +In reality I am not like him in the least, though I don't know why I +should trouble to admit it. In any case, I think the rule generally +holds good." + +She dismissed the subject abruptly, with a laugh. "After all, our +affairs can't interest you. You can't have seen very much of my +brother." + +Jordan appeared to consider this. "I'm not sure that counts," he said. +"I seem to have been a friend of Jimmy's quite a long while. There are +people who make you feel that, even when it isn't so, although they may +not consciously want to. One can't tell how they do it--but I think you +have the power in you." + +"I don't know," said Eleanor. "I am, however, by no means certain that I +was ever very anxious to make friends with anybody." + +"That's comprehensible. You would sooner they wanted to make friends +with you, and if no one did, you would be sufficient for yourself." + +Eleanor looked at him with a chilly smile. "You have a certain +penetration, but I don't know that there is any reason why I should +confess to you. How do you come to know anything about Mr. Merril?" + +Jordan, who appeared to have no doubt as to her ability to understand +him, in which he was warranted, told her. + +"Well," she said, "suppose this man's influence is too strong for you, +and you have to break your connection with the mill?" + +"There are two or three other things I could turn to." + +"One would suppose as much;" and Jordan took it as a compliment, which +perhaps it was, especially as the girl had not said it with the least +desire to gratify him. "Still, that is not what I mean. Would you try to +find any means of retaliating?" + +"If he afterward got in my way--that is, thrust himself between me and +something I wanted to do--I would try all I could to get my foot on him, +and then perhaps keep it there a little longer than was necessary." + +"You would go no further?" + +Jordan knew what she meant, though he could not grasp her purpose in +pressing the point. "It wouldn't be business if I did. When a man starts +out to make money he can't afford to load himself up with purely +personal grievances. If another man tries to get the things you want you +naturally have to fight, but it's wiser to grin and bear it when he's +too smart for you. Still, there are cases when the feeling that you +would like to get even afterward is apt to be 'most too much for human +nature." + +"And in some respects you could be very human?" + +Jordan turned to her with the twinkle still in his eyes. "Well," he +said, "if I let any weakness of that kind master me in the present case, +I should be very much like the black-tail deer that turned around on the +man with the rifle. Still, one can't invariably be wise." + +His manner was whimsical, but it seemed to Eleanor there was something +behind it, for when he broke off a faint glint which she understood +crept into his eyes. + +"Sometimes accidents happen to the man with the rifle," she said. "In +the meanwhile, I rather fancy Jimmy is making signs to you." + +"Then," said Jordan gravely, "I'm not sure I'm much obliged to him. But +before I go there's something I want to ask: would it be a liberty if I +came back here with him some day?" + +"You would like to come?" + +"Of course. Why do I ask?" + +Eleanor laughed. "That is what I was wondering. I almost think a man +likely to get even with Mr. Merril would do what he wanted. Anyway, you +know the customs of the country as well as I do, and I scarcely think +Forster and his wife would mind." + +Jordan rose, and kissed the child he picked up and held high in his +arms. "Well," he said, "since--Forster and his wife--wouldn't mind, I +shall very probably come along again by and by." + +He turned and went down the veranda stairway, while the little girl +looked at her companion gravely. + +"I like that man. He's nice," she said. "You like him too, don't you?" + +Eleanor was beckoning Jimmy, but the child went on. "Well," she said, +"he thinks you nice, I know. I could tell it by the way he looked at +you. Perhaps you didn't see him, but I did." + +Eleanor laughed, for she had naturally noticed every glance Jordan had +cast in her direction, and had understood it. That, however, did not +count for very much with her. She recognized in Jordan something that +pleased her, and she had a vague fancy that there were things he might +be able to do for Jimmy and her father in the difficulties she foresaw. +There was, she admitted reluctantly, after all, a good deal that a woman +could not do; but in the meanwhile the feeling went no further. Then +while Jordan and Forster harnessed the team, Jimmy joined her. + +"You will have to stay in the Province, Jimmy. You can't go back to +sea," she said. "Your father will need somebody beside him now." + +Jimmy only smiled, but the girl made a little gesture of comprehension. + +"Oh," she said, "I know how hard it is for you. You will have to give up +your career." + +"It can't be helped," said the man simply, "and I may make another +here." + +Eleanor laid her hand on his arm, and pressed it. "I knew you would face +it like that. There's just one other thing. Hold on to that man Jordan; +I think he will make you a good friend." + +"You like him?" + +"That," said Eleanor, "is quite another matter. Anyway, he is a man who +could be depended on--and I think he could be firm on points where you +might waver. You are a little too good-natured, Jimmy." + +Jordan drove his team up before they had said much more, and Forster +shook hands with Jimmy as he stood beside the vehicle. + +"From what your sister has told us, I dare say you are a trifle anxious +about--things in general--just now," he said. "If it is any relief to +you, I would like to say that Mrs. Forster and I think very highly of +your sister, and that so long as she cares to stay with us we should be +very glad to do what we can for her." + +Jimmy thanked the rancher, and swung himself up into the vehicle, while +Jordan turned to him as they drove away. + +"They think very highly of her! They'd be--idiots if they didn't," he +said. "Of course, I don't know if that's quite the kind of thing you +appreciate from me." + +Jimmy said nothing, as was usual with him when he was not sure what he +felt, but Jordan went on. + +"I never expected to find you had a sister like that," he said. "She's +very different from you in many ways. One feels that's a girl with 'most +enough capacity for anything." + +Jimmy looked at him with a whimsical smile, and Jordan laughed. + +"Now," he said, "I might have expressed myself differently. What I mean +is that you're a good deal more like your father than she is." + +"Ah!" said Jimmy. "Well, perhaps you're right. In fact, the same thing +has struck me occasionally." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +AT AUCTION + + +Jimmy went back to the ranch beside the Fraser once, but Jordan went +without him several times, for Forster apparently found his company +congenial. It happened that he contrived to see a good deal of Eleanor +Wheelock during his visits, but neither of them mentioned this to Jimmy, +who, indeed, would probably have concerned himself little about it had +he heard of it, since he had other things to think about just then. +Merril had sent his father a formal notice that unless the money due +should be paid by a certain time, the schooner would be sold as +stipulated in the bond, and, though Tom Wheelock had expected nothing +else, he apparently collapsed altogether under the final blow. + +Jordan, who had just come back from Forster's ranch, arrived on board +the _Tyee_ while the doctor was talking to Jimmy, and, strolling +forward, he sat down on the windlass and commenced a conversation with +Prescott, with whom he had promptly made friends. In the meanwhile, +Jimmy looked at the doctor a trifle wearily as he leaned on the rail. + +"Perhaps my mind's not as clear as usual to-day, but these scientific +terms don't convey very much to me," he said. + +"In plain English, then," said the doctor, "it is general break-down +your father is suffering from, though it is intensified by a partial +loss of control over the muscles on one side of him. The latter trouble +is, perhaps, the result of what one might call constitutional causes, +but, as you seem to fancy, worry and nervous strain, or a shock of any +kind, may have accelerated it or brought about the climax." + +"Well," said Jimmy hoarsely, "the cure?" + +The doctor's tone was sympathetic. "To be quite frank, there is none. It +is possible, even probable, that he may recover sufficiently to hobble +about a little, but he will never be fit for any active occupation +again." + +"Ah!" said Jimmy, with a little indrawing of his breath. "Still, it is +only what I expected, and I suppose I must face it. You are quite sure +about that shock?" + +The doctor looked at him curiously. "I want you to understand that it +probably brought about the climax, though such things don't often happen +in the case of a vigorous man. Your father has, I should fancy, in +ordinary language, been losing his grip for several years. In his case +the natural decline of physical strength has, perhaps, been accelerated +by undue anxiety, and----" + +He hesitated, and Jimmy made a quick sign of comprehension. "Oh, yes," +he said, "I know. Still, I'm not sure that anybody could blame him, +under the circumstances. Well, I think the thing that brought about the +climax has been steadily preparing him to break down under it; but, +after all, that does not concern you." + +The doctor, who admitted this, gave him certain directions before he +went away, and Jimmy descended to the little cabin where Tom Wheelock +lay. He looked up and nodded when his son came in. + +"Well," he said, with a faint smile, "I guess by the names that doctor +calls it, I've got enough to kill any man. Wouldn't talk quite straight, +but I know as well as he does that I'm not going to worry you very long, +and that's just as it should be. Merril takes the schooner, and you'll +go back to the blue water. I was never good for very much, anyway, after +your mother had gone. She stood behind me and kept things going." + +Jimmy sat down, and, much as he desired it, could think of nothing +apposite to say. He felt that there are occasions on which one should +speak clearly, but, as not infrequently happens, it was just then that +he was usually dumb. Perhaps Tom Wheelock understood this, for once more +he smiled as he looked at him. + +"I wouldn't worry about it, Jimmy," he said. + +Jimmy was still tongue-tied, but one result of his father's observations +was that fierce anger commenced to mingle with his distress, and he felt +his nature stir in protest. Merril would take the _Tyee_--that could not +be helped--but it seemed an insufferable thing that for the paltry value +of the schooner he should have crushed this frail and broken man. Jimmy +clenched a firm brown hand, and felt his fingers itch for a grip on the +bondholder's throat. + +There was silence for a while, intensified by the soft splash of ripples +against the _Tyee_'s planking, and Jimmy afterward remembered how his +father's worn face showed up in the stream of light that shone down +through the skylights into the shadowy cabin. He lay wrapped in old and +dirty blankets, a worn-out and broken man who stood in the way of one +who was stronger. He held an unlighted pipe in his limp and nerveless +hand, and the cabin reeked with unsavory odors. It was unclean and +wholly comfortless, and it seemed to Jimmy, who was fresh from the +luxury of the mail-boats, almost horrible that the man to whom he owed +his being should lie there in sordid misery. At last he straightened +himself resolutely. + +"There are several points to consider," he said. "The schooner will be +sold--that's certain--and I must find a room for you ashore. It's +fortunate that one difficulty can be got over. Men who can work seem to +be in demand here just now, and when Merril sells the _Tyee_ there ought +to be a few dollars over." + +"There might be if we had anybody to bid against him and run the figure +up, but we haven't. Anyway, Bob and I have been talking things over this +morning. He has had 'most enough of the sea, and one of the C.P.R. men +will put him on a soft thing on the wharf. Well, we're going to take one +of the little frame-houses just back of the town between us. Not quite a +mansion, Jimmy, but there are four rooms in it." + +Jimmy felt inclined to groan, for he had seen the very primitive and +unattractive dwellings in question, but he knew that rents are high in +that city and money somewhat hard to earn anywhere. Still, it was in one +way a relief to turn the conversation in this direction, and by and by +he remembered that Jordan was awaiting him and went up on deck. The +latter sat down and pulled out his cigar-case. + +"Take one, and then tell me what's troubling you," he said. "I'll own up +that I got some notion out of Prescott." + +Jimmy found it a relief to comply, and talked for several minutes while +Jordan listened attentively. + +"You have got to stay here," said the latter. "That's a sure thing; but +there's not much sense in your notion of track-grading for the railroad +or wharf-laboring. You wait a week or two, and I fancy I can suggest +something by then that will suit you." + +"I don't know why you should trouble about it," said Jimmy. + +"We'll let that go;" and Jordan looked at him with a smile in his keen +dark eyes. "Your sister and I have been talking about you. She feels +that you ought to stay with the old man, too." + +It did not occur to Jimmy that there was anything significant in this, +for he was too anxious to concern himself about anything then except the +question as to how he was to secure his father's comfort. + +"I've been thinking about the auction," he said. + +"So have I," said Jordan. "Now, I'm going to talk straight to you. I've +invented one or two sawmill fixings; and they've brought me in some +money, as you know; but I want considerably more, and I've always had a +notion that it was business and not sawing redwood logs I was meant for. +Well, Merril wants me out of that mill, and it seems to me there's room +for a big extension of the coast-carrying trade of this country. That's +Merril's notion too. I once thought of buying this schooner--that is, +wiping out your father's loan--and putting you in command of her. Now, +don't get hold of it the wrong way--it was the money there might be in +it I was after." + +He smiled as he saw the faint flush on Jimmy's face. "Then I fancied +there might be more in steam, and that since Merril wants the _Tyee_, +I'd let him have her--at a figure. Anything she brings over and above +the bond goes to your father. Well, I'll put on a broker to bid for her +who knows his business. If I have to take her I guess I could get my +money back by sailing her, and, anyway, the broker will run Merril up. +You couldn't do it, because you'd be asked for security that you could +put up the money. Now, that's about all, except that I want you not to +take hold of anything that may be offered you until the auction's over +and you have had a talk with me. I've got to go back to the mill +to-morrow for a week or two." + +"I don't want to be ungracious, but there is no reason why you should +burden yourself with my affairs." + +"No," said Jordan dryly, "I guess there isn't. I'm out for money, and +that's why I figure that a man who knows as much about the sea as you do +might be of some use to me. You'll promise, anyway?" + +Jimmy did so, and felt that he had done wisely when his comrade went +away. There was, after all, no reason why Jordan should not befriend him +if he wished to, and he had a curious confidence in the man. It was, +however, two or three weeks later, and only a few minutes before the +auction which was to be held in a room ashore, when he saw him again. He +did not know that Jordan, who had arrived in the city two days ago, had +spent most of one of them at Forster's ranch. Jimmy, who had promised +Tom Wheelock to attend the sale, was walking up and down the street +waiting for the time announced, when Jordan strolled up to him with a +cigar in his hand. + +"Had to come down to see our people here," he said, which was, as it +happened, correct enough. "Went round this morning and saw that broker +man. He's coming along, and if it will be any relief to you I'll hand +you on his bill. Of course, I could have made my own bid, but these +fellows know the tricks of the game, and I'm not ready yet for a clean +break with Merril. Now, we might as well walk in." + +They passed through part of a big stone building into a large room where +a group of city men were talking together, for there were timber lands +and ranching properties to be sold that afternoon as well as the +schooner. It was very hot, and Jimmy found the waiting difficult to bear +as he listened to the hum of voices and glanced at his watch, until at +last the auctioneer sat down at a raised table. He hastily read out +particulars of the vessel as well as his authority to sell her, and then +smiled at the assembly. + +"Now," he said, "we'll get right down to business. Most of you have seen +the vessel, the rest of you have heard about her, and all you have to do +is to make me a reasonable bid. There is no reserve on her." + +Jimmy felt his face grow a trifle hot with anger. The _Tyee_ had made +his father's living, and, since anything she might bring in excess of +the loan on her would belong to him, it did not seem fitting that she +should be flung in this casual fashion on the hands of palpably +indifferent purchasers. The result of that sale was of vital interest to +him and Thomas Wheelock, and he glanced inquiringly at Jordan. + +"My man has not come," said the latter tranquilly. "It's a game he's +accustomed to, and when he's wanted he'll be here. That's one of the new +cannery men starting the bidding. Their inlet's a difficult place to +make, and the steamboat men don't care about calling there except for +big loads. It's significant that he should think of buying her." + +Jimmy did not understand why it should be so, but his face grew hard at +the laughter when the man made a nominal bid. There was silence for +almost a minute, and he felt a little thrill of dismay run through him, +for if the _Tyee_ went at that figure it would leave his father still +heavily in debt. + +"The anchors and cables are worth more," said the auctioneer. "Is there +nobody willing to raise him fifty dollars?" + +One of the men nodded. "I'll go that far," he said. "Still, I don't know +where I could get it back for her." + +Somebody offered ten dollars more, another man twenty, and there was +languid bidding until the price had almost doubled; but then it stopped +for a few moments, and Jimmy saw his companion glance somewhat uneasily +toward the door. + +"I'm beginning to wonder what's keeping my man," he said. + +"If he doesn't come soon he might as well stay away altogether," said +Jimmy, who turned in tense suspense and watched the hot faces of the men +about him. + +The price then offered would just clear the debt, but there were many +things his father needed, and Jimmy had then only a few dollars in his +pocket, which he had earned by stacking dressed lumber at a sawmill. + +"Gentlemen," said the auctioneer, "I don't feel warranted in letting her +go at the figure. She'd bring you half as much again to-morrow if you +sailed her over to Victoria." + +"I'll raise it ten dollars," said somebody, and the bidding commenced +again more indifferently than ever. Five, ten, twenty dollars were +offered, and then five again. + +Jordan touched Jimmy's arm. "That's Merril's man--I've been trying to +spot him--and I guess the cannery man would go up a hundred or two +still, by the way he's watching him. Nobody else seems to want her, and +it's quite likely they'll crawl up by tens. Sit still, while I run +around and find out what's the matter with my broker." + +He slipped out, but he was back within a few minutes, flushed in face, +and thrust a strip of paper into Jimmy's hand. + +"I think that makes the thing quite plain," he said. + +Jimmy glanced at the paper. "Got a wire last minute, and sent over to +your hotel, but didn't find you in," he read. "Had to go out +unexpectedly on the Sound steamer." + +"He stopped your putting another man on?" he said. + +"Yes," said Jordan, with a snap in his dark eyes. "Knew he was going all +the while. Played me for a sucker. Well, I guess I was one, or I +wouldn't have given him an option of selling me to Merril." + +"Selling you?" + +"Exactly. I might have known it's quite hard for an outsider to kick +against the people who boss these things. Still, since Merril knows, +there's no reason why I should keep my knife in the sheath. Raise them a +hundred dollars. I'll stand sponsor." + +Jimmy did not stop to consider. He knew that every dollar the schooner +brought now would go into the pockets of his father, and that was enough +for him. + +"I'll make the figure one hundred dollars more," he said. + +The man Jordan had pointed out as Merril's agent leaned forward and +whispered something to the auctioneer, whereupon the latter turned to +Jimmy with a deprecatory air. + +"The terms are strictly cash," he said. "I presume you are in a position +to put down the bills or a bank draft if you got her? I have, of course, +the pleasure of these other gentlemen's acquaintance." + +Jimmy felt Jordan, whom he had seen take out a wallet and a +fountain-pen, thrust something into his hand. He glanced at it before he +faced the auctioneer. + +"I don't know how far that was admissible or inspired," he said. +"Anyway, it doesn't matter. This draft should, I think, speak for +itself." + +The auctioneer apparently waited for him to take it across, but Jimmy +quietly sat down. + +"If you will send your clerk," he said. + +The clerk came forward, and a trace of amusement and awakening interest +crept into the faces of the rest. + +"That's satisfactory," said the auctioneer. "The signature in question +is quite sufficient. I'll record your bid. Will anybody raise it?" + +Then the men became intent, and two of them went up by forties. Jimmy +glanced at his companion, who nodded. + +"Go right ahead. Merril and the other man want her," he said. + +A few minutes later, to Jimmy's astonishment, Forster came in and stood +beside them. + +"What's the figure?" he asked, and, when Jordan told him, "Is she worth +it?" + +"Yes," said Jimmy; "you could go up at least five hundred dollars +further." + +"Ten advance," said Forster to the auctioneer, and then turned to +Jordan. "I suppose you're not set on getting her?" + +Jordan smiled, and Forster made a little whimsical gesture. "I +understand. Doing much the same thing myself. Miss Wheelock and my wife +are outside. I've been hanging round in the vestibule until it seemed +convenient for me to take a hand in." + +Jimmy said nothing, but when he looked around a few moments later he was +somewhat astonished to see that Jordan's place was empty. His comrade +was, in fact, hastening down the street to where Forster's light wagon +stood outside a big dry-goods store. He went in and came upon Eleanor +Wheelock, standing very straight and slim in her long white dress. She +turned and looked at him with a curious little smile. + +"Have you come to tell me that Forster is taking unnecessary trouble in +this affair?" she said. + +Jordan was not readily disconcerted, but he showed a momentary trace of +embarrassment. + +"No," he replied, "I haven't. I'm open to admit that I'm not quite as +smart as I thought I was. My man didn't turn up. In fact, he sold me to +Merril." + +Eleanor still looked at him, and his tone became deprecatory. "You're +not pleased?" + +"No," said the girl, with a faint flush in her cheeks. "I like my +friends to be successful." + +Jordan winced perceptibly. "I won't fail next time." + +"Are you warranted in thinking there will be another time?" + +"I guess so. I don't know that I deserve it, but you won't be too hard +on me?" + +Eleanor saw the gleam in his eyes. "It will depend. Where is Jimmy?" + +"Bidding against Forster and the rest for the _Tyee_." + +"Ah!" said. Eleanor, and for a moment her face softened. "I don't know +why you didn't tell me that earlier. Hadn't you better go back and see +that he doesn't get her?" + +"I don't care if he does," said Jordan; "that is, as long as he gives me +half an hour of your company." + +Eleanor laughed. "Leaving out the compliment, what would you do if Jimmy +bought her for you?" + +"Run her against the first vessel Merril put on a trip she was good for, +if I had to carry freight for nothing." + +The girl turned and glanced at him again, and a hard glint crept into +her eyes. She looked imperious, forceful, and vindictive then, but the +man felt a thrill run through him, for he knew his answer had pleased +her. + +"Ah!" she said; "for that I could forgive you many a failure. Still, you +must go back and look after Jimmy. We shall not go away until we hear +what you have done." + +Jordan reluctantly turned away, and, as it happened, met Jimmy coming +out of the auction-room with perfect satisfaction in his face. + +"I feel that I owe you a good deal. In fact, I'm afraid I can't express +my gratitude as I ought," he said. "Merril's man has got her, but I have +a clear thousand dollars to hand over to my father. Still, there's +something that puzzles me. What brought Forster here?" + +Jordan laughed. "Your sister." + +"Eleanor?" + +"Of course!" said Jordan dryly. "No doubt, because she is your sister, +you don't credit her with any useful capacity." + +"Eleanor is clever," said Jimmy reflectively. "Still, there are subjects +girls know nothing about--and, anyway, there was Mrs. Forster's attitude +to consider. It's hardly in human nature that she should be pleased to +see her husband staking his money to please her children's teacher." + +"Exactly! That is what made the thing cleverer. She has Mrs. Forster's +good-will too." + +"Then," said Jimmy decisively, "she must be a very kindly lady." + +"Or your sister a very capable young woman. You seem to find it a little +difficult to recognize that." + +Jimmy dismissed the subject with a little gesture. "Well," he said, "I'm +almost bewildered. The thing was so simple. Why didn't Merril think of +it?" + +"I have no doubt he did. Still, you saw what the little man has to +expect if he makes a bid. On thinking it over, it seems to me that +Merril trusted to my broker. He figured I'd back down once I realized +that he knew my game and was a match for me. There are big men like him +who live by bluff, and everybody makes way for them, but they're apt to +show themselves very much the same as other people when you face them +resolutely. It's just like putting a pin in a bubble." + +Then Forster joined them while his wife and Eleanor came out of the +store, and a few minutes later the girl and Jordan walked behind the +other three as they turned toward the hotel where the wagon had been +sent. Eleanor smiled at her companion. + +"We are indebted to you, after all," she said, and there was a faint but +suggestive something in her voice which satisfied Jordan. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE "SHASTA" SHIPPING COMPANY + + +Two or three weeks had slipped away since the sale of the _Tyee_, when +Jimmy Wheelock, who had been specially requested to do so, called at +Forster's ranch. He did not know why his presence was required, and when +he arrived was somewhat astonished to find Jordan, Valentine, and a man +he had not met, sitting with his host about a little table in the big +general room. A decanter and a box of cigars stood on the table, but the +attitude of the men suggested that it was business that had brought them +there. Jordan, who was talking animatedly, looked up when Jimmy came in. + +"You're not quite on time," he said. + +"For which I must make excuses;" and Jimmy turned to Forster. "The fact +is, I might not have got here at all if the American skipper whose new +mizzen-mast I'm helping to fit hadn't run out of wire-rigging. I +couldn't well afford to offend a man who considers my services worth +three dollars a day." + +The man he had not met made a little sign with his hand. "It's an excuse +that will pass in this country. Sit right down. Jordan insisted on +having you here. Got any money to spare?" + +"About forty dollars," said Jimmy. + +The other man smiled. "That won't go very far. Well, we can consider +ourselves a quorum, and Mr. Jordan will go ahead." + +"One moment," said Forster. "Mr. Leeson, Jimmy. Help yourself--you see +the cigars." + +Jimmy sat down, and glanced at the gentleman who had previously +addressed him. He fancied he had heard Jordan mention him as one +interested in the then somewhat decadent sealing industry, but there was +not very much to be gathered from his appearance. He was plainly +dressed, and elderly, and had a lean, expressionless face. It was seamed +with little wrinkles, his figure was spare, and he leaned forward with +an elbow on the table as if it were too much trouble to hold himself +upright. In the meanwhile Jordan recommenced. + +"I'll be quite frank with you as to how I'm fixed, because it will help +you to understand how I got on the track of the notion," he said. +"Merril has now a controlling interest in the coast mill, and I walked +out because I couldn't agree with him. Well, I have some money laid by +as well as my royalties, and I'm undertaking a few machinery agencies, +and starting as mill expert in Vancouver. In fact, I'll sell you an +American stump-puller, Mr. Forster, that will save you about half you're +spending on grubbing out those fir-roots by hand labor." + +"Another time!" said Leeson, with an appreciative grin. "Keep to the +shipping business." + +Jordan made a little gesture of resignation. "Well, as I told you +already, there's a good deal of odd freight to be moved up and down this +coast, and there would be more if there were better facilities. I hear +of ships held up because the salmon-packers can't get their cases down, +and men in Vancouver Island feeding fruit to hogs, and cutting good oats +for green fodder because they couldn't put them on the market if they +thrashed them. What's more, Mr. Merril has heard about it, too, and he's +an enterprising man. Ran me out of that West Coast mill because I +wouldn't come down on my royalties--him!" + +"Off the track again!" said Leeson. "Merril has bounced a good many men +out of things, but if I'm to put any money into this venture, I must +have a better reason than that you want to get even." + +"You'll get it," and Jordan's dark eyes snapped while his face grew +animated. "What Merril thinks safe is good enough for us. He has been +working up a notion of a coast shipping combine, one that's to be all +Merril's, and he has two or three schooners and a big unhandy lump of a +coal-eating steamer. He got her cheap, like the rest of them. Some of us +know how he did it." + +He glanced at Jimmy sharply before he went on again. "Now, I've been +considering his programme, and he's taking hold the wrong way--screwing +top freights out of everybody for a bad service, cutting down wages, and +running his boats with cheap men who are going to learn to hate him. +Well, with a little handy steamboat that would crawl in wherever there +was a beach the ranchers could haul their stuff down to, and a policy of +general conciliation, one could cut the ground right from under him." + +"Quite sure of that?" said Leeson. "Without his finding it out?" + +"Without his finding it out--until we've got the trade;" and Jordan's +eyes snapped again. "We're going to oblige people, and make our +connection with the ranchers and small cannery men a personal thing. +When he offers a big rebate it will be a little too late; and, anyway, +we can carry freight as cheap as Merril." + +"How are you going to make it a personal connection?" asked Forster. + +"The thing's quite easy. I'm going to send round a man who already knows +most of those ranchers to take them up fruit packing-boxes and +statistics of produce prices. He'll fix it up with them for the boat to +crawl in anywhere for a few jumper loads. Merril can't do it with his +schooners or the big steamer. I guess a rancher would sooner face a high +freight than feed the stuff to hogs, or haul it thirty miles over a +bush-trail to the Dunsmore road. Then I'm going to have a good-humored +skipper who'll bring the men off and make friends with them, but one +with grit enough to shove the boat round on time when she has a +perishable freight in a gale of wind. She's to be just the right size, +and, to save us coal, a modern tri-compound." + +"The three things seem essential. The last two certainly are," said +Forster, with a suggestive smile. "I guess it's scarcely necessary to +ask whether you have any idea how to obtain them?" + +Jordan laughed, and proceeded to astonish his companions, which was, +however, a habit of his. + +"Got them all," he said. "The steamboat's lying down the Sound, and I +hold a week's option on her. Jim Wheelock would go in command of her, +and Mr. Valentine can sail as soon as he's ready in the _Sorata_, and +crawl into every inlet from which he can reach half a dozen ranchers. +I'll have ready for him four or five tons of cut box frames that will +only want nailing, and they'll go into his saloon. He'll have everything +fixed before Merril knows we've despatched him." + +Jimmy glanced at Valentine's face, and broke into a soft laugh, though +he had been at least as far from expecting this proposition as his +companion seemed to be. Jordan looked at them both, and nodded +tranquilly. + +"You'll go?" he said, and then laid a sheet of paper on the table. +"Here's my notion of costs, capital, salaries, and general expenses. +Kind of prospectus. Shows the usual twenty-per-cent. profit--only we're +going to make it." + +It was quite clear that he meant it, for this was a man who had a full +share of the optimism which characterizes most of the inhabitants of the +Pacific Slope. He smiled reassuringly at his companions; but there was +silence for several minutes while Leeson examined the paper and then +passed it to Forster. Jimmy, who felt that his opinion would not be +particularly valuable, and had noticed the little smile in Valentine's +eyes, sat still, looking out through the open window at the shadowy bush +beyond Forster's orchard. + +It cut, vague and black and mysterious, against the wondrous green and +saffron glow of the sunset, and the little trail that wound away into it +had just then a curious interest for him. He wondered where it led, and +how long it wandered through the dim shadow before it came out again +into the garish brilliancy. The thing seemed an allegory, for when he +came into that country and flung his career away he had felt lost and +adrift, without a mark to guide him, while now Jordan and those others +were about to set his feet on the trail. It must lead somewhere, as all +trails resolutely followed do, though now and then they plunge into +tangles of morasses where the rotting pines fall or climb the +snow-barred passes of towering ranges. He had a curious confidence in +the daring American. Still, he felt that in all probability there was a +long and difficult march in front of him and the little party then +sitting in the slowly darkening room of Forster's ranch. It was Leeson +who spoke first. + +"There are men who would call the whole thing crazy, and they'd have +some reason for doing so," he said. "Most of us know what Merril is." + +It was evident that his opinion carried weight, and Jimmy, who felt a +growing tension, saw the sudden, eagerness in Jordan's face. + +"No," he said, "that's just where you're wrong. We know what he pretends +to be; and if a man puts up a big enough bluff, most people back down +and don't ask him to make it good. You see the point of it?" + +Leeson made a little half-impatient gesture. "What d'you figure on +putting in, Mr. Jordan?" + +"Ten thousand dollars." + +Leeson said nothing, but glanced at Forster wrinkling his brows. + +"I might manage five thousand," said the rancher. "I haven't found +clearing virgin bush a very profitable occupation, and I want more than +the interest I'm getting from the bank. Mr. Jordan has naturally talked +over the thing with me before, and I fancy his scheme is workable; but, +as I don't know a great deal about these matters, I'd very much like to +hear what your opinion of it is." + +He glanced inquiringly at Leeson, and it was evident to Jimmy that the +success or failure of the project depended on what the latter said. He +sat silent again for almost a minute, drumming on the table. + +"Well," he said, "you'll be told it's a fool game. Most of the men in +Vancouver City would consider that a sure thing--but I'm putting in +fifteen thousand dollars." + +Jimmy saw his comrade's face relax and a little exultant sparkle creep +into his eyes, while he felt his own heart beat a trifle faster. Then +Valentine, who had not spoken yet, turned to the rest. "In that case I +guess we can consider the thing feasible," he said. "If the sum isn't +beneath your notice, I'll venture a thousand dollars." + +"What has given you a hankering after twenty per cent.?" asked Jordan. +"It is not so very long since you told me that the sea, which cost +nothing, was enough for you." + +Valentine laughed. "I rather think it's the occupation that appeals to +me. Charterers have a trick of treading on one's toes occasionally, and +I don't think I should take kindly to business as it appears to be +carried on in the neighboring city. One can, however, talk to the +bush-ranchers intelligently. In any case, I shouldn't regard that twenty +per cent. as a certainty." + +Jordan grinned good-humoredly, but there was a twinkle of keener +appreciation in Forster's eyes. "There is a good deal the bush can teach +the man who wants to understand," he said. "I dare say you are right, +Mr. Valentine." + +"Well," said Jordan dryly, "the only use I ever had for the bush was as +a place for growing saw-logs; but while talk of this kind has nothing to +do with business, there's something I want to mention. I met Austerly +not long ago, and he wants to see you and Jim Wheelock when you can make +it convenient, Valentine. Now, if you'll keep quiet a few minutes, I'll +get on a little." + +He went on for a considerable time, with features hardening into +intentness and dark eyes scintillating, and when at last he stopped, +Leeson made a sign of concurrence. Then questions were asked and +answered, and afterward Forster, who passed the decanter to his guests, +stood up. + +"Since Mr. Jordan fancies he can raise another few thousand dollars +privately if it's wanted, we can consider the affair arranged," he said. +"Here's prosperity to The _Shasta_ Steam Shipping Company!" + +It was growing dusk when they drank the toast in the big shadowy room, +and, as he glanced at his companions, Jimmy was momentarily troubled +with a sense of his and their insignificance. There were only four of +them, and none of them, with the possible exception of old Leeson, were +men of capital, while he had an uneasy feeling that in view of Merril's +opposition it was a very big thing they had undertaken. Leeson set his +wine-glass down and shook his head. + +"We're going to have to fight for it," he said. + +Then the group broke up, and Jimmy, who strolled away to ask for Mrs. +Forster, saw nothing of his sister or, as it happened, of Jordan either, +until the rancher's hired man brought his comrade's team up. Jimmy drove +home with him, but Jordan was unusually silent as the team swung along +the dim, white road. Once, however, he appeared to rouse himself. + +"Yes," he said, though Jimmy had not spoken, "old man Leeson is right; +we will have to fight for it. Still, I have put my pile in, and we have +got to win." + +He glanced in Jimmy's direction, but the latter said nothing and it was +too dark to see his face. "Just got to win," he said again, as he shook +the reins. "It has been a pull up grade since I was sixteen, but somehow +I got the things I set my mind on, one by one. Perhaps Valentine would +tell you they weren't all worth while, and he might be right about some +of them, but a man has to be what he was born to be--and now I know +there's nothing on this earth worth quite so much as what I'm fighting +for." + +Still Jimmy did not understand, and therefore, as was usual with him in +such cases, made no observation, and his comrade laughed curiously when +he complained of the jolting instead as he essayed to light a cigar. + +"Well," said Jordan, "you'll go down the Sound and see about bringing +the _Shasta_ up just as soon as you're ready." + +Jimmy went next day, and Valentine, who went alone to Austerly's, sailed +for the West Coast on the following day. It was two weeks later when +Jimmy came back with a little two-masted steamer of 250 tons or so. She +was not by any means a new boat, nor were her engines especially +powerful, and, after finding out her various complaints during the +sheltered voyage down the Sound, Jimmy had hoped to spend a week or two +overhauling her before he went to sea. This, however, was not to be, for +he had hardly brought her up near the wharf when Jordan came off, and +found him sitting wearily on the bridge, begrimed all over and +heavy-eyed. + +"Well," he said, "you look considerably more like the played-out mariner +than the wedding guest. What has been worrying you? Anything wrong with +her?" + +"A good many things," said Jimmy. "If I went through the list I should +probably scare you. She has evidently been lying-up for a while, and +that is apt to have its effect on any steamboat's constitution. I've had +no sleep all the way up, and spent most of the time in manual labor when +I wasn't at the helm. The men I have--and they're a tolerably decent +crowd--naturally expected to rest now and then." + +"What's the matter with your engineer?" + +"Nothing, except that he's played-out--and I don't wonder. He'll be fast +asleep by now, and I don't think I'd worry him if I were you." + +Jordan looked suddenly thoughtful. "Now be quick. Is this boat fit to go +to sea, or has that blamed surveyor swindled you and me?" + +"She's sound. That is, she will be when we've had a month in which to +straighten her up, or have had a carpenter and foundry gang sent on +board her." + +Jordan's face showed his relief. "Well," he said, "you have got to take +the month at sea. You start to-night, and can do what's wanted when you +have the opportunity. There's another thing. We have arranged for a +kind of inaugural banquet, and you'll have to straighten her up a +little. I'll send you down some flowers and things." + +Jimmy gazed at him in drowsy consternation. "If your guests expect +anything fit to eat, you had better send the banquet too. Who in the +name of wonder are you bringing here?" + +"Eleanor--that is, Miss Wheelock. Austerly and his daughter. I believe +Valentine invited them. Forster and Mrs. Forster, and old man Leeson +too. You have got to brace up and face the thing." + +"I'm going to sleep," said Jimmy, with a gesture of resignation. "You'll +take these papers to the respective offices, and I may be able to talk +sensibly during the afternoon. But what made you want to bring Eleanor +and Mrs. Forster here?" + +Jordan laughed, and laid his hand on his comrade's shoulder. "I'll tell +you later; you're too sleepy now. In the meanwhile, I'll get round and +fix things generally." + +He went away in a few minutes, and Jimmy, dragging himself into the +little room beneath the bridge, flung himself down in the skipper's +berth, dressed as he was. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE "SHASTA" GOES TO SEA + + +It was a still, clear evening when Jimmy stood at the _Shasta_'s gangway +waiting to receive his guests. She lay out in the Inlet, and he could +see the two boats sliding across the smooth, green water with a measured +splash of oars, while the voices of their occupants reached him faintly +through the clatter of a C.P.R. liner's winches and the tolling of a +locomotive bell ashore. A thin jet of steam simmered about the +_Shasta_'s rusty funnel, and she lay motionless on the glassy brine, +with cracked and splintered decks, and what paint a long exposure to +rain and sun had not removed peeling from her. Jimmy had had no time to +spare for any attempt at decoration during the voyage down Puget Sound. +Indeed, he and his engineer felt thankful they had succeeded in bringing +her round at all. + +By and by the first boat ran alongside, and, because she belonged to the +_Shasta_, Jimmy was relieved to see that there was, after all, not a +very great deal of water in her, though his guests sat with their feet +drawn up. There were several of them: Jordan, who wore among other +somewhat unusual garments a frock-coat, and was talking volubly; +Eleanor, in elaborate white dress and a very big white hat; old Leeson, +Forster and his wife. Jimmy helped them up with difficulty, for the +_Shasta_ was floating high and light and had not been provided with a +passenger ladder. Something in his sister's face perplexed him when at +last they stood on deck. Eleanor was quieter than usual, and when she +looked at him there was a trace of color in her cheeks he could not +quite account for. + +"You seem almost astonished to see me," she said. "Even if I hadn't +wanted to come, Charley would have insisted on it." + +Jimmy gazed hard at both her and Jordan, and noticed that Mrs. Forster +seemed a trifle amused. + +"Charley?" he said. + +"Of course. Hasn't he told you?" said Eleanor; and though she laughed, +there was diffidence and pride in her eyes when she glanced at the man +beside her. It was also, her brother felt, rather more than the pride of +possession. + +"I must explain," said Jordan. "When I came off this morning, Jimmy was +too sleepy to be entrusted with any information of the kind. Still, I +quite think I deserve a few congratulations." + +Jimmy looked at him with a faint wrinkling of his brows, and then +involuntarily turned toward the rest of the company. + +"Well," he said, "I suppose it's only natural, though of course I never +expected this." + +Mrs. Forster laughed outright. "Then everybody else did, and ventured to +approve of it." + +Jimmy stretched his hand out, and grasped that of his comrade slowly and +tenaciously. "After all, there is nobody I should sooner trust her to, +and I don't think you could have got anybody more--capable, generally," +he said. "Eleanor, you see, is cleverer than I am." + +Eleanor Wheelock naturally understood her brother, and there was +whimsical toleration in her smile, while the little twinkle grew more +pronounced in Jordan's eyes. He was a shrewd man, and had already formed +a reasonably accurate notion of Jimmy and Eleanor Wheelock's respective +capabilities. + +"Thank you!" he said. "The other boat should be almost alongside." + +He moved aft with Eleanor and the rest of the guests, while Jimmy, who +had not quite recovered from his astonishment, was leaning on the rail +when another boat slid around the _Shasta_'s stern. He recognized +Austerly and his daughter on board her, and then felt his heart beat and +the blood creep into his face, for Anthea Merril was sitting at Miss +Austerly's side. He had not seen her since he stood one morning on the +wharf in the man-o'-war cap, but he had thought of her often, and now, +though his pleasure at seeing her almost drove out the other feeling, it +seemed unfitting that she should be there to take her part in sending +out the steamer that was, if the _Shasta_ Company could contrive it, to +bring to nothing her father's scheme. The boat was alongside in a few +moments, and when her occupants reached the deck Austerly shook hands +with Jimmy. + +"I must offer you my congratulations on being in command," he said. "My +daughter seemed to fancy we should be warranted in bringing Miss +Merril." + +Anthea smiled at Jimmy. "Yes," she said, "I wanted to come; but of +course if it was presumptuous, you can send me back again." + +"I think you ought to know there is nobody I should sooner see;" and +Jimmy, who was not so alert as usual that evening, looked at her too +steadily. + +Anthea met his gaze for a moment, and then, considering that she was a +young woman accustomed to hold her own in Colonial society, it was, +perhaps, a trifle curious that she slowly looked away. None of the +others noticed this, except Miss Austerly, and she kept any conclusions +she may have formed to herself. Then, though it seemed to come about +naturally without anybody's contrivance, Austerly and his daughter +joined Jordan, and for a few minutes Anthea and Jimmy were left alone. +The girl leaned on the rail looking across the shining water toward the +great white hull of the Empress boat lying, immaculate and beautiful in +outline, beneath the climbing town. Then she turned, and Jimmy felt that +he knew what she was thinking as her eyes wandered over the little rusty +_Shasta_. Though he had not spoken, she smiled in a manner which seemed +to imply comprehension when he looked at her. + +"Yes," she said, "there has been a change since I last saw you--and I am +glad you are in command. One can't help thinking that you must find +this, at least, a trifle more familiar." + +"At least?" said Jimmy. + +Anthea nodded, and her eyes rested on the big white mail-boat again. "I +think," she said, "you quite know what I mean." + +Once more Jimmy's prudence failed him. "Well," he said, "it is rather a +curious thing that even when you don't express it I generally seem to. +I don't know"--and he added this reflectively--"why it should be so." + +"I think that is rather a difficult question--one, in fact, that we +should gain nothing by going into. How long are you going to command the +_Shasta_?" + +"Until----" and Jimmy, who had not quite recovered from his exertions +during the voyage, stopped abruptly. He could not tell his companion +that he expected to sail the dilapidated steamer until she had wrested +away a sufficient share of the trade her father was laying hands upon to +enable Jordan to buy a larger one. + +"I don't quite know," he added. "Anyway, I was very glad to get her. It +is pleasanter to take command than to carry planks about the Hastings +wharf ashore." + +"You were doing that?" and for no very ostensible reason a faint tinge +of color crept into his companion's face. Labor is held more or less +honorable in that country, but, after all, Anthea Merril was a young +woman of station. + +"It must have been a change," she said a moment later. + +"From the lumber schooner, or Valentine's _Sorata_?" + +Anthea looked at him with a sparkle in her eyes. "Pshaw!" she said. "Are +you going to masquerade always, or do you think I am quite without +intelligence?" + +Then she turned, and pointed to the beautiful white Empress boat. "When +are you going back again?" + +Jimmy understood her, and made no further disclaimer. Still, his face +grew somewhat hard, and he moved abruptly. + +"I don't quite know," he said. "Very likely I shall never go back at +all. Circumstances are rather against me." + +"And can't you alter them?" + +Jimmy drew in his breath, and unconsciously straightened himself a +trifle. The girl stood close beside him, looking at him--not as one who +asked a question, but rather as though she had expressed her belief in +his ability to do what he wished. The confidence this suggested sent a +thrill through him, and her quiet graciousness--which, though she +addressed him as one of her own world, was not without its trace of +natural dignity--and her physical beauty set his heart beating. + +"I can try," he said simply. "There are, however, difficulties." + +"Of course!" and Anthea smiled. "There generally are. Still, if one is +resolute enough, they can usually be got over." + +Jimmy said nothing. He was not, after all, especially apt at +conversation, and he could not tell her that among all the difficulties +he might have to grapple with, the greatest was probably her father. + +Just then, as it happened, Jordan turned and called to them, and, moving +aft, they descended to the little stern cabin with the rest. It was +draped with the least faded flags from the signal locker; the table +glittered with glass and silver, and was set out with great bouquets of +flowers. The ports were wide open, and the cool evening air, fragrant in +spite of the city's propinquity with the smell of the Stanley pines, +flowed in. Eleanor Wheelock looked around with a smile of appreciation, +and then turned to Jordan. + +"Oh," she said, "it's pretty! You have done it all. Jimmy would never +have thought of that. But why are both those flags there?" + +Jordan glanced at the two big crossed flags that streamed down upon the +settee in the vessel's counter. They were new, and athwart the broad red +and white crosses gleamed the silver stars. + +"Well," he said with a little smile, "I don't know any reason why they +shouldn't be there side by side. It seems to me there'd be peace on +earth right off if they always hung that way, if only because all the +rest of the world would be afraid to break it. You have heard of the +first message we sent your folks in the Old Country over the Atlantic +cable. Besides, the thing's symbolical of another alliance that's not +only to be wished for, but going to be consummated." + +Eleanor blushed becomingly amidst the approving laughter, and, as she +stood there in the gleaming white dress and big white hat, with the +clear color in her cheeks, it seemed to Jimmy that he had never seen his +sister look half so captivating. In fact, he was almost astonished that +it had not occurred to him before that Eleanor was so exceptionally +well-favored. The quiet and somewhat plain-featured Mrs. Forster, and +Austerly's sickly daughter, served as fitting foils for her somewhat +imperious beauty. Then, as she glanced in his direction, Jimmy moved a +pace or two, and Anthea came out of the shadow. + +"My sister Eleanor--Miss Merril," he said. + +There was a brief silence which Jimmy, at least, found embarrassing, for +it seemed to him that everybody was watching the two girls with sudden +interest. He also felt that when Anthea Merril moved forward, Eleanor, +as it were, receded into second place against her will. His sister was +wholly Western, tall, and somewhat spare, with the suppleness of a +finely tempered spring rather than that of the willow in her figure. Her +quick glance and almost incisive speech matched her bearing. One could +see that she was optimistic, daring, strenuous; but with Anthea Merril +it was different. There was a reserve about her, and a repose in voice +and gesture which in some curious fashion made both more impressive. She +was also a trifle warmer in coloring and fuller in outline, and stood +for, or so it seemed to Jimmy, cultivated ripeness as contrasted with +his sister's vigorous and brilliant crudity. Quite apart from this, he +had noticed Eleanor's brows straighten almost imperceptibly, and the +slight hardness that crept into her eyes. The others apparently did not +see it, but her brother understood those signs. + +"Miss Merril! What does she want here?" said old Leeson, who usually +spoke somewhat loudly, in what he evidently fancied was an aside, and it +seemed to Jimmy that his sister's eyes asked the same question. + +Anthea, so far as he could see, did not notice this, and it was she who +spoke first. + +"I almost fancy I have met you somewhere, Miss Wheelock, though I do not +think it was in Vancouver," she said. "Toronto is rather a long way +off--but I wonder whether you were ever there?" + +"I was," said Eleanor. "I also saw you, though I never spoke to you. +Under the circumstances, it was, however, hardly to be expected." + +"No?" said Anthea, with a note of inquiry in her voice; and, though +Eleanor smiled, there was no softening of her eyes. + +"I was being trained to earn my living, and my few friends belonged to a +very different set from yours." + +Jimmy was not pleased with his sister. She had spoken quietly, indeed +more quietly and indifferently than she usually did, and Anthea Merril +had not shown the least resentment; but he felt that there was a sudden +antagonism between the two women. It was therefore a relief to him when +the steward appeared with the dinner, most of which Jordan had wisely +had sent from a big hotel, and they sat down at the table. + +It was a convivial meal. Jordan talked volubly, and there was a sparkle +in most of what he said; Forster and Austerly were quietly jocular; and +Eleanor, who sat next their host at the head of the table as his +bride-elect, played her part in a fashion that pleased them all. Other +things had also their effect upon the company. There was the love-match +between the man who had staked every dollar he could raise to send out +that little rusty steamer, and the beautiful penniless girl, as well as +the presence of the daughter of the man who, they felt reasonably sure, +would endeavor to crush him by any means available. As it happened, +Anthea Merril talked quietly, and apparently confidentially, to Jimmy +most of the time, and even old Leeson, who grinned at them sardonically, +seemed to feel that the situation was rife with dramatic possibilities. + +By and by the light commenced to fade, but Eleanor's white dress still +gleamed against the dull blue and crimson of the crossed flags; and in +after-days, when there was anger between them, Jimmy liked to remember +her sitting there at Jordan's side to speed him on the _Shasta_'s first +voyage. She made a somewhat imposing figure in the little dusky cabin, +and what she said struck the right note in the inauguration of that +venture, for she was optimistic and forceful in speech and gesture--and +Anthea now sat in the shadow. + +At last old Leeson rose with a little dry chuckle. "I don't know whether +speeches are expected," he said. "Still, I guess there's one toast we +ought to honor, and that's the engaged pair. Anyway, it's one that's +especially fitting to-night, since it seems to me that if it hadn't been +for Miss Wheelock we wouldn't have been here, with steam up, on board +the _Shasta_." + +There was a little good-humored laughter, but Leeson, who appeared +unconscious that his observations were open to misconception, proceeded +calmly. + +"Now," he said, "in a general way, the less women have to do with +business the better; but in Miss Wheelock we have an exception. If it +hadn't been for her, Forster would not have put five thousand dollars +into the _Shasta_, and if he hadn't made the venture, it's quite likely +I wouldn't either. It's quite a big one for people of our caliber, but +we have a live man to run the thing, and he will have a wife as smart as +he is standing right behind him. Well, we'll wish the pair of them long +life and happiness." + +Jimmy rose with his companions, but he was conscious that Anthea was +regarding his sister with grave inquiry. Then Jordan made his reply +conventionally, and afterward stood still a moment looking at his +guests, until with a little abrupt gesture he commenced again. + +"Mr. Leeson's right: it is a big thing we have on hand," he said. "We're +going to fight and break a monopoly, and, if all goes as we expect it, +put money into our pockets. But in one way that's only half of it. I +want you to think of the honest effort, the best thing a man has to +offer, that is being wasted in this country. Can't you picture the +bush-ranchers hauling produce thirty miles over a trail a city man +wouldn't ride a horse along to the railroad, and watching fruit 'most as +good as we can raise in California rotting by the ton? I want you to +think of the oat crops cut green and half-grown, and the men who raised +them mending their clothes with flour-bags and measuring out their +groceries by the cent's worth, after spending half a lifetime chopping +out the ranch. It's wrong--clean against the economy of things. We want +every pound of whatever they can send us. We have mines and mills and +money, but in this Province our food is bad and dear. While every man +depends on his neighbor, the greatest thing in civilization is facility +of transport." + +He stopped a moment for breath, and the keen sparkle in his dark eyes +grew plainer. "Well, we're going to provide it, and do what we can for +the men with the axe and the grub-hoe. Some day this great Province will +remember what it owes them. Here it's man against nature, and the fight +is hard, while we'll do more than put money in our pockets if we make it +a little easier. We want a fair deal--and we'll get it somehow--but we +want no more; and if we can hold on long enough, it won't be only those +who sent her out who will say, 'Speed the _Shasta_!'" + +He stopped amidst acclamation, for his mobile face and snapping eyes had +amplified his words, and, while he handled his theme clumsily, there +was, at least, no mistaking the strident ring of the dominant note in +it. In that country it was, for the most part, man against nature, and +not man against man, and the recognition of the fact was in all who +heard him. There men wrung their money from rocky hillside and shadowy +forest with toil almost incredible, creating wealth, and not filching it +from their fellows; but nature is grim and somewhat terrible in the land +of rock and snow, and all down the great Slope, from Wrangel to Shasta, +the battle is a stern and arduous one. So there was a little kindling in +the listeners' eyes, and the women also raised their glasses high as +they said, "Speed the _Shasta_," knowing that this was in reality but a +part of what they felt. + +Then Eleanor rose, and the company, scattering for the most part, went +back on deck, where it once more happened by some means that Anthea +Merril and Jimmy found themselves some distance from any of the rest. +The girl looked up at him with a little smile. + +"Well," she said, "what did you think of Mr. Jordan's observations?" + +Jimmy laughed. "My opinion wouldn't count. I couldn't make a speech for +my life." + +"No?" said Anthea. "Still, you can hold a steamer's wheel, and perhaps +under the circumstances that is quite as much to the purpose. In any +case, while your comrade was a little flamboyant, which is much the +same thing as Western, I think he meant it. After all, if we parade our +sentiments, we generally act up to them." + +"Jordan," said Jimmy, "seems to have quite a stock of them." + +"And I understand he has put every dollar he has into the venture. +Still, I suppose he did it cheerfully; and you may find it necessary to +bring those bush-ranchers' produce down against a gale of wind." + +There was a smile in her eyes as she looked at him, but in spite of that +Jimmy felt his face grow slightly warm. It was not, however, altogether +because Anthea noticed it that she changed the subject. + +"There was one point that wasn't quite clear to me. Why did he say you +were going to break up a monopoly?" + +Jimmy wished she had asked him anything else, for he had already decided +that Miss Merril knew very little about her father's business. + +"Well," he said awkwardly, "that's rather a difficult thing to answer. +You see, he mentioned a monopoly----" + +"He certainly did." + +"Then, to begin with, there is the Dunsmore road. They naturally +couldn't handle produce as cheaply as we could, and, anyway, it isn't of +much benefit to the ranchers who can't get at it." + +"'To begin with?' That implies more than one, which is, one would fancy, +the essential point of a monopoly." + +"Perhaps it is," said Jimmy vaguely. "Still, when we get our hand in, +there will be three." + +Anthea may have had her reasons for not pressing the question then, for +she laughed. "Of course!" she said. "Three monopolies. Well, I suppose +one must excuse you. You can hold a steamer's wheel." + +Jimmy, on the whole, felt relieved when the others sauntered in their +direction, and was less grieved than he might have been under different +circumstances when Austerly drew Miss Merril away. He had felt once or +twice before, during discussions with his sister, that keen intelligence +is not invariably a commendable thing in a woman. After that, Jordan had +a good many instructions to give him, and by the time they had been +imparted the rest were clustering around the gangway; while five minutes +later Jimmy leaned on the rail watching the boats slide away toward the +dusky city. Then he climbed to his bridge, and the windlass commenced to +rattle, but he did not know that Anthea Merril, who heard his farewell +whistle, kept the others waiting on the wharf a moment or two while she +watched the _Shasta_ slowly steam out to sea. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +IN DISTRESS + + +The clear night was falling when Jimmy leaned on the bridge-rails as the +_Shasta_ steamed out of the Inlet beneath a black wall of pines. Over +her port quarter the pale lights of the climbing city twinkled tier on +tier, with dim forest rolling away behind them into the creeping mist. +Beyond that, in turn, a faint blink of snow still gleamed against the +dusky blueness of the east. All this was familiar, but he was leaving it +behind, and ahead there lay an empty waste of darkening water, into +which the _Shasta_ pushed her way with thumping engines and a drowsy +gurgle at the bows. It seemed to Jimmy, in one sense, appropriate that +it should be so. He had cut himself adrift from all that he had been +accustomed to, and where the course he had launched upon would lead him +he did not know. + +That, however, did not greatly trouble him. His character was by no +means a complex one, and it was sufficient for him to do the obvious +thing, which, after all, usually saves everybody trouble. It was clear +that Tom Wheelock needed him, and he could, at least, look back a +little, though this was an occupation to which he was not greatly +addicted. He understood now how his father, who had perhaps never been a +strong man, had slowly broken down under a load of debt that was too +heavy for him, though the nature of the man who had with deliberate +intent laid it on his shoulders was incomprehensible. Jimmy, in fact, +could scarcely conceive the possibility of any man scheming and plotting +to ruin a fellow-being for the value of two old schooners. The +apparently insufficient motive made the thing almost devilish. Merril, +he felt, was outside the pale of humanity, a noxious creature to be +shunned or, on opportunity, crushed by honest men. + +Then he wondered for a moment whether the bondholder's daughter had +inherited any portion of her father's nature, and brushed the thought +aside with a little involuntary shiver. The thing was out of the +question. One could, he felt, perhaps illogically, be sure of that after +a glance at her; and then he straightened himself with a little abrupt +movement, for it was very clear that this was, after all, no concern of +his. He had never met any woman who had made the same impression on him +that Anthea Merril had done, but he had already decided that he had +sense enough to prevent himself from thinking of her too frequently; and +it was evident that if he had not he must endeavor to acquire it. + +He strove to divert his thoughts, and listened to the flow of language +that rose through the open skylights from the _Shasta_'s engine-room. +Taken together with the pungent smell of burning grease and a certain +harsh thumping, it suggested that things were not going well down there. +Then, looking forward, he watched the black figure of the look-out on +the forecastle cut sharp and clean against the pale gleaming of the +western sky as the bows swung over the long heave with a rhythmic +regularity, for the _Shasta_ was drawing out into open water now. She +was making eight knots, he fancied, with mastheads swaying athwart the +stars, and a long smoke-trail that was a little more solid than the +dusky blue transparency streaking the sea astern of her. Jimmy pulled +out his pipe when a faint cold breeze fanned his cheek, and lighted it +contentedly, for a steamboat travels fastest in smooth water when what +moving air there is blows against her, and there was every sign of fine +weather. + +It lasted several days, and the _Shasta_ stopped only twice at sea: once +to cool a crank-pin, and again for a longer while because there was +something wrong with her condenser. In due time she crept into a deep, +mountain-walled inlet where the little white _Sorata_ lay, and Jimmy +gazed in astonishment when he saw the piled-up produce on the strip of +shingle beach between still, green water and climbing forest. He was +even more astonished when certain bronzed men in battered wide hats and +soil-stained jean came off, and conveyed him almost by force to the rude +banquet laid out in a little frame hotel. Hitherto they had hauled the +few goods they put on the market rather more than eight leagues along an +infamous trail which for a part of that distance led over a mountain +range. + +Jimmy feasted that day, for the banquet was repeated with very little +variation three times over, and his last speech was very much to the +purpose as well as characteristic of him. + +"Boys," he said, "we've steam up, and in view of the freight we're +charging you Wellington coal is dear. Besides, even to oblige you, I +really couldn't eat anything more." + +They paddled him off in state in a big Siwash canoe, and their shouts +rang far across the silent pines when the little rusty _Shasta_ crawled +away into the evening mist; while long after it had hid her from their +sight, Jimmy, standing on his bridge, heard the faint wail of the pipes. +There was, as usual, a North Briton among them, and the wild music of +another land of rock and pine and inlet six thousand miles away crept up +the screw-torn wake in elfin fashion. Jimmy, at least, knew the burden +of it: "Will ye no' come back again?" + +His blood tingled a little as he listened. They had held out their hands +to him, and made him one of them, and it was, he vaguely felt, a thing +to be proud of, for there was a certain greatness in these simple, +all-enduring men. They grappled with giant forests and rent stubborn +rocks, clearing the way for thousands yet to come, with limbs that ached +from the axe stroke and hands that bled upon the drill. They feared +nothing, and looked for nothing except the prosperity which they would +hardly share, but which would surely come; and all down the long Slope +their kind are perfecting a manhood that is probably worth more than all +the gold, silver, iron and wheat raised beneath the Beaver or the Stars. + +It was the same at the next inlet, for that trip was very much of the +nature of a triumphal procession, only that as yet the battle was not +won; and when at last the _Shasta_ turned her bows southward, she was +full to the hatches and deep in the water. As it happened, she met a +strong southwester, which piled the long Pacific heave upon the reefs +to port in big foam-crested walls, and after the first twelve hours of +it there was scarcely a dry inch on board her. She went into it with +dipping forecastle that swung up again veiled in cataracts of white and +green until her forefoot was clear, and, with complaining engines, made +scarcely four knots an hour. There were inlets that offered her shelter, +but hour by hour Jimmy, clinging, battered by flying spray, to his +reeling bridge, drove her ahead. The time for making speeches, at which +he did not shine, had gone, and it was now his business to keep the +promise he had made the ranchers, that he would not lose an hour in +conveying their produce to the market. That, at least, was a thing he +could do, and, though his drenched limbs grew stiff and his eyesight +dim, he did it with the dogged thoroughness of his kind, standing high +in the stinging drift as he drove her, swept and streaming, at the +tumbling seas. He, too, was one of the enduring toilers, and, like the +invincible men with the axes who had recognized the stamp he bore, he +found a certain grim pleasure in the conflict. + +It was toward dusk on the second evening when they steamed into sight of +a little schooner, which showed as a gray smear of slanted canvas +scarcely distinguishable from the crag a couple of miles to lee of her. +Jimmy wondered what she was doing there in that weather with only one +jib and a reefed boom foresail set, until his glasses showed him that +her mainmast was broken off. That made the thing clearer, and in case +more should be wanted, a flag fluttered aloft and blew out half-way up +her foremast upside down. It was an appeal that is very seldom made in +vain at sea, and meant in that particular case that she would be ashore +in an hour or two unless somebody towed her off. + +Jimmy closed his glasses with a snap, and hailing a very wet seaman sent +him for the engineer. The latter climbed to the bridge, and nodded when +he glanced at the vessel. + +"Well," he said, "you'll have to take them off. She's not going to claw +off shore without her mainsail. There would be a little money in the +thing if we could tow her, but we can't. I'm taking steep chances of +bringing the engines down about my head by shoving her into it as I'm +doing." + +As though to give point to the speech, the _Shasta_ flung her stern high +just then, and shook in every plate as with a frantic clanging the +engines ran away. Then she put her bows in, and dim crag and wallowing +schooner were blotted out by a cloud of spray. + +"We have got to try," said Jimmy quietly. "There's a point that would +give us shelter twenty miles away." + +"Twenty miles!" and the engineer, from whose blackened singlet the water +streamed, laughed scornfully. "It's 'bout as likely we'd tow her to +Honolulu. Still, I guess you're skipper." + +Jimmy nodded. He had not troubled to impress the fact upon his crew, but +he invariably acted on it. "You had better raise a little more steam," +he said; "it is very likely that we'll want it." + +Then, as the dripping engineer vanished from the bridge, he seized the +whistle lanyard, and signed to the man behind him who gripped the wheel. +A deep blast rent the turmoil of the sea, and the _Shasta_, swinging +around a trifle, rolled away to the rescue. It was some twenty minutes +later when she stopped, and lay plunging head to sea with the little +wallowing schooner close to lee of her. The light was going, but Jimmy +could see a shapeless figure that clung to her rail gesticulating with +flung-up arm. The wreck of a boat, apparently smashed by the falling +mast, lay across her hatch, and there was another half-seen man at her +wheel. Jimmy stood still for a few moments with his hand on the +telegraph, and he was glad to remember that there were several former +sealing-schooner hands among his crew, for what they do not know about +boat-work is worth no man's learning. + +He let the _Shasta_ swing a little to give them a lee on one side of +her, and while the sea smote and spouted in green cataracts across her +weather-rail they swung a boat over, and two men, one of whom was a +Siwash, dropped into her. That was enough to steer her while she blew to +windward, and Jimmy dared risk no more. They got her away, apparently +undamaged, and he sent the _Shasta_ slowly ahead when she plunged over a +seatop veiled in a cloud of spray. It would be beyond the power of flesh +and blood to pull that boat back, and the _Shasta_ swung in a wide +half-circle to leeward of the schooner. Her crew had evidently tried to +heave her to, but without her after-canvas she had fallen off again, and +was forging ahead with the _Shasta_'s boat smothered in foam beneath her +rail. She was going to leeward bodily, and Jimmy fancied she was about a +mile nearer the crag than when he had first seen her. It was evident to +everybody that he had no time to lose. + +He shouted with arm flung up, and, though it was doubtful whether +anybody heard him, the schooner's boom foresail came thrashing down, +and two men who leapt upon her rail fell into the boat. Then he thrust +down his telegraph, and, as the _Shasta_ forged by, the boat drove down +on her. She struck the steamer's hove-up side with a crash that stove +several strakes of planking in, and men jumped for the flung-down lines +as she filled. They scrambled up them, four in all, and, for one of them +had hooked on the davit falls, the _Shasta_'s winch banged and rattled +as they hove the boat in with the water streaming out through her +shattered side at every roll. The men had, however, brought a rope with +them, and the winch next hove the schooner's stoutest hawser off. It was +made fast, and rose splashing from the sea when Jimmy touched his +telegraph again, while, when at last the schooner fell into line astern, +a very wet man clambered to the bridge. + +"Are you fit to pull her out?" he asked. + +"I don't know," said Jimmy; "I'm going to try. How did you get so far +inshore, and have you left anybody to steer her?" + +The man made a vague gesture. "Mainmast went beneath the hounds. She's +been driving to leeward since, and she'd have been ashore in another +hour if we hadn't fallen in with you. The old man's at her wheel. Built +her himself 'most fifteen years ago, and nothing would shift him out of +her." + +Jimmy glanced astern, and for a few moments saw a gray face of rock loom +out of the haze with the sea spouting dimly white at its feet. Then a +thicker fold of vapor rolled about it, and the daylight faded suddenly. +He could scarcely see the schooner lurching along behind them with jib +still set, though the sail thrashed now and then. Indeed, his eyes were +growing very heavy, and he realized that after forty-eight hours' +continuous watching he could not keep himself awake much longer. A +simple calculation showed him that it would be daylight again before he +could put his helm up and run for shelter, when it would be imperatively +necessary for him to be on his bridge; and calling his Scandinavian +mate, he left the _Shasta_ in his charge. + +"Keep her going as she's heading now," he said. "You'll see I've headed +her up a few points to allow for the leeward drag of the tow. You can +call me in a couple of hours, or earlier if there's any change in the +weather." + +He clawed his way down from the bridge to the little room beneath it, +and shed only his streaming oilskins before he flung himself into his +bunk. He was asleep in two or three minutes, and slept soundly while the +water oozed from his wet garments, until he was roused by a shouting. +Then his door was flung open, and a man thrust his head in. + +"Mr. Lindstrom figures you'd better get up," he said. "The tow has +parted her hawser, and gone adrift." + +Jimmy was out of his bunk in a moment, and in a few more had scrambled +to his bridge. Lindstrom, the Scandinavian, shouted something he did not +hear, but that did not very much matter, for the one question was, where +was the schooner, and Jimmy was tolerably certain that nobody knew. His +light had been burning, and for the first few moments he could see +nothing but blackness, out of which there drove continuous showers of +stinging spray. Then he made out the filmy cloud it sprang from at the +_Shasta_'s bows, and swept his gaze aloft toward the pale silver streak +above her mastheads, which showed where the half-moon might come +through. As he did so, the Scandinavian gripped his shoulder, and he saw +a red twinkle widen into a wind-blown flame low down upon the sea. Now +he could, at least, locate the tow. + +"Did you get a sight of the beach? How far were we off?" he shouted. + +"A low point," said Lindstrom, "which I do not know. One mile, I guess +it, and we head her out more off shore." + +Jimmy was a trifle startled. Though the water is deep along that coast, +a mile leaves very small margin for contingencies, and he fancied that +the tow, blowing to leeward, would cover it in half an hour. In that +case there was not the slightest doubt as to what would then happen to +her. She might, perhaps, last five minutes as a vessel, for the reefs +are hard and there is a tremendous striking force in the long Pacific +seas. Another point was equally clear. He had some twenty minutes in +which to overhaul the schooner and take her skipper off, and no boat to +do the latter with. If he failed to accomplish it in the time, it was +very probable that the _Shasta_ would go ashore, and he did not think +that any one would escape by swimming. Still, he meant to do what he +could, and once more he set the whistle shrieking as he shouted to the +helmsman. + +The _Shasta_ came round, and drove away into the darkness, for the light +had died out again and there was nothing visible ahead but the dim white +tops of frothing seas. Five minutes passed, and Jimmy felt the tension, +for they were steaming toward destruction, and it was quite possible +that they might run past the schooner or straight over her. Then a shaft +of moonlight struck the climbing pines high up in front of him, and it +seemed to him that he was already almost under them. He set his lips, +and clenched the hand he would not raise in warning to the helmsman +while the pale watery moonlight crept lower and lower. It rested for a +moment on a fringe of creaming foam where the rock met the water, and +then a hoarse shout went up, for as it swept toward him they saw the +schooner. + +She was not far ahead of them, with jib thrashed to ribands and the sea +streaming from her swung-up side. Jimmy thrust down his telegraph and +shouted to Lindstrom, who dropped from the bridge as they drove past her +stern. Then, as he raised his hand, the man behind him gasped as he +struggled with his wheel, and the _Shasta_, stopping, lay rolling wildly +beneath the schooner's lee, while a shadowy figure gesticulated to those +on board her from her spray-swept rail. Jimmy glanced shoreward over his +shoulder toward the tumbling surf, and decided that he had at most five +minutes to take that man off. After that it would probably be too late +for all of them. + +Mercifully the moonlight still streamed down, and he waited with lips +set and hands clenched on the telegraph while the schooner, being +lighter, drove down upon the _Shasta_. One blow might make an end of +both of them, but something must be hazarded, and he spared a glance for +the wet men who crouched upon the _Shasta_'s rail with lines in their +hands. He had smashed one boat not long ago, and the second and smaller +one had been damaged a week earlier, bringing a Siwash to take them up +a certain inlet off an unsheltered beach. + +The schooner was very near them, and, if he stayed where he was, would +come down on top of the steamer in another minute or so. Then Lindstrom +sprang out of the galley with a blue light in his hand, and its radiance +blazed wind-flung and intense on the narrowing gap of foam between the +two wildly rolling hulls. There was a hoarse shouting, and, though he +might not have heard the words, it was evident that the man on board the +schooner realized what he was expected to do. Jimmy set his lips tighter +as he pressed down the telegraph to slow ahead. + +The _Shasta_'s propeller thudded, and as the schooner reeled toward her +she commenced to move, and a black figure plunged with flung-up hands +from the latter's shrouds. It struck the seething water, and vanished +for a moment or two, while men held their breath and strained their +eyes. Then there was a hoarse clamor, and lines went whirling down from +the _Shasta_'s rail. In the midst of it black darkness succeeded, as +Lindstrom's light went out. Jimmy gasped, wondering when the schooner +would strike them, while he clenched his hand on the telegraph. There +was faint moonlight still, but it did not seem to touch the schooner, +for his eyes were dazzled by the blaze of the blue light. + +A moment later another shout rang out. "He has hold! Get down! Can't you +stop her, sir?" + +Jimmy, knowing what the hazard was, pressed his telegraph, and held his +breath until a harsh voice rose again. + +"I have a grip of him," it said. "Heave! We've got him, sir. Go ahead; +she's coming down on the top of us!" + +Jimmy moved his hand, and the gong clanged out "Full-speed" this time, +while, glancing to windward, he saw the black shape of the schooner +hove-up apparently above him. Still, quivering all through, the _Shasta_ +forged ahead, and he leaned on the rails, for now that the tension had +slackened he felt curiously limp. + +"The man's all right?" he asked. + +Lindstrom, who climbed half-way up the ladder, said that he did not seem +to have suffered very much, and Jimmy, looking around, saw nothing of +the schooner, for there was sudden darkness as the moon went out. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +ELEANOR'S BITTERNESS + + +It was in a state of quiet contentment that Jimmy stood on his bridge, +as the _Shasta_ steamed past the Stanley pines into sight of the +clustering roofs of Vancouver. His first voyage had been an unqualified +success in every respect, and it was clear that the _Shasta_ had done +considerably more than cover her working expenses. This was in several +ways a great relief to him, since it promised to obviate any difficulty +in providing for his father's comfort, and also opened up the prospect +of a career for himself. Jordan had assured him before he sailed that +they would have no great trouble in raising funds to purchase another +boat if the results of the venture warranted it. He had also said that +since one thing led to another, there was no reason why the _Shasta_ +Company should not run several steamers by and by, in which case Jimmy +would naturally become commodore-captain or general superintendent of +the fleet. + +As it happened, Jordan was the first person Jimmy's eyes rested on when +he rang off his engines as the _Shasta_ slid in to the wharf, and he +climbed on board while they made her fast. It, however, seemed to Jimmy +that his movements were less brisk than usual, and he was also dressed +in black, which was a color he had once or twice expressed himself in +his comrade's hearing as having no use for. He came up the bridge-ladder +quietly, in place of scrambling up it in hot haste, which would have +been much more characteristic, and Jimmy noticed that there was a +difference in his manner when he shook hands with him. The latter's +satisfaction commenced to melt away, and a vague disquietude grew upon +him in place of it. + +"Everything straight here?" he asked, veiling his anxiety. + +"Oh, yes," said Jordan; "that is, in most respects. We have an outward +freight--Comox mines--for you. You'll take her up the Straits that way +when you go back again. You seem to have her full." + +"I had to leave a good many odds and ends behind, and the ranchers +expect to have more produce for us in a month or two. One or two of them +were talking about baling presses and a small thrashing mill. I've an +inquiry for the plant, which you can attend to. Another fellow was +contemplating putting on some Tenas Siwash to see whether there was +anything to be made out of hand-split shingles, and several more were +going to plant every cleared acre with potatoes for Victoria. I'm to +take up two of your mechanical stump-grubbers as soon as you can get +them. If we can keep them pleased, we'll get all their trade." + +Jordan nodded, without, however, any sign of the eagerness Jimmy had +expected. "Well," he said, "that's quite satisfactory so far as it goes. +Still, there are troubles that even the prospect of piling up money +can't lift one over." + +"Of course!" said Jimmy, who looked at him with sudden sympathy. "Still, +I fancied you told me you had no near relatives. What are you wearing +those clothes for?" + +His comrade laid a hand on his shoulder. "It's a thing I shouldn't have +done on my own account. I did it--steady, Jimmy, you have to face it--to +please your sister." + +"Ah!" said Jimmy, with a sharp indrawing of his breath, and leaned on +the bridge-rails for a moment or two. His lips quivered, and Jordan saw +him clench his hard brown hands. Busy wharf and climbing city faded from +before his eyes, and he was sensible only of a curious numbing stupor +that for the time being banished grief. Then he felt his comrade's grasp +grow tighter. + +"Brace up!" said Jordan. "It's a thing we have, all of us, to stand up +under." + +Jimmy straightened himself slowly, while the color paled in his face. + +"When did it happen--and how?" he asked. + +"Last night. The doctor had been round once or twice since you went +away, and I understood from what Prescott said that he was getting along +satisfactorily--that is, physically." + +Jimmy said nothing, but looked at him with hard, questioning eyes. + +"Well, it appears he was worrying himself considerably. Told Prescott it +was a pity he couldn't die right away. Nobody had any use for him, and +he didn't want to be a burden. Seems he went over it quite often. The +doctor had cut him off from the whisky." + +He stopped, with evident embarrassment and pain in his face; but Jimmy's +eyes never wavered, though a creeping horror came upon him. In spite of +the difficulty he had in thinking, he felt that he had not yet heard +all. + +"Go on," he said in a low, harsh voice. + +"I don't think I could have told you, only it would have fallen on +Eleanor if I hadn't, and she has as much as she can bear. You'll keep +that in mind, won't you, Jimmy? He got some whisky--we don't know +how--one of the wharf-hands who used to look in bought it for him, most +probably. Prescott had to go out now and then, you see." + +He stopped for a moment, and made a little gesture of sympathy before he +went on again. "Somehow he fell over the table, and the kerosene lamp +went over with it too. When one of the neighbors who heard him call went +in nobody could have done anything for him." + +The last trace of color ebbed from Jimmy's face, and he stood very +still, with set lips and tightly clenched hands. Then he turned aside +with a groan of horror. + +"Lord!" he said hoarsely. "That, at least, might have been spared him." + +In another moment he swung around on his comrade almost savagely, with a +bitter laugh. "And you want to marry my sister Eleanor?" + +"Yes," said Jordan; "just as soon as it can decently be done. Jimmy, you +daren't blame him." + +"Blame him!" and Jimmy's voice was strained. "If I had had his load to +carry and felt it as he did, I should probably have gone under long +ago." + +He leaned heavily on the rail for a minute or two, and then, apparently +rousing himself with an effort, turned toward his comrade. "As you say, +I must stand up to it. How is Eleanor bearing it?" + +"Quietly--too quietly. I'm 'most afraid of her. She's here--I went over +to Forster's for her. Insists on staying in the house. I'll send +somebody around with your papers, and then go along with you." + +Five minutes later they went ashore together, and it was falling dusk +when they reached a little four-roomed frame-house which stood near a +row of others of very much the same kind amidst the tall fir-stumps +which straggled up a rise on the outskirts of the town. It was such a +one as the few wharf and sawmill hands who were married usually lived +in--comfortless, primitive, and rickety. Jimmy remembered how he had +determined when he sailed south with the _Shasta_ full to the hatches +that his father should not stay another month in it. + +He was almost startled when his sister led them into the little general +room, for it was evident that there had been a great change in her. +That, at least, was how he regarded it then, but afterward he understood +that it was only something which had been in her nature all the time +making itself apparent. He did not remember whether she kissed him, but +she sat down and looked at him with the light of the lamp upon her, +while Jimmy, who could find nothing at all to say, gazed at her. + +Eleanor had already provided herself with somber garments, and they +emphasized the severity of contour of her supple figure. They also +forced up the pallor of her face, which was relieved only by a faint +blotch of color in either cheek, and, in spite of this, in a curious +fashion made her beautiful. Jimmy had hitherto admitted that his sister +was pretty, but, as he recognized, that word was not the right one now. +She was imperious, dominant, a force embodied in a woman's shape, and +her brother was vaguely conscious that he shrank a little from her. +Eleanor did not seem to want his sympathy. The coldness of her face +repelled him, the fastidious neatness of her gold-bronze hair appeared +unnatural, and her pale-blue eyes had a hard glitter like that of a +diamond in them. It was evident that in place of being crushed, she was +filled with an intense suppressed virility. Indeed, there was something +in her appearance and manner that was suggestive of a beautifully +tempered spring, one that would fly back the moment the strain +slackened, and, perhaps, cut deep into the hand that compressed it. It +was the girl who spoke first, and her voice had a certain incisive +quality in its evenness. + +"Charley has told you," she said; "I can see that by your face. He +insisted on doing so to save me. Well, I am grateful, Charley--that is, +as grateful as I am capable of being--but I will not keep you." + +Jordan looked disconcerted. "Can't you let me stay? There are one or two +ways in which I could be of service." + +Eleanor made a little imperious sign, and, though Jimmy once more found +it difficult to realize that this woman, whose coldness suggested a +white-heat of passion, was his sister, he was not altogether astonished +when Jordan slowly rose. + +"Then I'm going no farther than the first fir-stump that's low enough +to make a seat," he said. "If I'm wanted, Jimmy has only to come out and +call." + +He went out, and Eleanor turned to her brother. "I am afraid Charley is +going to be sorry I promised to marry him," she said. "Still, I think I +am fond of him, or I might have been, if this horrible thing hadn't come +between us. It is horrible, Jimmy--one of the things after which one can +never be quite the same. I have a good deal to say to you--but you must +see him." + +Jimmy made a sign of concurrence, and his sister rose. "First of all, +there is something else. It is a hard thing, but it must be done." + +She turned to a cupboard, and, taking out a bottle of corn whisky, laid +it before him with a composure that jarred on the man. Her portentous +quietness troubled him far more than a flood of tears or a wild outbreak +would have done. Then she laid her finger on the outside of the bottle, +as though to indicate how much had been taken out of it. + +"I think that accounts for everything," she said. "Still, he was driven +to it. I want you to remember that as long as you and the man who is +responsible live. Prescott knows, and Charley--I had to tell him. But +nobody else must ever dream of it." + +"Of course you had to tell Charley," said Jimmy hoarsely. "Still, the +inquest?" + +A scornful glitter crept into Eleanor's eyes. "That you will leave to +me. I have been drilling Prescott as to what he is to say, and if they +question Charley, who got here before the doctor when Prescott sent for +him, he will stand by me." + +Jimmy looked somewhat startled; but when he strove to frame his +thoughts the girl silenced him. "If it were necessary to corrupt +everybody who had ever been acquainted with him, and I could do it--at +any cost--it would be done. Now"--and she quietly took up the lamp--"you +will come with me." + +Jimmy shivered a little as he went with her into the adjoining room, and +set his lips tight when with a steady hand she drew the coverlet down. +Then, while his eyes grew a trifle hazy, he drew in a little breath of +relief, for Tom Wheelock lay white and serene at last, with closed eyes +and no sign of pain in his quiet face, from which all the weariness had +vanished. Only a clean linen bandage, which ran from one temple to +behind the other ear, was laid upon it. There was nothing that one could +shrink from, and Jimmy made a gesture of protest when Eleanor laid her +hand on the bandage. + +She met his eyes with something that suggested contempt in hers, and +quietly drew back the bandage, and then the soft white sheet from the +shoulder of the rigid figure. Jimmy sickened suddenly, and seized her +arm in a constraining grasp. + +"Put it back!" he said. "That is enough--enough, I tell you!" + +Then, while the girl obeyed him, he turned from her with a groan, gasped +once or twice, and sat down limply. He could not look around again until +her task was concluded, and he would not look at her. It seemed an +almost interminable time before she spoke. + +"Still," she said, "you must look at him again; I should like you to +remember him as he is now. Perhaps you can, Jimmy, but that relief is +not for me." + +Jimmy rose, and in another few moments turned his head away. He stood +still, with a whirl of confused emotions that left him half-dazed +rioting within him, while he glanced vacantly round the room. It was +scantily furnished, and generally comfortless and mean. Long smears of +resinous matter exuded from the rough frame boarding of its walls, and +there were shrinkage rents in part of it that let the cool night air in. +In one place he could see where a drip from the shingle roof had spread +into a wide damp patch on the uncovered floor, and it seemed an almost +insufferable thing that his father should have spent his last days in +such surroundings. Then he glanced at Eleanor, standing a rigid, somber +figure with the lamp in her hand, and it seemed that she guessed what he +was thinking. + +"It does not matter now--but he was once considered a prosperous man," +she said. "The contrast was one of the things he never complained of; +but I think he felt it." + +Jimmy turned and went out with her, and, sitting down in the adjoining +room, she looked at him with the quietness he was commencing to shrink +from. She seemed to understand that, too. + +"You think I am unnatural," she said. "Perhaps you are right--but even +if you are, what does it matter? Still, I believe I was fonder of him +than you ever were. If I hadn't been, could I have done all this for you +and him?" + +She stopped for a moment, and the hard gleam flashed back into her +pale-blue eyes. "He was horribly burned, Jimmy, and until the last few +minutes crazed with drink and pain. Still, he was driven to his death +and degradation." + +Jimmy only gazed at her with a tightening of his lips, and the girl went +on in the clear, incisive tones that so jarred on him. "I think it was +more than murder. Can you remember him as anything but abstemious, and +only unwise in his easy kindliness, until the man who crushed him held +him in his clutches? Weak! There are people who would tell you that, and +perhaps he was. It was the load he had to bear made him so. Try to +remember him, Jimmy, as he used to be--brave and gentle, devoted to your +mother and mine; the man who, they said, never ran for shelter in the +fiercest breeze of wind. Try--I want you to." + +Jimmy turned to her abruptly, moistening his dry lips with his tongue. +"Eleanor, have done; I can't stand any more." + +"You must;" and the girl laughed harshly. "I hold that he was murdered. +Is there any real distinction between the man who holds you up with a +pistol and kills you for your money, suddenly and, in one way, +mercifully, and the one who with cold cunning slowly sucks your blood +until he has drained the last drop out of you? Still, that is not all. +If he had only died as most men die. You must remember the upset lamp +and the whisky, Jimmy." + +"Stop!" said Jimmy hoarsely, clenching a brown hand while the +perspiration started from him. "I can't stand it! It is horrible, +Eleanor! You are a woman--you have promised to marry my comrade." + +The girl rose, and, crossing to where he sat, laid a hand on his +shoulder as she looked down at him. "I feel all that you feel, with a +greater intensity; but I can bear it, and you must bear it too. Charley +will not complain, and I would be his slave or mistress as long as he +would stand by me until I carry out my purpose. He is only my lover, but +you are Tom Wheelock's son. What are you going to do?" + +"What can I do?" and Jimmy made a little hopeless gesture. "Perhaps it +would be only justice, but I can't waylay Merril with a pistol. The man +has no human nature in him. I couldn't even provoke him to strike me." + +"No," said Eleanor, with a bitter laugh; "that would be foolishly +theatrical, and in one way too easy. It would not satisfy me. You will +wait, ever so long if it's necessary, and command the _Shasta_ while you +take his trade away. Then we will find other means--business means; it +can, I think, be done. He must be slowly drained and ruined, and flung +aside, a broken man, as your father was. Then it would not matter +whether he dies or not." + +Jimmy shrank from her a little, and she smiled as she noticed it. "There +is a good deal of our mother's nature in both of us, and you cannot get +away from it. It will make you a man, Jimmy, in spite of all your +amiable qualities." + +"Still," said Jimmy vaguely, "one has to be practical. I'm afraid it +isn't easy to ruin a man like Merril just because you would like +to--I've met him, you see. The _Shasta_ Company was not started with +that purpose either, and it was only because Jordan is a friend of mine +that I was put in as skipper." + +"Didn't old Leeson say that the _Shasta_ Company would never have been +formed if it hadn't been for me? It is a struggling little company, and +Merril is a big man, and apparently rich; but there are often chances +for the men with nerve enough." + +Jimmy rose. "If one ever comes in my way, I shall try to profit by it. +That is all I can say. I'm a little dazed, Eleanor. I think I'll go out +and try to clear my brain again. You won't mind? I hear Prescott." + +He met Prescott in the doorway, and walking past the few frame-houses +found Jordan sitting, cigar in hand, upon a big fir-stump. When Jimmy +stopped beside him he made a little sign of comprehension and sympathy. + +"I guess I know what Eleanor has told you," he said. "In one way, it's +not astonishing that she should feel what she does, and I can't blame +her, though it's a little rough on me. This is a thing she'll never +quite get over--while the other man lives prosperous, anyway--and, of +course, I'm standing in with her." + +"But it's not your affair." + +"It's Eleanor's, and that counts with me. Besides, I'm not fond of +Merril either." + +Jimmy was touched by the man's devotion, but once more he could find +nothing apposite to say, and Jordan went on: + +"Sometimes, as I told you, I'm a little afraid of Eleanor, and perhaps +that's why I like her. It seems to me you never quite understood your +sister. Your mother made the Wheelock fleet, and it's quite likely that +Eleanor's going to make the _Shasta_ Shipping Company. I'm no slouch, +but she has more brains than you and I and old Leeson rolled together. +Now, you want to rouse yourself, and she has Prescott with her. You'll +walk down to the steamer with me." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +UNDER RESTRAINT + + +Austerly, who was essentially English and a servant of the Crown, +somewhat naturally lived outside the boundaries of Vancouver. He had the +tastes and prejudices of his class, and did not like the life most men +lead in the Western cities, which is in some respects communistic and +without privacy. Even those of some standing, with a house of their own, +not infrequently use it only to sleep in, and take their meals at a +hotel, while, should they retire to their own dwelling in the evening, +they are scarcely likely to enjoy the quietness the insular Englishman +as a rule delights in. People walk in and out casually until late at +night, and a certain proportion of them are chronically thirsty. This, +in case of a business man, has its advantages as well as its drawbacks, +but Austerly only recognized the latter. He said it was like living in +the street, and he did not appreciate being called on at eleven o'clock +at night by men of doubtful character whom he had met for the first time +a few days before. + +He accordingly retired to a retreat that one of his predecessors had +built outside the city, which shades off on that side from stone and +steel through gradations of frame-houses and rickety shanties into a +wilderness of blackened fir-stumps. The Western cities lie open, and +though the life in them is more suggestive of that of Paris than the +staidness of an English town, they have neither gate nor barrier, and +are usually ready to welcome all who care to enter: strong-armed men who +limp in, red with dust, in dilapidated shoes, as well as purchasers of +land and commercial enterprise directors. They have, it frequently +happens, need of the one, and a bonus instead of taxes to offer the +other, who may purpose to set up mills and workshops within their +borders. + +Austerly, however, was not altogether a recluse, and it came about one +evening that Jimmy, who had arrived there with a few other guests, sat +beside Anthea Merril in the garden of his house. The sunlight still +shone upon the struggling grass, to which neither money nor labor could +impart much resemblance to an English lawn, but great pines and cedars +walled it in, and one caught entrancing vistas of shining water and +coldly gleaming snow through the openings between their mighty trunks. +The evening was hot and still, the air heavy with the ambrosial odors of +the forest, and the dying roar of a great freight train that came +throbbing out of its dim recesses emphasized the silence. The little +house rose, gay with painted scroll-work and relieved by its trellises +and wooden pillars, beneath the dark cedar branches across the lawn. +Jimmy had seen Valentine and Miss Austerly sitting on the veranda a few +minutes earlier. He was, however, just then looking at his companion, +and wondering whether in spite of the pleasure it afforded him he had +been wise in coming there at all. + +Anthea was dressed richly, in a fashion which it seemed to him became +her wonderfully well, and he was quite aware that the few minutes he had +now spent in her company would be sufficient to render him restless +during the remainder of the week. Jimmy had discovered that while it was +difficult to resolve that he would think no more of her, it was +considerably harder to carry out the prudent decision. + +"It is some little time since I saw you last," she said. + +"Four weeks," said Jimmy promptly. "That is, it would be if this were +to-morrow." + +Anthea smiled, though she naturally noticed that there was a certain +significance in this accuracy. Jimmy realized it too, for he added a +trifle hastily: "The fact that it was just before the _Shasta_ went to +sea fixed it in my mind." + +"Of course!" and Anthea laughed. "That would, no doubt, account for it. +Are your after-thoughts always as happy, Captain Wheelock?" + +Jimmy felt a little uncomfortable. Her good-humor, in which there was +nothing incisive, was, he felt, in one way a sufficient rebuff, though +he could not tell whether she had meant it as such. It was also +disconcerting to discover that she had evidently followed the train of +reasoning which had led to the remark, though this was a thing she +seemed addicted to doing. After all, there are men who fail to +understand that in certain circumstances it is not insuperably difficult +for a woman to tell their thoughts before they express them. + +"I'm afraid I don't excel at that kind of thing," he said. "It's perhaps +fortunate my friends realize it." + +Anthea turned and looked at him with reposeful eyes. "Well," she said +reflectively, "I almost fancied you were not particularly pleased to see +me. You had, at least, very little to say at dinner." + +Jimmy, to his annoyance, felt the blood rise to his forehead. He had +sense enough to see that his companion did not intend this to be what, +in similar circumstances, is sometimes called encouraging. He was not a +brilliant man; but it is, after all, very seldom that an extra-master's +certificate or a naval reserve commission is held by a fool. Anthea had, +he felt, merely asked him a question, and he could not tell her that he +would have avoided her only because he felt afraid that the delight he +found in her company might prove too much for his self-restraint. + +"Still," he said, somewhat inanely, "how could I? You were talking to +that Englishman all the time." + +"Burnell?" said Anthea. "Yes, I suppose I was. He and his wife are +rather old friends of mine. They have just come from Honolulu, and talk +about taking the yacht up to Alaska. In that case, they want Nellie and +me to go with them." + +Jimmy remembered the beautiful white steam-yacht which had passed the +_Shasta_ on her way to Vancouver a day or two ago, and was sensible of a +vague relief that was at the same time not quite free from concern. If +Anthea went to Alaska, it was certain that he would have no opportunity +for meeting her for a considerable time. That was, in one way, what he +desired, but it by no means afforded him the satisfaction he felt it +should have done. She did not, however, appear inclined to dwell upon +the subject. + +"I think I ought to congratulate you on what you did a few weeks ago," +she said. "I read the schooner-man's narrative in the paper." + +Jimmy laughed. "If I had known he was going to tell that tale, I almost +fancy I should have left him where he was; but, after all, I scarcely +think he did. Seas of the kind mentioned could exist only in a +newspaperman's imagination." + +The girl smiled, for, though what she thought did not appear, she saw +the shade of darker color in his face, and Jimmy was very likeable in +his momentary confusion. Now and then his ingenuous nature revealed +itself in spite of his restraint, but nobody ever shrank from a glimpse +of it, for he had in him, as Anthea had seen, something of the largeness +and openness of the sea. + +"Still," she said, "I heard one or two men who understand such things +talking about it, and they seemed to agree that it needed nerve and +courage to take the schooner skipper off without wrecking your vessel; +but you are, perhaps, right about the imagination of the men who serve +such papers." + +Jimmy noticed the trace of half-contemptuous anger in her face and +voice, and fancied he understood it. He had, of course, seen the issue +of the paper in question, and had read close beneath the schooner-man's +account of his rescue a bitter and plainly worded attack upon his +companion's father. Merril was a political as well as a commercial +influence, and journalists in that country do not shrink from +personalities. He felt, by the way she glanced at him, that she knew he +had done so. + +"Yes," she said, though he had not spoken, "you understand what I am +alluding to. Still, I suppose anybody who does all he can for the +Province must expect to be misrepresented." + +Jimmy's face grew a trifle hard. He did not know exactly what she +expected from him, but even to please her he would not admit that the +man who had seized the _Tyee_ could be misrepresented in any way, +unless, indeed, somebody held him up as a pattern of virtue. + +"I suppose your father denied the statements?" he said. "I have, of +course, been away." + +"No," replied Anthea; "it was scarcely worth while. After all, very few +people would consider the thing seriously." + +She turned to him again with an inquiring glance, and there was a +certain insistency in her tone. "Of course, that ought to be clear to +anybody." + +Jimmy met her glance steadily, and set his lips as he usually did when +he was stirred, and he was stirred rather deeply then. Still, nothing +would have induced him to say a word in Merril's favor. Then it seemed +to him that the girl's expression changed. He could almost have fancied +there was a suggestion of appeal in her eyes, as though she would have +liked him to constitute himself her ally, and, indeed, had half-expected +it. It set his heart beating, and sent a little thrill through him, for +in that moment it was clear that she wished to believe altogether in her +father, and would value any support that he could offer her. In other +circumstances it would have been a delight to take up the cause of any +of her kin, whatever it might have cost him, but just then he was +conscious of a bitter hatred of the man in question, and Jimmy was in +all things honest. + +"I'm afraid I don't know how people are likely to regard it," he said. +"You see, I am almost a stranger in the Province. I have been away so +long." + +Anthea appeared to assent to this, but Jimmy realized that she felt that +he had failed her. Still, the thing was done, and he would not have done +it differently had another opportunity been afforded him. + +"Well," she said slowly, "there is something I want to mention. I fancy +Mr. Burnell has a favor to ask of you this evening, and it might, +perhaps, be wise to oblige him. He can be a very good friend, as I have +reason to know, and though he may not mention this, he is, one +understands, rather a prominent figure in the Directorate of the ---- +Mail Company." + +For a few moments Jimmy was troubled by an unpleasant sense of +confusion. The man's name was famous in the shipping world, and there +were a good many aspiring steamboat officers who sought his good-will, +while, since he could not have heard of Jimmy until a day or two ago, it +was evident that somebody in Vancouver City had spoken in his favor. +Jimmy fancied he knew who this must be, and it was but a minute or two +since he had turned a deaf ear to the girl's appeal. Then he roused +himself, as he saw her curious smile. + +"So that is the famous man?" he said. "I should never have imagined it." + +Anthea laughed as she rose; but before she moved away, she turned to him +confidentially. "I really think," she said, "you should do what he asks +you." + +Then she left him, and it was some minutes later when a little, quiet +Englishman strolled in that direction, cigar in hand. He sat down by +Jimmy. + +"I don't know whether I'm presuming, but I believe you are duly +qualified to take command of a British steamer and are acquainted with +the northwest coast?" he said. + +Jimmy said he had not been far north; and Burnell appeared to reflect +for a moment or two. + +"After all," he said, "I don't suppose that matters so very much. I'm in +rather a difficulty, and you may be able to do something for me. We lost +our skipper, and my mate and several of the crew have taken leave of me +here unceremoniously. I wish to ask if you would take the yacht up to +Alaska for me, and afterward home again. I should naturally be prepared +to offer whatever salary is obtainable here by a duly qualified skipper, +and as several of my friends are also yours, you would, of course, +continue to meet them on that footing while you were on board." + +"There is one point," said Jimmy. "The arrangement would necessarily be +a temporary one." + +"I fancied you would raise it. Well, it would perhaps be a little +premature to say very much just now; but I did not come to Vancouver +entirely on pleasure. In fact, it is likely that we shall shortly +attempt to cut into the American South-Sea trade, in which case we +should want commanders for a 4000-ton boat or two from this city. If +not, I almost think I can promise that you would not suffer from serving +me. I may mention that your friends speak of you very favorably." + +Jimmy thought hard for a minute or two. It was a very tempting offer, +and wages out of that port were excellent just then. What was more to +the purpose, it promised to send him back to the liners, where a +commander was a person of some consequence, and, besides this, Anthea +had told him that she was in all probability going to Alaska. Then he +reluctantly shook his head. + +"I'm afraid I can't close with you, sir," he said. "The fact is, I +consider myself bound to the _Shasta_ Company." + +"Ah!" said Burnell; "their terms are still more favorable? One would +scarcely have fancied it." + +"No," said Jimmy, "that is certainly not the case. Still, they put me +into the little boat out of friendliness--and I'm not quite sure anybody +else could do as much for them, or, at least, would make an equal effort +in the somewhat curious circumstances. Of course, that sounds a trifle +egotistical; but still----" + +Burnell signified comprehension. "It is not altogether a question of +money." + +"I couldn't come if you offered me treble the usual thing," said Jimmy +gravely. + +The other man nodded. "Well," he said, "I'm sorry, because after what +you have told me I almost think we should have hit it tolerably well +together. At any time you think I could be of service, you can write to +me." + +He talked about other matters for a while, and it was half an hour after +he went away when Jimmy once more came face to face with Anthea Merril. +She was walking slowly through the creeping shadow of the pines, and +stopped when she saw him beside a barberry bush, among whose clustering +blossoms jeweled humming-birds flitted. One of them that gleamed +iridescent hovered on wings that moved invisibly close above her +shoulder. + +"So," she said, "you have not done as I suggested?" + +Jimmy looked at her gravely, and once more felt the blood creep into his +face. She had told him she was going to Alaska on board the yacht, and +he almost ventured to fancy she had meant it as an inducement; but there +was no trace of resentment in her voice. Anthea was too proud for that. + +"I'm sorry," he said. "Still, you see, I couldn't." + +There was no doubt that he was sorry, and a look that left him almost +bewildered crept into the girl's eyes. + +"Why?" she asked quietly. + +It was a somewhat unfortunate question, since it afforded an opening for +two different answers, and Jimmy, who fancied she wished to learn why +the fact that he could not go should grieve him, lost his head. + +"Why?" he said. "Surely that can't be necessary. I think there is only +one thing that could have stopped my going. If it hadn't been for that, +I would have walked bare-foot across the Province to join the ship." + +Anthea looked up, and met his eyes steadily. It was clear that she +understood him, but there was no reproof in her gaze, and for a moment +the man felt the sudden passion seize and almost shake the +self-restraint from him. The girl was very alluring, and just then her +pride had gone, while it was vaguely borne in on him that he had but to +ask, or rather take her masterfully. Perhaps he was right, for there are +moments when wealth and station do not seem to count, and an eager word +or two, or a sudden compelling seizure of the white hand that hung so +close beside him, might have been all that was needed. He looked at her +with gleaming eyes, while a little quiver ran through him. Still, he +remembered suddenly whose daughter she was, and the bitter grievance he +had against her father. The opposition Merril would certainly offer and +the stigma others might cast upon him if he wrested a promise from her +then, also counted for something; and though neither of them made any +sign, both knew when she spoke again that the moment had passed. + +"That," she said, "was not what I meant. Why is it impossible for you to +go?" + +Jimmy was himself again, for her voice and look had swiftly changed. "I +think it is only your due that I should tell you, since I know why +Burnell put the offer before me. Well, I was glad to get the _Shasta_, +and it would hardly be the thing to leave her now. Jordan and the others +put money they could very hardly spare into the venture--and when they +did it, they had confidence in me." + +"Ah!" said Anthea, and stood silent for a moment or two. Then she smiled +at him gravely. "Perhaps you are right--and, at least, one could fancy +that Jordan and the others were warranted." + +Jimmy, whose face once more grew a trifle flushed, raised a hand in +protest. "I feel I have to thank you for sending Burnell to me. It must +have seemed very ungrateful that I didn't close with him; but, after +all, that is only part of what I mean. You see----" + +The girl looked at him, still with the curious little smile. "You +fancied I should feel hurt because you could not take a favor of that +kind from me? Well, perhaps I did, but, as you have said, you couldn't +help it--and I don't think it matters, after all." + +Her voice was quietly even, and there was certainly no suggestion in it +that she resented what he had done; but Jimmy knew that he was now +expected to put on his reserve again, and he hastened to explain in +conventional fashion that the way she might regard the matter was really +a question of interest to him. Then Anthea looked at him, and they both +laughed as they turned away, which, as it happened, very nearly led to +Jimmy's flinging prudence aside again, and he felt relieved when he saw +Austerly and his daughter approaching them. Before the latter two joined +them, Anthea, however, once more turned to her companion. + +"There is still something I wish to say, and perhaps I should have +mentioned it earlier; but in such cases one shrinks from causing pain," +she said. "I should like you to believe that I was very sorry when I +heard--about your father." + +Jimmy only made her a grave inclination, for, though he could not blame +her for it, his father's death was the most formidable of the barriers +between them, and, recognizing it, he felt a little thrill of dismay as +she turned off across the lawn toward where Mrs. Burnell was apparently +awaiting her. It afterward cost him an effort to talk intelligently to +Austerly and his daughter; but since they betrayed no astonishment at +his observations, he fancied that he had somehow accomplished it. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE RANCHER'S ANSWER + + +It was a Saturday evening, and Barbison, the fruit-tree drummer, felt +that he had chosen a fitting time to introduce the business which had +brought him there, as he sat amidst a cluster of bush-ranchers on the +veranda of the little wooden hotel. It stood beside a crystal river in a +lonely settlement, with the dark coniferous forest rolling close up to +it. There were, however, wide gaps in the firs in front of the veranda, +with tall, split fences, raised to keep the deer out, straggling athwart +them amidst the pale-green of the oats, while here and there one could +see an axe-built log-house embowered in young orchard trees. A trail led +past the hotel, rutted by the wooden runners of jumper-sleds and +ploughed up by the feet of toiling oxen and pack-horses. It led back in +one direction through shadowy forest to the Dunsmore railroad, thirty +miles away, and in the other to the deep inlet where the _Shasta_ lay. +The ranchers, however, usually reached the latter by canoe, because the +trail was as bad as most of the others are in that country. + +On the evening in question there was a little stir in the sleepy place, +for the mounted mail-carrier, who accomplished the journey weekly, had +come in, and hard-handed, jean-clad men had plodded down from lonely +clearings among the enfolding hills to inquire for letters, purchase +stores, and ask each other whether the Government meant to make a +wagon-road or do anything at all for them. The question was, however, +not quite so important as usual just then, for private enterprise had, +as not infrequently happens, undertaken the Government's +responsibilities, and the ranchers were conscious of a certain gratitude +to the _Shasta_ Shipping Company. Thirty miles over mountains is rather +a long way to convey one's produce and supplies. + +A select company of deeply bronzed and wiry men who had tried to do it +with pack-horses as well as oxen and jumper-sledges sat listening to +Barbison, apparently with grave attention, while another entertainment +was being prepared for them. Two of their comrades, stripped to their +blue shirts and old jean trousers, were then engaged in grubbing a very +big fir-stump in front of the veranda--that is, clearing out the soil +from beneath it, and cutting through the smaller roots with an +instrument which much resembled a ship carpenter's adze. It is in +general use on the Pacific Slope, where the process of making a +bush-ranch seldom varies greatly. The rancher purchases the raw +material, thin red soil covered with tremendous forest, as cheaply as he +can, and at the cost of several years' strenuous toil hews down a few +acres of the latter. Then he proceeds to burn up the logs, and there are +left rows of unsightly stumps rising four to six feet above the ground, +which he laboriously ploughs around. When he has garnered a crop or two +he usually attacks these in turn--that is, if they show no sign of +rotting; and to grub out a big one and haul it clear with oxen +frequently costs him at least a day. + +Barbison, who watched the proceedings with the rest, was aware of this, +but he did not know that the man who sat smoking on a big mechanical +appliance of the screw-jack order was the _Shasta_'s engineer. It was +also somewhat curious, since he had contrived to mention her several +times, that his companions had not thought it worth while to acquaint +him with the fact, but left him to suppose the gentleman in question was +traveling the country on behalf of the manufacturers of the American +stump-grubber. In the meanwhile Barbison discoursed glibly about +fruit-trees and produce prices, and pointed now and then to a big tin +case partly filled with desiccated fruits and pictures which lay on a +chair beside him. He was a little, dapper man, evidently from the +cities, and by no mean disingenuous, though he was apparently young. He +turned when a big quiet rancher picked up and gravely munched a fine +Californian plum. + +"Oh, let up!--that's the third," he said. "How can I sell trees on my +samples when the boys have eaten them?" + +The man looked at him stolidly. "It's high-grade fruit," he said. "How'd +you start those plum-trees bearing?--they're quite a long while showing +a flower or two. Cut them hard when the frost lets up in spring?" + +"Quite hard!" said Barbison, for one must make a venture now and then; +and none of his companions showed any astonishment, though fruit is +freely raised in that country, and the trees that grow the kind with +stones in it resent the use of the pruning knife, as everybody who has +much to do with them knows. + +"Juss so!" said the rancher. "Boys, you cut them--hard. Now, those +apples. S'pose you had good parent stocks, could you bud on to them--and +how'd you do it? Guess that would suit some sorts better than +whip-grafting." + +One might have fancied that Barbison was for a moment a trifle +disconcerted, but he smiled airily. "Just how you'd bud on anything +else. I'd wax the thread." + +"You hear him, boys?" said the rancher. "What you want to do is to wax +your thread." + +They were very quiet, but perhaps not unusually so, for the clearers of +those forests are, except on occasion, generally silent men. Barbison +looked at them reflectively. + +"Raising the fruit's only half the trouble, anyway," he said. "The big +question everywhere is how to put it on the market; and if I can be of +any use in that direction, you have only to command me. Seems to me the +Government's tired of making roads." + +"What's the matter with the steamboat?" asked somebody. "Never had no +trouble since we hauled our stuff down to the _Shasta_." + +Barbison's smile was sympathetic now. "I guess you're not going to haul +your stuff down to her very much longer. She's played out, and run by +little, struggling men who can't get credit for the patching up that +ought to be done on her, and who'll have nothing to meet claims with if +she breaks down and spoils your freight some day. That's a sure thing. +From what I heard in Vancouver, the bottom's just ready to drop out of +the concern. You want to think of that. Creditors have a lien on +freight, too, when a boat's held up for debt." + +"Then if I sent down my potatoes or fat steers in her, somebody could +seize them for the money the company owed?" asked another rancher. + +"That's the law," said Barbison, and there was nothing in his +companions' manner to suggest that they did not in the least believe +him. "Now, there's some talk about another firm putting a smart new boat +on. Plenty money behind that crowd, and when she comes round it might +suit you considerably better to make a deal with them." + +"Who's running the thing?" + +"Man called Merril. Enterprising man. When he takes hold he makes things +hum. If it were necessary to start a trade, he'd 'most carry your stuff +for nothing." + +"Juss so!" said the big rancher. "Kind of philanthropist. I've heard of +him." + +The man's face was vacantly expressionless, but Barbison, who glanced at +him sharply, fancied that he had said enough on the subject. He had +visited most of the settlements that could be reached from the coast, +and had never neglected an opportunity for dropping a word about the +_Shasta_ and the new boat. + +"Where's that stump-grubber fellow from?" he asked. + +"Don't quite know," said one of the others. "Strikes me as an Ontario +Scotchman. But the machine's an American notion; never saw one quite +like it before." + +The man in question stood up just then. He was big and gaunt and pale, +but he wore ordinary city clothes, and when he and the others had +inserted the screw-jack contrivance on a strip of thick planking under +the sawn-off tree, he turned to the assembly. + +"There are quite a few stump-pullers, and I've struck benighted men who +used the chain-tackle tripod," he said. "I'm not saying it's +inefficient, for when you put sufficient pressure upon the winch and it +will not pull the stump up, it will pull the tripod down upon your head. +This one pulls up all the time, and something has got to come if you +work hard enough." Then he raised his hand to his two companions. "You +look fit and strong. Show them you can heave." + +They drew the sliding bar up to the head of the thing, and pulled it +toward them several times, while their faces grew suffused and the veins +rose gorged on their foreheads, for men in that country are proud of +their vigor. There was a slow cracking and tearing of roots, but the +great stump still stood immovable. Then the _Shasta_'s engineer inquired +what they fed upon, and their comrades flung them sardonic +encouragement, while as they gasped and strained their muscles the screw +slid slowly, turn by turn, through its socket. At last there was a sharp +rending and a little murmur of applause as the big stump tilted and fell +over on its side. Then the big rancher stood up on the veranda. + +"It's smart work, but Dave and Charley are two of the smartest men round +this settlement, and we want to test the thing in every way," he said. +"There's another stump yonder, and I guess Mr. Fleming will put up a +bottle of whisky for any three men who will knock five minutes off the +record. We'll put Mr. Barbison and Jasper in to show what men who don't +grub stumps can do." + +There was a little laughter, for if Jasper, who slowly took off his +jacket, was not accustomed to stump-grubbing, he was at least a man of +splendid physique, and Barbison felt uneasy when he laid a great hand on +his shoulder. + +"Come right along," he said; "we've got to get that whisky." + +Barbison's protests were not listened to, and, seeing no help for it, he +also flung off his jacket, when the big rancher firmly led him down the +stairway. Then they gave him a shovel, and his two companions saw that +he used it while they plied the grub-hoe. There are, however, probably +very few men reared in the city who could work with the tireless axemen +of the Pacific Slope, and in ten minutes Barbison was visibly +distressed. The perspiration dripped from his flushed face, and he +gasped for breath, while his comrades inquired with ironical solicitude +whether he were getting sleepy. When he had excavated enough to satisfy +them, they made him crawl into the hole and claw out soil from among the +roots with shortened shovel, most of the contents of which fell all over +him. They kept him at it mercilessly for over half an hour, and when he +crept out his hands were raw and he was aching in every limb. Even then +there was no respite, for the rest insisted on his participating in +their labors at the lever, and contrived to allow him to do considerably +more than his share. At last, however, the great stump rose and tilted, +and he was escorted back to the hotel amidst acclamation. + +"Well," said the big rancher, "if you can work like that, why in the +name of thunder do you want to be a fruit-tree peddler? It's quite hard +to believe you are one. You don't look like it, anyway." + +Barbison certainly did not, for he had burst a seam of one of his +garments during his efforts, while the red soil that had smeared them +freely was on his dripping face and in his ruffled hair. He flung a +swift glance at the man as he realized that his observation was +apposite. There was, however, nothing suspicious in the rancher's +attitude, and the others laughed in the soft fashion peculiar to the +bushman. + +"Anyway, he deserves the whisky," said one of them. + +It was duly brought, and, though those ranchers are for the most part +abstemious men, other bottles made their appearance in turn, and +Barbison braced himself for an effort to maintain his credit as one of +The Boys. He had not found this very difficult in the city saloons, but +the bushman who lives with Spartan simplicity and toils amidst the +life-giving fragrance of the pines twelve hours every day usually +possesses a nerve and constitution that will withstand almost anything. +Besides, there was only one Barbison and a good many of them. It was +therefore not altogether astonishing that by and by the drummer's +observations grew a trifle incoherent, until at last his companions +grinned at one another when with a visible effort he raised himself +shakily to his feet. + +"Something wrong with that whisky, boys; I can't quite talk the way I +want. Guess I'll go to sleep," he said. "Anyway, you stand by Merril. +He'll carry your freight for nothing, and run the _Shasta_ men to----" + +After that he said nothing further, but lowered himself carefully into +his chair, and collapsed with his arms flung out before him across the +table. Then the rest proceeded to hold a court-martial over him. + +"Seems to me he knows a blame sight more about Mr. Merril and the +_Shasta_ than he does about fruit-trees," said the big rancher. "Boys, +you cut those plums--hard--and always put wax on the string. Oh, yes, +you're innocent bushmen being played for suckers by a smart city man! +Guess one would wonder when they took the long clothes off him. If that +last advice he gave you wasn't quite enough, I see a book in his pocket +with a silver-headed pencil strapped to it." + +One of them promptly took it out, and flicking over the pages, read, +"'Six fathoms right up to the old sawmill wharf. Worth while to tow the +schooner in and leave her to load. Nothing to be had at Trevor. Siwash +deck passengers at Tyler's. Sprotson men have odds and ends, but seem +stuck on the _Shasta_.'" + +He closed the book with a sharp snap, and grinned at the rest. "Well," +he said reflectively, "that's 'bout enough for me. I'm stuck on the +_Shasta_, too. Seems to me the men who run her mean to do the straight +thing by us." + +The rest concurred with this, and several of them instanced cases where +carriers had in due time put the screw upon producers who had been +supinely content to pocket a big rebate until there was no longer any +competition. The rancher with the notebook smiled at them. + +"Then we've no use round here for a man like Mr. Barbison," he said. +"The one question is--what we're going to do with him before we start +him back to the blame philanthropist who sent him?" + +They made ingenious suggestions, which varied from painting him with +red-lead to teaching him to swim; but it was the one offered by Fleming +of the _Shasta_ that most pleased them. + +"What he wants is exercise, and if you will bring him off to the steamer +I'll see he gets it," he said. "I've quite a few tons of coal to trim, +and there's a pile of old grease he could clean out of her bilges." + +"The blame insect will offer to pay his passage when he comes round," +said one of the company. + +"That is easily fixed," said another, who had been rummaging Barbison's +pockets. "See this wallet, Jake? Well, you're going in to the railroad, +and you'll express it to Mr. Merril, care of the fruit agency, with a +line to say the gentleman was sick and left it behind him. That strike +you all as workable? Then all we have to do is to decorate him." + +They did it as well as they were able, and four of them afterward +carried him to a Siwash canoe. They had some difficulty in doing it, and +fell down once or twice on the way; but just before the _Shasta_ went to +sea Barbison was put aboard her, with his face rouged with red-lead and +a garland of cedar sprays about his head. It was almost dark then. +Wheelock was on his bridge, the deck-hands were busy stowing the anchor, +and as the two ranchers who brought the drummer laid him beneath a boat +where he tranquilly resumed his sleep, some little time had passed +before anybody concerned himself about him. Then a grinning seaman +brought Jimmy down from his bridge, and held up a lantern while he gazed +in blank astonishment at his prostrate passenger. + +"Tell Mr. Fleming I want him. He was ashore," he said. + +The engineer came, and smiled when Jimmy turned to him. + +"If you can tell me what the meaning of this is, I should be obliged," +he said. + +"Well," said Fleming reflectively, "there are maybe two or three. For +one thing, I'm thinking it's a hint that the boys ashore are standing by +you. There's a note they sent off in your room." + +Jimmy told the seaman to bring it, and, while the latter turned the +light upon the strip of paper, read: "Hasn't a dollar on him, and +belongs to a man called Merril, who's on your trail. We recommend a +course of shoveling coal. All you have to do is to play a straight game +with the boys, and they'll stand behind you all the time." + +Then he turned to Fleming. "I fancy you could give me an explanation, +and I'd like to have it." + +Fleming told him as much as it appeared desirable that he should know, +and Jimmy smiled grimly. + +"Wake him up," he said. "There's a bucket yonder." + +The seaman made a vigorous use of it, and Barbison raised himself on one +elbow, drenched and spluttering. + +"Throw any more water, and I'll kill somebody! I'm dangerous when I'm +mad," he said. + +"Get up!" said Jimmy sharply. "What are you doing here?" + +Barbison, who endeavored unsuccessfully to get up, did not seem to know, +and apparently abandoned the attempt to think it out. His scattered +senses, however, came back to him after the application of more cold +water. + +"How much you want--take me to Victoria?" he gasped. + +"One hundred dollars," said Jimmy dryly. + +The passenger expostulated in a half-coherent fashion, and then, +apparently realizing that it was useless, fumbled for his wallet. He +clenched his fist when he could not find it. + +"Stole it--and my tin case," he said. "Ate up all my samples--must have +ate the case, too, the--hungry hogs." + +"Then you'll have to work your passage;" and Jimmy turned to Fleming. +"You'll take care he earns it. Don't quite kill the man." + +Barbison, who seemed to understand this, at last got on his feet and +unloosed a flood of invective which had no effect on any of his +listeners. Several deck-hands were, however, needed before he was +conveyed into the stokehold and left in front of a bunker with a shovel +in his hand. He assured Fleming that nothing would induce him to work, +and the engineer only grinned, because it was a long way to Victoria, +and the _Shasta_ had several calls to make. Barbison seemed to fancy +that his firmness had proved sufficient, and, coiling himself up amidst +the coal, once more went to sleep. He awakened hungry, and Fleming +smiled again when he demanded food. + +"If you'll lift those floor-plates you'll see the spaces between her +frames choked with coal-grit and grease," he said. "It's possible you'll +get some breakfast when you've scraped them clean. Then it will depend +on how much coal you trim out of that bunker whether you get any +dinner." + +Barbison looked hard at the man, and saw he meant what he said. Then he +pulled up a floor-plate and looked at the filthy mass of coagulated +grease that had drained from the engine-room. + +"And how'm I to get it out?" he asked. + +"Quite easy," said Fleming dryly. "What's the matter with your hands?" + +Then he went away and left Barbison to his task. It was a particularly +repulsive one, but he accomplished it, and spent most of the next few +days trimming coal, waiting on the fireman, and cleaning out an empty +coal-bunker on his hands and knees. It is probable that the sight of +Victoria filled him with ineffable relief, and it certainly was not +Fleming's fault if this were not the case. As they steamed into the +harbor Jimmy sent for him. + +"I think you have earned your passage, and we're straight," he said. +"You can go ashore when we get in." + +Barbison glanced down at his dilapidated attire. "Can I go ashore this +way? I'll ask you a favor. Let me stay until it's dark." + +Jimmy laughed. "Well," he said, "as I scarcely think Mr. Merril will +send you back again, you may." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +ELEANOR SPEAKS HER MIND + + +The afternoon was hot and drowsily still when Merril drove his daughter +down the dusty road which runs from New Westminster through the Fraser +meadows. The team was a fast one, and the man, who had an appointment to +keep in Vancouver, did not spare them. There were also reasons why he +found rapid motion and the attention the mettlesome horses required a +welcome distraction, for just then he was troubled with a certain sense +of irritation which was unusual with him. + +Merril was not a hot-tempered man; in fact, he owed his commercial +success largely to the dispassionate coolness which rarely permitted his +feelings to influence his actions, and it was characteristic of him that +while he had a finger in a good many schemes the man himself never +figured prominently in connection with any of them. His influence was +felt, but he was in one sense rather an abstract force than a dominant +personality. It was said of him that he always worked underground, and +he certainly never made political speeches or favored the newspapers +with his views; while, when the results of his unostentatious efforts +became apparent in disaster to somebody, as they usually did, it +generally happened that other men incurred the odium. There are, of +course, financiers whose enterprises benefit the whole community, since +they create new corn-fields and open mines and mills, but Merril's +genius was rather of the destructive order, and it was not to anybody's +advantage that he knew how to choose his time and instruments well. In +person, he was little, somewhat portly, and very neatly dressed, a man +who had never been known to lose his temper or force himself upon the +citizens' attention. + +Still, he was human, after all, and as he sat behind his costly team +that afternoon he was thinking somewhat uneasily of the unexpected +resistance certain land-jobbers in New Westminster had shown to his +demands, and the attack on him which had just appeared in a popular +journal. It was the second time the thing had happened, and, though he +was not directly mentioned and the statements could scarcely be +considered libelous, it was evident that a continuance of them would +have the effect of turning the attention of those who read them upon his +doings, which was just then about the last thing that he desired. + +It accordingly happened that he drove a little faster than he generally +did, until as the team swung out of a strip of shadowy bush he saw a +jumper-sled loaded high with split-rails on the road close in front of +him. He shouted to the man who walked beside the plodding oxen, never +doubting that way would be made for him, especially as the teamster +looked around. The oxen, however, went straight on down the middle of +the road, and it was a trifle too late when Merril laid both hands upon +the reins. In another moment there was a crash, and Anthea was almost +shaken from her seat. When Merril swung himself down he saw that one +wheel had driven hard against the jumper load. Then as he called to +Anthea to move the team a pace or two, the patent bushing squeaked and +groaned, and the wheel, after making part of a revolution, skidded on +the road. The man who drove the oxen turned and favored him with a +little sardonic grin. + +"I hope the young lady's not shook too much," he said. + +Anthea, who fancied it was with a purpose he confined this expression of +regret, if, indeed, it could be considered such, to herself, was as a +matter of fact considerably shaken and very angry. + +"Why didn't you get out of the way when you heard my father shout?" she +asked. + +It was Merril at whom the man looked. "Well," he said reflectively, "I +guess that load is heavy, and the oxen have been hauling hard since +sun-up, while there's no reason why a rancher shouldn't use the road as +well as anybody from the city. You should have pulled up sooner. Anyway, +you're not going far like that." + +Merril said nothing, though he could not very well have failed to notice +the hint of satisfaction in the last remark. He very seldom put himself +in the wrong by any ill-considered utterance, but Anthea was a trifle +puzzled when he quietly walked to the horses' heads. She knew that the +small ranchers are, for the most part, good-humored and kindly men, +while, although she could not be certain that the one before them had +contrived the mishap, it was evident that he had done very little to +avert it. He made no further observation, and when he led his oxen into +a neighboring meadow Merril told the girl to drive the horses slowly +toward a ranch they could see ahead, and walked beside the wagon +watching the wheel. It would turn once or twice and then stick fast and +skid again; but they contrived to reach the ranch, and found a bronzed +man in dusty jean leaning on the slip-rails. + +"Have you a wagon-jack and a spanner?" asked Merril. + +"I have," said the man, who made no sign of going for them. + +"Then I should be obliged if you would lend me them," said Merril. + +The man smiled dryly. "It can't be done. If that wheel won't turn, Miss +Merril can come in and sit with my wife while you go somewhere and get +it fixed. That's the most I can do for you." + +"I suppose the man who wouldn't let us pass back yonder is a friend of +yours?" and Merril looked hard at him. + +"That's so. Runs this ranch with me. Guess you've seen me once before, +though it was your clerk I made the deal with. That's why we're here on +rented land making 'bout enough to buy groceries and tobacco. You know +how much the ranch you bounced us out of was worth to you. Anyway, you +can't have that jack and spanner." + +Anthea flushed with anger, but she saw that her father was very quiet. + +"Well," he said dryly, "they belong to you, but I'm not sure it wouldn't +have been as wise to let me have them." + +The rancher laughed. "You don't hold our mortgage now, and if I could +get hold of that newspaper-man I could give him a pointer or two. Seems +to me he's getting right down on to the trail of you. Are you coming in +out of the sun, Miss Merril?" + +"Certainly not," said Anthea; and the man took out his pipe and quietly +filled it when Merril told her to walk the horses on again. + +Though she was a trifle perplexed by what she had heard, it seemed to +her that her father's attitude was the correct one, and she seldom asked +unnecessary questions. She had lived away from home a good deal since +the death of her mother when she was very young, but her father had +always been indulgent, and she had cherished an unquestioning confidence +in him. It was also pleasant to know that he was a man of mark and +influence, and one looked up to by the community. Of late, however, +several circumstances besides the newspaper attacks on him had seemed to +cast a doubt upon the latter point, but she would not entertain it for a +moment, or ask herself whether there was anything to warrant them. It +was reassuring to remember her father's little smile when she had +ventured to offer him her sympathy; but she could not help admitting +that there must, at least, have been some cause for the rancher's +rancor. The man, she felt, would not have displayed such vindictive +bitterness without any reason at all. She, however, decided that he had +no doubt made some imprudent bargain with her father, and was +unwarrantedly blaming the latter for the unfortunate result of it. + +They went on in silence, and Merril, who walked beside the wagon, shook +the wheel loose now and then when the horses stopped, until they reached +Forster's homestead. The rancher greeted Anthea pleasantly, but she felt +that there was a subtle change in his manner when he turned to her +father, who explained their difficulty. + +"The trouble is that I have rather an important appointment in Vancouver +this afternoon," said the latter. + +"My wife is there now with our only driving wagon, or I would offer to +take you over," said Forster. "I can, however, lend you a saddle-horse, +and Miss Merril could stay with Miss Wheelock until we see what can be +done with the wagon. If necessary, I will drive her across when my wife +comes back." + +Merril thanked him, and presently moved away toward the stable with the +hired man while Forster led Anthea to the house, and left her in the big +general room where, as it happened, Eleanor Wheelock sat sewing. The +green lattices outside the open windows were partly drawn to, but the +shadowy room was very hot, and the little air that entered brought the +smell of the pines with it. It was not the aromatic scent they have at +evening, but the almost overpowering smell filled with the clogging +sweetness of honey the afternoon sun calls forth from them. The ranch +was also very still, and for no evident reason Anthea felt the drowsy +quietness weigh upon her. Her companion said nothing to break it, but +sat near the window sewing quietly, and Anthea became sensible of a +faint shrinking from the girl, though she would have liked to overcome +it for reasons she was not altogether willing to confess to herself. + +Eleanor Wheelock's face looked almost colorless by contrast with her +somber dress, and there was a curious hardness in it, while Anthea, who +remembered Leeson's speech in the _Shasta_'s cabin, wondered whether she +were making the very dainty garment for herself, since it was suggestive +of wedding finery. + +"That should be very effective," she said at length. "You intend to wear +it?" + +Eleanor looked up from her sewing. "Yes," she said, "I believe I shall." + +Something in her voice struck Anthea as out of place in the +circumstances, for one does not sew bitterness into wedding attire, +while the suggestion of uncertainty which the speech conveyed was more +curious still. Anthea felt there must be something more than the loss of +her father to account for her companion's attitude; but that was +naturally a thing she could not mention. + +"I think I could venture to offer you my sympathy in what you have had +to bear," she said. "I was very distressed to see the brief account in +the newspaper." + +Eleanor laid down her sewing, and looked at her steadily. "Why should +you be?" + +It was a disconcerting question, and asked with a still more +disconcerting insistency. Anthea could not very well say that she did +not know, nor yet admit that the news had grieved her because of her +sympathy with Jimmy. Still, though she shrank from her, she desired this +girl's good-will, and she compelled herself to an effort. + +"In any case, I was sincerely sorry," she said. "Although I only met you +that evening on board the _Shasta_, one could say as much without +presuming. Besides, when we were away in the _Sorata_ your brother did +a good deal to make the cruise pleasant for Nellie Austerly and me." + +"When he was Valentine's deck-hand?" and Eleanor looked at her with a +little sardonic smile. "You no doubt allowed him to forget it +occasionally, and Jimmy was grateful. In fact, he admitted as much to +me. He was always foolishly impressionable." + +Anthea felt her face grow warm, and though she was as a rule courageous, +she was glad that she sat in the shadow. In several respects her +companion's last suggestion appeared almost insufferable. + +"Perhaps I laid myself open to this," she said. "It is seldom wise to +make advances until one is reasonably sure of one's ground, but I do not +understand why you should resent a few words spoken out of +friendliness." + +The little hard glint grew plainer in Eleanor's eyes. "Then I think you +should do so. There is a very convincing reason why friendliness--of any +kind--would be very unfitting between you and me--or, for that matter, +between you and Jimmy." + +Anthea would not ask the question that suggested itself, for it seemed +to her, as, crushing down her anger, she sat and watched her companion, +that the latter had been waiting for this opportunity. There was no +mistaking the meaning of the thrill in her voice or the spot of color in +her cheek, while the reference to Jimmy had its significance. She felt +that the girl wished to hurt her. + +"You admitted that you read the newspapers?" said Eleanor abruptly. + +"Ah!" said Anthea; "I think I know what you mean by that. Naturally, I +cannot discuss those libels with you." + +"Libels!" and Eleanor laughed. "If you can believe them that, one would +almost envy your credulity. Presumably your father has never mentioned +our name to you?" + +Anthea was somewhat startled, for, though Merril certainly had not done +so, she remembered the momentary expression of his face when Forster had +mentioned Miss Wheelock. She also remembered Jimmy's attitude on the +evening she met him at Austerly's, and the suggestion of distance in +Forster's manner to her father. It seemed that there were others as well +as the rancher who did not believe the statements made in the paper to +be libelous. + +"He has not," she said very quietly. "Still, as I said, these are +subjects I cannot discuss with everybody." + +"And yet you were anxious to know why friendliness was out of the +question between you and me! Well, I admit that I find a certain +pleasure in telling you, and it isn't quite unnatural. You read how my +father--Jimmy's father--died, but you do not know how he came to be +living in that sordid shanty, an infirm and nerveless man. Your father +slowly ruined him, wringing his few dollars out of him one by one, by +practices no honorable man would condescend to, until there was nothing +more he could lay his grasping hands upon. When that happened my father +was broken in health and courage, and only wished to hide what he felt, +most foolishly, was shameful poverty. There wore other things--things I +cannot tell you of--but they make it clear that your father is directly +responsible for my father's death." + +She stopped abruptly and took up her sewing, but her face looked very +grim and vindictive in its dead pallor, for the spot of color had faded +now, and presently she flung the dainty fabric down again and looked +steadily at her companion. Neither of them spoke for almost a minute, +and once more Anthea felt the stillness of the ranch-house and the heavy +honey-like smell of the pines curiously oppressive. She believed in her +father, or had made up her mind to do so, which was, however, perhaps +not quite the same thing; but she could not doubt that Eleanor Wheelock +was firmly persuaded of the accuracy of the indictment that she had +made. The passionate vindictive thrill in her voice had been absolutely +genuine, and Anthea recognized that it could not have been so without +some reason. Then Eleanor spoke again. + +"You may wonder why I have told you this--though I am not quite sure +that you do," she said. "Well, you at least understand why I resent your +sympathy, and if I had any other purpose it may perhaps appear to you +when you think over what you have heard." + +Anthea rose at last, and turned toward her quietly, but with a certain +rigidity of pose which had its significance. She stood very straight and +looked at her companion with big, grave eyes. + +"You have, at least, said all I care to listen to," she said. + +"And I think sufficient," said Eleanor, with a bitter smile. + +Then, and it was a relief to Anthea, Forster came in, and dropped into a +chair. + +"I fancy Jake will fix that wheel; but he may be an hour yet, and it's +very hot," he said. "I don't want to break off your talk, but perhaps +you could make us some tea, Miss Wheelock. I don't feel like waiting +until supper." + +Eleanor went out, and Anthea found it cost her an effort to talk +tranquilly to Forster. She liked the man, but her mind was busy, and had +there been any means available she would gladly have escaped from him. +It was evident that Eleanor Wheelock believed what she had told her. The +rancher who had kept his jumper in the way was as clearly persuaded that +Merril had injured him, and it was conceivable that the newspaper-man +also believed his statements warranted. If they were right, her father +must have treated several people with considerable harshness, but she +could not bring herself to admit that--at least, just then. She +naturally did not know Eleanor Wheelock had foreseen that once her +doubts were aroused, enlightenment would presently follow. Then there +was the latter's veiled suggestion that she was attracted by Jimmy +Wheelock, and had condescended to cajole or encourage him. Had she been +alone, her cheeks would have tingled at the thought of it, for in one +respect the notion was intolerable. Still, though it cost her an effort, +she contrived to discourse with Forster, until at last the hired man +announced that the wheel was fixed, and, thanking the rancher for his +offer to accompany her, she drove on to Vancouver alone. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +WOOD PULP + + +The fresh northwest breeze that crisped the Inlet swept in through the +open ports and set the cigar smoke eddying about the table, when Jimmy +sat with Jordan and another man in the _Shasta_'s little stern cabin. +Looking forward through the hooked-back door, he could see the lower +yards and serried shrouds of a big iron ship that was lying half-loaded +on the _Shasta_'s starboard side. Beyond her there rode a little +schooner with reefed mainsail and boom foresail thrashing, while the +musical clinketty-clank of her windlass betokened that she was just +going to sea. Jimmy's face grew a trifle hard as he heard it, for she +was the _Tyee_. + +Jordan sprawled on a settee not far away, and a burly, red-faced Briton +who commanded the iron ship sat opposite to Jimmy, cigar in hand. The +latter had the faculty some people possess of making friends, and, +though they had after all seen very little of him, the shipmaster's +manner was confidential. + +"If the canners who are loading me had kept their promise I'd be driving +south with the royals on her before this breeze instead of lying here," +he said. "My broker doesn't know when they mean to send the rest of the +cases down either, and it seems it's only now and then a mail goes up +that coast. In fact, I've almost made up my mind to run round to the +Columbia. I believe the packers would load me there." + +"Port charges and tugs are expensive items," said Jordan thoughtfully. +"Vancouver freights are tolerably good, and it might pay you to wait a +week or so. You see that schooner on your quarter? She's going up to the +cannery now." + +The skipper made a little impatient gesture. "How long's she going to be +getting there with a head-wind? Besides, all she could bring down would +be nothing to me. I wouldn't have stayed so long, only that confounded +broker told me a man called Merril was sending a steamer up." + +"Then, since the schooner belongs to him, I guess he has changed his +mind. How long would you wait for a steamboat load?" + +"A week," said the skipper--"not a day more. I believe I could fill up +on the Columbia, and, as there's not another vessel offering for the +United Kingdom here, it would please me to feel that the canners would +have to keep their salmon." + +Jordan flashed a warning glance at Jimmy. "Well," he said, "it seems to +me that if you will wait the week, you are going to get your freight. I +can't tell you exactly why, but I wouldn't break out my anchor for +another eight days if I were you." + +"I can take a hint as well as another man;" and the skipper rose. "In +the meanwhile, I'll go ashore and stir up that broker again. You'll have +a head-wind if you're going north, Mr. Wheelock. Expect you to come off +and feed with me when you're back again. Good luck!" + +Jordan went with him to the gangway, and then came back and smiled at +Jimmy. + +"It's just as well you made the New Cannery people a half-promise you'd +call this trip," he said. "Now I guess you've got to keep it. Things fit +in. Merril, as usual, hasn't played a straight game with those packers. +Took their transport contract, and when that headed off anybody else +from going there, he sends the _Tyee_ up instead of the steamboat. +You'll be at the cannery two days ahead of her, anyway, and there's no +reason why you shouldn't get every case they have on hand." + +Jimmy made a sign of comprehension, and Jordan lighted another cigar +before he opened the paper he had brought with him. "Now and then the +little man gets a show, though it's usually when the big one isn't quite +awake," he said. "You sit still there, and listen to this. 'The +Provincial Legislature at length appears to recognize that its +responsibilities are not confined to fostering the progress of the bush +districts, and one contemplates with satisfaction a change in the policy +which has hitherto incurred a heavy expenditure upon roads and bridges +for the exclusive benefit of the ranchers. Now that retrenchment in this +direction appears to be contemplated, there should be money to spare for +equally desirable purposes.'" + +He threw down the paper. "I guess that's going to cost Merril a pile, +especially as the member for the district in which he is starting his +wood-pulp mill shows signs of going back on him. From what the boys are +saying, Merril has a pull on the man, but it seems his party has a +stronger one." + +"I don't quite understand," said Jimmy. + +Jordan laughed softly. "It's interesting. Shows how things are run. +Merril bought up a mortgage on a half-built wood-pulp mill which the men +who began it couldn't finish, and fixed things so that by and by it +belonged to him and two or three of his friends. Well, that mill was put +where it is because they've a head of water that will give them power +for nothing, and spruce fit for making high-grade pulp, but it's not on +the railroad and not near the coast. The question is how to get their +product out. There are big mills between them and the lake they could +put a steamer on, and they'll have to lay down a wagon-road, +underpinning a good deal of it on the mountain-side, and cutting odd +half-miles of it out. That's going to cost them more than putting up +their mill." + +"Then how did they expect to hold their own with the mills now running?" + +Jordan chuckled. "By getting the Province to make their road for them. +Merril has influential friends, and one of them who went up not long ago +discovered that there was a high-class ranching district behind the +mill; it only wanted roads to bring the settlers in." + +Then his face grew grave, and he sat silent a minute, or two before he +spoke again. + +"Jimmy," he said, with a very unusual diffidence, "there's a thing that +is worrying me. It doesn't strike me as quite fitting that Eleanor +should see so much of that blame Ontario man in Merril's office. He has +been over twice in the last fortnight to Forster's ranch." + +"Do you expect me to tell her so?" + +"I do not. Guess she'd make you feel mean for a month after if you did. +I want you to remember, all the time, that I'm sure of your sister--but +I don't like the man. He had to get out of Toronto--and they're talking +about him already in the saloons. Seems to me she's playing a dangerous +game in fooling him." + +"Fooling him?" + +"That's so. He put some money into Merril's business, and it's quite +likely he knows a little of his hand. Eleanor has made up her mind to +know it, too." + +Jimmy flushed. "The thing must be stopped." + +"Well," said Jordan ruefully, "that's how I feel, but the trouble is I +don't quite know how it can be done. For one thing, I'm going to run up +against that Toronto man, though I don't expect Eleanor to be nice to me +after it." + +"You can't think she has any liking for him?" + +Jordan turned on him with a snap in his eyes. "I don't. If I did, I +should not have mentioned it to you. Guess I'd stake my life any time on +Eleanor's doing the straight thing by me. It's what those--hotel +slouches will say about her I don't like to think of; and you have to +remember she'd go through fire to bring down the man who ruined your +father. In one way, that's natural--but the thing has been worrying me." + +Just then there was a splash of approaching oars, and Jordan rose. +"That's the mate with your papers, and I guess I'll go," he said. "Get +every case of that salmon--and remember what I've told you if you hear +of any trouble between Eleanor and me. It won't be due to jealousy, but +because I've spoiled her hand." + +He left Jimmy, who remembered what he had seen in Eleanor's face the +night she had talked to him of Merril, thoughtful when he rowed away. It +appeared very probable that she would make things distinctly unpleasant +for her suitor if he rashly ventured to interfere with any project she +might have in view. Jimmy, in fact, felt tempted to sympathize with +Jordan. + +In a few minutes, however, he proceeded to take the _Shasta_ out, and +drove her hard all that night into a short head-sea. She had left the +comparative shelter of Vancouver Island behind, and was rolling out with +whirling propeller flung clear every now and then, head on to the big, +white-topped combers, when as he stood dripping on his bridge a schooner +running hard materialized out of the rain and spray. Jimmy pulled the +whistle lanyard, and the man behind him hauled his wheel over a spoke or +two; but the schooner came on heading almost for him, and rolling until +her mastheads swung over the froth to weather. Her mainboom was down on +her quarter, and she had only her foresail set and a little streaming +jib. + +She drove the latter into the back of a big gray-and-white sea as she +went by, and when she hove it high once more while the water sluiced +along her deck, Jimmy, who could look down at her from his bridge, +recognized her as a vessel that had once belonged to his father. She +drove past with a drenched object clinging desperately to her wheel, and +Jimmy smiled as she vanished into the rain again, for it seemed to him +that, as his comrade had said, fortune favored the little man now and +then. Merril had evidently sent two schooners up to the cannery, but the +_Tyee_ was some sixty miles astern of the _Shasta_, and it was clear +that the skipper of the other vessel could no longer thrash her to +windward in that weather. There was, he believed, a good deal of salmon +at the cannery, and all he had to do was to take the _Shasta_ there. + +It was, however, not particularly easy. The breeze freshened steadily, +until she put her forecastle under and hove her stern out at every +plunge, while her propeller shook her in every plate as it whirred in +empty air. A man could scarcely venture forward along her brine-swept +deck, and at times when Jimmy had to cling to the bridge-rails for his +life she rolled until all her rail was in the sea. He was battered and +blinded by flying spray, and when the black night came he could not see +an arm's-length in front of him; but the telegraph still stood at +full-speed, and the _Shasta_ resolutely butted the big foaming seas. At +last she ran in among the islands, where there was smoother water, and +Jimmy was rowed ashore, red-eyed, half-asleep, and aching in every limb, +when he had brought her up off a certain icy, green-stained river. As it +happened, the man in charge of the cannery on its bank was unusually +pleased to see him, though he did not say so. He gave Jimmy a cigar in +his office, and when they sat down looked at him thoughtfully. + +"It's rather a long way up here, and it will cost you a little in coal +if you mean to make your usual trip," he said. "I don't think I made you +any definite promise." + +Jimmy smiled. "Still, I said I would call." + +"Then I wish some of the other people with whom we trade were as +punctilious. I suppose you expect something now you're here?" + +"I do," said Jimmy. "In fact, I almost fancy it's going to suit you to +fill me up." + +"I think I mentioned we had a standing arrangement with Mr. Merril." + +"You did," said Jimmy cheerfully. "He's sending you up two schooners. It +will be a week before they are here. I passed one of them yesterday +running back for shelter, and the other's--anyway--sixty miles astern of +her." + +"The wind may change, and they wouldn't be long getting here with sheets +slacked away." + +"It won't change," said Jimmy. "Look at your glass. That rise means +northerly weather." + +The canner appeared to consider. "Well," he said, "I gave you a few +cases once or twice, and, though we have an arrangement with Merril, I +can fill you up one hatch now at the rate you fixed." + +"I can't trade on those terms. The rate in question was a special cut. +We made it to get in ahead of Merril; but when the time came, you didn't +give us an opportunity for tendering for your carrying. In fact, I hear +he's getting more than I did. That, however, does not directly concern +me, and you no doubt understand your own business; but I should like to +mention that the _Agapomene_'s skipper will not wait a day longer than +next Thursday." + +The canner looked hard at him. "You will excuse my asking if that is a +sure thing?" + +"You mean am I talking quite straight?" and a suggestive dryness crept +into Jimmy's tone. "I can only say that the man, who did not know I was +coming here, assured me of it just before I went to sea. It would, of +course, be easy for you to wait and find out whether you could believe +me. Only the fact that you had done so would naturally place you in a +difficulty, since the _Agapomene_ would have gone to sea, and there +isn't another vessel offering." + +"Well?" said the canner. + +Jimmy smiled at him. "I want two things--every case you have ready, and +a rate equal to what you're giving Merril. It is not very much, after +all. As you know, since Merril's schooners can't get here until there is +a change of wind, I could strike you for double." + +The canner sat silent a moment or two, and then laughed good-humoredly. +"To be quite straight, the last was what I expected. Now, I'm not the +only man in this concern, and the people who have the most say are, as +usual, in Victoria. I know why they made the deal with Merril, and +while, as you say, that does not concern you, it didn't quite please me. +Anyway, he hasn't kept his arrangement, and has put the screw on us in +several ways; so if you'll warp your boat in we'll heave the cases into +her. There's just another thing. Come back when you lighten her, and if +this run of fish lasts I'll do what I can to make it worth your while." + +Jimmy thanked him, and went out to bring the _Shasta_ alongside the +little wharf, after which he went to sleep, though almost every other +man on board was kept busy stowing salmon-cases all that night. + +It happened that during the earlier hours of it several irate gentlemen +who had the control of a good deal of money sat in conclave in Merril's +house, which stood just outside the city limits of Vancouver. It was a +tastefully furnished room in which they sat, and nobody could have found +fault with the wine and cigars on the table, but as it happened both +these facts irritated one of the gentlemen. + +"I feel tempted to talk quite straight, and I expect you'll understand +me, Merril, when I say that you don't seem to have had your usual luck +over this wood-pulp deal," he said. "In a general way, it's the other +people who take a hand in your ventures who feel the pinch when things +don't quite work out right, but in this case you have got to bear it +with the rest of us." + +Merril, who lay in a big lounge chair, little, portly, and immaculately +dressed, looked up at him quietly. "If it's any consolation to you, I'm +holding as much stock as the rest of you put together. The thing hits me +rather hard, but, as you say, we can only stand up under it--that is, if +the appropriation grants are thrown out by the House." + +"They will be," said another man. "Anyway, the road-making in which we +are interested comes under a clause that will be struck off in +Committee. It's a sure thing. I can't quite blame the Legislature, +either, after the admissions made by the district member. He has gone +back on you, Merril. You told us you were sure of him." + +Merril smiled curiously. "Well," he said, "it's a little difficult to be +sure of anything, and as the man will be here very shortly you can talk +to him yourself. That, however, will not straighten anything out. The +question is, what is to be done about the wagon-road?" + +"Build it ourselves," said another man. "It's either that or let the +mill go, and, considering the money I've put in, I'm for holding on. +Still, it will practically mean doubling our capital." + +Merril nodded quietly, and nobody could have told that to raise the sum +required would be singularly inconvenient to him. "At least!" he said. +"You can't get it from outsiders, either. All the money in this Province +is in mines and mills; and bank interest's ruinous." + +"Well," said one of the others, "I guess you don't expect us to feel +obliged to you. There isn't any probability of those road-making +appropriations getting passed." + +"You'll know when Shafleton comes," said Merril dryly. "Somebody was to +wire him as soon as the result was known in the House. He came across +from Victoria this afternoon, and should be on his way from Westminster +now." + +They discussed the wagon-road, growing more and more impatient all the +time, while an hour dragged by, and then two of them rose to their feet +as a man, who appeared somewhat ill at ease, was shown in. The rest, +including Merril, sat still and looked at him. He waved one hand as +though disclaiming all responsibility and laid a telegram on the table. + +"That's all I can tell you, gentlemen. I'm sorry, but it can't be +helped," he said. + +One of them took up the message, and when he passed it to his comrades +the storm broke. + +"You practically asked them to vote no more money, in your last speech," +said Merril. + +"Played us for--suckers!" said another man, while a third struck the +table with his clenched fist. + +"Leslie's right. The straight fact is that we're fooled," he said. + +It was significant that nobody had asked the member of the Provincial +Legislature to sit down, and he leaned on the arm of a big lounge as +though he required support, and blinked at them. + +"Well," he said, "when I first saw you about it I was willing to do what +I could, but on going further into the thing I found it couldn't be +considered quite in line with the interests of the country." + +One of them laughed aloud, sardonically, and Merril's face contorted +into an unpleasant smile. + +"It's rather a pity you didn't make sure of that before you took what we +offered you," he said. + +The baited man turned to them appealingly. "You know what I promised. I +would support the bridge-building and road-making policy as long as I +considered it in line with the interests of the country." + +The man who had struck the table shook his fist at him. "---- the +interests of the country. You know what you meant, and you got your +price," he said. + +"That remark," said Merril, "is quite warranted. Mr. Shafleton made a +perfectly understood bargain--and he got his price. It is also likely +that he would never have been elected if we had not set certain +influences to work. Owing to the Government's finding a change of policy +convenient, he has not kept his bargain. The question, however, is +how----" + +One of the men who was standing up looked around just then. + +"I guess it might be as well to have that door shut," he said. + +"If you wish," said Merril. "Still, there is nobody in this part of the +house." + +"Well," said the other man, who crossed the room, "I fancied I heard +somebody a moment or two ago." + +He closed the door, and when he sat down Merril commenced again, and the +member of the Provincial Legislature had to listen to a good many things +that did not please him. The rest also spoke bitterly, in lower tones +now; but it was in one respect unfortunate they had not displayed that +caution earlier, for the man who had fancied he heard a footstep was, as +it happened, not mistaken. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +ANTHEA MAKES A DISCOVERY + + +While Merril discussed the prospects of the pulp-mill with his +companions, Anthea sat by the open window of an upper room. There was an +open book on her knee, but it lay face downward, and she leaned back in +a cane chair, looking out upon the Inlet across the clustering roofs of +the city. The still water lay shining under the evening light, with a +broad smear of smoke trailing athwart it from the steamer which had just +vanished behind the dark pines that overhang The Narrows. It drifted +across the tall spars of the _Agapomene_, and through it a big passenger +boat's tier of deck-houses showed dimly white. Further up the Inlet +another dingy cloud drifted out from behind the piles of stacked lumber +about the Hastings mill, while the clatter of an Empress liner's winches +came up through the clear evening air with the tolling of locomotive +bells and the grind of freight-car wheels. + +All this had a certain interest as well as a significance for Anthea +Merril. In England the business man, as a rule, endeavors to leave his +commercial affairs behind him when he turns his back on the city; but it +is different in the West, where he has no privacy and his calling is +his life. Mills and mines, freight rates and timber rights, are seldom +debarred as topics at social functions, and Anthea had acquired a +considerable knowledge of these things, though she had not lived very +long in that city. It was, of course, also evident to her that her +father was regarded as a man of influence and one who had a share in +directing the activities of the Province, and this afforded her a +certain pleasure. Several expressions overheard and facts that had +lately been forced on her attention might, perhaps, have rudely +dissipated that satisfaction had she not resolutely endeavored to attach +a more favorable meaning to them than a good many people would have +considered justifiable. She had spent most of her life with her mother's +relatives in the East, and it was not altogether astonishing that there +was a good deal in her father's character with which she was +unacquainted. Merril had a desire to stand well with his daughter, and +he had sufficient ability to accomplish what he wished, in most cases. + +By and by, as she glanced at the shining Inlet, the fading smoke-trail +led Anthea's thoughts away to the man who was then doubtless standing on +the _Shasta_'s bridge, and her eyes softened curiously. She could now +admit that she knew what he felt for her, because, although he had never +told her, there had been occasions when his face had, perhaps against +his will, made it very plain. What the result of it would be, she did +not know, but she could wait, and be sure of his steadfastness, in the +meanwhile, for circumstances which were unpropitious now might change, +as, indeed, they were rather apt to do with almost disconcerting +suddenness in that country. Then she tried to reconstruct the interview +she had had with his sister, an occupation in which she had indulged +somewhat frequently of late, although it troubled her; and that, by a +natural transition, once more led her thoughts back to her father. + +It was impossible to doubt that Eleanor Wheelock believed she had +grounds for bitterness against him, and a curious something in her +brother's manner had once or twice suggested that he shared it too; but +Anthea endeavored to assure herself that they had merely adopted their +father's views without sufficient investigation. She was aware that men +who failed were frequently apt to blame somebody else for it instead of +their own supineness, while it was clear that both parties could not +always expect a bargain to be advantageous. For all that, the girl's +assertions had been startling, and once more Anthea wished that she had +not heard them. They vaguely troubled her, since she would not have her +father's probity left open to doubt. + +Then, rising somewhat abruptly, she flung the book aside, and went down +the wide cedar stairway to search for another that might, perhaps, hold +her attention more firmly. When she reached the foot of it she turned +into a corridor, and stopped a moment when she heard a murmur of angry +voices. She was aware that a member of the Provincial Legislature had +reached the house not long ago, and that the rest of her father's guests +had come there to discuss something with him, while as the door of the +room reserved for them had been left open a foot or so she could see +within from where she stood. + +The house stood high, and the sunlight still streamed into the room, +while there was something in the pose of the men that seized and held +her attention. She had heard nothing clearly yet, but the strung-up +attitudes and intent faces had their dramatic suggestiveness, and she +lingered. She could see her father sitting at the head of the table with +one hand closed hard on the edge of it, and a grim smile that was quite +new to her in his eyes; the member supporting himself by the big lounge +and apparently shrinking from his gaze; and one of the others leaning +forward in his seat with his fist clenched. In fact, the scene burned +itself into her memory, and she never forgot the look in her father's +face. + +Then the voices suddenly became intelligible, and she heard Merril say, +"It's rather a pity you didn't make sure of that before you took what we +offered you." + +She caught the legislator's answer, and saw the man who leaned forward +shake his fist at him, while the latter's exclamation sent a little +thrill of dismay through her. + +"You know what you meant, and you got your price," he said. + +This was sufficiently plain in connection with what had gone before it, +and she waited in tense suspense to see whether her father would +discountenance it, though she felt that he would not do so. She saw him +make a little sign of concurrence, and once more was sensible of an +enervating dismay when he flung his answer at the shrinking member of +the Legislature. + +"A perfectly understood bargain, and he got his price," he said. "He +would never have been elected if we had not set certain influences to +work." + +Then she roused herself with an effort, and, thinking no more of the +book she had come for, turned softly and flitted back up the stairway to +the room she had left. She made sure the door was fast, with a vague, +instinctive feeling that she must be quite alone, then sat down by the +window again, a trifle colorless in face, with both hands clenched. She +was a woman of keen intelligence, and realized that there was no room +for doubt. Her father, the man she had endeavored to look up to, had +openly condemned himself. + +It was perhaps strange, considering that she was his daughter, that she +had wholesome thoughts as well as mental ability, and that honesty +formed a prominent part of her morality. The fact made the blow more +cruel, for it was clear that her father and his associates had been +engaged in an infamous conspiracy. They had bought a member of the +Legislature--bribed him to betray the confidence the people had placed +in him; and though she did not know whether the bribe had been actual +money, that, as she recognized, scarcely affected the question. He had, +at least, promised to do something that was against the interests of the +country, for which, as one had declared, they cared nothing, and would +evidently have kept his promise if circumstances had not been too strong +for him. Anthea had sense enough to attach as little credence to his +assertions as the others had done. + +She supposed that things of the kind were sometimes done, but only by +men without morality, and it was almost intolerable to realize that her +father had been the instigator of one of them. The fact seemed to bear +out all the newspaper had charged him with, and made it more than +probable that Eleanor Wheelock's assertions, too, had been +well-founded. It was with a little shiver that Anthea realized that in +such a case the father of the man who loved her had in all probability +been ruined by a nefarious conspiracy. His daughter had told her plainly +that his death was the direct result of it, and if that were so, Jimmy +must hold her father accountable. The thing was becoming altogether +horrible. + +She did not know how long she sat there after she heard the guests take +their leave, but at last she realized that since she must meet him on +the morrow there was little to be gained by keeping out of her father's +sight that night. She was not deficient in courage, but it was with an +effort that she nerved herself to go down, knowing that she could not +meet him as though nothing unusual had come to her knowledge. He was +still sitting in the room where he had spoken with his guests, with a +litter of papers in front of him, when she went in, but on hearing the +rustle of her dress he looked up. The lamps were lighted now, and he +started slightly when he saw her face. Then he brushed aside the papers, +and sat still, looking at her with a little grim smile. Anthea felt her +heart beat, for she saw that he understood. + +"Ah!" he said. "Sprotson fancied he heard somebody. It was you?" + +Anthea nodded, standing very straight in the middle of the big room and +wondering, with a fierce desire that he should do so, whether he would +offer any explanation in which she could place a little credence. Almost +a minute passed, and the man never took his eyes off her. She longed +that he would speak, for the tension was growing unendurable. + +"You heard--something--at least?" he said. + +"Yes," replied Anthea, with a cold quietness at which she almost +wondered. "Enough, I think, to make me understand the rest." + +Again Merril said nothing for a while, though he still kept his keen +eyes fixed on her face, and at last it was without any sign of anger, +and in a tone of grave inquiry, he broke the silence. + +"Well?" he said. + +There was an appeal in Anthea's voice. "Can't you say anything that will +drive out what I think?" she asked. "I want to believe that I could not +have heard or understood aright." + +Merril raised one hand, and for a moment she could have fancied that +there was pain in his face. "I almost think you are too clever, and, +perhaps, I am too wise. By and by you would not believe me. I have known +this moment would come since I brought you to Vancouver, and--though you +may scarcely credit this--almost dreaded it. The thing has to be faced +now." + +This time it was Anthea who said nothing, and Merril went on again. "You +might never have had to face it had you been a pretty fool, but that +could hardly have been expected. You are my daughter. Still, +intelligence, as other people have no doubt discovered, is not always a +blessing to a woman." + +Again he made a little abrupt movement. "You see, I offer no palliation. +The one question is simply--do you mean to turn your back on me?" + +Anthea looked at him steadily. "No," she said, "I could never do that. +Still, must you continue what you are doing? Can't you give it up?" + +"Sit down," said Merril quietly, and, rising, drew her a chair. "I think +we must understand each other now and altogether. To commence with, I +should have liked you to continue to think well of me, though, +considering what you are, I knew the thing was hardly likely. Now you +have made a discovery that hurts you." + +He stopped a moment, and though there had been a certain elusive +gentleness in his voice, the girl was sensible that she shrank from him. +He was, she realized, without compunction, and had no regret for what he +had done. Indeed, his passionless quietness conveyed the impression that +some of the usual attributes of humanity had been left out of him. A +trace of confusion or anger would have appeared more natural, and +invective would have been easier to bear than this suggestive +tranquillity. + +"Well," he said, "you asked a very natural question. What I am doing--my +view of life, in fact--displeases you. You ask, can't I give it up? I +ask why? Can you offer me any reason?" + +Anthea said nothing. Reasons occurred to her, but they were rather felt +than concretely formulated, and, as she realized, would suffer from +being forced into shallow and inadequate expression. She also naturally +shrank from an unsuccessful attempt to play the teacher to her father, +and had sense enough to know that trite maxims and virtuous platitudes +would have very small effect on such a man. It was, perhaps, not an +unusual feeling in one respect, for the deep optimistic faith of the +wise cannot be rashly formulated without its suffering in the process. +It is, as a rule, the people with shallow beliefs who have the ready +tongues, and the result of their well-meaning efforts is seldom the one +they desire. Anthea, at least, recognized her disabilities, and kept +silence. She also saw that her father understood her, for he nodded. + +"It is clear that you are not a fool," he said. "If you had been, the +thing would have been easier for both of us. I allowed you to be brought +up in the conventional morality, knowing that you would grow above what +was spurious in it, and cling to what you felt was real. If you felt +that, it would be sufficient for you. Still, that morality was never +mine. I had to face life as I found it, without the money that might +have made it easier to regard it virtuously, and scruples would have +insufferably handicapped me. As a matter of fact, I do not think I ever +had any. This existence is a struggle, as no doubt you have heard often +without realizing it, and it is the strong and cunning who get out of it +what is worth having. That, at least, is my point of view. It may be the +wrong one, but I am satisfied with it, and, what is more to the purpose, +quite content to leave you yours." + +He broke off once more, and smiled before he went on. "We have done with +that subject. I would not influence you against your belief--which is +the prettier one--if I could, and I do not think you could influence me. +In fact, one feels diffident about having said so much. Well, it is the +days to come we have to consider. I am not likely to change my code, and +you do not wish to leave me?" + +Again, for just a moment, the faint tenderness crept into his voice, and +the girl's nature stirred in answer. + +"No," she said, "there is nothing that could make me wish to do that." + +"Well," said the man, with a dry smile, "we will try to avoid offending +each other, and I should have been sorry had you gone away. In fact, it +is a relief to know that you will be with me. My affairs have not been +going well lately." + +This was sufficiently matter-of-fact, but in spite of the vague +shrinking from him of which she was still sensible, Anthea was touched. +She could not, however, concretely realize what she felt, and wisely +made no attempt to express it. Instead, she spoke of something else, +seizing on an immaterial point that casually occurred to her. + +"I fancied you were a prosperous man," she said. + +"So do many people," said Merril dryly. "It was by leading them to +believe it that I've done what I have done. My operations are for the +most part conducted with other people's money. Still, one has to face +reverses now and then, and when two or three of them come together the +people who support one commence to doubt their wisdom. Then they are apt +to back down and become virtuously scrupulous, while the men with a +grudge against one waken up and fancy their turn has come. In my case +there are evidently quite a few of them." + +He laughed softly, but in a fashion that jarred on the girl. "Still, it +is very probable that I shall keep ahead of them, after all. In any +case, I won't offend you by suggesting that the odd chance of your +having to dispense with what I have been able to offer you so far would +count for very much." + +"Thank you for that," said Anthea softly. + +Merril turned to the papers before him. "Well," he said, "now we +understand, and, as you see, I am busy." + +Anthea went out, not reassured, but more tranquil. She realized what her +duty was, and purposed to do it; but while there was still a tenderness +for the man in her, there was also something about him besides his +avowed point of view and the actions it led to, that repelled her. He +had, it seemed, an intellect that was unhampered by the usual passions +and affections of humanity. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +JIMMY GROWS RESTLESS + + +The city was almost insufferably hot, and Jimmy, who had time on his +hands that afternoon, found it pleasant to saunter through the dim green +shadow among the Stanley pines which crowd close up to its western +boundary. They rose about him, old and great of girth, a tremendous +colonnade of towering trunks, two hundred feet above the narrow riband +of driving road which was further walled in by tall green fern. There +was drowsy silence in those dim recesses, and a solemnity which the +occasional faint hoot of a whistle or tolling of a locomotive bell did +not seem to dissipate, for the civic authorities had, up to that time, +at least, with somewhat unusual wisdom made no attempt to improve on +what nature had done for them. Here they cut a little foot-path, there a +wavy driving road, but except for that they left the Stanley Park a +beautiful strip of primeval wilderness. + +Jimmy had arrived in Vancouver a few hours earlier with the _Shasta_ +loaded deep, but, although affairs had been going tolerably well with +the Company, this fact afforded him no very great satisfaction. He liked +the sea, and had succeeded in making firm friends of most of the +ranchers and salmon-packers whose produce he carried; but there was +ambition in him, and of late he had been growing vaguely restless. After +all, the command of a boat like the _Shasta_, with some two hundred and +fifty odd tons of carrying capacity, could not be expected to prove a +very lucrative occupation, and Jimmy now and then remembered regretfully +that he might have had a commission in the Navy. He had also an +incentive for desiring advancement, upon which, however, he seldom +permitted himself to dwell, since on two occasions he and Anthea Merril +had read in each other's eyes a fact that had a vital significance to +both of them. Jimmy scarcely dared remember it, but he felt that the +girl would listen when he thought it fit to speak. + +That, however, was in the meanwhile out of the question. He must by some +means first make his mark, and, as happens not infrequently in similar +circumstances to other men, he did not know how it was to be done. One +thing, at least, was clear: he could not expect to advance himself very +much by commanding the _Shasta_. There was also, in any case, Merril's +opposition to count on, while the bitterness Eleanor had endued him with +against the man she held responsible for the death of his father had its +effect, and it was in an unusually somber mood that Jimmy strolled +through the shadow of the pines that hot afternoon. + +By and by he heard a soft thud of hoofs, and, looking up, felt the blood +creep into his face. He recognized the costly team that swung out of the +shadow, and the girl in the white dress who held the reins in the +vehicle behind them. He also recognized the lady beside her, for her +husband was an Englishman who held high office under the Crown in +Victoria. The fact that she was sitting by Anthea Merril's side +suggested how far circumstances held the latter apart from the +_Shasta_'s skipper. Silver-mounted harness and splendid horses had the +same effect, and, since these things also reminded him of something +else, Jimmy unfortunately lost his head. A sudden vindictive anger came +upon him as he remembered that the money that provided them and stood as +a barrier between him and the girl had been wrung from struggling men, +and that some of it at least was the result of his father's ruin. + +It was, of course, not reasonable to blame Anthea for this, but Jimmy +was scarcely in a mood just then to make any very nice distinction, and, +straightening himself a trifle, he stood still a moment looking at the +girl. He saw the little friendly smile fade out of her face and a look +of perplexity take its place, and then, while his heart thumped +furiously, he turned and stepped aside into a little trail that led into +the shadow of the bush. In another moment the team swept past, and he +was left uncomfortably conscious that he had made a fool of himself. The +feeling, while far from pleasant, is no doubt wholesome, which is +fortunate, since there are probably very few men who are not now and +then sensible of it. + +It was half an hour later when Anthea came up with him again. The road +was narrow and crossed a little bridge near where he was standing. As it +happened, another lady was then driving a pair of ponies over it. Anthea +pulled up her team close behind Jimmy, and when the impatient horses +moved and drew the vehicle partly across the road, he turned and seized +the head of the nearest. He did not know much about horses, but he +contrived to back the team sufficiently to leave a passage, and was +unpleasantly sensible that Anthea was watching him with a little smile. +It brought a tinge of darker color to her face, and hurt him +considerably more than if she had shown resentment of his previous +attitude by any suggestion of distance. There is, after all, a certain +vague consolation in feeling that one is able to offend a person whose +good-will is valuable. Anthea perhaps realized this, for when the other +team had gone by she made a sign to him. Jimmy, who felt far from +comfortable, approached the vehicle, and the girl looked down at him, +with the twinkle still in her eyes. + +"Thank you! That is permissible?" she said. + +Jimmy flushed again. "In any case, I'm not sure it's exactly what I +deserve." + +"Well," said Anthea reflectively, "I really was wondering whether you +saw us a little while ago." + +"I did," said Jimmy, meeting her inquiring gaze. "Still, perhaps there +were excuses for me." + +There was a scarcely perceptible change in Anthea's expression, but +Jimmy noticed it, though he did not know that she was thinking of what +his sister had told her. Next moment she smiled at him again. + +"I scarcely think it would be worth while to make them," she said. + +Then she shook the reins, and left him standing in the road. When they +were out of earshot her companion turned to her. + +"Who is that young man?" she asked. + +"Captain Wheelock of the _Shasta_." + +"Ah!" said the other; "I remember hearing about him. The man who took +off the schooner's skipper? But what did he mean by saying that there +were excuses for his not seeing you?" + +"I don't know," said Anthea, who contrived to smile, though she was +rather more thoughtful than usual. "I don't mind admitting that the +question has a certain interest. Still, one cannot always demand an +explanation." + +Her companion flashed a keen glance at her. "Well," she said, "I almost +fancy it would have been a sufficient one if you had heard it. In fact, +I think I should like that man. After all, honesty is a quality that +wears well. But what is a man of his description doing in that very +little and somewhat dirty _Shasta_? I made somebody point her out to me +one day in Victoria." + +"I don't know," said Anthea; "that is, I know why he went on board her +in the first case, but not why he seems content to stay there +altogether. Still, it naturally isn't a matter of any particular +consequence." + +Then they spoke of other things, while Jimmy, who suddenly remembered +that he was standing vacantly in the road, turned toward the city, +wondering as Anthea had done why he had remained so long the _Shasta_'s +skipper. Now that the trade Jordan and his associates had inaugurated +had been well established in spite of Merril's opposition, he felt that +they had no longer any particular need of him. + +The city was unusually hot when he reached it, but he fancied that alone +did not account for the crowded state of the saloons he passed. It also +seemed to him that the groups of men who stood here and there on the +sidewalks talking animatedly must have found some unusually interesting +topic; but he had his own affairs to think of, and, as they appeared +sufficient for him just then, he walked on quietly until he reached +Jordan's office. It was not elaborately furnished. In fact, there was +very little in it besides a table, a safe, a chair or two, and an +American stump-puller standing against one wall. Jordan sat reading a +newspaper, with a cigar, which had gone out, in his hand, but he looked +up and threw the paper on the table when Jimmy came in. + +"Read that. They've struck it rich at last," he said. "Guess there are +men who have believed in that gold ever since we bought Alaska from the +Russians. Ran across one of them, 'most eight years ago, Commercial +Company man, and he told me it was a sure thing there was gold up the +Yukon. Odd prospectors had struck a pocket here and there, but though +they brought a few ounces out, nobody seemed inclined to take up the +thing. Practically every white man in that country was connected with +the Indian trade in furs, and I'm not sure they were anxious to see an +army of diggers marching in. Anyway, the few men who believed in the +gold couldn't put up the money to prove their confidence warranted. Now, +as you see, they've found it, and before long the whole Slope will be +humming from Wrangel to Lower California." + +Jimmy read a column of the paper with almost breathless interest, as +many another man had done that day in every seaboard city and lonely +wooden settlement to which the news had spread. Then he looked at +Jordan. + +"The thing appears almost incredible," he said. + +"It isn't," said his companion. "I know what the Alaska Commercial +old-timer told me quite a while ago. It's going leagues ahead of +Caribou. They'll be going up in their thousands in a month or two. Now, +you sit still a minute, and listen to me. This is a thing I believe in, +and I'll tell you what I know." + +He spoke for ten minutes with dark eyes snapping, and Jimmy's blood +tingled as he listened. Jordan's faith, the all-daring optimism of the +Pacific Slope of which many men have died in the wilderness, was +infectious, and something in Jimmy's nature responded. He had fought +with bitter gales and frothing seas, and it seemed to him that the +struggle with ice and frost, rock and snow, could not be harder. He was +also, though he had not quite realized it until that moment, one of +those who are born to play their part in the forefront of the battle +between man and nature--and nature is not beneficent, but very grim and +terrible until she is subdued, as everybody who has seen that strife +knows. + +Then Jimmy stood up and slowly straightened himself, with a quiet smile. + +"You'll have to get a new skipper for the _Shasta_--I'm going north," he +said. + +Jordan gazed at him a moment in amazement, and then laughed in a fashion +which suggested that comprehension had dawned on him. + +"Sit down again," he said. "I begin to understand how it is with you. +Still, you can't afford to do the thing you want to. It quite often +happens that way." + +"I fancy that what I can't afford is to remain on board the _Shasta_," +said Jimmy dryly. + +"Sit down," said Jordan; "we'll talk out this thing. Now, why do you +want to go up there?" + +Jimmy did as he was bidden, though there was a significant gleam in his +eyes. "Well," he said, "perhaps it's your due that I should tell you. +For one thing, because I feel that I must. I'm not sure you'll +understand me, but I feel it's what I was made for. There are +half-frozen swamps to be crossed, leagues of forest, cañons, melting +snow to be floundered through. That kind of thing gets hold of some of +us. I feel I have to go. Secondly, there seems to be gold up there. I +want the money." + +Jordan noisily thrust back his chair, and then took up a pen and, +apparently without recognizing what he was doing, snapped it across. + +"Stop right there! I can't stand too much--and there's Eleanor," he +said, and broke into a harsh laugh as he glanced down at the pen. "In +one way, it's significant that I've broken the--thing." + +He said nothing for the next moment or two, and appeared to be putting a +restraint upon himself, but there was longing in his voice when he went +on again. "Lord! I guess it's in us. When we'd only the wagons and axes +we worried right across the continent. There was always something that +drew us to the place we didn't know. The harder the way was the more the +longing grew. I was up in the Selkirks on the gold-trail once, and I'm +never going to work something that life left behind right out of me." + +"Come!" said Jimmy simply. + +The veins rose swollen on Jordan's forehead, but he struck the table +with a clenched fist and gazed at his comrade with hot anger in his +eyes. + +"Will you stop, you--fool?" he said. "Don't you know how I want to go? +Stop, or I'll throw you out right now!" + +He sat still, looking at Jimmy for perhaps half a minute, and each was +conscious of the same longing in his heart and the same tingling of his +blood, for that is a country where men still feel the lust of the +primeval conflict and the allurements of the wilderness. Then Jordan +appeared to recover himself. + +"I guess we'll be ashamed of this afterwards, but I have got to talk," +he said. "Anyway, we can't all get right in with the axe and shovel. My +work's here, and I've just sense enough to stay with it. Besides, it's a +sure thing that everybody who goes north won't rake out money. Now, you +want the snow and the cañons? You can't have them; but I'll give you +drift-ice, blinding fog, reefs and breaking surf instead. You want +money? Well, we'll try to meet your views on that point, and by and by +we'll double what you're getting." + +Jimmy gazed at him in evident bewilderment, and his comrade waved his +hand. + +"You're going to take the first of the crowd to St. Michael's in the +_Shasta_, and the man who can run a 250-ton boat there and back again +will have all the excitement he has any use for. Half the reefs aren't +charted, the tides run any way, and when the gale drops, the fog shuts +down thicker than a blanket. You can't pound a rock-drill or swing the +shovel, but you can hold a steamer's wheel. Get hold of that, and try to +understand it. It's the whole point of the thing." + +He stopped a moment as if for breath, and then went on again, hurling +out his words incisively while his eyes snapped. + +"It's St. Michaels now, but by and by they'll find a way in from the +Pan-handle or over British soil. The C.P.R. will put big boats on, and +they'll run everything that will float up from 'Frisco and Portland; but +we'll be in first and take hold with the _Shasta_. The men you're going +to carry would go in a canoe. She has built up the coast trade enough to +make it easy for us to raise the money to buy another boat--I'm hanging +right on to that trade too--and I know of a handy steamer. I'll get an +option on her now. She'll be worth considerably more in a week or two. +You stand by the _Shasta_ Company, and do your part in the rush that's +coming in the way you know, and you'll rake in more money than you ever +would mining. We'll put a thousand-ton boat on before long if you play +our hand well. I want your answer right off: are you hanging on to us?" + +"Yes," said Jimmy quietly. "After all, your point of view is no doubt +the right one. If the boat were only fifty tons I'd start as soon as she +was ready." + +Jordan rose and grabbed his hat before he flung a letter across the +table. "Then I'm going for old Leeson now. Hustle, and wire those people +that we want an option on that steamboat firm until to-morrow." + +He strode out of the office, and when Jimmy reached the street a minute +later he saw him running hard in the direction of Leeson's house. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +ASHORE + + +It was summer in the north, and now that the bitter wind which had blown +thick rain before it had dropped, the clammy fog shut the _Shasta_ in +like a wall. She crept through it with engines pounding steadily, +swinging to the slow heave of the swell, while Jimmy stood, chilled to +the backbone, on his bridge, as he had done for most of the last +forty-eight hours. A chart in a glass case was clamped to the rail in +front of him, and Lindstrom, the mate, stooped over it with the moisture +trickling from his oilskins. + +"This thing is not much good," he said. "The stream moves a different +way with the change of wind. Also there is discrepancy in the depth of +water." + +"There is. If I knew how much to mark off for leeway in that last breeze +I'd feel a good deal easier," said Jimmy, who turned to fling a +disgusted glance at the chart, upon which little arrows, that indicated +the general drifts of the currents, had apparently been scattered +promiscuously. Then he raised his voice. "Forward there! See you have a +good arming on your lead, and stand by to let go when I take the way off +her!" + +He pressed down his telegraph and a curious silence followed the clang +of the gong when the engines stopped. The _Shasta_ lurched on more +slowly into the fog, and when Jimmy swung up his hand a man on the +half-seen forecastle loosed the deep-sea lead, while another, perched in +the mainmast shrouds, stood intent with a coil of slack line in his +hand. There was a splash, the line ran out, and when a sing-song cry +came up Jimmy made a little impatient gesture as he turned to the chart. + +"A fathom less than we ought to have," he said, and raised his voice. +"What bottom have you got?" + +A couple of men were busy hauling in the ponderous lead, and one of them +who lifted it turned to the bridge. "Mud, sir," he said. "Soft at that." + +Jimmy looked at Lindstrom. "That, at least, is what this thing says. I +suppose one ought to bring her up, and wait for a sight, but we can't +stay here a week on the odd chance of a blink of clear weather. Anyway, +there's plenty water under us, and we'll try the lead again presently." + +The mate made a sign of concurrence as Jimmy pressed down his telegraph. +"I was at Kenai four year ago. For two weeks we see nothing. How we get +there I cannot tell you, but I think it is by good fortune. Also the +skipper come there often for the Commercial Company. You do a thing +several times, then you shut your eye, and perhaps you do it again." + +He went down the ladder, and Jimmy was left alone except for the silent, +shapeless figure in trickling oilskins at the steering wheel. How he had +groped his way to St. Michael's near the tremendous desolation of willow +swamps about the Yukon mouth he did not exactly know, but he had +accomplished it in spite of screaming gale and blinding fog, and the +treasure-seekers he had taken up had duly presented him with a written +testimonial, which was all they had to give. A few days of clear weather +had permitted him to steam across to one of the Commercial Company's +factories, but since he left it he had held southward at a venture +through thick rain and fog without a single glimpse of any celestial +body. That would not have mattered so much had the sea been still as a +lake is, for then he could have steered by dead reckoning; but that sea +is swept by currents which run for the most part in guessed-at and +variable directions, and it was impossible to calculate how far they +might have deflected his course for him. In fact, for all he knew, they +might have deflected it several times and set it right again. He had +cable enough to anchor, but, as he had said, he could not stay there for +a week or two on the odd chance of getting an hour's clear weather. + +So, since the chart suggested that he was clear of the shore, he went on +leisurely, leaning on his bridge-rails chilled in every limb, with the +damp trickling off him, while the _Shasta_ bored her way through the +woolly vapor, until a little while after the lead had given him a +reassuring depth of water she stopped suddenly. Jimmy was flung against +the wheel with a violence that drove all the breath out of him, but the +next moment he had jumped for his telegraph while everything in the +vessel banged and rattled, and the gong clanged out his orders, "Stop +her!" and "Hard astern!" + +Then while the smooth swell lapped level with one depressed rail the +_Shasta_ shook in every plate, and the men who came scrambling to her +slanted deck looked at him anxiously. There was, however, no clamor or +any sign of undue consternation. The men had almost expected this, and +the energy, which for want of direction now and then in such cases leads +to purposeless and unreasoning scurry, had been washed out of them. +Jimmy leaned quietly on the rails, and nodded in answer to their +glances. + +"Yes," he said, "we're hard on. If the propeller won't shake her loose +in the next ten minutes, we'll see about laying out an anchor. Mr. +Lindstrom, will you clear the two boats ready, and ask Fleming if +there's any more water in his bilges?" + +It was twenty minutes before the pounding engines stopped, but the +_Shasta_ had not moved an inch astern. The lower side of her lifted as +the long gray swell lapped gurgling to her rail, and then came down +again; but that was all. In the meanwhile the hand-lead armed with +tallow had shown the bottom to be soft, and Fleming quietly reported +that there was no sign of any water coming in. Then Jimmy turned to +Lindstrom, who once more had climbed to the bridge. + +"If this fog lifts and the breeze gets up as usual, she'll certainly +break up," he said. "If it doesn't, I don't think there's any reason why +we shouldn't heave her off. We'll try it first with the coal in. It's a +long way to Wellington, and I don't want to dump a ton if I can help +it." + +The big Scandinavian went down the ladder, and by and by half the men on +board the _Shasta_ were engaged under his direction in lashing a +platform of hatch-planks between the two boats that lay beneath the +forecastle. The long heave drove them banging against the _Shasta_'s +side, and jerked the planks loose as they strove to lash them fast; but +at last they accomplished it, and, while the dimness that stands for the +Northern summer night crept into the fog, the men on the forecastle head +lowered the anchor down. It was of the old, stocked pattern, and though +the _Shasta_ was not a large vessel, they found it and the cable which +came down after it sufficiently difficult to handle upon a slippery +platform that heaved and slanted under them. Still, the thing was done +because it was necessary; and with oars splashing clumsily, because +there was little space for the men who pulled them, they paddled off +into the fog. + +When they came back the cable was unshackled and the end of it led in +through the mooring half-moon on the vessel's stern, and there then +remained the second anchor to lay out. The cable of this one was +unshackled too, but wire-rope purchases were rigged to the end of it +from the after winch, and by the time all was ready it was six o'clock +in the morning. The men were worn out, and Jimmy's eyes were heavy with +want of sleep, but nobody made any demur about facing the further work +before him. They knew what would happen if the fog lifted and the breeze +that rolled it back should find the _Shasta_ there. + +Jimmy pressed down the telegraph on his bridge. Winch and windlass +groaned and rattled, the wire-rope screamed, and the clanking cable +tightened suddenly. Then the thudding propeller shook the ship until she +quivered like a thing in pain each time the smooth swell lifted one side +of her. Steam drifted about her, wire and cable were drawn rigid, but +she would not budge an inch in spite of them, and Jimmy's face was a +trifle grim when he flung up his hand. The thud of the propeller +slackened, and there was a silence that was almost oppressive when winch +and windlass stopped. The gurgle of the gray swell about the steamer's +plates and the drip of moisture from the slanted shrouds emphasized it. +Then Jimmy signed to one of the men. + +"Send Mr. Fleming here," he said. + +The man disappeared, and the engineer looked grave when he climbed to +the bridge. + +"You'll be wanting to dump my coal now?" he asked. "How are you going to +take her home without it?" + +"There is a good deal of heavy timber right down the West Coast," said +Jimmy dryly. "There are also quite a few inlets into which one could +take a steamer." + +"You can't feed a boiler furnace with four-foot-diameter pines." + +"They can be sawn and split. Besides, there are probably smaller ones +among those four-foot pines. They don't grow that size in a year or +two." + +The engineer made a last protest. "I'm aware that it won't be much use, +but it's my duty to point out the difficulties. You can't saw those +trees without a big cross-cut, and I'm not sure what my boiler tubes +will do under a stream of resinous flame." + +"Well," said Jimmy thoughtfully, "I think I could make some kind of +cross-cut out of a thin plate if I were an engineer. In fact, I'd make +two, and keep a man filing up one of them while I used the other. Then +I'd pump my feed-water rather higher than usual about those tubes." + +"You can't pump water round the back-end," said the engineer. "You're +going to see that resin flame make a hole in the back plate of the +combustion chamber." + +He stopped, and smiled when Jimmy looked at him. "Well, now that I've +told you, I'll start every man to dumping the coal over." + +Worn out as they were, the men worked feverishly until noon. Some panted +at the ash-hoist, some standing on slippery iron ladders passed the +heavy baskets from one to another, and the rest toiled amidst the +stifling dust that streamed from the bunkers. Those who could see it +were sincerely glad that the fog still hung about them--clammy, +impenetrable, and apparently as solid as a wall. + +Then it commenced to stir a little and slide past the vessel in filmy +wisps, and it seemed to Jimmy that the smooth gray swell which lapped +about her was getting steeper. Once or twice, indeed, it overlapped her +depressed rail, and poured on board in a long green cascade. He knew +that meant the breeze had already awakened somewhere not far away, and +that when the sea that it was stirring up came down on them it would not +take it very long to knock the bottom out of the _Shasta_. So did the +men, and they toiled the harder, until when the bunkers were almost +empty Jimmy once more stopped them. + +"Stand by winch and windlass. We have to heave her off inside the next +hour," he said. "Tell Mr. Fleming to shake her with the propeller, and +give you all the steam he can." + +The engines pounded, the sea boiled white beneath the _Shasta_'s stern, +and wire and studded cable screamed and groaned above the clamor of the +winch and the thudding of the screw. For thirty long minutes, during +which the uproar ceased for a moment or two once or twice, the _Shasta_ +did not move at all, and Jimmy felt his heart thump under the tension, +while a cold breeze whipped his face. Then he thrust down his telegraph, +and his voice reached the men on the forecastle harshly when the engines +stopped. + +"You have to do it now, or tear the windlass out. I'll give you all the +steam," he said. + +The men understood why haste was necessary. The fog no longer slid past +them but whirled by in ragged streaks, and the wind that drove it came +up out of the wastes of the Pacific. Already the long swell was flecked +with little frothing ridges, and there was no need to tell any of those +who glanced at it anxiously that it would break across the stranded +vessel in an hour or two. Some of them stood by clanking windlass and +banging winch, while the rest swabbed the creaking wire with grease and +rubbed engine tallow on guide and block where it would ease the strain. +For five minutes they worked in silence, and then a shout went up as the +winch-drum that had spun beneath the wire took hold and reeled off a +foot or two of it. The _Shasta_ swung herself upright as a big gray +heave capped with livid white rolled in, and a curious quiver ran +through her before she came down on one side again. The roar of the jet +of steam that rushed aloft from beside her funnel grew almost deafening, +but Jimmy's voice broke faintly through the din. + +"Lindstrom," he said, "tell Mr. Fleming he can turn the steam he daren't +bottle down on to his engines." + +Then a sonorous pounding, and the thud of the screw joined in; and by +the time the jet of steam had died away, the _Shasta_ was quivering all +through, while her masts stood upright and did not slant back again. Her +windlass was also slowly gathering the clanking cable in, until at last +it rattled furiously as she leaped astern. Then a hoarse shout of +exultation went up, and Jimmy drew in a deep breath of relief as he +strode across his bridge. + +"Heave right up to your kedge and break it out," he said. "Then we'll +let her swing, and get the stream anchor when she rides to it ahead." + +It meant an hour's brutal labor overhauling hard wire tackles and +leading forward ponderous chain, but they undertook it light-heartedly, +with bleeding hands and broken nails, while the _Shasta_ heaved and +rolled viciously under them. Then, when they broke out the stream anchor +under her bows, Jimmy sighed from sheer satisfaction as he pressed down +his telegraph to "Half-speed ahead." + +"We wouldn't have done it in another hour, Lindstrom," he said. "We'll +drive her west a while to make sure of things before we put her on her +course again; and in the meanwhile you'll keep the hand-lead going." + +It gave them steadily deepening water, until the sea piled up and the +_Shasta_ rolled her rail under, so that the man strapped outside the +bridge could do no more than guess at the soundings; and Jimmy told him +to come in. Then he turned to Lindstrom. + +"I'll have to let up now," he said; "I can't keep my eyes open." + +He lowered himself down the ladder circumspectly, and found it somewhat +difficult to reach the room beneath the bridge; but five minutes after +he got there he was sleeping heavily. + +They made some four knots in each of the next thirty hours, with the +gale on their starboard bow. When at last it broke, Jimmy, who got an +observation, headed the _Shasta_ southeastward, and a day or two later +ran her in behind an island. Then two boats pulled ashore across a +sluice of tide, and came back some hours later when it had slackened a +little, loaded rather deeper than was safe with sawn-up pines. Fleming +also brought two very rude saws with him, and invited Jimmy's attention +to one of them. + +"Saws," he said, "are in a general way made of steel, and you can't +expect too much from soft plate-iron. The boys did well; there's not a +man among the crowd of them can get his back straight. You'd understand +the reason if you had tried to cut down big trees with an instrument +that has an edge like a nutmeg-grater." + +Jimmy smiled, for he considered it very likely. "Well," he said, "what +are you going to do to make them serviceable?" + +"Sit up all night re-gulletting them with a file. I want four loads of +billets before we start again; but we'll take another axe ashore in the +morning." + +They went off early, when the tide was slack, taking an extra axe along, +while it was noon when they came back, with one man who had badly cut +his leg lying upon the billets. Fleming, however, insisted on his four +loads, and it was evening when he brought the last two off. The men were +almost too wearied to pull across the tide, and only the handles +attached to them suggested that the two worn strips of iron they passed +up had been meant for saws. + +"That," said Fleming, who held one up before Jimmy, "says a good deal +for the boys; but if I drove them the same way any longer there would be +a mutiny." + +Jimmy laughed, and told him to raise steam enough to take the _Shasta_ +to sea. She made six knots most of that night; and two days later the +men went ashore again. Fleming, at least, never forgot the rest of that +trip down the wild West Coast. He mixed his resinous billets with +saturated coal-dust and broken hemlock bark, but in spite of it he +stopped the _Shasta_ every now and then when his boilers gave him water +instead of steam. + +Still, she crept on south, and at last all of them were sincerely glad +when the pithead gear of the Dunsmore mines rose up against the forests +of Vancouver Island over the starboard hand. An hour or two later +Fleming stood blackened all over amidst a gritty cloud while the coal +that was to free him from his cares clattered into the _Shasta_'s +bunkers, and Jimmy sat in the room beneath her bridge with one of the +coaling clerks writing out a telegram. + +"I'll get it sent off for you right away," said the coaling man. "Guess +it will be a big relief to somebody. It seems they've 'most given you up +in Vancouver." + +Jimmy laughed. "Well," he said, "we have brought her here. Still, I +think there were times when my engineer felt that the contract was +almost too big for him." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +ANTHEA GROWS ANXIOUS + + +The afternoon was hot, but Jordan failed to notice it as he swung along, +as fast as he could go without actually running, down a street in +Vancouver. He walked in the glaring sunlight, because there was more +room there, as everybody else was glad to seek the shadow cast across +one sidewalk by the tall stores and offices, and he appeared unconscious +of the remarks flung after him by the irate driver of an express wagon +which had almost run over him. Jordan was one of the men who are always +desperately busy, but there were reasons why his activity was a little +more evident than usual just then. His associates had contrived to raise +sufficient money to purchase a boat to take up the _Shasta_'s usual +trip, but the finances of the Company were in a somewhat straitened +condition as the result of it, and he was beset with a good many other +difficulties of the kind the struggling man has to grapple with. + +For all that, he stopped abruptly when he saw Forster's driving-wagon, a +light four-wheeled vehicle, standing outside a big dry-goods store. He +was aware that Mrs. Forster seldom went to Vancouver without taking +Eleanor with her, which appeared sufficient reason for believing that +the girl was then inside the store. If anything further were needed to +indicate the probability of this, there was a well-favored and very +smartly-dressed man standing beside the wagon, and Jordan's face grew +suddenly hard as he looked at him. As it happened, the man glanced in +his direction just then, and Jordan found it difficult to keep a due +restraint upon himself when he saw the sardonic twinkle in his eyes. It +was more expressive than a good many words would have been. + +Jordan had for some time desired an interview with him, but, +warm-blooded and somewhat primitive in his notions upon certain points +as he was, he had sense enough to realize that he was not likely to gain +anything by an altercation in a busy street, which would certainly not +advance him in Eleanor's favor. Besides this, it was probable that +somebody would interfere if he found it necessary to resort to physical +force. Jordan, who was by no means perfect in character, had, like a +good many other men brought up as he had been in the forests of the +Pacific Slope, no great aversion to resorting to the latter when he +considered that the occasion warranted it. + +Still, he held himself in hand, and strode into the store where, as it +happened, he came upon Mrs. Forster. There was a faint smile in her eyes +when she turned to him, for she was a lady of considerable discernment; +but she held out her hand graciously. She liked the impulsive man. + +"It is some time since we have seen anything of you," she said. + +"That," said Jordan, "is just what I was thinking, though it's quite +likely there are people who wouldn't let it grieve them. In fact, I was +wondering whether you would mind if I asked myself over to supper with +your husband this evening?" + +Mrs. Forster laughed. + +"I really don't think it would trouble me very much, and I have no doubt +that Forster would enjoy a talk with you," she said. "I wonder whether +you know that Mr. Carnforth is coming?" + +"I do;" and Jordan looked at her steadily with a trace of concern in his +manner. "In fact, that was one of my reasons for asking you." + +The lady shook her head. "So I supposed," she said. "Still, while +everybody is expected to know his own business best, I'm not sure you're +wise. You see, I really don't think Eleanor is very much denser than I +am, though you can tell her you have my invitation to supper." + +Jordan, who expressed his thanks, strode across the store and came upon +Eleanor standing by a counter with several small parcels before her. She +turned at his approach, and he found it difficult to believe that his +appearance afforded her any great pleasure. While he gathered up the +parcels, she made him a little imperious gesture, and they moved away +toward a quieter part of the big store. Then she turned to him again. + +"Charley," she said sharply, "what are you doing here?" + +"I saw Forster's wagon outside, and that reminded me that it was at +least a week since I had seen you." + +Eleanor smiled somewhat curiously, for it was, of course, clear to her +that he could not have seen the wagon without seeing Carnforth too. + +"And?" she said. + +"I'm coming over to supper with Forster. You don't look by any means as +pleased as one would think you ought to be." + +The girl appeared disconcerted. "I should sooner you didn't come +to-night." + +"Of course!" said Jordan. "I can quite believe it." + +A tinge of color crept into Eleanor's face, and there was now nothing +that suggested a smile in the sparkle in her eyes. "Pshaw!" she said. +"Charley, don't be a fool!" + +"I'm not," said Jordan slowly. "That is, I don't think I am, in the way +you mean. In fact, though it shouldn't be necessary, I want to say right +now that I have every confidence in you." + +"Thanks! There are various ways of showing it. You haven't chosen one +that appeals to me." + +Jordan flung out one hand. "After all, I'm human--and I don't like that +man." + +"You are. Now and then you are also a little crude, which is probably +what you mean. Still, that's not the question. I think I mentioned that +I should sooner you didn't come to supper this evening." + +The gleam in her pale-blue eyes grew plainer, and it said a good deal +for Jordan's courage that he persisted, since most of Eleanor's +acquaintances had discovered that it was not wise to thwart her when she +looked as she did then. + +"I'm afraid I can't allow that to influence me, especially as Mrs. +Forster expects me." + +"Very well!" and Eleanor's tone was dry. "You may carry those parcels to +the wagon." + +Jordan did so, and felt his blood tingle when Carnforth favored him with +a glance of unconcerned inquiry. There was a suggestive complacency in +his faint smile that was, in the circumstances, intensely provocative, +but Jordan contrived to restrain himself. Then Mrs. Forster and Eleanor +came out, and the latter took the parcels from him. + +"Four of them?" she said. "You haven't dropped any?" + +Jordan did not think he had, and the girl pressed one or two of the +parcels between her fingers. "Then I wonder where the muslin is?" + +"I guess they can tell me in the store," said Jordan. + +He swung around, and in a moment or two was back at the counter. The +clerk there, however, had to refer to one of her companions, and, as the +latter was busy, Jordan had to wait a minute or two. + +"I wrapped up the muslin with the trimming," she said at last. "Miss +Wheelock had four parcels, and I saw you take up all of them." + +Jordan turned away with an unpleasant thought in his mind, and was out +of the store in a moment. There was, however, no wagon in the street, +and after running down most of it he stopped with a harsh laugh. +Forster's team was a fast one, and Jordan realized that it was very +unlikely that he could overtake it, especially when Eleanor, who usually +drove, did not wish him to. After all, her quickness and resolution in +one way appealed to him, and he remembered that he had promised to dine +with Austerly that evening. Still, he went back to his business feeling +a trifle sore, and one or two of the men who called on him noticed that +his temper was considerably shorter than usual. + +He had, in fact, not altogether recovered his customary good-humor when +he sat on the veranda of Austerly's house some hours later. The meal +which Austerly insisted on calling dinner, though he had found it +impossible to get anybody to prepare it later than seven o'clock in the +evening, was over, and the rest of the few guests were scattered about +the garden. Valentine, who had arrived in the _Sorata_ a day or two +earlier, sat at the foot of the short veranda stairway close by the +lounge chair where Nellie Austerly lay looking unusually fragile, but +listening to the bronzed man with a quiet smile. Austerly leaned on the +balustrade, and Anthea sat not far from Jordan. She was, as it happened, +looking out through a gap in the firs which afforded her a glimpse of +the shining Inlet. A schooner crept slowly across the strip of water, on +her way to the frozen north with treasure-seekers. + +"She seems very little," said Anthea. "One wonders whether she will get +there, and whether the men on board her will ever come back again." + +"The chances are against it," said Austerly. "It is a long way to St. +Michael's, and one understands that those northern waters are either +wrapped in fog or swept by sudden gales. Besides that, it must be a +tremendous march or canoe trip inland, and before they reach the gold +region the summer will be over. One would scarcely fancy that many of +them could live out the winter. In fact, it seems to me scarcely +probable that the Yukon basin will ever become a mining district. +Nature is apparently too much for the white man there. What is your +opinion, Jordan?" + +Jordan smiled, though there was a snap in his eyes. + +"It seems to me you don't quite understand what kind of men we raise on +the Slope," he said. "Once it's made clear that the gold is there, +there's no snow and ice between St. Michael's and the Pole that would +stop their getting in. When they take the trail those men will go right +on in spite of everything. You have heard what their fathers did here in +British Columbia when there was gold in Caribou? They hadn't the C.P.R. +then to take them up the Fraser, and there wasn't a wagon-road. They +made a trail through the wildest cañons there are on this earth, and +blazed a way afterward, over range and through the rivers, across the +trackless wilderness. It was too big a contract for some of them, but +they stayed with it, going on until they died. The others got the gold. +It was a sure thing that they would get it. They had to." + +"Just so!" said Austerly, with a smile. "Still, if I remember correctly, +they were not all born on the Pacific Slope. Some of them, I almost +think, came from England." + +"They did," said Jordan, who for no very evident reason glanced in +Anthea's direction. "The ones who got there were for the most part +sailormen. They and our bushmen are much of a kind, though I'm not quite +sure that the hardest hoeing didn't fall to the sailor. He hadn't been +taught to face the forest with nothing but an axe, build a fire of wet +wood, or make a pack-horse bridge; but he started with the old-time +prospectors, and he went right in with them. It's much the same +now--steam can't spoil him. When a big risky thing is to be done +anywhere right down the Slope, that's where you'll come across the man +from the blue water." + +He stopped a moment as if for breath, with a deprecatory gesture. "There +are one or two things that sure start me talking. It's a kind of useless +habit in a man who's shackled down to his work in the city, but I can't +help it. Anyway, the men who are going north won't head for St. +Michael's and the Yukon marshes much longer. They'll blaze a shorter +trail in from somewhere farther south right over the coast range. It +won't matter that they'll have to face ten feet of snow." + +Neither of the other two answered him, but the fact that they watched +the fading white sails of the little schooner had its significance. +There was scarcely a man on the Pacific Slope whose thoughts did not +turn toward the golden north just then, and one could notice signs of +tense anticipation in all the wooden cities. The army of +treasure-seekers had not set out yet, but big detachments had started, +and the rest were making ready. So far there was little certain news, +but rumors and surmises flew from mouth to mouth in busy streets and +crowded saloons. It was known that the way was perilous and many would +leave their bones beside it, and though, as Jordan had said, that would +not count if there were gold in the land to which it led, men waited a +little, feverishly, until they should feel more sure about the latter +point. + +By and by Austerly, who spoke to Valentine, went down the stairway, and +Anthea smiled when the latter, after walking a few paces with him, +turned back again to where Nellie Austerly was lying. + +"There are things it is a little difficult to understand," she said. +"Valentine has, perhaps, seen Nellie three or four times since she left +the _Sorata_, and yet, as no doubt you have noticed, he will scarcely +leave her. She would evidently be quite content to have him beside her +all evening, too." + +"You didn't say all you thought," and Jordan looked at her gravely. "You +mean that the usual explanation wouldn't fit their case. That, of +course, is clear, since both of them must realize that she can't expect +to live more than another year or so. I naturally don't know why she +should take to Valentine; but I have a fancy from what Jimmy said that +she reminded him of somebody. What is perhaps more curious still, I +think she recognizes it, and doesn't in the least mind it." + +"Somebody he was fond of long ago?" + +Jordan appeared to consider. "That seems to make the thing more +difficult to understand? Still, I'm not sure it does in reality. He is +one of the men who remember always, too. He would not want to marry her +if she were growing strong instead of slowly fading. It would somehow +spoil things if he did." + +"Of course!" said Anthea slowly. "In any case, as you mentioned, it +would be out of the question. But how----" + +Jordan checked her, with a smile this time. "How do I understand? I +don't think I do altogether; I only guess. A man who lived alone at sea +or on a ranch in the shadowy bush might be capable of an attachment of +that kind, but not one who makes his living in the cities. One can't get +away from the material point of view there." + +He broke off, and sat still for a minute or two, for though it was clear +that Anthea had no wish to discuss that topic further, he felt that she +had something to say to him. + +"Mr. Jordan," she asked at last, "have you had any news about the +_Shasta_?" + +Jordan's face clouded, but he did not turn in her direction, for which +the girl was grateful. + +"No," he said, "I have none. As perhaps you know, she should have turned +up two or three weeks ago." + +It was a moment or two before he glanced around, and then Anthea met his +gaze, in which, however, there was no trace of inquiry. + +"You are anxious about her?" she asked. + +"I am, a little. It is a wild coast up yonder, and they have wilder +weather. The charts don't tell you very much about those narrow seas. +One must trust to good fortune and one's nerve when the fog shuts down. +That," and he smiled reassuringly, "was why I sent Jimmy." + +Anthea felt her face grow warm, but she looked at him steadily. + +"Ah!" she said, "you believe in him. Still, skill and nerve will not do +everything." + +"They will do a great deal, and what flesh and blood can do, one can +count on getting from the _Shasta_'s skipper. I believe"--and he lowered +his voice confidentially--"Jimmy will bring her back again. That's why I +sent her up there less than half-insured. Premiums were heavy, and we +wanted all our money. Still, if he does not, I know he will have made +the toughest fight--and that will be some relief to me. You see, I'm +fond of Jimmy--and I'm talking quite straight with you." + +There was a hint of pain in the girl's face, and she realized that it +was there, but his frankness had had its effect on her. It suggested a +sympathy she did not resent, and she smiled at him gravely. + +"Thank you!" she said. "There is another thing I want to ask, Mr. +Jordan. If you get any news of the _Shasta_, will you come and tell me?" + +"Within the hour," said Jordan, and Anthea, who thanked him, rose and +turned away. + +Jordan, however, sat still, gazing straight in front of him +thoughtfully, for, though she had perhaps not intended this, the girl's +manner had impressed him. He fancied that he knew what she was feeling, +and that she had in a fashion taken him into her confidence. It was also +a confidence that he would at any cost have held inviolable. Then he +rose with a little dry smile. + +"She is clear grit all through," he said. "And her father is the ------ +rogue in all this Province." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +JORDAN KEEPS HIS PROMISE + + +Right sunshine streamed down on the Inlet, and there was an exhilarating +freshness in the morning air; but Anthea Merril sat somewhat listlessly +on the veranda outside her father's house, looking across the sparkling +water toward the snows of the north. She had done the same thing +somewhat frequently of late, and, as had happened on each occasion, her +thoughts were fixed on the little vessel that had apparently vanished in +the fog-wrapped sea. Anthea had grown weary of waiting for news of her. + +Hitherto very little that she desired had been denied her, and though +that had not been sufficient to pervert her nature, it naturally made +the suspense she had to face a little harder to bear, since the money +before which other difficulties had melted was in this case of no avail. +The commander of the _Shasta_ had passed far beyond her power to recall +him; and, if he still lived, of which she was far from certain, it was +only the primitive courage and stubborn endurance which are not confined +to men of wealth and station that could bring him back to her in spite +of blinding fog and icy seas. Anthea had no longer any hesitation in +admitting that this was what she greatly desired. Now that he had--it +appeared more than possible--sailed out of her life altogether into the +unknown haven that awaits the souls of the sailormen, she knew how she +longed for him. Still, the days had slipped by, and there was no word +from the silent north which has been for many a sailorman and sealer the +fairway to the tideless sea. + +At last she started a little as a man came up the drive toward the +house. He appeared to be a city clerk, but, though Merril had not yet +gone out, she did not recognize him as one of those in her father's +service. He turned when he saw her and came straight across the lawn, +and Anthea felt a thrill run through her as she noticed that he had an +envelope in his hand. + +"Miss Merril?" he said. "Mr. Jordan sent this with his compliments." + +Anthea thanked him, but did not open the envelope until he turned away. +Even then she almost felt her courage fail as she tore it apart and took +out a strip of paper that appeared to be a telegraphic message addressed +to Jordan. + +"Held up by fog and got ashore, but arrived here undamaged. Clearing +again morning," it read, and the blood crept into her face as she saw +that it was signed, "Wheelock Shasta." + +For the next five minutes she sat perfectly still, conscious only of a +great relief, and then she roused herself with an effort as Merril came +out of the house. + +"A telegram!" he said, with a smile. "Who has been wiring you? Have you +been speculating?" + +"In that case, don't you think I should have come to you for +information?" asked Anthea, who was mistress of herself again. + +"I'm not sure that you would have been wise if you had," said Merril, +with a whimsical grimace. "I don't seem to have been very successful +with my own affairs of late. Anyway, you haven't told me what I asked." + +Anthea was never quite sure why she placed the message in his hand. She +was aware that he was not interested in the subject, and would certainly +not have pressed her for an answer. In fact, he very seldom inquired as +to what she did, and had never attempted to place any restraint upon +her. He glanced at the message, and then turned to her again. + +"Wheelock to Jordan. Friends of yours?" he said. "You would probably +meet them at Austerly's." + +"Yes," said Anthea, "I think I may say they are." + +It was essentially characteristic of Merril that he showed no +displeasure. He was indulgent to his daughter, and one who very seldom +allowed himself to be led away by either personal liking or rancor. For +a moment he stood still looking down at her with a dry smile, and, +because no father and daughter can be wholly dissimilar, Anthea bore his +scrutiny with perfect composure. + +"Well," he said, "they're both men of some ability, with signs of grit +in them, though I don't know that it would have troubled me if I had +heard no more of the _Shasta_. Now I'm a little late, and it will be +to-night before I'm back from the city." + +He turned away, and once more Anthea became sensible of a faint +repulsion for her father. Every word Eleanor Wheelock had uttered in +Forster's ranch had impressed itself on her memory, and she knew now +that his interests clashed with those of the _Shasta_ Company. It would +not have astonished her if he had shown some sign of resentment, but +this complete indifference appeared unnatural, and troubled her. He was, +it seemed, as devoid of anger as he was, if Eleanor Wheelock and several +others were to be believed, of pity. Then she felt that she must, to a +certain extent, at least, confide in some one, and she set out to call +on Nellie Austerly. + +It happened that morning that Jimmy stood on the _Shasta_'s bridge as +she steamed up the softly gleaming straits. Ahead a dingy smoke-cloud +was moving on toward him, and he took his glasses from the box when the +black shape of a steamer grew out of it. She rose rapidly higher, and +Jimmy guessed that she was considerably larger than the _Shasta_ and +steaming three or four knots faster. Then he made out that her deck was +crowded with passengers, and, though the beaver ensign floated over her +stern, their destination was evident when he glanced at the flag at the +fore. The only American soil north of them was Alaska. + +She drew abreast, a beautiful vessel of old and almost obsolete model, +with the clear green water frothing high beneath her outward curve of +prow. There was no forecastle forward to break the sweeping line of +rail, and the broad quarter-deck that overhung her slender stern had +also its suggestiveness to a seaman's eye. The smoke-cloud at her funnel +further hinted that her speed was purchased by a consumption of coal +that would have been considered intolerable in a modern boat. Then the +strip of bunting at her mainmast head fixed Jimmy's attention. + +"Merril's hard on our trail," he said. "She's taking a big crowd of +miners north. That's his flag." + +Fleming, who stood beneath the bridge, looked up with a little nod. "I +would not compliment him on his sense," he said. "A beautiful boat, but +the man who runs her will want a coal-mine of his own. Got her cheap, I +figure, but it's only at top-freights she could make a living. Guess +Merril's screwing all he can out of those miners, but those rates won't +last when the C.P.R. and the Americans cut in, and if I had a boat of +that kind I'd put up a big insurance and then scuttle her." + +Then one of the two or three bronzed prospectors who had come down with +the _Shasta_ approached the bridge. + +"Can't you let the boys who are going up know we've been there?" he +said. "It might encourage them to see that somebody has come out alive." + +Jimmy called to his quartermaster before he answered the man. "Well," he +said, "in a general way the signal wouldn't quite mean that, but it's +very likely they'll understand it." + +Merril's boat was almost alongside, when the quartermaster broke out the +stars and stripes at the _Shasta_'s masthead. A roar of voices greeted +the snapping flag, and the heads grew thick as cedar twigs in the +shadowy bush along the stranger's rail; while the men who stood higher +aft upon her ample quarter-deck flung their hats and arms aloft. Jimmy +could see them plainly, and their faces and garments proclaimed that +most of them were from the cities. There were others whose skin was +darkened and who wore older clothes; but these did not shout, for they +were men who had been at close grips with savage nature already, and had +some notion of what was before them. Jimmy blew his whistle and dipped +the beaver flag, while a curious little thrill ran through him as the +sonorous blast hurled his greeting across the clear green water. He knew +what these men would have to face who were going up, the vanguard of a +great army, to grapple with the wilderness, and it was clear that nature +would prove too terrible for many of them who would never drag their +bones out of it again. + +Once more the voices answered him with a storm of hopeful cries, for the +soft-handed men of the cities had also the courage of their breed. It +was the careless, optimistic courage of the Pacific Slope, and +store-clerk and hotel-lounger cheered the _Shasta_ gaily as, reckless of +what was before them, they went by. When the time came to face screaming +blizzard and awful cold they would, for the most part, do it willingly, +and go on unflinching in spite of flood and frost until they dropped +beside the trail. Jimmy, who realized this vaguely, felt the thrill +again, and was glad that he had sped them on their way with a message of +good-will; but there was no roar from their steamer's whistle, and the +beaver flag blew out undipped at her stern. Then, as she drew away from +him, his face hardened, and the engineer looked at him with a grin. + +"Merril's skipper's like him, and that's 'most as mean as he could be," +he said. + +Jimmy glanced toward his masthead. "If there were many of his kind among +my countrymen, I'd feel tempted to shift that flag aft, and keep it +there," he said. "The boys from Puget Sound could cheer." + +One of the prospectors who stood below broke into a little soft laugh. +"Oh, yes," he said, "it's in them, and all the snow up yonder won't melt +it out. Still, it's your quiet bushmen and ours who'll do the getting +there. Guess they could raise a smile for you--and they did; but when it +comes to shouting, they haven't breath to spare." + +He turned and looked after the steamer growing smaller to the northward +amidst her smoke-cloud. "One in every twenty may bottom on paying gold, +and you might figure on three or four more making grub and a few ounces +on a hired man's share. The snow and the river will get the rest." + +Then he strolled away, and when Jimmy looked around again there was only +a smoke-trail on the water, for the steamer had sunk beneath the verge +of the sea. His attention also was occupied by other things that +concerned him more than the steamer, for another two or three hours +would bring him to Vancouver Inlet, which he duly reached that +afternoon, and found Jordan and a crowd through which the latter could +scarcely struggle awaiting him on the wharf. Still, he got on board, and +poured out tumultuous questions while he wrung Jimmy's hand, and it was +twenty minutes at least before Jimmy had supplied him with the +information he desired. Then he sat down and smiled. + +"Well," he said, "we'll go into the other points to-morrow, and to-night +you're coming to Austerly's with me. Got word from Miss Nellie that I +was to bring you sure. She wanted me to send a team over for Eleanor." + +"Then why didn't you?" asked Jimmy. + +Jordan's manner became confidential. "Nellie Austerly contrived to +mention that Miss Merril would be there too, and it seemed to me that +Eleanor mightn't quite fit in. She has her notions, and when she gets +her program fixed I just stand clear of her and let her go ahead. It's +generally wiser. Anyway, I felt that I could afford to do the straight +thing by you and Austerly." + +"Thanks!" said Jimmy, with a dry smile. "Of course, there is nothing to +be gained by pretending that Eleanor is fond of Miss Merril." + +Jordan sighed. "Well, I guess other men's sisters have their little +fancies now and then, and though she has scared me once or twice, +Eleanor's probably not very different from the rest of them. I was a +trifle played out--driven too hard and anxious--while you were away, and +she was awfully good to me--gentle as an angel; but for all that, I feel +one couldn't trust her alone with Miss Merril on a dark night if she had +a sharp hatpin or anything of that kind. And as for Merril, I believe +she wouldn't raise any objections if it were in our power to have him +skinned alive. Now, I like a girl with grit in her." + +"Still, Eleanor goes a little further than you care about at times?" + +Jordan laid a hand on his companion's arm. "Jimmy," he said, "there's a +thing you haven't mentioned to either of us--and I didn't expect you +to--but I feel that by and by your sister is going to make trouble for +you." + +Jimmy looked at him steadily, and Jordan smiled. "You needn't trouble +about making any disclaimer. I see how it is. Somehow you're going to +get her. Merril's not likely to run us off. I guess there's no reason +to worry about him. Still, I want you to understand that if I can't put +a check on your sister--and that's quite likely--I'm going to stand by +her. I just have to." + +"Of course!" said Jimmy gravely. "Nobody would expect anything else from +you. I don't mind admitting that I have been a little anxious about what +Eleanor might do--but we'll change the subject. You suggested that +Merril was getting into trouble?" + +"He is," said Jordan, with evident relief. "They're making the road to +the pulp-mill, and I don't quite know where he raised his share of the +money, especially as he has just taken over a big old-type steamer. Had +to face a high figure, played out as she is. Ships are in demand. Now, +there are men like Merril whose money isn't their own; that is, they can +get it from other people to make a profit on, as a general thing. But +these aren't ordinary times; any man with money can make good interest +on it himself just now, and I've more than a fancy that Merril's handing +out instead of raking in. He has been at the banks lately, and when +there's a demand for money everywhere you can figure what they're going +to charge him. Anyway, we won't worry about him in the meanwhile. Get on +your shore-clothes. As soon as you're ready you're coming up-town with +me." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +AN UNDERSTANDING + + +Jimmy went to Austerly's, and during the evening related his adventures +in the north to a sympathetic audience. His companions insisted on this, +and though there was one fact he would rather not have mentioned he +complied good-humoredly with their request. The narrative was +essentially matter-of-fact, but he had sufficient sense to avoid any +affectation of undue diffidence, and the others appeared to find it +interesting. Indeed, Nellie Austerly, at least, noticed the faint +sparkle which now and then crept into Anthea's eyes as he told them how, +in order to keep his promise to the miners that there should be no +delay, he had come out of a snug anchorage and groped his way northward +through a bewildering smother of unlifting fog. He also told them +simply, but, though he was not aware of the latter fact, with a certain +dramatic force, how, straining every nerve and muscle in tense suspense, +they hove the steamer off just before the gale broke, and of the +strenuous labor cutting wood for fuel on the southward voyage. + +When he stopped, Nellie Austerly looked up with a little nod. "Yes," she +said, "you took those miners in as you had promised, in spite of the +fog, and you brought the _Shasta_ down all that way with only a few +tons of coal. Still, I don't think you should expect any particular +commendation. There are men who can't help doing things of that kind." + +Jimmy laughed, though his face grew slightly flushed. "I'm afraid I also +put her ashore. One can't get over that." Then he looked at Jordan. "In +fact, I scarcely think I'm out of the wood yet. There will be an +inquiry." + +"Purely formal," said his comrade. "They'll have a special whitewash +brush made for you. Nautical assessors have some conscience, after all. +Besides, it depends largely on the facts you supply them whether they +consider it worth while to have one." + +Austerly had a few questions to ask, and then the conversation drifted +away to other topics, until some little time later Jimmy found himself +sitting alone beside Nellie Austerly. She lay wrapped in fleecy shawls +in a big chair near the foot of the veranda stairway, looking very +frail, but she smiled at him benevolently. + +"I am glad they have gone," she said. "You see, I wanted to talk to you, +but the dew is commencing to settle and I must go in soon. That is +insisted on, though I don't think it matters." + +She smiled again. "It is a beautiful world, Jimmy, isn't it?" + +Jimmy drew in his breath as he glanced about him, for he guessed part of +what she was thinking, and it hurt him. He could see the dark pines +towering against the wondrous green transparency which follows hard upon +the sunset splendors in that country. The Inlet shone in the gaps amid +that stately colonnade, and far off beyond it there was a faint +ethereal gleam of snow. To him, filled as he was with the clean vigor of +the sea, it seemed too beautiful a world to leave. + +"Still," said his companion, "it has had very little to offer me, and +perhaps that is why I feel one should never stand by and let any good +thing it holds out go; that is, of course, when one has the strength to +grasp it. It usually needs some courage, too." + +"I'm afraid it does;" and Jimmy looked down at her gravely, for since +this was not quite the first time she had suggested the same thing he +commenced to understand where she was leading him. "One might, perhaps, +manage to muster enough if one could only be sure----" + +He stopped somewhat awkwardly, and the girl laughed. "One very seldom +can. You have to reach out boldly and clutch before the opportunity has +gone." + +"In the dark?" + +"Of course! One can't always expect to see one's way. You were not +afraid of the fog, Jimmy?" + +"I was. It got hold of my nerves and shook all the stiffening out of me. +In fact, in the sense you mean, I'm afraid of it still." + +He checked himself for a moment, and his face was furrowed when he +turned to her again. "You understand, of course. The clogging smother of +uncertainty now and then gets intolerable when a man wants to do the +right thing. He can't see where he is going. There is nothing to steer +by." + +"If you had sat down and tried to think of every reef and shoal, and +what would become of the _Shasta_ if she struck them, would you ever +have reached your destination when the fog shut down?" + +"No," said Jimmy; "I should in all probability have turned her round, +and steamed south again." + +Nellie Austerly laughed. "Instead of that you went on--and got there--as +they say in this country. That, as I think you will recognize, is the +point of it all." + +"I also got ashore." + +"In spite of the lead. It wasn't much service, Jimmy. It really seems +that one is just as safe when going full-speed ahead. Besides, you got +off again, and brought the _Shasta_ back undamaged. Well, perhaps it may +occur to you by and by that there must always be a little uncertainty, +and in the meanwhile I dare say you won't mind giving me your arm. I +must go in, and these steps seem to be getting steeper lately." + +Jimmy gravely held out his arm, and when he handed her one of the shawls +as they reached the veranda, she smiled at him again. + +"Now you are released, and I see Anthea is all alone," she said. + +She disappeared into the house, and Jimmy's heart beat a good deal +faster than usual when he went down the stairway. Though he did not know +what he would say to her, he had been longing all evening for a word or +two with Anthea, and now the desire was almost overwhelming. He had, of +course, seen the drift of Nellie Austerly's observations, and it +scarcely seemed likely that she would have offered him the veiled +encouragement unless she had had some ground for believing that it was +warranted. He also remembered what he had twice seen in Anthea's face; +but he was a steamboat skipper with no means worth mentioning, and she +the daughter of a man who was in one sense responsible for his father's +death. That was certainly not her fault, but Jimmy felt that even if she +would listen to him, of which he was far from certain, he could not +expose her to her father's ill-will and the scornful pity of her +friends. Still, Nellie Austerly's words had had their effect, and he +strode straight across the lawn, with the same curious little thrill +running through him of which he had been sensible when he drove the +_Shasta_ full-speed into the fog. + +Anthea stood waiting for him beneath the dark firs, very much as she had +done when he had last seen her, with a smile in her eyes. + +"I suppose it is Nellie's fault, but I was commencing to wonder whether +you wished to avoid me," she said. + +Jimmy stood silent a moment, trying to impose a due restraint upon +himself, until she lifted her eyes and looked at him. Then he knew the +attempt was useless, and abandoned it. + +"The fault was not exactly mine," he said, with a faint hoarseness in +his voice. "For one thing, how could I know that you would be pleased to +see me?" + +"Still," said Anthea quietly, "I really think you did. Were your other +reasons for staying away more convincing?" + +Then Jimmy flung prudence to the winds. The fog of which he had declared +himself afraid was thicker than ever, but that fact had suddenly ceased +to trouble him. Again he felt, as he had done when he crouched in the +_Sorata_'s cockpit one wild morning, that he and Anthea Merril were +merely man and woman, and that she was the one he wanted for his wife. +That was sufficient, for the time being, to drive out every other +consideration; but he answered her quietly. + +"A little while ago I believed they were, but I can't quite think that +now," he said. "Something seems to have happened in the meanwhile--and +they don't appear to count." + +They had as if by mutual consent turned and followed a path that led +into the scented shadow of the firs, but when a great columnar trunk hid +them from the house Jimmy stopped again. + +"Yes," he said, "after that morning when we watched the big combers from +the _Sorata_'s cockpit, I think I should have known you were glad to see +the _Shasta_ back; but the trouble was that I dared not let myself be +sure of it. There were, as you said, reasons for that. I suppose I +should be strong enough to recognize and yield to them still, but--while +you may blame me afterward for not doing so--I can't." + +He moved a pace forward, and laid a hand on her shoulder, holding her +back from him, unresisting, while he looked down at her. "Since I +carried you through the creek that evening up in the bush I have thought +of nothing, longed for nothing, but you. It has been one long effort to +hold the folly in check; but it has suddenly grown too hard for me--I +can't keep it up. Now, at least, you know." + +He let his hand drop to his side, and stood still with his eyes fixed on +her. Anthea looked up at him with a smile. + +"Ah!" she said, "I knew it all long ago. Was it very hard, Jimmy--and +are you sure it was necessary?" + +The blood surged to the man's forehead, but there was trouble as well as +exultation in his face, for his senses were coming back, and it seemed +to him that he must somehow muster wisdom to choose for both of them. + +"My dear," he said a trifle hoarsely, "I think it was. I am a struggling +steamboat skipper, and you a lady of station in this Province. That was +a sufficient reason, as things go." + +"If you had been the director of a steamship company, and I a girl +without a dollar, would that have influenced you?" + +"It would have made it easier. I should have claimed you on board the +_Sorata_. Lord"--and Jimmy made a little forceful gesture--"how I wish +you were!" + +Anthea smiled at him curiously. "Well," she said, "I may not have very +much money, after all--and, if I had, is there any reason why you should +be willing to give up more than I would? Does it matter so very much +that I may, perhaps, be a little richer than you are?" + +The veins showed swollen on the man's forehead, and again he struggled +with the impulses that had carried him away, for the discrepancy in +wealth was, after all, only a minor obstacle. Anthea, too, clearly +realized that, and she roused herself for an effort. + +"Jimmy," she said, while he stood silent, "would it hurt you very much +if I admitted that you were right, and sent you away? After all, you +have scarcely said anything that could make one think you would feel it +very keenly." + +The man stooped a little, and seized one of her hands. "Dear, you are +all I want, and to go would be the hardest thing I ever did; but there +is your father's opposition to consider, and, if to stay would bring you +trouble, I might compel myself." + +"Ah!" said Anthea softly, "the trouble would come if you went away." + +Then with a little resolute movement she drew herself away from him, and +looked up with a flush in her face and a quickening of her breath, for +there was something of moment to be said. "There is a reason you haven't +mentioned yet, though your sister did. Does that count for so very much +with you?" + +"Eleanor!" said Jimmy, while a thrill of anger ran through him. "I might +have known she would do this." + +He stood quite still for several moments with a hand clenched at his +side and his face furrowed, and when he spoke again it was hoarsely. + +"What did she tell you?" he asked. + +"I think she told me all that she knew about your father's ruin, and his +death. It was very hard to listen to, Jimmy--but did it really happen +that way?" + +She stopped a moment, and cast a little glance of appeal at him. "I have +tried to think that she must have distorted things. It would have been +no more than natural. If I had borne what she has I would have done the +same. One could not regard them correctly. Bitterness and grief must +influence one's point of view." + +The man turned his face from her, and moved away a pace or two as if in +pain. Then once more he turned toward her with a compassionate gesture, +for he knew that the blow would be a heavy one to her, and it was almost +insufferable that his hand should be the one to deal it. + +"Then anything I could say would not be more reliable. My views would as +naturally be distorted too." + +"Still, I should have an answer. You must realize that, and if it is one +that hurts I should sooner it came from you than anybody else." + +Jimmy drew in his breath. "Then, while I don't know exactly what Eleanor +has said, or whether I can forgive her that cruelty, I think you could +believe every word of it." + +The color faded from Anthea's face, and she looked at him with a faint +horror in her eyes and her lips tight set. She could not doubt him. If +there had been no other reason, the pity she saw he had for her was +proof enough, and for a moment or two she forgot everything but the grim +fact to which Eleanor Wheelock had forced her to listen. She could make +no excuses for her father now. + +She saw him suddenly as she felt that he was a creature of insatiable +greed, cunning, unscrupulous, and without pity, and then she commenced +to feel intolerably lonely. It was almost as though he had died, and the +longing for the love of the man who stood watching her with grave +sympathy in his eyes grew so strong that for the moment she was sensible +of nothing else. There was nobody but him to whom she could turn. It +was, she felt, his part to comfort her; and then she shivered as she +remembered that circumstances had placed that out of the question. The +injury her father had done him must, it seemed, always stand between +them, and she shrank back a pace from him. + +"Ah!" she said, "you must hate me for that, Jimmy." + +It was half an assertion, and, though she had perhaps not consciously +intended the latter, half a question, and the man recognized the dismay +in it. He strode forward, and seizing both her hands laid them on his +shoulders, and drew her to him masterfully. For a moment he used +compulsion, and then she clung to him quivering with her head on his +breast. + +"Dear," he said, "it is not your fault. You had no part in it, and, even +had it been so, I think I could not have helped loving you. As it is, +there is nothing in this world could make me hate you." + +Anthea made him no answer, and Jimmy drew her closer still. He had flung +prudence and restraint away. What he had said and done was irrevocable, +and he was glad that it was so. At last the girl looked up at him again. + +"Jimmy," she said, "if you can thrust into the background all that +Eleanor told me, you cannot let money come between us. Besides, I +haven't any now. Could I lavish money that had been wrung from your +father and other struggling men upon my pleasures--or dare to bring it +to you? Can't you understand, dear? I am as poor as you are." + +Then she suddenly shook herself free from his grasp, and seemed to +shiver. "But you can't forgive him--it will be war between you?" + +"Yes," said Jimmy slowly, "I am afraid that must be so. If there were no +other reason, I cannot desert the men who befriended me, and your father +will do all he can to crush them." + +"Ah!" said the girl, "it is going to be very hard. Still, I cannot turn +against him; he has, at least, been kind to me. I have never had a wish +he has not gratified." + +Jimmy slowly shook his head. "No," he said; "that is out of the +question--I could not ask it of you. There is also this to recognize: +your father is a man of station, and would never permit you to marry a +steamboat skipper. He will make every effort to keep you away from me." + +Just then Austerly's voice reached them from the house, and Anthea +turned to the man again. "Jimmy," she said, "I know that you belong to +me, and I to you; but that must be sufficient in the meanwhile. We can +neither of us be a traitor. You must wait and say nothing, dear." + +Then she turned and, slipping by him swiftly, moved across the lawn +toward the house, while Jimmy stood where he was, exultant, but +realizing that the struggle before them would tax all the courage that +was in him and the girl. + +Before he left the house, Nellie Austerly contrived to draw him to her +side when there was nobody else near the chair in which she lay. + +"Well?" she said inquiringly. + +Jimmy looked at her with a little grave smile. "I have rung for +full-speed," he said. "Still, the fog is thicker than ever, and, when I +dare to listen, I can hear breakers on the bow." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +ELEANOR HOLDS THE CLUE + + +Mrs. Forster had gone out with her daughters, and there was just then +nobody else in the ranch, when Eleanor Wheelock and Carnforth sat +talking in the big general room. This was satisfactory to the girl, for +she desired to have the next half-hour free from interruption. She was +aware that Mrs. Forster might come back before that time had elapsed; +but, although she had a purpose to accomplish, any appearance of haste +would spoil everything, for it was, as she recognized, advisable that +Carnforth should be permitted to take her into his confidence in his own +time and way, without her doing anything to suggest that she was +encouraging him. He had not been very long in Vancouver, and though he +had placed a good deal of money in Merril's hands, and was associated +with him in some of his business ventures, she had reasons for believing +that he did not know exactly what her relations with Jordan were, or +that she had a brother in command of the _Shasta_. Carnforth, as it +happened, had also come there with a purpose in his mind. Indeed, it was +one he had been considering for some little time, though he had at +length decided that it would have to be modified. This did not exactly +please him, but he was prepared to make a sacrifice in case of +necessity. + +He was a tall, well-favored man, and his tight-fitting clothes displayed +the straightness of his limbs as he leaned back in his chair, with his +eyes which had a suggestive sparkle in them fixed on the girl. The +fashion in which he regarded her would, in different circumstances, have +aroused Eleanor's resentment, but she was quite aware that there were +certain defects in his character, and she had taken some trouble to +discover why he had left Toronto somewhat hastily. She sat in a canvas +chair opposite him across the room, and, since she had expected him that +afternoon, she was conscious that everything she wore became her well. + +The long, light-tinted skirt was no fuller than was necessary, but +Eleanor could afford to wear it so, for both in man and woman the +average Western figure is modeled in long sweeping lines, and the soft +fabric emphasized her dainty slenderness. The pale-blue blouse that hung +in filmy, lace-like folds heightened the color of her eyes and the clear +pallor of her ivory complexion. Eleanor was, in fact, quite satisfied +with her appearance, and aware that it suggested a Puritanical +simplicity, which was in one respect, at least, not altogether +misleading. There is a certain absence of grossness in the men and women +of the West, and even their vices are characterized rather by daring +than by materialistic sensuality. She felt that she loathed the man and +the part circumstances had forced on her while she dressed herself in +expectation of his visit; but, for all that, she was prepared to +undertake it. + +"And you are really thinking of going away?" she asked. + +Carnforth did not answer hastily, but looked at her with the little +sparkle growing plainer in his eyes while he appeared to reflect; and, +though there was nothing to suggest that she was doing so, Eleanor +listened intently as she marshaled all her forces for the task she had +in hand. The afternoon was hot and still, and she could hear Forster and +his hired man chopping in the bush. The thud of their axes came faintly +out of the shadowy woods, but there was no other sound, and the house +was very quiet. This was reassuring, for she had no wish to hear Mrs. +Forster's footsteps just then. At last her companion spoke. + +"Yes," he said, "I have been thinking over it for some time. In fact, I +should have gone before, only I couldn't quite nerve myself to it. I +guess I needn't tell you why I found that difficult." + +Eleanor laughed. "Then if you don't wish to, why go away at all?" + +"I think it would be nicer to tell you why I wish to stay." + +"Well," said Eleanor thoughtfully, "I almost fancy you have suggested +your reasons once or twice already. Still, it's evident they can't have +very much weight with you, or you wouldn't go." + +Carnforth leaned forward. "Anyway, my reasons for going would have some +weight with most men." + +"Then until I hear what they are, you are on your defense," said +Eleanor, with a smile that set his blood tingling. "In the meanwhile, I +am far from pleased with you. It is not flattering to find one of my +friends so anxious to get away from me." + +"That was by no means what I was contemplating," said the man, and there +were signs of strain in his voice, while a trace of darker color crept +into his face. "I guess you know it, too." + +"Ah!" said Eleanor, "why should you expect me to? It wouldn't be +reasonable in the circumstances. I was willing to allow you to excuse +yourself for wishing to go away, and you don't seem at all anxious to +profit by my generosity." + +"You mightn't find my reasons--they're rather material +ones--interesting." + +"Then you are still on your defense, and far from being forgiven. As a +matter of fact, I am interested in almost everything, as you ought to +know by this time." + +"I believe you are," and Carnforth made her a little inclination. "I +guess you understand almost everything, too. Well, it seems I have to +tell you." + +Eleanor displayed no eagerness, though she was sensible of a little +thrill of satisfaction, for the thing was becoming easier than she had +expected. Instead, she moved with a slow gracefulness in her low chair, +so that the narrow ray of sunlight which shone in between the +half-closed shutters fell on one cheek and delicate ear. She knew that +the pose she had fallen into was one that became her well, and would in +all probability have its effect on her companion, and she meant to make +the utmost of her physical attractiveness, though such a course was +foreign to her nature. Eleanor Wheelock was imperious, and it pleased +her to command instead of allure; but she could on due occasion hold her +pride in check, and she would not have disdained to use any wile just +then. It was with perfect composure that she watched the little glow +kindle in Carnforth's eyes, though she could have struck him for it. + +"There is no compulsion," she said indifferently. "It rests with +yourself." + +Carnforth laughed in a fashion that jarred on her. "The fact that you +wish it goes a long way with me. Well, I am a man with somewhat +luxurious tastes, which the money I possess would unfortunately not +continue to gratify unless I keep it earning something. That is what +induced me to take a share in one or two of Merril's ventures, and now +makes it advisable for me to leave him. If I elect to remain, I must put +more money into the concern than I consider wise." + +"Then Merril's affairs are not prospering?" + +"No," said the man, with a keen glance at her. "I believe you are as +aware of that as I am. One way or another you have extracted a good deal +of information out of me--the kind in which women aren't generally +interested. I don't know why you have done so." + +"I think I told you that I am interested in everything. You don't feel +warranted in handing the money over to Merril?" + +Carnforth shook his head. "The pulp-mill hit us hard; but before he +quite knew that we would have to make the wagon-road, he had bound +himself to take over the steamer we are sending up with the miners," he +said. "She cost him a good deal." + +"Still, freights and passage to the north are high." + +"They won't continue to be when the C.P.R. and other people put on +modern and economical boats. It is quite clear to me that Merril's boat +can't make a living when she has to run against them." + +Eleanor decided to change the subject for a while, though she had not +done with it yet. "Well," she said languidly, "I really don't think it +matters to me whether she does or not. What I gave you permission to do +was to defend yourself for wishing to go away." + +"Haven't I done it?" asked the man. "When I break with Merril I shall +naturally have to discover a new field for my abilities. I think it will +be in California." + +"You are going to break with him because he is saddled with an +unprofitable vessel? Now, there are tides, and fogs, and reefs up there +in the north; don't they sometimes lose a well-insured steamer?" + +Carnforth laughed, but the girl had seen him start. "Well," he said, "I +don't mind admitting that if the one in question went north some day and +didn't come back again, it would be a relief to one or two of us. Still, +I'm 'most afraid that's too fortunate a thing to happen." + +"Of course! There would always be a probability of the skipper's +demanding money afterward? Besides, a mate or quartermaster or somebody +who hadn't a hand in it might have his suspicions." + +The man gazed at her, and this time his astonishment at her perspicacity +was very evident for a moment. "A wise man wouldn't tamper with the +skipper. Anyway, the people who try to get their money back by means of +that kind 'most always involve themselves in difficulties." + +It cost Eleanor an effort to conceal her satisfaction. Little by little +she had, to an extent her companion did not realize, extracted from him +information that enabled her to understand the state of Merril's affairs +tolerably accurately, and she had decided that he would attempt some +daring and drastic remedy. Now her purpose was accomplished, for she +knew what that remedy would be, and it only remained for her to +determine whether Carnforth could be used as a weapon against his +associate or must be flung aside. The latter course was the one she +would prefer, and she decided on it since he had practically answered +the question. + +"So you are going to leave him now that he is in difficulties?" she said +with a sardonic smile. "It isn't very generous, but I suppose it's wise, +and I almost think you have cleared yourself. Would you mind looking +whether you can see Mrs. Forster?" + +He had served his purpose, and she was anxious to get rid of him; but +the man made no sign of moving. + +"I would mind just now, and I hope she'll stay away," he said. "The fact +is I have something to say to you, and don't know why I let you switch +me off on to Merril. His affairs can't concern you." + +"Then why did you tell me so much about them?" + +The man gazed hard at her in evident bewilderment, and then rose to his +feet with a little air of resolution. "I'm not to be driven away from +the point again. I told you why I have to go, but that is less than half +of it. I can't go alone; I want you to come with me." + +"Ah!" said the girl very quietly, though a red spot which her brother +and Jordan would have recognized as a warning showed in each cheek. +"This is unexpected." + +Carnforth crossed the room and leaned on a table not far from her chair, +looking down at her with a look from which she shrank. + +"No," he said, "I don't think it's unexpected; you knew what I meant +from the beginning." + +This was, as a matter of fact, correct, but the color grew plainer in +Eleanor's cheek. She had known exactly what her companion's advances +were worth, and at times it had cost her a strenuous effort to hold her +anger in check. It was, however, characteristic of her that she had made +the effort. + +"After that, I think it would save both of us trouble if you understood +once for all that I will not go," she said. + +Carnforth laughed harshly, while his face flushed with ill-suppressed +passion. "Pshaw! you don't mean it. For several months you have led me +on, and now that I'm yours altogether, I'm not going to California +without you. You know that, too; you have to go." + +"You have had your answer," and Eleanor rose and faced him with +portentous quietness. "Don't make me say anything more." + +The man moved forward suddenly, and laid a hot grasp on her wrist. There +was as yet no dismay in his face, and it was very evident that he would +not believe her. There were excuses for him, and the fact that it was so +roused the girl, who remembered what her part had been, to almost +uncontrollable anger. + +"You are going to say that you are willing and coming with me, if I have +to make you," he said fiercely. "I mean just that, and I am not afraid +of you, though at times one can see something in your eyes that would +scare off most men. It's there now, but it's one of the things that make +me want you. Eleanor, put an end to this. You know you have me +altogether--isn't that enough? Do you want to drive me mad?" + +He stopped a moment, and broke into a harsh laugh as the girl, with a +strength he had not looked for, shook off his grasp. "Oh," he said, "it +seems I've gone on too fast. I'll fix about the wedding soon as I break +with Merril." + +There was certainly something in Eleanor Wheelock's eyes just then that +few people would have cared to face. The vindictive hatred she bore +Merril had for the time being driven every womanly attribute out of her, +but she remembered how she had loathed this man's advances and endured +them. To carry out her purpose she would, indeed, have stooped to +anything, for her hatred had possessed her wholly and altogether. Now it +was momentarily turned on her companion. + +"It would have been wiser if you had made that clear first," she said, +with a slow incisiveness that made the words cut like the lash of a +whip. "Still, I suppose, the offer is generous, in view of the trouble +you would very probably bring on yourself by attempting to carry it +out." + +The man appeared staggered for a moment, but he recovered himself. + +"Well," he said, with a little forceful gesture, "there are parts of my +record I can't boast about, but there are points on which you'd go 'way +beyond me. That, I guess, is what got hold of me and won't let me go. By +the Lord, Eleanor, nothing would be impossible to you and me if we +pulled together." + +"That will never happen," said the girl, still with a very significant +quietness. "Don't force me to speak too plainly." + +Carnforth appeared bewildered, for at last he was compelled to recognize +that she meant what she said, but there was anger in his eyes. + +"Well," he said stupidly, "what in the name of wonder did you want? You +know you led me on." + +"Perhaps I did. Now that I know what you are, I tell you to go. Had you +been any other man I might have felt some slight compunction, or, at +least, a little kindliness toward you. As it is, I am only longing to +shake off the contamination you have brought upon me." + +She broke off with a little gesture of relief, and moving toward the +window flung the shutters back. + +"They have finished chopping, and I hear the ox-team in the bush," she +said. "Forster will be here in a minute or two." + +Carnforth stood still, irresolute, though his face was darkly flushed; +and Eleanor felt the silence become oppressive as she wondered whether +the rancher would come back to the house or lead his team on into the +bush. Then the trample of the slowly moving oxen's feet apparently +reached her companion, for with a little abrupt movement he took up his +wide hat from the table. He waited a few moments, however, crumpling the +brim of it in one hand, while Eleanor was conscious that her heart was +beating unpleasantly fast as she watched for the first sign of Forster +or his hired man among the dark fir-trunks. At last she heard her +companion move toward the door, and when it swung to behind him she drew +in her breath with a gasp of relief. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +JORDAN'S SCHEME + + +Carnforth had been gone some twenty minutes when Eleanor stood among the +orchard grass, from which the ranks of blackened fir-stumps rose outside +the ranch. She had recovered her composure, and was looking toward the +dusty road which wound, a sinuous white ribbon, between the somber firs. +Jordan, whom she had not expected to see just then, was walking along it +with Forster, and, since it was evident that he must have met Carnforth, +she was wondering, with a somewhat natural shrinking from doing so, how +far it would be necessary to take him into her confidence. This, as she +recognized, must be done eventually; but she was not sure that her +legitimate lover would be in a mood to understand or appreciate her +course of action when fresh from a meeting with the one she had +discarded. Jordan had laid very little restraint upon her, but he was, +after all, human and had a temper. + +She lost sight of the two men for a few minutes when they passed behind +a great colonnade of fir-trunks that partly obscured her view of the +road, but she could see them plainly when they emerged again from the +shadow. Instead of turning toward the house they came toward her, and +there was, she noticed, a curious red mark on Jordan's cheek, as well as +a broad smear of dust on his soft hat, which appeared somewhat crushed. +His attire was also disordered, and his face was darker in color than +usual. Forster, who walked a pace or two behind him, because the path +through the grass was narrow, also appeared disturbed in mind, and when +they stopped close by the girl it was he who spoke first. + +"I had gone down the road to see whether there was any sign of Mrs. +Forster when I came upon Mr. Jordan; and, considering how he was +engaged, it is perhaps fortunate that I did," he said. "Although it is +not exactly my business, I can't help fancying that you have something +to say to him." + +He went on, but he had said enough to leave Eleanor with a tolerably +accurate notion of what had happened, and to make it clear that he was +not altogether pleased. The rancher and his wife were easy-going, kindly +people, with liberal views, but it was evident that their toleration +would not cover everything. Then she turned to Jordan, who stood looking +at her steadily with a certain hardness in his face, and the red mark +showing very plainly on his cheek. + +"Well," she said, "how did you get here?" + +"On my feet," said Jordan. "There was little to do this afternoon in the +city, and two or three things were worrying me. It struck me that I'd +walk it off, and I'm glad I did." + +"Ah!" said Eleanor, "won't you go on a little?'" + +"It's what I mean to do. I met Carnforth driving away from here, and +since the fact that he has been here quite often has been troubling me +lately, I invited him to pull up right away. When he didn't do it I +managed to get hold of the horses' heads, and went right across the road +with them. Still, I stopped the team, and I was getting up to talk to +Carnforth when Forster came along. I hated to see him then." + +Somewhat to his astonishment, Eleanor laughed softly. "Forster persuaded +you to abandon the--discussion?" + +"He did. If there's a split up the back of my jacket, as I believe there +is, he made it. Anyway, he wasn't quite pleased, and I don't blame him. +He and his wife have let you do 'most whatever you like, but, after all, +you couldn't expect them to put up with everything." + +"Or expect too much from you? You feel you have borne a good deal, +Charley? Well, Forster was right in one respect. We have something to +say to each other, and it may take a little time. There is a big fir he +has just chopped yonder." + +She walked slowly toward the fallen tree, and seated herself on a great +branch before she turned to the man who was about to take a place beside +her. + +"No," she said, "you can stand there, Charley, where I can see you. To +commence with, how much confidence have you in me?" + +"All that a man could have;" and there was no doubt about Jordan's +sincerity. "Still, I don't like Carnforth. He's not fit for you to talk +to, and I can't have him coming here. In fact, I'll see that he doesn't. +I've wanted to say this for quite a while, but it would have pleased me +better to say it first to him. That's one reason why I feel it's +particularly unfortunate Forster didn't stay away a minute or two +longer." + +A faint tinge of color crept into Eleanor's cheek, but she looked at him +with a smile. + +"Charley," she said, "I am a little sorry too that Forster came along +when he did. I don't know that it's what every girl would say, but I +think if you had thrashed that man to within an inch of his life it +would have pleased me." + +She stopped for a moment, and the color grew a trifle plainer in her +face, though there was no wavering in her gaze. "I want you to +understand that I knew just what that man was--and still I led him on. +It is a little hard to speak of; but one has to be honest, and when it +is necessary I think both of us can face an unpleasant thing. Well, I +encouraged him because I couldn't see how I was to attain my object any +other way. Still, you mustn't suppose it cost me nothing. It hurt all +the time--hurt me horribly--and now I almost feel that I shall never +shake off the contamination." + +The man, who did not know yet what her purpose was, realized that the +task she had undertaken must have heavily taxed her strength and +courage. He knew that she was vindictive, and one who was not addicted +to counting the cost, but he also knew that there was a certain +Puritanical pride in her which must have rendered the part she had +played almost insufferably repulsive. His face burned as he thought of +it, and he drew in his breath with a curious little gasp while he gazed +at her with a look in his eyes that sent a thrill of dismay through her. + +"Oh!" she said, "don't ask, Charley. I couldn't bear that from you. I--I +kept him at a due distance all the time." + +Jordan's tense face relaxed. "I can't forgive Forster for coming along +when he did," he said. "Eleanor, you have courage enough for anything. +In one way, it isn't natural." + +"You have felt that now and then?" + +The man said nothing for almost a minute, for he was still a little +shaken by what she had told him. It had roused him to fierce resentment +and brought the blood to his face, but he now recognized that there were +respects in which the momentary dismay of which he had been sensible was +groundless. She had given him sympathy and encouragement freely, and at +times had shown him a certain half-reserved tenderness, but very little +more, and he felt that it should have been quite clear to him that she +had unbent no further toward the stranger. Then he straightened himself +as he looked at her. + +"My dear," he said, "I needn't tell you there is nobody on this earth I +would place beside you." + +Eleanor smiled wistfully. "Ah!" she said, "I like to hear you say that, +though it is, of course, foolish of you; and perhaps I shall change and +be gentler and more like other women some day. Still, that wouldn't be +advisable just now. We must wait, and in the meanwhile there are other +things to think of. Listen for a minute, and you will understand why I +led Carnforth on. He is, of course, never coming here again." + +She told him quietly all she had heard respecting Merril's affairs, and +when at last she stopped, Jordan made an abrupt gesture. + +"It's a pity I can't act upon what you have told me," he said. + +"You can't act upon it?" + +"No," said Jordan firmly. "You should never have done it--it cost you +too much. Oh, I know the shame and humiliation it must have brought you. +You can't make things like these counters in a business deal." + +"You must;" and Eleanor's eyes grew suddenly hard again. "Is all I have +gained by doing what I loathed to be thrown away? Listen, Charley. I +loved my father, and looked up to him until Merril laid a trap for him. +Then he went downhill, and I had to watch his courage and control being +sapped away. He lost it all, and his manhood, too, and died crazed with +rank whisky." + +She rose, and stood very straight, pale in face and quivering a little. +"Could anything ever drive out the memory of that horrible night? You +could hardly bear what had to be done, and you can fancy what it must +have been to me--who loved him. Can I forgive the man who brought that +on him?" + +Jordan shivered a little with pity and horror, as the scene in the room +where the burned man gasped out his life in an extremity of pain rose up +before him. Then he was conscious that Eleanor had recovered herself and +was looking at him steadily. + +"Charley," she said, "you must stand by me in this, or go away and never +speak to me again. There is no alternative. Only support me now, and +afterward I will obey you for the rest of our lives." + +The man realized that she meant it, and though it cost him an effort, he +made a sign of resignation. + +"Then," he said, "it must be as you wish. And I guess, after what you +have told me, we hold Merril in our hand. That is, if Jimmy and I can do +our part." + +Both of them had felt the tension, and now that it had slackened they +said nothing for several minutes as they walked toward the house. Then +Eleanor turned to her companion. + +"I am glad I can depend on you," she said. "When the pinch comes Jimmy +will fail us." + +"Jimmy," said Jordan quietly, "is your brother as well as my friend." + +"Ah!" said Eleanor, "don't misunderstand. Jimmy would flinch from +nothing on a steamer's bridge. Still, it isn't nerve of that kind that +will be needed, and Miss Merril has a hold on him." + +Jordan saw the faint sparkle in her eyes. "After all, you can't hold the +girl responsible for her father?" + +"I do," said Eleanor, with a curious bitter smile. "At least, I would +keep her away from Jimmy." + +Jordan said nothing, but there was trouble in his face, for he had seen +how things were going, and though he was Eleanor's lover he was Jimmy's +friend. When they reached the ranch they found that Mrs. Forster had +come back, and she glanced at Jordan with a smile in her eyes when he +crossed the room. + +"Do you know that you have split your jacket up the back?" she asked. + +Jordan looked reproachfully at Forster. "Well," he said, "I almost think +that your husband does." + +"Then he will lend you another one while I sew it for you." + +"One would fancy that Eleanor would prefer to do it," said the rancher +dryly. + +His wife pursed up her face. "It is possible that she may bring herself +to do such things by and by. Still, I can't quite imagine Eleanor +quietly sitting down and mending a man's clothes." + +Jordan laughed. "It's quite likely that she'll have to. It depends on +how the _Shasta_ pleases the miners. Forster, I'll trouble you to lend +me a jacket. I guess you owe it to me." + +Forster promised to get him the garment, and when they went away +together his wife asked Eleanor a plain question or two. It was some +time before she said anything to her husband about that interview, but +she appeared somewhat thoughtful until supper was brought in. Shortly +after it was over Jordan, who borrowed a horse from Forster, rode away, +and the rancher, who was sitting on the veranda, smiled at his wife when +Eleanor walked back from the slip-rails toward the house. + +"Well," he said reflectively, "though I'm rather fond of Miss Wheelock, +I can't help thinking that Jordan is an unusually courageous man. It is +fortunate that he is so, considering everything." + +Mrs. Forster flashed a keen glance at him, but it said a good deal for +her capability of keeping a promise that she contented herself with a +simple question. + +"Why?" she asked. + +"He expects to marry her," said Forster dryly. + +In the meanwhile Jordan was riding down the dusty road, and thinking out +a scheme which, though he had been reluctant to adopt it in the first +case, was now commencing to compel his attention. As the result of this, +he spent most of the evening in certain second-rate saloons where +sailormen and wharf-hands congregated, which, though he had been well +acquainted with such places in his struggling days, was a thing he had +not done for several years. However, he came across one or two men there +who, while they were probably not aware of it, gave him a little useful +information, and he had a project in his mind when he went on board the +_Shasta_ on the following morning. She was then in the hands of the +ship-carpenters, for, although the treasure-seekers in their haste to +reach the auriferous north would if necessary have gone in a canoe, it +was evident that the _Shasta_ Company must offer them at least some kind +of shelter in view of the opposition of larger vessels. Jordan also knew +that niggardliness is not always profitable, and the new passenger deck +that was being laid along the beams was well planned and comfortable. He +drew Jimmy into the room beneath the bridge, and taking out his +cigar-case laid it on the table. + +"Take one. We have got to talk," he said. "Now, the _Shasta_'s out after +money, and it 'most seems to me that Merril is going to have an +opportunity for providing some of it. You don't know any reason why you +shouldn't get what he screwed out of your father, and, perhaps, a little +more, out of him?" + +"No," said Jimmy grimly, though there was a shadow on his face; "I could +find a certain pleasure in making him feel the screw in turn." + +"Then I'll show you how it can be done. But first of all we'll go back a +little. Merril has had to make the road to his pulp-mill, and it's +costing him and the other men a lot of money. His particular share is +quite a big one. Then he's saddled with an old-type steamer that can't +be run economically, and, as you know, we'll have to come down in +freight and passage rates now that the other people are putting on new +boats. Besides, Carnforth, who was to take a big share in the concern, +is going to leave him." + +"How do you know that?" + +Jordan hesitated for a moment. "Well," he said, "I do, and that's about +all I mean to tell you. Anyway, I've cause for believing that Merril is +tightly fixed for money, and can't lay his hands on it. There are +reasons why he couldn't let up on the pulp-mill if he wanted. Still, +there is one way he could get the money, and that is by making the +underwriters, who hold the steamboat covered, provide it." + +"Ah!" said Jimmy, "it wouldn't be very difficult either." + +His companion smiled dryly. "I have a notion how she is insured, and, so +far as I can gather, it's under an economical policy. Underwriters face +total constructive loss, but don't stand in for minor damage or salvage. +Well, I've ground for believing the thing is to be done by the engineer, +and he is a man who has to do just what Merril tells him. You and +Fleming could figure out how he will probably manage. But one thing is +clear: when that steamboat's engines give out you have got to be +somewhere round to salve her." + +"You are sure of this?" asked Jimmy. "What makes you so?" + +Jordan did not answer him for a moment, and once more there was +hesitation in his manner. + +"Well," he said, "that is my affair, and I've been worrying over it +quite a while now. Anyway, I think it's a sure thing." + +"What do you purpose if I salve that steamer and we find anything wrong +on board her?" + +"In that case I'm not sure the salvage will content the _Shasta_ +Company. It's admissible to break your trading opponent. As I tried to +show you, Merril's tightly fixed, and while the man's quite clever +enough to wriggle loose, it will be our business to see that he +doesn't." + +Jimmy sat still for a few moments with trouble in his face, which was +hard and grim, until his comrade turned to him again. + +"Jimmy," he said quietly, "that man had no pity on your father. The +thing has to be done, and the _Shasta_ Company stood by you. We have got +to have that salvage, and you're not going to go back on us now." + +Jimmy stood up and straightened himself in a curious slow fashion. "No," +he said, "I'm with you. As you say, the thing has to be done--and it +naturally falls to me. Well, though it'll probably cost me a good deal, +I'm ready. When do you expect him to try it?" + +"I don't quite know--you couldn't expect me to. Still, I should figure +it won't be until she goes north, after the lay-off, in spring. Guess +he'll hold on as long as he can. Freights won't drop much before then." + +He rose and laid his hand on his comrade's shoulder as they went out. "I +think I understand how you are fixed, but you have to face it," he went +on. "There's another thing I want to mention. If you can, get hold of +Merril's engineer, and scare him into some admission." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +DISABLED ENGINES + + +Spring had come, and all down the wild West Coast the tall pines had +shaken off their load of snow and the rivers were thundering in their +misty cañons, but there was very little sign of it at sea when one +bitter morning a cluster of deeply bronzed men hung about the +_Adelaide_'s engine-room skylights. They were lean and somewhat grim of +face, as well as ragged and suggestively spare of frame, for they had +borne all that man may bear and live through during the winter they had +spent in the ice-bound wilderness. Now they were going back to +civilization with many ounces of gold, and papers relating to auriferous +claims, to invoke the aid of capital before they once more turned their +faces toward the frozen north. + +It was noticeable that although they were of widely different birth and +upbringing there was the same stamp which revealed itself in a certain +quietness of manner and steadiness of gaze upon them all, for these were +the pick of the mining community, men who had grappled with the +wilderness in its most savage moods long before they blazed a new trail +south from the wilds of the Yukon. They had proved their manhood by +coming back at all, for that winter the unfit had died. Still, though +they had endured things beyond the comprehension of the average city +man, they were glad of the shelter of the tall skylights, because the +_Adelaide_'s flush deck was swept by a stinging wind and little showers +of bitter spray blew all over it. She was rolling viciously across a +waste of gray-blue sea which was flecked by livid froth, and her +mastheads swung in a wide sweep athwart a sky of curious dingy blue. +There was no warmth anywhere in the picture, and apparently very little +light; but for all that, every sea stood out from its fellows, and those +back in the clear distance were etched upon the indented horizon with +harsh distinctness. One of the men shook his head as he gazed at them. + +"They look like the pines on the ridge did the day the blizzard struck +us down on the Assiniboia Creek," he said. "It was a full-powered one. +The boys who'd camped ahead of us were frozen stiff by morning. The two +we scraped the snow off were sitting there like statues, and we didn't +worry 'bout the others. There was ten feet over them, anyway. I've no +use for this kind of weather." + +One of his companions swept his glance astern toward the smear of smoke +on the serrated skyline, which was blotted out next moment when the +_Adelaide_ swung her stern aloft. + +"If you're right in your figuring, I'm glad I came along in this boat," +he said. "Anyway, she's bigger, though I 'most took my berth in the +_Shasta_. Seems to me we're quite a long while getting away from her." + +The others agreed with him, for they had seen that smear of smoke on +the skyline since early morning. Then they turned to watch the engineer, +who came out of a door close by, and glanced up to weather, blinking in +the bitter wind. He was a big loosely-built man in dungarees, with the +pallid face of one accustomed to the half-light and heat of the +engine-room, but in his case it was also unhealthily puffy. Then he +slouched right aft, and stood still again looking down at the dial of +the taffrail log which records the distance run, while he fumbled in a +curious aimless fashion with the blackened rag in his hand. + +"That," said one of the miners, "is a man I'm no way stuck on. Now, +you'll most times find hard grit in an engineer, but this one kind of +strikes me as feeling that there was something after him he was scared +of." + +"Well," said one of the others reflectively, "it's not an uncommon +thing. There was a man down on the flat where we struck it who had a +kind of notion that there were three big timber wolves on his trail. +Kept his rifle clean with the magazine ram full for them, but one night +they got him. A sure thing. Tom was there." + +The man at whom he glanced nodded. "Now and then I wish I hadn't been," +he said. "Lister was sitting very sick beside his fire that night. Said +he heard those wolves pattering in the bush--there were thick pines all +round us--'most made me think I did." + +"Well?" said one of his companions. + +The miner made a little expressive grimace. "Longest night I ever put +in. Sat there and kept them off him. Anyway, I tried, but he was dead at +sun-up." + +None of the others showed any astonishment, and the man who had asked +the question glanced back toward the engineer. + +"Guess the man who runs this steamboat should be getting rich by the way +they strike you for a drink," he said. "I'm bringing down 'most two +hundred ounces, but I wouldn't like to fill that engineer up at the +tariff." + +"Never saw him making a traverse, anyway. He walks quite straight," said +a comrade. + +"Well," said the other, "I've seen his eyes." + +Just then the man they were discussing turned toward the bridge, from +which the skipper was beckoning him. A minute or two later they went +into the room beneath it, and the engineer sat down looking at the man +in front of him with narrow, half-open eyes. The latter was young and +spruce in trim uniform, a man of no great education, who had a favorable +opinion of himself. + +"Can't you shove her along a little faster, Robertson?" he said. "We'll +be thirty knots behind our usual run at noon." + +"No," said the engineer, in a curious listless drawl. "I've been letting +the revolutions down. That high-pressure piston's getting on my nerves +again." + +"Shouldn't have thought you had any worth speaking of," said the +skipper, with a quick sign of impatience. "You give one the impression +that they've gone to pieces long ago. Take a drink, and tone them up." + +He flung a bottle on the table, and watched his companion's long greasy +fingers fumble at it with a look of disgust. Robertson half-filled his +glass with the yellow spirit, and drained it with slow enjoyment. Then +he breathed hard, and, leaning his elbows on the table, looked at the +skipper heavily. + +"Well," he said, "you want something?" + +"I do," said the skipper, and taking down a chart unrolled one part of +it. "I want to shake her up until we get away from the _Shasta_, for one +thing. Wheelock has been hanging on to us as far as his boat's speed +will allow it the last two or three runs. I can't quite figure what he's +after." + +Robertson looked almost startled for a moment as though an unpleasant +thought had occurred to him, but his heavy, puffy face sank into its +usual lethargicness again. + +"Wants to scoop your passengers. Done it once or twice," he said. +"Well?" + +"For another thing, I want to get round this nest of islands before the +breeze that's brewing comes down on us. It will be a snorter. If I were +surer of your--old engines, I'd try the inside passage, though the tides +run strong. Now, if I head her up well clear of the islands I'm throwing +miles away, and letting the _Shasta_ in ahead of me. Wheelock has +apparently an engineer who will stand by him." + +Again a curious furtive look that suggested uneasiness crept into +Robertson's eyes. + +"He's always just ahead or just astern, and we've altered our sailing +bill twice," he said, as if communing with himself. + +"I guess you dropped on the reason. Anyway, if you can give me a little +more steam, we'll be clear of this unhallowed conglomeration of reefs +and tides by this time to-morrow. If it's necessary, you can run her +easier afterward." + +Robertson laid a grimy finger on the chart. "She'll be feeling the +indraught now--it's running ebb," he said. "If I can read the weather, +you'll soon have the breeze strong on your starboard bow." + +The skipper flung a swift glance at him, in which there was a trace of +astonishment. "How'd you come to know just where she is?" + +"Taffrail log," said Robertson. "I generally run a rough reckoning in my +head. Well, you want another knot or two out of her until you have the +big bight to lee of you? See what I can do, though I'd sooner take a +knot off her. That high-press piston's worrying me." + +He jerked himself heavily to his feet, and when he shambled out of the +room the skipper, who made a little gesture of relief, took up his +dividers and laid their points on the chart. One of them rested in the +middle of the mark left by the engineer's greasy finger. After that he +rolled the chart up and stowed it away from the others in a drawer +beneath his berth, and the look of annoyance in his face had its +significance. He did not like his engineer, and although he had no +particular reason for distrusting him he remembered that when the latter +had found it necessary to stop his engines at sea, as he had done once +or twice during the last trip or two, it had generally been in the last +spot a nervous skipper would have desired. Then he went out, and climbed +to his bridge. + +"You can head her out two points more to westward," he said to the +mate. + +"Very good!" said the latter. "Still, we decided that the course she was +on would keep her off the land." + +"We did," said the skipper dryly. "Anyway, you'll head her out. We're +going to have a wicked breeze from the west before this time to-night." + +In the meanwhile the second engineer was leaning out from a slippery +platform that swung and slanted as the _Adelaide_ lurched over the long +gray seas, listening to the dull pounding of the high-pressure engine. +His face was as near as he could get it to the big cylinder, and after +glancing at a little glass tube he looked down at a man with a tallow +swab who clung to the iron ladder beneath him. + +"I don't like the way she's slamming, Jake," he said. "There's mighty +little oil going into her, either. Who's been throttling up the feed?" + +"The chief," said the man on the ladder. "He was slinging it red-hot at +Charley 'bout heaving oil away. Guess I'd have fed it to her by the +gallon after seeing that new piston-ring sprung on." + +The second pursed up his face, for there is an etiquette in these +affairs at sea which the man, who had come there fresh from a sawmill, +apparently did not understand. "Well," he said, "I guess Mr. Robertson +bossed the putting in of that ring, and he knows his business. Anyway, +if he tells you you will run her dry." + +Then a big, loosely-hung figure came shambling down the ladder, and the +second withdrew. However, he stood among the columns below, and watched +his superior stop and glance at the tube through which the oil flowed +before he went about his work again. Robertson was apparently +satisfied, and after slouching round the engine-room and unscrewing a +little further the throttle valve which turns steam on to the engines, +he crawled back to his greasy room. He sloughed off his jacket and +boots, and drawing a bottle from beneath the mattress of his bunk poured +himself a stiff drink of whisky before he stretched himself out. + +He slept soundly, and did not hear the roar of the engines below him +when the _Adelaide_ flung her stern out and the lifted screw whirred +madly in the air. The thud of green water on her deck passed unheeded +too, though the second heard it as he watched the maze of clanking, +banging steel, until the young third relieved him. The latter came down +dripping, and shook a little shower of brine off him when he stopped +beside his superior. + +"It's blowing quite fresh, and she seems to be plugging it mighty hard +since you shook her up," he said. "The chief must have given up worrying +about that piston, or he wouldn't have had you take the extra knot or +two out of her." + +"Keep your eye on the--thing," said the second. "It's going to make us +trouble yet. If I were boss of this job, I'd slow her down right now +instead of pressing her." + +He went up and also went to sleep, and, since the telegraph stood at +full-speed ahead, the young third clung to a greasy rail, all eyes and +ears, with one hand on the gear that would throttle down the steam, +while the rolling grew more vicious and the plunges steeper. Quick as he +was, there was a thunderous clamor every now and then as the big +compound engines, which were twice the size of those of a modern boat +of equal tonnage, ran away, and he commenced to long for the close of +his watch while the perspiration dripped from him. He had not been very +long at sea, and there is a responsibility upon the man on watch when +the whirring screw swings clear. At last there was a heavier plunge than +usual, and, though the third did all he could, the big engines span and +clamored furiously as the stern went up. Then there was a harsh, +grinding scream, and a crash. After that came sudden stillness, and the +third frantically span the wheel that cut off the steam, while grimy men +went sliding and floundering over the slippery plates and platforms +toward the high-pressure engine. + +The sudden portentous silence and the roar of blown-off steam that +followed it roused every man on board the ship, and Robertson crawled +sluggishly out of his berth. He had reasons for knowing exactly what had +happened, and he showed no sign of haste, but there was a furtive look +in his eyes, and he sat on the ledge of the bunk shivering a little +while he thrust his hand beneath the mattress again. He felt that he +needed bracing, for he had once spent several anxious hours in a +half-swamped lifeboat after the steamer to which it belonged had gone +ashore, and he was aware that somebody is usually held accountable for +mishaps at sea. There was not very much left in the whiskey-bottle when +he thrust it out of sight again, and shambled out of his room. The +_Adelaide_ was rolling viciously, and when he reached the engine-room he +came near falling down the slippery ladder. Indeed, most men would have +gone down it headlong if they had braced themselves as he had done, but +habitual caution made him feel for a good hold, and he descended safely +to where his subordinates were clustered beneath the high-pressure +cylinder. Their faces showed tense and anxious in the flickering light +of the lamps which swung wildly as the steamer rolled, and the young +third engineer hastily related what had brought about the stoppage. + +"Rig the lifting tackles while she cools," said Robertson. "Get the +stud-nuts loose. We'll have the cover off soon as we can." + +Then he turned and saw, as he had partly expected, a quartermaster +standing just inside the door above him, and with a word or two to his +second he crawled back up the ladder and went with the man to the room +beneath the bridge. The young skipper who stood there with a furrowed +face regarded him grimly. + +"How long are you going to be before you start her again?" he asked. + +Robertson blinked at him with furtive, half-open eyes. "I don't quite +know--it's a heavy job. We have to heave the piston up," he said. +"Besides that, she has knocked things loose below." + +The skipper appeared to have some difficulty in restraining himself. + +"Unless you can get steam on her in the next few hours she'll be +breaking up by morning. The reefs to lee of us are not the kind of ones +I'd like to put a steamer ashore on, either." + +Then he took a bottle from a drawer with a little grimace of disgust, +for he remembered that skippers are comparatively plentiful, and the man +he could scarcely keep his hands off was for some reason apparently a +favorite with his employer. + +"Oh, take a drink, and hump yourself," he said. "I guess that's the only +thing to put a move on you." + +Robertson hesitated for a moment, for he realized that he had still a +part to play. Then it occurred to him that his companion might draw his +own conclusions as to his reasons for any unusual abstemiousness, and he +helped himself liberally. + +"Well," he said when he had drained his glass, "I'll be getting back +again. Do what I can--but it's a heavy job." + +He shuffled out, but his potations were commencing to have their effect, +and when he reached the top platform in the engine-room he felt +carefully for the rail that sloped as a guide to the ladder. It was as +usual greasy and Robertson's grip not particularly sure, while the +_Adelaide_ rolled wickedly to lee just then. As the result of it, her +engineer went down the ladder much as a sack of coal would have done, +and fell in a limp heap on the floor-plates with a red gash on his head. +The second stooped down and shook him before he turned to the other men. + +"Heave him on to the tool locker, one or two of you," he said. "We can't +pack him up to his room with this job in front of us. See if you can fix +that cut for him, Varney, and then go up and tell the skipper." + +A man went up the ladder, and the skipper, who sent an urgent message +back with him, turned to the little cluster of miners who were waiting +about his room. + +"Something wrong with the engines?" asked one. + +"There is," said the skipper, who knew his men and would not have +admitted to the ordinary run of passengers what he did to them. "It will +probably be some hours before they start again, and the shore's not very +far away to lee. If you feel inclined to lend a hand at getting sail on +her I guess it would be advisable." + +The miners were willing, and set about it cheerfully, though it was +blowing hard now and the long deck heaved and slanted under them. There +is very seldom an unnecessary man on board a steamer, and the +_Adelaide_'s mate was glad of a few extra strong arms just then. That +they were drenched with bitter spray and occasionally flung against +winch and bulwarks did not greatly trouble them. Things of that kind did +not count after facing the wild turmoil of northern rivers and living +through destroying hazes of blizzard-driven snow. So they got the canvas +on her, forestaysail, gaff-headed foresail, mainstaysail, and a +blackened three-cornered strip abaft the mainmast, and the skipper felt +a trifle easier when he found that he could steer her. She crawled +through the water at perhaps two knots an hour, dragging her idle screw, +but she also drove to leeward nearer the deadly reefs. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +UNDER COMPULSION + + +It was in the gray of the morning when Jimmy saw her, a dim patch of +hull and four strips of sail that heaved and dipped between the seas. He +also saw the faint loom of land behind her, and turned to Lindstrom, who +stood beside him, with a grim smile. + +"I think we can make our own terms to-day," he said. "She wouldn't be +there with those reefs to lee of her if her engines hadn't broken down. +Will you ask the bos'n to have a board ready and a brushful of white +lead?" + +Then he turned to the man in oilskins who held the steering wheel. "Hard +over. Run her right down on them." + +The _Shasta_'s bows came round, and the light was growing clearer when +she lay with engines stopped as close to windward of the _Adelaide_ as +Jimmy dared venture. The latter crawled ahead sluggishly, heaving her +bows up streaming out of the long seas that fell away beneath a high +wall of slanted iron hull until the blackened strips of sailcloth swung +wildly back again. Then her tall side sank down until the line of rail +was level with the brine. A couple of shapeless, oilskinned figures +clung to her slanted bridge with the spray whirling about them, and +ragged wisps of cloud drove fast across the low and dingy sky overhead. + +Jimmy watched her with eyes half-closed to keep the spray out, which had +a portentous glint in them. This was a moment for which he had waited +long months, and now his turn had come. If Jordan were right--and the +fact that the _Adelaide_ was there to leeward of him with engines +useless certainly suggested it--he had only to play his cards well and +deal the man who had ruined his father a crushing blow. He set his lips +tight as he remembered that when it fell the man's daughter must bear it +too, for he was bound by every honorable tie to do what he could for the +men who had entrusted him with the _Shasta_. That fact, he felt, must +stand first with him; but he was also a seaman, and could not stand by +while a costly vessel drove ashore as the result of an infamous +conspiracy. While he waited, grim-faced, with his wet hand clenched on +the telegraph, a string of flags fluttered up between the other +steamer's masts, and he laughed harshly as he turned to Lindstrom, who +had come up again with a brush and a strip of board. + +"That's quite plain without the code," he said. "Engines given out, and +he's open for a tow. Well, he shall have it, on conditions. Closer, +quartermaster. Lindstrom, hold the board for me." + +He painted his answer neatly in big bold letters, and when he had +pressed down his telegraph flung up an arm for a sign to the cluster of +very wet men below. + +"Look at this thing, and remember it," he shouted. "Hold it up before +you hang it out, Lindstrom." + +The mate did as he was bidden, and one or two of the men made a sign of +comprehension, for, as all on board share in salvage, they were keenly +interested too. Then the quartermaster pulled over his wheel, and the +_Shasta_ crept ahead a little with a message hung outside her bridge +rails. + +"Half your appraised value, or the court's award." + +There was no answer for several minutes, though the flags came +fluttering down, and then a thing happened that apparently strengthened +Jimmy's hand, which was, as he alone knew, a particularly strong one +already. A white streak appeared to leeward, perhaps two miles away +beneath the gray loom of land, and it was evident that the _Adelaide_'s +skipper knew it was the filmy spray flung up by crumbling breakers. Two +or three colored strips ran up between her masts again, and the hard +smile crept back into Jimmy's eyes. + +"Seems to fancy he'll get off easier through the court," he said to +Lindstrom. "Well, he's wrong; but the first thing is to get their rope +on board. Strip your lifeboat, and get her clear." + +Lindstrom bustled down the ladder, and a handful of drenched men set +about getting the boat out. It was not an easy task, for there were +times when the _Shasta_ rolled her rail in, and the boat swung in upon +her deck as often as over the sea. Then she drove against the streaming +plates with a crash, and a big gray comber that swept round the +_Shasta_'s stern half-filled her as they lowered her with a run, but the +men dropped into her, and she reeled clear with the oars splashing any +way on the back of the next one. Jimmy set his lips as he watched her, +and pressing down his telegraph sent the _Shasta_ half-speed ahead in a +big sweep, until she came up steaming dead slow once more under the +_Adelaide_'s lee. He waited there ten anxious minutes until the boat +drove down on him bringing a line with her. + +Somehow they hove her in not greatly damaged, and the rattling winch +afterward hauled a big steel hawser across; but the land was clearly +visible, a dark streak of rock that rose above a haze of flying spray, +when Jimmy rang for full-speed again. He knew by the chart that it was +an island of some extent with a wide sound between it and the next one +where he might find shelter, provided he could hold the _Adelaide_ off +the rocks that long. This, however, appeared very doubtful in the +meanwhile, for it was evident that the larger vessel was rapidly +dragging him to leeward. It was simply a question whether she would +drive ashore before he towed her around the point he could dimly see on +the contracted horizon, but it was a somewhat momentous one. If he +failed, the sea that spouted on the shoals would make short work of her. + +It became evident that there was a capable helmsman at the _Adelaide_'s +wheel, for she crawled along well in line astern, with but little of the +wild sheering from the course which in such cases is apt to part the +stoutest hawser; but Jimmy grew tensely anxious as the next hour slipped +by. The beach was rapidly growing plainer, but the head beyond which +there was shelter was still apparently a long way off, and it was not an +inviting prospect that unrolled itself to lee. The gray rock, smeared by +the whiteness of flung-up spray, dropped sharply to the wide line of +tumbling foam, and above it low-flying shreds of cloud blurred the wisps +of climbing trees. Still, the head was rising all the time, and the +_Shasta_'s engines pounding steadily, except when her screw shot clear, +as it frequently did. Another hour went by, and the tension grew worse +to bear when a jagged and fissured slope of rock rose under their +lee-bow scarcely half a mile away. Beyond it stretched a dim vista of +more rock and reedy pines that shut in the sound. + +"We could swing her in if there were no tide," said Jimmy harshly. "As +it is, the stream is setting us down on the point together, but I'll +hold on until she strikes. There's no use worrying Fleming. He can't do +any more." + +Lindstrom, who glanced at the streak of flame in the dingy cloud that +blew down from the slanted funnel, made a sign of concurrence, and Jimmy +gripped the bridge rails hard as he gazed ahead. He could see the white +smear of tideway that streamed around the head, and the gray wall of +rock seemed forging back toward him through the midst of it. The sea +hurled itself against its feet and crumbled into a white spouting and +streaky wisps of foam that the stream swept away. Then he signed to the +quartermaster, and gripping the whistle-lanyard flung out a sonorous +blast of warning. + +The _Shasta_'s bows swung seaward a little further, and both vessels +swept up the tideway toward the deadly slope of stone. It crept a trifle +aft from the lee-bow while a narrow strip of water opened up ahead, and +then Jimmy held his breath as the _Adelaide_ took a sheer. She swung off +at a tangent, rolling until a great slanted slope of rusty iron was +clear on that side of her, while the _Shasta_'s poop was held down by +the strain on the hawser. A sea smote her on the weather side and veiled +her in a cloud of flying spray, but Jimmy could dimly see a man +flounder aft up to his knees in water with an axe on his shoulder. It +was not the instrument an engineer would have chosen for cutting hard +steel wire, but the axe is wonderfully effective in the hands of a +Canadian, and the strain would part the rope if one strand were nicked. +This was also in accordance with Lindstrom's instructions, but Jimmy +flung up a restraining hand. + +"Hold on!" He hurled his voice through hollowed hands. "Drop the--thing! +If we can't swing her clear we're going ashore with her." + +He forgot what he owed the _Shasta_ Company and what Anthea Merril had +said to him, for the primitive man had come uppermost under the stress +of conflict. Twining his hands in the whistle-lanyard, he hurled out a +great blast that the rocks flung back through the turmoil of the tide, +and then once more gripped the bridge rails hard, standing rigidly +still, with grim wet face and a light in his eyes. For two more minutes +the issue hung in the balance, and then, while a wider gap of water +opened up ahead, the _Adelaide_ swung back astern. In a few moments +there was a hoarse, exultant clamor from both vessels, and the +froth-swept rock slid away behind her. In front lay a stretch of less +troubled water. Half an hour later the _Shasta_ came around again in a +big sweep, and when the anchors went down the two vessels lay rolling +uneasily in comparative shelter. + +Another hour had passed when Jimmy went off in the lifeboat, and was +greeted by a cluster of bronzed men who stood about the _Adelaide_'s +gangway and insisted on shaking hands with him. Some of them also +pounded his shoulders with hard fists, and though none of them +expressed themselves very artistically, Jimmy understood what was +implied by the offers of whisky that were thrust upon him. The genuine +prospector, the man who, as they say in that country, gets there when he +takes the gold-trail, is as a matter of fact usually a somewhat +abstemious person and particular as to whom he drinks with; but these +miners had made the _Shasta_'s commander one of them and presented him +with the freedom of the guild. It was in some respects as great a cause +for gratification as if he had been made companion of an ancient order, +for no man is admitted to that one who cannot prove that he possesses, +among other qualifications, high courage and stubborn endurance. Their +codes are not nicely formulated in the frozen wastes and the silent +woods of the north, but it is as a rule the great primitive essentials +that advance a man in his comrades' estimation there. Jimmy, however, +waved the miners back. + +"It ought to be quite clear, boys, that I can't drink with you all, +especially as I've business with the skipper," he said. "Anyway, I'm +pleased to feel I have your good-will." + +They still hovered about him until the _Adelaide_'s skipper drew him +into his room, and gravely shook hands with him. + +"It's not often boys of their kind make a fuss over any one, but in this +case the thing's quite natural," he said. "I want to say first of all +that we're much obliged." + +Then he emptied the contents of a locker on the table, and they included +a cigar-case and a couple of glasses, which he filled. "Well, in one +way, you made a hard bargain with us, but I'm not going to complain of +that. It was made, and, though I felt tolerably sure we were both going +up on the head yonder, you carried it out. We owe you a little for +hanging on to us." + +Jimmy, who sat down and took a cigar, regarded him thoughtfully. The man +was, he fancied, opinionated and somewhat assertive; but there was +something in his manner which suggested that he was honest, and +therefore likely to resent having been unwittingly made Merril's +accomplice. Jimmy was far from being a genius, but like a good many +other quiet men whose conversation contains no hint of brilliancy, he +was at least as far from being a fool. + +"How did you come to be where you were when we fell in with you?" he +asked. + +"That is very much the same thing as I meant to ask you." + +"Well," said Jimmy dryly, "I can account for it; but I'll hear what +happened to you first." + +His companion told him, and Jimmy, who watched him closely, made up his +mind as to the course he should adopt. "Has it struck you that your +engines couldn't well have given out at a more inconvenient time?" he +asked. + +"It naturally has;" and the skipper's disgust and bitterness against his +engineer were stronger than his prudence. "Still, what could you expect +with a whisky-tank of the kind I've got in charge below? The thing has +happened before." + +"When there was a reef or a shoal close to lee?" + +The sudden change in his companion's expression had its significance, +and Jimmy smiled suggestively. "Now you were a little astonished to see +me turn up just when I was wanted, and you have probably noticed that I +have been on your trail lately? Well, supposing we put the two together, +what do you make of it?" + +It had been little more than a chance shot, for Jimmy had clearly +recognized that there was a certain probability of Merril's skipper +having acted in collusion with him; but it reached its mark. His +companion's face flushed darkly, and he laid a clenched hand on the +table. + +"Now," he said sharply, "you have got to talk quite straight." + +"I think I have done so. Do you suppose I should have lost a day or two +every now and then and gone to sea before I was quite ready to keep +close on your track, without a reason?" + +Jimmy's last uncertainty vanished as he watched his companion, and he +saw that the course he had taken was fully warranted. Merril, it was +evident, had considered it safer not to tamper with his skipper, perhaps +because he shrank from giving two men a hold on him when the thing could +be done by one who was in all probability to some extent already in his +hands. In any case, the skipper's face was hard with vindictiveness, and +a very unpleasant look crept into his eyes. He was young and +opinionated, and he saw the pitfall that had been dug for him. + +"I guess you're right," he said hoarsely. "It's not the first time my +engineer has tried it. He and the other--hog would have broken me." + +"It's scarcely likely they could have blamed--you--at the inquiry. In +fact, I fancy Merril would have liked you held clear. It would have made +the thing look straighter." + +The skipper's laugh was very grim. "It wouldn't have counted if they +hadn't. One thing would have been certain--I was in command, and that +would have been quite enough to stop my getting another steamer. It's +always somebody else's fault when you get a boat ashore." + +Jimmy knew that his companion had reached the point to which he had been +leading him. "Well," he said quietly, "the question is, what do you +purpose to do now?" + +"I mean to get even with the man who meant to break me, back you up in +all you say when you send in your salvage claim, and in the meanwhile +wring the whole thing out of that--whisky-tank below." + +He stopped a moment. "First of all, I want to say I'm sorry I went by +that day without answering your whistle. Merril had worked me up against +you, and since I get a bonus on results, every dollar's worth of freight +you picked up was so much out of my pocket. Still, you're not going to +remember that against me now. We both earn our bread at sea, and you +have to stand by me." + +Jimmy nodded. "I'm willing," he said. "Hadn't you better send for your +engineer?" + +The skipper rose and opening the door called to a man outside. "I want +Mr. Robertson here," he said. "If he isn't willing or fit to come, you +can drag him." + +The engineer arrived on his own feet, and stood still, leaning somewhat +heavily on the table with one hand, when the skipper closed the door +behind him. A curious furtive look of apprehension crept into his eyes +when he heard the snap, and Jimmy glanced at him with a sense of +disgust. There was a dirty bandage around his head, and his face showed +baggy and pallid under it, while his loosely-hung figure draped in +greasy serge seemed disproportionately large and clumsy in the little +trim room. There was also something in his attitude that vaguely +suggested the viciousness of a rat in a trap, and it was evident that he +had been drinking hard of late. + +"Well," he asked harshly, "what do you want?" + +The _Adelaide_'s skipper turned to Jimmy. "This is Captain Wheelock of +the _Shasta_. He and I have been comparing notes, and the game you have +been playing is quite clear to me. If you're wise you'll own up to it +before we go any further. In the first place, what were you to get for +casting this ship away?" + +The man showed more courage than Jimmy had expected from his appearance, +though it was clearly the courage of desperation. He braced himself +stiffly, and his laugh was contemptuous. "I guess you're going to be +sorry for this. You've said it before a third party." + +"I'll say it before a magistrate in Vancouver," broke in the skipper; +but Jimmy stopped him with a sign. + +"I don't think what you asked him is very material," he said +reflectively. "In any case, he wouldn't get very much. Mr. Merril is not +the man to hand over money when it isn't necessary." + +He watched the man closely, and it became evident to him that Jordan had +been warranted in the construction he had put on certain scraps of +information picked up on the wharf and in the saloons of Vancouver. + +"I don't quite understand," said the skipper. + +"I think Mr. Robertson does. Of course, he couldn't well drop his name +without invalidating his papers, and after all it was probably safe to +keep it, since there are a good many Robertsons, and everybody would +expect him to change it. Still, I scarcely fancy he is aware that there +are two men in Vancouver who would swear to him with pleasure. They're +firing sawmill boilers." + +The engineer's jaw dropped and there was craven fear in his face, but he +seemed to pull himself together, though Jimmy noticed his glance toward +the door. + +"I dare say you can recall the _Oleander_ case," he said. "She was a +British ship, and I don't know how Mr. Robertson was able to slip out of +Portland quietly; though since the fireman who was done to death on +board her belonged to that city, the boys along the wharves would have +drowned him if they had got their hands on him." + +"Good Lord!" said the skipper, with a little gasp; "the man was slowly +roasted." Then he swung around toward the engineer. "This is the--brute +who did it?" + +"If you're not sure, you can look at him." + +A glance was sufficient, and the skipper had no time for another. +Robertson turned swiftly in a frenzy of drink-begotten rage and crazing +fear, and flung open the door. Then he stooped, and before they quite +realized his purpose whipped up the poker from the little stove and +struck furiously at Jimmy's head. Jimmy, throwing himself backward, +flung up his forearm and broke the full weight of the blow; but it left +him dazed and sick for a second or two, and before the skipper could get +around the little table Robertson had swung out of the door. A clamor +broke out, and men ran aft along the deck as he headed for the rail; but +as he laid his hands on it Jimmy reeled out of the room beneath the +bridge with the blood trickling down his face. The engineer swung +himself over, and Jimmy, who shook off the skipper's grasp, sped aft +with uneven strides and leaped from the taffrail. + +The cold of that icy water steadied him when he came up again, and he +saw that the stream of tide was carrying the other man down toward the +_Shasta_ and strained every muscle to come up with him. It was, however, +five or six minutes before he did it, and when Robertson grappled with +him they both went under. Jimmy waited, knowing that they must come up +again, and when that happened there was a splash of oars close by. Then +he struck with all his strength at a livid face, and just as he felt +himself being drawn down once more an oar grazed his head and a hand +grabbed his shoulder. + +"Lay hold of him!" he gasped, and the boat swayed down level with the +water while he and Robertson were dragged on board. + +"Keep still!" said somebody, who struck the latter hard with the pommel +of an oar. + +Then Jimmy scrambled to his feet with the water draining from him. "Back +to the _Adelaide_," he said, "as fast as you can." + +It was, however, half an hour later when Robertson was once more thrust +into the skipper's room, and collapsed, with all the fight gone out of +him, on a settee. He seemed to have fallen to pieces physically, but it +was evident that his mind was clear, though there was now only abject +fear in his eyes. + +"Well," he said, "what do you want from me?" + +Jimmy still felt a trifle dazed, and his head was throbbing painfully, +but he roused himself with an effort. + +"I'll tell you in a minute; but first of all I should like you to +realize how you stand," he said. "The _Oleander_ is a British ship, +Vancouver is a Canadian town, and if I put the police on to the two men +I mentioned they will have a tolerably clear case against you. You +needn't expect anything from Merril; he will certainly go back on you." + +Robertson's face grew vindictive. "He held the thing over me, but we +never meant to kill the man. He tried to knife one of us, and, anyway, +it was his heart that made an end of him. We didn't know until afterward +that it was wrong. But go on." + +"Well," said Jimmy dryly, "I'm not going to make a bargain with you, but +at the same time I'm not quite sure how far it's my duty to work the +case up for the police. In the meanwhile, I want a plain written +statement as to your connection with Merril." + +The man made a sign of acquiescence, though there was malice in his +eyes. "I can get even with him, anyway, and it's a sure thing he'd have +sent me up out of the way if he could. Get me some paper." + +Jimmy turned to the skipper. "Call one of the prospectors. We want an +outsider to hear the thing." + +A miner was led in, and Robertson, who had been handed pen and paper, +commenced to write. The skipper read aloud what he had written, and all +of them signed it. Then Jimmy put the document into his pocket, and two +seamen led the engineer to his room. Early next morning, when the breeze +had fallen, a steward roused the skipper. + +"I took in Mr. Robertson's coffee, but his room was empty," he said. + +The skipper was on deck in a few minutes, but there was nothing to show +what had become of the engineer. The _Adelaide_ had, however, now swung +with her stern somewhat near the shore, and a man who had kept anchor +watch remembered having seen a big Siwash canoe slipping out to sea a +few hours earlier. + +"There was a man in her who didn't look quite like an Indian," he said. + +"Well," said the skipper dryly, "if he's drowned it won't matter. +Anyway, I'm not going to worry." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +AN EYE FOR AN EYE + + +The _Shasta_ lay safely tied up to a buoy in Vancouver Inlet, and a +quartermaster stood at her gangway with instructions to see that no +stranger got on board, when Jimmy sat talking to his sister and Jordan +in the room beneath her bridge. It was an hour since she had steamed in, +and except for an occasional clinking in her engine-room, where Fleming +was still busy, there was silence on board her, though the scream of +saws and the rattle of freight-car wheels came off faintly across the +still water. The two ports were open wide, but none of those who sat in +the little room noticed that the light was fading. Jordan and Eleanor +were listening with close attention while Jimmy concisely related how he +had fallen in with and towed Merril's steamer. At last he broke off with +an abrupt movement when a splash of oars grew louder. + +"Another boat!" he said. "We'll have every curious loafer in the city +pulling off by and by." + +Then the voice of the quartermaster reached them as he answered somebody +who called to him from the approaching boat. + +"No," he said, "you can't see Captain Wheelock--he's busy. Keep her off +that ladder." + +There was evidently another question asked, and the man answered +impatiently: "I can't tell you anything about the _Adelaide_ 'cept that +she's coming along under easy steam. Should be here in a day or two." + +Jordan glanced at Jimmy. "The men you brought down are talking already, +and we haven't much time for fixing our program. When do you expect +her?" + +"I don't exactly know. We came away before she did when the breeze fell, +but her second engineer seemed quite confident he could bring her along +at seven or eight knots. He wasn't sure whether his high-pressure engine +would stand anything more." + +Then it was significant that both of them looked at Eleanor, who had +insisted on coming with Jordan, and who was apparently waiting to take +her part in the discussion. One could have fancied from their faces that +they would have preferred to be alone just then and were a trifle uneasy +concerning the course their companion might think fit to pursue. She +leaned back in her chair watching them, with a little hard smile which +seemed to suggest that she knew what they were thinking. Still, she said +nothing, and Jordan spoke again. + +"You are sure of the _Adelaide_'s skipper and that miner fellow?" he +asked. "They wouldn't go back on you if Merril tried to buy them off?" + +"I think I can be sure of them," said Jimmy reflectively. "The skipper +is not the kind of man I would take to, but, in some respects, at least, +he's straight; and, anyway, he's bitter enough against Merril to back us +in anything we may decide to do. You see, the man who gets his boat +ashore is practically done for nowadays, whether it's his own fault or +not; and I fancy we can count on the miner, too. After what those +fellows had to go through to get the gold they were bringing home, +they're not likely to have much sympathy with Merril. In fact, if the +others understood how near they came to seeing it go down in the +_Adelaide_, it would be a little difficult to keep them from laying +hands on him. In any case, there's the engineer's statement--one can't +get over that." + +Eleanor stretched out her hand for the paper, and there was a vindictive +sparkle in her eyes as she glanced at it. + +"Charley," she said with portentous quietness, "it seems to me that the +possession of this document places Merril absolutely in your hands. You +are not afraid to make the utmost use of it?" + +Jordan glanced at Jimmy in a fashion the latter understood. There was +something deprecatory in it, and it appeared to suggest that he wished +his comrade to realize that he was under compulsion and could not help +himself. Then he turned to the girl with a certain air of resolution. + +"No," he said, "I don't think I am afraid, but I want you to understand +that I am manager of the _Shasta_ Company, and have first of all to +consider the interests of my associates, the men who put their money +into the concern. There is Jimmy, too." + +"Jimmy!" and Eleanor laughed a little, bitter laugh, which had a trace +of contempt in it. "Pshaw! Jimmy's love affairs don't count now. I think +he feels that, too. After all, there is a trace of our mother's temper +in him if one can awaken it." + +She turned and looked at her brother, who closed one hand tightly. "Oh, +I know; the girl has graciously condescended to smile on you, and no +doubt you are almost astonished, as well as grateful, that she should go +so far. Still, where did the money that made her a dainty lady of +station come from? Must I tell you that a second time, Jimmy?" + +She stopped a moment, and gripped the paper hard in firm white fingers. +"This is mine. I bought it. You know what it cost me, Charley; and what +has Jimmy done in comparison with that? Do you think anything would +induce me to spare Merril now that I have this in my hands?" + +Jimmy looked up sharply, and saw the flush of color in her cheek, and +that the blood had crept into his comrade's face. His own grew suddenly +hot. + +"Ah!" he said, with a thrill of anger in his voice, "I begin to +understand. She got the information you acted on out of that brute, +Carnforth. You knew that, Charley, and you--you countenanced it." + +He half rose from his seat with a brown hand stretched out as if to tear +the paper from the girl, but while Jordan swung around toward him +Eleanor laughed. + +"Sit down," she said imperiously, "you simple-minded fool! Do you think +I would let Charley's opinion influence me in an affair of this kind?" + +Jordan made a gesture of resignation. "She would not," he said. "That's +the simple fact. But go on, Eleanor--or shall I tell him? Anyway, it +must be done." + +The girl silenced him, and though the next two or three minutes were, +perhaps, as unpleasant as any Jimmy had ever spent in his life, it was +with a certain deep relief that he heard his sister out. Before she +stopped she held up a white hand. + +"Once," she said, "once only, he held my wrist. That was all, Jimmy; but +I feel it left a mark. If it could be removed that way, I would burn it +out. Now you know what the thing cost me--but I did it." + +The men would not look at each other, and if Eleanor had left them then +it would have been a relief to both. Her suppressed passion had stirred +and shaken them, and they realized that the efforts they had made were, +after all, not to be counted in comparison with what the girl had done. + +It was Jordan who spoke first. "Well," he said, with the air of one +anxious to get away from a painful subject, "we have got to be +practical. The question is, how are we to strike Merril? Seems to me, in +the first case, we'll hand him a salvage claim. I'll fix it at half her +value, anyway, and he'll never fight us when he hears of the engineer's +statement. So far as I know, he can't recover under his policy, and we +could head him off from going to the underwriters if he can. The next +point is--are the miner fellow and the _Adelaide_'s skipper likely to +take any independent action on their own account? I don't think that's +very probable." + +"Nor do I," said Jimmy. "It isn't wise of a skipper to turn around on a +man like Merril, unless it's in a court where he has the law behind him, +and the prospector would scarcely attempt to do anything alone. Besides, +without the document to produce, they would have very little to go +upon--and what is more to the purpose, both of them promised to let me +handle the thing." + +Jordan nodded as if satisfied. "That," he said, "makes it easier. We're +going to collect our money on the salvage claim, and when Merril has +raised it he'll have strained his resources, so he won't count very much +as an opponent of the _Shasta_ Company. The man's crippled already." + +The fact that his comrade was apparently not desirous of proceeding to +extremities afforded Jimmy a vast relief, but it vanished suddenly when +Eleanor broke in. + +"Can't you understand that the affair must be looked at from another +point of view as well as the commercial one?" she asked. + +It was a difficult question, and when neither of them answered her the +girl went on: + +"It doesn't seem to occur to you that what you suggest amounts to +covering up a conspiracy and allowing a scoundrel to escape his +deserts," she said. "There is another point, too. You will have to +inform the police about the Robertson affair, Jimmy, and his connection +with Merril is bound to appear when they lay hands on him." + +"That," said Jimmy, with a trace of dryness, "is hardly likely. The man +will be heading for the diggings by this time if he isn't drowned, and +there's very little probability of the police getting hold of him +there." + +Eleanor laughed, a very bitter laugh, as she fixed her eyes on him. + +"So you are quite content with Charley's plan--to extort so many +dollars from Merril?" she said. "It has one fatal defect; it does not +satisfy me." + +"Now----" commenced Jordan, but the girl checked him with a gesture. + +"I want him crushed, disgraced, imprisoned, ruined altogether." + +"Anyway, I owe it to my associates to make sure of the money first." + +"And after that you feel you have to stand by Jimmy?" + +The man winced when she flung the question at him; but when he did not +answer she appeared to rouse herself for an effort, leaning forward a +trifle with a gleam in her eyes and the red flush plainer in her cheek. + +"Still," she said, "if Jimmy is what I think him, he will not ask it of +you. I want him to go back six years to the time he came home--from +Portland, wasn't it, Jimmy?--and stayed a few weeks with us. Was there +any shadow upon us then, though your father was getting old? I want you +to remember him as he was when you went away, a simple, kindly, +abstemious, and fearless man. It surely can't be very hard." + +Jimmy face grew furrowed, and he set his lips tight; but he said +nothing, and the girl went on: + +"It was not so the next time you came back. Something had happened in +the meanwhile. The bondholder had laid his grasp on him. He was +weakening under it, and the lust of drink was crushing the courage out +of him. Still, you must remember that it was his one consolation. Then +came the awful climax of the closing scene. I had to face it with +Charley--you were away--but you must realize the horror it brought me." + +Jordan turned toward her abruptly. "Eleanor," he said, with a trace of +hoarseness in his voice, "let it drop. You can't bear the thing a second +time." + +She stopped him with a frown. "I want you to picture him deluding +Prescott with one of the pitiful, cunning excuses that drunkards make. +Wasn't it horrible in itself that he should have sunk to that? Then it +shouldn't be very hard to imagine him bribing a lounger outside to buy +him the whisky, and the carousal afterward with a stranger, a dead-beat +and outcast low enough to profit by his evident weakness. Still, he was +your father, Jimmy. Then there was the groping for matches and the +upsetting of the lamp. Somebody brought Charley, and when he came your +father lay with the clothes charred upon his burned limbs, still +half-crazed with drink and mad with pain. Must I tell you once more what +I saw when Charley brought me? I am willing, if there is nothing else +that will rouse you. You have heard it before, but I want to burn it +into your brain, so that however hard you try you can't blot out that +scene." + +Jimmy's face was grim and white, but while he sat very still his comrade +rose resolutely. + +"Eleanor," he said, "if you attempt to recall another incident of that +horrible night I shall carry you by main force out of the room." + +The girl turned to him with a little gesture. "Then I suppose I must +submit. You have a man's strength and courage in you--or I think you +would be afraid to marry me; but one could fancy that Jimmy has none. +The daughter of the man who ruined his father has condescended to be +gracious to him. Still, I have a little more to say. She is his +daughter, his flesh and blood, Jimmy, and his pitiless, hateful nature +is in her. That is the woman you wish to marry. The mere notion of it is +horrible. Still, you can't marry her, Jimmy. You must crush her father, +and drag him to his ruin. After all, there is a little manhood somewhere +in you. You will take the engineer's statement to the underwriters and +the police. You must--you have to." + +Jimmy stood up slowly, with the veins swollen on his forehead and a gray +patch in his cheek. "Eleanor," he said hoarsely, "I believe there is a +devil in you; but I think you are right in this. Jordan, will you hand +me that paper?" + +He stood still for at least a minute when his comrade passed it to him, +and the girl watched him with a little gleam in her eyes. His face was +furrowed, and looked worn as well as very hard. There was not a sound in +the little room, and the splash of the ripples on the _Shasta_'s plates +outside came in through the open ports with a startling distinctness. +Jordan felt that the tension was becoming almost unendurable. Then Jimmy +turned slowly toward his sister, and though the pain was still in his +face it had curiously changed. There was a look in his blue eyes that +sent a thrill of consternation through her. They were very steady, and +she knew that she had failed. + +"I can't do it. It was not the girl's fault, and she shall not be +dragged through the mire," he said. Then he looked at his comrade. "What +I am going to do may cost you a good deal of money, and my appointment +to the _Shasta_ is, of course, in your hands. I am going straight from +here to Merril's house." + +"Well," said Jordan simply, "it may cost us both a good deal, but I +guess I must face it. If I were fixed as you are, that is just what I +should do." + +Jimmy said nothing, but he went out swiftly, and Eleanor turned to her +companion with a very bitter smile when the door closed behind him. + +"Ah!" she said, "has that girl beguiled you too? You had Merril in your +hands, and instead of crushing him you are going to smooth his troubles +away." + +"No," said Jordan dryly, "I don't quite think Jimmy will do that. In +some respects, I understand him better than you do. He wants to save the +girl all the sorrow and disgrace he can, but he is going to run her +father out of this city. Jimmy's not exactly clever, and it's quite +likely he'll mix up things when he meets Merril; but, for all that, I +guess he'll carry out just what he means to do. Somehow, he generally +does. That's the kind of man he is." + +He stopped a moment, and a smile crept into his eyes. "I don't know what +the result will be, and it may be the break-up of the _Shasta_ Company; +but I can't blame Jimmy." + +"Ah!" said Eleanor, "you, the man I counted on, are turning against me +as well as my brother." + +Then the sustaining purpose seemed to die out of her, and she sank back +suddenly in her chair with her face hidden from him. Jordan crossed the +little room, and stooping beside her slipped an arm about her. + +"My dear," he said, "you can count on me always and in everything but +this. It's because of what you are to me that I'm standing by Jimmy." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +MERRIL CAPITULATES + + +Merril was not in his house when Jimmy reached it, but it appeared that +he was expected shortly, and the latter, who resolved to wait for him, +was shown into a big artistically furnished room. He sat there at least +ten minutes, alone and grim in face, with a growing disquietude, for his +surroundings had their effect on him. The house was built of wood, but +expense had not been spared, and those who have visited the Western +cities know how beautiful a wooden dwelling can be made. Jimmy looked +out through the open windows on to a wide veranda framed with a slender +colonnade of wooden pillars supporting fretted arches of lace-like +delicacy. The floor of the room, which was choicely parquetted in +cunningly contrasted wood, also caught his eye, and there were +Indian-sewn rugs of furs on it of a kind that he knew was rarely +purchased in the north, except on behalf of Russian princes and American +railroad kings. The furniture, he fancied by the timber, was +Canadian-made, but it had evidently been copied from artistic European +models; and though he was far from being a connoisseur in such things, +they had all a painful significance to him just then. + +They suggested wealth and taste and luxury; and it seemed only fitting +that the woman he loved should have such a dwelling, while he realized +that it was his hand which must deprive her of all the artistic +daintiness to which she had grown accustomed and no doubt valued. He, a +steamboat skipper of low degree, had, like blind Samson, laid a brutal +grasp upon the pillars of the house, and he could feel the trembling of +the beautiful edifice. This would have afforded him a certain grim +satisfaction, had it not been for the fact that it was impossible to +tell whether the woman he would have spared every pain might not be +overwhelmed amid the ruin when he exerted his strength. It must be +exerted. In that he could not help himself. + +While he sat there with a hard, set face, she came in, dressed, as he +realized, in harmony with her surroundings. Her gracious patrician +quietness and her rich attire troubled him, and he felt, in spite of all +Eleanor had said, that it would be a vast relief if he could abandon +altogether the purpose that had brought him there, though to do so +would, it was evident, set the girl further apart from him than ever, +since her father's station naturally stood as a barrier between them. +Still, he remembered what he owed the men who had sent him on board the +_Shasta_--Jordan, Forster, old Leeson, and two or three more; he could +not turn against them now. + +Anthea stood still just inside the door, looking at him half-expectant, +but with something that was suggestive of apprehension in her manner, +and Jimmy felt the hot blood creep into his face when he moved quietly +forward and kissed her. In view of what he had to do, it would, he +felt, have been more natural if she had shrunk from him in place of +submitting to his caress. She appeared to recognize the constraint that +was upon him, for she turned away and sat down a little distance from +him. + +"Jimmy," she said, "I'm glad to see you back. I have been lonely without +you--and a little uneasy. Indeed, though I don't know exactly why, I am +anxious now." + +Then she looked at him steadily. "It is the first time you have been +here. Something unusual must have brought you. Jimmy, is it war?" + +The man made a deprecatory gesture. "I'm afraid it is," he said. "I +don't think there can be any compromise." + +"Ah!" said the girl, with a start, "you don't look like a man who has +come to offer terms." + +Jimmy was still standing, and he leaned somewhat heavily on the back of +a chair. "I have to do something that I shrink from, but it must be +done. If there were no other reason, I daren't go back on the men who +have confidence in me; that is--not altogether, though in a way--I am +now betraying them. Anthea, you will not let this thing stand between +us?" + +"No;" and the girl's voice was steady, though a trifle strained. "At +least, not always. Still, I have felt that some day I should have to +choose whom I should hold to--my father or you. It is very hard to face +that question, Jimmy." + +"Yes," said Jimmy gravely; "I am afraid you must choose to-night. You +know how much I want you, but I have sense enough to recognize that I +may bring trouble on both of us if I urge you to do what you might +afterward regret." + +Anthea said nothing for almost a minute, and because of the restraint he +had laid upon himself Jimmy understood the cost of her quietness. It +seemed necessary that both should hold themselves in hand. Then she +turned to him again. + +"You are quite sure there can be no compromise?" + +"It is for many reasons out of the question. In fact, I think the +decisive battle will be fought to-night. I have strained every point to +make it easier for you, or I should not have come at all, and it is very +likely that my comrades will discard me when they hear what I have done. +I am willing to face their anger, but, to some extent, at least, I must +keep my bargain with them." + +He moved a pace or two, and stood close by her chair looking down at +her. "If you understood everything, you would not blame me." + +Anthea glanced at him a moment, and he fancied that a shiver ran through +her. "I do not blame you now, though it is all a little horrible. I +cannot plead with you, and if I did I see that you would not listen. You +must do what you feel you have to." + +Neither of them spoke for a while, though Jimmy felt the tension was +almost unendurable. It was evident that the girl felt it too, for he +could see the signs of strain in her face. So intent were they that +neither heard the door open, and Jimmy turned with a little start when +the sound of a footstep reached them. Merril was standing not far away, +little, portly, and immaculately dressed, regarding them with an +inscrutable face. + +"I understand you wish to see me, Mr. Wheelock," he said. "Anthea, you +will no doubt allow us a few minutes." + +The girl rose and moved toward the door, but before she went out she +turned for a moment and glanced at Jimmy. Then it closed softly, and he +saw that Merril was regarding him with a sardonic smile. + +"I heard that you had made my daughter's acquaintance, but I was not +aware that it had gone as far as I have some grounds for supposing now," +he said. + +"That," said Jimmy quietly, "is a subject I may mention by and by. In +the meanwhile I have something to say that concerns you at least as +closely. As it has a bearing on the other question, we might discuss it +first." + +"I am at your service for ten minutes;" and Merril pointed to a chair. + +Jimmy sat down, but said nothing for a few moments. Apart from the +trouble that he must bring upon Anthea, he felt that it was a big and +difficult thing he had undertaken. He was a steamboat skipper, and the +man in front of him one skilled in every art of commercial trickery +whose ability was recognized in that city. Still, he felt curiously +steady and sure of himself, for Jimmy, like other simple-minded men, as +a rule appeared to advantage when forced suddenly to face a crisis. He +felt, in fact, much as he had done when he stood grimly resolute on the +_Shasta_'s bridge while the _Adelaide_, sheering wildly, dragged her +toward the spouting surf. Then he turned to Merril. + +"I called on you once before to make a request," he said. + +"And your errand is much the same now, though one could fancy that you +feel you have something to back it?" his companion suggested dryly. + +"No," said Jimmy, "I have nothing to ask you for this time. Instead, I +am simply going to mention certain facts, and leave you to act on the +information in the only way open to you; that is, to get out of +Vancouver as soon as possible. I am giving you the opportunity in order +to save Miss Merril the pain of seeing you prosecuted. You are in our +hands now." + +Merril scarcely moved a muscle. "You are prepared to make that assurance +good?" + +"I am;" and Jimmy's voice had a little ring in it. "If you will give me +your attention I'll try to do it. You have no news of the _Adelaide_ +yet, and, to commence with, you will have to face the fact that she is +not on the rocks. She was just ready to steam south with a derangement +of her high-pressure engine when I last saw her." + +Though his companion's face was almost expressionless, Jimmy fancied +that this shot had reached its mark, and he proceeded to relate what had +happened since he fell in with the _Adelaide_. He did it with some +skill, for this was a subject with which he was at home, and he made the +feelings of her skipper and second engineer perfectly clear. Then, +though he had not mentioned Robertson's confession, he sat still, +wondering at Merril's composure. + +"It sounds probable," said the latter, with a little smile. "You expect +the skipper and the second engineer to bear you out? No doubt they +promised, but when they get here the thing will wear another aspect. In +fact, in all probability it will look too big for them. You see, they +have merely put a certain construction upon one or two occurrences. It's +quite likely they will be willing to admit that it is, after all, the +wrong one." + +"Since we intend to claim half the value of the _Adelaide_, they would +have to answer on their oath in court." + +Merril shook his head. "Half her value! I commence to understand," he +said. "An appeal to the court is, as a rule, expensive, as I guess you +know. It is generally wiser to be reasonable and make a compromise." + +The suggestion was so characteristic of the man that Jimmy lost a little +of his self-restraint. + +"There will be no compromise in this case," he said. "If it were +necessary we would drag you through every court in the land; but, as a +matter of fact, there will be no need for that. You made a mistake in +your opinion of the courage of your skipper and your second engineer. +You also made a more serious one in putting the screw too hard on +Robertson.". + +"Ah!" said Merril sharply, at last, "there is something more?" + +Jimmy took a paper from his pocket, and gravely handed it to him. "I am +quite safe in allowing you to look at it. It wouldn't be advisable for +you to make any attempt to destroy it. You will excuse my mentioning +that." + +Merril unfolded the document, and Jimmy noticed that the +half-contemptuous toleration died out of his face as he read it. Then he +quietly handed it back, and sat very still for at least a minute before +he turned to his companion again. + +"That rather alters the case. You have something to go upon. Do you mind +telling me what course you purpose to take?" + +"As I mentioned, I don't purpose to take any. Still, the _Shasta_ +Company will send in a claim for salvage to-morrow, and afterward sue +you--or whoever you entrust with your affairs--unless it is met. The +_Adelaide_ should also be here in the course of the next day or two, and +you will have your skipper and second engineer, as well as the miner who +witnessed the statement, to face. They appear determined on raising as +much unpleasantness as possible, though they were willing to hold back +until I had taken the first steps." + +He stopped a moment, and then leaned forward in his chair with a little +forceful gesture. "Though it would please me to see you prosecuted and +disgraced, I will at least take no steps to prevent your getting out of +this city quietly." + +"Ah!" said Merril, "you no doubt expect something for that concession?" + +"No," and Jimmy stood up, "I expect nothing. It would hurt me to make a +bargain of any kind with you, and it would, I think, be illegal. Still, +I have the honor of informing you that I purpose to marry Miss Merril as +soon as it appears convenient to her, in spite of any opposition that +you may think fit to offer." + +Merril showed neither astonishment nor anger. Instead he smiled quietly, +and his companion surmised that he had already with characteristic +promptness decided on his course of action. + +"You have no objections to my sending for her?" + +Jimmy said he had none, and five minutes later Anthea appeared. She +stood near the door looking at the men, and saw that Jimmy's face was +darkly flushed. Her father, however, appeared almost as composed as +usual. Jimmy felt that he dare not look at her, and the tense silence, +which lasted a few moments, tried his courage hard. It cost him an +effort to hold himself in hand when Merril turned to the girl. + +"I understand from Mr. Wheelock that you are willing to marry him. Is +that the case?" he said. + +"Yes," replied Anthea simply, while the blood crept into her cheeks. +"That is, I shall be willing when circumstances permit." + +"Then, in the meanwhile, at least, you would consider my wishes?" + +Anthea glanced at Jimmy. "I think he understands that." + +Merril said nothing for almost half a minute, and sat still regarding +them with a sardonic smile, though his eyes were gentler than usual. + +"Well," he said at last, "that is no more than one would have expected +from you. Mr. Wheelock is, however, quite prepared to disregard my +opposition. In fact, one could almost fancy that he will be a little +grieved when I say that I do not mean to offer any." + +Jimmy was certainly astonished, for he had at least expected that the +man would make an attempt to play upon the girl's feelings. However, he +said nothing, and Merril turned to her again. + +"Well, I fancy that he has shown himself capable of looking after you, +and there is a certain forceful simplicity in his character that, when +I consider him as my daughter's husband, somewhat pleases me. With +moderate good fortune it may carry him a long way." + +It seemed an almost incomprehensible thing to Jimmy that the man should +show no trace of vindictiveness, and perhaps the latter guessed it, for +he laughed softly. + +"Mr. Wheelock," he said, "as you have no doubt guessed, I never had much +faith in the conventional code of morality, but since you seem +determined to marry Anthea, I am in one respect glad that you evidently +have, though that is perhaps not a very logical admission. I was out +after money, and allowed no other consideration to influence me. It is +probable that I should have accumulated a good deal of it had not +everything gone against me lately. Well, if I showed no pity, I at least +seldom allowed any rancor to betray me into injudicious action when +other people treated me as I should have treated them; but, after all, +that is not the question, and we will be practical. You will not see or +write to Anthea for six months from to-day, and then if neither of you +has changed your mind you can understand that you have my good-will. She +will advise you of her address--in Toronto--in the meanwhile. It is not +a great deal to promise." + +Jimmy glanced at the girl, and turned again to Merril when she nodded. + +"I pledge myself to that," he said. + +"Then," said Merril, "you will leave us now. I have a good deal to say +to Anthea." + +Jimmy moved away without a word, and went down the corridor with every +nerve in him tingling. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +ELEANOR RELENTS + + +Jordan, who waited some time on board the _Shasta_, saw no more of Jimmy +that night. This was, however, in one respect a relief to him, since +Eleanor, who was evidently very angry with her brother, insisted on +remaining as long as possible in the expectation that he would come back +again. It was, in fact, only when the hour at which she had arranged to +meet Mrs. Forster arrived that she very reluctantly permitted Jordan to +take her ashore, and he felt easier when he handed her into Forster's +wagon. It did not seem to him that a further meeting between her and her +brother would be likely to afford much pleasure to anybody. He had been +at work some little time in his office next morning when Jimmy walked +in, and, sitting down, looked at him quietly. + +"I have no doubt that you know why I have kept out of your way so long," +he said. + +"Well," replied Jordan dryly, "I can guess. What did you say to Merril?" + +"I told him what had happened, and left him to act upon it. Now I'm +quite prepared to resign the command of the _Shasta_." + +"If it's necessary, we'll talk about that later. In the meanwhile we'll +get our salvage claim in. Leeson should be here at any moment. I saw him +last night." + +He set to work, but there were two or three points it was necessary to +discuss with Jimmy, and he was still busy when there was a rattle of +wheels in the street outside, which was followed by the sound of voices +on the stairway. Jordan laid down his pen with a gesture of +embarrassment and dismay. + +"It's Forster, and he has brought Eleanor along," he said. "I'm 'most +afraid you're going to have trouble, Jimmy." + +"It's more than probable," and Jimmy smiled somewhat grimly. "I'm quite +prepared for it." + +Then the door opened, and Eleanor, Forster and Leeson came in. The girl +sat down without a glance at her brother, and the rancher turned to +Jordan. + +"Miss Wheelock has acquainted me with the substance of what Jimmy told +you yesterday, and I came to ask what course you expect to take," he +said. "I may say that she seems as anxious to hear it as I am." + +Eleanor smiled. "It is not exactly Mr. Forster's fault that I am here," +she said. "The fact is, I insisted on coming. He was perfectly willing +to leave me behind." + +Jordan's face was more expressive of resignation than pleasure, but he +took up his pen again. + +"This is a statement of the services rendered the _Adelaide_, and a +claim in respect of them," he said. "I am going to take it along to +Merril's office in a few minutes, and one or more of you can come with +me." + +They went out together, but when they reached Merril's office Jordan and +Jimmy alone went in. They found a good many other people waiting there, +and had some little difficulty in securing attention, while the clerk to +whom Jordan spoke appeared anxious and embarrassed. + +"Mr. Merril is not here," he said. "He went out of town last night, and +executed a trust deed before he left. Mr. Cathcart, one of the trustees, +is now inside." + +Jordan looked at Jimmy. "I don't mind admitting that I expected this," +he said. Then he turned to the clerk: "Take our names in." + +They were shown into the inner office, where a gray-haired gentleman +listened gravely to what they had to say. Then he took the salvage claim +from Jordan, and laid it beneath a pile of other papers. + +"It will be considered in its turn," he said. "I do not know whether we +shall attempt to contest it, or whether there will be funds to meet it, +but I may be able to tell you more to-morrow, and would ask you to take +no further steps until you have seen me. I am at liberty to say that Mr. +Merril's affairs appear to be considerably involved." + +Jordan promised to wait, and when he turned toward the door, the +trustee, who took up an envelope, made a sign to Jimmy. + +"I was instructed to hand you this, Captain Wheelock, and to tell you +that Miss Merril leaves for Toronto by to-day's express, on the +understanding that you make no attempt to communicate with her. It +contains her address." + +Jimmy went out with his thoughts confused. All that had come about was, +he felt, the result of his action, but he realized that in any case the +crisis could not have been much longer delayed. They found the others +awaiting them, and when Forster had quietly but firmly insisted on +escorting Eleanor into a dry-goods store and leaving her there, they +went back together to Jordan's office, where the latter related what he +had heard. + +"To be quite straight, I must admit that I had a notion of what Jimmy +meant to do last night, and took no steps to restrain him," he said. "If +I had done so, Merril would not have got away. We are both in your +hands, but, while you may think differently, I am not sure that what has +happened is a serious misfortune from a business point of view." + +Forster said nothing, and there was a few moments' awkward silence until +old Leeson spoke. + +"Considering everything, I guess you're right," he said. "Cathcart's a +straight man, and as they can't sell the _Adelaide_ without permission +from us, we'll get some of our money, although it's hardly likely the +estate will realize enough to go around. Seems to me that's more than we +should have done if Merril had kept hold. Well, it's not my proposition +that we turn you out." + +He stopped a moment, and glanced at Jimmy with a little dry smile. +"Captain Wheelock has gone 'way further than he should have done without +our sanction, but I guess it will meet the case if we leave him to his +sister. It's a sure thing Miss Wheelock is far from pleased with him. +Now, there's a point or two I want to mention." + +The others seemed relieved at this, and when Leeson had said his say +Forster went away with him. Then Jordan glanced at Jimmy with +apprehension in his eyes as Eleanor came in. She stood still, looking +at them with the portentous red flush burning in her cheek. + +"What I foresaw all along has happened. Jimmy has betrayed you to save +that girl," she said. + +Then she turned to Jimmy, flicking her glove in her hand as though she +would have struck him with it. "Jimmy," she said incisively, "you are no +longer a brother of mine. Neither Charley nor I will speak to you +again." + +Jordan straightened himself resolutely. "Stop there, Eleanor!" he said. +"If you won't speak to him I can't compel you to, but, in this one +thing, at least, you can't compel me. Jimmy was my friend before I met +you, and I'm standing by him now. Anyway, what has he done?" + +"Ah!" said the girl, with an audible indrawing of her breath, "he has +spoiled everything. If he hadn't played the traitor Merril would never +have got away. Oh!" and her anger shook her, "I can never forgive him!" + +Once more she turned to her brother. "There is no longer any tie between +us. You have broken it, and that is the last and only thing I have to +say to you." + +Jimmy rose, and quietly reached for his hat. "Then," he said, "there is +nothing to be gained by pointing out what my views are. We can only wait +until you see things differently." + +He went out, and Eleanor sank somewhat limply into a chair. + +"Charley," she said, "it's a little horrible, but he is a weak coward, +and I hate him. You had better break off our engagement; I'm not fit to +marry anybody." + +"That's the one thing that holds in spite of everything," and Jordan +looked at her gravely with trouble in his face. "Go quietly, Eleanor. It +will straighten out in time." + +The girl sat still for a while saying nothing, and then she rose with a +little shiver. "Find Forster, and if he is not going back, get a team," +she said. "I want Mrs. Forster. I can't stay in the city." + +Jordan went out with her, and, though he had a good deal to do, was not +sorry when he failed to find Forster and it became necessary for him to +drive her back to the ranch. Eleanor, however, said very little to him +during the journey, and he had sense enough to confine his attention to +his team. He had also little time to think of anything that did not +concern his business when he returned to the city, for the _Shasta_ had +to be got ready to go back to sea, and the _Adelaide_ arrived early on +the following day. The skipper went with him to interview Merril's +trustee, and the latter announced that no steps would be taken to +contest the salvage claim when he heard what he had to say. However, he +added dryly that it would probably be advisable for the _Shasta_ Company +to consider the compromise proposition he would shortly make. Jordan, +who fancied he was right in this, went away without having found it +necessary to hand him the engineer's confession, and was glad he had not +offered to produce it when he ransacked his office for it a few days +later. + +"I certainly had the thing the morning Forster and Eleanor were here," +he said. "Jimmy laid it down, and I don't remember having seen him take +it up again. Still, I suppose he must have done so." + +Jimmy had, however, gone north again by that time, and the compromise +had been agreed to before he came back again. The _Shasta_ had also made +several other successful trips when he had occasion to call at Victoria +on his southward run, and seeing the _Sorata_ in the harbor rowed off to +her. He spent that evening in her little forecastle with Valentine, who +was busy with deep-water fishing-lines. The latter wore an old blue +shirt and canvas trousers stained with paint and grease, and he laid +down a big hank of line when at length Jimmy, who had been whipping on +hooks for him, inquired what plans he had. + +"So you're not going back to the West Coast to drum up cargo for us?" he +said. + +"No," said Valentine. "Although they didn't intimate it, I don't think +your people have any more use for me. They have the trade in their +hands, and the boat they put on instead of yours is coming down full +every time. In fact, I believe they're buying another one, as well as a +big passenger carrier for your northern trip." + +Jimmy looked astonished. "It's the first I've heard of it--but, of +course, it's a little while since I was in Vancouver. Where did they +raise the money?" + +"I believe they got some of it from Cathcart on the salvage claim, and +Leeson and two or three of his friends raised the rest. The _Adelaide_ +and Merril's house were sold at auction. I heard it from Jordan, who was +over here a week ago, and it's scarcely necessary to say that he's going +to send you in the new boat. He seems to have some notion of trying to +get into the South Sea trade, too, and I shouldn't wonder if eventually +you're made general supervisor of the _Shasta_ Company's growing fleet." + +Jimmy was sensible of a thrill of satisfaction, but he changed the +subject. "You have given up your chartering?" + +"I have," said Valentine, with a curious smile. "The people who hired my +boat had an unsettling effect on me, and now I'm going to try the +halibut fishing with a couple of Siwash hands. Austerly's was my last +charter--I don't think I shall ever take another." + +Jimmy nodded, for he felt that he understood. "Well," he said, "in one +way it wouldn't be nice to see anybody else occupying that after-cabin. +Of course, the notion is a fanciful one, but I shouldn't like to think +of it myself." + +Again the curious little smile flickered into Valentine's eyes. "It is +scarcely likely to happen. I think you will understand my views when I +show you the room." + +Jimmy went aft with him through the saloon, and Valentine, unlocking a +door beneath the companion slide, opened it gently. The fashion in which +he did it had its significance, and Jimmy understood altogether as he +looked into the little room. It was immaculate. Bulkhead and paneling +gleamed with snowy paint, the berths with their varnished ledges were +filled with spotless linen, and there was not a speck on the deck +beneath. A few fresh sprays of balsam that hung beneath the beams +diffused a faint aromatic fragrance. + +"Those," said Valentine gravely, "are to keep out the smell of the +halibut. I shouldn't like it to come in here. She had the lower berth. +The top one was Miss Merril's." + +Jimmy felt the blood rise to his face. Valentine's manner was very +quiet, and there was not the slightest trace of sentimentality in it, +but Jimmy felt that he knew what he was thinking. Besides, Anthea had +slept in that little snowy berth. They turned away without a word, when +Valentine carefully fastened the door, and the latter had sat down again +in the forecastle before Jimmy spoke. + +"Have you heard anything of Miss Austerly lately?" he asked. + +Valentine lighted the lamp beneath the beams, for it was growing dark, +and taking something from a box in the upper berth stood still a moment +with it in his hands. They were scarred and hardened by physical toil, +and the man was big and bronzed and very quiet, though every line of his +face and figure was stamped with the wholesome vigor of the sea. + +"I see you do not know," he said. "This is the letter Austerly sent me. +As you will notice, it was at her request. She would not have minded +your reading it." + +Jimmy started as he saw that the envelope had a broad black edge, and +his companion nodded gravely. + +"Yes," he said, "there is neither tide nor fog where she has gone. +There, at least, we are told, the sea is glassy." + +Jimmy took the letter out of the envelope, and once or twice his eyes +grew a trifle hazy as he read. Then he handed it back to Valentine, +almost reverently. + +"I am sorry," was all he said. + +Valentine looked at him with the little grave smile still in his eyes. +"I do not think there is any need for that. What had this world but pain +to offer her? She has slipped away, but she has left something +behind--something one can hold on by. What there is out yonder we do not +know--but perhaps we shall not be sorry when we slip out beyond the +shrouding mists some day." + +Neither of them said much more, and shortly afterward Jimmy went back to +the _Shasta_. Next morning he stood on his bridge watching the _Sorata_ +slide out of harbor. Valentine, sitting at her tiller, waved his hat to +him, and Jimmy was glad that he had hurled a blast of the whistle after +him when some months later he heard that the _Sorata_ and her skipper +had gone down together in a wild westerly gale. + +In the meanwhile he proceeded to Vancouver, and after an interview with +Jordan, who formally offered him command of the big new boat, took the +first east-going train and reached Toronto five days later. An hour +after he got there he hired a pulling skiff at the water-front, and +drove her out with sturdy strokes into the blue lake across which a +little cutter was creeping a mile or so away. He came up with her, hot +and breathless, and the girl at the tiller rose quietly when he swung +himself on deck, though there was a depth of tenderness in her eyes. + +"Jimmy!" she said, "why didn't you tell me?" + +Jimmy laughed. "You should have expected me," he said. "The six months +are up." + +Anthea turned to the young man and the girl who were sitting in the +cockpit. "Captain Wheelock. My cousin Muriel, and Graham Hoyle." + +The young man smiled at Jimmy, who was, however, conscious that the girl +was surveying him with critical curiosity. Then she asked him a question +concerning his journey, and they discussed the Canadian railroads for +the next ten minutes, until she flashed a suggestive glance at the young +man. + +"What a beautiful morning for a row!" she said. + +Hoyle rose to his feet. "I dare say I could pull you ashore in Captain +Wheelock's boat," he said. "There's just wind enough to bring the yacht +after us if he gets the topsail up." + +Jimmy did not get the topsail up when they rowed away, but sat down on +the coaming with his arm around Anthea's shoulder. + +"I have just two weeks before I go north in our big new boat," he said. +"It isn't very long, but I want to take you with me." + +He was some little time overruling Anthea's objections one by one, and +then she turned and looked up at him with a flush in her face. + +"Jimmy," she said, "I suppose you realize that I haven't a dollar. Some +provision was to have been made for me--but I felt I couldn't profit by +the arrangement." + +Jimmy laughed. "If it's any consolation to you, I haven't very much, +either. Still, I think I'm going to get it. I was creeping through the +blinding fog six months ago, but the mists have blown away and the sky +is brightening to windward now." + +Then he turned and pointed to the strip of dusky blue that moved across +the gleaming lake. "If anything more is wanted, there's the fair wind." + +They ran back before it under a blaze of sunshine with the little frothy +ripples splashing merrily after them, and then Jimmy had to exert +himself again before he could induce Anthea's aunt to believe that it +was possible for her niece to be married at two weeks' notice. Still, he +accomplished it, and on the fifteenth day he and Anthea Wheelock stood +on the platform of a big dusty car as the Pacific express ran slowly +into the station at Vancouver. + +Leeson stood waiting with Forster, and Jordan was already running toward +the car, but Jimmy's lips set tight when he saw Eleanor with Mrs. +Forster. In a moment or two Jordan handed Anthea down, and then stood +aside as Eleanor came impulsively forward. To her brother's +astonishment, she laid her hand on Anthea's shoulder and kissed her on +each cheek. + +"Now," she said, "you will have to forgive me." + +Jimmy did not hear what his wife said, for Mrs. Forster was greeting +him, and then Leeson and the rancher seized him; but five minutes later +Eleanor stood at his side. + +"Yes," she said, "Anthea and I are going to be friends, and you daren't +be angry any longer, Jimmy." + +They had dropped a little behind the others, who were moving along the +wharf, and Jimmy looked at her with a dry smile. + +"I'm not," he said. "In fact, I don't think it was my temper that made +things unpleasant all the time. Still----" + +"You didn't expect me to change?" + +Her brother said nothing, and she looked up at him with a softness in +her eyes he never remembered seeing there. + +"I'm going to marry Charley very soon," she said. "I couldn't have done +that while I hated anybody, and, after all, it was Merril who +roused--the wild cat--in me, and we have done with him altogether. They +wouldn't have him back in Vancouver, but there's a land-boom somewhere +in California, and Charley hears that he is already piling up money." + +She stopped a moment, and thrust a folded paper into his hand. "That's +yours, but Anthea must never see it. Charley didn't know I had it, and I +meant to keep it in case Merril got rich again; but I don't want it now. +Please destroy it, Jimmy." + +Jimmy glanced at the paper, and his expression changed when he saw that +it was the engineer's confession; but he laid his hand on his sister's +arm and pressed it, for he understood what the fact that she had parted +with that document signified. Then Leeson, who was a few paces in front +of them, turned and pointed to a big steamer with a tier of white +deck-houses lying out in the Inlet. + +"The boat's waiting at the landing, and we'll go off," he said. "There's +a kind of wedding-lunch ready on board her." + +Jimmy said they had purposed going straight to the house he had +commissioned Jordan to take for him, but the latter laughed, and Leeson +chuckled dryly. + +"We held a meeting over the question, and fixed it up that the house you +wanted hadn't quite tone enough for the man who's to be Commodore of the +_Shasta_ fleet very soon," he said. "That's why we decided to put you +into my big one on the rise. Guess there's not a prettier house around +this city, but it has never been really lived in. I'm out most of every +day, and only want two rooms. Now, there's no use protesting; it's all +fixed ready, and you're going right in." + +He turned, and touched Anthea's arm. "You'll stand by me. You can't +afford to have your husband kick against the man with the most money in +the _Shasta_ Company." + +Jimmy's protests were very feeble. It had been his one trouble that +Anthea would have to live in a very different fashion from the one she +had been accustomed to, and he was relieved when she thanked the old +man. + +Leeson smiled at her in a very kindly fashion. "Well," he said, "I've +been lonely for the last eight years since the boy who should have had +that house went down with my smartest boat, and I want to feel that +there's somebody under the same roof with me who will keep me from +growing too hard and old." + +Then he stopped, and chuckled in his usual dry manner. "I was going to +make Jordan the proposition--only I got to thinking and my nerve failed +me. Guess I made my money hard in the free sealing days when we had +trouble with everybody all the time, but I felt I'd sooner not offend +Mrs. Jordan, and I might do it if I didn't fix things just as she told +me. She's a clever woman--but I don't want to have her on my trail." + +Eleanor only glanced at him in whimsical reproach, and they moved on, +laughing, toward the waiting boat. + + +END + + + + +Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the +original edition have been corrected. + +In Chapter II, =the Tyee slowly crept on= was changed to =the _Tyee_ slowly +crept on=. + +In Chapter VIII, a missing quotation mark was added before =I was there +two years=, and =the others gazed at the Sorata expressionlessly= was +changed to =the others gazed at the _Sorata_ expressionlessly=. + +In Chapter XIV, a quotation mark was deleted after =Heave!