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diff --git a/39698.txt b/39698.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9a29255 --- /dev/null +++ b/39698.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11146 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Impostor, by Harold Bindloss, Illustrated +by Victor Prout + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Impostor + + +Author: Harold Bindloss + + + +Release Date: May 14, 2012 [eBook #39698] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE IMPOSTOR*** + + +E-text prepared by Roger Frank and the online Distributed Proofreaders +Canada team (http://www.pgdpcanada.net) from images of public domain +material generously made available by the University of Toronto Libraries +(http://onesearch.library.utoronto.ca) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 39698-h.htm or 39698-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/39698/39698-h/39698-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/39698/39698-h.zip) + + + + + +THE IMPOSTOR. + + +[Illustration: "In the meanwhile, Maud Barrington sat by the open window +in her room." (Chapter XVI.)] + + +THE IMPOSTOR + +by + +HAROLD BINDLOSS + +Author of "Hawtrey's Deputy," "The Liberationist," +"A Sower of Wheat," "The Pioneer," etc. + + + + + + + +Ward, Lock & Co., Limited +London, Melbourne and Toronto + + + + +CONTENTS + + I Rancher Witham + II Lance Courthorne + III Trooper Shannon's Quarrel + IV In the Bluff + V Miss Barrington Comes Home + VI Anticipations + VII Witham's Decision + VIII Witham Comes to Silverdale + IX An Armistice + X Maud Barrington's Promise + XI Speed the Plough + XII Mastery Recognized + XIII A Fair Advocate + XIV The Unexpected + XV Facing the Flame + XVI Maud Barrington is Merciless + XVII With the Stream + XVIII Under Test + XIX Courthorne Blunders + XX The Face at the Window + XXI Colonel Barrington is Convinced + XXII Sergeant Stimson Confirms his Suspicions + XXIII The Revelation + XXIV Courthorne makes Reparation + XXV Witham Rides Away + XXVI Reinstation + + + + +THE IMPOSTOR + + + + +CHAPTER I + +RANCHER WITHAM + + +It was a bitter night, for although there was no snow as yet, the +frost had bound the prairie in its iron grip, when Rancher Witham +stood shivering in a little Canadian settlement in the great, lonely +land which runs north from the American frontier to Athabasca. There +was no blink of starlight in the murky sky, and a stinging wind that +came up out of the great waste of grass moaned about the frame houses +clustering beside the trail that led south over the limited levels to +the railroad and civilization. It chilled Witham through his somewhat +tattered furs, and he strode up and down, glancing expectantly into +the darkness, and then across the unpaved street, where the ruts were +ploughed a foot deep in the prairie sod, towards the warm, red glow +from the windows of the wooden hotel. He knew that the rest of the +outlying farmers and ranchers who had ridden in for their letters were +sitting snug about the stove, but it was customary for all who sought +shelter there to pay for their share of the six o'clock supper, and +the half-dollar Witham had then in his pocket was required for other +purposes. + +He had also retained through all his struggles a measure of his pride, +and because of it strode up and down buffeted by the blasts until a +beat of horse-hoofs came out of the darkness and was followed by a +rattle of wheels. It grew steadily louder, a blinking ray of +brightness flickered across the frame houses, and presently dark +figures were silhouetted against the light on the hotel veranda as a +lurching wagon drew up beneath it. Two dusky objects, shapeless in +their furs, sprang down, and one stumbled into the post office close +by with a bag while the other man answered the questions hurled at him +as he fumbled with stiffened fingers at the harness. + +"Late? Well, you might be thankful you've got your mail at all," he +said. "We had to go round by Willow Bluff, and didn't think we'd get +through the ford. Ice an inch thick, anyway, and Charley talked that +much he's not said anything since, even when the near horse put his +foot into a badger hole." + +Rude banter followed this, but Witham took no part in it. Hastening +into the post office, he stood betraying his impatience by his very +impassiveness while a sallow-faced woman tossed the letters out upon +the counter. At last she took up two of them, and the man's fingers +trembled a little as he stretched out his hand, when she said-- + +"That's all there are for you." + +Witham recognized the writing on the envelopes, and it was with +difficulty he held his eagerness in check, but other men were waiting +for his place, and he went out and crossed the street to the hotel +where there was light to read by. As he entered it a girl, bustling +about a long table in the big stove-warmed room, turned with a little +smile. + +"It's only you!" she said. "Now I was figuring it was Lance +Courthorne." + +Witham, impatient as he was, stopped and laughed, for the +hotel-keeper's daughter was tolerably well-favoured and a friend of +his. + +"And you're disappointed?" he said. "I haven't Lance's good looks, or +his ready tongue." + +The room was empty, for the guests were thronging about the post +office then, and the girl's eyes twinkled as she drew back a pace and +surveyed the man. There was nothing in his appearance that would have +aroused a stranger's interest, or attracted more than a passing +glance, and he stood before her in a very old fur coat, with a fur cap +that was in keeping with it in his hand. His face had been bronzed +almost to the colour of a Blackfoot Indian's by frost and wind and +sun, and it was of English type from the crisp fair hair above the +broad forehead to the somewhat solid chin. The mouth was hidden by the +bronze-tinted moustache, and the eyes alone, were noticeable. They +were grey, and there was a steadiness in them which was almost unusual +even in that country, where men look into long distances. For the +rest, he was of average stature, and stood impassively straight, +looking down upon the girl without either grace or awkwardness, while +his hard brown hands, suggested, as his attire did, strenuous labour +for a very small reward. + +"Well," said the girl with Western frankness, "there's a kind of stamp +on Lance that you haven't got. I figure he brought it with him from +the old country. Still, one might take you for him if you stood with +the light behind you, and you're not quite a bad-looking man. It's a +kind of pity you're so solemn." + +Witham smiled. "I don't fancy that's astonishing after losing two +harvests in succession," he said. "You see, there's nobody back there +in the old country to send remittances to me." + +The girl nodded with quick sympathy. "Oh, yes. The times are bad," she +said. "Well, you read your letters; I'm not going to worry you." + +Witham sat down and opened the first envelope under the big lamp. It +was from a land agent and mortgage-broker, and his face grew a trifle +grimmer as he read, "In the present condition of the money market your +request that we should carry you over is unreasonable, and we regret +that unless you can extinguish at least half the loan we will be +compelled to foreclose upon your holding." + +There was a little more of it, but that was sufficient for Witham, who +knew it meant disaster, and it was with the feeling of one clinging +desperately to the last shred of hope he tore open the second +envelope. The letter it held was from a friend he had made in a +Western city, and once entertained for a month at his ranch, but the +man had evidently sufficient difficulties of his own to contend with. + +"Very sorry, but it can't be done," he wrote. "I'm loaded up with +wheat nobody will buy, and couldn't raise five hundred dollars to lend +any one just now," + +Witham sighed a little, but when he rose and slowly straightened +himself nobody would have suspected he was looking ruin in the face. +He had fought a slow, losing battle for six weary years, holding on +doggedly though defeat appeared inevitable, and now when it had come +he bore it impassively, for the struggle which, though he was scarcely +twenty-six, had crushed all mirth and brightness out of his life, had +given him endurance in place of them. Just then a man came bustling +towards him, with the girl who bore a tray close behind. + +"What are you doing with that coat on?" he said. "Get it off and sit +down right there. The boys are about through with the mail and +supper's ready," + +Witham glanced at the steaming dishes hungrily, for he had passed most +of the day in the bitter frost, eating very little, and there was +still a drive of twenty miles before him. + +"It is time I was taking the trail," he said. + +He was sensible of a pain in his left side, which, as other men have +discovered, not infrequently follows enforced abstinence from food, +but he remembered what he wanted the half-dollar in his pocket for. +The hotel-keeper had possibly some notion of the state of affairs, for +he laughed a little. + +"You've got to sit down," he said. "Now, after the way you fixed me up +when I stopped at your ranch, you don't figure I'd let you go before +you had some supper with me." + +Witham may have been unduly sensitive, but he shook his head. "You're +very good, but it's a long ride, and I'm going now," he said. +"Good-night, Nettie." + +He turned as he spoke, with the swift decision that was habitual with +him, and when he went out the girl glanced at her father +reproachfully. + +"You always get spoiling things when you put your hand in," she said. +"Now that man's hungry, and I'd have fixed it so he'd have got his +supper if you had left it to me." + +The hotel-keeper laughed a little. "I'm kind of sorry for Witham +because there's grit in him, and he's never had a show," he said. +"Still, I figure he's not worth your going out gunning after, Nettie." + +The girl said nothing, but there was a little flush in her face which +had not been there before, when she busied herself with the dishes. + +In the meanwhile Witham was harnessing two bronco horses to a very +dilapidated wagon. They were vicious beasts, but he had bought them +cheap from a man who had some difficulty in driving them, while the +wagon had been given him, when it was apparently useless, by a +neighbour. The team had, however, already covered thirty miles that +day, and started homewards at a steady trot without the playful +kicking they usually indulged in. Here and there a man sprang clear of +the rutted road, but Witham did not notice him or return his greeting. +He was abstractedly watching the rude frame houses flit by, and +wondering, while the pain in his side grew keener, when he would get +his supper, for it happens not infrequently that the susceptibilities +are dulled by a heavy blow, and the victim finds a distraction that is +almost welcome in the endurance of a petty trouble. + +Witham was very hungry, and weary alike in body and mind. The sun had +not risen when he left his homestead, and he had passed the day under +a nervous strain, hoping, although it seemed improbable, that the mail +would bring him relief from his anxieties. Now he knew the worst he +could bear it as he had borne the loss of two harvests, and the +disaster which followed in the wake of the blizzard that killed off +his stock; but it seemed unfair that he should endure cold and hunger +too, and when one wheel sank in a rut and the jolt shook him in every +stiffened limb, he broke out with a hoarse expletive. It was his first +protest against the fate that was too strong for him, and almost as he +made it he laughed. + +"Pshaw! There's no use kicking against what has to be, and I've got to +keep my head just now," he said. + +There was no great comfort in the reflection, but it had sustained him +before, and Witham's head was a somewhat exceptional one, though there +was as a rule nothing in any way remarkable about his conversation, +and he was apparently merely one of the many quietly-spoken, +bronze-faced men who are even by their blunders building up a great +future for the Canadian dominion. He accordingly drew his old rug +tighter round him, and instinctively pulled his fur cap lower down +when the lights of the settlement faded behind him and the creaking +wagon swung out into the blackness of the prairie. It ran back league +beyond league across three broad provinces, and the wind that came up +out of the great emptiness emphasized its solitude. A man from the +cities would have heard nothing but the creaking of the wagon and the +drumming fall of hoofs, but Witham heard the grasses patter as they +swayed beneath the bitter blasts stiff with frost, and the moan of +swinging boughs in a far-off willow bluff. It was these things that +guided him, for he had left the rutted trail, and here and there the +swishen beneath the wheels told of taller grass, while the bluff ran +black athwart the horizon when that had gone. Then twigs crackled +beneath them as the horses picked their way amidst the shadowy trees +stunted by a ceaseless struggle with the wind, and Witham shook the +creeping drowsiness from him when they came out into the open again, +for he knew it is not advisable for any man with work still to do to +fall asleep under the frost of that country. + +Still, he grew a trifle dazed as the miles went by, and because of it +indulged in memories he had shaken off at other times. They were +blurred recollections of the land he had left eight years ago, +pictures of sheltered England, half-forgotten music, the voices of +friends who no longer remembered him, and the smiles in a girl's +bright eyes. Then he settled himself more firmly in the driving-seat, +and with numbed fingers sought a tighter grip of the reins as the +memory of the girl's soft answer to a question he had asked brought +his callow ambitions back. + +He was to hew his way to fortune in the West, and then come back for +her, but the girl who had clung to him with wet cheeks when he left +her had apparently grown tired of waiting, and Witham sent back her +letters in return for a silver-printed card. That was six years ago, +and now none of the dollars he had brought into the country remained +to him. He realized, dispassionately and without egotism, that this +was through no fault of his, for he knew that better men had been +crushed and beaten. + +It was, however, time he had done with these reflections, for while he +sat half-dazed and more than half-frozen the miles had been flitting +by, and now the team knew they were not very far from home. Little by +little their pace increased, and Witham was almost astonished to see +another bluff black against the night ahead of him. As usual in that +country, the willows and birches crawled up the sides and just showed +their heads above the sinuous crest of a river hollow. It was very +dark when the wagon lurched in among them, and it cost the man an +effort to discern the winding trail which led down into the blackness +of the hollow. In places the slope was almost precipitous, and it +behoved him to be careful of the horses, which could not be replaced. +Without them he could not plough in spring, and his life did not +appear of any especial value in comparison with theirs just then. + +The team, however, were evidently bent on getting home as soon as +possible, and Witham's fingers were too stiff to effectively grasp the +reins. A swinging bough also struck one of the horses, and when it +plunged and flung up its head the man reeled a little in his seat. +Before he recovered the team were going down-hill at a gallop. Witham +flung himself bodily backwards with tense muscles, and the reins +slipping a trifle in his hands, knowing that though he bore against +them with all his strength the team were leaving the trail. Then the +wagon jolted against a tree, one horse stumbled, picked up its stride, +and went on at a headlong gallop. The man felt the wind rush past him +and saw the dim trees whirl by, but he could only hold on and wonder +what would take place when they came to the bottom. The bridge the +trail went round by was some distance to the right and because the +frost had just set in he knew the ice on the river would not bear the +load, even if the horses could keep their footing. + +He had not, however, long to wonder. Once more a horse stumbled, there +was a crash, and a branch hurled Witham backwards into the wagon, +which came to a standstill suddenly. When he rose something warm was +running down his face, and there was a red smear on the hand he +lighted the lantern with. When that was done he flung himself down +from the wagon, dreading what he would find. The flickering radiance +showed him that the pole had snapped, and while one bronco still stood +trembling on its feet the other lay inert amidst a tangle of harness. +The man's face grew a trifle grimmer as he threw the light upon it, +and then, stooping, glanced at one doubled leg. It was evident that +fate, which did nothing by halves, had dealt him a crushing blow. The +last faint hope he clung to had vanished now. + +He was, however, a humane man, and considerate of the beasts that +worked for him, and accordingly thrust his hand inside the old fur +coat, when he had loosed the uninjured horse, and drew out a +long-bladed knife. Then he knelt and, setting down the lantern, felt +for the place to strike. When he found it his courage almost deserted +him, and meeting the eyes that seemed to look up at him with dumb +appeal, turned his head away. Still, he was a man who would not shirk +a painful duty, and shaking off the sense of revulsion turned again +and stroked the beast's head. + +"It's all I can do for you," he said. + +Then his arm came down, and a tremor ran through the quivering frame, +while Witham set his lips tightly as his hand grew warm. The thing was +horrible to him, but the life he led had taught him the folly of +weakness, and he was too pitiful to let his squeamishness overcome +him. + +Still, he shivered when it was done, and rubbing the knife in the +withered leaves, rose and made shift to gird a rug about the uninjured +horse. Then he cut the reins and tied them, and mounting without +stirrups rode towards the bridge. The horse went quietly enough now, +and the man allowed it to choose its way. He was going home to find +shelter from the cold, because his animal instincts prompted him, but +otherwise, almost without volition, in a state of dispassionate +indifference. Nothing more he fancied, could well befall him. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +LANCE COURTHORNE + + +It was late when Witham reached his log-built house, but he set out +once more with his remaining horse before the lingering daylight crept +out of the east, to haul the wagon home. He also spent most of the day +in repairing it, because occupation of any kind that would keep him +from unpleasant reflections appeared advisable, and to allow anything +to fall out of use was distasteful to him, although as the wagon had +been built for two horses he had little hope of driving it again. It +was a bitter, grey day, with a low, smoky sky, and seemed very long to +Witham; but evening came at last, and he was left with nothing between +him and his thoughts. + +He lay in a dilapidated chair beside the stove, and the little bare +room through which its pipe ran was permeated with the smell of fresh +shavings, hot iron, and the fumes of indifferent tobacco. A +carpenter's bench ran along one end of it, and was now occupied by a +new wagon pole the man had fashioned out of a slender birch. A Marlin +rifle, an axe, and a big saw hung beneath the head of an antelope on +the wall above the bench, and all of them showed signs of use and +glistened with oil. Opposite to them a few shelves were filled with +simple crockery and cooking utensils, and these also shone spotlessly. +There was a pair of knee boots in one corner with a patch partly sewn +on to one of them, and the harness in another showed traces of careful +repair. A bookcase hung above them, and its somewhat tattered contents +indicated that the man who had chosen and evidently handled them +frequently possessed tastes any one who did not know that country +would scarcely have expected to find in a prairie farmer. A table and +one or two rude chairs made by their owner's hands completed the +furniture; but while all hinted at poverty, it also suggested +neatness, industry, and care, for the room bore the impress of its +occupier's individuality, as rooms not infrequently do. + +It was not difficult to see that he was frugal, though possibly from +necessity rather than taste, not sparing of effort, and had a keen eye +for utility, and if that suggested the question why, with such +capacities, he had not attained to greater comfort, the answer was +simple. Witham had no money, and the seasons had fought against him. +He had done his uttermost with the means at his disposal, and now he +knew he was beaten. + +A doleful wind moaned about the lonely building and set the roof +shingles rattling overhead. Now and then the stove crackled, or the +lamp flickered, and any one unused to the prairie would have felt the +little loghouse very desolate and lonely. There was no other human +habitation within a league, only a great waste of whitened grass +relieved about the homestead by the raw clods of the fall ploughing; +for, while his scattered neighbours, for the most part, put their +trust in horses and cattle, Witham had been among the first to realize +the capacities of that land as a wheat-growing country. + +Now, clad in well-worn jean trousers and an old deerskin jacket, he +looked down at the bundle of documents on his knee, accounts unpaid, a +banker's intimation that no more cheques would be honoured and a +mortgage deed. They were not pleasant reading, and the man's face +clouded as he pencilled notes on some of them, but there was no +weakness or futile protest in it. Defeat was plain between the lines +of all he read, but he was going on stubbornly until the struggle was +ended, as others of his kind had done, there at the western limit of +the furrows of the plough and in the great province further east which +is one of the world's granaries. They went under and were forgotten, +but they showed the way, and while their guerdon was usually six feet +of prairie soil, the wheat-fields, mills, and railroads came, for it +is written plainly on the new North-West that no man may live and +labour for himself alone, and there are many who, realizing it, +instinctively ask very little, and freely give their best for the land +that but indifferently shelters them. + +Presently, however, there was a knocking at the door, and though this +was most unusual, Witham only quietly moved his head when a bitter +blast came in, and a man wrapped in furs stood in the opening. + +"I'll put my horse in the stable while I've got my furs on. It's a +bitter night," he said. + +Witham nodded. "You know where the lantern is," he said. "There's some +chop in the manger, and you needn't spare the oats in the bin. At +present prices it doesn't pay to haul them in." + +The man closed the door silently, and it was ten minutes before he +returned, and sloughing off his furs dropped into a chair beside the +stove. "I got supper at Broughton's, and don't want anything but +shelter to-night," he said. "Shake that pipe out and try one of these +instead." + +He laid a cigar case on the table, and though well worn it was of +costly make, with a good deal of silver about it, while Witham, who +lighted one, knew that the cigars were good. He had no esteem for his +visitor, but men are not censorious upon the prairie, and Western +hospitality is always free. + +"Where have you come from, Courthorne?" he said quietly. + +The other man laughed a little. "The long trail," he said. "The +Dakotas, Colorado, Montana. Cleaned up one thousand dollars at Regent, +and might have got more, but some folks down there seemed tired of me. +The play was quite regular, but they have apparently been getting +virtuous lately." + +"And now?" said Witham, with polite indifference. + +Courthorne made a little gesture of deprecation. + +"I'm back again with the rustlers." + +Witham's nod signified comprehension, for the struggle between the +great range-holders across the frontier and the smaller settlers who +with legal right invaded their cattle runs was just over. It had been +fought out bitterly with dynamite and rifles, and when at last, with +the aid of the United States cavalry, peace was made, sundry broken +men and mercenaries who had taken the pay of both parties, seeing +their occupation gone, had found a fresh scope for their energies in +smuggling liquor, and on opportunity transferring cattle, without +their owners' sanction, across the frontier. That was then a +prohibition country, and the profits and risks attached to supplying +it and the Blackfeet on the reserves with liquor were heavy. + +"Business this way?" said Witham. + +Courthorne appeared to consider a moment, and there was a curious +little glint which did not escape his companion's attention in his +eyes, but he laughed. + +"Yes, we're making a big run," he said, then stopped and looked +straight at the rancher. "Did it ever strike you, Witham, that you +were not unlike me?" + +Witham smiled, but made a little gesture of dissent as he returned the +other's gaze. They were about the same height and had the same English +type of face, while Witham's eyes were grey and his companion's an +indefinite blue that approached the former colour, but there the +resemblance, which was not more than discernible, ended. Witham was +quietly-spoken and somewhat grim, a plain prairie farmer in +appearance, while a vague but recognizable stamp of breeding and +distinction still clung to Courthorne. He would have appeared more in +place in the States upon the southern Atlantic seaboard, where the +characteristics the Cavalier settlers brought with them are not +extinct, than he did upon the Canadian prairie. His voice had even in +his merriment a little imperious ring, his face was refined as well as +sensual, and there was a languid gracefulness in his movements and a +hint of pride in his eyes. They, however, lacked the steadiness of +Witham's, and there were men who had seen the wild devil that was born +in Courthorne look out of them. Witham knew him as a pleasant +companion, but surmised from stories he had heard that there were men, +and more women, who bitterly rued the trust they had placed in him. + +"No," he said dryly. "I scarcely think I am like you, although only +last night Nettie at the settlement took me for you. You see, the kind +of life I've led out here has set its mark on me, and my folks in the +old country were distinctly middle-class people. There is something in +heredity." + +Courthorne did not parry the unexpressed question. "Oh, yes," he said, +with a little sardonic smile. "I know. The backbone of the +nation--solemn, virtuous, and slow. You're like them, but my folks +were different, as you surmise. I don't think they had many estimable +qualities from your point of view, but if they all didn't go quite +straight they never went slow, and they had a few prejudices, which is +why I found it advisable to leave the old country. Still, I've had my +fill of all that life can offer most folks out here, while you +scarcely seem to have found virtue pay you. They told me at the +settlement things were bad with you." + +Witham, who was usually correct in his deductions, surmised that his +companion had an object, and expected something in return for this +confidence. There was also no need for reticence when every farmer in +the district knew all about his affairs, while something urged him to +follow Courthorne's lead. + +"Yes," he said quietly. "They are. You see, when I lost my cattle in +the blizzard, I had to sell out or mortgage the place to the hilt, and +during the last two years I haven't made the interest. The loan falls +due in August, and they're going to foreclose on me." + +"Then," said Courthorne, "what is keeping you here when the result of +every hour's work you put in will go straight into another's man's +pocket?" + +Witham smiled a little. "In the first place, I've nowhere else to go, +and there's something in the feeling that one has held on to the end. +Besides, until a few days ago I had a vague hope that by working +double tides, I might get another crop in. Somebody might have +advanced me a little on it because the mortgage only claims the house +and land." + +Courthorne looked at him curiously. "No. We are not alike," he said. +"There's a slow stubborn devil in you, Witham, and I think I'd be +afraid of you if I ever did you an injury. But go on." + +"There's very little more. My team ran away down the ravine, and I had +to put one beast out of its misery. I can't do my ploughing with one +horse, and that leaves me stranded for the want of the dollars to buy +another with. It's usually a very little thing that turns the scale, +but now the end has come, I don't know that I'm sorry. I've never had +a good time, you see, and the struggle was slowly crushing the life +out of me." + +Witham spoke quietly, without bitterness, but Courthorne, who had +never striven at all but stretched out his hand and taken what was +offered, the more willingly when it was banned alike by judicial and +moral law, dimly understood him. He was a fearless man, but he knew +his courage would not have been equal to the strain of that six years' +struggle against loneliness, physical fatigue, and adverse seasons, +during which disaster followed disaster. He looked at the bronzed +farmer as he said, "Still, you would do a little in return for a +hundred dollars that would help you to go on with the fight?" + +A faint sparkle crept into Witham's eyes. It was not hope, but rather +the grim anticipation of the man offered a better weapon when standing +with his back to the wall. + +"Yes," he said slowly. "I would do almost anything." + +"Even if it was against the law?" + +Witham sat silent for almost a minute, but there was no indecision in +his face, which slightly perplexed Courthorne. "Yes," he said. "Though +I kept it while I could, the law was made for the safe-guarding of +prosperous men, but with such as I am it is every man for his own hand +and the devil to care for the vanquished. Still, there is a +reservation." + +Courthorne nodded. "It's unlawful, but not against the unwritten +code." + +"Well," said Witham quietly, "when you tell me what you want I should +have a better opinion." + +Courthorne laughed a little, though there was something unpleasant in +his eyes. "When I first came out to this country I should have +resented that," he said. "Now, it seems to me that I'm putting too +much in your hands if I make the whole thing clear before you commit +yourself in any way." + +Witham nodded. "In fact, you have got to trust me. You can do so +safely." + +"The assurance of the guileless is astonishing and occasionally hard +to bear," said Courthorne. "Why not reverse the position?" + +Witham's gaze was steady, and free from embarrassment. "I am," he +said, "waiting for your offer." + +"Then," said Courthorne dryly, "here it is. We are running a big load +through to the northern settlements and the reserves to-morrow, and +while there's a good deal of profit attached to the venture, I have a +notion that Sergeant Stimson has had word of it. Now, the Sergeant +knows just how I stand with the rustlers, though he can fasten no +charge on me, and he will have several of his troopers looking out for +me. Well, I want one of them to see and follow me south along the +Montana trail. There's no horse in the Government service can keep +pace with that black of mine, but it would not be difficult to pull +him and just keep the trooper out of carbine shot behind. When he +finds he can't overtake the black he'll go off for his comrades, and +the boys will run our goods across the river while they're picking up +the trail." + +"You mentioned the horse, but not yourself," said Witham quietly. + +Courthorne laughed. "Yes," he said; "I will not be there. I'm offering +you one hundred dollars to ride the black for me. You can put my furs +on, and anybody who saw you and knew the horse would certify it was +me." + +"And where will you be?" + +"Here," said Courthorne dryly. "The boys will have no use for me until +they want a guide, but they'll leave an unloaded packhorse handy, and, +as it wouldn't suit any of us to make my connexion with them too +plain, it will be a night or two later when I join them. In the +meanwhile your part's quite easy. No trooper could ride you down +unless you wanted him to, and you'll ride straight on to Montana--I've +a route marked out for you. You'll stop at the places I tell you, and +the testimony of anybody who saw you on the black would be quite +enough to clear me if Stimson's men are too clever for the boys." + +Witham sat still a moment, and it was not avarice which prompted him +when he said, "Considering the risk, one hundred dollars is very +little." + +"Of course," said Courthorne. "Still, it isn't worth any more to me, +and there will be your expenses. If it doesn't suit you, I will do the +thing myself and find the boys another guide." + +He spoke indifferently, but Witham was not a fool, and knew that he +was lying. + +"Turn your face to the light," he said sharply. + +A little ominous glint became visible in Courthorne's eyes, and there +was just a trace of darker colour in his forehead, but Witham saw it +and was not astonished. Still Courthorne did not move. + +"What made you ask me that?" he said. + +Witham watched him closely, but his voice betrayed no special interest +as he said, "I fancied I saw a mark across your cheek. It seemed to me +that it had been made by a whip." + +The deeper tint was more visible on Courthorne's forehead, where the +swollen veins showed a trifle, and he appeared to swallow something +before he spoke. "Aren't you asking too many questions? What has a +mark on my face to do with you?" + +"Nothing," said Witham quietly. "Will you go through the conditions +again?" + +Courthorne nodded. "I pay you one hundred dollars--now," he said. "You +ride south to-morrow along the Montana trail and take the risk of the +troopers overtaking you. You will remain away a fortnight at my +expense, and pass in the meanwhile for me. Then you will return at +night as rancher Witham, and keep the whole thing a secret from +everybody." + +Witham sat silent and very still again for more than a minute. He +surmised that the man who made the offer had not told him all and +there was more behind, but that was, after all, of no great +importance. He was prepared to do a good deal for one hundred dollars, +and his bare life of effort and self-denial had grown almost +unendurable. He had now nothing to lose, and while some impulse urged +him to the venture, he felt that it was possible fate had in store for +him something better than he had known in the past. In the meanwhile +the cigar he held went out, and the striking of a match as Courthorne +lighted another roused him suddenly from the retrospect he was sinking +into. The bitter wind still moaned about the ranch, emphasizing its +loneliness, and the cedar shingles rattled dolefully overhead, while +it chanced that as Witham glanced towards the roof his eyes rested on +the suspended piece of rancid pork which with a little flour and a few +potatoes had during the last few months provided him with a +sustenance. It was of course a trifle, but it tipped the beam, as +trifles often do, and the man who was tired of all it symbolized +straightened himself with a little mirthless laugh. + +"On your word of honour there is nothing beyond the risk of a few +days' detention which can affect me?" he said. + +"No," said Courthorne solemnly, knowing that he lied. "On my honour. +The troopers could only question you. Is it a deal?" + +"Yes," said Witham simply, stretching out his hand for the roll of +bills the other flung down on the table, and, while one of the +contracting parties knew that the other would regret it bitterly, the +bargain was made. + +Then Courthorne laughed in his usual indolent fashion as he said, +"Well, it's all decided, and I don't even ask your word. To-morrow +will see the husk sloughed off and for a fortnight you'll be Lance +Courthorne. I hope you feel equal to playing the role with credit, +because I wouldn't entrust my good fame to everybody." + +Witham smiled dryly. "I fancy I shall," he said, and long afterwards +recalled the words. "You see, I had ambitions in my callow days, and +it's not my fault that hitherto I've never had a part to play." + +Rancher Witham was, however, wrong in this. He had played the part of +an honest man with a courage which had brought him to ruin, but there +was now to be a difference. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +TROOPER SHANNON'S QUARREL + + +There was bitter frost in the darkness outside when two young men +stood talking in the stables of a little outpost lying a long ride +back from the settlement in the lonely prairie. One leaned against a +manger with a pipe in his hand, while the spotless, softly-gleaming +harness hung up behind him showed what his occupation had been. The +other stood bolt upright with lips set, and a faint greyness which +betokened strong emotion showing through his tan. The lantern above +them flickered in the icy draughts, and from out of the shadows beyond +its light came the stamping of restless horses and the smell of +prairie hay, which is pungent with the odours of wild peppermint. + +The two lads, and they were very little more, were friends, in spite +of the difference in their upbringing, for there are few distinctions +between caste and caste in that country where manhood is still +esteemed the greatest thing, and the primitive virtues count for more +than wealth or intellect. Courage and endurance still command respect +in the new North-West, and that both the lads possessed them was made +evident by the fact that they were troopers of the North-West police, +a force of splendid cavalry whose duty it is to patrol the wilderness +at all seasons and in all weathers, under scorching sun and in +blinding snow. + +The men who keep the peace of the prairie are taught what heat and +thirst are, when they ride in couples through a desolate waste wherein +there is only bitter water, parched by pitiless sunrays and whitened +by the intolerable dust of alkali. They also discover just how much +cold the human frame can endure, when they lie down with only the +stars above them, long leagues from the nearest outpost, in a trench, +scooped in the snow, and they know how near one may come to +suffocation and yet live through the grassfire's blinding smoke. It +happens now and then that two who have answered to the last roster in +the icy darkness do not awaken when the lingering dawn breaks across +the great white waste, and only the coyote knows their resting-place, +but the watch and ward is kept, and the lonely settler dwells as safe +in the wilderness as he would in an English town. + +Trooper Shannon was an Irishman from the bush of Ontario, Trooper +Payne, English, and a scion of a somewhat distinguished family in the +old country, but while he told nobody why he left it suddenly, nobody +thought of asking him. He was known to be a bold rider and careful of +his beast, and that was sufficient for his comrades and the keen-eyed +Sergeant Stimson. He glanced at his companion thoughtfully as he said, +"She was a pretty girl. You knew her in Ontario?" + +Shannon's hands trembled a little. "Sure," he said, "Larry's place was +just a mile beyont our clearing, an' there was never a bonnier thing +than Ailly Blake came out from the old country--but is it need there +is for talking when ye've seen her? There was once I watched her smile +at ye with the black eyes that would have melted the heart out of any +man. Waking and sleeping they're with me still." + +Three generations of the Shannons had hewn the lonely clearing further +into the bush of Ontario and married the daughters of the soil, but +the Celtic strain, it was evident, had not run out yet. Payne, +however, came of English stock, and expressed himself differently. + +"It was a--shame," he said. "Of course he flung her over. I think you +saw him, Pat?" + +Shannon's face grew greyer, and he quivered visibly as his passion +shook him, while Payne felt his own blood pulse faster as he +remembered the graceful dark-eyed girl who had given him and his +comrade many a welcome meal when their duty took them near her +brother's homestead. That was, however, before one black day for Ailly +and Larry Blake when Lance Courthorne also rode that way. + +"Yes," said the lad from Ontario, "I was driving in for the stores +when I met him in the willow bluff, an' Courthorne pulls his divil of +a black horse up with a little ugly smile on the lips of him when I +swung the wagon right across the trail. + +"'That's not civil, trooper,' says he. + +"'I'm wanting a word,' says I, with the black hate choking me at the +sight of him. 'What have ye done with Ailly?' + +"'Is it anything to you?' says he. + +"'It's everything,' says I. 'And if ye will not tell me I'll tear it +out of ye.' + +"Courthorne laughs a little, but I saw the divil in his eyes. 'I don't +think you're quite man enough,' says he, sitting very quiet on the big +black horse. 'Anyway, I can't tell you where she is just now, because +she left the dancing saloon she was in down in Montana when I last saw +her.' + +"I had the big whip that day, and I forgot everything as I heard the +hiss of it round my shoulder. It came home across the ugly face of +him, and then I flung it down and grabbed the carbine as he swung the +black round with one hand fumbling in his jacket. It came out empty, +an' we sat there a moment, the two of us, Courthorne white as death, +his eyes like burning coals, and the fingers of me trembling on the +carbine. Sorrow on the man that he hadn't a pistol, or I'd have sent +the black soul of him to the divil it came from." + +The lad panted, and Payne, who had guessed at his hopeless devotion to +the girl who had listened to Courthorne, made a gesture of disapproval +that was tempered by sympathy. It was for her sake, he fancied, +Shannon had left the Ontario clearing and followed Larry Blake to the +West. + +"I'm glad he hadn't, Pat," said Payne. "What was the end of it?" + +"I remembered," said the other with a groan, "remembered I was Trooper +Shannon, an' dropped the carbine into the wagon. Courthorne wheels the +black horse round, an' I saw the red line across the face of him. + +"'You'll be sorry for this, my lad,' says he." + +"He's a dangerous man," Payne said thoughtfully. "Pat, you came near +being a----ass that day. Anyway, it's time we went in, and as Larry's +here I shouldn't wonder if we saw Courthorne again before the +morning." + +The icy cold went through them to the bone as they left the stables, +and it was a relief to enter the loghouse, which was heated to +fustiness by the glowing stove. A lamp hung from a rough birch beam, +and its uncertain radiance showed motionless figures wrapped in +blankets in the bunks round the walls. Two men were, however, +dressing, and one already in uniform sat at a table talking to another +swathed in furs, who was from his appearance a prairie farmer. The man +at the table was lean and weather-bronzed, with grizzled hair and +observant eyes. They were fixed steadily upon the farmer, who knew +that very little which happened upon the prairie escaped the vigilance +of Sergeant Stimson. + +"It's straight talk you're giving me, Larry? What do you figure on +making by it?" he said. + +The farmer laughed mirthlessly. "Not much, anyway, beyond the chance +of getting a bullet in me back or me best steer lifted one dark night. +'Tis not forgiving the rustlers are, and Courthorne's the divil," he +said. "But listen now, Sergeant; I've told ye where he is, and if +ye're not fit to corral him I'll ride him down meself." + +Sergeant Stimson wrinkled his forehead. "If anybody knows what they're +after, it should be you," he said, watching the man out of the corner +of his eyes. "Still, I'm a little worried as to why, when you'll get +nothing for it, you're anxious to serve the State." + +The farmer clenched a big hand. "Sergeant, you that knows everything, +will ye drive me mad, an' to ---- with the State!" he said. "Sure, +it's gospel I'm telling ye, an' as you're knowing well, it's me could +tell where the boys who ride at midnight drop many a keg. Well, if ye +will have your reason, it was Courthorne who put the black shame on me +an' mine." + +Sergeant Stimson nodded, for he had already suspected this. + +"Then," he said dryly, "we'll give you a chance of helping us to put +the handcuffs on him. Now, because they wouldn't risk the bridge, and +the ice is not thick yet everywhere, there are just two ways they +could bring the stuff across, and I figure we'd be near the thing if +we fixed on Graham's Pool. Still, Courthorne's no kind of fool, and +just because that crossing seems the likeliest he might try the other +one. You're ready for duty, Trooper Payne?" + +The lad stood straight. "I can turn out in ten minutes, sir," he said. + +"Then," and Sergeant Stimson raised his voice a trifle, "you will ride +at once to the rise a league outside the settlement, and watch the +Montana trail. Courthorne will probably be coming over from Witham's +soon after you get there, riding the big black, and you'll keep out of +sight and follow him. If he heads for Carson's Crossing ride for +Graham's at a gallop, where you'll find me with the rest. If he makes +for the bridge, you will overtake him if you can and find out what +he's after. It's quite likely he'll tell you nothing, and you will not +arrest him, but bearing in mind that every minute he spends there will +be a loss to the rustlers you'll keep him so long as you can. Trooper +Shannon, you'll ride at once to the bluff above Graham's Pool, and +watch the trail. Stop any man who rides that way, and if it's +Courthorne keep him until the rest of the boys come up with me. You've +got your duty quite straight, both of you?" + +The lads saluted, and went out, while the Sergeant smiled a little as +he glanced at the farmer, and the men who were dressing. + +"It's steep chances we'll have Mr. Courthorne's company to-morrow, +boys," he said. "Fill up the kettle, Tom, and serve out a pint of +coffee. There are reasons why we shouldn't turn out too soon. We'll +saddle in an hour or so." + +Two of the men went out, and the stinging blast that swept in through +the open door smote a smoky smear across the blinking lamp and roused +a sharper crackling from the stove. Then one returned with the kettle +and there was silence, when the fusty heat resumed its sway. Now and +then a tired trooper murmured in his sleep, or there was a snapping in +the stove, while the icy wind moaned about the building and the kettle +commenced a soft sibilation, but nobody moved or spoke. Three shadowy +figures in uniform sat just outside the light soaking in the grateful +warmth while they could, for they knew that they might spend the next +night unsheltered from the Arctic cold of the wilderness. The Sergeant +sat with thoughtful eyes and wrinkled forehead where the flickering +radiance forced up his lean face and silhouetted his spare outline on +the rough boarding behind him, and close by the farmer sucked silently +at his pipe, waiting, with a stony calm that sprang from fierce +impatience, the reckoning with the man who had brought back shame upon +him. + +It was about this time when Witham stood shivering a little with the +bridle of a big black horse in his hand just outside the door of his +homestead. A valise and two thick blankets were strapped to the +saddle, and he had donned the fur cap and coat Courthorne usually +wore. Courthorne himself stood close by, smiling at him sardonically. + +"If you keep the cap down and ride with your stirrups long, as I've +fixed them, anybody would take you for me," said he. "Go straight +through the settlement, and let any man you come across see you. His +testimony would come in useful if Stimson tries to fix a charge on me. +You know your part of the bargain. You're to be Lance Courthorne for a +fortnight from to-day." + +"Yes," said Witham dryly. "I wish I was equally sure of yours." + +Courthorne laughed. "I'm to be Rancher Witham until to-morrow night, +anyway. Don't worry about me. I'll borrow those books of yours and +improve my mind. Possible starvation is the only thing that threatens +me, and it's unfortunate you've left nothing fit to eat behind you." + +Witham swung himself into the saddle, a trifle awkwardly, for +Courthorne rode with longer stirrup leathers than he was accustomed +to, then he raised one hand, and the other man laughed a little as he +watched him sink into the darkness of the shadowy prairie. When the +drumming of hoofs was lost in the moaning of the wind he strode +towards the stable, and taking up the lantern surveyed Witham's horse +thoughtfully. + +"The thing cuts with both edges, and the farmer only sees one of +them," he said. "That beast's about as difficult to mistake as my +black is." + +Then he returned to the loghouse, and presently put on Witham's old +fur coat and tattered fur cap. Had Witham seen his unpleasant smile as +he did it, he would probably have wheeled the black horse and returned +at a gallop, but the farmer was sweeping across the waste of whitened +grass at least a league away by this time. Now and then a half-moon +blinked down between wisps of smoky cloud, but for the most part grey +dimness hung over the prairie, and the drumming of hoofs rang +stridently through the silence. Witham knew a good horse, and had bred +several of them--before a blizzard which swept the prairie killed off +his finest yearlings as well as their pedigree sire--and his spirits +rose as the splendid beast swung into faster stride beneath him. + +For two weeks at least he would be free from anxiety, and the monotony +of his life at the lonely homestead had grown horribly irksome. Witham +was young, and, now when for a brief space he had left his cares +behind, the old love of adventure which had driven him out from +England once more awakened and set his blood stirring. For the first +time in six years of struggle he did not know what lay before him, and +he had a curious, half-instinctive feeling that the trail he was +travelling would lead him farther than Montana. It was borne in upon +him that he had left the old hopeless life behind, and, stirred by +some impulse, he broke into a little song he had sung in England, long +and forgotten. He had a clear voice, and the words, which were filled +with the hope of youth, rang bravely through the stillness of the +frozen wilderness until the horse blundered, and Witham stopped with a +little smile. + +"It's four long years since I felt as I do to-night," he said. + +Then he drew bridle and checked the horse as the lights of the +settlement commenced to blink ahead, for the trail was rutted deep and +frozen into the likeness of adamant, but when the first frame houses +flung tracks of yellow radiance across the whitened grass he dropped +his left arm a trifle and rode in at a canter as he had seen +Courthorne do. Witham did not like Courthorne, but he meant to keep +his bargain. + +As he passed the hotel more slowly a man who came out called to him. +"Hello, Lance! Taking the trail?" he said. "Well, it kind of strikes +me it's time you did. One of Stimson's boys was down here, and he +seemed quite anxious about you." + +Witham knew the man, and was about to urge the horse forward, but in +place of it drew bridle, and laughed with a feeling that was wholly +new to him as he remembered that his neighbours now and then bantered +him about his English and that Courthorne only used the Western +colloquialism when it suited him. + +"Sergeant Stimson is an enterprising officer, but there are as keen +men as he is," he said. "You will, in case he questions you, remember +when you met me." + +"Oh, yes," said the other. "Still, I wouldn't fool too much with +him--and where did you get those mittens from? That's the kind of +outfit that would suit Witham." + +Witham nodded, for though he had turned his face from the light the +hand he held the bridle with was visible, and his big fur gloves were +very old. + +"They are his. The fact is, I've just come from his place," he said. +"Well, you can tell Stimson you saw me starting out on the Montana +trail." + +He shook the bridle, laughed softly as the frame houses flitted by, +and then grew intent when the darkness of the prairie once more closed +down. It was, he knew probable that some of Stimson's, men would be +looking out for him, and he had not sufficient faith in Courthorne's +assurances to court an encounter with them. + +The lights had faded, and the harsh grass was, crackling under the +drumming hoofs when the blurred outline of a mounted man showed up on +the crest of a rise, and a shout came down. + +"Hallo! Pull up there a moment, stranger." + +There was nothing alarming in the greeting, but Witham recognized the +ring of command, as well as the faint jingle of steel which had +preceded it, and pressed his heels home. The black swung forward +faster, and Witham glancing over his shoulder, saw, the dusky shape +was now moving down the incline, Then the voice rose again more +commandingly. + +"Pull up; I want a talk with you." + +Witham turned his head a moment, and remembering Courthorne's English, +flung back the answer, "Sorry, I haven't time." + +The faint musical jingle grew plainer, there was a thud of hoofs +behind, and the curious, exhilaration returned to Witham as the big +black horse stretched out at a gallop. The soil was hard as granite, +but the matted grasses formed a covering that rendered fast riding +possible to a man who took the risks and Witham knew there were few +horses in the Government service to match the one he rode. Still, it +was evident that the trooper meant to overtake him, and recollecting +his compact he tightened his grip on the bridle. It was a long way to +the ranch where he was to spend the night, and he knew that the +further he drew the trooper on the better it would suit Courthorne. + +So they swept on through the darkness over the empty waste, the +trooper who was riding hard slowly creeping up behind. Still, Witham +held the horse in until a glance over his shoulder showed him that +there was less than a hundred yards between them, and he fancied he +heard a portentous rattle as well as the thud of hoofs. It was not +unlike that made by a carbine flung across the saddle. This suggested +unpleasant possibilities, and he slackened his grip on the bridle. +Then a breathless shout rang out, "Pull up or I'll fire." + +Witham wondered if the threat was genuine or what is termed "bluff" in +that country, but as he had decided objections to being shot in the +back to please Courthorne, sent his heels home. The horse shot forward +beneath him, and though no carbine flashed, the next backward glance +showed him that the distance between him and the pursuer was drawing +out, while when he stared ahead again the dark shape of willows or +birches cut the skyline. As they came back to him the drumming of +hoofs swelled into a staccato roar, while presently the trail grew +steep, and dark boughs swayed above him. In another few minutes +something smooth and level flung back a blink of light, and the +timbers of a wooden bridge rattled under his passage. Then he was +racing upwards through the gloom of wind-dwarfed birches on the +opposite side, listening for the rattle behind him on the bridge, and +after a struggle with the horse pulled him up smoking when he did not +hear it. + +There was a beat of hoofs across the river, but it was slower than +when he had last heard it and grew momentarily less audible, and +Witham laughed as he watched the steam of the horse and his own breath +rise in a thin white cloud. + +"The trooper has given it up, and now for Montana," he said. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +IN THE BLUFF + + +It was very dark amidst the birches where Trooper Shannon sat +motionless in his saddle, gazing down into the denser blackness of the +river hollow. The stream ran deep below the level of the prairie, as +the rivers of that country usually do, and the trees, which there +alone found shelter from the winds, straggled, gnarled and stunted, up +either side of the steep declivity. Close behind the trooper a sinuous +trail seamed by ruts and the print of hoofs stretched away across the +empty prairie. It forked on the outskirts of the bluff, and one arm +dipped steeply to the river where, because the stream ran slow just +there and the bottom was firm, a horseman might cross when the water +was low, and heavy sledges make the passage on the ice in winter time. +The other arm twisted in and out among the birches towards the bridge, +but that detour increased the distance to any one travelling north or +south by two leagues or so. + +The ice, however was not very thick as yet, and Shannon, who had heard +it ring hollowly under him, surmised that while it might be possible +to lead a laden horse across, there would be some risk attached to the +operation. For that very reason, and although his opinion had not been +asked, he agreed with Sergeant Stimson that the whisky-runners would +attempt the passage. They were men who took the risks as they came, +and that route would considerably shorten the journey it was +especially desirable for them to make at night, while it would, +Shannon fancied, appear probable to them that if the police had word +of their intentions they would watch the bridge. Between it and the +frozen ford the stream ran faster, and the trooper decided that no +mounted man could cross the thinner ice. + +It was very cold as well as dark, for although the snow, which usually +precedes the frost in that country, had not come as yet, it was +evidently not far away, and the trooper shivered in the blasts from +the pole which cut through fur and leather with the keenness of steel. +The temperature had fallen steadily since morning, and now there was a +presage of a blizzard in the moaning wind and murky sky. If it broke +and scattered its blinking whiteness upon the roaring blast there +would be but little hope for any man or beast caught shelterless in +the empty wilderness, for it is beyond the power of anything made of +flesh and blood to withstand that cold. + +Already a fine haze of snow swirled between the birch twigs every now +and then, and stung the few patches of the trooper's unprotected skin +as though they had been pricked with red-hot needles. It, however, +seldom lasted more than a minute, and when it whirled away, a +half-moon shone down for a moment between smoky clouds. The uncertain +radiance showed the thrashing birches rising from the hollow, row on +row, struck a faint sparkle from the ice beneath them, and then went +out, leaving the gloom intensified. It was evident to Shannon that his +eyes would not be much use to him that night, for which reason he kept +his ears uncovered at the risk of losing them, but though he had been +born in the bush and all the sounds of the wilderness had for him a +meaning, hearing did not promise to be of much assistance. The dim +trees roared about him with a great thrashing of twigs, and when the +wilder gusts had passed there was an eery moaning, through which came +the murmur of leagues of tormented grasses. The wind was rising +rapidly, and it would, he fancied, drown the beat of approaching hoofs +as well as any cry from his comrades. + +Four of them were hidden amidst the birches where the trail wound +steeply upwards through the bluff across the river, two on the nearer +side not far below, and Trooper Shannon's watch would serve two +purposes. He was to let the rustlers pass him it they rode for the +ford, and then help to cut off the retreat of any who escaped the +sergeant, while if they found the ice too thin for loaded beasts or +rode towards the bridge, a flash from his carbine would bring his +comrades across in time to join the others who were watching that +trail. It had, as usual with Stimson's schemes, all been carefully +thought out and the plan was eminently workable, but unfortunately for +the grizzled sergeant a better brain than his had foreseen the +combination. + +In the meanwhile the lad felt his limbs grow stiff and almost useless, +and a lethargic numbness blunt the keenness of his faculties as the +heat went out of him. He had more than usual endurance, and utter +cold, thirst, and the hunger that most ably helps the frost, are not +infrequently the portion of the wardens of the prairie; but there is a +limit to what man can bear, and the troopers who watched by the frozen +river that night had almost reached it. Shannon could not feel the +stirrups with his feet. One of his ears was tingling horribly as the +blood that had almost left it resumed its efforts to penetrate the +congealing flesh, while the mittened hands he beat upon his breast +fell solidly on his wrappings without separate motion of the fingers. +Once or twice the horse stamped fretfully, but a touch of hand and +heel quieted him, for though the frozen flesh may shrink, unwavering +obedience is demanded equally from man and beast enrolled in the +service of the North-West police. + +"Stiddy now," said the lad, partly to discover if he still retained +the power of speech. "Sure ye know the order that was given me, and if +it's a funeral that comes of it the Government will bury ye." + +He sighed as he beat his hands upon his breast again, and when a +flicker of moonlight smote a passing track of brightness athwart the +tossing birches his young face was very grim. Like many another +trooper of the North-West police, Shannon had his story, and he +remembered the one trace of romance that had brightened his hard, bare +life that night as he waited for the man who had dissipated it. + +When Larry Blake moved West from Ontario, Shannon, drawn by his +sister's dark eyes, followed him, and took up a Government grant of +prairie sod. His dollars were few, but he had a stout heart and two +working oxen, and nothing seemed impossible while Ailly Blake smiled +on him, and she smiled tolerably frequently, for Shannon was a +well-favoured lad. He had worked harder than most grown men could do, +won one good harvest, and had a few dollars in the bank when +Courthorne rode up to Blake's homestead on his big black horse. After +that, all Shannon's hopes and ambitions came down with a crash; and +the day he found Blake grey in face with shame and rage he offered +Sergeant Stimson his services. Now he was filled with an unholy +content that he had done so, for he came of a race that does not +forget an injury, and had sufficient cause for a jealous pride in the +virtue of its women. He and Larry might have forgiven a pistol shot, +but they could not forget the shame. + +Suddenly he stiffened to attention, for though a man of the cities +would probably have heard nothing but the wailing of the wind, he +caught a faint rhythmic drumming which might have been made by a +galloping horse. It ceased, and he surmised, probably correctly, that +it was Trooper Payne returning. It was, however, his business to watch +the forking of the trail, and when he could only hear the thrashing of +the birches, he moved his mittened hand from the bridle, and patted +the restive horse. Just then the bluff was filled with sound as a +blast that drove a haze of snow before it roared down. It was followed +by a sudden stillness that was almost bewildering, and when a blink of +moonlight came streaming down, Trooper Shannon grabbed at his carbine, +for a man stood close beside him in the trail. The lad, who had +neither seen nor heard him come, looked down on the glinting barrel of +a Marlin rifle and saw a set white face behind it. + +"Hands up!" said a hoarse voice. "Throw that thing down," + +Trooper Shannon recognized it, and all the fierce hate he was capable +of flamed up. It shook him with a gust of passion, and it was not fear +that caused his stiffened fingers to slip upon the carbine. It fell +with a rattle, and while he sat still, almost breathless and livid in +face, the man laughed a little. + +"That's better; get down," he said. + +Trooper Shannon swung himself from the saddle, and alighted