=. + +In Chapter XXII, =the Shasta did not move at all= was changed to =the +_Shasta_ did not move at all=, and =the Shasta heaved and rolled viciously= +was changed to =the _Shasta_ heaved and rolled viciously=. + +In Chapter XXVIII, a duplicate quotation mark was removed after =that's +the only thing to put a move on you.= + +In Chapter XXX, =Then I suppose I must sumbit= was changed to =Then I +suppose I must submit=. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Thrice Armed, by Harold Bindloss + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THRICE ARMED *** + +***** This file should be named 38747-8.txt or 38747-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/7/4/38747/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Thrice Armed + +Author: Harold Bindloss + +Release Date: February 1, 2012 [EBook #38747] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THRICE ARMED *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="350" height="561" alt="cover of Thrice Armed" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr class="thin" /> + +<h1>THRICE ARMED</h1> + +<p class="center">BY<br /><span class="bigtext">HAROLD BINDLOSS</span></p> + +<p class="center"><i>Author of "Winston of the Prairie," "Delilah of the +Snows," "By Right of Purchase," "Lorimer +of the Northwest," etc.</i></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/logo.png" width="150" height="219" alt="decorative logo" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class="center">NEW YORK<br /> +FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY<br /> +PUBLISHERS</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smalltext">Copyright, 1908, by</span><br /> +FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY</p> + + + +<hr class="wide" /> + +<h2><a name="TABLE_OF_CONTENTS" id="TABLE_OF_CONTENTS"></a>TABLE OF CONTENTS</h2> + +<table class="figcenter" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" summary="Table of Contents"> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum smalltext">CHAPTER</td> +<td class="chapname smalltext"> </td> +<td class="chappage smalltext">PAGE</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">I.</td> +<td class="chapname">Jimmy Renounces His Career</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">1</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">II.</td> +<td class="chapname">To Windward</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">12</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">III.</td> +<td class="chapname">Jimmy Makes Friends</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">24</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">IV.</td> +<td class="chapname">In the Toils</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">35</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">V.</td> +<td class="chapname">Valentine's Paid Hand</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">46</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">VI.</td> +<td class="chapname">A Vision of the Sea</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">60</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">VII.</td> +<td class="chapname">Blown Off</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">73</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">VIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">Jimmy Takes Command</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">84</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">IX.</td> +<td class="chapname">Merril Tightens the Screw</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">97</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">X.</td> +<td class="chapname">Eleanor Wheelock</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">108</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XI.</td> +<td class="chapname">At Auction</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">120</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XII.</td> +<td class="chapname">The "Shasta" Shipping Company</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">134</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">The "Shasta" Goes to Sea</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">145</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XIV.</td> +<td class="chapname">In Distress</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">159</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XV.</td> +<td class="chapname">Eleanor's Bitterness</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">172</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XVI.</td> +<td class="chapname">Under Restraint</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">184</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XVII.</td> +<td class="chapname">The Rancher's Answer</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">196</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XVIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">Eleanor Speaks Her Mind</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">209</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XIX.</td> +<td class="chapname">Wood Pulp</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">220</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XX.</td> +<td class="chapname">Anthea Makes a Discovery</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">233</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXI.</td> +<td class="chapname">Jimmy Grows Restless</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">244</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXII.</td> +<td class="chapname">Ashore</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">254</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">Anthea Grows Anxious</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">265</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXIV.</td> +<td class="chapname">Jordan Keeps His Promise</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">276</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXV.</td> +<td class="chapname">An Understanding</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">285</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXVI.</td> +<td class="chapname">Eleanor Holds the Clue</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">296</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXVII.</td> +<td class="chapname">Jordan's Scheme</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">306</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXVIII.</td> +<td class="chapname">Disabled Engines</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">317</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXIX.</td> +<td class="chapname">Under Compulsion</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">329</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXX.</td> +<td class="chapname">An Eye for an Eye</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">344</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXXI.</td> +<td class="chapname">Merril Capitulates</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">354</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="chapnum">XXXII.</td> +<td class="chapname">Eleanor Relents</td> +<td class="chappage"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">364</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr class="wide" /> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="Thrice_Armed" id="Thrice_Armed"></a>Thrice Armed</h2> + +<h2 class="chapterone"><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br /> +<span class="smalltext">JIMMY RENOUNCES HIS CAREER</span></h2> + + +<p>It was with somewhat mixed feelings, and a curious little smile in his +eyes, that Jim Wheelock stood with a brown hand on the <i>Tyee</i>'s wheel as +the deep-loaded schooner slid out through Vancouver Narrows before a +fresh easterly breeze. Dim heights of snow rose faintly white against +the creeping dusk above her starboard hand, and the busy British +Columbian city, girt with mazy wires and towering telegraph poles, was +fading slowly amidst the great black pines astern. An aromatic smell of +burning followed the schooner, and from the levels at the head of the +Inlet a long gray smear blew out across the water. A fire which had, as +not infrequently happens, passed the bounds of somebody's clearing was +eating its way into that part of the great coniferous forest that rolls +north from Oregon to Alaska along the wet seaboard of the Pacific Slope.</p> + +<p>The schooner was making her six knots, with mainboom well out on her +quarter and broad wisps of froth washing off beneath her bows, slanted +until her leeward<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> scuppers were close above the sliding foam. Wheelock +stood right aft, with his shoulders just above the roof of the little +deckhouse, and, foreshortened as the vessel was, she seemed from that +point of view a mere patch of scarred and somewhat uncleanly deck +surmounted by a towering mass of sail. Two partly seen figures were busy +bending on a gaff-topsail about the foot of her foremast, and Wheelock +turned as one of them came slouching aft when the sail had been sent +aloft. The man wore dungaree and jean, with a dilapidated oilskin coat +over them, for the wind was keen. He appeared to be at least fifty years +of age. Leaning against the rail, he grinned at Wheelock confidentially.</p> + +<p>"She'll make a short trip of it if this breeze holds," he said. "I guess +you find things kind of different from what they were in the +mail-boats?"</p> + +<p>Jim Wheelock nodded as he pulled up a spoke of his wheel, for it was +that difference that had brought the smile to his eyes. It was several +years now since he had touched a vessel's wheel, or done more than raise +a directing hand to the trimly uniformed quartermaster who controlled +the big liner's steering engine. He was twenty-eight years of age, and +held an extra-master's certificate, and he had just completed the year's +training in a big British warship which gave him his commission as a +lieutenant R.N.R. It was certainly a distinct change to figure as +supernumerary on board the Canadian coasting schooner <i>Tyee</i>, but he did +not resent the fact that it was the grizzled, hard-faced man leaning on +the rail beside him who had brought him there.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you going to get the main gaff-topsail on to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> her? We'll carry +smooth water with us 'most across the Straits," he said.</p> + +<p>This was not to the purpose, as both of them felt, but it gave the other +man the opening for which he had been looking.</p> + +<p>"No," he replied, "I guess not. We'll feel the wind fresher when she +draws out from the land, and there's a streak of dry rot in her mainmast +round the partners. That stick was sound right through when we put it +into her, but it has stood the wind and weather quite a while, and I +guess it's getting shaky, like its owner."</p> + +<p>Now, the redwood logs hewn in the British Columbian forest as a rule +make excellent masts, but they naturally deteriorate with time, and in +some of them there is hidden a latent cause of trouble which now and +then leads to premature decay. Jimmy was aware of this, and fancied that +he knew why his companion had reminded him of it. It was scarcely two +hours since he had arrived on board the <i>Tyee</i>. He had made a long +journey to join her, because his father's kinsman Prescott, her mate, +had sent for him; and now, though he almost shrank from asking for the +information, there were points on which it was necessary that the latter +should enlighten him. He leaned on his wheel in silence a minute or two +and the smile died out of his eyes. Prescott regarded him steadily.</p> + +<p>Jim Wheelock, who hitherto had taken life lightly, could bear +inspection, for he was a personable man, as more than one of the young +women who traveled in the big liner of which he had been mate had +decided, and he had seldom experienced much difficulty in finding a +pretty partner at any of the dances given to the war<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>ship's officers. He +had whimsical blue eyes, and, though he was Colonial-born, a face of the +fair, clean-skinned English type, which had in it an occasional +suggestion of latent force. He had a well-proportioned frame, and his +life in the mail-boats, and the R.N.R. training, had set their stamp on +him. Just then he was attired incongruously in an old skin-cap, battered +gum-boots which reached to his knees, trousers showing signs of wear, +and a steamboat mate's jacket with gilt buttons on it, in much the same +condition; but, in spite of that, he did not appear the kind of man one +would have expected to come upon steering a coasting schooner.</p> + +<p>"What do you think about my father, Bob?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"What I said in the letter," the other man replied. "I guess you ought +to understand it, now you've seen him. Tom's going to looard fast, 'most +as fast"—and he seemed to search for a metaphor—"as a center-boarder +when her board won't come down. It kind of struck me it was 'bout time +you came home and looked after things and him. That's why I wrote you. +He'd have never done it, anyway."</p> + +<p>Jim Wheelock knew this was true. Prescott's letter, which had come to +hand at Portsmouth just after he had finished his navy training, had +somewhat startled him, and, as the result of it, he had forthwith +started for Vancouver, traveling second-class and by Colonist car, as +one does not gain very much financially by serving in the R.N.R. On +arriving there he had been further startled by the change in his father +whom he had last seen several years earlier when Tom Wheelock was, +apparently, at least, beyond the reach of ad<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>versity as the owner of +several small coasting vessels, one of which he insisted on sailing +personally, though this had not seemed needful at the time. It was +evident to Jimmy that he had been going to leeward very fast in several +ways since then.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, "that is a sure thing. When did the change begin? I +mean, when did things first go wrong with him?"</p> + +<p>"When he lost the <i>Fish-hawk</i>—that was 'most four years ago. Anyway, +that was when I began to notice it. Then the cannery people put on their +steamboat, and he couldn't keep the <i>Eagle</i> going without their trade. +She lay ashore in a bad berth with a big load of Wellington coal in her, +and it cost him about a thousand dollars before she was fit for sea +again. Things were slack that season, and he gave Merril a bond for the +money. I guess that made the real trouble. Merril's a mighty hard man, +and he has been putting the screw on him."</p> + +<p>Jim Wheelock looked thoughtful. "A thousand dollars isn't such a great +deal of money, after all. The old man seemed to have plenty of it when I +left home."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Prescott dryly, "it's quite certain he hasn't got it now, +and I've more than a notion that there's a big bond on the <i>Tyee</i>. Why +did he bring your sister Ellen back from Toronto?"</p> + +<p>Jim Wheelock did not know. He had, in fact, once or twice asked himself +the same question without finding an answer. His sister Eleanor, who was +an ambitious and capable young woman, was now earning a pittance by +teaching at a ranch near New Westminster; but she had never given him +any reason in her letters for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> abandoning the studies she had gone East +to pursue in Toronto.</p> + +<p>"Anyway," said Prescott, "it's quite clear to me that your father needs +a man with sense and snap to stand right behind him and see that he +worries out of Merril's clutches. I don't know whether you can do it—I +can't—I'm no use at business. Tom and I were always honest. Then, +supposing you can do that, you're 'bout half-way through with the +thing."</p> + +<p>"Only half-way?"</p> + +<p>"'Bout that. Tom's been drifting to looard. You want to brace him sharp +up on the wind again."</p> + +<p>He broke off somewhat abruptly, for the scuttle slide in the deckhouse +roof was flung back, and a man below lifted his head above it.</p> + +<p>"Come right down and get your supper, Jimmy. Bob will take your wheel," +he said.</p> + +<p>Jimmy left the helm to Prescott, and with an effort he braced himself +for the interview before him as he descended to the little stuffy cabin. +It was dimly lighted by an oil-lamp that creaked as it swung, though the +<i>Tyee</i> was ploughing her way westward steadily as yet. A little stove +made it almost intolerably hot, and the swirl of brine beneath the lee +quarter filled it with a sound that was like the rattle of sliding +gravel. Jimmy sat down, and ate the pork, potatoes, fresh bread, and +desiccated apples set before him, which he surmised might be considered +somewhat of a banquet on board the <i>Tyee</i>, and then he took out his pipe +and turned toward his father as he filled his pannikin again with strong +green tea. He had arrived in Vancouver only that afternoon, and they +had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> had no time for conversation in the hurry of getting to sea.</p> + +<p>"Take some whisky in it?" asked Tom Wheelock. "It's not much of a supper +after what you've been used to on board the liners."</p> + +<p>"No, thanks," said Jimmy. "I'm glad I didn't miss you."</p> + +<p>"Got your wire," said Wheelock, who helped himself liberally to the +whisky. "We weren't through with the loading until yesterday, and, +though the folks want those sawmill fixings bad, I figured we could wait +another twenty-four hours. It's good to see you sitting there; but I +don't know yet what brought you over. It's quite a long way."</p> + +<p>Jimmy spent some time in filling his pipe. He was a truthful person, and +Prescott, who wrote the letter, had pledged him to secrecy; then, too, +he was by no means certain that his father would appreciate what either +of them had done, or would consider it in any way necessary. He also had +scarcely got used to the change in his circumstances and surroundings, +and did not feel quite at ease. On the last liner he sailed in, the +officers dined in the saloon, and, though the battleship's wardroom was +less luxurious, it was, at least, very different from the <i>Tyee</i>'s +quarter-cabin. Tin pannikins and plates of indurated ware lay on a +soiled, uncovered table; a grimy brown blanket from the skipper's bunk +trailed down across the locker that served as a settee; and the fish-oil +lamp smelt horribly. Then he glanced at his father, who sat silent, +sipping his tea, which was freely laced with whisky.</p> + +<p>Tom Wheelock was by no means dressed as neatly as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> most of the Vancouver +wharf-hands, and he looked like a man who had lost heart, and pride as +well. He was gaunt and big-boned, with a seaman's weather-darkened face, +but there was weariness and something that suggested vacancy in its +expression. He and Jimmy had the same blue eyes, and they were kindly +and honest in the case of each; but Tom Wheelock's were a trifle watery, +and there was a certain bagginess under them, while his mouth was slack. +In fact, the man, as his son recognized, appeared to have sunk into a +state of limpness that was mental as well as physical.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Jimmy, with a little laugh, "I don't quite know. There +were, you see, several reasons. To begin with, I had to come out of the +mail-boat for my year's training, and when that was over there were a +good many men on the Company's list to be worked off before they wanted +me again. Trade is slack over there, and it seemed wiser to await my +turn. After all, it doesn't cost so much to come across second-class and +Colonist; and I guessed you would be glad to see me."</p> + +<p>"So I am;" and there was no doubt that Wheelock meant it. "I've been +wanting you quite a while, Jimmy. Things aren't going well with me. Take +some whisky?"</p> + +<p>It was evident to Jimmy that his father already had taken as much as was +good for most men; and he did not often shrink from a responsibility, +that is, when he recognized it as such, which is now and then a little +difficult when one is young.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "this time I guess I will."</p> + +<p>He took the bottle, and, after helping himself sparingly, contrived to +slip it out of sight on the locker.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>"How's Eleanor?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Quite well; but though she has her mother's grit, life's hard on the +girl. Ellen could have done 'most anything if she'd got her diplomas, or +whatever they are, and I had figured I'd do something for one of my +children when I sent her back East. It was your mother's brother—the +brains come from that side of the family—did everything for you. A kind +of pity you and he quarreled, Jimmy!"</p> + +<p>Jimmy smiled drily as he remembered the year he had spent in Winnipeg +with the grim business man before the call of the sea that he was born +to listen to grew irresistible and the rupture came. Young as he was +then, he had proved himself equal in strength of purpose to the hard old +man, and had gone to sea in an English ship. It cost his father fifty +pounds for his outfit and premium, and that was all that Tom Wheelock +had done for him. He had made his own way into the steamers, and the +extra-master certificate and the commission in the R.N.R. he owed to +himself. Now it was evident that he must renounce all that they might +bring him—at least, for a while.</p> + +<p>"I don't think we ever would have hit it off together; and I can't help +a fancy that, after all, he didn't blame me very much for taking my own +way in spite of him," he said. "Still, it is a pity Eleanor had to come +back. I suppose keeping her in Toronto was out of the question?"</p> + +<p>Wheelock's eyes seemed to grow a trifle bloodshot, and his voice sank to +a hoarser note. "Quite. I might have done it but for the bond I gave +Merril when the <i>Eagle</i> went ashore. It wasn't that big a one, but he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> +fixed up quite a lot of things I never figured on. I was to insure to +full value, and have her repaired whenever his surveyor considered she +wanted it. Twice the man ran me up a big unnecessary bill, and I had to +go to Merril for the money. Now the boat's his, and there's a bond on +the <i>Tyee</i>. When the old man goes under, you'll remember who it was +squeezed the life out of him, Jimmy. Say, where d'you put that whisky?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not quite through with it yet;" and Jimmy, who did not pass it to +him, smiled reassuringly. "Anyway, I wouldn't worry too much about +Merril. I've a few dollars laid by, and I'm going to stay right here and +look after you. Bob Prescott tells me the Siwash wants to go ashore, and +that makes a berth for me. It's scarcely likely the Company will want me +for three months or more."</p> + +<p>The old man looked at him with a gleam of comprehension in his watery +eyes. "Jimmy," he said, "you have been a good son—and it wasn't quite +my fault I never did anything for you. Your mother was often ailing, and +when I sent her East twice to the specialists the freights I was getting +would scarcely foot the bill. Oh, yes, things were generally tight with +me. Now they're tight again; but when Merril wants my blood you've come +back to see it out with me."</p> + +<p>He made a gesture of weariness. "Well, I guess I'll turn in. I've been +trailing round the city most of the day after a man who owes me forty +dollars—and I'm 'way from being as young as I used to be."</p> + +<p>He climbed somewhat stiffly into his bunk, and Jimmy went up on deck. It +was dark now, and the <i>Tyee</i>, leaning down until the foot of her lee +bulwarks<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> was almost in the foam, swept through the dark water with a +leisurely dip and swing. A dim star or two hung over her mastheads, and +the peak of the big gaff-topsail swung athwart them a little blacker +than the night; but there was no shimmer of light on all the water, and +the schooner swung out to westward, vague and shadowy, with one blurred +shape gripping her straining wheel. It reminded Jimmy of the +sailing-ship days when he had set his teeth and borne what came to +him—wet and cold, utter weariness, want of sleep, purposeless +exactions, and brutal hazing. Those black days had gone. He had lived +through them, and had been about to reap his reward when the summons had +come and he had gone back West to his duty. The broken-down man in the +little cabin needed him, as Jimmy, who tried not to admit the greatness +of the change in him, realized. Then he turned as Prescott spoke to him +from the wheel.</p> + +<p>"Now you've had a talk to him, I guess you'll understand why I sent for +you," he said. "You've got to take hold and straighten things. Tom's +been letting go fast."</p> + +<p>Jimmy Wheelock said nothing, but he knew that in the meanwhile he must +put his career aside; and once more he set his lips and braced himself +to face the task before him as he had done often in the sailing-ship +days.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<br /> +<span class="smalltext">TO WINDWARD</span></h2> + + +<p>Two days had slipped away since Jimmy joined the <i>Tyee</i>, when, with her +dew-wet canvas slatting at every roll, she crept out from the narrow +waters into the Pacific. Astern of her the Olympians towered high above +the forests of Washington, a great serrated ridge of frosted silver that +cut coldly white against the blue of the morning sky. To starboard the +shore of Vancouver Island rose, a faint blur of misty pines, and ahead +the sea was dimmed by drifting vapors out of which the long swell swung +glassily. At times a wandering zephyr crisped it with a darker smear, +and the <i>Tyee</i> crawled ahead a little. Then she stopped again, heaving +her bows high out of the oily sea, while everything in her banged and +rattled.</p> + +<p>There was nothing that any one on board her could do but wait for the +breeze and wonder whether it would come from the right direction. Jimmy +sat on the deckhouse with his pipe in his hand, and Tom Wheelock, whose +face looked careworn in the early light and showed pasty gray patches +amidst its bronze, glanced westward a trifle anxiously as he held the +jerking wheel.</p> + +<p>"It's a kind of pity we lost that breeze," he said.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> "The people up +yonder want those sawmill fixings, and with the wind from the east we'd +'most have fetched the Inlet to-night. There was talk of somebody +putting a steamboat on, but the mill's a small one, and they figured +they'd give me a show as long as I could keep them going. I've got to do +it. There's a living in the contract."</p> + +<p>Then his face hardened suddenly, and he sighed. "That is, there would +have been if Merril hadn't got his grip on me. That man wants +everything."</p> + +<p>He appeared about to say something further, but just then Prescott flung +the scuttle slide back, and a smell of coffee and frizzling pork flowed +out of it.</p> + +<p>"If you want your breakfast, Tom, I guess you'd better get it," he said, +and lumbered round the deckhouse toward the wheel.</p> + +<p>Wheelock went below, and Jimmy, who seemed to forget that he had meant +to light his pipe, glanced thoughtfully at Prescott.</p> + +<p>"Who is this Merril, Bob?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Prescott made a vague gesture. "I guess he's everything. He has a finger +in most of what goes on in this Province, and feels round with it for +the money. Calls himself general broker and ship-store dealer; but he +has money in everything, from bush ranches to steamboats."</p> + +<p>"You mean he holds stock in them?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Prescott, "I guess I don't. I'm not smart at business, and +Tom isn't either, or he'd never have let Merril get his claws on him; +but it's quite plain to me that stocks don't count along with mortgages +and bonds. When you buy stock you take your chances,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> and quite often +that's 'bout all; but when you hold a bond at a big interest you usually +get the ship or mill. Anyway, that's how Merril fixes it."</p> + +<p>Jimmy lighted his pipe, but he looked more thoughtful than ever, as, in +fact, he was. Hitherto, he had taken life lightly, for, after all, wet +and cold, screaming gale and stinging spray, are things one gets used to +and faces unconcernedly; but Jimmy could recognize a responsibility, and +he realized that there was now to be a change. Tom Wheelock was growing +prematurely old and shaky, and it was, it seemed, his son's part to free +him from the load of debt that was crushing him, if this by any means +could be done; if not, at least to share it with him. He feared it would +be the latter. Hitherto he had waged only the clean, primitive strife +with the restless sea; but he did not shrink from the prospect of the +meaner and more arduous conflict with the wiles of man and the forces of +capital, or consider that in renouncing his career he was doing a +commendable thing. He was by no means brilliant intellectually, though +he had a certain shrewdness and a ready wit; and it only occurred to him +that the course he had decided on was the obvious one. He did not even +think it worth while to mention that he had done so, which indeed would +have been unnecessary, since Prescott seemed to take it for granted.</p> + +<p>"I believe you had the wind from the east for several days," he said. +"Why didn't you run across before?"</p> + +<p>"Well," replied Prescott reflectively, "we might have done so, but Tom +didn't seem greatly stuck on trying it. Took time over his loading when +he got your wire.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> Perhaps he didn't want to leave you hanging round +Vancouver until we got back again."</p> + +<p>Jimmy said nothing—he had partly expected this; and while he smoked his +second pipe, the vapors were rolled apart, and the breeze came down on +them. Unfortunately it came from the northwest, which, as the sawmill +they were bound for stood at the head of a deep inlet on the west coast +of Vancouver Island, was ahead of them; so for a while they let her +stretch out into the Pacific, close-hauled upon the starboard tack.</p> + +<p>The <i>Tyee</i> was comparatively fast, and, under all the sail they could +pile on to her, excepting the main gaff-topsail, she drove along with a +wide curl of foam under her lee bow and the froth lapping high and white +on her side. Then by degrees the long roll of the Pacific heaved itself +up into steep, blue-sided seas with tops of incandescent whiteness, and +as she lurched over them the spray whirled in filmy clouds from her +plunging bows. Still the breeze freshened, and by noon they hove her to +with jibs aback while they hauled two reefs down in her mainsail, and it +became necessary for somebody to crawl out to the end of its tilting +boom, which stretched a good fathom beyond her stern. Prescott was a +little too old for that work; Tom Wheelock held the wheel; and the +Siwash deck-hand was busy forward. Jimmy laughed as he swung himself up +to the footrope.</p> + +<p>"It's several years since I've done anything of this kind, but I dare +say I can tie those after-points in," he said.</p> + +<p>He clawed his way out, and, as he hung with waist across the spar and +both hands busy while the <i>Tyee</i>,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> flinging the spray all over her, +plunged upon the long, foam-tipped roll, a big Empress liner came up +from the eastward, white and majestic. She drove close by the schooner +with a slow and stately dip and swing, and Jimmy Wheelock, clinging to +the <i>Tyee</i>'s reef-points, smiled somewhat curiously as he glanced up at +her. Her tall side rose above him like a wall, and he saw the cluster of +saloon passengers beneath the tier of deckhouses move toward the rail to +gaze down upon the little dingy vessel, and the two trim officers high +above them in the sunshine on the slanting bridge. That was his +world—one in which steam did the hard work, and man merely pressed the +telegraph handle or laid a finger on a spoke of the little steering +wheel; but it was a world on which he had turned his back, and there was +nothing to be gained by repining.</p> + +<p>He broke two of his nails before he finished his task and dropped from +the footrope to the <i>Tyee</i>'s deck, and the liner had sunk to a gleaming +white blur and a smoke-trail on the rim of the sea before they had +reefed the foresail and once more got way on her. Then Prescott grinned +at Jimmy as he glanced toward the fading smear of vapor.</p> + +<p>"A head-wind's quite a little matter to that boat," he said. "I guess +you'd feel more at home on board of her?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy laughed good-humoredly. "Perhaps I would, but after all I don't +know that it counts for very much."</p> + +<p>They came round some hours later, and, heading her in for the land on +the other tack, found how little they had made to windward, whereupon +there followed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> a consultation. Prescott was for running back and coming +to an anchor in smooth water to wait for a shift of wind, but Wheelock +would go on. He blinked at the white sea to windward with watery eyes, +while the <i>Tyee</i>, putting her bows in, flung the spray all over her; but +there was a certain grimness in Tom Wheelock's eyes, for, if he was not +smart at business, he was at least a resolute seaman.</p> + +<p>"Those sawmill people want their fixings, and if we're to hold on to +their contract I guess they've got to have them," he said. "She should +thrash down to the Inlet by to-morrow night. I figure she'd go along a +little easier without her staysail."</p> + +<p>They hauled it down; but the <i>Tyee</i>, being loaded deep with heavy +machinery, was not appreciably drier afterward, and by the time the +angry, saffron sunset faded off the foam-crested sea, she put her bows +in somewhat frequently. Then there was a thud as she charged a big +comber, and the frothy cataract that seethed in over her weather rail +swirled aft a foot deep, while the spray blew all over her. Jimmy, +buttoned to the throat in oilskins, stood at her wheel dripping, through +four hours of darkness; and then, crawling down into the little cabin, +which was intolerably foul, flung himself into his bunk and +incontinently fell asleep, with the thud and swish of falling water +going on above him. When he awakened, his first proceeding was to grope +for the button that would summon a steward boy to bring him his morning +coffee, but as he could not find it he looked around and saw his wet +oilskins, which had shaken off the hook, sliding amidst the water up and +down the <i>Tyee</i>'s cabin floor. Then he remembered sud<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>denly, and, +dropping from his bunk, put on the oilskins and went up on deck.</p> + +<p>A sheet of spray temporarily blinded him as he crawled out of the +scuttle, and then there was little to be seen but a haze of it flying +athwart a gray sea lined by frothy ridges and smears of low-driving +cloud. The <i>Tyee</i>'s slanted mastheads seemed to rake through the latter, +and she was wet everywhere; but she was still hammering to windward with +bows that swung up streaming over the long seas. On the one hand, a +dingy smear, that might have been a point with pines on it, lifted +itself out of the grayness, and Tom Wheelock pointed to it as he swayed +with his wheel. His wet face was almost gray, and Jimmy could see the +suggestive bagginess under his eyes.</p> + +<p>"I guess we should fetch the Inlet by dark if it doesn't harden any +more; but we'll have another reef down now you're up," he said.</p> + +<p>They got the reef in with some difficulty, for all of them were needed +to haul the leech-earing down; and, because the Siwash hand was a better +boatman than sailor, Jimmy went out to the end of the boom again to tie +the after-points. When he came back the <i>Tyee</i> proceeded a little more +dryly, with the big gray seas that were topped with livid froth and had +deep hollows between them rolling up in long succession to meet her. She +went through some of them, for the sawmill machinery was a dead-weight +in her, and a white cataract foamed across her forward. When she plunged +into one that was larger than usual, Prescott, who now stood knee deep +at her wheel, shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Tom didn't ought to expect it of her," he said. "He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> wouldn't have held +her at it if he hadn't been mighty afraid of losing that contract."</p> + +<p>Jimmy made no answer. He understood by this time how his father was +circumstanced, and had discovered already that the man who stands +between the devil and the deep sea cannot afford to be particular. +Merril, who held a bond on the <i>Tyee</i>, might, it seemed, very well stand +for the devil.</p> + +<p>They thrashed her to windward most of that day. The sea got worse, and +there was not a dry stitch on any of them; but just at sunset the clouds +were rent apart, and Wheelock, who was standing on the deckhouse, +pointed to something that loomed amidst the vapor as they reeled +inshore.</p> + +<p>"The head!" he said. "The Inlet's about two miles beyond it."</p> + +<p>Prescott glanced at Jimmy as he pulled up the wheel. "With a blame ugly +tide-rip setting dead to windward across the mouth of it!"</p> + +<p>Jimmy said nothing, though naturally he was aware that when the ocean +streams run against the breeze they are very apt to pile up whatever sea +there is into curling, hollow-crested combers. A craft of the <i>Tyee</i>'s +size will often snugly ride out a hard gale—that is, if she is hove-to +under a strip or two of canvas; but to drive her to windward when she +must meet the onslaught of the seas, and go through them, is an +altogether different matter, and it seemed to him that she was already +doing as much as any one reasonably could expect from her. Then his +father came down from the deckhouse.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "she has got to go through it;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> those people want their +fixings. I guess we'll heave her round."</p> + +<p>The words were simple, but they implied a good deal. Wheelock could have +heaved his schooner to, or could have run away for shelter in another +inlet down the coast; but, as he had said, the sawmill people wanted +their machinery, and when he must choose between it and the devil he +would sooner face his ancient enemy the sea. Its attack was honest and +open, and the man with nerve enough might meet and withstand the charge +of its seething combers. Quickness of hand and rude, primitive valor +counted here, but it was otherwise in the insidious conflict with the +human schemer. Tom Wheelock's eyes were watery, but there was a snap in +them as he signed to Prescott and laid his hands on the wheel.</p> + +<p>"Get forward, Jimmy, and tend your head-sheets," he said. "We'll have +her round."</p> + +<p>She came round, but none too readily; and as they stretched out seaward +Jimmy had a brief vision of great rocks and hollows filled with pines +that opened out and closed on one another. Then as he glanced to +windward he saw the seatops heave athwart a blaze of crimson and saffron +low down under ragged wisps of cloud.</p> + +<p>They brought her round again presently, and she reeled in shoreward to +weather the second head on that side of the Inlet, with her little +three-reefed mainsail wet to its peak and the two jibs above her +bowsprit streaming at every plunge, while the big combers in the tideway +smote her weather-bow and poured out to leeward in long wisps of brine. +Still, she was slowly opening up the sheltered Inlet, and it was only a +question whether<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> she would go clear enough of the head on that tack. It +was, however, a somewhat momentous question, for it seemed to Jimmy very +doubtful whether she would come round with them again.</p> + +<p>Tom Wheelock stayed at the helm, and the head that had grown dim again +lifted its vast rock wall higher and higher out of the whirling vapors +that streamed amid the shadowy pines. It grew very close to them, but +the <i>Tyee</i> was half-buried forward most of the time, and the break +beyond the crag, where smooth water lay, had crept a little forward +instead of aft from under her lee-bow when a comber higher than the rest +hove itself up to weather, and fell upon her. It foamed across her +forward, and when it went seething aft as she swung her bows up there +was a crash, and Tom Wheelock loosed the spinning wheel.</p> + +<p>Jimmy saw him strike the bulwark and Prescott clutch him; but, knowing +that the plunge would probably make an end of the schooner if she rammed +another sea, he sprang to the wheel. She was coming up when he seized +it, which almost threw him over it, and there was a bang like a +rifle-shot as one of her streaming jibs was blown away. The veins +swelled on his forehead as he forced the helm up, and as the <i>Tyee</i> fell +off on her course again he had a momentary vision of a great wall of +rock that seemed to be creeping up on them. He also saw a man lying in +the water that sluiced about her deck, while another who strove to hold +him with one hand clung to a stanchion. Then, while he set his teeth and +braced himself against the drag of the wheel, he could discern nothing +but a haze of flying<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> brine, and could feel the hard-pressed vessel +strain and tremble under him.</p> + +<p>He did not know how long the tension lasted, nor for a minute or two did +he see much of Prescott and his father; but at last the rocks seemed to +slide away, and the <i>Tyee</i> drove through the furious turmoil in the +mouth of the Inlet. Then the wind fell suddenly, and, rising upright, +the dripping schooner slid forward beneath long ranks of misty pines. He +left the helm to the Siwash, and Prescott and he between them got +Wheelock down into the little cabin. He gasped when they had put him +into his bunk and poured a liberal measure of raw whisky down his +throat.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said faintly, "I guess we've saved that contract. You +weathered the head?"</p> + +<p>"We did," answered Prescott. "Jimmy grabbed the wheel in time. Seems to +me we had 'bout twenty fathoms to spare. Feel as if you'd broke anything +inside you?"</p> + +<p>Tom Wheelock moved himself a little, and groaned. "No," he said, "I +guess I haven't; but it hurt me considerably when I washed up against +the rail. Mightn't have felt it one time, but I'm getting old and shaky. +Anyway, you can light out and get your anchor clear. I'm feeling kind of +dizzy."</p> + +<p>Prescott went up the ladder, but Jimmy stayed where he was, and did not +go up on deck until his father's eyes closed. It was quite dark, and he +could see only vague, shadowy mountains black against the sky. +Presently, a long Siwash canoe with several men paddling hard on board +her came sliding down the dim lane of water that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> seemed to wind into +the heart of the forests. She stopped alongside, and a man climbed on +board.</p> + +<p>"We've been expecting you the last two days, and I'm glad you got in +now," he said. "Merril, who talks of running a steamer up this coast, +has been worrying our Vancouver people to make him an offer for their +carrying. It's quite likely they'd have made a deal with him if you'd +kept us waiting."</p> + +<p>They made the canoe fast, and the <i>Tyee</i> slowly crept on beneath the +shadowy mountains and the misty pines, for only a faint air of wind +disturbed the deep stillness here. Jim Wheelock, however, noticed very +little as he leaned on the rail with a vindictive hatred in his heart +for the man who, it seemed, was bent upon his father's ruin.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<br /> +<span class="smalltext">JIMMY MAKES FRIENDS</span></h2> + + +<p>They had landed the machinery, and partly loaded the <i>Tyee</i> with dressed +lumber, when Jimmy Wheelock, who was aching in every limb after a day's +arduous toil, sat, cigar in hand, in the office of the sawmill manager. +It was singularly untidy as well as unclean, for few men in that country +have time to consider their comfort. Odd bottles of engine-oil and +samples of belting lay amid the litter of sketches and specifications, +while the plates and provision-cans on the table suggested that the +manager and his guest had just finished their evening meal. The window +was open wide, and a clean smell of freshly cut cedar drifted in with +the aromatic fragrance of the pines. From where he sat Wheelock could +see them rolling up the steep hillside with the white mists streaming +athwart them, and the narrow lane of clear, green water winding past +their feet. There was deep stillness among them, for the mill was silent +at last, and it was only now and then that a voice rose faintly from the +little wooden settlement which straggled up the riverside.</p> + +<p>The manager, dressed in a store jacket and trousers of jean, lay upon +what seemed to be a tool-chest, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> he had, like Wheelock, a cigar of +exceptional flavor in his hand. He was a young, dark-eyed man, somewhat +spare of frame, and when he spoke, his quick, nervous gestures rather +than his accent, which was by no means marked, proclaimed him an +American of the Pacific Slope. It was characteristic that Wheelock, who +had spent less than a week in his company, already felt on familiar +terms with him. He had discovered that it is usually difficult to make +the acquaintance of an insular Englishman in anything like that time.</p> + +<p>"Old man feeling any better this afternoon?" inquired his companion.</p> + +<p>"He says so;" and Jimmy looked thoughtful, as he had done somewhat +frequently of late, though this had not been a habit of his. "Still, he +was flung rather heavily against the rail, and, though he insisted on +working, I'm not quite satisfied about him."</p> + +<p>The American nodded comprehendingly. "Parents are a responsibility now +and then. I lost mine, though. Raised myself somehow down in Washington. +Anyway, your father has been going down grade fast the two years I've +known him, and I'm sorry. He's a straight man. I like him."</p> + +<p>A trace of darker color crept into Jimmy's bronze, though he was aware +that candor of that kind is usual on the Pacific Slope, and there was +nothing he could resent in his companion's manner. However, he made no +answer, and the American spoke again.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad you got in on time. As I told Prescott, Merril has a notion of +going into the coasting trade, and wants our carrying. He has a pull on +some of our stockholders, but I don't like the man, and you'll get<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> our +freight as long as you can keep us going. Why did you let the old man +borrow that money from Merril?"</p> + +<p>"I wasn't here. In fact, it's only a few weeks since I left an English +ship at Portsmouth."</p> + +<p>"Mail-boat?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Jimmy; "a warship."</p> + +<p>The American looked at him hard a moment, and then made a little gesture +with the hand that held the cigar. He had seen Jimmy Wheelock carrying +boards on his shoulder all that day, and now he was dressed in the +Canadian wharf-hand's jean; but he had no difficulty in believing him.</p> + +<p>"Lieutenant in your second fighting line? Came back to look after the +old man?" he said. "Well, I guess he needs you. You want to keep your +eye on Merril, too. If you don't, he'll have the schooner. It's a sure +thing."</p> + +<p>Jimmy realized, without knowing exactly why, that he could give this +man, whom he had met only a few days ago, his confidence.</p> + +<p>"The same thing has occurred to me," he said. "Do you mind telling me +what you know about Merril?"</p> + +<p>"No; it's only what everybody else knows. Merril's a machine for +stamping money—out of anything. Got a ship-supply store in Vancouver, +and is working himself into the general carrying business. Lends money +on vessels, and fits them out. He'll give you a long credit, at a blame +long interest, and by and by he gets the vessel, or a controlling share +in her. He can't touch the express freight and passenger traffic—knows +too much to kick against the C.P.R. or the big sound<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> steamers; but +there's the general freight for the mines, sawmills and canneries up and +down the coast, and his vessels won't cost him much the way he buys +them. The trade's going to be a big one. If I'd forty thousand dollars +I'd buy a steamer."</p> + +<p>Jimmy's eyes twinkled. "A steamboat isn't a sawmill. Would you know how +to run her?"</p> + +<p>The American laughed. "If I didn't, I guess I could learn. It can't be +harder than playing the fiddle, and I've worried into that."</p> + +<p>He stopped a moment, and then announced quietly with the almost dramatic +abruptness which usually characterized him: "Anyway we'd make something +of it. I'd put you in command of her."</p> + +<p>"I wonder what leads you to believe I would suit you?" said Jimmy +reflectively.</p> + +<p>His companion waved his cigar. "Saw you packing lumber. You stayed right +with the contract, though you'd never done the thing before. Know what +the first few days are—I've been there. Stacked two-inch planks in +Washington when I was seventeen and my strength hadn't quite come to me, +and went home at nights walking double, with every joint in my body +aching. Then they started me log-wedging, and that's 'most enough to +break a weak man's heart. Still, I stayed with it, and now I'm drawing +royalties on my swing-frame and gang-saw patents, and hold stock in +several mills!"</p> + +<p>This was, perhaps, a trifle egotistical; but then it was, or would have +been in most other countries, somewhat of an achievement for one, who +had commenced with the lowest and most brutal labor, to make himself +patentee, manager and stockholder, while still a very young man;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> and +Jimmy had met mail-boat officers who gave themselves a good many airs on +the strength of possessing a refined taste in uniform tailoring and a +prepossessing personality. Individually, he felt it was more reasonable +to be satisfied with one's ability to invent and run a mill. Just then, +however, the door opened, and another man came in. He wore a blue shirt +which fell open at the neck for want of buttons, and jean trousers which +were very old and torn, and there were smears of oil and paint on his +hands.</p> + +<p>"I came to ask when you are going to saw me those fir frames, Jordan?" +he said.</p> + +<p>"Take a cigar!" said the American, and turned to Jimmy, with a grin. +"Ever heard of Thoreau who lived at Walden Pond?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy had, as it happened, read his book on board one of the mail-boats, +though he scarcely would have fancied that Jordan had done so. The +latter indicated the newcomer with a wave of his hand.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "that's another of them, though he lives in a yacht and +his name is Valentine. There are men—and they're not all cranks—who +seem to think the life most other people lead isn't good enough for +them."</p> + +<p>Valentine, who looked very different from any of the yachtsmen Jimmy had +seen on the English coast or elsewhere, sat down, and the latter was a +trifle astonished when he said, "That wasn't why Thoreau went to Walden. +He was an abolitionist, and made Walden a station for running niggers +into Canada. Anyway, why does a man want to go into business and slave +to pile up money, when he can have the greatest thing in nature for +nothing at all?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>"What's that?" asked Jordan. "It's not the young woman one may take a +fancy to; she usually costs a good deal."</p> + +<p>Valentine laughed softly, and looked hard at Jimmy. "Though you earn +your bread upon it, I think you know. There's nothing in this little +world to compare with the sea!"</p> + +<p>Then he stretched out his hand for the cigar-box. "I'll take two. It's +the brand your directors use. Saw those frames to-morrow, or I'll come +round and raise the roof for you. In the meanwhile, if you'll come +along, Mr. Wheelock, I'll show you my boat."</p> + +<p>Jordan grinned at Jimmy. "Better go along. You'll have to see her, +anyway."</p> + +<p>The two went out and left him, and as they paddled down the Inlet past +the endless ranks of climbing pines whose aromatic odors were heavy in +the dew-chilled air, Valentine glanced at his companion.</p> + +<p>"This world was made good, except the cities; but nothing was made much +better than that smell," he said. "It doesn't put unrest and longing +into you like the smell of the sea-grass and the sting of the powdered +spray; there's tranquillity and sound sleep in it; and, too, it gives +one comprehension."</p> + +<p>This was not what Jimmy would have expected from his companion, but he +understood. In that deep rift of the ranges where no wild wind ever +entered, and the sunlight called up clean, healing savors from the +solemn pines, one could realize that there was a beneficent purpose +behind the scheme of things, and that the world was good. Still, Jimmy +usually kept any fancies of that kind to himself.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>"The introduction seems familiar," he said. "I almost fancy I have heard +something very much like it before."</p> + +<p>"It's quite likely;" and Valentine laughed. "It has been said of several +other things, including tobacco."</p> + +<p>"You come here often?"</p> + +<p>"Usually to refit. It's quiet and clean; and I like Jordan. He's a man +with a mind, and straight, so far as it can be expected of any one in +business."</p> + +<p>"You don't follow any?"</p> + +<p>Valentine smiled somewhat curiously. "I'm a pariah. I take toll of the +deer and halibut instead of my fellow-men—that is, except when I +charter the boat now and then. Still, it's only when money is scarce +that I shoot and fish for the market. You see, I'm not in any sense of +the word a yachtsman. I live at sea because I like it. The boat makes an +economical home."</p> + +<p>Jimmy felt that this was as much as he was intended to know, and he +asked no more questions until presently they slid alongside a powerful +cutter of some thirty tons, which lay moored with an anchor outshore and +a breast-rope to the pines. Valentine took him into the little plainly +fitted forecastle where he lived, and afterwards led him through the +ornate saloon and white-enameled after-cabin. "That," he said, as they +went up the ladder again, "is for the charterers, though I'm by no means +sure the next lot will be pleased. It's a little difficult to get the +smell of halibut out of her."</p> + +<p>"You sail her alone?" asked Jimmy, who sat down on the skylights.</p> + +<p>"Generally. Wages run high in this country. But I have to ship a man or +two when any of the city people<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> charter her. She's not so much of a +handful when you get used to her."</p> + +<p>He did not seem to expect Jimmy to talk, and they sat silent a while, +the latter smoking thoughtfully as he looked about him. It was growing +dark, and the lower pines were wrapped in fleecy mist, out of which a +rigid branch rose raggedly here and there; but the heights of the range +still cut hard and sharp against the cold blueness of the evening sky. +Westward, a soft smoky glow burned faintly behind a great hill shoulder, +and, for no sound reached them from the little settlement, it was +impressively still.</p> + +<p>Jimmy felt the vague influence of the country creeping over him. It is a +land of wild grandeur, empty for the most part as yet, though it is rich +in coal and iron as well as in gold and silver, and its hillsides are +draped with forests whose timber would supply the world. It is also, as +he seemed to feel, for the bold man, a land of possibilities. +Enterprise, and even labor, is worth a good deal there; and Jimmy felt +that if his heart were stout enough such a land might have more to offer +him than a mate's berth on a heavily mortgaged schooner. Jordan +evidently believed that one might achieve affluence by making the +requisite effort, and Jimmy considered himself equally as capable as the +sawmiller. Still, as he sat there in the dewy stillness breathing the +clean scent of the pines, he realized that there was also something to +be said for his companion's attitude. He asked and strove for nothing, +but was content to live and enjoy what was so bountifully given him. +Perhaps Valentine guessed where his thoughts were lead<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>ing him, for once +more he broke into his little soft laugh.</p> + +<p>"One is as well off here as in the cities," he said. "Are you one of the +hustlers like Jordan yonder?"</p> + +<p>Though it was growing dark, Jimmy, disregarding the question, looked at +him thoughtfully. "Do you know? Have you tried the other thing?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes!" said Valentine, with a wry smile in his eyes. "I have tried +them both, and that is one reason why I'm here. You haven't answered me; +though, after all, I guess it's an unnecessary question."</p> + +<p>This time Jimmy laughed. "I don't know that I have any option. It seems +that a life of the kind Jordan leads will be forced on me. There are +circumstances in which one's inclinations don't count for very much, you +see. Anyway, it's almost time I turned in; I've been loading lumber +since early morning."</p> + +<p>Valentine got into the dory, and paddled him to the little wharf where +the <i>Tyee</i> was lying.</p> + +<p>"Come off again, and any time you see the boat along the coast I'll +expect you on board," he said.</p> + +<p>Jimmy climbed on board the schooner, and, descending to the little +cabin, found his father lying propped up in his bunk. His eyes were more +watery than ever, and when he spoke his voice was a trifle thick. The +light of the fish-oil lamp projected his worn face blackly in gaunt +profile on the bulkhead.</p> + +<p>"Been talking to Jordan? He's a man to make friends with," he said. +"Guess he and the other young ones with blood and grit in them are going +to set their mark on this country. It mayn't count against you if you +leave the mail-boats, Jimmy. Manhood stands<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> first here, though my day +has gone. Perhaps I fooled my chances, or didn't see them when they +came. But you're going to be smarter; you have red blood and brains."</p> + +<p>Jimmy said nothing. He had noticed already that Tom Wheelock had fallen +into a habit of inconsequent rambling, and there were times when it +pained him to listen. The old man, who did not seem to notice his +silence, went on:</p> + +<p>"You got them from your mother, as Eleanor has done. She died—and I'm +often thankful—before the bad days came. Guess it would break her heart +if she could see her husband now, a played-out, broken man, with a bond +on which he can't pay the interest on his last vessel. Maybe things +would have been different if she had lived. I was never smart at +business—I am a sailorman—and it was your mother who showed me how to +build the fleet up and save the money to buy each new boat. When you +went to sea we had four of them. Now they're all gone. The last was the +<i>Fish-hawk</i>, and she lies in six fathoms where she drove across the +Qualyclot reef with her starboard bilge ground in."</p> + +<p>"Merril doesn't own the <i>Tyee</i> yet," said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"No," said Wheelock drowsily; "but unless you know enough to stop him +he's going to. You'll have nothing, Jimmy, when I'm gone; but you'll +remember it was that man squeezed the blood out of me. Anyway, it won't +be long. I'm played out, and kind of tired of it all. Couldn't worry +through without your mother. Never was smart at business—I am a +sailorman. It was she who made me boss of the Wheelock fleet, and now I +guess she's waiting for the old and broken man."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>His elbow slipped from under him, and, falling back, he lay inert and +silent, with eyes that slowly closed, and his face showing very gaunt +and unhealthily pallid in patches under the fish-oil lamp. There was no +longer any suggestion of strength in it, for dejection had slackened his +mental grip as indulgence had sapped the vigor of his body. Jimmy +Wheelock, who remembered what his father had been, felt a haze creep +across his eyes as he gazed at him, and then a sudden thrill of anger +seemed to fill his blood with fire. Merril, who held a bond on the +<i>Tyee</i>, had, it seemed, a good deal to answer for.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<br /> +<span class="smalltext">IN THE TOILS</span></h2> + + +<p>It was a month later when Jimmy Wheelock stood leaning on the <i>Tyee</i>'s +rail one morning, while she lay alongside a sawmill wharf at Vancouver. +The Siwash deck-hand had left them, and Jimmy, who had done his work, +was very hot and grimy after trimming ballast in the hold. He and +Prescott were waiting for another few loads of it, and expected that the +<i>Tyee</i> would go to sea shortly after they got them. This, however, was +by no means certain, since a surveyor had come on board a few days ago, +and Tom Wheelock, who had been summoned to Merril's office, had not yet +come back.</p> + +<p>It was then about eleven o'clock, and the broad Inlet sparkled in a +blaze of sunshine, with a fresh breeze that came off from the black pine +forests crisping it into little splashing ripples. Jimmy was glad of the +chill of it on his dripping face, and as grateful for the respite from +toil with the shovel, as he gazed at the climbing city. It rose with the +dark pines creeping close up to it, ridged with mazy wires and towering +poles, roof above roof, up the low rise, and the air was filled with the +sound of its activity. A train of ponderous freight-cars rolled clanging +along the wharf; a great locomotive with tolling bell was backing more +cars<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> in; and the scream of saws rang stridently through the clatter of +the winches as Empress liner and sound steamer hove their cargo in. +Jimmy Wheelock had, of course, gazed upon a similar scene in other +ports, but there was, he seemed to feel, a difference here.</p> + +<p>In this new land the toiler was not bound by iron laws of caste and +custom forever to his toil. The Mountain Province was awakening to a +recognition of its wealth, and there was room in it and to spare for men +with brains as well as men with muscle. There were forests to be +cleared, roads to be built, and mine adits to be driven, and nobody +troubled himself greatly about the antecedents of his hired hand. If the +latter professed himself able to do what was required of him, he was, as +they say in that country, given a show. Jimmy also knew that where all +were ready to attempt the impossible, and toiled as, except in the New +West, man has seldom toiled before, it was the English sailormen, +runagates from their vessels, who had built the most perilous railroad +trestles, and marched with the vanguard when the treasure-seekers pushed +their way into the wilderness of rock and snow. He felt as he listened +to the scream of the saws and the tolling of the locomotive bells that +amid all that feverish activity there must be some scope for him, which +was reassuring, since it was becoming clear that he would have to find +some means of supporting himself and his father before very long.</p> + +<p>Then he looked around as Prescott, who touched his arm, pointed to a +trim white cutter which was sliding through the flashing water with an +inclined spire of sail above her and a swath of foam at her lee bow.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>"I guess that's Valentine's <i>Sorata</i>," he said. "Got the biggest topsail +on her, and she has a deck-plank in. If she'd only her lower canvas, +most men would find her quite a big handful to sail alone. It's when he +rounds up to his mooring the circus will begin."</p> + +<p>The <i>Sorata</i> came straight on toward them, close-hauled on the wind, +until they could hear the hissing of the brine that swept a foot deep +along her slanted deck; then there was a banging of canvas, and she +swung as on a pivot, while a bent figure with its back against her +tiller became furiously busy. Slanting sharply, she drove away on the +other tack, and shot in with canvas shaking between a great four-masted +ship and a steamer with white tiers of decks. Then her head-sails +dropped, and she stopped with a big iron buoy which Valentine seized +with his boat-hook close beneath her bowsprit. After that there was a +rattle of chain, and Prescott made a gesture of approval.</p> + +<p>"Smart," he said. "I guess there are not many men in this Province who +could have brought her up in that berth without another hand on board."</p> + +<p>Valentine appeared to see them, for he waved his hand; but the next +minute Jimmy, who looked around, lost his interest in him, for Tom +Wheelock was coming slowly across the wharf. He walked wearily, with +head bent and dejection expressed in every languid movement. Prescott's +face grew troubled as he glanced at him.</p> + +<p>"I guess we're not going to sea to-day," he said. "Your father has more +to carry than he can stand. That—Merril has been putting the screw on +him."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>Wheelock dropped somewhat heavily upon the <i>Tyee</i>'s deck, and, though +they looked at him questioningly, he said nothing to either of them as +he made his way to the little after-cabin. When he reached it, he sat +down and wiped his forehead before he poured himself out a stiff drink +of whisky; then he made a little, hopeless gesture as he turned to +Jimmy, who stood at the foot of the ladder with Prescott in the scuttle +behind him.</p> + +<p>"You'll stop loading that ballast," he said. "I'm fixed this time. I +guess Merril has the ship. Carpenters to come on board to-morrow, and as +far as I can figure, eight hundred dollars won't see them clear. Besides +that, it's a sure thing we'll lose the coast mill contract."</p> + +<p>Jimmy said nothing, but he set his lips tight, and Tom Wheelock had +finished his whisky before he looked at him again. His eyes were +half-closed, and he sat huddled and limp, with one hand trembling on his +glass, a broken man.</p> + +<p>"Carpenters will be here to-morrow. I guess there's no use stopping +them—I've got to see the thing right out," he said. "Still, you can +tell the boys we don't want that ballast. I feel kind of shaky, and I'm +going to lie down. Not as strong as I used to be, Jimmy, and I haven't +quite got over that thump I got against the rail."</p> + +<p>Jimmy made a sign to Prescott and went up the ladder, and when he stood +on deck the grizzled sailorman wondered at the change in him. There was +no geniality in his blue eyes now, and his face was set and grim, for +pity was struggling within him with a vindictive hatred of the man who +had brought his father<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> down. Tom Wheelock, it was evident, had been +brought low in more ways than one.</p> + +<p>"If you'll see about that ballast, I'll go straight to Merril's office. +I want this thing made clear," he said.</p> + +<p>"Well," advised Prescott, "I'd walk round a few blocks first; you want +to simmer down before you talk to a man like that. Go slow, and get a +round turn on your temper."</p> + +<p>Jimmy, who made no answer, swung himself up on the wharf, and it was not +until he had traversed part of the water-front that he remembered it +might have been advisable to change his clothes. He was still clad in +blue jean freely smeared with the red soil that he had been shoveling in +the hold, and his face and hands were grimy and damp with perspiration. +Still, that did not seem to matter greatly, since, after all, it was a +costume quite in accordance with his station. The days when he had worn +a naval uniform had passed.</p> + +<p>Striding into an office in a great stone building, he accosted a clerk, +who said that Mr. Merril was busy, and then appeared to grow a trifle +disconcerted under Jimmy's gaze. The latter smiled at him grimly.</p> + +<p>"Then it's probably fortunate that I'm not busy at all," he said. "In +fact, I'm quite prepared to stay here until this evening; and since +there seems to be only one door to the place it will perhaps save Mr. +Merril inconvenience if he sees me now. You can explain that to him."</p> + +<p>The clerk, who grinned at one of his companions, disappeared, and, +coming back, ushered the insistent visitor into a sumptuously furnished +office; and, when the door closed behind him, Jimmy was a little +aston<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>ished to find himself as collected as he had ever been in his +life. He was one of the men who do not quite realize their own +capabilities until driven by necessity into strenuous action. An elderly +gentleman with a pallid and somewhat expressionless face, dressed with a +precision not altogether usual in that country, looked up at him.</p> + +<p>"Well?" he said inquiringly.</p> + +<p>Jimmy drew forward a chair, and sat down uninvited. "You know my name," +he said. "I want to understand exactly why you are sending those +carpenters on board the schooner?"</p> + +<p>Merril looked at him gravely, but Jimmy did not appear to find his gaze +in any way troublesome.</p> + +<p>"I don't think you have anything to do with the matter," he said. +"Still, out of courtesy——"</p> + +<p>"No," interrupted Jimmy; "I'm not asking a favor, only anticipating +things a little. It is, I am afraid, quite likely that I shall have to +take over the schooner before very long."</p> + +<p>"Then, in accordance with a clause in the agreement, the vessel must be +kept in efficient repair to the satisfaction of a qualified surveyor. +The man I sent down reports that she needs a new mast, decks relaid, and +a good deal of new planking about her water-line. Your father has +particulars."</p> + +<p>"I suppose," said Jimmy very quietly, "there would be nothing gained by +asking you to allow the repairs to stand over until we have brought down +one or two more loads of lumber. I expect you know it will cost us the +sawmill contract if we lay the schooner off now?"</p> + +<p>Merril made a little gesture. "I'm afraid not. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> can't afford to take +the risk of having the schooner lost, to oblige you, and the fact that +you may not carry out the sawmill contract naturally does not concern +me."</p> + +<p>"Has it occurred to you that we might question your surveyor's report? +Half the repairs are quite unnecessary, as you no doubt know. Why the +man recommended them is, of course, a question I'm not going into, +though it wouldn't be very difficult to hit on the reason. There are, +however, other men of his profession in this city."</p> + +<p>Again Merril looked at him steadily, with a faint, sardonic gleam, which +was more galling than anger, in his eyes. "You will, of course, do what +you consider advisable, but if the repairs are not made I shall apply +for an injunction to stop you from going to sea; and the law is somewhat +costly. The redemption instalment and interest are overdue, and if your +father has any money with him, one would fancy it would be more prudent +for him to settle his obligations than to give it to the lawyers."</p> + +<p>Jimmy realized that this was incontrovertible. Unless the arrears were +paid within a fixed time, Merril could foreclose on the vessel and sell +her to somebody acting in concert with him, which was, no doubt, what he +wished to do. There was, it seemed, no wriggling out of his grip; and, +though he felt it would be useless, Jimmy resolved to appeal to his +sense of fairness.</p> + +<p>"So far as I can figure, you have been paid in interest and charges +about forty cents on every dollar you lent; and you still hold a bond +for the original amount," he said. "That would be enough to satisfy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> +most men; and all we ask is a little time and consideration. You could +let those repairs stand over, and could wait a while for your interest. +It will most certainly be paid if we can keep hold of the sawmill +contract."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid you are wasting time;" and Merril glanced at the papers +before him. "There are several reasons which make it necessary for me to +insist on your father's carrying out the conditions of his bond. He owes +me a good deal of money now."</p> + +<p>A hard glint crept into Jimmy's blue eyes, and there was a trace of +hoarseness in his voice. "I want you to understand that it will crush +him," he said. "He is an old and broken man, and you would lose nothing +by a little clemency. I will take every dollar of his debts upon +myself."</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry, but it can't be helped," said Merril, with a shrug of his +shoulders which seemed to suggest that his patience was becoming +exhausted. "The conditions laid down must be carried out."</p> + +<p>Jimmy rose slowly. Every nerve in him tingled, though there was only the +ominous scintillation in his eyes to indicate what he was feeling. +Laying one hand on Merril's desk, he looked down at him, and they faced +each other so for, perhaps, half a minute. The man who held in his grasp +many a small industry in that Province shrank inwardly beneath the +sailor's gaze.</p> + +<p>"Then," said Jimmy, with a slow forcefulness that was the more +impressive because of the restraint he put upon himself, "you shall have +your money, and everything else that is due you. If I live long +enough—all—my father's debt will certainly be paid."</p> + +<p>He went out; and Merril, to whom an interview of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> this description was +not exactly a novelty, was for once a little uneasy in his mind. There +was a certain suggestion of steadfastness in the seafarer's manner that +he did not like, and he felt that he could be relied on to keep his +promise if the opportunity were afforded him. Still, the bondholder +fancied it would not be insuperably difficult to contrive that the +occasion did not arise.</p> + +<p>Next day the carpenters duly arrived on board the <i>Tyee</i>, and when they +took possession there was nothing for any one else to do, which was +partly why it happened that Jimmy sat smoking on the skylights of the +<i>Sorata</i>'s saloon one hot afternoon. He had told Valentine, who lay near +him on the warm deck, part of his troubles. There was scarcely a breath +of air, and the smoke of the big mills hung in a long trail above the +oily Inlet and floated in a filmy cloud athwart the towering pines. The +tapping of the carpenters' mallets on board the <i>Tyee</i> came faintly +across the water.</p> + +<p>"It will be three weeks, anyway, before you get your new deck in, and it +may be longer," said Valentine. "All the carpenters on this coast are +going up to the new railroad trestles, where they're getting almost any +price they ask. What are you going to do in the meanwhile?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy said he did not know, and was sorry this was the case. He had +discovered that board costs a good deal in that country, and while the +<i>Tyee</i> was practically gutted it would be necessary to live ashore. +Valentine appeared to ruminate, and then looked up at him.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said reflectively, "I'm going up the coast, and I want an +experienced skipper. That's easy, be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>cause I know too much about +charterers to let them have my boat without taking me. Yachting's just +becoming popular here. Next, there's to be a capable cook, and that +could be contrived, because, although Louis is about the worst cook I +know, they needn't find it out until we're well away to sea. The third +man is the difficulty. He's to be warranted sober, reliable, and +intelligent, since he may be required to take the young ladies out +fishing in the dory. All to be civil and clean, and provided with +suitable uniform. It's in the charter. They appear to be particular +people."</p> + +<p>Jimmy laughed. "Evidently. Still, I don't quite see what it all has to +do with me, since I'm not going. Where's the man you had when you took +the last party?"</p> + +<p>"On the wharf; he'll never come back again with me. He was a blue-water +man, and one day he broke loose and got at the charterers' whisky. Tried +to kiss one of the young ladies as he was carrying her on board the +dory, and, though I threw him in afterward, her father made considerable +unpleasantness over the thing."</p> + +<p>He stopped a moment, and looked at Jimmy with a whimsical twinkle in his +eyes. "Now, I don't know any reason why you shouldn't come if you feel +like it. You seem reasonably sober, and I guess you could be civil. +Charterers aren't quite so trying here as one would fancy they are in +the Old Country. I've been there; but on the Pacific Slope we haven't +yet branded the people who work as quite outside the pale. You could put +on the steamboat jacket, and I've an old man-o'-war cap with gold +letters on it. The man who left it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> on board the <i>Sorata</i> privately +discharged himself from one of the Pacific squadron. It was a dark +night, and he was almost drowned when I got him. Well, it would bring +you twelve dollars a week, all found—it's what I'd have to pay another +man—besides being a favor to me."</p> + +<p>Jimmy laughed outright. He had his cares just then, but he was, after +all, a young man of somewhat whimsical temperament, and the prospect of +the adventure appealed to him. The twelve dollars a week were more +attractive still, since he had reasons for believing that the small sum +he had brought with him to Vancouver would be badly wanted before very +long, and while the <i>Tyee</i> lay idle he could not trench upon his +father's scanty store.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "it sounds a crazy kind of thing, but that is, perhaps, +why it attracts me. I'll come."</p> + +<p>Valentine smiled. "Then you'll come off early to-morrow, and try to +remember you're a blue-water man who has hired out to me. You want to +get yourself up kind of smartly. We'll go below and see what I've got. +It's in the charter."</p> + +<p>Half an hour later Jimmy was rowed ashore, and he walked back to the +wharf where the <i>Tyee</i> was lying with, for the first time during several +weeks, a smile in his eyes. It would be a relief to forget his troubles +for a week or two, and his father would not need him in the meanwhile. +Naturally he did not know that the crazy venture on which he had +embarked was to have somewhat important results for him as well as for +other people.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<br /> +<span class="smalltext">VALENTINE'S PAID HAND</span></h2> + + +<p>It was about five o'clock in the evening when Jimmy stood on the +Vancouver wharf beside an express wagon, from which the teamster had +just flung down what appeared to him an inordinate quantity of baggage. +He was then attired in a steamboat officer's jacket, from which he had +removed a row of buttons as well as the braid on the cuffs, an old pair +of Valentine's white duck trousers carefully mended with sail-sewing +twine, a pair of canvas shoes with a burst in one of them, and a +somewhat dilapidated man-o'-war cap. In this get-up he expected to pass +muster as a professional yacht-hand, though as yet there were very few +men who followed that calling in Vancouver or Victoria. Had he been +brought up in England he might have felt a little more uncomfortable +than he did, but the average Westerner is troubled by no false pride, +and is usually willing to earn the money he requires by any means +available. Still, Jimmy was not altogether at ease, for he had, at least +to some extent, become endued with his comrades' notions during the time +he had spent in the mail-boats and the English warship.</p> + +<p>A little farther up the wharf Valentine was talking to a gray-haired +gentleman whose immaculate blue serge,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> level voice, and formal attitude +seemed to stamp him as different from the men of the Pacific Slope, who +have as a rule no time to waste in considering appearances. Two young +ladies stood not very far away, and, though the breeze was no more than +pleasantly cool, one of them was wrapped in a long cloak and shawl. +Jimmy could not see the other very well because of the wagon, but when +she moved across the wharf her lithe step and graceful carriage at least +suggested vigorous health.</p> + +<p>By and by the rattle of a neighboring steamer's winch ceased suddenly, +and he heard the voice of the elderly gentleman, who had been glancing +in his direction.</p> + +<p>"I suppose that is your man," he said, with a clear English intonation. +"Couldn't you have got him up a little more smartly? That man-o'-war +cap, for instance, is a little out of keeping with the rest of his +things."</p> + +<p>Jimmy saw Valentine's badly suppressed smile, and caught his answer. "He +was in one of the warships, sir, and is a reliable man. I can warrant +him civil and sober."</p> + +<p>"Well," said the other, "we may as well go off while he brings down the +baggage."</p> + +<p>The party moved toward the <i>Sorata</i>'s dory, and Jimmy was not exactly +pleased when he found himself left to carry their baggage, which +appeared to be unusually heavy, down a flight of awkward steps. It was +not very long since he had stood beside a mail-boat's hatch, and merely +raised a hand now and then while her deck-hands stowed the baggage under +his direction; but he found something faintly humorous in the situation +until, hampered by an awkward load, he lost his balance and fell down +the steps. Still, he contrived to deposit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> the charterers' possessions +at the water's edge, and when Valentine came back he packed them into +the dory, and about fifteen minutes later staggered into the little +white ladies' cabin on board the <i>Sorata</i> with a big trunk in his arms. +One of the girls was busy unstrapping a valise, but the other looked +around as he came in.</p> + +<p>"Put it there!" she said, with a swift glance at him, and then, though +he noticed that apparently she had something in her hand, she seemed to +change her mind and turned around again.</p> + +<p>Jimmy went out backwards, with a faint warmth in his face, and when he +had brought in the rest of the baggage he went up and assisted Louis, +their third hand, to break out the anchor and get the <i>Sorata</i> under +way. She was sliding out through the Narrows when he dropped through the +scuttle into the forecastle, and found Valentine filling a tray.</p> + +<p>"It's part of your business to carry the baggage," he said. "You want to +remember they're particular people, and you're expected to make yourself +generally useful and agreeable. Still, I guess there's no need to talk +as you would in a mail-boat's saloon."</p> + +<p>Jimmy took the tray, but, as it happened, the <i>Sorata</i> lurched on the +wash from a passing steamer as he went through the sliding door in the +bulk-head, and, plunging into the saloon with arms stretched out, he +fell against the table. It was a moment or two before he partly +recovered his equanimity, and then, as he looked about him, a hoarse +laugh fell through the open skylights. To make things worse, he fancied +that the elderly gentleman cast a suspicious glance at him, while he was +quite sure that there was a twinkle in one of the young<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> ladies' eyes. +She leaned back somewhat wearily upon a locker cushion, and her face was +thin and fragile; but her companion sat upright, and Jimmy saw that she +also was regarding him. She was tall and somewhat large of frame, with a +quiet face that had something patrician in it, and reposeful brown eyes. +Jimmy fancied that she and the others must have heard the laugh above.</p> + +<p>"It's only that idiot Louis, sir," he said. "It's a habit he has. You'll +hear him laugh to himself now and then when he's at the helm."</p> + +<p>Then it occurred to him that he was speaking more familiarly than an +Englishman would probably expect a yacht-hand to do, and, pulling +himself up abruptly, he commenced to lay out the table and pour the +coffee.</p> + +<p>"You take sugar, miss?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"She does," said the man dryly. "When a spoon is not available she +prefers her own fingers."</p> + +<p>The delicate girl laughed a little, and Jimmy felt his face grow warm, +for he was conscious that her companion was watching him with quiet +amusement; but he contrived to find the spoons he had forgotten, and +when he was about to withdraw the girl with the brown eyes made a little +sign.</p> + +<p>"I suppose we are at liberty to read any of those books?" she asked, +pointing to the hanging shelves. "They are the skipper's?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy knew what she was thinking, because the works in question were by +no means of the kind one would have expected a professional yacht-hirer +to own or to appreciate. He also knew that the forecastle slide was +open, and that Valentine was probably listening.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>"Of course, miss," he said; "take any of them, if you can understand +them. I think it's more than the skipper does. Still, he has a little +education, and bought them cheap at book sales. They give a kind of tone +to the boat."</p> + +<p>"I see," said the girl with the reposeful eyes, and Jimmy backed out in +haste. He fancied a little ripple of musical laughter broke out after he +had closed the forecastle slide. Then he glanced deprecatingly at +Valentine, who did not appear by any means pleased with him.</p> + +<p>"I didn't expect too much from you, but the last piece of gratuitous +foolery might have been left out," he said. "Did you ever come across a +yacht steward who took passengers into his confidence in the casual way +you do?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Jimmy candidly, "I don't think I ever did. Now, I don't in +the least know what came over me, but I can't remember ever losing my +head in quite the same way before. It must have been the way the girl +with the brown eyes looked at me. In fact, she seemed to be looking +right through me. Who is she?"</p> + +<p>"Miss Merril."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Jimmy, a trifle sharply. "Still, it doesn't seem to be an +unusual name in this country, and, after all, one couldn't hold her +responsible for her father's doings—if she is the one I mean. It's +quite possible they wouldn't please her if she were acquainted with +them. In fact, it's distinctly probable."</p> + +<p>"I wonder why you seem so sure of that? She is the one you mean."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>"From her face. You couldn't expect a girl with a face like that to +approve of anything that was not——"</p> + +<p>He saw Valentine's smile, and broke off abruptly. "Anyway, it doesn't +matter in the least to either of us. What is she doing here, and who are +the others?"</p> + +<p>Valentine laughed. "I don't think I suggested that it did. The man is +Austerly, of the Crown-land offices, and English, as you can see—one of +the men with a family pull on somebody in authority in the Old Country. +I believe he was a yacht-club commodore at home. The delicate girl's his +daughter. Not enough blood in her—phthisis, too, I think—and it's +quite likely she has been recommended a trip at sea. Miss Merril is, I +understand, a friend of hers, and she evidently knows something of +yachting too."</p> + +<p>"What do you know about phthisis?"</p> + +<p>A shadow suddenly crept into Valentine's brown face. "Well," he said +quietly, "as it happens, I do know a little too much."</p> + +<p>Jimmy asked no more questions, but got his supper, and contrived to keep +out of the passengers' way until about ten o'clock that night, when he +sat at the helm as the <i>Sorata</i> fled westward before a fresh breeze. To +port, and very high above her, a cold white line of snow gleamed +ethereally under the full moon. A long roll tipped by flashing froth +came up behind her, and she swung over it with the foam boiling at her +bows and her boom well off, rolling so that her topsail which cut black +against the moonlight swung wildly athwart the softly luminous blue.</p> + +<p>Jimmy was watching a long sea sweep by and break into a ridge of +gleaming froth, when Miss Merril came<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> out from the little companion and +stood close beside him with the silvery light upon her. She had a soft +wrap of some kind about her head and shoulders, and, though he could not +at first see her face, the way the fleecy fabric hung emphasized her +shapely figure.</p> + +<p>"I wonder whether you would let me steer?" she asked.</p> + +<p>For a moment or two Jimmy hesitated. The <i>Sorata</i> was carrying a good +deal of sail, and running rather wildly, while he knew that a very small +blunder at the tiller would bring her big main-boom crashing over, the +result of which might be disaster. Still, there was something in the +girl's manner which, for no reason that he could think of, impressed him +with confidence. He felt that she would not have asked him for the helm +merely out of caprice, or unless she could steer.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, remembering he was supposed to be a yacht-hand, "we +will see what kind of a show you make at it, miss. Take hold, and try to +keep her bowsprit on the island. It's the little black smear in the +moonlight yonder."</p> + +<p>The girl apparently had no difficulty in doing it, though for a while he +crouched upon the side-deck with a brown hand close beside the ones she +laid on the tiller. Then as, feeling reassured, he relaxed his grasp, +she appeared to indicate her hands with a glance.</p> + +<p>"They are really stronger than you seem to think," she said, "and I have +sailed a yacht before."</p> + +<p>Jimmy laughed. "I only thought they were very pretty."</p> + +<p>The girl looked around at him a moment, without indignation, but with a +grave inquiry in her eyes which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> Jimmy, who suddenly remembered the rôle +he was expected to play, found curiously disconcerting.</p> + +<p>"What made you say that?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"I really don't know;" and Jimmy had sense enough not to make matters +worse by admitting that he had said anything unusual. "It seemed to come +to me naturally. Perhaps it was because they—are—pretty."</p> + +<p>This time Miss Merril laughed. "Well," she said, "I should just as soon +they were capable. But don't you think she would steer easier with the +sheet slacked off a foot or two?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy had thought so already, but while he let the sheet run around a +cleat he asked himself whether this was intended as a tactful reminder +that he was merely expected to do what was necessary on board the +vessel. On the whole he did not think it was. One has, after all, a +certain license at sea; and though he had naturally met young ladies on +board the mail-boats who apparently found pleasure in treating every man +not exactly of their own station with frigid discourtesy, he fancied +that Miss Merril differed from them. However, he sat silent and out of +the way upon the <i>Sorata</i>'s counter, until presently a lordly, +four-masted ship swept up out of the soft blueness of the night.</p> + +<p>She crossed the <i>Sorata</i>'s bows, braced up on the wind, and, for she +carried American cotton sailcloth, she gleamed majestically white, with +four great spires of slanted canvas tapering from the great arch of her +courses to the little royals that swayed high up athwart the blue above +a long line of dusky hull. It was hove up on the side nearest the +<i>Sorata</i>, and the sea frothed white beneath her bows, which piled it +high in a filmy,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> flashing cloud. Miss Merril could hear the roar of +parted water, and, as the great vessel drove by, the refrain of a +sighing chantey that fell amidst a sharp clanking from the black figures +on her spray-drenched forecastle.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" she said, "that is a picture to remember. I wonder what those men +have undergone, and where they come from?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy smiled, presuming that she was addressing him, though he could not +be sure of it.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "I should fancy they have borne 'most everything that a +man could be expected to face, except want of food, while they thrashed +her round the Horn. She's American, and, if they drive men hard on board +their ships, they at least usually feed them well."</p> + +<p>"You know what they have done?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy laughed, and forgot his man-o'-war cap as he saw that she was +interested. "I believe I do. They've crawled out on those long topsail +yards probably once every watch by night and day, clawing at thundering +folds of hard, drenched canvas, while the ship lay with her rail in the +water when the Cape Horn squalls came down thick with blinding snow. +Then they've crawled down with bleeding hands and broken nails, and +flung themselves, in their dripping oilskins, into a soddened bunk to +snatch a couple of hours' sleep before they were roused to get sail on +her again. They have lived for days on cold provisions soaked in brine +when the galley fire was drowned out, and it is very likely have not +stripped a long boot off for a week. She carries a high<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> rail, but the +icy sea that chilled them to the bone has poured across it at every +roll."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said the girl; "going west it would be to windward. In one way +it's almost an epic. I suppose it's always more or less like that?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Jimmy; "one of the epics nobody has ever written, perhaps +because nobody really could. There are a good many of them. As you say, +when one has to fight to windward, things generally happen more or less +that way."</p> + +<p>Miss Merril turned and looked at him as he sat on the <i>Sorata</i>'s counter +in the navy cap, and a smile crept into her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Still," she said, "perhaps it is, after all, worth while to face them."</p> + +<p>They both remembered that afterward, but in the meanwhile it did not +strike Jimmy as in any way incongruous that she should talk to him in +such a fashion or credit him with more comprehension than one would +expect from a professional yacht-hand.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," he said simply. "One's heart is apt to fail when one +looks forward and sees only the snow-squalls to drive one back to +leeward, and the steep head seas."</p> + +<p>Then he stood up suddenly with a little laugh as Louis came slouching +aft from the forecastle scuttle.</p> + +<p>"I'm relieved, and I had better see whether they want anything in the +saloon," he said.</p> + +<p>It appeared that they wanted nothing, and when he crawled into the +forecastle Valentine looked at him with evident curiosity.</p> + +<p>"You had apparently a good deal to say to Miss<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> Merril," he observed. +"Might one ask what you found to talk about?"</p> + +<p>"The last topic was whether it is worth while to hang on and fight one's +way to windward when the outlook is black. If I understood her +correctly, she seems to believe it is."</p> + +<p>Valentine grinned sardonically. "Did you discuss it like a German +philosopher, or as a forecastle hand? I suppose it never struck you that +it's rather an unusual subject for a yachting roustabout to go into with +a young lady passenger?"</p> + +<p>"It is," agreed Jimmy, making a little deprecatory gesture. "I'm afraid +I didn't remember that before; but it probably doesn't matter, since +it's hardly likely that she did either."</p> + +<p>His comrade looked at him, and shook his head. "You can believe that—at +your age?" he said. "My dear man, a young woman of Miss Merril's +intelligence would notice anything that wasn't quite in character the +moment you said it. Still, that is your affair. It's the other one I'm +worrying about."</p> + +<p>"The other one?"</p> + +<p>"Miss Austerly. The girl's very sick—probably worse than her father +realizes—and it's rather on my conscience that I told them that Louis +could cook. Anyway, if this breeze holds we'll bring up off Victoria +early to-morrow, and though we're not going in, I'll slip ashore before +breakfast and see what one can pick up at the stores."</p> + +<p>Jimmy asked him no more questions, but crept into his bunk. About nine +o'clock on the morrow, when the <i>Sorata</i> was lying in a bight on the +south coast of Van<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>couver Island, he was aroused by the dory bumping +alongside, and he went out on deck. It was then raining hard, and all he +could see was a stretch of gray sea and a strip of dripping boulder +beach on which a little white surf was breaking. There was a good deal +of water in the dory, and Valentine's oilskins were dripping when he +climbed out of her with several packages under his arm. Stores open +early in that country.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, "you can bail her out, and come down in half an hour +when I've fixed up a breakfast that any one could eat."</p> + +<p>Jimmy did so, but it was with some little diffidence that he carried the +tray into the saloon. It occurred to him that Miss Merril might regret +that she had unbent so far the previous night, and he wondered uneasily +whether he had ventured further than was advisable. He was also +conscious for the first time that the repairs Valentine had made in his +garments were less artistic than evident. The girl, however, looked up +with a smile, which might have meant anything, and afterward confined +her attention to the articles he was laying on the table. There were +Chinese preserved dainties and fruit from California, as well as the +ordinary fare.</p> + +<p>"An unusually good breakfast," said Austerly. "Does your skipper always +treat his charterers so well?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," said Jimmy. "That is, when he can. You see, he couldn't get +these things in Vancouver; there isn't the same demand for them as there +is in the capital."</p> + +<p>Austerly did not appear altogether satisfied with the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> ingenious +explanation, but he said nothing further. Indeed, he was not a man who +said very much on any occasion; and while he commenced his breakfast +Miss Merril looked at Jimmy with her little disconcerting smile. Still, +there was no malice in it.</p> + +<p>She was as fresh that morning as when she came off the previous evening, +though both Austerly and his daughter appeared a trifle the worse for +the night's run. Miss Merril was wholly unostentatious in speech or +bearing, and there was a certain gracious tranquillity about her which +suggested latent vigor instead of languidness. She was then, he decided +tolerably correctly, in her twenty-fifth year, brown-haired and +brown-eyed, with broad, low forehead, unusually straight brows, and, in +spite of her smile, a curiously steady gaze. Her face was a full oval, +her mouth by no means small, and, while he had seen women of a somewhat +similar type whose vigor was tinged with coarseness or a hint of +sensuality, there was about this girl a certain daintiness of thought +and speech, and a quiet dignity. What she said was, however, +sufficiently prosaic.</p> + +<p>"I presume that means he went to Victoria for the extra stores this +morning; but how did he get there? It must be some distance, from what I +know of the coast, and he would have a head-wind all the way back."</p> + +<p>"He walked," said Jimmy. "It's necessary for him. One doesn't get very +much exercise of that kind at sea. In fact, he walks miles whenever he +can."</p> + +<p>Miss Austerly appeared a trifle astonished, and her father looked up +from his coffee.</p> + +<p>"It's a trifle difficult to understand how he manages<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> it," he said. +"One would consider the <i>Sorata</i> forty feet long."</p> + +<p>Jimmy felt Miss Merril's gaze upon him, and, as had happened before, his +ingenuity failed him. Her smile vaguely suggested comprehension, and, +for no ostensible reason, that disturbed him. He also saw Louis grinning +down at him through the skylights.</p> + +<p>"Sugar, sir?" he said; and this was so evidently an inspiration that +Miss Austerly laughed, and when her father said that he had been offered +it twice already, Jimmy went out with all the haste available. He closed +the forecastle slide somewhat noisily, and then sat down and frowned at +Valentine.</p> + +<p>"Well?" said the latter dryly. "Been making an exhibition of yourself +again?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I have," said Jimmy. "If it happens another time you can +carry the things in yourself and see how nice it is. Still, I don't +quite know why I lost my head. I have naturally met quite a few young +ladies in my time. I suppose it's wearing that confounded cap and these +more confounded clothes."</p> + +<p>He kicked one foot out, and disgustedly contemplated a burst white shoe, +while the duck trousers cracked. Valentine leaned back against the +bulkhead and laughed.</p> + +<p>"Don't be rash, or they'll split; and the jacket's opening at a seam," +he said. "It's rather a pity a man can't rise above his clothes. Anyway, +you may as well give Louis a hand to get the mainsail on to her. As soon +as they've finished breakfast we'll break out the anchor."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">A VISION OF THE SEA</span></h2> + + +<p>There was rain and thick weather for several days, during which the +<i>Sorata</i> crept northward slowly along the wild West Vancouver coast. +Austerly, it appeared, had business with an Indian agent who lived up an +inlet near which the restless white prospectors were encroaching on a +Siwash reserve. The boat was wet and clammy everywhere, though a bark +fire burned in the little saloon stove. Miss Austerly lay for the most +part silent on the leeward settee with a certain wistful patience in her +hollow face which roused Jimmy's compassion. He noticed that Valentine's +voice was gentler than usual when he mentioned her, and wondered why it +was so, though his comrade did not favor him with an adequate +explanation then or afterward.</p> + +<p>At last one afternoon the drizzle ceased, and, during most of it, Miss +Merril sat at the tiller with Jimmy's oilskin jacket round her shoulders +to shield her from the spray, while the <i>Sorata</i> drove northward, +close-hauled, across the long gray roll of the Pacific which was tipped +with livid foam. Sometimes she swung over it, with dripping jib hove +high, but at least as often she dipped her bows in the creaming froth +and flung the brine aft<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> in showers, while all the time the half-seen +shore unrolled itself to starboard in a majestic panorama.</p> + +<p>Great surf-lapped rocks rose out of the grayness, and were lost in it +again; forests athwart which the vapors streamed in smoky wisps rolled +by; and at times there were brief entrancing visions of a towering +range, phantoms of mountains that vanished and appeared again. There was +water on the lee-deck; showers of it drove into the drenched mainsail's +luff; but still Miss Merril sat at the tiller with her damp hair blown +about her forehead, a patch of carmine in her cheeks, and a gleam in her +eyes. She seemed, as she swung with the plunging fabric when the counter +rose streaming high above the froth that swept astern, wholly in harmony +with the motive of the scene; and at this Jimmy wondered a little now +and then, though he discovered afterward that Anthea Merril almost +invariably fitted herself to her surroundings. There are men and women +with that capacity, which is, perhaps, born of comprehension and +sympathy.</p> + +<p>Her grasp was firm and steady on the straining helm, her gaze quick to +notice each gray comber that broke as it came down on them; but, when he +looked at her, Jimmy saw in her eyes something deeper than the thrill of +the encounter with the winds of heaven and the restless sea. He could +find no fitting name for it. It eluded definition, but it had its +effect; and he felt that a man might go far and do more than thrash a +yacht to windward with such a companion, though he also realized that +this was, after all, no concern of his. Apart from that, her quiet +courage and readiness were noticeable, though it was, perhaps, her +understanding that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> appealed most to him. Anthea Merril never asked an +unnecessary question. She seemed able to grasp one's thoughts and +motives in a fashion that set those with whom she conversed at their +ease, and when in her company Jimmy usually forgot his yacht-hand's +garments and the man-o'-war cap.</p> + +<p>It was toward sunset that evening, and Miss Austerly was sitting well +wrapped up on a locker in the cockpit, when the vapor melted and was +blown away, as not infrequently happens about that time at sea. The +dingy clouds that veiled the sky were rent, and a blaze of weird, +coppery radiance smote the tumbling seas, which changed under it to +smears of incandescent whiteness with ruddy gleams in them, and ridges +of flashing green. It was sudden and bewildering, impelling one to hold +one's breath. But a more glorious pageant leaped out of the dimness over +the starboard hand. Walls of rock that burned with many colors sprang +into being, with somber pines streaming upward behind them, and far +aloft there were lifted gleaming heights of never-trodden snow whose +stainless purity was intensified by their gray and turquoise shadows.</p> + +<p>The vision was vouchsafed them, steeped in an immaterial splendor, for +perhaps five minutes, and then it faded as though it had never been. +Miss Austerly, who had gazed at it rapt and eager-eyed, drew in her +breath.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" she said; "if it was only to see that, I am glad I came—it may be +the last time."</p> + +<p>Jimmy, who was sitting on the skylights, saw the apprehension in Anthea +Merril's eyes as she glanced down for a moment into the fragile face of +her com<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>panion, and he fancied that Valentine did so too; but the girl +smiled wistfully.</p> + +<p>"Still," she said, "it is a good deal to have seen the glory of this +world, and one would almost fancy that other one—where the sea is +glassy—could not be much more beautiful."</p> + +<p>There was a hint of reproach in Anthea Merril's quiet voice, which +reached Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"Nellie," she said, "you have morbid fancies now and then. We brought +you on this trip to make you cheerful and strong."</p> + +<p>The sick girl smiled again, and the pallor of her fragile face +intensified the faint shining of her eyes. "I think you know that I +shall never get strong again, and, after all, why should I wish to stay +here when I may leave my pains and weaknesses behind me? You can't +understand that. You have the vigor of the sea in you—and the world +before you."</p> + +<p>It apparently occurred to Valentine that he was hearing too much, for he +stood up, swaying while the <i>Sorata</i> plunged, and called to Austerly +through one of the open skylights of the saloon.</p> + +<p>"We'll have the breeze down on us twice as hard in a few minutes, sir, +and there's an inlet we could lie snug in not far astern," he said. +"It's quite likely we might come across a Siwash or two who would pole +you up the river at the head of the inlet to within easy reach of the +agent's place, to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"Very well!" said Austerly; "you can run her away."</p> + +<p>It appeared advisable, for the <i>Sorata</i> buried her bows in a smother of +frothing brine and dipped her lee-deck<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> deep, as a blast swept down. +Valentine glanced at Miss Merril somewhat dubiously.</p> + +<p>"Do you think you could jibe her all standing?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Jimmy almost expected Anthea Merril to say that she could not, for, +unless the helmsman is skilful, when a cutter-rigged craft is brought +round, stern to a fresh breeze, her great mainsail with the ponderous +boom along the foot of it is apt to swing over with disastrous violence. +There was, however, no hesitation in the girl's face, and Valentine made +a little gesture that implied rather more than resignation.</p> + +<p>"When you're ready!" he said. "Stand by, Jimmy!"</p> + +<p>They laid hands on the hard, wet sheet, and, while the girl swayed with +the helm, and the <i>Sorata</i> came round, stern to sea, dragged the big +mainboom in foot by foot until it hung over them, lifting, with the +great bellying sail ready to swing. Then, though nobody knew quite how +it happened, Jimmy got a loose turn of the rope about his arm as a sea +washed in across the counter. In another second or two the boom would +swing over, and it seemed very probable that his arm would at least be +broken. While the tightening hemp ground into his flesh, he saw the +color ebb in Valentine's face, and then the girl's voice reached him +sharp and insistent.</p> + +<p>"Now!" was all she said.</p> + +<p>The <i>Sorata</i>'s bows swung a trifle further, and no more. The boom went +up with a jerk, and, while the blood started from Jimmy's compressed +arm, came down again. For a second the turn of rope slackened, and he +shook it clear. Then the sheet whirred through the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> quarter-blocks as +the great sail swung over, and the <i>Sorata</i> rolled until one side of her +was deep in the foam. She shook herself out of it, and Jimmy, who forgot +the man-o'-war cap and what he was supposed to be, saw the girl's eyes +fixed on him with a faint smile in them, and made her a little +inclination. He felt that she was asking him a question.</p> + +<p>"Thank you!" he said simply. "I don't think I was unduly frightened. I +seemed to know you would not fail me."</p> + +<p>Anthea Merril made no answer, but a slight flush crept into her cheek. +She was very human, and it was in one sense an eloquent compliment. Then +Jimmy went forward to haul the staysail down, though he found he had to +do it with one hand, and he was kept busy until he went down with +Valentine into the little forecastle, when the <i>Sorata</i> lay snug in a +strip of still green water close beneath the dusky pines. Louis had just +gone ashore with the dory to gather bark for fuel, and, for the scuttle +was open, they could hear the splash of his oars through the deep +stillness that was emphasized by the murmur of falling water. Valentine +sat on a locker with the lamplight on his bronzed face, which was a +trifle grave.</p> + +<p>"Rain again, and I'd sooner lose my next charter than have bad weather +now," he said.</p> + +<p>"Why?" asked Jimmy.</p> + +<p>His comrade made a sign of impatience. "Didn't you hear what that girl +said—it was the last time? She knew that she was right, too, though +it's probably only natural that her father wouldn't believe it. A last<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> +treat she's getting—and she's as fond of the sea as I am, or you are +either."</p> + +<p>Jimmy did not know why he smiled, but perhaps it was because he was +stirred a little and did not wish to show it. In any case, Valentine +frowned at him.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," he said, "I know. It's a dog's life, and other things; but +you wouldn't quit it, anyway, and that's not the question. Can't you +understand what that sickly girl's life has been, with all that other +women might expect to have denied her?"</p> + +<p>There was a certain hoarse insistence in Valentine's inquiry, from which +it seemed to Jimmy, who had noticed the solicitude with which he had +endeavored to minister in every way to the comfort or pleasure of their +delicate passenger, that his companion had some special reason for +understanding what the girl's lot had been.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said reflectively, "one would suppose that to be born +foredoomed is hard upon such as Miss Austerly."</p> + +<p>Valentine made a little abrupt gesture. "It's evident they once had a +yacht of their own. Any one could see how fond of it she is; and I'm +taking her father's money—he hasn't too much of it—like a—moneylender +that she may have a last taste of the one thing she can take pleasure +in. Lord, when one has so much for nothing, what selfish hogs we are!"</p> + +<p>"It can't be helped, anyway. You couldn't offer a favor to a man like +Austerly."</p> + +<p>"No;" and Valentine frowned. "He's a man with all the condemned +prejudices of his class, and he would, naturally, sooner see his +daughter's one wish ungrati<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>fied. After all, women now and then rate the +value of things more justly than we do. There's Miss Merril who came +with them, and somehow it was she who brought this trip about. She has +her pride, full measure of it, but she has sense as well, sense of +proportion, and if we had only her to deal with we'd let every other +charter slide and go south to-morrow to find the summer."</p> + +<p>Jimmy was not in the least astonished. He had, of course, listened to a +certain amount of forecastle ribaldry, though, after all, conversation +and badinage of that nature is, at least, as frequent in a mail-boat's +smoking-room; but he knew the ways of his fellows, and it seemed a very +natural thing to him that Valentine the pariah should in his own fashion +reveal these depths of chivalrous compassion. He had seen hard-handed +men of coarse fiber do many a gentle deed with a curse on their lips +that was probably worth a good deal more than a conventional platitude. +Still, it would have been wholly extraordinary if he had mentioned +anything of this.</p> + +<p>"One would fancy Miss Merril has a good deal of character," he said.</p> + +<p>"Too much for the man she marries, if there's anything small and mean in +him. That's a girl with a capacity for doing more than sail a boat to +windward well, and she will probably expect a good deal. In one way +there's something humorous in the fact that her father is one of the +----est rogues in this Province, though there are naturally a good many +people who look up to him. Of course, she isn't aware of it yet. Brought +up back East, I believe, and somebody told<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> me she had lived a good deal +with her mother's people. It probably means trouble for her when she +understands the reality."</p> + +<p>He rose with a little shrug of his shoulders. "I'm talking like an old +woman, and these things have nothing to do with us. We have our wet +watches to keep at sea, and perhaps we are better off than the rest of +them because that is all. You can turn in if you want to; I'll wait for +Louis."</p> + +<p>Five minutes later Jimmy crawled into his bunk, and fell fast asleep. +When he awakened, he found that the day had broken still and sunny. +There was a Siwash rancherie a mile or two up the Inlet, and when an +Indian had been found who would carry a message through the forest, +Austerly, who never forgot what was due to a Crown-land official, +decided to stay where he was and allow the agent to visit him. He was +not in any way an active man, and appeared quite content to sit in the +cockpit reading, when Valentine, who had procured a Siwash river +canoe—a long, light shell of cedar with some two feet beam—offered to +take his daughter up the Inlet to see the rancherie. Miss Austerly was +pleased to go with him, and Anthea Merril, who watched the knife-edge +craft slide away, turned to Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"If you will get the trolling-spoon I will go fishing," she said.</p> + +<p>"Yes, miss," said Jimmy, touching his cap—a thing that is very seldom +done in Western Canada. Hauling the dory alongside, he handed her into +it. Then he dipped the oars, and they slid slowly up the Inlet with the +silver and vermilion spoon trailing astern. He had laid Valentine's +shot-gun across the thwarts.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>The lane of clear green water was, perhaps, two hundred yards wide, and +the stately pines which shroud all that lonely coast rose in somber +ranks on either side, distilling their drowsy fragrance as their +motionless needles dried in the sun. There was not a sound when the +splash of Valentine's paddle died away, and Jimmy dipped his oars +leisurely, now and then venturing a glance at his companion. It seemed +to him that the big white hat she wore became her wonderfully well, and +it is possible that she guessed as much and did not resent it, for Jimmy +was, after all, a personable man.</p> + +<p>"Your skipper is very good to Nellie Austerly," she said. "I am rather +pleased with him because of it. There are, naturally, not many things in +which she can take any great interest."</p> + +<p>"I suppose," said Jimmy reflectively, "there are people who would +consider it good of him, but, in one way, it really isn't. It doesn't +cost him anything, and he can't help it. That man would do what he could +for anybody who didn't want to take advantage of him. What's more, he +would do it almost without realizing what he was about."</p> + +<p>"Do you know why he lives as he does at sea?"</p> + +<p>"I don't. Probably because he likes it."</p> + +<p>Anthea Merril smiled. "Is that all? It has not occurred to you that +there is, perhaps, a reason why he and Nellie Austerly understand each +other?"</p> + +<p>"Both fond of the sea?"</p> + +<p>"That mightn't go far enough. Nellie has had to give up so much, or +rather it has been taken away from her. You can understand that?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy nodded assent. It had already occurred to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> him that his comrade +was a man who had lost something he greatly valued, and it did not +appear incongruous that Miss Merril should be speaking in this familiar +fashion to him. In fact, she frequently contrived to make him forget +that he was Valentine's hired hand and wore the man-o'-war cap.</p> + +<p>"What would a boat like the <i>Sorata</i> cost to build?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps four thousand dollars in this country."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said the girl; "and with that sum one could probably set up a +store, buy one of the little sawmills near a rising settlement, or start +on one of the other paths that are supposed to lead to affluence."</p> + +<p>Jimmy laughed. "Supposing he owned the big Hastings mill, what more +could it offer a man with his views? As he will tell you, he gets what +he likes almost for nothing. He may be right, too. After all, it is +clean dirt one has to eat at sea."</p> + +<p>"There are not many men who could live as he does; the rest would go to +pieces. And isn't it rather shirking a responsibility?"</p> + +<p>"You mean that one ought to make money?"</p> + +<p>"I think one ought to take one's part in the struggle that is going to +make this the greatest Province in the Dominion; but not exactly for +that reason." Then Miss Merril apparently decided to change the subject. +"You had a good halibut season?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy saw the twinkle in her eyes, and understood it. "I hadn't. I'm +afraid I wouldn't know a halibut when I saw it. There are, one believes, +plenty of them, but so far very few people go fishing."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>"Then you were probably killing the Americans' seals?"</p> + +<p>"I wasn't. I am, I may mention, mate on board a lumber-carrying +schooner."</p> + +<p>His companion's nod might have meant anything. "I fancied," she said, +"you had not gone to sea very often as a yacht-hand."</p> + +<p>Jimmy, who was uncertain what she wished him to understand, pulled on +leisurely, until, as they crept along the shore, a widening ripple that +spread from beyond a point caught his eye, and, laying down the oars, he +reached for the gun.</p> + +<p>"I was told to bring back a duck for Miss Austerly if I could," he said. +"You don't mind?"</p> + +<p>Anthea Merril made a sign of indifference, and the dory slid on, until, +as they opened up a little bay, Jimmy flung up the gun, for a slowly +moving object swam in the midst of it. Then he felt a hand on his arm, +and a voice said sharply, "Put it down!"</p> + +<p>Jimmy did so before he saw the reason, and it was a moment later when he +noticed a string of little fluffy bodies stretched out from the shore. +The mother bird paddled toward them, and, disregarding her own danger, +strove to drive them back among the boulders. Then he saw the curious +gleam that was half anger and half compassion in his companion's eyes, +and felt his face grow a trifle hot.</p> + +<p>"I didn't know," he said. "It must be an unusually late brood. I never +noticed them. I shouldn't like you to think I did."</p> + +<p>"Open the gun, and take out the cartridges!" ordered his companion.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>"Very well, miss," said Jimmy, who could not resist the impulse of +adding, with a whimsical twinkle in his eyes: "Shall I take off the +trolling-spoon?"</p> + +<p>Anthea Merril laughed. "No," she said. "Still, I can't complain of the +suggestion. Head out from shore, and row faster."</p> + +<p>Jimmy said nothing further, but busied himself with his oars. He had +discovered by this time that he could talk more or less confidentially +with Anthea Merril only when it was her pleasure that he should do so, +and she was able to make it clear when that time had gone. Still, he did +not for a moment believe she would have been more gracious had her +companion not happened to be the <i>Sorata</i>'s paid hand.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">BLOWN OFF</span></h2> + + +<p>The evening was cool and clear. Anthea Merril and Jimmy followed an +Indian path that wound through the primeval bush. On the one hand a +great, smooth-scarped wall of rock ran up far above the trees that clung +about its feet into the wondrous green transparency, but the light was +dying out down in the hollow where towering fir and cedar clustered. +They were great of girth and very old, and beneath them there was +silence and solemnity.</p> + +<p>Jimmy, who carried his companion's sketching materials, went first to +clear the dew-wet fern away, and the girl walked behind him silently; +but this was not because there had been any change in her attitude +toward him. Indeed, a certain camaraderie had grown up between them +during the few days they had spent fishing and wandering in the bush, +and there was, after all, nothing astonishing in this, for Jimmy was +guilty of no presumption, and social distinctions, which are, indeed, +not very marked in that country, do not count for much in the +wilderness. Still, that camaraderie had been a revelation to him, and he +was uneasily aware that during the rest of his life he would look back +upon the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> time when he had been Miss Merril's guide and attendant.</p> + +<p>They had been up the bank of a river that afternoon, and the girl, who +had spent an hour or two sketching a peak of the range, had remained +behind with Jimmy when the rest had retraced their steps to the Inlet +lest Miss Austerly should suffer from the chill of the dew. The two were +accordingly coming back alone, which, indeed, had happened several times +before. It was Anthea who spoke at last.</p> + +<p>"It will be dark very soon, and it might have been wiser if we had gone +back the way the others did," she said. "Still, this trail looked +nearer. I suppose it must come out at the Inlet?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said Jimmy. "I can hear the river, though it doesn't seem to +be quite where I expected. The others will be on the beach by now."</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't like to keep Nellie there," said Anthea. "Still, I scarcely +think they would wait long."</p> + +<p>"Of course not," said Jimmy. "Tom is as careful of her as if she were +his sister, and they wouldn't worry about our not turning up to go off +with them. They're probably getting used to it by this time."</p> + +<p>He realized next moment that this was, perhaps, not a particularly +tactful observation; but he could not see his companion's face, and, as +had happened before, he had sense enough not to make things worse by any +attempt to explain it, which Anthea Merril, who recognized that he had +spoken unreflectively, of course, noticed. What she thought of him—and +she had, naturally, formed certain opinions—did not appear until some +time later.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>In a few minutes he stopped abruptly where the trail wound round a +screen of salmon-berry, for a creek came splashing down across their +way. It appeared to be at least two feet deep, and when his companion +saw it she turned to him with a little exclamation.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" she said, "how are we going to get across? We certainly can't go +back."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid not;" and Jimmy glanced dubiously at the sliding water. "It +will be dark in half an hour, and this bush is bad enough to get through +in the daylight. I'll go in anyway, and see how deep it is."</p> + +<p>He plodded through rather above his knees in water, which was mostly +freshly melted snow, and then turned and looked at the girl as she stood +regarding him somewhat curiously from the opposite bank. The light had +not quite gone yet, and he could see her standing, tall and supple and +shapely, with her white serge skirt gathered in one hand, and a patch of +crimson wine-berries at her feet. The great brown-and-gray trunk of a +redwood behind her forced up the fine outline of her figure, and made a +fitting background for the delicate coloring of the face that was turned +toward him. Then, as had happened once or twice before, a little thrill +ran through the man, and he glanced down at the sliding water.</p> + +<p>"You can't wade through, and there's no use trying to look for a spot +where it's not running quite so fast. I don't think a Siwash could get +through this bush," he said.</p> + +<p>He stopped somewhat abruptly, and was glad that the girl met his glance +without wavering, as she said, "Well?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>Jimmy's tone was deprecatory. "There's only one way, Miss Merril. I must +carry you over."</p> + +<p>Anthea laughed, though it cost her a slight effort. She was, at least, +glad that he had addressed her unconcernedly, and as a yacht-hand would. +She was also quite aware that young ladies who go rowing in small +dories, or venture into the wilderness, have to submit to being carried +occasionally; but, for all that, she would sooner the suggestion had +been made by another man.</p> + +<p>"Do you really think you could?" she asked.</p> + +<p>Jimmy's eyes twinkled, which was more reassuring than any sign of +embarrassment.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said reflectively, and again she was pleased that he was very +matter-of-fact, and had sense enough to drop back into his rôle, "I +guess I'm used to carrying three-inch redwood planks."</p> + +<p>He came splashing through the water, though he did not look at her, and +in a moment or two she felt his arms about her. She wondered vaguely +whether he had often carried any one else, for it was, at least, evident +that he knew exactly what he meant to do, and she recognized the +strength the sea had given him, as he stepped down easily into the +creek, holding her high above the water, with the loose folds of her +skirt wrapped about her. Anthea was reasonably substantial, as she was, +of course, aware; but, though he twice floundered a little in the depths +of a pool, he set her down safe on the other side and stood before her +with flushed forehead, which was, as she promptly realized, in one +respect a mistake. He said nothing, and did not, indeed, look at her; +but as he drew in a deep breath from the physical effort she glanced at +him, and saw something<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> in his face that suggested restraint. That +spoiled everything.</p> + +<p>"It is getting late," she said quietly. "Doesn't the path go on again?"</p> + +<p>They turned away, Jimmy walking first, for which she was thankful, +because the moment or two when they had stood silent had been more than +enough. There was nothing for which she could blame the man. His +demeanor had been everything that one could have expected; but she had +seen the momentary light in his eyes and the tightening of his lips, and +knew that their relations could never be exactly what they had been. +Something had come about, for the fact that he had found it necessary to +put a restraint upon himself had made a change. Perhaps he felt that +silence was inadvisable, and once more she appreciated the good sense +that prompted him to talk, much as a seaman would have done, of the +straightness of the shadowy redwoods they passed and their value as +masts, though this was naturally not a subject that greatly interested +her.</p> + +<p>When they reached the beach they found that Valentine had left them the +Siwash canoe; and the rest, with the exception of Nellie Austerly, were +sitting in the <i>Sorata</i>'s cockpit when Jimmy paddled alongside. Miss +Merril furnished a suitable explanation of their delay, but she +overlooked the fact that Valentine was acquainted with the bush about +that Inlet.</p> + +<p>"You must have struck the creek," he said. "I should have remembered to +tell you about it."</p> + +<p>He looked at Jimmy, but the latter wisely decided to leave it to Miss +Merril, and turned his attention to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> canoe. He felt that she was +competent to handle the matter.</p> + +<p>"I was almost waist-deep when I last went through," said Valentine, who +did not display his usual perspicacity. "How did you get across?"</p> + +<p>Anthea dismissed the subject with perfect composure. "Then there could +not have been anything like so much water. Jimmy helped me over."</p> + +<p>Jimmy went forward, and disappeared through the scuttle into the +forecastle, and some little while later Valentine came down and looked +at him with a dry smile.</p> + +<p>"I don't yet understand how Miss Merril got across that creek," he said.</p> + +<p>"I fancied she told you;" and Jimmy felt his face grow warm.</p> + +<p>Valentine laughed. "Perhaps she did, but it seems to me that she wasn't +remarkably explicit."</p> + +<p>Jimmy said nothing, and presently climbed into his berth, where he lay +for a while trying to recall every incident of the journey he and Anthea +Merril had made through the shadowy bush, until it occurred to him that +he was only preparing trouble for himself by doing so, and he went to +sleep.</p> + +<p>It was raining when he awoke, and it rained for most of three days as +hard as it often does on that coast, until the crystal depths of the +Inlet grew turbid, and it flowed seaward between its dripping walls of +mountains like a river. At last one afternoon the clouds were rolled +away, and when fierce, glaring sunshine beat down Austerly decided that +he would go ashore to fish. The men went with him, Valentine to pull the +dory into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> the swollen river, Jimmy and Louis in the Siwash canoe to +gather bark for fuel. When they approached the beach where they usually +landed, Jimmy glanced thoughtfully at the great torn-up pines that went +sliding by.</p> + +<p>"If one of those logs drove across her it might start a plank," he said. +"Besides, there's every sign of a vicious breeze, and I think I'll go +off by and by and swing her in behind the next point. She would lie +snugger there out of the stream."</p> + +<p>Valentine looked up at the hard blue sky across which ragged cloud-wisps +were driving, and nodded. "It generally does blow quite fresh after rain +like what we have had," he said. "You could break the anchor out +yourself. I want Louis to get a good load of bark."</p> + +<p>Jimmy went ashore with Louis, who carried a big axe, but by and by he +left the latter busy, and wandered back to the beach. He did not like +the angry glare of sunlight and the way the wind fell in whirling gusts +down the steep hillside. As it happened, another big log drove by while +he stood among the boulders, and remembering that the two girls were +alone in the yacht, he launched the canoe, and sat still, just dipping +the paddle, while the stream swept him down to the <i>Sorata</i>. When he +boarded her she was swinging uneasily in a swirl of muddy current, and +Anthea, who sat in the cockpit, appeared pleased to see him.</p> + +<p>"One would almost fancy it was going to blow very hard," she said.</p> + +<p>Jimmy laughed. "I believe it is; but we should be snug against anything +in the little cove yonder with a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> rope or two ashore. I wonder whether +you could sheer her for me while I break out the anchor?"</p> + +<p>The girl went to the tiller, and while Jimmy, standing forward, plied +the little winch, the cable slowly rattled in. Then he broke out the +anchor, and the boat slid astern until a cove, where dark fir branches +stretched out over the still, deep water, opened up. Dropping the +anchor, he turned to the girl.</p> + +<p>"Starboard!" he said.</p> + +<p>Anthea shoved over her tiller; but the <i>Sorata</i> did not swing into the +cove as Jimmy had expected her to do, for a blast that set the pines +roaring fell from the hillside and drove her out from the shore. Jimmy +let more chain run, and stood still looking about him, when he felt the +anchor grip. The sunlight had faded, obscured by ragged clouds, the tall +pines swayed above him, and the <i>Sorata</i> had swung well out athwart the +stream.</p> + +<p>"Since I can't kedge her with this breeze, I'll take a line ashore and +warp her in," he said.</p> + +<p>It appeared advisable, for there were more pine-logs coming down, and he +pitched a coil of rope into the canoe; but the rest, as he discovered, +was much more difficult. Jimmy had been used to boats in which one could +stand up and row, while a Siwash river canoe is a very different kind of +craft. As a result, he several times almost capsized her, and lost a +good deal of ground when a gust struck her lifted prow; so that some +time had passed when the line brought him up still a few yards from the +beach. He looked around at the <i>Sorata</i> with a shout.</p> + +<p>"I want a few more fathoms," he called. "Can you fasten on the other +line, Miss Merril?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>He saw the girl, who moved forward along the deck, stop and clutch at a +shroud, but that was all, for just then the dark firs roared and the +water seethed white about him as he plied the paddle. The canoe turned +around in spite of him, drove out into the stream, and, while he strove +desperately to steer her, struck the <i>Sorata</i> with a crash. The boat +lifted her side a little as he swung himself on board, and there was a +curious harsh grating forward. Anthea, who stepped down into the +cockpit, had lost her hat, and her hair whipped her face.</p> + +<p>"I think she has started her anchor," she said.</p> + +<p>Jimmy was sure of it when he ran forward and let several fathoms of +chain run without bringing her up, for the bottom was apparently shingle +washed down from the hillside.</p> + +<p>"We'll have to get the kedge over," he said.</p> + +<p>He dropped unceremoniously into the saloon, where Miss Austerly lay on +the settee, and tore up the floorings, beneath which, as space is +valuable on board a craft of the <i>Sorata</i>'s size, the smaller anchor is +sometimes kept. He could not, however, find it anywhere, and when he +swung himself, hot and breathless, out on deck, the yacht was driving +seaward stern foremost, taking her anchor with her, while the whole +Inlet was ridged with lines of white. Anthea Merril looked at him with +suppressed apprehension in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"We must get a warp ashore somehow," he said. "I might sheer her in +under the staysail."</p> + +<p>The girl went forward with him, and gasped as they hauled together at +the halyard which hoisted the sail; and when half of it was up, she sped +aft to the tiller,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> and Jimmy made desperate efforts to shorten in the +cable. There was another cove not far astern into which he might work +the boat. The anchor, however, came away before he expected it, and, +though he did not think it was the girl's fault, the half-hoisted sail +swung over, and the <i>Sorata</i>, in place of creeping back toward the +beach, drove away toward the opposite shore, where the stream swept over +ragged rock. Jimmy, jumping aft, seized the tiller, and while the Inlet +seethed into little splashing ridges the <i>Sorata</i> swept on seaward with +the breeze astern. He stood still a moment, gasping, and then, while the +girl looked at him with inquiring eyes, signed her to take the helm +again.</p> + +<p>"I must get the trysail on her, and try to beat her back. We may be able +to do it—I don't know," he said. "It's deep water along those rocks, +and she'd chafe through and go down; otherwise I'd ram her ashore."</p> + +<p>He spent several arduous minutes tearing every spare sail out of the +stern locker before he reached the one he wanted, and it was at least +five minutes more before he had laced it to its gaff, while by then +there were only jagged rocks, over which the sea that washed into the +open entrance to the Inlet seethed whitely, under the <i>Sorata</i>'s lee. +Jimmy glanced at them, and quietly lashed the trysail gaff to the boom +before he turned to Anthea Merril.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry," he said. "We couldn't stay her under the trysail with the +puffs twisting all ways flung back by the trees. Besides, she'd probably +drive down upon the reefs before I got it up. It's quite evident we +can't go ashore there."</p> + +<p>The girl glanced ahead, and her heart sank a little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> as she saw the long +Pacific roll heave across the opening in big gray slopes that were +ridged with froth. Then she turned to Jimmy, who stood regarding her +gravely in the steamboat jacket, burst shoes, and man-o'-war cap, and a +look of confidence crept into her eyes. She felt that this man could be +depended on.</p> + +<p>"We shall have to run out to sea?" she asked.</p> + +<p>Jimmy nodded, and she was glad that he answered frankly, as to one who +was his equal in courage.</p> + +<p>"There is no help for it," he said. "Still, she'll go clear of the shore +as she is, and I don't think we need be anxious about her when she's +under trysail in open water."</p> + +<p>Anthea looked at him again, with a spot of color in her cheek.</p> + +<p>"It may blow for several days," she said. "If I can help in any way——"</p> + +<p>"You can," said Jimmy abruptly. "Go down now and fix Miss Austerly and +yourself something to eat. You mightn't be able to do it afterwards. +Then you can bring me up some bread and coffee."</p> + +<p>Anthea disappeared into the saloon with her cheeks tingling and a +curious smile in her eyes. She understood what had happened. Now that +they were at close grip with the elements, Jimmy had asserted himself in +primitive fashion, and he could, she felt, be trusted to do his part.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">JIMMY TAKES COMMAND</span></h2> + + +<p>Darkness was closing down on the waste of tumbling foam, and the +<i>Sorata</i> was clear of the shore, when Jimmy made shift to hoist the +trysail reduced by two reefs to a narrow strip of drenched canvas. Then, +while Anthea Merril held the helm, he proceeded to set the little +spitfire jib. However, he clung to the weather-shrouds, gasping and +dripping with perspiration for the first few moments, because the +struggle with the trysail had tried his strength. Indeed, Anthea, who +stood bareheaded at the helm with her loosened hair whipping about her, +wondered how he had contrived to do it alone in that strength of wind.</p> + +<p>His figure, shapeless in the streaming oilskins, cut darkly against the +livid foam as the <i>Sorata</i> swung her bows high above the sea, and then +was almost lost in a filmy cloud as she plunged and buried them in the +breast of a big comber. Suddenly, however, he dropped on hands and +knees, and, crouching with one arm around the forestay, hauled the strip +of canvas out along the bowsprit until once more a sea smote the +<i>Sorata</i> and he sank into a rush of foam. The girl caught her breath as +she waited until the boat swung her head out again,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> for it was very +evident that the man alone stood between her and destruction.</p> + +<p>He swung into sight, clinging with an arm around jib and bowsprit until +he staggered to his feet, and a strip of sailcloth that went aloft beat +him with its wet folds amidst a frantic banging. Anthea scarcely dared +to look at him as he struggled with the rope that hoisted it, and she +gasped with relief when at last he came scrambling back and pushed her +from the tiller.</p> + +<p>"Thanks!" he said. "Go down and get Miss Austerly on to the leeward +settee, and then try to sleep. The boat ought to lie-to dryly until the +morning, but I can't leave the tiller."</p> + +<p>Anthea just heard him through the turmoil of the sea, and did not resent +the grasp he had laid on her shoulder. Quietly imperious as she usually +was, it seemed only fitting that she should obey him then. She went down +through the little companion, and Jimmy, pulling the slide to after her, +settled himself for his long night-watch as darkness rolled down upon +the sea. He was anxious, but not unduly so, for the boat was high of +side and able; and a comparatively small craft will usually ride out a +vicious breeze if one can keep her hove-to under a strip or two of sail, +so as to meet the sea while not forging through it with her weather-bow. +Indeed, after the first half-hour he felt somewhat reassured, and his +thoughts went back to a subject which had occupied them somewhat +frequently of late, and that, not unnaturally, was Anthea Merril.</p> + +<p>She was, he knew, the daughter of the man who was ruining his father, +but that was an incident and no fault of hers. It was, he fancied, clear +that she knew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> nothing about Merril's business operations, and was +unacquainted with one aspect of his character. In fact, it seemed to him +that there was a painful shock in store for her when she made the +discovery. He had never met a woman with so much that compelled his +appreciation besides her physical beauty. Her quiet graciousness and +courage had their effect on him, and he was sure, at least, that he +would never feel quite the same regard for anybody else. Indeed, he +admitted that she was a woman with whom he might have fallen in love had +circumstances been propitious, but, as they certainly were not, he +strove to assure himself that he had sense and will enough to refrain +from thinking more of her than was advisable.</p> + +<p>These reflections were, however, fragmentary, for the boat required +attention, and he fancied that a good deal of water was finding its way +into her. The <i>Sorata</i> would not lie-to without somebody at the helm, +and he could only leave the tiller lashed for a few minutes now and then +while he labored at the little rotary pump. Once or twice when he did +so, a foot of brine came frothing into the cockpit across the coaming, +and he commenced to wonder how long the breeze would last, for he was +becoming sensible that another twelve hours of it would probably be as +much as he could stand.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile the night was wearing through, and at last a faint +light crept up from the east across the waste of tumbling seas. They +were not by any means mountainous, for as a matter of fact it is very +probable that the biggest ocean sea scarcely exceeds forty feet between +its trough and summit, but they rolled up out of the northwest in a +continuous phalanx of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> steep, gray ridges crested with spouting froth +that looked quite big enough. The drift whirled across them, and now and +then wrapped the craft in wisps of filmy smoke, while Jimmy, with +smarting and temporarily blinded eyes, trusted to the feel of the +tiller. He was as wet as he could be, as well as stiff and cold, and it +was with relief and some astonishment that he saw the saloon companion +open, and Miss Merril appear with a plate and a jug of steaming coffee.</p> + +<p>Her skirt was woefully bedraggled, from which he surmised that there was +more water than there should be in the saloon, and her hair was promptly +powdered with glistening spray; but her face was quiet, and she sat down +collectedly, huddling herself on a locker, where the after bulkhead of +the saloon partly sheltered her. Jimmy dropped into the cockpit, and +crouched there with the tiller against his shoulder, for nobody could +have eaten in the face of that wind. Then he stretched out a hand for +the coffee.</p> + +<p>"I'm unusually glad to get it. It was very kind of you," he said.</p> + +<p>Anthea smiled. "Why?" she asked. "Are you sure it wasn't selfishness? We +couldn't take the boat home without you, and a man must eat if he has to +go on with this kind of task."</p> + +<p>Jimmy looked at her, and, finding no very apposite rejoinder, nodded. +"Well," he said, "I suppose he must; but did you get anything for +yourself or Miss Austerly? You can't live on nothing any more than I +can. At least, that's the conclusion I've come to after what I've +noticed in the mail-boat's saloons."</p> + +<p>He was aware that he had made a slip, but fancied it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> had escaped his +companion's attention, which, of course, displayed very little +perspicacity. In the meanwhile, he got a turn of the weather tiller line +round a cleat, and lowered himself further until he sat in the cockpit +with several inches of water swishing about him.</p> + +<p>"Nellie is asleep at last. I did not awaken her," said his companion.</p> + +<p>"That isn't all I asked. Did you get anything yourself?"</p> + +<p>The girl said she had not done so, and for a moment there was the +faintest suspicion of color in her face.</p> + +<p>"Then you will share what you have brought with me," said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"There isn't a cup. I couldn't find one that wasn't broken. The +forecastle shelf has torn away."</p> + +<p>"You couldn't have kept the coffee in it if you had. Take what you want +before it gets cold," and Jimmy pointed to the jug.</p> + +<p>Anthea raised it to her lips, and then pushed it back along the cockpit +floor, while, though she had not meant to do so, she flashed a swift +glance at her companion when he held it in his hand. As it happened, +Jimmy looked at her just then, and she saw the little glint in his eyes. +He felt that she had done so, and, while he would not have had it +happen, let his gaze rest on her steadily while he made her a little +inclination. Then he drank, and, after he had thrust the plate in her +direction, broke off a portion of bread and canned meat; some of which +crumbled and stuck to his wet oilskins.</p> + +<p>He was quite aware that neither his attitude nor manner of eating was +especially graceful, but that could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> not be helped, and he laughed when +his companion clutched at the remnant on the plate. She smiled at him +too, and he wondered why they were both apparently so much at ease. +Still, it did not seem in any way an unusual or unfitting thing that he +and this delicately brought up girl should make their meal as equals in +the little dripping cockpit with a single plate and one drinking vessel +between them. He felt that it was as a comrade she regarded him, in +place of tolerating him from necessity, and he noticed that even under +the very uncomfortable conditions she ate daintily.</p> + +<p>"Where are we?" she asked at last.</p> + +<p>"About twenty miles to leeward of the Inlet, and perhaps eight off the +shore. At least, I should like to believe we are. How is it you look so +fresh, instead of worn out? Where did you learn to make yourself at home +in a boat?"</p> + +<p>"In Toronto," said Anthea. "I was there two years, and they are fond of +yachting in that city. I once did some sailing in England too. What do +you think of their boats? It is, perhaps, fortunate Valentine made the +<i>Sorata</i> a cutter, as they generally do, instead of a sloop. You could +hardly have handled her under the latter's single headsail last night."</p> + +<p>"No," said Jimmy, "I don't think I could. If she had been rigged that +way she would probably have gone under by now. Still, I don't see why +you should expect me to know anything about English boats."</p> + +<p>Anthea smiled as she looked at him. "Perhaps you don't, though you don't +invariably express yourself as a man would who had never been away from +the Pacific Slope."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>"Well," said Jimmy reflectively, "it's not quite a sure thing that the +way they talk in an English ship's forecastle is very much nicer."</p> + +<p>"There are more places in a mail-boat than her forecastle."</p> + +<p>It seemed to Jimmy advisable to change the subject, and he made a little +grimace as he glanced at the plate.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I've cleaned up everything," he said.</p> + +<p>Anthea laughed. "Which is quite as it should be. I can get more, and you +can't. Still, perhaps you have left some coffee."</p> + +<p>Jimmy was about to point out that there was no cup, but refrained, for +it flashed on him that his companion was, of course, aware of this, and +he gravely handed her the jug. What her purpose was he did not know, and +indeed he was never clear on this point, though he fancied that she had +one; but it was, at least, evident that she was damp and chilled, and +needed the physical stimulant. The trifling act, it seemed, might +equally be a pledge of camaraderie, or a recognition of the fact that +they were for the time being no more than man and woman between whom all +distinctions had vanished in the face of peril; but he seemed to feel it +had a still deeper significance. He had once held her in his arms, and +now they had shared the same plate and drunk from the same vessel.</p> + +<p>Then the <i>Sorata</i> reminded him that she required attention, for a sea +seethed on board her forward, and when it poured into the cockpit he +swung himself back to the coaming. A minute or two later he stretched +out his hand, and the girl drew in her breath as she glanced ahead, for +a sail materialized suddenly out of the vapor.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> It was suggestively +slanted, and a dusky strip that looked very small appeared beneath it +when it swung high on the crest of a sea.</p> + +<p>"Siwashes," said Jimmy; "one of their sea canoes. They have to keep her +running. She wouldn't lie-to."</p> + +<p>The craft drew abreast of them, traveling wonderfully fast, and Anthea +long remembered how she drove by the <i>Sorata</i>, hove half her length out +of water, riding on the ridge of a big gray sea. She was entirely open, +a long, narrow, bird-headed thing, and the foam she flung off forward +seemed to lap over her after-half. A little drenched spritsail was +spread from an insignificant mast, and four crouching figures with dusky +faces were partly visible amidst the wisps of spray that whirled about +her. One of them held a long paddle, and looked fixedly ahead; the +others gazed at the <i>Sorata</i> expressionlessly until the craft swooped +down between two seas. Jimmy saw his companion's hands clench on the +coaming, and the color ebb from her face, and then she gasped as the +little strip of canvas swung into sight again.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" she said, "it's a trifle horrible to watch them; and what must it +be to steer her? How many of us in the cities know what the struggle for +existence really is?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy nodded assent. "At least," he said, "the thing is tolerably clear +to the men who live at sea. If that Siwash lost his nerve for a moment +the next comber would swallow the canoe. After all, the sea knows no +distinctions; white men and red men alike must face the strain."</p> + +<p>"In the big mail-boats too?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>"Of course. I'm not sure it isn't a little heavier there. When you are +traveling as fast as a freight train there is little time to decide how +you will clear a crossing steamer, or to pick out green from yellow +among a blink of sliding lights. The man who fails is very apt to hurl +as much as fourteen thousand tons of hull and cargo into destruction, +and, perhaps, two thousand passengers into another world, though some +vessels now carry more than that. The owner seldom gets rich when he +doesn't; and there is, after all, no very great difference between his +lot and that of the Siwash, who stakes his life against the value of a +few salmon or halibut."</p> + +<p>He broke off with a laugh. "Hadn't you better go back? You are getting +very wet."</p> + +<p>Anthea did so, and it was almost noon when she came up again. Jimmy +still sat at the tiller, and his wet face looked a trifle worn; but the +breeze had softened, and as the girl glanced round her, a shaft of +sunlight fell suddenly upon the foaming sea.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Jimmy, "it's blowing itself out. I expect we'll be able to +shake the reefs out of the trysail and beat up for the Inlet before it's +dark. If it were necessary I would run her before it now."</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't there be shelter in one of the inlets to leeward?" asked the +girl, with a very natural longing to escape from the strain and turmoil.</p> + +<p>"It's very probable," said Jimmy. "I dare say I could make one. Still, +you see——"</p> + +<p>He stopped, and Anthea flushed ever so slightly, for it was evident to +her that she and her companion could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> not extend that cruise +indefinitely in company with Valentine's hired man.</p> + +<p>"Of course!" she said. "Austerly will be horribly anxious. Well, if you +think you could leave the tiller lashed, I have dinner ready."</p> + +<p>"I believe I could. Still, it might be awkward to get back fast enough +from the forecastle in case of necessity."</p> + +<p>"I wonder," said the girl, "whether you have any very decided objections +to sitting down with us in the saloon? If you have, it would make it +necessary for Nellie or me to bring the things out to you."</p> + +<p>Jimmy fancied that the last was an inspiration, and after a glance to +windward went down into the saloon, which was very wet. Miss Austerly, +who seemed to have stood the shaking better than he expected, reclined +on one settee with her feet drawn up for the sake of dryness, and she +smiled at him. He wondered when he saw how the little swing-table was +set. Miss Merril, finding the crockery kept for charterers mostly +smashed, had apparently come upon Valentine's enameled and indurated +ware.</p> + +<p>There was no restraint upon any of them during the meal. The fact that +the breeze was undoubtedly falling would have been sufficient in itself +to restore their cheerfulness, but Jimmy was also sensible of a curious +exhilaration, and discoursed whimsically upon various topics besides the +sea. In fact, he was astonished to find that he had been away an hour +when at last he went back to the cockpit. The breeze was falling +rapidly, and before Anthea prepared the supper, which was, as usual in +that country, at about six o'clock, he had set<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> the whole trysail, and +soon afterward he got the reefed mainsail up. By midnight the <i>Sorata</i> +was close in with the coast, working fast to windward through smooth +water with her biggest topsail set, while a half-moon hung low in the +western sky. The sea gleamed silver under it, and scarcely half a mile +away dim hillsides and long ranks of somber pines half-veiled in fleecy +mists went sliding by.</p> + +<p>The soft gleam of the swinging lamps in the saloon shone out in faint +streams of colored radiance through the skylights, and, late as it was, +Nellie Austerly nestled well wrapped up on a locker in the cockpit. She +watched the long swell break away from beneath the bows in glittering +cascades, and Jimmy fancied he knew what she was thinking when she gazed +aloft at the tall spire of canvas that shone in the moonlight as white +as the peak ahead of them. It was a nocturne in blue and silver, and if +sound were wanted, the splashing at the bows and the deep rumble of the +surf emphasized the softer harmonies of the night.</p> + +<p>"You are not so very sorry we were blown off, after all?" he asked.</p> + +<p>The girl smiled. "No," she said; "I managed to sleep through a good deal +of it, and now I feel almost as fresh as if I had stayed ashore. +Besides, this would make up for anything. One could almost wish we could +sail south with the topsail up under the moonlight—forever. In spite of +the bad weather, I have been so well since I came to sea."</p> + +<p>"Just the three of us?" asked Jimmy unguardedly.</p> + +<p>He saw the twinkle in the girl's eyes as she glanced at her companion, +who sat close by.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>"I wonder," she said, "whether you would like that, Anthea? I almost +think I should."</p> + +<p>The moonlight sufficed to show the faint tinge of color in Anthea's +face, but she laughed. "And what about your father?"</p> + +<p>Nellie Austerly did not appear concerned. "It is very undutiful, for he +must have been anxious; but I really can't help feeling amused when I +think of him and Mr. Valentine being left on the beach to sleep in the +Siwash rancherie. One understands they are rather dreadful places, and +he is so horribly particular, you know."</p> + +<p>Anthea said nothing further, and presently the two girls went below, but +they were about again when, soon after six o'clock next morning, Jimmy +beat the <i>Sorata</i> into the Inlet. Indeed, he left Anthea at the tiller +while he went into the saloon to look for a piece of spun yarn which +Valentine kept in one of the lockers. Nellie Austerly smiled at him as +he opened it.</p> + +<p>"I suppose we shall be in very soon, and I want to thank you now for +bringing me back safe," she said. "Anthea, of course, can thank you for +herself."</p> + +<p>Jimmy felt a trifle embarrassed. "I really don't see why she should. I +think the charter covers anything I have done."</p> + +<p>The girl made a little whimsical gesture. "Does it? You are not a +regular yacht-hand, really?"</p> + +<p>"I am, at least, mate of a lumber-carrying schooner, which comes to much +the same thing."</p> + +<p>The twinkle in Nellie Austerly's eyes grew plainer. "I can be quite +frank with Mr. Valentine and you, and perhaps it is because I like you +both. You can make<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> what you think fit of that. Still, I haven't asked +you how long you have been on board the schooner, and one understands +there are a good many opportunities for men—like you and Mr. +Valentine—in this country."</p> + +<p>Jimmy was a little startled, for it almost seemed that she had guessed +his thoughts, but he smiled.</p> + +<p>"Valentine seems to have all he wants already. He is content with the +sea."</p> + +<p>The girl laughed. "Well," she said, "I don't think the sea would +altogether satisfy him. But I must not keep you here; hadn't you better +make sure Anthea isn't running us ashore?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy went up, and found the <i>Sorata</i> was smoothly slipping by the +climbing pines; and a little later her dory with three white men in it +came sliding toward them as he hauled the topsail down.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX<br /> +<span class="smalltext">MERRIL TIGHTENS THE SCREW</span></h2> + + +<p>The <i>Sorata</i> went to sea again next morning, and one night a week later +she bore up for Vancouver before a westerly breeze. A thin crescent moon +had just cleared the dim white line of the mainland snow, and the sea +glittered faintly in her frothing wake under a vast sweep of dusky blue. +The big topsail swayed across it, blotting out the stars, and there was +a rhythmic splashing beneath the bows.</p> + +<p>Anthea Merril stood at the tiller outlined against the heave of sea, for +the night was warm and she was dressed in white. Nellie Austerly sat on +a locker in the cockpit, and her father on the saloon skylights with a +cigar in his hand. Valentine lay on the deck not far away, and Jimmy a +little further forward.</p> + +<p>"I suppose we will be in soon after daylight, and I'm sorry," said +Nellie Austerly. "It has been an almost perfect cruise in spite of the +bad weather. Don't you wish we were going back again, instead of home, +Anthea?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy roused himself to attention, for he would very much have liked to +hear Miss Merril's real thoughts on the matter; but she laughed.</p> + +<p>"I don't think it would be very much use if I did,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> she said. "One +can't go sailing always—and if you feel that that is a pity, you can +think of the rain and the wind."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Nellie Austerly, "one has to bear so much of them everywhere. +Sometimes one wonders whether life is all gray days and rain; but this +trip has made me better, and, perhaps, if Mr. Valentine will take us, we +will go back next year and revel once more in the sea and the +sunshine—we really had a good deal of the latter."</p> + +<p>Jimmy saw his comrade make a little abrupt movement, and guessed what he +was thinking, for he too realized that before another year Nellie +Austerly would in all probability have slipped away from the sad gray +weather to the shores of the glassy sea where there is eternal radiance.</p> + +<p>Then Austerly looked around, and his observation was very +matter-of-fact, as usual.</p> + +<p>"If circumstances are propitious, I should be glad to arrange it," he +said. "I certainly think Mr. Valentine has done everything he could for +us. Indeed, we owe it largely to him that this has been such a pleasant +trip."</p> + +<p>He appeared to expect some expression of approval, and Anthea laughed. +"Of course. It's only unfortunate he couldn't arrange the weather."</p> + +<p>"I wonder," said Nellie reflectively, "why you both leave Jimmy out?"</p> + +<p>There was a certain suggestiveness in the girl's tone which Jimmy +noticed, though he did not think her father did, and he wished it had +been light enough to see Anthea Merril's face; but unfortunately it was +not.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> She appeared to disregard the question, and glanced in Valentine's +direction.</p> + +<p>"Couldn't we have the big spinnaker up?" she asked.</p> + +<p>Valentine hesitated a little. The breeze was moderately fresh and the +<i>Sorata</i> traveling fast enough, while it is not a very easy thing to +steer a craft running under the great three-cornered sail, which is apt +to swing over in case of a blunder at the tiller.</p> + +<p>"You could hold her steady before the wind?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"If I don't, I will make my father buy you a new mast," said Anthea.</p> + +<p>Valentine made a little gesture which was expressive of resignation. It +was, he had discovered, singularly hard to say no to Anthea Merril; but +it seemed to him that the new mast might be needed if she ventured too +far now. He and Jimmy between them got the great sail up and its boom +run out, though it cost them an effort; and then Jimmy glanced aft with +more than a trace of uneasiness at the white figure at the helm. The +<i>Sorata</i> had now on each side of her a swelling mass of canvas that +dwarfed the narrow strip of hull, and she swung each of them high in +turn as she rolled viciously. Still, as far as Jimmy could see, the girl +stood very composedly at the tiller. Then, as the great mainboom went up +high above the sea, Valentine signed to him.</p> + +<p>"You had better get out and steady it," he said. "It wouldn't need much +to bring that boom over."</p> + +<p>Jimmy crawled out on the slippery spar, and sat astride near the end of +it, while Valentine made his way along the one beneath the spinnaker. +Their weight checked the lifting of the sails in some degree, but for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> +the first few minutes it seemed to Jimmy that they and their companions +were hazarding a good deal. If the girl at the helm let the tiller swing +a hand's-breadth too much when the <i>Sorata</i>, piling the froth about her, +rushed up a dim slope of water, either mainsail or spinnaker would swing +over, and the men on the booms would have no opportunity for attempting +to obviate the unpleasantness that would certainly succeed it. In all +probability they would be flung off headlong into the sea. Still, the +sail did not come over, for the <i>Sorata</i> drove along straight before the +wind, and once more Jimmy paid silent homage to the girl at the tiller.</p> + +<p>He could see her only dimly, a blurred white shape against the dusky +sea, but he could imagine the little glow in her eyes and the way in +which her lips were pressed together. He had seen her look that way when +she sat beside him in the cockpit one wild morning as the <i>Sorata</i> +plunged over the great Pacific combers, and it seemed to him that she +was one who would face difficulties and perils of any kind as +unwaveringly. Indeed, he was angry with himself for having fancied there +was any hazard at all in leaving her to steer the <i>Sorata</i> under +spinnaker, for he felt that Anthea Merril must necessarily be capable of +carrying out anything she had undertaken.</p> + +<p>So he swung contentedly with the lifting boom, now hove high above the +dark water, now dropped down until his feet were almost in the streaming +froth, while shadowy islets clothed with pines sprang out of the sea +ahead, grew into solid blurs of blackness, and flitted by, until at last +Austerly said that his daughter must go below. Then Valentine and Jimmy +came in along<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> the booms, stowed the spinnaker with some difficulty, and +dropped the topsail too, for the dim mainland shore was black ahead when +the rest left the deck to them.</p> + +<p>"That girl has quite excellent nerves," said Valentine. "Still, what I +like about her is that she doesn't think it necessary to impress it on +you. Her husband won't have much to complain of if she ever marries +anybody, though I'm not sure that's certain."</p> + +<p>"Not certain?" said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"No," replied Valentine reflectively. "A girl of her kind is apt to be +particular. The man who pleases her would have to be quite straight, and +it's scarcely likely he'd go to leeward either."</p> + +<p>Jimmy fancied that his comrade was right, though he said nothing, for +after all it was, as he compelled himself to admit, no concern of his. +However, he sighed a little as he went down and crawled into his cot, +leaving Valentine to feel his way along the dusky shore.</p> + +<p>It was early next morning when they rowed Austerly and his two +companions ashore, and the man shook hands with them on the wharf.</p> + +<p>"I feel that I am indebted to both of you," he said with somewhat +unusual diffidence. "In fact, I can't exactly consider that the +attention you have shown my daughter is no more than one would +expect—from the charter."</p> + +<p>He seemed to feel that he was becoming involved, and went on abruptly. +"She desires me to say that it would be a pleasure should either of you +care to call at any time."</p> + +<p>Jimmy left him to Valentine, and, when the latter had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> handed Miss +Austerly into the waiting vehicle, saw that Anthea Merril was looking at +him.</p> + +<p>"If you don't mind my saying so, I think that was rather good of +Austerly," she said. "You probably know his point of view, and I daresay +it cost him an effort. I think your comrade should go. Nellie finds him +amusing, and there is naturally not very much in her life that pleases +her."</p> + +<p>She stopped with a little soft laugh. "Mr. Wheelock—isn't it? I haven't +the least difficulty in saying as much as Austerly did. Any time you or +Mr. Valentine care to call I should be glad to receive you. Our house is +always open, and anybody will tell you where it is."</p> + +<p>Jimmy once more remembered that he had on a pair of burst canvas shoes, +as well as old duck trousers cobbled with sail twine, and a man-o'-war +cap that had grown shapeless with the rain. He also realized that his +companion was quite aware of it too.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid it wouldn't be a very appropriate thing if I did," he said.</p> + +<p>Anthea looked at him steadily. "Pshaw!" she said. "Still, you really +can't expect me to urge you."</p> + +<p>Perhaps it was a slight relief to both of them that Valentine signed to +Jimmy just then. "They want this box," he said. "The rest of the things +are to wait for the express wagon."</p> + +<p>Jimmy, who turned away, heaved the box into the vehicle, and did not see +the curious little smile in Anthea Merril's eyes. In a few minutes she +had driven away, and, he fancied, had passed out of his life altogether. +He stood still on the wharf and sighed.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>"Well," said Valentine, "where are you going now?"</p> + +<p>"Straight back to the schooner," said Jimmy. "I see her lying outside +the steamboat yonder. You might bring my things across when you have +straightened up the boat."</p> + +<p>Valentine promised to do so, and Jimmy, who strode away, met Jordan, +whom he had not expected to see there, on the water-front.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing in Vancouver?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Looking after my patent rights—among other things," said Jordan. "The +mill's shut down for two or three weeks anyway. Between the stone in the +water and the new detergent the directors insisted on my using, the +boiler has 'most turned herself inside out. Our people have their office +here, as you know, and my agreement with them only stands for another +month, while it seems that Merril has been buying up their stock. I'm +not sure his notions are going to suit me. You heard we had to break off +your father's contract?"</p> + +<p>"I hadn't, though I was afraid it would happen," said Jimmy, whose face +grew a trifle grim. "That was Merril's doing?"</p> + +<p>"It was. I couldn't help the thing. But we can't talk here; won't you +come along to my hotel?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy glanced at his garments, and Jordan grinned. "Those things don't +count for so much here," he said. "Anyway, there was a time when I +tramped into the wooden cities along Puget Sound looking way more like a +dead-beat than you do now. Still, if that's going to worry you, can't +you get a boat and take me for a sail?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy was sorry that it was out of the question.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> He had spent only a +few evenings with Jordan at the mill, but he liked the man, and was +vaguely sensible that Jordan liked him.</p> + +<p>"Valentine and I have just run in, and I must see how the old man is +getting along," he said. "After that I fancy I ought to go over to a +ranch on the Westminster road, and look up my sister. I haven't seen her +since I came home."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Jordan, "I've nothing on hand until to-morrow. What's the +matter with taking me? I'll hire a team somewhere and drive you. I can +drop you at the ranch, and go on to Westminster."</p> + +<p>They arranged it during the next few minutes, and then Jimmy was rowed +off to the <i>Tyee</i>. Prescott met him as he climbed on board, and a glance +at his face showed Jimmy that things had not been going well.</p> + +<p>"You will be wanted," he said. "Your father has been getting very shaky +since you went away, and I don't quite see how he's to hold on to the +schooner, now that he has lost that lumber contract and has to face the +carpenter's bill. Guess he's worrying over it. Hasn't got up the last +three days, and the doctor don't seem to know what is wrong with him."</p> + +<p>Jimmy went down into the little stern cabin with a sinking heart, and +found Tom Wheelock lying propped up in his berth. He looked very old and +haggard, and the perspiration stood beaded on his face, in which pale +patches showed through the bronze.</p> + +<p>"Glad you've got back, boy," he said. "You'll have to take hold +soon—that is, if there's anything left to get a grip on. The old man's +played out."</p> + +<p>This, it seemed to Jimmy, was painfully evident, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> though he +contrived to hide it, a sense of dismay crept over him as he sat down. +Tom Wheelock looked played out, and though his son was ready to take up +his burden, he felt it would be heavy. He realized that through the +compassion he felt, and then a sudden fit of anger against the man who +had crushed his father came over him. The color darkened a trifle in his +face, but he put a restraint upon himself.</p> + +<p>"You'll be about again in a day or two," he said cheerily. "Now, tell me +all about it. But first of all, what is the matter with you?"</p> + +<p>The old man looked at him with a curious little smile. "The doctor Bob +brought off didn't quite seem to know, but I could have told him. Guess +I'm done, boy. It's quite likely I'll crawl out on deck for a little +while, but how's that going to count? Nobody's going to have any more +use for your father, Jimmy, and when the month is up Merril will take +the schooner from him."</p> + +<p>Jimmy clenched a big brown fist, but his voice was very quiet. "Well," +he said, "I want to understand what has happened since I went away."</p> + +<p>Wheelock reached out for the pipe that lay near him, and fumbled with +it, spilling the tobacco with shaky fingers, until Jimmy quietly took it +from him, and struck a match as he handed it back to him. The old man +raised himself a trifle as he lighted it, and then laid a trembling hand +on his son's arm.</p> + +<p>"I guess I've worked as hard as most other men, but somehow I don't seem +to have gone to windward as the rest did," he said. "Perhaps I was too +easy with the money, and a little slack in other ways. Still, your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> +blood's red, Jimmy, and there's a streak of hard sand in you. You got it +from your mother; it was she who made me. Hard work don't count, boy. +You want to get your elbows into the other people who're standing in +your way. Well, I'm glad there's that streak of grit in you. You'll get +those fingers on the throat of the man who brought your father down, and +gripe the life out of him, some day."</p> + +<p>He broke off abruptly, and fumbled with his pipe, which had gone out +again. "Let that go; it's fool talk, Jimmy. What do I want putting my +trouble on to you? Guess you'll have plenty of your own, boy."</p> + +<p>"I think I asked you to tell me what Merril had done," said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"Kept us here under repairs while the lumber was piling up on the +sawmill wharf. I 'most guess he'd fixed the thing with the boss +carpenter. I was to bring all that the people at the Inlet cut for +Victoria or Vancouver down fast as it was ready, or they were to let up +on the contract; but Jordan would have made things easy if Merril hadn't +bought their stock and put the screw on hard."</p> + +<p>"It wouldn't be worth his while to buy the stock for that."</p> + +<p>"The thing's quite plain. He's playing a bigger game. Wants control of +all that's going on along that coast, and its carrying. Guess I can't +stop his getting the <i>Tyee</i>, and she's the second boat he has taken from +me. Well, I may get a freight of ore in a week or two, and, it's quite +likely, a load from a cannery—go up light—freight one way. How's that +going to count,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> though, when there's the carpenter's bill to meet, and +a big instalment on the bond with interest due?"</p> + +<p>"How much?" Jimmy asked, harshly.</p> + +<p>He sat silent a while, with a hard, set face, when his father told him.</p> + +<p>"Then he must have the vessel. Still, he'll have to sell her by +auction," he said by and by.</p> + +<p>"That won't count. When I've nobody to run the price up against him, +it's quite easy for a man like Merril to fix the thing. He'll get one of +his friends to buy her in at 'bout half her value, and the bond don't +quite call for that. It isn't everybody wants a vessel, and the few men +who do fix these things between them."</p> + +<p>Jimmy set his lips, and once more there was silence for a while. Then he +looked up with a little abrupt movement. "There's a question in front of +us to be faced—and I'm going to find the answer; but we won't talk any +more about it now. I'm going over with Jordan this afternoon to see +Eleanor. You can get along until to-night without me?"</p> + +<p>Wheelock made a sign of concurrence. "I guess it's a thing you ought to +do. Got a letter from her yesterday, and she was asking about you. +Eleanor's like you. Take after your mother, both of you, and, if +anything, the harder grit's in her. You have to remember, Jimmy, you +can't afford to show a soft spot when you're fighting a man like +Merril."</p> + +<p>He stopped a moment, with a sigh. "Guess he is too hard for your father. +Won't you light me this pipe again? My hand's shaky."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X<br /> +<span class="smalltext">ELEANOR WHEELOCK</span></h2> + + +<p>Jordan was driving a spirited team along the water-front when Jimmy came +up from the wharf, and he smiled when the latter swung himself up into +the light, four-wheeled vehicle. Jimmy was dressed tastefully in his +English shore-going clothes, and now looked very much unlike a +yacht-hand. He was well endued physically, and, though the bronze in his +face and a certain steadiness of gaze betrayed his calling, there was an +indefinite but unmistakable stamp upon him which he had acquired on +board the big mail-boats, and perhaps also in a greater measure from his +comrades on the battleship. Jimmy had certainly not cultivated it, and +was, in fact, not aware that he possessed it, but his companion had +already recognized it.</p> + +<p>"Take a cigar, and light it before I let the team out. They look as if +they could go," he said.</p> + +<p>Jimmy did so, and then found it somewhat difficult to keep his seat as +his comrade sent the horses through the city as fast as they could lay +hoof to the ground, and out of it past the clustering wooden hovels in +its less reputable quarter, and up the slope that led into the shadowy +bush. Roads are not remarkable for their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> smoothness anywhere in that +country, but it was evident that Jordan liked fast traveling and could +handle a team. He laughed when Jimmy said so.</p> + +<p>"I come of farmer stock, and that's probably why I always had a notion +of the sea," he said. "If you look at it in one way, the thing's quite +natural."</p> + +<p>"I suppose it is," said Jimmy. "Why didn't you go to sea?"</p> + +<p>"It seemed to me one has mighty few chances of picking up money there, +though I found out quite early that the poor man has no great show +anywhere. It was a mortgage he couldn't pay off that broke up my +father."</p> + +<p>He stopped for a moment, with a little confidential gesture. "I guess +that's why I wanted to do what I could for your father. In one or two +ways he's very much like the man I buried back in Washington. He was +straight—and it wasn't his fault if he didn't whale all the meanness +out of me—but, when smartness means getting your grip on what belongs +to somebody else, he was just a trifle slow. He worked hard, and gave +every man a hundred cents' worth for his dollar—and that's quite likely +why there was mighty little but a mortgage on the ranch when he died."</p> + +<p>Jimmy was not astonished, in view of their short acquaintance, that his +companion should tell him this. He was aware that reticence is not a +prominent characteristic of the men of the Pacific Slope, and, besides +this, there was a rapidly growing sympathy between himself and Jordan. +Still, he sat silent, and his companion spoke again.</p> + +<p>"I was about sixteen then, and I saw I had to make<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> out differently," he +said. "Well, somehow I've done it—looked on this life as a battle where +the hurt man gets no mercy, and I've cleared quite a little money on my +royalties—but now and then the memory of those old days on the ranch +comes back to me. Then I feel that if ever it's necessary for me to get +my knife into any kind of mortgage man, it will be red right to the hilt +when it comes out again."</p> + +<p>The snap in his companion's dark eyes and the hardening of his lips were +comprehensible to Jimmy, for he had once or twice been sensible of much +the same feeling. Jordan had, as is usual in the land to which he +belonged, expressed himself frankly, and perhaps a trifle crudely; but +Jimmy recognized that it was with very genuine tenderness and regret he +remembered the man he had buried long ago in Washington. He asked an +abrupt question, which did not, however, altogether change the subject.</p> + +<p>"Will you be here any time?" he said.</p> + +<p>"I don't quite know. There's no reason I shouldn't tell you what I can, +and I feel like talking now. I'm quite pleased to run that mill up the +Inlet for our people, that is, while they leave me to fix things as I +like them; but as I told you, Merril has been getting his grip on the +stock lately, and his views about the royalties on my patents don't +quite coincide with mine. I've a couple of other notions that will save +labor which our company has not bought up, and it's quite likely I'll +turn them over to the Hastings people. In the meanwhile I'm not going to +rush things, and it's probable I'll hang on until we've had the +stockholders' meeting."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>"Then it's Merril who is standing in your way?"</p> + +<p>Jordan smiled dryly. "Now you understand the thing. Seems to me neither +of us has any great reason to like that man."</p> + +<p>Nothing more was said on that point, and by and by they left the scented +shadow of the pines, and clattered across a wooden bridge which spanned +the turbid, green Fraser, into a stretch of sunlit meadows and oatfields +formed by the silt the great river had brought down. In due time they +reached a wooden ranch flanked by shadowy bush, and Jordan, pulling the +team up before it, glanced down the long white road that leads to New +Westminster, a few miles away.</p> + +<p>"I guess I'll go on to town, and come back for you," he said. "Still, +you had better make sure you're at the right place first."</p> + +<p>Jimmy got down, and a man who had apparently heard the beat of hoofs, +commenced to throw down the split slip-rails which in Western Canada +usually serve as gates.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, when Jimmy spoke to him, "this is Forster's ranch. In +fact, that is my name."</p> + +<p>He was dressed in the bush-rancher's jean, but he had a pleasant face +with a certain hint of refinement in it, and smiled when Jimmy told him +who he was.</p> + +<p>"Miss Wheelock's brother? Come right in and put your team up," he said. +"It's not more than an hour or so until supper. Your friend will come +with you?"</p> + +<p>Supper is usually served at six o'clock in that country, and in no way +differs from the other meals of the day; while nobody acquainted with +its customs would have considered it an unusual thing for the rancher +to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> extend the invitation to Jimmy's companion. Jordan once more glanced +down the road to New Westminster, and, though none of them knew it, a +good deal was to depend on the fact that he elected to stay.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, turning to Jimmy, "I don't want to worry you, but the +fact is, one of the lumber people yonder has been writing me about my +gang-saw frame, and, after thinking the thing out last night, I'd sooner +hold him off a while. I'd have to call on the man if I drove into town, +and, after all, it might be wiser to keep clear of him."</p> + +<p>"Then you had better get down," said Forster. "While Miss Wheelock talks +to her brother you can walk round the ranch with me. I don't see many +strangers, and I'm by no means busy."</p> + +<p>Jordan got down, and, after spending an hour with Forster, was somewhat +astonished when he was presented to Miss Wheelock in the big general +room of the ranch. It was roughly paneled with cedar, very simply +furnished, and had, as usual, an uncovered floor, while the sunlight +that streamed through the uncurtained window fell upon the girl. She +stood still a moment looking at him when she had acknowledged his +greeting, and for once, at least, the sawmiller felt almost embarrassed, +for Eleanor Wheelock possessed, as her brother did not, a somewhat +striking personality.</p> + +<p>Jimmy might have passed for a quiet Englishman; but his sister was +typically Western in everything but speech—tall, wiry, and a trifle +straight of figure, but with something that was almost imperious in her +attitude. She had light hair like Jimmy's, but there was a reddish gleam +in it, and her eyes which had a glint in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> them were of a paler blue, +while her skin was of a curious colorless purity. Jordan could not +analyze her features, but he felt that she was beautiful, and there was +a suggestion of vigor about her that further attracted him. One would +scarcely have called her domineering, but she had not, as her brother +recognized, the quiet graciousness and composure which half-concealed +Anthea Merril's strength of character. Jordan, however, was not too +discriminating. He liked vigor in any guise, and he noticed that one of +the two little girls who had entered with her clung to her hand.</p> + +<p>"I think I passed you twice in Vancouver one day a month or two ago," +she said.</p> + +<p>Jordan made her a little inclination, and his Western candor was free +alike from awkwardness or any hint of presumption.</p> + +<p>"Then I didn't see you. If I had done so, I should certainly have +remembered it."</p> + +<p>Eleanor laughed, and turned to the others. "It's ten minutes since Jake +called you. Will you sit here, Jimmy, with Mr. Jordan next to you? Mrs. +Forster is away just now."</p> + +<p>She moved to the head of the table, and the usual ranch supper of pork, +potatoes, flapjacks, hot cakes, desiccated fruits, and green tea was +brought in. Forster, who appeared to be a man of education, made an +excellent host, but it was Eleanor and Jordan who led most of the +conversation, and there was delicacy as well as keenness in their +badinage. Almost an hour had passed before the party rose, which was a +very unusual thing in that country, for the Westerner seldom wastes much +time over his meals. Then, as it happened, it was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> Jimmy who walked +round the ranch with Forster, while Jordan sat on the veranda with +Eleanor and the little girls while the shadows of the firs crept slowly +up to it. They talked about a good many things, while each felt that +they were just skirting a confidence, until the little girl who sat next +to Jordan looked up at him gravely.</p> + +<p>"Why don't you go and see the cows with father and the other man?" she +asked.</p> + +<p>Jordan laughed, but he looked at Eleanor. "Well," he said, "for one +thing, I guess it's a good deal nicer here."</p> + +<p>Miss Wheelock met his glance with a directness which, had his +disposition and training been different, he might have found +disconcerting. She was, like himself, absolutely devoid of affectation, +and he felt that she was quietly making an estimate of him. Still, there +was not a great deal in his character that he had occasion to hide from +any one, and the evident sincerity of his observation was in itself an +excuse for it. It was characteristic of the girl that she let it pass, +not with the obvious intention of ignoring it because that appeared +advisable, but as though she had never heard it. When a thing did not +appeal to Eleanor Wheelock, she simply brushed it aside.</p> + +<p>"Have you met the Miss Merril Jimmy mentioned?" she asked. "I almost +fancy she is the girl I used to see now and then when I was in Toronto. +What is she like?"</p> + +<p>Jordan, who had met Anthea Merril in Vancouver, told her as well as he +was able, and Eleanor's lips set in a straight line.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>"One could fancy you were not fond of Miss Merril," he said.</p> + +<p>"I have never spoken to her; but I have no great reason to feel +well-disposed toward anybody of that family."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Jordan; "that means Jimmy has told you what Merril is doing. +I'm no friend of that man's either, but I'm not quite sure one could +reasonably hold the girl responsible for her father."</p> + +<p>"Especially when she's pretty? Still, she is his daughter, and must be +like him in some respects."</p> + +<p>Jordan's eyes twinkled. "Do you consider yourself like your father?"</p> + +<p>Eleanor flashed a swift glance at him. "You are keener than I expected. +In reality I am not like him in the least, though I don't know why I +should trouble to admit it. In any case, I think the rule generally +holds good."</p> + +<p>She dismissed the subject abruptly, with a laugh. "After all, our +affairs can't interest you. You can't have seen very much of my +brother."</p> + +<p>Jordan appeared to consider this. "I'm not sure that counts," he said. +"I seem to have been a friend of Jimmy's quite a long while. There are +people who make you feel that, even when it isn't so, although they may +not consciously want to. One can't tell how they do it—but I think you +have the power in you."</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said Eleanor. "I am, however, by no means certain that I +was ever very anxious to make friends with anybody."</p> + +<p>"That's comprehensible. You would sooner they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> wanted to make friends +with you, and if no one did, you would be sufficient for yourself."</p> + +<p>Eleanor looked at him with a chilly smile. "You have a certain +penetration, but I don't know that there is any reason why I should +confess to you. How do you come to know anything about Mr. Merril?"</p> + +<p>Jordan, who appeared to have no doubt as to her ability to understand +him, in which he was warranted, told her.</p> + +<p>"Well," she said, "suppose this man's influence is too strong for you, +and you have to break your connection with the mill?"</p> + +<p>"There are two or three other things I could turn to."</p> + +<p>"One would suppose as much;" and Jordan took it as a compliment, which +perhaps it was, especially as the girl had not said it with the least +desire to gratify him. "Still, that is not what I mean. Would you try to +find any means of retaliating?"</p> + +<p>"If he afterward got in my way—that is, thrust himself between me and +something I wanted to do—I would try all I could to get my foot on him, +and then perhaps keep it there a little longer than was necessary."</p> + +<p>"You would go no further?"</p> + +<p>Jordan knew what she meant, though he could not grasp her purpose in +pressing the point. "It wouldn't be business if I did. When a man starts +out to make money he can't afford to load himself up with purely +personal grievances. If another man tries to get the things you want you +naturally have to fight, but it's wiser to grin and bear it when he's +too smart for you. Still, there are cases when the feeling that you +would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> like to get even afterward is apt to be 'most too much for human +nature."</p> + +<p>"And in some respects you could be very human?"</p> + +<p>Jordan turned to her with the twinkle still in his eyes. "Well," he +said, "if I let any weakness of that kind master me in the present case, +I should be very much like the black-tail deer that turned around on the +man with the rifle. Still, one can't invariably be wise."</p> + +<p>His manner was whimsical, but it seemed to Eleanor there was something +behind it, for when he broke off a faint glint which she understood +crept into his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Sometimes accidents happen to the man with the rifle," she said. "In +the meanwhile, I rather fancy Jimmy is making signs to you."</p> + +<p>"Then," said Jordan gravely, "I'm not sure I'm much obliged to him. But +before I go there's something I want to ask: would it be a liberty if I +came back here with him some day?"</p> + +<p>"You would like to come?"</p> + +<p>"Of course. Why do I ask?"</p> + +<p>Eleanor laughed. "That is what I was wondering. I almost think a man +likely to get even with Mr. Merril would do what he wanted. Anyway, you +know the customs of the country as well as I do, and I scarcely think +Forster and his wife would mind."</p> + +<p>Jordan rose, and kissed the child he picked up and held high in his +arms. "Well," he said, "since—Forster and his wife—wouldn't mind, I +shall very probably come along again by and by."</p> + +<p>He turned and went down the veranda stairway, while the little girl +looked at her companion gravely.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>"I like that man. He's nice," she said. "You like him too, don't you?"</p> + +<p>Eleanor was beckoning Jimmy, but the child went on. "Well," she said, +"he thinks you nice, I know. I could tell it by the way he looked at +you. Perhaps you didn't see him, but I did."</p> + +<p>Eleanor laughed, for she had naturally noticed every glance Jordan had +cast in her direction, and had understood it. That, however, did not +count for very much with her. She recognized in Jordan something that +pleased her, and she had a vague fancy that there were things he might +be able to do for Jimmy and her father in the difficulties she foresaw. +There was, she admitted reluctantly, after all, a good deal that a woman +could not do; but in the meanwhile the feeling went no further. Then +while Jordan and Forster harnessed the team, Jimmy joined her.</p> + +<p>"You will have to stay in the Province, Jimmy. You can't go back to +sea," she said. "Your father will need somebody beside him now."</p> + +<p>Jimmy only smiled, but the girl made a little gesture of comprehension.</p> + +<p>"Oh," she said, "I know how hard it is for you. You will have to give up +your career."</p> + +<p>"It can't be helped," said the man simply, "and I may make another +here."</p> + +<p>Eleanor laid her hand on his arm, and pressed it. "I knew you would face +it like that. There's just one other thing. Hold on to that man Jordan; +I think he will make you a good friend."</p> + +<p>"You like him?"