heavily as +a flung-off sack would have done, for his limbs refused to bend. Still +it was not from lack of courage that he obeyed, and during one moment +he had clutched the bridle with the purpose of riding over his enemy. +He had, however, been taught to think for himself swiftly and shrewdly +from his boyhood up, and realized instinctively that if he escaped +scathless the ringing of the rifle would warn the rustlers who, he +surmised, were close behind. He was also a police trooper broken to +the iron bond of discipline, and if a bullet from the Marlin was to +end his career, he determined it should, if possible, also terminate +his enemy's liberty. The gust of rage had gone, and left him with the +cold vindictive cunning the Celt who has a grievous injury to remember +is also capable of, and there was contempt in his voice as he turned +to Courthorne quietly. + +"Sure it's your turn now," he said. "The last time I put my mark on +the divil's face of ye." + +Courthorne laughed wickedly. "It was a bad day's work for you; I +haven't forgotten yet," he said. "I'm only sorry you're not a trifle +older, but it will teach Sergeant Stimson the folly of sending a lad +to deal with me. Well, walk straight into the bush, and remember that +the muzzle of the rifle is scarcely three feet behind you!" + +Trooper Shannon did so with black rage in his heart, and his empty +hands at his sides. He was a police trooper and a bushman born, and +knew that the rustlers' laden horses would find some difficulty in +remounting the steep trail and could not escape to left or right once +they were entangled amidst the trees. Then it would be time to give +the alarm, and go down with a bullet in his body, or by some +contrivance evade the deadly rifle and come to grips with his enemy. +He also knew Lance Courthorne, and, remembering how the lash had +seamed his face, expected no pity. One of them it was tolerably +certain would have set out on the long trail before the morning, but +they breed grim men in the bush of Ontario, and no other kind ride +very long with the wardens of the prairie. + +"Stop where you are," said Courthorne presently. "Now then, turn +round. Move a finger or open your lips, and I'll have great pleasure +in shooting you. In the meanwhile you can endeavour to make favour +with whatever saint is honoured by the charge of you." + +Shannon smiled in a fashion that resembled a snarl as once more a +blink of moonlight shone down upon them, and in place of showing +apprehension, his young white face, from which the bronze had faded, +was venomous. + +"And my folks were Orange, but what does that matter now?" said he. +"There'll be one of us in----to-morrow, but for the shame ye put on +Larry ye'll carry my mark there with ye." + +Courthorne looked at him with a little glow in his eyes. "You haven't +felt mine yet," he said. "You will probably talk differently when you +do." + +It may have been youthful bravado, but Trooper Shannon laughed. "In +the meanwhile," he said, "I'm wondering why you're wearing an honest +man's coat and cap. Faith, if he saw them on ye, Witham would burn +them." + +Courthorne returned no answer and the moonlight went out, but they +stood scarcely three feet apart, and one of them knew that any move he +made would be followed by the pressure of the other's finger on the +trigger. He, however, did not move at all, and while the birches +roared about them they stood silently face to face, the man of birth +and pedigree with a past behind him and blood already upon his head, +and the raw lad from the bush, his equal before the tribunal that +would presently judge their quarrel. + +In the meanwhile Trooper Shannon heard a drumming of hoofs that grew +steadily louder before Courthorne apparently noticed the sound, and +his trained ears told him that the rustlers' horses were coming down +the trail. Now they had passed the forking, and when the branches +ceased roaring again he knew they had floundered down the first of the +declivity, and it would be well to wait a little until they had +straggled out where the trail was narrow and deeply rutted. No one +could turn them hastily there, and the men who drove them could +scarcely escape the troopers who waited them, if they blundered on +through the darkness of the bush. So five breathless minutes passed, +Trooper Shannon standing tense and straight with every nerve tingling +as he braced himself for an effort, Courthorne stooping a little with +forefinger on the trigger, and the Marlin rifle at his hip. Then +through a lull there rose a clearer thud of hoofs. It was lost in the +thrashing of the twigs as a gust roared down again, and Trooper +Shannon launched himself like a panther upon his enemy. + +He might have succeeded, and the effort was gallantly made, but +Courthorne had never moved his eyes from the shadowy object before +him, and even as it sprang, his finger contracted further on the +trigger. There was a red flash and because he fired from the hip the +trigger guard gashed his mitten. He sprang sideways, scarcely feeling +the bite of the steel, for the lad's hand brushed his shoulder. Then +there was a crash as something went down heavily amidst the crackling +twigs. Courthorne stooped a little, panting in the smoke that blew +into his eyes, jerked the Marlin lever, and, as the moon came through +again, had a blurred vision of a white, drawn face that stared up at +him still with defiance in its eyes. He looked down into it as he drew +the trigger once more. + +Shannon quivered a moment, and then lay very still, and it was high +time for Courthorne to look to himself, for there was a shouting in +the bluff, and something came crashing through the undergrowth. Even +then his cunning did not desert him, and flinging the Marlin down +beside the trooper, he slipped almost silently in and out among the +birches and swung himself into the saddle of a tethered horse. +Unlooping the bridle from a branch, he pressed his heels home, +realizing as he did it that there was no time to lose, for it was +evident that one of the troopers was somewhat close behind him, and +others were coming across the river. He knew the bluff well, and +having no desire to be entangled in it was heading for the prairie, +when a blink of moonlight showed him a lad in uniform riding at a +gallop between him and the crest of the slope. It was Trooper Payne, +and Courthorne knew him for a very bold horseman. + +Now, it is possible that had one of the rustlers, who were simple men +with primitive virtues as well as primitive passions, been similarly +placed, he would have joined his comrades and taken his chance with +them, but Courthorne kept faith with nobody unless it suited him, and +was equally dangerous to his friends and enemies. Trooper Shannon had +also been silenced for ever, and if he could cross the frontier +unrecognized, nobody would believe the story of the man he would leave +to bear the brunt in place of him. Accordingly he headed at a gallop +down the winding trail, while sharp orders and a drumming of hoofs +grew louder behind him, and hoarse cries rose in front. Trooper Payne +was, it seemed, at least keeping pace with him, and he glanced over +his shoulder as he saw something dark and shadowy across the trail. It +was apparently a horse from which two men were struggling to loose its +burden. + +Courthorne guessed that the trail was blocked in front of it by other +loaded beasts, and he could not get past in time, for the half-seen +trooper was closing with him fast, and another still rode between him +and the edge of the bluff cutting off his road to the prairie. It was +evident he could not go on, while the crackle of twigs, roar of hoofs, +and jingle of steel behind him, made it plain that to turn was to ride +back upon the carbines of men who would be quite willing to use them. +There alone remained the river. It ran fast below him, and the ice was +thin, and for just a moment he tightened his grip on the bridle. + +"We've got you!" a hoarse voice reached him. "You're taking steep +chances if you go on." + +Courthorne swung off from the trail. There was a flash above him, +something whirred through the twigs above his head, and the horse +plunged as he drove his heels in. + +"One of them gone for the river," another shout rang out, and +Courthorne was crashing through the undergrowth straight down the +declivity, while thin snow whirled about him, and now and then he +caught the faint glimmer flung back by the ice beneath. + +Swaying boughs lashed him, his fur cap was whipped away, and he felt +that his face was bleeding, but there was another crackle close behind +him, for Trooper Payne was riding as daringly, and he carried a +carbine. Had he desired it Courthorne could not turn. The bronco he +bestrode was madly excited and less than half broken, and it is +probable no man could have pulled him up just then. It may also have +been borne in upon Courthorne, that he owed a little to those he had +left behind him in the old country, and he had not lost his pride. +There was, it seemed, no escape, but he had at least a choice of +endings, and with a little breathless laugh he rode straight for the +river. + +It was with difficulty Trooper Payne pulled his horse up on the steep +bank a minute later. A white haze was now sliding down the hollow +between the two dark walls of trees, and something seemed to move in +the midst of it while the ice rang about it. Then, as the trooper +pitched up his carbine, there was a crash that was followed by a +horrible floundering and silence again. Payne sat still, shivering a +little in his saddle until the snow that whirled about him blotted out +all the birches, and a roaring blast came down. + +He knew there was now nothing that he could do. The current had +evidently sucked the fugitive under, and, dismounting, he groped his +way up the slope, leading the horse by the bridle, and only swung +himself into the saddle when he found the trail again. A carbine +flashed in front of him, two dim figures went by at a gallop, and a +third one flung an order over his shoulder as he passed. + +"Go back. The Sergeant's hurt and Shannon has got a bullet in him." + +Trooper Payne had surmised as much already, and went back as fast as +he could ride, while the beat of hoofs grew fainter down the trail. +Ten minutes later he drew bridle close by a man who held a lantern, +and saw Sergeant Stimson sitting very grim in face on the ground. It +transpired later that his horse had fallen and thrown him, and it was +several weeks before he rode again. + +"You lost your man?" he said. "Get down." + +Payne dismounted. "Yes, sir, I fancy he is dead," he said. "He tried +the river, and the ice wouldn't carry him. I saw him ride away from +here just after the first shot, and fancied he fired at Shannon. Have +you seen him, sir?" + +The other trooper moved his lantern, and Payne gasped as he saw a +third man stooping, with the white face of his comrade close by his +feet. Shannon appeared to recognize him, for his eyes moved a little +and the grey lips fell apart. Then Payne turned his head aside while +the other trooper nodded compassionately in answer to his questioning +glance. + +"I've sent one of the boys to Graham's for a wagon," said the +Sergeant. "You saw the man who fired at him?" + +"Yes, sir," said Trooper Payne. + +"You knew him?" and there was a ring in the Sergeant's voice. + +"Yes, sir," said the trooper. "At least he was riding Witham's horse, +and had on the old, long coat of his." + +Sergeant Stimson nodded, and pointed to the weapon lying with +blackened muzzle at his feet. "And I think you could recognize that +rifle? There's F. Witham cut on the stock of it." + +Payne said nothing, for the trooper signed to him. + +"I fancy Shannon wants to talk to you," he said. + +The lad knelt down, slipped one arm about his comrade's neck, and took +the mittened hand in his own. Shannon smiled up at him feebly. + +"Witham's horse and his cap," he said, and then stopped, gasping +horribly. + +"You will remember that, boys," said the Sergeant. + +Payne could say nothing. Trooper Shannon and he had ridden through icy +blizzard and scorching heat together, and he felt his manhood melting +as he looked down into his dimming eyes. There was a curious look in +them which suggested a strenuous endeavour and an appeal, and the lips +moved again. + +"It was," said Shannon, and moved his head a little on Payne's arm, +apparently in an agony of effort. + +Then the birches roared about them, and drowned the feeble utterance, +while, when the gust passed, all three, who had not heard what +preceded it, caught only one word--"Witham." + +Trooper Shannon's eyes closed, and his head fell back, while the snow +beat softly in to his upturned face, and there was a very impressive +silence, intensified by the moaning of the wind, until the rattle of +wheels came faintly down the trail. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +MISS BARRINGTON COMES HOME + + +The long train was slackening speed and two whistles rang shrilly +through the roar of wheels when Miss Barrington laid down the book +with which she had beguiled her journey of fifteen hundred miles, and +rose from her seat in a corner of the big first-class car. The car was +sumptuously upholstered, and its decorations tasteful as well as +lavish, but just then it held no other passenger, and Miss Barrington +smiled curiously as she stood, swaying a little, in front of the +mirror at one end of it, wrapping her furs about her. There was, +however, a faint suggestion of regret in the smile, and the girl's +eyes grew grave again, for the soft cushions, dainty curtains, +gleaming gold and nickel, and equable temperature formed a part of the +sheltered life she was about to leave behind her, and there would, she +knew, be a difference in the future. Still, she laughed again as, +drawing a little fur cap well down upon her broad, white forehead, she +nodded at her own reflection. + +"One cannot have everything, and you might have stayed there and +revelled in civilization if you had liked," she said. + +Crossing to the door of the portico she stood a moment with fingers on +its handle, and once more looked about her. The car was very cosy, and +Maud Barrington had all the average young woman's appreciation of the +smoother side of life, although she had also the capacity, which is by +no means so common, for extracting the most it had to give from the +opposite one. Still, it was with a faint regret she prepared to +complete what had been a deed of renunciation. Montreal, with its +gaieties and luxuries, had not seemed so very far away while she was +carried West amid all the comforts artizans who were also artists +could provide for the traveller, but once that door closed behind her +she would be cut adrift from it all, and left face to face with the +simple, strenuous life of the prairie. + +Maud Barrington had, however, made her mind up some weeks ago; and +when the lock closed with a little clack that seemed to emphasize the +fact that the door was shut, she had shaken the memories from her, and +was quietly prepared to look forward instead of back. It also needed +some little courage, for, as she stood with the furs fluttering about +her on the lurching platform, the cold went through her like a knife, +and the roofs of the little prairie town rose up above the willows the +train was now crawling through. The odours that greeted her nostrils +were the reverse of pleasant, and glancing down with the faintest +shiver of disgust, her eyes rested on the litter of empty cans, +discarded garments, and other even more unsightly things which are +usually dumped in the handiest bluff by the citizens of a springing +Western town. They have, for the most part, but little appreciation of +the picturesque, and it would take a good deal to affect their health. + +Then the dwarfed trees opened out, and flanked by two huge wheat +elevators and a great water tank, the prairie city stood revealed. It +was crude and repellent, devoid of anything that could please the most +lenient eye, for the bare frame houses rose with their rough boarding +weathered and cracked by frost and sun, hideous almost in their +simplicity, from the white prairie. Paint was apparently an unknown +luxury, and pavement there was none, though a rude plank platform +straggled some distance above the ground down either side of the +street, so that the citizens might not sink knee-deep in the mire of +the spring thawing. Here and there a dilapidated wagon was drawn up in +front of a store, but with a clanging of the big bell the locomotive +rolled into the little station, and Maud Barrington looked down upon a +group of silent men who had sauntered there to enjoy the one +relaxation the desolate place afforded them. + +There was very little in their appearance to attract the attention of +a young woman of Miss Barrington's upbringing. They had grave, bronzed +faces, and wore, for the most part, old fur coats stained here and +there with soil. Nor were their mittens and moccasins in good repair, +but there was a curious steadiness in their gaze which vaguely +suggested the slow, stubborn courage that upheld them through the +strenuous effort and grim self-denial of their toilsome lives. They +were small wheat-growers who had driven in to purchase provisions or +inquire the price of grain, and here and there a mittened hand was +raised to a well-worn cap, for most of them recognized Miss Barrington +of Silverdale Grange. She returned their greetings graciously, and +then swung herself from the platform, with a smile in her eyes as a +man came hastily and yet, as it were, with a certain deliberation in +her direction. + +He was elderly, but held himself erect, while his furs, which were +good, fitted him in a fashion which suggested a uniform. He also wore +boots which reached half-way to the knee, and were presumably lined to +resist the prairie cold, which few men at that season would do, and +scarcely a speck of dust marred their lustrous exterior, while as much +of his face as was visible beneath the great fur cap was lean and +commanding. Its salient features were the keen and somewhat imperious +grey eyes and long, straight nose, while something in the squareness +of the man's shoulders and his pose set him apart from the prairie +farmers and suggested the cavalry officer. He was, in fact, Colonel +Barrington, founder and autocratic ruler of the English community of +Silverdale, and had been awaiting his niece somewhat impatiently. +Colonel Barrington was invariably punctual, and resented the fact that +the train had come in an hour later than it should have done. + +"So you have come back to us. We have been longing for you, my dear," +he said. "I don't know what we should have done had they kept you in +Montreal altogether." + +Maud Barrington smiled, though there was a brightness in her eyes and +a faint warmth in her cheek, for the sincerity of her uncle's welcome +was evident. + +"Yes," she said, "I have come back. It was very pleasant in the city, +and they were all kind to me; but I think, henceforward, I would +sooner stay with you on the prairie." + +Colonel Barrington patted the hand he drew through his arm, and there +was a very kindly smile in his eyes as they left the station and +crossed the tract towards a little, and by no means very comfortable, +wooden hotel. He stopped outside it. + +"I want to see the horses put in and get our mail," he said. "Mrs. +Jasper expects you, and will have tea ready." + +He disappeared behind the wooden building, and his niece standing a +moment on the veranda watched the long train roll away down the faint +blur of track that ran west to the farthest verge of the great white +wilderness. Then with a little impatient gesture she went into the +hotel. + +"That is another leaf turned down, and there is no use in looking +back; but I wonder what is written on the rest," she said. + +Twenty minutes later she watched Colonel Barrington cross the street +with a bundle of letters in his hand. She fancied that his step was +slower than it had been, and that he seemed a trifle preoccupied and +embarrassed; but he spoke with quiet kindliness when he handed her +into the waiting sleigh, and the girl's spirits rose as they swung +smoothly northwards behind two fast horses across the prairie. It +stretched away before her, ridged here and there with a dusky birch +bluff or willow grove under a vault of crystalline blue. The sun that +had no heat in it struck a silvery glitter from the snow, and the +trail swept back to the horizon a sinuous blue-grey smear, while the +keen, dry cold and sense of swift motion set the girl's blood +stirring. After all, it seemed to her, there were worse lives than +those the Western farmers led on the great levels under the frost and +sun. + +Colonel Barrington watched her with a little gleam of approval in his +eyes. "You are not sorry to come back to this and Silverdale?" he +said, sweeping his mittened hand vaguely round the horizon. + +"No," said the girl, with a little laugh. "At least, I shall not be +sorry to return to Silverdale. It has a charm of its own, for while +one is occasionally glad to get away from it, one is even more pleased +to come home again. It is a somewhat purposeless life our friends are +leading yonder in the cities. I, of course, mean the women." + +Barrington nodded. "And some of the men! Well, we have room here for +the many who are going to the devil in the old country for the lack of +something worth while to do; though I am afraid there is considerably +less prospect than I once fancied there would be of their making +money." + +His niece noticed the gravity in his face, and sat thoughtfully silent +for several minutes, while, with the snow hissing beneath it, the +sleigh nipped into and swung out of a hollow. + +Colonel Barrington had founded the Silverdale settlement ten years +earlier, and gathered about him other men with a grievance who had +once served their nation, and the younger sons of English gentlemen +who had no inclination for commerce, and found that lack of brains and +capital debarred them from either a political or military career. He +had settled them on the land, and taught them to farm, while, for the +community had prospered at first when Western wheat was dear, it had +taken ten years to bring home to him the fact that men who dined +ceremoniously each evening and spent at least a third of their time in +games and sport, could not well compete with the grim bushmen from +Ontario, or the lean Dakota ploughmen, who ate their meals in ten +minutes and toiled at least twelve hours every day. + +Colonel Barrington was slow to believe that the race he sprang from +could be equalled and much less beaten at anything, while his respect +for and scrupulous observance of insular traditions had cost him a +good deal, and left him a poorer man than he had been when he founded +Silverdale. Maud Barrington had been his ward, and he still directed +the farming of a good many acres of wheat land which she now held in +her own right. The soil was excellent, and would in all probability +have provided one of the Ontario men with a very desirable revenue, +but Colonel Barrington had no taste for small economies. + +"I want to hear all the news," said the girl. "You can begin at the +beginning--the price of wheat. I fancied, when I saw you, it had been +declining." + +Barrington sighed a little. "Hard wheat is five cents down, and I am +sorry I persuaded you to hold your crop. I am very much afraid we +shall see the balance the wrong side again next half-year." + +Maud Barrington smiled curiously. There was no great cause for +merriment in the information given her, but it emphasized the contrast +between the present and the careless life she had lately led when her +one thought had been how to extract the greatest pleasure from the +day. One had frequently to grapple with the problems arising from +scanty finances at Silverdale. + +"It will go up again," she said. "Is there anything else?" + +Barrington's face grew a trifle grim as he nodded. "There is; and +while I have not much expectation of an advance in prices, I have been +worrying over another affair lately." + +His niece regarded him steadily. "You mean, Lance Courthorne?" + +"Yes," said Barrington, who flicked the near horse somewhat viciously +with the whip. "He is also sufficient to cause any man with my +responsibilities anxiety." + +Maud Barrington looked thoughtful. "You fancy he will come to +Silverdale?" + +Barrington appeared to be repressing an inclination towards vigorous +speech with some difficulty, and a little glint crept into his eyes. +"If I could by any means prevent it, the answer would be, No. As it +is, you know that, while I founded it, Silverdale was one of Geoffrey +Courthorne's imperialistic schemes, and a good deal of the land was +recorded in his name. That being so, he had every right to leave the +best farm on it to the man he had disinherited, especially as Lance +will not get a penny of the English property. Still, I do not know why +he did so, because he never spoke of him without bitterness." + +"Yes," said the girl, while a little flush crept into her face. "I was +sorry for the old man. It was a painful story." + +Colonel Barrington nodded. "It is one that is best forgotten--and you +do not know it all. Still, the fact that the man may settle among us +is not the worst. As you know, there was every reason to believe that +Geoffrey intended all his property at Silverdale for you." + +"I have much less right to it than his own son, and the colonial cure +is not infrequently efficacious," said Miss Barrington. "Lance may, +after all, quieten down, and he must have some good qualities." + +The Colonel's smile was very grim. "It is fifteen years since I saw +him at Westham, and they were not much in evidence then. I can +remember two little episodes, in which he figured, with painful +distinctness, and one was the hanging of a terrier which had in some +way displeased him. The beast was past assistance when I arrived on +the scene, but the devilish pleasure in the lad's face sent a chill +through me. In the other, the gardener's lad flung a stone at a +blackbird on the wall above the vinery, and Master Lance, who, I +fancy, did not like the gardener's lad, flung one through the glass. +Geoffrey, who was angry, but had not seen what I did, haled the boy +before him, and Lance looked him in the face and lied with the +assurance of an ambassador. The end was that the gardener, who was +admonished, cuffed the innocent lad. These, my dear, are somewhat +instructive memories." + +"I wonder," said Maud Barrington, glancing out across the prairie +which was growing dusky now, "why you took the trouble to call them up +for me?" + +The Colonel smiled dryly. "I never saw a Courthorne who could not +catch a woman's eye, or had any undue diffidence about making the most +of the fact; and that is partly why they have brought so much trouble +on everybody connected with them. Further, it is unfortunate that +women are not infrequently more inclined to be gracious to the sinner +who repents, when it is worth his while, than they are to the honest +man who has done no wrong. Nor do I know that it is only pity which +influences them. Some of you take an exasperating delight in +picturesque rascality." + +Miss Barrington laughed, and fearlessly met her uncle's glance. "Then +you don't believe in penitence?" + +"Well," said the Colonel dryly, "I am, I hope, a Christian man, but it +would be difficult to convince me that the gambler, cattle-thief, and +whisky-runner who ruined every man and woman who trusted him will be +admitted to the same place as clean-lived English gentlemen. There +are, my dear, plenty of them still." + +Barrington spoke almost fiercely, and then flushed through his tan, +when the girl, looking into his eyes, smiled a little. "Yes," she +said, "I can believe it, because I owe a good deal to one of them." + +The ring in the girl's voice belied the smile, and the speech was +warranted; for, dogmatic, domineering, and vindictive as he was apt to +be occasionally, the words he had used applied most fitly to Colonel +Barrington. His word at least had never been broken, and had he not +adhered steadfastly to his own rigid code, he would have been a good +deal richer man than he was then. Nor did his little shortcomings, +which were burlesqued virtues, and ludicrous now and then, greatly +detract from the stamp of dignity which, for speech was his worst +point, sat well upon him. He was innately conservative to the +backbone, though since an ungrateful Government had slighted him, he +had become an ardent Canadian, and in all political questions +aggressively democratic. + +"My dear, I sometimes fancy I am a hypercritical old fogey!" he said, +and sighed a little, while once more the anxious look crept into his +face. "Just now I wish devoutly I was a better business man." + +Nothing more was said for a little, and Miss Barrington watched the +crimson sunset burn out low down on the prairie's western rim. Then +the pale stars blinked out through the creeping dusk, and a great +silence and an utter cold settled down upon the waste. The muffled +thud of hoofs, and the crunching beneath the sliding steel, seemed to +intensify it, and there was a suggestion of frozen brilliancy in the +sparkle flung back by the snow. Then a coyote howled dolefully in a +distant bluff, and the girl shivered as she shrank down further amidst +the furs. + +"Forty degrees of frost," said the Colonel. "Perhaps more. This is +very different from the cold of Montreal. Still, you'll see the lights +of Silverdale from the crest of the next rise." + +It was, however, an hour before they reached them, and Miss Barrington +was almost frozen when the first square loghouse rose out of the +prairie. It and others that followed it flitted by, and then, flanked +by a great birch bluff, with outlying barns, granaries and stables, +looming black about it against a crystalline sky, Silverdale Grange +grew into shape across their way. Its rows of ruddy windows cast +streaks of flickering orange down the trail, the baying of dogs +changed into a joyous clamour when the Colonel reined in his team, +half-seen men in furs waved a greeting, and one who risked frost-bite, +with his cap at his knee, handed Miss Barrington from the sleigh and +up the veranda stairway. + +She had need of the assistance, for her limbs were stiff and almost +powerless, and she gasped a little when she passed into the drowsy +warmth and brightness of the great log-walled hall. The chilled blood +surged back tingling to her skin, and swaying with a creeping +faintness she found refuge in the arms of a grey-haired lady who +stooped and kissed her gently. Then the door swung to, and she was +home again in the wooden grange of Silverdale, which stood far remote +from any civilization but its own on the frozen levels of the great +white plain. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +ANTICIPATIONS + + +It was late at night, and outside the prairie lay white and utterly +silent under the Arctic cold, when Maud Barrington, who glanced at it +through the double windows, flung back the curtains with a little +shiver, and turning towards the fire, sat down on a little velvet +footstool beside her aunt's knee. She had shaken out the coils of +lustrous brown hair which flowed about her shoulders glinting in the +light of the shaded lamp, and it was with a little gesture of physical +content she stretched her hands towards the hearth. A crumbling birch +log still gleamed redly amidst the feathery ashes, but its effect was +chiefly artistic, for no open fire could have dissipated the cold of +the prairie, and a big tiled stove brought from Teutonic Minnesota +furnished the needful warmth. + +The girl's face was partly in shadow, and her figure foreshortened by +her pose, which accentuated its rounded outline and concealed its +willowy slenderness; but the broad white forehead and straight nose +became visible when she moved her head a trifle, and a faintly +humorous sparkle crept into the clear brown eyes. Possibly Maud +Barrington looked her best just then, for the lower part of the +pale-tinted face was a trifle too firm in its modelling. + +"No, I am not tired, aunt, and I could not sleep just now," she said. +"You see, after leaving all that behind one, one feels, as it were, +adrift, and it is necessary to realize one's self again." + +The little silver-haired lady who sat in the big basket chair smiled +down upon her and laid a thin white hand that was still beautiful upon +the gleaming hair. + +"I can understand, my dear, and am glad you enjoyed your stay in the +city, because sometimes when I count your birthdays, I can't help a +fancy that you are not young enough," she said. "You have lived out +here with two old people who belong to the past too much." + +The girl moved a little, and swept her glance slowly round the room. +It was small and scantily furnished, though great curtains shrouded +door and window, and here and there a picture relieved the bareness of +the walls, which were panelled with roughly-dressed British-Columbian +cedar. The floor was of redwood, diligently polished and adorned, not +covered, by one or two skins brought by some of Colonel Barrington's +younger neighbours from the Rockies. There were two basket-chairs and +a plain, redwood table; but in contrast to them a cabinet of old +French workmanship stood in one corner bearing books in dainty +bindings, and two great silver candlesticks. The shaded lamp was also +of the same metal, and the whole room with its faint resinous smell +conveyed, in a fashion not uncommon on the prairie, a suggestion of +taste and refinement held in check by the least comparative poverty. +Colonel Barrington was a widower who had been esteemed a man of +wealth, but the founding of Silverdale had made a serious inroad on +his finances. Even yet, though he occasionally practised it, he did +not take kindly to economy. + +"Yes," said the girl, "I enjoyed it all--and it was so different from +the prairie." + +There was comprehension, and a trace of sympathy, in Miss Barrington's +nod. "Tell me a little, my dear," she said. "There was not a great +deal in your letters." + +Her niece glanced dreamily into the sinking fire as though she would +call up the pictures there. "But you know it all--the life I have only +had glimpses of. Well, for the first few months I almost lost my head, +and was swung right off my feet by the whirl of it. It was then I was, +perhaps, just a trifle thoughtless." + +The while-haired lady laughed softly. "It is difficult to believe it, +Maud." + +The girl shook her head reproachfully. "I know what you mean, and +perhaps you are right, for that was what Twoinette insinuated," she +said. "She actually told me that I should be thankful I had a brain +since I had no heart. Still, at first I let myself go, and it was +delightful--the opera, the dances, and the covered skating rink with +the music and the black ice flashing beneath the lights. The whirr of +the toboggans down the great slide was finer still, and the torchlight +meets of the snowshoe clubs on the mountain. Yes, I think I was really +young while it lasted." + +"For a month," said the elder. "And after?" + +"Then," said the girl slowly, "it all seemed to grow a trifle +purposeless, and there was something that spoiled it. Twoinette was +quite angry, and I know her mother wrote you--but it was not my fault, +aunt. How was I, a guileless girl from the prairie, to guess that such +a man would fling the handkerchief to me?" + +The evenness of tone and entire absence of embarrassment was +significant. It also pointed to the fact that there was a closer +confidence between Maud Barrington and her aunt than often exists +between mother and daughter, and the elder lady stroked the lustrous +head that rested against her knee with a little affectionate pride. + +"My dear, you know you are beautiful, and you have the cachet that all +the Courthornes wear. Still, you could not like him. Tell me about +him." + +Maud Barrington curled herself up further. "I think I could have liked +him, but that was all," she said. "He was nice to look at and did all +the little things gracefully; but he had never done anything else, +never would, and, I fancy, had never wanted to. Now, a man of that +kind would very soon pall on me, and I should have lost my temper +trying to waken him to his responsibilities." + +"And what kind of man would please you?" + +Maud Barrington's eyes twinkled, but the fact that she answered at all +was a proof of the sympathy between herself and the questioner. "I do +not know that I am anxious any of them should," she said. "But, since +you ask, he would have to be a man first: a toiling, striving animal, +who could hold his own amidst his fellows wherever he was placed. +Secondly, one would naturally prefer a gentleman, though I do not like +the word, and one would fancy the combination a trifle rare, because +brains and birth do not necessarily tally, and the man educated by the +struggle for existence is apt to be taught more than he ever would be +at Oxford or in the army. Still, men of that stamp forget a good deal, +and learn so much that is undesirable, you see. In fact, I only know +one man who would have suited me, and he is debarred by age and +affinity--but, because we are so much alike, I can't help fancying +that you once knew another." + +The smile in Miss Barrington's face, which was still almost beautiful +as well as patient, became a trifle wistful. + +"There are few better men than my brother, though he is not clever," +she said and dropped her voice a little. "As to the other, he died in +India--beside his mountain gun--long ago." + +"And you have never forgotten? He must have been worth it--I wonder if +loyalty and chivalric faith belong only to the past," said the girl, +reaching up a rounded arm and patting her aunt's thin hand. "And now +we will be practical. I fancied the head of the settlement looked +worried when he met me, and he is not very proficient at hiding his +feelings." + +Miss Barrington sighed. "I am afraid that is nothing very new, and +with wheat steadily falling and our granaries full, he has cause for +anxiety. Then the fact that Lance Courthorne has divided your +inheritance and is going to settle here has been troubling him." + +"The first is the lesser evil," said the girl, with a little laugh. "I +wore very short frocks when I last saw Lance in England, and so far as +I can remember he had the face of an angel and the temper of a devil. +But did not my uncle endeavour to buy him off, and--for I know you +have been finding out things--I want you to tell me all about him." + +"He would not take the money," said Miss Barrington, and sat in +thoughtful silence a space. Then, and perhaps she had a reason, she +quietly recounted Courthorne's Canadian history so far as her +brother's agents had been able to trace it, not omitting, dainty in +thought and speech as she was, one or two incidents which a mother +might have kept back from her daughter's ears. Still, it was very +seldom that Miss Barrington made a blunder. There was a faint pinkness +in her face when she concluded, but she was not surprised when, with a +slow, sinuous movement, the girl rose to her feet. Her cheeks were +very slightly flushed, but there was a significant sparkle in her +eyes. + +"Oh," she said, with utter contempt. "How sickening! Are there men +like that?" + +There was a little silence, emphasized by the snapping in the stove, +and if Miss Barrington had spoken with an object she should have been +contented. The girl was imperious in her anger, which was caused by +something deeper than startled prudery. + +"It is," said the little white-haired lady, "all quite true. Still, I +must confess that my brother and myself were a trifle astonished at +the report of the lawyer he sent to confer with Lance in Montana, One +would almost have imagined that he had of late been trying to make +amends." + +The girl's face was very scornful. "Could a man with a past like that +ever live it down." + +"We have a warrant for believing it," said Miss Barrington quietly, as +she laid her hand on her companion's arm. "My dear, I have told you +what Lance was, because I felt it was right that you should know; but +none of us can tell what he may be, and if the man is honestly trying +to lead a different life, all I ask is that you should not wound him +by any manifest suspicion. Those who have never been tempted can +afford to be merciful." + +Maud Barrington laughed somewhat curiously. "You are a very wise +woman, aunt, but you are a little transparent now and then," she said. +"At least, he shall have a fair trial without prejudice or favour--and +if he fails, as fail he will, we shall find the means of punishing +him." + +"We?" said the elder lady a trifle maliciously. + +The girl nodded as she moved towards the doorway, and then turned a +moment with the folds of the big red curtain flung behind her. It +forced up the sweeping lines of a figure so delicately moulded that +its slenderness was scarcely apparent, for Maud Barrington still wore +a long, sombre dress that had assisted in her triumphs in the city. It +emphasized the clear pallor of her skin and the brightness of her +eyes, as she held herself very erect in a pose which, while assumed in +mockery, had yet in it something that was almost imperial. + +"Yes," she said. "We. You know who is the power behind the throne at +Silverdale, and what the boys call me. And now, good night. Sleep +well, dear." + +She went out, and Miss Barrington sat very still gazing, with eyes +that were curiously thoughtful, into the fire. "Princess of the +Prairie--and it fits her well," she said, and then sighed a little. +"And if there is a trace of hardness in the girl it may be fortunate. +We all have our troubles--and wheat is going down." + +In the meanwhile, late as it was, Colonel Barrington and his chief +lieutenant, Gordon Dane, sat in his log-walled smoking-room talking +with a man he sold his wheat through in Winnipeg. The room was big and +bare. There were a few fine heads of antelope upon the walls, and +beneath them an armoury of English-made shot guns and rifles, while a +row of riding crops, silver-mounted, and some handled with ivory, +stood in a corner. All these represented amusement, while two or three +treatises on veterinary surgery and agriculture lying amidst English +stud-books and racing records, presumably stood for industry. The +comparison was significant, and Graham, the Winnipeg wheat-broker, +noticed it as he listened patiently to the views of Colonel +Barrington, who nevertheless worked hard enough in his own fashion. +Unfortunately, it was rather the fashion of the English gentleman than +that common on the prairie. + +"And now," he said, with a trace of the anxiety he had concealed in +his eyes, "I am open to hear what you can do for me." + +Graham smiled a little. "It isn't very much, Colonel. I'll take all +your wheat off you at three cents down." + +Now Barrington did not like the broker's smile. It savoured too much +of equality; and, though he had already unbent as far as he was +capable of doing, he had no great esteem for men of business. Nor did +it please him to be addressed as "Colonel." + +"That," he said coldly, "is out of the question, I would not sell at +the last market price. Besides, you have hitherto acted as my broker." + +Graham nodded. "The market price will be less than what I offered you +in a week, and I could scarcely sell your wheat at it to-day. I was +going to hold it myself, because I can occasionally get a little more +from one or two millers who like that special grade. Usual sorts I'm +selling for a fall. Quite sure the deal wouldn't suit you?" + +Barrington lighted a fresh cigar, though Graham, noticed that he had +smoked very little of the one he flung away. This was, of course, a +trifle, but it is the trifles that count in the aggregate upon the +prairie, as they not infrequently do elsewhere. + +"I fancy I told you so," he said. + +The broker glanced at Dane, who was a big, bronzed man, and, since +Barrington could not see him, shook his head deprecatingly. + +"You can consider that decided, Graham," he said. "Still, can you as a +friendly deed give us any notion of what to do? As you know, farming, +especially at Silverdale, costs money, and the banks are demanding an +iniquitous interest just now, while we are carrying over a good deal +of wheat." + +Graham nodded. He understood why farming was unusually expensive at +Silverdale, and was, in recollection of past favours, inclined to be +disinterestedly friendly. + +"If I were you I would sell right along for forward delivery at a few +cents under the market." + +"It is a trifle difficult to see how that would help us," said +Barrington, with a little gesture of irritation, for it almost seemed +that the broker was deriding him. + +"No!" said the man from Winnipeg, "on the contrary, it's quite easy. +Now I can predict that wheat will touch lower prices still before you +have to make delivery, and it isn't very difficult to figure out the +profit on selling a thing for a dollar and then buying it, when you +have to produce it at ninety cents. Of course, there is a risk of the +market going against you, but you could buy at the first rise, and +you've your stock to dole out in case anybody cornered you." + +"That," said Dane thoughtfully, "appears quite sensible. Of course, +it's a speculation, but presumably we couldn't be much worse off than +we are. Have you any objections to the scheme, sir." + +Barrington laid down his cigar, and glanced with astonished severity +at the speaker. "Unfortunately, I have. We are wheat growers, and not +wheat stock jugglers. Our purpose is to farm, and not swindle and lie +in the wheat pits for decimal differences. I have a distinct antipathy +to anything of the kind." + +"But, sir," said Dane, and Barrington stopped with a gesture. + +"I would," he said, "as soon turn gambler. Still, while it has always +been a tradition at Silverdale that the head of the settlement's lead +is to be followed, that need not prevent you putting on the gloves +with the wheat-ring blacklegs in Winnipeg." + +Dane blushed a little under his tan, and then smiled as he remembered +the one speculative venture his leader had indulged in, for Colonel +Barrington was a somewhat hot-tempered and vindictive man. He made a +little gesture of deprecation as he glanced at Graham, who +straightened himself suddenly in his chair. + +"I should not think of doing so in face of your opinion, sir," he +said. "There is an end to the thing, Graham!" + +The broker's face was a trifle grim. "I gave you good advice out of +friendship, Colonel, and there are men with dollars to spare who would +value a hint from me," he said. "Still, as it doesn't seem to strike +you the right way, I've no use for arguing. Keep your wheat--and pay +bank interest if you want any help to carry over." + +"Thanks," said Dane quietly. "They charge tolerably high, but I've +seen what happens to the man who meddles with the mortgage-broker." + +Graham nodded. "Well, as I'm starting out at six o'clock, it's time I +was asleep," he said. "Good-night to you, Colonel." + +Barrington shook hands with Graham, and then sighed a little when he +went out. "I believe the man is honest, and he is a guest of mine, or +I should have dressed him down," he said. "I don't like the way things +are going, Dane; and the fact is we must find accommodation somewhere, +because now I have to pay out so much on my ward's account to that +confounded Courthorne, it is necessary to raise more dollars than the +banks will give me. Now, there was a broker fellow wrote me a very +civil letter." + +Dane, who was a thoughtful man, ventured to lay his hand upon his +leader's arm. "Keep yourself and Miss Barrington out of those fellows' +clutches, at any cost," he said. + +Barrington shook off his hand and looked at him sternly. "Are you not +a trifle young to adopt that tone?" he asked. + +Dane nodded. "No doubt I am, but I've seen a little of mortgage +jobbing. You must try to overlook it. I did not mean to offend." + +He went out, and, while Colonel Barrington sat down before a sheaf of +accounts, sprang into a waiting sleigh. "It's no use; we've got to go +through," he said to the lad who shook the reins, "Graham made a very +sensible suggestion, but our respected leader came down on him, as he +did on me. You see, one simply can't talk to the Colonel; and it's +unfortunate Miss Barrington didn't marry that man in Montreal." + +"I don't know," said the lad. "Of course, there are not many girls +like Maud Barrington, but is it necessary she should go outside +Silverdale?" + +Dane laughed. "None of us would be old enough for Miss Barrington when +we were fifty. The trouble is, that we spend half our time in play, +and I've a notion it's a man, and not a gentleman dilettante, she's +looking for." + +"Isn't that a curious way of putting it?" asked his companion. + +Dane nodded. "It may be the right one. Woman is as she was made, and +I've had more than a suspicion lately that a little less refinement +would not come amiss at Silverdale. Anyway, I hope she'll find him, +for it's a man with grit and energy, who could put a little desirable +pressure on the Colonel occasionally, we're all wanting. Of course, +I'm backing my leader, though it's going to cost me a good deal, but +it's time he had somebody to help him." + +"He would never accept assistance," said the lad thoughtfully. "That +is, unless the man who offered it was, or became by marriage, one of +the dynasty." + +"Of course," said Dane. "That's why I'm inclined to take a fatherly +interest in Miss Barrington's affairs. It's a misfortune we've heard +nothing very reassuring about Courthorne." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +WITHAM'S DECISION + + +Farmer Witham crossed the frontier without molestation and spent one +night in a little wooden town, where several people he did not speak +to apparently recognized him. Then he pushed on southwards, and passed +a week in the especially desolate settlement he had been directed to. +A few dilapidated frame houses rose out of the white wilderness beside +the broad, beaten trail, and, for here the prairie rolled south in +long rises like the wakes of a frozen sea, a low wooden building on +the crest of one cut the skyline a league away. It served as outpost +for a squadron of United States cavalry, and the troopers daily +maligned the Government which had sent them into that desolation on +police duty. + +There was nothing else visible but a few dusky groves of willows and +dazzling snow. The ramshackle wooden hotel was rather more than +usually badly kept and comfortless, and Witham, who had managed to +conciliate his host, felt relieved one afternoon when the latter flung +down the cards disgustedly. + +"I guess I've had enough," he said. "Playing for stakes of this kind +isn't good enough for you!" + +Witham laughed a little to hide his resentment, as he said, "I don't +quite understand." + +"Pshaw!" said the American with a contemptuous gesture. "Three times +out of four I've spoiled your hand, and if I didn't know that black +horse I'd take you for some blamed Canadian rancher. You didn't handle +the pictures that way when you stripped the boys to the hide at +Regent, Mr. Courthorne?" + +"Regent?" said Witham. + +The hotel-keeper laughed. "Oh yes," he said. "I wouldn't go back there +too soon, anyway. The boys seem quite contented, and I don't figure +they would be very nice to you. Well, now, I've no use for fooling +with a man who's too proud to take my dollars, and I've a pair of +horses just stuffed with wickedness in the stable. There's not much +you don't know about a beast, anyway, and you can take them out a +league or two if you feel like it." + +Witham, who had grown very tired of his host, was glad of any +distraction, especially as he surmised that while the man had never +seen Courthorne, he knew rather more than he did himself about his +doings. Accordingly, he got into the sleigh that was brought out by +and by, and enjoyed the struggle with the half-tamed team which stood +with ears laid back, prepared for conflict. Oats had been very +plentiful, and prices low that season. Witham, who knew at least as +much about a horse as Lance Courthorne, however, bent them to his will +and the team were trotting quietly through the shadow of a big birch +bluff a league from town, when he heard a faint clip-clop coming down +the trail behind him. It led straight beneath the leafless branches, +and was beaten smooth and firm; while Witham, who had noticed already +that whenever he strayed any distance from the hotel there was a +mounted cavalryman somewhere, in the vicinity, shook the reins. + +The team swung into faster stride, the cold wind whistled past him, +and the snow whirled up from beneath the runners; but while he +listened the rhythmic drumming behind him also quickened a little. +Then a faintly musical jingle of steel accompanied the beat of hoofs, +and Witham glanced about him with a little laugh of annoyance. The +dusk was creeping across the prairie, and a pale star or two growing +into brilliancy in the cloudless sweep of indigo. + +"It's getting a trifle tiresome. I'll find out what the fellow wants," +he said. + +Wheeling the team, he drove back the way he came, and, when a dusky +object materialized out of the shadows beneath the birches, swung the +horses right across the trail. The snow lay deep on either side of it +just there, with a sharp crust upon its surface, which rendered it +inadvisable to take a horse round the sleigh. The mounted man +accordingly drew bridle, and the jingle and rattle betokened his +profession, though it was already too dark to see him clearly. + +"Hallo!" he said. "Been buying this trail up, stranger?" + +"No," said Witham quietly, though he still held his team across the +way. "Still, I've got the same right as any other citizen to walk or +drive along it without anybody prowling after me, and just now I want +to know if there is a reason I should be favoured with your company." + +The trooper laughed a little. "I guess there is. It's down in the +orders that whoever's on patrol near the settlement should keep his +eye on you. You see, if you lit out of here we would want to know just +where you were going to." + +"I am," said Witham, "a Canadian citizen, and I came out here for +quietness." + +"Well," said the other, "you're an American too. Anyway, when you were +in a tight place down in Regent there, you told the boys so. Now, no +sensible man would boast of being a Britisher unless it was helping +him to play out his hand." + +Witham kept his temper. "I want a straight answer. Can you tell me +what you and the boys are trailing me for?" + +"No," said the trooper. "Still, I guess our commander could. If you +don't know of any reason, you might ask him." + +Witham tightened his grip on the reins. "I'll ride back with you to +the outpost now." + +The trooper shook his bridle, and trotted behind the sleigh, while, as +it swung up and down over the billowy rises of the prairie, Witham +became sensible of a curious expectancy. The bare, hopeless life he +had led seemed to have slipped behind him, and though he suspected +that there was no great difference between his escort and a prisoner's +guard, the old love of excitement he once fancied he had outgrown for +ever awoke again within him. Anything that was different from the past +would be a relief, and the man who had for eight long years of +strenuous toil practised the grimmest self-denial wondered with a +quickening of all his faculties what the future, that could not be +more colourless, might have in store for him. + +It was dark, and very cold, when they reached the wooden building, but +Witham's step was lighter, and his spirits more buoyant than they had +been for some months when, handing the sleigh over to an orderly, he +walked into the guard-room, where bronzed men in uniform glanced at +him curiously. Then he was shown into a bare, log-walled hall, where a +young man in blue uniform with a weather-darkened face was writing at +a table. + +"I've been partly expecting a visit," he said. "I'm glad to see you, +Mr. Courthorne." + +Witham laughed with a very good imitation of the outlaw's +recklessness, and wondered the while because it cost him no effort. He +who had, throughout the last two adverse seasons, seldom smiled at +all, and then but grimly, experienced the same delight in an adventure +that he had done when he came out to Canada. + +"I don't know that I can return the compliment just yet," he said. "I +have one or two things to ask you." + +The young soldier smiled good-humouredly, as he flung a cigar case on +the table. "Oh, sit down and shake those furs off," he said. "I'm not +a worrying policeman, and we're white men, anyway. If you'd been +twelve months in this forsaken place you'd know what I'm feeling. Take +a smoke, and start in with your questions when you feel like it." + +Witham lighted a cigar, flung himself down in a hide chair, and +stretched out his feet towards the stove. "In the first place, I want +to know why your boys are shadowing me. You see, you couldn't arrest +me unless our folks in the Dominion had got their papers through." + +The officer nodded. "No. We couldn't lay hands on you, and we only had +orders to see where you went to when you left this place, so the folks +there could corral you if they got the papers. That's about the size +of it at present, but, as I've sent a trooper over to Regent, I'll +know more to-morrow." + +Witham laughed. "It may appear a little astonishing, but I haven't the +faintest notion why the police in Canada should worry about me. Is +there any reason you shouldn't tell me?" + +The officer looked at him thoughtfully. "Bluff? I'm quite smart at it +myself," he said. + +"No," and Witham shook his head. "It's a straight question. I want to +know." + +"Well," said the other, "it couldn't do much harm if I told you. You +were running whisky a little while ago, and, though the folks didn't +seem to suspect it, you had a farmer or a rancher for a partner--it +appears he has mixed up things for you." + +"Witham?" and the farmer turned to roll the cigar which did not need +it between his fingers. + +"That's the man," said his companion. "Well, though I guess it's +no news to you, the police came down upon your friends at a +river-crossing, and farmer Witham put a bullet into a young trooper, +Shannon, I fancy." + +Witham sat upright, and the blood that surged to his forehead sank +from it suddenly, and left his face grey with anger. + +"Good Lord!" he said hoarsely. "He killed him?" + +"Yes, sir," said the officer, "Killing's not quite the word, because +one shot would have been enough to free him of the lad, and the +rancher fired twice into him. They figured, from the way the trooper +was lying and the footprints, that he meant to finish him." + +The farmer's face was very grim as he said, "They were sure it was +Witham?" + +"Yes," and the soldier watched him curiously. "Anyway, they were sure +of his horse, and it was Witham's rifle. Another trooper nearly got +him, and he left it behind him. It wasn't killing, for the trooper +don't seem to have had a show at all, and I'm glad to see it makes you +kind of sick. Only that one of the troopers allows he was trailing you +at a time which shows you had no hand in the thing, you wouldn't be +sitting there smoking that cigar." + +It was almost a minute before Witham could trust his voice. Then he +said slowly, "And what do they want me for?" + +"I guess they don't quite know whether they do or not," said the +officer. "They crawl slow in Canada. In the meanwhile they wanted to +know where you were, so they could take out papers if anything turned +up against you." + +"And Witham?" said the farmer. + +"Got away with a trooper close behind him. The rest of them had headed +him off from the prairie, and he took to the river. Went through the +ice and drowned himself, though as there was a blizzard nobody quite +saw the end of him, and in case there was any doubt they've got a +warrant out. Farmer Witham's dead, and if he isn't he soon will be, +for the troopers have got their net right across the prairie, and the +Canadians don't fool time away as we do when it comes to hanging +anybody. The tale seems to have worried you." + +Witham sat rigidly still and silent for almost a minute. Then he rose +up with a curious little shake of his shoulders. + +"And farmer Witham's dead. Well he had a hard life. I knew him rather +well," he said. "Thank you for the story. On my word this is the first +time I've heard it, and now it's time I was going." + +The officer laughed a little. "Sit right down again. Now, there's +something about you that makes me like you, and as I can't talk to the +boys, I'll give you the best supper we can raise in the whole forsaken +country, and you can camp here until to-morrow. It's an arrangement +that will meet the views of everybody, because I'll know whether the +Canadians want you or not in the morning." + +Witham did not know what prompted him to agree, but it all seemed part +of a purpose that impelled him against his reasoning will, and he sat +still beside the stove while his host went out to give orders +respecting supper and the return of the sleigh. He was also glad to be +alone for a while, for now and then a fit of anger shook him as he saw +how he had been duped by Courthorne. He had heard Shannon's story, +and, remembering it, could fancy that Courthorne had planned the +trooper's destruction with a devilish cunning that recognized by what +means the blame could be laid upon a guiltless man. Witham's face +became mottled with grey again as he realized that if he revealed his +identity he had nothing but his word to offer in proof of his +innocence. + +Still, it was anger and not fear that stirred him, for nobody could +arrest a man who was dead, and there was no reason that would render +it undesirable for him to remain so. His farm would, when sold, +realize the money borrowed upon it, and the holder of the mortgage had +received a profitable interest already. Had the unforeseen not +happened, Witham would have held out to the end of the struggle, but +now he had no regret that this was out of the question. Fate had been +too strong for him as farmer Witham, but it might deal more kindly +with him as the outlaw Courthorne. He could also make a quick +decision, and when the officer returned to say that supper was ready, +he rose with a smile. + +They sat down to a meal that was barbaric in its simplicity and +abundance, for men live and eat in Homeric fashion in the North-West, +while when the green tea was finished and the officer pushed the +whisky across, his guest laughed as he filled his glass. + +"Here's better fortune to farmer Witham!" he said. + +The officer stared at him. "No, sir," he said "If the old folks taught +me aright, Witham's in----" + +A curious smile flickered in the farmer's eyes. "No," he said slowly. +"He was tolerably near it once or twice when he was alive, and, +because of what he went through then, there may be something better in +store for him." + +His companion appeared astonished, but said nothing further until he +brought out the cards. They played for an hour beside the snapping +stove, and then, when Witham flung a trump away, the officer groaned. + +"I guess," he said disgustedly, "you're not well to-night, or +something is worrying you." + +Witham looked up with a little twinkle in his eyes. "I don't know that +there's very much wrong with me." + +"Then," said the officer decisively, "if the boys down at Regent know +enough to remember what trumps are, you're not Lance Courthorne. Now +after what I'd heard of you, I'd have put up fifty dollars for the +pleasure of watching your game--and it's not worth ten cents when I've +seen it." + +Witham laughed. "Sit down and talk," he said. "One isn't always in his +usual form, and there are folks who get famous too easily." + +They talked until nearly midnight, sitting close to the stove, while a +doleful wind that moaned without drove the dust of snow pattering +against the windows, and the shadows grew darker in the corners of the +great log-walled room each time the icy draughts set the lamp +flickering. Then the officer, rising, expressed the feelings of his +guest as he said, "It's a forsaken country, and I'm thankful one can +sleep and forget it." + +He