</p> + +<p>"That," said Eleanor, "is quite another matter. Any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>way, he is a man who +could be depended on—and I think he could be firm on points where you +might waver. You are a little too good-natured, Jimmy."</p> + +<p>Jordan drove his team up before they had said much more, and Forster +shook hands with Jimmy as he stood beside the vehicle.</p> + +<p>"From what your sister has told us, I dare say you are a trifle anxious +about—things in general—just now," he said. "If it is any relief to +you, I would like to say that Mrs. Forster and I think very highly of +your sister, and that so long as she cares to stay with us we should be +very glad to do what we can for her."</p> + +<p>Jimmy thanked the rancher, and swung himself up into the vehicle, while +Jordan turned to him as they drove away.</p> + +<p>"They think very highly of her! They'd be—idiots if they didn't," he +said. "Of course, I don't know if that's quite the kind of thing you +appreciate from me."</p> + +<p>Jimmy said nothing, as was usual with him when he was not sure what he +felt, but Jordan went on.</p> + +<p>"I never expected to find you had a sister like that," he said. "She's +very different from you in many ways. One feels that's a girl with 'most +enough capacity for anything."</p> + +<p>Jimmy looked at him with a whimsical smile, and Jordan laughed.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, "I might have expressed myself differently. What I mean +is that you're a good deal more like your father than she is."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Jimmy. "Well, perhaps you're right. In fact, the same thing +has struck me occasionally."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">AT AUCTION</span></h2> + + +<p>Jimmy went back to the ranch beside the Fraser once, but Jordan went +without him several times, for Forster apparently found his company +congenial. It happened that he contrived to see a good deal of Eleanor +Wheelock during his visits, but neither of them mentioned this to Jimmy, +who, indeed, would probably have concerned himself little about it had +he heard of it, since he had other things to think about just then. +Merril had sent his father a formal notice that unless the money due +should be paid by a certain time, the schooner would be sold as +stipulated in the bond, and, though Tom Wheelock had expected nothing +else, he apparently collapsed altogether under the final blow.</p> + +<p>Jordan, who had just come back from Forster's ranch, arrived on board +the <i>Tyee</i> while the doctor was talking to Jimmy, and, strolling +forward, he sat down on the windlass and commenced a conversation with +Prescott, with whom he had promptly made friends. In the meanwhile, +Jimmy looked at the doctor a trifle wearily as he leaned on the rail.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps my mind's not as clear as usual to-day, but these scientific +terms don't convey very much to me," he said.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>"In plain English, then," said the doctor, "it is general break-down +your father is suffering from, though it is intensified by a partial +loss of control over the muscles on one side of him. The latter trouble +is, perhaps, the result of what one might call constitutional causes, +but, as you seem to fancy, worry and nervous strain, or a shock of any +kind, may have accelerated it or brought about the climax."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Jimmy hoarsely, "the cure?"</p> + +<p>The doctor's tone was sympathetic. "To be quite frank, there is none. It +is possible, even probable, that he may recover sufficiently to hobble +about a little, but he will never be fit for any active occupation +again."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Jimmy, with a little indrawing of his breath. "Still, it is +only what I expected, and I suppose I must face it. You are quite sure +about that shock?"</p> + +<p>The doctor looked at him curiously. "I want you to understand that it +probably brought about the climax, though such things don't often happen +in the case of a vigorous man. Your father has, I should fancy, in +ordinary language, been losing his grip for several years. In his case +the natural decline of physical strength has, perhaps, been accelerated +by undue anxiety, and——"</p> + +<p>He hesitated, and Jimmy made a quick sign of comprehension. "Oh, yes," +he said, "I know. Still, I'm not sure that anybody could blame him, +under the circumstances. Well, I think the thing that brought about the +climax has been steadily preparing him to break down under it; but, +after all, that does not concern you."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>The doctor, who admitted this, gave him certain directions before he +went away, and Jimmy descended to the little cabin where Tom Wheelock +lay. He looked up and nodded when his son came in.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, with a faint smile, "I guess by the names that doctor +calls it, I've got enough to kill any man. Wouldn't talk quite straight, +but I know as well as he does that I'm not going to worry you very long, +and that's just as it should be. Merril takes the schooner, and you'll +go back to the blue water. I was never good for very much, anyway, after +your mother had gone. She stood behind me and kept things going."</p> + +<p>Jimmy sat down, and, much as he desired it, could think of nothing +apposite to say. He felt that there are occasions on which one should +speak clearly, but, as not infrequently happens, it was just then that +he was usually dumb. Perhaps Tom Wheelock understood this, for once more +he smiled as he looked at him.</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't worry about it, Jimmy," he said.</p> + +<p>Jimmy was still tongue-tied, but one result of his father's observations +was that fierce anger commenced to mingle with his distress, and he felt +his nature stir in protest. Merril would take the <i>Tyee</i>—that could not +be helped—but it seemed an insufferable thing that for the paltry value +of the schooner he should have crushed this frail and broken man. Jimmy +clenched a firm brown hand, and felt his fingers itch for a grip on the +bondholder's throat.</p> + +<p>There was silence for a while, intensified by the soft splash of ripples +against the <i>Tyee</i>'s planking, and Jimmy afterward remembered how his +father's worn<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> face showed up in the stream of light that shone down +through the skylights into the shadowy cabin. He lay wrapped in old and +dirty blankets, a worn-out and broken man who stood in the way of one +who was stronger. He held an unlighted pipe in his limp and nerveless +hand, and the cabin reeked with unsavory odors. It was unclean and +wholly comfortless, and it seemed to Jimmy, who was fresh from the +luxury of the mail-boats, almost horrible that the man to whom he owed +his being should lie there in sordid misery. At last he straightened +himself resolutely.</p> + +<p>"There are several points to consider," he said. "The schooner will be +sold—that's certain—and I must find a room for you ashore. It's +fortunate that one difficulty can be got over. Men who can work seem to +be in demand here just now, and when Merril sells the <i>Tyee</i> there ought +to be a few dollars over."</p> + +<p>"There might be if we had anybody to bid against him and run the figure +up, but we haven't. Anyway, Bob and I have been talking things over this +morning. He has had 'most enough of the sea, and one of the C.P.R. men +will put him on a soft thing on the wharf. Well, we're going to take one +of the little frame-houses just back of the town between us. Not quite a +mansion, Jimmy, but there are four rooms in it."</p> + +<p>Jimmy felt inclined to groan, for he had seen the very primitive and +unattractive dwellings in question, but he knew that rents are high in +that city and money somewhat hard to earn anywhere. Still, it was in one +way a relief to turn the conversation in this direction, and by and by +he remembered that Jordan was awaiting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> him and went up on deck. The +latter sat down and pulled out his cigar-case.</p> + +<p>"Take one, and then tell me what's troubling you," he said. "I'll own up +that I got some notion out of Prescott."</p> + +<p>Jimmy found it a relief to comply, and talked for several minutes while +Jordan listened attentively.</p> + +<p>"You have got to stay here," said the latter. "That's a sure thing; but +there's not much sense in your notion of track-grading for the railroad +or wharf-laboring. You wait a week or two, and I fancy I can suggest +something by then that will suit you."</p> + +<p>"I don't know why you should trouble about it," said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"We'll let that go;" and Jordan looked at him with a smile in his keen +dark eyes. "Your sister and I have been talking about you. She feels +that you ought to stay with the old man, too."</p> + +<p>It did not occur to Jimmy that there was anything significant in this, +for he was too anxious to concern himself about anything then except the +question as to how he was to secure his father's comfort.</p> + +<p>"I've been thinking about the auction," he said.</p> + +<p>"So have I," said Jordan. "Now, I'm going to talk straight to you. I've +invented one or two sawmill fixings; and they've brought me in some +money, as you know; but I want considerably more, and I've always had a +notion that it was business and not sawing redwood logs I was meant for. +Well, Merril wants me out of that mill, and it seems to me there's room +for a big extension of the coast-carrying trade of this country. That's +Merril's notion too. I once thought of buying<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> this schooner—that is, +wiping out your father's loan—and putting you in command of her. Now, +don't get hold of it the wrong way—it was the money there might be in +it I was after."</p> + +<p>He smiled as he saw the faint flush on Jimmy's face. "Then I fancied +there might be more in steam, and that since Merril wants the <i>Tyee</i>, +I'd let him have her—at a figure. Anything she brings over and above +the bond goes to your father. Well, I'll put on a broker to bid for her +who knows his business. If I have to take her I guess I could get my +money back by sailing her, and, anyway, the broker will run Merril up. +You couldn't do it, because you'd be asked for security that you could +put up the money. Now, that's about all, except that I want you not to +take hold of anything that may be offered you until the auction's over +and you have had a talk with me. I've got to go back to the mill +to-morrow for a week or two."</p> + +<p>"I don't want to be ungracious, but there is no reason why you should +burden yourself with my affairs."</p> + +<p>"No," said Jordan dryly, "I guess there isn't. I'm out for money, and +that's why I figure that a man who knows as much about the sea as you do +might be of some use to me. You'll promise, anyway?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy did so, and felt that he had done wisely when his comrade went +away. There was, after all, no reason why Jordan should not befriend him +if he wished to, and he had a curious confidence in the man. It was, +however, two or three weeks later, and only a few minutes before the +auction which was to be held in a room ashore, when he saw him again. He +did not know that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> Jordan, who had arrived in the city two days ago, had +spent most of one of them at Forster's ranch. Jimmy, who had promised +Tom Wheelock to attend the sale, was walking up and down the street +waiting for the time announced, when Jordan strolled up to him with a +cigar in his hand.</p> + +<p>"Had to come down to see our people here," he said, which was, as it +happened, correct enough. "Went round this morning and saw that broker +man. He's coming along, and if it will be any relief to you I'll hand +you on his bill. Of course, I could have made my own bid, but these +fellows know the tricks of the game, and I'm not ready yet for a clean +break with Merril. Now, we might as well walk in."</p> + +<p>They passed through part of a big stone building into a large room where +a group of city men were talking together, for there were timber lands +and ranching properties to be sold that afternoon as well as the +schooner. It was very hot, and Jimmy found the waiting difficult to bear +as he listened to the hum of voices and glanced at his watch, until at +last the auctioneer sat down at a raised table. He hastily read out +particulars of the vessel as well as his authority to sell her, and then +smiled at the assembly.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, "we'll get right down to business. Most of you have seen +the vessel, the rest of you have heard about her, and all you have to do +is to make me a reasonable bid. There is no reserve on her."</p> + +<p>Jimmy felt his face grow a trifle hot with anger. The <i>Tyee</i> had made +his father's living, and, since anything she might bring in excess of +the loan on her would belong to him, it did not seem fitting that she +should be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> flung in this casual fashion on the hands of palpably +indifferent purchasers. The result of that sale was of vital interest to +him and Thomas Wheelock, and he glanced inquiringly at Jordan.</p> + +<p>"My man has not come," said the latter tranquilly. "It's a game he's +accustomed to, and when he's wanted he'll be here. That's one of the new +cannery men starting the bidding. Their inlet's a difficult place to +make, and the steamboat men don't care about calling there except for +big loads. It's significant that he should think of buying her."</p> + +<p>Jimmy did not understand why it should be so, but his face grew hard at +the laughter when the man made a nominal bid. There was silence for +almost a minute, and he felt a little thrill of dismay run through him, +for if the <i>Tyee</i> went at that figure it would leave his father still +heavily in debt.</p> + +<p>"The anchors and cables are worth more," said the auctioneer. "Is there +nobody willing to raise him fifty dollars?"</p> + +<p>One of the men nodded. "I'll go that far," he said. "Still, I don't know +where I could get it back for her."</p> + +<p>Somebody offered ten dollars more, another man twenty, and there was +languid bidding until the price had almost doubled; but then it stopped +for a few moments, and Jimmy saw his companion glance somewhat uneasily +toward the door.</p> + +<p>"I'm beginning to wonder what's keeping my man," he said.</p> + +<p>"If he doesn't come soon he might as well stay away altogether," said +Jimmy, who turned in tense suspense and watched the hot faces of the men +about him.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>The price then offered would just clear the debt, but there were many +things his father needed, and Jimmy had then only a few dollars in his +pocket, which he had earned by stacking dressed lumber at a sawmill.</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen," said the auctioneer, "I don't feel warranted in letting her +go at the figure. She'd bring you half as much again to-morrow if you +sailed her over to Victoria."</p> + +<p>"I'll raise it ten dollars," said somebody, and the bidding commenced +again more indifferently than ever. Five, ten, twenty dollars were +offered, and then five again.</p> + +<p>Jordan touched Jimmy's arm. "That's Merril's man—I've been trying to +spot him—and I guess the cannery man would go up a hundred or two +still, by the way he's watching him. Nobody else seems to want her, and +it's quite likely they'll crawl up by tens. Sit still, while I run +around and find out what's the matter with my broker."</p> + +<p>He slipped out, but he was back within a few minutes, flushed in face, +and thrust a strip of paper into Jimmy's hand.</p> + +<p>"I think that makes the thing quite plain," he said.</p> + +<p>Jimmy glanced at the paper. "Got a wire last minute, and sent over to +your hotel, but didn't find you in," he read. "Had to go out +unexpectedly on the Sound steamer."</p> + +<p>"He stopped your putting another man on?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Jordan, with a snap in his dark eyes. "Knew he was going all +the while. Played me for a sucker. Well, I guess I was one, or I +wouldn't have given him an option of selling me to Merril."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>"Selling you?"</p> + +<p>"Exactly. I might have known it's quite hard for an outsider to kick +against the people who boss these things. Still, since Merril knows, +there's no reason why I should keep my knife in the sheath. Raise them a +hundred dollars. I'll stand sponsor."</p> + +<p>Jimmy did not stop to consider. He knew that every dollar the schooner +brought now would go into the pockets of his father, and that was enough +for him.</p> + +<p>"I'll make the figure one hundred dollars more," he said.</p> + +<p>The man Jordan had pointed out as Merril's agent leaned forward and +whispered something to the auctioneer, whereupon the latter turned to +Jimmy with a deprecatory air.</p> + +<p>"The terms are strictly cash," he said. "I presume you are in a position +to put down the bills or a bank draft if you got her? I have, of course, +the pleasure of these other gentlemen's acquaintance."</p> + +<p>Jimmy felt Jordan, whom he had seen take out a wallet and a +fountain-pen, thrust something into his hand. He glanced at it before he +faced the auctioneer.</p> + +<p>"I don't know how far that was admissible or inspired," he said. +"Anyway, it doesn't matter. This draft should, I think, speak for +itself."</p> + +<p>The auctioneer apparently waited for him to take it across, but Jimmy +quietly sat down.</p> + +<p>"If you will send your clerk," he said.</p> + +<p>The clerk came forward, and a trace of amusement and awakening interest +crept into the faces of the rest.</p> + +<p>"That's satisfactory," said the auctioneer. "The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> signature in question +is quite sufficient. I'll record your bid. Will anybody raise it?"</p> + +<p>Then the men became intent, and two of them went up by forties. Jimmy +glanced at his companion, who nodded.</p> + +<p>"Go right ahead. Merril and the other man want her," he said.</p> + +<p>A few minutes later, to Jimmy's astonishment, Forster came in and stood +beside them.</p> + +<p>"What's the figure?" he asked, and, when Jordan told him, "Is she worth +it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Jimmy; "you could go up at least five hundred dollars +further."</p> + +<p>"Ten advance," said Forster to the auctioneer, and then turned to +Jordan. "I suppose you're not set on getting her?"</p> + +<p>Jordan smiled, and Forster made a little whimsical gesture. "I +understand. Doing much the same thing myself. Miss Wheelock and my wife +are outside. I've been hanging round in the vestibule until it seemed +convenient for me to take a hand in."</p> + +<p>Jimmy said nothing, but when he looked around a few moments later he was +somewhat astonished to see that Jordan's place was empty. His comrade +was, in fact, hastening down the street to where Forster's light wagon +stood outside a big dry-goods store. He went in and came upon Eleanor +Wheelock, standing very straight and slim in her long white dress. She +turned and looked at him with a curious little smile.</p> + +<p>"Have you come to tell me that Forster is taking unnecessary trouble in +this affair?" she said.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>Jordan was not readily disconcerted, but he showed a momentary trace of +embarrassment.</p> + +<p>"No," he replied, "I haven't. I'm open to admit that I'm not quite as +smart as I thought I was. My man didn't turn up. In fact, he sold me to +Merril."</p> + +<p>Eleanor still looked at him, and his tone became deprecatory. "You're +not pleased?"</p> + +<p>"No," said the girl, with a faint flush in her cheeks. "I like my +friends to be successful."</p> + +<p>Jordan winced perceptibly. "I won't fail next time."</p> + +<p>"Are you warranted in thinking there will be another time?"</p> + +<p>"I guess so. I don't know that I deserve it, but you won't be too hard +on me?"</p> + +<p>Eleanor saw the gleam in his eyes. "It will depend. Where is Jimmy?"</p> + +<p>"Bidding against Forster and the rest for the <i>Tyee</i>."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said. Eleanor, and for a moment her face softened. "I don't know +why you didn't tell me that earlier. Hadn't you better go back and see +that he doesn't get her?"</p> + +<p>"I don't care if he does," said Jordan; "that is, as long as he gives me +half an hour of your company."</p> + +<p>Eleanor laughed. "Leaving out the compliment, what would you do if Jimmy +bought her for you?"</p> + +<p>"Run her against the first vessel Merril put on a trip she was good for, +if I had to carry freight for nothing."</p> + +<p>The girl turned and glanced at him again, and a hard glint crept into +her eyes. She looked imperious, forceful, and vindictive then, but the +man felt a thrill<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> run through him, for he knew his answer had pleased +her.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" she said; "for that I could forgive you many a failure. Still, you +must go back and look after Jimmy. We shall not go away until we hear +what you have done."</p> + +<p>Jordan reluctantly turned away, and, as it happened, met Jimmy coming +out of the auction-room with perfect satisfaction in his face.</p> + +<p>"I feel that I owe you a good deal. In fact, I'm afraid I can't express +my gratitude as I ought," he said. "Merril's man has got her, but I have +a clear thousand dollars to hand over to my father. Still, there's +something that puzzles me. What brought Forster here?"</p> + +<p>Jordan laughed. "Your sister."</p> + +<p>"Eleanor?"</p> + +<p>"Of course!" said Jordan dryly. "No doubt, because she is your sister, +you don't credit her with any useful capacity."</p> + +<p>"Eleanor is clever," said Jimmy reflectively. "Still, there are subjects +girls know nothing about—and, anyway, there was Mrs. Forster's attitude +to consider. It's hardly in human nature that she should be pleased to +see her husband staking his money to please her children's teacher."</p> + +<p>"Exactly! That is what made the thing cleverer. She has Mrs. Forster's +good-will too."</p> + +<p>"Then," said Jimmy decisively, "she must be a very kindly lady."</p> + +<p>"Or your sister a very capable young woman. You seem to find it a little +difficult to recognize that."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>Jimmy dismissed the subject with a little gesture. "Well," he said, "I'm +almost bewildered. The thing was so simple. Why didn't Merril think of +it?"</p> + +<p>"I have no doubt he did. Still, you saw what the little man has to +expect if he makes a bid. On thinking it over, it seems to me that +Merril trusted to my broker. He figured I'd back down once I realized +that he knew my game and was a match for me. There are big men like him +who live by bluff, and everybody makes way for them, but they're apt to +show themselves very much the same as other people when you face them +resolutely. It's just like putting a pin in a bubble."</p> + +<p>Then Forster joined them while his wife and Eleanor came out of the +store, and a few minutes later the girl and Jordan walked behind the +other three as they turned toward the hotel where the wagon had been +sent. Eleanor smiled at her companion.</p> + +<p>"We are indebted to you, after all," she said, and there was a faint but +suggestive something in her voice which satisfied Jordan.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE "SHASTA" SHIPPING COMPANY</span></h2> + + +<p>Two or three weeks had slipped away since the sale of the <i>Tyee</i>, when +Jimmy Wheelock, who had been specially requested to do so, called at +Forster's ranch. He did not know why his presence was required, and when +he arrived was somewhat astonished to find Jordan, Valentine, and a man +he had not met, sitting with his host about a little table in the big +general room. A decanter and a box of cigars stood on the table, but the +attitude of the men suggested that it was business that had brought them +there. Jordan, who was talking animatedly, looked up when Jimmy came in.</p> + +<p>"You're not quite on time," he said.</p> + +<p>"For which I must make excuses;" and Jimmy turned to Forster. "The fact +is, I might not have got here at all if the American skipper whose new +mizzen-mast I'm helping to fit hadn't run out of wire-rigging. I +couldn't well afford to offend a man who considers my services worth +three dollars a day."</p> + +<p>The man he had not met made a little sign with his hand. "It's an excuse +that will pass in this country. Sit right down. Jordan insisted on +having you here. Got any money to spare?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>"About forty dollars," said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>The other man smiled. "That won't go very far. Well, we can consider +ourselves a quorum, and Mr. Jordan will go ahead."</p> + +<p>"One moment," said Forster. "Mr. Leeson, Jimmy. Help yourself—you see +the cigars."</p> + +<p>Jimmy sat down, and glanced at the gentleman who had previously +addressed him. He fancied he had heard Jordan mention him as one +interested in the then somewhat decadent sealing industry, but there was +not very much to be gathered from his appearance. He was plainly +dressed, and elderly, and had a lean, expressionless face. It was seamed +with little wrinkles, his figure was spare, and he leaned forward with +an elbow on the table as if it were too much trouble to hold himself +upright. In the meanwhile Jordan recommenced.</p> + +<p>"I'll be quite frank with you as to how I'm fixed, because it will help +you to understand how I got on the track of the notion," he said. +"Merril has now a controlling interest in the coast mill, and I walked +out because I couldn't agree with him. Well, I have some money laid by +as well as my royalties, and I'm undertaking a few machinery agencies, +and starting as mill expert in Vancouver. In fact, I'll sell you an +American stump-puller, Mr. Forster, that will save you about half you're +spending on grubbing out those fir-roots by hand labor."</p> + +<p>"Another time!" said Leeson, with an appreciative grin. "Keep to the +shipping business."</p> + +<p>Jordan made a little gesture of resignation. "Well, as I told you +already, there's a good deal of odd freight to be moved up and down this +coast, and there would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> be more if there were better facilities. I hear +of ships held up because the salmon-packers can't get their cases down, +and men in Vancouver Island feeding fruit to hogs, and cutting good oats +for green fodder because they couldn't put them on the market if they +thrashed them. What's more, Mr. Merril has heard about it, too, and he's +an enterprising man. Ran me out of that West Coast mill because I +wouldn't come down on my royalties—him!"</p> + +<p>"Off the track again!" said Leeson. "Merril has bounced a good many men +out of things, but if I'm to put any money into this venture, I must +have a better reason than that you want to get even."</p> + +<p>"You'll get it," and Jordan's dark eyes snapped while his face grew +animated. "What Merril thinks safe is good enough for us. He has been +working up a notion of a coast shipping combine, one that's to be all +Merril's, and he has two or three schooners and a big unhandy lump of a +coal-eating steamer. He got her cheap, like the rest of them. Some of us +know how he did it."</p> + +<p>He glanced at Jimmy sharply before he went on again. "Now, I've been +considering his programme, and he's taking hold the wrong way—screwing +top freights out of everybody for a bad service, cutting down wages, and +running his boats with cheap men who are going to learn to hate him. +Well, with a little handy steamboat that would crawl in wherever there +was a beach the ranchers could haul their stuff down to, and a policy of +general conciliation, one could cut the ground right from under him."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>"Quite sure of that?" said Leeson. "Without his finding it out?"</p> + +<p>"Without his finding it out—until we've got the trade;" and Jordan's +eyes snapped again. "We're going to oblige people, and make our +connection with the ranchers and small cannery men a personal thing. +When he offers a big rebate it will be a little too late; and, anyway, +we can carry freight as cheap as Merril."</p> + +<p>"How are you going to make it a personal connection?" asked Forster.</p> + +<p>"The thing's quite easy. I'm going to send round a man who already knows +most of those ranchers to take them up fruit packing-boxes and +statistics of produce prices. He'll fix it up with them for the boat to +crawl in anywhere for a few jumper loads. Merril can't do it with his +schooners or the big steamer. I guess a rancher would sooner face a high +freight than feed the stuff to hogs, or haul it thirty miles over a +bush-trail to the Dunsmore road. Then I'm going to have a good-humored +skipper who'll bring the men off and make friends with them, but one +with grit enough to shove the boat round on time when she has a +perishable freight in a gale of wind. She's to be just the right size, +and, to save us coal, a modern tri-compound."</p> + +<p>"The three things seem essential. The last two certainly are," said +Forster, with a suggestive smile. "I guess it's scarcely necessary to +ask whether you have any idea how to obtain them?"</p> + +<p>Jordan laughed, and proceeded to astonish his companions, which was, +however, a habit of his.</p> + +<p>"Got them all," he said. "The steamboat's lying<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> down the Sound, and I +hold a week's option on her. Jim Wheelock would go in command of her, +and Mr. Valentine can sail as soon as he's ready in the <i>Sorata</i>, and +crawl into every inlet from which he can reach half a dozen ranchers. +I'll have ready for him four or five tons of cut box frames that will +only want nailing, and they'll go into his saloon. He'll have everything +fixed before Merril knows we've despatched him."</p> + +<p>Jimmy glanced at Valentine's face, and broke into a soft laugh, though +he had been at least as far from expecting this proposition as his +companion seemed to be. Jordan looked at them both, and nodded +tranquilly.</p> + +<p>"You'll go?" he said, and then laid a sheet of paper on the table. +"Here's my notion of costs, capital, salaries, and general expenses. +Kind of prospectus. Shows the usual twenty-per-cent. profit—only we're +going to make it."</p> + +<p>It was quite clear that he meant it, for this was a man who had a full +share of the optimism which characterizes most of the inhabitants of the +Pacific Slope. He smiled reassuringly at his companions; but there was +silence for several minutes while Leeson examined the paper and then +passed it to Forster. Jimmy, who felt that his opinion would not be +particularly valuable, and had noticed the little smile in Valentine's +eyes, sat still, looking out through the open window at the shadowy bush +beyond Forster's orchard.</p> + +<p>It cut, vague and black and mysterious, against the wondrous green and +saffron glow of the sunset, and the little trail that wound away into it +had just then a curious interest for him. He wondered where it led,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> and +how long it wandered through the dim shadow before it came out again +into the garish brilliancy. The thing seemed an allegory, for when he +came into that country and flung his career away he had felt lost and +adrift, without a mark to guide him, while now Jordan and those others +were about to set his feet on the trail. It must lead somewhere, as all +trails resolutely followed do, though now and then they plunge into +tangles of morasses where the rotting pines fall or climb the +snow-barred passes of towering ranges. He had a curious confidence in +the daring American. Still, he felt that in all probability there was a +long and difficult march in front of him and the little party then +sitting in the slowly darkening room of Forster's ranch. It was Leeson +who spoke first.</p> + +<p>"There are men who would call the whole thing crazy, and they'd have +some reason for doing so," he said. "Most of us know what Merril is."</p> + +<p>It was evident that his opinion carried weight, and Jimmy, who felt a +growing tension, saw the sudden, eagerness in Jordan's face.</p> + +<p>"No," he said, "that's just where you're wrong. We know what he pretends +to be; and if a man puts up a big enough bluff, most people back down +and don't ask him to make it good. You see the point of it?"</p> + +<p>Leeson made a little half-impatient gesture. "What d'you figure on +putting in, Mr. Jordan?"</p> + +<p>"Ten thousand dollars."</p> + +<p>Leeson said nothing, but glanced at Forster wrinkling his brows.</p> + +<p>"I might manage five thousand," said the rancher. "I haven't found +clearing virgin bush a very profitable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> occupation, and I want more than +the interest I'm getting from the bank. Mr. Jordan has naturally talked +over the thing with me before, and I fancy his scheme is workable; but, +as I don't know a great deal about these matters, I'd very much like to +hear what your opinion of it is."</p> + +<p>He glanced inquiringly at Leeson, and it was evident to Jimmy that the +success or failure of the project depended on what the latter said. He +sat silent again for almost a minute, drumming on the table.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "you'll be told it's a fool game. Most of the men in +Vancouver City would consider that a sure thing—but I'm putting in +fifteen thousand dollars."</p> + +<p>Jimmy saw his comrade's face relax and a little exultant sparkle creep +into his eyes, while he felt his own heart beat a trifle faster. Then +Valentine, who had not spoken yet, turned to the rest. "In that case I +guess we can consider the thing feasible," he said. "If the sum isn't +beneath your notice, I'll venture a thousand dollars."</p> + +<p>"What has given you a hankering after twenty per cent.?" asked Jordan. +"It is not so very long since you told me that the sea, which cost +nothing, was enough for you."</p> + +<p>Valentine laughed. "I rather think it's the occupation that appeals to +me. Charterers have a trick of treading on one's toes occasionally, and +I don't think I should take kindly to business as it appears to be +carried on in the neighboring city. One can, however, talk to the +bush-ranchers intelligently. In any case, I shouldn't regard that twenty +per cent. as a certainty."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>Jordan grinned good-humoredly, but there was a twinkle of keener +appreciation in Forster's eyes. "There is a good deal the bush can teach +the man who wants to understand," he said. "I dare say you are right, +Mr. Valentine."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Jordan dryly, "the only use I ever had for the bush was as +a place for growing saw-logs; but while talk of this kind has nothing to +do with business, there's something I want to mention. I met Austerly +not long ago, and he wants to see you and Jim Wheelock when you can make +it convenient, Valentine. Now, if you'll keep quiet a few minutes, I'll +get on a little."</p> + +<p>He went on for a considerable time, with features hardening into +intentness and dark eyes scintillating, and when at last he stopped, +Leeson made a sign of concurrence. Then questions were asked and +answered, and afterward Forster, who passed the decanter to his guests, +stood up.</p> + +<p>"Since Mr. Jordan fancies he can raise another few thousand dollars +privately if it's wanted, we can consider the affair arranged," he said. +"Here's prosperity to The <i>Shasta</i> Steam Shipping Company!"</p> + +<p>It was growing dusk when they drank the toast in the big shadowy room, +and, as he glanced at his companions, Jimmy was momentarily troubled +with a sense of his and their insignificance. There were only four of +them, and none of them, with the possible exception of old Leeson, were +men of capital, while he had an uneasy feeling that in view of Merril's +opposition it was a very big thing they had undertaken. Leeson set his +wine-glass down and shook his head.</p> + +<p>"We're going to have to fight for it," he said.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>Then the group broke up, and Jimmy, who strolled away to ask for Mrs. +Forster, saw nothing of his sister or, as it happened, of Jordan either, +until the rancher's hired man brought his comrade's team up. Jimmy drove +home with him, but Jordan was unusually silent as the team swung along +the dim, white road. Once, however, he appeared to rouse himself.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, though Jimmy had not spoken, "old man Leeson is right; +we will have to fight for it. Still, I have put my pile in, and we have +got to win."</p> + +<p>He glanced in Jimmy's direction, but the latter said nothing and it was +too dark to see his face. "Just got to win," he said again, as he shook +the reins. "It has been a pull up grade since I was sixteen, but somehow +I got the things I set my mind on, one by one. Perhaps Valentine would +tell you they weren't all worth while, and he might be right about some +of them, but a man has to be what he was born to be—and now I know +there's nothing on this earth worth quite so much as what I'm fighting +for."</p> + +<p>Still Jimmy did not understand, and therefore, as was usual with him in +such cases, made no observation, and his comrade laughed curiously when +he complained of the jolting instead as he essayed to light a cigar.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Jordan, "you'll go down the Sound and see about bringing +the <i>Shasta</i> up just as soon as you're ready."</p> + +<p>Jimmy went next day, and Valentine, who went alone to Austerly's, sailed +for the West Coast on the following day. It was two weeks later when +Jimmy came back with a little two-masted steamer of 250 tons or so. She +was not by any means a new boat, nor were her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> engines especially +powerful, and, after finding out her various complaints during the +sheltered voyage down the Sound, Jimmy had hoped to spend a week or two +overhauling her before he went to sea. This, however, was not to be, for +he had hardly brought her up near the wharf when Jordan came off, and +found him sitting wearily on the bridge, begrimed all over and +heavy-eyed.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "you look considerably more like the played-out mariner +than the wedding guest. What has been worrying you? Anything wrong with +her?"</p> + +<p>"A good many things," said Jimmy. "If I went through the list I should +probably scare you. She has evidently been lying-up for a while, and +that is apt to have its effect on any steamboat's constitution. I've had +no sleep all the way up, and spent most of the time in manual labor when +I wasn't at the helm. The men I have—and they're a tolerably decent +crowd—naturally expected to rest now and then."</p> + +<p>"What's the matter with your engineer?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing, except that he's played-out—and I don't wonder. He'll be fast +asleep by now, and I don't think I'd worry him if I were you."</p> + +<p>Jordan looked suddenly thoughtful. "Now be quick. Is this boat fit to go +to sea, or has that blamed surveyor swindled you and me?"</p> + +<p>"She's sound. That is, she will be when we've had a month in which to +straighten her up, or have had a carpenter and foundry gang sent on +board her."</p> + +<p>Jordan's face showed his relief. "Well," he said, "you have got to take +the month at sea. You start to-night, and can do what's wanted when you +have the opportunity. There's another thing. We have ar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>ranged for a +kind of inaugural banquet, and you'll have to straighten her up a +little. I'll send you down some flowers and things."</p> + +<p>Jimmy gazed at him in drowsy consternation. "If your guests expect +anything fit to eat, you had better send the banquet too. Who in the +name of wonder are you bringing here?"</p> + +<p>"Eleanor—that is, Miss Wheelock. Austerly and his daughter. I believe +Valentine invited them. Forster and Mrs. Forster, and old man Leeson +too. You have got to brace up and face the thing."</p> + +<p>"I'm going to sleep," said Jimmy, with a gesture of resignation. "You'll +take these papers to the respective offices, and I may be able to talk +sensibly during the afternoon. But what made you want to bring Eleanor +and Mrs. Forster here?"</p> + +<p>Jordan laughed, and laid his hand on his comrade's shoulder. "I'll tell +you later; you're too sleepy now. In the meanwhile, I'll get round and +fix things generally."</p> + +<p>He went away in a few minutes, and Jimmy, dragging himself into the +little room beneath the bridge, flung himself down in the skipper's +berth, dressed as he was.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE "SHASTA" GOES TO SEA</span></h2> + + +<p>It was a still, clear evening when Jimmy stood at the <i>Shasta</i>'s gangway +waiting to receive his guests. She lay out in the Inlet, and he could +see the two boats sliding across the smooth, green water with a measured +splash of oars, while the voices of their occupants reached him faintly +through the clatter of a C.P.R. liner's winches and the tolling of a +locomotive bell ashore. A thin jet of steam simmered about the +<i>Shasta</i>'s rusty funnel, and she lay motionless on the glassy brine, +with cracked and splintered decks, and what paint a long exposure to +rain and sun had not removed peeling from her. Jimmy had had no time to +spare for any attempt at decoration during the voyage down Puget Sound. +Indeed, he and his engineer felt thankful they had succeeded in bringing +her round at all.</p> + +<p>By and by the first boat ran alongside, and, because she belonged to the +<i>Shasta</i>, Jimmy was relieved to see that there was, after all, not a +very great deal of water in her, though his guests sat with their feet +drawn up. There were several of them: Jordan, who wore among other +somewhat unusual garments a frock-coat, and was talking volubly; +Eleanor, in elaborate white dress and a very big white hat; old Leeson, +Forster and his wife.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> Jimmy helped them up with difficulty, for the +<i>Shasta</i> was floating high and light and had not been provided with a +passenger ladder. Something in his sister's face perplexed him when at +last they stood on deck. Eleanor was quieter than usual, and when she +looked at him there was a trace of color in her cheeks he could not +quite account for.</p> + +<p>"You seem almost astonished to see me," she said. "Even if I hadn't +wanted to come, Charley would have insisted on it."</p> + +<p>Jimmy gazed hard at both her and Jordan, and noticed that Mrs. Forster +seemed a trifle amused.</p> + +<p>"Charley?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Of course. Hasn't he told you?" said Eleanor; and though she laughed, +there was diffidence and pride in her eyes when she glanced at the man +beside her. It was also, her brother felt, rather more than the pride of +possession.</p> + +<p>"I must explain," said Jordan. "When I came off this morning, Jimmy was +too sleepy to be entrusted with any information of the kind. Still, I +quite think I deserve a few congratulations."</p> + +<p>Jimmy looked at him with a faint wrinkling of his brows, and then +involuntarily turned toward the rest of the company.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "I suppose it's only natural, though of course I never +expected this."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Forster laughed outright. "Then everybody else did, and ventured to +approve of it."</p> + +<p>Jimmy stretched his hand out, and grasped that of his comrade slowly and +tenaciously. "After all, there is nobody I should sooner trust her to, +and I don't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> think you could have got anybody more—capable, generally," +he said. "Eleanor, you see, is cleverer than I am."</p> + +<p>Eleanor Wheelock naturally understood her brother, and there was +whimsical toleration in her smile, while the little twinkle grew more +pronounced in Jordan's eyes. He was a shrewd man, and had already formed +a reasonably accurate notion of Jimmy and Eleanor Wheelock's respective +capabilities.</p> + +<p>"Thank you!" he said. "The other boat should be almost alongside."</p> + +<p>He moved aft with Eleanor and the rest of the guests, while Jimmy, who +had not quite recovered from his astonishment, was leaning on the rail +when another boat slid around the <i>Shasta</i>'s stern. He recognized +Austerly and his daughter on board her, and then felt his heart beat and +the blood creep into his face, for Anthea Merril was sitting at Miss +Austerly's side. He had not seen her since he stood one morning on the +wharf in the man-o'-war cap, but he had thought of her often, and now, +though his pleasure at seeing her almost drove out the other feeling, it +seemed unfitting that she should be there to take her part in sending +out the steamer that was, if the <i>Shasta</i> Company could contrive it, to +bring to nothing her father's scheme. The boat was alongside in a few +moments, and when her occupants reached the deck Austerly shook hands +with Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"I must offer you my congratulations on being in command," he said. "My +daughter seemed to fancy we should be warranted in bringing Miss +Merril."</p> + +<p>Anthea smiled at Jimmy. "Yes," she said, "I wanted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> to come; but of +course if it was presumptuous, you can send me back again."</p> + +<p>"I think you ought to know there is nobody I should sooner see;" and +Jimmy, who was not so alert as usual that evening, looked at her too +steadily.</p> + +<p>Anthea met his gaze for a moment, and then, considering that she was a +young woman accustomed to hold her own in Colonial society, it was, +perhaps, a trifle curious that she slowly looked away. None of the +others noticed this, except Miss Austerly, and she kept any conclusions +she may have formed to herself. Then, though it seemed to come about +naturally without anybody's contrivance, Austerly and his daughter +joined Jordan, and for a few minutes Anthea and Jimmy were left alone. +The girl leaned on the rail looking across the shining water toward the +great white hull of the Empress boat lying, immaculate and beautiful in +outline, beneath the climbing town. Then she turned, and Jimmy felt that +he knew what she was thinking as her eyes wandered over the little rusty +<i>Shasta</i>. Though he had not spoken, she smiled in a manner which seemed +to imply comprehension when he looked at her.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said, "there has been a change since I last saw you—and I am +glad you are in command. One can't help thinking that you must find +this, at least, a trifle more familiar."</p> + +<p>"At least?" said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>Anthea nodded, and her eyes rested on the big white mail-boat again. "I +think," she said, "you quite know what I mean."</p> + +<p>Once more Jimmy's prudence failed him. "Well," he said, "it is rather a +curious thing that even when you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> don't express it I generally seem to. +I don't know"—and he added this reflectively—"why it should be so."</p> + +<p>"I think that is rather a difficult question—one, in fact, that we +should gain nothing by going into. How long are you going to command the +<i>Shasta</i>?"</p> + +<p>"Until——" and Jimmy, who had not quite recovered from his exertions +during the voyage, stopped abruptly. He could not tell his companion +that he expected to sail the dilapidated steamer until she had wrested +away a sufficient share of the trade her father was laying hands upon to +enable Jordan to buy a larger one.</p> + +<p>"I don't quite know," he added. "Anyway, I was very glad to get her. It +is pleasanter to take command than to carry planks about the Hastings +wharf ashore."</p> + +<p>"You were doing that?" and for no very ostensible reason a faint tinge +of color crept into his companion's face. Labor is held more or less +honorable in that country, but, after all, Anthea Merril was a young +woman of station.</p> + +<p>"It must have been a change," she said a moment later.</p> + +<p>"From the lumber schooner, or Valentine's <i>Sorata</i>?"</p> + +<p>Anthea looked at him with a sparkle in her eyes. "Pshaw!" she said. "Are +you going to masquerade always, or do you think I am quite without +intelligence?"</p> + +<p>Then she turned, and pointed to the beautiful white Empress boat. "When +are you going back again?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy understood her, and made no further disclaimer. Still, his face +grew somewhat hard, and he moved abruptly.</p> + +<p>"I don't quite know," he said. "Very likely I shall<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> never go back at +all. Circumstances are rather against me."</p> + +<p>"And can't you alter them?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy drew in his breath, and unconsciously straightened himself a +trifle. The girl stood close beside him, looking at him—not as one who +asked a question, but rather as though she had expressed her belief in +his ability to do what he wished. The confidence this suggested sent a +thrill through him, and her quiet graciousness—which, though she +addressed him as one of her own world, was not without its trace of +natural dignity—and her physical beauty set his heart beating.</p> + +<p>"I can try," he said simply. "There are, however, difficulties."</p> + +<p>"Of course!" and Anthea smiled. "There generally are. Still, if one is +resolute enough, they can usually be got over."</p> + +<p>Jimmy said nothing. He was not, after all, especially apt at +conversation, and he could not tell her that among all the difficulties +he might have to grapple with, the greatest was probably her father.</p> + +<p>Just then, as it happened, Jordan turned and called to them, and, moving +aft, they descended to the little stern cabin with the rest. It was +draped with the least faded flags from the signal locker; the table +glittered with glass and silver, and was set out with great bouquets of +flowers. The ports were wide open, and the cool evening air, fragrant in +spite of the city's propinquity with the smell of the Stanley pines, +flowed in. Eleanor Wheelock looked around with a smile of appreciation, +and then turned to Jordan.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>"Oh," she said, "it's pretty! You have done it all. Jimmy would never +have thought of that. But why are both those flags there?"</p> + +<p>Jordan glanced at the two big crossed flags that streamed down upon the +settee in the vessel's counter. They were new, and athwart the broad red +and white crosses gleamed the silver stars.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said with a little smile, "I don't know any reason why they +shouldn't be there side by side. It seems to me there'd be peace on +earth right off if they always hung that way, if only because all the +rest of the world would be afraid to break it. You have heard of the +first message we sent your folks in the Old Country over the Atlantic +cable. Besides, the thing's symbolical of another alliance that's not +only to be wished for, but going to be consummated."</p> + +<p>Eleanor blushed becomingly amidst the approving laughter, and, as she +stood there in the gleaming white dress and big white hat, with the +clear color in her cheeks, it seemed to Jimmy that he had never seen his +sister look half so captivating. In fact, he was almost astonished that +it had not occurred to him before that Eleanor was so exceptionally +well-favored. The quiet and somewhat plain-featured Mrs. Forster, and +Austerly's sickly daughter, served as fitting foils for her somewhat +imperious beauty. Then, as she glanced in his direction, Jimmy moved a +pace or two, and Anthea came out of the shadow.</p> + +<p>"My sister Eleanor—Miss Merril," he said.</p> + +<p>There was a brief silence which Jimmy, at least, found embarrassing, for +it seemed to him that everybody was watching the two girls with sudden +interest.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> He also felt that when Anthea Merril moved forward, Eleanor, +as it were, receded into second place against her will. His sister was +wholly Western, tall, and somewhat spare, with the suppleness of a +finely tempered spring rather than that of the willow in her figure. Her +quick glance and almost incisive speech matched her bearing. One could +see that she was optimistic, daring, strenuous; but with Anthea Merril +it was different. There was a reserve about her, and a repose in voice +and gesture which in some curious fashion made both more impressive. She +was also a trifle warmer in coloring and fuller in outline, and stood +for, or so it seemed to Jimmy, cultivated ripeness as contrasted with +his sister's vigorous and brilliant crudity. Quite apart from this, he +had noticed Eleanor's brows straighten almost imperceptibly, and the +slight hardness that crept into her eyes. The others apparently did not +see it, but her brother understood those signs.</p> + +<p>"Miss Merril! What does she want here?" said old Leeson, who usually +spoke somewhat loudly, in what he evidently fancied was an aside, and it +seemed to Jimmy that his sister's eyes asked the same question.</p> + +<p>Anthea, so far as he could see, did not notice this, and it was she who +spoke first.</p> + +<p>"I almost fancy I have met you somewhere, Miss Wheelock, though I do not +think it was in Vancouver," she said. "Toronto is rather a long way +off—but I wonder whether you were ever there?"</p> + +<p>"I was," said Eleanor. "I also saw you, though I never spoke to you. +Under the circumstances, it was, however, hardly to be expected."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>"No?" said Anthea, with a note of inquiry in her voice; and, though +Eleanor smiled, there was no softening of her eyes.</p> + +<p>"I was being trained to earn my living, and my few friends belonged to a +very different set from yours."</p> + +<p>Jimmy was not pleased with his sister. She had spoken quietly, indeed +more quietly and indifferently than she usually did, and Anthea Merril +had not shown the least resentment; but he felt that there was a sudden +antagonism between the two women. It was therefore a relief to him when +the steward appeared with the dinner, most of which Jordan had wisely +had sent from a big hotel, and they sat down at the table.</p> + +<p>It was a convivial meal. Jordan talked volubly, and there was a sparkle +in most of what he said; Forster and Austerly were quietly jocular; and +Eleanor, who sat next their host at the head of the table as his +bride-elect, played her part in a fashion that pleased them all. Other +things had also their effect upon the company. There was the love-match +between the man who had staked every dollar he could raise to send out +that little rusty steamer, and the beautiful penniless girl, as well as +the presence of the daughter of the man who, they felt reasonably sure, +would endeavor to crush him by any means available. As it happened, +Anthea Merril talked quietly, and apparently confidentially, to Jimmy +most of the time, and even old Leeson, who grinned at them sardonically, +seemed to feel that the situation was rife with dramatic possibilities.</p> + +<p>By and by the light commenced to fade, but Eleanor's white dress still +gleamed against the dull blue and crimson of the crossed flags; and in +after-days, when there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> was anger between them, Jimmy liked to remember +her sitting there at Jordan's side to speed him on the <i>Shasta</i>'s first +voyage. She made a somewhat imposing figure in the little dusky cabin, +and what she said struck the right note in the inauguration of that +venture, for she was optimistic and forceful in speech and gesture—and +Anthea now sat in the shadow.</p> + +<p>At last old Leeson rose with a little dry chuckle. "I don't know whether +speeches are expected," he said. "Still, I guess there's one toast we +ought to honor, and that's the engaged pair. Anyway, it's one that's +especially fitting to-night, since it seems to me that if it hadn't been +for Miss Wheelock we wouldn't have been here, with steam up, on board +the <i>Shasta</i>."</p> + +<p>There was a little good-humored laughter, but Leeson, who appeared +unconscious that his observations were open to misconception, proceeded +calmly.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said, "in a general way, the less women have to do with +business the better; but in Miss Wheelock we have an exception. If it +hadn't been for her, Forster would not have put five thousand dollars +into the <i>Shasta</i>, and if he hadn't made the venture, it's quite likely +I wouldn't either. It's quite a big one for people of our caliber, but +we have a live man to run the thing, and he will have a wife as smart as +he is standing right behind him. Well, we'll wish the pair of them long +life and happiness."</p> + +<p>Jimmy rose with his companions, but he was conscious that Anthea was +regarding his sister with grave inquiry. Then Jordan made his reply +conventionally, and afterward stood still a moment looking at his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> +guests, until with a little abrupt gesture he commenced again.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Leeson's right: it is a big thing we have on hand," he said. "We're +going to fight and break a monopoly, and, if all goes as we expect it, +put money into our pockets. But in one way that's only half of it. I +want you to think of the honest effort, the best thing a man has to +offer, that is being wasted in this country. Can't you picture the +bush-ranchers hauling produce thirty miles over a trail a city man +wouldn't ride a horse along to the railroad, and watching fruit 'most as +good as we can raise in California rotting by the ton? I want you to +think of the oat crops cut green and half-grown, and the men who raised +them mending their clothes with flour-bags and measuring out their +groceries by the cent's worth, after spending half a lifetime chopping +out the ranch. It's wrong—clean against the economy of things. We want +every pound of whatever they can send us. We have mines and mills and +money, but in this Province our food is bad and dear. While every man +depends on his neighbor, the greatest thing in civilization is facility +of transport."</p> + +<p>He stopped a moment for breath, and the keen sparkle in his dark eyes +grew plainer. "Well, we're going to provide it, and do what we can for +the men with the axe and the grub-hoe. Some day this great Province will +remember what it owes them. Here it's man against nature, and the fight +is hard, while we'll do more than put money in our pockets if we make it +a little easier. We want a fair deal—and we'll get it somehow—but we +want no more; and if we can hold on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> long enough, it won't be only those +who sent her out who will say, 'Speed the <i>Shasta</i>!'"</p> + +<p>He stopped amidst acclamation, for his mobile face and snapping eyes had +amplified his words, and, while he handled his theme clumsily, there +was, at least, no mistaking the strident ring of the dominant note in +it. In that country it was, for the most part, man against nature, and +not man against man, and the recognition of the fact was in all who +heard him. There men wrung their money from rocky hillside and shadowy +forest with toil almost incredible, creating wealth, and not filching it +from their fellows; but nature is grim and somewhat terrible in the land +of rock and snow, and all down the great Slope, from Wrangel to Shasta, +the battle is a stern and arduous one. So there was a little kindling in +the listeners' eyes, and the women also raised their glasses high as +they said, "Speed the <i>Shasta</i>," knowing that this was in reality but a +part of what they felt.</p> + +<p>Then Eleanor rose, and the company, scattering for the most part, went +back on deck, where it once more happened by some means that Anthea +Merril and Jimmy found themselves some distance from any of the rest. +The girl looked up at him with a little smile.</p> + +<p>"Well," she said, "what did you think of Mr. Jordan's observations?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy laughed. "My opinion wouldn't count. I couldn't make a speech for +my life."</p> + +<p>"No?" said Anthea. "Still, you can hold a steamer's wheel, and perhaps +under the circumstances that is quite as much to the purpose. In any +case, while your comrade was a little flamboyant, which is much the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> +same thing as Western, I think he meant it. After all, if we parade our +sentiments, we generally act up to them."</p> + +<p>"Jordan," said Jimmy, "seems to have quite a stock of them."</p> + +<p>"And I understand he has put every dollar he has into the venture. +Still, I suppose he did it cheerfully; and you may find it necessary to +bring those bush-ranchers' produce down against a gale of wind."</p> + +<p>There was a smile in her eyes as she looked at him, but in spite of that +Jimmy felt his face grow slightly warm. It was not, however, altogether +because Anthea noticed it that she changed the subject.</p> + +<p>"There was one point that wasn't quite clear to me. Why did he say you +were going to break up a monopoly?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy wished she had asked him anything else, for he had already decided +that Miss Merril knew very little about her father's business.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said awkwardly, "that's rather a difficult thing to answer. +You see, he mentioned a monopoly——"</p> + +<p>"He certainly did."</p> + +<p>"Then, to begin with, there is the Dunsmore road. They naturally +couldn't handle produce as cheaply as we could, and, anyway, it isn't of +much benefit to the ranchers who can't get at it."</p> + +<p>"'To begin with?' That implies more than one, which is, one would fancy, +the essential point of a monopoly."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps it is," said Jimmy vaguely. "Still, when we get our hand in, +there will be three."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>Anthea may have had her reasons for not pressing the question then, for +she laughed. "Of course!" she said. "Three monopolies. Well, I suppose +one must excuse you. You can hold a steamer's wheel."</p> + +<p>Jimmy, on the whole, felt relieved when the others sauntered in their +direction, and was less grieved than he might have been under different +circumstances when Austerly drew Miss Merril away. He had felt once or +twice before, during discussions with his sister, that keen intelligence +is not invariably a commendable thing in a woman. After that, Jordan had +a good many instructions to give him, and by the time they had been +imparted the rest were clustering around the gangway; while five minutes +later Jimmy leaned on the rail watching the boats slide away toward the +dusky city. Then he climbed to his bridge, and the windlass commenced to +rattle, but he did not know that Anthea Merril, who heard his farewell +whistle, kept the others waiting on the wharf a moment or two while she +watched the <i>Shasta</i> slowly steam out to sea.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV<br /> +<span class="smalltext">IN DISTRESS</span></h2> + + +<p>The clear night was falling when Jimmy leaned on the bridge-rails as the +<i>Shasta</i> steamed out of the Inlet beneath a black wall of pines. Over +her port quarter the pale lights of the climbing city twinkled tier on +tier, with dim forest rolling away behind them into the creeping mist. +Beyond that, in turn, a faint blink of snow still gleamed against the +dusky blueness of the east. All this was familiar, but he was leaving it +behind, and ahead there lay an empty waste of darkening water, into +which the <i>Shasta</i> pushed her way with thumping engines and a drowsy +gurgle at the bows. It seemed to Jimmy, in one sense, appropriate that +it should be so. He had cut himself adrift from all that he had been +accustomed to, and where the course he had launched upon would lead him +he did not know.</p> + +<p>That, however, did not greatly trouble him. His character was by no +means a complex one, and it was sufficient for him to do the obvious +thing, which, after all, usually saves everybody trouble. It was clear +that Tom Wheelock needed him, and he could, at least, look back a +little, though this was an occupation to which he was not greatly +addicted. He understood now how his father, who had perhaps never been a +strong man,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> had slowly broken down under a load of debt that was too +heavy for him, though the nature of the man who had with deliberate +intent laid it on his shoulders was incomprehensible. Jimmy, in fact, +could scarcely conceive the possibility of any man scheming and plotting +to ruin a fellow-being for the value of two old schooners. The +apparently insufficient motive made the thing almost devilish. Merril, +he felt, was outside the pale of humanity, a noxious creature to be +shunned or, on opportunity, crushed by honest men.</p> + +<p>Then he wondered for a moment whether the bondholder's daughter had +inherited any portion of her father's nature, and brushed the thought +aside with a little involuntary shiver. The thing was out of the +question. One could, he felt, perhaps illogically, be sure of that after +a glance at her; and then he straightened himself with a little abrupt +movement, for it was very clear that this was, after all, no concern of +his. He had never met any woman who had made the same impression on him +that Anthea Merril had done, but he had already decided that he had +sense enough to prevent himself from thinking of her too frequently; and +it was evident that if he had not he must endeavor to acquire it.</p> + +<p>He strove to divert his thoughts, and listened to the flow of language +that rose through the open skylights from the <i>Shasta</i>'s engine-room. +Taken together with the pungent smell of burning grease and a certain +harsh thumping, it suggested that things were not going well down there. +Then, looking forward, he watched the black figure of the look-out on +the forecastle cut sharp and clean against the pale gleaming of the +western sky<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> as the bows swung over the long heave with a rhythmic +regularity, for the <i>Shasta</i> was drawing out into open water now. She +was making eight knots, he fancied, with mastheads swaying athwart the +stars, and a long smoke-trail that was a little more solid than the +dusky blue transparency streaking the sea astern of her. Jimmy pulled +out his pipe when a faint cold breeze fanned his cheek, and lighted it +contentedly, for a steamboat travels fastest in smooth water when what +moving air there is blows against her, and there was every sign of fine +weather.</p> + +<p>It lasted several days, and the <i>Shasta</i> stopped only twice at sea: once +to cool a crank-pin, and again for a longer while because there was +something wrong with her condenser. In due time she crept into a deep, +mountain-walled inlet where the little white <i>Sorata</i> lay, and Jimmy +gazed in astonishment when he saw the piled-up produce on the strip of +shingle beach between still, green water and climbing forest. He was +even more astonished when certain bronzed men in battered wide hats and +soil-stained jean came off, and conveyed him almost by force to the rude +banquet laid out in a little frame hotel. Hitherto they had hauled the +few goods they put on the market rather more than eight leagues along an +infamous trail which for a part of that distance led over a mountain +range.</p> + +<p>Jimmy feasted that day, for the banquet was repeated with very little +variation three times over, and his last speech was very much to the +purpose as well as characteristic of him.</p> + +<p>"Boys," he said, "we've steam up, and in view of the freight we're +charging you Wellington coal is dear.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> Besides, even to oblige you, I +really couldn't eat anything more."</p> + +<p>They paddled him off in state in a big Siwash canoe, and their shouts +rang far across the silent pines when the little rusty <i>Shasta</i> crawled +away into the evening mist; while long after it had hid her from their +sight, Jimmy, standing on his bridge, heard the faint wail of the pipes. +There was, as usual, a North Briton among them, and the wild music of +another land of rock and pine and inlet six thousand miles away crept up +the screw-torn wake in elfin fashion. Jimmy, at least, knew the burden +of it: "Will ye no' come back again?"</p> + +<p>His blood tingled a little as he listened. They had held out their hands +to him, and made him one of them, and it was, he vaguely felt, a thing +to be proud of, for there was a certain greatness in these simple, +all-enduring men. They grappled with giant forests and rent stubborn +rocks, clearing the way for thousands yet to come, with limbs that ached +from the axe stroke and hands that bled upon the drill. They feared +nothing, and looked for nothing except the prosperity which they would +hardly share, but which would surely come; and all down the long Slope +their kind are perfecting a manhood that is probably worth more than all +the gold, silver, iron and wheat raised beneath the Beaver or the Stars.</p> + +<p>It was the same at the next inlet, for that trip was very much of the +nature of a triumphal procession, only that as yet the battle was not +won; and when at last the <i>Shasta</i> turned her bows southward, she was +full to the hatches and deep in the water. As it happened, she met a +strong southwester, which piled the long Pa<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>cific heave upon the reefs +to port in big foam-crested walls, and after the first twelve hours of +it there was scarcely a dry inch on board her. She went into it with +dipping forecastle that swung up again veiled in cataracts of white and +green until her forefoot was clear, and, with complaining engines, made +scarcely four knots an hour. There were inlets that offered her shelter, +but hour by hour Jimmy, clinging, battered by flying spray, to his +reeling bridge, drove her ahead. The time for making speeches, at which +he did not shine, had gone, and it was now his business to keep the +promise he had made the ranchers, that he would not lose an hour in +conveying their produce to the market. That, at least, was a thing he +could do, and, though his drenched limbs grew stiff and his eyesight +dim, he did it with the dogged thoroughness of his kind, standing high +in the stinging drift as he drove her, swept and streaming, at the +tumbling seas. He, too, was one of the enduring toilers, and, like the +invincible men with the axes who had recognized the stamp he bore, he +found a certain grim pleasure in the conflict.</p> + +<p>It was toward dusk on the second evening when they steamed into sight of +a little schooner, which showed as a gray smear of slanted canvas +scarcely distinguishable from the crag a couple of miles to lee of her. +Jimmy wondered what she was doing there in that weather with only one +jib and a reefed boom foresail set, until his glasses showed him that +her mainmast was broken off. That made the thing clearer, and in case +more should be wanted, a flag fluttered aloft and blew out half-way up +her foremast upside down. It was an appeal that is very seldom made in +vain at sea, and meant in that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> particular case that she would be ashore +in an hour or two unless somebody towed her off.</p> + +<p>Jimmy closed his glasses with a snap, and hailing a very wet seaman sent +him for the engineer. The latter climbed to the bridge, and nodded when +he glanced at the vessel.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "you'll have to take them off. She's not going to claw +off shore without her mainsail. There would be a little money in the +thing if we could tow her, but we can't. I'm taking steep chances of +bringing the engines down about my head by shoving her into it as I'm +doing."</p> + +<p>As though to give point to the speech, the <i>Shasta</i> flung her stern high +just then, and shook in every plate as with a frantic clanging the +engines ran away. Then she put her bows in, and dim crag and wallowing +schooner were blotted out by a cloud of spray.</p> + +<p>"We have got to try," said Jimmy quietly. "There's a point that would +give us shelter twenty miles away."</p> + +<p>"Twenty miles!" and the engineer, from whose blackened singlet the water +streamed, laughed scornfully. "It's 'bout as likely we'd tow her to +Honolulu. Still, I guess you're skipper."</p> + +<p>Jimmy nodded. He had not troubled to impress the fact upon his crew, but +he invariably acted on it. "You had better raise a little more steam," +he said; "it is very likely that we'll want it."</p> + +<p>Then, as the dripping engineer vanished from the bridge, he seized the +whistle lanyard, and signed to the man behind him who gripped the wheel. +A deep blast rent the turmoil of the sea, and the <i>Shasta</i>, swinging +around a trifle, rolled away to the rescue. It was some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> twenty minutes +later when she stopped, and lay plunging head to sea with the little +wallowing schooner close to lee of her. The light was going, but Jimmy +could see a shapeless figure that clung to her rail gesticulating with +flung-up arm. The wreck of a boat, apparently smashed by the falling +mast, lay across her hatch, and there was another half-seen man at her +wheel. Jimmy stood still for a few moments with his hand on the +telegraph, and he was glad to remember that there were several former +sealing-schooner hands among his crew, for what they do not know about +boat-work is worth no man's learning.</p> + +<p>He let the <i>Shasta</i> swing a little to give them a lee on one side of +her, and while the sea smote and spouted in green cataracts across her +weather-rail they swung a boat over, and two men, one of whom was a +Siwash, dropped into her. That was enough to steer her while she blew to +windward, and Jimmy dared risk no more. They got her away, apparently +undamaged, and he sent the <i>Shasta</i> slowly ahead when she plunged over a +seatop veiled in a cloud of spray. It would be beyond the power of flesh +and blood to pull that boat back, and the <i>Shasta</i> swung in a wide +half-circle to leeward of the schooner. Her crew had evidently tried to +heave her to, but without her after-canvas she had fallen off again, and +was forging ahead with the <i>Shasta</i>'s boat smothered in foam beneath her +rail. She was going to leeward bodily, and Jimmy fancied she was about a +mile nearer the crag than when he had first seen her. It was evident to +everybody that he had no time to lose.</p> + +<p>He shouted with arm flung up, and, though it was doubtful whether +anybody heard him, the schooner's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> boom foresail came thrashing down, +and two men who leapt upon her rail fell into the boat. Then he thrust +down his telegraph, and, as the <i>Shasta</i> forged by, the boat drove down +on her. She struck the steamer's hove-up side with a crash that stove +several strakes of planking in, and men jumped for the flung-down lines +as she filled. They scrambled up them, four in all, and, for one of them +had hooked on the davit falls, the <i>Shasta</i>'s winch banged and rattled +as they hove the boat in with the water streaming out through her +shattered side at every roll. The men had, however, brought a rope with +them, and the winch next hove the schooner's stoutest hawser off. It was +made fast, and rose splashing from the sea when Jimmy touched his +telegraph again, while, when at last the schooner fell into line astern, +a very wet man clambered to the bridge.</p> + +<p>"Are you fit to pull her out?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said Jimmy; "I'm going to try. How did you get so far +inshore, and have you left anybody to steer her?"</p> + +<p>The man made a vague gesture. "Mainmast went beneath the hounds. She's +been driving to leeward since, and she'd have been ashore in another +hour if we hadn't fallen in with you. The old man's at her wheel. Built +her himself 'most fifteen years ago, and nothing would shift him out of +her."</p> + +<p>Jimmy glanced astern, and for a few moments saw a gray face of rock loom +out of the haze with the sea spouting dimly white at its feet. Then a +thicker fold of vapor rolled about it, and the daylight faded suddenly. +He could scarcely see the schooner lurching along behind them with jib +still set, though the sail thrashed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> now and then. Indeed, his eyes were +growing very heavy, and he realized that after forty-eight hours' +continuous watching he could not keep himself awake much longer. A +simple calculation showed him that it would be daylight again before he +could put his helm up and run for shelter, when it would be imperatively +necessary for him to be on his bridge; and calling his Scandinavian +mate, he left the <i>Shasta</i> in his charge.</p> + +<p>"Keep her going as she's heading now," he said. "You'll see I've headed +her up a few points to allow for the leeward drag of the tow. You can +call me in a couple of hours, or earlier if there's any change in the +weather."</p> + +<p>He clawed his way down from the bridge to the little room beneath it, +and shed only his streaming oilskins before he flung himself into his +bunk. He was asleep in two or three minutes, and slept soundly while the +water oozed from his wet garments, until he was roused by a shouting. +Then his door was flung open, and a man thrust his head in.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Lindstrom figures you'd better get up," he said. "The tow has +parted her hawser, and gone adrift."</p> + +<p>Jimmy was out of his bunk in a moment, and in a few more had scrambled +to his bridge. Lindstrom, the Scandinavian, shouted something he did not +hear, but that did not very much matter, for the one question was, where +was the schooner, and Jimmy was tolerably certain that nobody knew. His +light had been burning, and for the first few moments he could see +nothing but blackness, out of which there drove continuous showers of +stinging spray. Then he made out the filmy cloud it sprang from at the +<i>Shasta</i>'s bows, and swept his gaze<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> aloft toward the pale silver streak +above her mastheads, which showed where the half-moon might come +through. As he did so, the Scandinavian gripped his shoulder, and he saw +a red twinkle widen into a wind-blown flame low down upon the sea. Now +he could, at least, locate the tow.</p> + +<p>"Did you get a sight of the beach? How far were we off?" he shouted.</p> + +<p>"A low point," said Lindstrom, "which I do not know. One mile, I guess +it, and we head her out more off shore."</p> + +<p>Jimmy was a trifle startled. Though the water is deep along that coast, +a mile leaves very small margin for contingencies, and he fancied that +the tow, blowing to leeward, would cover it in half an hour. In that +case there was not the slightest doubt as to what would then happen to +her. She might, perhaps, last five minutes as a vessel, for the reefs +are hard and there is a tremendous striking force in the long Pacific +seas. Another point was equally clear. He had some twenty minutes in +which to overhaul the schooner and take her skipper off, and no boat to +do the latter with. If he failed to accomplish it in the time, it was +very probable that the <i>Shasta</i> would go ashore, and he did not think +that any one would escape by swimming. Still, he meant to do what he +could, and once more he set the whistle shrieking as he shouted to the +helmsman.</p> + +<p>The <i>Shasta</i> came round, and drove away into the darkness, for the light +had died out again and there was nothing visible ahead but the dim white +tops of frothing seas. Five minutes passed, and Jimmy felt the tension, +for they were steaming toward destruction, and it was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> quite possible +that they might run past the schooner or straight over her. Then a shaft +of moonlight struck the climbing pines high up in front of him, and it +seemed to him that he was already almost under them. He set his lips, +and clenched the hand he would not raise in warning to the helmsman +while the pale watery moonlight crept lower and lower. It rested for a +moment on a fringe of creaming foam where the rock met the water, and +then a hoarse shout went up, for as it swept toward him they saw the +schooner.</p> + +<p>She was not far ahead of them, with jib thrashed to ribands and the sea +streaming from her swung-up side. Jimmy thrust down his telegraph and +shouted to Lindstrom, who dropped from the bridge as they drove past her +stern. Then, as he raised his hand, the man behind him gasped as he +struggled with his wheel, and the <i>Shasta</i>, stopping, lay rolling wildly +beneath the schooner's lee, while a shadowy figure gesticulated to those +on board her from her spray-swept rail. Jimmy glanced shoreward over his +shoulder toward the tumbling surf, and decided that he had at most five +minutes to take that man off. After that it would probably be too late +for all of them.</p> + +<p>Mercifully the moonlight still streamed down, and he waited with lips +set and hands clenched on the telegraph while the schooner, being +lighter, drove down upon the <i>Shasta</i>. One blow might make an end of +both of them, but something must be hazarded, and he spared a glance for +the wet men who crouched upon the <i>Shasta</i>'s rail with lines in their +hands. He had smashed one boat not long ago, and the second and smaller +one had been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> damaged a week earlier, bringing a Siwash to take them up +a certain inlet off an unsheltered beach.</p> + +<p>The schooner was very near them, and, if he stayed where he was, would +come down on top of the steamer in another minute or so. Then Lindstrom +sprang out of the galley with a blue light in his hand, and its radiance +blazed wind-flung and intense on the narrowing gap of foam between the +two wildly rolling hulls. There was a hoarse shouting, and, though he +might not have heard the words, it was evident that the man on board the +schooner realized what he was expected to do. Jimmy set his lips tighter +as he pressed down the telegraph to slow ahead.</p> + +<p>The <i>Shasta</i>'s propeller thudded, and as the schooner reeled toward her +she commenced to move, and a black figure plunged with flung-up hands +from the latter's shrouds. It struck the seething water, and vanished +for a moment or two, while men held their breath and strained their +eyes. Then there was a hoarse clamor, and lines went whirling down from +the <i>Shasta</i>'s rail. In the midst of it black darkness succeeded, as +Lindstrom's light went out. Jimmy gasped, wondering when the schooner +would strike them, while he clenched his hand on the telegraph. There +was faint moonlight still, but it did not seem to touch the schooner, +for his eyes were dazzled by the blaze of the blue light.</p> + +<p>A moment later another shout rang out. "He has hold! Get down! Can't you +stop her, sir?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy, knowing what the hazard was, pressed his telegraph, and held his +breath until a harsh voice rose again.</p> + +<p>"I have a grip of him," it said. "Heave! We've<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> got him, sir. Go ahead; +she's coming down on the top of us!"</p> + +<p>Jimmy moved his hand, and the gong clanged out "Full-speed" this time, +while, glancing to windward, he saw the black shape of the schooner +hove-up apparently above him. Still, quivering all through, the <i>Shasta</i> +forged ahead, and he leaned on the rails, for now that the tension had +slackened he felt curiously limp.</p> + +<p>"The man's all right?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Lindstrom, who climbed half-way up the ladder, said that he did not seem +to have suffered very much, and Jimmy, looking around, saw nothing of +the schooner, for there was sudden darkness as the moon went out.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV<br /> +<span class="smalltext">ELEANOR'S BITTERNESS</span></h2> + + +<p>It was in a state of quiet contentment that Jimmy stood on his bridge, +as the <i>Shasta</i> steamed past the Stanley pines into sight of the +clustering roofs of Vancouver. His first voyage had been an unqualified +success in every respect, and it was clear that the <i>Shasta</i> had done +considerably more than cover her working expenses. This was in several +ways a great relief to him, since it promised to obviate any difficulty +in providing for his father's comfort, and also opened up the prospect +of a career for himself. Jordan had assured him before he sailed that +they would have no great trouble in raising funds to purchase another +boat if the results of the venture warranted it. He had also said that +since one thing led to another, there was no reason why the <i>Shasta</i> +Company should not run several steamers by and by, in which case Jimmy +would naturally become commodore-captain or general superintendent of +the fleet.</p> + +<p>As it happened, Jordan was the first person Jimmy's eyes rested on when +he rang off his engines as the <i>Shasta</i> slid in to the wharf, and he +climbed on board while they made her fast. It, however, seemed to Jimmy +that his movements were less brisk than usual, and he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> was also dressed +in black, which was a color he had once or twice expressed himself in +his comrade's hearing as having no use for. He came up the bridge-ladder +quietly, in place of scrambling up it in hot haste, which would have +been much more characteristic, and Jimmy noticed that there was a +difference in his manner when he shook hands with him. The latter's +satisfaction commenced to melt away, and a vague disquietude grew upon +him in place of it.</p> + +<p>"Everything straight here?" he asked, veiling his anxiety.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said Jordan; "that is, in most respects. We have an outward +freight—Comox mines—for you. You'll take her up the Straits that way +when you go back again. You seem to have her full."</p> + +<p>"I had to leave a good many odds and ends behind, and the ranchers +expect to have more produce for us in a month or two. One or two of them +were talking about baling presses and a small thrashing mill. I've an +inquiry for the plant, which you can attend to. Another fellow was +contemplating putting on some Tenas Siwash to see whether there was +anything to be made out of hand-split shingles, and several more were +going to plant every cleared acre with potatoes for Victoria. I'm to +take up two of your mechanical stump-grubbers as soon as you can get +them. If we can keep them pleased, we'll get all their trade."</p> + +<p>Jordan nodded, without, however, any sign of the eagerness Jimmy had +expected. "Well," he said, "that's quite satisfactory so far as it goes. +Still, there are troubles that even the prospect of piling up money +can't lift one over."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>"Of course!" said Jimmy, who looked at him with sudden sympathy. "Still, +I fancied you told me you had no near relatives. What are you wearing +those clothes for?"</p> + +<p>His comrade laid a hand on his shoulder. "It's a thing I shouldn't have +done on my own account. I did it—steady, Jimmy, you have to face it—to +please your sister."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Jimmy, with a sharp indrawing of his breath, and leaned on +the bridge-rails for a moment or two. His lips quivered, and Jordan saw +him clench his hard brown hands. Busy wharf and climbing city faded from +before his eyes, and he was sensible only of a curious numbing stupor +that for the time being banished grief. Then he felt his comrade's grasp +grow tighter.</p> + +<p>"Brace up!" said Jordan. "It's a thing we have, all of us, to stand up +under."</p> + +<p>Jimmy straightened himself slowly, while the color paled in his face.</p> + +<p>"When did it happen—and how?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Last night. The doctor had been round once or twice since you went +away, and I understood from what Prescott said that he was getting along +satisfactorily—that is, physically."</p> + +<p>Jimmy said nothing, but looked at him with hard, questioning eyes.</p> + +<p>"Well, it appears he was worrying himself considerably. Told Prescott it +was a pity he couldn't die right away. Nobody had any use for him, and +he didn't want to be a burden. Seems he went over it quite often. The +doctor had cut him off from the whisky."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>He stopped, with evident embarrassment and pain in his face; but Jimmy's +eyes never wavered, though a creeping horror came upon him. In spite of +the difficulty he had in thinking, he felt that he had not yet heard +all.</p> + +<p>"Go on," he said in a low, harsh voice.</p> + +<p>"I don't think I could have told you, only it would have fallen on +Eleanor if I hadn't, and she has as much as she can bear. You'll keep +that in mind, won't you, Jimmy? He got some whisky—we don't know +how—one of the wharf-hands who used to look in bought it for him, most +probably. Prescott had to go out now and then, you see."</p> + +<p>He stopped for a moment, and made a little gesture of sympathy before he +went on again. "Somehow he fell over the table, and the kerosene lamp +went over with it too. When one of the neighbors who heard him call went +in nobody could have done anything for him."</p> + +<p>The last trace of color ebbed from Jimmy's face, and he stood very +still, with set lips and tightly clenched hands. Then he turned aside +with a groan of horror.</p> + +<p>"Lord!" he said hoarsely. "That, at least, might have been spared him."</p> + +<p>In another moment he swung around on his comrade almost savagely, with a +bitter laugh. "And you want to marry my sister Eleanor?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Jordan; "just as soon as it can decently be done. Jimmy, you +daren't blame him."</p> + +<p>"Blame him!" and Jimmy's voice was strained. "If I had had his load to +carry and felt it as he did, I should probably have gone under long +ago."</p> + +<p>He leaned heavily on the rail for a minute or two, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> then, apparently +rousing himself with an effort, turned toward his comrade. "As you say, +I must stand up to it. How is Eleanor bearing it?"</p> + +<p>"Quietly—too quietly. I'm 'most afraid of her. She's here—I went over +to Forster's for her. Insists on staying in the house. I'll send +somebody around with your papers, and then go along with you."</p> + +<p>Five minutes later they went ashore together, and it was falling dusk +when they reached a little four-roomed frame-house which stood near a +row of others of very much the same kind amidst the tall fir-stumps +which straggled up a rise on the outskirts of the town. It was such a +one as the few wharf and sawmill hands who were married usually lived +in—comfortless, primitive, and rickety. Jimmy remembered how he had +determined when he sailed south with the <i>Shasta</i> full to the hatches +that his father should not stay another month in it.</p> + +<p>He was almost startled when his sister led them into the little general +room, for it was evident that there had been a great change in her. +That, at least, was how he regarded it then, but afterward he understood +that it was only something which had been in her nature all the time +making itself apparent. He did not remember whether she kissed him, but +she sat down and looked at him with the light of the lamp upon her, +while Jimmy, who could find nothing at all to say, gazed at her.</p> + +<p>Eleanor had already provided herself with somber garments, and they +emphasized the severity of contour of her supple figure. They also +forced up the pallor of her face, which was relieved only by a faint +blotch of color in either cheek, and, in spite of this, in a curious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> +fashion made her beautiful. Jimmy had hitherto admitted that his sister +was pretty, but, as he recognized, that word was not the right one now. +She was imperious, dominant, a force embodied in a woman's shape, and +her brother was vaguely conscious that he shrank a little from her. +Eleanor did not seem to want his sympathy. The coldness of her face +repelled him, the fastidious neatness of her gold-bronze hair appeared +unnatural, and her pale-blue eyes had a hard glitter like that of a +diamond in them. It was evident that in place of being crushed, she was +filled with an intense suppressed virility. Indeed, there was something +in her appearance and manner that was suggestive of a beautifully +tempered spring, one that would fly back the moment the strain +slackened, and, perhaps, cut deep into the hand that compressed it. It +was the girl who spoke first, and her voice had a certain incisive +quality in its evenness.</p> + +<p>"Charley has told you," she said; "I can see that by your face. He +insisted on doing so to save me. Well, I am grateful, Charley—that is, +as grateful as I am capable of being—but I will not keep you."</p> + +<p>Jordan looked disconcerted. "Can't you let me stay? There are one or two +ways in which I could be of service."</p> + +<p>Eleanor made a little imperious sign, and, though Jimmy once more found +it difficult to realize that this woman, whose coldness suggested a +white-heat of passion, was his sister, he was not altogether astonished +when Jordan slowly rose.</p> + +<p>"Then I'm going no farther than the first fir-stump<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> that's low enough +to make a seat," he said. "If I'm wanted, Jimmy has only to come out and +call."</p> + +<p>He went out, and Eleanor turned to her brother. "I am afraid Charley is +going to be sorry I promised to marry him," she said. "Still, I think I +am fond of him, or I might have been, if this horrible thing hadn't come +between us. It is horrible, Jimmy—one of the things after which one can +never be quite the same. I have a good deal to say to you—but you must +see him."</p> + +<p>Jimmy made a sign of concurrence, and his sister rose. "First of all, +there is something else. It is a hard thing, but it must be done."</p> + +<p>She turned to a cupboard, and, taking out a bottle of corn whisky, laid +it before him with a composure that jarred on the man. Her portentous +quietness troubled him far more than a flood of tears or a wild outbreak +would have done. Then she laid her finger on the outside of the bottle, +as though to indicate how much had been taken out of it.</p> + +<p>"I think that accounts for everything," she said. "Still, he was driven +to it. I want you to remember that as long as you and the man who is +responsible live. Prescott knows, and Charley—I had to tell him. But +nobody else must ever dream of it."</p> + +<p>"Of course you had to tell Charley," said Jimmy hoarsely. "Still, the +inquest?"</p> + +<p>A scornful glitter crept into Eleanor's eyes. "That you will leave to +me. I have been drilling Prescott as to what he is to say, and if they +question Charley, who got here before the doctor when Prescott sent for +him, he will stand by me."</p> + +<p>Jimmy looked somewhat startled; but when he strove<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> to frame his +thoughts the girl silenced him. "If it were necessary to corrupt +everybody who had ever been acquainted with him, and I could do it—at +any cost—it would be done. Now"—and she quietly took up the lamp—"you +will come with me."</p> + +<p>Jimmy shivered a little as he went with her into the adjoining room, and +set his lips tight when with a steady hand she drew the coverlet down. +Then, while his eyes grew a trifle hazy, he drew in a little breath of +relief, for Tom Wheelock lay white and serene at last, with closed eyes +and no sign of pain in his quiet face, from which all the weariness had +vanished. Only a clean linen bandage, which ran from one temple to +behind the other ear, was laid upon it. There was nothing that one could +shrink from, and Jimmy made a gesture of protest when Eleanor laid her +hand on the bandage.</p> + +<p>She met his eyes with something that suggested contempt in hers, and +quietly drew back the bandage, and then the soft white sheet from the +shoulder of the rigid figure. Jimmy sickened suddenly, and seized her +arm in a constraining grasp.</p> + +<p>"Put it back!" he said. "That is enough—enough, I tell you!"</p> + +<p>Then, while the girl obeyed him, he turned from her with a groan, gasped +once or twice, and sat down limply. He could not look around again until +her task was concluded, and he would not look at her. It seemed an +almost interminable time before she spoke.</p> + +<p>"Still," she said, "you must look at him again; I should like you to +remember him as he is now. Perhaps you can, Jimmy, but that relief is +not for me."</p> + +<p>Jimmy rose, and in another few moments turned his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> head away. He stood +still, with a whirl of confused emotions that left him half-dazed +rioting within him, while he glanced vacantly round the room. It was +scantily furnished, and generally comfortless and mean. Long smears of +resinous matter exuded from the rough frame boarding of its walls, and +there were shrinkage rents in part of it that let the cool night air in. +In one place he could see where a drip from the shingle roof had spread +into a wide damp patch on the uncovered floor, and it seemed an almost +insufferable thing that his father should have spent his last days in +such surroundings. Then he glanced at Eleanor, standing a rigid, somber +figure with the lamp in her hand, and it seemed that she guessed what he +was thinking.</p> + +<p>"It does not matter now—but he was once considered a prosperous man," +she said. "The contrast was one of the things he never complained of; +but I think he felt it."</p> + +<p>Jimmy turned and went out with her, and, sitting down in the adjoining +room, she looked at him with the quietness he was commencing to shrink +from. She seemed to understand that, too.</p> + +<p>"You think I am unnatural," she said. "Perhaps you are right—but even +if you are, what does it matter? Still, I believe I was fonder of him +than you ever were. If I hadn't been, could I have done all this for you +and him?"</p> + +<p>She stopped for a moment, and the hard gleam flashed back into her +pale-blue eyes. "He was horribly burned, Jimmy, and until the last few +minutes crazed with drink and pain. Still, he was driven to his death +and degradation."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>Jimmy only gazed at her with a tightening of his lips, and the girl went +on in the clear, incisive tones that so jarred on him. "I think it was +more than murder. Can you remember him as anything but abstemious, and +only unwise in his easy kindliness, until the man who crushed him held +him in his clutches? Weak! There are people who would tell you that, and +perhaps he was. It was the load he had to bear made him so. Try to +remember him, Jimmy, as he used to be—brave and gentle, devoted to your +mother and mine; the man who, they said, never ran for shelter in the +fiercest breeze of wind. Try—I want you to."</p> + +<p>Jimmy turned to her abruptly, moistening his dry lips with his tongue. +"Eleanor, have done; I can't stand any more."</p> + +<p>"You must;" and the girl laughed harshly. "I hold that he was murdered. +Is there any real distinction between the man who holds you up with a +pistol and kills you for your money, suddenly and, in one way, +mercifully, and the one who with cold cunning slowly sucks your blood +until he has drained the last drop out of you? Still, that is not all. +If he had only died as most men die. You must remember the upset lamp +and the whisky, Jimmy."</p> + +<p>"Stop!" said Jimmy hoarsely, clenching a brown hand while the +perspiration started from him. "I can't stand it! It is horrible, +Eleanor! You are a woman—you have promised to marry my comrade."</p> + +<p>The girl rose, and, crossing to where he sat, laid a hand on his +shoulder as she looked down at him. "I feel all that you feel, with a +greater intensity; but I can bear it, and you must bear it too. Charley +will not com<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>plain, and I would be his slave or mistress as long as he +would stand by me until I carry out my purpose. He is only my lover, but +you are Tom Wheelock's son. What are you going to do?"</p> + +<p>"What can I do?" and Jimmy made a little hopeless gesture. "Perhaps it +would be only justice, but I can't waylay Merril with a pistol. The man +has no human nature in him. I couldn't even provoke him to strike me."</p> + +<p>"No," said Eleanor, with a bitter laugh; "that would be foolishly +theatrical, and in one way too easy. It would not satisfy me. You will +wait, ever so long if it's necessary, and command the <i>Shasta</i> while you +take his trade away. Then we will find other means—business means; it +can, I think, be done. He must be slowly drained and ruined, and flung +aside, a broken man, as your father was. Then it would not matter +whether he dies or not."</p> + +<p>Jimmy shrank from her a little, and she smiled as she noticed it. "There +is a good deal of our mother's nature in both of us, and you cannot get +away from it. It will make you a man, Jimmy, in spite of all your +amiable qualities."</p> + +<p>"Still," said Jimmy vaguely, "one has to be practical. I'm afraid it +isn't easy to ruin a man like Merril just because you would like +to—I've met him, you see. The <i>Shasta</i> Company was not started with +that purpose either, and it was only because Jordan is a friend of mine +that I was put in as skipper."</p> + +<p>"Didn't old Leeson say that the <i>Shasta</i> Company would never have been +formed if it hadn't been for me? It is a struggling little company, and +Merril is a big<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> man, and apparently rich; but there are often chances +for the men with nerve enough."</p> + +<p>Jimmy rose. "If one ever comes in my way, I shall try to profit by it. +That is all I can say. I'm a little dazed, Eleanor. I think I'll go out +and try to clear my brain again. You won't mind? I hear Prescott."</p> + +<p>He met Prescott in the doorway, and walking past the few frame-houses +found Jordan sitting, cigar in hand, upon a big fir-stump. When Jimmy +stopped beside him he made a little sign of comprehension and sympathy.</p> + +<p>"I guess I know what Eleanor has told you," he said. "In one way, it's +not astonishing that she should feel what she does, and I can't blame +her, though it's a little rough on me. This is a thing she'll never +quite get over—while the other man lives prosperous, anyway—and, of +course, I'm standing in with her."</p> + +<p>"But it's not your affair."</p> + +<p>"It's Eleanor's, and that counts with me. Besides, I'm not fond of +Merril either."</p> + +<p>Jimmy was touched by the man's devotion, but once more he could find +nothing apposite to say, and Jordan went on:</p> + +<p>"Sometimes, as I told you, I'm a little afraid of Eleanor, and perhaps +that's why I like her. It seems to me you never quite understood your +sister. Your mother made the Wheelock fleet, and it's quite likely that +Eleanor's going to make the <i>Shasta</i> Shipping Company. I'm no slouch, +but she has more brains than you and I and old Leeson rolled together. +Now, you want to rouse yourself, and she has Prescott with her. You'll +walk down to the steamer with me."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">UNDER RESTRAINT</span></h2> + + +<p>Austerly, who was essentially English and a servant of the Crown, +somewhat naturally lived outside the boundaries of Vancouver. He had the +tastes and prejudices of his class, and did not like the life most men +lead in the Western cities, which is in some respects communistic and +without privacy. Even those of some standing, with a house of their own, +not infrequently use it only to sleep in, and take their meals at a +hotel, while, should they retire to their own dwelling in the evening, +they are scarcely likely to enjoy the quietness the insular Englishman +as a rule delights in. People walk in and out casually until late at +night, and a certain proportion of them are chronically thirsty. This, +in case of a business man, has its advantages as well as its drawbacks, +but Austerly only recognized the latter. He said it was like living in +the street, and he did not appreciate being called on at eleven o'clock +at night by men of doubtful character whom he had met for the first time +a few days before.</p> + +<p>He accordingly retired to a retreat that one of his predecessors had +built outside the city, which shades off on that side from stone and +steel through gradations of frame-houses and rickety shanties into a +wilderness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> of blackened fir-stumps. The Western cities lie open, and +though the life in them is more suggestive of that of Paris than the +staidness of an English town, they have neither gate nor barrier, and +are usually ready to welcome all who care to enter: strong-armed men who +limp in, red with dust, in dilapidated shoes, as well as purchasers of +land and commercial enterprise directors. They have, it frequently +happens, need of the one, and a bonus instead of taxes to offer the +other, who may purpose to set up mills and workshops within their +borders.</p> + +<p>Austerly, however, was not altogether a recluse, and it came about one +evening that Jimmy, who had arrived there with a few other guests, sat +beside Anthea Merril in the garden of his house. The sunlight still +shone upon the struggling grass, to which neither money nor labor could +impart much resemblance to an English lawn, but great pines and cedars +walled it in, and one caught entrancing vistas of shining water and +coldly gleaming snow through the openings between their mighty trunks. +The evening was hot and still, the air heavy with the ambrosial odors of +the forest, and the dying roar of a great freight train that came +throbbing out of its dim recesses emphasized the silence. The little +house rose, gay with painted scroll-work and relieved by its trellises +and wooden pillars, beneath the dark cedar branches across the lawn. +Jimmy had seen Valentine and Miss Austerly sitting on the veranda a few +minutes earlier. He was, however, just then looking at his companion, +and wondering whether in spite of the pleasure it afforded him he had +been wise in coming there at all.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>Anthea was dressed richly, in a fashion which it seemed to him became +her wonderfully well, and he was quite aware that the few minutes he had +now spent in her company would be sufficient to render him restless +during the remainder of the week. Jimmy had discovered that while it was +difficult to resolve that he would think no more of her, it was +considerably harder to carry out the prudent decision.</p> + +<p>"It is some little time since I saw you last," she said.</p> + +<p>"Four weeks," said Jimmy promptly. "That is, it would be if this were +to-morrow."</p> + +<p>Anthea smiled, though she naturally noticed that there was a certain +significance in this accuracy. Jimmy realized it too, for he added a +trifle hastily: "The fact that it was just before the <i>Shasta</i> went to +sea fixed it in my mind."</p> + +<p>"Of course!" and Anthea laughed. "That would, no doubt, account for it. +Are your after-thoughts always as happy, Captain Wheelock?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy felt a little uncomfortable. Her good-humor, in which there was +nothing incisive, was, he felt, in one way a sufficient rebuff, though +he could not tell whether she had meant it as such. It was also +disconcerting to discover that she had evidently followed the train of +reasoning which had led to the remark, though this was a thing she +seemed addicted to doing. After all, there are men who fail to +understand that in certain circumstances it is not insuperably difficult +for a woman to tell their thoughts before they express them.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I don't excel at that kind of thing," he said. "It's perhaps +fortunate my friends realize it."</p> + +<p>Anthea turned and looked at him with reposeful eyes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> "Well," she said +reflectively, "I almost fancied you were not particularly pleased to see +me. You had, at least, very little to say at dinner."</p> + +<p>Jimmy, to his annoyance, felt the blood rise to his forehead. He had +sense enough to see that his companion did not intend this to be what, +in similar circumstances, is sometimes called encouraging. He was not a +brilliant man; but it is, after all, very seldom that an extra-master's +certificate or a naval reserve commission is held by a fool. Anthea had, +he felt, merely asked him a question, and he could not tell her that he +would have avoided her only because he felt afraid that the delight he +found in her company might prove too much for his self-restraint.</p> + +<p>"Still," he said, somewhat inanely, "how could I? You were talking to +that Englishman all the time."</p> + +<p>"Burnell?" said Anthea. "Yes, I suppose I was. He and his wife are +rather old friends of mine. They have just come from Honolulu, and talk +about taking the yacht up to Alaska. In that case, they want Nellie and +me to go with them."</p> + +<p>Jimmy remembered the beautiful white steam-yacht which had passed the +<i>Shasta</i> on her way to Vancouver a day or two ago, and was sensible of a +vague relief that was at the same time not quite free from concern. If +Anthea went to Alaska, it was certain that he would have no opportunity +for meeting her for a considerable time. That was, in one way, what he +desired, but it by no means afforded him the satisfaction he felt it +should have done. She did not, however, appear inclined to dwell upon +the subject.</p> + +<p>"I think I ought to congratulate you on what you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> did a few weeks ago," +she said. "I read the schooner-man's narrative in the paper."</p> + +<p>Jimmy laughed. "If I had known he was going to tell that tale, I almost +fancy I should have left him where he was; but, after all, I scarcely +think he did. Seas of the kind mentioned could exist only in a +newspaperman's imagination."</p> + +<p>The girl smiled, for, though what she thought did not appear, she saw +the shade of darker color in his face, and Jimmy was very likeable in +his momentary confusion. Now and then his ingenuous nature revealed +itself in spite of his restraint, but nobody ever shrank from a glimpse +of it, for he had in him, as Anthea had seen, something of the largeness +and openness of the sea.</p> + +<p>"Still," she said, "I heard one or two men who understand such things +talking about it, and they seemed to agree that it needed nerve and +courage to take the schooner skipper off without wrecking your vessel; +but you are, perhaps, right about the imagination of the men who serve +such papers."</p> + +<p>Jimmy noticed the trace of half-contemptuous anger in her face and +voice, and fancied he understood it. He had, of course, seen the issue +of the paper in question, and had read close beneath the schooner-man's +account of his rescue a bitter and plainly worded attack upon his +companion's father. Merril was a political as well as a commercial +influence, and journalists in that country do not shrink from +personalities. He felt, by the way she glanced at him, that she knew he +had done so.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said, though he had not spoken, "you understand what I am +alluding to. Still, I suppose<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> anybody who does all he can for the +Province must expect to be misrepresented."</p> + +<p>Jimmy's face grew a trifle hard. He did not know exactly what she +expected from him, but even to please her he would not admit that the +man who had seized the <i>Tyee</i> could be misrepresented in any way, +unless, indeed, somebody held him up as a pattern of virtue.</p> + +<p>"I suppose your father denied the statements?" he said. "I have, of +course, been away."</p> + +<p>"No," replied Anthea; "it was scarcely worth while. After all, very few +people would consider the thing seriously."</p> + +<p>She turned to him again with an inquiring glance, and there was a +certain insistency in her tone. "Of course, that ought to be clear to +anybody."</p> + +<p>Jimmy met her glance steadily, and set his lips as he usually did when +he was stirred, and he was stirred rather deeply then. Still, nothing +would have induced him to say a word in Merril's favor. Then it seemed +to him that the girl's expression changed. He could almost have fancied +there was a suggestion of appeal in her eyes, as though she would have +liked him to constitute himself her ally, and, indeed, had half-expected +it. It set his heart beating, and sent a little thrill through him, for +in that moment it was clear that she wished to believe altogether in her +father, and would value any support that he could offer her. In other +circumstances it would have been a delight to take up the cause of any +of her kin, whatever it might have cost him, but just then he was +conscious of a bitter hatred of the man in question, and Jimmy was in +all things honest.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>"I'm afraid I don't know how people are likely to regard it," he said. +"You see, I am almost a stranger in the Province. I have been away so +long."</p> + +<p>Anthea appeared to assent to this, but Jimmy realized that she felt that +he had failed her. Still, the thing was done, and he would not have done +it differently had another opportunity been afforded him.</p> + +<p>"Well," she said slowly, "there is something I want to mention. I fancy +Mr. Burnell has a favor to ask of you this evening, and it might, +perhaps, be wise to oblige him. He can be a very good friend, as I have +reason to know, and though he may not mention this, he is, one +understands, rather a prominent figure in the Directorate of the —— +Mail Company."</p> + +<p>For a few moments Jimmy was troubled by an unpleasant sense of +confusion. The man's name was famous in the shipping world, and there +were a good many aspiring steamboat officers who sought his good-will, +while, since he could not have heard of Jimmy until a day or two ago, it +was evident that somebody in Vancouver City had spoken in his favor. +Jimmy fancied he knew who this must be, and it was but a minute or two +since he had turned a deaf ear to the girl's appeal. Then he roused +himself, as he saw her curious smile.</p> + +<p>"So that is the famous man?" he said. "I should never have imagined it."</p> + +<p>Anthea laughed as she rose; but before she moved away, she turned to him +confidentially. "I really think," she said, "you should do what he asks +you."</p> + +<p>Then she left him, and it was some minutes later when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> a little, quiet +Englishman strolled in that direction, cigar in hand. He sat down by +Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"I don't know whether I'm presuming, but I believe you are duly +qualified to take command of a British steamer and are acquainted with +the northwest coast?" he said.</p> + +<p>Jimmy said he had not been far north; and Burnell appeared to reflect +for a moment or two.</p> + +<p>"After all," he said, "I don't suppose that matters so very much. I'm in +rather a difficulty, and you may be able to do something for me. We lost +our skipper, and my mate and several of the crew have taken leave of me +here unceremoniously. I wish to ask if you would take the yacht up to +Alaska for me, and afterward home again. I should naturally be prepared +to offer whatever salary is obtainable here by a duly qualified skipper, +and as several of my friends are also yours, you would, of course, +continue to meet them on that footing while you were on board."</p> + +<p>"There is one point," said Jimmy. "The arrangement would necessarily be +a temporary one."</p> + +<p>"I fancied you would raise it. Well, it would perhaps be a little +premature to say very much just now; but I did not come to Vancouver +entirely on pleasure. In fact, it is likely that we shall shortly +attempt to cut into the American South-Sea trade, in which case we +should want commanders for a 4000-ton boat or two from this city. If +not, I almost think I can promise that you would not suffer from serving +me. I may mention that your friends speak of you very favorably."</p> + +<p>Jimmy thought hard for a minute or two. It was a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> very tempting offer, +and wages out of that port were excellent just then. What was more to +the purpose, it promised to send him back to the liners, where a +commander was a person of some consequence, and, besides this, Anthea +had told him that she was in all probability going to Alaska. Then he +reluctantly shook his head.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I can't close with you, sir," he said. "The fact is, I +consider myself bound to the <i>Shasta</i> Company."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Burnell; "their terms are still more favorable? One would +scarcely have fancied it."</p> + +<p>"No," said Jimmy, "that is certainly not the case. Still, they put me +into the little boat out of friendliness—and I'm not quite sure anybody +else could do as much for them, or, at least, would make an equal effort +in the somewhat curious circumstances. Of course, that sounds a trifle +egotistical; but still——"</p> + +<p>Burnell signified comprehension. "It is not altogether a question of +money."</p> + +<p>"I couldn't come if you offered me treble the usual thing," said Jimmy +gravely.</p> + +<p>The other man nodded. "Well," he said, "I'm sorry, because after what +you have told me I almost think we should have hit it tolerably well +together. At any time you think I could be of service, you can write to +me."</p> + +<p>He talked about other matters for a while, and it was half an hour after +he went away when Jimmy once more came face to face with Anthea Merril. +She was walking slowly through the creeping shadow of the pines, and +stopped when she saw him beside a barberry bush, among whose clustering +blossoms jeweled hum<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>ming-birds flitted. One of them that gleamed +iridescent hovered on wings that moved invisibly close above her +shoulder.</p> + +<p>"So," she said, "you have not done as I suggested?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy looked at her gravely, and once more felt the blood creep into his +face. She had told him she was going to Alaska on board the yacht, and +he almost ventured to fancy she had meant it as an inducement; but there +was no trace of resentment in her voice. Anthea was too proud for that.</p> + +<p>"I'm sorry," he said. "Still, you see, I couldn't."</p> + +<p>There was no doubt that he was sorry, and a look that left him almost +bewildered crept into the girl's eyes.</p> + +<p>"Why?" she asked quietly.</p> + +<p>It was a somewhat unfortunate question, since it afforded an opening for +two different answers, and Jimmy, who fancied she wished to learn why +the fact that he could not go should grieve him, lost his head.</p> + +<p>"Why?" he said. "Surely that can't be necessary. I think there is only +one thing that could have stopped my going. If it hadn't been for that, +I would have walked bare-foot across the Province to join the ship."</p> + +<p>Anthea looked up, and met his eyes steadily. It was clear that she +understood him, but there was no reproof in her gaze, and for a moment +the man felt the sudden passion seize and almost shake the +self-restraint from him. The girl was very alluring, and just then her +pride had gone, while it was vaguely borne in on him that he had but to +ask, or rather take her masterfully. Perhaps he was right, for there are +moments when wealth and station do not seem to count, and an eager word +or two, or a sudden compelling seizure of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> white hand that hung so +close beside him, might have been all that was needed. He looked at her +with gleaming eyes, while a little quiver ran through him. Still, he +remembered suddenly whose daughter she was, and the bitter grievance he +had against her father. The opposition Merril would certainly offer and +the stigma others might cast upon him if he wrested a promise from her +then, also counted for something; and though neither of them made any +sign, both knew when she spoke again that the moment had passed.</p> + +<p>"That," she said, "was not what I meant. Why is it impossible for you to +go?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy was himself again, for her voice and look had swiftly changed. "I +think it is only your due that I should tell you, since I know why +Burnell put the offer before me. Well, I was glad to get the <i>Shasta</i>, +and it would hardly be the thing to leave her now. Jordan and the others +put money they could very hardly spare into the venture—and when they +did it, they had confidence in me."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Anthea, and stood silent for a moment or two. Then she smiled +at him gravely. "Perhaps you are right—and, at least, one could fancy +that Jordan and the others were warranted."</p> + +<p>Jimmy, whose face once more grew a trifle flushed, raised a hand in +protest. "I feel I have to thank you for sending Burnell to me. It must +have seemed very ungrateful that I didn't close with him; but, after +all, that is only part of what I mean. You see——"</p> + +<p>The girl looked at him, still with the curious little smile. "You +fancied I should feel hurt because you could not take a favor of that +kind from me? Well,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> perhaps I did, but, as you have said, you couldn't +help it—and I don't think it matters, after all."</p> + +<p>Her voice was quietly even, and there was certainly no suggestion in it +that she resented what he had done; but Jimmy knew that he was now +expected to put on his reserve again, and he hastened to explain in +conventional fashion that the way she might regard the matter was really +a question of interest to him. Then Anthea looked at him, and they both +laughed as they turned away, which, as it happened, very nearly led to +Jimmy's flinging prudence aside again, and he felt relieved when he saw +Austerly and his daughter approaching them. Before the latter two joined +them, Anthea, however, once more turned to her companion.</p> + +<p>"There is still something I wish to say, and perhaps I should have +mentioned it earlier; but in such cases one shrinks from causing pain," +she said. "I should like you to believe that I was very sorry when I +heard—about your father."</p> + +<p>Jimmy only made her a grave inclination, for, though he could not blame +her for it, his father's death was the most formidable of the barriers +between them, and, recognizing it, he felt a little thrill of dismay as +she turned off across the lawn toward where Mrs. Burnell was apparently +awaiting her. It afterward cost him an effort to talk intelligently to +Austerly and his daughter; but since they betrayed no astonishment at +his observations, he fancied that he had somehow accomplished it.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">THE RANCHER'S ANSWER</span></h2> + + +<p>It was a Saturday evening, and Barbison, the fruit-tree drummer, felt +that he had chosen a fitting time to introduce the business which had +brought him there, as he sat amidst a cluster of bush-ranchers on the +veranda of the little wooden hotel. It stood beside a crystal river in a +lonely settlement, with the dark coniferous forest rolling close up to +it. There were, however, wide gaps in the firs in front of the veranda, +with tall, split fences, raised to keep the deer out, straggling athwart +them amidst the pale-green of the oats, while here and there one could +see an axe-built log-house embowered in young orchard trees. A trail led +past the hotel, rutted by the wooden runners of jumper-sleds and +ploughed up by the feet of toiling oxen and pack-horses. It led back in +one direction through shadowy forest to the Dunsmore railroad, thirty +miles away, and in the other to the deep inlet where the <i>Shasta</i> lay. +The ranchers, however, usually reached the latter by canoe, because the +trail was as bad as most of the others are in that country.</p> + +<p>On the evening in question there was a little stir in the sleepy place, +for the mounted mail-carrier, who accomplished the journey weekly, had +come in, and hard-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>handed, jean-clad men had plodded down from lonely +clearings among the enfolding hills to inquire for letters, purchase +stores, and ask each other whether the Government meant to make a +wagon-road or do anything at all for them. The question was, however, +not quite so important as usual just then, for private enterprise had, +as not infrequently happens, undertaken the Government's +responsibilities, and the ranchers were conscious of a certain gratitude +to the <i>Shasta</i> Shipping Company. Thirty miles over mountains is rather +a long way to convey one's produce and supplies.</p> + +<p>A select company of deeply bronzed and wiry men who had tried to do it +with pack-horses as well as oxen and jumper-sledges sat listening to +Barbison, apparently with grave attention, while another entertainment +was being prepared for them. Two of their comrades, stripped to their +blue shirts and old jean trousers, were then engaged in grubbing a very +big fir-stump in front of the veranda—that is, clearing out the soil +from beneath it, and cutting through the smaller roots with an +instrument which much resembled a ship carpenter's adze. It is in +general use on the Pacific Slope, where the process of making a +bush-ranch seldom varies greatly. The rancher purchases the raw +material, thin red soil covered with tremendous forest, as cheaply as he +can, and at the cost of several years' strenuous toil hews down a few +acres of the latter. Then he proceeds to burn up the logs, and there are +left rows of unsightly stumps rising four to six feet above the ground, +which he laboriously ploughs around. When he has garnered a crop or two +he usually attacks these in turn—that is, if they show no sign of +rotting; and to grub out a big<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> one and haul it clear with oxen +frequently costs him at least a day.</p> + +<p>Barbison, who watched the proceedings with the rest, was aware of this, +but he did not know that the man who sat smoking on a big mechanical +appliance of the screw-jack order was the <i>Shasta</i>'s engineer. It was +also somewhat curious, since he had contrived to mention her several +times, that his companions had not thought it worth while to acquaint +him with the fact, but left him to suppose the gentleman in question was +traveling the country on behalf of the manufacturers of the American +stump-grubber. In the meanwhile Barbison discoursed glibly about +fruit-trees and produce prices, and pointed now and then to a big tin +case partly filled with desiccated fruits and pictures which lay on a +chair beside him. He was a little, dapper man, evidently from the +cities, and by no mean disingenuous, though he was apparently young. He +turned when a big quiet rancher picked up and gravely munched a fine +Californian plum.</p> + +<p>"Oh, let up!—that's the third," he said. "How can I sell trees on my +samples when the boys have eaten them?"</p> + +<p>The man looked at him stolidly. "It's high-grade fruit," he said. "How'd +you start those plum-trees bearing?—they're quite a long while showing +a flower or two. Cut them hard when the frost lets up in spring?"</p> + +<p>"Quite hard!" said Barbison, for one must make a venture now and then; +and none of his companions showed any astonishment, though fruit is +freely raised in that country, and the trees that grow the kind with +stones in it resent the use of the pruning knife, as everybody who has +much to do with them knows.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>"Juss so!" said the rancher. "Boys, you cut them—hard. Now, those +apples. S'pose you had good parent stocks, could you bud on to them—and +how'd you do it? Guess that would suit some sorts better than +whip-grafting."</p> + +<p>One might have fancied that Barbison was for a moment a trifle +disconcerted, but he smiled airily. "Just how you'd bud on anything +else. I'd wax the thread."</p> + +<p>"You hear him, boys?" said the rancher. "What you want to do is to wax +your thread."</p> + +<p>They were very quiet, but perhaps not unusually so, for the clearers of +those forests are, except on occasion, generally silent men. Barbison +looked at them reflectively.</p> + +<p>"Raising the fruit's only half the trouble, anyway," he said. "The big +question everywhere is how to put it on the market; and if I can be of +any use in that direction, you have only to command me. Seems to me the +Government's tired of making roads."</p> + +<p>"What's the matter with the steamboat?" asked somebody. "Never had no +trouble since we hauled our stuff down to the <i>Shasta</i>."</p> + +<p>Barbison's smile was sympathetic now. "I guess you're not going to haul +your stuff down to her very much longer. She's played out, and run by +little, struggling men who can't get credit for the patching up that +ought to be done on her, and who'll have nothing to meet claims with if +she breaks down and spoils your freight some day. That's a sure thing. +From what I heard in Vancouver, the bottom's just ready to drop out of +the concern. You want to think of that. Creditors have a lien on +freight, too, when a boat's held up for debt."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>"Then if I sent down my potatoes or fat steers in her, somebody could +seize them for the money the company owed?" asked another rancher.</p> + +<p>"That's the law," said Barbison, and there was nothing in his +companions' manner to suggest that they did not in the least believe +him. "Now, there's some talk about another firm putting a smart new boat +on. Plenty money behind that crowd, and when she comes round it might +suit you considerably better to make a deal with them."</p> + +<p>"Who's running the thing?"</p> + +<p>"Man called Merril. Enterprising man. When he takes hold he makes things +hum. If it were necessary to start a trade, he'd 'most carry your stuff +for nothing."</p> + +<p>"Juss so!" said the big rancher. "Kind of philanthropist. I've heard of +him."</p> + +<p>The man's face was vacantly expressionless, but Barbison, who glanced at +him sharply, fancied that he had said enough on the subject. He had +visited most of the settlements that could be reached from the coast, +and had never neglected an opportunity for dropping a word about the +<i>Shasta</i> and the new boat.</p> + +<p>"Where's that stump-grubber fellow from?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Don't quite know," said one of the others. "Strikes me as an Ontario +Scotchman. But the machine's an American notion; never saw one quite +like it before."</p> + +<p>The man in question stood up just then. He was big and gaunt and pale, +but he wore ordinary city clothes, and when he and the others had +inserted the screw-jack contrivance on a strip of thick planking under +the sawn-off tree, he turned to the assembly.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>"There are quite a few stump-pullers, and I've struck benighted men who +used the chain-tackle tripod," he said. "I'm not saying it's +inefficient, for when you put sufficient pressure upon the winch and it +will not pull the stump up, it will pull the tripod down upon your head. +This one pulls up all the time, and something has got to come if you +work hard enough." Then he raised his hand to his two companions. "You +look fit and strong. Show them you can heave."</p> + +<p>They drew the sliding bar up to the head of the thing, and pulled it +toward them several times, while their faces grew suffused and the veins +rose gorged on their foreheads, for men in that country are proud of +their vigor. There was a slow cracking and tearing of roots, but the +great stump still stood immovable. Then the <i>Shasta</i>'s engineer inquired +what they fed upon, and their comrades flung them sardonic +encouragement, while as they gasped and strained their muscles the screw +slid slowly, turn by turn, through its socket. At last there was a sharp +rending and a little murmur of applause as the big stump tilted and fell +over on its side. Then the big rancher stood up on the veranda.</p> + +<p>"It's smart work, but Dave and Charley are two of the smartest men round +this settlement, and we want to test the thing in every way," he said. +"There's another stump yonder, and I guess Mr. Fleming will put up a +bottle of whisky for any three men who will knock five minutes off the +record. We'll put Mr. Barbison and Jasper in to show what men who don't +grub stumps can do."</p> + +<p>There was a little laughter, for if Jasper, who slowly took off his +jacket, was not accustomed to stump-grub<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>bing, he was at least a man of +splendid physique, and Barbison felt uneasy when he laid a great hand on +his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Come right along," he said; "we've got to get that whisky."</p> + +<p>Barbison's protests were not listened to, and, seeing no help for it, he +also flung off his jacket, when the big rancher firmly led him down the +stairway. Then they gave him a shovel, and his two companions saw that +he used it while they plied the grub-hoe. There are, however, probably +very few men reared in the city who could work with the tireless axemen +of the Pacific Slope, and in ten minutes Barbison was visibly +distressed. The perspiration dripped from his flushed face, and he +gasped for breath, while his comrades inquired with ironical solicitude +whether he were getting sleepy. When he had excavated enough to satisfy +them, they made him crawl into the hole and claw out soil from among the +roots with shortened shovel, most of the contents of which fell all over +him. They kept him at it mercilessly for over half an hour, and when he +crept out his hands were raw and he was aching in every limb. Even then +there was no respite, for the rest insisted on his participating in +their labors at the lever, and contrived to allow him to do considerably +more than his share. At last, however, the great stump rose and tilted, +and he was escorted back to the hotel amidst acclamation.</p> + +<p>"Well," said the big rancher, "if you can work like that, why in the +name of thunder do you want to be a fruit-tree peddler? It's quite hard +to believe you are one. You don't look like it, anyway."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>Barbison certainly did not, for he had burst a seam of one of his +garments during his efforts, while the red soil that had smeared them +freely was on his dripping face and in his ruffled hair. He flung a +swift glance at the man as he realized that his observation was +apposite. There was, however, nothing suspicious in the rancher's +attitude, and the others laughed in the soft fashion peculiar to the +bushman.</p> + +<p>"Anyway, he deserves the whisky," said one of them.</p> + +<p>It was duly brought, and, though those ranchers are for the most part +abstemious men, other bottles made their appearance in turn, and +Barbison braced himself for an effort to maintain his credit as one of +The Boys. He had not found this very difficult in the city saloons, but +the bushman who lives with Spartan simplicity and toils amidst the +life-giving fragrance of the pines twelve hours every day usually +possesses a nerve and constitution that will withstand almost anything. +Besides, there was only one Barbison and a good many of them. It was +therefore not altogether astonishing that by and by the drummer's +observations grew a trifle incoherent, until at last his companions +grinned at one another when with a visible effort he raised himself +shakily to his feet.</p> + +<p>"Something wrong with that whisky, boys; I can't quite talk the way I +want. Guess I'll go to sleep," he said. "Anyway, you stand by Merril. +He'll carry your freight for nothing, and run the <i>Shasta</i> men to——"</p> + +<p>After that he said nothing further, but lowered himself carefully into +his chair, and collapsed with his arms flung out before him across the +table. Then the rest proceeded to hold a court-martial over him.</p> + +<p>"Seems to me he knows a blame sight more about Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> Merril and the +<i>Shasta</i> than he does about fruit-trees," said the big rancher. "Boys, +you cut those plums—hard—and always put wax on the string. Oh, yes, +you're innocent bushmen being played for suckers by a smart city man! +Guess one would wonder when they took the long clothes off him. If that +last advice he gave you wasn't quite enough, I see a book in his pocket +with a silver-headed pencil strapped to it."</p> + +<p>One of them promptly took it out, and flicking over the pages, read, +"'Six fathoms right up to the old sawmill wharf. Worth while to tow the +schooner in and leave her to load. Nothing to be had at Trevor. Siwash +deck passengers at Tyler's. Sprotson men have odds and ends, but seem +stuck on the <i>Shasta</i>.'"</p> + +<p>He closed the book with a sharp snap, and grinned at the rest. "Well," +he said reflectively, "that's 'bout enough for me. I'm stuck on the +<i>Shasta</i>, too. Seems to me the men who run her mean to do the straight +thing by us."</p> + +<p>The rest concurred with this, and several of them instanced cases where +carriers had in due time put the screw upon producers who had been +supinely content to pocket a big rebate until there was no longer any +competition. The rancher with the notebook smiled at them.</p> + +<p>"Then we've no use round here for a man like Mr. Barbison," he said. +"The one question is—what we're going to do with him before we start +him back to the blame philanthropist who sent him?"</p> + +<p>They made ingenious suggestions, which varied from painting him with +red-lead to teaching him to swim;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> but it was the one offered by Fleming +of the <i>Shasta</i> that most pleased them.</p> + +<p>"What he wants is exercise, and if you will bring him off to the steamer +I'll see he gets it," he said. "I've quite a few tons of coal to trim, +and there's a pile of old grease he could clean out of her bilges."</p> + +<p>"The blame insect will offer to pay his passage when he comes round," +said one of the company.</p> + +<p>"That is easily fixed," said another, who had been rummaging Barbison's +pockets. "See this wallet, Jake? Well, you're going in to the railroad, +and you'll express it to Mr. Merril, care of the fruit agency, with a +line to say the gentleman was sick and left it behind him. That strike +you all as workable? Then all we have to do is to decorate him."</p> + +<p>They did it as well as they were able, and four of them afterward +carried him to a Siwash canoe. They had some difficulty in doing it, and +fell down once or twice on the way; but just before the <i>Shasta</i> went to +sea Barbison was put aboard her, with his face rouged with red-lead and +a garland of cedar sprays about his head. It was almost dark then. +Wheelock was on his bridge, the deck-hands were busy stowing the anchor, +and as the two ranchers who brought the drummer laid him beneath a boat +where he tranquilly resumed his sleep, some little time had passed +before anybody concerned himself about him. Then a grinning seaman +brought Jimmy down from his bridge, and held up a lantern while he gazed +in blank astonishment at his prostrate passenger.</p> + +<p>"Tell Mr. Fleming I want him. He was ashore," he said.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>The engineer came, and smiled when Jimmy turned to him.</p> + +<p>"If you can tell me what the meaning of this is, I should be obliged," +he said.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Fleming reflectively, "there are maybe two or three. For +one thing, I'm thinking it's a hint that the boys ashore are standing by +you. There's a note they sent off in your room."</p> + +<p>Jimmy told the seaman to bring it, and, while the latter turned the +light upon the strip of paper, read: "Hasn't a dollar on him, and +belongs to a man called Merril, who's on your trail. We recommend a +course of shoveling coal. All you have to do is to play a straight game +with the boys, and they'll stand behind you all the time."</p> + +<p>Then he turned to Fleming. "I fancy you could give me an explanation, +and I'd like to have it."</p> + +<p>Fleming told him as much as it appeared desirable that he should know, +and Jimmy smiled grimly.</p> + +<p>"Wake him up," he said. "There's a bucket yonder."</p> + +<p>The seaman made a vigorous use of it, and Barbison raised himself on one +elbow, drenched and spluttering.</p> + +<p>"Throw any more water, and I'll kill somebody! I'm dangerous when I'm +mad," he said.</p> + +<p>"Get up!" said Jimmy sharply. "What are you doing here?"</p> + +<p>Barbison, who endeavored unsuccessfully to get up, did not seem to know, +and apparently abandoned the attempt to think it out. His scattered +senses, however, came back to him after the application of more cold +water.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>"How much you want—take me to Victoria?" he gasped.</p> + +<p>"One hundred dollars," said Jimmy dryly.</p> + +<p>The passenger expostulated in a half-coherent fashion, and then, +apparently realizing that it was useless, fumbled for his wallet. He +clenched his fist when he could not find it.</p> + +<p>"Stole it—and my tin case," he said. "Ate up all my samples—must have +ate the case, too, the—hungry hogs."</p> + +<p>"Then you'll have to work your passage;" and Jimmy turned to Fleming. +"You'll take care he earns it. Don't quite kill the man."</p> + +<p>Barbison, who seemed to understand this, at last got on his feet and +unloosed a flood of invective which had no effect on any of his +listeners. Several deck-hands were, however, needed before he was +conveyed into the stokehold and left in front of a bunker with a shovel +in his hand. He assured Fleming that nothing would induce him to work, +and the engineer only grinned, because it was a long way to Victoria, +and the <i>Shasta</i> had several calls to make. Barbison seemed to fancy +that his firmness had proved sufficient, and, coiling himself up amidst +the coal, once more went to sleep. He awakened hungry, and Fleming +smiled again when he demanded food.</p> + +<p>"If you'll lift those floor-plates you'll see the spaces between her +frames choked with coal-grit and grease," he said. "It's possible you'll +get some breakfast when you've scraped them clean. Then it will depend +on how much coal you trim out of that bunker whether you get any +dinner."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>Barbison looked hard at the man, and saw he meant what he said. Then he +pulled up a floor-plate and looked at the filthy mass of coagulated +grease that had drained from the engine-room.</p> + +<p>"And how'm I to get it out?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Quite easy," said Fleming dryly. "What's the matter with your hands?"</p> + +<p>Then he went away and left Barbison to his task. It was a particularly +repulsive one, but he accomplished it, and spent most of the next few +days trimming coal, waiting on the fireman, and cleaning out an empty +coal-bunker on his hands and knees. It is probable that the sight of +Victoria filled him with ineffable relief, and it certainly was not +Fleming's fault if this were not the case. As they steamed into the +harbor Jimmy sent for him.</p> + +<p>"I think you have earned your passage, and we're straight," he said. +"You can go ashore when we get in."</p> + +<p>Barbison glanced down at his dilapidated attire. "Can I go ashore this +way? I'll ask you a favor. Let me stay until it's dark."</p> + +<p>Jimmy laughed. "Well," he said, "as I scarcely think Mr. Merril will +send you back again, you may."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">ELEANOR SPEAKS HER MIND</span></h2> + + +<p>The afternoon was hot and drowsily still when Merril drove his daughter +down the dusty road which runs from New Westminster through the Fraser +meadows. The team was a fast one, and the man, who had an appointment to +keep in Vancouver, did not spare them. There were also reasons why he +found rapid motion and the attention the mettlesome horses required a +welcome distraction, for just then he was troubled with a certain sense +of irritation which was unusual with him.</p> + +<p>Merril was not a hot-tempered man; in fact, he owed his commercial +success largely to the dispassionate coolness which rarely permitted his +feelings to influence his actions, and it was characteristic of him that +while he had a finger in a good many schemes the man himself never +figured prominently in connection with any of them. His influence was +felt, but he was in one sense rather an abstract force than a dominant +personality. It was said of him that he always worked underground, and +he certainly never made political speeches or favored the newspapers +with his views; while, when the results of his unostentatious efforts +became apparent in disaster to somebody, as they usually did, it +generally<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> happened that other men incurred the odium. There are, of +course, financiers whose enterprises benefit the whole community, since +they create new corn-fields and open mines and mills, but Merril's +genius was rather of the destructive order, and it was not to anybody's +advantage that he knew how to choose his time and instruments well. In +person, he was little, somewhat portly, and very neatly dressed, a man +who had never been known to lose his temper or force himself upon the +citizens' attention.</p> + +<p>Still, he was human, after all, and as he sat behind his costly team +that afternoon he was thinking somewhat uneasily of the unexpected +resistance certain land-jobbers in New Westminster had shown to his +demands, and the attack on him which had just appeared in a popular +journal. It was the second time the thing had happened, and, though he +was not directly mentioned and the statements could scarcely be +considered libelous, it was evident that a continuance of them would +have the effect of turning the attention of those who read them upon his +doings, which was just then about the last thing that he desired.</p> + +<p>It accordingly happened that he drove a little faster than he generally +did, until as the team swung out of a strip of shadowy bush he saw a +jumper-sled loaded high with split-rails on the road close in front of +him. He shouted to the man who walked beside the plodding oxen, never +doubting that way would be made for him, especially as the teamster +looked around. The oxen, however, went straight on down the middle of +the road, and it was a trifle too late when Merril laid both hands upon +the reins. In another moment there was a crash,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> and Anthea was almost +shaken from her seat. When Merril swung himself down he saw that one +wheel had driven hard against the jumper load. Then as he called to +Anthea to move the team a pace or two, the patent bushing squeaked and +groaned, and the wheel, after making part of a revolution, skidded on +the road. The man who drove the oxen turned and favored him with a +little sardonic grin.</p> + +<p>"I hope the young lady's not shook too much," he said.</p> + +<p>Anthea, who fancied it was with a purpose he confined this expression of +regret, if, indeed, it could be considered such, to herself, was as a +matter of fact considerably shaken and very angry.</p> + +<p>"Why didn't you get out of the way when you heard my father shout?" she +asked.</p> + +<p>It was Merril at whom the man looked. "Well," he said reflectively, "I +guess that load is heavy, and the oxen have been hauling hard since +sun-up, while there's no reason why a rancher shouldn't use the road as +well as anybody from the city. You should have pulled up sooner. Anyway, +you're not going far like that."</p> + +<p>Merril said nothing, though he could not very well have failed to notice +the hint of satisfaction in the last remark. He very seldom put himself +in the wrong by any ill-considered utterance, but Anthea was a trifle +puzzled when he quietly walked to the horses' heads. She knew that the +small ranchers are, for the most part, good-humored and kindly men, +while, although she could not be certain that the one before them had +contrived the mishap, it was evident that he had done very little to +avert it. He made no further observation, and when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> he led his oxen into +a neighboring meadow Merril told the girl to drive the horses slowly +toward a ranch they could see ahead, and walked beside the wagon +watching the wheel. It would turn once or twice and then stick fast and +skid again; but they contrived to reach the ranch, and found a bronzed +man in dusty jean leaning on the slip-rails.</p> + +<p>"Have you a wagon-jack and a spanner?" asked Merril.</p> + +<p>"I have," said the man, who made no sign of going for them.</p> + +<p>"Then I should be obliged if you would lend me them," said Merril.</p> + +<p>The man smiled dryly. "It can't be done. If that wheel won't turn, Miss +Merril can come in and sit with my wife while you go somewhere and get +it fixed. That's the most I can do for you."</p> + +<p>"I suppose the man who wouldn't let us pass back yonder is a friend of +yours?" and Merril looked hard at him.</p> + +<p>"That's so. Runs this ranch with me. Guess you've seen me once before, +though it was your clerk I made the deal with. That's why we're here on +rented land making 'bout enough to buy groceries and tobacco. You know +how much the ranch you bounced us out of was worth to you. Anyway, you +can't have that jack and spanner."</p> + +<p>Anthea flushed with anger, but she saw that her father was very quiet.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said dryly, "they belong to you, but I'm not sure it wouldn't +have been as wise to let me have them."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>The rancher laughed. "You don't hold our mortgage now, and if I could +get hold of that newspaper-man I could give him a pointer or two. Seems +to me he's getting right down on to the trail of you. Are you coming in +out of the sun, Miss Merril?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly not," said Anthea; and the man took out his pipe and quietly +filled it when Merril told her to walk the horses on again.</p> + +<p>Though she was a trifle perplexed by what she had heard, it seemed to +her that her father's attitude was the correct one, and she seldom asked +unnecessary questions. She had lived away from home a good deal since +the death of her mother when she was very young, but her father had +always been indulgent, and she had cherished an unquestioning confidence +in him. It was also pleasant to know that he was a man of mark and +influence, and one looked up to by the community. Of late, however, +several circumstances besides the newspaper attacks on him had seemed to +cast a doubt upon the latter point, but she would not entertain it for a +moment, or ask herself whether there was anything to warrant them. It +was reassuring to remember her father's little smile when she had +ventured to offer him her sympathy; but she could not help admitting +that there must, at least, have been some cause for the rancher's +rancor. The man, she felt, would not have displayed such vindictive +bitterness without any reason at all. She, however, decided that he had +no doubt made some imprudent bargain with her father, and was +unwarrantedly blaming the latter for the unfortunate result of it.</p> + +<p>They went on in silence, and Merril, who walked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> beside the wagon, shook +the wheel loose now and then when the horses stopped, until they reached +Forster's homestead. The rancher greeted Anthea pleasantly, but she felt +that there was a subtle change in his manner when he turned to her +father, who explained their difficulty.</p> + +<p>"The trouble is that I have rather an important appointment in Vancouver +this afternoon," said the latter.</p> + +<p>"My wife is there now with our only driving wagon, or I would offer to +take you over," said Forster. "I can, however, lend you a saddle-horse, +and Miss Merril could stay with Miss Wheelock until we see what can be +done with the wagon. If necessary, I will drive her across when my wife +comes back."</p> + +<p>Merril thanked him, and presently moved away toward the stable with the +hired man while Forster led Anthea to the house, and left her in the big +general room where, as it happened, Eleanor Wheelock sat sewing. The +green lattices outside the open windows were partly drawn to, but the +shadowy room was very hot, and the little air that entered brought the +smell of the pines with it. It was not the aromatic scent they have at +evening, but the almost overpowering smell filled with the clogging +sweetness of honey the afternoon sun calls forth from them. The ranch +was also very still, and for no evident reason Anthea felt the drowsy +quietness weigh upon her. Her companion said nothing to break it, but +sat near the window sewing quietly, and Anthea became sensible of a +faint shrinking from the girl, though she would have liked to overcome +it for reasons she was not altogether willing to confess to herself.</p> + +<p>Eleanor Wheelock's face looked almost colorless by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> contrast with her +somber dress, and there was a curious hardness in it, while Anthea, who +remembered Leeson's speech in the <i>Shasta</i>'s cabin, wondered whether she +were making the very dainty garment for herself, since it was suggestive +of wedding finery.</p> + +<p>"That should be very effective," she said at length. "You intend to wear +it?"</p> + +<p>Eleanor looked up from her sewing. "Yes," she said, "I believe I shall."</p> + +<p>Something in her voice struck Anthea as out of place in the +circumstances, for one does not sew bitterness into wedding attire, +while the suggestion of uncertainty which the speech conveyed was more +curious still. Anthea felt there must be something more than the loss of +her father to account for her companion's attitude; but that was +naturally a thing she could not mention.</p> + +<p>"I think I could venture to offer you my sympathy in what you have had +to bear," she said. "I was very distressed to see the brief account in +the newspaper."</p> + +<p>Eleanor laid down her sewing, and looked at her steadily. "Why should +you be?"</p> + +<p>It was a disconcerting question, and asked with a still more +disconcerting insistency. Anthea could not very well say that she did +not know, nor yet admit that the news had grieved her because of her +sympathy with Jimmy. Still, though she shrank from her, she desired this +girl's good-will, and she compelled herself to an effort.</p> + +<p>"In any case, I was sincerely sorry," she said. "Although I only met you +that evening on board the <i>Shasta</i>, one could say as much without +presuming.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> Besides, when we were away in the <i>Sorata</i> your brother did +a good deal to make the cruise pleasant for Nellie Austerly and me."</p> + +<p>"When he was Valentine's deck-hand?" and Eleanor looked at her with a +little sardonic smile. "You no doubt allowed him to forget it +occasionally, and Jimmy was grateful. In fact, he admitted as much to +me. He was always foolishly impressionable."</p> + +<p>Anthea felt her face grow warm, and though she was as a rule courageous, +she was glad that she sat in the shadow. In several respects her +companion's last suggestion appeared almost insufferable.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I laid myself open to this," she said. "It is seldom wise to +make advances until one is reasonably sure of one's ground, but I do not +understand why you should resent a few words spoken out of +friendliness."</p> + +<p>The little hard glint grew plainer in Eleanor's eyes. "Then I think you +should do so. There is a very convincing reason why friendliness—of any +kind—would be very unfitting between you and me—or, for that matter, +between you and Jimmy."</p> + +<p>Anthea would not ask the question that suggested itself, for it seemed +to her, as, crushing down her anger, she sat and watched her companion, +that the latter had been waiting for this opportunity. There was no +mistaking the meaning of the thrill in her voice or the spot of color in +her cheek, while the reference to Jimmy had its significance. She felt +that the girl wished to hurt her.</p> + +<p>"You admitted that you read the newspapers?" said Eleanor abruptly.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Anthea; "I think I know what you mean<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> by that. Naturally, I +cannot discuss those libels with you."</p> + +<p>"Libels!" and Eleanor laughed. "If you can believe them that, one would +almost envy your credulity. Presumably your father has never mentioned +our name to you?"</p> + +<p>Anthea was somewhat startled, for, though Merril certainly had not done +so, she remembered the momentary expression of his face when Forster had +mentioned Miss Wheelock. She also remembered Jimmy's attitude on the +evening she met him at Austerly's, and the suggestion of distance in +Forster's manner to her father. It seemed that there were others as well +as the rancher who did not believe the statements made in the paper to +be libelous.</p> + +<p>"He has not," she said very quietly. "Still, as I said, these are +subjects I cannot discuss with everybody."</p> + +<p>"And yet you were anxious to know why friendliness was out of the +question between you and me! Well, I admit that I find a certain +pleasure in telling you, and it isn't quite unnatural. You read how my +father—Jimmy's father—died, but you do not know how he came to be +living in that sordid shanty, an infirm and nerveless man. Your father +slowly ruined him, wringing his few dollars out of him one by one, by +practices no honorable man would condescend to, until there was nothing +more he could lay his grasping hands upon. When that happened my father +was broken in health and courage, and only wished to hide what he felt, +most foolishly, was shameful poverty. There wore other things—things I +cannot tell you of—but they make it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> clear that your father is directly +responsible for my father's death."</p> + +<p>She stopped abruptly and took up her sewing, but her face looked very +grim and vindictive in its dead pallor, for the spot of color had faded +now, and presently she flung the dainty fabric down again and looked +steadily at her companion. Neither of them spoke for almost a minute, +and once more Anthea felt the stillness of the ranch-house and the heavy +honey-like smell of the pines curiously oppressive. She believed in her +father, or had made up her mind to do so, which was, however, perhaps +not quite the same thing; but she could not doubt that Eleanor Wheelock +was firmly persuaded of the accuracy of the indictment that she had +made. The passionate vindictive thrill in her voice had been absolutely +genuine, and Anthea recognized that it could not have been so without +some reason. Then Eleanor spoke again.</p> + +<p>"You may wonder why I have told you this—though I am not quite sure +that you do," she said. "Well, you at least understand why I resent your +sympathy, and if I had any other purpose it may perhaps appear to you +when you think over what you have heard."</p> + +<p>Anthea rose at last, and turned toward her quietly, but with a certain +rigidity of pose which had its significance. She stood very straight and +looked at her companion with big, grave eyes.</p> + +<p>"You have, at least, said all I care to listen to," she said.</p> + +<p>"And I think sufficient," said Eleanor, with a bitter smile.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>Then, and it was a relief to Anthea, Forster came in, and dropped into a +chair.</p> + +<p>"I fancy Jake will fix that wheel; but he may be an hour yet, and it's +very hot," he said. "I don't want to break off your talk, but perhaps +you could make us some tea, Miss Wheelock. I don't feel like waiting +until supper."</p> + +<p>Eleanor went out, and Anthea found it cost her an effort to talk +tranquilly to Forster. She liked the man, but her mind was busy, and had +there been any means available she would gladly have escaped from him. +It was evident that Eleanor Wheelock believed what she had told her. The +rancher who had kept his jumper in the way was as clearly persuaded that +Merril had injured him, and it was conceivable that the newspaper-man +also believed his statements warranted. If they were right, her father +must have treated several people with considerable harshness, but she +could not bring herself to admit that—at least, just then. She +naturally did not know Eleanor Wheelock had foreseen that once her +doubts were aroused, enlightenment would presently follow. Then there +was the latter's veiled suggestion that she was attracted by Jimmy +Wheelock, and had condescended to cajole or encourage him. Had she been +alone, her cheeks would have tingled at the thought of it, for in one +respect the notion was intolerable. Still, though it cost her an effort, +she contrived to discourse with Forster, until at last the hired man +announced that the wheel was fixed, and, thanking the rancher for his +offer to accompany her, she drove on to Vancouver alone.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX<br /> +<span class="smalltext">WOOD PULP</span></h2> + + +<p>The fresh northwest breeze that crisped the Inlet swept in through the +open ports and set the cigar smoke eddying about the table, when Jimmy +sat with Jordan and another man in the <i>Shasta</i>'s little stern cabin. +Looking forward through the hooked-back door, he could see the lower +yards and serried shrouds of a big iron ship that was lying half-loaded +on the <i>Shasta</i>'s starboard side. Beyond her there rode a little +schooner with reefed mainsail and boom foresail thrashing, while the +musical clinketty-clank of her windlass betokened that she was just +going to sea. Jimmy's face grew a trifle hard as he heard it, for she +was the <i>Tyee</i>.</p> + +<p>Jordan sprawled on a settee not far away, and a burly, red-faced Briton +who commanded the iron ship sat opposite to Jimmy, cigar in hand. The +latter had the faculty some people possess of making friends, and, +though they had after all seen very little of him, the shipmaster's +manner was confidential.</p> + +<p>"If the canners who are loading me had kept their promise I'd be driving +south with the royals on her before this breeze instead of lying here," +he said. "My broker doesn't know when they mean to send the rest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> of the +cases down either, and it seems it's only now and then a mail goes up +that coast. In fact, I've almost made up my mind to run round to the +Columbia. I believe the packers would load me there."</p> + +<p>"Port charges and tugs are expensive items," said Jordan thoughtfully. +"Vancouver freights are tolerably good, and it might pay you to wait a +week or so. You see that schooner on your quarter? She's going up to the +cannery now."</p> + +<p>The skipper made a little impatient gesture. "How long's she going to be +getting there with a head-wind? Besides, all she could bring down would +be nothing to me. I wouldn't have stayed so long, only that confounded +broker told me a man called Merril was sending a steamer up."</p> + +<p>"Then, since the schooner belongs to him, I guess he has changed his +mind. How long would you wait for a steamboat load?"</p> + +<p>"A week," said the skipper—"not a day more. I believe I could fill up +on the Columbia, and, as there's not another vessel offering for the +United Kingdom here, it would please me to feel that the canners would +have to keep their salmon."</p> + +<p>Jordan flashed a warning glance at Jimmy. "Well," he said, "it seems to +me that if you will wait the week, you are going to get your freight. I +can't tell you exactly why, but I wouldn't break out my anchor for +another eight days if I were you."</p> + +<p>"I can take a hint as well as another man;" and the skipper rose. "In +the meanwhile, I'll go ashore and stir up that broker again. You'll have +a head-wind if you're going north, Mr. Wheelock. Expect you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> to come off +and feed with me when you're back again. Good luck!"</p> + +<p>Jordan went with him to the gangway, and then came back and smiled at +Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"It's just as well you made the New Cannery people a half-promise you'd +call this trip," he said. "Now I guess you've got to keep it. Things fit +in. Merril, as usual, hasn't played a straight game with those packers. +Took their transport contract, and when that headed off anybody else +from going there, he sends the <i>Tyee</i> up instead of the steamboat. +You'll be at the cannery two days ahead of her, anyway, and there's no +reason why you shouldn't get every case they have on hand."</p> + +<p>Jimmy made a sign of comprehension, and Jordan lighted another cigar +before he opened the paper he had brought with him. "Now and then the +little man gets a show, though it's usually when the big one isn't quite +awake," he said. "You sit still there, and listen to this. 'The +Provincial Legislature at length appears to recognize that its +responsibilities are not confined to fostering the progress of the bush +districts, and one contemplates with satisfaction a change in the policy +which has hitherto incurred a heavy expenditure upon roads and bridges +for the exclusive benefit of the ranchers. Now that retrenchment in this +direction appears to be contemplated, there should be money to spare for +equally desirable purposes.'"</p> + +<p>He threw down the paper. "I guess that's going to cost Merril a pile, +especially as the member for the district in which he is starting his +wood-pulp mill shows signs of going back on him. From what the boys are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> +saying, Merril has a pull on the man, but it seems his party has a +stronger one."</p> + +<p>"I don't quite understand," said Jimmy.</p> + +<p>Jordan laughed softly. "It's interesting. Shows how things are run. +Merril bought up a mortgage on a half-built wood-pulp mill which the men +who began it couldn't finish, and fixed things so that by and by it +belonged to him and two or three of his friends. Well, that mill was put +where it is because they've a head of water that will give them power +for nothing, and spruce fit for making high-grade pulp, but it's not on +the railroad and not near the coast. The question is how to get their +product out. There are big mills between them and the lake they could +put a steamer on, and they'll have to lay down a wagon-road, +underpinning a good deal of it on the mountain-side, and cutting odd +half-miles of it out. That's going to cost them more than putting up +their mill."</p> + +<p>"Then how did they expect to hold their own with the mills now running?"</p> + +<p>Jordan chuckled. "By getting the Province to make their road for them. +Merril has influential friends, and one of them who went up not long ago +discovered that there was a high-class ranching district behind the +mill; it only wanted roads to bring the settlers in."</p> + +<p>Then his face grew grave, and he sat silent a minute, or two before he +spoke again.</p> + +<p>"Jimmy," he said, with a very unusual diffidence, "there's a thing that +is worrying me. It doesn't strike me as quite fitting that Eleanor +should see so much of that blame Ontario man in Merril's office. He has +been over twice in the last fortnight to Forster's ranch."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>"Do you expect me to tell her so?"</p> + +<p>"I do not. Guess she'd make you feel mean for a month after if you did. +I want you to remember, all the time, that I'm sure of your sister—but +I don't like the man. He had to get out of Toronto—and they're talking +about him already in the saloons. Seems to me she's playing a dangerous +game in fooling him."</p> + +<p>"Fooling him?"</p> + +<p>"That's so. He put some money into Merril's business, and it's quite +likely he knows a little of his hand. Eleanor has made up her mind to +know it, too."</p> + +<p>Jimmy flushed. "The thing must be stopped."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Jordan ruefully, "that's how I feel, but the trouble is I +don't quite know how it can be done. For one thing, I'm going to run up +against that Toronto man, though I don't expect Eleanor to be nice to me +after it."</p> + +<p>"You can't think she has any liking for him?"</p> + +<p>Jordan turned on him with a snap in his eyes. "I don't. If I did, I +should not have mentioned it to you. Guess I'd stake my life any time on +Eleanor's doing the straight thing by me. It's what those—hotel +slouches will say about her I don't like to think of; and you have to +remember she'd go through fire to bring down the man who ruined your +father. In one way, that's natural—but the thing has been worrying me."</p> + +<p>Just then there was a splash of approaching oars, and Jordan rose. +"That's the mate with your papers, and I guess I'll go," he said. "Get +every case of that salmon—and remember what I've told you if you hear +of any trouble between Eleanor and me. It won't be due to jealousy, but +because I've spoiled her hand."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>He left Jimmy, who remembered what he had seen in Eleanor's face the +night she had talked to him of Merril, thoughtful when he rowed away. It +appeared very probable that she would make things distinctly unpleasant +for her suitor if he rashly ventured to interfere with any project she +might have in view. Jimmy, in fact, felt tempted to sympathize with +Jordan.</p> + +<p>In a few minutes, however, he proceeded to take the <i>Shasta</i> out, and +drove her hard all that night into a short head-sea. She had left the +comparative shelter of Vancouver Island behind, and was rolling out with +whirling propeller flung clear every now and then, head on to the big, +white-topped combers, when as he stood dripping on his bridge a schooner +running hard materialized out of the rain and spray. Jimmy pulled the +whistle lanyard, and the man behind him hauled his wheel over a spoke or +two; but the schooner came on heading almost for him, and rolling until +her mastheads swung over the froth to weather. Her mainboom was down on +her quarter, and she had only her foresail set and a little streaming +jib.</p> + +<p>She drove the latter into the back of a big gray-and-white sea as she +went by, and when she hove it high once more while the water sluiced +along her deck, Jimmy, who could look down at her from his bridge, +recognized her as a vessel that had once belonged to his father. She +drove past with a drenched object clinging desperately to her wheel, and +Jimmy smiled as she vanished into the rain again, for it seemed to him +that, as his comrade had said, fortune favored the little man now and +then. Merril had evidently sent two schooners up to the cannery, but the +<i>Tyee</i> was some sixty miles astern<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> of the <i>Shasta</i>, and it was clear +that the skipper of the other vessel could no longer thrash her to +windward in that weather. There was, he believed, a good deal of salmon +at the cannery, and all he had to do was to take the <i>Shasta</i> there.</p> + +<p>It was, however, not particularly easy. The breeze freshened steadily, +until she put her forecastle under and hove her stern out at every +plunge, while her propeller shook her in every plate as it whirred in +empty air. A man could scarcely venture forward along her brine-swept +deck, and at times when Jimmy had to cling to the bridge-rails for his +life she rolled until all her rail was in the sea. He was battered and +blinded by flying spray, and when the black night came he could not see +an arm's-length in front of him; but the telegraph still stood at +full-speed, and the <i>Shasta</i> resolutely butted the big foaming seas. At +last she ran in among the islands, where there was smoother water, and +Jimmy was rowed ashore, red-eyed, half-asleep, and aching in every limb, +when he had brought her up off a certain icy, green-stained river. As it +happened, the man in charge of the cannery on its bank was unusually +pleased to see him, though he did not say so. He gave Jimmy a cigar in +his office, and when they sat down looked at him thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"It's rather a long way up here, and it will cost you a little in coal +if you mean to make your usual trip," he said. "I don't think I made you +any definite promise."</p> + +<p>Jimmy smiled. "Still, I said I would call."</p> + +<p>"Then I wish some of the other people with whom we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> trade were as +punctilious. I suppose you expect something now you're here?"</p> + +<p>"I do," said Jimmy. "In fact, I almost fancy it's going to suit you to +fill me up."</p> + +<p>"I think I mentioned we had a standing arrangement with Mr. Merril."</p> + +<p>"You did," said Jimmy cheerfully. "He's sending you up two schooners. It +will be a week before they are here. I passed one of them yesterday +running back for shelter, and the other's—anyway—sixty miles astern of +her."</p> + +<p>"The wind may change, and they wouldn't be long getting here with sheets +slacked away."</p> + +<p>"It won't change," said Jimmy. "Look at your glass. That rise means +northerly weather."</p> + +<p>The canner appeared to consider. "Well," he said, "I gave you a few +cases once or twice, and, though we have an arrangement with Merril, I +can fill you up one hatch now at the rate you fixed."</p> + +<p>"I can't trade on those terms. The rate in question was a special cut. +We made it to get in ahead of Merril; but when the time came, you didn't +give us an opportunity for tendering for your carrying. In fact, I hear +he's getting more than I did. That, however, does not directly concern +me, and you no doubt understand your own business; but I should like to +mention that the <i>Agapomene</i>'s skipper will not wait a day longer than +next Thursday."</p> + +<p>The canner looked hard at him. "You will excuse my asking if that is a +sure thing?"</p> + +<p>"You mean am I talking quite straight?" and a suggestive dryness crept +into Jimmy's tone. "I can only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> say that the man, who did not know I was +coming here, assured me of it just before I went to sea. It would, of +course, be easy for you to wait and find out whether you could believe +me. Only the fact that you had done so would naturally place you in a +difficulty, since the <i>Agapomene</i> would have gone to sea, and there +isn't another vessel offering."</p> + +<p>"Well?" said the canner.</p> + +<p>Jimmy smiled at him. "I want two things—every case you have ready, and +a rate equal to what you're giving Merril. It is not very much, after +all. As you know, since Merril's schooners can't get here until there is +a change of wind, I could strike you for double."</p> + +<p>The canner sat silent a moment or two, and then laughed good-humoredly. +"To be quite straight, the last was what I expected. Now, I'm not the +only man in this concern, and the people who have the most say are, as +usual, in Victoria. I know why they made the deal with Merril, and +while, as you say, that does not concern you, it didn't quite please me. +Anyway, he hasn't kept his arrangement, and has put the screw on us in +several ways; so if you'll warp your boat in we'll heave the cases into +her. There's just another thing. Come back when you lighten her, and if +this run of fish lasts I'll do what I can to make it worth your while."</p> + +<p>Jimmy thanked him, and went out to bring the <i>Shasta</i> alongside the +little wharf, after which he went to sleep, though almost every other +man on board was kept busy stowing salmon-cases all that night.</p> + +<p>It happened that during the earlier hours of it several irate gentlemen +who had the control of a good deal of money sat in conclave in Merril's +house, which stood<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> just outside the city limits of Vancouver. It was a +tastefully furnished room in which they sat, and nobody could have found +fault with the wine and cigars on the table, but as it happened both +these facts irritated one of the gentlemen.</p> + +<p>"I feel tempted to talk quite straight, and I expect you'll understand +me, Merril, when I say that you don't seem to have had your usual luck +over this wood-pulp deal," he said. "In a general way, it's the other +people who take a hand in your ventures who feel the pinch when things +don't quite work out right, but in this case you have got to bear it +with the rest of us."</p> + +<p>Merril, who lay in a big lounge chair, little, portly, and immaculately +dressed, looked up at him quietly. "If it's any consolation to you, I'm +holding as much stock as the rest of you put together. The thing hits me +rather hard, but, as you say, we can only stand up under it—that is, if +the appropriation grants are thrown out by the House."</p> + +<p>"They will be," said another man. "Anyway, the road-making in which we +are interested comes under a clause that will be struck off in +Committee. It's a sure thing. I can't quite blame the Legislature, +either, after the admissions made by the district member. He has gone +back on you, Merril. You told us you were sure of him."</p> + +<p>Merril smiled curiously. "Well," he said, "it's a little difficult to be +sure of anything, and as the man will be here very shortly you can talk +to him yourself. That, however, will not straighten anything out. The +question is, what is to be done about the wagon-road?"</p> + +<p>"Build it ourselves," said another man. "It's either<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> that or let the +mill go, and, considering the money I've put in, I'm for holding on. +Still, it will practically mean doubling our capital."</p> + +<p>Merril nodded quietly, and nobody could have told that to raise the sum +required would be singularly inconvenient to him. "At least!" he said. +"You can't get it from outsiders, either. All the money in this Province +is in mines and mills; and bank interest's ruinous."</p> + +<p>"Well," said one of the others, "I guess you don't expect us to feel +obliged to you. There isn't any probability of those road-making +appropriations getting passed."</p> + +<p>"You'll know when Shafleton comes," said Merril dryly. "Somebody was to +wire him as soon as the result was known in the House. He came across +from Victoria this afternoon, and should be on his way from Westminster +now."</p> + +<p>They discussed the wagon-road, growing more and more impatient all the +time, while an hour dragged by, and then two of them rose to their feet +as a man, who appeared somewhat ill at ease, was shown in. The rest, +including Merril, sat still and looked at him. He waved one hand as +though disclaiming all responsibility and laid a telegram on the table.</p> + +<p>"That's all I can tell you, gentlemen. I'm sorry, but it can't be +helped," he said.</p> + +<p>One of them took up the message, and when he passed it to his comrades +the storm broke.</p> + +<p>"You practically asked them to vote no more money, in your last speech," +said Merril.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>"Played us for—suckers!" said another man, while a third struck the +table with his clenched fist.</p> + +<p>"Leslie's right. The straight fact is that we're fooled," he said.</p> + +<p>It was significant that nobody had asked the member of the Provincial +Legislature to sit down, and he leaned on the arm of a big lounge as +though he required support, and blinked at them.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "when I first saw you about it I was willing to do what +I could, but on going further into the thing I found it couldn't be +considered quite in line with the interests of the country."</p> + +<p>One of them laughed aloud, sardonically, and Merril's face contorted +into an unpleasant smile.</p> + +<p>"It's rather a pity you didn't make sure of that before you took what we +offered you," he said.</p> + +<p>The baited man turned to them appealingly. "You know what I promised. I +would support the bridge-building and road-making policy as long as I +considered it in line with the interests of the country."</p> + +<p>The man who had struck the table shook his fist at him. "—— the +interests of the country. You know what you meant, and you got your +price," he said.</p> + +<p>"That remark," said Merril, "is quite warranted. Mr. Shafleton made a +perfectly understood bargain—and he got his price. It is also likely +that he would never have been elected if we had not set certain +influences to work. Owing to the Government's finding a change of policy +convenient, he has not kept his bargain. The question, however, is +how——"</p> + +<p>One of the men who was standing up looked around just then.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>"I guess it might be as well to have that door shut," he said.</p> + +<p>"If you wish," said Merril. "Still, there is nobody in this part of the +house."</p> + +<p>"Well," said the other man, who crossed the room, "I fancied I heard +somebody a moment or two ago."</p> + +<p>He closed the door, and when he sat down Merril commenced again, and the +member of the Provincial Legislature had to listen to a good many things +that did not please him. The rest also spoke bitterly, in lower tones +now; but it was in one respect unfortunate they had not displayed that +caution earlier, for the man who had fancied he heard a footstep was, as +it happened, not mistaken.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX<br /> +<span class="smalltext">ANTHEA MAKES A DISCOVERY</span></h2> + + +<p>While Merril discussed the prospects of the pulp-mill with his +companions, Anthea sat by the open window of an upper room. There was an +open book on her knee, but it lay face downward, and she leaned back in +a cane chair, looking out upon the Inlet across the clustering roofs of +the city. The still water lay shining under the evening light, with a +broad smear of smoke trailing athwart it from the steamer which had just +vanished behind the dark pines that overhang The Narrows. It drifted +across the tall spars of the <i>Agapomene</i>, and through it a big passenger +boat's tier of deck-houses showed dimly white. Further up the Inlet +another dingy cloud drifted out from behind the piles of stacked lumber +about the Hastings mill, while the clatter of an Empress liner's winches +came up through the clear evening air with the tolling of locomotive +bells and the grind of freight-car wheels.</p> + +<p>All this had a certain interest as well as a significance for Anthea +Merril. In England the business man, as a rule, endeavors to leave his +commercial affairs behind him when he turns his back on the city; but it +is different in the West, where he has no privacy and his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> calling is +his life. Mills and mines, freight rates and timber rights, are seldom +debarred as topics at social functions, and Anthea had acquired a +considerable knowledge of these things, though she had not lived very +long in that city. It was, of course, also evident to her that her +father was regarded as a man of influence and one who had a share in +directing the activities of the Province, and this afforded her a +certain pleasure. Several expressions overheard and facts that had +lately been forced on her attention might, perhaps, have rudely +dissipated that satisfaction had she not resolutely endeavored to attach +a more favorable meaning to them than a good many people would have +considered justifiable. She had spent most of her life with her mother's +relatives in the East, and it was not altogether astonishing that there +was a good deal in her father's character with which she was +unacquainted. Merril had a desire to stand well with his daughter, and +he had sufficient ability to accomplish what he wished, in most cases.</p> + +<p>By and by, as she glanced at the shining Inlet, the fading smoke-trail +led Anthea's thoughts away to the man who was then doubtless standing on +the <i>Shasta</i>'s bridge, and her eyes softened curiously. She could now +admit that she knew what he felt for her, because, although he had never +told her, there had been occasions when his face had, perhaps against +his will, made it very plain. What the result of it would be, she did +not know, but she could wait, and be sure of his steadfastness, in the +meanwhile, for circumstances which were unpropitious now might change, +as, indeed, they were rather apt to do with almost disconcerting +suddenness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> in that country. Then she tried to reconstruct the interview +she had had with his sister, an occupation in which she had indulged +somewhat frequently of late, although it troubled her; and that, by a +natural transition, once more led her thoughts back to her father.</p> + +<p>It was impossible to doubt that Eleanor Wheelock believed she had +grounds for bitterness against him, and a curious something in her +brother's manner had once or twice suggested that he shared it too; but +Anthea endeavored to assure herself that they had merely adopted their +father's views without sufficient investigation. She was aware that men +who failed were frequently apt to blame somebody else for it instead of +their own supineness, while it was clear that both parties could not +always expect a bargain to be advantageous. For all that, the girl's +assertions had been startling, and once more Anthea wished that she had +not heard them. They vaguely troubled her, since she would not have her +father's probity left open to doubt.</p> + +<p>Then, rising somewhat abruptly, she flung the book aside, and went down +the wide cedar stairway to search for another that might, perhaps, hold +her attention more firmly. When she reached the foot of it she turned +into a corridor, and stopped a moment when she heard a murmur of angry +voices. She was aware that a member of the Provincial Legislature had +reached the house not long ago, and that the rest of her father's guests +had come there to discuss something with him, while as the door of the +room reserved for them had been left open a foot or so she could see +within from where she stood.</p> + +<p>The house stood high, and the sunlight still streamed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> into the room, +while there was something in the pose of the men that seized and held +her attention. She had heard nothing clearly yet, but the strung-up +attitudes and intent faces had their dramatic suggestiveness, and she +lingered. She could see her father sitting at the head of the table with +one hand closed hard on the edge of it, and a grim smile that was quite +new to her in his eyes; the member supporting himself by the big lounge +and apparently shrinking from his gaze; and one of the others leaning +forward in his seat with his fist clenched. In fact, the scene burned +itself into her memory, and she never forgot the look in her father's +face.</p> + +<p>Then the voices suddenly became intelligible, and she heard Merril say, +"It's rather a pity you didn't make sure of that before you took what we +offered you."</p> + +<p>She caught the legislator's answer, and saw the man who leaned forward +shake his fist at him, while the latter's exclamation sent a little +thrill of dismay through her.</p> + +<p>"You know what you meant, and you got your price," he said.</p> + +<p>This was sufficiently plain in connection with what had gone before it, +and she waited in tense suspense to see whether her father would +discountenance it, though she felt that he would not do so. She saw him +make a little sign of concurrence, and once more was sensible of an +enervating dismay when he flung his answer at the shrinking member of +the Legislature.</p> + +<p>"A perfectly understood bargain, and he got his price," he said. "He +would never have been elected if we had not set certain influences to +work."</p> + +<p>Then she roused herself with an effort, and, thinking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> no more of the +book she had come for, turned softly and flitted back up the stairway to +the room she had left. She made sure the door was fast, with a vague, +instinctive feeling that she must be quite alone, then sat down by the +window again, a trifle colorless in face, with both hands clenched. She +was a woman of keen intelligence, and realized that there was no room +for doubt. Her father, the man she had endeavored to look up to, had +openly condemned himself.</p> + +<p>It was perhaps strange, considering that she was his daughter, that she +had wholesome thoughts as well as mental ability, and that honesty +formed a prominent part of her morality. The fact made the blow more +cruel, for it was clear that her father and his associates had been +engaged in an infamous conspiracy. They had bought a member of the +Legislature—bribed him to betray the confidence the people had placed +in him; and though she did not know whether the bribe had been actual +money, that, as she recognized, scarcely affected the question. He had, +at least, promised to do something that was against the interests of the +country, for which, as one had declared, they cared nothing, and would +evidently have kept his promise if circumstances had not been too strong +for him. Anthea had sense enough to attach as little credence to his +assertions as the others had done.</p> + +<p>She supposed that things of the kind were sometimes done, but only by +men without morality, and it was almost intolerable to realize that her +father had been the instigator of one of them. The fact seemed to bear +out all the newspaper had charged him with, and made it more than +probable that Eleanor Wheelock's assertions,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> too, had been +well-founded. It was with a little shiver that Anthea realized that in +such a case the father of the man who loved her had in all probability +been ruined by a nefarious conspiracy. His daughter had told her plainly +that his death was the direct result of it, and if that were so, Jimmy +must hold her father accountable. The thing was becoming altogether +horrible.</p> + +<p>She did not know how long she sat there after she heard the guests take +their leave, but at last she realized that since she must meet him on +the morrow there was little to be gained by keeping out of her father's +sight that night. She was not deficient in courage, but it was with an +effort that she nerved herself to go down, knowing that she could not +meet him as though nothing unusual had come to her knowledge. He was +still sitting in the room where he had spoken with his guests, with a +litter of papers in front of him, when she went in, but on hearing the +rustle of her dress he looked up. The lamps were lighted now, and he +started slightly when he saw her face. Then he brushed aside the papers, +and sat still, looking at her with a little grim smile. Anthea felt her +heart beat, for she saw that he understood.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" he said. "Sprotson fancied he heard somebody. It was you?"</p> + +<p>Anthea nodded, standing very straight in the middle of the big room and +wondering, with a fierce desire that he should do so, whether he would +offer any explanation in which she could place a little credence. Almost +a minute passed, and the man never took his eyes off her. She longed +that he would speak, for the tension was growing unendurable.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>"You heard—something—at least?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Anthea, with a cold quietness at which she almost +wondered. "Enough, I think, to make me understand the rest."</p> + +<p>Again Merril said nothing for a while, though he still kept his keen +eyes fixed on her face, and at last it was without any sign of anger, +and in a tone of grave inquiry, he broke the silence.</p> + +<p>"Well?" he said.</p> + +<p>There was an appeal in Anthea's voice. "Can't you say anything that will +drive out what I think?" she asked. "I want to believe that I could not +have heard or understood aright."</p> + +<p>Merril raised one hand, and for a moment she could have fancied that +there was pain in his face. "I almost think you are too clever, and, +perhaps, I am too wise. By and by you would not believe me. I have known +this moment would come since I brought you to Vancouver, and—though you +may scarcely credit this—almost dreaded it. The thing has to be faced +now."</p> + +<p>This time it was Anthea who said nothing, and Merril went on again. "You +might never have had to face it had you been a pretty fool, but that +could hardly have been expected. You are my daughter. Still, +intelligence, as other people have no doubt discovered, is not always a +blessing to a woman."</p> + +<p>Again he made a little abrupt movement. "You see, I offer no palliation. +The one question is simply—do you mean to turn your back on me?"</p> + +<p>Anthea looked at him steadily. "No," she said, "I could never do that. +Still, must you continue what you are doing? Can't you give it up?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>"Sit down," said Merril quietly, and, rising, drew her a chair. "I think +we must understand each other now and altogether. To commence with, I +should have liked you to continue to think well of me, though, +considering what you are, I knew the thing was hardly likely. Now you +have made a discovery that hurts you."</p> + +<p>He stopped a moment, and though there had been a certain elusive +gentleness in his voice, the girl was sensible that she shrank from him. +He was, she realized, without compunction, and had no regret for what he +had done. Indeed, his passionless quietness conveyed the impression that +some of the usual attributes of humanity had been left out of him. A +trace of confusion or anger would have appeared more natural, and +invective would have been easier to bear than this suggestive +tranquillity.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "you asked a very natural question. What I am doing—my +view of life, in fact—displeases you. You ask, can't I give it up? I +ask why? Can you offer me any reason?"</p> + +<p>Anthea said nothing. Reasons occurred to her, but they were rather felt +than concretely formulated, and, as she realized, would suffer from +being forced into shallow and inadequate expression. She also naturally +shrank from an unsuccessful attempt to play the teacher to her father, +and had sense enough to know that trite maxims and virtuous platitudes +would have very small effect on such a man. It was, perhaps, not an +unusual feeling in one respect, for the deep optimistic faith of the +wise cannot be rashly formulated without its suffering in the process. +It is, as a rule, the people with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> shallow beliefs who have the ready +tongues, and the result of their well-meaning efforts is seldom the one +they desire. Anthea, at least, recognized her disabilities, and kept +silence. She also saw that her father understood her, for he nodded.</p> + +<p>"It is clear that you are not a fool," he said. "If you had been, the +thing would have been easier for both of us. I allowed you to be brought +up in the conventional morality, knowing that you would grow above what +was spurious in it, and cling to what you felt was real. If you felt +that, it would be sufficient for you. Still, that morality was never +mine. I had to face life as I found it, without the money that might +have made it easier to regard it virtuously, and scruples would have +insufferably handicapped me. As a matter of fact, I do not think I ever +had any. This existence is a struggle, as no doubt you have heard often +without realizing it, and it is the strong and cunning who get out of it +what is worth having. That, at least, is my point of view. It may be the +wrong one, but I am satisfied with it, and, what is more to the purpose, +quite content to leave you yours."</p> + +<p>He broke off once more, and smiled before he went on. "We have done with +that subject. I would not influence you against your belief—which is +the prettier one—if I could, and I do not think you could influence me. +In fact, one feels diffident about having said so much. Well, it is the +days to come we have to consider. I am not likely to change my code, and +you do not wish to leave me?"</p> + +<p>Again, for just a moment, the faint tenderness crept into his voice, and +the girl's nature stirred in answer.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>"No," she said, "there is nothing that could make me wish to do that."</p> + +<p>"Well," said the man, with a dry smile, "we will try to avoid offending +each other, and I should have been sorry had you gone away. In fact, it +is a relief to know that you will be with me. My affairs have not been +going well lately."</p> + +<p>This was sufficiently matter-of-fact, but in spite of the vague +shrinking from him of which she was still sensible, Anthea was touched. +She could not, however, concretely realize what she felt, and wisely +made no attempt to express it. Instead, she spoke of something else, +seizing on an immaterial point that casually occurred to her.</p> + +<p>"I fancied you were a prosperous man," she said.</p> + +<p>"So do many people," said Merril dryly. "It was by leading them to +believe it that I've done what I have done. My operations are for the +most part conducted with other people's money. Still, one has to face +reverses now and then, and when two or three of them come together the +people who support one commence to doubt their wisdom. Then they are apt +to back down and become virtuously scrupulous, while the men with a +grudge against one waken up and fancy their turn has come. In my case +there are evidently quite a few of them."</p> + +<p>He laughed softly, but in a fashion that jarred on the girl. "Still, it +is very probable that I shall keep ahead of them, after all. In any +case, I won't offend you by suggesting that the odd chance of your +having to dispense with what I have been able to offer you so far would +count for very much."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>"Thank you for that," said Anthea softly.</p> + +<p>Merril turned to the papers before him. "Well," he said, "now we +understand, and, as you see, I am busy."</p> + +<p>Anthea went out, not reassured, but more tranquil. She realized what her +duty was, and purposed to do it; but while there was still a tenderness +for the man in her, there was also something about him besides his +avowed point of view and the actions it led to, that repelled her. He +had, it seemed, an intellect that was unhampered by the usual passions +and affections of humanity.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">JIMMY GROWS RESTLESS</span></h2> + + +<p>The city was almost insufferably hot, and Jimmy, who had time on his +hands that afternoon, found it pleasant to saunter through the dim green +shadow among the Stanley pines which crowd close up to its western +boundary. They rose about him, old and great of girth, a tremendous +colonnade of towering trunks, two hundred feet above the narrow riband +of driving road which was further walled in by tall green fern. There +was drowsy silence in those dim recesses, and a solemnity which the +occasional faint hoot of a whistle or tolling of a locomotive bell did +not seem to dissipate, for the civic authorities had, up to that time, +at least, with somewhat unusual wisdom made no attempt to improve on +what nature had done for them. Here they cut a little foot-path, there a +wavy driving road, but except for that they left the Stanley Park a +beautiful strip of primeval wilderness.</p> + +<p>Jimmy had arrived in Vancouver a few hours earlier with the <i>Shasta</i> +loaded deep, but, although affairs had been going tolerably well with +the Company, this fact afforded him no very great satisfaction. He liked +the sea, and had succeeded in making firm friends of most of the +ranchers and salmon-packers whose produce he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> carried; but there was +ambition in him, and of late he had been growing vaguely restless. After +all, the command of a boat like the <i>Shasta</i>, with some two hundred and +fifty odd tons of carrying capacity, could not be expected to prove a +very lucrative occupation, and Jimmy now and then remembered regretfully +that he might have had a commission in the Navy. He had also an +incentive for desiring advancement, upon which, however, he seldom +permitted himself to dwell, since on two occasions he and Anthea Merril +had read in each other's eyes a fact that had a vital significance to +both of them. Jimmy scarcely dared remember it, but he felt that the +girl would listen when he thought it fit to speak.</p> + +<p>That, however, was in the meanwhile out of the question. He must by some +means first make his mark, and, as happens not infrequently in similar +circumstances to other men, he did not know how it was to be done. One +thing, at least, was clear: he could not expect to advance himself very +much by commanding the <i>Shasta</i>. There was also, in any case, Merril's +opposition to count on, while the bitterness Eleanor had endued him with +against the man she held responsible for the death of his father had its +effect, and it was in an unusually somber mood that Jimmy strolled +through the shadow of the pines that hot afternoon.</p> + +<p>By and by he heard a soft thud of hoofs, and, looking up, felt the blood +creep into his face. He recognized the costly team that swung out of the +shadow, and the girl in the white dress who held the reins in the +vehicle behind them. He also recognized the lady beside her, for her +husband was an Englishman who held high office<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> under the Crown in +Victoria. The fact that she was sitting by Anthea Merril's side +suggested how far circumstances held the latter apart from the +<i>Shasta</i>'s skipper. Silver-mounted harness and splendid horses had the +same effect, and, since these things also reminded him of something +else, Jimmy unfortunately lost his head. A sudden vindictive anger came +upon him as he remembered that the money that provided them and stood as +a barrier between him and the girl had been wrung from struggling men, +and that some of it at least was the result of his father's ruin.</p> + +<p>It was, of course, not reasonable to blame Anthea for this, but Jimmy +was scarcely in a mood just then to make any very nice distinction, and, +straightening himself a trifle, he stood still a moment looking at the +girl. He saw the little friendly smile fade out of her face and a look +of perplexity take its place, and then, while his heart thumped +furiously, he turned and stepped aside into a little trail that led into +the shadow of the bush. In another moment the team swept past, and he +was left uncomfortably conscious that he had made a fool of himself. The +feeling, while far from pleasant, is no doubt wholesome, which is +fortunate, since there are probably very few men who are not now and +then sensible of it.</p> + +<p>It was half an hour later when Anthea came up with him again. The road +was narrow and crossed a little bridge near where he was standing. As it +happened, another lady was then driving a pair of ponies over it. Anthea +pulled up her team close behind Jimmy, and when the impatient horses +moved and drew the vehicle partly across the road, he turned and seized +the head of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> the nearest. He did not know much about horses, but he +contrived to back the team sufficiently to leave a passage, and was +unpleasantly sensible that Anthea was watching him with a little smile. +It brought a tinge of darker color to her face, and hurt him +considerably more than if she had shown resentment of his previous +attitude by any suggestion of distance. There is, after all, a certain +vague consolation in feeling that one is able to offend a person whose +good-will is valuable. Anthea perhaps realized this, for when the other +team had gone by she made a sign to him. Jimmy, who felt far from +comfortable, approached the vehicle, and the girl looked down at him, +with the twinkle still in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Thank you! That is permissible?" she said.</p> + +<p>Jimmy flushed again. "In any case, I'm not sure it's exactly what I +deserve."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Anthea reflectively, "I really was wondering whether you +saw us a little while ago."</p> + +<p>"I did," said Jimmy, meeting her inquiring gaze. "Still, perhaps there +were excuses for me."</p> + +<p>There was a scarcely perceptible change in Anthea's expression, but +Jimmy noticed it, though he did not know that she was thinking of what +his sister had told her. Next moment she smiled at him again.</p> + +<p>"I scarcely think it would be worth while to make them," she said.</p> + +<p>Then she shook the reins, and left him standing in the road. When they +were out of earshot her companion turned to her.</p> + +<p>"Who is that young man?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"Captain Wheelock of the <i>Shasta</i>."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>"Ah!" said the other; "I remember hearing about him. The man who took +off the schooner's skipper? But what did he mean by saying that there +were excuses for his not seeing you?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said Anthea, who contrived to smile, though she was +rather more thoughtful than usual. "I don't mind admitting that the +question has a certain interest. Still, one cannot always demand an +explanation."</p> + +<p>Her companion flashed a keen glance at her. "Well," she said, "I almost +fancy it would have been a sufficient one if you had heard it. In fact, +I think I should like that man. After all, honesty is a quality that +wears well. But what is a man of his description doing in that very +little and somewhat dirty <i>Shasta</i>? I made somebody point her out to me +one day in Victoria."</p> + +<p>"I don't know," said Anthea; "that is, I know why he went on board her +in the first case, but not why he seems content to stay there +altogether. Still, it naturally isn't a matter of any particular +consequence."</p> + +<p>Then they spoke of other things, while Jimmy, who suddenly remembered +that he was standing vacantly in the road, turned toward the city, +wondering as Anthea had done why he had remained so long the <i>Shasta</i>'s +skipper. Now that the trade Jordan and his associates had inaugurated +had been well established in spite of Merril's opposition, he felt that +they had no longer any particular need of him.</p> + +<p>The city was unusually hot when he reached it, but he fancied that alone +did not account for the crowded state of the saloons he passed. It also +seemed to him that the groups of men who stood here and there on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> +sidewalks talking animatedly must have found some unusually interesting +topic; but he had his own affairs to think of, and, as they appeared +sufficient for him just then, he walked on quietly until he reached +Jordan's office. It was not elaborately furnished. In fact, there was +very little in it besides a table, a safe, a chair or two, and an +American stump-puller standing against one wall. Jordan sat reading a +newspaper, with a cigar, which had gone out, in his hand, but he looked +up and threw the paper on the table when Jimmy came in.</p> + +<p>"Read that. They've struck it rich at last," he said. "Guess there are +men who have believed in that gold ever since we bought Alaska from the +Russians. Ran across one of them, 'most eight years ago, Commercial +Company man, and he told me it was a sure thing there was gold up the +Yukon. Odd prospectors had struck a pocket here and there, but though +they brought a few ounces out, nobody seemed inclined to take up the +thing. Practically every white man in that country was connected with +the Indian trade in furs, and I'm not sure they were anxious to see an +army of diggers marching in. Anyway, the few men who believed in the +gold couldn't put up the money to prove their confidence warranted. Now, +as you see, they've found it, and before long the whole Slope will be +humming from Wrangel to Lower California."</p> + +<p>Jimmy read a column of the paper with almost breathless interest, as +many another man had done that day in every seaboard city and lonely +wooden settlement to which the news had spread. Then he looked at +Jordan.</p> + +<p>"The thing appears almost incredible," he said.</p> + +<p>"It isn't," said his companion. "I know what the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> Alaska Commercial +old-timer told me quite a while ago. It's going leagues ahead of +Caribou. They'll be going up in their thousands in a month or two. Now, +you sit still a minute, and listen to me. This is a thing I believe in, +and I'll tell you what I know."</p> + +<p>He spoke for ten minutes with dark eyes snapping, and Jimmy's blood +tingled as he listened. Jordan's faith, the all-daring optimism of the +Pacific Slope of which many men have died in the wilderness, was +infectious, and something in Jimmy's nature responded. He had fought +with bitter gales and frothing seas, and it seemed to him that the +struggle with ice and frost, rock and snow, could not be harder. He was +also, though he had not quite realized it until that moment, one of +those who are born to play their part in the forefront of the battle +between man and nature—and nature is not beneficent, but very grim and +terrible until she is subdued, as everybody who has seen that strife +knows.</p> + +<p>Then Jimmy stood up and slowly straightened himself, with a quiet smile.</p> + +<p>"You'll have to get a new skipper for the <i>Shasta</i>—I'm going north," he +said.</p> + +<p>Jordan gazed at him a moment in amazement, and then laughed in a fashion +which suggested that comprehension had dawned on him.</p> + +<p>"Sit down again," he said. "I begin to understand how it is with you. +Still, you can't afford to do the thing you want to. It quite often +happens that way."</p> + +<p>"I fancy that what I can't afford is to remain on board the <i>Shasta</i>," +said Jimmy dryly.</p> + +<p>"Sit down," said Jordan; "we'll talk out this thing. Now, why do you +want to go up there?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>Jimmy did as he was bidden, though there was a significant gleam in his +eyes. "Well," he said, "perhaps it's your due that I should tell you. +For one thing, because I feel that I must. I'm not sure you'll +understand me, but I feel it's what I was made for. There are +half-frozen swamps to be crossed, leagues of forest, cañons, melting +snow to be floundered through. That kind of thing gets hold of some of +us. I feel I have to go. Secondly, there seems to be gold up there. I +want the money."</p> + +<p>Jordan noisily thrust back his chair, and then took up a pen and, +apparently without recognizing what he was doing, snapped it across.</p> + +<p>"Stop right there! I can't stand too much—and there's Eleanor," he +said, and broke into a harsh laugh as he glanced down at the pen. "In +one way, it's significant that I've broken the—thing."</p> + +<p>He said nothing for the next moment or two, and appeared to be putting a +restraint upon himself, but there was longing in his voice when he went +on again. "Lord! I guess it's in us. When we'd only the wagons and axes +we worried right across the continent. There was always something that +drew us to the place we didn't know. The harder the way was the more the +longing grew. I was up in the Selkirks on the gold-trail once, and I'm +never going to work something that life left behind right out of me."</p> + +<p>"Come!" said Jimmy simply.</p> + +<p>The veins rose swollen on Jordan's forehead, but he struck the table +with a clenched fist and gazed at his comrade with hot anger in his +eyes.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>"Will you stop, you—fool?" he said. "Don't you know how I want to go? +Stop, or I'll throw you out right now!"</p> + +<p>He sat still, looking at Jimmy for perhaps half a minute, and each was +conscious of the same longing in his heart and the same tingling of his +blood, for that is a country where men still feel the lust of the +primeval conflict and the allurements of the wilderness. Then Jordan +appeared to recover himself.</p> + +<p>"I guess we'll be ashamed of this afterwards, but I have got to talk," +he said. "Anyway, we can't all get right in with the axe and shovel. My +work's here, and I've just sense enough to stay with it. Besides, it's a +sure thing that everybody who goes north won't rake out money. Now, you +want the snow and the cañons? You can't have them; but I'll give you +drift-ice, blinding fog, reefs and breaking surf instead. You want +money? Well, we'll try to meet your views on that point, and by and by +we'll double what you're getting."</p> + +<p>Jimmy gazed at him in evident bewilderment, and his comrade waved his +hand.</p> + +<p>"You're going to take the first of the crowd to St. Michael's in the +<i>Shasta</i>, and the man who can run a 250-ton boat there and back again +will have all the excitement he has any use for. Half the reefs aren't +charted, the tides run any way, and when the gale drops, the fog shuts +down thicker than a blanket. You can't pound a rock-drill or swing the +shovel, but you can hold a steamer's wheel. Get hold of that, and try to +understand it. It's the whole point of the thing."</p> + +<p>He stopped a moment as if for breath, and then went<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> on again, hurling +out his words incisively while his eyes snapped.</p> + +<p>"It's St. Michaels now, but by and by they'll find a way in from the +Pan-handle or over British soil. The C.P.R. will put big boats on, and +they'll run everything that will float up from 'Frisco and Portland; but +we'll be in first and take hold with the <i>Shasta</i>. The men you're going +to carry would go in a canoe. She has built up the coast trade enough to +make it easy for us to raise the money to buy another boat—I'm hanging +right on to that trade too—and I know of a handy steamer. I'll get an +option on her now. She'll be worth considerably more in a week or two. +You stand by the <i>Shasta</i> Company, and do your part in the rush that's +coming in the way you know, and you'll rake in more money than you ever +would mining. We'll put a thousand-ton boat on before long if you play +our hand well. I want your answer right off: are you hanging on to us?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Jimmy quietly. "After all, your point of view is no doubt +the right one. If the boat were only fifty tons I'd start as soon as she +was ready."</p> + +<p>Jordan rose and grabbed his hat before he flung a letter across the +table. "Then I'm going for old Leeson now. Hustle, and wire those people +that we want an option on that steamboat firm until to-morrow."</p> + +<p>He strode out of the office, and when Jimmy reached the street a minute +later he saw him running hard in the direction of Leeson's house.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">ASHORE</span></h2> + + +<p>It was summer in the north, and now that the bitter wind which had blown +thick rain before it had dropped, the clammy fog shut the <i>Shasta</i> in +like a wall. She crept through it with engines pounding steadily, +swinging to the slow heave of the swell, while Jimmy stood, chilled to +the backbone, on his bridge, as he had done for most of the last +forty-eight hours. A chart in a glass case was clamped to the rail in +front of him, and Lindstrom, the mate, stooped over it with the moisture +trickling from his oilskins.</p> + +<p>"This thing is not much good," he said. "The stream moves a different +way with the change of wind. Also there is discrepancy in the depth of +water."</p> + +<p>"There is. If I knew how much to mark off for leeway in that last breeze +I'd feel a good deal easier," said Jimmy, who turned to fling a +disgusted glance at the chart, upon which little arrows, that indicated +the general drifts of the currents, had apparently been scattered +promiscuously. Then he raised his voice. "Forward there! See you have a +good arming on your lead, and stand by to let go when I take the way off +her!"</p> + +<p>He pressed down his telegraph and a curious silence<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> followed the clang +of the gong when the engines stopped. The <i>Shasta</i> lurched on more +slowly into the fog, and when Jimmy swung up his hand a man on the +half-seen forecastle loosed the deep-sea lead, while another, perched in +the mainmast shrouds, stood intent with a coil of slack line in his +hand. There was a splash, the line ran out, and when a sing-song cry +came up Jimmy made a little impatient gesture as he turned to the chart.</p> + +<p>"A fathom less than we ought to have," he said, and raised his voice. +"What bottom have you got?"</p> + +<p>A couple of men were busy hauling in the ponderous lead, and one of them +who lifted it turned to the bridge. "Mud, sir," he said. "Soft at that."</p> + +<p>Jimmy looked at Lindstrom. "That, at least, is what this thing says. I +suppose one ought to bring her up, and wait for a sight, but we can't +stay here a week on the odd chance of a blink of clear weather. Anyway, +there's plenty water under us, and we'll try the lead again presently."</p> + +<p>The mate made a sign of concurrence as Jimmy pressed down his telegraph. +"I was at Kenai four year ago. For two weeks we see nothing. How we get +there I cannot tell you, but I think it is by good fortune. Also the +skipper come there often for the Commercial Company. You do a thing +several times, then you shut your eye, and perhaps you do it again."</p> + +<p>He went down the ladder, and Jimmy was left alone except for the silent, +shapeless figure in trickling oilskins at the steering wheel. How he had +groped his way to St. Michael's near the tremendous desolation of willow +swamps about the Yukon mouth he did not exactly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> know, but he had +accomplished it in spite of screaming gale and blinding fog, and the +treasure-seekers he had taken up had duly presented him with a written +testimonial, which was all they had to give. A few days of clear weather +had permitted him to steam across to one of the Commercial Company's +factories, but since he left it he had held southward at a venture +through thick rain and fog without a single glimpse of any celestial +body. That would not have mattered so much had the sea been still as a +lake is, for then he could have steered by dead reckoning; but that sea +is swept by currents which run for the most part in guessed-at and +variable directions, and it was impossible to calculate how far they +might have deflected his course for him. In fact, for all he knew, they +might have deflected it several times and set it right again. He had +cable enough to anchor, but, as he had said, he could not stay there for +a week or two on the odd chance of getting an hour's clear weather.</p> + +<p>So, since the chart suggested that he was clear of the shore, he went on +leisurely, leaning on his bridge-rails chilled in every limb, with the +damp trickling off him, while the <i>Shasta</i> bored her way through the +woolly vapor, until a little while after the lead had given him a +reassuring depth of water she stopped suddenly. Jimmy was flung against +the wheel with a violence that drove all the breath out of him, but the +next moment he had jumped for his telegraph while everything in the +vessel banged and rattled, and the gong clanged out his orders, "Stop +her!" and "Hard astern!"</p> + +<p>Then while the smooth swell lapped level with one depressed rail the +<i>Shasta</i> shook in every plate, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> men who came scrambling to her +slanted deck looked at him anxiously. There was, however, no clamor or +any sign of undue consternation. The men had almost expected this, and +the energy, which for want of direction now and then in such cases leads +to purposeless and unreasoning scurry, had been washed out of them. +Jimmy leaned quietly on the rails, and nodded in answer to their +glances.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, "we're hard on. If the propeller won't shake her loose +in the next ten minutes, we'll see about laying out an anchor. Mr. +Lindstrom, will you clear the two boats ready, and ask Fleming if +there's any more water in his bilges?"</p> + +<p>It was twenty minutes before the pounding engines stopped, but the +<i>Shasta</i> had not moved an inch astern. The lower side of her lifted as +the long gray swell lapped gurgling to her rail, and then came down +again; but that was all. In the meanwhile the hand-lead armed with +tallow had shown the bottom to be soft, and Fleming quietly reported +that there was no sign of any water coming in. Then Jimmy turned to +Lindstrom, who once more had climbed to the bridge.</p> + +<p>"If this fog lifts and the breeze gets up as usual, she'll certainly +break up," he said. "If it doesn't, I don't think there's any reason why +we shouldn't heave her off. We'll try it first with the coal in. It's a +long way to Wellington, and I don't want to dump a ton if I can help +it."</p> + +<p>The big Scandinavian went down the ladder, and by and by half the men on +board the <i>Shasta</i> were engaged under his direction in lashing a +platform of hatch-planks between the two boats that lay beneath the +fore<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>castle. The long heave drove them banging against the <i>Shasta</i>'s +side, and jerked the planks loose as they strove to lash them fast; but +at last they accomplished it, and, while the dimness that stands for the +Northern summer night crept into the fog, the men on the forecastle head +lowered the anchor down. It was of the old, stocked pattern, and though +the <i>Shasta</i> was not a large vessel, they found it and the cable which +came down after it sufficiently difficult to handle upon a slippery +platform that heaved and slanted under them. Still, the thing was done +because it was necessary; and with oars splashing clumsily, because +there was little space for the men who pulled them, they paddled off +into the fog.</p> + +<p>When they came back the cable was unshackled and the end of it led in +through the mooring half-moon on the vessel's stern, and there then +remained the second anchor to lay out. The cable of this one was +unshackled too, but wire-rope purchases were rigged to the end of it +from the after winch, and by the time all was ready it was six o'clock +in the morning. The men were worn out, and Jimmy's eyes were heavy with +want of sleep, but nobody made any demur about facing the further work +before him. They knew what would happen if the fog lifted and the breeze +that rolled it back should find the <i>Shasta</i> there.</p> + +<p>Jimmy pressed down the telegraph on his bridge. Winch and windlass +groaned and rattled, the wire-rope screamed, and the clanking cable +tightened suddenly. Then the thudding propeller shook the ship until she +quivered like a thing in pain each time the smooth swell lifted one side +of her. Steam drifted about her, wire and cable were drawn rigid, but +she would not budge an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> inch in spite of them, and Jimmy's face was a +trifle grim when he flung up his hand. The thud of the propeller +slackened, and there was a silence that was almost oppressive when winch +and windlass stopped. The gurgle of the gray swell about the steamer's +plates and the drip of moisture from the slanted shrouds emphasized it. +Then Jimmy signed to one of the men.</p> + +<p>"Send Mr. Fleming here," he said.</p> + +<p>The man disappeared, and the engineer looked grave when he climbed to +the bridge.</p> + +<p>"You'll be wanting to dump my coal now?" he asked. "How are you going to +take her home without it?"</p> + +<p>"There is a good deal of heavy timber right down the West Coast," said +Jimmy dryly. "There are also quite a few inlets into which one could +take a steamer."</p> + +<p>"You can't feed a boiler furnace with four-foot-diameter pines."</p> + +<p>"They can be sawn and split. Besides, there are probably smaller ones +among those four-foot pines. They don't grow that size in a year or +two."</p> + +<p>The engineer made a last protest. "I'm aware that it won't be much use, +but it's my duty to point out the difficulties. You can't saw those +trees without a big cross-cut, and I'm not sure what my boiler tubes +will do under a stream of resinous flame."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Jimmy thoughtfully, "I think I could make some kind of +cross-cut out of a thin plate if I were an engineer. In fact, I'd make +two, and keep a man filing up one of them while I used the other. Then +I'd pump my feed-water rather higher than usual about those tubes."</p> + +<p>"You can't pump water round the back-end," said the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> engineer. "You're +going to see that resin flame make a hole in the back plate of the +combustion chamber."</p> + +<p>He stopped, and smiled when Jimmy looked at him. "Well, now that I've +told you, I'll start every man to dumping the coal over."</p> + +<p>Worn out as they were, the men worked feverishly until noon. Some panted +at the ash-hoist, some standing on slippery iron ladders passed the +heavy baskets from one to another, and the rest toiled amidst the +stifling dust that streamed from the bunkers. Those who could see it +were sincerely glad that the fog still hung about them—clammy, +impenetrable, and apparently as solid as a wall.</p> + +<p>Then it commenced to stir a little and slide past the vessel in filmy +wisps, and it seemed to Jimmy that the smooth gray swell which lapped +about her was getting steeper. Once or twice, indeed, it overlapped her +depressed rail, and poured on board in a long green cascade. He knew +that meant the breeze had already awakened somewhere not far away, and +that when the sea that it was stirring up came down on them it would not +take it very long to knock the bottom out of the <i>Shasta</i>. So did the +men, and they toiled the harder, until when the bunkers were almost +empty Jimmy once more stopped them.</p> + +<p>"Stand by winch and windlass. We have to heave her off inside the next +hour," he said. "Tell Mr. Fleming to shake her with the propeller, and +give you all the steam he can."</p> + +<p>The engines pounded, the sea boiled white beneath the <i>Shasta</i>'s stern, +and wire and studded cable screamed and groaned above the clamor of the +winch and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> thudding of the screw. For thirty long minutes, during +which the uproar ceased for a moment or two once or twice, the <i>Shasta</i> +did not move at all, and Jimmy felt his heart thump under the tension, +while a cold breeze whipped his face. Then he thrust down his telegraph, +and his voice reached the men on the forecastle harshly when the engines +stopped.</p> + +<p>"You have to do it now, or tear the windlass out. I'll give you all the +steam," he said.</p> + +<p>The men understood why haste was necessary. The fog no longer slid past +them but whirled by in ragged streaks, and the wind that drove it came +up out of the wastes of the Pacific. Already the long swell was flecked +with little frothing ridges, and there was no need to tell any of those +who glanced at it anxiously that it would break across the stranded +vessel in an hour or two. Some of them stood by clanking windlass and +banging winch, while the rest swabbed the creaking wire with grease and +rubbed engine tallow on guide and block where it would ease the strain. +For five minutes they worked in silence, and then a shout went up as the +winch-drum that had spun beneath the wire took hold and reeled off a +foot or two of it. The <i>Shasta</i> swung herself upright as a big gray +heave capped with livid white rolled in, and a curious quiver ran +through her before she came down on one side again. The roar of the jet +of steam that rushed aloft from beside her funnel grew almost deafening, +but Jimmy's voice broke faintly through the din.</p> + +<p>"Lindstrom," he said, "tell Mr. Fleming he can turn the steam he daren't +bottle down on to his engines."</p> + +<p>Then a sonorous pounding, and the thud of the screw<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> joined in; and by +the time the jet of steam had died away, the <i>Shasta</i> was quivering all +through, while her masts stood upright and did not slant back again. Her +windlass was also slowly gathering the clanking cable in, until at last +it rattled furiously as she leaped astern. Then a hoarse shout of +exultation went up, and Jimmy drew in a deep breath of relief as he +strode across his bridge.</p> + +<p>"Heave right up to your kedge and break it out," he said. "Then we'll +let her swing, and get the stream anchor when she rides to it ahead."</p> + +<p>It meant an hour's brutal labor overhauling hard wire tackles and +leading forward ponderous chain, but they undertook it light-heartedly, +with bleeding hands and broken nails, while the <i>Shasta</i> heaved and +rolled viciously under them. Then, when they broke out the stream anchor +under her bows, Jimmy sighed from sheer satisfaction as he pressed down +his telegraph to "Half-speed ahead."</p> + +<p>"We wouldn't have done it in another hour, Lindstrom," he said. "We'll +drive her west a while to make sure of things before we put her on her +course again; and in the meanwhile you'll keep the hand-lead going."</p> + +<p>It gave them steadily deepening water, until the sea piled up and the +<i>Shasta</i> rolled her rail under, so that the man strapped outside the +bridge could do no more than guess at the soundings; and Jimmy told him +to come in. Then he turned to Lindstrom.</p> + +<p>"I'll have to let up now," he said; "I can't keep my eyes open."</p> + +<p>He lowered himself down the ladder circumspectly, and found it somewhat +difficult to reach the room be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>neath the bridge; but five minutes after +he got there he was sleeping heavily.</p> + +<p>They made some four knots in each of the next thirty hours, with the +gale on their starboard bow. When at last it broke, Jimmy, who got an +observation, headed the <i>Shasta</i> southeastward, and a day or two later +ran her in behind an island. Then two boats pulled ashore across a +sluice of tide, and came back some hours later when it had slackened a +little, loaded rather deeper than was safe with sawn-up pines. Fleming +also brought two very rude saws with him, and invited Jimmy's attention +to one of them.</p> + +<p>"Saws," he said, "are in a general way made of steel, and you can't +expect too much from soft plate-iron. The boys did well; there's not a +man among the crowd of them can get his back straight. You'd understand +the reason if you had tried to cut down big trees with an instrument +that has an edge like a nutmeg-grater."</p> + +<p>Jimmy smiled, for he considered it very likely. "Well," he said, "what +are you going to do to make them serviceable?"</p> + +<p>"Sit up all night re-gulletting them with a file. I want four loads of +billets before we start again; but we'll take another axe ashore in the +morning."</p> + +<p>They went off early, when the tide was slack, taking an extra axe along, +while it was noon when they came back, with one man who had badly cut +his leg lying upon the billets. Fleming, however, insisted on his four +loads, and it was evening when he brought the last two off. The men were +almost too wearied to pull across the tide, and only the handles +attached to them sug<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>gested that the two worn strips of iron they passed +up had been meant for saws.</p> + +<p>"That," said Fleming, who held one up before Jimmy, "says a good deal +for the boys; but if I drove them the same way any longer there would be +a mutiny."</p> + +<p>Jimmy laughed, and told him to raise steam enough to take the <i>Shasta</i> +to sea. She made six knots most of that night; and two days later the +men went ashore again. Fleming, at least, never forgot the rest of that +trip down the wild West Coast. He mixed his resinous billets with +saturated coal-dust and broken hemlock bark, but in spite of it he +stopped the <i>Shasta</i> every now and then when his boilers gave him water +instead of steam.</p> + +<p>Still, she crept on south, and at last all of them were sincerely glad +when the pithead gear of the Dunsmore mines rose up against the forests +of Vancouver Island over the starboard hand. An hour or two later +Fleming stood blackened all over amidst a gritty cloud while the coal +that was to free him from his cares clattered into the <i>Shasta</i>'s +bunkers, and Jimmy sat in the room beneath her bridge with one of the +coaling clerks writing out a telegram.</p> + +<p>"I'll get it sent off for you right away," said the coaling man. "Guess +it will be a big relief to somebody. It seems they've 'most given you up +in Vancouver."</p> + +<p>Jimmy laughed. "Well," he said, "we have brought her here. Still, I +think there were times when my engineer felt that the contract was +almost too big for him."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">ANTHEA GROWS ANXIOUS</span></h2> + + +<p>The afternoon was hot, but Jordan failed to notice it as he swung along, +as fast as he could go without actually running, down a street in +Vancouver. He walked in the glaring sunlight, because there was more +room there, as everybody else was glad to seek the shadow cast across +one sidewalk by the tall stores and offices, and he appeared unconscious +of the remarks flung after him by the irate driver of an express wagon +which had almost run over him. Jordan was one of the men who are always +desperately busy, but there were reasons why his activity was a little +more evident than usual just then. His associates had contrived to raise +sufficient money to purchase a boat to take up the <i>Shasta</i>'s usual +trip, but the finances of the Company were in a somewhat straitened +condition as the result of it, and he was beset with a good many other +difficulties of the kind the struggling man has to grapple with.</p> + +<p>For all that, he stopped abruptly when he saw Forster's driving-wagon, a +light four-wheeled vehicle, standing outside a big dry-goods store. He +was aware that Mrs. Forster seldom went to Vancouver without taking +Eleanor with her, which appeared sufficient<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> reason for believing that +the girl was then inside the store. If anything further were needed to +indicate the probability of this, there was a well-favored and very +smartly-dressed man standing beside the wagon, and Jordan's face grew +suddenly hard as he looked at him. As it happened, the man glanced in +his direction just then, and Jordan found it difficult to keep a due +restraint upon himself when he saw the sardonic twinkle in his eyes. It +was more expressive than a good many words would have been.</p> + +<p>Jordan had for some time desired an interview with him, but, +warm-blooded and somewhat primitive in his notions upon certain points +as he was, he had sense enough to realize that he was not likely to gain +anything by an altercation in a busy street, which would certainly not +advance him in Eleanor's favor. Besides this, it was probable that +somebody would interfere if he found it necessary to resort to physical +force. Jordan, who was by no means perfect in character, had, like a +good many other men brought up as he had been in the forests of the +Pacific Slope, no great aversion to resorting to the latter when he +considered that the occasion warranted it.</p> + +<p>Still, he held himself in hand, and strode into the store where, as it +happened, he came upon Mrs. Forster. There was a faint smile in her eyes +when she turned to him, for she was a lady of considerable discernment; +but she held out her hand graciously. She liked the impulsive man.</p> + +<p>"It is some time since we have seen anything of you," she said.</p> + +<p>"That," said Jordan, "is just what I was thinking,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> though it's quite +likely there are people who wouldn't let it grieve them. In fact, I was +wondering whether you would mind if I asked myself over to supper with +your husband this evening?"</p> + +<p>Mrs. Forster laughed.</p> + +<p>"I really don't think it would trouble me very much, and I have no doubt +that Forster would enjoy a talk with you," she said. "I wonder whether +you know that Mr. Carnforth is coming?"</p> + +<p>"I do;" and Jordan looked at her steadily with a trace of concern in his +manner. "In fact, that was one of my reasons for asking you."</p> + +<p>The lady shook her head. "So I supposed," she said. "Still, while +everybody is expected to know his own business best, I'm not sure you're +wise. You see, I really don't think Eleanor is very much denser than I +am, though you can tell her you have my invitation to supper."</p> + +<p>Jordan, who expressed his thanks, strode across the store and came upon +Eleanor standing by a counter with several small parcels before her. She +turned at his approach, and he found it difficult to believe that his +appearance afforded her any great pleasure. While he gathered up the +parcels, she made him a little imperious gesture, and they moved away +toward a quieter part of the big store. Then she turned to him again.</p> + +<p>"Charley," she said sharply, "what are you doing here?"</p> + +<p>"I saw Forster's wagon outside, and that reminded me that it was at +least a week since I had seen you."</p> + +<p>Eleanor smiled somewhat curiously, for it was, of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> course, clear to her +that he could not have seen the wagon without seeing Carnforth too.</p> + +<p>"And?" she said.</p> + +<p>"I'm coming over to supper with Forster. You don't look by any means as +pleased as one would think you ought to be."</p> + +<p>The girl appeared disconcerted. "I should sooner you didn't come +to-night."</p> + +<p>"Of course!" said Jordan. "I can quite believe it."</p> + +<p>A tinge of color crept into Eleanor's face, and there was now nothing +that suggested a smile in the sparkle in her eyes. "Pshaw!" she said. +"Charley, don't be a fool!"</p> + +<p>"I'm not," said Jordan slowly. "That is, I don't think I am, in the way +you mean. In fact, though it shouldn't be necessary, I want to say right +now that I have every confidence in you."</p> + +<p>"Thanks! There are various ways of showing it. You haven't chosen one +that appeals to me."</p> + +<p>Jordan flung out one hand. "After all, I'm human—and I don't like that +man."</p> + +<p>"You are. Now and then you are also a little crude, which is probably +what you mean. Still, that's not the question. I think I mentioned that +I should sooner you didn't come to supper this evening."</p> + +<p>The gleam in her pale-blue eyes grew plainer, and it said a good deal +for Jordan's courage that he persisted, since most of Eleanor's +acquaintances had discovered that it was not wise to thwart her when she +looked as she did then.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I can't allow that to influence me, especially as Mrs. +Forster expects me."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>"Very well!" and Eleanor's tone was dry. "You may carry those parcels to +the wagon."</p> + +<p>Jordan did so, and felt his blood tingle when Carnforth favored him with +a glance of unconcerned inquiry. There was a suggestive complacency in +his faint smile that was, in the circumstances, intensely provocative, +but Jordan contrived to restrain himself. Then Mrs. Forster and Eleanor +came out, and the latter took the parcels from him.</p> + +<p>"Four of them?" she said. "You haven't dropped any?"</p> + +<p>Jordan did not think he had, and the girl pressed one or two of the +parcels between her fingers. "Then I wonder where the muslin is?"</p> + +<p>"I guess they can tell me in the store," said Jordan.</p> + +<p>He swung around, and in a moment or two was back at the counter. The +clerk there, however, had to refer to one of her companions, and, as the +latter was busy, Jordan had to wait a minute or two.</p> + +<p>"I wrapped up the muslin with the trimming," she said at last. "Miss +Wheelock had four parcels, and I saw you take up all of them."</p> + +<p>Jordan turned away with an unpleasant thought in his mind, and was out +of the store in a moment. There was, however, no wagon in the street, +and after running down most of it he stopped with a harsh laugh. +Forster's team was a fast one, and Jordan realized that it was very +unlikely that he could overtake it, especially when Eleanor, who usually +drove, did not wish him to. After all, her quickness and resolution in +one way appealed to him, and he remembered that he had promised to dine +with Austerly that evening. Still, he went back<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> to his business feeling +a trifle sore, and one or two of the men who called on him noticed that +his temper was considerably shorter than usual.</p> + +<p>He had, in fact, not altogether recovered his customary good-humor when +he sat on the veranda of Austerly's house some hours later. The meal +which Austerly insisted on calling dinner, though he had found it +impossible to get anybody to prepare it later than seven o'clock in the +evening, was over, and the rest of the few guests were scattered about +the garden. Valentine, who had arrived in the <i>Sorata</i> a day or two +earlier, sat at the foot of the short veranda stairway close by the +lounge chair where Nellie Austerly lay looking unusually fragile, but +listening to the bronzed man with a quiet smile. Austerly leaned on the +balustrade, and Anthea sat not far from Jordan. She was, as it happened, +looking out through a gap in the firs which afforded her a glimpse of +the shining Inlet. A schooner crept slowly across the strip of water, on +her way to the frozen north with treasure-seekers.</p> + +<p>"She seems very little," said Anthea. "One wonders whether she will get +there, and whether the men on board her will ever come back again."</p> + +<p>"The chances are against it," said Austerly. "It is a long way to St. +Michael's, and one understands that those northern waters are either +wrapped in fog or swept by sudden gales. Besides that, it must be a +tremendous march or canoe trip inland, and before they reach the gold +region the summer will be over. One would scarcely fancy that many of +them could live out the winter. In fact, it seems to me scarcely +probable that the Yukon basin will ever become a mining district.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> +Nature is apparently too much for the white man there. What is your +opinion, Jordan?"</p> + +<p>Jordan smiled, though there was a snap in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me you don't quite understand what kind of men we raise on +the Slope," he said. "Once it's made clear that the gold is there, +there's no snow and ice between St. Michael's and the Pole that would +stop their getting in. When they take the trail those men will go right +on in spite of everything. You have heard what their fathers did here in +British Columbia when there was gold in Caribou? They hadn't the C.P.R. +then to take them up the Fraser, and there wasn't a wagon-road. They +made a trail through the wildest cañons there are on this earth, and +blazed a way afterward, over range and through the rivers, across the +trackless wilderness. It was too big a contract for some of them, but +they stayed with it, going on until they died. The others got the gold. +It was a sure thing that they would get it. They had to."</p> + +<p>"Just so!" said Austerly, with a smile. "Still, if I remember correctly, +they were not all born on the Pacific Slope. Some of them, I almost +think, came from England."</p> + +<p>"They did," said Jordan, who for no very evident reason glanced in +Anthea's direction. "The ones who got there were for the most part +sailormen. They and our bushmen are much of a kind, though I'm not quite +sure that the hardest hoeing didn't fall to the sailor. He hadn't been +taught to face the forest with nothing but an axe, build a fire of wet +wood, or make a pack-horse bridge; but he started with the old-time +prospectors, and he went right in with them. It's much the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> same +now—steam can't spoil him. When a big risky thing is to be done +anywhere right down the Slope, that's where you'll come across the man +from the blue water."</p> + +<p>He stopped a moment as if for breath, with a deprecatory gesture. "There +are one or two things that sure start me talking. It's a kind of useless +habit in a man who's shackled down to his work in the city, but I can't +help it. Anyway, the men who are going north won't head for St. +Michael's and the Yukon marshes much longer. They'll blaze a shorter +trail in from somewhere farther south right over the coast range. It +won't matter that they'll have to face ten feet of snow."</p> + +<p>Neither of the other two answered him, but the fact that they watched +the fading white sails of the little schooner had its significance. +There was scarcely a man on the Pacific Slope whose thoughts did not +turn toward the golden north just then, and one could notice signs of +tense anticipation in all the wooden cities. The army of +treasure-seekers had not set out yet, but big detachments had started, +and the rest were making ready. So far there was little certain news, +but rumors and surmises flew from mouth to mouth in busy streets and +crowded saloons. It was known that the way was perilous and many would +leave their bones beside it, and though, as Jordan had said, that would +not count if there were gold in the land to which it led, men waited a +little, feverishly, until they should feel more sure about the latter +point.</p> + +<p>By and by Austerly, who spoke to Valentine, went down the stairway, and +Anthea smiled when the latter,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> after walking a few paces with him, +turned back again to where Nellie Austerly was lying.</p> + +<p>"There are things it is a little difficult to understand," she said. +"Valentine has, perhaps, seen Nellie three or four times since she left +the <i>Sorata</i>, and yet, as no doubt you have noticed, he will scarcely +leave her. She would evidently be quite content to have him beside her +all evening, too."</p> + +<p>"You didn't say all you thought," and Jordan looked at her gravely. "You +mean that the usual explanation wouldn't fit their case. That, of +course, is clear, since both of them must realize that she can't expect +to live more than another year or so. I naturally don't know why she +should take to Valentine; but I have a fancy from what Jimmy said that +she reminded him of somebody. What is perhaps more curious still, I +think she recognizes it, and doesn't in the least mind it."</p> + +<p>"Somebody he was fond of long ago?"</p> + +<p>Jordan appeared to consider. "That seems to make the thing more +difficult to understand? Still, I'm not sure it does in reality. He is +one of the men who remember always, too. He would not want to marry her +if she were growing strong instead of slowly fading. It would somehow +spoil things if he did."</p> + +<p>"Of course!" said Anthea slowly. "In any case, as you mentioned, it +would be out of the question. But how——"</p> + +<p>Jordan checked her, with a smile this time. "How do I understand? I +don't think I do altogether; I only guess. A man who lived alone at sea +or on a ranch in the shadowy bush might be capable of an at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span>tachment of +that kind, but not one who makes his living in the cities. One can't get +away from the material point of view there."</p> + +<p>He broke off, and sat still for a minute or two, for though it was clear +that Anthea had no wish to discuss that topic further, he felt that she +had something to say to him.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Jordan," she asked at last, "have you had any news about the +<i>Shasta</i>?"</p> + +<p>Jordan's face clouded, but he did not turn in her direction, for which +the girl was grateful.</p> + +<p>"No," he said, "I have none. As perhaps you know, she should have turned +up two or three weeks ago."</p> + +<p>It was a moment or two before he glanced around, and then Anthea met his +gaze, in which, however, there was no trace of inquiry.</p> + +<p>"You are anxious about her?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"I am, a little. It is a wild coast up yonder, and they have wilder +weather. The charts don't tell you very much about those narrow seas. +One must trust to good fortune and one's nerve when the fog shuts down. +That," and he smiled reassuringly, "was why I sent Jimmy."</p> + +<p>Anthea felt her face grow warm, but she looked at him steadily.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" she said, "you believe in him. Still, skill and nerve will not do +everything."</p> + +<p>"They will do a great deal, and what flesh and blood can do, one can +count on getting from the <i>Shasta</i>'s skipper. I believe"—and he lowered +his voice confidentially—"Jimmy will bring her back again. That's why I +sent her up there less than half-insured.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> Premiums were heavy, and we +wanted all our money. Still, if he does not, I know he will have made +the toughest fight—and that will be some relief to me. You see, I'm +fond of Jimmy—and I'm talking quite straight with you."</p> + +<p>There was a hint of pain in the girl's face, and she realized that it +was there, but his frankness had had its effect on her. It suggested a +sympathy she did not resent, and she smiled at him gravely.</p> + +<p>"Thank you!" she said. "There is another thing I want to ask, Mr. +Jordan. If you get any news of the <i>Shasta</i>, will you come and tell me?"</p> + +<p>"Within the hour," said Jordan, and Anthea, who thanked him, rose and +turned away.</p> + +<p>Jordan, however, sat still, gazing straight in front of him +thoughtfully, for, though she had perhaps not intended this, the girl's +manner had impressed him. He fancied that he knew what she was feeling, +and that she had in a fashion taken him into her confidence. It was also +a confidence that he would at any cost have held inviolable. Then he +rose with a little dry smile.</p> + +<p>"She is clear grit all through," he said. "And her father is the ——— +rogue in all this Province."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV<br /> +<span class="smalltext">JORDAN KEEPS HIS PROMISE</span></h2> + + +<p>Right sunshine streamed down on the Inlet, and there was an exhilarating +freshness in the morning air; but Anthea Merril sat somewhat listlessly +on the veranda outside her father's house, looking across the sparkling +water toward the snows of the north. She had done the same thing +somewhat frequently of late, and, as had happened on each occasion, her +thoughts were fixed on the little vessel that had apparently vanished in +the fog-wrapped sea. Anthea had grown weary of waiting for news of her.</p> + +<p>Hitherto very little that she desired had been denied her, and though +that had not been sufficient to pervert her nature, it naturally made +the suspense she had to face a little harder to bear, since the money +before which other difficulties had melted was in this case of no avail. +The commander of the <i>Shasta</i> had passed far beyond her power to recall +him; and, if he still lived, of which she was far from certain, it was +only the primitive courage and stubborn endurance which are not confined +to men of wealth and station that could bring him back to her in spite +of blinding fog and icy seas. Anthea had no longer any hesitation in +admitting that this was what she greatly desired. Now that he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> had—it +appeared more than possible—sailed out of her life altogether into the +unknown haven that awaits the souls of the sailormen, she knew how she +longed for him. Still, the days had slipped by, and there was no word +from the silent north which has been for many a sailorman and sealer the +fairway to the tideless sea.</p> + +<p>At last she started a little as a man came up the drive toward the +house. He appeared to be a city clerk, but, though Merril had not yet +gone out, she did not recognize him as one of those in her father's +service. He turned when he saw her and came straight across the lawn, +and Anthea felt a thrill run through her as she noticed that he had an +envelope in his hand.</p> + +<p>"Miss Merril?" he said. "Mr. Jordan sent this with his compliments."</p> + +<p>Anthea thanked him, but did not open the envelope until he turned away. +Even then she almost felt her courage fail as she tore it apart and took +out a strip of paper that appeared to be a telegraphic message addressed +to Jordan.</p> + +<p>"Held up by fog and got ashore, but arrived here undamaged. Clearing +again morning," it read, and the blood crept into her face as she saw +that it was signed, "Wheelock Shasta."</p> + +<p>For the next five minutes she sat perfectly still, conscious only of a +great relief, and then she roused herself with an effort as Merril came +out of the house.</p> + +<p>"A telegram!" he said, with a smile. "Who has been wiring you? Have you +been speculating?"</p> + +<p>"In that case, don't you think I should have come to you for +information?" asked Anthea, who was mistress of herself again.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>"I'm not sure that you would have been wise if you had," said Merril, +with a whimsical grimace. "I don't seem to have been very successful +with my own affairs of late. Anyway, you haven't told me what I asked."</p> + +<p>Anthea was never quite sure why she placed the message in his hand. She +was aware that he was not interested in the subject, and would certainly +not have pressed her for an answer. In fact, he very seldom inquired as +to what she did, and had never attempted to place any restraint upon +her. He glanced at the message, and then turned to her again.</p> + +<p>"Wheelock to Jordan. Friends of yours?" he said. "You would probably +meet them at Austerly's."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Anthea, "I think I may say they are."</p> + +<p>It was essentially characteristic of Merril that he showed no +displeasure. He was indulgent to his daughter, and one who very seldom +allowed himself to be led away by either personal liking or rancor. For +a moment he stood still looking down at her with a dry smile, and, +because no father and daughter can be wholly dissimilar, Anthea bore his +scrutiny with perfect composure.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "they're both men of some ability, with signs of grit +in them, though I don't know that it would have troubled me if I had +heard no more of the <i>Shasta</i>. Now I'm a little late, and it will be +to-night before I'm back from the city."</p> + +<p>He turned away, and once more Anthea became sensible of a faint +repulsion for her father. Every word Eleanor Wheelock had uttered in +Forster's ranch had impressed itself on her memory, and she knew now +that his interests clashed with those of the <i>Shasta</i> Company.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> It would +not have astonished her if he had shown some sign of resentment, but +this complete indifference appeared unnatural, and troubled her. He was, +it seemed, as devoid of anger as he was, if Eleanor Wheelock and several +others were to be believed, of pity. Then she felt that she must, to a +certain extent, at least, confide in some one, and she set out to call +on Nellie Austerly.</p> + +<p>It happened that morning that Jimmy stood on the <i>Shasta</i>'s bridge as +she steamed up the softly gleaming straits. Ahead a dingy smoke-cloud +was moving on toward him, and he took his glasses from the box when the +black shape of a steamer grew out of it. She rose rapidly higher, and +Jimmy guessed that she was considerably larger than the <i>Shasta</i> and +steaming three or four knots faster. Then he made out that her deck was +crowded with passengers, and, though the beaver ensign floated over her +stern, their destination was evident when he glanced at the flag at the +fore. The only American soil north of them was Alaska.</p> + +<p>She drew abreast, a beautiful vessel of old and almost obsolete model, +with the clear green water frothing high beneath her outward curve of +prow. There was no forecastle forward to break the sweeping line of +rail, and the broad quarter-deck that overhung her slender stern had +also its suggestiveness to a seaman's eye. The smoke-cloud at her funnel +further hinted that her speed was purchased by a consumption of coal +that would have been considered intolerable in a modern boat. Then the +strip of bunting at her mainmast head fixed Jimmy's attention.</p> + +<p>"Merril's hard on our trail," he said. "She's taking a big crowd of +miners north. That's his flag."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span>Fleming, who stood beneath the bridge, looked up with a little nod. "I +would not compliment him on his sense," he said. "A beautiful boat, but +the man who runs her will want a coal-mine of his own. Got her cheap, I +figure, but it's only at top-freights she could make a living. Guess +Merril's screwing all he can out of those miners, but those rates won't +last when the C.P.R. and the Americans cut in, and if I had a boat of +that kind I'd put up a big insurance and then scuttle her."</p> + +<p>Then one of the two or three bronzed prospectors who had come down with +the <i>Shasta</i> approached the bridge.</p> + +<p>"Can't you let the boys who are going up know we've been there?" he +said. "It might encourage them to see that somebody has come out alive."</p> + +<p>Jimmy called to his quartermaster before he answered the man. "Well," he +said, "in a general way the signal wouldn't quite mean that, but it's +very likely they'll understand it."</p> + +<p>Merril's boat was almost alongside, when the quartermaster broke out the +stars and stripes at the <i>Shasta</i>'s masthead. A roar of voices greeted +the snapping flag, and the heads grew thick as cedar twigs in the +shadowy bush along the stranger's rail; while the men who stood higher +aft upon her ample quarter-deck flung their hats and arms aloft. Jimmy +could see them plainly, and their faces and garments proclaimed that +most of them were from the cities. There were others whose skin was +darkened and who wore older clothes; but these did not shout, for they +were men who had been at close grips with savage nature already, and had +some notion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> of what was before them. Jimmy blew his whistle and dipped +the beaver flag, while a curious little thrill ran through him as the +sonorous blast hurled his greeting across the clear green water. He knew +what these men would have to face who were going up, the vanguard of a +great army, to grapple with the wilderness, and it was clear that nature +would prove too terrible for many of them who would never drag their +bones out of it again.</p> + +<p>Once more the voices answered him with a storm of hopeful cries, for the +soft-handed men of the cities had also the courage of their breed. It +was the careless, optimistic courage of the Pacific Slope, and +store-clerk and hotel-lounger cheered the <i>Shasta</i> gaily as, reckless of +what was before them, they went by. When the time came to face screaming +blizzard and awful cold they would, for the most part, do it willingly, +and go on unflinching in spite of flood and frost until they dropped +beside the trail. Jimmy, who realized this vaguely, felt the thrill +again, and was glad that he had sped them on their way with a message of +good-will; but there was no roar from their steamer's whistle, and the +beaver flag blew out undipped at her stern. Then, as she drew away from +him, his face hardened, and the engineer looked at him with a grin.</p> + +<p>"Merril's skipper's like him, and that's 'most as mean as he could be," +he said.</p> + +<p>Jimmy glanced toward his masthead. "If there were many of his kind among +my countrymen, I'd feel tempted to shift that flag aft, and keep it +there," he said. "The boys from Puget Sound could cheer."</p> + +<p>One of the prospectors who stood below broke into a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> little soft laugh. +"Oh, yes," he said, "it's in them, and all the snow up yonder won't melt +it out. Still, it's your quiet bushmen and ours who'll do the getting +there. Guess they could raise a smile for you—and they did; but when it +comes to shouting, they haven't breath to spare."</p> + +<p>He turned and looked after the steamer growing smaller to the northward +amidst her smoke-cloud. "One in every twenty may bottom on paying gold, +and you might figure on three or four more making grub and a few ounces +on a hired man's share. The snow and the river will get the rest."</p> + +<p>Then he strolled away, and when Jimmy looked around again there was only +a smoke-trail on the water, for the steamer had sunk beneath the verge +of the sea. His attention also was occupied by other things that +concerned him more than the steamer, for another two or three hours +would bring him to Vancouver Inlet, which he duly reached that +afternoon, and found Jordan and a crowd through which the latter could +scarcely struggle awaiting him on the wharf. Still, he got on board, and +poured out tumultuous questions while he wrung Jimmy's hand, and it was +twenty minutes at least before Jimmy had supplied him with the +information he desired. Then he sat down and smiled.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "we'll go into the other points to-morrow, and to-night +you're coming to Austerly's with me. Got word from Miss Nellie that I +was to bring you sure. She wanted me to send a team over for Eleanor."</p> + +<p>"Then why didn't you?" asked Jimmy.</p> + +<p>Jordan's manner became confidential. "Nellie Austerly contrived to +mention that Miss Merril would be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> there too, and it seemed to me that +Eleanor mightn't quite fit in. She has her notions, and when she gets +her program fixed I just stand clear of her and let her go ahead. It's +generally wiser. Anyway, I felt that I could afford to do the straight +thing by you and Austerly."</p> + +<p>"Thanks!" said Jimmy, with a dry smile. "Of course, there is nothing to +be gained by pretending that Eleanor is fond of Miss Merril."</p> + +<p>Jordan sighed. "Well, I guess other men's sisters have their little +fancies now and then, and though she has scared me once or twice, +Eleanor's probably not very different from the rest of them. I was a +trifle played out—driven too hard and anxious—while you were away, and +she was awfully good to me—gentle as an angel; but for all that, I feel +one couldn't trust her alone with Miss Merril on a dark night if she had +a sharp hatpin or anything of that kind. And as for Merril, I believe +she wouldn't raise any objections if it were in our power to have him +skinned alive. Now, I like a girl with grit in her."</p> + +<p>"Still, Eleanor goes a little further than you care about at times?"</p> + +<p>Jordan laid a hand on his companion's arm. "Jimmy," he said, "there's a +thing you haven't mentioned to either of us—and I didn't expect you +to—but I feel that by and by your sister is going to make trouble for +you."</p> + +<p>Jimmy looked at him steadily, and Jordan smiled. "You needn't trouble +about making any disclaimer. I see how it is. Somehow you're going to +get her. Merril's not likely to run us off. I guess there's no reason<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> +to worry about him. Still, I want you to understand that if I can't put +a check on your sister—and that's quite likely—I'm going to stand by +her. I just have to."</p> + +<p>"Of course!" said Jimmy gravely. "Nobody would expect anything else from +you. I don't mind admitting that I have been a little anxious about what +Eleanor might do—but we'll change the subject. You suggested that +Merril was getting into trouble?"</p> + +<p>"He is," said Jordan, with evident relief. "They're making the road to +the pulp-mill, and I don't quite know where he raised his share of the +money, especially as he has just taken over a big old-type steamer. Had +to face a high figure, played out as she is. Ships are in demand. Now, +there are men like Merril whose money isn't their own; that is, they can +get it from other people to make a profit on, as a general thing. But +these aren't ordinary times; any man with money can make good interest +on it himself just now, and I've more than a fancy that Merril's handing +out instead of raking in. He has been at the banks lately, and when +there's a demand for money everywhere you can figure what they're going +to charge him. Anyway, we won't worry about him in the meanwhile. Get on +your shore-clothes. As soon as you're ready you're coming up-town with +me."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV<br /> +<span class="smalltext">AN UNDERSTANDING</span></h2> + + +<p>Jimmy went to Austerly's, and during the evening related his adventures +in the north to a sympathetic audience. His companions insisted on this, +and though there was one fact he would rather not have mentioned he +complied good-humoredly with their request. The narrative was +essentially matter-of-fact, but he had sufficient sense to avoid any +affectation of undue diffidence, and the others appeared to find it +interesting. Indeed, Nellie Austerly, at least, noticed the faint +sparkle which now and then crept into Anthea's eyes as he told them how, +in order to keep his promise to the miners that there should be no +delay, he had come out of a snug anchorage and groped his way northward +through a bewildering smother of unlifting fog. He also told them +simply, but, though he was not aware of the latter fact, with a certain +dramatic force, how, straining every nerve and muscle in tense suspense, +they hove the steamer off just before the gale broke, and of the +strenuous labor cutting wood for fuel on the southward voyage.</p> + +<p>When he stopped, Nellie Austerly looked up with a little nod. "Yes," she +said, "you took those miners in as you had promised, in spite of the +fog, and you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> brought the <i>Shasta</i> down all that way with only a few +tons of coal. Still, I don't think you should expect any particular +commendation. There are men who can't help doing things of that kind."</p> + +<p>Jimmy laughed, though his face grew slightly flushed. "I'm afraid I also +put her ashore. One can't get over that." Then he looked at Jordan. "In +fact, I scarcely think I'm out of the wood yet. There will be an +inquiry."</p> + +<p>"Purely formal," said his comrade. "They'll have a special whitewash +brush made for you. Nautical assessors have some conscience, after all. +Besides, it depends largely on the facts you supply them whether they +consider it worth while to have one."</p> + +<p>Austerly had a few questions to ask, and then the conversation drifted +away to other topics, until some little time later Jimmy found himself +sitting alone beside Nellie Austerly. She lay wrapped in fleecy shawls +in a big chair near the foot of the veranda stairway, looking very +frail, but she smiled at him benevolently.</p> + +<p>"I am glad they have gone," she said. "You see, I wanted to talk to you, +but the dew is commencing to settle and I must go in soon. That is +insisted on, though I don't think it matters."</p> + +<p>She smiled again. "It is a beautiful world, Jimmy, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy drew in his breath as he glanced about him, for he guessed part of +what she was thinking, and it hurt him. He could see the dark pines +towering against the wondrous green transparency which follows hard upon +the sunset splendors in that country. The Inlet shone in the gaps amid +that stately colonnade, and far<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> off beyond it there was a faint +ethereal gleam of snow. To him, filled as he was with the clean vigor of +the sea, it seemed too beautiful a world to leave.</p> + +<p>"Still," said his companion, "it has had very little to offer me, and +perhaps that is why I feel one should never stand by and let any good +thing it holds out go; that is, of course, when one has the strength to +grasp it. It usually needs some courage, too."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid it does;" and Jimmy looked down at her gravely, for since +this was not quite the first time she had suggested the same thing he +commenced to understand where she was leading him. "One might, perhaps, +manage to muster enough if one could only be sure——"</p> + +<p>He stopped somewhat awkwardly, and the girl laughed. "One very seldom +can. You have to reach out boldly and clutch before the opportunity has +gone."</p> + +<p>"In the dark?"</p> + +<p>"Of course! One can't always expect to see one's way. You were not +afraid of the fog, Jimmy?"</p> + +<p>"I was. It got hold of my nerves and shook all the stiffening out of me. +In fact, in the sense you mean, I'm afraid of it still."</p> + +<p>He checked himself for a moment, and his face was furrowed when he +turned to her again. "You understand, of course. The clogging smother of +uncertainty now and then gets intolerable when a man wants to do the +right thing. He can't see where he is going. There is nothing to steer +by."</p> + +<p>"If you had sat down and tried to think of every reef and shoal, and +what would become of the <i>Shasta</i> if she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> struck them, would you ever +have reached your destination when the fog shut down?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Jimmy; "I should in all probability have turned her round, +and steamed south again."</p> + +<p>Nellie Austerly laughed. "Instead of that you went on—and got there—as +they say in this country. That, as I think you will recognize, is the +point of it all."</p> + +<p>"I also got ashore."</p> + +<p>"In spite of the lead. It wasn't much service, Jimmy. It really seems +that one is just as safe when going full-speed ahead. Besides, you got +off again, and brought the <i>Shasta</i> back undamaged. Well, perhaps it may +occur to you by and by that there must always be a little uncertainty, +and in the meanwhile I dare say you won't mind giving me your arm. I +must go in, and these steps seem to be getting steeper lately."</p> + +<p>Jimmy gravely held out his arm, and when he handed her one of the shawls +as they reached the veranda, she smiled at him again.</p> + +<p>"Now you are released, and I see Anthea is all alone," she said.</p> + +<p>She disappeared into the house, and Jimmy's heart beat a good deal +faster than usual when he went down the stairway. Though he did not know +what he would say to her, he had been longing all evening for a word or +two with Anthea, and now the desire was almost overwhelming. He had, of +course, seen the drift of Nellie Austerly's observations, and it +scarcely seemed likely that she would have offered him the veiled +encouragement unless she had had some ground for believing that it was +warranted. He also remembered what he had twice seen in Anthea's face; +but he was a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> steamboat skipper with no means worth mentioning, and she +the daughter of a man who was in one sense responsible for his father's +death. That was certainly not her fault, but Jimmy felt that even if she +would listen to him, of which he was far from certain, he could not +expose her to her father's ill-will and the scornful pity of her +friends. Still, Nellie Austerly's words had had their effect, and he +strode straight across the lawn, with the same curious little thrill +running through him of which he had been sensible when he drove the +<i>Shasta</i> full-speed into the fog.</p> + +<p>Anthea stood waiting for him beneath the dark firs, very much as she had +done when he had last seen her, with a smile in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"I suppose it is Nellie's fault, but I was commencing to wonder whether +you wished to avoid me," she said.</p> + +<p>Jimmy stood silent a moment, trying to impose a due restraint upon +himself, until she lifted her eyes and looked at him. Then he knew the +attempt was useless, and abandoned it.</p> + +<p>"The fault was not exactly mine," he said, with a faint hoarseness in +his voice. "For one thing, how could I know that you would be pleased to +see me?"</p> + +<p>"Still," said Anthea quietly, "I really think you did. Were your other +reasons for staying away more convincing?"</p> + +<p>Then Jimmy flung prudence to the winds. The fog of which he had declared +himself afraid was thicker than ever, but that fact had suddenly ceased +to trouble him. Again he felt, as he had done when he crouched in the +<i>Sorata</i>'s cockpit one wild morning, that he and Anthea Merril were +merely man and woman, and that she was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> the one he wanted for his wife. +That was sufficient, for the time being, to drive out every other +consideration; but he answered her quietly.</p> + +<p>"A little while ago I believed they were, but I can't quite think that +now," he said. "Something seems to have happened in the meanwhile—and +they don't appear to count."</p> + +<p>They had as if by mutual consent turned and followed a path that led +into the scented shadow of the firs, but when a great columnar trunk hid +them from the house Jimmy stopped again.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, "after that morning when we watched the big combers from +the <i>Sorata</i>'s cockpit, I think I should have known you were glad to see +the <i>Shasta</i> back; but the trouble was that I dared not let myself be +sure of it. There were, as you said, reasons for that. I suppose I +should be strong enough to recognize and yield to them still, but—while +you may blame me afterward for not doing so—I can't."</p> + +<p>He moved a pace forward, and laid a hand on her shoulder, holding her +back from him, unresisting, while he looked down at her. "Since I +carried you through the creek that evening up in the bush I have thought +of nothing, longed for nothing, but you. It has been one long effort to +hold the folly in check; but it has suddenly grown too hard for me—I +can't keep it up. Now, at least, you know."</p> + +<p>He let his hand drop to his side, and stood still with his eyes fixed on +her. Anthea looked up at him with a smile.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" she said, "I knew it all long ago. Was it very hard, Jimmy—and +are you sure it was necessary?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span>The blood surged to the man's forehead, but there was trouble as well as +exultation in his face, for his senses were coming back, and it seemed +to him that he must somehow muster wisdom to choose for both of them.</p> + +<p>"My dear," he said a trifle hoarsely, "I think it was. I am a struggling +steamboat skipper, and you a lady of station in this Province. That was +a sufficient reason, as things go."</p> + +<p>"If you had been the director of a steamship company, and I a girl +without a dollar, would that have influenced you?"</p> + +<p>"It would have made it easier. I should have claimed you on board the +<i>Sorata</i>. Lord"—and Jimmy made a little forceful gesture—"how I wish +you were!"</p> + +<p>Anthea smiled at him curiously. "Well," she said, "I may not have very +much money, after all—and, if I had, is there any reason why you should +be willing to give up more than I would? Does it matter so very much +that I may, perhaps, be a little richer than you are?"</p> + +<p>The veins showed swollen on the man's forehead, and again he struggled +with the impulses that had carried him away, for the discrepancy in +wealth was, after all, only a minor obstacle. Anthea, too, clearly +realized that, and she roused herself for an effort.</p> + +<p>"Jimmy," she said, while he stood silent, "would it hurt you very much +if I admitted that you were right, and sent you away? After all, you +have scarcely said anything that could make one think you would feel it +very keenly."</p> + +<p>The man stooped a little, and seized one of her hands. "Dear, you are +all I want, and to go would be the hard<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span>est thing I ever did; but there +is your father's opposition to consider, and, if to stay would bring you +trouble, I might compel myself."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Anthea softly, "the trouble would come if you went away."</p> + +<p>Then with a little resolute movement she drew herself away from him, and +looked up with a flush in her face and a quickening of her breath, for +there was something of moment to be said. "There is a reason you haven't +mentioned yet, though your sister did. Does that count for so very much +with you?"</p> + +<p>"Eleanor!" said Jimmy, while a thrill of anger ran through him. "I might +have known she would do this."</p> + +<p>He stood quite still for several moments with a hand clenched at his +side and his face furrowed, and when he spoke again it was hoarsely.</p> + +<p>"What did she tell you?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I think she told me all that she knew about your father's ruin, and his +death. It was very hard to listen to, Jimmy—but did it really happen +that way?"</p> + +<p>She stopped a moment, and cast a little glance of appeal at him. "I have +tried to think that she must have distorted things. It would have been +no more than natural. If I had borne what she has I would have done the +same. One could not regard them correctly. Bitterness and grief must +influence one's point of view."</p> + +<p>The man turned his face from her, and moved away a pace or two as if in +pain. Then once more he turned toward her with a compassionate gesture, +for he knew that the blow would be a heavy one to her, and it was almost +insufferable that his hand should be the one to deal it.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span>"Then anything I could say would not be more reliable. My views would as +naturally be distorted too."</p> + +<p>"Still, I should have an answer. You must realize that, and if it is one +that hurts I should sooner it came from you than anybody else."</p> + +<p>Jimmy drew in his breath. "Then, while I don't know exactly what Eleanor +has said, or whether I can forgive her that cruelty, I think you could +believe every word of it."</p> + +<p>The color faded from Anthea's face, and she looked at him with a faint +horror in her eyes and her lips tight set. She could not doubt him. If +there had been no other reason, the pity she saw he had for her was +proof enough, and for a moment or two she forgot everything but the grim +fact to which Eleanor Wheelock had forced her to listen. She could make +no excuses for her father now.</p> + +<p>She saw him suddenly as she felt that he was a creature of insatiable +greed, cunning, unscrupulous, and without pity, and then she commenced +to feel intolerably lonely. It was almost as though he had died, and the +longing for the love of the man who stood watching her with grave +sympathy in his eyes grew so strong that for the moment she was sensible +of nothing else. There was nobody but him to whom she could turn. It +was, she felt, his part to comfort her; and then she shivered as she +remembered that circumstances had placed that out of the question. The +injury her father had done him must, it seemed, always stand between +them, and she shrank back a pace from him.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" she said, "you must hate me for that, Jimmy."</p> + +<p>It was half an assertion, and, though she had perhaps<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> not consciously +intended the latter, half a question, and the man recognized the dismay +in it. He strode forward, and seizing both her hands laid them on his +shoulders, and drew her to him masterfully. For a moment he used +compulsion, and then she clung to him quivering with her head on his +breast.</p> + +<p>"Dear," he said, "it is not your fault. You had no part in it, and, even +had it been so, I think I could not have helped loving you. As it is, +there is nothing in this world could make me hate you."</p> + +<p>Anthea made him no answer, and Jimmy drew her closer still. He had flung +prudence and restraint away. What he had said and done was irrevocable, +and he was glad that it was so. At last the girl looked up at him again.</p> + +<p>"Jimmy," she said, "if you can thrust into the background all that +Eleanor told me, you cannot let money come between us. Besides, I +haven't any now. Could I lavish money that had been wrung from your +father and other struggling men upon my pleasures—or dare to bring it +to you? Can't you understand, dear? I am as poor as you are."</p> + +<p>Then she suddenly shook herself free from his grasp, and seemed to +shiver. "But you can't forgive him—it will be war between you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Jimmy slowly, "I am afraid that must be so. If there were no +other reason, I cannot desert the men who befriended me, and your father +will do all he can to crush them."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said the girl, "it is going to be very hard. Still, I cannot turn +against him; he has, at least, been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> kind to me. I have never had a wish +he has not gratified."</p> + +<p>Jimmy slowly shook his head. "No," he said; "that is out of the +question—I could not ask it of you. There is also this to recognize: +your father is a man of station, and would never permit you to marry a +steamboat skipper. He will make every effort to keep you away from me."</p> + +<p>Just then Austerly's voice reached them from the house, and Anthea +turned to the man again. "Jimmy," she said, "I know that you belong to +me, and I to you; but that must be sufficient in the meanwhile. We can +neither of us be a traitor. You must wait and say nothing, dear."</p> + +<p>Then she turned and, slipping by him swiftly, moved across the lawn +toward the house, while Jimmy stood where he was, exultant, but +realizing that the struggle before them would tax all the courage that +was in him and the girl.</p> + +<p>Before he left the house, Nellie Austerly contrived to draw him to her +side when there was nobody else near the chair in which she lay.</p> + +<p>"Well?" she said inquiringly.</p> + +<p>Jimmy looked at her with a little grave smile. "I have rung for +full-speed," he said. "Still, the fog is thicker than ever, and, when I +dare to listen, I can hear breakers on the bow."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">ELEANOR HOLDS THE CLUE</span></h2> + + +<p>Mrs. Forster had gone out with her daughters, and there was just then +nobody else in the ranch, when Eleanor Wheelock and Carnforth sat +talking in the big general room. This was satisfactory to the girl, for +she desired to have the next half-hour free from interruption. She was +aware that Mrs. Forster might come back before that time had elapsed; +but, although she had a purpose to accomplish, any appearance of haste +would spoil everything, for it was, as she recognized, advisable that +Carnforth should be permitted to take her into his confidence in his own +time and way, without her doing anything to suggest that she was +encouraging him. He had not been very long in Vancouver, and though he +had placed a good deal of money in Merril's hands, and was associated +with him in some of his business ventures, she had reasons for believing +that he did not know exactly what her relations with Jordan were, or +that she had a brother in command of the <i>Shasta</i>. Carnforth, as it +happened, had also come there with a purpose in his mind. Indeed, it was +one he had been considering for some little time, though he had at +length decided that it would have to be modified. This did not exactly +please him, but he was prepared to make a sacrifice in case of +necessity.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span>He was a tall, well-favored man, and his tight-fitting clothes displayed +the straightness of his limbs as he leaned back in his chair, with his +eyes which had a suggestive sparkle in them fixed on the girl. The +fashion in which he regarded her would, in different circumstances, have +aroused Eleanor's resentment, but she was quite aware that there were +certain defects in his character, and she had taken some trouble to +discover why he had left Toronto somewhat hastily. She sat in a canvas +chair opposite him across the room, and, since she had expected him that +afternoon, she was conscious that everything she wore became her well.</p> + +<p>The long, light-tinted skirt was no fuller than was necessary, but +Eleanor could afford to wear it so, for both in man and woman the +average Western figure is modeled in long sweeping lines, and the soft +fabric emphasized her dainty slenderness. The pale-blue blouse that hung +in filmy, lace-like folds heightened the color of her eyes and the clear +pallor of her ivory complexion. Eleanor was, in fact, quite satisfied +with her appearance, and aware that it suggested a Puritanical +simplicity, which was in one respect, at least, not altogether +misleading. There is a certain absence of grossness in the men and women +of the West, and even their vices are characterized rather by daring +than by materialistic sensuality. She felt that she loathed the man and +the part circumstances had forced on her while she dressed herself in +expectation of his visit; but, for all that, she was prepared to +undertake it.</p> + +<p>"And you are really thinking of going away?" she asked.</p> + +<p>Carnforth did not answer hastily, but looked at her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> with the little +sparkle growing plainer in his eyes while he appeared to reflect; and, +though there was nothing to suggest that she was doing so, Eleanor +listened intently as she marshaled all her forces for the task she had +in hand. The afternoon was hot and still, and she could hear Forster and +his hired man chopping in the bush. The thud of their axes came faintly +out of the shadowy woods, but there was no other sound, and the house +was very quiet. This was reassuring, for she had no wish to hear Mrs. +Forster's footsteps just then. At last her companion spoke.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, "I have been thinking over it for some time. In fact, I +should have gone before, only I couldn't quite nerve myself to it. I +guess I needn't tell you why I found that difficult."</p> + +<p>Eleanor laughed. "Then if you don't wish to, why go away at all?"</p> + +<p>"I think it would be nicer to tell you why I wish to stay."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Eleanor thoughtfully, "I almost fancy you have suggested +your reasons once or twice already. Still, it's evident they can't have +very much weight with you, or you wouldn't go."</p> + +<p>Carnforth leaned forward. "Anyway, my reasons for going would have some +weight with most men."</p> + +<p>"Then until I hear what they are, you are on your defense," said +Eleanor, with a smile that set his blood tingling. "In the meanwhile, I +am far from pleased with you. It is not flattering to find one of my +friends so anxious to get away from me."</p> + +<p>"That was by no means what I was contemplating," said the man, and there +were signs of strain in his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> voice, while a trace of darker color crept +into his face. "I guess you know it, too."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Eleanor, "why should you expect me to? It wouldn't be +reasonable in the circumstances. I was willing to allow you to excuse +yourself for wishing to go away, and you don't seem at all anxious to +profit by my generosity."</p> + +<p>"You mightn't find my reasons—they're rather material +ones—interesting."</p> + +<p>"Then you are still on your defense, and far from being forgiven. As a +matter of fact, I am interested in almost everything, as you ought to +know by this time."</p> + +<p>"I believe you are," and Carnforth made her a little inclination. "I +guess you understand almost everything, too. Well, it seems I have to +tell you."</p> + +<p>Eleanor displayed no eagerness, though she was sensible of a little +thrill of satisfaction, for the thing was becoming easier than she had +expected. Instead, she moved with a slow gracefulness in her low chair, +so that the narrow ray of sunlight which shone in between the +half-closed shutters fell on one cheek and delicate ear. She knew that +the pose she had fallen into was one that became her well, and would in +all probability have its effect on her companion, and she meant to make +the utmost of her physical attractiveness, though such a course was +foreign to her nature. Eleanor Wheelock was imperious, and it pleased +her to command instead of allure; but she could on due occasion hold her +pride in check, and she would not have disdained to use any wile just +then. It was with perfect composure that she watched the little glow +kindle in Carnforth's eyes, though she could have struck him for it.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span>"There is no compulsion," she said indifferently. "It rests with +yourself."</p> + +<p>Carnforth laughed in a fashion that jarred on her. "The fact that you +wish it goes a long way with me. Well, I am a man with somewhat +luxurious tastes, which the money I possess would unfortunately not +continue to gratify unless I keep it earning something. That is what +induced me to take a share in one or two of Merril's ventures, and now +makes it advisable for me to leave him. If I elect to remain, I must put +more money into the concern than I consider wise."</p> + +<p>"Then Merril's affairs are not prospering?"</p> + +<p>"No," said the man, with a keen glance at her. "I believe you are as +aware of that as I am. One way or another you have extracted a good deal +of information out of me—the kind in which women aren't generally +interested. I don't know why you have done so."</p> + +<p>"I think I told you that I am interested in everything. You don't feel +warranted in handing the money over to Merril?"</p> + +<p>Carnforth shook his head. "The pulp-mill hit us hard; but before he +quite knew that we would have to make the wagon-road, he had bound +himself to take over the steamer we are sending up with the miners," he +said. "She cost him a good deal."</p> + +<p>"Still, freights and passage to the north are high."</p> + +<p>"They won't continue to be when the C.P.R. and other people put on +modern and economical boats. It is quite clear to me that Merril's boat +can't make a living when she has to run against them."</p> + +<p>Eleanor decided to change the subject for a while, though she had not +done with it yet. "Well," she said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> languidly, "I really don't think it +matters to me whether she does or not. What I gave you permission to do +was to defend yourself for wishing to go away."</p> + +<p>"Haven't I done it?" asked the man. "When I break with Merril I shall +naturally have to discover a new field for my abilities. I think it will +be in California."</p> + +<p>"You are going to break with him because he is saddled with an +unprofitable vessel? Now, there are tides, and fogs, and reefs up there +in the north; don't they sometimes lose a well-insured steamer?"</p> + +<p>Carnforth laughed, but the girl had seen him start. "Well," he said, "I +don't mind admitting that if the one in question went north some day and +didn't come back again, it would be a relief to one or two of us. Still, +I'm 'most afraid that's too fortunate a thing to happen."</p> + +<p>"Of course! There would always be a probability of the skipper's +demanding money afterward? Besides, a mate or quartermaster or somebody +who hadn't a hand in it might have his suspicions."</p> + +<p>The man gazed at her, and this time his astonishment at her perspicacity +was very evident for a moment. "A wise man wouldn't tamper with the +skipper. Anyway, the people who try to get their money back by means of +that kind 'most always involve themselves in difficulties."</p> + +<p>It cost Eleanor an effort to conceal her satisfaction. Little by little +she had, to an extent her companion did not realize, extracted from him +information that enabled her to understand the state of Merril's affairs +tolerably accurately, and she had decided that he would attempt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> some +daring and drastic remedy. Now her purpose was accomplished, for she +knew what that remedy would be, and it only remained for her to +determine whether Carnforth could be used as a weapon against his +associate or must be flung aside. The latter course was the one she +would prefer, and she decided on it since he had practically answered +the question.</p> + +<p>"So you are going to leave him now that he is in difficulties?" she said +with a sardonic smile. "It isn't very generous, but I suppose it's wise, +and I almost think you have cleared yourself. Would you mind looking +whether you can see Mrs. Forster?"</p> + +<p>He had served his purpose, and she was anxious to get rid of him; but +the man made no sign of moving.</p> + +<p>"I would mind just now, and I hope she'll stay away," he said. "The fact +is I have something to say to you, and don't know why I let you switch +me off on to Merril. His affairs can't concern you."</p> + +<p>"Then why did you tell me so much about them?"</p> + +<p>The man gazed hard at her in evident bewilderment, and then rose to his +feet with a little air of resolution. "I'm not to be driven away from +the point again. I told you why I have to go, but that is less than half +of it. I can't go alone; I want you to come with me."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said the girl very quietly, though a red spot which her brother +and Jordan would have recognized as a warning showed in each cheek. +"This is unexpected."</p> + +<p>Carnforth crossed the room and leaned on a table not far from her chair, +looking down at her with a look from which she shrank.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span>"No," he said, "I don't think it's unexpected; you knew what I meant +from the beginning."</p> + +<p>This was, as a matter of fact, correct, but the color grew plainer in +Eleanor's cheek. She had known exactly what her companion's advances +were worth, and at times it had cost her a strenuous effort to hold her +anger in check. It was, however, characteristic of her that she had made +the effort.</p> + +<p>"After that, I think it would save both of us trouble if you understood +once for all that I will not go," she said.</p> + +<p>Carnforth laughed harshly, while his face flushed with ill-suppressed +passion. "Pshaw! you don't mean it. For several months you have led me +on, and now that I'm yours altogether, I'm not going to California +without you. You know that, too; you have to go."</p> + +<p>"You have had your answer," and Eleanor rose and faced him with +portentous quietness. "Don't make me say anything more."</p> + +<p>The man moved forward suddenly, and laid a hot grasp on her wrist. There +was as yet no dismay in his face, and it was very evident that he would +not believe her. There were excuses for him, and the fact that it was so +roused the girl, who remembered what her part had been, to almost +uncontrollable anger.</p> + +<p>"You are going to say that you are willing and coming with me, if I have +to make you," he said fiercely. "I mean just that, and I am not afraid +of you, though at times one can see something in your eyes that would +scare off most men. It's there now, but it's one of the things that make +me want you. Eleanor, put an end<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> to this. You know you have me +altogether—isn't that enough? Do you want to drive me mad?"</p> + +<p>He stopped a moment, and broke into a harsh laugh as the girl, with a +strength he had not looked for, shook off his grasp. "Oh," he said, "it +seems I've gone on too fast. I'll fix about the wedding soon as I break +with Merril."</p> + +<p>There was certainly something in Eleanor Wheelock's eyes just then that +few people would have cared to face. The vindictive hatred she bore +Merril had for the time being driven every womanly attribute out of her, +but she remembered how she had loathed this man's advances and endured +them. To carry out her purpose she would, indeed, have stooped to +anything, for her hatred had possessed her wholly and altogether. Now it +was momentarily turned on her companion.</p> + +<p>"It would have been wiser if you had made that clear first," she said, +with a slow incisiveness that made the words cut like the lash of a +whip. "Still, I suppose, the offer is generous, in view of the trouble +you would very probably bring on yourself by attempting to carry it +out."</p> + +<p>The man appeared staggered for a moment, but he recovered himself.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, with a little forceful gesture, "there are parts of my +record I can't boast about, but there are points on which you'd go 'way +beyond me. That, I guess, is what got hold of me and won't let me go. By +the Lord, Eleanor, nothing would be impossible to you and me if we +pulled together."</p> + +<p>"That will never happen," said the girl, still with a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> very significant +quietness. "Don't force me to speak too plainly."</p> + +<p>Carnforth appeared bewildered, for at last he was compelled to recognize +that she meant what she said, but there was anger in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said stupidly, "what in the name of wonder did you want? You +know you led me on."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps I did. Now that I know what you are, I tell you to go. Had you +been any other man I might have felt some slight compunction, or, at +least, a little kindliness toward you. As it is, I am only longing to +shake off the contamination you have brought upon me."</p> + +<p>She broke off with a little gesture of relief, and moving toward the +window flung the shutters back.</p> + +<p>"They have finished chopping, and I hear the ox-team in the bush," she +said. "Forster will be here in a minute or two."</p> + +<p>Carnforth stood still, irresolute, though his face was darkly flushed; +and Eleanor felt the silence become oppressive as she wondered whether +the rancher would come back to the house or lead his team on into the +bush. Then the trample of the slowly moving oxen's feet apparently +reached her companion, for with a little abrupt movement he took up his +wide hat from the table. He waited a few moments, however, crumpling the +brim of it in one hand, while Eleanor was conscious that her heart was +beating unpleasantly fast as she watched for the first sign of Forster +or his hired man among the dark fir-trunks. At last she heard her +companion move toward the door, and when it swung to behind him she drew +in her breath with a gasp of relief.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">JORDAN'S SCHEME</span></h2> + + +<p>Carnforth had been gone some twenty minutes when Eleanor stood among the +orchard grass, from which the ranks of blackened fir-stumps rose outside +the ranch. She had recovered her composure, and was looking toward the +dusty road which wound, a sinuous white ribbon, between the somber firs. +Jordan, whom she had not expected to see just then, was walking along it +with Forster, and, since it was evident that he must have met Carnforth, +she was wondering, with a somewhat natural shrinking from doing so, how +far it would be necessary to take him into her confidence. This, as she +recognized, must be done eventually; but she was not sure that her +legitimate lover would be in a mood to understand or appreciate her +course of action when fresh from a meeting with the one she had +discarded. Jordan had laid very little restraint upon her, but he was, +after all, human and had a temper.</p> + +<p>She lost sight of the two men for a few minutes when they passed behind +a great colonnade of fir-trunks that partly obscured her view of the +road, but she could see them plainly when they emerged again from the +shadow. Instead of turning toward the house they came toward<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> her, and +there was, she noticed, a curious red mark on Jordan's cheek, as well as +a broad smear of dust on his soft hat, which appeared somewhat crushed. +His attire was also disordered, and his face was darker in color than +usual. Forster, who walked a pace or two behind him, because the path +through the grass was narrow, also appeared disturbed in mind, and when +they stopped close by the girl it was he who spoke first.</p> + +<p>"I had gone down the road to see whether there was any sign of Mrs. +Forster when I came upon Mr. Jordan; and, considering how he was +engaged, it is perhaps fortunate that I did," he said. "Although it is +not exactly my business, I can't help fancying that you have something +to say to him."</p> + +<p>He went on, but he had said enough to leave Eleanor with a tolerably +accurate notion of what had happened, and to make it clear that he was +not altogether pleased. The rancher and his wife were easy-going, kindly +people, with liberal views, but it was evident that their toleration +would not cover everything. Then she turned to Jordan, who stood looking +at her steadily with a certain hardness in his face, and the red mark +showing very plainly on his cheek.</p> + +<p>"Well," she said, "how did you get here?"</p> + +<p>"On my feet," said Jordan. "There was little to do this afternoon in the +city, and two or three things were worrying me. It struck me that I'd +walk it off, and I'm glad I did."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Eleanor, "won't you go on a little?'"</p> + +<p>"It's what I mean to do. I met Carnforth driving away from here, and +since the fact that he has been here quite often has been troubling me +lately, I invited<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> him to pull up right away. When he didn't do it I +managed to get hold of the horses' heads, and went right across the road +with them. Still, I stopped the team, and I was getting up to talk to +Carnforth when Forster came along. I hated to see him then."</p> + +<p>Somewhat to his astonishment, Eleanor laughed softly. "Forster persuaded +you to abandon the—discussion?"</p> + +<p>"He did. If there's a split up the back of my jacket, as I believe there +is, he made it. Anyway, he wasn't quite pleased, and I don't blame him. +He and his wife have let you do 'most whatever you like, but, after all, +you couldn't expect them to put up with everything."</p> + +<p>"Or expect too much from you? You feel you have borne a good deal, +Charley? Well, Forster was right in one respect. We have something to +say to each other, and it may take a little time. There is a big fir he +has just chopped yonder."</p> + +<p>She walked slowly toward the fallen tree, and seated herself on a great +branch before she turned to the man who was about to take a place beside +her.</p> + +<p>"No," she said, "you can stand there, Charley, where I can see you. To +commence with, how much confidence have you in me?"</p> + +<p>"All that a man could have;" and there was no doubt about Jordan's +sincerity. "Still, I don't like Carnforth. He's not fit for you to talk +to, and I can't have him coming here. In fact, I'll see that he doesn't. +I've wanted to say this for quite a while, but it would have pleased me +better to say it first to him. That's one reason why I feel it's +particularly unfortunate Forster didn't stay away a minute or two +longer."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span>A faint tinge of color crept into Eleanor's cheek, but she looked at him +with a smile.</p> + +<p>"Charley," she said, "I am a little sorry too that Forster came along +when he did. I don't know that it's what every girl would say, but I +think if you had thrashed that man to within an inch of his life it +would have pleased me."</p> + +<p>She stopped for a moment, and the color grew a trifle plainer in her +face, though there was no wavering in her gaze. "I want you to +understand that I knew just what that man was—and still I led him on. +It is a little hard to speak of; but one has to be honest, and when it +is necessary I think both of us can face an unpleasant thing. Well, I +encouraged him because I couldn't see how I was to attain my object any +other way. Still, you mustn't suppose it cost me nothing. It hurt all +the time—hurt me horribly—and now I almost feel that I shall never +shake off the contamination."</p> + +<p>The man, who did not know yet what her purpose was, realized that the +task she had undertaken must have heavily taxed her strength and +courage. He knew that she was vindictive, and one who was not addicted +to counting the cost, but he also knew that there was a certain +Puritanical pride in her which must have rendered the part she had +played almost insufferably repulsive. His face burned as he thought of +it, and he drew in his breath with a curious little gasp while he gazed +at her with a look in his eyes that sent a thrill of dismay through her.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" she said, "don't ask, Charley. I couldn't bear that from you. I—I +kept him at a due distance all the time."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span>Jordan's tense face relaxed. "I can't forgive Forster for coming along +when he did," he said. "Eleanor, you have courage enough for anything. +In one way, it isn't natural."</p> + +<p>"You have felt that now and then?"</p> + +<p>The man said nothing for almost a minute, for he was still a little +shaken by what she had told him. It had roused him to fierce resentment +and brought the blood to his face, but he now recognized that there were +respects in which the momentary dismay of which he had been sensible was +groundless. She had given him sympathy and encouragement freely, and at +times had shown him a certain half-reserved tenderness, but very little +more, and he felt that it should have been quite clear to him that she +had unbent no further toward the stranger. Then he straightened himself +as he looked at her.</p> + +<p>"My dear," he said, "I needn't tell you there is nobody on this earth I +would place beside you."</p> + +<p>Eleanor smiled wistfully. "Ah!" she said, "I like to hear you say that, +though it is, of course, foolish of you; and perhaps I shall change and +be gentler and more like other women some day. Still, that wouldn't be +advisable just now. We must wait, and in the meanwhile there are other +things to think of. Listen for a minute, and you will understand why I +led Carnforth on. He is, of course, never coming here again."</p> + +<p>She told him quietly all she had heard respecting Merril's affairs, and +when at last she stopped, Jordan made an abrupt gesture.</p> + +<p>"It's a pity I can't act upon what you have told me," he said.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span>"You can't act upon it?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Jordan firmly. "You should never have done it—it cost you +too much. Oh, I know the shame and humiliation it must have brought you. +You can't make things like these counters in a business deal."</p> + +<p>"You must;" and Eleanor's eyes grew suddenly hard again. "Is all I have +gained by doing what I loathed to be thrown away? Listen, Charley. I +loved my father, and looked up to him until Merril laid a trap for him. +Then he went downhill, and I had to watch his courage and control being +sapped away. He lost it all, and his manhood, too, and died crazed with +rank whisky."</p> + +<p>She rose, and stood very straight, pale in face and quivering a little. +"Could anything ever drive out the memory of that horrible night? You +could hardly bear what had to be done, and you can fancy what it must +have been to me—who loved him. Can I forgive the man who brought that +on him?"</p> + +<p>Jordan shivered a little with pity and horror, as the scene in the room +where the burned man gasped out his life in an extremity of pain rose up +before him. Then he was conscious that Eleanor had recovered herself and +was looking at him steadily.</p> + +<p>"Charley," she said, "you must stand by me in this, or go away and never +speak to me again. There is no alternative. Only support me now, and +afterward I will obey you for the rest of our lives."</p> + +<p>The man realized that she meant it, and though it cost him an effort, he +made a sign of resignation.</p> + +<p>"Then," he said, "it must be as you wish. And I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> guess, after what you +have told me, we hold Merril in our hand. That is, if Jimmy and I can do +our part."</p> + +<p>Both of them had felt the tension, and now that it had slackened they +said nothing for several minutes as they walked toward the house. Then +Eleanor turned to her companion.</p> + +<p>"I am glad I can depend on you," she said. "When the pinch comes Jimmy +will fail us."</p> + +<p>"Jimmy," said Jordan quietly, "is your brother as well as my friend."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Eleanor, "don't misunderstand. Jimmy would flinch from +nothing on a steamer's bridge. Still, it isn't nerve of that kind that +will be needed, and Miss Merril has a hold on him."</p> + +<p>Jordan saw the faint sparkle in her eyes. "After all, you can't hold the +girl responsible for her father?"</p> + +<p>"I do," said Eleanor, with a curious bitter smile. "At least, I would +keep her away from Jimmy."</p> + +<p>Jordan said nothing, but there was trouble in his face, for he had seen +how things were going, and though he was Eleanor's lover he was Jimmy's +friend. When they reached the ranch they found that Mrs. Forster had +come back, and she glanced at Jordan with a smile in her eyes when he +crossed the room.</p> + +<p>"Do you know that you have split your jacket up the back?" she asked.</p> + +<p>Jordan looked reproachfully at Forster. "Well," he said, "I almost think +that your husband does."</p> + +<p>"Then he will lend you another one while I sew it for you."</p> + +<p>"One would fancy that Eleanor would prefer to do it," said the rancher +dryly.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span>His wife pursed up her face. "It is possible that she may bring herself +to do such things by and by. Still, I can't quite imagine Eleanor +quietly sitting down and mending a man's clothes."</p> + +<p>Jordan laughed. "It's quite likely that she'll have to. It depends on +how the <i>Shasta</i> pleases the miners. Forster, I'll trouble you to lend +me a jacket. I guess you owe it to me."</p> + +<p>Forster promised to get him the garment, and when they went away +together his wife asked Eleanor a plain question or two. It was some +time before she said anything to her husband about that interview, but +she appeared somewhat thoughtful until supper was brought in. Shortly +after it was over Jordan, who borrowed a horse from Forster, rode away, +and the rancher, who was sitting on the veranda, smiled at his wife when +Eleanor walked back from the slip-rails toward the house.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said reflectively, "though I'm rather fond of Miss Wheelock, +I can't help thinking that Jordan is an unusually courageous man. It is +fortunate that he is so, considering everything."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Forster flashed a keen glance at him, but it said a good deal for +her capability of keeping a promise that she contented herself with a +simple question.</p> + +<p>"Why?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"He expects to marry her," said Forster dryly.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile Jordan was riding down the dusty road, and thinking out +a scheme which, though he had been reluctant to adopt it in the first +case, was now commencing to compel his attention. As the result of this, +he spent most of the evening in certain second-rate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> saloons where +sailormen and wharf-hands congregated, which, though he had been well +acquainted with such places in his struggling days, was a thing he had +not done for several years. However, he came across one or two men there +who, while they were probably not aware of it, gave him a little useful +information, and he had a project in his mind when he went on board the +<i>Shasta</i> on the following morning. She was then in the hands of the +ship-carpenters, for, although the treasure-seekers in their haste to +reach the auriferous north would if necessary have gone in a canoe, it +was evident that the <i>Shasta</i> Company must offer them at least some kind +of shelter in view of the opposition of larger vessels. Jordan also knew +that niggardliness is not always profitable, and the new passenger deck +that was being laid along the beams was well planned and comfortable. He +drew Jimmy into the room beneath the bridge, and taking out his +cigar-case laid it on the table.</p> + +<p>"Take one. We have got to talk," he said. "Now, the <i>Shasta</i>'s out after +money, and it 'most seems to me that Merril is going to have an +opportunity for providing some of it. You don't know any reason why you +shouldn't get what he screwed out of your father, and, perhaps, a little +more, out of him?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Jimmy grimly, though there was a shadow on his face; "I could +find a certain pleasure in making him feel the screw in turn."</p> + +<p>"Then I'll show you how it can be done. But first of all we'll go back a +little. Merril has had to make the road to his pulp-mill, and it's +costing him and the other men a lot of money. His particular share is +quite a big one. Then he's saddled with an old-type steamer that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span> can't +be run economically, and, as you know, we'll have to come down in +freight and passage rates now that the other people are putting on new +boats. Besides, Carnforth, who was to take a big share in the concern, +is going to leave him."</p> + +<p>"How do you know that?"</p> + +<p>Jordan hesitated for a moment. "Well," he said, "I do, and that's about +all I mean to tell you. Anyway, I've cause for believing that Merril is +tightly fixed for money, and can't lay his hands on it. There are +reasons why he couldn't let up on the pulp-mill if he wanted. Still, +there is one way he could get the money, and that is by making the +underwriters, who hold the steamboat covered, provide it."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Jimmy, "it wouldn't be very difficult either."</p> + +<p>His companion smiled dryly. "I have a notion how she is insured, and, so +far as I can gather, it's under an economical policy. Underwriters face +total constructive loss, but don't stand in for minor damage or salvage. +Well, I've ground for believing the thing is to be done by the engineer, +and he is a man who has to do just what Merril tells him. You and +Fleming could figure out how he will probably manage. But one thing is +clear: when that steamboat's engines give out you have got to be +somewhere round to salve her."</p> + +<p>"You are sure of this?" asked Jimmy. "What makes you so?"</p> + +<p>Jordan did not answer him for a moment, and once more there was +hesitation in his manner.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "that is my affair, and I've been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> worrying over it +quite a while now. Anyway, I think it's a sure thing."</p> + +<p>"What do you purpose if I salve that steamer and we find anything wrong +on board her?"</p> + +<p>"In that case I'm not sure the salvage will content the <i>Shasta</i> +Company. It's admissible to break your trading opponent. As I tried to +show you, Merril's tightly fixed, and while the man's quite clever +enough to wriggle loose, it will be our business to see that he +doesn't."</p> + +<p>Jimmy sat still for a few moments with trouble in his face, which was +hard and grim, until his comrade turned to him again.</p> + +<p>"Jimmy," he said quietly, "that man had no pity on your father. The +thing has to be done, and the <i>Shasta</i> Company stood by you. We have got +to have that salvage, and you're not going to go back on us now."</p> + +<p>Jimmy stood up and straightened himself in a curious slow fashion. "No," +he said, "I'm with you. As you say, the thing has to be done—and it +naturally falls to me. Well, though it'll probably cost me a good deal, +I'm ready. When do you expect him to try it?"</p> + +<p>"I don't quite know—you couldn't expect me to. Still, I should figure +it won't be until she goes north, after the lay-off, in spring. Guess +he'll hold on as long as he can. Freights won't drop much before then."</p> + +<p>He rose and laid his hand on his comrade's shoulder as they went out. "I +think I understand how you are fixed, but you have to face it," he went +on. "There's another thing I want to mention. If you can, get hold of +Merril's engineer, and scare him into some admission."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">DISABLED ENGINES</span></h2> + + +<p>Spring had come, and all down the wild West Coast the tall pines had +shaken off their load of snow and the rivers were thundering in their +misty cañons, but there was very little sign of it at sea when one +bitter morning a cluster of deeply bronzed men hung about the +<i>Adelaide</i>'s engine-room skylights. They were lean and somewhat grim of +face, as well as ragged and suggestively spare of frame, for they had +borne all that man may bear and live through during the winter they had +spent in the ice-bound wilderness. Now they were going back to +civilization with many ounces of gold, and papers relating to auriferous +claims, to invoke the aid of capital before they once more turned their +faces toward the frozen north.</p> + +<p>It was noticeable that although they were of widely different birth and +upbringing there was the same stamp which revealed itself in a certain +quietness of manner and steadiness of gaze upon them all, for these were +the pick of the mining community, men who had grappled with the +wilderness in its most savage moods long before they blazed a new trail +south from the wilds of the Yukon. They had proved their manhood by +coming<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> back at all, for that winter the unfit had died. Still, though +they had endured things beyond the comprehension of the average city +man, they were glad of the shelter of the tall skylights, because the +<i>Adelaide</i>'s flush deck was swept by a stinging wind and little showers +of bitter spray blew all over it. She was rolling viciously across a +waste of gray-blue sea which was flecked by livid froth, and her +mastheads swung in a wide sweep athwart a sky of curious dingy blue. +There was no warmth anywhere in the picture, and apparently very little +light; but for all that, every sea stood out from its fellows, and those +back in the clear distance were etched upon the indented horizon with +harsh distinctness. One of the men shook his head as he gazed at them.</p> + +<p>"They look like the pines on the ridge did the day the blizzard struck +us down on the Assiniboia Creek," he said. "It was a full-powered one. +The boys who'd camped ahead of us were frozen stiff by morning. The two +we scraped the snow off were sitting there like statues, and we didn't +worry 'bout the others. There was ten feet over them, anyway. I've no +use for this kind of weather."</p> + +<p>One of his companions swept his glance astern toward the smear of smoke +on the serrated skyline, which was blotted out next moment when the +<i>Adelaide</i> swung her stern aloft.</p> + +<p>"If you're right in your figuring, I'm glad I came along in this boat," +he said. "Anyway, she's bigger, though I 'most took my berth in the +<i>Shasta</i>. Seems to me we're quite a long while getting away from her."</p> + +<p>The others agreed with him, for they had seen that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> smear of smoke on +the skyline since early morning. Then they turned to watch the engineer, +who came out of a door close by, and glanced up to weather, blinking in +the bitter wind. He was a big loosely-built man in dungarees, with the +pallid face of one accustomed to the half-light and heat of the +engine-room, but in his case it was also unhealthily puffy. Then he +slouched right aft, and stood still again looking down at the dial of +the taffrail log which records the distance run, while he fumbled in a +curious aimless fashion with the blackened rag in his hand.</p> + +<p>"That," said one of the miners, "is a man I'm no way stuck on. Now, +you'll most times find hard grit in an engineer, but this one kind of +strikes me as feeling that there was something after him he was scared +of."</p> + +<p>"Well," said one of the others reflectively, "it's not an uncommon +thing. There was a man down on the flat where we struck it who had a +kind of notion that there were three big timber wolves on his trail. +Kept his rifle clean with the magazine ram full for them, but one night +they got him. A sure thing. Tom was there."</p> + +<p>The man at whom he glanced nodded. "Now and then I wish I hadn't been," +he said. "Lister was sitting very sick beside his fire that night. Said +he heard those wolves pattering in the bush—there were thick pines all +round us—'most made me think I did."</p> + +<p>"Well?" said one of his companions.</p> + +<p>The miner made a little expressive grimace. "Longest night I ever put +in. Sat there and kept them off him. Anyway, I tried, but he was dead at +sun-up."</p> + +<p>None of the others showed any astonishment, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> man who had asked +the question glanced back toward the engineer.</p> + +<p>"Guess the man who runs this steamboat should be getting rich by the way +they strike you for a drink," he said. "I'm bringing down 'most two +hundred ounces, but I wouldn't like to fill that engineer up at the +tariff."</p> + +<p>"Never saw him making a traverse, anyway. He walks quite straight," said +a comrade.</p> + +<p>"Well," said the other, "I've seen his eyes."</p> + +<p>Just then the man they were discussing turned toward the bridge, from +which the skipper was beckoning him. A minute or two later they went +into the room beneath it, and the engineer sat down looking at the man +in front of him with narrow, half-open eyes. The latter was young and +spruce in trim uniform, a man of no great education, who had a favorable +opinion of himself.</p> + +<p>"Can't you shove her along a little faster, Robertson?" he said. "We'll +be thirty knots behind our usual run at noon."</p> + +<p>"No," said the engineer, in a curious listless drawl. "I've been letting +the revolutions down. That high-pressure piston's getting on my nerves +again."</p> + +<p>"Shouldn't have thought you had any worth speaking of," said the +skipper, with a quick sign of impatience. "You give one the impression +that they've gone to pieces long ago. Take a drink, and tone them up."</p> + +<p>He flung a bottle on the table, and watched his companion's long greasy +fingers fumble at it with a look of disgust. Robertson half-filled his +glass with the yellow spirit, and drained it with slow enjoyment. Then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span> +he breathed hard, and, leaning his elbows on the table, looked at the +skipper heavily.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "you want something?"</p> + +<p>"I do," said the skipper, and taking down a chart unrolled one part of +it. "I want to shake her up until we get away from the <i>Shasta</i>, for one +thing. Wheelock has been hanging on to us as far as his boat's speed +will allow it the last two or three runs. I can't quite figure what he's +after."</p> + +<p>Robertson looked almost startled for a moment as though an unpleasant +thought had occurred to him, but his heavy, puffy face sank into its +usual lethargicness again.</p> + +<p>"Wants to scoop your passengers. Done it once or twice," he said. +"Well?"</p> + +<p>"For another thing, I want to get round this nest of islands before the +breeze that's brewing comes down on us. It will be a snorter. If I were +surer of your—old engines, I'd try the inside passage, though the tides +run strong. Now, if I head her up well clear of the islands I'm throwing +miles away, and letting the <i>Shasta</i> in ahead of me. Wheelock has +apparently an engineer who will stand by him."</p> + +<p>Again a curious furtive look that suggested uneasiness crept into +Robertson's eyes.</p> + +<p>"He's always just ahead or just astern, and we've altered our sailing +bill twice," he said, as if communing with himself.</p> + +<p>"I guess you dropped on the reason. Anyway, if you can give me a little +more steam, we'll be clear of this unhallowed conglomeration of reefs +and tides by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span> this time to-morrow. If it's necessary, you can run her +easier afterward."</p> + +<p>Robertson laid a grimy finger on the chart. "She'll be feeling the +indraught now—it's running ebb," he said. "If I can read the weather, +you'll soon have the breeze strong on your starboard bow."</p> + +<p>The skipper flung a swift glance at him, in which there was a trace of +astonishment. "How'd you come to know just where she is?"</p> + +<p>"Taffrail log," said Robertson. "I generally run a rough reckoning in my +head. Well, you want another knot or two out of her until you have the +big bight to lee of you? See what I can do, though I'd sooner take a +knot off her. That high-press piston's worrying me."</p> + +<p>He jerked himself heavily to his feet, and when he shambled out of the +room the skipper, who made a little gesture of relief, took up his +dividers and laid their points on the chart. One of them rested in the +middle of the mark left by the engineer's greasy finger. After that he +rolled the chart up and stowed it away from the others in a drawer +beneath his berth, and the look of annoyance in his face had its +significance. He did not like his engineer, and although he had no +particular reason for distrusting him he remembered that when the latter +had found it necessary to stop his engines at sea, as he had done once +or twice during the last trip or two, it had generally been in the last +spot a nervous skipper would have desired. Then he went out, and climbed +to his bridge.</p> + +<p>"You can head her out two points more to westward," he said to the +mate.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span>"Very good!" said the latter. "Still, we decided that the course she was +on would keep her off the land."</p> + +<p>"We did," said the skipper dryly. "Anyway, you'll head her out. We're +going to have a wicked breeze from the west before this time to-night."</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile the second engineer was leaning out from a slippery +platform that swung and slanted as the <i>Adelaide</i> lurched over the long +gray seas, listening to the dull pounding of the high-pressure engine. +His face was as near as he could get it to the big cylinder, and after +glancing at a little glass tube he looked down at a man with a tallow +swab who clung to the iron ladder beneath him.</p> + +<p>"I don't like the way she's slamming, Jake," he said. "There's mighty +little oil going into her, either. Who's been throttling up the feed?"</p> + +<p>"The chief," said the man on the ladder. "He was slinging it red-hot at +Charley 'bout heaving oil away. Guess I'd have fed it to her by the +gallon after seeing that new piston-ring sprung on."</p> + +<p>The second pursed up his face, for there is an etiquette in these +affairs at sea which the man, who had come there fresh from a sawmill, +apparently did not understand. "Well," he said, "I guess Mr. Robertson +bossed the putting in of that ring, and he knows his business. Anyway, +if he tells you you will run her dry."</p> + +<p>Then a big, loosely-hung figure came shambling down the ladder, and the +second withdrew. However, he stood among the columns below, and watched +his superior stop and glance at the tube through which the oil flowed +before he went about his work again.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> Robertson was apparently +satisfied, and after slouching round the engine-room and unscrewing a +little further the throttle valve which turns steam on to the engines, +he crawled back to his greasy room. He sloughed off his jacket and +boots, and drawing a bottle from beneath the mattress of his bunk poured +himself a stiff drink of whisky before he stretched himself out.</p> + +<p>He slept soundly, and did not hear the roar of the engines below him +when the <i>Adelaide</i> flung her stern out and the lifted screw whirred +madly in the air. The thud of green water on her deck passed unheeded +too, though the second heard it as he watched the maze of clanking, +banging steel, until the young third relieved him. The latter came down +dripping, and shook a little shower of brine off him when he stopped +beside his superior.</p> + +<p>"It's blowing quite fresh, and she seems to be plugging it mighty hard +since you shook her up," he said. "The chief must have given up worrying +about that piston, or he wouldn't have had you take the extra knot or +two out of her."</p> + +<p>"Keep your eye on the—thing," said the second. "It's going to make us +trouble yet. If I were boss of this job, I'd slow her down right now +instead of pressing her."</p> + +<p>He went up and also went to sleep, and, since the telegraph stood at +full-speed ahead, the young third clung to a greasy rail, all eyes and +ears, with one hand on the gear that would throttle down the steam, +while the rolling grew more vicious and the plunges steeper. Quick as he +was, there was a thunderous clamor every now and then as the big +compound engines, which were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> twice the size of those of a modern boat +of equal tonnage, ran away, and he commenced to long for the close of +his watch while the perspiration dripped from him. He had not been very +long at sea, and there is a responsibility upon the man on watch when +the whirring screw swings clear. At last there was a heavier plunge than +usual, and, though the third did all he could, the big engines span and +clamored furiously as the stern went up. Then there was a harsh, +grinding scream, and a crash. After that came sudden stillness, and the +third frantically span the wheel that cut off the steam, while grimy men +went sliding and floundering over the slippery plates and platforms +toward the high-pressure engine.</p> + +<p>The sudden portentous silence and the roar of blown-off steam that +followed it roused every man on board the ship, and Robertson crawled +sluggishly out of his berth. He had reasons for knowing exactly what had +happened, and he showed no sign of haste, but there was a furtive look +in his eyes, and he sat on the ledge of the bunk shivering a little +while he thrust his hand beneath the mattress again. He felt that he +needed bracing, for he had once spent several anxious hours in a +half-swamped lifeboat after the steamer to which it belonged had gone +ashore, and he was aware that somebody is usually held accountable for +mishaps at sea. There was not very much left in the whiskey-bottle when +he thrust it out of sight again, and shambled out of his room. The +<i>Adelaide</i> was rolling viciously, and when he reached the engine-room he +came near falling down the slippery ladder. Indeed, most men would have +gone down it headlong if they had braced themselves as he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> had done, but +habitual caution made him feel for a good hold, and he descended safely +to where his subordinates were clustered beneath the high-pressure +cylinder. Their faces showed tense and anxious in the flickering light +of the lamps which swung wildly as the steamer rolled, and the young +third engineer hastily related what had brought about the stoppage.</p> + +<p>"Rig the lifting tackles while she cools," said Robertson. "Get the +stud-nuts loose. We'll have the cover off soon as we can."</p> + +<p>Then he turned and saw, as he had partly expected, a quartermaster +standing just inside the door above him, and with a word or two to his +second he crawled back up the ladder and went with the man to the room +beneath the bridge. The young skipper who stood there with a furrowed +face regarded him grimly.</p> + +<p>"How long are you going to be before you start her again?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Robertson blinked at him with furtive, half-open eyes. "I don't quite +know—it's a heavy job. We have to heave the piston up," he said. +"Besides that, she has knocked things loose below."</p> + +<p>The skipper appeared to have some difficulty in restraining himself.</p> + +<p>"Unless you can get steam on her in the next few hours she'll be +breaking up by morning. The reefs to lee of us are not the kind of ones +I'd like to put a steamer ashore on, either."</p> + +<p>Then he took a bottle from a drawer with a little grimace of disgust, +for he remembered that skippers are comparatively plentiful, and the man +he could scarcely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> keep his hands off was for some reason apparently a +favorite with his employer.</p> + +<p>"Oh, take a drink, and hump yourself," he said. "I guess that's the only +thing to put a move on you."</p> + +<p>Robertson hesitated for a moment, for he realized that he had still a +part to play. Then it occurred to him that his companion might draw his +own conclusions as to his reasons for any unusual abstemiousness, and he +helped himself liberally.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said when he had drained his glass, "I'll be getting back +again. Do what I can—but it's a heavy job."</p> + +<p>He shuffled out, but his potations were commencing to have their effect, +and when he reached the top platform in the engine-room he felt +carefully for the rail that sloped as a guide to the ladder. It was as +usual greasy and Robertson's grip not particularly sure, while the +<i>Adelaide</i> rolled wickedly to lee just then. As the result of it, her +engineer went down the ladder much as a sack of coal would have done, +and fell in a limp heap on the floor-plates with a red gash on his head. +The second stooped down and shook him before he turned to the other men.</p> + +<p>"Heave him on to the tool locker, one or two of you," he said. "We can't +pack him up to his room with this job in front of us. See if you can fix +that cut for him, Varney, and then go up and tell the skipper."</p> + +<p>A man went up the ladder, and the skipper, who sent an urgent message +back with him, turned to the little cluster of miners who were waiting +about his room.</p> + +<p>"Something wrong with the engines?" asked one.</p> + +<p>"There is," said the skipper, who knew his men and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> would not have +admitted to the ordinary run of passengers what he did to them. "It will +probably be some hours before they start again, and the shore's not very +far away to lee. If you feel inclined to lend a hand at getting sail on +her I guess it would be advisable."</p> + +<p>The miners were willing, and set about it cheerfully, though it was +blowing hard now and the long deck heaved and slanted under them. There +is very seldom an unnecessary man on board a steamer, and the +<i>Adelaide</i>'s mate was glad of a few extra strong arms just then. That +they were drenched with bitter spray and occasionally flung against +winch and bulwarks did not greatly trouble them. Things of that kind did +not count after facing the wild turmoil of northern rivers and living +through destroying hazes of blizzard-driven snow. So they got the canvas +on her, forestaysail, gaff-headed foresail, mainstaysail, and a +blackened three-cornered strip abaft the mainmast, and the skipper felt +a trifle easier when he found that he could steer her. She crawled +through the water at perhaps two knots an hour, dragging her idle screw, +but she also drove to leeward nearer the deadly reefs.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX<br /> +<span class="smalltext">UNDER COMPULSION</span></h2> + + +<p>It was in the gray of the morning when Jimmy saw her, a dim patch of +hull and four strips of sail that heaved and dipped between the seas. He +also saw the faint loom of land behind her, and turned to Lindstrom, who +stood beside him, with a grim smile.</p> + +<p>"I think we can make our own terms to-day," he said. "She wouldn't be +there with those reefs to lee of her if her engines hadn't broken down. +Will you ask the bos'n to have a board ready and a brushful of white +lead?"</p> + +<p>Then he turned to the man in oilskins who held the steering wheel. "Hard +over. Run her right down on them."</p> + +<p>The <i>Shasta</i>'s bows came round, and the light was growing clearer when +she lay with engines stopped as close to windward of the <i>Adelaide</i> as +Jimmy dared venture. The latter crawled ahead sluggishly, heaving her +bows up streaming out of the long seas that fell away beneath a high +wall of slanted iron hull until the blackened strips of sailcloth swung +wildly back again. Then her tall side sank down until the line of rail +was level with the brine. A couple of shapeless, oilskinned figures +clung to her slanted bridge with the spray whirl<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span>ing about them, and +ragged wisps of cloud drove fast across the low and dingy sky overhead.</p> + +<p>Jimmy watched her with eyes half-closed to keep the spray out, which had +a portentous glint in them. This was a moment for which he had waited +long months, and now his turn had come. If Jordan were right—and the +fact that the <i>Adelaide</i> was there to leeward of him with engines +useless certainly suggested it—he had only to play his cards well and +deal the man who had ruined his father a crushing blow. He set his lips +tight as he remembered that when it fell the man's daughter must bear it +too, for he was bound by every honorable tie to do what he could for the +men who had entrusted him with the <i>Shasta</i>. That fact, he felt, must +stand first with him; but he was also a seaman, and could not stand by +while a costly vessel drove ashore as the result of an infamous +conspiracy. While he waited, grim-faced, with his wet hand clenched on +the telegraph, a string of flags fluttered up between the other +steamer's masts, and he laughed harshly as he turned to Lindstrom, who +had come up again with a brush and a strip of board.</p> + +<p>"That's quite plain without the code," he said. "Engines given out, and +he's open for a tow. Well, he shall have it, on conditions. Closer, +quartermaster. Lindstrom, hold the board for me."</p> + +<p>He painted his answer neatly in big bold letters, and when he had +pressed down his telegraph flung up an arm for a sign to the cluster of +very wet men below.</p> + +<p>"Look at this thing, and remember it," he shouted. "Hold it up before +you hang it out, Lindstrom."</p> + +<p>The mate did as he was bidden, and one or two of the men made a sign of +comprehension, for, as all on board<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> share in salvage, they were keenly +interested too. Then the quartermaster pulled over his wheel, and the +<i>Shasta</i> crept ahead a little with a message hung outside her bridge +rails.</p> + +<p>"Half your appraised value, or the court's award."</p> + +<p>There was no answer for several minutes, though the flags came +fluttering down, and then a thing happened that apparently strengthened +Jimmy's hand, which was, as he alone knew, a particularly strong one +already. A white streak appeared to leeward, perhaps two miles away +beneath the gray loom of land, and it was evident that the <i>Adelaide</i>'s +skipper knew it was the filmy spray flung up by crumbling breakers. Two +or three colored strips ran up between her masts again, and the hard +smile crept back into Jimmy's eyes.</p> + +<p>"Seems to fancy he'll get off easier through the court," he said to +Lindstrom. "Well, he's wrong; but the first thing is to get their rope +on board. Strip your lifeboat, and get her clear."</p> + +<p>Lindstrom bustled down the ladder, and a handful of drenched men set +about getting the boat out. It was not an easy task, for there were +times when the <i>Shasta</i> rolled her rail in, and the boat swung in upon +her deck as often as over the sea. Then she drove against the streaming +plates with a crash, and a big gray comber that swept round the +<i>Shasta</i>'s stern half-filled her as they lowered her with a run, but the +men dropped into her, and she reeled clear with the oars splashing any +way on the back of the next one. Jimmy set his lips as he watched her, +and pressing down his telegraph sent the <i>Shasta</i> half-speed ahead in a +big sweep, until she came up steaming dead slow once more under the +<i>Adelaide<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span></i>'s lee. He waited there ten anxious minutes until the boat +drove down on him bringing a line with her.</p> + +<p>Somehow they hove her in not greatly damaged, and the rattling winch +afterward hauled a big steel hawser across; but the land was clearly +visible, a dark streak of rock that rose above a haze of flying spray, +when Jimmy rang for full-speed again. He knew by the chart that it was +an island of some extent with a wide sound between it and the next one +where he might find shelter, provided he could hold the <i>Adelaide</i> off +the rocks that long. This, however, appeared very doubtful in the +meanwhile, for it was evident that the larger vessel was rapidly +dragging him to leeward. It was simply a question whether she would +drive ashore before he towed her around the point he could dimly see on +the contracted horizon, but it was a somewhat momentous one. If he +failed, the sea that spouted on the shoals would make short work of her.</p> + +<p>It became evident that there was a capable helmsman at the <i>Adelaide</i>'s +wheel, for she crawled along well in line astern, with but little of the +wild sheering from the course which in such cases is apt to part the +stoutest hawser; but Jimmy grew tensely anxious as the next hour slipped +by. The beach was rapidly growing plainer, but the head beyond which +there was shelter was still apparently a long way off, and it was not an +inviting prospect that unrolled itself to lee. The gray rock, smeared by +the whiteness of flung-up spray, dropped sharply to the wide line of +tumbling foam, and above it low-flying shreds of cloud blurred the wisps +of climbing trees. Still, the head was rising all the time, and the +<i>Shasta</i>'s engines pounding steadily, except when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> her screw shot clear, +as it frequently did. Another hour went by, and the tension grew worse +to bear when a jagged and fissured slope of rock rose under their +lee-bow scarcely half a mile away. Beyond it stretched a dim vista of +more rock and reedy pines that shut in the sound.</p> + +<p>"We could swing her in if there were no tide," said Jimmy harshly. "As +it is, the stream is setting us down on the point together, but I'll +hold on until she strikes. There's no use worrying Fleming. He can't do +any more."</p> + +<p>Lindstrom, who glanced at the streak of flame in the dingy cloud that +blew down from the slanted funnel, made a sign of concurrence, and Jimmy +gripped the bridge rails hard as he gazed ahead. He could see the white +smear of tideway that streamed around the head, and the gray wall of +rock seemed forging back toward him through the midst of it. The sea +hurled itself against its feet and crumbled into a white spouting and +streaky wisps of foam that the stream swept away. Then he signed to the +quartermaster, and gripping the whistle-lanyard flung out a sonorous +blast of warning.</p> + +<p>The <i>Shasta</i>'s bows swung seaward a little further, and both vessels +swept up the tideway toward the deadly slope of stone. It crept a trifle +aft from the lee-bow while a narrow strip of water opened up ahead, and +then Jimmy held his breath as the <i>Adelaide</i> took a sheer. She swung off +at a tangent, rolling until a great slanted slope of rusty iron was +clear on that side of her, while the <i>Shasta</i>'s poop was held down by +the strain on the hawser. A sea smote her on the weather side and veiled +her in a cloud of flying spray, but Jimmy could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> dimly see a man +flounder aft up to his knees in water with an axe on his shoulder. It +was not the instrument an engineer would have chosen for cutting hard +steel wire, but the axe is wonderfully effective in the hands of a +Canadian, and the strain would part the rope if one strand were nicked. +This was also in accordance with Lindstrom's instructions, but Jimmy +flung up a restraining hand.</p> + +<p>"Hold on!" He hurled his voice through hollowed hands. "Drop the—thing! +If we can't swing her clear we're going ashore with her."</p> + +<p>He forgot what he owed the <i>Shasta</i> Company and what Anthea Merril had +said to him, for the primitive man had come uppermost under the stress +of conflict. Twining his hands in the whistle-lanyard, he hurled out a +great blast that the rocks flung back through the turmoil of the tide, +and then once more gripped the bridge rails hard, standing rigidly +still, with grim wet face and a light in his eyes. For two more minutes +the issue hung in the balance, and then, while a wider gap of water +opened up ahead, the <i>Adelaide</i> swung back astern. In a few moments +there was a hoarse, exultant clamor from both vessels, and the +froth-swept rock slid away behind her. In front lay a stretch of less +troubled water. Half an hour later the <i>Shasta</i> came around again in a +big sweep, and when the anchors went down the two vessels lay rolling +uneasily in comparative shelter.</p> + +<p>Another hour had passed when Jimmy went off in the lifeboat, and was +greeted by a cluster of bronzed men who stood about the <i>Adelaide</i>'s +gangway and insisted on shaking hands with him. Some of them also +pounded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span> his shoulders with hard fists, and though none of them +expressed themselves very artistically, Jimmy understood what was +implied by the offers of whisky that were thrust upon him. The genuine +prospector, the man who, as they say in that country, gets there when he +takes the gold-trail, is as a matter of fact usually a somewhat +abstemious person and particular as to whom he drinks with; but these +miners had made the <i>Shasta</i>'s commander one of them and presented him +with the freedom of the guild. It was in some respects as great a cause +for gratification as if he had been made companion of an ancient order, +for no man is admitted to that one who cannot prove that he possesses, +among other qualifications, high courage and stubborn endurance. Their +codes are not nicely formulated in the frozen wastes and the silent +woods of the north, but it is as a rule the great primitive essentials +that advance a man in his comrades' estimation there. Jimmy, however, +waved the miners back.</p> + +<p>"It ought to be quite clear, boys, that I can't drink with you all, +especially as I've business with the skipper," he said. "Anyway, I'm +pleased to feel I have your good-will."</p> + +<p>They still hovered about him until the <i>Adelaide</i>'s skipper drew him +into his room, and gravely shook hands with him.</p> + +<p>"It's not often boys of their kind make a fuss over any one, but in this +case the thing's quite natural," he said. "I want to say first of all +that we're much obliged."</p> + +<p>Then he emptied the contents of a locker on the table, and they included +a cigar-case and a couple of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span> glasses, which he filled. "Well, in one +way, you made a hard bargain with us, but I'm not going to complain of +that. It was made, and, though I felt tolerably sure we were both going +up on the head yonder, you carried it out. We owe you a little for +hanging on to us."</p> + +<p>Jimmy, who sat down and took a cigar, regarded him thoughtfully. The man +was, he fancied, opinionated and somewhat assertive; but there was +something in his manner which suggested that he was honest, and +therefore likely to resent having been unwittingly made Merril's +accomplice. Jimmy was far from being a genius, but like a good many +other quiet men whose conversation contains no hint of brilliancy, he +was at least as far from being a fool.</p> + +<p>"How did you come to be where you were when we fell in with you?" he +asked.</p> + +<p>"That is very much the same thing as I meant to ask you."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Jimmy dryly, "I can account for it; but I'll hear what +happened to you first."</p> + +<p>His companion told him, and Jimmy, who watched him closely, made up his +mind as to the course he should adopt. "Has it struck you that your +engines couldn't well have given out at a more inconvenient time?" he +asked.</p> + +<p>"It naturally has;" and the skipper's disgust and bitterness against his +engineer were stronger than his prudence. "Still, what could you expect +with a whisky-tank of the kind I've got in charge below? The thing has +happened before."</p> + +<p>"When there was a reef or a shoal close to lee?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span>The sudden change in his companion's expression had its significance, +and Jimmy smiled suggestively. "Now you were a little astonished to see +me turn up just when I was wanted, and you have probably noticed that I +have been on your trail lately? Well, supposing we put the two together, +what do you make of it?"</p> + +<p>It had been little more than a chance shot, for Jimmy had clearly +recognized that there was a certain probability of Merril's skipper +having acted in collusion with him; but it reached its mark. His +companion's face flushed darkly, and he laid a clenched hand on the +table.</p> + +<p>"Now," he said sharply, "you have got to talk quite straight."</p> + +<p>"I think I have done so. Do you suppose I should have lost a day or two +every now and then and gone to sea before I was quite ready to keep +close on your track, without a reason?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy's last uncertainty vanished as he watched his companion, and he +saw that the course he had taken was fully warranted. Merril, it was +evident, had considered it safer not to tamper with his skipper, perhaps +because he shrank from giving two men a hold on him when the thing could +be done by one who was in all probability to some extent already in his +hands. In any case, the skipper's face was hard with vindictiveness, and +a very unpleasant look crept into his eyes. He was young and +opinionated, and he saw the pitfall that had been dug for him.</p> + +<p>"I guess you're right," he said hoarsely. "It's not the first time my +engineer has tried it. He and the other—hog would have broken me."</p> + +<p>"It's scarcely likely they could have blamed—you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span>—at the inquiry. In +fact, I fancy Merril would have liked you held clear. It would have made +the thing look straighter."</p> + +<p>The skipper's laugh was very grim. "It wouldn't have counted if they +hadn't. One thing would have been certain—I was in command, and that +would have been quite enough to stop my getting another steamer. It's +always somebody else's fault when you get a boat ashore."</p> + +<p>Jimmy knew that his companion had reached the point to which he had been +leading him. "Well," he said quietly, "the question is, what do you +purpose to do now?"</p> + +<p>"I mean to get even with the man who meant to break me, back you up in +all you say when you send in your salvage claim, and in the meanwhile +wring the whole thing out of that—whisky-tank below."</p> + +<p>He stopped a moment. "First of all, I want to say I'm sorry I went by +that day without answering your whistle. Merril had worked me up against +you, and since I get a bonus on results, every dollar's worth of freight +you picked up was so much out of my pocket. Still, you're not going to +remember that against me now. We both earn our bread at sea, and you +have to stand by me."</p> + +<p>Jimmy nodded. "I'm willing," he said. "Hadn't you better send for your +engineer?"</p> + +<p>The skipper rose and opening the door called to a man outside. "I want +Mr. Robertson here," he said. "If he isn't willing or fit to come, you +can drag him."</p> + +<p>The engineer arrived on his own feet, and stood still, leaning somewhat +heavily on the table with one hand,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span> when the skipper closed the door +behind him. A curious furtive look of apprehension crept into his eyes +when he heard the snap, and Jimmy glanced at him with a sense of +disgust. There was a dirty bandage around his head, and his face showed +baggy and pallid under it, while his loosely-hung figure draped in +greasy serge seemed disproportionately large and clumsy in the little +trim room. There was also something in his attitude that vaguely +suggested the viciousness of a rat in a trap, and it was evident that he +had been drinking hard of late.</p> + +<p>"Well," he asked harshly, "what do you want?"</p> + +<p>The <i>Adelaide</i>'s skipper turned to Jimmy. "This is Captain Wheelock of +the <i>Shasta</i>. He and I have been comparing notes, and the game you have +been playing is quite clear to me. If you're wise you'll own up to it +before we go any further. In the first place, what were you to get for +casting this ship away?"</p> + +<p>The man showed more courage than Jimmy had expected from his appearance, +though it was clearly the courage of desperation. He braced himself +stiffly, and his laugh was contemptuous. "I guess you're going to be +sorry for this. You've said it before a third party."</p> + +<p>"I'll say it before a magistrate in Vancouver," broke in the skipper; +but Jimmy stopped him with a sign.</p> + +<p>"I don't think what you asked him is very material," he said +reflectively. "In any case, he wouldn't get very much. Mr. Merril is not +the man to hand over money when it isn't necessary."</p> + +<p>He watched the man closely, and it became evident to him that Jordan had +been warranted in the con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span>struction he had put on certain scraps of +information picked up on the wharf and in the saloons of Vancouver.</p> + +<p>"I don't quite understand," said the skipper.</p> + +<p>"I think Mr. Robertson does. Of course, he couldn't well drop his name +without invalidating his papers, and after all it was probably safe to +keep it, since there are a good many Robertsons, and everybody would +expect him to change it. Still, I scarcely fancy he is aware that there +are two men in Vancouver who would swear to him with pleasure. They're +firing sawmill boilers."</p> + +<p>The engineer's jaw dropped and there was craven fear in his face, but he +seemed to pull himself together, though Jimmy noticed his glance toward +the door.</p> + +<p>"I dare say you can recall the <i>Oleander</i> case," he said. "She was a +British ship, and I don't know how Mr. Robertson was able to slip out of +Portland quietly; though since the fireman who was done to death on +board her belonged to that city, the boys along the wharves would have +drowned him if they had got their hands on him."</p> + +<p>"Good Lord!" said the skipper, with a little gasp; "the man was slowly +roasted." Then he swung around toward the engineer. "This is the—brute +who did it?"</p> + +<p>"If you're not sure, you can look at him."</p> + +<p>A glance was sufficient, and the skipper had no time for another. +Robertson turned swiftly in a frenzy of drink-begotten rage and crazing +fear, and flung open the door. Then he stooped, and before they quite +realized his purpose whipped up the poker from the little stove and +struck furiously at Jimmy's head. Jimmy, throwing himself backward, +flung up his fore<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span>arm and broke the full weight of the blow; but it left +him dazed and sick for a second or two, and before the skipper could get +around the little table Robertson had swung out of the door. A clamor +broke out, and men ran aft along the deck as he headed for the rail; but +as he laid his hands on it Jimmy reeled out of the room beneath the +bridge with the blood trickling down his face. The engineer swung +himself over, and Jimmy, who shook off the skipper's grasp, sped aft +with uneven strides and leaped from the taffrail.</p> + +<p>The cold of that icy water steadied him when he came up again, and he +saw that the stream of tide was carrying the other man down toward the +<i>Shasta</i> and strained every muscle to come up with him. It was, however, +five or six minutes before he did it, and when Robertson grappled with +him they both went under. Jimmy waited, knowing that they must come up +again, and when that happened there was a splash of oars close by. Then +he struck with all his strength at a livid face, and just as he felt +himself being drawn down once more an oar grazed his head and a hand +grabbed his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Lay hold of him!" he gasped, and the boat swayed down level with the +water while he and Robertson were dragged on board.</p> + +<p>"Keep still!" said somebody, who struck the latter hard with the pommel +of an oar.</p> + +<p>Then Jimmy scrambled to his feet with the water draining from him. "Back +to the <i>Adelaide</i>," he said, "as fast as you can."</p> + +<p>It was, however, half an hour later when Robertson was once more thrust +into the skipper's room, and collapsed, with all the fight gone out of +him, on a settee.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span> He seemed to have fallen to pieces physically, but it +was evident that his mind was clear, though there was now only abject +fear in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said, "what do you want from me?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy still felt a trifle dazed, and his head was throbbing painfully, +but he roused himself with an effort.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you in a minute; but first of all I should like you to +realize how you stand," he said. "The <i>Oleander</i> is a British ship, +Vancouver is a Canadian town, and if I put the police on to the two men +I mentioned they will have a tolerably clear case against you. You +needn't expect anything from Merril; he will certainly go back on you."</p> + +<p>Robertson's face grew vindictive. "He held the thing over me, but we +never meant to kill the man. He tried to knife one of us, and, anyway, +it was his heart that made an end of him. We didn't know until afterward +that it was wrong. But go on."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Jimmy dryly, "I'm not going to make a bargain with you, but +at the same time I'm not quite sure how far it's my duty to work the +case up for the police. In the meanwhile, I want a plain written +statement as to your connection with Merril."</p> + +<p>The man made a sign of acquiescence, though there was malice in his +eyes. "I can get even with him, anyway, and it's a sure thing he'd have +sent me up out of the way if he could. Get me some paper."</p> + +<p>Jimmy turned to the skipper. "Call one of the prospectors. We want an +outsider to hear the thing."</p> + +<p>A miner was led in, and Robertson, who had been handed pen and paper, +commenced to write. The skipper read aloud what he had written, and all +of them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span> signed it. Then Jimmy put the document into his pocket, and two +seamen led the engineer to his room. Early next morning, when the breeze +had fallen, a steward roused the skipper.</p> + +<p>"I took in Mr. Robertson's coffee, but his room was empty," he said.</p> + +<p>The skipper was on deck in a few minutes, but there was nothing to show +what had become of the engineer. The <i>Adelaide</i> had, however, now swung +with her stern somewhat near the shore, and a man who had kept anchor +watch remembered having seen a big Siwash canoe slipping out to sea a +few hours earlier.</p> + +<p>"There was a man in her who didn't look quite like an Indian," he said.</p> + +<p>"Well," said the skipper dryly, "if he's drowned it won't matter. +Anyway, I'm not going to worry."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX<br /> +<span class="smalltext">AN EYE FOR AN EYE</span></h2> + + +<p>The <i>Shasta</i> lay safely tied up to a buoy in Vancouver Inlet, and a +quartermaster stood at her gangway with instructions to see that no +stranger got on board, when Jimmy sat talking to his sister and Jordan +in the room beneath her bridge. It was an hour since she had steamed in, +and except for an occasional clinking in her engine-room, where Fleming +was still busy, there was silence on board her, though the scream of +saws and the rattle of freight-car wheels came off faintly across the +still water. The two ports were open wide, but none of those who sat in +the little room noticed that the light was fading. Jordan and Eleanor +were listening with close attention while Jimmy concisely related how he +had fallen in with and towed Merril's steamer. At last he broke off with +an abrupt movement when a splash of oars grew louder.</p> + +<p>"Another boat!" he said. "We'll have every curious loafer in the city +pulling off by and by."</p> + +<p>Then the voice of the quartermaster reached them as he answered somebody +who called to him from the approaching boat.</p> + +<p>"No," he said, "you can't see Captain Wheelock—he's busy. Keep her off +that ladder."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span>There was evidently another question asked, and the man answered +impatiently: "I can't tell you anything about the <i>Adelaide</i> 'cept that +she's coming along under easy steam. Should be here in a day or two."</p> + +<p>Jordan glanced at Jimmy. "The men you brought down are talking already, +and we haven't much time for fixing our program. When do you expect +her?"</p> + +<p>"I don't exactly know. We came away before she did when the breeze fell, +but her second engineer seemed quite confident he could bring her along +at seven or eight knots. He wasn't sure whether his high-pressure engine +would stand anything more."</p> + +<p>Then it was significant that both of them looked at Eleanor, who had +insisted on coming with Jordan, and who was apparently waiting to take +her part in the discussion. One could have fancied from their faces that +they would have preferred to be alone just then and were a trifle uneasy +concerning the course their companion might think fit to pursue. She +leaned back in her chair watching them, with a little hard smile which +seemed to suggest that she knew what they were thinking. Still, she said +nothing, and Jordan spoke again.</p> + +<p>"You are sure of the <i>Adelaide</i>'s skipper and that miner fellow?" he +asked. "They wouldn't go back on you if Merril tried to buy them off?"</p> + +<p>"I think I can be sure of them," said Jimmy reflectively. "The skipper +is not the kind of man I would take to, but, in some respects, at least, +he's straight; and, anyway, he's bitter enough against Merril to back us +in anything we may decide to do. You see, the man who gets his boat +ashore is practically done for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span> nowadays, whether it's his own fault or +not; and I fancy we can count on the miner, too. After what those +fellows had to go through to get the gold they were bringing home, +they're not likely to have much sympathy with Merril. In fact, if the +others understood how near they came to seeing it go down in the +<i>Adelaide</i>, it would be a little difficult to keep them from laying +hands on him. In any case, there's the engineer's statement—one can't +get over that."</p> + +<p>Eleanor stretched out her hand for the paper, and there was a vindictive +sparkle in her eyes as she glanced at it.</p> + +<p>"Charley," she said with portentous quietness, "it seems to me that the +possession of this document places Merril absolutely in your hands. You +are not afraid to make the utmost use of it?"</p> + +<p>Jordan glanced at Jimmy in a fashion the latter understood. There was +something deprecatory in it, and it appeared to suggest that he wished +his comrade to realize that he was under compulsion and could not help +himself. Then he turned to the girl with a certain air of resolution.</p> + +<p>"No," he said, "I don't think I am afraid, but I want you to understand +that I am manager of the <i>Shasta</i> Company, and have first of all to +consider the interests of my associates, the men who put their money +into the concern. There is Jimmy, too."</p> + +<p>"Jimmy!" and Eleanor laughed a little, bitter laugh, which had a trace +of contempt in it. "Pshaw! Jimmy's love affairs don't count now. I think +he feels that, too. After all, there is a trace of our mother's temper +in him if one can awaken it."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span>She turned and looked at her brother, who closed one hand tightly. "Oh, +I know; the girl has graciously condescended to smile on you, and no +doubt you are almost astonished, as well as grateful, that she should go +so far. Still, where did the money that made her a dainty lady of +station come from? Must I tell you that a second time, Jimmy?"</p> + +<p>She stopped a moment, and gripped the paper hard in firm white fingers. +"This is mine. I bought it. You know what it cost me, Charley; and what +has Jimmy done in comparison with that? Do you think anything would +induce me to spare Merril now that I have this in my hands?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy looked up sharply, and saw the flush of color in her cheek, and +that the blood had crept into his comrade's face. His own grew suddenly +hot.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" he said, with a thrill of anger in his voice, "I begin to +understand. She got the information you acted on out of that brute, +Carnforth. You knew that, Charley, and you—you countenanced it."</p> + +<p>He half rose from his seat with a brown hand stretched out as if to tear +the paper from the girl, but while Jordan swung around toward him +Eleanor laughed.</p> + +<p>"Sit down," she said imperiously, "you simple-minded fool! Do you think +I would let Charley's opinion influence me in an affair of this kind?"</p> + +<p>Jordan made a gesture of resignation. "She would not," he said. "That's +the simple fact. But go on, Eleanor—or shall I tell him? Anyway, it +must be done."</p> + +<p>The girl silenced him, and though the next two or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span> three minutes were, +perhaps, as unpleasant as any Jimmy had ever spent in his life, it was +with a certain deep relief that he heard his sister out. Before she +stopped she held up a white hand.</p> + +<p>"Once," she said, "once only, he held my wrist. That was all, Jimmy; but +I feel it left a mark. If it could be removed that way, I would burn it +out. Now you know what the thing cost me—but I did it."</p> + +<p>The men would not look at each other, and if Eleanor had left them then +it would have been a relief to both. Her suppressed passion had stirred +and shaken them, and they realized that the efforts they had made were, +after all, not to be counted in comparison with what the girl had done.</p> + +<p>It was Jordan who spoke first. "Well," he said, with the air of one +anxious to get away from a painful subject, "we have got to be +practical. The question is, how are we to strike Merril? Seems to me, in +the first case, we'll hand him a salvage claim. I'll fix it at half her +value, anyway, and he'll never fight us when he hears of the engineer's +statement. So far as I know, he can't recover under his policy, and we +could head him off from going to the underwriters if he can. The next +point is—are the miner fellow and the <i>Adelaide</i>'s skipper likely to +take any independent action on their own account? I don't think that's +very probable."</p> + +<p>"Nor do I," said Jimmy. "It isn't wise of a skipper to turn around on a +man like Merril, unless it's in a court where he has the law behind him, +and the prospector would scarcely attempt to do anything alone. Besides, +without the document to produce, they would have very little to go +upon—and what is more to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span> purpose, both of them promised to let me +handle the thing."</p> + +<p>Jordan nodded as if satisfied. "That," he said, "makes it easier. We're +going to collect our money on the salvage claim, and when Merril has +raised it he'll have strained his resources, so he won't count very much +as an opponent of the <i>Shasta</i> Company. The man's crippled already."</p> + +<p>The fact that his comrade was apparently not desirous of proceeding to +extremities afforded Jimmy a vast relief, but it vanished suddenly when +Eleanor broke in.</p> + +<p>"Can't you understand that the affair must be looked at from another +point of view as well as the commercial one?" she asked.</p> + +<p>It was a difficult question, and when neither of them answered her the +girl went on:</p> + +<p>"It doesn't seem to occur to you that what you suggest amounts to +covering up a conspiracy and allowing a scoundrel to escape his +deserts," she said. "There is another point, too. You will have to +inform the police about the Robertson affair, Jimmy, and his connection +with Merril is bound to appear when they lay hands on him."</p> + +<p>"That," said Jimmy, with a trace of dryness, "is hardly likely. The man +will be heading for the diggings by this time if he isn't drowned, and +there's very little probability of the police getting hold of him +there."</p> + +<p>Eleanor laughed, a very bitter laugh, as she fixed her eyes on him.</p> + +<p>"So you are quite content with Charley's plan—to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span> extort so many +dollars from Merril?" she said. "It has one fatal defect; it does not +satisfy me."</p> + +<p>"Now——" commenced Jordan, but the girl checked him with a gesture.</p> + +<p>"I want him crushed, disgraced, imprisoned, ruined altogether."</p> + +<p>"Anyway, I owe it to my associates to make sure of the money first."</p> + +<p>"And after that you feel you have to stand by Jimmy?"</p> + +<p>The man winced when she flung the question at him; but when he did not +answer she appeared to rouse herself for an effort, leaning forward a +trifle with a gleam in her eyes and the red flush plainer in her cheek.</p> + +<p>"Still," she said, "if Jimmy is what I think him, he will not ask it of +you. I want him to go back six years to the time he came home—from +Portland, wasn't it, Jimmy?—and stayed a few weeks with us. Was there +any shadow upon us then, though your father was getting old? I want you +to remember him as he was when you went away, a simple, kindly, +abstemious, and fearless man. It surely can't be very hard."</p> + +<p>Jimmy face grew furrowed, and he set his lips tight; but he said +nothing, and the girl went on:</p> + +<p>"It was not so the next time you came back. Something had happened in +the meanwhile. The bondholder had laid his grasp on him. He was +weakening under it, and the lust of drink was crushing the courage out +of him. Still, you must remember that it was his one consolation. Then +came the awful climax of the closing scene. I had to face it with +Charley—you were away—but you must realize the horror it brought me."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span>Jordan turned toward her abruptly. "Eleanor," he said, with a trace of +hoarseness in his voice, "let it drop. You can't bear the thing a second +time."</p> + +<p>She stopped him with a frown. "I want you to picture him deluding +Prescott with one of the pitiful, cunning excuses that drunkards make. +Wasn't it horrible in itself that he should have sunk to that? Then it +shouldn't be very hard to imagine him bribing a lounger outside to buy +him the whisky, and the carousal afterward with a stranger, a dead-beat +and outcast low enough to profit by his evident weakness. Still, he was +your father, Jimmy. Then there was the groping for matches and the +upsetting of the lamp. Somebody brought Charley, and when he came your +father lay with the clothes charred upon his burned limbs, still +half-crazed with drink and mad with pain. Must I tell you once more what +I saw when Charley brought me? I am willing, if there is nothing else +that will rouse you. You have heard it before, but I want to burn it +into your brain, so that however hard you try you can't blot out that +scene."</p> + +<p>Jimmy's face was grim and white, but while he sat very still his comrade +rose resolutely.</p> + +<p>"Eleanor," he said, "if you attempt to recall another incident of that +horrible night I shall carry you by main force out of the room."</p> + +<p>The girl turned to him with a little gesture. "Then I suppose I must +submit. You have a man's strength and courage in you—or I think you +would be afraid to marry me; but one could fancy that Jimmy has none. +The daughter of the man who ruined his father has condescended to be +gracious to him. Still, I have a little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span> more to say. She is his +daughter, his flesh and blood, Jimmy, and his pitiless, hateful nature +is in her. That is the woman you wish to marry. The mere notion of it is +horrible. Still, you can't marry her, Jimmy. You must crush her father, +and drag him to his ruin. After all, there is a little manhood somewhere +in you. You will take the engineer's statement to the underwriters and +the police. You must—you have to."</p> + +<p>Jimmy stood up slowly, with the veins swollen on his forehead and a gray +patch in his cheek. "Eleanor," he said hoarsely, "I believe there is a +devil in you; but I think you are right in this. Jordan, will you hand +me that paper?"</p> + +<p>He stood still for at least a minute when his comrade passed it to him, +and the girl watched him with a little gleam in her eyes. His face was +furrowed, and looked worn as well as very hard. There was not a sound in +the little room, and the splash of the ripples on the <i>Shasta</i>'s plates +outside came in through the open ports with a startling distinctness. +Jordan felt that the tension was becoming almost unendurable. Then Jimmy +turned slowly toward his sister, and though the pain was still in his +face it had curiously changed. There was a look in his blue eyes that +sent a thrill of consternation through her. They were very steady, and +she knew that she had failed.</p> + +<p>"I can't do it. It was not the girl's fault, and she shall not be +dragged through the mire," he said. Then he looked at his comrade. "What +I am going to do may cost you a good deal of money, and my appointment +to the <i>Shasta</i> is, of course, in your hands. I am going straight from +here to Merril's house."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span>"Well," said Jordan simply, "it may cost us both a good deal, but I +guess I must face it. If I were fixed as you are, that is just what I +should do."</p> + +<p>Jimmy said nothing, but he went out swiftly, and Eleanor turned to her +companion with a very bitter smile when the door closed behind him.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" she said, "has that girl beguiled you too? You had Merril in your +hands, and instead of crushing him you are going to smooth his troubles +away."</p> + +<p>"No," said Jordan dryly, "I don't quite think Jimmy will do that. In +some respects, I understand him better than you do. He wants to save the +girl all the sorrow and disgrace he can, but he is going to run her +father out of this city. Jimmy's not exactly clever, and it's quite +likely he'll mix up things when he meets Merril; but, for all that, I +guess he'll carry out just what he means to do. Somehow, he generally +does. That's the kind of man he is."</p> + +<p>He stopped a moment, and a smile crept into his eyes. "I don't know what +the result will be, and it may be the break-up of the <i>Shasta</i> Company; +but I can't blame Jimmy."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Eleanor, "you, the man I counted on, are turning against me +as well as my brother."</p> + +<p>Then the sustaining purpose seemed to die out of her, and she sank back +suddenly in her chair with her face hidden from him. Jordan crossed the +little room, and stooping beside her slipped an arm about her.</p> + +<p>"My dear," he said, "you can count on me always and in everything but +this. It's because of what you are to me that I'm standing by Jimmy."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI<br /> +<span class="smalltext">MERRIL CAPITULATES</span></h2> + + +<p>Merril was not in his house when Jimmy reached it, but it appeared that +he was expected shortly, and the latter, who resolved to wait for him, +was shown into a big artistically furnished room. He sat there at least +ten minutes, alone and grim in face, with a growing disquietude, for his +surroundings had their effect on him. The house was built of wood, but +expense had not been spared, and those who have visited the Western +cities know how beautiful a wooden dwelling can be made. Jimmy looked +out through the open windows on to a wide veranda framed with a slender +colonnade of wooden pillars supporting fretted arches of lace-like +delicacy. The floor of the room, which was choicely parquetted in +cunningly contrasted wood, also caught his eye, and there were +Indian-sewn rugs of furs on it of a kind that he knew was rarely +purchased in the north, except on behalf of Russian princes and American +railroad kings. The furniture, he fancied by the timber, was +Canadian-made, but it had evidently been copied from artistic European +models; and though he was far from being a connoisseur in such things, +they had all a painful significance to him just then.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span>They suggested wealth and taste and luxury; and it seemed only fitting +that the woman he loved should have such a dwelling, while he realized +that it was his hand which must deprive her of all the artistic +daintiness to which she had grown accustomed and no doubt valued. He, a +steamboat skipper of low degree, had, like blind Samson, laid a brutal +grasp upon the pillars of the house, and he could feel the trembling of +the beautiful edifice. This would have afforded him a certain grim +satisfaction, had it not been for the fact that it was impossible to +tell whether the woman he would have spared every pain might not be +overwhelmed amid the ruin when he exerted his strength. It must be +exerted. In that he could not help himself.</p> + +<p>While he sat there with a hard, set face, she came in, dressed, as he +realized, in harmony with her surroundings. Her gracious patrician +quietness and her rich attire troubled him, and he felt, in spite of all +Eleanor had said, that it would be a vast relief if he could abandon +altogether the purpose that had brought him there, though to do so +would, it was evident, set the girl further apart from him than ever, +since her father's station naturally stood as a barrier between them. +Still, he remembered what he owed the men who had sent him on board the +<i>Shasta</i>—Jordan, Forster, old Leeson, and two or three more; he could +not turn against them now.</p> + +<p>Anthea stood still just inside the door, looking at him half-expectant, +but with something that was suggestive of apprehension in her manner, +and Jimmy felt the hot blood creep into his face when he moved quietly +forward and kissed her. In view of what he had to do,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span> it would, he +felt, have been more natural if she had shrunk from him in place of +submitting to his caress. She appeared to recognize the constraint that +was upon him, for she turned away and sat down a little distance from +him.</p> + +<p>"Jimmy," she said, "I'm glad to see you back. I have been lonely without +you—and a little uneasy. Indeed, though I don't know exactly why, I am +anxious now."</p> + +<p>Then she looked at him steadily. "It is the first time you have been +here. Something unusual must have brought you. Jimmy, is it war?"</p> + +<p>The man made a deprecatory gesture. "I'm afraid it is," he said. "I +don't think there can be any compromise."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said the girl, with a start, "you don't look like a man who has +come to offer terms."</p> + +<p>Jimmy was still standing, and he leaned somewhat heavily on the back of +a chair. "I have to do something that I shrink from, but it must be +done. If there were no other reason, I daren't go back on the men who +have confidence in me; that is—not altogether, though in a way—I am +now betraying them. Anthea, you will not let this thing stand between +us?"</p> + +<p>"No;" and the girl's voice was steady, though a trifle strained. "At +least, not always. Still, I have felt that some day I should have to +choose whom I should hold to—my father or you. It is very hard to face +that question, Jimmy."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Jimmy gravely; "I am afraid you must choose to-night. You +know how much I want you, but I have sense enough to recognize that I +may bring<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span> trouble on both of us if I urge you to do what you might +afterward regret."</p> + +<p>Anthea said nothing for almost a minute, and because of the restraint he +had laid upon himself Jimmy understood the cost of her quietness. It +seemed necessary that both should hold themselves in hand. Then she +turned to him again.</p> + +<p>"You are quite sure there can be no compromise?"</p> + +<p>"It is for many reasons out of the question. In fact, I think the +decisive battle will be fought to-night. I have strained every point to +make it easier for you, or I should not have come at all, and it is very +likely that my comrades will discard me when they hear what I have done. +I am willing to face their anger, but, to some extent, at least, I must +keep my bargain with them."</p> + +<p>He moved a pace or two, and stood close by her chair looking down at +her. "If you understood everything, you would not blame me."</p> + +<p>Anthea glanced at him a moment, and he fancied that a shiver ran through +her. "I do not blame you now, though it is all a little horrible. I +cannot plead with you, and if I did I see that you would not listen. You +must do what you feel you have to."</p> + +<p>Neither of them spoke for a while, though Jimmy felt the tension was +almost unendurable. It was evident that the girl felt it too, for he +could see the signs of strain in her face. So intent were they that +neither heard the door open, and Jimmy turned with a little start when +the sound of a footstep reached them. Merril was standing not far away, +little, portly, and immaculately dressed, regarding them with an +inscrutable face.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span>"I understand you wish to see me, Mr. Wheelock," he said. "Anthea, you +will no doubt allow us a few minutes."</p> + +<p>The girl rose and moved toward the door, but before she went out she +turned for a moment and glanced at Jimmy. Then it closed softly, and he +saw that Merril was regarding him with a sardonic smile.</p> + +<p>"I heard that you had made my daughter's acquaintance, but I was not +aware that it had gone as far as I have some grounds for supposing now," +he said.</p> + +<p>"That," said Jimmy quietly, "is a subject I may mention by and by. In +the meanwhile I have something to say that concerns you at least as +closely. As it has a bearing on the other question, we might discuss it +first."</p> + +<p>"I am at your service for ten minutes;" and Merril pointed to a chair.</p> + +<p>Jimmy sat down, but said nothing for a few moments. Apart from the +trouble that he must bring upon Anthea, he felt that it was a big and +difficult thing he had undertaken. He was a steamboat skipper, and the +man in front of him one skilled in every art of commercial trickery +whose ability was recognized in that city. Still, he felt curiously +steady and sure of himself, for Jimmy, like other simple-minded men, as +a rule appeared to advantage when forced suddenly to face a crisis. He +felt, in fact, much as he had done when he stood grimly resolute on the +<i>Shasta</i>'s bridge while the <i>Adelaide</i>, sheering wildly, dragged her +toward the spouting surf. Then he turned to Merril.</p> + +<p>"I called on you once before to make a request," he said.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span>"And your errand is much the same now, though one could fancy that you +feel you have something to back it?" his companion suggested dryly.</p> + +<p>"No," said Jimmy, "I have nothing to ask you for this time. Instead, I +am simply going to mention certain facts, and leave you to act on the +information in the only way open to you; that is, to get out of +Vancouver as soon as possible. I am giving you the opportunity in order +to save Miss Merril the pain of seeing you prosecuted. You are in our +hands now."</p> + +<p>Merril scarcely moved a muscle. "You are prepared to make that assurance +good?"</p> + +<p>"I am;" and Jimmy's voice had a little ring in it. "If you will give me +your attention I'll try to do it. You have no news of the <i>Adelaide</i> +yet, and, to commence with, you will have to face the fact that she is +not on the rocks. She was just ready to steam south with a derangement +of her high-pressure engine when I last saw her."</p> + +<p>Though his companion's face was almost expressionless, Jimmy fancied +that this shot had reached its mark, and he proceeded to relate what had +happened since he fell in with the <i>Adelaide</i>. He did it with some +skill, for this was a subject with which he was at home, and he made the +feelings of her skipper and second engineer perfectly clear. Then, +though he had not mentioned Robertson's confession, he sat still, +wondering at Merril's composure.</p> + +<p>"It sounds probable," said the latter, with a little smile. "You expect +the skipper and the second engineer to bear you out? No doubt they +promised, but when they get here the thing will wear another aspect.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span> In +fact, in all probability it will look too big for them. You see, they +have merely put a certain construction upon one or two occurrences. It's +quite likely they will be willing to admit that it is, after all, the +wrong one."</p> + +<p>"Since we intend to claim half the value of the <i>Adelaide</i>, they would +have to answer on their oath in court."</p> + +<p>Merril shook his head. "Half her value! I commence to understand," he +said. "An appeal to the court is, as a rule, expensive, as I guess you +know. It is generally wiser to be reasonable and make a compromise."</p> + +<p>The suggestion was so characteristic of the man that Jimmy lost a little +of his self-restraint.</p> + +<p>"There will be no compromise in this case," he said. "If it were +necessary we would drag you through every court in the land; but, as a +matter of fact, there will be no need for that. You made a mistake in +your opinion of the courage of your skipper and your second engineer. +You also made a more serious one in putting the screw too hard on +Robertson.".</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Merril sharply, at last, "there is something more?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy took a paper from his pocket, and gravely handed it to him. "I am +quite safe in allowing you to look at it. It wouldn't be advisable for +you to make any attempt to destroy it. You will excuse my mentioning +that."</p> + +<p>Merril unfolded the document, and Jimmy noticed that the +half-contemptuous toleration died out of his face as he read it. Then he +quietly handed it back, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span> sat very still for at least a minute before +he turned to his companion again.</p> + +<p>"That rather alters the case. You have something to go upon. Do you mind +telling me what course you purpose to take?"</p> + +<p>"As I mentioned, I don't purpose to take any. Still, the <i>Shasta</i> +Company will send in a claim for salvage to-morrow, and afterward sue +you—or whoever you entrust with your affairs—unless it is met. The +<i>Adelaide</i> should also be here in the course of the next day or two, and +you will have your skipper and second engineer, as well as the miner who +witnessed the statement, to face. They appear determined on raising as +much unpleasantness as possible, though they were willing to hold back +until I had taken the first steps."</p> + +<p>He stopped a moment, and then leaned forward in his chair with a little +forceful gesture. "Though it would please me to see you prosecuted and +disgraced, I will at least take no steps to prevent your getting out of +this city quietly."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Merril, "you no doubt expect something for that concession?"</p> + +<p>"No," and Jimmy stood up, "I expect nothing. It would hurt me to make a +bargain of any kind with you, and it would, I think, be illegal. Still, +I have the honor of informing you that I purpose to marry Miss Merril as +soon as it appears convenient to her, in spite of any opposition that +you may think fit to offer."</p> + +<p>Merril showed neither astonishment nor anger. Instead he smiled quietly, +and his companion surmised that he had already with characteristic +promptness decided on his course of action.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span>"You have no objections to my sending for her?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy said he had none, and five minutes later Anthea appeared. She +stood near the door looking at the men, and saw that Jimmy's face was +darkly flushed. Her father, however, appeared almost as composed as +usual. Jimmy felt that he dare not look at her, and the tense silence, +which lasted a few moments, tried his courage hard. It cost him an +effort to hold himself in hand when Merril turned to the girl.</p> + +<p>"I understand from Mr. Wheelock that you are willing to marry him. Is +that the case?" he said.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Anthea simply, while the blood crept into her cheeks. +"That is, I shall be willing when circumstances permit."</p> + +<p>"Then, in the meanwhile, at least, you would consider my wishes?"</p> + +<p>Anthea glanced at Jimmy. "I think he understands that."</p> + +<p>Merril said nothing for almost half a minute, and sat still regarding +them with a sardonic smile, though his eyes were gentler than usual.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said at last, "that is no more than one would have expected +from you. Mr. Wheelock is, however, quite prepared to disregard my +opposition. In fact, one could almost fancy that he will be a little +grieved when I say that I do not mean to offer any."</p> + +<p>Jimmy was certainly astonished, for he had at least expected that the +man would make an attempt to play upon the girl's feelings. However, he +said nothing, and Merril turned to her again.</p> + +<p>"Well, I fancy that he has shown himself capable of looking after you, +and there is a certain forceful sim<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span>plicity in his character that, when +I consider him as my daughter's husband, somewhat pleases me. With +moderate good fortune it may carry him a long way."</p> + +<p>It seemed an almost incomprehensible thing to Jimmy that the man should +show no trace of vindictiveness, and perhaps the latter guessed it, for +he laughed softly.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Wheelock," he said, "as you have no doubt guessed, I never had much +faith in the conventional code of morality, but since you seem +determined to marry Anthea, I am in one respect glad that you evidently +have, though that is perhaps not a very logical admission. I was out +after money, and allowed no other consideration to influence me. It is +probable that I should have accumulated a good deal of it had not +everything gone against me lately. Well, if I showed no pity, I at least +seldom allowed any rancor to betray me into injudicious action when +other people treated me as I should have treated them; but, after all, +that is not the question, and we will be practical. You will not see or +write to Anthea for six months from to-day, and then if neither of you +has changed your mind you can understand that you have my good-will. She +will advise you of her address—in Toronto—in the meanwhile. It is not +a great deal to promise."</p> + +<p>Jimmy glanced at the girl, and turned again to Merril when she nodded.</p> + +<p>"I pledge myself to that," he said.</p> + +<p>"Then," said Merril, "you will leave us now. I have a good deal to say +to Anthea."</p> + +<p>Jimmy moved away without a word, and went down the corridor with every +nerve in him tingling.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="newchapter"><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII" id="CHAPTER_XXXII"></a>CHAPTER XXXII<br /> +<span class="smalltext">ELEANOR RELENTS</span></h2> + + +<p>Jordan, who waited some time on board the <i>Shasta</i>, saw no more of Jimmy +that night. This was, however, in one respect a relief to him, since +Eleanor, who was evidently very angry with her brother, insisted on +remaining as long as possible in the expectation that he would come back +again. It was, in fact, only when the hour at which she had arranged to +meet Mrs. Forster arrived that she very reluctantly permitted Jordan to +take her ashore, and he felt easier when he handed her into Forster's +wagon. It did not seem to him that a further meeting between her and her +brother would be likely to afford much pleasure to anybody. He had been +at work some little time in his office next morning when Jimmy walked +in, and, sitting down, looked at him quietly.