had, however, an honourable calling, and a welcome from friend and +kinsman awaiting him when he went East again, to revel in the life of +the cities, but the man who followed him silently to the sleeping-room +had nothing but a half-instinctive assurance that the future could not +well be harder or more lonely than the past had been. Still, farmer +Witham was a man of courage with a quiet belief in himself, and in ten +minutes he was fast asleep. + +When he came down to breakfast his host was already seated with a +bundle of letters before him, and one addressed to Courthorne lay +unopened by Witham's plate. The officer nodded when he saw him. + +"The trooper has come in with the mail, and your friends in Canada are +not going to worry you," he said. "Now, if you feel like staying here +a few days, it would be a favour to me." + +Witham had in the meanwhile opened the envelope. He knew that when +once the decision was made there could only be peril in half-measures, +and his eyes grew thoughtful as he read. The letter had been written +by a Winnipeg lawyer from a little town not very far away, and +requested Courthorne to meet and confer with him respecting certain +suggestions made by a Colonel Barrington. Witham decided to take the +risk. + +"I'm sorry, but I have got to go into Annerly at once," he said. + +"Then," said the officer, "I'll drive you. I've some stores to get +down there." + +They started after breakfast, but it was dusk next day when they +reached the little town, and Witham walked quietly into a private room +of the wooden hotel, where a middle-aged man with a shrewd face sat +waiting him. The big nickelled lamp flickered in the draughts that +found their way in, and Witham was glad of it, though he was outwardly +very collected. The stubborn patience and self-control with which he +had faced the loss of his wheat crops and frozen stock stood him in +good stead now. He fancied the lawyer seemed a trifle astonished at +his appearance, and sat down wondering whether he had previously +spoken to Courthorne, until the question was answered for him. + +"Although I have never had the pleasure of meeting you before, I have +acted as Colonel Barrington's legal adviser ever since he settled at +Silverdale, and am, therefore, well posted as to his affairs, which +are, of course, connected with those of your own family," said the +lawyer. "We can accordingly talk with greater freedom, and I hope +without the acerbity which in your recent communications somewhat +annoyed the Colonel!" + +"Well," said Courthorne, who had never heard of Colonel Barrington, "I +am ready to listen." + +The lawyer drummed on the table. "It might be best to come to the +point at once," he said. "Colonel Barrington does not deem it +convenient that you should settle at Silverdale, and would be prepared +to offer you a reasonable sum to relinquish your claim." + +"My claim?" said Witham, who remembered having heard of the Silverdale +Colony, which lay several hundred miles away. + +"Of course," said the lawyer. "The legacy lately left you by Roger +Courthorne. I have brought you a schedule of the wheat in store, and +amounts due to you on various sales made. You will also find the +acreage, stock, and implements detailed at a well-known appraiser's +valuation, which you could, of course, confirm, and Colonel Barrington +would hand you a cheque for half the total now. He however, asks four +years to pay the balance, which would carry bank interest in the +meanwhile, in." + +Witham, who was glad of the excuse, spent at least ten minutes +studying the paper, and realized that it referred to a large and +well-appointed farm, though it occurred to him that the crop was a +good deal smaller than it should have been. He noticed this, as it +were, instinctively, for his brain was otherwise very busy. + +"Colonel Barrington seems somewhat anxious to get rid of me," he said. +"You see, this land is mine by right." + +"Yes," said the lawyer. "Colonel Barrington does not dispute it, +though I am of opinion that he might have done so under one clause of +the will. I do not think we need discuss his motives." + +Witham moistened his lips with his tongue, and his lips quivered a +little. He had hitherto been an honest man, and now it was impossible +for him to take the money. It, however, appeared equally impossible to +reveal his identity and escape the halter, and he felt that the dead +man had wronged him horribly. He was entitled at least to safety by +way of compensation, for by passing as Courthorne he would avoid +recognition as Witham. + +"Still, I do not know how I have offended Colonel Barrington," he +said. + +"I would sooner," said the lawyer, "not go into that. It is, I fancy, +fifteen years since Colonel Barrington saw you, but he desired me to +find means of tracing your Canadian record, and did not seem pleased +with it. Nor, at the risk of offending you, could I deem him unduly +prejudiced." + +"In fact," said Witham dryly, "this man who has not seen me for +fifteen years is desirous of withholding what is mine from me at +almost any cost." + +The lawyer nodded. "There is nothing to be gained by endeavouring to +controvert it. Colonel Barrington is also, as you know, a somewhat +determined gentleman." + +Witham laughed, for he was essentially a stubborn man, and felt little +kindliness towards any one connected with Courthorne, as the Colonel +evidently was. + +"I fancy I am not entirely unlike him in that respect," he said. "What +you have told me makes me the more determined to follow my own +inclinations. Is there any one else at Silverdale prejudiced against +me?" + +The lawyer fell into the trap. "Miss Barrington, of course, takes her +brother's view, and her niece would scarcely go counter to them. She +must have been a very young girl when she last saw you, but from what +I know of her character I should expect her to support the Colonel." + +"Well," said Witham. "I want to think over the thing. We will talk +again to-morrow. You would require me to establish my identity, +anyway?" + +"The fact that a famous inquiry agent has traced your movements down +to a week or two ago, and told me where to find you, will render that +simple," said the lawyer dryly. + +Witham sat up late that night turning over the papers the lawyer left +him, and thinking hard. It was evident that in the meanwhile he must +pass as Courthorne, but as the thought of taking the money revolted +him, the next step led to the occupation of the dead man's property. +The assumption of it would apparently do nobody a wrong, while he felt +that Courthorne had taken so much from him that the farm at Silverdale +would be a very small reparation. It was not, he saw, a great +inheritance, but one that in the right hands could be made profitable, +and Witham, who had fought a plucky fight with obsolete and worthless +implements and indifferent teams, felt that he could do a great deal +with what was, as it were, thrust upon him at Silverdale. It was not +avarice that tempted him, though he knew he was tempted now, but a +longing to find a fair outlet for his energies, and show what, once +given the chance that most men had, he could do. He had stinted +himself and toiled almost as a beast of burden, but now he could use +his brains in place of wringing the last effort out of overtaxed +muscle. He had also during the long struggle lost, to some extent, his +clearness of vision, and only saw himself as a lonely man fighting for +his own hand with fate against him. Now, when prosperity was offered +him, it seemed but folly to stand aside when he could stretch out a +strong hand and take it. + +During the last hour he sat almost motionless, the issue hung in the +balance, and he laid himself down still undecided. Still, he had lived +long in primitive fashion in close touch with the soil, and sank, as +most men would have done, into restful sleep. The sun hung red above +the rim of the prairie when he awakened, and going down to breakfast +found the lawyer waiting for him. + +"You can tell Colonel Barrington I'm coming to Silverdale," he said. + +The lawyer looked at him curiously. "Would there be any use in asking +you to consider?" + +Witham laughed. "No," he said. "Now, I rather like the way you talked +to me, and if it wouldn't be disloyalty to the Colonel, I should be +pleased if you would undertake to put me in due possession of my +property." + +He said nothing further, and the lawyer sat down to write Colonel +Barrington. + +"Mr. Courthorne proves obdurate," he said. "He is, however, by no +means the type of man I expected to find, and I venture to surmise +that you will eventually discover him to be a less undesirable +addition to Silverdale than you are at present inclined to fancy." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +WITHAM COMES TO SILVERDALE + + +There were warmth and brightness in the cedar-boarded general room of +Silverdale Grange, and most of the company gathered there basked in it +contentedly after their drive through the bitter night. Those who came +from the homesteads lying farthest out had risked frost-nipped hands +and feet, for when Colonel Barrington held a levee at the Grange +nobody felt equal to refusing his invitation. Neither scorching heat +nor utter cold might excuse compliance with the wishes of the founder +of Silverdale, and it was not until Dane, the big middle-aged +bachelor, had spoken very plainly, that he consented to receive his +guests in time of biting frost dressed otherwise than as they would +have appeared in England. + +Dane was the one man in the settlement who dare remonstrate with its +ruler, but it was a painful astonishment to the latter when he said, +in answer to one invitation, "I have never been frost-bitten, sir, and +I stand the cold well, but one or two of the lads are weak in the +chest, and this climate was never intended for bare-shouldered women. +Hence, if I come, I shall dress myself to suit it." + +Colonel Barrington stared at him for almost a minute, and then shook +his head. "Have it your own way," he said, "Understand that in itself +I care very little for dress, but it is only by holding fast to every +traditional nicety we can prevent ourselves sinking into Western +barbarism, and I am horribly afraid of the thin end of the wedge." + +Dane having gained his point, said nothing further, for he was one of +the wise and silent men who know when to stop, and that evening he sat +in a corner watching his leader thoughtfully, for there was anxiety in +the Colonel's face. Barrington sat silent near the ample hearth whose +heat would scarcely have kept water from freezing but for the big +stove, and disdaining the dispensation made his guests, he was clad +conventionally, though the smooth black fabric clung about him more +tightly than it had once been intended to do. His sister stood, with +the stamp of a not wholly vanished beauty still clinging to her gentle +face, talking to one or two matrons from outlying farms, and his niece +by a little table turning over Eastern photographs with a few young +girls. She, too, wore black in deference to the Colonel's taste, which +was sombre, and the garment she had laughed at as a compromise, left +uncovered a narrow strip of ivory shoulder and enhanced the polished +whiteness of her neck. A slender string of pearls gleamed softly on +the satiny skin, but Maud Barrington wore no other adornment and did +not need it. She had inherited the Courthorne comeliness, and the +Barringtons she sprang from on her father's side had always borne the +stamp of distinction. + +A young girl sat at the piano singing in a thin, reedy voice, while an +English lad waited with ill-concealed jealousy of a too officious +companion to turn over the music by her side. Other men, mostly young, +with weather-bronzed faces, picturesque in embroidered deerskin or +velvet lounge jackets, were scattered about the room, and all were +waiting for the eight-o'clock dinner, which replaced the usual prairie +supper at Silverdale. They were growers of wheat who combined a good +deal of amusement with a little not very profitable farming, and most +of them possessed a large share of insular English pride and a +somewhat depleted exchequer. + +Presently Dane crossed over, and sat down by Colonel Barrington. "You +are silent, sir, and not looking very well to-night," he said. + +Barrington nodded gravely, for he had a respect for the one man who +occasionally spoke plain truth to him. "The fact is, I am growing +old," he said, and then added, with what was only an apparent lack of +connexion, "Wheat is down three cents, and money tighter than ever." + +Dane looked thoughtful, and noticed the older man's glance in his +niece's direction, as he said, "I am afraid there are difficult times +before us." + +"I have no doubt we shall weather them as we have done before," said +the Colonel. "Still, I can't help admitting that just now I feel--a +little tired--and am commencing to think we should have been better +prepared for the struggle had we worked a trifle harder during the +recent era of prosperity. I could wish there were older heads on the +shoulders of those who will come after me." + +Just then Maud Barrington glanced at them, and Dane, who could not +remember having heard his leader talk in that fashion before, and +could guess his anxieties, was a little touched as he noticed his +attempt at sprightliness. As it happened, one of the lads at the piano +commenced a song of dogs and horses that had little to recommend it +but the brave young voice. + +"They have the right spirit, sir," he said. + +"Of course!" said Barrington. "They are English lads, but I think a +little more is required. Thank God we have not rated the dollar too +high, but it is possible we have undervalued its utility, and I fear I +have only taught them to be gentlemen." + +"That is a good deal, sir," Dane said quietly. + +"It is. Still, a gentleman, in the restricted sense, is somewhat of an +anachronism on the prairie, and it is too late to begin again. In the +usual course of nature I must lay down my charge presently, and that +is why I feel the want of a more capable successor, whom they would +follow because of his connexion with mine and me." + +Dane looked thoughtful. "If I am not taking a liberty--you still +consider the one apparently born to fill the place quite unsuitable?" + +"Yes," said Barrington quietly. "I fear there is not a redeeming +feature in Courthorne's character." + +Neither said anything further, until there was a tapping at the door, +and, though this was a most unusual spectacle on the prairie, a trim +English maid in white-banded dress stood in the opening. + +"Mr. Courthorne, Miss Barrington," she said. + +Now Silverdale had adopted one Western custom in that no chance guest +was ever kept waiting, and the music ceased suddenly, while the +stillness was very suggestive, when a man appeared in the doorway. He +wore one of the Scandinavian leather jackets which are not uncommon in +that country, and when his eyes had become accustomed to the light, +moved forward with a quiet deliberation that was characterized neither +by graceful ease nor the restraint of embarrassment. His face was +almost the colour of a Blackfoot's, his eyes steady and grey, but +those of the men who watched him were next moment turned upon the +Colonel's sister, who rose to receive him, slight, silver-haired, and +faded, but still stamped with a simple dignity that her ancient silks +and lace curiously enhanced. Then there was a silence that could be +felt, for all realized that a good deal depended on the stranger's +first words and the fashion of his reception. + +Witham, as it happened, felt this too, and something more. It was +eight years since he had stood before an English lady, and he surmised +that there could not be many to compare with this one, while after his +grim, lonely life an intangible something that seemed to emanate from +her gracious serenity compelled his homage. Then as she smiled at him +and held out her hand, he was for a moment sensible of an almost +overwhelming confusion. It passed as suddenly, for this was a man of +quick perceptions, and remembering that Courthorne had now and then +displayed some of the grace of bygone days he yielded to a curious +impulse, and, stooping, kissed the little withered fingers. + +"I have," he said, "to thank you for a welcome that does not match my +poor deserts, madam." + +Then Dane, standing beside his leader, saw the grimness grow a trifle +less marked in his eyes. "It is in the blood," he said half aloud, but +Dane heard him and afterwards remembered it. + +In the meanwhile Miss Barrington had turned from the stranger to her +niece. "It is a very long time since you have seen Lance, Maud, and, +though I knew his mother well, I am less fortunate, because this is +our first meeting," she said. "I wonder if you still remember my +niece." + +Now, Witham had been gratified by his first success, and was about to +venture on the answer that it was impossible to forget; but when he +turned towards the very stately young woman in the long black dress, +whose eyes had a sardonic gleam, and wondered whether he had ever seen +anybody so comely or less inclined to be companionable, it was borne +in upon him that any speech of the kind would be distinctly out of +place. Accordingly, and because there was no hand held out in this +case, he contented himself with a little bend of his head. Then he was +presented to the Colonel, who was distantly cordial, and Witham was +thankful when the maid appeared in the doorway again, to announce that +dinner was ready. Miss Barrington laid her hand upon his arm. + +"You will put up with an old woman's company to-night?" she said. + +Witham glanced down deprecatingly at his attire. "I must explain that +I had no intention of trespassing on your hospitality," he said. "I +purposed going on to my own homestead, and only called to acquaint +Colonel Barrington with my arrival." + +Miss Barrington laughed pleasantly. "That," she said, "was neither +dutiful nor friendly. I should have fancied you would also have +desired to pay your respects to my niece and me." + +Witham was not quite sure what he answered, but he drew in a deep +breath, for he had made the plunge and felt that the worst was over. +His companion, evidently noticed the gasp of relief. + +"It was somewhat of an ordeal?" she said. + +Witham looked down upon her gravely, and Miss Barrington noticed a +steadiness in his eyes she had not expected to see. "It was, and I +feel guilty because I was horribly afraid," he said. "Now I only +wonder if you will always be equally kind to me." + +Miss Barrington smiled a little, but the man fancied there was just a +perceptible tightening of the hand upon his arm. "I would like to be, +for your mother's sake," she said. + +Witham understood that while Courthorne's iniquities were not to be +brought up against him, the little gentle-voiced lady had but taken +him on trial; but, perhaps because it was so long since any woman had +spoken kindly words to him, his heart went out towards her, and he +felt a curious desire to compel her good opinion. Then he found +himself seated near the head of the long table, with Maud Barrington +on his other hand, and had an uncomfortable feeling that most of the +faces were turned somewhat frequently in his direction. It is also +possible that he would have betrayed himself, had he been burdened +with self-consciousness, but the long, bitter struggle he had fought +alone had purged him of petty weaknesses and left him the closer grasp +of essential things, with the strength of character which is one and +the same in all men who possess it, whatever may be their upbringing. + +During a lull in the voices, Maud Barrington, who may have felt it +incumbent on her to show him some scant civility, turned towards him +as she said, "I am afraid our conversation will not appeal to you. +Partly because there is so little else to interest us, we talk wheat +throughout the year at Silverdale." + +"Well," said Witham with a curious little smile, "wheat as a topic is +not quite new to me. In fact, I know almost more about cereals than +some folks would care to do." + +"In the shape of elevator warrants or Winnipeg market margins, +presumably?" + +Witham's eyes twinkled, though he understood the implication. "No," he +said. "The wheat I handled was in 250-pound bags, and I occasionally +grew somewhat tired of pitching them into a wagon, while my +speculations usually consisted in committing it to the prairie soil, +in the hope of reaping forty bushels to the acre, and then +endeavouring to be content with ten. It is conceivable that operations +on the Winnipeg market are less laborious as well as more profitable, +but I have no opportunity of trying them." + +Miss Barrington looked at him steadily, and Witham felt the blood +surge to his forehead as he remembered having heard of a certain +venture made by Courthorne, which brought discredit on one or two men, +connected with the affairs of a grain elevator. It was evident that +Miss Barrington had also heard of it, and no man cares to stand +convicted of falsification in the eyes of a very pretty girl. Still, +he roused himself with an effort. + +"It is neither wise nor charitable to believe all one hears," he said. + +The girl smiled a little, but the man still winced inwardly under her +clear brown eyes that would, he fancied, have been very scornful had +they been less indifferent. + +"I do not remember mentioning having heard anything," she said. "Were +you not a trifle premature in face of the proverb?" + +Witham's face was a trifle grim, though he laughed. "I'm afraid I was; +but I am warned," he said. "Excuses are, after all, not worth much, +and when I make my defence it will be before a more merciful judge." + +Maud Barrington's curiosity was piqued. Lance Courthorne, outcast and +gambler, was at least a different stamp of man from the type she had +been used to, and, being a woman, the romance that was interwoven with +his somewhat iniquitous career was not without its attractions for +her. + +"I did not know that you included farming among your talents, and +should have fancied you would have found it--monotonous," she said. + +"I did," and the provoking smile still flickered in Witham's eyes. +"Are not all strictly virtuous occupations usually so?" + +"It is probably a question of temperament. I have, of course, heard +sardonic speeches of the kind before, and felt inclined to wonder +whether those who made them were qualified to form an opinion." + +Witham nodded, but there was a little ring in his voice. "Perhaps I +laid myself open to the thrust; but have you any right to assume I +have never followed a commendable profession?" + +No answer was immediately forthcoming, but Witham did wisely when, in +place of waiting, he turned to Miss Barrington. He had left her niece +irritated, but the trace of anger she felt was likely to enhance her +interest. The meal, however, was a trial to him, for he had during +eight long years lived for the most part apart from all his kind, a +lonely toiler, and now was constrained to personate a man known to be +almost dangerously skilful with his tongue. At first sight the task +appeared almost insuperably difficult, but Witham was a clever man, +and felt all the thrill of one playing a risky game just then. Perhaps +it was due to excitement that a readiness he had never fancied himself +capable of came to him in his need, and, when at last the ladies rose, +he felt that he had not slipped perilously. Still, he found how dry +his lips had grown when somebody poured him a glass of wine. Then he +became sensible that Colonel Barrington, who had apparently been +delivering a lengthy monologue, was addressing him. + +"The outlook is sufficient to cause us some anxiety," he said. "We are +holding large stocks, and I can see no prospect of anything but a +steady fall in wheat. It is, however, presumably a little too soon to +ask your opinion." + +"Well," said Witham, "while I am prepared to act upon it, I would +recommend it to others with some diffidence. No money can be made at +present by farming, but I see no reason why we should not endeavour to +cut our losses by selling forward down. If caught by a sudden rally, +we could fall back on the grain we hold." + +There was a sudden silence, until Dane said softly, "That is exactly +what one of the cleverest brokers in Winnipeg recommended." + +"I think," said Colonel Barrington, "you heard my answer. I am +inclined to fancy that such a measure would not be advisable or +fitting, Mr. Courthorne. You, however, presumably know very little +about the practical aspect of the wheat question?" + +Witham smiled. "On the contrary, I know a great deal." + +"You do?" said Barrington sharply, and while a blunderer would have +endeavoured to qualify his statement, Witham stood by it. + +"You are evidently not aware, sir, that I have tried my hand at +farming, though not very successfully." + +"That, at least," said Barrington dryly, as he rose, "is quite +credible." + +When they went into the smaller room, Witham crossed over to where +Maud Barrington sat alone, and looked down upon her gravely. "One +discovers that frankness is usually best," he said. "Now, I would not +like to feel that you had determined to be unfriendly with me." + +Maud Barrington fixed a pair of clear brown eyes upon his face, and +the faintest trace of astonishment crept into them. She was a woman +with high principles, but neither a fool nor a prude, and she saw no +sign of dissolute living there. The man's gaze was curiously steady, +his skin clear and brown, and his sinewy form suggested a capacity +for, and she almost fancied an acquaintance with, physical toil. Yet +he had already denied the truth to her. Witham, on his part, saw a +very fair face with wholesome pride in it, and felt that the eyes +which were coldly contemptuous now could, if there was a warrant for +it, grow very gentle. + +"Would it be of any moment if I were?" she said. + +"Yes," said Witham quietly. "There are two people here it is desirable +for me to stand well with, and the first of them, your aunt, has, I +fancy, already decided to give me a fair trial. She told me it was for +my mother's sake. Now, I can deal with your uncle." + +The girl smiled a little. "Are you quite sure? Everybody does not find +it easy to get on with Colonel Barrington. His code is somewhat +draconic." + +Witham nodded. "He is a man, and I hope to convince him I have at +least a right to toleration. That leaves only you. The rest don't +count. They will come round by and by, you see." + +The little forceful gesture with which he concluded pleased Maud +Barrington. It was free from vanity, but conveyed an assurance that he +knew his own value. + +"No friendship that is lightly given is worth very much," she said. "I +could decide better in another six months. Now it is perhaps fortunate +that Colonel Barrington is waiting for us to make up his four at +whist." + +Witham allowed a faint gesture of dismay to escape him. "Must I play?" + +"Yes," said the girl, smiling. "Whist is my uncle's hobby, and he is +enthusiastic over a clever game." + +Witham groaned inwardly. "And I am a fool at whist." + +"Then it was poker you played?" and again a faint trace of anger crept +into the girl's eyes. + +Witham shook his head. "No," he said. "I had few opportunities of +indulging in expensive luxuries." + +"I think we had better take our places," said Maud Barrington, with +unveiled contempt. + +Witham's forehead grew a trifle hot, and when he sat down Barrington +glanced at him. "I should explain that we never allow stakes of any +kind at Silverdale," he said. "Some of the lads sent out to me have +been a trifle extravagant in the old country." + +He dealt out the cards, but a trace of bewildered irritation crept +into his eyes as the game proceeded, and once or twice he appeared to +check an exclamation of astonishment, while at last he glanced +reproachfully at Witham. + +"My dear sir! Still, you have ridden a long way," he said, laying his +finger on a king. + +Witham laughed to hide his dismay. "I am sorry, sir. It was scarcely +fair to my partner. You would, however, have beaten us, anyway." + +Barrington gravely gathered up the cards. "We will," he said, "have +some music. I do not play poker." + +Then, for the first time, Witham lost his head in his anger. "Nor do +I, sir." + +Barrington only looked at him, but the farmer felt as though somebody +had struck him in the face, and as soon as he conveniently could, bade +Miss Barrington good night. + +"But we expected you would stay here a day or two. Your place is not +ready," she said. + +Witham smiled at her. "I think I am wise. I must feel my way." + +Miss Barrington was won, and, making no further protest, signed to +Dane. "You will take Mr. Courthorne home with you," she said. "I would +have kept him here, but he is evidently anxious to talk over affairs +with some one more of his age than my brother is." + +Dane appeared quite willing, and an hour later, Witham sat, cigar in +hand, in a room of his outlying farm. It was furnished simply, but +there were signs of taste, and the farmer who occupied it had already +formed a good opinion of the man whose knowledge of his own profession +astonished him. + +"So you are actually going to sell wheat in face of the Colonel's +views?" he said. + +"Of course," said Witham simply. "I don't like unpleasantness, but I +can allow no man to dictate my affairs to me." + +Dane grinned. "Well," he said, "the Colonel can be nasty, and he has +no great reason for being fond of you already." + +"No?" said Witham. "Now, of course, my accession will make a +difference at Silverdale, but I would consider it a friendly act if +you will let me know the views of the colony." + +Dane looked thoughtful. "The trouble is that your taking up the land +leaves less for Maud Barrington than there would have been. +Barrington, who is fond of the girl, was trustee for the property, and +after your--estrangement--from your father everybody expected she +would get it all." + +"So I have deprived Miss Barrington of part of her income?" + +"Of course," said Dane. "Didn't you know?" + +Witham found it difficult to answer. "I never quite realized it +before. Are there more accounts against me?" + +"That," said Dane slowly, "is rather a facer. We are all more or less +friends of the dominant family, you see." + +Witham laid down his cigar and stood up, "Now," he said, "I generally +talk straight, and you have held out a hand to me. Can you believe in +the apparent improbability of such a man as I am in the opinion of the +folks at Silverdale getting tired of a wasted life and trying to walk +straight again? I want your answer, yes or no, before I head across +the prairie for my own place." + +"Sit down," said Dane with a little smile. "Do you think I would have +brought you here if I hadn't believed it? And, if I have my way, the +first man who flings a stone will be sorry for it. Still, I don't +think any of them will--or could afford it. If we had all been saints, +some of us would never have come out from the old country." + +He stopped and poured out two glasses of wine. "It's a long while +since I've talked so much," he said. "Here's to our better +acquaintance, Courthorne." + +After that they talked wheat-growing and horses, and when his guest +retired Dane still sat smoking thoughtfully beside the stove. "We want +a man with nerve and brains," he said. "I fancy the one who has been +sent us will make a difference at Silverdale." + +It was about the same time when Colonel Barrington stood talking with +his niece and sister in Silverdale Grange. "And the man threw that +trick away when it was absolutely clear who had the ace--and wished me +to believe that he forgot!" he said. + +His face was flushed with indignation, but Miss Barrington smiled at +her niece. "What is your opinion, Maud?" + +The girl moved one white shoulder with a gesture of disdain. "Can you +ask--after that! Besides, he twice wilfully perverted facts while he +talked to me, though it was not in the least necessary." + +Miss Barrington looked thoughtful. "And yet, because I was watching +him, I do not think he plays cards well." + +"But he was a professional gambler," said the girl. + +The elder lady shook her head. "So we--heard," she said. "My dear, +give him a little time. I have seen many men and women--and can't help +a fancy that there is good in him." + +"Can the leopard change his spots?" asked Colonel Barrington, with a +grim smile. + +The little white-haired lady glanced at him as she said quietly, "When +the wicked man----" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +AN ARMISTICE + + +The dismal afternoon was drawing in when Witham, driving home from the +railroad, came into sight of a lonely farm. It lifted itself out of +the prairie, a blur of huddled buildings on the crest of a long rise, +but at first sight Witham scarcely noticed it. He was gazing +abstractedly down the sinuous smear of trail which unrolled itself +like an endless riband across the great white desolation, and his +brain was busy. Four months had passed since he came to Silverdale, +and they had left their mark on him. + +At first there had been the constant fear of detection, and when that +had lessened and he was accepted as Lance Courthorne, the latter's +unfortunate record had met him at every turn. It accounted for the +suspicions of Colonel Barrington, the reserve of his niece, and the +aloofness of some of his neighbours, while there had been times when +Witham found Silverdale almost unendurable. He was, however, an +obstinate man, and there was on the opposite side the gracious +kindliness of the little grey-haired lady, who had from the beginning +been his champion, and the friendship of Dane and one or two of the +older men. Witham had also proved his right to be listened to, and +treated, outwardly at least, with due civility, while something in his +resolute quietness rendered an impertinence impossible. He knew by +this time that he could hold his own at Silverdale, and based his +conduct on the fact, but that was only one aspect of the question, and +he speculated as to the consummation. + +It was, however, evident that in the meanwhile he must continue to +pose as Courthorne, and he felt, rightly or wrongly, that the +possession of his estate, was, after all, a small reparation for the +injury the outlaw had done him, but the affair was complicated by the +fact that, in taking Courthorne's inheritance, he had deprived Maud +Barrington of part of hers. The girl's coldness stung him, but her +unquestionable beauty and strength of character had not been without +their effect, and the man winced as he remembered that she had no pity +for anything false or mean. He had decided only upon two things, first +that he would vindicate himself in her eyes, and, since nobody else +could apparently do it, pull the property that should have been hers +out of the ruin it had been drifting into under her uncle's +guardianship. When this had been done, and the killing of Trooper +Shannon forgotten, it would be time for him to slip back into the +obscurity he came from. + +Then the fact that the homestead was growing nearer forced itself upon +his perceptions, and he glanced doubtfully across the prairie as he +approached the forking of the trail. A grey dimness was creeping +across the wilderness and the smoky sky seemed to hang lower above the +dully gleaming snow, while the moaning wind flung little clouds of icy +dust about him. It was evident that the snow was not far away, and it +was still two leagues to Silverdale, but Witham, who had been to +Winnipeg, had business with the farmer, and had faced a prairie storm +before. Accordingly he swung the team into the forking trail and shook +the reins. There was, he knew, little time to lose, and in another +five minutes he stood, still wearing his white-sprinkled furs, in a +room of the birch-log building. + +"Here are your accounts, Macdonald, and while we've pulled up our +losses, I can't help thinking we have just got out in time," he said. +"The market is but little stiffer yet, but there is less selling, and +before a few months are over we're going to see a sharp recovery." + +The farmer glanced at the documents, and smiled with contentment as he +took the cheque. "I'm glad I listened to you," he said. "It's +unfortunate for him and his niece that Barrington wouldn't--at least, +not until he had lost the opportunity." + +"I don't understand," said Witham. + +"No," said the farmer, "you've been away. Well, you know it takes a +long while to get an idea into the Colonel's head, but once it's in +it's even harder to get it out again. Now Barrington looked down on +wheat jobbing, but money's tight at Silverdale, and when he saw what +you were making, he commenced to think. Accordingly he's going to +sell, and, as he seems convinced that wheat will not go up again, let +half the acreage lie fallow this season. The worst of it is, the +others will follow him up, and he controls Maud Barrington's property +as well as his own." + +Witham's face was grave. "I heard in Winnipeg that most of the smaller +men who had lost courage were doing the same thing. That means a very +small crop of western hard, and millers paying our own prices. +Somebody must stop the Colonel." + +"Well," said Macdonald dryly, "I wouldn't like to be the man, and, +after all, it's only your opinion. As you have seen, the small men +here and in Minnesota are afraid to plough." + +Witham laughed softly. "The man who makes the dollars is the one who +sees farther than the crowd. Anyway, I found the views of one or two +men who make big deals were much the same as mine, and I'll speak to +Miss Barrington." + +"Then if you will wait a little, you will have an opportunity. She is +here, you see." + +Witham looked disconcerted. "She should not have been. Why didn't you +send her home? There'll be snow before she reaches Silverdale." + +Macdonald laughed. "I hadn't noticed the weather, and, though my wife +wished her to stay, there is no use in attempting to persuade Miss +Barrington to do anything when she does not want to. In some respects +she is very like the Colonel." + +The farmer led the way into another room, and Witham flushed a little +when the girl returned his greeting in a fashion which he fancied the +presence of Mrs. Macdonald alone rendered distantly cordial. Still, a +glance through the windows showed him that delay was inadvisable. + +"I think you had better stay here all night, Miss Barrington," he +said. "There is snow coming." + +"I am sorry our views do not coincide," said the girl. "I have several +things to attend to at the Grange." + +"Then Macdonald will keep your team, and I will drive you home," said +Witham. "Mine are the best horses at Silverdale, and I fancy we will +need all their strength." + +Miss Barrington looked up sharply. There had been a little ring in +Witham's voice, but there was also a solicitude in his face which +almost astonished her, and when Macdonald urged her to comply she rose +leisurely. + +"I will be ready in ten minutes," she said. + +Witham waited at least twenty, very impatiently, but when at last the +girl appeared, handed her with quiet deference into the sleigh, and +then took his place, as far as the dimensions of the vehicle +permitted, apart from her. Once he fancied she noticed it with faint +amusement, but the horses knew what was coming, and it was only when +he pulled them up to a trot again on the slope of a rise that he found +speech convenient. + +"I am glad we are alone, though I feel a little diffidence in asking a +favour of you, because unfortunately when I venture to recommend +anything you usually set yourself against it," he said. "This is, in +the language of this country, tolerably straight." + +Maud Barrington laughed. "I could find no fault with it on the score +of ambiguity." + +"Well," said Witham, "I believe your uncle is going to sell wheat for +you, and let a good deal of your land go out of cultivation. Now, as +you perhaps do not know, the laws which govern the markets are very +simple and almost immutable, but the trouble is that a good many +people do not understand their application." + +"You apparently consider yourself an exception," said the girl. + +Witham nodded. "I do just now. Still, I do not wish to talk about +myself. You see, the people back there in Europe must be fed, and the +latest news from wheat-growing countries does not promise more than an +average crop, while half the faint-hearted farmers here are not going +to sow much this year. Therefore when the demand comes for Western +wheat there will be little to sell." + +"But how is it that you alone see this? Isn't it a trifle +egotistical?" + +Witham laughed. "Can't we leave my virtues, or the reverse, out of the +question? I feel that I am right, and want you to dissuade your uncle. +It would be even better if, when I return to Winnipeg, you would +empower me to buy wheat for you." + +Maud Barrington looked at him curiously. "I am a little perplexed as +to why you should wish me to." + +"No doubt," said Witham. "Still, is there any reason why I should be +debarred the usual privilege of taking an interest in my neighbour's +affairs?" + +"No," said the girl slowly. "But can you not see that it is out of the +question that I should entrust you with this commission?" + +Witham's hands closed on the reins, and his face grew a trifle grim as +he said, "From the point of view you evidently take, I presume it is." + +A flush of crimson suffused the girl's cheeks. "I never meant that, +and I can scarcely forgive you for fancying I did. Of course I could +trust you with--you have made me use the word--the dollars, but you +must realize that I could not do anything in public opposition to my +uncle's opinion." + +Witham was sensible of a great relief, but it did not appear advisable +to show it. "There are so many things you apparently find it difficult +to forgive me--and we will let this one pass," he said. "Still, I +cannot help thinking that Colonel Barrington will have a good deal to +answer for." + +Maud Barrington made no answer, but she was sensible of a respect +which appeared quite unwarranted for the dryly-spoken man who, though +she guessed her words stung him now and then, bore them without +wincing. While she sat silent, shivering under her furs, darkness +crept down. The smoky cloud dropped lower, the horizon closed in as +the grey obscurity rolled up to meet them across a rapidly-narrowing +strip of snow. Then she could scarcely see the horses, and the muffled +drumming of their hoofs was lost in a doleful wail of wind. It also +seemed to her that the cold, which was already almost insupportable, +suddenly increased, as it not infrequently does in that country before +the snow. Then a white powder was whirled into her face, filling her +eyes and searing the skin, while, when she could see anything again, +the horses were plunging at a gallop through a filmy haze, and Witham, +whitened all over, leaned forward with lowered head hurling hoarse +encouragement at them. His voice reached her fitfully through the roar +of wind, until sight and hearing were lost alike as the white haze +closed about them, and it was not until the wild gust had passed she +heard him again. + +He was apparently shouting, "Come nearer." + +Maud Barrington was not sure whether she obeyed him or he seized and +drew her towards him. She, however, felt the furs piled high about her +neck and that there was an arm round her shoulder, and for a moment +was sensible of an almost overwhelming revulsion from the contact. She +was proud and very dainty, and fancied she knew what this man had +been, while now she was drawn in to his side, and felt her chilled +blood respond to the warmth of his body. Indeed, she grew suddenly hot +to the neck, and felt that henceforward she could never forgive him or +herself, but the mood passed almost as swiftly, for again the awful +blast shrieked about them and she only remembered her companion's +humanity as the differences of sex and character vanished under that +destroying cold. They were no longer man and woman, but only beings of +flesh and blood, clinging desperately to the life that was in them, +for the first rush of the Western snowstorm has more than a physical +effect, and man exposed to its fury loses all but his animal instincts +in the primitive struggle with the elements. + +Then, while the snow folded them closely in its white embrace during a +lull, the girl recovered herself, and her strained voice was faintly +audible. + +"This is my fault; why don't you tell me so?" she said. + +A hoarse laugh seemed to issue from the whitened object beside her, +and she was drawn closer to it again. "We needn't go into that just +now. You have one thing to do, and that is to keep warm." + +One of the horses stumbled, the grasp that was around her became +relaxed and she heard the swish of the whip followed by hoarse +expletives, and did not resent it. The man, it seemed, was fighting +for her life as well as his own, and even brutal virility was +necessary. After that there was a space of oblivion, while the storm +raged about them, until, when the wind fell a trifle, it became +evident that the horses had left the trail. + +"You are off the track, and will never make the Grange unless you find +it!" she said. + +Witham seemed to nod. "We are not going there," he said, and if he +added anything, it was lost in the scream of a returning gust. + +Again Maud Barrington's reason reasserted itself, and remembering the +man's history she became sensible of a curious dismay, but it also +passed, and left her with the vague realization that he and she were +actuated alike only by the desire to escape extinction. Presently she +became sensible that the sleigh had stopped beside a formless mound of +white and the man was shaking her. + +"Hold those furs about you while I lift you down," he said. + +She did his bidding, and did not shrink when she felt his arms about +her, while next moment she was standing knee-deep in the snow and the +man shouting something she did not catch. Team and sleigh seemed to +vanish, and she saw her companion dimly for a moment before he was +lost in the sliding whiteness too. Then a horrible fear came upon her. + +It seemed a very long while before he reappeared, and thrust her in +through what seemed to be a door. Then there was another waiting +before the light of a lamp blinked out, and she saw that she was +standing in a little log-walled room with bare floor and a few trusses +of straw in a corner. There was also a rusty stove, and a very small +pile of billets beside it. Witham, who had closed the door, stood +looking at them with a curious expression. + +"Where is the team?" she gasped. + +"Heading for a birch bluff or Silverdale, though I scarcely think they +will get there," said the man. "I have never stopped here, and it +wasn't astonishing they fancied the place a pile of snow. While I was +getting the furs out they slipped away from me." + +Miss Barrington now knew where they were. The shanty was used by the +remoter settlers as a half-way house where they slept occasionally on +their long journey to the railroad, and as there was a birch bluff not +far away, it was the rule that whoever occupied it should replace the +fuel he had consumed. The last man had, however, not been liberal. + +"But what are we to do?" she asked, with a little gasp of dismay. + +"Stay here until the morning," said Witham quietly. "Unfortunately I +can't even spare you my company. The stable has fallen in, and it +would be death to stand outside, you see. In the meanwhile, pull out +some of the straw and put it in the stove." + +"Can you not do that?" asked Miss Barrington, feeling that she must +commence at once, if she was to keep this man at a befitting distance. + +Witham laughed. "Oh, yes, but you will freeze if you stand still, and +these billets require splitting. Still, if you have special objections +to doing what I ask you, you can walk up and down rapidly." + +The girl glanced at him a moment, and then lowered her eyes. "Of +course I was wrong! Do you wish to hear that I am sorry?" + +Witham, answering nothing, swung an axe round his head, and the girl, +kneeling beside the stove, noticed the sinewy suppleness of his frame +and the precision with which the heavy blade cleft the billets. The +axe, she knew, is by no means an easy tool to handle. At last the red +flame crackled, and though she had not intended the question to be +malicious, there was a faint trace of irony in her voice as she asked, +"Is there any other thing you wish me to do?" + +Witham flung two bundles of straw down beside the stove, and stood +looking at her gravely. "Yes," he said. "I want you to sit down and +let me wrap this sleigh robe about you." + +The girl submitted, and did not shrink from his touch visibly when he +drew the fur robe about her shoulders and packed the end of it round +her feet. Still, there was a faint warmth in her face, and she was +grateful for his unconcernedness. + +"Fate or fortune has placed me in charge of you until to-morrow, and +if the position is distasteful to you it is not my fault," he said. +"Still, I feel the responsibility, and it would be a little less +difficult if you could accept the fact tacitly." + +Maud Barrington would not have shivered if she could have avoided it, +but the cold was too great for her, and she did not know whether she +was vexed or pleased at the gleam of compassion in the man's grey +eyes. It was more eloquent than anything of the kind she had ever +seen, but it had gone and he was only quietly deferent when she +glanced at him again. + +"I will endeavour to be good," she said, and then flushed with +annoyance at the adjective. Half-dazed by the cold as she was, she +could not think of a more suitable one. Witham, however, retained his +gravity. + +"Now, Macdonald gave you no supper, and he has dinner at noon," he +said. "I brought some eatables along, and you must make the best meal +you can." + +He opened a packet, and laid it, with a little silver flask, upon her +knee. + +"I cannot eat all this--and it is raw spirit," said Maud Barrington. + +Witham laughed. "Are you not forgetting your promise? Still, we will +melt a little snow into the cup." + +An icy gust swept in when he opened the door, and it was only by a +strenuous effort he closed it again, while, when he came back panting +with the top of the flask a little colour crept into Maud Barrington's +face. "I am sorry," she said. "That at least is your due." + +"I really don't want my due," said Witham with a deprecatory gesture +as he laid the silver cup upon the stove. "Can't we forget we are not +exactly friends, just for to-night? If so, you will drink this and +commence at once on the provisions--to please me!" + +Maud Barrington was glad of the reviving draught, for she was very +cold, but presently she held out the packet. + +"One really cannot eat many crackers at once; will you help me?" + +Witham laughed as he took one of the biscuits. "If I had expected any +one would share my meal, I would have provided a better one. Still, I +have been glad to feast upon more unappetizing things occasionally!" + +"When were you unfortunate?" said the girl. + +Witham smiled somewhat dryly. "I was unfortunate for six years on +end." + +He was aware of the blunder when he had spoken, but Maud Barrington +appeared to be looking at the flask thoughtfully. + +"The design is very pretty," she said. "You got it in England?" + +The man knew that it was the name F. Witham his companion's eyes +rested on, but his face was expressionless. "Yes," he said. "It is one +of the things they make for presentation in the old country." + +Maud Barrington noticed the absence of any attempt at explanation, and +having considerable pride of her own, was sensible of a faint +approval. "You are making slow progress," she said, with a slight but +perceptible difference in her tone. "Now, you can have eaten nothing +since breakfast." + +Witham said nothing, but by and by poured a little of the spirit into +a rusty can, and the girl, who understood why he did so, felt that it +covered several of his offences. "Now," she said graciously, "you may +smoke if you wish to." + +Witham pointed to the few billets left and shook his head. "I'm afraid +I must get more wood." + +The roar of the wind almost drowned his voice, and the birch logs +seemed to tremble under the impact of the blast, while Maud Barrington +shivered as she asked, "Is it safe?" + +"It is necessary," said Witham, with the little laugh she had already +found reassuring. + +He had gone out in another minute, and the girl felt curiously lonely +as she remembered stories of men who had left their homesteads during +a blizzard to see to the safety of the horses in a neighbouring +stable, and were found afterwards as still as the snow that covered +them. Maud Barrington was not unduly timorous, but the roar of that +awful icy gale would have stricken dismay into the hearts of most men, +and she found herself glancing with feverish impatience at a +diminutive gold watch and wondering whether the cold had retarded its +progress. Ten minutes passed very slowly, lengthened to twenty more +slowly still, and then it flashed upon her that there was at least +something she could do; and, scraping up a little of the snow that +sifted in, she melted it in the can. Then she set the flask-top upon +the stove, and once more listened for the man's footsteps very +eagerly. + +She did not hear them, but at last the door swung open, and carrying a +load of birch branches Witham staggered in. He dropped them, strove to +close the door, and failed, then leaned against it, gasping, with a +livid face, for there are few men who can withstand the cold of a +snow-laden gale at forty degrees below. + +How Maud Barrington closed the door she did not know; but it was with +a little imperious gesture she turned to the man. + +"Shake those furs at once," she said; and drawing him towards the +stove held up the steaming cup. "Now sit there and drink it." + +Witham stooped and reached out for the can, but the girl swept it off +the stove. "Oh, I know the silver was for me," she said. "Still, is +this a time for trifles such as that?" + +Worn out by a very grim struggle, Witham did as he was bidden, and +looked up with a twinkle in his eyes, when with the faintest trace of +colour in her cheeks the girl sat down close to him and drew part of +the fur robe about him. + +"I really believe you were a little pleased to see me come back just +now," he said. + +"Was that quite necessary?" asked Maud Barrington. "Still, I was." + +Witham made a little deprecatory gesture. "Of course," he said. "Now +we can resume our former footing to-morrow, but in the meanwhile I +would like to know why you are so hard upon me, Miss Barrington, +because I really have not done much harm to any one at Silverdale. +Your aunt"--and he made a little respectful inclination of his head +which pleased the girl--"is at least giving me a fair trial." + +"It is difficult to tell you--but it was your own doing," said Maud +Barrington. "At the beginning you prejudiced us when you told us you +could only play cards indifferently. It was so unnecessary, and we +knew a good deal about you!" + +"Well," said Witham quietly, "I have only my word to offer, and I +wonder if you will believe me now, but I don't think I ever won five +dollars at cards in my life." + +Maud Barrington watched him closely, but his tone carried conviction, +and again she was glad that he attempted no explanation. "I am quite +willing to take it," she said. "Still, you can understand----" + +"Yes," said Witham. "It puts a strain upon your faith, but some day I +may be able to make a good deal that puzzles you quite clear." + +Maud Barrington glanced at the flask. "I wonder if that is connected +with the explanation, but I will wait. Now, you have not lighted your +cigar." + +Witham understood that the topic was dismissed, and sat thoughtfully +still while the girl nestled against the birch logs close beside him +under the same furs; for the wind went through the building and the +cold was unbearable a few feet from the stove. The birch rafters shook +above their heads, and every now and then it seemed that a roaring +gust would lift the roof from them. Still the stove glowed and +snapped, and close in about it there was a drowsy heat, while +presently the girl's eyes grew heavy. Finally--for there are few who +can resist the desire for sleep in the cold of the North-West--her +head sank back, and Witham, rising very slowly, held his breath as he +piled the furs about her. That done, he stooped and looked down upon +her while the blood crept to his face. Maud Barrington lay very still, +the long, dark lashes resting on her cold-tinted cheeks, and the +patrician serenity of her face was even more marked in her sleep. Then +he turned away, feeling like one who had committed a desecration, +knowing that he had looked too long already upon the sleeping girl who +believed he had been an outcast and yet had taken his word; for it was +borne in upon him that a time would come when he would try her faith +even more severely. Moving softly, he paced up and down the room. + +Witham afterwards wondered how many miles he walked that night, for +though the loghouse was not longer than thirty feet, the cold bit +deep; but at last he heard a sigh as he glanced towards the stove, and +immediately swung round again. When he next turned, Miss Barrington +stood upright, a little flushed in face, but otherwise very calm; and +the man stood still, shivering in spite of his efforts, and blue with +cold. The wind had fallen, but the sting of the frost that followed it +made itself felt beside the stove. + +"You had only your deerskin jacket--and you let me sleep under all the +furs," she said. + +Witham shook his head, and hoped he did not look as guilty as he felt, +when he remembered that it must have been evident to his companion +that the furs did not get into the position they had occupied +themselves. + +"I only fancied you were a trifle drowsy and not inclined to talk," he +said, with an absence of concern, for which Miss Barrington, who did +not believe him, felt grateful. "You see"--and the inspiration was a +trifle too evident--"I was too sleepy to notice anything myself. +Still, I am glad you are awake now, because I must make my way to the +Grange." + +"But the snow will be ever so deep, and I could not come," said Maud +Barrington. + +Witham shook his head. "I'm afraid you must stay here; but I will be +back with Colonel Barrington in a few hours at latest." + +The girl deemed it advisable to hide her consternation. "But you might +not find the trail," she said. "The ravine would lead you to Graham's +homestead." + +"Still," said Witham slowly, "I am going to the Grange." + +Then Maud Barrington remembered, and glanced aside from him. It was +evident this man thought of everything; and she made no answer when +Witham, who thrust more billets into the stove, turned to her with a +little smile. + +"I think we need remember nothing when we meet again, beyond the fact +that you will give me a chance of showing that the Lance Courthorne, +whose fame you know, has ceased to exist." + +Then he went out, and the girl stood with flushed cheeks looking down +at the furs he had left behind him. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +MAUD HARRINGTON'S PROMISE + + +Daylight had not broken across the prairie, when, floundering through +a foot of dusty snow, Witham reached the Grange. He was aching from +fatigue and cold, and the deerskin jacket stood out from his numbed +body, stiff with frost, when, leaning heavily on a table, he awaited +Colonel Barrington. The latter, on entering, stared at him and then +flung open a cupboard and poured out a glass of wine. + +"Drink that before you talk. You look half dead," he said. + +Witham shook his head. "Perhaps you had better hear me first." + +Barrington thrust the glass upon him. "I could make nothing of what +you told me while you speak like that. Drink it, and then sit until +you get used to the different temperature." + +Witham drained the glass and sank limply into a chair. As yet his face +was colourless, though his chilled flesh tingled horribly as the blood +once more crept into the surface tissues. Then he fixed his eyes upon +his host as he told his story. Barrington stood very straight watching +his visitor, but his face was drawn, for the resolution which +supported him through the day was less noticeable in the early +morning, and it was evident now at least that he was an old man +carrying a heavy load of anxiety. Still, as the story proceeded, a +little blood crept into his cheeks, while Witham guessed that he found +it difficult to retain his grim immobility. + +"I am to understand that an attempt to reach the Grange through the +snow would have been perilous?" he said. + +"Yes," said Witham quietly. + +The older man stood very still regarding him intently, until he said, +"I don't mind admitting that it was distinctly regrettable!" + +Witham stopped him with a gesture. "It was at least unavoidable, sir. +The team would not face the snow, and no one could have reached the +Grange alive." + +"No doubt you did your best--and, as a connexion of the family, I am +glad it was you. Still--and there are cases in which it is desirable +to speak plainly--the affair, which you will, of course, dismiss from +your recollection, is to be considered as closed now." + +Witham smiled, and a trace of irony he could not quite repress was +just discernible in his voice. "I scarcely think that was necessary, +sir. It is, of course, sufficient for me to have rendered a small +service to the distinguished family which has given me an opportunity +of proving my right to recognition, and neither you, nor Miss +Barrington, need have any apprehension that I will presume upon it!" + +Barrington wheeled round. "You have the Courthorne temper, at least, +and perhaps I deserved this display of it. You acted with commendable +discretion in coming straight to me--and the astonishment I got drove +the other aspect of the question out of my head. If it hadn't been for +you, my niece would have frozen." + +"I'm afraid I spoke unguardedly, sir; but I am very tired. Still, if +you will wait a few minutes, I will get the horses out without +troubling the hired man." + +Barrington made a little gesture of comprehension, and then shook his +head. "You are fit for nothing further, and need rest and sleep." + +"You will want somebody, sir," said Witham. "The snow is very loose +and deep." + +He went out, and Barrington, who looked after him with a curious +expression in his face, nodded twice as if in approval. Twenty minutes +later he took his place in the sleigh that slid away from the Grange, +which lay a league behind it when the sunrise flamed across the +prairie. The wind had gone, and there was only a pitiless brightness +and a devastating cold, while the snow lay blown in wisps, dried dusty +and fine as flour by the frost. It had no cohesion, the runners sank +in it, and Witham was almost waist deep when he dragged the +floundering team through the drifts. A day had passed since he had +eaten anything worth mention, but he held on with an endurance which +his companion, who was incapable of rendering him assistance, wondered +at. There were belts of deep snow the almost buried sleigh must be +dragged through, and tracts from which the wind had swept the dusty +covering, leaving bare the grasses the runners would not slide over, +where the team came to a standstill, and could scarcely be urged to +continue the struggle. + +At last, however, the loghouse rose, a lonely mound of whiteness, out +of the prairie, and Witham drew in a deep breath of contentment when a +dusky figure appeared for a moment in the doorway. His weariness +seemed to fall from him, and once more his companion wondered at the +tirelessness of the man, as, floundering on foot beside them, he urged +the team through the powdery drifts beneath the big birch bluff. +Witham did not go in, however, when they reached the house; and when, +five minutes later, Maud Barrington came out, she saw him leaning with +a drawn face against the sleigh. He straightened himself suddenly at +the sight of her, but she had seen sufficient, and her heart softened +towards him. Whatever the man's history had been he had borne a good +deal for her. + +The return journey was