</p> + +<p>"I have no doubt that you know why I have kept out of your way so long," +he said.</p> + +<p>"Well," replied Jordan dryly, "I can guess. What did you say to Merril?"</p> + +<p>"I told him what had happened, and left him to act upon it. Now I'm +quite prepared to resign the command of the <i>Shasta</i>."</p> + +<p>"If it's necessary, we'll talk about that later. In the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span> meanwhile we'll +get our salvage claim in. Leeson should be here at any moment. I saw him +last night."</p> + +<p>He set to work, but there were two or three points it was necessary to +discuss with Jimmy, and he was still busy when there was a rattle of +wheels in the street outside, which was followed by the sound of voices +on the stairway. Jordan laid down his pen with a gesture of +embarrassment and dismay.</p> + +<p>"It's Forster, and he has brought Eleanor along," he said. "I'm 'most +afraid you're going to have trouble, Jimmy."</p> + +<p>"It's more than probable," and Jimmy smiled somewhat grimly. "I'm quite +prepared for it."</p> + +<p>Then the door opened, and Eleanor, Forster and Leeson came in. The girl +sat down without a glance at her brother, and the rancher turned to +Jordan.</p> + +<p>"Miss Wheelock has acquainted me with the substance of what Jimmy told +you yesterday, and I came to ask what course you expect to take," he +said. "I may say that she seems as anxious to hear it as I am."</p> + +<p>Eleanor smiled. "It is not exactly Mr. Forster's fault that I am here," +she said. "The fact is, I insisted on coming. He was perfectly willing +to leave me behind."</p> + +<p>Jordan's face was more expressive of resignation than pleasure, but he +took up his pen again.</p> + +<p>"This is a statement of the services rendered the <i>Adelaide</i>, and a +claim in respect of them," he said. "I am going to take it along to +Merril's office in a few minutes, and one or more of you can come with +me."</p> + +<p>They went out together, but when they reached Merril's office Jordan and +Jimmy alone went in. They<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span> found a good many other people waiting there, +and had some little difficulty in securing attention, while the clerk to +whom Jordan spoke appeared anxious and embarrassed.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Merril is not here," he said. "He went out of town last night, and +executed a trust deed before he left. Mr. Cathcart, one of the trustees, +is now inside."</p> + +<p>Jordan looked at Jimmy. "I don't mind admitting that I expected this," +he said. Then he turned to the clerk: "Take our names in."</p> + +<p>They were shown into the inner office, where a gray-haired gentleman +listened gravely to what they had to say. Then he took the salvage claim +from Jordan, and laid it beneath a pile of other papers.</p> + +<p>"It will be considered in its turn," he said. "I do not know whether we +shall attempt to contest it, or whether there will be funds to meet it, +but I may be able to tell you more to-morrow, and would ask you to take +no further steps until you have seen me. I am at liberty to say that Mr. +Merril's affairs appear to be considerably involved."</p> + +<p>Jordan promised to wait, and when he turned toward the door, the +trustee, who took up an envelope, made a sign to Jimmy.</p> + +<p>"I was instructed to hand you this, Captain Wheelock, and to tell you +that Miss Merril leaves for Toronto by to-day's express, on the +understanding that you make no attempt to communicate with her. It +contains her address."</p> + +<p>Jimmy went out with his thoughts confused. All that had come about was, +he felt, the result of his action, but he realized that in any case the +crisis could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span> not have been much longer delayed. They found the others +awaiting them, and when Forster had quietly but firmly insisted on +escorting Eleanor into a dry-goods store and leaving her there, they +went back together to Jordan's office, where the latter related what he +had heard.</p> + +<p>"To be quite straight, I must admit that I had a notion of what Jimmy +meant to do last night, and took no steps to restrain him," he said. "If +I had done so, Merril would not have got away. We are both in your +hands, but, while you may think differently, I am not sure that what has +happened is a serious misfortune from a business point of view."</p> + +<p>Forster said nothing, and there was a few moments' awkward silence until +old Leeson spoke.</p> + +<p>"Considering everything, I guess you're right," he said. "Cathcart's a +straight man, and as they can't sell the <i>Adelaide</i> without permission +from us, we'll get some of our money, although it's hardly likely the +estate will realize enough to go around. Seems to me that's more than we +should have done if Merril had kept hold. Well, it's not my proposition +that we turn you out."</p> + +<p>He stopped a moment, and glanced at Jimmy with a little dry smile. +"Captain Wheelock has gone 'way further than he should have done without +our sanction, but I guess it will meet the case if we leave him to his +sister. It's a sure thing Miss Wheelock is far from pleased with him. +Now, there's a point or two I want to mention."</p> + +<p>The others seemed relieved at this, and when Leeson had said his say +Forster went away with him. Then Jordan glanced at Jimmy with +apprehension in his eyes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span> as Eleanor came in. She stood still, looking +at them with the portentous red flush burning in her cheek.</p> + +<p>"What I foresaw all along has happened. Jimmy has betrayed you to save +that girl," she said.</p> + +<p>Then she turned to Jimmy, flicking her glove in her hand as though she +would have struck him with it. "Jimmy," she said incisively, "you are no +longer a brother of mine. Neither Charley nor I will speak to you +again."</p> + +<p>Jordan straightened himself resolutely. "Stop there, Eleanor!" he said. +"If you won't speak to him I can't compel you to, but, in this one +thing, at least, you can't compel me. Jimmy was my friend before I met +you, and I'm standing by him now. Anyway, what has he done?"</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said the girl, with an audible indrawing of her breath, "he has +spoiled everything. If he hadn't played the traitor Merril would never +have got away. Oh!" and her anger shook her, "I can never forgive him!"</p> + +<p>Once more she turned to her brother. "There is no longer any tie between +us. You have broken it, and that is the last and only thing I have to +say to you."</p> + +<p>Jimmy rose, and quietly reached for his hat. "Then," he said, "there is +nothing to be gained by pointing out what my views are. We can only wait +until you see things differently."</p> + +<p>He went out, and Eleanor sank somewhat limply into a chair.</p> + +<p>"Charley," she said, "it's a little horrible, but he is a weak coward, +and I hate him. You had better break off our engagement; I'm not fit to +marry anybody."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span>"That's the one thing that holds in spite of everything," and Jordan +looked at her gravely with trouble in his face. "Go quietly, Eleanor. It +will straighten out in time."</p> + +<p>The girl sat still for a while saying nothing, and then she rose with a +little shiver. "Find Forster, and if he is not going back, get a team," +she said. "I want Mrs. Forster. I can't stay in the city."</p> + +<p>Jordan went out with her, and, though he had a good deal to do, was not +sorry when he failed to find Forster and it became necessary for him to +drive her back to the ranch. Eleanor, however, said very little to him +during the journey, and he had sense enough to confine his attention to +his team. He had also little time to think of anything that did not +concern his business when he returned to the city, for the <i>Shasta</i> had +to be got ready to go back to sea, and the <i>Adelaide</i> arrived early on +the following day. The skipper went with him to interview Merril's +trustee, and the latter announced that no steps would be taken to +contest the salvage claim when he heard what he had to say. However, he +added dryly that it would probably be advisable for the <i>Shasta</i> Company +to consider the compromise proposition he would shortly make. Jordan, +who fancied he was right in this, went away without having found it +necessary to hand him the engineer's confession, and was glad he had not +offered to produce it when he ransacked his office for it a few days +later.</p> + +<p>"I certainly had the thing the morning Forster and Eleanor were here," +he said. "Jimmy laid it down, and I don't remember having seen him take +it up again. Still, I suppose he must have done so."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span>Jimmy had, however, gone north again by that time, and the compromise +had been agreed to before he came back again. The <i>Shasta</i> had also made +several other successful trips when he had occasion to call at Victoria +on his southward run, and seeing the <i>Sorata</i> in the harbor rowed off to +her. He spent that evening in her little forecastle with Valentine, who +was busy with deep-water fishing-lines. The latter wore an old blue +shirt and canvas trousers stained with paint and grease, and he laid +down a big hank of line when at length Jimmy, who had been whipping on +hooks for him, inquired what plans he had.</p> + +<p>"So you're not going back to the West Coast to drum up cargo for us?" he +said.</p> + +<p>"No," said Valentine. "Although they didn't intimate it, I don't think +your people have any more use for me. They have the trade in their +hands, and the boat they put on instead of yours is coming down full +every time. In fact, I believe they're buying another one, as well as a +big passenger carrier for your northern trip."</p> + +<p>Jimmy looked astonished. "It's the first I've heard of it—but, of +course, it's a little while since I was in Vancouver. Where did they +raise the money?"</p> + +<p>"I believe they got some of it from Cathcart on the salvage claim, and +Leeson and two or three of his friends raised the rest. The <i>Adelaide</i> +and Merril's house were sold at auction. I heard it from Jordan, who was +over here a week ago, and it's scarcely necessary to say that he's going +to send you in the new boat. He seems to have some notion of trying to +get into the South Sea trade, too, and I shouldn't wonder if even<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span>tually +you're made general supervisor of the <i>Shasta</i> Company's growing fleet."</p> + +<p>Jimmy was sensible of a thrill of satisfaction, but he changed the +subject. "You have given up your chartering?"</p> + +<p>"I have," said Valentine, with a curious smile. "The people who hired my +boat had an unsettling effect on me, and now I'm going to try the +halibut fishing with a couple of Siwash hands. Austerly's was my last +charter—I don't think I shall ever take another."</p> + +<p>Jimmy nodded, for he felt that he understood. "Well," he said, "in one +way it wouldn't be nice to see anybody else occupying that after-cabin. +Of course, the notion is a fanciful one, but I shouldn't like to think +of it myself."</p> + +<p>Again the curious little smile flickered into Valentine's eyes. "It is +scarcely likely to happen. I think you will understand my views when I +show you the room."</p> + +<p>Jimmy went aft with him through the saloon, and Valentine, unlocking a +door beneath the companion slide, opened it gently. The fashion in which +he did it had its significance, and Jimmy understood altogether as he +looked into the little room. It was immaculate. Bulkhead and paneling +gleamed with snowy paint, the berths with their varnished ledges were +filled with spotless linen, and there was not a speck on the deck +beneath. A few fresh sprays of balsam that hung beneath the beams +diffused a faint aromatic fragrance.</p> + +<p>"Those," said Valentine gravely, "are to keep out the smell of the +halibut. I shouldn't like it to come in here.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span> She had the lower berth. +The top one was Miss Merril's."</p> + +<p>Jimmy felt the blood rise to his face. Valentine's manner was very +quiet, and there was not the slightest trace of sentimentality in it, +but Jimmy felt that he knew what he was thinking. Besides, Anthea had +slept in that little snowy berth. They turned away without a word, when +Valentine carefully fastened the door, and the latter had sat down again +in the forecastle before Jimmy spoke.</p> + +<p>"Have you heard anything of Miss Austerly lately?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Valentine lighted the lamp beneath the beams, for it was growing dark, +and taking something from a box in the upper berth stood still a moment +with it in his hands. They were scarred and hardened by physical toil, +and the man was big and bronzed and very quiet, though every line of his +face and figure was stamped with the wholesome vigor of the sea.</p> + +<p>"I see you do not know," he said. "This is the letter Austerly sent me. +As you will notice, it was at her request. She would not have minded +your reading it."</p> + +<p>Jimmy started as he saw that the envelope had a broad black edge, and +his companion nodded gravely.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said, "there is neither tide nor fog where she has gone. +There, at least, we are told, the sea is glassy."</p> + +<p>Jimmy took the letter out of the envelope, and once or twice his eyes +grew a trifle hazy as he read. Then he handed it back to Valentine, +almost reverently.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry," was all he said.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span>Valentine looked at him with the little grave smile still in his eyes. +"I do not think there is any need for that. What had this world but pain +to offer her? She has slipped away, but she has left something +behind—something one can hold on by. What there is out yonder we do not +know—but perhaps we shall not be sorry when we slip out beyond the +shrouding mists some day."</p> + +<p>Neither of them said much more, and shortly afterward Jimmy went back to +the <i>Shasta</i>. Next morning he stood on his bridge watching the <i>Sorata</i> +slide out of harbor. Valentine, sitting at her tiller, waved his hat to +him, and Jimmy was glad that he had hurled a blast of the whistle after +him when some months later he heard that the <i>Sorata</i> and her skipper +had gone down together in a wild westerly gale.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile he proceeded to Vancouver, and after an interview with +Jordan, who formally offered him command of the big new boat, took the +first east-going train and reached Toronto five days later. An hour +after he got there he hired a pulling skiff at the water-front, and +drove her out with sturdy strokes into the blue lake across which a +little cutter was creeping a mile or so away. He came up with her, hot +and breathless, and the girl at the tiller rose quietly when he swung +himself on deck, though there was a depth of tenderness in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Jimmy!" she said, "why didn't you tell me?"</p> + +<p>Jimmy laughed. "You should have expected me," he said. "The six months +are up."</p> + +<p>Anthea turned to the young man and the girl who were sitting in the +cockpit. "Captain Wheelock. My cousin Muriel, and Graham Hoyle."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span>The young man smiled at Jimmy, who was, however, conscious that the girl +was surveying him with critical curiosity. Then she asked him a question +concerning his journey, and they discussed the Canadian railroads for +the next ten minutes, until she flashed a suggestive glance at the young +man.</p> + +<p>"What a beautiful morning for a row!" she said.</p> + +<p>Hoyle rose to his feet. "I dare say I could pull you ashore in Captain +Wheelock's boat," he said. "There's just wind enough to bring the yacht +after us if he gets the topsail up."</p> + +<p>Jimmy did not get the topsail up when they rowed away, but sat down on +the coaming with his arm around Anthea's shoulder.</p> + +<p>"I have just two weeks before I go north in our big new boat," he said. +"It isn't very long, but I want to take you with me."</p> + +<p>He was some little time overruling Anthea's objections one by one, and +then she turned and looked up at him with a flush in her face.</p> + +<p>"Jimmy," she said, "I suppose you realize that I haven't a dollar. Some +provision was to have been made for me—but I felt I couldn't profit by +the arrangement."</p> + +<p>Jimmy laughed. "If it's any consolation to you, I haven't very much, +either. Still, I think I'm going to get it. I was creeping through the +blinding fog six months ago, but the mists have blown away and the sky +is brightening to windward now."</p> + +<p>Then he turned and pointed to the strip of dusky blue that moved across +the gleaming lake. "If anything more is wanted, there's the fair wind."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span>They ran back before it under a blaze of sunshine with the little frothy +ripples splashing merrily after them, and then Jimmy had to exert +himself again before he could induce Anthea's aunt to believe that it +was possible for her niece to be married at two weeks' notice. Still, he +accomplished it, and on the fifteenth day he and Anthea Wheelock stood +on the platform of a big dusty car as the Pacific express ran slowly +into the station at Vancouver.</p> + +<p>Leeson stood waiting with Forster, and Jordan was already running toward +the car, but Jimmy's lips set tight when he saw Eleanor with Mrs. +Forster. In a moment or two Jordan handed Anthea down, and then stood +aside as Eleanor came impulsively forward. To her brother's +astonishment, she laid her hand on Anthea's shoulder and kissed her on +each cheek.</p> + +<p>"Now," she said, "you will have to forgive me."</p> + +<p>Jimmy did not hear what his wife said, for Mrs. Forster was greeting +him, and then Leeson and the rancher seized him; but five minutes later +Eleanor stood at his side.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said, "Anthea and I are going to be friends, and you daren't +be angry any longer, Jimmy."</p> + +<p>They had dropped a little behind the others, who were moving along the +wharf, and Jimmy looked at her with a dry smile.</p> + +<p>"I'm not," he said. "In fact, I don't think it was my temper that made +things unpleasant all the time. Still——"</p> + +<p>"You didn't expect me to change?"</p> + +<p>Her brother said nothing, and she looked up at him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span> with a softness in +her eyes he never remembered seeing there.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to marry Charley very soon," she said. "I couldn't have done +that while I hated anybody, and, after all, it was Merril who +roused—the wild cat—in me, and we have done with him altogether. They +wouldn't have him back in Vancouver, but there's a land-boom somewhere +in California, and Charley hears that he is already piling up money."</p> + +<p>She stopped a moment, and thrust a folded paper into his hand. "That's +yours, but Anthea must never see it. Charley didn't know I had it, and I +meant to keep it in case Merril got rich again; but I don't want it now. +Please destroy it, Jimmy."</p> + +<p>Jimmy glanced at the paper, and his expression changed when he saw that +it was the engineer's confession; but he laid his hand on his sister's +arm and pressed it, for he understood what the fact that she had parted +with that document signified. Then Leeson, who was a few paces in front +of them, turned and pointed to a big steamer with a tier of white +deck-houses lying out in the Inlet.</p> + +<p>"The boat's waiting at the landing, and we'll go off," he said. "There's +a kind of wedding-lunch ready on board her."</p> + +<p>Jimmy said they had purposed going straight to the house he had +commissioned Jordan to take for him, but the latter laughed, and Leeson +chuckled dryly.</p> + +<p>"We held a meeting over the question, and fixed it up that the house you +wanted hadn't quite tone enough for the man who's to be Commodore of the +<i>Shasta</i> fleet very soon," he said. "That's why we decided to put you +into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span> my big one on the rise. Guess there's not a prettier house around +this city, but it has never been really lived in. I'm out most of every +day, and only want two rooms. Now, there's no use protesting; it's all +fixed ready, and you're going right in."</p> + +<p>He turned, and touched Anthea's arm. "You'll stand by me. You can't +afford to have your husband kick against the man with the most money in +the <i>Shasta</i> Company."</p> + +<p>Jimmy's protests were very feeble. It had been his one trouble that +Anthea would have to live in a very different fashion from the one she +had been accustomed to, and he was relieved when she thanked the old +man.</p> + +<p>Leeson smiled at her in a very kindly fashion. "Well," he said, "I've +been lonely for the last eight years since the boy who should have had +that house went down with my smartest boat, and I want to feel that +there's somebody under the same roof with me who will keep me from +growing too hard and old."</p> + +<p>Then he stopped, and chuckled in his usual dry manner. "I was going to +make Jordan the proposition—only I got to thinking and my nerve failed +me. Guess I made my money hard in the free sealing days when we had +trouble with everybody all the time, but I felt I'd sooner not offend +Mrs. Jordan, and I might do it if I didn't fix things just as she told +me. She's a clever woman—but I don't want to have her on my trail."</p> + +<p>Eleanor only glanced at him in whimsical reproach, and they moved on, +laughing, toward the waiting boat.</p> + + +<p class="theend">END</p> + +<hr class="wide" /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the +original edition have been corrected.</p> + +<p>In Chapter II, <b>the Tyee slowly crept on</b> was changed to <b>the <i>Tyee</i> slowly +crept on</b>.</p> + +<p>In Chapter VIII, a missing quotation mark was added before <b>I was there +two years</b>, and <b>the others gazed at the Sorata expressionlessly</b> was +changed to <b>the others gazed at the <i>Sorata</i> expressionlessly</b>.</p> + +<p>In Chapter XIV, a quotation mark was deleted after <b>Heave!</b>.</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXII, <b>the Shasta did not move at all</b> was changed to <b>the +<i>Shasta</i> did not move at all</b>, and <b>the Shasta heaved and rolled viciously</b> +was changed to <b>the <i>Shasta</i> heaved and rolled viciously</b>.</p> + +<p>In Chapter XXVIII, a duplicate quotation mark was removed after <b>that's +the only thing to put a move on you.</b></p> + +<p>In Chapter XXX, <b>Then I suppose I must sumbit</b> was changed to <b>Then I +suppose I must submit</b>.</p></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Thrice Armed, by Harold Bindloss + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THRICE ARMED *** + +***** This file should be named 38747-h.htm or 38747-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/7/4/38747/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Thrice Armed + +Author: Harold Bindloss + +Release Date: February 1, 2012 [EBook #38747] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THRICE ARMED *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +THRICE ARMED + +BY HAROLD BINDLOSS + +Author of "Winston of the Prairie," "Delilah of the +Snows," "By Right of Purchase," "Lorimer +of the Northwest," etc. + +[Illustration] + +NEW YORK +FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY +PUBLISHERS + +Copyright, 1908, by +FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. JIMMY RENOUNCES HIS CAREER 1 + II. TO WINDWARD 12 + III. JIMMY MAKES FRIENDS 24 + IV. IN THE TOILS 35 + V. VALENTINE'S PAID HAND 46 + VI. A VISION OF THE SEA 60 + VII. BLOWN OFF 73 + VIII. JIMMY TAKES COMMAND 84 + IX. MERRIL TIGHTENS THE SCREW 97 + X. ELEANOR WHEELOCK 108 + XI. AT AUCTION 120 + XII. THE "SHASTA" SHIPPING COMPANY 134 + XIII. THE "SHASTA" GOES TO SEA 145 + XIV. IN DISTRESS 159 + XV. ELEANOR'S BITTERNESS 172 + XVI. UNDER RESTRAINT 184 + XVII. THE RANCHER'S ANSWER 196 + XVIII. ELEANOR SPEAKS HER MIND 209 + XIX. WOOD PULP 220 + XX. ANTHEA MAKES A DISCOVERY 233 + XXI. JIMMY GROWS RESTLESS 244 + XXII. ASHORE 254 + XXIII. ANTHEA GROWS ANXIOUS 265 + XXIV. JORDAN KEEPS HIS PROMISE 276 + XXV. AN UNDERSTANDING 285 + XXVI. ELEANOR HOLDS THE CLUE 296 + XXVII. JORDAN'S SCHEME 306 + XXVIII. DISABLED ENGINES 317 + XXIX. UNDER COMPULSION 329 + XXX. AN EYE FOR AN EYE 344 + XXXI. MERRIL CAPITULATES 354 + XXXII. ELEANOR RELENTS 364 + + + + +Thrice Armed + + + + +CHAPTER I + +JIMMY RENOUNCES HIS CAREER + + +It was with somewhat mixed feelings, and a curious little smile in his +eyes, that Jim Wheelock stood with a brown hand on the _Tyee_'s wheel as +the deep-loaded schooner slid out through Vancouver Narrows before a +fresh easterly breeze. Dim heights of snow rose faintly white against +the creeping dusk above her starboard hand, and the busy British +Columbian city, girt with mazy wires and towering telegraph poles, was +fading slowly amidst the great black pines astern. An aromatic smell of +burning followed the schooner, and from the levels at the head of the +Inlet a long gray smear blew out across the water. A fire which had, as +not infrequently happens, passed the bounds of somebody's clearing was +eating its way into that part of the great coniferous forest that rolls +north from Oregon to Alaska along the wet seaboard of the Pacific Slope. + +The schooner was making her six knots, with mainboom well out on her +quarter and broad wisps of froth washing off beneath her bows, slanted +until her leeward scuppers were close above the sliding foam. Wheelock +stood right aft, with his shoulders just above the roof of the little +deckhouse, and, foreshortened as the vessel was, she seemed from that +point of view a mere patch of scarred and somewhat uncleanly deck +surmounted by a towering mass of sail. Two partly seen figures were busy +bending on a gaff-topsail about the foot of her foremast, and Wheelock +turned as one of them came slouching aft when the sail had been sent +aloft. The man wore dungaree and jean, with a dilapidated oilskin coat +over them, for the wind was keen. He appeared to be at least fifty years +of age. Leaning against the rail, he grinned at Wheelock confidentially. + +"She'll make a short trip of it if this breeze holds," he said. "I guess +you find things kind of different from what they were in the +mail-boats?" + +Jim Wheelock nodded as he pulled up a spoke of his wheel, for it was +that difference that had brought the smile to his eyes. It was several +years now since he had touched a vessel's wheel, or done more than raise +a directing hand to the trimly uniformed quartermaster who controlled +the big liner's steering engine. He was twenty-eight years of age, and +held an extra-master's certificate, and he had just completed the year's +training in a big British warship which gave him his commission as a +lieutenant R.N.R. It was certainly a distinct change to figure as +supernumerary on board the Canadian coasting schooner _Tyee_, but he did +not resent the fact that it was the grizzled, hard-faced man leaning on +the rail beside him who had brought him there. + +"Aren't you going to get the main gaff-topsail on to her? We'll carry +smooth water with us 'most across the Straits," he said. + +This was not to the purpose, as both of them felt, but it gave the other +man the opening for which he had been looking. + +"No," he replied, "I guess not. We'll feel the wind fresher when she +draws out from the land, and there's a streak of dry rot in her mainmast +round the partners. That stick was sound right through when we put it +into her, but it has stood the wind and weather quite a while, and I +guess it's getting shaky, like its owner." + +Now, the redwood logs hewn in the British Columbian forest as a rule +make excellent masts, but they naturally deteriorate with time, and in +some of them there is hidden a latent cause of trouble which now and +then leads to premature decay. Jimmy was aware of this, and fancied that +he knew why his companion had reminded him of it. It was scarcely two +hours since he had arrived on board the _Tyee_. He had made a long +journey to join her, because his father's kinsman Prescott, her mate, +had sent for him; and now, though he almost shrank from asking for the +information, there were points on which it was necessary that the latter +should enlighten him. He leaned on his wheel in silence a minute or two +and the smile died out of his eyes. Prescott regarded him steadily. + +Jim Wheelock, who hitherto had taken life lightly, could bear +inspection, for he was a personable man, as more than one of the young +women who traveled in the big liner of which he had been mate had +decided, and he had seldom experienced much difficulty in finding a +pretty partner at any of the dances given to the warship's officers. He +had whimsical blue eyes, and, though he was Colonial-born, a face of the +fair, clean-skinned English type, which had in it an occasional +suggestion of latent force. He had a well-proportioned frame, and his +life in the mail-boats, and the R.N.R. training, had set their stamp on +him. Just then he was attired incongruously in an old skin-cap, battered +gum-boots which reached to his knees, trousers showing signs of wear, +and a steamboat mate's jacket with gilt buttons on it, in much the same +condition; but, in spite of that, he did not appear the kind of man one +would have expected to come upon steering a coasting schooner. + +"What do you think about my father, Bob?" he asked. + +"What I said in the letter," the other man replied. "I guess you ought +to understand it, now you've seen him. Tom's going to looard fast, 'most +as fast"--and he seemed to search for a metaphor--"as a center-boarder +when her board won't come down. It kind of struck me it was 'bout time +you came home and looked after things and him. That's why I wrote you. +He'd have never done it, anyway." + +Jim Wheelock knew this was true. Prescott's letter, which had come to +hand at Portsmouth just after he had finished his navy training, had +somewhat startled him, and, as the result of it, he had forthwith +started for Vancouver, traveling second-class and by Colonist car, as +one does not gain very much financially by serving in the R.N.R. On +arriving there he had been further startled by the change in his father +whom he had last seen several years earlier when Tom Wheelock was, +apparently, at least, beyond the reach of adversity as the owner of +several small coasting vessels, one of which he insisted on sailing +personally, though this had not seemed needful at the time. It was +evident to Jimmy that he had been going to leeward very fast in several +ways since then. + +"Yes," he said, "that is a sure thing. When did the change begin? I +mean, when did things first go wrong with him?" + +"When he lost the _Fish-hawk_--that was 'most four years ago. Anyway, +that was when I began to notice it. Then the cannery people put on their +steamboat, and he couldn't keep the _Eagle_ going without their trade. +She lay ashore in a bad berth with a big load of Wellington coal in her, +and it cost him about a thousand dollars before she was fit for sea +again. Things were slack that season, and he gave Merril a bond for the +money. I guess that made the real trouble. Merril's a mighty hard man, +and he has been putting the screw on him." + +Jim Wheelock looked thoughtful. "A thousand dollars isn't such a great +deal of money, after all. The old man seemed to have plenty of it when I +left home." + +"Well," said Prescott dryly, "it's quite certain he hasn't got it now, +and I've more than a notion that there's a big bond on the _Tyee_. Why +did he bring your sister Ellen back from Toronto?" + +Jim Wheelock did not know. He had, in fact, once or twice asked himself +the same question without finding an answer. His sister Eleanor, who was +an ambitious and capable young woman, was now earning a pittance by +teaching at a ranch near New Westminster; but she had never given him +any reason in her letters for abandoning the studies she had gone East +to pursue in Toronto. + +"Anyway," said Prescott, "it's quite clear to me that your father needs +a man with sense and snap to stand right behind him and see that he +worries out of Merril's clutches. I don't know whether you can do it--I +can't--I'm no use at business. Tom and I were always honest. Then, +supposing you can do that, you're 'bout half-way through with the +thing." + +"Only half-way?" + +"'Bout that. Tom's been drifting to looard. You want to brace him sharp +up on the wind again." + +He broke off somewhat abruptly, for the scuttle slide in the deckhouse +roof was flung back, and a man below lifted his head above it. + +"Come right down and get your supper, Jimmy. Bob will take your wheel," +he said. + +Jimmy left the helm to Prescott, and with an effort he braced himself +for the interview before him as he descended to the little stuffy cabin. +It was dimly lighted by an oil-lamp that creaked as it swung, though the +_Tyee_ was ploughing her way westward steadily as yet. A little stove +made it almost intolerably hot, and the swirl of brine beneath the lee +quarter filled it with a sound that was like the rattle of sliding +gravel. Jimmy sat down, and ate the pork, potatoes, fresh bread, and +desiccated apples set before him, which he surmised might be considered +somewhat of a banquet on board the _Tyee_, and then he took out his pipe +and turned toward his father as he filled his pannikin again with strong +green tea. He had arrived in Vancouver only that afternoon, and they +had had no time for conversation in the hurry of getting to sea. + +"Take some whisky in it?" asked Tom Wheelock. "It's not much of a supper +after what you've been used to on board the liners." + +"No, thanks," said Jimmy. "I'm glad I didn't miss you." + +"Got your wire," said Wheelock, who helped himself liberally to the +whisky. "We weren't through with the loading until yesterday, and, +though the folks want those sawmill fixings bad, I figured we could wait +another twenty-four hours. It's good to see you sitting there; but I +don't know yet what brought you over. It's quite a long way." + +Jimmy spent some time in filling his pipe. He was a truthful person, and +Prescott, who wrote the letter, had pledged him to secrecy; then, too, +he was by no means certain that his father would appreciate what either +of them had done, or would consider it in any way necessary. He also had +scarcely got used to the change in his circumstances and surroundings, +and did not feel quite at ease. On the last liner he sailed in, the +officers dined in the saloon, and, though the battleship's wardroom was +less luxurious, it was, at least, very different from the _Tyee_'s +quarter-cabin. Tin pannikins and plates of indurated ware lay on a +soiled, uncovered table; a grimy brown blanket from the skipper's bunk +trailed down across the locker that served as a settee; and the fish-oil +lamp smelt horribly. Then he glanced at his father, who sat silent, +sipping his tea, which was freely laced with whisky. + +Tom Wheelock was by no means dressed as neatly as most of the Vancouver +wharf-hands, and he looked like a man who had lost heart, and pride as +well. He was gaunt and big-boned, with a seaman's weather-darkened face, +but there was weariness and something that suggested vacancy in its +expression. He and Jimmy had the same blue eyes, and they were kindly +and honest in the case of each; but Tom Wheelock's were a trifle watery, +and there was a certain bagginess under them, while his mouth was slack. +In fact, the man, as his son recognized, appeared to have sunk into a +state of limpness that was mental as well as physical. + +"Well," said Jimmy, with a little laugh, "I don't quite know. There +were, you see, several reasons. To begin with, I had to come out of the +mail-boat for my year's training, and when that was over there were a +good many men on the Company's list to be worked off before they wanted +me again. Trade is slack over there, and it seemed wiser to await my +turn. After all, it doesn't cost so much to come across second-class and +Colonist; and I guessed you would be glad to see me." + +"So I am;" and there was no doubt that Wheelock meant it. "I've been +wanting you quite a while, Jimmy. Things aren't going well with me. Take +some whisky?" + +It was evident to Jimmy that his father already had taken as much as was +good for most men; and he did not often shrink from a responsibility, +that is, when he recognized it as such, which is now and then a little +difficult when one is young. + +"Well," he said, "this time I guess I will." + +He took the bottle, and, after helping himself sparingly, contrived to +slip it out of sight on the locker. + +"How's Eleanor?" he asked. + +"Quite well; but though she has her mother's grit, life's hard on the +girl. Ellen could have done 'most anything if she'd got her diplomas, or +whatever they are, and I had figured I'd do something for one of my +children when I sent her back East. It was your mother's brother--the +brains come from that side of the family--did everything for you. A kind +of pity you and he quarreled, Jimmy!" + +Jimmy smiled drily as he remembered the year he had spent in Winnipeg +with the grim business man before the call of the sea that he was born +to listen to grew irresistible and the rupture came. Young as he was +then, he had proved himself equal in strength of purpose to the hard old +man, and had gone to sea in an English ship. It cost his father fifty +pounds for his outfit and premium, and that was all that Tom Wheelock +had done for him. He had made his own way into the steamers, and the +extra-master certificate and the commission in the R.N.R. he owed to +himself. Now it was evident that he must renounce all that they might +bring him--at least, for a while. + +"I don't think we ever would have hit it off together; and I can't help +a fancy that, after all, he didn't blame me very much for taking my own +way in spite of him," he said. "Still, it is a pity Eleanor had to come +back. I suppose keeping her in Toronto was out of the question?" + +Wheelock's eyes seemed to grow a trifle bloodshot, and his voice sank to +a hoarser note. "Quite. I might have done it but for the bond I gave +Merril when the _Eagle_ went ashore. It wasn't that big a one, but he +fixed up quite a lot of things I never figured on. I was to insure to +full value, and have her repaired whenever his surveyor considered she +wanted it. Twice the man ran me up a big unnecessary bill, and I had to +go to Merril for the money. Now the boat's his, and there's a bond on +the _Tyee_. When the old man goes under, you'll remember who it was +squeezed the life out of him, Jimmy. Say, where d'you put that whisky?" + +"I'm not quite through with it yet;" and Jimmy, who did not pass it to +him, smiled reassuringly. "Anyway, I wouldn't worry too much about +Merril. I've a few dollars laid by, and I'm going to stay right here and +look after you. Bob Prescott tells me the Siwash wants to go ashore, and +that makes a berth for me. It's scarcely likely the Company will want me +for three months or more." + +The old man looked at him with a gleam of comprehension in his watery +eyes. "Jimmy," he said, "you have been a good son--and it wasn't quite +my fault I never did anything for you. Your mother was often ailing, and +when I sent her East twice to the specialists the freights I was getting +would scarcely foot the bill. Oh, yes, things were generally tight with +me. Now they're tight again; but when Merril wants my blood you've come +back to see it out with me." + +He made a gesture of weariness. "Well, I guess I'll turn in. I've been +trailing round the city most of the day after a man who owes me forty +dollars--and I'm 'way from being as young as I used to be." + +He climbed somewhat stiffly into his bunk, and Jimmy went up on deck. It +was dark now, and the _Tyee_, leaning down until the foot of her lee +bulwarks was almost in the foam, swept through the dark water with a +leisurely dip and swing. A dim star or two hung over her mastheads, and +the peak of the big gaff-topsail swung athwart them a little blacker +than the night; but there was no shimmer of light on all the water, and +the schooner swung out to westward, vague and shadowy, with one blurred +shape gripping her straining wheel. It reminded Jimmy of the +sailing-ship days when he had set his teeth and borne what came to +him--wet and cold, utter weariness, want of sleep, purposeless +exactions, and brutal hazing. Those black days had gone. He had lived +through them, and had been about to reap his reward when the summons had +come and he had gone back West to his duty. The broken-down man in the +little cabin needed him, as Jimmy, who tried not to admit the greatness +of the change in him, realized. Then he turned as Prescott spoke to him +from the wheel. + +"Now you've had a talk to him, I guess you'll understand why I sent for +you," he said. "You've got to take hold and straighten things. Tom's +been letting go fast." + +Jimmy Wheelock said nothing, but he knew that in the meanwhile he must +put his career aside; and once more he set his lips and braced himself +to face the task before him as he had done often in the sailing-ship +days. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +TO WINDWARD + + +Two days had slipped away since Jimmy joined the _Tyee_, when, with her +dew-wet canvas slatting at every roll, she crept out from the narrow +waters into the Pacific. Astern of her the Olympians towered high above +the forests of Washington, a great serrated ridge of frosted silver that +cut coldly white against the blue of the morning sky. To starboard the +shore of Vancouver Island rose, a faint blur of misty pines, and ahead +the sea was dimmed by drifting vapors out of which the long swell swung +glassily. At times a wandering zephyr crisped it with a darker smear, +and the _Tyee_ crawled ahead a little. Then she stopped again, heaving +her bows high out of the oily sea, while everything in her banged and +rattled. + +There was nothing that any one on board her could do but wait for the +breeze and wonder whether it would come from the right direction. Jimmy +sat on the deckhouse with his pipe in his hand, and Tom Wheelock, whose +face looked careworn in the early light and showed pasty gray patches +amidst its bronze, glanced westward a trifle anxiously as he held the +jerking wheel. + +"It's a kind of pity we lost that breeze," he said. "The people up +yonder want those sawmill fixings, and with the wind from the east we'd +'most have fetched the Inlet to-night. There was talk of somebody +putting a steamboat on, but the mill's a small one, and they figured +they'd give me a show as long as I could keep them going. I've got to do +it. There's a living in the contract." + +Then his face hardened suddenly, and he sighed. "That is, there would +have been if Merril hadn't got his grip on me. That man wants +everything." + +He appeared about to say something further, but just then Prescott flung +the scuttle slide back, and a smell of coffee and frizzling pork flowed +out of it. + +"If you want your breakfast, Tom, I guess you'd better get it," he said, +and lumbered round the deckhouse toward the wheel. + +Wheelock went below, and Jimmy, who seemed to forget that he had meant +to light his pipe, glanced thoughtfully at Prescott. + +"Who is this Merril, Bob?" he asked. + +Prescott made a vague gesture. "I guess he's everything. He has a finger +in most of what goes on in this Province, and feels round with it for +the money. Calls himself general broker and ship-store dealer; but he +has money in everything, from bush ranches to steamboats." + +"You mean he holds stock in them?" + +"No," said Prescott, "I guess I don't. I'm not smart at business, and +Tom isn't either, or he'd never have let Merril get his claws on him; +but it's quite plain to me that stocks don't count along with mortgages +and bonds. When you buy stock you take your chances, and quite often +that's 'bout all; but when you hold a bond at a big interest you usually +get the ship or mill. Anyway, that's how Merril fixes it." + +Jimmy lighted his pipe, but he looked more thoughtful than ever, as, in +fact, he was. Hitherto, he had taken life lightly, for, after all, wet +and cold, screaming gale and stinging spray, are things one gets used to +and faces unconcernedly; but Jimmy could recognize a responsibility, and +he realized that there was now to be a change. Tom Wheelock was growing +prematurely old and shaky, and it was, it seemed, his son's part to free +him from the load of debt that was crushing him, if this by any means +could be done; if not, at least to share it with him. He feared it would +be the latter. Hitherto he had waged only the clean, primitive strife +with the restless sea; but he did not shrink from the prospect of the +meaner and more arduous conflict with the wiles of man and the forces of +capital, or consider that in renouncing his career he was doing a +commendable thing. He was by no means brilliant intellectually, though +he had a certain shrewdness and a ready wit; and it only occurred to him +that the course he had decided on was the obvious one. He did not even +think it worth while to mention that he had done so, which indeed would +have been unnecessary, since Prescott seemed to take it for granted. + +"I believe you had the wind from the east for several days," he said. +"Why didn't you run across before?" + +"Well," replied Prescott reflectively, "we might have done so, but Tom +didn't seem greatly stuck on trying it. Took time over his loading when +he got your wire. Perhaps he didn't want to leave you hanging round +Vancouver until we got back again." + +Jimmy said nothing--he had partly expected this; and while he smoked his +second pipe, the vapors were rolled apart, and the breeze came down on +them. Unfortunately it came from the northwest, which, as the sawmill +they were bound for stood at the head of a deep inlet on the west coast +of Vancouver Island, was ahead of them; so for a while they let her +stretch out into the Pacific, close-hauled upon the starboard tack. + +The _Tyee_ was comparatively fast, and, under all the sail they could +pile on to her, excepting the main gaff-topsail, she drove along with a +wide curl of foam under her lee bow and the froth lapping high and white +on her side. Then by degrees the long roll of the Pacific heaved itself +up into steep, blue-sided seas with tops of incandescent whiteness, and +as she lurched over them the spray whirled in filmy clouds from her +plunging bows. Still the breeze freshened, and by noon they hove her to +with jibs aback while they hauled two reefs down in her mainsail, and it +became necessary for somebody to crawl out to the end of its tilting +boom, which stretched a good fathom beyond her stern. Prescott was a +little too old for that work; Tom Wheelock held the wheel; and the +Siwash deck-hand was busy forward. Jimmy laughed as he swung himself up +to the footrope. + +"It's several years since I've done anything of this kind, but I dare +say I can tie those after-points in," he said. + +He clawed his way out, and, as he hung with waist across the spar and +both hands busy while the _Tyee_, flinging the spray all over her, +plunged upon the long, foam-tipped roll, a big Empress liner came up +from the eastward, white and majestic. She drove close by the schooner +with a slow and stately dip and swing, and Jimmy Wheelock, clinging to +the _Tyee_'s reef-points, smiled somewhat curiously as he glanced up at +her. Her tall side rose above him like a wall, and he saw the cluster of +saloon passengers beneath the tier of deckhouses move toward the rail to +gaze down upon the little dingy vessel, and the two trim officers high +above them in the sunshine on the slanting bridge. That was his +world--one in which steam did the hard work, and man merely pressed the +telegraph handle or laid a finger on a spoke of the little steering +wheel; but it was a world on which he had turned his back, and there was +nothing to be gained by repining. + +He broke two of his nails before he finished his task and dropped from +the footrope to the _Tyee_'s deck, and the liner had sunk to a gleaming +white blur and a smoke-trail on the rim of the sea before they had +reefed the foresail and once more got way on her. Then Prescott grinned +at Jimmy as he glanced toward the fading smear of vapor. + +"A head-wind's quite a little matter to that boat," he said. "I guess +you'd feel more at home on board of her?" + +Jimmy laughed good-humoredly. "Perhaps I would, but after all I don't +know that it counts for very much." + +They came round some hours later, and, heading her in for the land on +the other tack, found how little they had made to windward, whereupon +there followed a consultation. Prescott was for running back and coming +to an anchor in smooth water to wait for a shift of wind, but Wheelock +would go on. He blinked at the white sea to windward with watery eyes, +while the _Tyee_, putting her bows in, flung the spray all over her; but +there was a certain grimness in Tom Wheelock's eyes, for, if he was not +smart at business, he was at least a resolute seaman. + +"Those sawmill people want their fixings, and if we're to hold on to +their contract I guess they've got to have them," he said. "She should +thrash down to the Inlet by to-morrow night. I figure she'd go along a +little easier without her staysail." + +They hauled it down; but the _Tyee_, being loaded deep with heavy +machinery, was not appreciably drier afterward, and by the time the +angry, saffron sunset faded off the foam-crested sea, she put her bows +in somewhat frequently. Then there was a thud as she charged a big +comber, and the frothy cataract that seethed in over her weather rail +swirled aft a foot deep, while the spray blew all over her. Jimmy, +buttoned to the throat in oilskins, stood at her wheel dripping, through +four hours of darkness; and then, crawling down into the little cabin, +which was intolerably foul, flung himself into his bunk and +incontinently fell asleep, with the thud and swish of falling water +going on above him. When he awakened, his first proceeding was to grope +for the button that would summon a steward boy to bring him his morning +coffee, but as he could not find it he looked around and saw his wet +oilskins, which had shaken off the hook, sliding amidst the water up and +down the _Tyee_'s cabin floor. Then he remembered suddenly, and, +dropping from his bunk, put on the oilskins and went up on deck. + +A sheet of spray temporarily blinded him as he crawled out of the +scuttle, and then there was little to be seen but a haze of it flying +athwart a gray sea lined by frothy ridges and smears of low-driving +cloud. The _Tyee_'s slanted mastheads seemed to rake through the latter, +and she was wet everywhere; but she was still hammering to windward with +bows that swung up streaming over the long seas. On the one hand, a +dingy smear, that might have been a point with pines on it, lifted +itself out of the grayness, and Tom Wheelock pointed to it as he swayed +with his wheel. His wet face was almost gray, and Jimmy could see the +suggestive bagginess under his eyes. + +"I guess we should fetch the Inlet by dark if it doesn't harden any +more; but we'll have another reef down now you're up," he said. + +They got the reef in with some difficulty, for all of them were needed +to haul the leech-earing down; and, because the Siwash hand was a better +boatman than sailor, Jimmy went out to the end of the boom again to tie +the after-points. When he came back the _Tyee_ proceeded a little more +dryly, with the big gray seas that were topped with livid froth and had +deep hollows between them rolling up in long succession to meet her. She +went through some of them, for the sawmill machinery was a dead-weight +in her, and a white cataract foamed across her forward. When she plunged +into one that was larger than usual, Prescott, who now stood knee deep +at her wheel, shook his head. + +"Tom didn't ought to expect it of her," he said. "He wouldn't have held +her at it if he hadn't been mighty afraid of losing that contract." + +Jimmy made no answer. He understood by this time how his father was +circumstanced, and had discovered already that the man who stands +between the devil and the deep sea cannot afford to be particular. +Merril, who held a bond on the _Tyee_, might, it seemed, very well stand +for the devil. + +They thrashed her to windward most of that day. The sea got worse, and +there was not a dry stitch on any of them; but just at sunset the clouds +were rent apart, and Wheelock, who was standing on the deckhouse, +pointed to something that loomed amidst the vapor as they reeled +inshore. + +"The head!" he said. "The Inlet's about two miles beyond it." + +Prescott glanced at Jimmy as he pulled up the wheel. "With a blame ugly +tide-rip setting dead to windward across the mouth of it!" + +Jimmy said nothing, though naturally he was aware that when the ocean +streams run against the breeze they are very apt to pile up whatever sea +there is into curling, hollow-crested combers. A craft of the _Tyee_'s +size will often snugly ride out a hard gale--that is, if she is hove-to +under a strip or two of canvas; but to drive her to windward when she +must meet the onslaught of the seas, and go through them, is an +altogether different matter, and it seemed to him that she was already +doing as much as any one reasonably could expect from her. Then his +father came down from the deckhouse. + +"Well," he said, "she has got to go through it; those people want their +fixings. I guess we'll heave her round." + +The words were simple, but they implied a good deal. Wheelock could have +heaved his schooner to, or could have run away for shelter in another +inlet down the coast; but, as he had said, the sawmill people wanted +their machinery, and when he must choose between it and the devil he +would sooner face his ancient enemy the sea. Its attack was honest and +open, and the man with nerve enough might meet and withstand the charge +of its seething combers. Quickness of hand and rude, primitive valor +counted here, but it was otherwise in the insidious conflict with the +human schemer. Tom Wheelock's eyes were watery, but there was a snap in +them as he signed to Prescott and laid his hands on the wheel. + +"Get forward, Jimmy, and tend your head-sheets," he said. "We'll have +her round." + +She came round, but none too readily; and as they stretched out seaward +Jimmy had a brief vision of great rocks and hollows filled with pines +that opened out and closed on one another. Then as he glanced to +windward he saw the seatops heave athwart a blaze of crimson and saffron +low down under ragged wisps of cloud. + +They brought her round again presently, and she reeled in shoreward to +weather the second head on that side of the Inlet, with her little +three-reefed mainsail wet to its peak and the two jibs above her +bowsprit streaming at every plunge, while the big combers in the tideway +smote her weather-bow and poured out to leeward in long wisps of brine. +Still, she was slowly opening up the sheltered Inlet, and it was only a +question whether she would go clear enough of the head on that tack. It +was, however, a somewhat momentous question, for it seemed to Jimmy very +doubtful whether she would come round with them again. + +Tom Wheelock stayed at the helm, and the head that had grown dim again +lifted its vast rock wall higher and higher out of the whirling vapors +that streamed amid the shadowy pines. It grew very close to them, but +the _Tyee_ was half-buried forward most of the time, and the break +beyond the crag, where smooth water lay, had crept a little forward +instead of aft from under her lee-bow when a comber higher than the rest +hove itself up to weather, and fell upon her. It foamed across her +forward, and when it went seething aft as she swung her bows up there +was a crash, and Tom Wheelock loosed the spinning wheel. + +Jimmy saw him strike the bulwark and Prescott clutch him; but, knowing +that the plunge would probably make an end of the schooner if she rammed +another sea, he sprang to the wheel. She was coming up when he seized +it, which almost threw him over it, and there was a bang like a +rifle-shot as one of her streaming jibs was blown away. The veins +swelled on his forehead as he forced the helm up, and as the _Tyee_ fell +off on her course again he had a momentary vision of a great wall of +rock that seemed to be creeping up on them. He also saw a man lying in +the water that sluiced about her deck, while another who strove to hold +him with one hand clung to a stanchion. Then, while he set his teeth and +braced himself against the drag of the wheel, he could discern nothing +but a haze of flying brine, and could feel the hard-pressed vessel +strain and tremble under him. + +He did not know how long the tension lasted, nor for a minute or two did +he see much of Prescott and his father; but at last the rocks seemed to +slide away, and the _Tyee_ drove through the furious turmoil in the +mouth of the Inlet. Then the wind fell suddenly, and, rising upright, +the dripping schooner slid forward beneath long ranks of misty pines. He +left the helm to the Siwash, and Prescott and he between them got +Wheelock down into the little cabin. He gasped when they had put him +into his bunk and poured a liberal measure of raw whisky down his +throat. + +"Well," he said faintly, "I guess we've saved that contract. You +weathered the head?" + +"We did," answered Prescott. "Jimmy grabbed the wheel in time. Seems to +me we had 'bout twenty fathoms to spare. Feel as if you'd broke anything +inside you?" + +Tom Wheelock moved himself a little, and groaned. "No," he said, "I +guess I haven't; but it hurt me considerably when I washed up against +the rail. Mightn't have felt it one time, but I'm getting old and shaky. +Anyway, you can light out and get your anchor clear. I'm feeling kind of +dizzy." + +Prescott went up the ladder, but Jimmy stayed where he was, and did not +go up on deck until his father's eyes closed. It was quite dark, and he +could see only vague, shadowy mountains black against the sky. +Presently, a long Siwash canoe with several men paddling hard on board +her came sliding down the dim lane of water that seemed to wind into +the heart of the forests. She stopped alongside, and a man climbed on +board. + +"We've been expecting you the last two days, and I'm glad you got in +now," he said. "Merril, who talks of running a steamer up this coast, +has been worrying our Vancouver people to make him an offer for their +carrying. It's quite likely they'd have made a deal with him if you'd +kept us waiting." + +They made the canoe fast, and the _Tyee_ slowly crept on beneath the +shadowy mountains and the misty pines, for only a faint air of wind +disturbed the deep stillness here. Jim Wheelock, however, noticed very +little as he leaned on the rail with a vindictive hatred in his heart +for the man who, it seemed, was bent upon his father's ruin. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +JIMMY MAKES FRIENDS + + +They had landed the machinery, and partly loaded the _Tyee_ with dressed +lumber, when Jimmy Wheelock, who was aching in every limb after a day's +arduous toil, sat, cigar in hand, in the office of the sawmill manager. +It was singularly untidy as well as unclean, for few men in that country +have time to consider their comfort. Odd bottles of engine-oil and +samples of belting lay amid the litter of sketches and specifications, +while the plates and provision-cans on the table suggested that the +manager and his guest had just finished their evening meal. The window +was open wide, and a clean smell of freshly cut cedar drifted in with +the aromatic fragrance of the pines. From where he sat Wheelock could +see them rolling up the steep hillside with the white mists streaming +athwart them, and the narrow lane of clear, green water winding past +their feet. There was deep stillness among them, for the mill was silent +at last, and it was only now and then that a voice rose faintly from the +little wooden settlement which straggled up the riverside. + +The manager, dressed in a store jacket and trousers of jean, lay upon +what seemed to be a tool-chest, and he had, like Wheelock, a cigar of +exceptional flavor in his hand. He was a young, dark-eyed man, somewhat +spare of frame, and when he spoke, his quick, nervous gestures rather +than his accent, which was by no means marked, proclaimed him an +American of the Pacific Slope. It was characteristic that Wheelock, who +had spent less than a week in his company, already felt on familiar +terms with him. He had discovered that it is usually difficult to make +the acquaintance of an insular Englishman in anything like that time. + +"Old man feeling any better this afternoon?" inquired his companion. + +"He says so;" and Jimmy looked thoughtful, as he had done somewhat +frequently of late, though this had not been a habit of his. "Still, he +was flung rather heavily against the rail, and, though he insisted on +working, I'm not quite satisfied about him." + +The American nodded comprehendingly. "Parents are a responsibility now +and then. I lost mine, though. Raised myself somehow down in Washington. +Anyway, your father has been going down grade fast the two years I've +known him, and I'm sorry. He's a straight man. I like him." + +A trace of darker color crept into Jimmy's bronze, though he was aware +that candor of that kind is usual on the Pacific Slope, and there was +nothing he could resent in his companion's manner. However, he made no +answer, and the American spoke again. + +"I'm glad you got in on time. As I told Prescott, Merril has a notion of +going into the coasting trade, and wants our carrying. He has a pull on +some of our stockholders, but I don't like the man, and you'll get our +freight as long as you can keep us going. Why did you let the old man +borrow that money from Merril?" + +"I wasn't here. In fact, it's only a few weeks since I left an English +ship at Portsmouth." + +"Mail-boat?" + +"No," said Jimmy; "a warship." + +The American looked at him hard a moment, and then made a little gesture +with the hand that held the cigar. He had seen Jimmy Wheelock carrying +boards on his shoulder all that day, and now he was dressed in the +Canadian wharf-hand's jean; but he had no difficulty in believing him. + +"Lieutenant in your second fighting line? Came back to look after the +old man?" he said. "Well, I guess he needs you. You want to keep your +eye on Merril, too. If you don't, he'll have the schooner. It's a sure +thing." + +Jimmy realized, without knowing exactly why, that he could give this +man, whom he had met only a few days ago, his confidence. + +"The same thing has occurred to me," he said. "Do you mind telling me +what you know about Merril?" + +"No; it's only what everybody else knows. Merril's a machine for +stamping money--out of anything. Got a ship-supply store in Vancouver, +and is working himself into the general carrying business. Lends money +on vessels, and fits them out. He'll give you a long credit, at a blame +long interest, and by and by he gets the vessel, or a controlling share +in her. He can't touch the express freight and passenger traffic--knows +too much to kick against the C.P.R. or the big sound steamers; but +there's the general freight for the mines, sawmills and canneries up and +down the coast, and his vessels won't cost him much the way he buys +them. The trade's going to be a big one. If I'd forty thousand dollars +I'd buy a steamer." + +Jimmy's eyes twinkled. "A steamboat isn't a sawmill. Would you know how +to run her?" + +The American laughed. "If I didn't, I guess I could learn. It can't be +harder than playing the fiddle, and I've worried into that." + +He stopped a moment, and then announced quietly with the almost dramatic +abruptness which usually characterized him: "Anyway we'd make something +of it. I'd put you in command of her." + +"I wonder what leads you to believe I would suit you?" said Jimmy +reflectively. + +His companion waved his cigar. "Saw you packing lumber. You stayed right +with the contract, though you'd never done the thing before. Know what +the first few days are--I've been there. Stacked two-inch planks in +Washington when I was seventeen and my strength hadn't quite come to me, +and went home at nights walking double, with every joint in my body +aching. Then they started me log-wedging, and that's 'most enough to +break a weak man's heart. Still, I stayed with it, and now I'm drawing +royalties on my swing-frame and gang-saw patents, and hold stock in +several mills!" + +This was, perhaps, a trifle egotistical; but then it was, or would have +been in most other countries, somewhat of an achievement for one, who +had commenced with the lowest and most brutal labor, to make himself +patentee, manager and stockholder, while still a very young man; and +Jimmy had met mail-boat officers who gave themselves a good many airs on +the strength of possessing a refined taste in uniform tailoring and a +prepossessing personality. Individually, he felt it was more reasonable +to be satisfied with one's ability to invent and run a mill. Just then, +however, the door opened, and another man came in. He wore a blue shirt +which fell open at the neck for want of buttons, and jean trousers which +were very old and torn, and there were smears of oil and paint on his +hands. + +"I came to ask when you are going to saw me those fir frames, Jordan?" +he said. + +"Take a cigar!" said the American, and turned to Jimmy, with a grin. +"Ever heard of Thoreau who lived at Walden Pond?" + +Jimmy had, as it happened, read his book on board one of the mail-boats, +though he scarcely would have fancied that Jordan had done so. The +latter indicated the newcomer with a wave of his hand. + +"Well," he said, "that's another of them, though he lives in a yacht and +his name is Valentine. There are men--and they're not all cranks--who +seem to think the life most other people lead isn't good enough for +them." + +Valentine, who looked very different from any of the yachtsmen Jimmy had +seen on the English coast or elsewhere, sat down, and the latter was a +trifle astonished when he said, "That wasn't why Thoreau went to Walden. +He was an abolitionist, and made Walden a station for running niggers +into Canada. Anyway, why does a man want to go into business and slave +to pile up money, when he can have the greatest thing in nature for +nothing at all?" + +"What's that?" asked Jordan. "It's not the young woman one may take a +fancy to; she usually costs a good deal." + +Valentine laughed softly, and looked hard at Jimmy. "Though you earn +your bread upon it, I think you know. There's nothing in this little +world to compare with the sea!" + +Then he stretched out his hand for the cigar-box. "I'll take two. It's +the brand your directors use. Saw those frames to-morrow, or I'll come +round and raise the roof for you. In the meanwhile, if you'll come +along, Mr. Wheelock, I'll show you my boat." + +Jordan grinned at Jimmy. "Better go along. You'll have to see her, +anyway." + +The two went out and left him, and as they paddled down the Inlet past +the endless ranks of climbing pines whose aromatic odors were heavy in +the dew-chilled air, Valentine glanced at his companion. + +"This world was made good, except the cities; but nothing was made much +better than that smell," he said. "It doesn't put unrest and longing +into you like the smell of the sea-grass and the sting of the powdered +spray; there's tranquillity and sound sleep in it; and, too, it gives +one comprehension." + +This was not what Jimmy would have expected from his companion, but he +understood. In that deep rift of the ranges where no wild wind ever +entered, and the sunlight called up clean, healing savors from the +solemn pines, one could realize that there was a beneficent purpose +behind the scheme of things, and that the world was good. Still, Jimmy +usually kept any fancies of that kind to himself. + +"The introduction seems familiar," he said. "I almost fancy I have heard +something very much like it before." + +"It's quite likely;" and Valentine laughed. "It has been said of several +other things, including tobacco." + +"You come here often?" + +"Usually to refit. It's quiet and clean; and I like Jordan. He's a man +with a mind, and straight, so far as it can be expected of any one in +business." + +"You don't follow any?" + +Valentine smiled somewhat curiously. "I'm a pariah. I take toll of the +deer and halibut instead of my fellow-men--that is, except when I +charter the boat now and then. Still, it's only when money is scarce +that I shoot and fish for the market. You see, I'm not in any sense of +the word a yachtsman. I live at sea because I like it. The boat makes an +economical home." + +Jimmy felt that this was as much as he was intended to know, and he +asked no more questions until presently they slid alongside a powerful +cutter of some thirty tons, which lay moored with an anchor outshore and +a breast-rope to the pines. Valentine took him into the little plainly +fitted forecastle where he lived, and afterwards led him through the +ornate saloon and white-enameled after-cabin. "That," he said, as they +went up the ladder again, "is for the charterers, though I'm by no means +sure the next lot will be pleased. It's a little difficult to get the +smell of halibut out of her." + +"You sail her alone?" asked Jimmy, who sat down on the skylights. + +"Generally. Wages run high in this country. But I have to ship a man or +two when any of the city people charter her. She's not so much of a +handful when you get used to her." + +He did not seem to expect Jimmy to talk, and they sat silent a while, +the latter smoking thoughtfully as he looked about him. It was growing +dark, and the lower pines were wrapped in fleecy mist, out of which a +rigid branch rose raggedly here and there; but the heights of the range +still cut hard and sharp against the cold blueness of the evening sky. +Westward, a soft smoky glow burned faintly behind a great hill shoulder, +and, for no sound reached them from the little settlement, it was +impressively still. + +Jimmy felt the vague influence of the country creeping over him. It is a +land of wild grandeur, empty for the most part as yet, though it is rich +in coal and iron as well as in gold and silver, and its hillsides are +draped with forests whose timber would supply the world. It is also, as +he seemed to feel, for the bold man, a land of possibilities. +Enterprise, and even labor, is worth a good deal there; and Jimmy felt +that if his heart were stout enough such a land might have more to offer +him than a mate's berth on a heavily mortgaged schooner. Jordan +evidently believed that one might achieve affluence by making the +requisite effort, and Jimmy considered himself equally as capable as the +sawmiller. Still, as he sat there in the dewy stillness breathing the +clean scent of the pines, he realized that there was also something to +be said for his companion's attitude. He asked and strove for nothing, +but was content to live and enjoy what was so bountifully given him. +Perhaps Valentine guessed where his thoughts were leading him, for once +more he broke into his little soft laugh. + +"One is as well off here as in the cities," he said. "Are you one of the +hustlers like Jordan yonder?" + +Though it was growing dark, Jimmy, disregarding the question, looked at +him thoughtfully. "Do you know? Have you tried the other thing?" + +"Oh, yes!" said Valentine, with a wry smile in his eyes. "I have tried +them both, and that is one reason why I'm here. You haven't answered me; +though, after all, I guess it's an unnecessary question." + +This time Jimmy laughed. "I don't know that I have any option. It seems +that a life of the kind Jordan leads will be forced on me. There are +circumstances in which one's inclinations don't count for very much, you +see. Anyway, it's almost time I turned in; I've been loading lumber +since early morning." + +Valentine got into the dory, and paddled him to the little wharf where +the _Tyee_ was lying. + +"Come off again, and any time you see the boat along the coast I'll +expect you on board," he said. + +Jimmy climbed on board the schooner, and, descending to the little +cabin, found his father lying propped up in his bunk. His eyes were more +watery than ever, and when he spoke his voice was a trifle thick. The +light of the fish-oil lamp projected his worn face blackly in gaunt +profile on the bulkhead. + +"Been talking to Jordan? He's a man to make friends with," he said. +"Guess he and the other young ones with blood and grit in them are going +to set their mark on this country. It mayn't count against you if you +leave the mail-boats, Jimmy. Manhood stands first here, though my day +has gone. Perhaps I fooled my chances, or didn't see them when they +came. But you're going to be smarter; you have red blood and brains." + +Jimmy said nothing. He had noticed already that Tom Wheelock had fallen +into a habit of inconsequent rambling, and there were times when it +pained him to listen. The old man, who did not seem to notice his +silence, went on: + +"You got them from your mother, as Eleanor has done. She died--and I'm +often thankful--before the bad days came. Guess it would break her heart +if she could see her husband now, a played-out, broken man, with a bond +on which he can't pay the interest on his last vessel. Maybe things +would have been different if she had lived. I was never smart at +business--I am a sailorman--and it was your mother who showed me how to +build the fleet up and save the money to buy each new boat. When you +went to sea we had four of them. Now they're all gone. The last was the +_Fish-hawk_, and she lies in six fathoms where she drove across the +Qualyclot reef with her starboard bilge ground in." + +"Merril doesn't own the _Tyee_ yet," said Jimmy. + +"No," said Wheelock drowsily; "but unless you know enough to stop him +he's going to. You'll have nothing, Jimmy, when I'm gone; but you'll +remember it was that man squeezed the blood out of me. Anyway, it won't +be long. I'm played out, and kind of tired of it all. Couldn't worry +through without your mother. Never was smart at business--I am a +sailorman. It was she who made me boss of the Wheelock fleet, and now I +guess she's waiting for the old and broken man." + +His elbow slipped from under him, and, falling back, he lay inert and +silent, with eyes that slowly closed, and his face showing very gaunt +and unhealthily pallid in patches under the fish-oil lamp. There was no +longer any suggestion of strength in it, for dejection had slackened his +mental grip as indulgence had sapped the vigor of his body. Jimmy +Wheelock, who remembered what his father had been, felt a haze creep +across his eyes as he gazed at him, and then a sudden thrill of anger +seemed to fill his blood with fire. Merril, who held a bond on the +_Tyee_, had, it seemed, a good deal to answer for. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +IN THE TOILS + + +It was a month later when Jimmy Wheelock stood leaning on the _Tyee_'s +rail one morning, while she lay alongside a sawmill wharf at Vancouver. +The Siwash deck-hand had left them, and Jimmy, who had done his work, +was very hot and grimy after trimming ballast in the hold. He and +Prescott were waiting for another few loads of it, and expected that the +_Tyee_ would go to sea shortly after they got them. This, however, was +by no means certain, since a surveyor had come on board a few days ago, +and Tom Wheelock, who had been summoned to Merril's office, had not yet +come back. + +It was then about eleven o'clock, and the broad Inlet sparkled in a +blaze of sunshine, with a fresh breeze that came off from the black pine +forests crisping it into little splashing ripples. Jimmy was glad of the +chill of it on his dripping face, and as grateful for the respite from +toil with the shovel, as he gazed at the climbing city. It rose with the +dark pines creeping close up to it, ridged with mazy wires and towering +poles, roof above roof, up the low rise, and the air was filled with the +sound of its activity. A train of ponderous freight-cars rolled clanging +along the wharf; a great locomotive with tolling bell was backing more +cars in; and the scream of saws rang stridently through the clatter of +the winches as Empress liner and sound steamer hove their cargo in. +Jimmy Wheelock had, of course, gazed upon a similar scene in other +ports, but there was, he seemed to feel, a difference here. + +In this new land the toiler was not bound by iron laws of caste and +custom forever to his toil. The Mountain Province was awakening to a +recognition of its wealth, and there was room in it and to spare for men +with brains as well as men with muscle. There were forests to be +cleared, roads to be built, and mine adits to be driven, and nobody +troubled himself greatly about the antecedents of his hired hand. If the +latter professed himself able to do what was required of him, he was, as +they say in that country, given a show. Jimmy also knew that where all +were ready to attempt the impossible, and toiled as, except in the New +West, man has seldom toiled before, it was the English sailormen, +runagates from their vessels, who had built the most perilous railroad +trestles, and marched with the vanguard when the treasure-seekers pushed +their way into the wilderness of rock and snow. He felt as he listened +to the scream of the saws and the tolling of the locomotive bells that +amid all that feverish activity there must be some scope for him, which +was reassuring, since it was becoming clear that he would have to find +some means of supporting himself and his father before very long. + +Then he looked around as Prescott, who touched his arm, pointed to a +trim white cutter which was sliding through the flashing water with an +inclined spire of sail above her and a swath of foam at her lee bow. + +"I guess that's Valentine's _Sorata_," he said. "Got the biggest topsail +on her, and she has a deck-plank in. If she'd only her lower canvas, +most men would find her quite a big handful to sail alone. It's when he +rounds up to his mooring the circus will begin." + +The _Sorata_ came straight on toward them, close-hauled on the wind, +until they could hear the hissing of the brine that swept a foot deep +along her slanted deck; then there was a banging of canvas, and she +swung as on a pivot, while a bent figure with its back against her +tiller became furiously busy. Slanting sharply, she drove away on the +other tack, and shot in with canvas shaking between a great four-masted +ship and a steamer with white tiers of decks. Then her head-sails +dropped, and she stopped with a big iron buoy which Valentine seized +with his boat-hook close beneath her bowsprit. After that there was a +rattle of chain, and Prescott made a gesture of approval. + +"Smart," he said. "I guess there are not many men in this Province who +could have brought her up in that berth without another hand on board." + +Valentine appeared to see them, for he waved his hand; but the next +minute Jimmy, who looked around, lost his interest in him, for Tom +Wheelock was coming slowly across the wharf. He walked wearily, with +head bent and dejection expressed in every languid movement. Prescott's +face grew troubled as he glanced at him. + +"I guess we're not going to sea to-day," he said. "Your father has more +to carry than he can stand. That--Merril has been putting the screw on +him." + +Wheelock dropped somewhat heavily upon the _Tyee_'s deck, and, though +they looked at him questioningly, he said nothing to either of them as +he made his way to the little after-cabin. When he reached it, he sat +down and wiped his forehead before he poured himself out a stiff drink +of whisky; then he made a little, hopeless gesture as he turned to +Jimmy, who stood at the foot of the ladder with Prescott in the scuttle +behind him. + +"You'll stop loading that ballast," he said. "I'm fixed this time. I +guess Merril has the ship. Carpenters to come on board to-morrow, and as +far as I can figure, eight hundred dollars won't see them clear. Besides +that, it's a sure thing we'll lose the coast mill contract." + +Jimmy said nothing, but he set his lips tight, and Tom Wheelock had +finished his whisky before he looked at him again. His eyes were +half-closed, and he sat huddled and limp, with one hand trembling on his +glass, a broken man. + +"Carpenters will be here to-morrow. I guess there's no use stopping +them--I've got to see the thing right out," he said. "Still, you can +tell the boys we don't want that ballast. I feel kind of shaky, and I'm +going to lie down. Not as strong as I used to be, Jimmy, and I haven't +quite got over that thump I got against the rail." + +Jimmy made a sign to Prescott and went up the ladder, and when he stood +on deck the grizzled sailorman wondered at the change in him. There was +no geniality in his blue eyes now, and his face was set and grim, for +pity was struggling within him with a vindictive hatred of the man who +had brought his father down. Tom Wheelock, it was evident, had been +brought low in more ways than one. + +"If you'll see about that ballast, I'll go straight to Merril's office. +I want this thing made clear," he said. + +"Well," advised Prescott, "I'd walk round a few blocks first; you want +to simmer down before you talk to a man like that. Go slow, and get a +round turn on your temper." + +Jimmy, who made no answer, swung himself up on the wharf, and it was not +until he had traversed part of the water-front that he remembered it +might have been advisable to change his clothes. He was still clad in +blue jean freely smeared with the red soil that he had been shoveling in +the hold, and his face and hands were grimy and damp with perspiration. +Still, that did not seem to matter greatly, since, after all, it was a +costume quite in accordance with his station. The days when he had worn +a naval uniform had passed. + +Striding into an office in a great stone building, he accosted a clerk, +who said that Mr. Merril was busy, and then appeared to grow a trifle +disconcerted under Jimmy's gaze. The latter smiled at him grimly. + +"Then it's probably fortunate that I'm not busy at all," he said. "In +fact, I'm quite prepared to stay here until this evening; and since +there seems to be only one door to the place it will perhaps save Mr. +Merril inconvenience if he sees me now. You can explain that to him." + +The clerk, who grinned at one of his companions, disappeared, and, +coming back, ushered the insistent visitor into a sumptuously furnished +office; and, when the door closed behind him, Jimmy was a little +astonished to find himself as collected as he had ever been in his +life. He was one of the men who do not quite realize their own +capabilities until driven by necessity into strenuous action. An elderly +gentleman with a pallid and somewhat expressionless face, dressed with a +precision not altogether usual in that country, looked up at him. + +"Well?" he said inquiringly. + +Jimmy drew forward a chair, and sat down uninvited. "You know my name," +he said. "I want to understand exactly why you are sending those +carpenters on board the schooner?" + +Merril looked at him gravely, but Jimmy did not appear to find his gaze +in any way troublesome. + +"I don't think you have anything to do with the matter," he said. +"Still, out of courtesy----" + +"No," interrupted Jimmy; "I'm not asking a favor, only anticipating +things a little. It is, I am afraid, quite likely that I shall have to +take over the schooner before very long." + +"Then, in accordance with a clause in the agreement, the vessel must be +kept in efficient repair to the satisfaction of a qualified surveyor. +The man I sent down reports that she needs a new mast, decks relaid, and +a good deal of new planking about her water-line. Your father has +particulars." + +"I suppose," said Jimmy very quietly, "there would be nothing gained by +asking you to allow the repairs to stand over until we have brought down +one or two more loads of lumber. I expect you know it will cost us the +sawmill contract if we lay the schooner off now?" + +Merril made a little gesture. "I'm afraid not. I can't afford to take +the risk of having the schooner lost, to oblige you, and the fact that +you may not carry out the sawmill contract naturally does not concern +me." + +"Has it occurred to you that we might question your surveyor's report? +Half the repairs are quite unnecessary, as you no doubt know. Why the +man recommended them is, of course, a question I'm not going into, +though it wouldn't be very difficult to hit on the reason. There are, +however, other men of his profession in this city." + +Again Merril looked at him steadily, with a faint, sardonic gleam, which +was more galling than anger, in his eyes. "You will, of course, do what +you consider advisable, but if the repairs are not made I shall apply +for an injunction to stop you from going to sea; and the law is somewhat +costly. The redemption instalment and interest are overdue, and if your +father has any money with him, one would fancy it would be more prudent +for him to settle his obligations than to give it to the lawyers." + +Jimmy realized that this was incontrovertible. Unless the arrears were +paid within a fixed time, Merril could foreclose on the vessel and sell +her to somebody acting in concert with him, which was, no doubt, what he +wished to do. There was, it seemed, no wriggling out of his grip; and, +though he felt it would be useless, Jimmy resolved to appeal to his +sense of fairness. + +"So far as I can figure, you have been paid in interest and charges +about forty cents on every dollar you lent; and you still hold a bond +for the original amount," he said. "That would be enough to satisfy +most men; and all we ask is a little time and consideration. You could +let those repairs stand over, and could wait a while for your interest. +It will most certainly be paid if we can keep hold of the sawmill +contract." + +"I'm afraid you are wasting time;" and Merril glanced at the papers +before him. "There are several reasons which make it necessary for me to +insist on your father's carrying out the conditions of his bond. He owes +me a good deal of money now." + +A hard glint crept into Jimmy's blue eyes, and there was a trace of +hoarseness in his voice. "I want you to understand that it will crush +him," he said. "He is an old and broken man, and you would lose nothing +by a little clemency. I will take every dollar of his debts upon +myself." + +"I'm sorry, but it can't be helped," said Merril, with a shrug of his +shoulders which seemed to suggest that his patience was becoming +exhausted. "The conditions laid down must be carried out." + +Jimmy rose slowly. Every nerve in him tingled, though there was only the +ominous scintillation in his eyes to indicate what he was feeling. +Laying one hand on Merril's desk, he looked down at him, and they faced +each other so for, perhaps, half a minute. The man who held in his grasp +many a small industry in that Province shrank inwardly beneath the +sailor's gaze. + +"Then," said Jimmy, with a slow forcefulness that was the more +impressive because of the restraint he put upon himself, "you shall have +your money, and everything else that is due you. If I live long +enough--all--my father's debt will certainly be paid." + +He went out; and Merril, to whom an interview of this description was +not exactly a novelty, was for once a little uneasy in his mind. There +was a certain suggestion of steadfastness in the seafarer's manner that +he did not like, and he felt that he could be relied on to keep his +promise if the opportunity were afforded him. Still, the bondholder +fancied it would not be insuperably difficult to contrive that the +occasion did not arise. + +Next day the carpenters duly arrived on board the _Tyee_, and when they +took possession there was nothing for any one else to do, which was +partly why it happened that Jimmy sat smoking on the skylights of the +_Sorata_'s saloon one hot afternoon. He had told Valentine, who lay near +him on the warm deck, part of his troubles. There was scarcely a breath +of air, and the smoke of the big mills hung in a long trail above the +oily Inlet and floated in a filmy cloud athwart the towering pines. The +tapping of the carpenters' mallets on board the _Tyee_ came faintly +across the water. + +"It will be three weeks, anyway, before you get your new deck in, and it +may be longer," said Valentine. "All the carpenters on this coast are +going up to the new railroad trestles, where they're getting almost any +price they ask. What are you going to do in the meanwhile?" + +Jimmy said he did not know, and was sorry this was the case. He had +discovered that board costs a good deal in that country, and while the +_Tyee_ was practically gutted it would be necessary to live ashore. +Valentine appeared to ruminate, and then looked up at him. + +"Well," he said reflectively, "I'm going up the coast, and I want an +experienced skipper. That's easy, because I know too much about +charterers to let them have my boat without taking me. Yachting's just +becoming popular here. Next, there's to be a capable cook, and that +could be contrived, because, although Louis is about the worst cook I +know, they needn't find it out until we're well away to sea. The third +man is the difficulty. He's to be warranted sober, reliable, and +intelligent, since he may be required to take the young ladies out +fishing in the dory. All to be civil and clean, and provided with +suitable uniform. It's in the charter. They appear to be particular +people." + +Jimmy laughed. "Evidently. Still, I don't quite see what it all has to +do with me, since I'm not going. Where's the man you had when you took +the last party?" + +"On the wharf; he'll never come back again with me. He was a blue-water +man, and one day he broke loose and got at the charterers' whisky. Tried +to kiss one of the young ladies as he was carrying her on board the +dory, and, though I threw him in afterward, her father made considerable +unpleasantness over the thing." + +He stopped a moment, and looked at Jimmy with a whimsical twinkle in his +eyes. "Now, I don't know any reason why you shouldn't come if you feel +like it. You seem reasonably sober, and I guess you could be civil. +Charterers aren't quite so trying here as one would fancy they are in +the Old Country. I've been there; but on the Pacific Slope we haven't +yet branded the people who work as quite outside the pale. You could put +on the steamboat jacket, and I've an old man-o'-war cap with gold +letters on it. The man who left it on board the _Sorata_ privately +discharged himself from one of the Pacific squadron. It was a dark +night, and he was almost drowned when I got him. Well, it would bring +you twelve dollars a week, all found--it's what I'd have to pay another +man--besides being a favor to me." + +Jimmy laughed outright. He had his cares just then, but he was, after +all, a young man of somewhat whimsical temperament, and the prospect of +the adventure appealed to him. The twelve dollars a week were more +attractive still, since he had reasons for believing that the small sum +he had brought with him to Vancouver would be badly wanted before very +long, and while the _Tyee_ lay idle he could not trench upon his +father's scanty store. + +"Well," he said, "it sounds a crazy kind of thing, but that is, perhaps, +why it attracts me. I'll come." + +Valentine smiled. "Then you'll come off early to-morrow, and try to +remember you're a blue-water man who has hired out to me. You want to +get yourself up kind of smartly. We'll go below and see what I've got. +It's in the charter." + +Half an hour later Jimmy was rowed ashore, and he walked back to the +wharf where the _Tyee_ was lying with, for the first time during several +weeks, a smile in his eyes. It would be a relief to forget his troubles +for a week or two, and his father would not need him in the meanwhile. +Naturally he did not know that the crazy venture on which he had +embarked was to have somewhat important results for him as well as for +other people. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +VALENTINE'S PAID HAND + + +It was about five o'clock in the evening when Jimmy stood on the +Vancouver wharf beside an express wagon, from which the teamster had +just flung down what appeared to him an inordinate quantity of baggage. +He was then attired in a steamboat officer's jacket, from which he had +removed a row of buttons as well as the braid on the cuffs, an old pair +of Valentine's white duck trousers carefully mended with sail-sewing +twine, a pair of canvas shoes with a burst in one of them, and a +somewhat dilapidated man-o'-war cap. In this get-up he expected to pass +muster as a professional yacht-hand, though as yet there were very few +men who followed that calling in Vancouver or Victoria. Had he been +brought up in England he might have felt a little more uncomfortable +than he did, but the average Westerner is troubled by no false pride, +and is usually willing to earn the money he requires by any means +available. Still, Jimmy was not altogether at ease, for he had, at least +to some extent, become endued with his comrades' notions during the time +he had spent in the mail-boats and the English warship. + +A little farther up the wharf Valentine was talking to a gray-haired +gentleman whose immaculate blue serge, level voice, and formal attitude +seemed to stamp him as different from the men of the Pacific Slope, who +have as a rule no time to waste in considering appearances. Two young +ladies stood not very far away, and, though the breeze was no more than +pleasantly cool, one of them was wrapped in a long cloak and shawl. +Jimmy could not see the other very well because of the wagon, but when +she moved across the wharf her lithe step and graceful carriage at least +suggested vigorous health. + +By and by the rattle of a neighboring steamer's winch ceased suddenly, +and he heard the voice of the elderly gentleman, who had been glancing +in his direction. + +"I suppose that is your man," he said, with a clear English intonation. +"Couldn't you have got him up a little more smartly? That man-o'-war +cap, for instance, is a little out of keeping with the rest of his +things." + +Jimmy saw Valentine's badly suppressed smile, and caught his answer. "He +was in one of the warships, sir, and is a reliable man. I can warrant +him civil and sober." + +"Well," said the other, "we may as well go off while he brings down the +baggage." + +The party moved toward the _Sorata_'s dory, and Jimmy was not exactly +pleased when he found himself left to carry their baggage, which +appeared to be unusually heavy, down a flight of awkward steps. It was +not very long since he had stood beside a mail-boat's hatch, and merely +raised a hand now and then while her deck-hands stowed the baggage under +his direction; but he found something faintly humorous in the situation +until, hampered by an awkward load, he lost his balance and fell down +the steps. Still, he contrived to deposit the charterers' possessions +at the water's edge, and when Valentine came back he packed them into +the dory, and about fifteen minutes later staggered into the little +white ladies' cabin on board the _Sorata_ with a big trunk in his arms. +One of the girls was busy unstrapping a valise, but the other looked +around as he came in. + +"Put it there!" she said, with a swift glance at him, and then, though +he noticed that apparently she had something in her hand, she seemed to +change her mind and turned around again. + +Jimmy went out backwards, with a faint warmth in his face, and when he +had brought in the rest of the baggage he went up and assisted Louis, +their third hand, to break out the anchor and get the _Sorata_ under +way. She was sliding out through the Narrows when he dropped through the +scuttle into the forecastle, and found Valentine filling a tray. + +"It's part of your business to carry the baggage," he said. "You want to +remember they're particular people, and you're expected to make yourself +generally useful and agreeable. Still, I guess there's no need to talk +as you would in a mail-boat's saloon." + +Jimmy took the tray, but, as it happened, the _Sorata_ lurched on the +wash from a passing steamer as he went through the sliding door in the +bulk-head, and, plunging into the saloon with arms stretched out, he +fell against the table. It was a moment or two before he partly +recovered his equanimity, and then, as he looked about him, a hoarse +laugh fell through the open skylights. To make things worse, he fancied +that the elderly gentleman cast a suspicious glance at him, while he was +quite sure that there was a twinkle in one of the young ladies' eyes. +She leaned back somewhat wearily upon a locker cushion, and her face was +thin and fragile; but her companion sat upright, and Jimmy saw that she +also was regarding him. She was tall and somewhat large of frame, with a +quiet face that had something patrician in it, and reposeful brown eyes. +Jimmy fancied that she and the others must have heard the laugh above. + +"It's only that idiot Louis, sir," he said. "It's a habit he has. You'll +hear him laugh to himself now and then when he's at the helm." + +Then it occurred to him that he was speaking more familiarly than an +Englishman would probably expect a yacht-hand to do, and, pulling +himself up abruptly, he commenced to lay out the table and pour the +coffee. + +"You take sugar, miss?" he asked. + +"She does," said the man dryly. "When a spoon is not available she +prefers her own fingers." + +The delicate girl laughed a little, and Jimmy felt his face grow warm, +for he was conscious that her companion was watching him with quiet +amusement; but he contrived to find the spoons he had forgotten, and +when he was about to withdraw the girl with the brown eyes made a little +sign. + +"I suppose we are at liberty to read any of those books?" she asked, +pointing to the hanging shelves. "They are the skipper's?" + +Jimmy knew what she was thinking, because the works in question were by +no means of the kind one would have expected a professional yacht-hirer +to own or to appreciate. He also knew that the forecastle slide was +open, and that Valentine was probably listening. + +"Of course, miss," he said; "take any of them, if you can understand +them. I think it's more than the skipper does. Still, he has a little +education, and bought them cheap at book sales. They give a kind of tone +to the boat." + +"I see," said the girl with the reposeful eyes, and Jimmy backed out in +haste. He fancied a little ripple of musical laughter broke out after he +had closed the forecastle slide. Then he glanced deprecatingly at +Valentine, who did not appear by any means pleased with him. + +"I didn't expect too much from you, but the last piece of gratuitous +foolery might have been left out," he said. "Did you ever come across a +yacht steward who took passengers into his confidence in the casual way +you do?" + +"No," said Jimmy candidly, "I don't think I ever did. Now, I don't in +the least know what came over me, but I can't remember ever losing my +head in quite the same way before. It must have been the way the girl +with the brown eyes looked at me. In fact, she seemed to be looking +right through me. Who is she?" + +"Miss Merril." + +"Ah!" said Jimmy, a trifle sharply. "Still, it doesn't seem to be an +unusual name in this country, and, after all, one couldn't hold her +responsible for her father's doings--if she is the one I mean. It's +quite possible they wouldn't please her if she were acquainted with +them. In fact, it's distinctly probable." + +"I wonder why you seem so sure of that? She is the one you mean." + +"From her face. You couldn't expect a girl with a face like that to +approve of anything that was not----" + +He saw Valentine's smile, and broke off abruptly. "Anyway, it doesn't +matter in the least to either of us. What is she doing here, and who are +the others?" + +Valentine laughed. "I don't think I suggested that it did. The man is +Austerly, of the Crown-land offices, and English, as you can see--one of +the men with a family pull on somebody in authority in the Old Country. +I believe he was a yacht-club commodore at home. The delicate girl's his +daughter. Not enough blood in her--phthisis, too, I think--and it's +quite likely she has been recommended a trip at sea. Miss Merril is, I +understand, a friend of hers, and she evidently knows something of +yachting too." + +"What do you know about phthisis?" + +A shadow suddenly crept into Valentine's brown face. "Well," he said +quietly, "as it happens, I do know a little too much." + +Jimmy asked no more questions, but got his supper, and contrived to keep +out of the passengers' way until about ten o'clock that night, when he +sat at the helm as the _Sorata_ fled westward before a fresh breeze. To +port, and very high above her, a cold white line of snow gleamed +ethereally under the full moon. A long roll tipped by flashing froth +came up behind her, and she swung over it with the foam boiling at her +bows and her boom well off, rolling so that her topsail which cut black +against the moonlight swung wildly athwart the softly luminous blue. + +Jimmy was watching a long sea sweep by and break into a ridge of +gleaming froth, when Miss Merril came out from the little companion and +stood close beside him with the silvery light upon her. She had a soft +wrap of some kind about her head and shoulders, and, though he could not +at first see her face, the way the fleecy fabric hung emphasized her +shapely figure. + +"I wonder whether you would let me steer?" she asked. + +For a moment or two Jimmy hesitated. The _Sorata_ was carrying a good +deal of sail, and running rather wildly, while he knew that a very small +blunder at the tiller would bring her big main-boom crashing over, the +result of which might be disaster. Still, there was something in the +girl's manner which, for no reason that he could think of, impressed him +with confidence. He felt that she would not have asked him for the helm +merely out of caprice, or unless she could steer. + +"Well," he said, remembering he was supposed to be a yacht-hand, "we +will see what kind of a show you make at it, miss. Take hold, and try to +keep her bowsprit on the island. It's the little black smear in the +moonlight yonder." + +The girl apparently had no difficulty in doing it, though for a while he +crouched upon the side-deck with a brown hand close beside the ones she +laid on the tiller. Then as, feeling reassured, he relaxed his grasp, +she appeared to indicate her hands with a glance. + +"They are really stronger than you seem to think," she said, "and I have +sailed a yacht before." + +Jimmy laughed. "I only thought they were very pretty." + +The girl looked around at him a moment, without indignation, but with a +grave inquiry in her eyes which Jimmy, who suddenly remembered the role +he was expected to play, found curiously disconcerting. + +"What made you say that?" she asked. + +"I really don't know;" and Jimmy had sense enough not to make matters +worse by admitting that he had said anything unusual. "It seemed to come +to me naturally. Perhaps it was because they--are--pretty." + +This time Miss Merril laughed. "Well," she said, "I should just as soon +they were capable. But don't you think she would steer easier with the +sheet slacked off a foot or two?" + +Jimmy had thought so already, but while he let the sheet run around a +cleat he asked himself whether this was intended as a tactful reminder +that he was merely expected to do what was necessary on board the +vessel. On the whole he did not think it was. One has, after all, a +certain license at sea; and though he had naturally met young ladies on +board the mail-boats who apparently found pleasure in treating every man +not exactly of their own station with frigid discourtesy, he fancied +that Miss Merril differed from them. However, he sat silent and out of +the way upon the _Sorata_'s counter, until presently a lordly, +four-masted ship swept up out of the soft blueness of the night. + +She crossed the _Sorata_'s bows, braced up on the wind, and, for she +carried American cotton sailcloth, she gleamed majestically white, with +four great spires of slanted canvas tapering from the great arch of her +courses to the little royals that swayed high up athwart the blue above +a long line of dusky hull. It was hove up on the side nearest the +_Sorata_, and the sea frothed white beneath her bows, which piled it +high in a filmy, flashing cloud. Miss Merril could hear the roar of +parted water, and, as the great vessel drove by, the refrain of a +sighing chantey that fell amidst a sharp clanking from the black figures +on her spray-drenched forecastle. + +"Ah!" she said, "that is a picture to remember. I wonder what those men +have undergone, and where they come from?" + +Jimmy smiled, presuming that she was addressing him, though he could not +be sure of it. + +"Well," he said, "I should fancy they have borne 'most everything that a +man could be expected to face, except want of food, while they thrashed +her round the Horn. She's American, and, if they drive men hard on board +their ships, they at least usually feed them well." + +"You know what they have done?" + +Jimmy laughed, and forgot his man-o'-war cap as he saw that she was +interested. "I believe I do. They've crawled out on those long topsail +yards probably once every watch by night and day, clawing at thundering +folds of hard, drenched canvas, while the ship lay with her rail in the +water when the Cape Horn squalls came down thick with blinding snow. +Then they've crawled down with bleeding hands and broken nails, and +flung themselves, in their dripping oilskins, into a soddened bunk to +snatch a couple of hours' sleep before they were roused to get sail on +her again. They have lived for days on cold provisions soaked in brine +when the galley fire was drowned out, and it is very likely have not +stripped a long boot off for a week. She carries a high rail, but the +icy sea that chilled them to the bone has poured across it at every +roll." + +"Ah!" said the girl; "going west it would be to windward. In one way +it's almost an epic. I suppose it's always more or less like that?" + +"Yes," said Jimmy; "one of the epics nobody has ever written, perhaps +because nobody really could. There are a good many of them. As you say, +when one has to fight to windward, things generally happen more or less +that way." + +Miss Merril turned and looked at him as he sat on the _Sorata_'s counter +in the navy cap, and a smile crept into her eyes. + +"Still," she said, "perhaps it is, after all, worth while to face them." + +They both remembered that afterward, but in the meanwhile it did not +strike Jimmy as in any way incongruous that she should talk to him in +such a fashion or credit him with more comprehension than one would +expect from a professional yacht-hand. + +"I don't know," he said simply. "One's heart is apt to fail when one +looks forward and sees only the snow-squalls to drive one back to +leeward, and the steep head seas." + +Then he stood up suddenly with a little laugh as Louis came slouching +aft from the forecastle scuttle. + +"I'm relieved, and I had better see whether they want anything in the +saloon," he said. + +It appeared that they wanted nothing, and when he crawled into the +forecastle Valentine looked at him with evident curiosity. + +"You had apparently a good deal to say to Miss Merril," he observed. +"Might one ask what you found to talk about?" + +"The last topic was whether it is worth while to hang on and fight one's +way to windward when the outlook is black. If I understood her +correctly, she seems to believe it is." + +Valentine grinned sardonically. "Did you discuss it like a German +philosopher, or as a forecastle hand? I suppose it never struck you that +it's rather an unusual subject for a yachting roustabout to go into with +a young lady passenger?" + +"It is," agreed Jimmy, making a little deprecatory gesture. "I'm afraid +I didn't remember that before; but it probably doesn't matter, since +it's hardly likely that she did either." + +His comrade looked at him, and shook his head. "You can believe that--at +your age?" he said. "My dear man, a young woman of Miss Merril's +intelligence would notice anything that wasn't quite in character the +moment you said it. Still, that is your affair. It's the other one I'm +worrying about." + +"The other one?" + +"Miss Austerly. The girl's very sick--probably worse than her father +realizes--and it's rather on my conscience that I told them that Louis +could cook. Anyway, if this breeze holds we'll bring up off Victoria +early to-morrow, and though we're not going in, I'll slip ashore before +breakfast and see what one can pick up at the stores." + +Jimmy asked him no more questions, but crept into his bunk. About nine +o'clock on the morrow, when the _Sorata_ was lying in a bight on the +south coast of Vancouver Island, he was aroused by the dory bumping +alongside, and he went out on deck. It was then raining hard, and all he +could see was a stretch of gray sea and a strip of dripping boulder +beach on which a little white surf was breaking. There was a good deal +of water in the dory, and Valentine's oilskins were dripping when he +climbed out of her with several packages under his arm. Stores open +early in that country. + +"Now," he said, "you can bail her out, and come down in half an hour +when I've fixed up a breakfast that any one could eat." + +Jimmy did so, but it was with some little diffidence that he carried the +tray into the saloon. It occurred to him that Miss Merril might regret +that she had unbent so far the previous night, and he wondered uneasily +whether he had ventured further than was advisable. He was also +conscious for the first time that the repairs Valentine had made in his +garments were less artistic than evident. The girl, however, looked up +with a smile, which might have meant anything, and afterward confined +her attention to the articles he was laying on the table. There were +Chinese preserved dainties and fruit from California, as well as the +ordinary fare. + +"An unusually good breakfast," said Austerly. "Does your skipper always +treat his charterers so well?" + +"Yes, sir," said Jimmy. "That is, when he can. You see, he couldn't get +these things in Vancouver; there isn't the same demand for them as there +is in the capital." + +Austerly did not appear altogether satisfied with the ingenious +explanation, but he said nothing further. Indeed, he was not a man who +said very much on any occasion; and while he commenced his breakfast +Miss Merril looked at Jimmy with her little disconcerting smile. Still, +there was no malice in it. + +She was as fresh that morning as when she came off the previous evening, +though both Austerly and his daughter appeared a trifle the worse for +the night's run. Miss Merril was wholly unostentatious in speech or +bearing, and there was a certain gracious tranquillity about her which +suggested latent vigor instead of languidness. She was then, he decided +tolerably correctly, in her twenty-fifth year, brown-haired and +brown-eyed, with broad, low forehead, unusually straight brows, and, in +spite of her smile, a curiously steady gaze. Her face was a full oval, +her mouth by no means small, and, while he had seen women of a somewhat +similar type whose vigor was tinged with coarseness or a hint of +sensuality, there was about this girl a certain daintiness of thought +and speech, and a quiet dignity. What she said was, however, +sufficiently prosaic. + +"I presume that means he went to Victoria for the extra stores this +morning; but how did he get there? It must be some distance, from what I +know of the coast, and he would have a head-wind all the way back." + +"He walked," said Jimmy. "It's necessary for him. One doesn't get very +much exercise of that kind at sea. In fact, he walks miles whenever he +can." + +Miss Austerly appeared a trifle astonished, and her father looked up +from his coffee. + +"It's a trifle difficult to understand how he manages it," he said. +"One would consider the _Sorata_ forty feet long." + +Jimmy felt Miss Merril's gaze upon him, and, as had happened before, his +ingenuity failed him. Her smile vaguely suggested comprehension, and, +for no ostensible reason, that disturbed him. He also saw Louis grinning +down at him through the skylights. + +"Sugar, sir?" he said; and this was so evidently an inspiration that +Miss Austerly laughed, and when her father said that he had been offered +it twice already, Jimmy went out with all the haste available. He closed +the forecastle slide somewhat noisily, and then sat down and frowned at +Valentine. + +"Well?" said the latter dryly. "Been making an exhibition of yourself +again?" + +"I'm afraid I have," said Jimmy. "If it happens another time you can +carry the things in yourself and see how nice it is. Still, I don't +quite know why I lost my head. I have naturally met quite a few young +ladies in my time. I suppose it's wearing that confounded cap and these +more confounded clothes." + +He kicked one foot out, and disgustedly contemplated a burst white shoe, +while the duck trousers cracked. Valentine leaned back against the +bulkhead and laughed. + +"Don't be rash, or they'll split; and the jacket's opening at a seam," +he said. "It's rather a pity a man can't rise above his clothes. Anyway, +you may as well give Louis a hand to get the mainsail on to her. As soon +as they've finished breakfast we'll break out the anchor." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A VISION OF THE SEA + + +There was rain and thick weather for several days, during which the +_Sorata_ crept northward slowly along the wild West Vancouver coast. +Austerly, it appeared, had business with an Indian agent who lived up an +inlet near which the restless white prospectors were encroaching on a +Siwash reserve. The boat was wet and clammy everywhere, though a bark +fire burned in the little saloon stove. Miss Austerly lay for the most +part silent on the leeward settee with a certain wistful patience in her +hollow face which roused Jimmy's compassion. He noticed that Valentine's +voice was gentler than usual when he mentioned her, and wondered why it +was so, though his comrade did not favor him with an adequate +explanation then or afterward. + +At last one afternoon the drizzle ceased, and, during most of it, Miss +Merril sat at the tiller with Jimmy's oilskin jacket round her shoulders +to shield her from the spray, while the _Sorata_ drove northward, +close-hauled, across the long gray roll of the Pacific which was tipped +with livid foam. Sometimes she swung over it, with dripping jib hove +high, but at least as often she dipped her bows in the creaming froth +and flung the brine aft in showers, while all the time the half-seen +shore unrolled itself to starboard in a majestic panorama. + +Great surf-lapped rocks rose out of the grayness, and were lost in it +again; forests athwart which the vapors streamed in smoky wisps rolled +by; and at times there were brief entrancing visions of a towering +range, phantoms of mountains that vanished and appeared again. There was +water on the lee-deck; showers of it drove into the drenched mainsail's +luff; but still Miss Merril sat at the tiller with her damp hair blown +about her forehead, a patch of carmine in her cheeks, and a gleam in her +eyes. She seemed, as she swung with the plunging fabric when the counter +rose streaming high above the froth that swept astern, wholly in harmony +with the motive of the scene; and at this Jimmy wondered a little now +and then, though he discovered afterward that Anthea Merril almost +invariably fitted herself to her surroundings. There are men and women +with that capacity, which is, perhaps, born of comprehension and +sympathy. + +Her grasp was firm and steady on the straining helm, her gaze quick to +notice each gray comber that broke as it came down on them; but, when he +looked at her, Jimmy saw in her eyes something deeper than the thrill of +the encounter with the winds of heaven and the restless sea. He could +find no fitting name for it. It eluded definition, but it had its +effect; and he felt that a man might go far and do more than thrash a +yacht to windward with such a companion, though he also realized that +this was, after all, no concern of his. Apart from that, her quiet +courage and readiness were noticeable, though it was, perhaps, her +understanding that appealed most to him. Anthea Merril never asked an +unnecessary question. She seemed able to grasp one's thoughts and +motives in a fashion that set those with whom she conversed at their +ease, and when in her company Jimmy usually forgot his yacht-hand's +garments and the man-o'-war cap. + +It was toward sunset that evening, and Miss Austerly was sitting well +wrapped up on a locker in the cockpit, when the vapor melted and was +blown away, as not infrequently happens about that time at sea. The +dingy clouds that veiled the sky were rent, and a blaze of weird, +coppery radiance smote the tumbling seas, which changed under it to +smears of incandescent whiteness with ruddy gleams in them, and ridges +of flashing green. It was sudden and bewildering, impelling one to hold +one's breath. But a more glorious pageant leaped out of the dimness over +the starboard hand. Walls of rock that burned with many colors sprang +into being, with somber pines streaming upward behind them, and far +aloft there were lifted gleaming heights of never-trodden snow whose +stainless purity was intensified by their gray and turquoise shadows. + +The vision was vouchsafed them, steeped in an immaterial splendor, for +perhaps five minutes, and then it faded as though it had never been. +Miss Austerly, who had gazed at it rapt and eager-eyed, drew in her +breath. + +"Ah!" she said; "if it was only to see that, I am glad I came--it may be +the last time." + +Jimmy, who was sitting on the skylights, saw the apprehension in Anthea +Merril's eyes as she glanced down for a moment into the fragile face of +her companion, and he fancied that Valentine did so too; but the girl +smiled wistfully. + +"Still," she said, "it is a good deal to have seen the glory of this +world, and one would almost fancy that other one--where the sea is +glassy--could not be much more beautiful." + +There was a hint of reproach in Anthea Merril's quiet voice, which +reached Jimmy. + +"Nellie," she said, "you have morbid fancies now and then. We brought +you on this trip to make you cheerful and strong." + +The sick girl smiled again, and the pallor of her fragile face +intensified the faint shining of her eyes. "I think you know that I +shall never get strong again, and, after all, why should I wish to stay +here when I may leave my pains and weaknesses behind me? You can't +understand that. You have the vigor of the sea in you--and the world +before you." + +It apparently occurred to Valentine that he was hearing too much, for he +stood up, swaying while the _Sorata_ plunged, and called to Austerly +through one of the open skylights of the saloon. + +"We'll have the breeze down on us twice as hard in a few minutes, sir, +and there's an inlet we could lie snug in not far astern," he said. +"It's quite likely we might come across a Siwash or two who would pole +you up the river at the head of the inlet to within easy reach of the +agent's place, to-morrow." + +"Very well!" said Austerly; "you can run her away." + +It appeared advisable, for the _Sorata_ buried her bows in a smother of +frothing brine and dipped her lee-deck deep, as a blast swept down. +Valentine glanced at Miss Merril somewhat dubiously. + +"Do you think you could jibe her all standing?" he asked. + +Jimmy almost expected Anthea Merril to say that she could not, for, +unless the helmsman is skilful, when a cutter-rigged craft is brought +round, stern to a fresh breeze, her great mainsail with the ponderous +boom along the foot of it is apt to swing over with disastrous violence. +There was, however, no hesitation in the girl's face, and Valentine made +a little gesture that implied rather more than resignation. + +"When you're ready!" he said. "Stand by, Jimmy!" + +They laid hands on the hard, wet sheet, and, while the girl swayed with +the helm, and the _Sorata_ came round, stern to sea, dragged the big +mainboom in foot by foot until it hung over them, lifting, with the +great bellying sail ready to swing. Then, though nobody knew quite how +it happened, Jimmy got a loose turn of the rope about his arm as a sea +washed in across the counter. In another second or two the boom would +swing over, and it seemed very probable that his arm would at least be +broken. While the tightening hemp ground into his flesh, he saw the +color ebb in Valentine's face, and then the girl's voice reached him +sharp and insistent. + +"Now!" was all she said. + +The _Sorata_'s bows swung a trifle further, and no more. The boom went +up with a jerk, and, while the blood started from Jimmy's compressed +arm, came down again. For a second the turn of rope slackened, and he +shook it clear. Then the sheet whirred through the quarter-blocks as +the great sail swung over, and the _Sorata_ rolled until one side of her +was deep in the foam. She shook herself out of it, and Jimmy, who forgot +the man-o'-war cap and what he was supposed to be, saw the girl's eyes +fixed on him with a faint smile in them, and made her a little +inclination. He felt that she was asking him a question. + +"Thank you!" he said simply. "I don't think I was unduly frightened. I +seemed to know you would not fail me." + +Anthea Merril made no answer, but a slight flush crept into her cheek. +She was very human, and it was in one sense an eloquent compliment. Then +Jimmy went forward to haul the staysail down, though he found he had to +do it with one hand, and he was kept busy until he went down with +Valentine into the little forecastle, when the _Sorata_ lay snug in a +strip of still green water close beneath the dusky pines. Louis had just +gone ashore with the dory to gather bark for fuel, and, for the scuttle +was open, they could hear the splash of his oars through the deep +stillness that was emphasized by the murmur of falling water. Valentine +sat on a locker with the lamplight on his bronzed face, which was a +trifle grave. + +"Rain again, and I'd sooner lose my next charter than have bad weather +now," he said. + +"Why?" asked Jimmy. + +His comrade made a sign of impatience. "Didn't you hear what that girl +said--it was the last time? She knew that she was right, too, though +it's probably only natural that her father wouldn't believe it. A last +treat she's getting--and she's as fond of the sea as I am, or you are +either." + +Jimmy did not know why he smiled, but perhaps it was because he was +stirred a little and did not wish to show it. In any case, Valentine +frowned at him. + +"Oh, yes," he said, "I know. It's a dog's life, and other things; but +you wouldn't quit it, anyway, and that's not the question. Can't you +understand what that sickly girl's life has been, with all that other +women might expect to have denied her?" + +There was a certain hoarse insistence in Valentine's inquiry, from which +it seemed to Jimmy, who had noticed the solicitude with which he had +endeavored to minister in every way to the comfort or pleasure of their +delicate passenger, that his companion had some special reason for +understanding what the girl's lot had been. + +"Well," he said reflectively, "one would suppose that to be born +foredoomed is hard upon such as Miss Austerly." + +Valentine made a little abrupt gesture. "It's evident they once had a +yacht of their own. Any one could see how fond of it she is; and I'm +taking her father's money--he hasn't too much of it--like a--moneylender +that she may have a last taste of the one thing she can take pleasure +in. Lord, when one has so much for nothing, what selfish hogs we are!" + +"It can't be helped, anyway. You couldn't offer a favor to a man like +Austerly." + +"No;" and Valentine frowned. "He's a man with all the condemned +prejudices of his class, and he would, naturally, sooner see his +daughter's one wish ungratified. After all, women now and then rate the +value of things more justly than we do. There's Miss Merril who came +with them, and somehow it was she who brought this trip about. She has +her pride, full measure of it, but she has sense as well, sense of +proportion, and if we had only her to deal with we'd let every other +charter slide and go south to-morrow to find the summer." + +Jimmy was not in the least astonished. He had, of course, listened to a +certain amount of forecastle ribaldry, though, after all, conversation +and badinage of that nature is, at least, as frequent in a mail-boat's +smoking-room; but he knew the ways of his fellows, and it seemed a very +natural thing to him that Valentine the pariah should in his own fashion +reveal these depths of chivalrous compassion. He had seen hard-handed +men of coarse fiber do many a gentle deed with a curse on their lips +that was probably worth a good deal more than a conventional platitude. +Still, it would have been wholly extraordinary if he had mentioned +anything of this. + +"One would fancy Miss Merril has a good deal of character," he said. + +"Too much for the man she marries, if there's anything small and mean in +him. That's a girl with a capacity for doing more than sail a boat to +windward well, and she will probably expect a good deal. In one way +there's something humorous in the fact that her father is one of the +----est rogues in this Province, though there are naturally a good many +people who look up to him. Of course, she isn't aware of it yet. Brought +up back East, I believe, and somebody told me she had lived a good deal +with her mother's people. It probably means trouble for her when she +understands the reality." + +He rose with a little shrug of his shoulders. "I'm talking like an old +woman, and these things have nothing to do with us. We have our wet +watches to keep at sea, and perhaps we are better off than the rest of +them because that is all. You can turn in if you want to; I'll wait for +Louis." + +Five minutes later Jimmy crawled into his bunk, and fell fast asleep. +When he awakened, he found that the day had broken still and sunny. +There was a Siwash rancherie a mile or two up the Inlet, and when an +Indian had been found who would carry a message through the forest, +Austerly, who never forgot what was due to a Crown-land official, +decided to stay where he was and allow the agent to visit him. He was +not in any way an active man, and appeared quite content to sit in the +cockpit reading, when Valentine, who had procured a Siwash river +canoe--a long, light shell of cedar with some two feet beam--offered to +take his daughter up the Inlet to see the rancherie. Miss Austerly was +pleased to go with him, and Anthea Merril, who watched the knife-edge +craft slide away, turned to Jimmy. + +"If you will get the trolling-spoon I will go fishing," she said. + +"Yes, miss," said Jimmy, touching his cap--a thing that is very seldom +done in Western Canada. Hauling the dory alongside, he handed her into +it. Then he dipped the oars, and they slid slowly up the Inlet with the +silver and vermilion spoon trailing astern. He had laid Valentine's +shot-gun across the thwarts. + +The lane of clear green water was, perhaps, two hundred yards wide, and +the stately pines which shroud all that lonely coast rose in somber +ranks on either side, distilling their drowsy fragrance as their +motionless needles dried in the sun. There was not a sound when the +splash of Valentine's paddle died away, and Jimmy dipped his oars +leisurely, now and then venturing a glance at his companion. It seemed +to him that the big white hat she wore became her wonderfully well, and +it is possible that she guessed as much and did not resent it, for Jimmy +was, after all, a personable man. + +"Your skipper is very good to Nellie Austerly," she said. "I am rather +pleased with him because of it. There are, naturally, not many things in +which she can take any great interest." + +"I suppose," said Jimmy reflectively, "there are people who would +consider it good of him, but, in one way, it really isn't. It doesn't +cost him anything, and he can't help it. That man would do what he could +for anybody who didn't want to take advantage of him. What's more, he +would do it almost without realizing what he was about." + +"Do you know why he lives as he does at sea?" + +"I don't. Probably because he likes it." + +Anthea Merril smiled. "Is that all? It has not occurred to you that +there is, perhaps, a reason why he and Nellie Austerly understand each +other?" + +"Both fond of the sea?" + +"That mightn't go far enough. Nellie has had to give up so much, or +rather it has been taken away from her. You can understand that?" + +Jimmy nodded assent. It had already occurred to him that his comrade +was a man who had lost something he greatly valued, and it did not +appear incongruous that Miss Merril should be speaking in this familiar +fashion to him. In fact, she frequently contrived to make him forget +that he was Valentine's hired hand and wore the man-o'-war cap. + +"What would a boat like the _Sorata_ cost to build?" she asked. + +"Perhaps four thousand dollars in this country." + +"Ah!" said the girl; "and with that sum one could probably set up a +store, buy one of the little sawmills near a rising settlement, or start +on one of the other paths that are supposed to lead to affluence." + +Jimmy laughed. "Supposing he owned the big Hastings mill, what more +could it offer a man with his views? As he will tell you, he gets what +he likes almost for nothing. He may be right, too. After all, it is +clean dirt one has to eat at sea." + +"There are not many men who could live as he does; the rest would go to +pieces. And isn't it rather shirking a responsibility?" + +"You mean that one ought to make money?" + +"I think one ought to take one's part in the struggle that is going to +make this the greatest Province in the Dominion; but not exactly for +that reason." Then Miss Merril apparently decided to change the subject. +"You had a good halibut season?" + +Jimmy saw the twinkle in her eyes, and understood it. "I hadn't. I'm +afraid I wouldn't know a halibut when I saw it. There are, one believes, +plenty of them, but so far very few people go fishing." + +"Then you were probably killing the Americans' seals?" + +"I wasn't. I am, I may mention, mate on board a lumber-carrying +schooner." + +His companion's nod might have meant anything. "I fancied," she said, +"you had not gone to sea very often as a yacht-hand." + +Jimmy, who was uncertain what she wished him to understand, pulled on +leisurely, until, as they crept along the shore, a widening ripple that +spread from beyond a point caught his eye, and, laying down the oars, he +reached for the gun. + +"I was told to bring back a duck for Miss Austerly if I could," he said. +"You don't mind?" + +Anthea Merril made a sign of indifference, and the dory slid on, until, +as they opened up a little bay, Jimmy flung up the gun, for a slowly +moving object swam in the midst of it. Then he felt a hand on his arm, +and a voice said sharply, "Put it down!" + +Jimmy did so before he saw the reason, and it was a moment later when he +noticed a string of little fluffy bodies stretched out from the shore. +The mother bird paddled toward them, and, disregarding her own danger, +strove to drive them back among the boulders. Then he saw the curious +gleam that was half anger and half compassion in his companion's eyes, +and felt his face grow a trifle hot. + +"I didn't know," he said. "It must be an unusually late brood. I never +noticed them. I shouldn't like you to think I did." + +"Open the gun, and take out the cartridges!" ordered his companion. + +"Very well, miss," said Jimmy, who could not resist the impulse of +adding, with a whimsical twinkle in his eyes: "Shall I take off the +trolling-spoon?" + +Anthea Merril laughed. "No," she said. "Still, I can't complain of the +suggestion. Head out from shore, and row faster." + +Jimmy said nothing further, but busied himself with his oars. He had +discovered by this time that he could talk more or less confidentially +with Anthea Merril only when it was her pleasure that he should do so, +and she was able to make it clear when that time had gone. Still, he did +not for a moment believe she would have been more gracious had her +companion not happened to be the _Sorata_'s paid hand. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +BLOWN OFF + + +The evening was cool and clear. Anthea Merril and Jimmy followed an +Indian path that wound through the primeval bush. On the one hand a +great, smooth-scarped wall of rock ran up far above the trees that clung +about its feet into the wondrous green transparency, but the light was +dying out down in the hollow where towering fir and cedar clustered. +They were great of girth and very old, and beneath them there was +silence and solemnity. + +Jimmy, who carried his companion's sketching materials, went first to +clear the dew-wet fern away, and the girl walked behind him silently; +but this was not because there had been any change in her attitude +toward him. Indeed, a certain camaraderie had grown up between them +during the few days they had spent fishing and wandering in the bush, +and there was, after all, nothing astonishing in this, for Jimmy was +guilty of no presumption, and social distinctions, which are, indeed, +not very marked in that country, do not count for much in the +wilderness. Still, that camaraderie had been a revelation to him, and he +was uneasily aware that during the rest of his life he would look back +upon the time when he had been Miss Merril's guide and attendant. + +They had been up the bank of a river that afternoon, and the girl, who +had spent an hour or two sketching a peak of the range, had remained +behind with Jimmy when the rest had retraced their steps to the Inlet +lest Miss Austerly should suffer from the chill of the dew. The two were +accordingly coming back alone, which, indeed, had happened several times +before. It was Anthea who spoke at last. + +"It will be dark very soon, and it might have been wiser if we had gone +back the way the others did," she said. "Still, this trail looked +nearer. I suppose it must come out at the Inlet?" + +"Oh, yes," said Jimmy. "I can hear the river, though it doesn't seem to +be quite where I expected. The others will be on the beach by now." + +"I shouldn't like to keep Nellie there," said Anthea. "Still, I scarcely +think they would wait long." + +"Of course not," said Jimmy. "Tom is as careful of her as if she were +his sister, and they wouldn't worry about our not turning up to go off +with them. They're probably getting used to it by this time." + +He realized next moment that this was, perhaps, not a particularly +tactful observation; but he could not see his companion's face, and, as +had happened before, he had sense enough not to make things worse by any +attempt to explain it, which Anthea Merril, who recognized that he had +spoken unreflectively, of course, noticed. What she thought of him--and +she had, naturally, formed certain opinions--did not appear until some +time later. + +In a few minutes he stopped abruptly where the trail wound round a +screen of salmon-berry, for a creek came splashing down across their +way. It appeared to be at least two feet deep, and when his companion +saw it she turned to him with a little exclamation. + +"Oh!" she said, "how are we going to get across? We certainly can't go +back." + +"I'm afraid not;" and Jimmy glanced dubiously at the sliding water. "It +will be dark in half an hour, and this bush is bad enough to get through +in the daylight. I'll go in anyway, and see how deep it is." + +He plodded through rather above his knees in water, which was mostly +freshly melted snow, and then turned and looked at the girl as she stood +regarding him somewhat curiously from the opposite bank. The light had +not quite gone yet, and he could see her standing, tall and supple and +shapely, with her white serge skirt gathered in one hand, and a patch of +crimson wine-berries at her feet. The great brown-and-gray trunk of a +redwood behind her forced up the fine outline of her figure, and made a +fitting background for the delicate coloring of the face that was turned +toward him. Then, as had happened once or twice before, a little thrill +ran through the man, and he glanced down at the sliding water. + +"You can't wade through, and there's no use trying to look for a spot +where it's not running quite so fast. I don't think a Siwash could get +through this bush," he said. + +He stopped somewhat abruptly, and was glad that the girl met his glance +without wavering, as she said, "Well?" + +Jimmy's tone was deprecatory. "There's only one way, Miss Merril. I must +carry you over." + +Anthea laughed, though it cost her a slight effort. She was, at least, +glad that he had addressed her unconcernedly, and as a yacht-hand would. +She was also quite aware that young ladies who go rowing in small +dories, or venture into the wilderness, have to submit to being carried +occasionally; but, for all that, she would sooner the suggestion had +been made by another man. + +"Do you really think you could?" she asked. + +Jimmy's eyes twinkled, which was more reassuring than any sign of +embarrassment. + +"Well," he said reflectively, and again she was pleased that he was very +matter-of-fact, and had sense enough to drop back into his role, "I +guess I'm used to carrying three-inch redwood planks." + +He came splashing through the water, though he did not look at her, and +in a moment or two she felt his arms about her. She wondered vaguely +whether he had often carried any one else, for it was, at least, evident +that he knew exactly what he meant to do, and she recognized the +strength the sea had given him, as he stepped down easily into the +creek, holding her high above the water, with the loose folds of her +skirt wrapped about her. Anthea was reasonably substantial, as she was, +of course, aware; but, though he twice floundered a little in the depths +of a pool, he set her down safe on the other side and stood before her +with flushed forehead, which was, as she promptly realized, in one +respect a mistake. He said nothing, and did not, indeed, look at her; +but as he drew in a deep breath from the physical effort she glanced at +him, and saw something in his face that suggested restraint. That +spoiled everything. + +"It is getting late," she said quietly. "Doesn't the path go on again?" + +They turned away, Jimmy walking first, for which she was thankful, +because the moment or two when they had stood silent had been more than +enough. There was nothing for which she could blame the man. His +demeanor had been everything that one could have expected; but she had +seen the momentary light in his eyes and the tightening of his lips, and +knew that their relations could never be exactly what they had been. +Something had come about, for the fact that he had found it necessary to +put a restraint upon himself had made a change. Perhaps he felt that +silence was inadvisable, and once more she appreciated the good sense +that prompted him to talk, much as a seaman would have done, of the +straightness of the shadowy redwoods they passed and their value as +masts, though this was naturally not a subject that greatly interested +her. + +When they reached the beach they found that Valentine had left them the +Siwash canoe; and the rest, with the exception of Nellie Austerly, were +sitting in the _Sorata_'s cockpit when Jimmy paddled alongside. Miss +Merril furnished a suitable explanation of their delay, but she +overlooked the fact that Valentine was acquainted with the bush about +that Inlet. + +"You must have struck the creek," he said. "I should have remembered to +tell you about it." + +He looked at Jimmy, but the latter wisely decided to leave it to Miss +Merril, and turned his attention to the canoe. He felt that she was +competent to handle the matter. + +"I was almost waist-deep when I last went through," said Valentine, who +did not display his usual perspicacity. "How did you get across?" + +Anthea dismissed the subject with perfect composure. "Then there could +not have been anything like so much water. Jimmy helped me over." + +Jimmy went forward, and disappeared through the scuttle into the +forecastle, and some little while later Valentine came down and looked +at him with a dry smile. + +"I don't yet understand how Miss Merril got across that creek," he said. + +"I fancied she told you;" and Jimmy felt his face grow warm. + +Valentine laughed. "Perhaps she did, but it seems to me that she wasn't +remarkably explicit." + +Jimmy said nothing, and presently climbed into his berth, where he lay +for a while trying to recall every incident of the journey he and Anthea +Merril had made through the shadowy bush, until it occurred to him that +he was only preparing trouble for himself by doing so, and he went to +sleep. + +It was raining when he awoke, and it rained for most of three days as +hard as it often does on that coast, until the crystal depths of the +Inlet grew turbid, and it flowed seaward between its dripping walls of +mountains like a river. At last one afternoon the clouds were rolled +away, and when fierce, glaring sunshine beat down Austerly decided that +he would go ashore to fish. The men went with him, Valentine to pull the +dory into the swollen river, Jimmy and Louis in the Siwash canoe to +gather bark for fuel. When they approached the beach where they usually +landed, Jimmy glanced thoughtfully at the great torn-up pines that went +sliding by. + +"If one of those logs drove across her it might start a plank," he said. +"Besides, there's every sign of a vicious breeze, and I think I'll go +off by and by and swing her in behind the next point. She would lie +snugger there out of the stream." + +Valentine looked up at the hard blue sky across which ragged cloud-wisps +were driving, and nodded. "It generally does blow quite fresh after rain +like what we have had," he said. "You could break the anchor out +yourself. I want Louis to get a good load of bark." + +Jimmy went ashore with Louis, who carried a big axe, but by and by he +left the latter busy, and wandered back to the beach. He did not like +the angry glare of sunlight and the way the wind fell in whirling gusts +down the steep hillside. As it happened, another big log drove by while +he stood among the boulders, and remembering that the two girls were +alone in the yacht, he launched the canoe, and sat still, just dipping +the paddle, while the stream swept him down to the _Sorata_. When he +boarded her she was swinging uneasily in a swirl of muddy current, and +Anthea, who sat in the cockpit, appeared pleased to see him. + +"One would almost fancy it was going to blow very hard," she said. + +Jimmy laughed. "I believe it is; but we should be snug against anything +in the little cove yonder with a rope or two ashore. I wonder whether +you could sheer her for me while I break out the anchor?" + +The girl went to the tiller, and while Jimmy, standing forward, plied +the little winch, the cable slowly rattled in. Then he broke out the +anchor, and the boat slid astern until a cove, where dark fir branches +stretched out over the still, deep water, opened up. Dropping the +anchor, he turned to the girl. + +"Starboard!" he said. + +Anthea shoved over her tiller; but the _Sorata_ did not swing into the +cove as Jimmy had expected her to do, for a blast that set the pines +roaring fell from the hillside and drove her out from the shore. Jimmy +let more chain run, and stood still looking about him, when he felt the +anchor grip. The sunlight had faded, obscured by ragged clouds, the tall +pines swayed above him, and the _Sorata_ had swung well out athwart the +stream. + +"Since I can't kedge her with this breeze, I'll take a line ashore and +warp her in," he said. + +It appeared advisable, for there were more pine-logs coming down, and he +pitched a coil of rope into the canoe; but the rest, as he discovered, +was much more difficult. Jimmy had been used to boats in which one could +stand up and row, while a Siwash river canoe is a very different kind of +craft. As a result, he several times almost capsized her, and lost a +good deal of ground when a gust struck her lifted prow; so that some +time had passed when the line brought him up still a few yards from the +beach. He looked around at the _Sorata_ with a shout. + +"I want a few more fathoms," he called. "Can you fasten on the other +line, Miss Merril?" + +He saw the girl, who moved forward along the deck, stop and clutch at a +shroud, but that was all, for just then the dark firs roared and the +water seethed white about him as he plied the paddle. The canoe turned +around in spite of him, drove out into the stream, and, while he strove +desperately to steer her, struck the _Sorata_ with a crash. The boat +lifted her side a little as he swung himself on board, and there was a +curious harsh grating forward. Anthea, who stepped down into the +cockpit, had lost her hat, and her hair whipped her face. + +"I think she has started her anchor," she said. + +Jimmy was sure of it when he ran forward and let several fathoms of +chain run without bringing her up, for the bottom was apparently shingle +washed down from the hillside. + +"We'll have to get the kedge over," he said. + +He dropped unceremoniously into the saloon, where Miss Austerly lay on +the settee, and tore up the floorings, beneath which, as space is +valuable on board a craft of the _Sorata_'s size, the smaller anchor is +sometimes kept. He could not, however, find it anywhere, and when he +swung himself, hot and breathless, out on deck, the yacht was driving +seaward stern foremost, taking her anchor with her, while the whole +Inlet was ridged with lines of white. Anthea Merril looked at him with +suppressed apprehension in her eyes. + +"We must get a warp ashore somehow," he said. "I might sheer her in +under the staysail." + +The girl went forward with him, and gasped as they hauled together at +the halyard which hoisted the sail; and when half of it was up, she sped +aft to the tiller, and Jimmy made desperate efforts to shorten in the +cable. There was another cove not far astern into which he might work +the boat. The anchor, however, came away before he expected it, and, +though he did not think it was the girl's fault, the half-hoisted sail +swung over, and the _Sorata_, in place of creeping back toward the +beach, drove away toward the opposite shore, where the stream swept over +ragged rock. Jimmy, jumping aft, seized the tiller, and while the Inlet +seethed into little splashing ridges the _Sorata_ swept on seaward with +the breeze astern. He stood still a moment, gasping, and then, while the +girl looked at him with inquiring eyes, signed her to take the helm +again. + +"I must get the trysail on her, and try to beat her back. We may be able +to do it--I don't know," he said. "It's deep water along those rocks, +and she'd chafe through and go down; otherwise I'd ram her ashore." + +He spent several arduous minutes tearing every spare sail out of the +stern locker before he reached the one he wanted, and it was at least +five minutes more before he had laced it to its gaff, while by then +there were only jagged rocks, over which the sea that washed into the +open entrance to the Inlet seethed whitely, under the _Sorata_'s lee. +Jimmy glanced at them, and quietly lashed the trysail gaff to the boom +before he turned to Anthea Merril. + +"I'm sorry," he said. "We couldn't stay her under the trysail with the +puffs twisting all ways flung back by the trees. Besides, she'd probably +drive down upon the reefs before I got it up. It's quite evident we +can't go ashore there." + +The girl glanced ahead, and her heart sank a little as she saw the long +Pacific roll heave across the opening in big gray slopes that were +ridged with froth. Then she turned to Jimmy, who stood regarding her +gravely in the steamboat jacket, burst shoes, and man-o'-war cap, and a +look of confidence crept into her eyes. She felt that this man could be +depended on. + +"We shall have to run out to sea?" she asked. + +Jimmy nodded, and she was glad that he answered frankly, as to one who +was his equal in courage. + +"There is no help for it," he said. "Still, she'll go clear of the shore +as she is, and I don't think we need be anxious about her when she's +under trysail in open water." + +Anthea looked at him again, with a spot of color in her cheek. + +"It may blow for several days," she said. "If I can help in any way----" + +"You can," said Jimmy abruptly. "Go down now and fix Miss Austerly and +yourself something to eat. You mightn't be able to do it afterwards. +Then you can bring me up some bread and coffee." + +Anthea disappeared into the saloon with her cheeks tingling and a +curious smile in her eyes. She understood what had happened. Now that +they were at close grip with the elements, Jimmy had asserted himself in +primitive fashion, and he could, she felt, be trusted to do his part. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +JIMMY TAKES COMMAND + + +Darkness was closing down on the waste of tumbling foam, and the +_Sorata_ was clear of the shore, when Jimmy made shift to hoist the +trysail reduced by two reefs to a narrow strip of drenched canvas. Then, +while Anthea Merril held the helm, he proceeded to set the little +spitfire jib. However, he clung to the weather-shrouds, gasping and +dripping with perspiration for the first few moments, because the +struggle with the trysail had tried his strength. Indeed, Anthea, who +stood bareheaded at the helm with her loosened hair whipping about her, +wondered how he had contrived to do it alone in that strength of wind. + +His figure, shapeless in the streaming oilskins, cut darkly against the +livid foam as the _Sorata_ swung her bows high above the sea, and then +was almost lost in a filmy cloud as she plunged and buried them in the +breast of a big comber. Suddenly, however, he dropped on hands and +knees, and, crouching with one arm around the forestay, hauled the strip +of canvas out along the bowsprit until once more a sea smote the +_Sorata_ and he sank into a rush of foam. The girl caught her breath as +she waited until the boat swung her head out again, for it was very +evident that the man alone stood between her and destruction. + +He swung into sight, clinging with an arm around jib and bowsprit until +he staggered to his feet, and a strip of sailcloth that went aloft beat +him with its wet folds amidst a frantic banging. Anthea scarcely dared +to look at him as he struggled with the rope that hoisted it, and she +gasped with relief when at last he came scrambling back and pushed her +from the tiller. + +"Thanks!" he said. "Go down and get Miss Austerly on to the leeward +settee, and then try to sleep. The boat ought to lie-to dryly until the +morning, but I can't leave the tiller." + +Anthea just heard him through the turmoil of the sea, and did not resent +the grasp he had laid on her shoulder. Quietly imperious as she usually +was, it seemed only fitting that she should obey him then. She went down +through the little companion, and Jimmy, pulling the slide to after her, +settled himself for his long night-watch as darkness rolled down upon +the sea. He was anxious, but not unduly so, for the boat was high of +side and able; and a comparatively small craft will usually ride out a +vicious breeze if one can keep her hove-to under a strip or two of sail, +so as to meet the sea while not forging through it with her weather-bow. +Indeed, after the first half-hour he felt somewhat reassured, and his +thoughts went back to a subject which had occupied them somewhat +frequently of late, and that, not unnaturally, was Anthea Merril. + +She was, he knew, the daughter of the man who was ruining his father, +but that was an incident and no fault of hers. It was, he fancied, clear +that she knew nothing about Merril's business operations, and was +unacquainted with one aspect of his character. In fact, it seemed to him +that there was a painful shock in store for her when she made the +discovery. He had never met a woman with so much that compelled his +appreciation besides her physical beauty. Her quiet graciousness and +courage had their effect on him, and he was sure, at least, that he +would never feel quite the same regard for anybody else. Indeed, he +admitted that she was a woman with whom he might have fallen in love had +circumstances been propitious, but, as they certainly were not, he +strove to assure himself that he had sense and will enough to refrain +from thinking more of her than was advisable. + +These reflections were, however, fragmentary, for the boat required +attention, and he fancied that a good deal of water was finding its way +into her. The _Sorata_ would not lie-to without somebody at the helm, +and he could only leave the tiller lashed for a few minutes now and then +while he labored at the little rotary pump. Once or twice when he did +so, a foot of brine came frothing into the cockpit across the coaming, +and he commenced to wonder how long the breeze would last, for he was +becoming sensible that another twelve hours of it would probably be as +much as he could stand. + +In the meanwhile the night was wearing through, and at last a faint +light crept up from the east across the waste of tumbling seas. They +were not by any means mountainous, for as a matter of fact it is very +probable that the biggest ocean sea scarcely exceeds forty feet between +its trough and summit, but they rolled up out of the northwest in a +continuous phalanx of steep, gray ridges crested with spouting froth +that looked quite big enough. The drift whirled across them, and now and +then wrapped the craft in wisps of filmy smoke, while Jimmy, with +smarting and temporarily blinded eyes, trusted to the feel of the +tiller. He was as wet as he could be, as well as stiff and cold, and it +was with relief and some astonishment that he saw the saloon companion +open, and Miss Merril appear with a plate and a jug of steaming coffee. + +Her skirt was woefully bedraggled, from which he surmised that there was +more water than there should be in the saloon, and her hair was promptly +powdered with glistening spray; but her face was quiet, and she sat down +collectedly, huddling herself on a locker, where the after bulkhead of +the saloon partly sheltered her. Jimmy dropped into the cockpit, and +crouched there with the tiller against his shoulder, for nobody could +have eaten in the face of that wind. Then he stretched out a hand for +the coffee. + +"I'm unusually glad to get it. It was very kind of you," he said. + +Anthea smiled. "Why?" she asked. "Are you sure it wasn't selfishness? We +couldn't take the boat home without you, and a man must eat if he has to +go on with this kind of task." + +Jimmy looked at her, and, finding no very apposite rejoinder, nodded. +"Well," he said, "I suppose he must; but did you get anything for +yourself or Miss Austerly? You can't live on nothing any more than I +can. At least, that's the conclusion I've come to after what I've +noticed in the mail-boat's saloons." + +He was aware that he had made a slip, but fancied it had escaped his +companion's attention, which, of course, displayed very little +perspicacity. In the meanwhile, he got a turn of the weather tiller line +round a cleat, and lowered himself further until he sat in the cockpit +with several inches of water swishing about him. + +"Nellie is asleep at last. I did not awaken her," said his companion. + +"That isn't all I asked. Did you get anything yourself?" + +The girl said she had not done so, and for a moment there was the +faintest suspicion of color in her face. + +"Then you will share what you have brought with me," said Jimmy. + +"There isn't a cup. I couldn't find one that wasn't broken. The +forecastle shelf has torn away." + +"You couldn't have kept the coffee in it if you had. Take what you want +before it gets cold," and Jimmy pointed to the jug. + +Anthea raised it to her lips, and then pushed it back along the cockpit +floor, while, though she had not meant to do so, she flashed a swift +glance at her companion when he held it in his hand. As it happened, +Jimmy looked at her just then, and she saw the little glint in his eyes. +He felt that she had done so, and, while he would not have had it +happen, let his gaze rest on her steadily while he made her a little +inclination. Then he drank, and, after he had thrust the plate in her +direction, broke off a portion of bread and canned meat; some of which +crumbled and stuck to his wet oilskins. + +He was quite aware that neither his attitude nor manner of eating was +especially graceful, but that could not be helped, and he laughed when +his companion clutched at the remnant on the plate. She smiled at him +too, and he wondered why they were both apparently so much at ease. +Still, it did not seem in any way an unusual or unfitting thing that he +and this delicately brought up girl should make their meal as equals in +the little dripping cockpit with a single plate and one drinking vessel +between them. He felt that it was as a comrade she regarded him, in +place of tolerating him from necessity, and he noticed that even under +the very uncomfortable conditions she ate daintily. + +"Where are we?" she asked at last. + +"About twenty miles to leeward of the Inlet, and perhaps eight off the +shore. At least, I should like to believe we are. How is it you look so +fresh, instead of worn out? Where did you learn to make yourself at home +in a boat?" + +"In Toronto," said Anthea. "I was there two years, and they are fond of +yachting in that city. I once did some sailing in England too. What do +you think of their boats? It is, perhaps, fortunate Valentine made the +_Sorata_ a cutter, as they generally do, instead of a sloop. You could +hardly have handled her under the latter's single headsail last night." + +"No," said Jimmy, "I don't think I could. If she had been rigged that +way she would probably have gone under by now. Still, I don't see why +you should expect me to know anything about English boats." + +Anthea smiled as she looked at him. "Perhaps you don't, though you don't +invariably express yourself as a man would who had never been away from +the Pacific Slope." + +"Well," said Jimmy reflectively, "it's not quite a sure thing that the +way they talk in an English ship's forecastle is very much nicer." + +"There are more places in a mail-boat than her forecastle." + +It seemed to Jimmy advisable to change the subject, and he made a little +grimace as he glanced at the plate. + +"I'm afraid I've cleaned up everything," he said. + +Anthea laughed. "Which is quite as it should be. I can get more, and you +can't. Still, perhaps you have left some coffee." + +Jimmy was about to point out that there was no cup, but refrained, for +it flashed on him that his companion was, of course, aware of this, and +he gravely handed her the jug. What her purpose was he did not know, and +indeed he was never clear on this point, though he fancied that she had +one; but it was, at least, evident that she was damp and chilled, and +needed the physical stimulant. The trifling act, it seemed, might +equally be a pledge of camaraderie, or a recognition of the fact that +they were for the time being no more than man and woman between whom all +distinctions had vanished in the face of peril; but he seemed to feel it +had a still deeper significance. He had once held her in his arms, and +now they had shared the same plate and drunk from the same vessel. + +Then the _Sorata_ reminded him that she required attention, for a sea +seethed on board her forward, and when it poured into the cockpit he +swung himself back to the coaming. A minute or two later he stretched +out his hand, and the girl drew in her breath as she glanced ahead, for +a sail materialized suddenly out of the vapor. It was suggestively +slanted, and a dusky strip that looked very small appeared beneath it +when it swung high on the crest of a sea. + +"Siwashes," said Jimmy; "one of their sea canoes. They have to keep her +running. She wouldn't lie-to." + +The craft drew abreast of them, traveling wonderfully fast, and Anthea +long remembered how she drove by the _Sorata_, hove half her length out +of water, riding on the ridge of a big gray sea. She was entirely open, +a long, narrow, bird-headed thing, and the foam she flung off forward +seemed to lap over her after-half. A little drenched spritsail was +spread from an insignificant mast, and four crouching figures with dusky +faces were partly visible amidst the wisps of spray that whirled about +her. One of them held a long paddle, and looked fixedly ahead; the +others gazed at the _Sorata_ expressionlessly until the craft swooped +down between two seas. Jimmy saw his companion's hands clench on the +coaming, and the color ebb from her face, and then she gasped as the +little strip of canvas swung into sight again. + +"Ah!" she said, "it's a trifle horrible to watch them; and what must it +be to steer her? How many of us in the cities know what the struggle for +existence really is?" + +Jimmy nodded assent. "At least," he said, "the thing is tolerably clear +to the men who live at sea. If that Siwash lost his nerve for a moment +the next comber would swallow the canoe. After all, the sea knows no +distinctions; white men and red men alike must face the strain." + +"In the big mail-boats too?" + +"Of course. I'm not sure it isn't a little heavier there. When you are +traveling as fast as a freight train there is little time to decide how +you will clear a crossing steamer, or to pick out green from yellow +among a blink of sliding lights. The man who fails is very apt to hurl +as much as fourteen thousand tons of hull and cargo into destruction, +and, perhaps, two thousand passengers into another world, though some +vessels now carry more than that. The owner seldom gets rich when he +doesn't; and there is, after all, no very great difference between his +lot and that of the Siwash, who stakes his life against the value of a +few salmon or halibut." + +He broke off with a laugh. "Hadn't you better go back? You are getting +very wet." + +Anthea did so, and it was almost noon when she came up again. Jimmy +still sat at the tiller, and his wet face looked a trifle worn; but the +breeze had softened, and as the girl glanced round her, a shaft of +sunlight fell suddenly upon the foaming sea. + +"Yes," said Jimmy, "it's blowing itself out. I expect we'll be able to +shake the reefs out of the trysail and beat up for the Inlet before it's +dark. If it were necessary I would run her before it now." + +"Wouldn't there be shelter in one of the inlets to leeward?" asked the +girl, with a very natural longing to escape from the strain and turmoil. + +"It's very probable," said Jimmy. "I dare say I could make one. Still, +you see----" + +He stopped, and Anthea flushed ever so slightly, for it was evident to +her that she and her companion could not extend that cruise +indefinitely in company with Valentine's hired man. + +"Of course!" she said. "Austerly will be horribly anxious. Well, if you +think you could leave the tiller lashed, I have dinner ready." + +"I believe I could. Still, it might be awkward to get back fast enough +from the forecastle in case of necessity." + +"I wonder," said the girl, "whether you have any very decided objections +to sitting down with us in the saloon? If you have, it would make it +necessary for Nellie or me to bring the things out to you." + +Jimmy fancied that the last was an inspiration, and after a glance to +windward went down into the saloon, which was very wet. Miss Austerly, +who seemed to have stood the shaking better than he expected, reclined +on one settee with her feet drawn up for the sake of dryness, and she +smiled at him. He wondered when he saw how the little swing-table was +set. Miss Merril, finding the crockery kept for charterers mostly +smashed, had apparently come upon Valentine's enameled and indurated +ware. + +There was no restraint upon any of them during the meal. The fact that +the breeze was undoubtedly falling would have been sufficient in itself +to restore their cheerfulness, but Jimmy was also sensible of a curious +exhilaration, and discoursed whimsically upon various topics besides the +sea. In fact, he was astonished to find that he had been away an hour +when at last he went back to the cockpit. The breeze was falling +rapidly, and before Anthea prepared the supper, which was, as usual in +that country, at about six o'clock, he had set the whole trysail, and +soon afterward he got the reefed mainsail up. By midnight the _Sorata_ +was close in with the coast, working fast to windward through smooth +water with her biggest topsail set, while a half-moon hung low in the +western sky. The sea gleamed silver under it, and scarcely half a mile +away dim hillsides and long ranks of somber pines half-veiled in fleecy +mists went sliding by. + +The soft gleam of the swinging lamps in the saloon shone out in faint +streams of colored radiance through the skylights, and, late as it was, +Nellie Austerly nestled well wrapped up on a locker in the cockpit. She +watched the long swell break away from beneath the bows in glittering +cascades, and Jimmy fancied he knew what she was thinking when she gazed +aloft at the tall spire of canvas that shone in the moonlight as white +as the peak ahead of them. It was a nocturne in blue and silver, and if +sound were wanted, the splashing at the bows and the deep rumble of the +surf emphasized the softer harmonies of the night. + +"You are not so very sorry we were blown off, after all?" he asked. + +The girl smiled. "No," she said; "I managed to sleep through a good deal +of it, and now I feel almost as fresh as if I had stayed ashore. +Besides, this would make up for anything. One could almost wish we could +sail south with the topsail up under the moonlight--forever. In spite of +the bad weather, I have been so well since I came to sea." + +"Just the three of us?" asked Jimmy unguardedly. + +He saw the twinkle in the girl's eyes as she glanced at her companion, +who sat close by. + +"I wonder," she said, "whether you would like that, Anthea? I almost +think I should." + +The moonlight sufficed to show the faint tinge of color in Anthea's +face, but she laughed. "And what about your father?" + +Nellie Austerly did not appear concerned. "It is very undutiful, for he +must have been anxious; but I really can't help feeling amused when I +think of him and Mr. Valentine being left on the beach to sleep in the +Siwash rancherie. One understands they are rather dreadful places, and +he is so horribly particular, you know." + +Anthea said nothing further, and presently the two girls went below, but +they were about again when, soon after six o'clock next morning, Jimmy +beat the _Sorata_ into the Inlet. Indeed, he left Anthea at the tiller +while he went into the saloon to look for a piece of spun yarn which +Valentine kept in one of the lockers. Nellie Austerly smiled at him as +he opened it. + +"I suppose we shall be in very soon, and I want to thank you now for +bringing me back safe," she said. "Anthea, of course, can thank you for +herself." + +Jimmy felt a trifle embarrassed. "I really don't see why she should. I +think the charter covers anything I have done." + +The girl made a little whimsical gesture. "Does it? You are not a +regular yacht-hand, really?" + +"I am, at least, mate of a lumber-carrying schooner, which comes to much +the same thing." + +The twinkle in Nellie Austerly's eyes grew plainer. "I can be quite +frank with Mr. Valentine and you, and perhaps it is because I like you +both. You can make what you think fit of that. Still, I haven't asked +you how long you have been on board the schooner, and one understands +there are a good many opportunities for men--like you and Mr. +Valentine--in this country." + +Jimmy was a little startled, for it almost seemed that she had guessed +his thoughts, but he smiled. + +"Valentine seems to have all he wants already. He is content with the +sea." + +The girl laughed. "Well," she said, "I don't think the sea would +altogether satisfy him. But I must not keep you here; hadn't you better +make sure Anthea isn't running us ashore?" + +Jimmy went up, and found the _Sorata_ was smoothly slipping by the +climbing pines; and a little later her dory with three white men in it +came sliding toward them as he hauled the topsail down. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +MERRIL TIGHTENS THE SCREW + + +The _Sorata_ went to sea again next morning, and one night a week later +she bore up for Vancouver before a westerly breeze. A thin crescent moon +had just cleared the dim white line of the mainland snow, and the sea +glittered faintly in her frothing wake under a vast sweep of dusky blue. +The big topsail swayed across it, blotting out the stars, and there was +a rhythmic splashing beneath the bows. + +Anthea Merril stood at the tiller outlined against the heave of sea, for +the night was warm and she was dressed in white. Nellie Austerly sat on +a locker in the cockpit, and her father on the saloon skylights with a +cigar in his hand. Valentine lay on the deck not far away, and Jimmy a +little further forward. + +"I suppose we will be in soon after daylight, and I'm sorry," said +Nellie Austerly. "It has been an almost perfect cruise in spite of the +bad weather. Don't you wish we were going back again, instead of home, +Anthea?" + +Jimmy roused himself to attention, for he would very much have liked to +hear Miss Merril's real thoughts on the matter; but she laughed. + +"I don't think it would be very much use if I did," she said. "One +can't go sailing always--and if you feel that that is a pity, you can +think of the rain and the wind." + +"Ah!" said Nellie Austerly, "one has to bear so much of them everywhere. +Sometimes one wonders whether life is all gray days and rain; but this +trip has made me better, and, perhaps, if Mr. Valentine will take us, we +will go back next year and revel once more in the sea and the +sunshine--we really had a good deal of the latter." + +Jimmy saw his comrade make a little abrupt movement, and guessed what he +was thinking, for he too realized that before another year Nellie +Austerly would in all probability have slipped away from the sad gray +weather to the shores of the glassy sea where there is eternal radiance. + +Then Austerly looked around, and his observation was very +matter-of-fact, as usual. + +"If circumstances are propitious, I should be glad to arrange it," he +said. "I certainly think Mr. Valentine has done everything he could for +us. Indeed, we owe it largely to him that this has been such a pleasant +trip." + +He appeared to expect some expression of approval, and Anthea laughed. +"Of course. It's only unfortunate he couldn't arrange the weather." + +"I wonder," said Nellie reflectively, "why you both leave Jimmy out?" + +There was a certain suggestiveness in the girl's tone which Jimmy +noticed, though he did not think her father did, and he wished it had +been light enough to see Anthea Merril's face; but unfortunately it was +not. She appeared to disregard the question, and glanced in Valentine's +direction. + +"Couldn't we have the big spinnaker up?" she asked. + +Valentine hesitated a little. The breeze was moderately fresh and the +_Sorata_ traveling fast enough, while it is not a very easy thing to +steer a craft running under the great three-cornered sail, which is apt +to swing over in case of a blunder at the tiller. + +"You could hold her steady before the wind?" he asked. + +"If I don't, I will make my father buy you a new mast," said Anthea. + +Valentine made a little gesture which was expressive of resignation. It +was, he had discovered, singularly hard to say no to Anthea Merril; but +it seemed to him that the new mast might be needed if she ventured too +far now. He and Jimmy between them got the great sail up and its boom +run out, though it cost them an effort; and then Jimmy glanced aft with +more than a trace of uneasiness at the white figure at the helm. The +_Sorata_ had now on each side of her a swelling mass of canvas that +dwarfed the narrow strip of hull, and she swung each of them high in +turn as she rolled viciously. Still, as far as Jimmy could see, the girl +stood very composedly at the tiller. Then, as the great mainboom went up +high above the sea, Valentine signed to him. + +"You had better get out and steady it," he said. "It wouldn't need much +to bring that boom over." + +Jimmy crawled out on the slippery spar, and sat astride near the end of +it, while Valentine made his way along the one beneath the spinnaker. +Their weight checked the lifting of the sails in some degree, but for +the first few minutes it seemed to Jimmy that they and their companions +were hazarding a good deal. If the girl at the helm let the tiller swing +a hand's-breadth too much when the _Sorata_, piling the froth about her, +rushed up a dim slope of water, either mainsail or spinnaker would swing +over, and the men on the booms would have no opportunity for attempting +to obviate the unpleasantness that would certainly succeed it. In all +probability they would be flung off headlong into the sea. Still, the +sail did not come over, for the _Sorata_ drove along straight before the +wind, and once more Jimmy paid silent homage to the girl at the tiller. + +He could see her only dimly, a blurred white shape against the dusky +sea, but he could imagine the little glow in her eyes and the way in +which her lips were pressed together. He had seen her look that way when +she sat beside him in the cockpit one wild morning as the _Sorata_ +plunged over the great Pacific combers, and it seemed to him that she +was one who would face difficulties and perils of any kind as +unwaveringly. Indeed, he was angry with himself for having fancied there +was any hazard at all in leaving her to steer the _Sorata_ under +spinnaker, for he felt that Anthea Merril must necessarily be capable of +carrying out anything she had undertaken. + +So he swung contentedly with the lifting boom, now hove high above the +dark water, now dropped down until his feet were almost in the streaming +froth, while shadowy islets clothed with pines sprang out of the sea +ahead, grew into solid blurs of blackness, and flitted by, until at last +Austerly said that his daughter must go below. Then Valentine and Jimmy +came in along the booms, stowed the spinnaker with some difficulty, and +dropped the topsail too, for the dim mainland shore was black ahead when +the rest left the deck to them. + +"That girl has quite excellent nerves," said Valentine. "Still, what I +like about her is that she doesn't think it necessary to impress it on +you. Her husband won't have much to complain of if she ever marries +anybody, though I'm not sure that's certain." + +"Not certain?" said Jimmy. + +"No," replied Valentine reflectively. "A girl of her kind is apt to be +particular. The man who pleases her would have to be quite straight, and +it's scarcely likely he'd go to leeward either." + +Jimmy fancied that his comrade was right, though he said nothing, for +after all it was, as he compelled himself to admit, no concern of his. +However, he sighed a little as he went down and crawled into his cot, +leaving Valentine to feel his way along the dusky shore. + +It was early next morning when they rowed Austerly and his two +companions ashore, and the man shook hands with them on the wharf. + +"I feel that I am indebted to both of you," he said with somewhat +unusual diffidence. "In fact, I can't exactly consider that the +attention you have shown my daughter is no more than one would +expect--from the charter." + +He seemed to feel that he was becoming involved, and went on abruptly. +"She desires me to say that it would be a pleasure should either of you +care to call at any time." + +Jimmy left him to Valentine, and, when the latter had handed Miss +Austerly into the waiting vehicle, saw that Anthea Merril was looking at +him. + +"If you don't mind my saying so, I think that was rather good of +Austerly," she said. "You probably know his point of view, and I daresay +it cost him an effort. I think your comrade should go. Nellie finds him +amusing, and there is naturally not very much in her life that pleases +her." + +She stopped with a little soft laugh. "Mr. Wheelock--isn't it? I haven't +the least difficulty in saying as much as Austerly did. Any time you or +Mr. Valentine care to call I should be glad to receive you. Our house is +always open, and anybody will tell you where it is." + +Jimmy once more remembered that he had on a pair of burst canvas shoes, +as well as old duck trousers cobbled with sail twine, and a man-o'-war +cap that had grown shapeless with the rain. He also realized that his +companion was quite aware of it too. + +"I'm afraid it wouldn't be a very appropriate thing if I did," he said. + +Anthea looked at him steadily. "Pshaw!" she said. "Still, you really +can't expect me to urge you." + +Perhaps it was a slight relief to both of them that Valentine signed to +Jimmy just then. "They want this box," he said. "The rest of the things +are to wait for the express wagon." + +Jimmy, who turned away, heaved the box into the vehicle, and did not see +the curious little smile in Anthea Merril's eyes. In a few minutes she +had driven away, and, he fancied, had passed out of his life altogether. +He stood still on the wharf and sighed. + +"Well," said Valentine, "where are you going now?" + +"Straight back to the schooner," said Jimmy. "I see her lying outside +the steamboat yonder. You might bring my things across when you have +straightened up the boat." + +Valentine promised to do so, and Jimmy, who strode away, met Jordan, +whom he had not expected to see there, on the water-front. + +"What are you doing in Vancouver?" he asked. + +"Looking after my patent rights--among other things," said Jordan. "The +mill's shut down for two or three weeks anyway. Between the stone in the +water and the new detergent the directors insisted on my using, the +boiler has 'most turned herself inside out. Our people have their office +here, as you know, and my agreement with them only stands for another +month, while it seems that Merril has been buying up their stock. I'm +not sure his notions are going to suit me. You heard we had to break off +your father's contract?" + +"I hadn't, though I was afraid it would happen," said Jimmy, whose face +grew a trifle grim. "That was Merril's doing?" + +"It was. I couldn't help the thing. But we can't talk here; won't you +come along to my hotel?" + +Jimmy glanced at his garments, and Jordan grinned. "Those things don't +count for so much here," he said. "Anyway, there was a time when I +tramped into the wooden cities along Puget Sound looking way more like a +dead-beat than you do now. Still, if that's going to worry you, can't +you get a boat and take me for a sail?" + +Jimmy was sorry that it was out of the question. He had spent only a +few evenings with Jordan at the mill, but he liked the man, and was +vaguely sensible that Jordan liked him. + +"Valentine and I have just run in, and I must see how the old man is +getting along," he said. "After that I fancy I ought to go over to a +ranch on the Westminster road, and look up my sister. I haven't seen her +since I came home." + +"Well," said Jordan, "I've nothing on hand until to-morrow. What's the +matter with taking me? I'll hire a team somewhere and drive you. I can +drop you at the ranch, and go on to Westminster." + +They arranged it during the next few minutes, and then Jimmy was rowed +off to the _Tyee_. Prescott met him as he climbed on board, and a glance +at his face showed Jimmy that things had not been going well. + +"You will be wanted," he said. "Your father has been getting very shaky +since you went away, and I don't quite see how he's to hold on to the +schooner, now that he has lost that lumber contract and has to face the +carpenter's bill. Guess he's worrying over it. Hasn't got up the last +three days, and the doctor don't seem to know what is wrong with him." + +Jimmy went down into the little stern cabin with a sinking heart, and +found Tom Wheelock lying propped up in his berth. He looked very old and +haggard, and the perspiration stood beaded on his face, in which pale +patches showed through the bronze. + +"Glad you've got back, boy," he said. "You'll have to take hold +soon--that is, if there's anything left to get a grip on. The old man's +played out." + +This, it seemed to Jimmy, was painfully evident, and though he +contrived to hide it, a sense of dismay crept over him as he sat down. +Tom Wheelock looked played out, and though his son was ready to take up +his burden, he felt it would be heavy. He realized that through the +compassion he felt, and then a sudden fit of anger against the man who +had crushed his father came over him. The color darkened a trifle in his +face, but he put a restraint upon himself. + +"You'll be about again in a day or two," he said cheerily. "Now, tell me +all about it. But first of all, what is the matter with you?" + +The old man looked at him with a curious little smile. "The doctor Bob +brought off didn't quite seem to know, but I could have told him. Guess +I'm done, boy. It's quite likely I'll crawl out on deck for a little +while, but how's that going to count? Nobody's going to have any more +use for your father, Jimmy, and when the month is up Merril will take +the schooner from him." + +Jimmy clenched a big brown fist, but his voice was very quiet. "Well," +he said, "I want to understand what has happened since I went away." + +Wheelock reached out for the pipe that lay near him, and fumbled with +it, spilling the tobacco with shaky fingers, until Jimmy quietly took it +from him, and struck a match as he handed it back to him. The old man +raised himself a trifle as he lighted it, and then laid a trembling hand +on his son's arm. + +"I guess I've worked as hard as most other men, but somehow I don't seem +to have gone to windward as the rest did," he said. "Perhaps I was too +easy with the money, and a little slack in other ways. Still, your +blood's red, Jimmy, and there's a streak of hard sand in you. You got it +from your mother; it was she who made me. Hard work don't count, boy. +You want to get your elbows into the other people who're standing in +your way. Well, I'm glad there's that streak of grit in you. You'll get +those fingers on the throat of the man who brought your father down, and +gripe the life out of him, some day." + +He broke off abruptly, and fumbled with his pipe, which had gone out +again. "Let that go; it's fool talk, Jimmy. What do I want putting my +trouble on to you? Guess you'll have plenty of your own, boy." + +"I think I asked you to tell me what Merril had done," said Jimmy. + +"Kept us here under repairs while the lumber was piling up on the +sawmill wharf. I 'most guess he'd fixed the thing with the boss +carpenter. I was to bring all that the people at the Inlet cut for +Victoria or Vancouver down fast as it was ready, or they were to let up +on the contract; but Jordan would have made things easy if Merril hadn't +bought their stock and put the screw on hard." + +"It wouldn't be worth his while to buy the stock for that." + +"The thing's quite plain. He's playing a bigger game. Wants control of +all that's going on along that coast, and its carrying. Guess I can't +stop his getting the _Tyee_, and she's the second boat he has taken from +me. Well, I may get a freight of ore in a week or two, and, it's quite +likely, a load from a cannery--go up light--freight one way. How's that +going to count, though, when there's the carpenter's bill to meet, and +a big instalment on the bond with interest due?" + +"How much?" Jimmy asked, harshly. + +He sat silent a while, with a hard, set face, when his father told him. + +"Then he must have the vessel. Still, he'll have to sell her by +auction," he said by and by. + +"That won't count. When I've nobody to run the price up against him, +it's quite easy for a man like Merril to fix the thing. He'll get one of +his friends to buy her in at 'bout half her value, and the bond don't +quite call for that. It isn't everybody wants a vessel, and the few men +who do fix these things between them." + +Jimmy set his lips, and once more there was silence for a while. Then he +looked up with a little abrupt movement. "There's a question in front of +us to be faced--and I'm going to find the answer; but we won't talk any +more about it now. I'm going over with Jordan this afternoon to see +Eleanor. You can get along until to-night without me?" + +Wheelock made a sign of concurrence. "I guess it's a thing you ought to +do. Got a letter from her yesterday, and she was asking about you. +Eleanor's like you. Take after your mother, both of you, and, if +anything, the harder grit's in her. You have to remember, Jimmy, you +can't afford to show a soft spot when you're fighting a man like +Merril." + +He stopped a moment, with a sigh. "Guess he is too hard for your father. +Won't you light me this pipe again? My hand's shaky." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +ELEANOR WHEELOCK + + +Jordan was driving a spirited team along the water-front when Jimmy came +up from the wharf, and he smiled when the latter swung himself up into +the light, four-wheeled vehicle. Jimmy was dressed tastefully in his +English shore-going clothes, and now looked very much unlike a +yacht-hand. He was well endued physically, and, though the bronze in his +face and a certain steadiness of gaze betrayed his calling, there was an +indefinite but unmistakable stamp upon him which he had acquired on +board the big mail-boats, and perhaps also in a greater measure from his +comrades on the battleship. Jimmy had certainly not cultivated it, and +was, in fact, not aware that he possessed it, but his companion had +already recognized it. + +"Take a cigar, and light it before I let the team out. They look as if +they could go," he said. + +Jimmy did so, and then found it somewhat difficult to keep his seat as +his comrade sent the horses through the city as fast as they could lay +hoof to the ground, and out of it past the clustering wooden hovels in +its less reputable quarter, and up the slope that led into the shadowy +bush. Roads are not remarkable for their smoothness anywhere in that +country, but it was evident that Jordan liked fast traveling and could +handle a team. He laughed when Jimmy said so. + +"I come of farmer stock, and that's probably why I always had a notion +of the sea," he said. "If you look at it in one way, the thing's quite +natural." + +"I suppose it is," said Jimmy. "Why didn't you go to sea?" + +"It seemed to me one has mighty few chances of picking up money there, +though I found out quite early that the poor man has no great show +anywhere. It was a mortgage he couldn't pay off that broke up my +father." + +He stopped for a moment, with a little confidential gesture. "I guess +that's why I wanted to do what I could for your father. In one or two +ways he's very much like the man I buried back in Washington. He was +straight--and it wasn't his fault if he didn't whale all the meanness +out of me--but, when smartness means getting your grip on what belongs +to somebody else, he was just a trifle slow. He worked hard, and gave +every man a hundred cents' worth for his dollar--and that's quite likely +why there was mighty little but a mortgage on the ranch when he died." + +Jimmy was not astonished, in view of their short acquaintance, that his +companion should tell him this. He was aware that reticence is not a +prominent characteristic of the men of the Pacific Slope, and, besides +this, there was a rapidly growing sympathy between himself and Jordan. +Still, he sat silent, and his companion spoke again. + +"I was about sixteen then, and I saw I had to make out differently," he +said. "Well, somehow I've done it--looked on this life as a battle where +the hurt man gets no mercy, and I've cleared quite a little money on my +royalties--but now and then the memory of those old days on the ranch +comes back to me. Then I feel that if ever it's necessary for me to get +my knife into any kind of mortgage man, it will be red right to the hilt +when it comes out again." + +The snap in his companion's dark eyes and the hardening of his lips were +comprehensible to Jimmy, for he had once or twice been sensible of much +the same feeling. Jordan had, as is usual in the land to which he +belonged, expressed himself frankly, and perhaps a trifle crudely; but +Jimmy recognized that it was with very genuine tenderness and regret he +remembered the man he had buried long ago in Washington. He asked an +abrupt question, which did not, however, altogether change the subject. + +"Will you be here any time?" he said. + +"I don't quite know. There's no reason I shouldn't tell you what I can, +and I feel like talking now. I'm quite pleased to run that mill up the +Inlet for our people, that is, while they leave me to fix things as I +like them; but as I told you, Merril has been getting his grip on the +stock lately, and his views about the royalties on my patents don't +quite coincide with mine. I've a couple of other notions that will save +labor which our company has not bought up, and it's quite likely I'll +turn them over to the Hastings people. In the meanwhile I'm not going to +rush things, and it's probable I'll hang on until we've had the +stockholders' meeting." + +"Then it's Merril who is standing in your way?" + +Jordan smiled dryly. "Now you understand the thing. Seems to me neither +of us has any great reason to like that man." + +Nothing more was said on that point, and by and by they left the scented +shadow of the pines, and clattered across a wooden bridge which spanned +the turbid, green Fraser, into a stretch of sunlit meadows and oatfields +formed by the silt the great river had brought down. In due time they +reached a wooden ranch flanked by shadowy bush, and Jordan, pulling the +team up before it, glanced down the long white road that leads to New +Westminster, a few miles away. + +"I guess I'll go on to town, and come back for you," he said. "Still, +you had better make sure you're at the right place first." + +Jimmy got down, and a man who had apparently heard the beat of hoofs, +commenced to throw down the split slip-rails which in Western Canada +usually serve as gates. + +"Yes," he said, when Jimmy spoke to him, "this is Forster's ranch. In +fact, that is my name." + +He was dressed in the bush-rancher's jean, but he had a pleasant face +with a certain hint of refinement in it, and smiled when Jimmy told him +who he was. + +"Miss Wheelock's brother? Come right in and put your team up," he said. +"It's not more than an hour or so until supper. Your friend will come +with you?" + +Supper is usually served at six o'clock in that country, and in no way +differs from the other meals of the day; while nobody acquainted with +its customs would have considered it an unusual thing for the rancher +to extend the invitation to Jimmy's companion. Jordan once more glanced +down the road to New Westminster, and, though none of them knew it, a +good deal was to depend on the fact that he elected to stay. + +"Well," he said, turning to Jimmy, "I don't want to worry you, but the +fact is, one of the lumber people yonder has been writing me about my +gang-saw frame, and, after thinking the thing out last night, I'd sooner +hold him off a while. I'd have to call on the man if I drove into town, +and, after all, it might be wiser to keep clear of him." + +"Then you had better get down," said Forster. "While Miss Wheelock talks +to her brother you can walk round the ranch with me. I don't see many +strangers, and I'm by no means busy." + +Jordan got down, and, after spending an hour with Forster, was somewhat +astonished when he was presented to Miss Wheelock in the big general +room of the ranch. It was roughly paneled with cedar, very simply +furnished, and had, as usual, an uncovered floor, while the sunlight +that streamed through the uncurtained window fell upon the girl. She +stood still a moment looking at him when she had acknowledged his +greeting, and for once, at least, the sawmiller felt almost embarrassed, +for Eleanor Wheelock possessed, as her brother did not, a somewhat +striking personality. + +Jimmy might have passed for a quiet Englishman; but his sister was +typically Western in everything but speech--tall, wiry, and a trifle +straight of figure, but with something that was almost imperious in her +attitude. She had light hair like Jimmy's, but there was a reddish gleam +in it, and her eyes which had a glint in them were of a paler blue, +while her skin was of a curious colorless purity. Jordan could not +analyze her features, but he felt that she was beautiful, and there was +a suggestion of vigor about her that further attracted him. One would +scarcely have called her domineering, but she had not, as her brother +recognized, the quiet graciousness and composure which half-concealed +Anthea Merril's strength of character. Jordan, however, was not too +discriminating. He liked vigor in any guise, and he noticed that one of +the two little girls who had entered with her clung to her hand. + +"I think I passed you twice in Vancouver one day a month or two ago," +she said. + +Jordan made her a little inclination, and his Western candor was free +alike from awkwardness or any hint of presumption. + +"Then I didn't see you. If I had done so, I should certainly have +remembered it." + +Eleanor laughed, and turned to the others. "It's ten minutes since Jake +called you. Will you sit here, Jimmy, with Mr. Jordan next to you? Mrs. +Forster is away just now." + +She moved to the head of the table, and the usual ranch supper of pork, +potatoes, flapjacks, hot cakes, desiccated fruits, and green tea was +brought in. Forster, who appeared to be a man of education, made an +excellent host, but it was Eleanor and Jordan who led most of the +conversation, and there was delicacy as well as keenness in their +badinage. Almost an hour had passed before the party rose, which was a +very unusual thing in that country, for the Westerner seldom wastes much +time over his meals. Then, as it happened, it was Jimmy who walked +round the ranch with Forster, while Jordan sat on the veranda with +Eleanor and the little girls while the shadows of the firs crept slowly +up to it. They talked about a good many things, while each felt that +they were just skirting a confidence, until the little girl who sat next +to Jordan looked up at him gravely. + +"Why don't you go and see the cows with father and the other man?" she +asked. + +Jordan laughed, but he looked at Eleanor. "Well," he said, "for one +thing, I guess it's a good deal nicer here." + +Miss Wheelock met his glance with a directness which, had his +disposition and training been different, he might have found +disconcerting. She was, like himself, absolutely devoid of affectation, +and he felt that she was quietly making an estimate of him. Still, there +was not a great deal in his character that he had occasion to hide from +any one, and the evident sincerity of his observation was in itself an +excuse for it. It was characteristic of the girl that she let it pass, +not with the obvious intention of ignoring it because that appeared +advisable, but as though she had never heard it. When a thing did not +appeal to Eleanor Wheelock, she simply brushed it aside. + +"Have you met the Miss Merril Jimmy mentioned?" she asked. "I almost +fancy she is the girl I used to see now and then when I was in Toronto. +What is she like?" + +Jordan, who had met Anthea Merril in Vancouver, told her as well as he +was able, and Eleanor's lips set in a straight line. + +"One could fancy you were not fond of Miss Merril," he said. + +"I have never spoken to her; but I have no great reason to feel +well-disposed toward anybody of that family." + +"Ah!" said Jordan; "that means Jimmy has told you what Merril is doing. +I'm no friend of that man's either, but I'm not quite sure one could +reasonably hold the girl responsible for her father." + +"Especially when she's pretty? Still, she is his daughter, and must be +like him in some respects." + +Jordan's eyes twinkled. "Do you consider yourself like your father?" + +Eleanor flashed a swift glance at him. "You are keener than I expected. +In reality I am not like him in the least, though I don't know why I +should trouble to admit it. In any case, I think the rule generally +holds good." + +She dismissed the subject abruptly, with a laugh. "After all, our +affairs can't interest you. You can't have seen very much of my +brother." + +Jordan appeared to consider this. "I'm not sure that counts," he said. +"I seem to have been a friend of Jimmy's quite a long while. There are +people who make you feel that, even when it isn't so, although they may +not consciously want to. One can't tell how they do it--but I think you +have the power in you." + +"I don't know," said Eleanor. "I am, however, by no means certain that I +was ever very anxious to make friends with anybody." + +"That's comprehensible. You would sooner they wanted to make friends +with you, and if no one did, you would be sufficient for yourself." + +Eleanor looked at him with a chilly smile. "You have a certain +penetration, but I don't know that there is any reason why I should +confess to you. How do you come to know anything about Mr. Merril?" + +Jordan, who appeared to have no doubt as to her ability to understand +him, in which he was warranted, told her. + +"Well," she said, "suppose this man's influence is too strong for you, +and you have to break your connection with the mill?" + +"There are two or three other things I could turn to." + +"One would suppose as much;" and Jordan took it as a compliment, which +perhaps it was, especially as the girl had not said it with the least +desire to gratify him. "Still, that is not what I mean. Would you try to +find any means of retaliating?" + +"If he afterward got in my way--that is, thrust himself between me and +something I wanted to do--I would try all I could to get my foot on him, +and then perhaps keep it there a little longer than was necessary." + +"You would go no further?" + +Jordan knew what she meant, though he could not grasp her purpose in +pressing the point. "It wouldn't be business if I did. When a man starts +out to make money he can't afford to load himself up with purely +personal grievances. If another man tries to get the things you want you +naturally have to fight, but it's wiser to grin and bear it when he's +too smart for you. Still, there are cases when the feeling that you +would like to get even afterward is apt to be 'most too much for human +nature." + +"And in some respects you could be very human?" + +Jordan turned to her with the twinkle still in his eyes. "Well," he +said, "if I let any weakness of that kind master me in the present case, +I should be very much like the black-tail deer that turned around on the +man with the rifle. Still, one can't invariably be wise." + +His manner was whimsical, but it seemed to Eleanor there was something +behind it, for when he broke off a faint glint which she understood +crept into his eyes. + +"Sometimes accidents happen to the man with the rifle," she said. "In +the meanwhile, I rather fancy Jimmy is making signs to you." + +"Then," said Jordan gravely, "I'm not sure I'm much obliged to him. But +before I go there's something I want to ask: would it be a liberty if I +came back here with him some day?" + +"You would like to come?" + +"Of course. Why do I ask?" + +Eleanor laughed. "That is what I was wondering. I almost think a man +likely to get even with Mr. Merril would do what he wanted. Anyway, you +know the customs of the country as well as I do, and I scarcely think +Forster and his wife would mind." + +Jordan rose, and kissed the child he picked up and held high in his +arms. "Well," he said, "since--Forster and his wife--wouldn't mind, I +shall very probably come along again by and by." + +He turned and went down the veranda stairway, while the little girl +looked at her companion gravely. + +"I like that man. He's nice," she said. "You like him too, don't you?" + +Eleanor was beckoning Jimmy, but the child went on. "Well," she said, +"he thinks you nice, I know. I could tell it by the way he looked at +you. Perhaps you didn't see him, but I did." + +Eleanor laughed, for she had naturally noticed every glance Jordan had +cast in her direction, and had understood it. That, however, did not +count for very much with her. She recognized in Jordan something that +pleased her, and she had a vague fancy that there were things he might +be able to do for Jimmy and her father in the difficulties she foresaw. +There was, she admitted reluctantly, after all, a good deal that a woman +could not do; but in the meanwhile the feeling went no further. Then +while Jordan and Forster harnessed the team, Jimmy joined her. + +"You will have to stay in the Province, Jimmy. You can't go back to +sea," she said. "Your father will need somebody beside him now." + +Jimmy only smiled, but the girl made a little gesture of comprehension. + +"Oh," she said, "I know how hard it is for you. You will have to give up +your career." + +"It can't be helped," said the man simply, "and I may make another +here." + +Eleanor laid her hand on his arm, and pressed it. "I knew you would face +it like that. There's just one other thing. Hold on to that man Jordan; +I think he will make you a good friend." + +"You like him?" + +"That," said Eleanor, "is quite another matter. Anyway, he is a man who +could be depended on--and I think he could be firm on points where you +might waver. You are a little too good-natured, Jimmy." + +Jordan drove his team up before they had said much more, and Forster +shook hands with Jimmy as he stood beside the vehicle. + +"From what your sister has told us, I dare say you are a trifle anxious +about--things in general--just now," he said. "If it is any relief to +you, I would like to say that Mrs. Forster and I think very highly of +your sister, and that so long as she cares to stay with us we should be +very glad to do what we can for her." + +Jimmy thanked the rancher, and swung himself up into the vehicle, while +Jordan turned to him as they drove away. + +"They think very highly of her! They'd be--idiots if they didn't," he +said. "Of course, I don't know if that's quite the kind of thing you +appreciate from me." + +Jimmy said nothing, as was usual with him when he was not sure what he +felt, but Jordan went on. + +"I never expected to find you had a sister like that," he said. "She's +very different from you in many ways. One feels that's a girl with 'most +enough capacity for anything." + +Jimmy looked at him with a whimsical smile, and Jordan laughed. + +"Now," he said, "I might have expressed myself differently. What I mean +is that you're a good deal more like your father than she is." + +"Ah!" said Jimmy. "Well, perhaps you're right. In fact, the same thing +has struck me occasionally." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +AT AUCTION + + +Jimmy went back to the ranch beside the Fraser once, but Jordan went +without him several times, for Forster apparently found his company +congenial. It happened that he contrived to see a good deal of Eleanor +Wheelock during his visits, but neither of them mentioned this to Jimmy, +who, indeed, would probably have concerned himself little about it had +he heard of it, since he had other things to think about just then. +Merril had sent his father a formal notice that unless the money due +should be paid by a certain time, the schooner would be sold as +stipulated in the bond, and, though Tom Wheelock had expected nothing +else, he apparently collapsed altogether under the final blow. + +Jordan, who had just come back from Forster's ranch, arrived on board +the _Tyee_ while the doctor was talking to Jimmy, and, strolling +forward, he sat down on the windlass and commenced a conversation with +Prescott, with whom he had promptly made friends. In the meanwhile, +Jimmy looked at the doctor a trifle wearily as he leaned on the rail. + +"Perhaps my mind's not as clear as usual to-day, but these scientific +terms don't convey very much to me," he said. + +"In plain English, then," said the doctor, "it is general break-down +your father is suffering from, though it is intensified by a partial +loss of control over the muscles on one side of him. The latter trouble +is, perhaps, the result of what one might call constitutional causes, +but, as you seem to fancy, worry and nervous strain, or a shock of any +kind, may have accelerated it or brought about the climax." + +"Well," said Jimmy hoarsely, "the cure?" + +The doctor's tone was sympathetic. "To be quite frank, there is none. It +is possible, even probable, that he may recover sufficiently to hobble +about a little, but he will never be fit for any active occupation +again." + +"Ah!" said Jimmy, with a little indrawing of his breath. "Still, it is +only what I expected, and I suppose I must face it. You are quite sure +about that shock?" + +The doctor looked at him curiously. "I want you to understand that it +probably brought about the climax, though such things don't often happen +in the case of a vigorous man. Your father has, I should fancy, in +ordinary language, been losing his grip for several years. In his case +the natural decline of physical strength has, perhaps, been accelerated +by undue anxiety, and----" + +He hesitated, and Jimmy made a quick sign of comprehension. "Oh, yes," +he said, "I know. Still, I'm not sure that anybody could blame him, +under the circumstances. Well, I think the thing that brought about the +climax has been steadily preparing him to break down under it; but, +after all, that does not concern you." + +The doctor, who admitted this, gave him certain directions before he +went away, and Jimmy descended to the little cabin where Tom Wheelock +lay. He looked up and nodded when his son came in. + +"Well," he said, with a faint smile, "I guess by the names that doctor +calls it, I've got enough to kill any man. Wouldn't talk quite straight, +but I know as well as he does that I'm not going to worry you very long, +and that's just as it should be. Merril takes the schooner, and you'll +go back to the blue water. I was never good for very much, anyway, after +your mother had gone. She stood behind me and kept things going." + +Jimmy sat down, and, much as he desired it, could think of nothing +apposite to say. He felt that there are occasions on which one should +speak clearly, but, as not infrequently happens, it was just then that +he was usually dumb. Perhaps Tom Wheelock understood this, for once more +he smiled as he looked at him. + +"I wouldn't worry about it, Jimmy," he said. + +Jimmy was still tongue-tied, but one result of his father's observations +was that fierce anger commenced to mingle with his distress, and he felt +his nature stir in protest. Merril would take the _Tyee_--that could not +be helped--but it seemed an insufferable thing that for the paltry value +of the schooner he should have crushed this frail and broken man. Jimmy +clenched a firm brown hand, and felt his fingers itch for a grip on the +bondholder's throat. + +There was silence for a while, intensified by the soft splash of ripples +against the _Tyee_'s planking, and Jimmy afterward remembered how his +father's worn face showed up in the stream of light that shone down +through the skylights into the shadowy cabin. He lay wrapped in old and +dirty blankets, a worn-out and broken man who stood in the way of one +who was stronger. He held an unlighted pipe in his limp and nerveless +hand, and the cabin reeked with unsavory odors. It was unclean and +wholly comfortless, and it seemed to Jimmy, who was fresh from the +luxury of the mail-boats, almost horrible that the man to whom he owed +his being should lie there in sordid misery. At last he straightened +himself resolutely. + +"There are several points to consider," he said. "The schooner will be +sold--that's certain--and I must find a room for you ashore. It's +fortunate that one difficulty can be got over. Men who can work seem to +be in demand here just now, and when Merril sells the _Tyee_ there ought +to be a few dollars over." + +"There might be if we had anybody to bid against him and run the figure +up, but we haven't. Anyway, Bob and I have been talking things over this +morning. He has had 'most enough of the sea, and one of the C.P.R. men +will put him on a soft thing on the wharf. Well, we're going to take one +of the little frame-houses just back of the town between us. Not quite a +mansion, Jimmy, but there are four rooms in it." + +Jimmy felt inclined to groan, for he had seen the very primitive and +unattractive dwellings in question, but he knew that rents are high in +that city and money somewhat hard to earn anywhere. Still, it was in one +way a relief to turn the conversation in this direction, and by and by +he remembered that Jordan was awaiting him and went up on deck. The +latter sat down and pulled out his cigar-case. + +"Take one, and then tell me what's troubling you," he said. "I'll own up +that I got some notion out of Prescott." + +Jimmy found it a relief to comply, and talked for several minutes while +Jordan listened attentively. + +"You have got to stay here," said the latter. "That's a sure thing; but +there's not much sense in your notion of track-grading for the railroad +or wharf-laboring. You wait a week or two, and I fancy I can suggest +something by then that will suit you." + +"I don't know why you should trouble about it," said Jimmy. + +"We'll let that go;" and Jordan looked at him with a smile in his keen +dark eyes. "Your sister and I have been talking about you. She feels +that you ought to stay with the old man, too." + +It did not occur to Jimmy that there was anything significant in this, +for he was too anxious to concern himself about anything then except the +question as to how he was to secure his father's comfort. + +"I've been thinking about the auction," he said. + +"So have I," said Jordan. "Now, I'm going to talk straight to you. I've +invented one or two sawmill fixings; and they've brought me in some +money, as you know; but I want considerably more, and I've always had a +notion that it was business and not sawing redwood logs I was meant for. +Well, Merril wants me out of that mill, and it seems to me there's room +for a big extension of the coast-carrying trade of this country. That's +Merril's notion too. I once thought of buying this schooner--that is, +wiping out your father's loan--and putting you in command of her. Now, +don't get hold of it the wrong way--it was the money there might be in +it I was after." + +He smiled as he saw the faint flush on Jimmy's face. "Then I fancied +there might be more in steam, and that since Merril wants the _Tyee_, +I'd let him have her--at a figure. Anything she brings over and above +the bond goes to your father. Well, I'll put on a broker to bid for her +who knows his business. If I have to take her I guess I could get my +money back by sailing her, and, anyway, the broker will run Merril up. +You couldn't do it, because you'd be asked for security that you could +put up the money. Now, that's about all, except that I want you not to +take hold of anything that may be offered you until the auction's over +and you have had a talk with me. I've got to go back to the mill +to-morrow for a week or two." + +"I don't want to be ungracious, but there is no reason why you should +burden yourself with my affairs." + +"No," said Jordan dryly, "I guess there isn't. I'm out for money, and +that's why I figure that a man who knows as much about the sea as you do +might be of some use to me. You'll promise, anyway?" + +Jimmy did so, and felt that he had done wisely when his comrade went +away. There was, after all, no reason why Jordan should not befriend him +if he wished to, and he had a curious confidence in the man. It was, +however, two or three weeks later, and only a few minutes before the +auction which was to be held in a room ashore, when he saw him again. He +did not know that Jordan, who had arrived in the city two days ago, had +spent most of one of them at Forster's ranch. Jimmy, who had promised +Tom Wheelock to attend the sale, was walking up and down the street +waiting for the time announced, when Jordan strolled up to him with a +cigar in his hand. + +"Had to come down to see our people here," he said, which was, as it +happened, correct enough. "Went round this morning and saw that broker +man. He's coming along, and if it will be any relief to you I'll hand +you on his bill. Of course, I could have made my own bid, but these +fellows know the tricks of the game, and I'm not ready yet for a clean +break with Merril. Now, we might as well walk in." + +They passed through part of a big stone building into a large room where +a group of city men were talking together, for there were timber lands +and ranching properties to be sold that afternoon as well as the +schooner. It was very hot, and Jimmy found the waiting difficult to bear +as he listened to the hum of voices and glanced at his watch, until at +last the auctioneer sat down at a raised table. He hastily read out +particulars of the vessel as well as his authority to sell her, and then +smiled at the assembly. + +"Now," he said, "we'll get right down to business. Most of you have seen +the vessel, the rest of you have heard about her, and all you have to do +is to make me a reasonable bid. There is no reserve on her." + +Jimmy felt his face grow a trifle hot with anger. The _Tyee_ had made +his father's living, and, since anything she might bring in excess of +the loan on her would belong to him, it did not seem fitting that she +should be flung in this casual fashion on the hands of palpably +indifferent purchasers. The result of that sale was of vital interest to +him and Thomas Wheelock, and he glanced inquiringly at Jordan. + +"My man has not come," said the latter tranquilly. "It's a game he's +accustomed to, and when he's wanted he'll be here. That's one of the new +cannery men starting the bidding. Their inlet's a difficult place to +make, and the steamboat men don't care about calling there except for +big loads. It's significant that he should think of buying her." + +Jimmy did not understand why it should be so, but his face grew hard at +the laughter when the man made a nominal bid. There was silence for +almost a minute, and he felt a little thrill of dismay run through him, +for if the _Tyee_ went at that figure it would leave his father still +heavily in debt. + +"The anchors and cables are worth more," said the auctioneer. "Is there +nobody willing to raise him fifty dollars?" + +One of the men nodded. "I'll go that far," he said. "Still, I don't know +where I could get it back for her." + +Somebody offered ten dollars more, another man twenty, and there was +languid bidding until the price had almost doubled; but then it stopped +for a few moments, and Jimmy saw his companion glance somewhat uneasily +toward the door. + +"I'm beginning to wonder what's keeping my man," he said. + +"If he doesn't come soon he might as well stay away altogether," said +Jimmy, who turned in tense suspense and watched the hot faces of the men +about him. + +The price then offered would just clear the debt, but there were many +things his father needed, and Jimmy had then only a few dollars in his +pocket, which he had earned by stacking dressed lumber at a sawmill. + +"Gentlemen," said the auctioneer, "I don't feel warranted in letting her +go at the figure. She'd bring you half as much again to-morrow if you +sailed her over to Victoria." + +"I'll raise it ten dollars," said somebody, and the bidding commenced +again more indifferently than ever. Five, ten, twenty dollars were +offered, and then five again. + +Jordan touched Jimmy's arm. "That's Merril's man--I've been trying to +spot him--and I guess the cannery man would go up a hundred or two +still, by the way he's watching him. Nobody else seems to want her, and +it's quite likely they'll crawl up by tens. Sit still, while I run +around and find out what's the matter with my broker." + +He slipped out, but he was back within a few minutes, flushed in face, +and thrust a strip of paper into Jimmy's hand. + +"I think that makes the thing quite plain," he said. + +Jimmy glanced at the paper. "Got a wire last minute, and sent over to +your hotel, but didn't find you in," he read. "Had to go out +unexpectedly on the Sound steamer." + +"He stopped your putting another man on?" he said. + +"Yes," said Jordan, with a snap in his dark eyes. "Knew he was going all +the while. Played me for a sucker. Well, I guess I was one, or I +wouldn't have given him an option of selling me to Merril." + +"Selling you?" + +"Exactly. I might have known it's quite hard for an outsider to kick +against the people who boss these things. Still, since Merril knows, +there's no reason why I should keep my knife in the sheath. Raise them a +hundred dollars. I'll stand sponsor." + +Jimmy did not stop to consider. He knew that every dollar the schooner +brought now would go into the pockets of his father, and that was enough +for him. + +"I'll make the figure one hundred dollars more," he said. + +The man Jordan had pointed out as Merril's agent leaned forward and +whispered something to the auctioneer, whereupon the latter turned to +Jimmy with a deprecatory air. + +"The terms are strictly cash," he said. "I presume you are in a position +to put down the bills or a bank draft if you got her? I have, of course, +the pleasure of these other gentlemen's acquaintance." + +Jimmy felt Jordan, whom he had seen take out a wallet and a +fountain-pen, thrust something into his hand. He glanced at it before he +faced the auctioneer. + +"I don't know how far that was admissible or inspired," he said. +"Anyway, it doesn't matter. This draft should, I think, speak for +itself." + +The auctioneer apparently waited for him to take it across, but Jimmy +quietly sat down. + +"If you will send your clerk," he said. + +The clerk came forward, and a trace of amusement and awakening interest +crept into the faces of the rest. + +"That's satisfactory," said the auctioneer. "The signature in question +is quite sufficient. I'll record your bid. Will anybody raise it?" + +Then the men became intent, and two of them went up by forties. Jimmy +glanced at his companion, who nodded. + +"Go right ahead. Merril and the other man want her," he said. + +A few minutes later, to Jimmy's astonishment, Forster came in and stood +beside them. + +"What's the figure?" he asked, and, when Jordan told him, "Is she worth +it?" + +"Yes," said Jimmy; "you could go up at least five hundred dollars +further." + +"Ten advance," said Forster to the auctioneer, and then turned to +Jordan. "I suppose you're not set on getting her?" + +Jordan smiled, and Forster made a little whimsical gesture. "I +understand. Doing much the same thing myself. Miss Wheelock and my wife +are outside. I've been hanging round in the vestibule until it seemed +convenient for me to take a hand in." + +Jimmy said nothing, but when he looked around a few moments later he was +somewhat astonished to see that Jordan's place was empty. His comrade +was, in fact, hastening down the street to where Forster's light wagon +stood outside a big dry-goods store. He went in and came upon Eleanor +Wheelock, standing very straight and slim in her long white dress. She +turned and looked at him with a curious little smile. + +"Have you come to tell me that Forster is taking unnecessary trouble in +this affair?" she said. + +Jordan was not readily disconcerted, but he showed a momentary trace of +embarrassment. + +"No," he replied, "I haven't. I'm open to admit that I'm not quite as +smart as I thought I was. My man didn't turn up. In fact, he sold me to +Merril." + +Eleanor still looked at him, and his tone became deprecatory. "You're +not pleased?" + +"No," said the girl, with a faint flush in her cheeks. "I like my +friends to be successful." + +Jordan winced perceptibly. "I won't fail next time." + +"Are you warranted in thinking there will be another time?" + +"I guess so. I don't know that I deserve it, but you won't be too hard +on me?" + +Eleanor saw the gleam in his eyes. "It will depend. Where is Jimmy?" + +"Bidding against Forster and the rest for the _Tyee_." + +"Ah!" said. Eleanor, and for a moment her face softened. "I don't know +why you didn't tell me that earlier. Hadn't you better go back and see +that he doesn't get her?" + +"I don't care if he does," said Jordan; "that is, as long as he gives me +half an hour of your company." + +Eleanor laughed. "Leaving out the compliment, what would you do if Jimmy +bought her for you?" + +"Run her against the first vessel Merril put on a trip she was good for, +if I had to carry freight for nothing." + +The girl turned and glanced at him again, and a hard glint crept into +her eyes. She looked imperious, forceful, and vindictive then, but the +man felt a thrill run through him, for he knew his answer had pleased +her. + +"Ah!" she said; "for that I could forgive you many a failure. Still, you +must go back and look after Jimmy. We shall not go away until we hear +what you have done." + +Jordan reluctantly turned away, and, as it happened, met Jimmy coming +out of the auction-room with perfect satisfaction in his face. + +"I feel that I owe you a good deal. In fact, I'm afraid I can't express +my gratitude as I ought," he said. "Merril's man has got her, but I have +a clear thousand dollars to hand over to my father. Still, there's +something that puzzles me. What brought Forster here?" + +Jordan laughed. "Your sister." + +"Eleanor?" + +"Of course!" said Jordan dryly. "No doubt, because she is your sister, +you don't credit her with any useful capacity." + +"Eleanor is clever," said Jimmy reflectively. "Still, there are subjects +girls know nothing about--and, anyway, there was Mrs. Forster's attitude +to consider. It's hardly in human nature that she should be pleased to +see her husband staking his money to please her children's teacher." + +"Exactly! That is what made the thing cleverer. She has Mrs. Forster's +good-will too." + +"Then," said Jimmy decisively, "she must be a very kindly lady." + +"Or your sister a very capable young woman. You seem to find it a little +difficult to recognize that." + +Jimmy dismissed the subject with a little gesture. "Well," he said, "I'm +almost bewildered. The thing was so simple. Why didn't Merril think of +it?" + +"I have no doubt he did. Still, you saw what the little man has to +expect if he makes a bid. On thinking it over, it seems to me that +Merril trusted to my broker. He figured I'd back down once I realized +that he knew my game and was a match for me. There are big men like him +who live by bluff, and everybody makes way for them, but they're apt to +show themselves very much the same as other people when you face them +resolutely. It's just like putting a pin in a bubble." + +Then Forster joined them while his wife and Eleanor came out of the +store, and a few minutes later the girl and Jordan walked behind the +other three as they turned toward the hotel where the wagon had been +sent. Eleanor smiled at her companion. + +"We are indebted to you, after all," she said, and there was a faint but +suggestive something in her voice which satisfied Jordan. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE "SHASTA" SHIPPING COMPANY + + +Two or three weeks had slipped away since the sale of the _Tyee_, when +Jimmy Wheelock, who had been specially requested to do so, called at +Forster's ranch. He did not know why his presence was required, and when +he arrived was somewhat astonished to find Jordan, Valentine, and a man +he had not met, sitting with his host about a little table in the big +general room. A decanter and a box of cigars stood on the table, but the +attitude of the men suggested that it was business that had brought them +there. Jordan, who was talking animatedly, looked up when Jimmy came in. + +"You're not quite on time," he said. + +"For which I must make excuses;" and Jimmy turned to Forster. "The fact +is, I might not have got here at all if the American skipper whose new +mizzen-mast I'm helping to fit hadn't run out of wire-rigging. I +couldn't well afford to offend a man who considers my services worth +three dollars a day." + +The man he had not met made a little sign with his hand. "It's an excuse +that will pass in this country. Sit right down. Jordan insisted on +having you here. Got any money to spare?" + +"About forty dollars," said Jimmy. + +The other man smiled. "That won't go very far. Well, we can consider +ourselves a quorum, and Mr. Jordan will go ahead." + +"One moment," said Forster. "Mr. Leeson, Jimmy. Help yourself--you see +the cigars." + +Jimmy sat down, and glanced at the gentleman who had previously +addressed him. He fancied he had heard Jordan mention him as one +interested in the then somewhat decadent sealing industry, but there was +not very much to be gathered from his appearance. He was plainly +dressed, and elderly, and had a lean, expressionless face. It was seamed +with little wrinkles, his figure was spare, and he leaned forward with +an elbow on the table as if it were too much trouble to hold himself +upright. In the meanwhile Jordan recommenced. + +"I'll be quite frank with you as to how I'm fixed, because it will help +you to understand how I got on the track of the notion," he said. +"Merril has now a controlling interest in the coast mill, and I walked +out because I couldn't agree with him. Well, I have some money laid by +as well as my royalties, and I'm undertaking a few machinery agencies, +and starting as mill expert in Vancouver. In fact, I'll sell you an +American stump-puller, Mr. Forster, that will save you about half you're +spending on grubbing out those fir-roots by hand labor." + +"Another time!" said Leeson, with an appreciative grin. "Keep to the +shipping business." + +Jordan made a little gesture of resignation. "Well, as I told you +already, there's a good deal of odd freight to be moved up and down this +coast, and there would be more if there were better facilities. I hear +of ships held up because the salmon-packers can't get their cases down, +and men in Vancouver Island feeding fruit to hogs, and cutting good oats +for green fodder because they couldn't put them on the market if they +thrashed them. What's more, Mr. Merril has heard about it, too, and he's +an enterprising man. Ran me out of that West Coast mill because I +wouldn't come down on my royalties--him!" + +"Off the track again!" said Leeson. "Merril has bounced a good many men +out of things, but if I'm to put any money into this venture, I must +have a better reason than that you want to get even." + +"You'll get it," and Jordan's dark eyes snapped while his face grew +animated. "What Merril thinks safe is good enough for us. He has been +working up a notion of a coast shipping combine, one that's to be all +Merril's, and he has two or three schooners and a big unhandy lump of a +coal-eating steamer. He got her cheap, like the rest of them. Some of us +know how he did it." + +He glanced at Jimmy sharply before he went on again. "Now, I've been +considering his programme, and he's taking hold the wrong way--screwing +top freights out of everybody for a bad service, cutting down wages, and +running his boats with cheap men who are going to learn to hate him. +Well, with a little handy steamboat that would crawl in wherever there +was a beach the ranchers could haul their stuff down to, and a policy of +general conciliation, one could cut the ground right from under him." + +"Quite sure of that?" said Leeson. "Without his finding it out?" + +"Without his finding it out--until we've got the trade;" and Jordan's +eyes snapped again. "We're going to oblige people, and make our +connection with the ranchers and small cannery men a personal thing. +When he offers a big rebate it will be a little too late; and, anyway, +we can carry freight as cheap as Merril." + +"How are you going to make it a personal connection?" asked Forster. + +"The thing's quite easy. I'm going to send round a man who already knows +most of those ranchers to take them up fruit packing-boxes and +statistics of produce prices. He'll fix it up with them for the boat to +crawl in anywhere for a few jumper loads. Merril can't do it with his +schooners or the big steamer. I guess a rancher would sooner face a high +freight than feed the stuff to hogs, or haul it thirty miles over a +bush-trail to the Dunsmore road. Then I'm going to have a good-humored +skipper who'll bring the men off and make friends with them, but one +with grit enough to shove the boat round on time when she has a +perishable freight in a gale of wind. She's to be just the right size, +and, to save us coal, a modern tri-compound." + +"The three things seem essential. The last two certainly are," said +Forster, with a suggestive smile. "I guess it's scarcely necessary to +ask whether you have any idea how to obtain them?" + +Jordan laughed, and proceeded to astonish his companions, which was, +however, a habit of his. + +"Got them all," he said. "The steamboat's lying down the Sound, and I +hold a week's option on her. Jim Wheelock would go in command of her, +and Mr. Valentine can sail as soon as he's ready in the _Sorata_, and +crawl into every inlet from which he can reach half a dozen ranchers. +I'll have ready for him four or five tons of cut box frames that will +only want nailing, and they'll go into his saloon. He'll have everything +fixed before Merril knows we've despatched him." + +Jimmy glanced at Valentine's face, and broke into a soft laugh, though +he had been at least as far from expecting this proposition as his +companion seemed to be. Jordan looked at them both, and nodded +tranquilly. + +"You'll go?" he said, and then laid a sheet of paper on the table. +"Here's my notion of costs, capital, salaries, and general expenses. +Kind of prospectus. Shows the usual twenty-per-cent. profit--only we're +going to make it." + +It was quite clear that he meant it, for this was a man who had a full +share of the optimism which characterizes most of the inhabitants of the +Pacific Slope. He smiled reassuringly at his companions; but there was +silence for several minutes while Leeson examined the paper and then +passed it to Forster. Jimmy, who felt that his opinion would not be +particularly valuable, and had noticed the little smile in Valentine's +eyes, sat still, looking out through the open window at the shadowy bush +beyond Forster's orchard. + +It cut, vague and black and mysterious, against the wondrous green and +saffron glow of the sunset, and the little trail that wound away into it +had just then a curious interest for him. He wondered where it led, and +how long it wandered through the dim shadow before it came out again +into the garish brilliancy. The thing seemed an allegory, for when he +came into that country and flung his career away he had felt lost and +adrift, without a mark to guide him, while now Jordan and those others +were about to set his feet on the trail. It must lead somewhere, as all +trails resolutely followed do, though now and then they plunge into +tangles of morasses where the rotting pines fall or climb the +snow-barred passes of towering ranges. He had a curious confidence in +the daring American. Still, he felt that in all probability there was a +long and difficult march in front of him and the little party then +sitting in the slowly darkening room of Forster's ranch. It was Leeson +who spoke first. + +"There are men who would call the whole thing crazy, and they'd have +some reason for doing so," he said. "Most of us know what Merril is." + +It was evident that his opinion carried weight, and Jimmy, who felt a +growing tension, saw the sudden, eagerness in Jordan's face. + +"No," he said, "that's just where you're wrong. We know what he pretends +to be; and if a man puts up a big enough bluff, most people back down +and don't ask him to make it good. You see the point of it?" + +Leeson made a little half-impatient gesture. "What d'you figure on +putting in, Mr. Jordan?" + +"Ten thousand dollars." + +Leeson said nothing, but glanced at Forster wrinkling his brows. + +"I might manage five thousand," said the rancher. "I haven't found +clearing virgin bush a very profitable occupation, and I want more than +the interest I'm getting from the bank. Mr. Jordan has naturally talked +over the thing with me before, and I fancy his scheme is workable; but, +as I don't know a great deal about these matters, I'd very much like to +hear what your opinion of it is." + +He glanced inquiringly at Leeson, and it was evident to Jimmy that the +success or failure of the project depended on what the latter said. He +sat silent again for almost a minute, drumming on the table. + +"Well," he said, "you'll be told it's a fool game. Most of the men in +Vancouver City would consider that a sure thing--but I'm putting in +fifteen thousand dollars." + +Jimmy saw his comrade's face relax and a little exultant sparkle creep +into his eyes, while he felt his own heart beat a trifle faster. Then +Valentine, who had not spoken yet, turned to the rest. "In that case I +guess we can consider the thing feasible," he said. "If the sum isn't +beneath your notice, I'll venture a thousand dollars." + +"What has given you a hankering after twenty per cent.?" asked Jordan. +"It is not so very long since you told me that the sea, which cost +nothing, was enough for you." + +Valentine laughed. "I rather think it's the occupation that appeals to +me. Charterers have a trick of treading on one's toes occasionally, and +I don't think I should take kindly to business as it appears to be +carried on in the neighboring city. One can, however, talk to the +bush-ranchers intelligently. In any case, I shouldn't regard that twenty +per cent. as a certainty." + +Jordan grinned good-humoredly, but there was a twinkle of keener +appreciation in Forster's eyes. "There is a good deal the bush can teach +the man who wants to understand," he said. "I dare say you are right, +Mr. Valentine." + +"Well," said Jordan dryly, "the only use I ever had for the bush was as +a place for growing saw-logs; but while talk of this kind has nothing to +do with business, there's something I want to mention. I met Austerly +not long ago, and he wants to see you and Jim Wheelock when you can make +it convenient, Valentine. Now, if you'll keep quiet a few minutes, I'll +get on a little." + +He went on for a considerable time, with features hardening into +intentness and dark eyes scintillating, and when at last he stopped, +Leeson made a sign of concurrence. Then questions were asked and +answered, and afterward Forster, who passed the decanter to his guests, +stood up. + +"Since Mr. Jordan fancies he can raise another few thousand dollars +privately if it's wanted, we can consider the affair arranged," he said. +"Here's prosperity to The _Shasta_ Steam Shipping Company!" + +It was growing dusk when they drank the toast in the big shadowy room, +and, as he glanced at his companions, Jimmy was momentarily troubled +with a sense of his and their insignificance. There were only four of +them, and none of them, with the possible exception of old Leeson, were +men of capital, while he had an uneasy feeling that in view of Merril's +opposition it was a very big thing they had undertaken. Leeson set his +wine-glass down and shook his head. + +"We're going to have to fight for it," he said. + +Then the group broke up, and Jimmy, who strolled away to ask for Mrs. +Forster, saw nothing of his sister or, as it happened, of Jordan either, +until the rancher's hired man brought his comrade's team up. Jimmy drove +home with him, but Jordan was unusually silent as the team swung along +the dim, white road. Once, however, he appeared to rouse himself. + +"Yes," he said, though Jimmy had not spoken, "old man Leeson is right; +we will have to fight for it. Still, I have put my pile in, and we have +got to win." + +He glanced in Jimmy's direction, but the latter said nothing and it was +too dark to see his face. "Just got to win," he said again, as he shook +the reins. "It has been a pull up grade since I was sixteen, but somehow +I got the things I set my mind on, one by one. Perhaps Valentine would +tell you they weren't all worth while, and he might be right about some +of them, but a man has to be what he was born to be--and now I know +there's nothing on this earth worth quite so much as what I'm fighting +for." + +Still Jimmy did not understand, and therefore, as was usual with him in +such cases, made no observation, and his comrade laughed curiously when +he complained of the jolting instead as he essayed to light a cigar. + +"Well," said Jordan, "you'll go down the Sound and see about bringing +the _Shasta_ up just as soon as you're ready." + +Jimmy went next day, and Valentine, who went alone to Austerly's, sailed +for the West Coast on the following day. It was two weeks later when +Jimmy came back with a little two-masted steamer of 250 tons or so. She +was not by any means a new boat, nor were her engines especially +powerful, and, after finding out her various complaints during the +sheltered voyage down the Sound, Jimmy had hoped to spend a week or two +overhauling her before he went to sea. This, however, was not to be, for +he had hardly brought her up near the wharf when Jordan came off, and +found him sitting wearily on the bridge, begrimed all over and +heavy-eyed. + +"Well," he said, "you look considerably more like the played-out mariner +than the wedding guest. What has been worrying you? Anything wrong with +her?" + +"A good many things," said Jimmy. "If I went through the list I should +probably scare you. She has evidently been lying-up for a while, and +that is apt to have its effect on any steamboat's constitution. I've had +no sleep all the way up, and spent most of the time in manual labor when +I wasn't at the helm. The men I have--and they're a tolerably decent +crowd--naturally expected to rest now and then." + +"What's the matter with your engineer?" + +"Nothing, except that he's played-out--and I don't wonder. He'll be fast +asleep by now, and I don't think I'd worry him if I were you." + +Jordan looked suddenly thoughtful. "Now be quick. Is this boat fit to go +to sea, or has that blamed surveyor swindled you and me?" + +"She's sound. That is, she will be when we've had a month in which to +straighten her up, or have had a carpenter and foundry gang sent on +board her." + +Jordan's face showed his relief. "Well," he said, "you have got to take +the month at sea. You start to-night, and can do what's wanted when you +have the opportunity. There's another thing. We have arranged for a +kind of inaugural banquet, and you'll have to straighten her up a +little. I'll send you down some flowers and things." + +Jimmy gazed at him in drowsy consternation. "If your guests expect +anything fit to eat, you had better send the banquet too. Who in the +name of wonder are you bringing here?" + +"Eleanor--that is, Miss Wheelock. Austerly and his daughter. I believe +Valentine invited them. Forster and Mrs. Forster, and old man Leeson +too. You have got to brace up and face the thing." + +"I'm going to sleep," said Jimmy, with a gesture of resignation. "You'll +take these papers to the respective offices, and I may be able to talk +sensibly during the afternoon. But what made you want to bring Eleanor +and Mrs. Forster here?" + +Jordan laughed, and laid his hand on his comrade's shoulder. "I'll tell +you later; you're too sleepy now. In the meanwhile, I'll get round and +fix things generally." + +He went away in a few minutes, and Jimmy, dragging himself into the +little room beneath the bridge, flung himself down in the skipper's +berth, dressed as he was. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE "SHASTA" GOES TO SEA + + +It was a still, clear evening when Jimmy stood at the _Shasta_'s gangway +waiting to receive his guests. She lay out in the Inlet, and he could +see the two boats sliding across the smooth, green water with a measured +splash of oars, while the voices of their occupants reached him faintly +through the clatter of a C.P.R. liner's winches and the tolling of a +locomotive bell ashore. A thin jet of steam simmered about the +_Shasta_'s rusty funnel, and she lay motionless on the glassy brine, +with cracked and splintered decks, and what paint a long exposure to +rain and sun had not removed peeling from her. Jimmy had had no time to +spare for any attempt at decoration during the voyage down Puget Sound. +Indeed, he and his engineer felt thankful they had succeeded in bringing +her round at all. + +By and by the first boat ran alongside, and, because she belonged to the +_Shasta_, Jimmy was relieved to see that there was, after all, not a +very great deal of water in her, though his guests sat with their feet +drawn up. There were several of them: Jordan, who wore among other +somewhat unusual garments a frock-coat, and was talking volubly; +Eleanor, in elaborate white dress and a very big white hat; old Leeson, +Forster and his wife. Jimmy helped them up with difficulty, for the +_Shasta_ was floating high and light and had not been provided with a +passenger ladder. Something in his sister's face perplexed him when at +last they stood on deck. Eleanor was quieter than usual, and when she +looked at him there was a trace of color in her cheeks he could not +quite account for. + +"You seem almost astonished to see me," she said. "Even if I hadn't +wanted to come, Charley would have insisted on it." + +Jimmy gazed hard at both her and Jordan, and noticed that Mrs. Forster +seemed a trifle amused. + +"Charley?" he said. + +"Of course. Hasn't he told you?" said Eleanor; and though she laughed, +there was diffidence and pride in her eyes when she glanced at the man +beside her. It was also, her brother felt, rather more than the pride of +possession. + +"I must explain," said Jordan. "When I came off this morning, Jimmy was +too sleepy to be entrusted with any information of the kind. Still, I +quite think I deserve a few congratulations." + +Jimmy looked at him with a faint wrinkling of his brows, and then +involuntarily turned toward the rest of the company. + +"Well," he said, "I suppose it's only natural, though of course I never +expected this." + +Mrs. Forster laughed outright. "Then everybody else did, and ventured to +approve of it." + +Jimmy stretched his hand out, and grasped that of his comrade slowly and +tenaciously. "After all, there is nobody I should sooner trust her to, +and I don't think you could have got anybody more--capable, generally," +he said. "Eleanor, you see, is cleverer than I am." + +Eleanor Wheelock naturally understood her brother, and there was +whimsical toleration in her smile, while the little twinkle grew more +pronounced in Jordan's eyes. He was a shrewd man, and had already formed +a reasonably accurate notion of Jimmy and Eleanor Wheelock's respective +capabilities. + +"Thank you!" he said. "The other boat should be almost alongside." + +He moved aft with Eleanor and the rest of the guests, while Jimmy, who +had not quite recovered from his astonishment, was leaning on the rail +when another boat slid around the _Shasta_'s stern. He recognized +Austerly and his daughter on board her, and then felt his heart beat and +the blood creep into his face, for Anthea Merril was sitting at Miss +Austerly's side. He had not seen her since he stood one morning on the +wharf in the man-o'-war cap, but he had thought of her often, and now, +though his pleasure at seeing her almost drove out the other feeling, it +seemed unfitting that she should be there to take her part in sending +out the steamer that was, if the _Shasta_ Company could contrive it, to +bring to nothing her father's scheme. The boat was alongside in a few +moments, and when her occupants reached the deck Austerly shook hands +with Jimmy. + +"I must offer you my congratulations on being in command," he said. "My +daughter seemed to fancy we should be warranted in bringing Miss +Merril." + +Anthea smiled at Jimmy. "Yes," she said, "I wanted to come; but of +course if it was presumptuous, you can send me back again." + +"I think you ought to know there is nobody I should sooner see;" and +Jimmy, who was not so alert as usual that evening, looked at her too +steadily. + +Anthea met his gaze for a moment, and then, considering that she was a +young woman accustomed to hold her own in Colonial society, it was, +perhaps, a trifle curious that she slowly looked away. None of the +others noticed this, except Miss Austerly, and she kept any conclusions +she may have formed to herself. Then, though it seemed to come about +naturally without anybody's contrivance, Austerly and his daughter +joined Jordan, and for a few minutes Anthea and Jimmy were left alone. +The girl leaned on the rail looking across the shining water toward the +great white hull of the Empress boat lying, immaculate and beautiful in +outline, beneath the climbing town. Then she turned, and Jimmy felt that +he knew what she was thinking as her eyes wandered over the little rusty +_Shasta_. Though he had not spoken, she smiled in a manner which seemed +to imply comprehension when he looked at her. + +"Yes," she said, "there has been a change since I last saw you--and I am +glad you are in command. One can't help thinking that you must find +this, at least, a trifle more familiar." + +"At least?" said Jimmy. + +Anthea nodded, and her eyes rested on the big white mail-boat again. "I +think," she said, "you quite know what I mean." + +Once more Jimmy's prudence failed him. "Well," he said, "it is rather a +curious thing that even when you don't express it I generally seem to. +I don't know"--and he added this reflectively--"why it should be so." + +"I think that is rather a difficult question--one, in fact, that we +should gain nothing by going into. How long are you going to command the +_Shasta_?" + +"Until----" and Jimmy, who had not quite recovered from his exertions +during the voyage, stopped abruptly. He could not tell his companion +that he expected to sail the dilapidated steamer until she had wrested +away a sufficient share of the trade her father was laying hands upon to +enable Jordan to buy a larger one. + +"I don't quite know," he added. "Anyway, I was very glad to get her. It +is pleasanter to take command than to carry planks about the Hastings +wharf ashore." + +"You were doing that?" and for no very ostensible reason a faint tinge +of color crept into his companion's face. Labor is held more or less +honorable in that country, but, after all, Anthea Merril was a young +woman of station. + +"It must have been a change," she said a moment later. + +"From the lumber schooner, or Valentine's _Sorata_?" + +Anthea looked at him with a sparkle in her eyes. "Pshaw!" she said. "Are +you going to masquerade always, or do you think I am quite without +intelligence?" + +Then she turned, and pointed to the beautiful white Empress boat. "When +are you going back again?" + +Jimmy understood her, and made no further disclaimer. Still, his face +grew somewhat hard, and he moved abruptly. + +"I don't quite know," he said. "Very likely I shall never go back at +all. Circumstances are rather against me." + +"And can't you alter them?" + +Jimmy drew in his breath, and unconsciously straightened himself a +trifle. The girl stood close beside him, looking at him--not as one who +asked a question, but rather as though she had expressed her belief in +his ability to do what he wished. The confidence this suggested sent a +thrill through him, and her quiet graciousness--which, though she +addressed him as one of her own world, was not without its trace of +natural dignity--and her physical beauty set his heart beating. + +"I can try," he said simply. "There are, however, difficulties." + +"Of course!" and Anthea smiled. "There generally are. Still, if one is +resolute enough, they can usually be got over." + +Jimmy said nothing. He was not, after all, especially apt at +conversation, and he could not tell her that among all the difficulties +he might have to grapple with, the greatest was probably her father. + +Just then, as it happened, Jordan turned and called to them, and, moving +aft, they descended to the little stern cabin with the rest. It was +draped with the least faded flags from the signal locker; the table +glittered with glass and silver, and was set out with great bouquets of +flowers. The ports were wide open, and the cool evening air, fragrant in +spite of the city's propinquity with the smell of the Stanley pines, +flowed in. Eleanor Wheelock looked around with a smile of appreciation, +and then turned to Jordan. + +"Oh," she said, "it's pretty! You have done it all. Jimmy would never +have thought of that. But why are both those flags there?" + +Jordan glanced at the two big crossed flags that streamed down upon the +settee in the vessel's counter. They were new, and athwart the broad red +and white crosses gleamed the silver stars. + +"Well," he said with a little smile, "I don't know any reason why they +shouldn't be there side by side. It seems to me there'd be peace on +earth right off if they always hung that way, if only because all the +rest of the world would be afraid to break it. You have heard of the +first message we sent your folks in the Old Country over the Atlantic +cable. Besides, the thing's symbolical of another alliance that's not +only to be wished for, but going to be consummated." + +Eleanor blushed becomingly amidst the approving laughter, and, as she +stood there in the gleaming white dress and big white hat, with the +clear color in her cheeks, it seemed to Jimmy that he had never seen his +sister look half so captivating. In fact, he was almost astonished that +it had not occurred to him before that Eleanor was so exceptionally +well-favored. The quiet and somewhat plain-featured Mrs. Forster, and +Austerly's sickly daughter, served as fitting foils for her somewhat +imperious beauty. Then, as she glanced in his direction, Jimmy moved a +pace or two, and Anthea came out of the shadow. + +"My sister Eleanor--Miss Merril," he said. + +There was a brief silence which Jimmy, at least, found embarrassing, for +it seemed to him that everybody was watching the two girls with sudden +interest. He also felt that when Anthea Merril moved forward, Eleanor, +as it were, receded into second place against her will. His sister was +wholly Western, tall, and somewhat spare, with the suppleness of a +finely tempered spring rather than that of the willow in her figure. Her +quick glance and almost incisive speech matched her bearing. One could +see that she was optimistic, daring, strenuous; but with Anthea Merril +it was different. There was a reserve about her, and a repose in voice +and gesture which in some curious fashion made both more impressive. She +was also a trifle warmer in coloring and fuller in outline, and stood +for, or so it seemed to Jimmy, cultivated ripeness as contrasted with +his sister's vigorous and brilliant crudity. Quite apart from this, he +had noticed Eleanor's brows straighten almost imperceptibly, and the +slight hardness that crept into her eyes. The others apparently did not +see it, but her brother understood those signs. + +"Miss Merril! What does she want here?" said old Leeson, who usually +spoke somewhat loudly, in what he evidently fancied was an aside, and it +seemed to Jimmy that his sister's eyes asked the same question. + +Anthea, so far as he could see, did not notice this, and it was she who +spoke first. + +"I almost fancy I have met you somewhere, Miss Wheelock, though I do not +think it was in Vancouver," she said. "Toronto is rather a long way +off--but I wonder whether you were ever there?" + +"I was," said Eleanor. "I also saw you, though I never spoke to you. +Under the circumstances, it was, however, hardly to be expected." + +"No?" said Anthea, with a note of inquiry in her voice; and, though +Eleanor smiled, there was no softening of her eyes. + +"I was being trained to earn my living, and my few friends belonged to a +very different set from yours." + +Jimmy was not pleased with his sister. She had spoken quietly, indeed +more quietly and indifferently than she usually did, and Anthea Merril +had not shown the least resentment; but he felt that there was a sudden +antagonism between the two women. It was therefore a relief to him when +the steward appeared with the dinner, most of which Jordan had wisely +had sent from a big hotel, and they sat down at the table. + +It was a convivial meal. Jordan talked volubly, and there was a sparkle +in most of what he said; Forster and Austerly were quietly jocular; and +Eleanor, who sat next their host at the head of the table as his +bride-elect, played her part in a fashion that pleased them all. Other +things had also their effect upon the company. There was the love-match +between the man who had staked every dollar he could raise to send out +that little rusty steamer, and the beautiful penniless girl, as well as +the presence of the daughter of the man who, they felt reasonably sure, +would endeavor to crush him by any means available. As it happened, +Anthea Merril talked quietly, and apparently confidentially, to Jimmy +most of the time, and even old Leeson, who grinned at them sardonically, +seemed to feel that the situation was rife with dramatic possibilities. + +By and by the light commenced to fade, but Eleanor's white dress still +gleamed against the dull blue and crimson of the crossed flags; and in +after-days, when there was anger between them, Jimmy liked to remember +her sitting there at Jordan's side to speed him on the _Shasta_'s first +voyage. She made a somewhat imposing figure in the little dusky cabin, +and what she said struck the right note in the inauguration of that +venture, for she was optimistic and forceful in speech and gesture--and +Anthea now sat in the shadow. + +At last old Leeson rose with a little dry chuckle. "I don't know whether +speeches are expected," he said. "Still, I guess there's one toast we +ought to honor, and that's the engaged pair. Anyway, it's one that's +especially fitting to-night, since it seems to me that if it hadn't been +for Miss Wheelock we wouldn't have been here, with steam up, on board +the _Shasta_." + +There was a little good-humored laughter, but Leeson, who appeared +unconscious that his observations were open to misconception, proceeded +calmly. + +"Now," he said, "in a general way, the less women have to do with +business the better; but in Miss Wheelock we have an exception. If it +hadn't been for her, Forster would not have put five thousand dollars +into the _Shasta_, and if he hadn't made the venture, it's quite likely +I wouldn't either. It's quite a big one for people of our caliber, but +we have a live man to run the thing, and he will have a wife as smart as +he is standing right behind him. Well, we'll wish the pair of them long +life and happiness." + +Jimmy rose with his companions, but he was conscious that Anthea was +regarding his sister with grave inquiry. Then Jordan made his reply +conventionally, and afterward stood still a moment looking at his +guests, until with a little abrupt gesture he commenced again. + +"Mr. Leeson's right: it is a big thing we have on hand," he said. "We're +going to fight and break a monopoly, and, if all goes as we expect it, +put money into our pockets. But in one way that's only half of it. I +want you to think of the honest effort, the best thing a man has to +offer, that is being wasted in this country. Can't you picture the +bush-ranchers hauling produce thirty miles over a trail a city man +wouldn't ride a horse along to the railroad, and watching fruit 'most as +good as we can raise in California rotting by the ton? I want you to +think of the oat crops cut green and half-grown, and the men who raised +them mending their clothes with flour-bags and measuring out their +groceries by the cent's worth, after spending half a lifetime chopping +out the ranch. It's wrong--clean against the economy of things. We want +every pound of whatever they can send us. We have mines and mills and +money, but in this Province our food is bad and dear. While every man +depends on his neighbor, the greatest thing in civilization is facility +of transport." + +He stopped a moment for breath, and the keen sparkle in his dark eyes +grew plainer. "Well, we're going to provide it, and do what we can for +the men with the axe and the grub-hoe. Some day this great Province will +remember what it owes them. Here it's man against nature, and the fight +is hard, while we'll do more than put money in our pockets if we make it +a little easier. We want a fair deal--and we'll get it somehow--but we +want no more; and if we can hold on long enough, it won't be only those +who sent her out who will say, 'Speed the _Shasta_!'" + +He stopped amidst acclamation, for his mobile face and snapping eyes had +amplified his words, and, while he handled his theme clumsily, there +was, at least, no mistaking the strident ring of the dominant note in +it. In that country it was, for the most part, man against nature, and +not man against man, and the recognition of the fact was in all who +heard him. There men wrung their money from rocky hillside and shadowy +forest with toil almost incredible, creating wealth, and not filching it +from their fellows; but nature is grim and somewhat terrible in the land +of rock and snow, and all down the great Slope, from Wrangel to Shasta, +the battle is a stern and arduous one. So there was a little kindling in +the listeners' eyes, and the women also raised their glasses high as +they said, "Speed the _Shasta_," knowing that this was in reality but a +part of what they felt. + +Then Eleanor rose, and the company, scattering for the most part, went +back on deck, where it once more happened by some means that Anthea +Merril and Jimmy found themselves some distance from any of the rest. +The girl looked up at him with a little smile. + +"Well," she said, "what did you think of Mr. Jordan's observations?" + +Jimmy laughed. "My opinion wouldn't count. I couldn't make a speech for +my life." + +"No?" said Anthea. "Still, you can hold a steamer's wheel, and perhaps +under the circumstances that is quite as much to the purpose. In any +case, while your comrade was a little flamboyant, which is much the +same thing as Western, I think he meant it. After all, if we parade our +sentiments, we generally act up to them." + +"Jordan," said Jimmy, "seems to have quite a stock of them." + +"And I understand he has put every dollar he has into the venture. +Still, I suppose he did it cheerfully; and you may find it necessary to +bring those bush-ranchers' produce down against a gale of wind." + +There was a smile in her eyes as she looked at him, but in spite of that +Jimmy felt his face grow slightly warm. It was not, however, altogether +because Anthea noticed it that she changed the subject. + +"There was one point that wasn't quite clear to me. Why did he say you +were going to break up a monopoly?" + +Jimmy wished she had asked him anything else, for he had already decided +that Miss Merril knew very little about her father's business. + +"Well," he said awkwardly, "that's rather a difficult thing to answer. +You see, he mentioned a monopoly----" + +"He certainly did." + +"Then, to begin with, there is the Dunsmore road. They naturally +couldn't handle produce as cheaply as we could, and, anyway, it isn't of +much benefit to the ranchers who can't get at it." + +"'To begin with?' That implies more than one, which is, one would fancy, +the essential point of a monopoly." + +"Perhaps it is," said Jimmy vaguely. "Still, when we get our hand in, +there will be three." + +Anthea may have had her reasons for not pressing the question then, for +she laughed. "Of course!" she said. "Three monopolies. Well, I suppose +one must excuse you. You can hold a steamer's wheel." + +Jimmy, on the whole, felt relieved when the others sauntered in their +direction, and was less grieved than he might have been under different +circumstances when Austerly drew Miss Merril away. He had felt once or +twice before, during discussions with his sister, that keen intelligence +is not invariably a commendable thing in a woman. After that, Jordan had +a good many instructions to give him, and by the time they had been +imparted the rest were clustering around the gangway; while five minutes +later Jimmy leaned on the rail watching the boats slide away toward the +dusky city. Then he climbed to his bridge, and the windlass commenced to +rattle, but he did not know that Anthea Merril, who heard his farewell +whistle, kept the others waiting on the wharf a moment or two while she +watched the _Shasta_ slowly steam out to sea. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +IN DISTRESS + + +The clear night was falling when Jimmy leaned on the bridge-rails as the +_Shasta_ steamed out of the Inlet beneath a black wall of pines. Over +her port quarter the pale lights of the climbing city twinkled tier on +tier, with dim forest rolling away behind them into the creeping mist. +Beyond that, in turn, a faint blink of snow still gleamed against the +dusky blueness of the east. All this was familiar, but he was leaving it +behind, and ahead there lay an empty waste of darkening water, into +which the _Shasta_ pushed her way with thumping engines and a drowsy +gurgle at the bows. It seemed to Jimmy, in one sense, appropriate that +it should be so. He had cut himself adrift from all that he had been +accustomed to, and where the course he had launched upon would lead him +he did not know. + +That, however, did not greatly trouble him. His character was by no +means a complex one, and it was sufficient for him to do the obvious +thing, which, after all, usually saves everybody trouble. It was clear +that Tom Wheelock needed him, and he could, at least, look back a +little, though this was an occupation to which he was not greatly +addicted. He understood now how his father, who had perhaps never been a +strong man, had slowly broken down under a load of debt that was too +heavy for him, though the nature of the man who had with deliberate +intent laid it on his shoulders was incomprehensible. Jimmy, in fact, +could scarcely conceive the possibility of any man scheming and plotting +to ruin a fellow-being for the value of two old schooners. The +apparently insufficient motive made the thing almost devilish. Merril, +he felt, was outside the pale of humanity, a noxious creature to be +shunned or, on opportunity, crushed by honest men. + +Then he wondered for a moment whether the bondholder's daughter had +inherited any portion of her father's nature, and brushed the thought +aside with a little involuntary shiver. The thing was out of the +question. One could, he felt, perhaps illogically, be sure of that after +a glance at her; and then he straightened himself with a little abrupt +movement, for it was very clear that this was, after all, no concern of +his. He had never met any woman who had made the same impression on him +that Anthea Merril had done, but he had already decided that he had +sense enough to prevent himself from thinking of her too frequently; and +it was evident that if he had not he must endeavor to acquire it. + +He strove to divert his thoughts, and listened to the flow of language +that rose through the open skylights from the _Shasta_'s engine-room. +Taken together with the pungent smell of burning grease and a certain +harsh thumping, it suggested that things were not going well down there. +Then, looking forward, he watched the black figure of the look-out on +the forecastle cut sharp and clean against the pale gleaming of the +western sky as the bows swung over the long heave with a rhythmic +regularity, for the _Shasta_ was drawing out into open water now. She +was making eight knots, he fancied, with mastheads swaying athwart the +stars, and a long smoke-trail that was a little more solid than the +dusky blue transparency streaking the sea astern of her. Jimmy pulled +out his pipe when a faint cold breeze fanned his cheek, and lighted it +contentedly, for a steamboat travels fastest in smooth water when what +moving air there is blows against her, and there was every sign of fine +weather. + +It lasted several days, and the _Shasta_ stopped only twice at sea: once +to cool a crank-pin, and again for a longer while because there was +something wrong with her condenser. In due time she crept into a deep, +mountain-walled inlet where the little white _Sorata_ lay, and Jimmy +gazed in astonishment when he saw the piled-up produce on the strip of +shingle beach between still, green water and climbing forest. He was +even more astonished when certain bronzed men in battered wide hats and +soil-stained jean came off, and conveyed him almost by force to the rude +banquet laid out in a little frame hotel. Hitherto they had hauled the +few goods they put on the market rather more than eight leagues along an +infamous trail which for a part of that distance led over a mountain +range. + +Jimmy feasted that day, for the banquet was repeated with very little +variation three times over, and his last speech was very much to the +purpose as well as characteristic of him. + +"Boys," he said, "we've steam up, and in view of the freight we're +charging you Wellington coal is dear. Besides, even to oblige you, I +really couldn't eat anything more." + +They paddled him off in state in a big Siwash canoe, and their shouts +rang far across the silent pines when the little rusty _Shasta_ crawled +away into the evening mist; while long after it had hid her from their +sight, Jimmy, standing on his bridge, heard the faint wail of the pipes. +There was, as usual, a North Briton among them, and the wild music of +another land of rock and pine and inlet six thousand miles away crept up +the screw-torn wake in elfin fashion. Jimmy, at least, knew the burden +of it: "Will ye no' come back again?" + +His blood tingled a little as he listened. They had held out their hands +to him, and made him one of them, and it was, he vaguely felt, a thing +to be proud of, for there was a certain greatness in these simple, +all-enduring men. They grappled with giant forests and rent stubborn +rocks, clearing the way for thousands yet to come, with limbs that ached +from the axe stroke and hands that bled upon the drill. They feared +nothing, and looked for nothing except the prosperity which they would +hardly share, but which would surely come; and all down the long Slope +their kind are perfecting a manhood that is probably worth more than all +the gold, silver, iron and wheat raised beneath the Beaver or the Stars. + +It was the same at the next inlet, for that trip was very much of the +nature of a triumphal procession, only that as yet the battle was not +won; and when at last the _Shasta_ turned her bows southward, she was +full to the hatches and deep in the water. As it happened, she met a +strong southwester, which piled the long Pacific heave upon the reefs +to port in big foam-crested walls, and after the first twelve hours of +it there was scarcely a dry inch on board her. She went into it with +dipping forecastle that swung up again veiled in cataracts of white and +green until her forefoot was clear, and, with complaining engines, made +scarcely four knots an hour. There were inlets that offered her shelter, +but hour by hour Jimmy, clinging, battered by flying spray, to his +reeling bridge, drove her ahead. The time for making speeches, at which +he did not shine, had gone, and it was now his business to keep the +promise he had made the ranchers, that he would not lose an hour in +conveying their produce to the market. That, at least, was a thing he +could do, and, though his drenched limbs grew stiff and his eyesight +dim, he did it with the dogged thoroughness of his kind, standing high +in the stinging drift as he drove her, swept and streaming, at the +tumbling seas. He, too, was one of the enduring toilers, and, like the +invincible men with the axes who had recognized the stamp he bore, he +found a certain grim pleasure in the conflict. + +It was toward dusk on the second evening when they steamed into sight of +a little schooner, which showed as a gray smear of slanted canvas +scarcely distinguishable from the crag a couple of miles to lee of her. +Jimmy wondered what she was doing there in that weather with only one +jib and a reefed boom foresail set, until his glasses showed him that +her mainmast was broken off. That made the thing clearer, and in case +more should be wanted, a flag fluttered aloft and blew out half-way up +her foremast upside down. It was an appeal that is very seldom made in +vain at sea, and meant in that particular case that she would be ashore +in an hour or two unless somebody towed her off. + +Jimmy closed his glasses with a snap, and hailing a very wet seaman sent +him for the engineer. The latter climbed to the bridge, and nodded when +he glanced at the vessel. + +"Well," he said, "you'll have to take them off. She's not going to claw +off shore without her mainsail. There would be a little money in the +thing if we could tow her, but we can't. I'm taking steep chances of +bringing the engines down about my head by shoving her into it as I'm +doing." + +As though to give point to the speech, the _Shasta_ flung her stern high +just then, and shook in every plate as with a frantic clanging the +engines ran away. Then she put her bows in, and dim crag and wallowing +schooner were blotted out by a cloud of spray. + +"We have got to try," said Jimmy quietly. "There's a point that would +give us shelter twenty miles away." + +"Twenty miles!" and the engineer, from whose blackened singlet the water +streamed, laughed scornfully. "It's 'bout as likely we'd tow her to +Honolulu. Still, I guess you're skipper." + +Jimmy nodded. He had not troubled to impress the fact upon his crew, but +he invariably acted on it. "You had better raise a little more steam," +he said; "it is very likely that we'll want it." + +Then, as the dripping engineer vanished from the bridge, he seized the +whistle lanyard, and signed to the man behind him who gripped the wheel. +A deep blast rent the turmoil of the sea, and the _Shasta_, swinging +around a trifle, rolled away to the rescue. It was some twenty minutes +later when she stopped, and lay plunging head to sea with the little +wallowing schooner close to lee of her. The light was going, but Jimmy +could see a shapeless figure that clung to her rail gesticulating with +flung-up arm. The wreck of a boat, apparently smashed by the falling +mast, lay across her hatch, and there was another half-seen man at her +wheel. Jimmy stood still for a few moments with his hand on the +telegraph, and he was glad to remember that there were several former +sealing-schooner hands among his crew, for what they do not know about +boat-work is worth no man's learning. + +He let the _Shasta_ swing a little to give them a lee on one side of +her, and while the sea smote and spouted in green cataracts across her +weather-rail they swung a boat over, and two men, one of whom was a +Siwash, dropped into her. That was enough to steer her while she blew to +windward, and Jimmy dared risk no more. They got her away, apparently +undamaged, and he sent the _Shasta_ slowly ahead when she plunged over a +seatop veiled in a cloud of spray. It would be beyond the power of flesh +and blood to pull that boat back, and the _Shasta_ swung in a wide +half-circle to leeward of the schooner. Her crew had evidently tried to +heave her to, but without her after-canvas she had fallen off again, and +was forging ahead with the _Shasta_'s boat smothered in foam beneath her +rail. She was going to leeward bodily, and Jimmy fancied she was about a +mile nearer the crag than when he had first seen her. It was evident to +everybody that he had no time to lose. + +He shouted with arm flung up, and, though it was doubtful whether +anybody heard him, the schooner's boom foresail came thrashing down, +and two men who leapt upon her rail fell into the boat. Then he thrust +down his telegraph, and, as the _Shasta_ forged by, the boat drove down +on her. She struck the steamer's hove-up side with a crash that stove +several strakes of planking in, and men jumped for the flung-down lines +as she filled. They scrambled up them, four in all, and, for one of them +had hooked on the davit falls, the _Shasta_'s winch banged and rattled +as they hove the boat in with the water streaming out through her +shattered side at every roll. The men had, however, brought a rope with +them, and the winch next hove the schooner's stoutest hawser off. It was +made fast, and rose splashing from the sea when Jimmy touched his +telegraph again, while, when at last the schooner fell into line astern, +a very wet man clambered to the bridge. + +"Are you fit to pull her out?" he asked. + +"I don't know," said Jimmy; "I'm going to try. How did you get so far +inshore, and have you left anybody to steer her?" + +The man made a vague gesture. "Mainmast went beneath the hounds. She's +been driving to leeward since, and she'd have been ashore in another +hour if we hadn't fallen in with you. The old man's at her wheel. Built +her himself 'most fifteen years ago, and nothing would shift him out of +her." + +Jimmy glanced astern, and for a few moments saw a gray face of rock loom +out of the haze with the sea spouting dimly white at its feet. Then a +thicker fold of vapor rolled about it, and the daylight faded suddenly. +He could scarcely see the schooner lurching along behind them with jib +still set, though the sail thrashed now and then. Indeed, his eyes were +growing very heavy, and he realized that after forty-eight hours' +continuous watching he could not keep himself awake much longer. A +simple calculation showed him that it would be daylight again before he +could put his helm up and run for shelter, when it would be imperatively +necessary for him to be on his bridge; and calling his Scandinavian +mate, he left the _Shasta_ in his charge. + +"Keep her going as she's heading now," he said. "You'll see I've headed +her up a few points to allow for the leeward drag of the tow. You can +call me in a couple of hours, or earlier if there's any change in the +weather." + +He clawed his way down from the bridge to the little room beneath it, +and shed only his streaming oilskins before he flung himself into his +bunk. He was asleep in two or three minutes, and slept soundly while the +water oozed from his wet garments, until he was roused by a shouting. +Then his door was flung open, and a man thrust his head in. + +"Mr. Lindstrom figures you'd better get up," he said. "The tow has +parted her hawser, and gone adrift." + +Jimmy was out of his bunk in a moment, and in a few more had scrambled +to his bridge. Lindstrom, the Scandinavian, shouted something he did not +hear, but that did not very much matter, for the one question was, where +was the schooner, and Jimmy was tolerably certain that nobody knew. His +light had been burning, and for the first few moments he could see +nothing but blackness, out of which there drove continuous showers of +stinging spray. Then he made out the filmy cloud it sprang from at the +_Shasta_'s bows, and swept his gaze aloft toward the pale silver streak +above her mastheads, which showed where the half-moon might come +through. As he did so, the Scandinavian gripped his shoulder, and he saw +a red twinkle widen into a wind-blown flame low down upon the sea. Now +he could, at least, locate the tow. + +"Did you get a sight of the beach? How far were we off?" he shouted. + +"A low point," said Lindstrom, "which I do not know. One mile, I guess +it, and we head her out more off shore." + +Jimmy was a trifle startled. Though the water is deep along that coast, +a mile leaves very small margin for contingencies, and he fancied that +the tow, blowing to leeward, would cover it in half an hour. In that +case there was not the slightest doubt as to what would then happen to +her. She might, perhaps, last five minutes as a vessel, for the reefs +are hard and there is a tremendous striking force in the long Pacific +seas. Another point was equally clear. He had some twenty minutes in +which to overhaul the schooner and take her skipper off, and no boat to +do the latter with. If he failed to accomplish it in the time, it was +very probable that the _Shasta_ would go ashore, and he did not think +that any one would escape by swimming. Still, he meant to do what he +could, and once more he set the whistle shrieking as he shouted to the +helmsman. + +The _Shasta_ came round, and drove away into the darkness, for the light +had died out again and there was nothing visible ahead but the dim white +tops of frothing seas. Five minutes passed, and Jimmy felt the tension, +for they were steaming toward destruction, and it was quite possible +that they might run past the schooner or straight over her. Then a shaft +of moonlight struck the climbing pines high up in front of him, and it +seemed to him that he was already almost under them. He set his lips, +and clenched the hand he would not raise in warning to the helmsman +while the pale watery moonlight crept lower and lower. It rested for a +moment on a fringe of creaming foam where the rock met the water, and +then a hoarse shout went up, for as it swept toward him they saw the +schooner. + +She was not far ahead of them, with jib thrashed to ribands and the sea +streaming from her swung-up side. Jimmy thrust down his telegraph and +shouted to Lindstrom, who dropped from the bridge as they drove past her +stern. Then, as he raised his hand, the man behind him gasped as he +struggled with his wheel, and the _Shasta_, stopping, lay rolling wildly +beneath the schooner's lee, while a shadowy figure gesticulated to those +on board her from her spray-swept rail. Jimmy glanced shoreward over his +shoulder toward the tumbling surf, and decided that he had at most five +minutes to take that man off. After that it would probably be too late +for all of them. + +Mercifully the moonlight still streamed down, and he waited with lips +set and hands clenched on the telegraph while the schooner, being +lighter, drove down upon the _Shasta_. One blow might make an end of +both of them, but something must be hazarded, and he spared a glance for +the wet men who crouched upon the _Shasta_'s rail with lines in their +hands. He had smashed one boat not long ago, and the second and smaller +one had been damaged a week earlier, bringing a Siwash to take them up +a certain inlet off an unsheltered beach. + +The schooner was very near them, and, if he stayed where he was, would +come down on top of the steamer in another minute or so. Then Lindstrom +sprang out of the galley with a blue light in his hand, and its radiance +blazed wind-flung and intense on the narrowing gap of foam between the +two wildly rolling hulls. There was a hoarse shouting, and, though he +might not have heard the words, it was evident that the man on board the +schooner realized what he was expected to do. Jimmy set his lips tighter +as he pressed down the telegraph to slow ahead. + +The _Shasta_'s propeller thudded, and as the schooner reeled toward her +she commenced to move, and a black figure plunged with flung-up hands +from the latter's shrouds. It struck the seething water, and vanished +for a moment or two, while men held their breath and strained their +eyes. Then there was a hoarse clamor, and lines went whirling down from +the _Shasta_'s rail. In the midst of it black darkness succeeded, as +Lindstrom's light went out. Jimmy gasped, wondering when the schooner +would strike them, while he clenched his hand on the telegraph. There +was faint moonlight still, but it did not seem to touch the schooner, +for his eyes were dazzled by the blaze of the blue light. + +A moment later another shout rang out. "He has hold! Get down! Can't you +stop her, sir?" + +Jimmy, knowing what the hazard was, pressed his telegraph, and held his +breath until a harsh voice rose again. + +"I have a grip of him," it said. "Heave! We've got him, sir. Go ahead; +she's coming down on the top of us!" + +Jimmy moved his hand, and the gong clanged out "Full-speed" this time, +while, glancing to windward, he saw the black shape of the schooner +hove-up apparently above him. Still, quivering all through, the _Shasta_ +forged ahead, and he leaned on the rails, for now that the tension had +slackened he felt curiously limp. + +"The man's all right?" he asked. + +Lindstrom, who climbed half-way up the ladder, said that he did not seem +to have suffered very much, and Jimmy, looking around, saw nothing of +the schooner, for there was sudden darkness as the moon went out. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +ELEANOR'S BITTERNESS + + +It was in a state of quiet contentment that Jimmy stood on his bridge, +as the _Shasta_ steamed past the Stanley pines into sight of the +clustering roofs of Vancouver. His first voyage had been an unqualified +success in every respect, and it was clear that the _Shasta_ had done +considerably more than cover her working expenses. This was in several +ways a great relief to him, since it promised to obviate any difficulty +in providing for his father's comfort, and also opened up the prospect +of a career for himself. Jordan had assured him before he sailed that +they would have no great trouble in raising funds to purchase another +boat if the results of the venture warranted it. He had also said that +since one thing led to another, there was no reason why the _Shasta_ +Company should not run several steamers by and by, in which case Jimmy +would naturally become commodore-captain or general superintendent of +the fleet. + +As it happened, Jordan was the first person Jimmy's eyes rested on when +he rang off his engines as the _Shasta_ slid in to the wharf, and he +climbed on board while they made her fast. It, however, seemed to Jimmy +that his movements were less brisk than usual, and he was also dressed +in black, which was a color he had once or twice expressed himself in +his comrade's hearing as having no use for. He came up the bridge-ladder +quietly, in place of scrambling up it in hot haste, which would have +been much more characteristic, and Jimmy noticed that there was a +difference in his manner when he shook hands with him. The latter's +satisfaction commenced to melt away, and a vague disquietude grew upon +him in place of it. + +"Everything straight here?" he asked, veiling his anxiety. + +"Oh, yes," said Jordan; "that is, in most respects. We have an outward +freight--Comox mines--for you. You'll take her up the Straits that way +when you go back again. You seem to have her full." + +"I had to leave a good many odds and ends behind, and the ranchers +expect to have more produce for us in a month or two. One or two of them +were talking about baling presses and a small thrashing mill. I've an +inquiry for the plant, which you can attend to. Another fellow was +contemplating putting on some Tenas Siwash to see whether there was +anything to be made out of hand-split shingles, and several more were +going to plant every cleared acre with potatoes for Victoria. I'm to +take up two of your mechanical stump-grubbers as soon as you can get +them. If we can keep them pleased, we'll get all their trade." + +Jordan nodded, without, however, any sign of the eagerness Jimmy had +expected. "Well," he said, "that's quite satisfactory so far as it goes. +Still, there are troubles that even the prospect of piling up money +can't lift one over." + +"Of course!" said Jimmy, who looked at him with sudden sympathy. "Still, +I fancied you told me you had no near relatives. What are you wearing +those clothes for?" + +His comrade laid a hand on his shoulder. "It's a thing I shouldn't have +done on my own account. I did it--steady, Jimmy, you have to face it--to +please your sister." + +"Ah!" said Jimmy, with a sharp indrawing of his breath, and leaned on +the bridge-rails for a moment or two. His lips quivered, and Jordan saw +him clench his hard brown hands. Busy wharf and climbing city faded from +before his eyes, and he was sensible only of a curious numbing stupor +that for the time being banished grief. Then he felt his comrade's grasp +grow tighter. + +"Brace up!" said Jordan. "It's a thing we have, all of us, to stand up +under." + +Jimmy straightened himself slowly, while the color paled in his face. + +"When did it happen--and how?" he asked. + +"Last night. The doctor had been round once or twice since you went +away, and I understood from what Prescott said that he was getting along +satisfactorily--that is, physically." + +Jimmy said nothing, but looked at him with hard, questioning eyes. + +"Well, it appears he was worrying himself considerably. Told Prescott it +was a pity he couldn't die right away. Nobody had any use for him, and +he didn't want to be a burden. Seems he went over it quite often. The +doctor had cut him off from the whisky." + +He stopped, with evident embarrassment and pain in his face; but Jimmy's +eyes never wavered, though a creeping horror came upon him. In spite of +the difficulty he had in thinking, he felt that he had not yet heard +all. + +"Go on," he said in a low, harsh voice. + +"I don't think I could have told you, only it would have fallen on +Eleanor if I hadn't, and she has as much as she can bear. You'll keep +that in mind, won't you, Jimmy? He got some whisky--we don't know +how--one of the wharf-hands who used to look in bought it for him, most +probably. Prescott had to go out now and then, you see." + +He stopped for a moment, and made a little gesture of sympathy before he +went on again. "Somehow he fell over the table, and the kerosene lamp +went over with it too. When one of the neighbors who heard him call went +in nobody could have done anything for him." + +The last trace of color ebbed from Jimmy's face, and he stood very +still, with set lips and tightly clenched hands. Then he turned aside +with a groan of horror. + +"Lord!" he said hoarsely. "That, at least, might have been spared him." + +In another moment he swung around on his comrade almost savagely, with a +bitter laugh. "And you want to marry my sister Eleanor?" + +"Yes," said Jordan; "just as soon as it can decently be done. Jimmy, you +daren't blame him." + +"Blame him!" and Jimmy's voice was strained. "If I had had his load to +carry and felt it as he did, I should probably have gone under long +ago." + +He leaned heavily on the rail for a minute or two, and then, apparently +rousing himself with an effort, turned toward his comrade. "As you say, +I must stand up to it. How is Eleanor bearing it?" + +"Quietly--too quietly. I'm 'most afraid of her. She's here--I went over +to Forster's for her. Insists on staying in the house. I'll send +somebody around with your papers, and then go along with you." + +Five minutes later they went ashore together, and it was falling dusk +when they reached a little four-roomed frame-house which stood near a +row of others of very much the same kind amidst the tall fir-stumps +which straggled up a rise on the outskirts of the town. It was such a +one as the few wharf and sawmill hands who were married usually lived +in--comfortless, primitive, and rickety. Jimmy remembered how he had +determined when he sailed south with the _Shasta_ full to the hatches +that his father should not stay another month in it. + +He was almost startled when his sister led them into the little general +room, for it was evident that there had been a great change in her. +That, at least, was how he regarded it then, but afterward he understood +that it was only something which had been in her nature all the time +making itself apparent. He did not remember whether she kissed him, but +she sat down and looked at him with the light of the lamp upon her, +while Jimmy, who could find nothing at all to say, gazed at her. + +Eleanor had already provided herself with somber garments, and they +emphasized the severity of contour of her supple figure. They also +forced up the pallor of her face, which was relieved only by a faint +blotch of color in either cheek, and, in spite of this, in a curious +fashion made her beautiful. Jimmy had hitherto admitted that his sister +was pretty, but, as he recognized, that word was not the right one now. +She was imperious, dominant, a force embodied in a woman's shape, and +her brother was vaguely conscious that he shrank a little from her. +Eleanor did not seem to want his sympathy. The coldness of her face +repelled him, the fastidious neatness of her gold-bronze hair appeared +unnatural, and her pale-blue eyes had a hard glitter like that of a +diamond in them. It was evident that in place of being crushed, she was +filled with an intense suppressed virility. Indeed, there was something +in her appearance and manner that was suggestive of a beautifully +tempered spring, one that would fly back the moment the strain +slackened, and, perhaps, cut deep into the hand that compressed it. It +was the girl who spoke first, and her voice had a certain incisive +quality in its evenness. + +"Charley has told you," she said; "I can see that by your face. He +insisted on doing so to save me. Well, I am grateful, Charley--that is, +as grateful as I am capable of being--but I will not keep you." + +Jordan looked disconcerted. "Can't you let me stay? There are one or two +ways in which I could be of service." + +Eleanor made a little imperious sign, and, though Jimmy once more found +it difficult to realize that this woman, whose coldness suggested a +white-heat of passion, was his sister, he was not altogether astonished +when Jordan slowly rose. + +"Then I'm going no farther than the first fir-stump that's low enough +to make a seat," he said. "If I'm wanted, Jimmy has only to come out and +call." + +He went out, and Eleanor turned to her brother. "I am afraid Charley is +going to be sorry I promised to marry him," she said. "Still, I think I +am fond of him, or I might have been, if this horrible thing hadn't come +between us. It is horrible, Jimmy--one of the things after which one can +never be quite the same. I have a good deal to say to you--but you must +see him." + +Jimmy made a sign of concurrence, and his sister rose. "First of all, +there is something else. It is a hard thing, but it must be done." + +She turned to a cupboard, and, taking out a bottle of corn whisky, laid +it before him with a composure that jarred on the man. Her portentous +quietness troubled him far more than a flood of tears or a wild outbreak +would have done. Then she laid her finger on the outside of the bottle, +as though to indicate how much had been taken out of it. + +"I think that accounts for everything," she said. "Still, he was driven +to it. I want you to remember that as long as you and the man who is +responsible live. Prescott knows, and Charley--I had to tell him. But +nobody else must ever dream of it." + +"Of course you had to tell Charley," said Jimmy hoarsely. "Still, the +inquest?" + +A scornful glitter crept into Eleanor's eyes. "That you will leave to +me. I have been drilling Prescott as to what he is to say, and if they +question Charley, who got here before the doctor when Prescott sent for +him, he will stand by me." + +Jimmy looked somewhat startled; but when he strove to frame his +thoughts the girl silenced him. "If it were necessary to corrupt +everybody who had ever been acquainted with him, and I could do it--at +any cost--it would be done. Now"--and she quietly took up the lamp--"you +will come with me." + +Jimmy shivered a little as he went with her into the adjoining room, and +set his lips tight when with a steady hand she drew the coverlet down. +Then, while his eyes grew a trifle hazy, he drew in a little breath of +relief, for Tom Wheelock lay white and serene at last, with closed eyes +and no sign of pain in his quiet face, from which all the weariness had +vanished. Only a clean linen bandage, which ran from one temple to +behind the other ear, was laid upon it. There was nothing that one could +shrink from, and Jimmy made a gesture of protest when Eleanor laid her +hand on the bandage. + +She met his eyes with something that suggested contempt in hers, and +quietly drew back the bandage, and then the soft white sheet from the +shoulder of the rigid figure. Jimmy sickened suddenly, and seized her +arm in a constraining grasp. + +"Put it back!" he said. "That is enough--enough, I tell you!" + +Then, while the girl obeyed him, he turned from her with a groan, gasped +once or twice, and sat down limply. He could not look around again until +her task was concluded, and he would not look at her. It seemed an +almost interminable time before she spoke. + +"Still," she said, "you must look at him again; I should like you to +remember him as he is now. Perhaps you can, Jimmy, but that relief is +not for me." + +Jimmy rose, and in another few moments turned his head away. He stood +still, with a whirl of confused emotions that left him half-dazed +rioting within him, while he glanced vacantly round the room. It was +scantily furnished, and generally comfortless and mean. Long smears of +resinous matter exuded from the rough frame boarding of its walls, and +there were shrinkage rents in part of it that let the cool night air in. +In one place he could see where a drip from the shingle roof had spread +into a wide damp patch on the uncovered floor, and it seemed an almost +insufferable thing that his father should have spent his last days in +such surroundings. Then he glanced at Eleanor, standing a rigid, somber +figure with the lamp in her hand, and it seemed that she guessed what he +was thinking. + +"It does not matter now--but he was once considered a prosperous man," +she said. "The contrast was one of the things he never complained of; +but I think he felt it." + +Jimmy turned and went out with her, and, sitting down in the adjoining +room, she looked at him with the quietness he was commencing to shrink +from. She seemed to understand that, too. + +"You think I am unnatural," she said. "Perhaps you are right--but even +if you are, what does it matter? Still, I believe I was fonder of him +than you ever were. If I hadn't been, could I have done all this for you +and him?" + +She stopped for a moment, and the hard gleam flashed back into her +pale-blue eyes. "He was horribly burned, Jimmy, and until the last few +minutes crazed with drink and pain. Still, he was driven to his death +and degradation." + +Jimmy only gazed at her with a tightening of his lips, and the girl went +on in the clear, incisive tones that so jarred on him. "I think it was +more than murder. Can you remember him as anything but abstemious, and +only unwise in his easy kindliness, until the man who crushed him held +him in his clutches? Weak! There are people who would tell you that, and +perhaps he was. It was the load he had to bear made him so. Try to +remember him, Jimmy, as he used to be--brave and gentle, devoted to your +mother and mine; the man who, they said, never ran for shelter in the +fiercest breeze of wind. Try--I want you to." + +Jimmy turned to her abruptly, moistening his dry lips with his tongue. +"Eleanor, have done; I can't stand any more." + +"You must;" and the girl laughed harshly. "I hold that he was murdered. +Is there any real distinction between the man who holds you up with a +pistol and kills you for your money, suddenly and, in one way, +mercifully, and the one who with cold cunning slowly sucks your blood +until he has drained the last drop out of you? Still, that is not all. +If he had only died as most men die. You must remember the upset lamp +and the whisky, Jimmy." + +"Stop!" said Jimmy hoarsely, clenching a brown hand while the +perspiration started from him. "I can't stand it! It is horrible, +Eleanor! You are a woman--you have promised to marry my comrade." + +The girl rose, and, crossing to where he sat, laid a hand on his +shoulder as she looked down at him. "I feel all that you feel, with a +greater intensity; but I can bear it, and you must bear it too. Charley +will not complain, and I would be his slave or mistress as long as he +would stand by me until I carry out my purpose. He is only my lover, but +you are Tom Wheelock's son. What are you going to do?" + +"What can I do?" and Jimmy made a little hopeless gesture. "Perhaps it +would be only justice, but I can't waylay Merril with a pistol. The man +has no human nature in him. I couldn't even provoke him to strike me." + +"No," said Eleanor, with a bitter laugh; "that would be foolishly +theatrical, and in one way too easy. It would not satisfy me. You will +wait, ever so long if it's necessary, and command the _Shasta_ while you +take his trade away. Then we will find other means--business means; it +can, I think, be done. He must be slowly drained and ruined, and flung +aside, a broken man, as your father was. Then it would not matter +whether he dies or not." + +Jimmy shrank from her a little, and she smiled as she noticed it. "There +is a good deal of our mother's nature in both of us, and you cannot get +away from it. It will make you a man, Jimmy, in spite of all your +amiable qualities." + +"Still," said Jimmy vaguely, "one has to be practical. I'm afraid it +isn't easy to ruin a man like Merril just because you would like +to--I've met him, you see. The _Shasta_ Company was not started with +that purpose either, and it was only because Jordan is a friend of mine +that I was put in as skipper." + +"Didn't old Leeson say that the _Shasta_ Company would never have been +formed if it hadn't been for me? It is a struggling little company, and +Merril is a big man, and apparently rich; but there are often chances +for the men with nerve enough." + +Jimmy rose. "If one ever comes in my way, I shall try to profit by it. +That is all I can say. I'm a little dazed, Eleanor. I think I'll go out +and try to clear my brain again. You won't mind? I hear Prescott." + +He met Prescott in the doorway, and walking past the few frame-houses +found Jordan sitting, cigar in hand, upon a big fir-stump. When Jimmy +stopped beside him he made a little sign of comprehension and sympathy. + +"I guess I know what Eleanor has told you," he said. "In one way, it's +not astonishing that she should feel what she does, and I can't blame +her, though it's a little rough on me. This is a thing she'll never +quite get over--while the other man lives prosperous, anyway--and, of +course, I'm standing in with her." + +"But it's not your affair." + +"It's Eleanor's, and that counts with me. Besides, I'm not fond of +Merril either." + +Jimmy was touched by the man's devotion, but once more he could find +nothing apposite to say, and Jordan went on: + +"Sometimes, as I told you, I'm a little afraid of Eleanor, and perhaps +that's why I like her. It seems to me you never quite understood your +sister. Your mother made the Wheelock fleet, and it's quite likely that +Eleanor's going to make the _Shasta_ Shipping Company. I'm no slouch, +but she has more brains than you and I and old Leeson rolled together. +Now, you want to rouse yourself, and she has Prescott with her. You'll +walk down to the steamer with me." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +UNDER RESTRAINT + + +Austerly, who was essentially English and a servant of the Crown, +somewhat naturally lived outside the boundaries of Vancouver. He had the +tastes and prejudices of his class, and did not like the life most men +lead in the Western cities, which is in some respects communistic and +without privacy. Even those of some standing, with a house of their own, +not infrequently use it only to sleep in, and take their meals at a +hotel, while, should they retire to their own dwelling in the evening, +they are scarcely likely to enjoy the quietness the insular Englishman +as a rule delights in. People walk in and out casually until late at +night, and a certain proportion of them are chronically thirsty. This, +in case of a business man, has its advantages as well as its drawbacks, +but Austerly only recognized the latter. He said it was like living in +the street, and he did not appreciate being called on at eleven o'clock +at night by men of doubtful character whom he had met for the first time +a few days before. + +He accordingly retired to a retreat that one of his predecessors had +built outside the city, which shades off on that side from stone and +steel through gradations of frame-houses and rickety shanties into a +wilderness of blackened fir-stumps. The Western cities lie open, and +though the life in them is more suggestive of that of Paris than the +staidness of an English town, they have neither gate nor barrier, and +are usually ready to welcome all who care to enter: strong-armed men who +limp in, red with dust, in dilapidated shoes, as well as purchasers of +land and commercial enterprise directors. They have, it frequently +happens, need of the one, and a bonus instead of taxes to offer the +other, who may purpose to set up mills and workshops within their +borders. + +Austerly, however, was not altogether a recluse, and it came about one +evening that Jimmy, who had arrived there with a few other guests, sat +beside Anthea Merril in the garden of his house. The sunlight still +shone upon the struggling grass, to which neither money nor labor could +impart much resemblance to an English lawn, but great pines and cedars +walled it in, and one caught entrancing vistas of shining water and +coldly gleaming snow through the openings between their mighty trunks. +The evening was hot and still, the air heavy with the ambrosial odors of +the forest, and the dying roar of a great freight train that came +throbbing out of its dim recesses emphasized the silence. The little +house rose, gay with painted scroll-work and relieved by its trellises +and wooden pillars, beneath the dark cedar branches across the lawn. +Jimmy had seen Valentine and Miss Austerly sitting on the veranda a few +minutes earlier. He was, however, just then looking at his companion, +and wondering whether in spite of the pleasure it afforded him he had +been wise in coming there at all. + +Anthea was dressed richly, in a fashion which it seemed to him became +her wonderfully well, and he was quite aware that the few minutes he had +now spent in her company would be sufficient to render him restless +during the remainder of the week. Jimmy had discovered that while it was +difficult to resolve that he would think no more of her, it was +considerably harder to carry out the prudent decision. + +"It is some little time since I saw you last," she said. + +"Four weeks," said Jimmy promptly. "That is, it would be if this were +to-morrow." + +Anthea smiled, though she naturally noticed that there was a certain +significance in this accuracy. Jimmy realized it too, for he added a +trifle hastily: "The fact that it was just before the _Shasta_ went to +sea fixed it in my mind." + +"Of course!" and Anthea laughed. "That would, no doubt, account for it. +Are your after-thoughts always as happy, Captain Wheelock?" + +Jimmy felt a little uncomfortable. Her good-humor, in which there was +nothing incisive, was, he felt, in one way a sufficient rebuff, though +he could not tell whether she had meant it as such. It was also +disconcerting to discover that she had evidently followed the train of +reasoning which had led to the remark, though this was a thing she +seemed addicted to doing. After all, there are men who fail to +understand that in certain circumstances it is not insuperably difficult +for a woman to tell their thoughts before they express them. + +"I'm afraid I don't excel at that kind of thing," he said. "It's perhaps +fortunate my friends realize it." + +Anthea turned and looked at him with reposeful eyes. "Well," she said +reflectively, "I almost fancied you were not particularly pleased to see +me. You had, at least, very little to say at dinner." + +Jimmy, to his annoyance, felt the blood rise to his forehead. He had +sense enough to see that his companion did not intend this to be what, +in similar circumstances, is sometimes called encouraging. He was not a +brilliant man; but it is, after all, very seldom that an extra-master's +certificate or a naval reserve commission is held by a fool. Anthea had, +he felt, merely asked him a question, and he could not tell her that he +would have avoided her only because he felt afraid that the delight he +found in her company might prove too much for his self-restraint. + +"Still," he said, somewhat inanely, "how could I? You were talking to +that Englishman all the time." + +"Burnell?" said Anthea. "Yes, I suppose I was. He and his wife are +rather old friends of mine. They have just come from Honolulu, and talk +about taking the yacht up to Alaska. In that case, they want Nellie and +me to go with them." + +Jimmy remembered the beautiful white steam-yacht which had passed the +_Shasta_ on her way to Vancouver a day or two ago, and was sensible of a +vague relief that was at the same time not quite free from concern. If +Anthea went to Alaska, it was certain that he would have no opportunity +for meeting her for a considerable time. That was, in one way, what he +desired, but it by no means afforded him the satisfaction he felt it +should have done. She did not, however, appear inclined to dwell upon +the subject. + +"I think I ought to congratulate you on what you did a few weeks ago," +she said. "I read the schooner-man's narrative in the paper." + +Jimmy laughed. "If I had known he was going to tell that tale, I almost +fancy I should have left him where he was; but, after all, I scarcely +think he did. Seas of the kind mentioned could exist only in a +newspaperman's imagination." + +The girl smiled, for, though what she thought did not appear, she saw +the shade of darker color in his face, and Jimmy was very likeable in +his momentary confusion. Now and then his ingenuous nature revealed +itself in spite of his restraint, but nobody ever shrank from a glimpse +of it, for he had in him, as Anthea had seen, something of the largeness +and openness of the sea. + +"Still," she said, "I heard one or two men who understand such things +talking about it, and they seemed to agree that it needed nerve and +courage to take the schooner skipper off without wrecking your vessel; +but you are, perhaps, right about the imagination of the men who serve +such papers." + +Jimmy noticed the trace of half-contemptuous anger in her face and +voice, and fancied he understood it. He had, of course, seen the issue +of the paper in question, and had read close beneath the schooner-man's +account of his rescue a bitter and plainly worded attack upon his +companion's father. Merril was a political as well as a commercial +influence, and journalists in that country do not shrink from +personalities. He felt, by the way she glanced at him, that she knew he +had done so. + +"Yes," she said, though he had not spoken, "you understand what I am +alluding to. Still, I suppose anybody who does all he can for the +Province must expect to be misrepresented." + +Jimmy's face grew a trifle hard. He did not know exactly what she +expected from him, but even to please her he would not admit that the +man who had seized the _Tyee_ could be misrepresented in any way, +unless, indeed, somebody held him up as a pattern of virtue. + +"I suppose your father denied the statements?" he said. "I have, of +course, been away." + +"No," replied Anthea; "it was scarcely worth while. After all, very few +people would consider the thing seriously." + +She turned to him again with an inquiring glance, and there was a +certain insistency in her tone. "Of course, that ought to be clear to +anybody." + +Jimmy met her glance steadily, and set his lips as he usually did when +he was stirred, and he was stirred rather deeply then. Still, nothing +would have induced him to say a word in Merril's favor. Then it seemed +to him that the girl's expression changed. He could almost have fancied +there was a suggestion of appeal in her eyes, as though she would have +liked him to constitute himself her ally, and, indeed, had half-expected +it. It set his heart beating, and sent a little thrill through him, for +in that moment it was clear that she wished to believe altogether in her +father, and would value any support that he could offer her. In other +circumstances it would have been a delight to take up the cause of any +of her kin, whatever it might have cost him, but just then he was +conscious of a bitter hatred of the man in question, and Jimmy was in +all things honest. + +"I'm afraid I don't know how people are likely to regard it," he said. +"You see, I am almost a stranger in the Province. I have been away so +long." + +Anthea appeared to assent to this, but Jimmy realized that she felt that +he had failed her. Still, the thing was done, and he would not have done +it differently had another opportunity been afforded him. + +"Well," she said slowly, "there is something I want to mention. I fancy +Mr. Burnell has a favor to ask of you this evening, and it might, +perhaps, be wise to oblige him. He can be a very good friend, as I have +reason to know, and though he may not mention this, he is, one +understands, rather a prominent figure in the Directorate of the ---- +Mail Company." + +For a few moments Jimmy was troubled by an unpleasant sense of +confusion. The man's name was famous in the shipping world, and there +were a good many aspiring steamboat officers who sought his good-will, +while, since he could not have heard of Jimmy until a day or two ago, it +was evident that somebody in Vancouver City had spoken in his favor. +Jimmy fancied he knew who this must be, and it was but a minute or two +since he had turned a deaf ear to the girl's appeal. Then he roused +himself, as he saw her curious smile. + +"So that is the famous man?" he said. "I should never have imagined it." + +Anthea laughed as she rose; but before she moved away, she turned to him +confidentially. "I really think," she said, "you should do what he asks +you." + +Then she left him, and it was some minutes later when a little, quiet +Englishman strolled in that direction, cigar in hand. He sat down by +Jimmy. + +"I don't know whether I'm presuming, but I believe you are duly +qualified to take command of a British steamer and are acquainted with +the northwest coast?" he said. + +Jimmy said he had not been far north; and Burnell appeared to reflect +for a moment or two. + +"After all," he said, "I don't suppose that matters so very much. I'm in +rather a difficulty, and you may be able to do something for me. We lost +our skipper, and my mate and several of the crew have taken leave of me +here unceremoniously. I wish to ask if you would take the yacht up to +Alaska for me, and afterward home again. I should naturally be prepared +to offer whatever salary is obtainable here by a duly qualified skipper, +and as several of my friends are also yours, you would, of course, +continue to meet them on that footing while you were on board." + +"There is one point," said Jimmy. "The arrangement would necessarily be +a temporary one." + +"I fancied you would raise it. Well, it would perhaps be a little +premature to say very much just now; but I did not come to Vancouver +entirely on pleasure. In fact, it is likely that we shall shortly +attempt to cut into the American South-Sea trade, in which case we +should want commanders for a 4000-ton boat or two from this city. If +not, I almost think I can promise that you would not suffer from serving +me. I may mention that your friends speak of you very favorably." + +Jimmy thought hard for a minute or two. It was a very tempting offer, +and wages out of that port were excellent just then. What was more to +the purpose, it promised to send him back to the liners, where a +commander was a person of some consequence, and, besides this, Anthea +had told him that she was in all probability going to Alaska. Then he +reluctantly shook his head. + +"I'm afraid I can't close with you, sir," he said. "The fact is, I +consider myself bound to the _Shasta_ Company." + +"Ah!" said Burnell; "their terms are still more favorable? One would +scarcely have fancied it." + +"No," said Jimmy, "that is certainly not the case. Still, they put me +into the little boat out of friendliness--and I'm not quite sure anybody +else could do as much for them, or, at least, would make an equal effort +in the somewhat curious circumstances. Of course, that sounds a trifle +egotistical; but still----" + +Burnell signified comprehension. "It is not altogether a question of +money." + +"I couldn't come if you offered me treble the usual thing," said Jimmy +gravely. + +The other man nodded. "Well," he said, "I'm sorry, because after what +you have told me I almost think we should have hit it tolerably well +together. At any time you think I could be of service, you can write to +me." + +He talked about other matters for a while, and it was half an hour after +he went away when Jimmy once more came face to face with Anthea Merril. +She was walking slowly through the creeping shadow of the pines, and +stopped when she saw him beside a barberry bush, among whose clustering +blossoms jeweled humming-birds flitted. One of them that gleamed +iridescent hovered on wings that moved invisibly close above her +shoulder. + +"So," she said, "you have not done as I suggested?" + +Jimmy looked at her gravely, and once more felt the blood creep into his +face. She had told him she was going to Alaska on board the yacht, and +he almost ventured to fancy she had meant it as an inducement; but there +was no trace of resentment in her voice. Anthea was too proud for that. + +"I'm sorry," he said. "Still, you see, I couldn't." + +There was no doubt that he was sorry, and a look that left him almost +bewildered crept into the girl's eyes. + +"Why?" she asked quietly. + +It was a somewhat unfortunate question, since it afforded an opening for +two different answers, and Jimmy, who fancied she wished to learn why +the fact that he could not go should grieve him, lost his head. + +"Why?" he said. "Surely that can't be necessary. I think there is only +one thing that could have stopped my going. If it hadn't been for that, +I would have walked bare-foot across the Province to join the ship." + +Anthea looked up, and met his eyes steadily. It was clear that she +understood him, but there was no reproof in her gaze, and for a moment +the man felt the sudden passion seize and almost shake the +self-restraint from him. The girl was very alluring, and just then her +pride had gone, while it was vaguely borne in on him that he had but to +ask, or rather take her masterfully. Perhaps he was right, for there are +moments when wealth and station do not seem to count, and an eager word +or two, or a sudden compelling seizure of the white hand that hung so +close beside him, might have been all that was needed. He looked at her +with gleaming eyes, while a little quiver ran through him. Still, he +remembered suddenly whose daughter she was, and the bitter grievance he +had against her father. The opposition Merril would certainly offer and +the stigma others might cast upon him if he wrested a promise from her +then, also counted for something; and though neither of them made any +sign, both knew when she spoke again that the moment had passed. + +"That," she said, "was not what I meant. Why is it impossible for you to +go?" + +Jimmy was himself again, for her voice and look had swiftly changed. "I +think it is only your due that I should tell you, since I know why +Burnell put the offer before me. Well, I was glad to get the _Shasta_, +and it would hardly be the thing to leave her now. Jordan and the others +put money they could very hardly spare into the venture--and when they +did it, they had confidence in me." + +"Ah!" said Anthea, and stood silent for a moment or two. Then she smiled +at him gravely. "Perhaps you are right--and, at least, one could fancy +that Jordan and the others were warranted." + +Jimmy, whose face once more grew a trifle flushed, raised a hand in +protest. "I feel I have to thank you for sending Burnell to me. It must +have seemed very ungrateful that I didn't close with him; but, after +all, that is only part of what I mean. You see----" + +The girl looked at him, still with the curious little smile. "You +fancied I should feel hurt because you could not take a favor of that +kind from me? Well, perhaps I did, but, as you have said, you couldn't +help it--and I don't think it matters, after all." + +Her voice was quietly even, and there was certainly no suggestion in it +that she resented what he had done; but Jimmy knew that he was now +expected to put on his reserve again, and he hastened to explain in +conventional fashion that the way she might regard the matter was really +a question of interest to him. Then Anthea looked at him, and they both +laughed as they turned away, which, as it happened, very nearly led to +Jimmy's flinging prudence aside again, and he felt relieved when he saw +Austerly and his daughter approaching them. Before the latter two joined +them, Anthea, however, once more turned to her companion. + +"There is still something I wish to say, and perhaps I should have +mentioned it earlier; but in such cases one shrinks from causing pain," +she said. "I should like you to believe that I was very sorry when I +heard--about your father." + +Jimmy only made her a grave inclination, for, though he could not blame +her for it, his father's death was the most formidable of the barriers +between them, and, recognizing it, he felt a little thrill of dismay as +she turned off across the lawn toward where Mrs. Burnell was apparently +awaiting her. It afterward cost him an effort to talk intelligently to +Austerly and his daughter; but since they betrayed no astonishment at +his observations, he fancied that he had somehow accomplished it. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE RANCHER'S ANSWER + + +It was a Saturday evening, and Barbison, the fruit-tree drummer, felt +that he had chosen a fitting time to introduce the business which had +brought him there, as he sat amidst a cluster of bush-ranchers on the +veranda of the little wooden hotel. It stood beside a crystal river in a +lonely settlement, with the dark coniferous forest rolling close up to +it. There were, however, wide gaps in the firs in front of the veranda, +with tall, split fences, raised to keep the deer out, straggling athwart +them amidst the pale-green of the oats, while here and there one could +see an axe-built log-house embowered in young orchard trees. A trail led +past the hotel, rutted by the wooden runners of jumper-sleds and +ploughed up by the feet of toiling oxen and pack-horses. It led back in +one direction through shadowy forest to the Dunsmore railroad, thirty +miles away, and in the other to the deep inlet where the _Shasta_ lay. +The ranchers, however, usually reached the latter by canoe, because the +trail was as bad as most of the others are in that country. + +On the evening in question there was a little stir in the sleepy place, +for the mounted mail-carrier, who accomplished the journey weekly, had +come in, and hard-handed, jean-clad men had plodded down from lonely +clearings among the enfolding hills to inquire for letters, purchase +stores, and ask each other whether the Government meant to make a +wagon-road or do anything at all for them. The question was, however, +not quite so important as usual just then, for private enterprise had, +as not infrequently happens, undertaken the Government's +responsibilities, and the ranchers were conscious of a certain gratitude +to the _Shasta_ Shipping Company. Thirty miles over mountains is rather +a long way to convey one's produce and supplies. + +A select company of deeply bronzed and wiry men who had tried to do it +with pack-horses as well as oxen and jumper-sledges sat listening to +Barbison, apparently with grave attention, while another entertainment +was being prepared for them. Two of their comrades, stripped to their +blue shirts and old jean trousers, were then engaged in grubbing a very +big fir-stump in front of the veranda--that is, clearing out the soil +from beneath it, and cutting through the smaller roots with an +instrument which much resembled a ship carpenter's adze. It is in +general use on the Pacific Slope, where the process of making a +bush-ranch seldom varies greatly. The rancher purchases the raw +material, thin red soil covered with tremendous forest, as cheaply as he +can, and at the cost of several years' strenuous toil hews down a few +acres of the latter. Then he proceeds to burn up the logs, and there are +left rows of unsightly stumps rising four to six feet above the ground, +which he laboriously ploughs around. When he has garnered a crop or two +he usually attacks these in turn--that is, if they show no sign of +rotting; and to grub out a big one and haul it clear with oxen +frequently costs him at least a day. + +Barbison, who watched the proceedings with the rest, was aware of this, +but he did not know that the man who sat smoking on a big mechanical +appliance of the screw-jack order was the _Shasta_'s engineer. It was +also somewhat curious, since he had contrived to mention her several +times, that his companions had not thought it worth while to acquaint +him with the fact, but left him to suppose the gentleman in question was +traveling the country on behalf of the manufacturers of the American +stump-grubber. In the meanwhile Barbison discoursed glibly about +fruit-trees and produce prices, and pointed now and then to a big tin +case partly filled with desiccated fruits and pictures which lay on a +chair beside him. He was a little, dapper man, evidently from the +cities, and by no mean disingenuous, though he was apparently young. He +turned when a big quiet rancher picked up and gravely munched a fine +Californian plum. + +"Oh, let up!--that's the third," he said. "How can I sell trees on my +samples when the boys have eaten them?" + +The man looked at him stolidly. "It's high-grade fruit," he said. "How'd +you start those plum-trees bearing?--they're quite a long while showing +a flower or two. Cut them hard when the frost lets up in spring?" + +"Quite hard!" said Barbison, for one must make a venture now and then; +and none of his companions showed any astonishment, though fruit is +freely raised in that country, and the trees that grow the kind with +stones in it resent the use of the pruning knife, as everybody who has +much to do with them knows. + +"Juss so!" said the rancher. "Boys, you cut them--hard. Now, those +apples. S'pose you had good parent stocks, could you bud on to them--and +how'd you do it? Guess that would suit some sorts better than +whip-grafting." + +One might have fancied that Barbison was for a moment a trifle +disconcerted, but he smiled airily. "Just how you'd bud on anything +else. I'd wax the thread." + +"You hear him, boys?" said the rancher. "What you want to do is to wax +your thread." + +They were very quiet, but perhaps not unusually so, for the clearers of +those forests are, except on occasion, generally silent men. Barbison +looked at them reflectively. + +"Raising the fruit's only half the trouble, anyway," he said. "The big +question everywhere is how to put it on the market; and if I can be of +any use in that direction, you have only to command me. Seems to me the +Government's tired of making roads." + +"What's the matter with the steamboat?" asked somebody. "Never had no +trouble since we hauled our stuff down to the _Shasta_." + +Barbison's smile was sympathetic now. "I guess you're not going to haul +your stuff down to her very much longer. She's played out, and run by +little, struggling men who can't get credit for the patching up that +ought to be done on her, and who'll have nothing to meet claims with if +she breaks down and spoils your freight some day. That's a sure thing. +From what I heard in Vancouver, the bottom's just ready to drop out of +the concern. You want to think of that. Creditors have a lien on +freight, too, when a boat's held up for debt." + +"Then if I sent down my potatoes or fat steers in her, somebody could +seize them for the money the company owed?" asked another rancher. + +"That's the law," said Barbison, and there was nothing in his +companions' manner to suggest that they did not in the least believe +him. "Now, there's some talk about another firm putting a smart new boat +on. Plenty money behind that crowd, and when she comes round it might +suit you considerably better to make a deal with them." + +"Who's running the thing?" + +"Man called Merril. Enterprising man. When he takes hold he makes things +hum. If it were necessary to start a trade, he'd 'most carry your stuff +for nothing." + +"Juss so!" said the big rancher. "Kind of philanthropist. I've heard of +him." + +The man's face was vacantly expressionless, but Barbison, who glanced at +him sharply, fancied that he had said enough on the subject. He had +visited most of the settlements that could be reached from the coast, +and had never neglected an opportunity for dropping a word about the +_Shasta_ and the new boat. + +"Where's that stump-grubber fellow from?" he asked. + +"Don't quite know," said one of the others. "Strikes me as an Ontario +Scotchman. But the machine's an American notion; never saw one quite +like it before." + +The man in question stood up just then. He was big and gaunt and pale, +but he wore ordinary city clothes, and when he and the others had +inserted the screw-jack contrivance on a strip of thick planking under +the sawn-off tree, he turned to the assembly. + +"There are quite a few stump-pullers, and I've struck benighted men who +used the chain-tackle tripod," he said. "I'm not saying it's +inefficient, for when you put sufficient pressure upon the winch and it +will not pull the stump up, it will pull the tripod down upon your head. +This one pulls up all the time, and something has got to come if you +work hard enough." Then he raised his hand to his two companions. "You +look fit and strong. Show them you can heave." + +They drew the sliding bar up to the head of the thing, and pulled it +toward them several times, while their faces grew suffused and the veins +rose gorged on their foreheads, for men in that country are proud of +their vigor. There was a slow cracking and tearing of roots, but the +great stump still stood immovable. Then the _Shasta_'s engineer inquired +what they fed upon, and their comrades flung them sardonic +encouragement, while as they gasped and strained their muscles the screw +slid slowly, turn by turn, through its socket. At last there was a sharp +rending and a little murmur of applause as the big stump tilted and fell +over on its side. Then the big rancher stood up on the veranda. + +"It's smart work, but Dave and Charley are two of the smartest men round +this settlement, and we want to test the thing in every way," he said. +"There's another stump yonder, and I guess Mr. Fleming will put up a +bottle of whisky for any three men who will knock five minutes off the +record. We'll put Mr. Barbison and Jasper in to show what men who don't +grub stumps can do." + +There was a little laughter, for if Jasper, who slowly took off his +jacket, was not accustomed to stump-grubbing, he was at least a man of +splendid physique, and Barbison felt uneasy when he laid a great hand on +his shoulder. + +"Come right along," he said; "we've got to get that whisky." + +Barbison's protests were not listened to, and, seeing no help for it, he +also flung off his jacket, when the big rancher firmly led him down the +stairway. Then they gave him a shovel, and his two companions saw that +he used it while they plied the grub-hoe. There are, however, probably +very few men reared in the city who could work with the tireless axemen +of the Pacific Slope, and in ten minutes Barbison was visibly +distressed. The perspiration dripped from his flushed face, and he +gasped for breath, while his comrades inquired with ironical solicitude +whether he were getting sleepy. When he had excavated enough to satisfy +them, they made him crawl into the hole and claw out soil from among the +roots with shortened shovel, most of the contents of which fell all over +him. They kept him at it mercilessly for over half an hour, and when he +crept out his hands were raw and he was aching in every limb. Even then +there was no respite, for the rest insisted on his participating in +their labors at the lever, and contrived to allow him to do considerably +more than his share. At last, however, the great stump rose and tilted, +and he was escorted back to the hotel amidst acclamation. + +"Well," said the big rancher, "if you can work like that, why in the +name of thunder do you want to be a fruit-tree peddler? It's quite hard +to believe you are one. You don't look like it, anyway." + +Barbison certainly did not, for he had burst a seam of one of his +garments during his efforts, while the red soil that had smeared them +freely was on his dripping face and in his ruffled hair. He flung a +swift glance at the man as he realized that his observation was +apposite. There was, however, nothing suspicious in the rancher's +attitude, and the others laughed in the soft fashion peculiar to the +bushman. + +"Anyway, he deserves the whisky," said one of them. + +It was duly brought, and, though those ranchers are for the most part +abstemious men, other bottles made their appearance in turn, and +Barbison braced himself for an effort to maintain his credit as one of +The Boys. He had not found this very difficult in the city saloons, but +the bushman who lives with Spartan simplicity and toils amidst the +life-giving fragrance of the pines twelve hours every day usually +possesses a nerve and constitution that will withstand almost anything. +Besides, there was only one Barbison and a good many of them. It was +therefore not altogether astonishing that by and by the drummer's +observations grew a trifle incoherent, until at last his companions +grinned at one another when with a visible effort he raised himself +shakily to his feet. + +"Something wrong with that whisky, boys; I can't quite talk the way I +want. Guess I'll go to sleep," he said. "Anyway, you stand by Merril. +He'll carry your freight for nothing, and run the _Shasta_ men to----" + +After that he said nothing further, but lowered himself carefully into +his chair, and collapsed with his arms flung out before him across the +table. Then the rest proceeded to hold a court-martial over him. + +"Seems to me he knows a blame sight more about Mr. Merril and the +_Shasta_ than he does about fruit-trees," said the big rancher. "Boys, +you cut those plums--hard--and always put wax on the string. Oh, yes, +you're innocent bushmen being played for suckers by a smart city man! +Guess one would wonder when they took the long clothes off him. If that +last advice he gave you wasn't quite enough, I see a book in his pocket +with a silver-headed pencil strapped to it." + +One of them promptly took it out, and flicking over the pages, read, +"'Six fathoms right up to the old sawmill wharf. Worth while to tow the +schooner in and leave her to load. Nothing to be had at Trevor. Siwash +deck passengers at Tyler's. Sprotson men have odds and ends, but seem +stuck on the _Shasta_.'" + +He closed the book with a sharp snap, and grinned at the rest. "Well," +he said reflectively, "that's 'bout enough for me. I'm stuck on the +_Shasta_, too. Seems to me the men who run her mean to do the straight +thing by us." + +The rest concurred with this, and several of them instanced cases where +carriers had in due time put the screw upon producers who had been +supinely content to pocket a big rebate until there was no longer any +competition. The rancher with the notebook smiled at them. + +"Then we've no use round here for a man like Mr. Barbison," he said. +"The one question is--what we're going to do with him before we start +him back to the blame philanthropist who sent him?" + +They made ingenious suggestions, which varied from painting him with +red-lead to teaching him to swim; but it was the one offered by Fleming +of the _Shasta_ that most pleased them. + +"What he wants is exercise, and if you will bring him off to the steamer +I'll see he gets it," he said. "I've quite a few tons of coal to trim, +and there's a pile of old grease he could clean out of her bilges." + +"The blame insect will offer to pay his passage when he comes round," +said one of the company. + +"That is easily fixed," said another, who had been rummaging Barbison's +pockets. "See this wallet, Jake? Well, you're going in to the railroad, +and you'll express it to Mr. Merril, care of the fruit agency, with a +line to say the gentleman was sick and left it behind him. That strike +you all as workable? Then all we have to do is to decorate him." + +They did it as well as they were able, and four of them afterward +carried him to a Siwash canoe. They had some difficulty in doing it, and +fell down once or twice on the way; but just before the _Shasta_ went to +sea Barbison was put aboard her, with his face rouged with red-lead and +a garland of cedar sprays about his head. It was almost dark then. +Wheelock was on his bridge, the deck-hands were busy stowing the anchor, +and as the two ranchers who brought the drummer laid him beneath a boat +where he tranquilly resumed his sleep, some little time had passed +before anybody concerned himself about him. Then a grinning seaman +brought Jimmy down from his bridge, and held up a lantern while he gazed +in blank astonishment at his prostrate passenger. + +"Tell Mr. Fleming I want him. He was ashore," he said. + +The engineer came, and smiled when Jimmy turned to him. + +"If you can tell me what the meaning of this is, I should be obliged," +he said. + +"Well," said Fleming reflectively, "there are maybe two or three. For +one thing, I'm thinking it's a hint that the boys ashore are standing by +you. There's a note they sent off in your room." + +Jimmy told the seaman to bring it, and, while the latter turned the +light upon the strip of paper, read: "Hasn't a dollar on him, and +belongs to a man called Merril, who's on your trail. We recommend a +course of shoveling coal. All you have to do is to play a straight game +with the boys, and they'll stand behind you all the time." + +Then he turned to Fleming. "I fancy you could give me an explanation, +and I'd like to have it." + +Fleming told him as much as it appeared desirable that he should know, +and Jimmy smiled grimly. + +"Wake him up," he said. "There's a bucket yonder." + +The seaman made a vigorous use of it, and Barbison raised himself on one +elbow, drenched and spluttering. + +"Throw any more water, and I'll kill somebody! I'm dangerous when I'm +mad," he said. + +"Get up!" said Jimmy sharply. "What are you doing here?" + +Barbison, who endeavored unsuccessfully to get up, did not seem to know, +and apparently abandoned the attempt to think it out. His scattered +senses, however, came back to him after the application of more cold +water. + +"How much you want--take me to Victoria?" he gasped. + +"One hundred dollars," said Jimmy dryly. + +The passenger expostulated in a half-coherent fashion, and then, +apparently realizing that it was useless, fumbled for his wallet. He +clenched his fist when he could not find it. + +"Stole it--and my tin case," he said. "Ate up all my samples--must have +ate the case, too, the--hungry hogs." + +"Then you'll have to work your passage;" and Jimmy turned to Fleming. +"You'll take care he earns it. Don't quite kill the man." + +Barbison, who seemed to understand this, at last got on his feet and +unloosed a flood of invective which had no effect on any of his +listeners. Several deck-hands were, however, needed before he was +conveyed into the stokehold and left in front of a bunker with a shovel +in his hand. He assured Fleming that nothing would induce him to work, +and the engineer only grinned, because it was a long way to Victoria, +and the _Shasta_ had several calls to make. Barbison seemed to fancy +that his firmness had proved sufficient, and, coiling himself up amidst +the coal, once more went to sleep. He awakened hungry, and Fleming +smiled again when he demanded food. + +"If you'll lift those floor-plates you'll see the spaces between her +frames choked with coal-grit and grease," he said. "It's possible you'll +get some breakfast when you've scraped them clean. Then it will depend +on how much coal you trim out of that bunker whether you get any +dinner." + +Barbison looked hard at the man, and saw he meant what he said. Then he +pulled up a floor-plate and looked at the filthy mass of coagulated +grease that had drained from the engine-room. + +"And how'm I to get it out?" he asked. + +"Quite easy," said Fleming dryly. "What's the matter with your hands?" + +Then he went away and left Barbison to his task. It was a particularly +repulsive one, but he accomplished it, and spent most of the next few +days trimming coal, waiting on the fireman, and cleaning out an empty +coal-bunker on his hands and knees. It is probable that the sight of +Victoria filled him with ineffable relief, and it certainly was not +Fleming's fault if this were not the case. As they steamed into the +harbor Jimmy sent for him. + +"I think you have earned your passage, and we're straight," he said. +"You can go ashore when we get in." + +Barbison glanced down at his dilapidated attire. "Can I go ashore this +way? I'll ask you a favor. Let me stay until it's dark." + +Jimmy laughed. "Well," he said, "as I scarcely think Mr. Merril will +send you back again, you may." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +ELEANOR SPEAKS HER MIND + + +The afternoon was hot and drowsily still when Merril drove his daughter +down the dusty road which runs from New Westminster through the Fraser +meadows. The team was a fast one, and the man, who had an appointment to +keep in Vancouver, did not spare them. There were also reasons why he +found rapid motion and the attention the mettlesome horses required a +welcome distraction, for just then he was troubled with a certain sense +of irritation which was unusual with him. + +Merril was not a hot-tempered man; in fact, he owed his commercial +success largely to the dispassionate coolness which rarely permitted his +feelings to influence his actions, and it was characteristic of him that +while he had a finger in a good many schemes the man himself never +figured prominently in connection with any of them. His influence was +felt, but he was in one sense rather an abstract force than a dominant +personality. It was said of him that he always worked underground, and +he certainly never made political speeches or favored the newspapers +with his views; while, when the results of his unostentatious efforts +became apparent in disaster to somebody, as they usually did, it +generally happened that other men incurred the odium. There are, of +course, financiers whose enterprises benefit the whole community, since +they create new corn-fields and open mines and mills, but Merril's +genius was rather of the destructive order, and it was not to anybody's +advantage that he knew how to choose his time and instruments well. In +person, he was little, somewhat portly, and very neatly dressed, a man +who had never been known to lose his temper or force himself upon the +citizens' attention. + +Still, he was human, after all, and as he sat behind his costly team +that afternoon he was thinking somewhat uneasily of the unexpected +resistance certain land-jobbers in New Westminster had shown to his +demands, and the attack on him which had just appeared in a popular +journal. It was the second time the thing had happened, and, though he +was not directly mentioned and the statements could scarcely be +considered libelous, it was evident that a continuance of them would +have the effect of turning the attention of those who read them upon his +doings, which was just then about the last thing that he desired. + +It accordingly happened that he drove a little faster than he generally +did, until as the team swung out of a strip of shadowy bush he saw a +jumper-sled loaded high with split-rails on the road close in front of +him. He shouted to the man who walked beside the plodding oxen, never +doubting that way would be made for him, especially as the teamster +looked around. The oxen, however, went straight on down the middle of +the road, and it was a trifle too late when Merril laid both hands upon +the reins. In another moment there was a crash, and Anthea was almost +shaken from her seat. When Merril swung himself down he saw that one +wheel had driven hard against the jumper load. Then as he called to +Anthea to move the team a pace or two, the patent bushing squeaked and +groaned, and the wheel, after making part of a revolution, skidded on +the road. The man who drove the oxen turned and favored him with a +little sardonic grin. + +"I hope the young lady's not shook too much," he said. + +Anthea, who fancied it was with a purpose he confined this expression of +regret, if, indeed, it could be considered such, to herself, was as a +matter of fact considerably shaken and very angry. + +"Why didn't you get out of the way when you heard my father shout?" she +asked. + +It was Merril at whom the man looked. "Well," he said reflectively, "I +guess that load is heavy, and the oxen have been hauling hard since +sun-up, while there's no reason why a rancher shouldn't use the road as +well as anybody from the city. You should have pulled up sooner. Anyway, +you're not going far like that." + +Merril said nothing, though he could not very well have failed to notice +the hint of satisfaction in the last remark. He very seldom put himself +in the wrong by any ill-considered utterance, but Anthea was a trifle +puzzled when he quietly walked to the horses' heads. She knew that the +small ranchers are, for the most part, good-humored and kindly men, +while, although she could not be certain that the one before them had +contrived the mishap, it was evident that he had done very little to +avert it. He made no further observation, and when he led his oxen into +a neighboring meadow Merril told the girl to drive the horses slowly +toward a ranch they could see ahead, and walked beside the wagon +watching the wheel. It would turn once or twice and then stick fast and +skid again; but they contrived to reach the ranch, and found a bronzed +man in dusty jean leaning on the slip-rails. + +"Have you a wagon-jack and a spanner?" asked Merril. + +"I have," said the man, who made no sign of going for them. + +"Then I should be obliged if you would lend me them," said Merril. + +The man smiled dryly. "It can't be done. If that wheel won't turn, Miss +Merril can come in and sit with my wife while you go somewhere and get +it fixed. That's the most I can do for you." + +"I suppose the man who wouldn't let us pass back yonder is a friend of +yours?" and Merril looked hard at him. + +"That's so. Runs this ranch with me. Guess you've seen me once before, +though it was your clerk I made the deal with. That's why we're here on +rented land making 'bout enough to buy groceries and tobacco. You know +how much the ranch you bounced us out of was worth to you. Anyway, you +can't have that jack and spanner." + +Anthea flushed with anger, but she saw that her father was very quiet. + +"Well," he said dryly, "they belong to you, but I'm not sure it wouldn't +have been as wise to let me have them." + +The rancher laughed. "You don't hold our mortgage now, and if I could +get hold of that newspaper-man I could give him a pointer or two. Seems +to me he's getting right down on to the trail of you. Are you coming in +out of the sun, Miss Merril?" + +"Certainly not," said Anthea; and the man took out his pipe and quietly +filled it when Merril told her to walk the horses on again. + +Though she was a trifle perplexed by what she had heard, it seemed to +her that her father's attitude was the correct one, and she seldom asked +unnecessary questions. She had lived away from home a good deal since +the death of her mother when she was very young, but her father had +always been indulgent, and she had cherished an unquestioning confidence +in him. It was also pleasant to know that he was a man of mark and +influence, and one looked up to by the community. Of late, however, +several circumstances besides the newspaper attacks on him had seemed to +cast a doubt upon the latter point, but she would not entertain it for a +moment, or ask herself whether there was anything to warrant them. It +was reassuring to remember her father's little smile when she had +ventured to offer him her sympathy; but she could not help admitting +that there must, at least, have been some cause for the rancher's +rancor. The man, she felt, would not have displayed such vindictive +bitterness without any reason at all. She, however, decided that he had +no doubt made some imprudent bargain with her father, and was +unwarrantedly blaming the latter for the unfortunate result of it. + +They went on in silence, and Merril, who walked beside the wagon, shook +the wheel loose now and then when the horses stopped, until they reached +Forster's homestead. The rancher greeted Anthea pleasantly, but she felt +that there was a subtle change in his manner when he turned to her +father, who explained their difficulty. + +"The trouble is that I have rather an important appointment in Vancouver +this afternoon," said the latter. + +"My wife is there now with our only driving wagon, or I would offer to +take you over," said Forster. "I can, however, lend you a saddle-horse, +and Miss Merril could stay with Miss Wheelock until we see what can be +done with the wagon. If necessary, I will drive her across when my wife +comes back." + +Merril thanked him, and presently moved away toward the stable with the +hired man while Forster led Anthea to the house, and left her in the big +general room where, as it happened, Eleanor Wheelock sat sewing. The +green lattices outside the open windows were partly drawn to, but the +shadowy room was very hot, and the little air that entered brought the +smell of the pines with it. It was not the aromatic scent they have at +evening, but the almost overpowering smell filled with the clogging +sweetness of honey the afternoon sun calls forth from them. The ranch +was also very still, and for no evident reason Anthea felt the drowsy +quietness weigh upon her. Her companion said nothing to break it, but +sat near the window sewing quietly, and Anthea became sensible of a +faint shrinking from the girl, though she would have liked to overcome +it for reasons she was not altogether willing to confess to herself. + +Eleanor Wheelock's face looked almost colorless by contrast with her +somber dress, and there was a curious hardness in it, while Anthea, who +remembered Leeson's speech in the _Shasta_'s cabin, wondered whether she +were making the very dainty garment for herself, since it was suggestive +of wedding finery. + +"That should be very effective," she said at length. "You intend to wear +it?" + +Eleanor looked up from her sewing. "Yes," she said, "I believe I shall." + +Something in her voice struck Anthea as out of place in the +circumstances, for one does not sew bitterness into wedding attire, +while the suggestion of uncertainty which the speech conveyed was more +curious still. Anthea felt there must be something more than the loss of +her father to account for her companion's attitude; but that was +naturally a thing she could not mention. + +"I think I could venture to offer you my sympathy in what you have had +to bear," she said. "I was very distressed to see the brief account in +the newspaper." + +Eleanor laid down her sewing, and looked at her steadily. "Why should +you be?" + +It was a disconcerting question, and asked with a still more +disconcerting insistency. Anthea could not very well say that she did +not know, nor yet admit that the news had grieved her because of her +sympathy with Jimmy. Still, though she shrank from her, she desired this +girl's good-will, and she compelled herself to an effort. + +"In any case, I was sincerely sorry," she said. "Although I only met you +that evening on board the _Shasta_, one could say as much without +presuming. Besides, when we were away in the _Sorata_ your brother did +a good deal to make the cruise pleasant for Nellie Austerly and me." + +"When he was Valentine's deck-hand?" and Eleanor looked at her with a +little sardonic smile. "You no doubt allowed him to forget it +occasionally, and Jimmy was grateful. In fact, he admitted as much to +me. He was always foolishly impressionable." + +Anthea felt her face grow warm, and though she was as a rule courageous, +she was glad that she sat in the shadow. In several respects her +companion's last suggestion appeared almost insufferable. + +"Perhaps I laid myself open to this," she said. "It is seldom wise to +make advances until one is reasonably sure of one's ground, but I do not +understand why you should resent a few words spoken out of +friendliness." + +The little hard glint grew plainer in Eleanor's eyes. "Then I think you +should do so. There is a very convincing reason why friendliness--of any +kind--would be very unfitting between you and me--or, for that matter, +between you and Jimmy." + +Anthea would not ask the question that suggested itself, for it seemed +to her, as, crushing down her anger, she sat and watched her companion, +that the latter had been waiting for this opportunity. There was no +mistaking the meaning of the thrill in her voice or the spot of color in +her cheek, while the reference to Jimmy had its significance. She felt +that the girl wished to hurt her. + +"You admitted that you read the newspapers?" said Eleanor abruptly. + +"Ah!" said Anthea; "I think I know what you mean by that. Naturally, I +cannot discuss those libels with you." + +"Libels!" and Eleanor laughed. "If you can believe them that, one would +almost envy your credulity. Presumably your father has never mentioned +our name to you?" + +Anthea was somewhat startled, for, though Merril certainly had not done +so, she remembered the momentary expression of his face when Forster had +mentioned Miss Wheelock. She also remembered Jimmy's attitude on the +evening she met him at Austerly's, and the suggestion of distance in +Forster's manner to her father. It seemed that there were others as well +as the rancher who did not believe the statements made in the paper to +be libelous. + +"He has not," she said very quietly. "Still, as I said, these are +subjects I cannot discuss with everybody." + +"And yet you were anxious to know why friendliness was out of the +question between you and me! Well, I admit that I find a certain +pleasure in telling you, and it isn't quite unnatural. You read how my +father--Jimmy's father--died, but you do not know how he came to be +living in that sordid shanty, an infirm and nerveless man. Your father +slowly ruined him, wringing his few dollars out of him one by one, by +practices no honorable man would condescend to, until there was nothing +more he could lay his grasping hands upon. When that happened my father +was broken in health and courage, and only wished to hide what he felt, +most foolishly, was shameful poverty. There wore other things--things I +cannot tell you of--but they make it clear that your father is directly +responsible for my father's death." + +She stopped abruptly and took up her sewing, but her face looked very +grim and vindictive in its dead pallor, for the spot of color had faded +now, and presently she flung the dainty fabric down again and looked +steadily at her companion. Neither of them spoke for almost a minute, +and once more Anthea felt the stillness of the ranch-house and the heavy +honey-like smell of the pines curiously oppressive. She believed in her +father, or had made up her mind to do so, which was, however, perhaps +not quite the same thing; but she could not doubt that Eleanor Wheelock +was firmly persuaded of the accuracy of the indictment that she had +made. The passionate vindictive thrill in her voice had been absolutely +genuine, and Anthea recognized that it could not have been so without +some reason. Then Eleanor spoke again. + +"You may wonder why I have told you this--though I am not quite sure +that you do," she said. "Well, you at least understand why I resent your +sympathy, and if I had any other purpose it may perhaps appear to you +when you think over what you have heard." + +Anthea rose at last, and turned toward her quietly, but with a certain +rigidity of pose which had its significance. She stood very straight and +looked at her companion with big, grave eyes. + +"You have, at least, said all I care to listen to," she said. + +"And I think sufficient," said Eleanor, with a bitter smile. + +Then, and it was a relief to Anthea, Forster came in, and dropped into a +chair. + +"I fancy Jake will fix that wheel; but he may be an hour yet, and it's +very hot," he said. "I don't want to break off your talk, but perhaps +you could make us some tea, Miss Wheelock. I don't feel like waiting +until supper." + +Eleanor went out, and Anthea found it cost her an effort to talk +tranquilly to Forster. She liked the man, but her mind was busy, and had +there been any means available she would gladly have escaped from him. +It was evident that Eleanor Wheelock believed what she had told her. The +rancher who had kept his jumper in the way was as clearly persuaded that +Merril had injured him, and it was conceivable that the newspaper-man +also believed his statements warranted. If they were right, her father +must have treated several people with considerable harshness, but she +could not bring herself to admit that--at least, just then. She +naturally did not know Eleanor Wheelock had foreseen that once her +doubts were aroused, enlightenment would presently follow. Then there +was the latter's veiled suggestion that she was attracted by Jimmy +Wheelock, and had condescended to cajole or encourage him. Had she been +alone, her cheeks would have tingled at the thought of it, for in one +respect the notion was intolerable. Still, though it cost her an effort, +she contrived to discourse with Forster, until at last the hired man +announced that the wheel was fixed, and, thanking the rancher for his +offer to accompany her, she drove on to Vancouver alone. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +WOOD PULP + + +The fresh northwest breeze that crisped the Inlet swept in through the +open ports and set the cigar smoke eddying about the table, when Jimmy +sat with Jordan and another man in the _Shasta_'s little stern cabin. +Looking forward through the hooked-back door, he could see the lower +yards and serried shrouds of a big iron ship that was lying half-loaded +on the _Shasta_'s starboard side. Beyond her there rode a little +schooner with reefed mainsail and boom foresail thrashing, while the +musical clinketty-clank of her windlass betokened that she was just +going to sea. Jimmy's face grew a trifle hard as he heard it, for she +was the _Tyee_. + +Jordan sprawled on a settee not far away, and a burly, red-faced Briton +who commanded the iron ship sat opposite to Jimmy, cigar in hand. The +latter had the faculty some people possess of making friends, and, +though they had after all seen very little of him, the shipmaster's +manner was confidential. + +"If the canners who are loading me had kept their promise I'd be driving +south with the royals on her before this breeze instead of lying here," +he said. "My broker doesn't know when they mean to send the rest of the +cases down either, and it seems it's only now and then a mail goes up +that coast. In fact, I've almost made up my mind to run round to the +Columbia. I believe the packers would load me there." + +"Port charges and tugs are expensive items," said Jordan thoughtfully. +"Vancouver freights are tolerably good, and it might pay you to wait a +week or so. You see that schooner on your quarter? She's going up to the +cannery now." + +The skipper made a little impatient gesture. "How long's she going to be +getting there with a head-wind? Besides, all she could bring down would +be nothing to me. I wouldn't have stayed so long, only that confounded +broker told me a man called Merril was sending a steamer up." + +"Then, since the schooner belongs to him, I guess he has changed his +mind. How long would you wait for a steamboat load?" + +"A week," said the skipper--"not a day more. I believe I could fill up +on the Columbia, and, as there's not another vessel offering for the +United Kingdom here, it would please me to feel that the canners would +have to keep their salmon." + +Jordan flashed a warning glance at Jimmy. "Well," he said, "it seems to +me that if you will wait the week, you are going to get your freight. I +can't tell you exactly why, but I wouldn't break out my anchor for +another eight days if I were you." + +"I can take a hint as well as another man;" and the skipper rose. "In +the meanwhile, I'll go ashore and stir up that broker again. You'll have +a head-wind if you're going north, Mr. Wheelock. Expect you to come off +and feed with me when you're back again. Good luck!" + +Jordan went with him to the gangway, and then came back and smiled at +Jimmy. + +"It's just as well you made the New Cannery people a half-promise you'd +call this trip," he said. "Now I guess you've got to keep it. Things fit +in. Merril, as usual, hasn't played a straight game with those packers. +Took their transport contract, and when that headed off anybody else +from going there, he sends the _Tyee_ up instead of the steamboat. +You'll be at the cannery two days ahead of her, anyway, and there's no +reason why you shouldn't get every case they have on hand." + +Jimmy made a sign of comprehension, and Jordan lighted another cigar +before he opened the paper he had brought with him. "Now and then the +little man gets a show, though it's usually when the big one isn't quite +awake," he said. "You sit still there, and listen to this. 'The +Provincial Legislature at length appears to recognize that its +responsibilities are not confined to fostering the progress of the bush +districts, and one contemplates with satisfaction a change in the policy +which has hitherto incurred a heavy expenditure upon roads and bridges +for the exclusive benefit of the ranchers. Now that retrenchment in this +direction appears to be contemplated, there should be money to spare for +equally desirable purposes.'" + +He threw down the paper. "I guess that's going to cost Merril a pile, +especially as the member for the district in which he is starting his +wood-pulp mill shows signs of going back on him. From what the boys are +saying, Merril has a pull on the man, but it seems his party has a +stronger one." + +"I don't quite understand," said Jimmy. + +Jordan laughed softly. "It's interesting. Shows how things are run. +Merril bought up a mortgage on a half-built wood-pulp mill which the men +who began it couldn't finish, and fixed things so that by and by it +belonged to him and two or three of his friends. Well, that mill was put +where it is because they've a head of water that will give them power +for nothing, and spruce fit for making high-grade pulp, but it's not on +the railroad and not near the coast. The question is how to get their +product out. There are big mills between them and the lake they could +put a steamer on, and they'll have to lay down a wagon-road, +underpinning a good deal of it on the mountain-side, and cutting odd +half-miles of it out. That's going to cost them more than putting up +their mill." + +"Then how did they expect to hold their own with the mills now running?" + +Jordan chuckled. "By getting the Province to make their road for them. +Merril has influential friends, and one of them who went up not long ago +discovered that there was a high-class ranching district behind the +mill; it only wanted roads to bring the settlers in." + +Then his face grew grave, and he sat silent a minute, or two before he +spoke again. + +"Jimmy," he said, with a very unusual diffidence, "there's a thing that +is worrying me. It doesn't strike me as quite fitting that Eleanor +should see so much of that blame Ontario man in Merril's office. He has +been over twice in the last fortnight to Forster's ranch." + +"Do you expect me to tell her so?" + +"I do not. Guess she'd make you feel mean for a month after if you did. +I want you to remember, all the time, that I'm sure of your sister--but +I don't like the man. He had to get out of Toronto--and they're talking +about him already in the saloons. Seems to me she's playing a dangerous +game in fooling him." + +"Fooling him?" + +"That's so. He put some money into Merril's business, and it's quite +likely he knows a little of his hand. Eleanor has made up her mind to +know it, too." + +Jimmy flushed. "The thing must be stopped." + +"Well," said Jordan ruefully, "that's how I feel, but the trouble is I +don't quite know how it can be done. For one thing, I'm going to run up +against that Toronto man, though I don't expect Eleanor to be nice to me +after it." + +"You can't think she has any liking for him?" + +Jordan turned on him with a snap in his eyes. "I don't. If I did, I +should not have mentioned it to you. Guess I'd stake my life any time on +Eleanor's doing the straight thing by me. It's what those--hotel +slouches will say about her I don't like to think of; and you have to +remember she'd go through fire to bring down the man who ruined your +father. In one way, that's natural--but the thing has been worrying me." + +Just then there was a splash of approaching oars, and Jordan rose. +"That's the mate with your papers, and I guess I'll go," he said. "Get +every case of that salmon--and remember what I've told you if you hear +of any trouble between Eleanor and me. It won't be due to jealousy, but +because I've spoiled her hand." + +He left Jimmy, who remembered what he had seen in Eleanor's face the +night she had talked to him of Merril, thoughtful when he rowed away. It +appeared very probable that she would make things distinctly unpleasant +for her suitor if he rashly ventured to interfere with any project she +might have in view. Jimmy, in fact, felt tempted to sympathize with +Jordan. + +In a few minutes, however, he proceeded to take the _Shasta_ out, and +drove her hard all that night into a short head-sea. She had left the +comparative shelter of Vancouver Island behind, and was rolling out with +whirling propeller flung clear every now and then, head on to the big, +white-topped combers, when as he stood dripping on his bridge a schooner +running hard materialized out of the rain and spray. Jimmy pulled the +whistle lanyard, and the man behind him hauled his wheel over a spoke or +two; but the schooner came on heading almost for him, and rolling until +her mastheads swung over the froth to weather. Her mainboom was down on +her quarter, and she had only her foresail set and a little streaming +jib. + +She drove the latter into the back of a big gray-and-white sea as she +went by, and when she hove it high once more while the water sluiced +along her deck, Jimmy, who could look down at her from his bridge, +recognized her as a vessel that had once belonged to his father. She +drove past with a drenched object clinging desperately to her wheel, and +Jimmy smiled as she vanished into the rain again, for it seemed to him +that, as his comrade had said, fortune favored the little man now and +then. Merril had evidently sent two schooners up to the cannery, but the +_Tyee_ was some sixty miles astern of the _Shasta_, and it was clear +that the skipper of the other vessel could no longer thrash her to +windward in that weather. There was, he believed, a good deal of salmon +at the cannery, and all he had to do was to take the _Shasta_ there. + +It was, however, not particularly easy. The breeze freshened steadily, +until she put her forecastle under and hove her stern out at every +plunge, while her propeller shook her in every plate as it whirred in +empty air. A man could scarcely venture forward along her brine-swept +deck, and at times when Jimmy had to cling to the bridge-rails for his +life she rolled until all her rail was in the sea. He was battered and +blinded by flying spray, and when the black night came he could not see +an arm's-length in front of him; but the telegraph still stood at +full-speed, and the _Shasta_ resolutely butted the big foaming seas. At +last she ran in among the islands, where there was smoother water, and +Jimmy was rowed ashore, red-eyed, half-asleep, and aching in every limb, +when he had brought her up off a certain icy, green-stained river. As it +happened, the man in charge of the cannery on its bank was unusually +pleased to see him, though he did not say so. He gave Jimmy a cigar in +his office, and when they sat down looked at him thoughtfully. + +"It's rather a long way up here, and it will cost you a little in coal +if you mean to make your usual trip," he said. "I don't think I made you +any definite promise." + +Jimmy smiled. "Still, I said I would call." + +"Then I wish some of the other people with whom we trade were as +punctilious. I suppose you expect something now you're here?" + +"I do," said Jimmy. "In fact, I almost fancy it's going to suit you to +fill me up." + +"I think I mentioned we had a standing arrangement with Mr. Merril." + +"You did," said Jimmy cheerfully. "He's sending you up two schooners. It +will be a week before they are here. I passed one of them yesterday +running back for shelter, and the other's--anyway--sixty miles astern of +her." + +"The wind may change, and they wouldn't be long getting here with sheets +slacked away." + +"It won't change," said Jimmy. "Look at your glass. That rise means +northerly weather." + +The canner appeared to consider. "Well," he said, "I gave you a few +cases once or twice, and, though we have an arrangement with Merril, I +can fill you up one hatch now at the rate you fixed." + +"I can't trade on those terms. The rate in question was a special cut. +We made it to get in ahead of Merril; but when the time came, you didn't +give us an opportunity for tendering for your carrying. In fact, I hear +he's getting more than I did. That, however, does not directly concern +me, and you no doubt understand your own business; but I should like to +mention that the _Agapomene_'s skipper will not wait a day longer than +next Thursday." + +The canner looked hard at him. "You will excuse my asking if that is a +sure thing?" + +"You mean am I talking quite straight?" and a suggestive dryness crept +into Jimmy's tone. "I can only say that the man, who did not know I was +coming here, assured me of it just before I went to sea. It would, of +course, be easy for you to wait and find out whether you could believe +me. Only the fact that you had done so would naturally place you in a +difficulty, since the _Agapomene_ would have gone to sea, and there +isn't another vessel offering." + +"Well?" said the canner. + +Jimmy smiled at him. "I want two things--every case you have ready, and +a rate equal to what you're giving Merril. It is not very much, after +all. As you know, since Merril's schooners can't get here until there is +a change of wind, I could strike you for double." + +The canner sat silent a moment or two, and then laughed good-humoredly. +"To be quite straight, the last was what I expected. Now, I'm not the +only man in this concern, and the people who have the most say are, as +usual, in Victoria. I know why they made the deal with Merril, and +while, as you say, that does not concern you, it didn't quite please me. +Anyway, he hasn't kept his arrangement, and has put the screw on us in +several ways; so if you'll warp your boat in we'll heave the cases into +her. There's just another thing. Come back when you lighten her, and if +this run of fish lasts I'll do what I can to make it worth your while." + +Jimmy thanked him, and went out to bring the _Shasta_ alongside the +little wharf, after which he went to sleep, though almost every other +man on board was kept busy stowing salmon-cases all that night. + +It happened that during the earlier hours of it several irate gentlemen +who had the control of a good deal of money sat in conclave in Merril's +house, which stood just outside the city limits of Vancouver. It was a +tastefully furnished room in which they sat, and nobody could have found +fault with the wine and cigars on the table, but as it happened both +these facts irritated one of the gentlemen. + +"I feel tempted to talk quite straight, and I expect you'll understand +me, Merril, when I say that you don't seem to have had your usual luck +over this wood-pulp deal," he said. "In a general way, it's the other +people who take a hand in your ventures who feel the pinch when things +don't quite work out right, but in this case you have got to bear it +with the rest of us." + +Merril, who lay in a big lounge chair, little, portly, and immaculately +dressed, looked up at him quietly. "If it's any consolation to you, I'm +holding as much stock as the rest of you put together. The thing hits me +rather hard, but, as you say, we can only stand up under it--that is, if +the appropriation grants are thrown out by the House." + +"They will be," said another man. "Anyway, the road-making in which we +are interested comes under a clause that will be struck off in +Committee. It's a sure thing. I can't quite blame the Legislature, +either, after the admissions made by the district member. He has gone +back on you, Merril. You told us you were sure of him." + +Merril smiled curiously. "Well," he said, "it's a little difficult to be +sure of anything, and as the man will be here very shortly you can talk +to him yourself. That, however, will not straighten anything out. The +question is, what is to be done about the wagon-road?" + +"Build it ourselves," said another man. "It's either that or let the +mill go, and, considering the money I've put in, I'm for holding on. +Still, it will practically mean doubling our capital." + +Merril nodded quietly, and nobody could have told that to raise the sum +required would be singularly inconvenient to him. "At least!" he said. +"You can't get it from outsiders, either. All the money in this Province +is in mines and mills; and bank interest's ruinous." + +"Well," said one of the others, "I guess you don't expect us to feel +obliged to you. There isn't any probability of those road-making +appropriations getting passed." + +"You'll know when Shafleton comes," said Merril dryly. "Somebody was to +wire him as soon as the result was known in the House. He came across +from Victoria this afternoon, and should be on his way from Westminster +now." + +They discussed the wagon-road, growing more and more impatient all the +time, while an hour dragged by, and then two of them rose to their feet +as a man, who appeared somewhat ill at ease, was shown in. The rest, +including Merril, sat still and looked at him. He waved one hand as +though disclaiming all responsibility and laid a telegram on the table. + +"That's all I can tell you, gentlemen. I'm sorry, but it can't be +helped," he said. + +One of them took up the message, and when he passed it to his comrades +the storm broke. + +"You practically asked them to vote no more money, in your last speech," +said Merril. + +"Played us for--suckers!" said another man, while a third struck the +table with his clenched fist. + +"Leslie's right. The straight fact is that we're fooled," he said. + +It was significant that nobody had asked the member of the Provincial +Legislature to sit down, and he leaned on the arm of a big lounge as +though he required support, and blinked at them. + +"Well," he said, "when I first saw you about it I was willing to do what +I could, but on going further into the thing I found it couldn't be +considered quite in line with the interests of the country." + +One of them laughed aloud, sardonically, and Merril's face contorted +into an unpleasant smile. + +"It's rather a pity you didn't make sure of that before you took what we +offered you," he said. + +The baited man turned to them appealingly. "You know what I promised. I +would support the bridge-building and road-making policy as long as I +considered it in line with the interests of the country." + +The man who had struck the table shook his fist at him. "---- the +interests of the country. You know what you meant, and you got your +price," he said. + +"That remark," said Merril, "is quite warranted. Mr. Shafleton made a +perfectly understood bargain--and he got his price. It is also likely +that he would never have been elected if we had not set certain +influences to work. Owing to the Government's finding a change of policy +convenient, he has not kept his bargain. The question, however, is +how----" + +One of the men who was standing up looked around just then. + +"I guess it might be as well to have that door shut," he said. + +"If you wish," said Merril. "Still, there is nobody in this part of the +house." + +"Well," said the other man, who crossed the room, "I fancied I heard +somebody a moment or two ago." + +He closed the door, and when he sat down Merril commenced again, and the +member of the Provincial Legislature had to listen to a good many things +that did not please him. The rest also spoke bitterly, in lower tones +now; but it was in one respect unfortunate they had not displayed that +caution earlier, for the man who had fancied he heard a footstep was, as +it happened, not mistaken. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +ANTHEA MAKES A DISCOVERY + + +While Merril discussed the prospects of the pulp-mill with his +companions, Anthea sat by the open window of an upper room. There was an +open book on her knee, but it lay face downward, and she leaned back in +a cane chair, looking out upon the Inlet across the clustering roofs of +the city. The still water lay shining under the evening light, with a +broad smear of smoke trailing athwart it from the steamer which had just +vanished behind the dark pines that overhang The Narrows. It drifted +across the tall spars of the _Agapomene_, and through it a big passenger +boat's tier of deck-houses showed dimly white. Further up the Inlet +another dingy cloud drifted out from behind the piles of stacked lumber +about the Hastings mill, while the clatter of an Empress liner's winches +came up through the clear evening air with the tolling of locomotive +bells and the grind of freight-car wheels. + +All this had a certain interest as well as a significance for Anthea +Merril. In England the business man, as a rule, endeavors to leave his +commercial affairs behind him when he turns his back on the city; but it +is different in the West, where he has no privacy and his calling is +his life. Mills and mines, freight rates and timber rights, are seldom +debarred as topics at social functions, and Anthea had acquired a +considerable knowledge of these things, though she had not lived very +long in that city. It was, of course, also evident to her that her +father was regarded as a man of influence and one who had a share in +directing the activities of the Province, and this afforded her a +certain pleasure. Several expressions overheard and facts that had +lately been forced on her attention might, perhaps, have rudely +dissipated that satisfaction had she not resolutely endeavored to attach +a more favorable meaning to them than a good many people would have +considered justifiable. She had spent most of her life with her mother's +relatives in the East, and it was not altogether astonishing that there +was a good deal in her father's character with which she was +unacquainted. Merril had a desire to stand well with his daughter, and +he had sufficient ability to accomplish what he wished, in most cases. + +By and by, as she glanced at the shining Inlet, the fading smoke-trail +led Anthea's thoughts away to the man who was then doubtless standing on +the _Shasta_'s bridge, and her eyes softened curiously. She could now +admit that she knew what he felt for her, because, although he had never +told her, there had been occasions when his face had, perhaps against +his will, made it very plain. What the result of it would be, she did +not know, but she could wait, and be sure of his steadfastness, in the +meanwhile, for circumstances which were unpropitious now might change, +as, indeed, they were rather apt to do with almost disconcerting +suddenness in that country. Then she tried to reconstruct the interview +she had had with his sister, an occupation in which she had indulged +somewhat frequently of late, although it troubled her; and that, by a +natural transition, once more led her thoughts back to her father. + +It was impossible to doubt that Eleanor Wheelock believed she had +grounds for bitterness against him, and a curious something in her +brother's manner had once or twice suggested that he shared it too; but +Anthea endeavored to assure herself that they had merely adopted their +father's views without sufficient investigation. She was aware that men +who failed were frequently apt to blame somebody else for it instead of +their own supineness, while it was clear that both parties could not +always expect a bargain to be advantageous. For all that, the girl's +assertions had been startling, and once more Anthea wished that she had +not heard them. They vaguely troubled her, since she would not have her +father's probity left open to doubt. + +Then, rising somewhat abruptly, she flung the book aside, and went down +the wide cedar stairway to search for another that might, perhaps, hold +her attention more firmly. When she reached the foot of it she turned +into a corridor, and stopped a moment when she heard a murmur of angry +voices. She was aware that a member of the Provincial Legislature had +reached the house not long ago, and that the rest of her father's guests +had come there to discuss something with him, while as the door of the +room reserved for them had been left open a foot or so she could see +within from where she stood. + +The house stood high, and the sunlight still streamed into the room, +while there was something in the pose of the men that seized and held +her attention. She had heard nothing clearly yet, but the strung-up +attitudes and intent faces had their dramatic suggestiveness, and she +lingered. She could see her father sitting at the head of the table with +one hand closed hard on the edge of it, and a grim smile that was quite +new to her in his eyes; the member supporting himself by the big lounge +and apparently shrinking from his gaze; and one of the others leaning +forward in his seat with his fist clenched. In fact, the scene burned +itself into her memory, and she never forgot the look in her father's +face. + +Then the voices suddenly became intelligible, and she heard Merril say, +"It's rather a pity you didn't make sure of that before you took what we +offered you." + +She caught the legislator's answer, and saw the man who leaned forward +shake his fist at him, while the latter's exclamation sent a little +thrill of dismay through her. + +"You know what you meant, and you got your price," he said. + +This was sufficiently plain in connection with what had gone before it, +and she waited in tense suspense to see whether her father would +discountenance it, though she felt that he would not do so. She saw him +make a little sign of concurrence, and once more was sensible of an +enervating dismay when he flung his answer at the shrinking member of +the Legislature. + +"A perfectly understood bargain, and he got his price," he said. "He +would never have been elected if we had not set certain influences to +work." + +Then she roused herself with an effort, and, thinking no more of the +book she had come for, turned softly and flitted back up the stairway to +the room she had left. She made sure the door was fast, with a vague, +instinctive feeling that she must be quite alone, then sat down by the +window again, a trifle colorless in face, with both hands clenched. She +was a woman of keen intelligence, and realized that there was no room +for doubt. Her father, the man she had endeavored to look up to, had +openly condemned himself. + +It was perhaps strange, considering that she was his daughter, that she +had wholesome thoughts as well as mental ability, and that honesty +formed a prominent part of her morality. The fact made the blow more +cruel, for it was clear that her father and his associates had been +engaged in an infamous conspiracy. They had bought a member of the +Legislature--bribed him to betray the confidence the people had placed +in him; and though she did not know whether the bribe had been actual +money, that, as she recognized, scarcely affected the question. He had, +at least, promised to do something that was against the interests of the +country, for which, as one had declared, they cared nothing, and would +evidently have kept his promise if circumstances had not been too strong +for him. Anthea had sense enough to attach as little credence to his +assertions as the others had done. + +She supposed that things of the kind were sometimes done, but only by +men without morality, and it was almost intolerable to realize that her +father had been the instigator of one of them. The fact seemed to bear +out all the newspaper had charged him with, and made it more than +probable that Eleanor Wheelock's assertions, too, had been +well-founded. It was with a little shiver that Anthea realized that in +such a case the father of the man who loved her had in all probability +been ruined by a nefarious conspiracy. His daughter had told her plainly +that his death was the direct result of it, and if that were so, Jimmy +must hold her father accountable. The thing was becoming altogether +horrible. + +She did not know how long she sat there after she heard the guests take +their leave, but at last she realized that since she must meet him on +the morrow there was little to be gained by keeping out of her father's +sight that night. She was not deficient in courage, but it was with an +effort that she nerved herself to go down, knowing that she could not +meet him as though nothing unusual had come to her knowledge. He was +still sitting in the room where he had spoken with his guests, with a +litter of papers in front of him, when she went in, but on hearing the +rustle of her dress he looked up. The lamps were lighted now, and he +started slightly when he saw her face. Then he brushed aside the papers, +and sat still, looking at her with a little grim smile. Anthea felt her +heart beat, for she saw that he understood. + +"Ah!" he said. "Sprotson fancied he heard somebody. It was you?" + +Anthea nodded, standing very straight in the middle of the big room and +wondering, with a fierce desire that he should do so, whether he would +offer any explanation in which she could place a little credence. Almost +a minute passed, and the man never took his eyes off her. She longed +that he would speak, for the tension was growing unendurable. + +"You heard--something--at least?" he said. + +"Yes," replied Anthea, with a cold quietness at which she almost +wondered. "Enough, I think, to make me understand the rest." + +Again Merril said nothing for a while, though he still kept his keen +eyes fixed on her face, and at last it was without any sign of anger, +and in a tone of grave inquiry, he broke the silence. + +"Well?" he said. + +There was an appeal in Anthea's voice. "Can't you say anything that will +drive out what I think?" she asked. "I want to believe that I could not +have heard or understood aright." + +Merril raised one hand, and for a moment she could have fancied that +there was pain in his face. "I almost think you are too clever, and, +perhaps, I am too wise. By and by you would not believe me. I have known +this moment would come since I brought you to Vancouver, and--though you +may scarcely credit this--almost dreaded it. The thing has to be faced +now." + +This time it was Anthea who said nothing, and Merril went on again. "You +might never have had to face it had you been a pretty fool, but that +could hardly have been expected. You are my daughter. Still, +intelligence, as other people have no doubt discovered, is not always a +blessing to a woman." + +Again he made a little abrupt movement. "You see, I offer no palliation. +The one question is simply--do you mean to turn your back on me?" + +Anthea looked at him steadily. "No," she said, "I could never do that. +Still, must you continue what you are doing? Can't you give it up?" + +"Sit down," said Merril quietly, and, rising, drew her a chair. "I think +we must understand each other now and altogether. To commence with, I +should have liked you to continue to think well of me, though, +considering what you are, I knew the thing was hardly likely. Now you +have made a discovery that hurts you." + +He stopped a moment, and though there had been a certain elusive +gentleness in his voice, the girl was sensible that she shrank from him. +He was, she realized, without compunction, and had no regret for what he +had done. Indeed, his passionless quietness conveyed the impression that +some of the usual attributes of humanity had been left out of him. A +trace of confusion or anger would have appeared more natural, and +invective would have been easier to bear than this suggestive +tranquillity. + +"Well," he said, "you asked a very natural question. What I am doing--my +view of life, in fact--displeases you. You ask, can't I give it up? I +ask why? Can you offer me any reason?" + +Anthea said nothing. Reasons occurred to her, but they were rather felt +than concretely formulated, and, as she realized, would suffer from +being forced into shallow and inadequate expression. She also naturally +shrank from an unsuccessful attempt to play the teacher to her father, +and had sense enough to know that trite maxims and virtuous platitudes +would have very small effect on such a man. It was, perhaps, not an +unusual feeling in one respect, for the deep optimistic faith of the +wise cannot be rashly formulated without its suffering in the process. +It is, as a rule, the people with shallow beliefs who have the ready +tongues, and the result of their well-meaning efforts is seldom the one +they desire. Anthea, at least, recognized her disabilities, and kept +silence. She also saw that her father understood her, for he nodded. + +"It is clear that you are not a fool," he said. "If you had been, the +thing would have been easier for both of us. I allowed you to be brought +up in the conventional morality, knowing that you would grow above what +was spurious in it, and cling to what you felt was real. If you felt +that, it would be sufficient for you. Still, that morality was never +mine. I had to face life as I found it, without the money that might +have made it easier to regard it virtuously, and scruples would have +insufferably handicapped me. As a matter of fact, I do not think I ever +had any. This existence is a struggle, as no doubt you have heard often +without realizing it, and it is the strong and cunning who get out of it +what is worth having. That, at least, is my point of view. It may be the +wrong one, but I am satisfied with it, and, what is more to the purpose, +quite content to leave you yours." + +He broke off once more, and smiled before he went on. "We have done with +that subject. I would not influence you against your belief--which is +the prettier one--if I could, and I do not think you could influence me. +In fact, one feels diffident about having said so much. Well, it is the +days to come we have to consider. I am not likely to change my code, and +you do not wish to leave me?" + +Again, for just a moment, the faint tenderness crept into his voice, and +the girl's nature stirred in answer. + +"No," she said, "there is nothing that could make me wish to do that." + +"Well," said the man, with a dry smile, "we will try to avoid offending +each other, and I should have been sorry had you gone away. In fact, it +is a relief to know that you will be with me. My affairs have not been +going well lately." + +This was sufficiently matter-of-fact, but in spite of the vague +shrinking from him of which she was still sensible, Anthea was touched. +She could not, however, concretely realize what she felt, and wisely +made no attempt to express it. Instead, she spoke of something else, +seizing on an immaterial point that casually occurred to her. + +"I fancied you were a prosperous man," she said. + +"So do many people," said Merril dryly. "It was by leading them to +believe it that I've done what I have done. My operations are for the +most part conducted with other people's money. Still, one has to face +reverses now and then, and when two or three of them come together the +people who support one commence to doubt their wisdom. Then they are apt +to back down and become virtuously scrupulous, while the men with a +grudge against one waken up and fancy their turn has come. In my case +there are evidently quite a few of them." + +He laughed softly, but in a fashion that jarred on the girl. "Still, it +is very probable that I shall keep ahead of them, after all. In any +case, I won't offend you by suggesting that the odd chance of your +having to dispense with what I have been able to offer you so far would +count for very much." + +"Thank you for that," said Anthea softly. + +Merril turned to the papers before him. "Well," he said, "now we +understand, and, as you see, I am busy." + +Anthea went out, not reassured, but more tranquil. She realized what her +duty was, and purposed to do it; but while there was still a tenderness +for the man in her, there was also something about him besides his +avowed point of view and the actions it led to, that repelled her. He +had, it seemed, an intellect that was unhampered by the usual passions +and affections of humanity. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +JIMMY GROWS RESTLESS + + +The city was almost insufferably hot, and Jimmy, who had time on his +hands that afternoon, found it pleasant to saunter through the dim green +shadow among the Stanley pines which crowd close up to its western +boundary. They rose about him, old and great of girth, a tremendous +colonnade of towering trunks, two hundred feet above the narrow riband +of driving road which was further walled in by tall green fern. There +was drowsy silence in those dim recesses, and a solemnity which the +occasional faint hoot of a whistle or tolling of a locomotive bell did +not seem to dissipate, for the civic authorities had, up to that time, +at least, with somewhat unusual wisdom made no attempt to improve on +what nature had done for them. Here they cut a little foot-path, there a +wavy driving road, but except for that they left the Stanley Park a +beautiful strip of primeval wilderness. + +Jimmy had arrived in Vancouver a few hours earlier with the _Shasta_ +loaded deep, but, although affairs had been going tolerably well with +the Company, this fact afforded him no very great satisfaction. He liked +the sea, and had succeeded in making firm friends of most of the +ranchers and salmon-packers whose produce he carried; but there was +ambition in him, and of late he had been growing vaguely restless. After +all, the command of a boat like the _Shasta_, with some two hundred and +fifty odd tons of carrying capacity, could not be expected to prove a +very lucrative occupation, and Jimmy now and then remembered regretfully +that he might have had a commission in the Navy. He had also an +incentive for desiring advancement, upon which, however, he seldom +permitted himself to dwell, since on two occasions he and Anthea Merril +had read in each other's eyes a fact that had a vital significance to +both of them. Jimmy scarcely dared remember it, but he felt that the +girl would listen when he thought it fit to speak. + +That, however, was in the meanwhile out of the question. He must by some +means first make his mark, and, as happens not infrequently in similar +circumstances to other men, he did not know how it was to be done. One +thing, at least, was clear: he could not expect to advance himself very +much by commanding the _Shasta_. There was also, in any case, Merril's +opposition to count on, while the bitterness Eleanor had endued him with +against the man she held responsible for the death of his father had its +effect, and it was in an unusually somber mood that Jimmy strolled +through the shadow of the pines that hot afternoon. + +By and by he heard a soft thud of hoofs, and, looking up, felt the blood +creep into his face. He recognized the costly team that swung out of the +shadow, and the girl in the white dress who held the reins in the +vehicle behind them. He also recognized the lady beside her, for her +husband was an Englishman who held high office under the Crown in +Victoria. The fact that she was sitting by Anthea Merril's side +suggested how far circumstances held the latter apart from the +_Shasta_'s skipper. Silver-mounted harness and splendid horses had the +same effect, and, since these things also reminded him of something +else, Jimmy unfortunately lost his head. A sudden vindictive anger came +upon him as he remembered that the money that provided them and stood as +a barrier between him and the girl had been wrung from struggling men, +and that some of it at least was the result of his father's ruin. + +It was, of course, not reasonable to blame Anthea for this, but Jimmy +was scarcely in a mood just then to make any very nice distinction, and, +straightening himself a trifle, he stood still a moment looking at the +girl. He saw the little friendly smile fade out of her face and a look +of perplexity take its place, and then, while his heart thumped +furiously, he turned and stepped aside into a little trail that led into +the shadow of the bush. In another moment the team swept past, and he +was left uncomfortably conscious that he had made a fool of himself. The +feeling, while far from pleasant, is no doubt wholesome, which is +fortunate, since there are probably very few men who are not now and +then sensible of it. + +It was half an hour later when Anthea came up with him again. The road +was narrow and crossed a little bridge near where he was standing. As it +happened, another lady was then driving a pair of ponies over it. Anthea +pulled up her team close behind Jimmy, and when the impatient horses +moved and drew the vehicle partly across the road, he turned and seized +the head of the nearest. He did not know much about horses, but he +contrived to back the team sufficiently to leave a passage, and was +unpleasantly sensible that Anthea was watching him with a little smile. +It brought a tinge of darker color to her face, and hurt him +considerably more than if she had shown resentment of his previous +attitude by any suggestion of distance. There is, after all, a certain +vague consolation in feeling that one is able to offend a person whose +good-will is valuable. Anthea perhaps realized this, for when the other +team had gone by she made a sign to him. Jimmy, who felt far from +comfortable, approached the vehicle, and the girl looked down at him, +with the twinkle still in her eyes. + +"Thank you! That is permissible?" she said. + +Jimmy flushed again. "In any case, I'm not sure it's exactly what I +deserve." + +"Well," said Anthea reflectively, "I really was wondering whether you +saw us a little while ago." + +"I did," said Jimmy, meeting her inquiring gaze. "Still, perhaps there +were excuses for me." + +There was a scarcely perceptible change in Anthea's expression, but +Jimmy noticed it, though he did not know that she was thinking of what +his sister had told her. Next moment she smiled at him again. + +"I scarcely think it would be worth while to make them," she said. + +Then she shook the reins, and left him standing in the road. When they +were out of earshot her companion turned to her. + +"Who is that young man?" she asked. + +"Captain Wheelock of the _Shasta_." + +"Ah!" said the other; "I remember hearing about him. The man who took +off the schooner's skipper? But what did he mean by saying that there +were excuses for his not seeing you?" + +"I don't know," said Anthea, who contrived to smile, though she was +rather more thoughtful than usual. "I don't mind admitting that the +question has a certain interest. Still, one cannot always demand an +explanation." + +Her companion flashed a keen glance at her. "Well," she said, "I almost +fancy it would have been a sufficient one if you had heard it. In fact, +I think I should like that man. After all, honesty is a quality that +wears well. But what is a man of his description doing in that very +little and somewhat dirty _Shasta_? I made somebody point her out to me +one day in Victoria." + +"I don't know," said Anthea; "that is, I know why he went on board her +in the first case, but not why he seems content to stay there +altogether. Still, it naturally isn't a matter of any particular +consequence." + +Then they spoke of other things, while Jimmy, who suddenly remembered +that he was standing vacantly in the road, turned toward the city, +wondering as Anthea had done why he had remained so long the _Shasta_'s +skipper. Now that the trade Jordan and his associates had inaugurated +had been well established in spite of Merril's opposition, he felt that +they had no longer any particular need of him. + +The city was unusually hot when he reached it, but he fancied that alone +did not account for the crowded state of the saloons he passed. It also +seemed to him that the groups of men who stood here and there on the +sidewalks talking animatedly must have found some unusually interesting +topic; but he had his own affairs to think of, and, as they appeared +sufficient for him just then, he walked on quietly until he reached +Jordan's office. It was not elaborately furnished. In fact, there was +very little in it besides a table, a safe, a chair or two, and an +American stump-puller standing against one wall. Jordan sat reading a +newspaper, with a cigar, which had gone out, in his hand, but he looked +up and threw the paper on the table when Jimmy came in. + +"Read that. They've struck it rich at last," he said. "Guess there are +men who have believed in that gold ever since we bought Alaska from the +Russians. Ran across one of them, 'most eight years ago, Commercial +Company man, and he told me it was a sure thing there was gold up the +Yukon. Odd prospectors had struck a pocket here and there, but though +they brought a few ounces out, nobody seemed inclined to take up the +thing. Practically every white man in that country was connected with +the Indian trade in furs, and I'm not sure they were anxious to see an +army of diggers marching in. Anyway, the few men who believed in the +gold couldn't put up the money to prove their confidence warranted. Now, +as you see, they've found it, and before long the whole Slope will be +humming from Wrangel to Lower California." + +Jimmy read a column of the paper with almost breathless interest, as +many another man had done that day in every seaboard city and lonely +wooden settlement to which the news had spread. Then he looked at +Jordan. + +"The thing appears almost incredible," he said. + +"It isn't," said his companion. "I know what the Alaska Commercial +old-timer told me quite a while ago. It's going leagues ahead of +Caribou. They'll be going up in their thousands in a month or two. Now, +you sit still a minute, and listen to me. This is a thing I believe in, +and I'll tell you what I know." + +He spoke for ten minutes with dark eyes snapping, and Jimmy's blood +tingled as he listened. Jordan's faith, the all-daring optimism of the +Pacific Slope of which many men have died in the wilderness, was +infectious, and something in Jimmy's nature responded. He had fought +with bitter gales and frothing seas, and it seemed to him that the +struggle with ice and frost, rock and snow, could not be harder. He was +also, though he had not quite realized it until that moment, one of +those who are born to play their part in the forefront of the battle +between man and nature--and nature is not beneficent, but very grim and +terrible until she is subdued, as everybody who has seen that strife +knows. + +Then Jimmy stood up and slowly straightened himself, with a quiet smile. + +"You'll have to get a new skipper for the _Shasta_--I'm going north," he +said. + +Jordan gazed at him a moment in amazement, and then laughed in a fashion +which suggested that comprehension had dawned on him. + +"Sit down again," he said. "I begin to understand how it is with you. +Still, you can't afford to do the thing you want to. It quite often +happens that way." + +"I fancy that what I can't afford is to remain on board the _Shasta_," +said Jimmy dryly. + +"Sit down," said Jordan; "we'll talk out this thing. Now, why do you +want to go up there?" + +Jimmy did as he was bidden, though there was a significant gleam in his +eyes. "Well," he said, "perhaps it's your due that I should tell you. +For one thing, because I feel that I must. I'm not sure you'll +understand me, but I feel it's what I was made for. There are +half-frozen swamps to be crossed, leagues of forest, canyons, melting +snow to be floundered through. That kind of thing gets hold of some of +us. I feel I have to go. Secondly, there seems to be gold up there. I +want the money." + +Jordan noisily thrust back his chair, and then took up a pen and, +apparently without recognizing what he was doing, snapped it across. + +"Stop right there! I can't stand too much--and there's Eleanor," he +said, and broke into a harsh laugh as he glanced down at the pen. "In +one way, it's significant that I've broken the--thing." + +He said nothing for the next moment or two, and appeared to be putting a +restraint upon himself, but there was longing in his voice when he went +on again. "Lord! I guess it's in us. When we'd only the wagons and axes +we worried right across the continent. There was always something that +drew us to the place we didn't know. The harder the way was the more the +longing grew. I was up in the Selkirks on the gold-trail once, and I'm +never going to work something that life left behind right out of me." + +"Come!" said Jimmy simply. + +The veins rose swollen on Jordan's forehead, but he struck the table +with a clenched fist and gazed at his comrade with hot anger in his +eyes. + +"Will you stop, you--fool?" he said. "Don't you know how I want to go? +Stop, or I'll throw you out right now!" + +He sat still, looking at Jimmy for perhaps half a minute, and each was +conscious of the same longing in his heart and the same tingling of his +blood, for that is a country where men still feel the lust of the +primeval conflict and the allurements of the wilderness. Then Jordan +appeared to recover himself. + +"I guess we'll be ashamed of this afterwards, but I have got to talk," +he said. "Anyway, we can't all get right in with the axe and shovel. My +work's here, and I've just sense enough to stay with it. Besides, it's a +sure thing that everybody who goes north won't rake out money. Now, you +want the snow and the canyons? You can't have them; but I'll give you +drift-ice, blinding fog, reefs and breaking surf instead. You want +money? Well, we'll try to meet your views on that point, and by and by +we'll double what you're getting." + +Jimmy gazed at him in evident bewilderment, and his comrade waved his +hand. + +"You're going to take the first of the crowd to St. Michael's in the +_Shasta_, and the man who can run a 250-ton boat there and back again +will have all the excitement he has any use for. Half the reefs aren't +charted, the tides run any way, and when the gale drops, the fog shuts +down thicker than a blanket. You can't pound a rock-drill or swing the +shovel, but you can hold a steamer's wheel. Get hold of that, and try to +understand it. It's the whole point of the thing." + +He stopped a moment as if for breath, and then went on again, hurling +out his words incisively while his eyes snapped. + +"It's St. Michaels now, but by and by they'll find a way in from the +Pan-handle or over British soil. The C.P.R. will put big boats on, and +they'll run everything that will float up from 'Frisco and Portland; but +we'll be in first and take hold with the _Shasta_. The men you're going +to carry would go in a canoe. She has built up the coast trade enough to +make it easy for us to raise the money to buy another boat--I'm hanging +right on to that trade too--and I know of a handy steamer. I'll get an +option on her now. She'll be worth considerably more in a week or two. +You stand by the _Shasta_ Company, and do your part in the rush that's +coming in the way you know, and you'll rake in more money than you ever +would mining. We'll put a thousand-ton boat on before long if you play +our hand well. I want your answer right off: are you hanging on to us?" + +"Yes," said Jimmy quietly. "After all, your point of view is no doubt +the right one. If the boat were only fifty tons I'd start as soon as she +was ready." + +Jordan rose and grabbed his hat before he flung a letter across the +table. "Then I'm going for old Leeson now. Hustle, and wire those people +that we want an option on that steamboat firm until to-morrow." + +He strode out of the office, and when Jimmy reached the street a minute +later he saw him running hard in the direction of Leeson's house. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +ASHORE + + +It was summer in the north, and now that the bitter wind which had blown +thick rain before it had dropped, the clammy fog shut the _Shasta_ in +like a wall. She crept through it with engines pounding steadily, +swinging to the slow heave of the swell, while Jimmy stood, chilled to +the backbone, on his bridge, as he had done for most of the last +forty-eight hours. A chart in a glass case was clamped to the rail in +front of him, and Lindstrom, the mate, stooped over it with the moisture +trickling from his oilskins. + +"This thing is not much good," he said. "The stream moves a different +way with the change of wind. Also there is discrepancy in the depth of +water." + +"There is. If I knew how much to mark off for leeway in that last breeze +I'd feel a good deal easier," said Jimmy, who turned to fling a +disgusted glance at the chart, upon which little arrows, that indicated +the general drifts of the currents, had apparently been scattered +promiscuously. Then he raised his voice. "Forward there! See you have a +good arming on your lead, and stand by to let go when I take the way off +her!" + +He pressed down his telegraph and a curious silence followed the clang +of the gong when the engines stopped. The _Shasta_ lurched on more +slowly into the fog, and when Jimmy swung up his hand a man on the +half-seen forecastle loosed the deep-sea lead, while another, perched in +the mainmast shrouds, stood intent with a coil of slack line in his +hand. There was a splash, the line ran out, and when a sing-song cry +came up Jimmy made a little impatient gesture as he turned to the chart. + +"A fathom less than we ought to have," he said, and raised his voice. +"What bottom have you got?" + +A couple of men were busy hauling in the ponderous lead, and one of them +who lifted it turned to the bridge. "Mud, sir," he said. "Soft at that." + +Jimmy looked at Lindstrom. "That, at least, is what this thing says. I +suppose one ought to bring her up, and wait for a sight, but we can't +stay here a week on the odd chance of a blink of clear weather. Anyway, +there's plenty water under us, and we'll try the lead again presently." + +The mate made a sign of concurrence as Jimmy pressed down his telegraph. +"I was at Kenai four year ago. For two weeks we see nothing. How we get +there I cannot tell you, but I think it is by good fortune. Also the +skipper come there often for the Commercial Company. You do a thing +several times, then you shut your eye, and perhaps you do it again." + +He went down the ladder, and Jimmy was left alone except for the silent, +shapeless figure in trickling oilskins at the steering wheel. How he had +groped his way to St. Michael's near the tremendous desolation of willow +swamps about the Yukon mouth he did not exactly know, but he had +accomplished it in spite of screaming gale and blinding fog, and the +treasure-seekers he had taken up had duly presented him with a written +testimonial, which was all they had to give. A few days of clear weather +had permitted him to steam across to one of the Commercial Company's +factories, but since he left it he had held southward at a venture +through thick rain and fog without a single glimpse of any celestial +body. That would not have mattered so much had the sea been still as a +lake is, for then he could have steered by dead reckoning; but that sea +is swept by currents which run for the most part in guessed-at and +variable directions, and it was impossible to calculate how far they +might have deflected his course for him. In fact, for all he knew, they +might have deflected it several times and set it right again. He had +cable enough to anchor, but, as he had said, he could not stay there for +a week or two on the odd chance of getting an hour's clear weather. + +So, since the chart suggested that he was clear of the shore, he went on +leisurely, leaning on his bridge-rails chilled in every limb, with the +damp trickling off him, while the _Shasta_ bored her way through the +woolly vapor, until a little while after the lead had given him a +reassuring depth of water she stopped suddenly. Jimmy was flung against +the wheel with a violence that drove all the breath out of him, but the +next moment he had jumped for his telegraph while everything in the +vessel banged and rattled, and the gong clanged out his orders, "Stop +her!" and "Hard astern!" + +Then while the smooth swell lapped level with one depressed rail the +_Shasta_ shook in every plate, and the men who came scrambling to her +slanted deck looked at him anxiously. There was, however, no clamor or +any sign of undue consternation. The men had almost expected this, and +the energy, which for want of direction now and then in such cases leads +to purposeless and unreasoning scurry, had been washed out of them. +Jimmy leaned quietly on the rails, and nodded in answer to their +glances. + +"Yes," he said, "we're hard on. If the propeller won't shake her loose +in the next ten minutes, we'll see about laying out an anchor. Mr. +Lindstrom, will you clear the two boats ready, and ask Fleming if +there's any more water in his bilges?" + +It was twenty minutes before the pounding engines stopped, but the +_Shasta_ had not moved an inch astern. The lower side of her lifted as +the long gray swell lapped gurgling to her rail, and then came down +again; but that was all. In the meanwhile the hand-lead armed with +tallow had shown the bottom to be soft, and Fleming quietly reported +that there was no sign of any water coming in. Then Jimmy turned to +Lindstrom, who once more had climbed to the bridge. + +"If this fog lifts and the breeze gets up as usual, she'll certainly +break up," he said. "If it doesn't, I don't think there's any reason why +we shouldn't heave her off. We'll try it first with the coal in. It's a +long way to Wellington, and I don't want to dump a ton if I can help +it." + +The big Scandinavian went down the ladder, and by and by half the men on +board the _Shasta_ were engaged under his direction in lashing a +platform of hatch-planks between the two boats that lay beneath the +forecastle. The long heave drove them banging against the _Shasta_'s +side, and jerked the planks loose as they strove to lash them fast; but +at last they accomplished it, and, while the dimness that stands for the +Northern summer night crept into the fog, the men on the forecastle head +lowered the anchor down. It was of the old, stocked pattern, and though +the _Shasta_ was not a large vessel, they found it and the cable which +came down after it sufficiently difficult to handle upon a slippery +platform that heaved and slanted under them. Still, the thing was done +because it was necessary; and with oars splashing clumsily, because +there was little space for the men who pulled them, they paddled off +into the fog. + +When they came back the cable was unshackled and the end of it led in +through the mooring half-moon on the vessel's stern, and there then +remained the second anchor to lay out. The cable of this one was +unshackled too, but wire-rope purchases were rigged to the end of it +from the after winch, and by the time all was ready it was six o'clock +in the morning. The men were worn out, and Jimmy's eyes were heavy with +want of sleep, but nobody made any demur about facing the further work +before him. They knew what would happen if the fog lifted and the breeze +that rolled it back should find the _Shasta_ there. + +Jimmy pressed down the telegraph on his bridge. Winch and windlass +groaned and rattled, the wire-rope screamed, and the clanking cable +tightened suddenly. Then the thudding propeller shook the ship until she +quivered like a thing in pain each time the smooth swell lifted one side +of her. Steam drifted about her, wire and cable were drawn rigid, but +she would not budge an inch in spite of them, and Jimmy's face was a +trifle grim when he flung up his hand. The thud of the propeller +slackened, and there was a silence that was almost oppressive when winch +and windlass stopped. The gurgle of the gray swell about the steamer's +plates and the drip of moisture from the slanted shrouds emphasized it. +Then Jimmy signed to one of the men. + +"Send Mr. Fleming here," he said. + +The man disappeared, and the engineer looked grave when he climbed to +the bridge. + +"You'll be wanting to dump my coal now?" he asked. "How are you going to +take her home without it?" + +"There is a good deal of heavy timber right down the West Coast," said +Jimmy dryly. "There are also quite a few inlets into which one could +take a steamer." + +"You can't feed a boiler furnace with four-foot-diameter pines." + +"They can be sawn and split. Besides, there are probably smaller ones +among those four-foot pines. They don't grow that size in a year or +two." + +The engineer made a last protest. "I'm aware that it won't be much use, +but it's my duty to point out the difficulties. You can't saw those +trees without a big cross-cut, and I'm not sure what my boiler tubes +will do under a stream of resinous flame." + +"Well," said Jimmy thoughtfully, "I think I could make some kind of +cross-cut out of a thin plate if I were an engineer. In fact, I'd make +two, and keep a man filing up one of them while I used the other. Then +I'd pump my feed-water rather higher than usual about those tubes." + +"You can't pump water round the back-end," said the engineer. "You're +going to see that resin flame make a hole in the back plate of the +combustion chamber." + +He stopped, and smiled when Jimmy looked at him. "Well, now that I've +told you, I'll start every man to dumping the coal over." + +Worn out as they were, the men worked feverishly until noon. Some panted +at the ash-hoist, some standing on slippery iron ladders passed the +heavy baskets from one to another, and the rest toiled amidst the +stifling dust that streamed from the bunkers. Those who could see it +were sincerely glad that the fog still hung about them--clammy, +impenetrable, and apparently as solid as a wall. + +Then it commenced to stir a little and slide past the vessel in filmy +wisps, and it seemed to Jimmy that the smooth gray swell which lapped +about her was getting steeper. Once or twice, indeed, it overlapped her +depressed rail, and poured on board in a long green cascade. He knew +that meant the breeze had already awakened somewhere not far away, and +that when the sea that it was stirring up came down on them it would not +take it very long to knock the bottom out of the _Shasta_. So did the +men, and they toiled the harder, until when the bunkers were almost +empty Jimmy once more stopped them. + +"Stand by winch and windlass. We have to heave her off inside the next +hour," he said. "Tell Mr. Fleming to shake her with the propeller, and +give you all the steam he can." + +The engines pounded, the sea boiled white beneath the _Shasta_'s stern, +and wire and studded cable screamed and groaned above the clamor of the +winch and the thudding of the screw. For thirty long minutes, during +which the uproar ceased for a moment or two once or twice, the _Shasta_ +did not move at all, and Jimmy felt his heart thump under the tension, +while a cold breeze whipped his face. Then he thrust down his telegraph, +and his voice reached the men on the forecastle harshly when the engines +stopped. + +"You have to do it now, or tear the windlass out. I'll give you all the +steam," he said. + +The men understood why haste was necessary. The fog no longer slid past +them but whirled by in ragged streaks, and the wind that drove it came +up out of the wastes of the Pacific. Already the long swell was flecked +with little frothing ridges, and there was no need to tell any of those +who glanced at it anxiously that it would break across the stranded +vessel in an hour or two. Some of them stood by clanking windlass and +banging winch, while the rest swabbed the creaking wire with grease and +rubbed engine tallow on guide and block where it would ease the strain. +For five minutes they worked in silence, and then a shout went up as the +winch-drum that had spun beneath the wire took hold and reeled off a +foot or two of it. The _Shasta_ swung herself upright as a big gray +heave capped with livid white rolled in, and a curious quiver ran +through her before she came down on one side again. The roar of the jet +of steam that rushed aloft from beside her funnel grew almost deafening, +but Jimmy's voice broke faintly through the din. + +"Lindstrom," he said, "tell Mr. Fleming he can turn the steam he daren't +bottle down on to his engines." + +Then a sonorous pounding, and the thud of the screw joined in; and by +the time the jet of steam had died away, the _Shasta_ was quivering all +through, while her masts stood upright and did not slant back again. Her +windlass was also slowly gathering the clanking cable in, until at last +it rattled furiously as she leaped astern. Then a hoarse shout of +exultation went up, and Jimmy drew in a deep breath of relief as he +strode across his bridge. + +"Heave right up to your kedge and break it out," he said. "Then we'll +let her swing, and get the stream anchor when she rides to it ahead." + +It meant an hour's brutal labor overhauling hard wire tackles and +leading forward ponderous chain, but they undertook it light-heartedly, +with bleeding hands and broken nails, while the _Shasta_ heaved and +rolled viciously under them. Then, when they broke out the stream anchor +under her bows, Jimmy sighed from sheer satisfaction as he pressed down +his telegraph to "Half-speed ahead." + +"We wouldn't have done it in another hour, Lindstrom," he said. "We'll +drive her west a while to make sure of things before we put her on her +course again; and in the meanwhile you'll keep the hand-lead going." + +It gave them steadily deepening water, until the sea piled up and the +_Shasta_ rolled her rail under, so that the man strapped outside the +bridge could do no more than guess at the soundings; and Jimmy told him +to come in. Then he turned to Lindstrom. + +"I'll have to let up now," he said; "I can't keep my eyes open." + +He lowered himself down the ladder circumspectly, and found it somewhat +difficult to reach the room beneath the bridge; but five minutes after +he got there he was sleeping heavily. + +They made some four knots in each of the next thirty hours, with the +gale on their starboard bow. When at last it broke, Jimmy, who got an +observation, headed the _Shasta_ southeastward, and a day or two later +ran her in behind an island. Then two boats pulled ashore across a +sluice of tide, and came back some hours later when it had slackened a +little, loaded rather deeper than was safe with sawn-up pines. Fleming +also brought two very rude saws with him, and invited Jimmy's attention +to one of them. + +"Saws," he said, "are in a general way made of steel, and you can't +expect too much from soft plate-iron. The boys did well; there's not a +man among the crowd of them can get his back straight. You'd understand +the reason if you had tried to cut down big trees with an instrument +that has an edge like a nutmeg-grater." + +Jimmy smiled, for he considered it very likely. "Well," he said, "what +are you going to do to make them serviceable?" + +"Sit up all night re-gulletting them with a file. I want four loads of +billets before we start again; but we'll take another axe ashore in the +morning." + +They went off early, when the tide was slack, taking an extra axe along, +while it was noon when they came back, with one man who had badly cut +his leg lying upon the billets. Fleming, however, insisted on his four +loads, and it was evening when he brought the last two off. The men were +almost too wearied to pull across the tide, and only the handles +attached to them suggested that the two worn strips of iron they passed +up had been meant for saws. + +"That," said Fleming, who held one up before Jimmy, "says a good deal +for the boys; but if I drove them the same way any longer there would be +a mutiny." + +Jimmy laughed, and told him to raise steam enough to take the _Shasta_ +to sea. She made six knots most of that night; and two days later the +men went ashore again. Fleming, at least, never forgot the rest of that +trip down the wild West Coast. He mixed his resinous billets with +saturated coal-dust and broken hemlock bark, but in spite of it he +stopped the _Shasta_ every now and then when his boilers gave him water +instead of steam. + +Still, she crept on south, and at last all of them were sincerely glad +when the pithead gear of the Dunsmore mines rose up against the forests +of Vancouver Island over the starboard hand. An hour or two later +Fleming stood blackened all over amidst a gritty cloud while the coal +that was to free him from his cares clattered into the _Shasta_'s +bunkers, and Jimmy sat in the room beneath her bridge with one of the +coaling clerks writing out a telegram. + +"I'll get it sent off for you right away," said the coaling man. "Guess +it will be a big relief to somebody. It seems they've 'most given you up +in Vancouver." + +Jimmy laughed. "Well," he said, "we have brought her here. Still, I +think there were times when my engineer felt that the contract was +almost too big for him." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +ANTHEA GROWS ANXIOUS + + +The afternoon was hot, but Jordan failed to notice it as he swung along, +as fast as he could go without actually running, down a street in +Vancouver. He walked in the glaring sunlight, because there was more +room there, as everybody else was glad to seek the shadow cast across +one sidewalk by the tall stores and offices, and he appeared unconscious +of the remarks flung after him by the irate driver of an express wagon +which had almost run over him. Jordan was one of the men who are always +desperately busy, but there were reasons why his activity was a little +more evident than usual just then. His associates had contrived to raise +sufficient money to purchase a boat to take up the _Shasta_'s usual +trip, but the finances of the Company were in a somewhat straitened +condition as the result of it, and he was beset with a good many other +difficulties of the kind the struggling man has to grapple with. + +For all that, he stopped abruptly when he saw Forster's driving-wagon, a +light four-wheeled vehicle, standing outside a big dry-goods store. He +was aware that Mrs. Forster seldom went to Vancouver without taking +Eleanor with her, which appeared sufficient reason for believing that +the girl was then inside the store. If anything further were needed to +indicate the probability of this, there was a well-favored and very +smartly-dressed man standing beside the wagon, and Jordan's face grew +suddenly hard as he looked at him. As it happened, the man glanced in +his direction just then, and Jordan found it difficult to keep a due +restraint upon himself when he saw the sardonic twinkle in his eyes. It +was more expressive than a good many words would have been. + +Jordan had for some time desired an interview with him, but, +warm-blooded and somewhat primitive in his notions upon certain points +as he was, he had sense enough to realize that he was not likely to gain +anything by an altercation in a busy street, which would certainly not +advance him in Eleanor's favor. Besides this, it was probable that +somebody would interfere if he found it necessary to resort to physical +force. Jordan, who was by no means perfect in character, had, like a +good many other men brought up as he had been in the forests of the +Pacific Slope, no great aversion to resorting to the latter when he +considered that the occasion warranted it. + +Still, he held himself in hand, and strode into the store where, as it +happened, he came upon Mrs. Forster. There was a faint smile in her eyes +when she turned to him, for she was a lady of considerable discernment; +but she held out her hand graciously. She liked the impulsive man. + +"It is some time since we have seen anything of you," she said. + +"That," said Jordan, "is just what I was thinking, though it's quite +likely there are people who wouldn't let it grieve them. In fact, I was +wondering whether you would mind if I asked myself over to supper with +your husband this evening?" + +Mrs. Forster laughed. + +"I really don't think it would trouble me very much, and I have no doubt +that Forster would enjoy a talk with you," she said. "I wonder whether +you know that Mr. Carnforth is coming?" + +"I do;" and Jordan looked at her steadily with a trace of concern in his +manner. "In fact, that was one of my reasons for asking you." + +The lady shook her head. "So I supposed," she said. "Still, while +everybody is expected to know his own business best, I'm not sure you're +wise. You see, I really don't think Eleanor is very much denser than I +am, though you can tell her you have my invitation to supper." + +Jordan, who expressed his thanks, strode across the store and came upon +Eleanor standing by a counter with several small parcels before her. She +turned at his approach, and he found it difficult to believe that his +appearance afforded her any great pleasure. While he gathered up the +parcels, she made him a little imperious gesture, and they moved away +toward a quieter part of the big store. Then she turned to him again. + +"Charley," she said sharply, "what are you doing here?" + +"I saw Forster's wagon outside, and that reminded me that it was at +least a week since I had seen you." + +Eleanor smiled somewhat curiously, for it was, of course, clear to her +that he could not have seen the wagon without seeing Carnforth too. + +"And?" she said. + +"I'm coming over to supper with Forster. You don't look by any means as +pleased as one would think you ought to be." + +The girl appeared disconcerted. "I should sooner you didn't come +to-night." + +"Of course!" said Jordan. "I can quite believe it." + +A tinge of color crept into Eleanor's face, and there was now nothing +that suggested a smile in the sparkle in her eyes. "Pshaw!" she said. +"Charley, don't be a fool!" + +"I'm not," said Jordan slowly. "That is, I don't think I am, in the way +you mean. In fact, though it shouldn't be necessary, I want to say right +now that I have every confidence in you." + +"Thanks! There are various ways of showing it. You haven't chosen one +that appeals to me." + +Jordan flung out one hand. "After all, I'm human--and I don't like that +man." + +"You are. Now and then you are also a little crude, which is probably +what you mean. Still, that's not the question. I think I mentioned that +I should sooner you didn't come to supper this evening." + +The gleam in her pale-blue eyes grew plainer, and it said a good deal +for Jordan's courage that he persisted, since most of Eleanor's +acquaintances had discovered that it was not wise to thwart her when she +looked as she did then. + +"I'm afraid I can't allow that to influence me, especially as Mrs. +Forster expects me." + +"Very well!" and Eleanor's tone was dry. "You may carry those parcels to +the wagon." + +Jordan did so, and felt his blood tingle when Carnforth favored him with +a glance of unconcerned inquiry. There was a suggestive complacency in +his faint smile that was, in the circumstances, intensely provocative, +but Jordan contrived to restrain himself. Then Mrs. Forster and Eleanor +came out, and the latter took the parcels from him. + +"Four of them?" she said. "You haven't dropped any?" + +Jordan did not think he had, and the girl pressed one or two of the +parcels between her fingers. "Then I wonder where the muslin is?" + +"I guess they can tell me in the store," said Jordan. + +He swung around, and in a moment or two was back at the counter. The +clerk there, however, had to refer to one of her companions, and, as the +latter was busy, Jordan had to wait a minute or two. + +"I wrapped up the muslin with the trimming," she said at last. "Miss +Wheelock had four parcels, and I saw you take up all of them." + +Jordan turned away with an unpleasant thought in his mind, and was out +of the store in a moment. There was, however, no wagon in the street, +and after running down most of it he stopped with a harsh laugh. +Forster's team was a fast one, and Jordan realized that it was very +unlikely that he could overtake it, especially when Eleanor, who usually +drove, did not wish him to. After all, her quickness and resolution in +one way appealed to him, and he remembered that he had promised to dine +with Austerly that evening. Still, he went back to his business feeling +a trifle sore, and one or two of the men who called on him noticed that +his temper was considerably shorter than usual. + +He had, in fact, not altogether recovered his customary good-humor when +he sat on the veranda of Austerly's house some hours later. The meal +which Austerly insisted on calling dinner, though he had found it +impossible to get anybody to prepare it later than seven o'clock in the +evening, was over, and the rest of the few guests were scattered about +the garden. Valentine, who had arrived in the _Sorata_ a day or two +earlier, sat at the foot of the short veranda stairway close by the +lounge chair where Nellie Austerly lay looking unusually fragile, but +listening to the bronzed man with a quiet smile. Austerly leaned on the +balustrade, and Anthea sat not far from Jordan. She was, as it happened, +looking out through a gap in the firs which afforded her a glimpse of +the shining Inlet. A schooner crept slowly across the strip of water, on +her way to the frozen north with treasure-seekers. + +"She seems very little," said Anthea. "One wonders whether she will get +there, and whether the men on board her will ever come back again." + +"The chances are against it," said Austerly. "It is a long way to St. +Michael's, and one understands that those northern waters are either +wrapped in fog or swept by sudden gales. Besides that, it must be a +tremendous march or canoe trip inland, and before they reach the gold +region the summer will be over. One would scarcely fancy that many of +them could live out the winter. In fact, it seems to me scarcely +probable that the Yukon basin will ever become a mining district. +Nature is apparently too much for the white man there. What is your +opinion, Jordan?" + +Jordan smiled, though there was a snap in his eyes. + +"It seems to me you don't quite understand what kind of men we raise on +the Slope," he said. "Once it's made clear that the gold is there, +there's no snow and ice between St. Michael's and the Pole that would +stop their getting in. When they take the trail those men will go right +on in spite of everything. You have heard what their fathers did here in +British Columbia when there was gold in Caribou? They hadn't the C.P.R. +then to take them up the Fraser, and there wasn't a wagon-road. They +made a trail through the wildest canyons there are on this earth, and +blazed a way afterward, over range and through the rivers, across the +trackless wilderness. It was too big a contract for some of them, but +they stayed with it, going on until they died. The others got the gold. +It was a sure thing that they would get it. They had to." + +"Just so!" said Austerly, with a smile. "Still, if I remember correctly, +they were not all born on the Pacific Slope. Some of them, I almost +think, came from England." + +"They did," said Jordan, who for no very evident reason glanced in +Anthea's direction. "The ones who got there were for the most part +sailormen. They and our bushmen are much of a kind, though I'm not quite +sure that the hardest hoeing didn't fall to the sailor. He hadn't been +taught to face the forest with nothing but an axe, build a fire of wet +wood, or make a pack-horse bridge; but he started with the old-time +prospectors, and he went right in with them. It's much the same +now--steam can't spoil him. When a big risky thing is to be done +anywhere right down the Slope, that's where you'll come across the man +from the blue water." + +He stopped a moment as if for breath, with a deprecatory gesture. "There +are one or two things that sure start me talking. It's a kind of useless +habit in a man who's shackled down to his work in the city, but I can't +help it. Anyway, the men who are going north won't head for St. +Michael's and the Yukon marshes much longer. They'll blaze a shorter +trail in from somewhere farther south right over the coast range. It +won't matter that they'll have to face ten feet of snow." + +Neither of the other two answered him, but the fact that they watched +the fading white sails of the little schooner had its significance. +There was scarcely a man on the Pacific Slope whose thoughts did not +turn toward the golden north just then, and one could notice signs of +tense anticipation in all the wooden cities. The army of +treasure-seekers had not set out yet, but big detachments had started, +and the rest were making ready. So far there was little certain news, +but rumors and surmises flew from mouth to mouth in busy streets and +crowded saloons. It was known that the way was perilous and many would +leave their bones beside it, and though, as Jordan had said, that would +not count if there were gold in the land to which it led, men waited a +little, feverishly, until they should feel more sure about the latter +point. + +By and by Austerly, who spoke to Valentine, went down the stairway, and +Anthea smiled when the latter, after walking a few paces with him, +turned back again to where Nellie Austerly was lying. + +"There are things it is a little difficult to understand," she said. +"Valentine has, perhaps, seen Nellie three or four times since she left +the _Sorata_, and yet, as no doubt you have noticed, he will scarcely +leave her. She would evidently be quite content to have him beside her +all evening, too." + +"You didn't say all you thought," and Jordan looked at her gravely. "You +mean that the usual explanation wouldn't fit their case. That, of +course, is clear, since both of them must realize that she can't expect +to live more than another year or so. I naturally don't know why she +should take to Valentine; but I have a fancy from what Jimmy said that +she reminded him of somebody. What is perhaps more curious still, I +think she recognizes it, and doesn't in the least mind it." + +"Somebody he was fond of long ago?" + +Jordan appeared to consider. "That seems to make the thing more +difficult to understand? Still, I'm not sure it does in reality. He is +one of the men who remember always, too. He would not want to marry her +if she were growing strong instead of slowly fading. It would somehow +spoil things if he did." + +"Of course!" said Anthea slowly. "In any case, as you mentioned, it +would be out of the question. But how----" + +Jordan checked her, with a smile this time. "How do I understand? I +don't think I do altogether; I only guess. A man who lived alone at sea +or on a ranch in the shadowy bush might be capable of an attachment of +that kind, but not one who makes his living in the cities. One can't get +away from the material point of view there." + +He broke off, and sat still for a minute or two, for though it was clear +that Anthea had no wish to discuss that topic further, he felt that she +had something to say to him. + +"Mr. Jordan," she asked at last, "have you had any news about the +_Shasta_?" + +Jordan's face clouded, but he did not turn in her direction, for which +the girl was grateful. + +"No," he said, "I have none. As perhaps you know, she should have turned +up two or three weeks ago." + +It was a moment or two before he glanced around, and then Anthea met his +gaze, in which, however, there was no trace of inquiry. + +"You are anxious about her?" she asked. + +"I am, a little. It is a wild coast up yonder, and they have wilder +weather. The charts don't tell you very much about those narrow seas. +One must trust to good fortune and one's nerve when the fog shuts down. +That," and he smiled reassuringly, "was why I sent Jimmy." + +Anthea felt her face grow warm, but she looked at him steadily. + +"Ah!" she said, "you believe in him. Still, skill and nerve will not do +everything." + +"They will do a great deal, and what flesh and blood can do, one can +count on getting from the _Shasta_'s skipper. I believe"--and he lowered +his voice confidentially--"Jimmy will bring her back again. That's why I +sent her up there less than half-insured. Premiums were heavy, and we +wanted all our money. Still, if he does not, I know he will have made +the toughest fight--and that will be some relief to me. You see, I'm +fond of Jimmy--and I'm talking quite straight with you." + +There was a hint of pain in the girl's face, and she realized that it +was there, but his frankness had had its effect on her. It suggested a +sympathy she did not resent, and she smiled at him gravely. + +"Thank you!" she said. "There is another thing I want to ask, Mr. +Jordan. If you get any news of the _Shasta_, will you come and tell me?" + +"Within the hour," said Jordan, and Anthea, who thanked him, rose and +turned away. + +Jordan, however, sat still, gazing straight in front of him +thoughtfully, for, though she had perhaps not intended this, the girl's +manner had impressed him. He fancied that he knew what she was feeling, +and that she had in a fashion taken him into her confidence. It was also +a confidence that he would at any cost have held inviolable. Then he +rose with a little dry smile. + +"She is clear grit all through," he said. "And her father is the ------ +rogue in all this Province." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +JORDAN KEEPS HIS PROMISE + + +Right sunshine streamed down on the Inlet, and there was an exhilarating +freshness in the morning air; but Anthea Merril sat somewhat listlessly +on the veranda outside her father's house, looking across the sparkling +water toward the snows of the north. She had done the same thing +somewhat frequently of late, and, as had happened on each occasion, her +thoughts were fixed on the little vessel that had apparently vanished in +the fog-wrapped sea. Anthea had grown weary of waiting for news of her. + +Hitherto very little that she desired had been denied her, and though +that had not been sufficient to pervert her nature, it naturally made +the suspense she had to face a little harder to bear, since the money +before which other difficulties had melted was in this case of no avail. +The commander of the _Shasta_ had passed far beyond her power to recall +him; and, if he still lived, of which she was far from certain, it was +only the primitive courage and stubborn endurance which are not confined +to men of wealth and station that could bring him back to her in spite +of blinding fog and icy seas. Anthea had no longer any hesitation in +admitting that this was what she greatly desired. Now that he had--it +appeared more than possible--sailed out of her life altogether into the +unknown haven that awaits the souls of the sailormen, she knew how she +longed for him. Still, the days had slipped by, and there was no word +from the silent north which has been for many a sailorman and sealer the +fairway to the tideless sea. + +At last she started a little as a man came up the drive toward the +house. He appeared to be a city clerk, but, though Merril had not yet +gone out, she did not recognize him as one of those in her father's +service. He turned when he saw her and came straight across the lawn, +and Anthea felt a thrill run through her as she noticed that he had an +envelope in his hand. + +"Miss Merril?" he said. "Mr. Jordan sent this with his compliments." + +Anthea thanked him, but did not open the envelope until he turned away. +Even then she almost felt her courage fail as she tore it apart and took +out a strip of paper that appeared to be a telegraphic message addressed +to Jordan. + +"Held up by fog and got ashore, but arrived here undamaged. Clearing +again morning," it read, and the blood crept into her face as she saw +that it was signed, "Wheelock Shasta." + +For the next five minutes she sat perfectly still, conscious only of a +great relief, and then she roused herself with an effort as Merril came +out of the house. + +"A telegram!" he said, with a smile. "Who has been wiring you? Have you +been speculating?" + +"In that case, don't you think I should have come to you for +information?" asked Anthea, who was mistress of herself again. + +"I'm not sure that you would have been wise if you had," said Merril, +with a whimsical grimace. "I don't seem to have been very successful +with my own affairs of late. Anyway, you haven't told me what I asked." + +Anthea was never quite sure why she placed the message in his hand. She +was aware that he was not interested in the subject, and would certainly +not have pressed her for an answer. In fact, he very seldom inquired as +to what she did, and had never attempted to place any restraint upon +her. He glanced at the message, and then turned to her again. + +"Wheelock to Jordan. Friends of yours?" he said. "You would probably +meet them at Austerly's." + +"Yes," said Anthea, "I think I may say they are." + +It was essentially characteristic of Merril that he showed no +displeasure. He was indulgent to his daughter, and one who very seldom +allowed himself to be led away by either personal liking or rancor. For +a moment he stood still looking down at her with a dry smile, and, +because no father and daughter can be wholly dissimilar, Anthea bore his +scrutiny with perfect composure. + +"Well," he said, "they're both men of some ability, with signs of grit +in them, though I don't know that it would have troubled me if I had +heard no more of the _Shasta_. Now I'm a little late, and it will be +to-night before I'm back from the city." + +He turned away, and once more Anthea became sensible of a faint +repulsion for her father. Every word Eleanor Wheelock had uttered in +Forster's ranch had impressed itself on her memory, and she knew now +that his interests clashed with those of the _Shasta_ Company. It would +not have astonished her if he had shown some sign of resentment, but +this complete indifference appeared unnatural, and troubled her. He was, +it seemed, as devoid of anger as he was, if Eleanor Wheelock and several +others were to be believed, of pity. Then she felt that she must, to a +certain extent, at least, confide in some one, and she set out to call +on Nellie Austerly. + +It happened that morning that Jimmy stood on the _Shasta_'s bridge as +she steamed up the softly gleaming straits. Ahead a dingy smoke-cloud +was moving on toward him, and he took his glasses from the box when the +black shape of a steamer grew out of it. She rose rapidly higher, and +Jimmy guessed that she was considerably larger than the _Shasta_ and +steaming three or four knots faster. Then he made out that her deck was +crowded with passengers, and, though the beaver ensign floated over her +stern, their destination was evident when he glanced at the flag at the +fore. The only American soil north of them was Alaska. + +She drew abreast, a beautiful vessel of old and almost obsolete model, +with the clear green water frothing high beneath her outward curve of +prow. There was no forecastle forward to break the sweeping line of +rail, and the broad quarter-deck that overhung her slender stern had +also its suggestiveness to a seaman's eye. The smoke-cloud at her funnel +further hinted that her speed was purchased by a consumption of coal +that would have been considered intolerable in a modern boat. Then the +strip of bunting at her mainmast head fixed Jimmy's attention. + +"Merril's hard on our trail," he said. "She's taking a big crowd of +miners north. That's his flag." + +Fleming, who stood beneath the bridge, looked up with a little nod. "I +would not compliment him on his sense," he said. "A beautiful boat, but +the man who runs her will want a coal-mine of his own. Got her cheap, I +figure, but it's only at top-freights she could make a living. Guess +Merril's screwing all he can out of those miners, but those rates won't +last when the C.P.R. and the Americans cut in, and if I had a boat of +that kind I'd put up a big insurance and then scuttle her." + +Then one of the two or three bronzed prospectors who had come down with +the _Shasta_ approached the bridge. + +"Can't you let the boys who are going up know we've been there?" he +said. "It might encourage them to see that somebody has come out alive." + +Jimmy called to his quartermaster before he answered the man. "Well," he +said, "in a general way the signal wouldn't quite mean that, but it's +very likely they'll understand it." + +Merril's boat was almost alongside, when the quartermaster broke out the +stars and stripes at the _Shasta_'s masthead. A roar of voices greeted +the snapping flag, and the heads grew thick as cedar twigs in the +shadowy bush along the stranger's rail; while the men who stood higher +aft upon her ample quarter-deck flung their hats and arms aloft. Jimmy +could see them plainly, and their faces and garments proclaimed that +most of them were from the cities. There were others whose skin was +darkened and who wore older clothes; but these did not shout, for they +were men who had been at close grips with savage nature already, and had +some notion of what was before them. Jimmy blew his whistle and dipped +the beaver flag, while a curious little thrill ran through him as the +sonorous blast hurled his greeting across the clear green water. He knew +what these men would have to face who were going up, the vanguard of a +great army, to grapple with the wilderness, and it was clear that nature +would prove too terrible for many of them who would never drag their +bones out of it again. + +Once more the voices answered him with a storm of hopeful cries, for the +soft-handed men of the cities had also the courage of their breed. It +was the careless, optimistic courage of the Pacific Slope, and +store-clerk and hotel-lounger cheered the _Shasta_ gaily as, reckless of +what was before them, they went by. When the time came to face screaming +blizzard and awful cold they would, for the most part, do it willingly, +and go on unflinching in spite of flood and frost until they dropped +beside the trail. Jimmy, who realized this vaguely, felt the thrill +again, and was glad that he had sped them on their way with a message of +good-will; but there was no roar from their steamer's whistle, and the +beaver flag blew out undipped at her stern. Then, as she drew away from +him, his face hardened, and the engineer looked at him with a grin. + +"Merril's skipper's like him, and that's 'most as mean as he could be," +he said. + +Jimmy glanced toward his masthead. "If there were many of his kind among +my countrymen, I'd feel tempted to shift that flag aft, and keep it +there," he said. "The boys from Puget Sound could cheer." + +One of the prospectors who stood below broke into a little soft laugh. +"Oh, yes," he said, "it's in them, and all the snow up yonder won't melt +it out. Still, it's your quiet bushmen and ours who'll do the getting +there. Guess they could raise a smile for you--and they did; but when it +comes to shouting, they haven't breath to spare." + +He turned and looked after the steamer growing smaller to the northward +amidst her smoke-cloud. "One in every twenty may bottom on paying gold, +and you might figure on three or four more making grub and a few ounces +on a hired man's share. The snow and the river will get the rest." + +Then he strolled away, and when Jimmy looked around again there was only +a smoke-trail on the water, for the steamer had sunk beneath the verge +of the sea. His attention also was occupied by other things that +concerned him more than the steamer, for another two or three hours +would bring him to Vancouver Inlet, which he duly reached that +afternoon, and found Jordan and a crowd through which the latter could +scarcely struggle awaiting him on the wharf. Still, he got on board, and +poured out tumultuous questions while he wrung Jimmy's hand, and it was +twenty minutes at least before Jimmy had supplied him with the +information he desired. Then he sat down and smiled. + +"Well," he said, "we'll go into the other points to-morrow, and to-night +you're coming to Austerly's with me. Got word from Miss Nellie that I +was to bring you sure. She wanted me to send a team over for Eleanor." + +"Then why didn't you?" asked Jimmy. + +Jordan's manner became confidential. "Nellie Austerly contrived to +mention that Miss Merril would be there too, and it seemed to me that +Eleanor mightn't quite fit in. She has her notions, and when she gets +her program fixed I just stand clear of her and let her go ahead. It's +generally wiser. Anyway, I felt that I could afford to do the straight +thing by you and Austerly." + +"Thanks!" said Jimmy, with a dry smile. "Of course, there is nothing to +be gained by pretending that Eleanor is fond of Miss Merril." + +Jordan sighed. "Well, I guess other men's sisters have their little +fancies now and then, and though she has scared me once or twice, +Eleanor's probably not very different from the rest of them. I was a +trifle played out--driven too hard and anxious--while you were away, and +she was awfully good to me--gentle as an angel; but for all that, I feel +one couldn't trust her alone with Miss Merril on a dark night if she had +a sharp hatpin or anything of that kind. And as for Merril, I believe +she wouldn't raise any objections if it were in our power to have him +skinned alive. Now, I like a girl with grit in her." + +"Still, Eleanor goes a little further than you care about at times?" + +Jordan laid a hand on his companion's arm. "Jimmy," he said, "there's a +thing you haven't mentioned to either of us--and I didn't expect you +to--but I feel that by and by your sister is going to make trouble for +you." + +Jimmy looked at him steadily, and Jordan smiled. "You needn't trouble +about making any disclaimer. I see how it is. Somehow you're going to +get her. Merril's not likely to run us off. I guess there's no reason +to worry about him. Still, I want you to understand that if I can't put +a check on your sister--and that's quite likely--I'm going to stand by +her. I just have to." + +"Of course!" said Jimmy gravely. "Nobody would expect anything else from +you. I don't mind admitting that I have been a little anxious about what +Eleanor might do--but we'll change the subject. You suggested that +Merril was getting into trouble?" + +"He is," said Jordan, with evident relief. "They're making the road to +the pulp-mill, and I don't quite know where he raised his share of the +money, especially as he has just taken over a big old-type steamer. Had +to face a high figure, played out as she is. Ships are in demand. Now, +there are men like Merril whose money isn't their own; that is, they can +get it from other people to make a profit on, as a general thing. But +these aren't ordinary times; any man with money can make good interest +on it himself just now, and I've more than a fancy that Merril's handing +out instead of raking in. He has been at the banks lately, and when +there's a demand for money everywhere you can figure what they're going +to charge him. Anyway, we won't worry about him in the meanwhile. Get on +your shore-clothes. As soon as you're ready you're coming up-town with +me." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +AN UNDERSTANDING + + +Jimmy went to Austerly's, and during the evening related his adventures +in the north to a sympathetic audience. His companions insisted on this, +and though there was one fact he would rather not have mentioned he +complied good-humoredly with their request. The narrative was +essentially matter-of-fact, but he had sufficient sense to avoid any +affectation of undue diffidence, and the others appeared to find it +interesting. Indeed, Nellie Austerly, at least, noticed the faint +sparkle which now and then crept into Anthea's eyes as he told them how, +in order to keep his promise to the miners that there should be no +delay, he had come out of a snug anchorage and groped his way northward +through a bewildering smother of unlifting fog. He also told them +simply, but, though he was not aware of the latter fact, with a certain +dramatic force, how, straining every nerve and muscle in tense suspense, +they hove the steamer off just before the gale broke, and of the +strenuous labor cutting wood for fuel on the southward voyage. + +When he stopped, Nellie Austerly looked up with a little nod. "Yes," she +said, "you took those miners in as you had promised, in spite of the +fog, and you brought the _Shasta_ down all that way with only a few +tons of coal. Still, I don't think you should expect any particular +commendation. There are men who can't help doing things of that kind." + +Jimmy laughed, though his face grew slightly flushed. "I'm afraid I also +put her ashore. One can't get over that." Then he looked at Jordan. "In +fact, I scarcely think I'm out of the wood yet. There will be an +inquiry." + +"Purely formal," said his comrade. "They'll have a special whitewash +brush made for you. Nautical assessors have some conscience, after all. +Besides, it depends largely on the facts you supply them whether they +consider it worth while to have one." + +Austerly had a few questions to ask, and then the conversation drifted +away to other topics, until some little time later Jimmy found himself +sitting alone beside Nellie Austerly. She lay wrapped in fleecy shawls +in a big chair near the foot of the veranda stairway, looking very +frail, but she smiled at him benevolently. + +"I am glad they have gone," she said. "You see, I wanted to talk to you, +but the dew is commencing to settle and I must go in soon. That is +insisted on, though I don't think it matters." + +She smiled again. "It is a beautiful world, Jimmy, isn't it?" + +Jimmy drew in his breath as he glanced about him, for he guessed part of +what she was thinking, and it hurt him. He could see the dark pines +towering against the wondrous green transparency which follows hard upon +the sunset splendors in that country. The Inlet shone in the gaps amid +that stately colonnade, and far off beyond it there was a faint +ethereal gleam of snow. To him, filled as he was with the clean vigor of +the sea, it seemed too beautiful a world to leave. + +"Still," said his companion, "it has had very little to offer me, and +perhaps that is why I feel one should never stand by and let any good +thing it holds out go; that is, of course, when one has the strength to +grasp it. It usually needs some courage, too." + +"I'm afraid it does;" and Jimmy looked down at her gravely, for since +this was not quite the first time she had suggested the same thing he +commenced to understand where she was leading him. "One might, perhaps, +manage to muster enough if one could only be sure----" + +He stopped somewhat awkwardly, and the girl laughed. "One very seldom +can. You have to reach out boldly and clutch before the opportunity has +gone." + +"In the dark?" + +"Of course! One can't always expect to see one's way. You were not +afraid of the fog, Jimmy?" + +"I was. It got hold of my nerves and shook all the stiffening out of me. +In fact, in the sense you mean, I'm afraid of it still." + +He checked himself for a moment, and his face was furrowed when he +turned to her again. "You understand, of course. The clogging smother of +uncertainty now and then gets intolerable when a man wants to do the +right thing. He can't see where he is going. There is nothing to steer +by." + +"If you had sat down and tried to think of every reef and shoal, and +what would become of the _Shasta_ if she struck them, would you ever +have reached your destination when the fog shut down?" + +"No," said Jimmy; "I should in all probability have turned her round, +and steamed south again." + +Nellie Austerly laughed. "Instead of that you went on--and got there--as +they say in this country. That, as I think you will recognize, is the +point of it all." + +"I also got ashore." + +"In spite of the lead. It wasn't much service, Jimmy. It really seems +that one is just as safe when going full-speed ahead. Besides, you got +off again, and brought the _Shasta_ back undamaged. Well, perhaps it may +occur to you by and by that there must always be a little uncertainty, +and in the meanwhile I dare say you won't mind giving me your arm. I +must go in, and these steps seem to be getting steeper lately." + +Jimmy gravely held out his arm, and when he handed her one of the shawls +as they reached the veranda, she smiled at him again. + +"Now you are released, and I see Anthea is all alone," she said. + +She disappeared into the house, and Jimmy's heart beat a good deal +faster than usual when he went down the stairway. Though he did not know +what he would say to her, he had been longing all evening for a word or +two with Anthea, and now the desire was almost overwhelming. He had, of +course, seen the drift of Nellie Austerly's observations, and it +scarcely seemed likely that she would have offered him the veiled +encouragement unless she had had some ground for believing that it was +warranted. He also remembered what he had twice seen in Anthea's face; +but he was a steamboat skipper with no means worth mentioning, and she +the daughter of a man who was in one sense responsible for his father's +death. That was certainly not her fault, but Jimmy felt that even if she +would listen to him, of which he was far from certain, he could not +expose her to her father's ill-will and the scornful pity of her +friends. Still, Nellie Austerly's words had had their effect, and he +strode straight across the lawn, with the same curious little thrill +running through him of which he had been sensible when he drove the +_Shasta_ full-speed into the fog. + +Anthea stood waiting for him beneath the dark firs, very much as she had +done when he had last seen her, with a smile in her eyes. + +"I suppose it is Nellie's fault, but I was commencing to wonder whether +you wished to avoid me," she said. + +Jimmy stood silent a moment, trying to impose a due restraint upon +himself, until she lifted her eyes and looked at him. Then he knew the +attempt was useless, and abandoned it. + +"The fault was not exactly mine," he said, with a faint hoarseness in +his voice. "For one thing, how could I know that you would be pleased to +see me?" + +"Still," said Anthea quietly, "I really think you did. Were your other +reasons for staying away more convincing?" + +Then Jimmy flung prudence to the winds. The fog of which he had declared +himself afraid was thicker than ever, but that fact had suddenly ceased +to trouble him. Again he felt, as he had done when he crouched in the +_Sorata_'s cockpit one wild morning, that he and Anthea Merril were +merely man and woman, and that she was the one he wanted for his wife. +That was sufficient, for the time being, to drive out every other +consideration; but he answered her quietly. + +"A little while ago I believed they were, but I can't quite think that +now," he said. "Something seems to have happened in the meanwhile--and +they don't appear to count." + +They had as if by mutual consent turned and followed a path that led +into the scented shadow of the firs, but when a great columnar trunk hid +them from the house Jimmy stopped again. + +"Yes," he said, "after that morning when we watched the big combers from +the _Sorata_'s cockpit, I think I should have known you were glad to see +the _Shasta_ back; but the trouble was that I dared not let myself be +sure of it. There were, as you said, reasons for that. I suppose I +should be strong enough to recognize and yield to them still, but--while +you may blame me afterward for not doing so--I can't." + +He moved a pace forward, and laid a hand on her shoulder, holding her +back from him, unresisting, while he looked down at her. "Since I +carried you through the creek that evening up in the bush I have thought +of nothing, longed for nothing, but you. It has been one long effort to +hold the folly in check; but it has suddenly grown too hard for me--I +can't keep it up. Now, at least, you know." + +He let his hand drop to his side, and stood still with his eyes fixed on +her. Anthea looked up at him with a smile. + +"Ah!" she said, "I knew it all long ago. Was it very hard, Jimmy--and +are you sure it was necessary?" + +The blood surged to the man's forehead, but there was trouble as well as +exultation in his face, for his senses were coming back, and it seemed +to him that he must somehow muster wisdom to choose for both of them. + +"My dear," he said a trifle hoarsely, "I think it was. I am a struggling +steamboat skipper, and you a lady of station in this Province. That was +a sufficient reason, as things go." + +"If you had been the director of a steamship company, and I a girl +without a dollar, would that have influenced you?" + +"It would have made it easier. I should have claimed you on board the +_Sorata_. Lord"--and Jimmy made a little forceful gesture--"how I wish +you were!" + +Anthea smiled at him curiously. "Well," she said, "I may not have very +much money, after all--and, if I had, is there any reason why you should +be willing to give up more than I would? Does it matter so very much +that I may, perhaps, be a little richer than you are?" + +The veins showed swollen on the man's forehead, and again he struggled +with the impulses that had carried him away, for the discrepancy in +wealth was, after all, only a minor obstacle. Anthea, too, clearly +realized that, and she roused herself for an effort. + +"Jimmy," she said, while he stood silent, "would it hurt you very much +if I admitted that you were right, and sent you away? After all, you +have scarcely said anything that could make one think you would feel it +very keenly." + +The man stooped a little, and seized one of her hands. "Dear, you are +all I want, and to go would be the hardest thing I ever did; but there +is your father's opposition to consider, and, if to stay would bring you +trouble, I might compel myself." + +"Ah!" said Anthea softly, "the trouble would come if you went away." + +Then with a little resolute movement she drew herself away from him, and +looked up with a flush in her face and a quickening of her breath, for +there was something of moment to be said. "There is a reason you haven't +mentioned yet, though your sister did. Does that count for so very much +with you?" + +"Eleanor!" said Jimmy, while a thrill of anger ran through him. "I might +have known she would do this." + +He stood quite still for several moments with a hand clenched at his +side and his face furrowed, and when he spoke again it was hoarsely. + +"What did she tell you?" he asked. + +"I think she told me all that she knew about your father's ruin, and his +death. It was very hard to listen to, Jimmy--but did it really happen +that way?" + +She stopped a moment, and cast a little glance of appeal at him. "I have +tried to think that she must have distorted things. It would have been +no more than natural. If I had borne what she has I would have done the +same. One could not regard them correctly. Bitterness and grief must +influence one's point of view." + +The man turned his face from her, and moved away a pace or two as if in +pain. Then once more he turned toward her with a compassionate gesture, +for he knew that the blow would be a heavy one to her, and it was almost +insufferable that his hand should be the one to deal it. + +"Then anything I could say would not be more reliable. My views would as +naturally be distorted too." + +"Still, I should have an answer. You must realize that, and if it is one +that hurts I should sooner it came from you than anybody else." + +Jimmy drew in his breath. "Then, while I don't know exactly what Eleanor +has said, or whether I can forgive her that cruelty, I think you could +believe every word of it." + +The color faded from Anthea's face, and she looked at him with a faint +horror in her eyes and her lips tight set. She could not doubt him. If +there had been no other reason, the pity she saw he had for her was +proof enough, and for a moment or two she forgot everything but the grim +fact to which Eleanor Wheelock had forced her to listen. She could make +no excuses for her father now. + +She saw him suddenly as she felt that he was a creature of insatiable +greed, cunning, unscrupulous, and without pity, and then she commenced +to feel intolerably lonely. It was almost as though he had died, and the +longing for the love of the man who stood watching her with grave +sympathy in his eyes grew so strong that for the moment she was sensible +of nothing else. There was nobody but him to whom she could turn. It +was, she felt, his part to comfort her; and then she shivered as she +remembered that circumstances had placed that out of the question. The +injury her father had done him must, it seemed, always stand between +them, and she shrank back a pace from him. + +"Ah!" she said, "you must hate me for that, Jimmy." + +It was half an assertion, and, though she had perhaps not consciously +intended the latter, half a question, and the man recognized the dismay +in it. He strode forward, and seizing both her hands laid them on his +shoulders, and drew her to him masterfully. For a moment he used +compulsion, and then she clung to him quivering with her head on his +breast. + +"Dear," he said, "it is not your fault. You had no part in it, and, even +had it been so, I think I could not have helped loving you. As it is, +there is nothing in this world could make me hate you." + +Anthea made him no answer, and Jimmy drew her closer still. He had flung +prudence and restraint away. What he had said and done was irrevocable, +and he was glad that it was so. At last the girl looked up at him again. + +"Jimmy," she said, "if you can thrust into the background all that +Eleanor told me, you cannot let money come between us. Besides, I +haven't any now. Could I lavish money that had been wrung from your +father and other struggling men upon my pleasures--or dare to bring it +to you? Can't you understand, dear? I am as poor as you are." + +Then she suddenly shook herself free from his grasp, and seemed to +shiver. "But you can't forgive him--it will be war between you?" + +"Yes," said Jimmy slowly, "I am afraid that must be so. If there were no +other reason, I cannot desert the men who befriended me, and your father +will do all he can to crush them." + +"Ah!" said the girl, "it is going to be very hard. Still, I cannot turn +against him; he has, at least, been kind to me. I have never had a wish +he has not gratified." + +Jimmy slowly shook his head. "No," he said; "that is out of the +question--I could not ask it of you. There is also this to recognize: +your father is a man of station, and would never permit you to marry a +steamboat skipper. He will make every effort to keep you away from me." + +Just then Austerly's voice reached them from the house, and Anthea +turned to the man again. "Jimmy," she said, "I know that you belong to +me, and I to you; but that must be sufficient in the meanwhile. We can +neither of us be a traitor. You must wait and say nothing, dear." + +Then she turned and, slipping by him swiftly, moved across the lawn +toward the house, while Jimmy stood where he was, exultant, but +realizing that the struggle before them would tax all the courage that +was in him and the girl. + +Before he left the house, Nellie Austerly contrived to draw him to her +side when there was nobody else near the chair in which she lay. + +"Well?" she said inquiringly. + +Jimmy looked at her with a little grave smile. "I have rung for +full-speed," he said. "Still, the fog is thicker than ever, and, when I +dare to listen, I can hear breakers on the bow." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +ELEANOR HOLDS THE CLUE + + +Mrs. Forster had gone out with her daughters, and there was just then +nobody else in the ranch, when Eleanor Wheelock and Carnforth sat +talking in the big general room. This was satisfactory to the girl, for +she desired to have the next half-hour free from interruption. She was +aware that Mrs. Forster might come back before that time had elapsed; +but, although she had a purpose to accomplish, any appearance of haste +would spoil everything, for it was, as she recognized, advisable that +Carnforth should be permitted to take her into his confidence in his own +time and way, without her doing anything to suggest that she was +encouraging him. He had not been very long in Vancouver, and though he +had placed a good deal of money in Merril's hands, and was associated +with him in some of his business ventures, she had reasons for believing +that he did not know exactly what her relations with Jordan were, or +that she had a brother in command of the _Shasta_. Carnforth, as it +happened, had also come there with a purpose in his mind. Indeed, it was +one he had been considering for some little time, though he had at +length decided that it would have to be modified. This did not exactly +please him, but he was prepared to make a sacrifice in case of +necessity. + +He was a tall, well-favored man, and his tight-fitting clothes displayed +the straightness of his limbs as he leaned back in his chair, with his +eyes which had a suggestive sparkle in them fixed on the girl. The +fashion in which he regarded her would, in different circumstances, have +aroused Eleanor's resentment, but she was quite aware that there were +certain defects in his character, and she had taken some trouble to +discover why he had left Toronto somewhat hastily. She sat in a canvas +chair opposite him across the room, and, since she had expected him that +afternoon, she was conscious that everything she wore became her well. + +The long, light-tinted skirt was no fuller than was necessary, but +Eleanor could afford to wear it so, for both in man and woman the +average Western figure is modeled in long sweeping lines, and the soft +fabric emphasized her dainty slenderness. The pale-blue blouse that hung +in filmy, lace-like folds heightened the color of her eyes and the clear +pallor of her ivory complexion. Eleanor was, in fact, quite satisfied +with her appearance, and aware that it suggested a Puritanical +simplicity, which was in one respect, at least, not altogether +misleading. There is a certain absence of grossness in the men and women +of the West, and even their vices are characterized rather by daring +than by materialistic sensuality. She felt that she loathed the man and +the part circumstances had forced on her while she dressed herself in +expectation of his visit; but, for all that, she was prepared to +undertake it. + +"And you are really thinking of going away?" she asked. + +Carnforth did not answer hastily, but looked at her with the little +sparkle growing plainer in his eyes while he appeared to reflect; and, +though there was nothing to suggest that she was doing so, Eleanor +listened intently as she marshaled all her forces for the task she had +in hand. The afternoon was hot and still, and she could hear Forster and +his hired man chopping in the bush. The thud of their axes came faintly +out of the shadowy woods, but there was no other sound, and the house +was very quiet. This was reassuring, for she had no wish to hear Mrs. +Forster's footsteps just then. At last her companion spoke. + +"Yes," he said, "I have been thinking over it for some time. In fact, I +should have gone before, only I couldn't quite nerve myself to it. I +guess I needn't tell you why I found that difficult." + +Eleanor laughed. "Then if you don't wish to, why go away at all?" + +"I think it would be nicer to tell you why I wish to stay." + +"Well," said Eleanor thoughtfully, "I almost fancy you have suggested +your reasons once or twice already. Still, it's evident they can't have +very much weight with you, or you wouldn't go." + +Carnforth leaned forward. "Anyway, my reasons for going would have some +weight with most men." + +"Then until I hear what they are, you are on your defense," said +Eleanor, with a smile that set his blood tingling. "In the meanwhile, I +am far from pleased with you. It is not flattering to find one of my +friends so anxious to get away from me." + +"That was by no means what I was contemplating," said the man, and there +were signs of strain in his voice, while a trace of darker color crept +into his face. "I guess you know it, too." + +"Ah!" said Eleanor, "why should you expect me to? It wouldn't be +reasonable in the circumstances. I was willing to allow you to excuse +yourself for wishing to go away, and you don't seem at all anxious to +profit by my generosity." + +"You mightn't find my reasons--they're rather material +ones--interesting." + +"Then you are still on your defense, and far from being forgiven. As a +matter of fact, I am interested in almost everything, as you ought to +know by this time." + +"I believe you are," and Carnforth made her a little inclination. "I +guess you understand almost everything, too. Well, it seems I have to +tell you." + +Eleanor displayed no eagerness, though she was sensible of a little +thrill of satisfaction, for the thing was becoming easier than she had +expected. Instead, she moved with a slow gracefulness in her low chair, +so that the narrow ray of sunlight which shone in between the +half-closed shutters fell on one cheek and delicate ear. She knew that +the pose she had fallen into was one that became her well, and would in +all probability have its effect on her companion, and she meant to make +the utmost of her physical attractiveness, though such a course was +foreign to her nature. Eleanor Wheelock was imperious, and it pleased +her to command instead of allure; but she could on due occasion hold her +pride in check, and she would not have disdained to use any wile just +then. It was with perfect composure that she watched the little glow +kindle in Carnforth's eyes, though she could have struck him for it. + +"There is no compulsion," she said indifferently. "It rests with +yourself." + +Carnforth laughed in a fashion that jarred on her. "The fact that you +wish it goes a long way with me. Well, I am a man with somewhat +luxurious tastes, which the money I possess would unfortunately not +continue to gratify unless I keep it earning something. That is what +induced me to take a share in one or two of Merril's ventures, and now +makes it advisable for me to leave him. If I elect to remain, I must put +more money into the concern than I consider wise." + +"Then Merril's affairs are not prospering?" + +"No," said the man, with a keen glance at her. "I believe you are as +aware of that as I am. One way or another you have extracted a good deal +of information out of me--the kind in which women aren't generally +interested. I don't know why you have done so." + +"I think I told you that I am interested in everything. You don't feel +warranted in handing the money over to Merril?" + +Carnforth shook his head. "The pulp-mill hit us hard; but before he +quite knew that we would have to make the wagon-road, he had bound +himself to take over the steamer we are sending up with the miners," he +said. "She cost him a good deal." + +"Still, freights and passage to the north are high." + +"They won't continue to be when the C.P.R. and other people put on +modern and economical boats. It is quite clear to me that Merril's boat +can't make a living when she has to run against them." + +Eleanor decided to change the subject for a while, though she had not +done with it yet. "Well," she said languidly, "I really don't think it +matters to me whether she does or not. What I gave you permission to do +was to defend yourself for wishing to go away." + +"Haven't I done it?" asked the man. "When I break with Merril I shall +naturally have to discover a new field for my abilities. I think it will +be in California." + +"You are going to break with him because he is saddled with an +unprofitable vessel? Now, there are tides, and fogs, and reefs up there +in the north; don't they sometimes lose a well-insured steamer?" + +Carnforth laughed, but the girl had seen him start. "Well," he said, "I +don't mind admitting that if the one in question went north some day and +didn't come back again, it would be a relief to one or two of us. Still, +I'm 'most afraid that's too fortunate a thing to happen." + +"Of course! There would always be a probability of the skipper's +demanding money afterward? Besides, a mate or quartermaster or somebody +who hadn't a hand in it might have his suspicions." + +The man gazed at her, and this time his astonishment at her perspicacity +was very evident for a moment. "A wise man wouldn't tamper with the +skipper. Anyway, the people who try to get their money back by means of +that kind 'most always involve themselves in difficulties." + +It cost Eleanor an effort to conceal her satisfaction. Little by little +she had, to an extent her companion did not realize, extracted from him +information that enabled her to understand the state of Merril's affairs +tolerably accurately, and she had decided that he would attempt some +daring and drastic remedy. Now her purpose was accomplished, for she +knew what that remedy would be, and it only remained for her to +determine whether Carnforth could be used as a weapon against his +associate or must be flung aside. The latter course was the one she +would prefer, and she decided on it since he had practically answered +the question. + +"So you are going to leave him now that he is in difficulties?" she said +with a sardonic smile. "It isn't very generous, but I suppose it's wise, +and I almost think you have cleared yourself. Would you mind looking +whether you can see Mrs. Forster?" + +He had served his purpose, and she was anxious to get rid of him; but +the man made no sign of moving. + +"I would mind just now, and I hope she'll stay away," he said. "The fact +is I have something to say to you, and don't know why I let you switch +me off on to Merril. His affairs can't concern you." + +"Then why did you tell me so much about them?" + +The man gazed hard at her in evident bewilderment, and then rose to his +feet with a little air of resolution. "I'm not to be driven away from +the point again. I told you why I have to go, but that is less than half +of it. I can't go alone; I want you to come with me." + +"Ah!" said the girl very quietly, though a red spot which her brother +and Jordan would have recognized as a warning showed in each cheek. +"This is unexpected." + +Carnforth crossed the room and leaned on a table not far from her chair, +looking down at her with a look from which she shrank. + +"No," he said, "I don't think it's unexpected; you knew what I meant +from the beginning." + +This was, as a matter of fact, correct, but the color grew plainer in +Eleanor's cheek. She had known exactly what her companion's advances +were worth, and at times it had cost her a strenuous effort to hold her +anger in check. It was, however, characteristic of her that she had made +the effort. + +"After that, I think it would save both of us trouble if you understood +once for all that I will not go," she said. + +Carnforth laughed harshly, while his face flushed with ill-suppressed +passion. "Pshaw! you don't mean it. For several months you have led me +on, and now that I'm yours altogether, I'm not going to California +without you. You know that, too; you have to go." + +"You have had your answer," and Eleanor rose and faced him with +portentous quietness. "Don't make me say anything more." + +The man moved forward suddenly, and laid a hot grasp on her wrist. There +was as yet no dismay in his face, and it was very evident that he would +not believe her. There were excuses for him, and the fact that it was so +roused the girl, who remembered what her part had been, to almost +uncontrollable anger. + +"You are going to say that you are willing and coming with me, if I have +to make you," he said fiercely. "I mean just that, and I am not afraid +of you, though at times one can see something in your eyes that would +scare off most men. It's there now, but it's one of the things that make +me want you. Eleanor, put an end to this. You know you have me +altogether--isn't that enough? Do you want to drive me mad?" + +He stopped a moment, and broke into a harsh laugh as the girl, with a +strength he had not looked for, shook off his grasp. "Oh," he said, "it +seems I've gone on too fast. I'll fix about the wedding soon as I break +with Merril." + +There was certainly something in Eleanor Wheelock's eyes just then that +few people would have cared to face. The vindictive hatred she bore +Merril had for the time being driven every womanly attribute out of her, +but she remembered how she had loathed this man's advances and endured +them. To carry out her purpose she would, indeed, have stooped to +anything, for her hatred had possessed her wholly and altogether. Now it +was momentarily turned on her companion. + +"It would have been wiser if you had made that clear first," she said, +with a slow incisiveness that made the words cut like the lash of a +whip. "Still, I suppose, the offer is generous, in view of the trouble +you would very probably bring on yourself by attempting to carry it +out." + +The man appeared staggered for a moment, but he recovered himself. + +"Well," he said, with a little forceful gesture, "there are parts of my +record I can't boast about, but there are points on which you'd go 'way +beyond me. That, I guess, is what got hold of me and won't let me go. By +the Lord, Eleanor, nothing would be impossible to you and me if we +pulled together." + +"That will never happen," said the girl, still with a very significant +quietness. "Don't force me to speak too plainly." + +Carnforth appeared bewildered, for at last he was compelled to recognize +that she meant what she said, but there was anger in his eyes. + +"Well," he said stupidly, "what in the name of wonder did you want? You +know you led me on." + +"Perhaps I did. Now that I know what you are, I tell you to go. Had you +been any other man I might have felt some slight compunction, or, at +least, a little kindliness toward you. As it is, I am only longing to +shake off the contamination you have brought upon me." + +She broke off with a little gesture of relief, and moving toward the +window flung the shutters back. + +"They have finished chopping, and I hear the ox-team in the bush," she +said. "Forster will be here in a minute or two." + +Carnforth stood still, irresolute, though his face was darkly flushed; +and Eleanor felt the silence become oppressive as she wondered whether +the rancher would come back to the house or lead his team on into the +bush. Then the trample of the slowly moving oxen's feet apparently +reached her companion, for with a little abrupt movement he took up his +wide hat from the table. He waited a few moments, however, crumpling the +brim of it in one hand, while Eleanor was conscious that her heart was +beating unpleasantly fast as she watched for the first sign of Forster +or his hired man among the dark fir-trunks. At last she heard her +companion move toward the door, and when it swung to behind him she drew +in her breath with a gasp of relief. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +JORDAN'S SCHEME + + +Carnforth had been gone some twenty minutes when Eleanor stood among the +orchard grass, from which the ranks of blackened fir-stumps rose outside +the ranch. She had recovered her composure, and was looking toward the +dusty road which wound, a sinuous white ribbon, between the somber firs. +Jordan, whom she had not expected to see just then, was walking along it +with Forster, and, since it was evident that he must have met Carnforth, +she was wondering, with a somewhat natural shrinking from doing so, how +far it would be necessary to take him into her confidence. This, as she +recognized, must be done eventually; but she was not sure that her +legitimate lover would be in a mood to understand or appreciate her +course of action when fresh from a meeting with the one she had +discarded. Jordan had laid very little restraint upon her, but he was, +after all, human and had a temper. + +She lost sight of the two men for a few minutes when they passed behind +a great colonnade of fir-trunks that partly obscured her view of the +road, but she could see them plainly when they emerged again from the +shadow. Instead of turning toward the house they came toward her, and +there was, she noticed, a curious red mark on Jordan's cheek, as well as +a broad smear of dust on his soft hat, which appeared somewhat crushed. +His attire was also disordered, and his face was darker in color than +usual. Forster, who walked a pace or two behind him, because the path +through the grass was narrow, also appeared disturbed in mind, and when +they stopped close by the girl it was he who spoke first. + +"I had gone down the road to see whether there was any sign of Mrs. +Forster when I came upon Mr. Jordan; and, considering how he was +engaged, it is perhaps fortunate that I did," he said. "Although it is +not exactly my business, I can't help fancying that you have something +to say to him." + +He went on, but he had said enough to leave Eleanor with a tolerably +accurate notion of what had happened, and to make it clear that he was +not altogether pleased. The rancher and his wife were easy-going, kindly +people, with liberal views, but it was evident that their toleration +would not cover everything. Then she turned to Jordan, who stood looking +at her steadily with a certain hardness in his face, and the red mark +showing very plainly on his cheek. + +"Well," she said, "how did you get here?" + +"On my feet," said Jordan. "There was little to do this afternoon in the +city, and two or three things were worrying me. It struck me that I'd +walk it off, and I'm glad I did." + +"Ah!" said Eleanor, "won't you go on a little?'" + +"It's what I mean to do. I met Carnforth driving away from here, and +since the fact that he has been here quite often has been troubling me +lately, I invited him to pull up right away. When he didn't do it I +managed to get hold of the horses' heads, and went right across the road +with them. Still, I stopped the team, and I was getting up to talk to +Carnforth when Forster came along. I hated to see him then." + +Somewhat to his astonishment, Eleanor laughed softly. "Forster persuaded +you to abandon the--discussion?" + +"He did. If there's a split up the back of my jacket, as I believe there +is, he made it. Anyway, he wasn't quite pleased, and I don't blame him. +He and his wife have let you do 'most whatever you like, but, after all, +you couldn't expect them to put up with everything." + +"Or expect too much from you? You feel you have borne a good deal, +Charley? Well, Forster was right in one respect. We have something to +say to each other, and it may take a little time. There is a big fir he +has just chopped yonder." + +She walked slowly toward the fallen tree, and seated herself on a great +branch before she turned to the man who was about to take a place beside +her. + +"No," she said, "you can stand there, Charley, where I can see you. To +commence with, how much confidence have you in me?" + +"All that a man could have;" and there was no doubt about Jordan's +sincerity. "Still, I don't like Carnforth. He's not fit for you to talk +to, and I can't have him coming here. In fact, I'll see that he doesn't. +I've wanted to say this for quite a while, but it would have pleased me +better to say it first to him. That's one reason why I feel it's +particularly unfortunate Forster didn't stay away a minute or two +longer." + +A faint tinge of color crept into Eleanor's cheek, but she looked at him +with a smile. + +"Charley," she said, "I am a little sorry too that Forster came along +when he did. I don't know that it's what every girl would say, but I +think if you had thrashed that man to within an inch of his life it +would have pleased me." + +She stopped for a moment, and the color grew a trifle plainer in her +face, though there was no wavering in her gaze. "I want you to +understand that I knew just what that man was--and still I led him on. +It is a little hard to speak of; but one has to be honest, and when it +is necessary I think both of us can face an unpleasant thing. Well, I +encouraged him because I couldn't see how I was to attain my object any +other way. Still, you mustn't suppose it cost me nothing. It hurt all +the time--hurt me horribly--and now I almost feel that I shall never +shake off the contamination." + +The man, who did not know yet what her purpose was, realized that the +task she had undertaken must have heavily taxed her strength and +courage. He knew that she was vindictive, and one who was not addicted +to counting the cost, but he also knew that there was a certain +Puritanical pride in her which must have rendered the part she had +played almost insufferably repulsive. His face burned as he thought of +it, and he drew in his breath with a curious little gasp while he gazed +at her with a look in his eyes that sent a thrill of dismay through her. + +"Oh!" she said, "don't ask, Charley. I couldn't bear that from you. I--I +kept him at a due distance all the time." + +Jordan's tense face relaxed. "I can't forgive Forster for coming along +when he did," he said. "Eleanor, you have courage enough for anything. +In one way, it isn't natural." + +"You have felt that now and then?" + +The man said nothing for almost a minute, for he was still a little +shaken by what she had told him. It had roused him to fierce resentment +and brought the blood to his face, but he now recognized that there were +respects in which the momentary dismay of which he had been sensible was +groundless. She had given him sympathy and encouragement freely, and at +times had shown him a certain half-reserved tenderness, but very little +more, and he felt that it should have been quite clear to him that she +had unbent no further toward the stranger. Then he straightened himself +as he looked at her. + +"My dear," he said, "I needn't tell you there is nobody on this earth I +would place beside you." + +Eleanor smiled wistfully. "Ah!" she said, "I like to hear you say that, +though it is, of course, foolish of you; and perhaps I shall change and +be gentler and more like other women some day. Still, that wouldn't be +advisable just now. We must wait, and in the meanwhile there are other +things to think of. Listen for a minute, and you will understand why I +led Carnforth on. He is, of course, never coming here again." + +She told him quietly all she had heard respecting Merril's affairs, and +when at last she stopped, Jordan made an abrupt gesture. + +"It's a pity I can't act upon what you have told me," he said. + +"You can't act upon it?" + +"No," said Jordan firmly. "You should never have done it--it cost you +too much. Oh, I know the shame and humiliation it must have brought you. +You can't make things like these counters in a business deal." + +"You must;" and Eleanor's eyes grew suddenly hard again. "Is all I have +gained by doing what I loathed to be thrown away? Listen, Charley. I +loved my father, and looked up to him until Merril laid a trap for him. +Then he went downhill, and I had to watch his courage and control being +sapped away. He lost it all, and his manhood, too, and died crazed with +rank whisky." + +She rose, and stood very straight, pale in face and quivering a little. +"Could anything ever drive out the memory of that horrible night? You +could hardly bear what had to be done, and you can fancy what it must +have been to me--who loved him. Can I forgive the man who brought that +on him?" + +Jordan shivered a little with pity and horror, as the scene in the room +where the burned man gasped out his life in an extremity of pain rose up +before him. Then he was conscious that Eleanor had recovered herself and +was looking at him steadily. + +"Charley," she said, "you must stand by me in this, or go away and never +speak to me again. There is no alternative. Only support me now, and +afterward I will obey you for the rest of our lives." + +The man realized that she meant it, and though it cost him an effort, he +made a sign of resignation. + +"Then," he said, "it must be as you wish. And I guess, after what you +have told me, we hold Merril in our hand. That is, if Jimmy and I can do +our part." + +Both of them had felt the tension, and now that it had slackened they +said nothing for several minutes as they walked toward the house. Then +Eleanor turned to her companion. + +"I am glad I can depend on you," she said. "When the pinch comes Jimmy +will fail us." + +"Jimmy," said Jordan quietly, "is your brother as well as my friend." + +"Ah!" said Eleanor, "don't misunderstand. Jimmy would flinch from +nothing on a steamer's bridge. Still, it isn't nerve of that kind that +will be needed, and Miss Merril has a hold on him." + +Jordan saw the faint sparkle in her eyes. "After all, you can't hold the +girl responsible for her father?" + +"I do," said Eleanor, with a curious bitter smile. "At least, I would +keep her away from Jimmy." + +Jordan said nothing, but there was trouble in his face, for he had seen +how things were going, and though he was Eleanor's lover he was Jimmy's +friend. When they reached the ranch they found that Mrs. Forster had +come back, and she glanced at Jordan with a smile in her eyes when he +crossed the room. + +"Do you know that you have split your jacket up the back?" she asked. + +Jordan looked reproachfully at Forster. "Well," he said, "I almost think +that your husband does." + +"Then he will lend you another one while I sew it for you." + +"One would fancy that Eleanor would prefer to do it," said the rancher +dryly. + +His wife pursed up her face. "It is possible that she may bring herself +to do such things by and by. Still, I can't quite imagine Eleanor +quietly sitting down and mending a man's clothes." + +Jordan laughed. "It's quite likely that she'll have to. It depends on +how the _Shasta_ pleases the miners. Forster, I'll trouble you to lend +me a jacket. I guess you owe it to me." + +Forster promised to get him the garment, and when they went away +together his wife asked Eleanor a plain question or two. It was some +time before she said anything to her husband about that interview, but +she appeared somewhat thoughtful until supper was brought in. Shortly +after it was over Jordan, who borrowed a horse from Forster, rode away, +and the rancher, who was sitting on the veranda, smiled at his wife when +Eleanor walked back from the slip-rails toward the house. + +"Well," he said reflectively, "though I'm rather fond of Miss Wheelock, +I can't help thinking that Jordan is an unusually courageous man. It is +fortunate that he is so, considering everything." + +Mrs. Forster flashed a keen glance at him, but it said a good deal for +her capability of keeping a promise that she contented herself with a +simple question. + +"Why?" she asked. + +"He expects to marry her," said Forster dryly. + +In the meanwhile Jordan was riding down the dusty road, and thinking out +a scheme which, though he had been reluctant to adopt it in the first +case, was now commencing to compel his attention. As the result of this, +he spent most of the evening in certain second-rate saloons where +sailormen and wharf-hands congregated, which, though he had been well +acquainted with such places in his struggling days, was a thing he had +not done for several years. However, he came across one or two men there +who, while they were probably not aware of it, gave him a little useful +information, and he had a project in his mind when he went on board the +_Shasta_ on the following morning. She was then in the hands of the +ship-carpenters, for, although the treasure-seekers in their haste to +reach the auriferous north would if necessary have gone in a canoe, it +was evident that the _Shasta_ Company must offer them at least some kind +of shelter in view of the opposition of larger vessels. Jordan also knew +that niggardliness is not always profitable, and the new passenger deck +that was being laid along the beams was well planned and comfortable. He +drew Jimmy into the room beneath the bridge, and taking out his +cigar-case laid it on the table. + +"Take one. We have got to talk," he said. "Now, the _Shasta_'s out after +money, and it 'most seems to me that Merril is going to have an +opportunity for providing some of it. You don't know any reason why you +shouldn't get what he screwed out of your father, and, perhaps, a little +more, out of him?" + +"No," said Jimmy grimly, though there was a shadow on his face; "I could +find a certain pleasure in making him feel the screw in turn." + +"Then I'll show you how it can be done. But first of all we'll go back a +little. Merril has had to make the road to his pulp-mill, and it's +costing him and the other men a lot of money. His particular share is +quite a big one. Then he's saddled with an old-type steamer that can't +be run economically, and, as you know, we'll have to come down in +freight and passage rates now that the other people are putting on new +boats. Besides, Carnforth, who was to take a big share in the concern, +is going to leave him." + +"How do you know that?" + +Jordan hesitated for a moment. "Well," he said, "I do, and that's about +all I mean to tell you. Anyway, I've cause for believing that Merril is +tightly fixed for money, and can't lay his hands on it. There are +reasons why he couldn't let up on the pulp-mill if he wanted. Still, +there is one way he could get the money, and that is by making the +underwriters, who hold the steamboat covered, provide it." + +"Ah!" said Jimmy, "it wouldn't be very difficult either." + +His companion smiled dryly. "I have a notion how she is insured, and, so +far as I can gather, it's under an economical policy. Underwriters face +total constructive loss, but don't stand in for minor damage or salvage. +Well, I've ground for believing the thing is to be done by the engineer, +and he is a man who has to do just what Merril tells him. You and +Fleming could figure out how he will probably manage. But one thing is +clear: when that steamboat's engines give out you have got to be +somewhere round to salve her." + +"You are sure of this?" asked Jimmy. "What makes you so?" + +Jordan did not answer him for a moment, and once more there was +hesitation in his manner. + +"Well," he said, "that is my affair, and I've been worrying over it +quite a while now. Anyway, I think it's a sure thing." + +"What do you purpose if I salve that steamer and we find anything wrong +on board her?" + +"In that case I'm not sure the salvage will content the _Shasta_ +Company. It's admissible to break your trading opponent. As I tried to +show you, Merril's tightly fixed, and while the man's quite clever +enough to wriggle loose, it will be our business to see that he +doesn't." + +Jimmy sat still for a few moments with trouble in his face, which was +hard and grim, until his comrade turned to him again. + +"Jimmy," he said quietly, "that man had no pity on your father. The +thing has to be done, and the _Shasta_ Company stood by you. We have got +to have that salvage, and you're not going to go back on us now." + +Jimmy stood up and straightened himself in a curious slow fashion. "No," +he said, "I'm with you. As you say, the thing has to be done--and it +naturally falls to me. Well, though it'll probably cost me a good deal, +I'm ready. When do you expect him to try it?" + +"I don't quite know--you couldn't expect me to. Still, I should figure +it won't be until she goes north, after the lay-off, in spring. Guess +he'll hold on as long as he can. Freights won't drop much before then." + +He rose and laid his hand on his comrade's shoulder as they went out. "I +think I understand how you are fixed, but you have to face it," he went +on. "There's another thing I want to mention. If you can, get hold of +Merril's engineer, and scare him into some admission." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +DISABLED ENGINES + + +Spring had come, and all down the wild West Coast the tall pines had +shaken off their load of snow and the rivers were thundering in their +misty canyons, but there was very little sign of it at sea when one +bitter morning a cluster of deeply bronzed men hung about the +_Adelaide_'s engine-room skylights. They were lean and somewhat grim of +face, as well as ragged and suggestively spare of frame, for they had +borne all that man may bear and live through during the winter they had +spent in the ice-bound wilderness. Now they were going back to +civilization with many ounces of gold, and papers relating to auriferous +claims, to invoke the aid of capital before they once more turned their +faces toward the frozen north. + +It was noticeable that although they were of widely different birth and +upbringing there was the same stamp which revealed itself in a certain +quietness of manner and steadiness of gaze upon them all, for these were +the pick of the mining community, men who had grappled with the +wilderness in its most savage moods long before they blazed a new trail +south from the wilds of the Yukon. They had proved their manhood by +coming back at all, for that winter the unfit had died. Still, though +they had endured things beyond the comprehension of the average city +man, they were glad of the shelter of the tall skylights, because the +_Adelaide_'s flush deck was swept by a stinging wind and little showers +of bitter spray blew all over it. She was rolling viciously across a +waste of gray-blue sea which was flecked by livid froth, and her +mastheads swung in a wide sweep athwart a sky of curious dingy blue. +There was no warmth anywhere in the picture, and apparently very little +light; but for all that, every sea stood out from its fellows, and those +back in the clear distance were etched upon the indented horizon with +harsh distinctness. One of the men shook his head as he gazed at them. + +"They look like the pines on the ridge did the day the blizzard struck +us down on the Assiniboia Creek," he said. "It was a full-powered one. +The boys who'd camped ahead of us were frozen stiff by morning. The two +we scraped the snow off were sitting there like statues, and we didn't +worry 'bout the others. There was ten feet over them, anyway. I've no +use for this kind of weather." + +One of his companions swept his glance astern toward the smear of smoke +on the serrated skyline, which was blotted out next moment when the +_Adelaide_ swung her stern aloft. + +"If you're right in your figuring, I'm glad I came along in this boat," +he said. "Anyway, she's bigger, though I 'most took my berth in the +_Shasta_. Seems to me we're quite a long while getting away from her." + +The others agreed with him, for they had seen that smear of smoke on +the skyline since early morning. Then they turned to watch the engineer, +who came out of a door close by, and glanced up to weather, blinking in +the bitter wind. He was a big loosely-built man in dungarees, with the +pallid face of one accustomed to the half-light and heat of the +engine-room, but in his case it was also unhealthily puffy. Then he +slouched right aft, and stood still again looking down at the dial of +the taffrail log which records the distance run, while he fumbled in a +curious aimless fashion with the blackened rag in his hand. + +"That," said one of the miners, "is a man I'm no way stuck on. Now, +you'll most times find hard grit in an engineer, but this one kind of +strikes me as feeling that there was something after him he was scared +of." + +"Well," said one of the others reflectively, "it's not an uncommon +thing. There was a man down on the flat where we struck it who had a +kind of notion that there were three big timber wolves on his trail. +Kept his rifle clean with the magazine ram full for them, but one night +they got him. A sure thing. Tom was there." + +The man at whom he glanced nodded. "Now and then I wish I hadn't been," +he said. "Lister was sitting very sick beside his fire that night. Said +he heard those wolves pattering in the bush--there were thick pines all +round us--'most made me think I did." + +"Well?" said one of his companions. + +The miner made a little expressive grimace. "Longest night I ever put +in. Sat there and kept them off him. Anyway, I tried, but he was dead at +sun-up." + +None of the others showed any astonishment, and the man who had asked +the question glanced back toward the engineer. + +"Guess the man who runs this steamboat should be getting rich by the way +they strike you for a drink," he said. "I'm bringing down 'most two +hundred ounces, but I wouldn't like to fill that engineer up at the +tariff." + +"Never saw him making a traverse, anyway. He walks quite straight," said +a comrade. + +"Well," said the other, "I've seen his eyes." + +Just then the man they were discussing turned toward the bridge, from +which the skipper was beckoning him. A minute or two later they went +into the room beneath it, and the engineer sat down looking at the man +in front of him with narrow, half-open eyes. The latter was young and +spruce in trim uniform, a man of no great education, who had a favorable +opinion of himself. + +"Can't you shove her along a little faster, Robertson?" he said. "We'll +be thirty knots behind our usual run at noon." + +"No," said the engineer, in a curious listless drawl. "I've been letting +the revolutions down. That high-pressure piston's getting on my nerves +again." + +"Shouldn't have thought you had any worth speaking of," said the +skipper, with a quick sign of impatience. "You give one the impression +that they've gone to pieces long ago. Take a drink, and tone them up." + +He flung a bottle on the table, and watched his companion's long greasy +fingers fumble at it with a look of disgust. Robertson half-filled his +glass with the yellow spirit, and drained it with slow enjoyment. Then +he breathed hard, and, leaning his elbows on the table, looked at the +skipper heavily. + +"Well," he said, "you want something?" + +"I do," said the skipper, and taking down a chart unrolled one part of +it. "I want to shake her up until we get away from the _Shasta_, for one +thing. Wheelock has been hanging on to us as far as his boat's speed +will allow it the last two or three runs. I can't quite figure what he's +after." + +Robertson looked almost startled for a moment as though an unpleasant +thought had occurred to him, but his heavy, puffy face sank into its +usual lethargicness again. + +"Wants to scoop your passengers. Done it once or twice," he said. +"Well?" + +"For another thing, I want to get round this nest of islands before the +breeze that's brewing comes down on us. It will be a snorter. If I were +surer of your--old engines, I'd try the inside passage, though the tides +run strong. Now, if I head her up well clear of the islands I'm throwing +miles away, and letting the _Shasta_ in ahead of me. Wheelock has +apparently an engineer who will stand by him." + +Again a curious furtive look that suggested uneasiness crept into +Robertson's eyes. + +"He's always just ahead or just astern, and we've altered our sailing +bill twice," he said, as if communing with himself. + +"I guess you dropped on the reason. Anyway, if you can give me a little +more steam, we'll be clear of this unhallowed conglomeration of reefs +and tides by this time to-morrow. If it's necessary, you can run her +easier afterward." + +Robertson laid a grimy finger on the chart. "She'll be feeling the +indraught now--it's running ebb," he said. "If I can read the weather, +you'll soon have the breeze strong on your starboard bow." + +The skipper flung a swift glance at him, in which there was a trace of +astonishment. "How'd you come to know just where she is?" + +"Taffrail log," said Robertson. "I generally run a rough reckoning in my +head. Well, you want another knot or two out of her until you have the +big bight to lee of you? See what I can do, though I'd sooner take a +knot off her. That high-press piston's worrying me." + +He jerked himself heavily to his feet, and when he shambled out of the +room the skipper, who made a little gesture of relief, took up his +dividers and laid their points on the chart. One of them rested in the +middle of the mark left by the engineer's greasy finger. After that he +rolled the chart up and stowed it away from the others in a drawer +beneath his berth, and the look of annoyance in his face had its +significance. He did not like his engineer, and although he had no +particular reason for distrusting him he remembered that when the latter +had found it necessary to stop his engines at sea, as he had done once +or twice during the last trip or two, it had generally been in the last +spot a nervous skipper would have desired. Then he went out, and climbed +to his bridge. + +"You can head her out two points more to westward," he said to the +mate. + +"Very good!" said the latter. "Still, we decided that the course she was +on would keep her off the land." + +"We did," said the skipper dryly. "Anyway, you'll head her out. We're +going to have a wicked breeze from the west before this time to-night." + +In the meanwhile the second engineer was leaning out from a slippery +platform that swung and slanted as the _Adelaide_ lurched over the long +gray seas, listening to the dull pounding of the high-pressure engine. +His face was as near as he could get it to the big cylinder, and after +glancing at a little glass tube he looked down at a man with a tallow +swab who clung to the iron ladder beneath him. + +"I don't like the way she's slamming, Jake," he said. "There's mighty +little oil going into her, either. Who's been throttling up the feed?" + +"The chief," said the man on the ladder. "He was slinging it red-hot at +Charley 'bout heaving oil away. Guess I'd have fed it to her by the +gallon after seeing that new piston-ring sprung on." + +The second pursed up his face, for there is an etiquette in these +affairs at sea which the man, who had come there fresh from a sawmill, +apparently did not understand. "Well," he said, "I guess Mr. Robertson +bossed the putting in of that ring, and he knows his business. Anyway, +if he tells you you will run her dry." + +Then a big, loosely-hung figure came shambling down the ladder, and the +second withdrew. However, he stood among the columns below, and watched +his superior stop and glance at the tube through which the oil flowed +before he went about his work again. Robertson was apparently +satisfied, and after slouching round the engine-room and unscrewing a +little further the throttle valve which turns steam on to the engines, +he crawled back to his greasy room. He sloughed off his jacket and +boots, and drawing a bottle from beneath the mattress of his bunk poured +himself a stiff drink of whisky before he stretched himself out. + +He slept soundly, and did not hear the roar of the engines below him +when the _Adelaide_ flung her stern out and the lifted screw whirred +madly in the air. The thud of green water on her deck passed unheeded +too, though the second heard it as he watched the maze of clanking, +banging steel, until the young third relieved him. The latter came down +dripping, and shook a little shower of brine off him when he stopped +beside his superior. + +"It's blowing quite fresh, and she seems to be plugging it mighty hard +since you shook her up," he said. "The chief must have given up worrying +about that piston, or he wouldn't have had you take the extra knot or +two out of her." + +"Keep your eye on the--thing," said the second. "It's going to make us +trouble yet. If I were boss of this job, I'd slow her down right now +instead of pressing her." + +He went up and also went to sleep, and, since the telegraph stood at +full-speed ahead, the young third clung to a greasy rail, all eyes and +ears, with one hand on the gear that would throttle down the steam, +while the rolling grew more vicious and the plunges steeper. Quick as he +was, there was a thunderous clamor every now and then as the big +compound engines, which were twice the size of those of a modern boat +of equal tonnage, ran away, and he commenced to long for the close of +his watch while the perspiration dripped from him. He had not been very +long at sea, and there is a responsibility upon the man on watch when +the whirring screw swings clear. At last there was a heavier plunge than +usual, and, though the third did all he could, the big engines span and +clamored furiously as the stern went up. Then there was a harsh, +grinding scream, and a crash. After that came sudden stillness, and the +third frantically span the wheel that cut off the steam, while grimy men +went sliding and floundering over the slippery plates and platforms +toward the high-pressure engine. + +The sudden portentous silence and the roar of blown-off steam that +followed it roused every man on board the ship, and Robertson crawled +sluggishly out of his berth. He had reasons for knowing exactly what had +happened, and he showed no sign of haste, but there was a furtive look +in his eyes, and he sat on the ledge of the bunk shivering a little +while he thrust his hand beneath the mattress again. He felt that he +needed bracing, for he had once spent several anxious hours in a +half-swamped lifeboat after the steamer to which it belonged had gone +ashore, and he was aware that somebody is usually held accountable for +mishaps at sea. There was not very much left in the whiskey-bottle when +he thrust it out of sight again, and shambled out of his room. The +_Adelaide_ was rolling viciously, and when he reached the engine-room he +came near falling down the slippery ladder. Indeed, most men would have +gone down it headlong if they had braced themselves as he had done, but +habitual caution made him feel for a good hold, and he descended safely +to where his subordinates were clustered beneath the high-pressure +cylinder. Their faces showed tense and anxious in the flickering light +of the lamps which swung wildly as the steamer rolled, and the young +third engineer hastily related what had brought about the stoppage. + +"Rig the lifting tackles while she cools," said Robertson. "Get the +stud-nuts loose. We'll have the cover off soon as we can." + +Then he turned and saw, as he had partly expected, a quartermaster +standing just inside the door above him, and with a word or two to his +second he crawled back up the ladder and went with the man to the room +beneath the bridge. The young skipper who stood there with a furrowed +face regarded him grimly. + +"How long are you going to be before you start her again?" he asked. + +Robertson blinked at him with furtive, half-open eyes. "I don't quite +know--it's a heavy job. We have to heave the piston up," he said. +"Besides that, she has knocked things loose below." + +The skipper appeared to have some difficulty in restraining himself. + +"Unless you can get steam on her in the next few hours she'll be +breaking up by morning. The reefs to lee of us are not the kind of ones +I'd like to put a steamer ashore on, either." + +Then he took a bottle from a drawer with a little grimace of disgust, +for he remembered that skippers are comparatively plentiful, and the man +he could scarcely keep his hands off was for some reason apparently a +favorite with his employer. + +"Oh, take a drink, and hump yourself," he said. "I guess that's the only +thing to put a move on you." + +Robertson hesitated for a moment, for he realized that he had still a +part to play. Then it occurred to him that his companion might draw his +own conclusions as to his reasons for any unusual abstemiousness, and he +helped himself liberally. + +"Well," he said when he had drained his glass, "I'll be getting back +again. Do what I can--but it's a heavy job." + +He shuffled out, but his potations were commencing to have their effect, +and when he reached the top platform in the engine-room he felt +carefully for the rail that sloped as a guide to the ladder. It was as +usual greasy and Robertson's grip not particularly sure, while the +_Adelaide_ rolled wickedly to lee just then. As the result of it, her +engineer went down the ladder much as a sack of coal would have done, +and fell in a limp heap on the floor-plates with a red gash on his head. +The second stooped down and shook him before he turned to the other men. + +"Heave him on to the tool locker, one or two of you," he said. "We can't +pack him up to his room with this job in front of us. See if you can fix +that cut for him, Varney, and then go up and tell the skipper." + +A man went up the ladder, and the skipper, who sent an urgent message +back with him, turned to the little cluster of miners who were waiting +about his room. + +"Something wrong with the engines?" asked one. + +"There is," said the skipper, who knew his men and would not have +admitted to the ordinary run of passengers what he did to them. "It will +probably be some hours before they start again, and the shore's not very +far away to lee. If you feel inclined to lend a hand at getting sail on +her I guess it would be advisable." + +The miners were willing, and set about it cheerfully, though it was +blowing hard now and the long deck heaved and slanted under them. There +is very seldom an unnecessary man on board a steamer, and the +_Adelaide_'s mate was glad of a few extra strong arms just then. That +they were drenched with bitter spray and occasionally flung against +winch and bulwarks did not greatly trouble them. Things of that kind did +not count after facing the wild turmoil of northern rivers and living +through destroying hazes of blizzard-driven snow. So they got the canvas +on her, forestaysail, gaff-headed foresail, mainstaysail, and a +blackened three-cornered strip abaft the mainmast, and the skipper felt +a trifle easier when he found that he could steer her. She crawled +through the water at perhaps two knots an hour, dragging her idle screw, +but she also drove to leeward nearer the deadly reefs. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +UNDER COMPULSION + + +It was in the gray of the morning when Jimmy saw her, a dim patch of +hull and four strips of sail that heaved and dipped between the seas. He +also saw the faint loom of land behind her, and turned to Lindstrom, who +stood beside him, with a grim smile. + +"I think we can make our own terms to-day," he said. "She wouldn't be +there with those reefs to lee of her if her engines hadn't broken down. +Will you ask the bos'n to have a board ready and a brushful of white +lead?" + +Then he turned to the man in oilskins who held the steering wheel. "Hard +over. Run her right down on them." + +The _Shasta_'s bows came round, and the light was growing clearer when +she lay with engines stopped as close to windward of the _Adelaide_ as +Jimmy dared venture. The latter crawled ahead sluggishly, heaving her +bows up streaming out of the long seas that fell away beneath a high +wall of slanted iron hull until the blackened strips of sailcloth swung +wildly back again. Then her tall side sank down until the line of rail +was level with the brine. A couple of shapeless, oilskinned figures +clung to her slanted bridge with the spray whirling about them, and +ragged wisps of cloud drove fast across the low and dingy sky overhead. + +Jimmy watched her with eyes half-closed to keep the spray out, which had +a portentous glint in them. This was a moment for which he had waited +long months, and now his turn had come. If Jordan were right--and the +fact that the _Adelaide_ was there to leeward of him with engines +useless certainly suggested it--he had only to play his cards well and +deal the man who had ruined his father a crushing blow. He set his lips +tight as he remembered that when it fell the man's daughter must bear it +too, for he was bound by every honorable tie to do what he could for the +men who had entrusted him with the _Shasta_. That fact, he felt, must +stand first with him; but he was also a seaman, and could not stand by +while a costly vessel drove ashore as the result of an infamous +conspiracy. While he waited, grim-faced, with his wet hand clenched on +the telegraph, a string of flags fluttered up between the other +steamer's masts, and he laughed harshly as he turned to Lindstrom, who +had come up again with a brush and a strip of board. + +"That's quite plain without the code," he said. "Engines given out, and +he's open for a tow. Well, he shall have it, on conditions. Closer, +quartermaster. Lindstrom, hold the board for me." + +He painted his answer neatly in big bold letters, and when he had +pressed down his telegraph flung up an arm for a sign to the cluster of +very wet men below. + +"Look at this thing, and remember it," he shouted. "Hold it up before +you hang it out, Lindstrom." + +The mate did as he was bidden, and one or two of the men made a sign of +comprehension, for, as all on board share in salvage, they were keenly +interested too. Then the quartermaster pulled over his wheel, and the +_Shasta_ crept ahead a little with a message hung outside her bridge +rails. + +"Half your appraised value, or the court's award." + +There was no answer for several minutes, though the flags came +fluttering down, and then a thing happened that apparently strengthened +Jimmy's hand, which was, as he alone knew, a particularly strong one +already. A white streak appeared to leeward, perhaps two miles away +beneath the gray loom of land, and it was evident that the _Adelaide_'s +skipper knew it was the filmy spray flung up by crumbling breakers. Two +or three colored strips ran up between her masts again, and the hard +smile crept back into Jimmy's eyes. + +"Seems to fancy he'll get off easier through the court," he said to +Lindstrom. "Well, he's wrong; but the first thing is to get their rope +on board. Strip your lifeboat, and get her clear." + +Lindstrom bustled down the ladder, and a handful of drenched men set +about getting the boat out. It was not an easy task, for there were +times when the _Shasta_ rolled her rail in, and the boat swung in upon +her deck as often as over the sea. Then she drove against the streaming +plates with a crash, and a big gray comber that swept round the +_Shasta_'s stern half-filled her as they lowered her with a run, but the +men dropped into her, and she reeled clear with the oars splashing any +way on the back of the next one. Jimmy set his lips as he watched her, +and pressing down his telegraph sent the _Shasta_ half-speed ahead in a +big sweep, until she came up steaming dead slow once more under the +_Adelaide_'s lee. He waited there ten anxious minutes until the boat +drove down on him bringing a line with her. + +Somehow they hove her in not greatly damaged, and the rattling winch +afterward hauled a big steel hawser across; but the land was clearly +visible, a dark streak of rock that rose above a haze of flying spray, +when Jimmy rang for full-speed again. He knew by the chart that it was +an island of some extent with a wide sound between it and the next one +where he might find shelter, provided he could hold the _Adelaide_ off +the rocks that long. This, however, appeared very doubtful in the +meanwhile, for it was evident that the larger vessel was rapidly +dragging him to leeward. It was simply a question whether she would +drive ashore before he towed her around the point he could dimly see on +the contracted horizon, but it was a somewhat momentous one. If he +failed, the sea that spouted on the shoals would make short work of her. + +It became evident that there was a capable helmsman at the _Adelaide_'s +wheel, for she crawled along well in line astern, with but little of the +wild sheering from the course which in such cases is apt to part the +stoutest hawser; but Jimmy grew tensely anxious as the next hour slipped +by. The beach was rapidly growing plainer, but the head beyond which +there was shelter was still apparently a long way off, and it was not an +inviting prospect that unrolled itself to lee. The gray rock, smeared by +the whiteness of flung-up spray, dropped sharply to the wide line of +tumbling foam, and above it low-flying shreds of cloud blurred the wisps +of climbing trees. Still, the head was rising all the time, and the +_Shasta_'s engines pounding steadily, except when her screw shot clear, +as it frequently did. Another hour went by, and the tension grew worse +to bear when a jagged and fissured slope of rock rose under their +lee-bow scarcely half a mile away. Beyond it stretched a dim vista of +more rock and reedy pines that shut in the sound. + +"We could swing her in if there were no tide," said Jimmy harshly. "As +it is, the stream is setting us down on the point together, but I'll +hold on until she strikes. There's no use worrying Fleming. He can't do +any more." + +Lindstrom, who glanced at the streak of flame in the dingy cloud that +blew down from the slanted funnel, made a sign of concurrence, and Jimmy +gripped the bridge rails hard as he gazed ahead. He could see the white +smear of tideway that streamed around the head, and the gray wall of +rock seemed forging back toward him through the midst of it. The sea +hurled itself against its feet and crumbled into a white spouting and +streaky wisps of foam that the stream swept away. Then he signed to the +quartermaster, and gripping the whistle-lanyard flung out a sonorous +blast of warning. + +The _Shasta_'s bows swung seaward a little further, and both vessels +swept up the tideway toward the deadly slope of stone. It crept a trifle +aft from the lee-bow while a narrow strip of water opened up ahead, and +then Jimmy held his breath as the _Adelaide_ took a sheer. She swung off +at a tangent, rolling until a great slanted slope of rusty iron was +clear on that side of her, while the _Shasta_'s poop was held down by +the strain on the hawser. A sea smote her on the weather side and veiled +her in a cloud of flying spray, but Jimmy could dimly see a man +flounder aft up to his knees in water with an axe on his shoulder. It +was not the instrument an engineer would have chosen for cutting hard +steel wire, but the axe is wonderfully effective in the hands of a +Canadian, and the strain would part the rope if one strand were nicked. +This was also in accordance with Lindstrom's instructions, but Jimmy +flung up a restraining hand. + +"Hold on!" He hurled his voice through hollowed hands. "Drop the--thing! +If we can't swing her clear we're going ashore with her." + +He forgot what he owed the _Shasta_ Company and what Anthea Merril had +said to him, for the primitive man had come uppermost under the stress +of conflict. Twining his hands in the whistle-lanyard, he hurled out a +great blast that the rocks flung back through the turmoil of the tide, +and then once more gripped the bridge rails hard, standing rigidly +still, with grim wet face and a light in his eyes. For two more minutes +the issue hung in the balance, and then, while a wider gap of water +opened up ahead, the _Adelaide_ swung back astern. In a few moments +there was a hoarse, exultant clamor from both vessels, and the +froth-swept rock slid away behind her. In front lay a stretch of less +troubled water. Half an hour later the _Shasta_ came around again in a +big sweep, and when the anchors went down the two vessels lay rolling +uneasily in comparative shelter. + +Another hour had passed when Jimmy went off in the lifeboat, and was +greeted by a cluster of bronzed men who stood about the _Adelaide_'s +gangway and insisted on shaking hands with him. Some of them also +pounded his shoulders with hard fists, and though none of them +expressed themselves very artistically, Jimmy understood what was +implied by the offers of whisky that were thrust upon him. The genuine +prospector, the man who, as they say in that country, gets there when he +takes the gold-trail, is as a matter of fact usually a somewhat +abstemious person and particular as to whom he drinks with; but these +miners had made the _Shasta_'s commander one of them and presented him +with the freedom of the guild. It was in some respects as great a cause +for gratification as if he had been made companion of an ancient order, +for no man is admitted to that one who cannot prove that he possesses, +among other qualifications, high courage and stubborn endurance. Their +codes are not nicely formulated in the frozen wastes and the silent +woods of the north, but it is as a rule the great primitive essentials +that advance a man in his comrades' estimation there. Jimmy, however, +waved the miners back. + +"It ought to be quite clear, boys, that I can't drink with you all, +especially as I've business with the skipper," he said. "Anyway, I'm +pleased to feel I have your good-will." + +They still hovered about him until the _Adelaide_'s skipper drew him +into his room, and gravely shook hands with him. + +"It's not often boys of their kind make a fuss over any one, but in this +case the thing's quite natural," he said. "I want to say first of all +that we're much obliged." + +Then he emptied the contents of a locker on the table, and they included +a cigar-case and a couple of glasses, which he filled. "Well, in one +way, you made a hard bargain with us, but I'm not going to complain of +that. It was made, and, though I felt tolerably sure we were both going +up on the head yonder, you carried it out. We owe you a little for +hanging on to us." + +Jimmy, who sat down and took a cigar, regarded him thoughtfully. The man +was, he fancied, opinionated and somewhat assertive; but there was +something in his manner which suggested that he was honest, and +therefore likely to resent having been unwittingly made Merril's +accomplice. Jimmy was far from being a genius, but like a good many +other quiet men whose conversation contains no hint of brilliancy, he +was at least as far from being a fool. + +"How did you come to be where you were when we fell in with you?" he +asked. + +"That is very much the same thing as I meant to ask you." + +"Well," said Jimmy dryly, "I can account for it; but I'll hear what +happened to you first." + +His companion told him, and Jimmy, who watched him closely, made up his +mind as to the course he should adopt. "Has it struck you that your +engines couldn't well have given out at a more inconvenient time?" he +asked. + +"It naturally has;" and the skipper's disgust and bitterness against his +engineer were stronger than his prudence. "Still, what could you expect +with a whisky-tank of the kind I've got in charge below? The thing has +happened before." + +"When there was a reef or a shoal close to lee?" + +The sudden change in his companion's expression had its significance, +and Jimmy smiled suggestively. "Now you were a little astonished to see +me turn up just when I was wanted, and you have probably noticed that I +have been on your trail lately? Well, supposing we put the two together, +what do you make of it?" + +It had been little more than a chance shot, for Jimmy had clearly +recognized that there was a certain probability of Merril's skipper +having acted in collusion with him; but it reached its mark. His +companion's face flushed darkly, and he laid a clenched hand on the +table. + +"Now," he said sharply, "you have got to talk quite straight." + +"I think I have done so. Do you suppose I should have lost a day or two +every now and then and gone to sea before I was quite ready to keep +close on your track, without a reason?" + +Jimmy's last uncertainty vanished as he watched his companion, and he +saw that the course he had taken was fully warranted. Merril, it was +evident, had considered it safer not to tamper with his skipper, perhaps +because he shrank from giving two men a hold on him when the thing could +be done by one who was in all probability to some extent already in his +hands. In any case, the skipper's face was hard with vindictiveness, and +a very unpleasant look crept into his eyes. He was young and +opinionated, and he saw the pitfall that had been dug for him. + +"I guess you're right," he said hoarsely. "It's not the first time my +engineer has tried it. He and the other--hog would have broken me." + +"It's scarcely likely they could have blamed--you--at the inquiry. In +fact, I fancy Merril would have liked you held clear. It would have made +the thing look straighter." + +The skipper's laugh was very grim. "It wouldn't have counted if they +hadn't. One thing would have been certain--I was in command, and that +would have been quite enough to stop my getting another steamer. It's +always somebody else's fault when you get a boat ashore." + +Jimmy knew that his companion had reached the point to which he had been +leading him. "Well," he said quietly, "the question is, what do you +purpose to do now?" + +"I mean to get even with the man who meant to break me, back you up in +all you say when you send in your salvage claim, and in the meanwhile +wring the whole thing out of that--whisky-tank below." + +He stopped a moment. "First of all, I want to say I'm sorry I went by +that day without answering your whistle. Merril had worked me up against +you, and since I get a bonus on results, every dollar's worth of freight +you picked up was so much out of my pocket. Still, you're not going to +remember that against me now. We both earn our bread at sea, and you +have to stand by me." + +Jimmy nodded. "I'm willing," he said. "Hadn't you better send for your +engineer?" + +The skipper rose and opening the door called to a man outside. "I want +Mr. Robertson here," he said. "If he isn't willing or fit to come, you +can drag him." + +The engineer arrived on his own feet, and stood still, leaning somewhat +heavily on the table with one hand, when the skipper closed the door +behind him. A curious furtive look of apprehension crept into his eyes +when he heard the snap, and Jimmy glanced at him with a sense of +disgust. There was a dirty bandage around his head, and his face showed +baggy and pallid under it, while his loosely-hung figure draped in +greasy serge seemed disproportionately large and clumsy in the little +trim room. There was also something in his attitude that vaguely +suggested the viciousness of a rat in a trap, and it was evident that he +had been drinking hard of late. + +"Well," he asked harshly, "what do you want?" + +The _Adelaide_'s skipper turned to Jimmy. "This is Captain Wheelock of +the _Shasta_. He and I have been comparing notes, and the game you have +been playing is quite clear to me. If you're wise you'll own up to it +before we go any further. In the first place, what were you to get for +casting this ship away?" + +The man showed more courage than Jimmy had expected from his appearance, +though it was clearly the courage of desperation. He braced himself +stiffly, and his laugh was contemptuous. "I guess you're going to be +sorry for this. You've said it before a third party." + +"I'll say it before a magistrate in Vancouver," broke in the skipper; +but Jimmy stopped him with a sign. + +"I don't think what you asked him is very material," he said +reflectively. "In any case, he wouldn't get very much. Mr. Merril is not +the man to hand over money when it isn't necessary." + +He watched the man closely, and it became evident to him that Jordan had +been warranted in the construction he had put on certain scraps of +information picked up on the wharf and in the saloons of Vancouver. + +"I don't quite understand," said the skipper. + +"I think Mr. Robertson does. Of course, he couldn't well drop his name +without invalidating his papers, and after all it was probably safe to +keep it, since there are a good many Robertsons, and everybody would +expect him to change it. Still, I scarcely fancy he is aware that there +are two men in Vancouver who would swear to him with pleasure. They're +firing sawmill boilers." + +The engineer's jaw dropped and there was craven fear in his face, but he +seemed to pull himself together, though Jimmy noticed his glance toward +the door. + +"I dare say you can recall the _Oleander_ case," he said. "She was a +British ship, and I don't know how Mr. Robertson was able to slip out of +Portland quietly; though since the fireman who was done to death on +board her belonged to that city, the boys along the wharves would have +drowned him if they had got their hands on him." + +"Good Lord!" said the skipper, with a little gasp; "the man was slowly +roasted." Then he swung around toward the engineer. "This is the--brute +who did it?" + +"If you're not sure, you can look at him." + +A glance was sufficient, and the skipper had no time for another. +Robertson turned swiftly in a frenzy of drink-begotten rage and crazing +fear, and flung open the door. Then he stooped, and before they quite +realized his purpose whipped up the poker from the little stove and +struck furiously at Jimmy's head. Jimmy, throwing himself backward, +flung up his forearm and broke the full weight of the blow; but it left +him dazed and sick for a second or two, and before the skipper could get +around the little table Robertson had swung out of the door. A clamor +broke out, and men ran aft along the deck as he headed for the rail; but +as he laid his hands on it Jimmy reeled out of the room beneath the +bridge with the blood trickling down his face. The engineer swung +himself over, and Jimmy, who shook off the skipper's grasp, sped aft +with uneven strides and leaped from the taffrail. + +The cold of that icy water steadied him when he came up again, and he +saw that the stream of tide was carrying the other man down toward the +_Shasta_ and strained every muscle to come up with him. It was, however, +five or six minutes before he did it, and when Robertson grappled with +him they both went under. Jimmy waited, knowing that they must come up +again, and when that happened there was a splash of oars close by. Then +he struck with all his strength at a livid face, and just as he felt +himself being drawn down once more an oar grazed his head and a hand +grabbed his shoulder. + +"Lay hold of him!" he gasped, and the boat swayed down level with the +water while he and Robertson were dragged on board. + +"Keep still!" said somebody, who struck the latter hard with the pommel +of an oar. + +Then Jimmy scrambled to his feet with the water draining from him. "Back +to the _Adelaide_," he said, "as fast as you can." + +It was, however, half an hour later when Robertson was once more thrust +into the skipper's room, and collapsed, with all the fight gone out of +him, on a settee. He seemed to have fallen to pieces physically, but it +was evident that his mind was clear, though there was now only abject +fear in his eyes. + +"Well," he said, "what do you want from me?" + +Jimmy still felt a trifle dazed, and his head was throbbing painfully, +but he roused himself with an effort. + +"I'll tell you in a minute; but first of all I should like you to +realize how you stand," he said. "The _Oleander_ is a British ship, +Vancouver is a Canadian town, and if I put the police on to the two men +I mentioned they will have a tolerably clear case against you. You +needn't expect anything from Merril; he will certainly go back on you." + +Robertson's face grew vindictive. "He held the thing over me, but we +never meant to kill the man. He tried to knife one of us, and, anyway, +it was his heart that made an end of him. We didn't know until afterward +that it was wrong. But go on." + +"Well," said Jimmy dryly, "I'm not going to make a bargain with you, but +at the same time I'm not quite sure how far it's my duty to work the +case up for the police. In the meanwhile, I want a plain written +statement as to your connection with Merril." + +The man made a sign of acquiescence, though there was malice in his +eyes. "I can get even with him, anyway, and it's a sure thing he'd have +sent me up out of the way if he could. Get me some paper." + +Jimmy turned to the skipper. "Call one of the prospectors. We want an +outsider to hear the thing." + +A miner was led in, and Robertson, who had been handed pen and paper, +commenced to write. The skipper read aloud what he had written, and all +of them signed it. Then Jimmy put the document into his pocket, and two +seamen led the engineer to his room. Early next morning, when the breeze +had fallen, a steward roused the skipper. + +"I took in Mr. Robertson's coffee, but his room was empty," he said. + +The skipper was on deck in a few minutes, but there was nothing to show +what had become of the engineer. The _Adelaide_ had, however, now swung +with her stern somewhat near the shore, and a man who had kept anchor +watch remembered having seen a big Siwash canoe slipping out to sea a +few hours earlier. + +"There was a man in her who didn't look quite like an Indian," he said. + +"Well," said the skipper dryly, "if he's drowned it won't matter. +Anyway, I'm not going to worry." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +AN EYE FOR AN EYE + + +The _Shasta_ lay safely tied up to a buoy in Vancouver Inlet, and a +quartermaster stood at her gangway with instructions to see that no +stranger got on board, when Jimmy sat talking to his sister and Jordan +in the room beneath her bridge. It was an hour since she had steamed in, +and except for an occasional clinking in her engine-room, where Fleming +was still busy, there was silence on board her, though the scream of +saws and the rattle of freight-car wheels came off faintly across the +still water. The two ports were open wide, but none of those who sat in +the little room noticed that the light was fading. Jordan and Eleanor +were listening with close attention while Jimmy concisely related how he +had fallen in with and towed Merril's steamer. At last he broke off with +an abrupt movement when a splash of oars grew louder. + +"Another boat!" he said. "We'll have every curious loafer in the city +pulling off by and by." + +Then the voice of the quartermaster reached them as he answered somebody +who called to him from the approaching boat. + +"No," he said, "you can't see Captain Wheelock--he's busy. Keep her off +that ladder." + +There was evidently another question asked, and the man answered +impatiently: "I can't tell you anything about the _Adelaide_ 'cept that +she's coming along under easy steam. Should be here in a day or two." + +Jordan glanced at Jimmy. "The men you brought down are talking already, +and we haven't much time for fixing our program. When do you expect +her?" + +"I don't exactly know. We came away before she did when the breeze fell, +but her second engineer seemed quite confident he could bring her along +at seven or eight knots. He wasn't sure whether his high-pressure engine +would stand anything more." + +Then it was significant that both of them looked at Eleanor, who had +insisted on coming with Jordan, and who was apparently waiting to take +her part in the discussion. One could have fancied from their faces that +they would have preferred to be alone just then and were a trifle uneasy +concerning the course their companion might think fit to pursue. She +leaned back in her chair watching them, with a little hard smile which +seemed to suggest that she knew what they were thinking. Still, she said +nothing, and Jordan spoke again. + +"You are sure of the _Adelaide_'s skipper and that miner fellow?" he +asked. "They wouldn't go back on you if Merril tried to buy them off?" + +"I think I can be sure of them," said Jimmy reflectively. "The skipper +is not the kind of man I would take to, but, in some respects, at least, +he's straight; and, anyway, he's bitter enough against Merril to back us +in anything we may decide to do. You see, the man who gets his boat +ashore is practically done for nowadays, whether it's his own fault or +not; and I fancy we can count on the miner, too. After what those +fellows had to go through to get the gold they were bringing home, +they're not likely to have much sympathy with Merril. In fact, if the +others understood how near they came to seeing it go down in the +_Adelaide_, it would be a little difficult to keep them from laying +hands on him. In any case, there's the engineer's statement--one can't +get over that." + +Eleanor stretched out her hand for the paper, and there was a vindictive +sparkle in her eyes as she glanced at it. + +"Charley," she said with portentous quietness, "it seems to me that the +possession of this document places Merril absolutely in your hands. You +are not afraid to make the utmost use of it?" + +Jordan glanced at Jimmy in a fashion the latter understood. There was +something deprecatory in it, and it appeared to suggest that he wished +his comrade to realize that he was under compulsion and could not help +himself. Then he turned to the girl with a certain air of resolution. + +"No," he said, "I don't think I am afraid, but I want you to understand +that I am manager of the _Shasta_ Company, and have first of all to +consider the interests of my associates, the men who put their money +into the concern. There is Jimmy, too." + +"Jimmy!" and Eleanor laughed a little, bitter laugh, which had a trace +of contempt in it. "Pshaw! Jimmy's love affairs don't count now. I think +he feels that, too. After all, there is a trace of our mother's temper +in him if one can awaken it." + +She turned and looked at her brother, who closed one hand tightly. "Oh, +I know; the girl has graciously condescended to smile on you, and no +doubt you are almost astonished, as well as grateful, that she should go +so far. Still, where did the money that made her a dainty lady of +station come from? Must I tell you that a second time, Jimmy?" + +She stopped a moment, and gripped the paper hard in firm white fingers. +"This is mine. I bought it. You know what it cost me, Charley; and what +has Jimmy done in comparison with that? Do you think anything would +induce me to spare Merril now that I have this in my hands?" + +Jimmy looked up sharply, and saw the flush of color in her cheek, and +that the blood had crept into his comrade's face. His own grew suddenly +hot. + +"Ah!" he said, with a thrill of anger in his voice, "I begin to +understand. She got the information you acted on out of that brute, +Carnforth. You knew that, Charley, and you--you countenanced it." + +He half rose from his seat with a brown hand stretched out as if to tear +the paper from the girl, but while Jordan swung around toward him +Eleanor laughed. + +"Sit down," she said imperiously, "you simple-minded fool! Do you think +I would let Charley's opinion influence me in an affair of this kind?" + +Jordan made a gesture of resignation. "She would not," he said. "That's +the simple fact. But go on, Eleanor--or shall I tell him? Anyway, it +must be done." + +The girl silenced him, and though the next two or three minutes were, +perhaps, as unpleasant as any Jimmy had ever spent in his life, it was +with a certain deep relief that he heard his sister out. Before she +stopped she held up a white hand. + +"Once," she said, "once only, he held my wrist. That was all, Jimmy; but +I feel it left a mark. If it could be removed that way, I would burn it +out. Now you know what the thing cost me--but I did it." + +The men would not look at each other, and if Eleanor had left them then +it would have been a relief to both. Her suppressed passion had stirred +and shaken them, and they realized that the efforts they had made were, +after all, not to be counted in comparison with what the girl had done. + +It was Jordan who spoke first. "Well," he said, with the air of one +anxious to get away from a painful subject, "we have got to be +practical. The question is, how are we to strike Merril? Seems to me, in +the first case, we'll hand him a salvage claim. I'll fix it at half her +value, anyway, and he'll never fight us when he hears of the engineer's +statement. So far as I know, he can't recover under his policy, and we +could head him off from going to the underwriters if he can. The next +point is--are the miner fellow and the _Adelaide_'s skipper likely to +take any independent action on their own account? I don't think that's +very probable." + +"Nor do I," said Jimmy. "It isn't wise of a skipper to turn around on a +man like Merril, unless it's in a court where he has the law behind him, +and the prospector would scarcely attempt to do anything alone. Besides, +without the document to produce, they would have very little to go +upon--and what is more to the purpose, both of them promised to let me +handle the thing." + +Jordan nodded as if satisfied. "That," he said, "makes it easier. We're +going to collect our money on the salvage claim, and when Merril has +raised it he'll have strained his resources, so he won't count very much +as an opponent of the _Shasta_ Company. The man's crippled already." + +The fact that his comrade was apparently not desirous of proceeding to +extremities afforded Jimmy a vast relief, but it vanished suddenly when +Eleanor broke in. + +"Can't you understand that the affair must be looked at from another +point of view as well as the commercial one?" she asked. + +It was a difficult question, and when neither of them answered her the +girl went on: + +"It doesn't seem to occur to you that what you suggest amounts to +covering up a conspiracy and allowing a scoundrel to escape his +deserts," she said. "There is another point, too. You will have to +inform the police about the Robertson affair, Jimmy, and his connection +with Merril is bound to appear when they lay hands on him." + +"That," said Jimmy, with a trace of dryness, "is hardly likely. The man +will be heading for the diggings by this time if he isn't drowned, and +there's very little probability of the police getting hold of him +there." + +Eleanor laughed, a very bitter laugh, as she fixed her eyes on him. + +"So you are quite content with Charley's plan--to extort so many +dollars from Merril?" she said. "It has one fatal defect; it does not +satisfy me." + +"Now----" commenced Jordan, but the girl checked him with a gesture. + +"I want him crushed, disgraced, imprisoned, ruined altogether." + +"Anyway, I owe it to my associates to make sure of the money first." + +"And after that you feel you have to stand by Jimmy?" + +The man winced when she flung the question at him; but when he did not +answer she appeared to rouse herself for an effort, leaning forward a +trifle with a gleam in her eyes and the red flush plainer in her cheek. + +"Still," she said, "if Jimmy is what I think him, he will not ask it of +you. I want him to go back six years to the time he came home--from +Portland, wasn't it, Jimmy?--and stayed a few weeks with us. Was there +any shadow upon us then, though your father was getting old? I want you +to remember him as he was when you went away, a simple, kindly, +abstemious, and fearless man. It surely can't be very hard." + +Jimmy face grew furrowed, and he set his lips tight; but he said +nothing, and the girl went on: + +"It was not so the next time you came back. Something had happened in +the meanwhile. The bondholder had laid his grasp on him. He was +weakening under it, and the lust of drink was crushing the courage out +of him. Still, you must remember that it was his one consolation. Then +came the awful climax of the closing scene. I had to face it with +Charley--you were away--but you must realize the horror it brought me." + +Jordan turned toward her abruptly. "Eleanor," he said, with a trace of +hoarseness in his voice, "let it drop. You can't bear the thing a second +time." + +She stopped him with a frown. "I want you to picture him deluding +Prescott with one of the pitiful, cunning excuses that drunkards make. +Wasn't it horrible in itself that he should have sunk to that? Then it +shouldn't be very hard to imagine him bribing a lounger outside to buy +him the whisky, and the carousal afterward with a stranger, a dead-beat +and outcast low enough to profit by his evident weakness. Still, he was +your father, Jimmy. Then there was the groping for matches and the +upsetting of the lamp. Somebody brought Charley, and when he came your +father lay with the clothes charred upon his burned limbs, still +half-crazed with drink and mad with pain. Must I tell you once more what +I saw when Charley brought me? I am willing, if there is nothing else +that will rouse you. You have heard it before, but I want to burn it +into your brain, so that however hard you try you can't blot out that +scene." + +Jimmy's face was grim and white, but while he sat very still his comrade +rose resolutely. + +"Eleanor," he said, "if you attempt to recall another incident of that +horrible night I shall carry you by main force out of the room." + +The girl turned to him with a little gesture. "Then I suppose I must +submit. You have a man's strength and courage in you--or I think you +would be afraid to marry me; but one could fancy that Jimmy has none. +The daughter of the man who ruined his father has condescended to be +gracious to him. Still, I have a little more to say. She is his +daughter, his flesh and blood, Jimmy, and his pitiless, hateful nature +is in her. That is the woman you wish to marry. The mere notion of it is +horrible. Still, you can't marry her, Jimmy. You must crush her father, +and drag him to his ruin. After all, there is a little manhood somewhere +in you. You will take the engineer's statement to the underwriters and +the police. You must--you have to." + +Jimmy stood up slowly, with the veins swollen on his forehead and a gray +patch in his cheek. "Eleanor," he said hoarsely, "I believe there is a +devil in you; but I think you are right in this. Jordan, will you hand +me that paper?" + +He stood still for at least a minute when his comrade passed it to him, +and the girl watched him with a little gleam in her eyes. His face was +furrowed, and looked worn as well as very hard. There was not a sound in +the little room, and the splash of the ripples on the _Shasta_'s plates +outside came in through the open ports with a startling distinctness. +Jordan felt that the tension was becoming almost unendurable. Then Jimmy +turned slowly toward his sister, and though the pain was still in his +face it had curiously changed. There was a look in his blue eyes that +sent a thrill of consternation through her. They were very steady, and +she knew that she had failed. + +"I can't do it. It was not the girl's fault, and she shall not be +dragged through the mire," he said. Then he looked at his comrade. "What +I am going to do may cost you a good deal of money, and my appointment +to the _Shasta_ is, of course, in your hands. I am going straight from +here to Merril's house." + +"Well," said Jordan simply, "it may cost us both a good deal, but I +guess I must face it. If I were fixed as you are, that is just what I +should do." + +Jimmy said nothing, but he went out swiftly, and Eleanor turned to her +companion with a very bitter smile when the door closed behind him. + +"Ah!" she said, "has that girl beguiled you too? You had Merril in your +hands, and instead of crushing him you are going to smooth his troubles +away." + +"No," said Jordan dryly, "I don't quite think Jimmy will do that. In +some respects, I understand him better than you do. He wants to save the +girl all the sorrow and disgrace he can, but he is going to run her +father out of this city. Jimmy's not exactly clever, and it's quite +likely he'll mix up things when he meets Merril; but, for all that, I +guess he'll carry out just what he means to do. Somehow, he generally +does. That's the kind of man he is." + +He stopped a moment, and a smile crept into his eyes. "I don't know what +the result will be, and it may be the break-up of the _Shasta_ Company; +but I can't blame Jimmy." + +"Ah!" said Eleanor, "you, the man I counted on, are turning against me +as well as my brother." + +Then the sustaining purpose seemed to die out of her, and she sank back +suddenly in her chair with her face hidden from him. Jordan crossed the +little room, and stooping beside her slipped an arm about her. + +"My dear," he said, "you can count on me always and in everything but +this. It's because of what you are to me that I'm standing by Jimmy." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +MERRIL CAPITULATES + + +Merril was not in his house when Jimmy reached it, but it appeared that +he was expected shortly, and the latter, who resolved to wait for him, +was shown into a big artistically furnished room. He sat there at least +ten minutes, alone and grim in face, with a growing disquietude, for his +surroundings had their effect on him. The house was built of wood, but +expense had not been spared, and those who have visited the Western +cities know how beautiful a wooden dwelling can be made. Jimmy looked +out through the open windows on to a wide veranda framed with a slender +colonnade of wooden pillars supporting fretted arches of lace-like +delicacy. The floor of the room, which was choicely parquetted in +cunningly contrasted wood, also caught his eye, and there were +Indian-sewn rugs of furs on it of a kind that he knew was rarely +purchased in the north, except on behalf of Russian princes and American +railroad kings. The furniture, he fancied by the timber, was +Canadian-made, but it had evidently been copied from artistic European +models; and though he was far from being a connoisseur in such things, +they had all a painful significance to him just then. + +They suggested wealth and taste and luxury; and it seemed only fitting +that the woman he loved should have such a dwelling, while he realized +that it was his hand which must deprive her of all the artistic +daintiness to which she had grown accustomed and no doubt valued. He, a +steamboat skipper of low degree, had, like blind Samson, laid a brutal +grasp upon the pillars of the house, and he could feel the trembling of +the beautiful edifice. This would have afforded him a certain grim +satisfaction, had it not been for the fact that it was impossible to +tell whether the woman he would have spared every pain might not be +overwhelmed amid the ruin when he exerted his strength. It must be +exerted. In that he could not help himself. + +While he sat there with a hard, set face, she came in, dressed, as he +realized, in harmony with her surroundings. Her gracious patrician +quietness and her rich attire troubled him, and he felt, in spite of all +Eleanor had said, that it would be a vast relief if he could abandon +altogether the purpose that had brought him there, though to do so +would, it was evident, set the girl further apart from him than ever, +since her father's station naturally stood as a barrier between them. +Still, he remembered what he owed the men who had sent him on board the +_Shasta_--Jordan, Forster, old Leeson, and two or three more; he could +not turn against them now. + +Anthea stood still just inside the door, looking at him half-expectant, +but with something that was suggestive of apprehension in her manner, +and Jimmy felt the hot blood creep into his face when he moved quietly +forward and kissed her. In view of what he had to do, it would, he +felt, have been more natural if she had shrunk from him in place of +submitting to his caress. She appeared to recognize the constraint that +was upon him, for she turned away and sat down a little distance from +him. + +"Jimmy," she said, "I'm glad to see you back. I have been lonely without +you--and a little uneasy. Indeed, though I don't know exactly why, I am +anxious now." + +Then she looked at him steadily. "It is the first time you have been +here. Something unusual must have brought you. Jimmy, is it war?" + +The man made a deprecatory gesture. "I'm afraid it is," he said. "I +don't think there can be any compromise." + +"Ah!" said the girl, with a start, "you don't look like a man who has +come to offer terms." + +Jimmy was still standing, and he leaned somewhat heavily on the back of +a chair. "I have to do something that I shrink from, but it must be +done. If there were no other reason, I daren't go back on the men who +have confidence in me; that is--not altogether, though in a way--I am +now betraying them. Anthea, you will not let this thing stand between +us?" + +"No;" and the girl's voice was steady, though a trifle strained. "At +least, not always. Still, I have felt that some day I should have to +choose whom I should hold to--my father or you. It is very hard to face +that question, Jimmy." + +"Yes," said Jimmy gravely; "I am afraid you must choose to-night. You +know how much I want you, but I have sense enough to recognize that I +may bring trouble on both of us if I urge you to do what you might +afterward regret." + +Anthea said nothing for almost a minute, and because of the restraint he +had laid upon himself Jimmy understood the cost of her quietness. It +seemed necessary that both should hold themselves in hand. Then she +turned to him again. + +"You are quite sure there can be no compromise?" + +"It is for many reasons out of the question. In fact, I think the +decisive battle will be fought to-night. I have strained every point to +make it easier for you, or I should not have come at all, and it is very +likely that my comrades will discard me when they hear what I have done. +I am willing to face their anger, but, to some extent, at least, I must +keep my bargain with them." + +He moved a pace or two, and stood close by her chair looking down at +her. "If you understood everything, you would not blame me." + +Anthea glanced at him a moment, and he fancied that a shiver ran through +her. "I do not blame you now, though it is all a little horrible. I +cannot plead with you, and if I did I see that you would not listen. You +must do what you feel you have to." + +Neither of them spoke for a while, though Jimmy felt the tension was +almost unendurable. It was evident that the girl felt it too, for he +could see the signs of strain in her face. So intent were they that +neither heard the door open, and Jimmy turned with a little start when +the sound of a footstep reached them. Merril was standing not far away, +little, portly, and immaculately dressed, regarding them with an +inscrutable face. + +"I understand you wish to see me, Mr. Wheelock," he said. "Anthea, you +will no doubt allow us a few minutes." + +The girl rose and moved toward the door, but before she went out she +turned for a moment and glanced at Jimmy. Then it closed softly, and he +saw that Merril was regarding him with a sardonic smile. + +"I heard that you had made my daughter's acquaintance, but I was not +aware that it had gone as far as I have some grounds for supposing now," +he said. + +"That," said Jimmy quietly, "is a subject I may mention by and by. In +the meanwhile I have something to say that concerns you at least as +closely. As it has a bearing on the other question, we might discuss it +first." + +"I am at your service for ten minutes;" and Merril pointed to a chair. + +Jimmy sat down, but said nothing for a few moments. Apart from the +trouble that he must bring upon Anthea, he felt that it was a big and +difficult thing he had undertaken. He was a steamboat skipper, and the +man in front of him one skilled in every art of commercial trickery +whose ability was recognized in that city. Still, he felt curiously +steady and sure of himself, for Jimmy, like other simple-minded men, as +a rule appeared to advantage when forced suddenly to face a crisis. He +felt, in fact, much as he had done when he stood grimly resolute on the +_Shasta_'s bridge while the _Adelaide_, sheering wildly, dragged her +toward the spouting surf. Then he turned to Merril. + +"I called on you once before to make a request," he said. + +"And your errand is much the same now, though one could fancy that you +feel you have something to back it?" his companion suggested dryly. + +"No," said Jimmy, "I have nothing to ask you for this time. Instead, I +am simply going to mention certain facts, and leave you to act on the +information in the only way open to you; that is, to get out of +Vancouver as soon as possible. I am giving you the opportunity in order +to save Miss Merril the pain of seeing you prosecuted. You are in our +hands now." + +Merril scarcely moved a muscle. "You are prepared to make that assurance +good?" + +"I am;" and Jimmy's voice had a little ring in it. "If you will give me +your attention I'll try to do it. You have no news of the _Adelaide_ +yet, and, to commence with, you will have to face the fact that she is +not on the rocks. She was just ready to steam south with a derangement +of her high-pressure engine when I last saw her." + +Though his companion's face was almost expressionless, Jimmy fancied +that this shot had reached its mark, and he proceeded to relate what had +happened since he fell in with the _Adelaide_. He did it with some +skill, for this was a subject with which he was at home, and he made the +feelings of her skipper and second engineer perfectly clear. Then, +though he had not mentioned Robertson's confession, he sat still, +wondering at Merril's composure. + +"It sounds probable," said the latter, with a little smile. "You expect +the skipper and the second engineer to bear you out? No doubt they +promised, but when they get here the thing will wear another aspect. In +fact, in all probability it will look too big for them. You see, they +have merely put a certain construction upon one or two occurrences. It's +quite likely they will be willing to admit that it is, after all, the +wrong one." + +"Since we intend to claim half the value of the _Adelaide_, they would +have to answer on their oath in court." + +Merril shook his head. "Half her value! I commence to understand," he +said. "An appeal to the court is, as a rule, expensive, as I guess you +know. It is generally wiser to be reasonable and make a compromise." + +The suggestion was so characteristic of the man that Jimmy lost a little +of his self-restraint. + +"There will be no compromise in this case," he said. "If it were +necessary we would drag you through every court in the land; but, as a +matter of fact, there will be no need for that. You made a mistake in +your opinion of the courage of your skipper and your second engineer. +You also made a more serious one in putting the screw too hard on +Robertson.". + +"Ah!" said Merril sharply, at last, "there is something more?" + +Jimmy took a paper from his pocket, and gravely handed it to him. "I am +quite safe in allowing you to look at it. It wouldn't be advisable for +you to make any attempt to destroy it. You will excuse my mentioning +that." + +Merril unfolded the document, and Jimmy noticed that the +half-contemptuous toleration died out of his face as he read it. Then he +quietly handed it back, and sat very still for at least a minute before +he turned to his companion again. + +"That rather alters the case. You have something to go upon. Do you mind +telling me what course you purpose to take?" + +"As I mentioned, I don't purpose to take any. Still, the _Shasta_ +Company will send in a claim for salvage to-morrow, and afterward sue +you--or whoever you entrust with your affairs--unless it is met. The +_Adelaide_ should also be here in the course of the next day or two, and +you will have your skipper and second engineer, as well as the miner who +witnessed the statement, to face. They appear determined on raising as +much unpleasantness as possible, though they were willing to hold back +until I had taken the first steps." + +He stopped a moment, and then leaned forward in his chair with a little +forceful gesture. "Though it would please me to see you prosecuted and +disgraced, I will at least take no steps to prevent your getting out of +this city quietly." + +"Ah!" said Merril, "you no doubt expect something for that concession?" + +"No," and Jimmy stood up, "I expect nothing. It would hurt me to make a +bargain of any kind with you, and it would, I think, be illegal. Still, +I have the honor of informing you that I purpose to marry Miss Merril as +soon as it appears convenient to her, in spite of any opposition that +you may think fit to offer." + +Merril showed neither astonishment nor anger. Instead he smiled quietly, +and his companion surmised that he had already with characteristic +promptness decided on his course of action. + +"You have no objections to my sending for her?" + +Jimmy said he had none, and five minutes later Anthea appeared. She +stood near the door looking at the men, and saw that Jimmy's face was +darkly flushed. Her father, however, appeared almost as composed as +usual. Jimmy felt that he dare not look at her, and the tense silence, +which lasted a few moments, tried his courage hard. It cost him an +effort to hold himself in hand when Merril turned to the girl. + +"I understand from Mr. Wheelock that you are willing to marry him. Is +that the case?" he said. + +"Yes," replied Anthea simply, while the blood crept into her cheeks. +"That is, I shall be willing when circumstances permit." + +"Then, in the meanwhile, at least, you would consider my wishes?" + +Anthea glanced at Jimmy. "I think he understands that." + +Merril said nothing for almost half a minute, and sat still regarding +them with a sardonic smile, though his eyes were gentler than usual. + +"Well," he said at last, "that is no more than one would have expected +from you. Mr. Wheelock is, however, quite prepared to disregard my +opposition. In fact, one could almost fancy that he will be a little +grieved when I say that I do not mean to offer any." + +Jimmy was certainly astonished, for he had at least expected that the +man would make an attempt to play upon the girl's feelings. However, he +said nothing, and Merril turned to her again. + +"Well, I fancy that he has shown himself capable of looking after you, +and there is a certain forceful simplicity in his character that, when +I consider him as my daughter's husband, somewhat pleases me. With +moderate good fortune it may carry him a long way." + +It seemed an almost incomprehensible thing to Jimmy that the man should +show no trace of vindictiveness, and perhaps the latter guessed it, for +he laughed softly. + +"Mr. Wheelock," he said, "as you have no doubt guessed, I never had much +faith in the conventional code of morality, but since you seem +determined to marry Anthea, I am in one respect glad that you evidently +have, though that is perhaps not a very logical admission. I was out +after money, and allowed no other consideration to influence me. It is +probable that I should have accumulated a good deal of it had not +everything gone against me lately. Well, if I showed no pity, I at least +seldom allowed any rancor to betray me into injudicious action when +other people treated me as I should have treated them; but, after all, +that is not the question, and we will be practical. You will not see or +write to Anthea for six months from to-day, and then if neither of you +has changed your mind you can understand that you have my good-will. She +will advise you of her address--in Toronto--in the meanwhile. It is not +a great deal to promise." + +Jimmy glanced at the girl, and turned again to Merril when she nodded. + +"I pledge myself to that," he said. + +"Then," said Merril, "you will leave us now. I have a good deal to say +to Anthea." + +Jimmy moved away without a word, and went down the corridor with every +nerve in him tingling. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +ELEANOR RELENTS + + +Jordan, who waited some time on board the _Shasta_, saw no more of Jimmy +that night. This was, however, in one respect a relief to him, since +Eleanor, who was evidently very angry with her brother, insisted on +remaining as long as possible in the expectation that he would come back +again. It was, in fact, only when the hour at which she had arranged to +meet Mrs. Forster arrived that she very reluctantly permitted Jordan to +take her ashore, and he felt easier when he handed her into Forster's +wagon. It did not seem to him that a further meeting between her and her +brother would be likely to afford much pleasure to anybody. He had been +at work some little time in his office next morning when Jimmy walked +in, and, sitting down, looked at him quietly. + +"I have no doubt that you know why I have kept out of your way so long," +he said. + +"Well," replied Jordan dryly, "I can guess. What did you say to Merril?" + +"I told him what had happened, and left him to act upon it. Now I'm +quite prepared to resign the command of the _Shasta_." + +"If it's necessary, we'll talk about that later. In the meanwhile we'll +get our salvage claim in. Leeson should be here at any moment. I saw him +last night." + +He set to work, but there were two or three points it was necessary to +discuss with Jimmy, and he was still busy when there was a rattle of +wheels in the street outside, which was followed by the sound of voices +on the stairway. Jordan laid down his pen with a gesture of +embarrassment and dismay. + +"It's Forster, and he has brought Eleanor along," he said. "I'm 'most +afraid you're going to have trouble, Jimmy." + +"It's more than probable," and Jimmy smiled somewhat grimly. "I'm quite +prepared for it." + +Then the door opened, and Eleanor, Forster and Leeson came in. The girl +sat down without a glance at her brother, and the rancher turned to +Jordan. + +"Miss Wheelock has acquainted me with the substance of what Jimmy told +you yesterday, and I came to ask what course you expect to take," he +said. "I may say that she seems as anxious to hear it as I am." + +Eleanor smiled. "It is not exactly Mr. Forster's fault that I am here," +she said. "The fact is, I insisted on coming. He was perfectly willing +to leave me behind." + +Jordan's face was more expressive of resignation than pleasure, but he +took up his pen again. + +"This is a statement of the services rendered the _Adelaide_, and a +claim in respect of them," he said. "I am going to take it along to +Merril's office in a few minutes, and one or more of you can come with +me." + +They went out together, but when they reached Merril's office Jordan and +Jimmy alone went in. They found a good many other people waiting there, +and had some little difficulty in securing attention, while the clerk to +whom Jordan spoke appeared anxious and embarrassed. + +"Mr. Merril is not here," he said. "He went out of town last night, and +executed a trust deed before he left. Mr. Cathcart, one of the trustees, +is now inside." + +Jordan looked at Jimmy. "I don't mind admitting that I expected this," +he said. Then he turned to the clerk: "Take our names in." + +They were shown into the inner office, where a gray-haired gentleman +listened gravely to what they had to say. Then he took the salvage claim +from Jordan, and laid it beneath a pile of other papers. + +"It will be considered in its turn," he said. "I do not know whether we +shall attempt to contest it, or whether there will be funds to meet it, +but I may be able to tell you more to-morrow, and would ask you to take +no further steps until you have seen me. I am at liberty to say that Mr. +Merril's affairs appear to be considerably involved." + +Jordan promised to wait, and when he turned toward the door, the +trustee, who took up an envelope, made a sign to Jimmy. + +"I was instructed to hand you this, Captain Wheelock, and to tell you +that Miss Merril leaves for Toronto by to-day's express, on the +understanding that you make no attempt to communicate with her. It +contains her address." + +Jimmy went out with his thoughts confused. All that had come about was, +he felt, the result of his action, but he realized that in any case the +crisis could not have been much longer delayed. They found the others +awaiting them, and when Forster had quietly but firmly insisted on +escorting Eleanor into a dry-goods store and leaving her there, they +went back together to Jordan's office, where the latter related what he +had heard. + +"To be quite straight, I must admit that I had a notion of what Jimmy +meant to do last night, and took no steps to restrain him," he said. "If +I had done so, Merril would not have got away. We are both in your +hands, but, while you may think differently, I am not sure that what has +happened is a serious misfortune from a business point of view." + +Forster said nothing, and there was a few moments' awkward silence until +old Leeson spoke. + +"Considering everything, I guess you're right," he said. "Cathcart's a +straight man, and as they can't sell the _Adelaide_ without permission +from us, we'll get some of our money, although it's hardly likely the +estate will realize enough to go around. Seems to me that's more than we +should have done if Merril had kept hold. Well, it's not my proposition +that we turn you out." + +He stopped a moment, and glanced at Jimmy with a little dry smile. +"Captain Wheelock has gone 'way further than he should have done without +our sanction, but I guess it will meet the case if we leave him to his +sister. It's a sure thing Miss Wheelock is far from pleased with him. +Now, there's a point or two I want to mention." + +The others seemed relieved at this, and when Leeson had said his say +Forster went away with him. Then Jordan glanced at Jimmy with +apprehension in his eyes as Eleanor came in. She stood still, looking +at them with the portentous red flush burning in her cheek. + +"What I foresaw all along has happened. Jimmy has betrayed you to save +that girl," she said. + +Then she turned to Jimmy, flicking her glove in her hand as though she +would have struck him with it. "Jimmy," she said incisively, "you are no +longer a brother of mine. Neither Charley nor I will speak to you +again." + +Jordan straightened himself resolutely. "Stop there, Eleanor!" he said. +"If you won't speak to him I can't compel you to, but, in this one +thing, at least, you can't compel me. Jimmy was my friend before I met +you, and I'm standing by him now. Anyway, what has he done?" + +"Ah!" said the girl, with an audible indrawing of her breath, "he has +spoiled everything. If he hadn't played the traitor Merril would never +have got away. Oh!" and her anger shook her, "I can never forgive him!" + +Once more she turned to her brother. "There is no longer any tie between +us. You have broken it, and that is the last and only thing I have to +say to you." + +Jimmy rose, and quietly reached for his hat. "Then," he said, "there is +nothing to be gained by pointing out what my views are. We can only wait +until you see things differently." + +He went out, and Eleanor sank somewhat limply into a chair. + +"Charley," she said, "it's a little horrible, but he is a weak coward, +and I hate him. You had better break off our engagement; I'm not fit to +marry anybody." + +"That's the one thing that holds in spite of everything," and Jordan +looked at her gravely with trouble in his face. "Go quietly, Eleanor. It +will straighten out in time." + +The girl sat still for a while saying nothing, and then she rose with a +little shiver. "Find Forster, and if he is not going back, get a team," +she said. "I want Mrs. Forster. I can't stay in the city." + +Jordan went out with her, and, though he had a good deal to do, was not +sorry when he failed to find Forster and it became necessary for him to +drive her back to the ranch. Eleanor, however, said very little to him +during the journey, and he had sense enough to confine his attention to +his team. He had also little time to think of anything that did not +concern his business when he returned to the city, for the _Shasta_ had +to be got ready to go back to sea, and the _Adelaide_ arrived early on +the following day. The skipper went with him to interview Merril's +trustee, and the latter announced that no steps would be taken to +contest the salvage claim when he heard what he had to say. However, he +added dryly that it would probably be advisable for the _Shasta_ Company +to consider the compromise proposition he would shortly make. Jordan, +who fancied he was right in this, went away without having found it +necessary to hand him the engineer's confession, and was glad he had not +offered to produce it when he ransacked his office for it a few days +later. + +"I certainly had the thing the morning Forster and Eleanor were here," +he said. "Jimmy laid it down, and I don't remember having seen him take +it up again. Still, I suppose he must have done so." + +Jimmy had, however, gone north again by that time, and the compromise +had been agreed to before he came back again. The _Shasta_ had also made +several other successful trips when he had occasion to call at Victoria +on his southward run, and seeing the _Sorata_ in the harbor rowed off to +her. He spent that evening in her little forecastle with Valentine, who +was busy with deep-water fishing-lines. The latter wore an old blue +shirt and canvas trousers stained with paint and grease, and he laid +down a big hank of line when at length Jimmy, who had been whipping on +hooks for him, inquired what plans he had. + +"So you're not going back to the West Coast to drum up cargo for us?" he +said. + +"No," said Valentine. "Although they didn't intimate it, I don't think +your people have any more use for me. They have the trade in their +hands, and the boat they put on instead of yours is coming down full +every time. In fact, I believe they're buying another one, as well as a +big passenger carrier for your northern trip." + +Jimmy looked astonished. "It's the first I've heard of it--but, of +course, it's a little while since I was in Vancouver. Where did they +raise the money?" + +"I believe they got some of it from Cathcart on the salvage claim, and +Leeson and two or three of his friends raised the rest. The _Adelaide_ +and Merril's house were sold at auction. I heard it from Jordan, who was +over here a week ago, and it's scarcely necessary to say that he's going +to send you in the new boat. He seems to have some notion of trying to +get into the South Sea trade, too, and I shouldn't wonder if eventually +you're made general supervisor of the _Shasta_ Company's growing fleet." + +Jimmy was sensible of a thrill of satisfaction, but he changed the +subject. "You have given up your chartering?" + +"I have," said Valentine, with a curious smile. "The people who hired my +boat had an unsettling effect on me, and now I'm going to try the +halibut fishing with a couple of Siwash hands. Austerly's was my last +charter--I don't think I shall ever take another." + +Jimmy nodded, for he felt that he understood. "Well," he said, "in one +way it wouldn't be nice to see anybody else occupying that after-cabin. +Of course, the notion is a fanciful one, but I shouldn't like to think +of it myself." + +Again the curious little smile flickered into Valentine's eyes. "It is +scarcely likely to happen. I think you will understand my views when I +show you the room." + +Jimmy went aft with him through the saloon, and Valentine, unlocking a +door beneath the companion slide, opened it gently. The fashion in which +he did it had its significance, and Jimmy understood altogether as he +looked into the little room. It was immaculate. Bulkhead and paneling +gleamed with snowy paint, the berths with their varnished ledges were +filled with spotless linen, and there was not a speck on the deck +beneath. A few fresh sprays of balsam that hung beneath the beams +diffused a faint aromatic fragrance. + +"Those," said Valentine gravely, "are to keep out the smell of the +halibut. I shouldn't like it to come in here. She had the lower berth. +The top one was Miss Merril's." + +Jimmy felt the blood rise to his face. Valentine's manner was very +quiet, and there was not the slightest trace of sentimentality in it, +but Jimmy felt that he knew what he was thinking. Besides, Anthea had +slept in that little snowy berth. They turned away without a word, when +Valentine carefully fastened the door, and the latter had sat down again +in the forecastle before Jimmy spoke. + +"Have you heard anything of Miss Austerly lately?" he asked. + +Valentine lighted the lamp beneath the beams, for it was growing dark, +and taking something from a box in the upper berth stood still a moment +with it in his hands. They were scarred and hardened by physical toil, +and the man was big and bronzed and very quiet, though every line of his +face and figure was stamped with the wholesome vigor of the sea. + +"I see you do not know," he said. "This is the letter Austerly sent me. +As you will notice, it was at her request. She would not have minded +your reading it." + +Jimmy started as he saw that the envelope had a broad black edge, and +his companion nodded gravely. + +"Yes," he said, "there is neither tide nor fog where she has gone. +There, at least, we are told, the sea is glassy." + +Jimmy took the letter out of the envelope, and once or twice his eyes +grew a trifle hazy as he read. Then he handed it back to Valentine, +almost reverently. + +"I am sorry," was all he said. + +Valentine looked at him with the little grave smile still in his eyes. +"I do not think there is any need for that. What had this world but pain +to offer her? She has slipped away, but she has left something +behind--something one can hold on by. What there is out yonder we do not +know--but perhaps we shall not be sorry when we slip out beyond the +shrouding mists some day." + +Neither of them said much more, and shortly afterward Jimmy went back to +the _Shasta_. Next morning he stood on his bridge watching the _Sorata_ +slide out of harbor. Valentine, sitting at her tiller, waved his hat to +him, and Jimmy was glad that he had hurled a blast of the whistle after +him when some months later he heard that the _Sorata_ and her skipper +had gone down together in a wild westerly gale. + +In the meanwhile he proceeded to Vancouver, and after an interview with +Jordan, who formally offered him command of the big new boat, took the +first east-going train and reached Toronto five days later. An hour +after he got there he hired a pulling skiff at the water-front, and +drove her out with sturdy strokes into the blue lake across which a +little cutter was creeping a mile or so away. He came up with her, hot +and breathless, and the girl at the tiller rose quietly when he swung +himself on deck, though there was a depth of tenderness in her eyes. + +"Jimmy!" she said, "why didn't you tell me?" + +Jimmy laughed. "You should have expected me," he said. "The six months +are up." + +Anthea turned to the young man and the girl who were sitting in the +cockpit. "Captain Wheelock. My cousin Muriel, and Graham Hoyle." + +The young man smiled at Jimmy, who was, however, conscious that the girl +was surveying him with critical curiosity. Then she asked him a question +concerning his journey, and they discussed the Canadian railroads for +the next ten minutes, until she flashed a suggestive glance at the young +man. + +"What a beautiful morning for a row!" she said. + +Hoyle rose to his feet. "I dare say I could pull you ashore in Captain +Wheelock's boat," he said. "There's just wind enough to bring the yacht +after us if he gets the topsail up." + +Jimmy did not get the topsail up when they rowed away, but sat down on +the coaming with his arm around Anthea's shoulder. + +"I have just two weeks before I go north in our big new boat," he said. +"It isn't very long, but I want to take you with me." + +He was some little time overruling Anthea's objections one by one, and +then she turned and looked up at him with a flush in her face. + +"Jimmy," she said, "I suppose you realize that I haven't a dollar. Some +provision was to have been made for me--but I felt I couldn't profit by +the arrangement." + +Jimmy laughed. "If it's any consolation to you, I haven't very much, +either. Still, I think I'm going to get it. I was creeping through the +blinding fog six months ago, but the mists have blown away and the sky +is brightening to windward now." + +Then he turned and pointed to the strip of dusky blue that moved across +the gleaming lake. "If anything more is wanted, there's the fair wind." + +They ran back before it under a blaze of sunshine with the little frothy +ripples splashing merrily after them, and then Jimmy had to exert +himself again before he could induce Anthea's aunt to believe that it +was possible for her niece to be married at two weeks' notice. Still, he +accomplished it, and on the fifteenth day he and Anthea Wheelock stood +on the platform of a big dusty car as the Pacific express ran slowly +into the station at Vancouver. + +Leeson stood waiting with Forster, and Jordan was already running toward +the car, but Jimmy's lips set tight when he saw Eleanor with Mrs. +Forster. In a moment or two Jordan handed Anthea down, and then stood +aside as Eleanor came impulsively forward. To her brother's +astonishment, she laid her hand on Anthea's shoulder and kissed her on +each cheek. + +"Now," she said, "you will have to forgive me." + +Jimmy did not hear what his wife said, for Mrs. Forster was greeting +him, and then Leeson and the rancher seized him; but five minutes later +Eleanor stood at his side. + +"Yes," she said, "Anthea and I are going to be friends, and you daren't +be angry any longer, Jimmy." + +They had dropped a little behind the others, who were moving along the +wharf, and Jimmy looked at her with a dry smile. + +"I'm not," he said. "In fact, I don't think it was my temper that made +things unpleasant all the time. Still----" + +"You didn't expect me to change?" + +Her brother said nothing, and she looked up at him with a softness in +her eyes he never remembered seeing there. + +"I'm going to marry Charley very soon," she said. "I couldn't have done +that while I hated anybody, and, after all, it was Merril who +roused--the wild cat--in me, and we have done with him altogether. They +wouldn't have him back in Vancouver, but there's a land-boom somewhere +in California, and Charley hears that he is already piling up money." + +She stopped a moment, and thrust a folded paper into his hand. "That's +yours, but Anthea must never see it. Charley didn't know I had it, and I +meant to keep it in case Merril got rich again; but I don't want it now. +Please destroy it, Jimmy." + +Jimmy glanced at the paper, and his expression changed when he saw that +it was the engineer's confession; but he laid his hand on his sister's +arm and pressed it, for he understood what the fact that she had parted +with that document signified. Then Leeson, who was a few paces in front +of them, turned and pointed to a big steamer with a tier of white +deck-houses lying out in the Inlet. + +"The boat's waiting at the landing, and we'll go off," he said. "There's +a kind of wedding-lunch ready on board her." + +Jimmy said they had purposed going straight to the house he had +commissioned Jordan to take for him, but the latter laughed, and Leeson +chuckled dryly. + +"We held a meeting over the question, and fixed it up that the house you +wanted hadn't quite tone enough for the man who's to be Commodore of the +_Shasta_ fleet very soon," he said. "That's why we decided to put you +into my big one on the rise. Guess there's not a prettier house around +this city, but it has never been really lived in. I'm out most of every +day, and only want two rooms. Now, there's no use protesting; it's all +fixed ready, and you're going right in." + +He turned, and touched Anthea's arm. "You'll stand by me. You can't +afford to have your husband kick against the man with the most money in +the _Shasta_ Company." + +Jimmy's protests were very feeble. It had been his one trouble that +Anthea would have to live in a very different fashion from the one she +had been accustomed to, and he was relieved when she thanked the old +man. + +Leeson smiled at her in a very kindly fashion. "Well," he said, "I've +been lonely for the last eight years since the boy who should have had +that house went down with my smartest boat, and I want to feel that +there's somebody under the same roof with me who will keep me from +growing too hard and old." + +Then he stopped, and chuckled in his usual dry manner. "I was going to +make Jordan the proposition--only I got to thinking and my nerve failed +me. Guess I made my money hard in the free sealing days when we had +trouble with everybody all the time, but I felt I'd sooner not offend +Mrs. Jordan, and I might do it if I didn't fix things just as she told +me. She's a clever woman--but I don't want to have her on my trail." + +Eleanor only glanced at him in whimsical reproach, and they moved on, +laughing, toward the waiting boat. + + +END + + + + +Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors present in the +original edition have been corrected. + +In Chapter II, =the Tyee slowly crept on= was changed to =the _Tyee_ slowly +crept on=. + +In Chapter VIII, a missing quotation mark was added before =I was there +two years=, and =the others gazed at the Sorata expressionlessly= was +changed to =the others gazed at the _Sorata_ expressionlessly=. + +In Chapter XIV, a quotation mark was deleted after =Heave!=. + +In Chapter XXII, =the Shasta did not move at all= was changed to =the +_Shasta_ did not move at all=, and =the Shasta heaved and rolled viciously= +was changed to =the _Shasta_ heaved and rolled viciously=. + +In Chapter XXVIII, a duplicate quotation mark was removed after =that's +the only thing to put a move on you.= + +In Chapter XXX, =Then I suppose I must sumbit= was changed to =Then I +suppose I must submit=. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Thrice Armed, by Harold Bindloss + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THRICE ARMED *** + +***** This file should be named 38747.txt or 38747.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/7/4/38747/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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