even more arduous, and now and then Maud +Barrington felt a curious throb of pity for the worn-out man, who +during most of it walked beside the team; but it was accomplished at +last, and she contrived to find means of thanking him alone when they +reached the Grange. + +Witham shook his head, and then smiled a little. "It isn't nice to +make a bargain," he said. "Still, it is less pleasant now and then to +feel under an obligation, though there is no reason why you should." + +Maud Barrington was not altogether pleased, but she could not blind +herself to facts, and it was plain that there was an obligation. "I am +afraid I cannot quite believe that, but I do not see what you are +leading to." + +Witham's eyes twinkled. "Well," he said reflectively, "I don't want +you to fancy that last night commits you to any line of conduct in +regard to me. I only asked for a truce, you see." + +Maud Barrington was a trifle nettled. "Yes?" she said. + +"Then, I want to show you how you can discharge any trifling +obligation you may fancy you may owe me, which of course would be more +pleasant to you. Do not allow your uncle to sell any wheat forward for +you, and persuade him to sow every acre that belongs to you this +spring." + +"But however would this benefit you," asked the girl. + +Witham laughed. "I have a fancy that I can straighten up things at +Silverdale, if I can get my way. It would please me, and I believe +they want it. Of course, a desire to improve anything appears curious +in me!" + +Maud Barrington was relieved of the necessity of answering, for the +Colonel came up just then; but, moved by some sudden impulse, she +nodded as if in agreement. + +It was afternoon when she awakened from a refreshing sleep, and +descending to the room set apart for herself and her aunt, sat +thoughtfully still awhile in a chair beside the stove. Then, +stretching out her hand, she took up a little case of photographs and +slipped out one of them. It was a portrait of a boy and pony, but +there was a significance in the fact that she knew just where to find +it. The picture was a good one, and once more Maud Barrington noticed +the arrogance, which did not, however, seem out of place there, in the +lad's face. It was also a comely face, but there was a hint of +sensuality in it that marred its beauty. Then with a growing +perplexity she compared it with that of the weary man who had plodded +beside the team. Witham was not arrogant but resolute, and there was +no stamp of indulgence in his face. Indeed, the girl had from the +beginning recognized the virility in it that was tinged with +asceticism and sprang from a simple, strenuous life of toil in the +wind and sun. + +Just then there was a rustle of fabric, and she laid down the +photograph a moment too late, as her aunt came in. As it happened, the +elder lady's eyes rested on the picture, and a faint flush of +annoyance crept into the face of the girl. It was scarcely +perceptible, but Miss Barrington saw it, and though she felt tempted, +did not smile. + +"I did not know you were down," she said. "Lance is still asleep. He +seemed very tired." + +"Yes," said the girl. "That is very probable. He left the railroad +before daylight, and had driven round to several farms before he came +to Macdonald's, and he was very considerate. He had made me take all +the furs, and, I fancy, walked up and down with nothing but his indoor +clothing on all night long, though the wind went through the building, +and one could scarcely keep alive a few feet from the stove." + +Again the flicker of colour crept into the girl's cheeks, and the eyes +that were keen, as well as gentle, noticed it. + +"I think you owe him a good deal," said Miss Barrington. + +"Yes," said her niece, with a little laugh which appeared to imply a +trace of resentment. "I believe I do, but he seemed unusually anxious +to relieve me of that impression. He was also good enough to hint that +nothing he might have done need prevent me being--the right word is a +trifle difficult to find--but I fancy he meant unpleasant to him if I +wished it." + +There was a little twinkle in Miss Barrington's eyes. "Are you not a +trifle hard to please, my dear? Now, if he had attempted to insist on +a claim to your gratitude, you would have resented it." + +"Of course," said the girl reflectively. "Still, it is annoying to be +debarred from offering it. There are times, aunt, when I can't help +wishing that Lance Courthorne had never come to Silverdale. There are +men who leave nothing just as they found it, and whom one can't +ignore." + +Miss Barrington shook her head. "I fancy you are wrong. He has +offended after all?" + +She was pleased to see her niece's face relax into a smile that +expressed unconcern. "We are all exacting now and then," said the +girl. "Still, he made me promise to give him a fair trial, which was +not flattering, because it suggested that I had been unnecessarily +harsh, and then hinted this morning that he had no intention of +holding me to it. It really was not gratifying to find he held the +concession he asked for of so small account. You are, however, as +easily swayed by trifles as I am, because Lance can do no wrong since +he kissed your hand." + +"I really think I liked him the better for it," said the little +silver-haired lady. "The respect was not assumed, but wholly genuine, +you see; and whether I was entitled to it or not, it was a good deal +in Lance's favour that he should offer it to me. There must be some +good in the man who can be moved to reverence anything, even if he is +mistaken." + +"No man with any sense could help adoring you," said Maud Barrington. +"Still, I wonder why you believe I was wrong in wishing he had not +come to Silverdale." + +Miss Barrington looked thoughtful. "I will tell you, my dear. There +are few better men than my brother; but his thoughts, and the +traditions he is bound by, are those of fifty years ago, while the +restless life of the prairie is a thing of to-day. We have fallen too +far behind it at Silverdale, and a crisis is coming that none of us +are prepared for. Even Dane is scarcely fitted to help my brother to +face it, and the rest are either over-fond of their pleasure or +untrained boys. Brave lads they are, but none of them have been taught +that it is only by mental strain, or the ceaseless toil of his body, +the man without an inheritance can win himself a competence now. This +is why they want a leader who has known hardship and hunger, instead +of ease, and won what he holds with his own hand in place of having it +given him." + +"You fancy we could find one in such a man as Lance has been?" + +Miss Barrington looked grave. "I believe the prodigal was afterwards a +better, as well as a wiser, man than the one who stayed at home, and I +am not quite sure that Lance's history is so nearly like that of the +son in the parable as we have believed it to be. A residence in the +sty is apt to leave a stain, which I have not, though I have looked +for it, found on him." + +The eyes of the two women met, and, though nothing more was said, each +realized that the other was perplexed by the same question, while the +girl was astonished to find her vague suspicions shared. While they +sat silent, Colonel Barrington came in. + +"I am glad to see you looking so much better, Maud," he said, with a +trace of embarrassment. "Courthorne is resting still. Now, I can't +help feeling that we have been a trifle more distant than was needful +with him. The man has really behaved very discreetly. I mean in +everything." + +This was a great admission, and Miss Barrington smiled. "Did it hurt +you very much to tell us that?" she asked. + +The Colonel laughed. "I know what you mean, and if you put me on my +mettle I'll retract. After all, it was no great credit to him, because +blood will tell, and he is, of course, a Courthorne." + +Almost without her intention, Maud Barrington's eyes wandered towards +the photograph, and then looking up she met those of her aunt, and +once more saw the thought that troubled her in them. + +"The Courthorne blood is responsible for a good deal more than +discretion," said Miss Barrington, who went out quietly. + +Her brother appeared a trifle perplexed. "Now, I fancied your aunt had +taken him under her wing, and when I was about to suggest that, +considering the connexion between the families, we might ask him over +to dinner occasionally, she goes away," he said. + +The girl looked down a moment, for, realizing that her uncle +recognized the obligation he was under to the man he did not like, she +remembered that she herself owed him considerably more and he had +asked for something in return. It was not altogether easy to grant, +but she had tacitly pledged herself, and turning suddenly she laid a +hand on Barrington's arm. + +"Of course; but I want to talk of something else just now," she said. +"You know I have very seldom asked you questions about my affairs, but +I wish to take a little practical interest in them this year." + +"Yes?" said Barrington, with a smile. "Well, I am at your service, my +dear, and quite ready to account for my stewardship. You are no longer +my ward, except by your own wishes." + +"I am still your niece," said the girl, patting his arm. "Now, there +is, of course, nobody who could manage the farming better than you do, +but I would like to raise a large crop of wheat this season." + +"It wouldn't pay," and the Colonel grew suddenly grave. "Very few men +in the district are going to sow all their holding. Wheat is steadily +going down." + +"Then if nobody sows there will be very little, and shouldn't that put +up the prices?" + +Barrington's eyes twinkled. "Who has been teaching you commercial +economy? You are too pretty to understand such things, and the +argument is fallacious, because the wheat is consumed in Europe--and +even if we have not much to offer, they can get plenty from +California, Chile, India, and Australia." + +"Oh, yes--and Russia," said the girl. "Still, you see, the big mills +in Winnipeg and Minneapolis depend upon the prairie. They couldn't +very well bring wheat in from Australia." + +Barrington was still smiling with his eyes, but his lips were set. "A +little knowledge is dangerous, my dear, and if you could understand me +better, I could show you where you were wrong. As it is, I can only +tell you that I have decided to sell wheat forward and plough very +little." + +"But that was a policy you condemned with your usual vigour. You +really know you did." + +"My dear," said the Colonel, with a little impatient gesture, "one can +never argue with a lady. You see--circumstances alter cases +considerably." + +He nodded with an air of wisdom as though that decided it; but the +girl persisted. "Uncle," she said, drawing closer to him with lithe +gracefulness, "I want you to let me have my own way just for once, and +if I am wrong I will never do anything you do not approve of again. +After all, it is a very little thing, and you would like to please +me." + +"It is a trifle that is likely to cost you a good deal of money," said +the Colonel dryly. + +"I think I could afford it, and you could not refuse me." + +"As I am only your uncle, and no longer a trustee, I could not," said +Barrington. "Still, you would not act against my wishes?" + +His eyes were gentle, unusually so, for he was not as a rule very +patient when any one questioned his will; but there was a reproach in +them that hurt the girl. Still, because she had promised, she +persisted. + +"No," she said. "That is why it would be ever so much nicer if you +would just think as I did." + +Barrington looked at her steadily. "If you insist, I can at least hope +for the best," he said, with a gravity that brought a faint colour to +the listener's cheek. + +It was next day when Witham took his leave, and Maud Barrington stood +beside him as he put on his driving furs. + +"You told me there was something you wished me to do, and, though it +was difficult, it is done," she said. "My holding will be sown with +wheat this spring." + +Witham turned his head aside a moment and apparently found it needful +to fumble at the fastenings of the furs, while there was a curious +expression in his eyes when he looked round again. + +"Then," he said with a little smile, "we are quits. That cancels any +little obligation which may have existed." + +He had gone in another minute, and Maud Barrington turned back into +the stove-warmed room very quietly. Her lips were, however, somewhat +closely set. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +SPEED THE PLOUGH + + +Winter had fled back beyond the barrens to the lonely North at last, +and though here and there a little slushy snow still lay soaking the +black loam in a hollow, a warm wind swept the vast levels when one +morning Colonel Barrington rode with his niece and sister across the +prairie. Spring comes suddenly in that region, and the frost-bleached +sod was steaming under an effulgent sun, while in places a hardy +flower peeped through. It was six hundred miles to the forests of the +Rockies' eastern slope, and as far to the Athabascan pines, but it +seemed to Maud Barrington that their resinous sweetness was in the +glorious western wind, which awoke a musical sighing from the sea of +rippling grass. It rolled away before her in billows of lustrous +silver-grey, and had for sole boundary the first upward spring of the +arch of cloudless blue, across which the vanguard of the feathered +host pressed on, company by company towards the Pole. + +The freshness of it all stirred her blood like wine, and the +brightness that flooded the prairie had crept into her eyes; for those +who bear the iron winter of that lonely land realize the wonder of the +reawakening, which in a little space of day, dresses the waste which +has lain for long months white and silent as the dead, in living +green. It also has its subtle significance that the grimmest toiler +feels, and the essence of it is hope eternal and triumphant life. The +girl felt the thrill of it, and gave thanks by an answering +brightness, as the murmuring grasses and peeping flowerets did; but +there was behind her instinctive gladness a vague wonder and +expectancy. She had read widely, and seen the life of the cities with +understanding eyes, and now she was to be provided with the edifying +spectacle of the gambler and outcast turned farmer. + +Had she been asked a few months earlier whether the man who had, as +Courthorne had done, cast away his honour and wallowed in the mire, +could come forth again and purge himself from the stain, her answer +would have been coldly sceptical; but now, with the old familiar +miracle and what it symbolized before her eyes, the thing looked less +improbable. Why this should give pleasure she did not know, or would +not admit that she did, but the fact remained that it was so. + +Trotting down the slope of the next rise, they came upon him, and he +stood with very little sign of dissolute living upon him by a great +breaker plough. In front of him, the quarter-mile furrow led on beyond +the tall sighting poles on the crest of the next rise, and four +splendid horses, of a kind not very usual on the prairie, were +stamping the steaming clods at his side. Bronzed by frost and sun, +with his brick-red neck and arch of chest revealed by the coarse blue +shirt that, belted at the waist, enhanced his slenderness of flank, +the repentant prodigal was at least a passable specimen of the animal +man, but it was the strength and patience in his face that struck the +girl, as he turned towards her, bareheaded, with a little smile in his +eyes. She also noticed the difference he presented with his ingrained +hands and the stain of the soil upon him to her uncle, who sat his +horse, immaculate as usual with gloved hand on the bridle, for the +Englishmen at Silverdale usually hired other men to do their coarser +work for them. + +"So you are commencing in earnest in face of my opinion?" said +Barrington. "Of course, I wish you success, but that consummation +appears distinctly doubtful." + +Witham laughed as he pointed to a great machine which, hauled by four +horses, rolled towards them, scattering the black clods in its wake. +"I'm doing what I can to achieve it, sir," he said. "In fact, I'm +staking somewhat heavily. That team with the gang ploughs and +cultivators cost me more dollars than I care to remember." + +"No doubt," said Barrington dryly. "Still, we have always considered +oxen good enough for breaking prairie at Silverdale." + +Witham nodded. "I used to do so, sir, when I could get nothing better, +but after driving oxen for eight years one finds out their +disadvantages." + +Barrington's face grew a trifle stern. "There are times when you tax +our patience, Lance," he said. "Still, there is nothing to be gained +by questioning your assertion. What I fail to see is where your reward +for all this will come from, because I am still convinced that the +soil will, so to speak, give you back eighty cents for every dollar +you put into it. I would, however, like to look at those implements. I +have never seen better ones." + +He dismounted and helped his companion down, for Witham made no +answer. The farmer was never sure what actuated him, but, save in an +occasional fit of irony, he had not attempted by any reference to make +his past fall into line with Courthorne's since he had first been +accepted as the latter at Silverdale. He had taken the dead man's +inheritance, for a while, but he would stoop no further, and to speak +the truth, which he saw was not credited, brought him a grim amusement +as well as flung a sop to his pride. Presently, however, Miss +Barrington turned to him, and there was a kindly gleam in her eyes as +she glanced at the splendid horses and widening strip of ploughing. + +"You have the hope of youth, Lance, to make this venture when all +looks black--and it pleases me," she said. "Sometimes I fancy that men +had braver hearts than they have now when I was young." + +Witham flushed a trifle, and stretching out an arm swept his hand +round the horizon. "All that looked dead a very little while ago, and +now you can see the creeping greenness in the sod," he said. "The lean +years cannot last for ever, and, even if one is beaten again, there is +a consolation in knowing that one has made a struggle. Now, I am quite +aware that you are fancying a speech of this kind does not come well +from me." + +Maud Barrington had seen his gesture, and something in the thought +that impelled it, as well as the almost statuesque pose of his +thinly-clad figure, appealed to her. Courthorne as farmer, with the +damp of clean effort on his forehead and the stain of the good soil +that would faithfully repay it on his garments, had very little in +common with the profligate and gambler. Vaguely she wondered whether +he was not working out his own redemption by every wheat furrow torn +from the virgin prairie, and then again the doubt crept in. Could this +man have ever found pleasure in the mire? + +"You will plough all your holding, Lance?" asked the elder lady, who +had not answered his last speech yet, but meant to do. + +"Yes," said the man. "All I can. It's a big venture, and if it fails +will cripple me; but I seem to feel, apart from any reason I can +discern, that wheat is going up again, and I must go through with this +ploughing. Of course, it does not sound very sensible." + +Miss Barrington looked at him gravely, for there was a curious and +steadily-tightening bond between the two. "It depends upon what you +mean by sense. Can we reason out all we feel, and is there nothing +intangible but real behind the impulses which may be sent to us?" + +"Well," said Witham, with a little smile, "that is a trifle too deep +for me, and it's difficult to think of anything but the work I have to +do. But you were the first at Silverdale to hold out a hand to me--and +I have a feeling that your good wishes would go a long way now. Is it +altogether fantastic to believe that the good-will of my first friend +would help to bring me prosperity?" + +The white-haired lady's eyes grew momentarily soft, and, with a +gravity that did not seem out of place, she moved forward and laid her +hand on a big horse's neck, and smiled when the dumb beast responded +to her gentle touch. + +"It is a good work," she said. "Lance, there is more than dollars, or +the bread that somebody is needing, behind what you are doing, and +because I loved your mother I know how her approval would have +followed you. And now sow in hope, and God speed your plough!" + +She turned away almost abruptly, and Witham stood still, with one hand +closed tightly and a little deeper tint in the bronze of his face, +sensible at once of an unchanged resolution and a horrible +degradation. Then he saw that the Colonel had helped Miss Barrington +into the saddle and her niece was speaking. + +"I have something to ask Mr. Courthorne, and will overtake you," she +said. + +The others rode on, and the girl turned to Witham, "I made you a +promise and did my best to keep it but I find it harder than I fancied +it would be," she said. "I want you to release me." + +"I should like to hear your reasons," said Witham. + +The girl made a faint gesture of impatience. "Of course, if you +insist!" + +"I do," said Witham quietly. + +"Then I promised you to have all my holding sown this year, and I am +still willing to do so; but, though my uncle makes no protests I know +he feels my opposition very keenly, and it hurts me horribly. Unspoken +reproaches are the worst to bear, you know, and now Dane and some of +the others are following your lead, it is painful to feel that I am +taking part with them against the man who has always been kind to me." + +"And you would prefer to be loyal to Colonel Barrington even if it +cost you a good deal?" + +"Of course!" said Maud Barrington. "Can you ask me?" + +Witham saw the sparkle in her eyes and the half-contemptuous pride in +the poise of the shapely head. Loyalty, it was evident, was not a +figure of speech with her, but he felt that he had seen enough and +turned his face aside. + +"I knew it would be difficult when I asked," he said. "Still, I cannot +give you back that promise. We are going to see a great change this +year, and I have set my heart on making all I can for you." + +"But why should you?" asked Maud Barrington, somewhat astonished that +she did not feel more angry. + +"Well," said Witham gravely, "I may tell you by and by, and in the +meanwhile you can set it down to vanity. This may be my last venture +at Silverdale, and I want to make it a big success." + +The girl glanced at him sharply, and it was because the news caused +her an unreasonable concern that there was a trace of irony in her +voice. + +"Your last venture! Have we been unkind to you or does it imply that, +as you once insinuated, an exemplary life becomes monotonous?" + +Witham laughed. "No. I should like to stay here--a very long while," +he said; and the girl saw he spoke the truth as she watched him glance +wistfully at the splendid teams, great ploughs, and rich, black soil. +"In fact, strange as it may appear, it will be virtue, given the rein +for once, that drives me out when I go away." + +"But where are you going to?" + +Witham glanced vaguely across the prairie, and the girl was puzzled by +the look in his eyes. "Back to my own station," he said softly, as +though to himself, and then turned with a little shrug of his +shoulders. "In the meanwhile there is a good deal to do, and once more +I am sorry I cannot release you." + +"Then, there is an end of it. You could not expect me to beg you to, +so we will discuss the practical difficulty. I cannot under the +circumstances borrow my uncle's teams, and I am told I have not +sufficient men or horses to put a large crop in." + +"Of course!" said Witham quietly. "Well, I have now the best teams and +machines on this part of the prairie, and am bringing Ontario men in. +I will do the ploughing--and, if it will make it easier for you, you +can pay me for the services." + +There was a little flush on the girl's face. "It is all distasteful, +but as you will not give me back my word, I will keep it to the +letter. Still, it almost makes me reluctant to ask you a further +favour." + +"This one is promised before you ask it," said Witham quietly. + +It cost Maud Barrington some trouble to make her wishes clear, and +Witham's smile was not wholly one of pleasure as he listened. One of +the young English lads, who was, it appeared, a distant connexion of +the girl's, had been losing large sums of money at a gaming table, and +seeking other equally undesirable relaxations at the railroad +settlement. For the sake of his mother in England, Miss Barrington +desired him brought to his senses, but was afraid to appeal to the +Colonel, whose measures were occasionally more draconic than wise. + +"I will do what I can," said Witham. "Still, I am not sure that a lad +of the kind is worth your worrying over, and I am a trifle curious as +to what induced you to entrust the mission to me?" + +The girl felt embarrassed, but she saw that an answer was expected. +"Since you ask, it occurred to me that you could do it better than +anybody else," she said. "Please don't misunderstand me; but I fancy +it is the other man who is leading him away." + +Witham smiled somewhat grimly. "Your meaning is quite plain, and I am +already looking forward to the encounter with my fellow-gambler. You +believe that I will prove a match for him?" + +Maud Barrington, to her annoyance, felt the blood creep to her +forehead, but she looked at the man steadily, noticing the quiet +forcefulness beneath his somewhat caustic amusement. + +"Yes," she said simply; "and I shall be grateful." + +In another few minutes she was galloping across the prairie, and when +she rejoined her aunt and Barrington, endeavoured to draw out the +latter's opinion respecting Courthorne's venture by a few discreet +questions. + +"Heaven knows where he was taught it, but there is no doubt that the +man is an excellent farmer," he said. "It is a pity that he is also, +to all intents and purposes, mad." + +Miss Barrington glanced at her niece, and both of them smiled, for the +Colonel usually took for granted the insanity of any one who +questioned his opinions. + +In the meanwhile, Witham sat swaying on the driving-seat, mechanically +guiding the horses and noticing how the prairie sod rolled away in +black waves beneath the great plough. He heard the crackle of fibres +beneath the triple shares, and the swish of greasy loam along the +mouldboard's side; but his thoughts were far away, and when he raised +his head, he looked into the dim future beyond the long furrow that +cut the skyline on the rise. + +It was shadowy and uncertain, but one thing was clear to him, and that +was that he could not stay in Silverdale. At first he had almost hoped +he might do this, for the good land, and the means of efficiently +working it, had been a horrible temptation. That was before he +reckoned on Maud Barrington's attractions; but of late he had seen +what these were leading him to, and all that was good in him recoiled +from an attempt to win her. Once he had dared to wonder whether it +could be done, for his grim life had left him self-centred and bitter, +but that mood had passed, and it was with disgust he looked back upon +it. Now he knew that the sooner he left Silverdale, the less difficult +it would be to forget her; but he was still determined to vindicate +himself by the work he did, and make her affairs secure. Then, with or +without a confession, he would slip back into the obscurity he came +from. + +While he worked the soft wind rioted about him, and the harbingers of +summer passed north in battalions overhead--crane, brent goose, and +mallard--in crescents, skeins, and wedges, after the fashion of their +kind. Little long-tailed gophers whisked across the whitened sod, and +when the great plough rolled through the shadows of a bluff, jack +rabbits, pied white and grey, scurried amidst the rustling leaves. +Even the birches were fragrant in that vivifying air, and seemed to +rejoice as all animate creatures did; but the man's face grew more +sombre as the day of toil wore on. Still, he did his work with the +grim, unwavering diligence that had already carried him, dismayed but +unyielding, through years of drought and harvest hail, and the stars +shone down on the prairie when at last he loosed his second team. + +Then, standing in the door of his lonely homestead, he glanced at the +great shadowy granaries and barns, and clenched his hand as he saw +what he could do if the things that had been forced upon him were +rightfully his. He knew his own mettle, and that he could hold them if +he would; but the pale, cold face of a woman rose up in judgment +against him, and he also knew that because of the love of her, that +was casting its toils about him, he must give them up. + +Far back on the prairie a lonely coyote howled, and a faint wind, that +was now like snow-cooled wine, brought the sighing of limitless +grasses out of the silence. There was no cloud in the crystalline +ether, and something in the vastness and stillness that spoke of +infinity brought a curious sense of peace to him. Impostor though he +was, he would leave Silverdale better than he found it, and afterwards +it would be of no great moment what became of him. Countless +generations of toiling men had borne their petty sorrows before him, +and gone back to the dust they sprang from; but still, in due +succession, harvest followed seed-time, and the world whirled on. +Then, remembering that, in the meanwhile, he had much to do which +would commence with the sun on the morrow, he went back into the house +and shook the fancies from him. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +MASTERY RECOGNIZED + + +There was, considering the latest price of wheat, a somewhat +astonishing attendance in the long room of the hotel at the railroad +settlement one Saturday evening. A big stove in the midst of it +diffused a stuffy and almost unnecessary heat, gaudy nickelled lamps +an uncertain brilliancy, and the place was filled with the drifting +smoke of indifferent tobacco. Oleographs, barbaric in colour and +drawing, hung about the roughly-boarded walls, and any critical +stranger would have found the saloon comfortless and tawdry. + +It was, however, filled that night with bronzed-faced men who expected +nothing better. Most of them wore jackets of soft black leather or +embroidered deerskin, and the jean trousers and long boots of not a +few apparently stood in need of repairing, though the sprinkling of +more conventional apparel and paler faces showed that the storekeepers +of the settlement had been drawn together, as well as the prairie +farmers who had driven in to buy provisions or take up their mail. +There was, however, but little laughter, and their voices were low, +for boisterousness and assertion are not generally met with on the +silent prairie. Indeed, the attitude of some of the men was mildly +deprecatory, as though they felt that in assisting in what was going +forward they were doing an unusual thing. Still, the eyes of all were +turned toward the table where a man, who differed widely in appearance +from most of them, dealt out the cards. + +He wore city clothes, and a white shirt with a fine diamond in the +front of it, while there was a keen intentness behind the +half-ironical smile in his somewhat colourless face. The whiteness of +his long, nervous fingers and the quickness of his gestures would also +have stamped him as a being of different order from the slowly-spoken +prairie farmers, while the slenderness of the little pile of coins in +front of him testified that his endeavours to tempt them to +speculation on games of chance had met with no very marked success as +yet. Gambling for stakes of moment is not a popular amusement in that +country, where the soil demands his best from every man in return for +the scanty dollars it yields him, but the gamester had chosen his time +well, and the men who had borne the dreary solitude of winter in +outlying farms, and now only saw another adverse season opening before +them, were for once in the mood to clutch at any excitement that would +relieve the monotony of their toilsome lives. + +A few were betting small sums with an apparent lack of interest which +did not in the least deceive the dealer, and when he handed a few +dollars out he laughed a little as he turned to the bar-keeper. + +"Set them up again. I want a drink to pass the time," he said. "I'll +play you at anything you like to put a name to, boys, if this game +don't suit you, but you'll have to give me the chance of making my +hotel bill. In my country I've seen folks livelier at a funeral." + +The glasses were handed round, but when the gambler reached out +towards the silver at his side, a big bronzed-skinned rancher stopped +him. + +"No," he drawled. "We're not sticking you for a locomotive tank, and +this comes out of my treasury. I'll call you three dollars and take my +chances on the draw." + +"Well," said the dealer, "that's a little more encouraging. Anybody +wanting to make it better?" + +A young lad in elaborately-embroidered deerskin with a flushed face +leaned upon the table. "Show you how we play cards in the old +country," he said. "I'll make it thirty--for a beginning." + +There was a momentary silence, for the lad had staked heavily and lost +of late, but one or two more bets were made. Then the cards were +turned up, and the lad smiled fatuously as he took up his winnings. + +"Now, I'll let you see," he said. "This time we'll make it fifty." + +He won twice more in succession, and the men closed in about the +table, while, for the dealer knew when to strike, the glasses went +round again, and in the growing interest nobody quite noticed who paid +for the refreshment. Then, while the dollars began to trickle in, the +lad flung a bill for a hundred down. + +"Go on," he said a trifle huskily. "To-night you can't beat me!" + +Once more he won, and just then two men came quietly into the room. +One of them signed to the hotel-keeper. + +"What's going on? The boys seem kind of keen," he said. + +The other man laughed a little. "Ferris has struck a streak of luck, +but I wouldn't be very sorry if you got him away, Mr. Courthorne. He +has had as much as he can carry already, and I don't want anybody +broke up in my house. The boys can look out for themselves, but the +Silverdale kid has been losing a good deal lately, and he doesn't know +when to stop." + +Witham glanced at his companion, who nodded. "The young fool," he +said. + +They crossed towards the table in time to see the lad take up his +winnings again, and Witham laid his hand quietly upon his shoulder. + +"Come along and have a drink while you give the rest a show," he said. +"You seem to have done tolerably well, and it's usually wise to stop +while the chances are going with you." + +The lad turned and stared at him with languid insolence in his +half-closed eyes, and, though he came of a lineage that had been +famous in the old country, there was nothing very prepossessing in his +appearance. His mouth was loose, his face weak in spite of its +inherited pride, and there was little need to tell either of the men, +who noticed his nervous fingers and muddiness of skin, that he was one +who in the strenuous early days would have worn the woolly crown. + +"Were you addressing me?" he asked. + +"I was," said Witham quietly. "I was, in fact, inviting you to share +our refreshment. You see we have just come in." + +"Then," said the lad, "it was condemnable impertinence. Since you have +taken this fellow up, couldn't you teach him that it's bad taste to +thrust his company upon people who don't want it, Dane?" + +Witham said nothing, but drew Dane, who flushed a trifle, aside, and +when they sat down the latter smiled dryly. + +"You have taken on a big contract, Courthorne. How are you going to +get the young ass out?" he said. + +"Well," said Witham, "it would gratify me to take him by the neck, but +as I don't know that it would please the Colonel if I made a public +spectacle of one of his retainers, I fancy I'll have to tackle the +gambler. I don't know him, but as he comes from across the frontier +it's more than likely he has heard of me. There are advantages in +having a record like mine, you see." + +"It would, of course, be a kindness to the lad's people--but the young +fool is scarcely worth it, and it's not your affair," said Dane +reflectively. + +Witham guessed the drift of the speech, but he could respect a +confidence, and laughed a little. "It's not often I have done any one +a good turn, and the novelty has its attractions." + +Dane did not appear contented with this explanation, but he asked +nothing further, and the two sat watching the men about the table, who +were evidently growing eager. + +"That's two hundred the kid has let go," said somebody. + +There was a murmur of excited voices, and one rose hoarse and a trifle +shaky in the consonants above the rest. + +"Show you how a gentleman can stand up, boys. Throw them out again. +Two hundred this time on the game!" + +There was silence and the rustle of shuffled cards; then once more the +voices went up. "Against him! Better let up before he takes your farm. +Oh, let him face it and show his grit--the man who slings round his +hundreds can afford to lose!" + +The lad's face showed a trifle paler through the drifting smoke, +though a good many of the cigars had gone out now, and once more there +was the stillness of expectancy through which a strained voice rose. + +"Going to get it all back. I'll stake you four hundred." + +Witham rose and moved forward quietly, with Dane behind him, and then +stood still where he could see the table. He had also very observant +eyes, and was free from the excitement of those who had a risk on the +game. Still, when the cards were dealt, it was the gambler's face he +watched. For a brief space nobody moved, and then the lad flung down +his cards and stood up with a greyness in his cheeks and his hands +shaking. + +"You've got all my dollars now," he said. "Still, I'll play you for +doubles if you'll take my paper." + +The gambler nodded, and flung down a big pile of bills. "I guess I'll +trust you. Mine are here." + +The bystanders waited motionless, and none of them made a bet, for any +stakes they could offer would be trifles now; but they glanced at the +lad who stood tensely still, while Witham watched the face of the man +at the table in front of him. For a moment he saw a flicker of triumph +in his eyes, and that decided him. Again, one by one, the cards went +down, and then, when everybody waited in strained expectancy, the lad +seemed to grow limp suddenly and groaned. + +"You can let up," he said hoarsely. "I've gone down!" + +Then a hard brown hand was laid upon the table, and while the rest +stared in astonishment, a voice which had a little stern ring in it +said, "Turn the whole pack up, and hand over the other one." + +In an instant the gambler's hand swept beneath his jacket, but it was +a mistaken move, for as swiftly the other hard, brown fingers closed +upon the pile of bills, and the men, too astonished to murmur, saw +Witham leaning very grim in face across the table. Then it tilted over +beneath him, and the cards were on the gambler's knees, while, as the +two men rose and faced each other, something glinted in the hands of +one of them. + +It is more than probable that the man did not intend to use it, and +trusted to its moral effect, for the display of pistols is not +regarded with much toleration on the Canadian prairie. In any case, he +had not the opportunity, for in another moment Witham's right hand +closed upon his wrist, and the gambler was struggling fruitlessly to +extricate it. He was a muscular man, with doubtless a sufficiency of +nerve, but he had not toiled with his arms and led a Spartan life for +eight long years. Before another few seconds had passed he was +wondering whether he would ever use that wrist again, while Dane +picked up the fallen pistol and put it in his pocket with the bundle +of bills Witham handed him. + +"Now," said the latter, "I want to do the square thing. If you'll let +us strip you and turn out your pockets, we'll see you get any winnings +you're entitled to when we've straightened up the cards." + +The gambler was apparently not willing, for, though it is possible he +would have found it advisable to play an honest game across the +frontier, he had evidently surmised that there was less risk of +detection among the Canadian farmers. He probably knew they would not +wait long for his consent, but in the first stages of the altercation +it is not as a rule insuperably difficult for a fearless man to hold +his own against an indignant company who have no definite notion of +what they mean to do, and it was to cover his retreat he turned to +Witham. + +"And who the ---- are you?" he asked. + +Witham smiled grimly. "I guess you have heard of me. Anyway, there are +a good many places in Montana where they know Lance Courthorne. Quite +sure I know a straight game when I see it!" + +The man's resistance vanished, but he had evidently been taught the +necessity of making the best of defeat in his profession, and he +laughed as he swept his glance round at the angry faces turned upon +him. + +"If you don't there's nobody does," he said. "Still, as you've got my +pistol and 'most dislocated my wrist, the least you can do is to get a +partner out of this." + +There was an ominous murmur, and the lad's face showed livid with fury +and humiliation, but Witham turned quietly to the hotel-keeper. + +"You will take this man with you into your side room and stop with him +there," he said. "Dane, give him the bills. The rest of you had better +sit down here and make a list of your losses, and you'll get whatever +the fellow has upon him divided amongst you. Then, because I ask you, +and you'd have had nothing but for me, you'll put him in his wagon +and turn him out quietly upon the prairie." + +"That's sense, and we don't want no circus here," said somebody. + +A few voices were raised in protest, but when it became evident that +one or two of the company were inclined to adopt more draconic +measures, Dane spoke quietly and forcibly, and was listened to. Then +Witham reached out and grasped the shoulder of the English lad, who +made the last attempt to rouse his companions. + +"Let them alone, Ferris, and come along. You'll get most of what you +lost back to-morrow, and we're going to take you home," he said. + +Ferris turned upon him, hoarse with passion, flushed in face, and +swaying a trifle on his feet, while Witham noticed that he drew one +arm back. + +"Who are you to lay hands on a gentleman?" he asked. "Keep your +distance. I'm going to stay here, and, if I'd have had my way, we'd +have kicked you out of Silverdale." + +Witham dropped his hand, but next moment the ornament of a +distinguished family was seized by the neck, and the farmer glanced at +Dane. + +"We've had enough of this fooling, and he'll be grateful to me +to-morrow," he said. + +Then his captive was thrust, resisting strenuously, out of the room, +and with Dane's assistance conveyed to the waiting wagon, into which +he was flung, almost speechless with indignation. + +"Now," said Dane quietly, "you've given us a good deal more trouble +than you're worth, Ferris, and if you attempt to get out again, I'll +break your head for you. Tell Courthorne how much that fellow got from +you." + +In another ten minutes they had jolted across the railroad track, and +were speeding through the silence of the lonely prairie. Above them +the clear stars flung their cold radiance down through vast distances +of liquid indigo, and the soft beat of hoofs was the only sound that +disturbed the solemn stillness of the wilderness. Dane drew in a great +breath of the cool night air and laughed quietly. + +"It's a good deal more wholesome here in several ways," said he. "If +you're wise, you'll let up on card-playing and hanging round the +settlement, Ferris, and stick to farming. Even if you lose almost as +many dollars over it, it will pay you considerably better. Now that's +all I'm going to tell you, but I know what I'm speaking of, because +I've had my fling--and it's costing me more than I care to figure out +still. You, however, can pull up, because by this time you have no +doubt found out a good deal, if you're not all a fool. Curiosity's at +the bottom of half our youthful follies, isn't it, Courthorne? We want +to know what the things forbidden actually taste like." + +"Well," said Witham dryly, "I don't quite know. You see, I had very +little money in the old country, and still less leisure here to spend +either on that kind of experimenting. Where to get enough to eat was +the one problem that worried me." + +Dane turned a trifle sharply. "We are, I fancy, tolerably good +friends. Isn't it a little unnecessary for you to adopt that tone with +me?" + +Witham laughed, but made no answer, and their companion said nothing +at all. Either the night wind had a drowsy effect on him or he was +moodily resentful, for it was not until Witham pulled up before the +homestead whose lands he farmed indifferently under Barrington's +supervision that he opened his mouth. + +"You have got off very cheaply to-night, and if you're wise you'll let +that kind of thing alone in future," said Witham quietly. + +The lad stepped down from the wagon and then stood still. "I resent +advice from you as much as I do your uncalled-for insolence an hour or +two ago," he said. "To lie low until honest men got used to him would +be considerably more becoming to a man like you." + +"Well," said Witham, stung into forgetfulness, "I'm not going to +offend in that fashion again, and you can go to the devil in the way +that most pleases you. In fact, I only pulled you out of the pit +to-night because a lady, who apparently takes a quite unwarranted +interest in you, asked me to." + +Ferris stared up at him, and his face showed almost livid through the +luminous night. + +"She asked you to!" he said. "By the Lord, I'll make you sorry for +this." + +Witham said nothing, but shook the reins, and when the wagon lurched +forward Dane looked at him. + +"I didn't know that before," he said. + +"Well," said Witham dryly, "if I hadn't lost my temper with the lad +you wouldn't have done now." + +Dane smiled. "You miss the point of it. Our engaging friend made +himself the laughing-stock of the colony by favouring Maud Barrington +with his attentions when he came out. In fact, I fancy the lady, in +desperation, had to turn her uncle loose on him before he could be +made to understand that they were not appreciated. I'd keep your eye +on him, Courthorne, for the little beast has shown himself abominably +vindictive occasionally, though I have a notion he's scarcely to be +held accountable. It's a case of too pure a strain and consanguinity. +Two branches of the family--marriage between land and money, you see." + +"It will be my heel if he gets in my way," said Witham grimly. + +It was late when they reached his homestead where Dane was to stay the +night, and when they went in a youthful figure in uniform rose up in +the big log-walled hall. For a moment Witham's heart almost stood +still, and then, holding himself in hand by a strenuous effort, he +moved forward and stood where the light of a lamp did not shine quite +fully upon him. He knew that uniform, and he had also seen the lad who +wore it once or twice before, at an outpost six hundred miles away +across the prairie. He knew the risk he took was great, but it was +evident to him that if his identity escaped detection at first sight, +use would do the rest, and while he had worn a short pointed beard on +the Western prairie, he was cleanly-shaven now. + +The lad stood quite still a moment staring at him, and Witham +returning his gaze steadily felt his pulses throb. + +"Well, trooper, what has brought you here?" he said. + +"Homestead visitation, sir," said the lad, who had a pleasant English +voice. "Mr. Courthorne, I presume--accept my regrets if I stared too +hard at you--but for a moment you reminded me of a man I knew. They've +changed us round lately, and I'm from the Alberta Squadron just sent +in to this district. It was late when I rode in, and your people were +kind enough to put me up." + +Witham laughed. "I have been taken for another man before. Would you +like anything to drink, or a smoke before you turn in, trooper?" + +"No, sir," said the lad. "If you'll sign my docket to show I've been +here, I'll get some sleep. I've sixty miles to ride to-morrow." + +Witham did as he was asked, and the trooper withdrew, while when they +sat down to a last cigar it seemed to Dane that his companion's face +was graver than usual. + +"Did you notice the lad's astonishment when you came in?" he asked. +"He looked very much as if he had seen a ghost." + +Witham smiled. "I believe he fancied he had. There was a man in the +district he came from whom some folks considered resembled me. In +reality, I was by no means like him, and he's dead now." + +"Likenesses are curious things, and it's stranger still how folks +alter," said Dane. "Now, they've a photograph at Barrington's of you +as a boy, and while there is a resemblance in the face, nobody with +any discernment would have fancied that lad would grow into a man like +you. Still, that's of no great moment, and I want to know just how you +spotted the gambler. I had a tolerably expensive tuition in most games +of chance in my callow days, and haven't forgotten completely what I +was taught then, but though I watched the game I saw nothing that led +me to suspect crooked play." + +Witham laughed. "I watched his face, and what I saw there decided me +to try a bluff, but it was not until he turned the table over I knew I +was right." + +"Well," said Dane dryly, "you don't need your nerves toning up. With +only a suspicion to go upon, it was a tolerably risky game. Still, of +course, you had advantages." + +"I have played a more risky one, but I don't know that I have cause to +be very grateful for anything I acquired in the past," said Witham +with a curious smile. + +Dane stood up and flung his cigar away. "It's time I was asleep," he +said. "Still, since our talk has turned in this direction, I want to +tell you that, as you have doubtless seen, there is something about +you that puzzles me occasionally. I don't ask your confidence until +you are ready to give it me--but if ever you want anybody to stand +behind you in a difficulty, you'll find me rather more than willing." + +He went out, and Witham sat still very grave in face for at least +another hour. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A FAIR ADVOCATE + + +Thanks to the fashion in which the hotel-keeper managed the affair, +the gambler left the settlement without personal injury, but very +little richer than when he entered it. The rest of those who were +present at his meeting with Witham were also not desirous that their +friends should know they had been victimized, and because Dane was +discreet, news of what had happened might never have reached +Silverdale, had not one of the younger men ridden in to the railroad a +few days later. Odd scraps of conversation overheard led him to +suspect that something unusual had taken place, but as nobody seemed +willing to supply details, he returned to Silverdale with his +curiosity unsatisfied. As it happened, he was shortly afterwards +present at a gathering of his neighbours at Macdonald's farm and came +across Ferris there. + +"I heard fragments of a curious story at the settlement," he said. +"There was trouble of some kind in which a professional gambler +figured last Saturday night, and though nobody seemed to want to talk +about it, I surmised that somebody from Silverdale was concerned in +it." + +He had perhaps spoken a trifle more loudly than he had intended, and +there were a good many of the Silverdale farmers with a few of their +wives and daughters whose attention was not wholly confined to the +efforts of Mrs. Macdonald at the piano in the long room just then. In +any case a voice broke through the silence that followed the final +chords. + +"Ferris could tell us if he liked. He was there that night." + +Ferris, who had cause for doing so, looked uncomfortable, and +endeavoured to sign to the first speaker that it was not desirable to +pursue the topic. + +"I have been in tolerably often of late. Had things to attend to," he +said. + +The other man was, however, possessed by a mischievous spirit, or did +not understand him. "You may just as well tell us now as later, +because you never kept a secret in your life," he said. + +In the meantime, several of the others had gathered about them, and +Mrs. Macdonald, who had joined the group, smiled as she said, "There +is evidently something interesting going on. Mayn't I know, Gordon?" + +"Of course," said the man, who had visited the settlement. "You shall +know as much as I do, though that is little, and if it excites your +curiosity you can ask Ferris for the rest. He is only anxious to +enhance the value of his story by being mysterious. Well, there was a +more or less dramatic happening, of the kind our friends in the old +country unwarrantably fancy is typical of the West, in the saloon at +the settlement not long ago. Cards, pistols, a professional gambler, +and the unmasking of foul play, don't you know. Somebody from +Silverdale played the leading role." + +"How interesting!" said a young English girl. "Now, I used to fancy +something of that kind happened here every day before I came out to +the prairie. Please tell us, Mr. Ferris! One would like to find there +was just a trace of reality in our picturesque fancies of debonair +desperadoes and big-hatted cavaliers." + +There was a curious expression in Ferris' face, but as he glanced +round at the rest, who were regarding him expectantly, he did not +observe that Maud Barrington and her aunt had just come in and stood +close behind him. + +"Can't you see there's no getting out of it, Ferris?" said somebody. + +"Well," said the lad in desperation, "I can only admit that Gordon is +right. There was foul play and a pistol drawn, but I'm sorry that I +can't add anything further. In fact, it wouldn't be quite fair of me." + +"But the man from Silverdale?" asked Mrs. Macdonald. + +"I'm afraid," said Ferris, with the air of one shielding a friend, "I +can't tell you anything about him." + +"I know Mr. Courthorne drove in that night," said the young English +girl, who was not endued with very much discretion. + +"Courthorne!" said one of the bystanders, and there was a momentary +silence that was very expressive. "Was he concerned in what took +place, Ferris?" + +"Yes," said the lad with apparent reluctance. "Mrs. Macdonald, you +will remember that they dragged it out of me, but I will tell you +nothing more whatever." + +"It seems to me you have told us quite sufficient and perhaps a trifle +too much," said somebody. + +There was a curious silence. All of those present were more or less +acquainted with Courthorne's past history, and the suggestion of foul +play coupled with the mention of a professional gambler had been +significant. Ferris, while committing himself in no way, had certainly +said sufficient. Then there was a sudden turning of heads as a young +woman moved quietly into the midst of the group. She was ominously +calm, but she stood very straight, and there was a little hard glitter +in her eyes, which reminded one or two of them who noticed it of those +of Colonel Barrington. The fingers of one hand were also closed at her +side. + +"I overheard you telling a story, Ferris, but you have a bad memory +and left rather too much out," she said. + +"They compelled me to tell them what I did, Miss Barrington," said the +lad, who winced beneath her gaze. "Now, there is really nothing to be +gained by going any further into the affair. Shall I play something +for you, Mrs. Macdonald?" + +He turned as he spoke, and would have edged away but that one of the +men, at a glance from the girl, laid a hand on his shoulder. + +"Don't be in a hurry, Ferris. I fancy Miss Barrington has something +more to tell you," he said dryly. + +The girl thanked him with a gesture. "I want you to supply the most +important part," she said, and the lad, saying nothing, changed colour +under the glance she cast upon him. "You do not seem willing. Then +perhaps I had better do it for you. There were two men from Silverdale +directly concerned in the affair, and one of them at no slight risk to +himself did a very generous thing. That one was Mr. Courthorne. Did +you see him lay a single stake upon a card, or do anything that led +you to suppose he was there for the purpose of gambling that evening?" + +"No," said the lad, seeing she knew the truth, and his hoarse voice +was scarcely audible. + +"Then," said Maud Barrington, "I want you to tell us what you did see +him do." + +Ferris said nothing, and though the girl laughed a little as she +glanced at the wondering group, her voice was icily disdainful. + +"Well," she said, "I will tell you. You saw him question a +professional gambler's play to save a man who had no claim on him from +ruin, and, with only one comrade to back him, drive the swindler, who +had a pistol, from the field. He had, you admit, no interest of any +kind in the game?" + +Ferris had grown crimson again, and the veins on his forehead showed +swollen high. "No," he said, almost abjectly. + +Maud Barrington turned from him to her hostess as she answered, "That +will suffice, in the meanwhile, until I can decide whether it is +desirable to make known the rest of the tale. I brought the new song +Evelyn wanted, Mrs. Macdonald, and I will play it for her if she would +care to try it." + +She moved away with the elder lady, and left the rest astonished to +wonder what had become of Ferris, who was seen no more that evening, +while presently Witham came in. + +His face was a trifle weary, for he had toiled since the sun rose +above the rim of the prairie, and when the arduous day was over, and +those who worked for him were glad to rest their aching limbs, had +driven two leagues to Macdonald's. Why he had done so he was not +willing to admit, but he glanced round the long room anxiously as he +came in, and his eyes brightened as they rested on Maud Barrington. +They were, however, observant eyes, and he noticed that there was a +trifle more colour than usual in the girl's pale-tinted face, and +signs of suppressed curiosity about some of the rest. When he had +greeted his hostess, he turned to one of the men. + +"It seems to me you are either trying not to see something, Gordon, or +to forget it as soon as you can," he said. + +Gordon laughed a little. "You are not often mistaken, Courthorne? That +is precisely what we are doing. I presume you haven't heard what +occurred here an hour ago?" + +"No!" said Witham. "I'm not very curious if it does not concern me." + +Gordon looked at him steadily. "I fancy it does. You see, that young +fool Ferris was suggesting that you had been mixed up in something not +very creditable at the settlement lately. As it happened, Maud +Barrington overheard him and made him retract before the company. She +did it effectively, and if it had been any one else, the scene would +have been almost theatrical. Still, you know nothing seems out of +place when it comes from the Colonel's niece. Nor if you had heard her +would you have wanted a better advocate." + +For a moment the bronze deepened in Witham's forehead, and there was a +gleam in his eyes, but though it passed as rapidly as it came, Gordon +had seen it, and smiled when the farmer moved away. + +"That's a probability I never counted on," he thought. "Still, I fancy +if it came about, it would suit everybody but the Colonel." + +Then he turned as Mrs. Macdonald came up to him. "What are you doing +here alone when I see there is nobody talking to the girl from +Winnipeg?" she said. + +The man laughed a little. "I was wondering whether it is a good sign, +or otherwise, when a young woman is, so far as she can decently be, +uncivil to a man who desires her good-will." + +Mrs. Macdonald glanced at him sharply, and then shook her head. "The +question is too deep for you--and it is not your affair. Besides, +haven't you seen that indiscreet freedom of speech is not encouraged +at Silverdale?" + +In the meanwhile Witham, crossing the room, took a vacant place at +Maud Barrington's side. She turned her head a moment and looked at +him. + +Witham nodded. "Yes, I heard," he said. "Why did you do it?" + +Maud Barrington made a little gesture of impatience. "That is quite +unnecessary. You know I sent you." + +"Yes," said Witham a trifle dryly, "I see. You would have felt mean if +you hadn't defended me." + +"No," said the girl, with a curious smile. "That was not exactly the +reason, but we cannot talk too long here. Dane is anxious to take us +home in his new buggy, but it would apparently be a very tight fit for +three. Will you drive me over?" + +Witham only nodded, for Mrs. Macdonald approached in pursuit of him, +but he spent the rest of the evening in a state of expectancy, and +Maud Barrington fancied that his hard hands were suspiciously +unresponsive as she took them when he helped her into the Silverdale +wagon--a vehicle a strong man could have lifted, and in no way +resembling its English prototype. The team was mettlesome, the lights +of Macdonald's homestead soon faded behind them, and they were racing +with many a lurch and jolt straight as the crow flies across the +prairie. + +There was no moon, but the stars shone far up in the soft indigo, and +the grasses whirled back in endless ripples to the humming wheels, +dimmed to the dusky blue that suffused the whole intermerging sweep of +earth and sky. The sweetness of wild peppermint rose through the +coolness of the dew, and the voices of the wilderness were part of the +silence that was but the perfect balance of the nocturnal harmonies. +The two who knew and loved the prairie could pick out each one of +them. Nor did it seem that there was any need of speech on such a +night, but at last Witham turned with a little smile to his companion, +as he checked the horses on the slope of a billowy rise. + +"One feels diffident about intruding on this great quietness," he +said. "Still, I fancy you had a purpose in asking me to drive you +home." + +"Yes," said the girl, with a curious gentleness. "In the first place, +though I know it isn't necessary with you, I want to thank you. I made +Dane tell me, and you have done all I wished--splendidly." + +Witham laughed. "Well, you see, it naturally came easy to me." + +Maud Barrington noticed the trace of grimness in his voice. "Please +try to overlook our unkindness," she said. "Is it really needful to +keep reminding me? And how was I to know what you were, when I had +only heard that wicked story?" + +Witham felt a little thrill run through him, for which reason he +looked straight in front of him and shifted his grasp on the reins. +Disdainful and imperious as she was at times, he knew there was a +wealth of softer qualities in his companion now. Her daintiness in +thought and person, and honesty of purpose, appealed to him, while +that night her mere physical presence had an effect that was almost +bewildering. For a moment he wondered vaguely how far a man with what +fate had thrust upon him might dare to go, and then with a little +shiver saw once more the barrier of deceit and imposture. + +"You believe it was not a true one?" he asked. + +"Of course," said Maud Barrington. "How could it be? And you have been +very patient under our suspicions. Now, if you still value the +good-will you once asked for, it is yours absolutely." + +"But you may still hear unpleasant stories about me," said Witham, +with a note the girl had not heard before in his voice. + +"I should not believe them," she said. + +"Still," persisted Witham, "if the tales were true?" + +Maud Barrington did nothing by halves. "Then I should remember that +there is always so much we do not know which would put a different +colour on any story, and I believe they could never be true again." + +Witham checked a little gasp of wonder and delight and Maud Barrington +looked away across the prairie. She was not usually impulsive and +seldom lightly bestowed gifts that were worth the having, and the man +knew that the faith in him she had confessed to was the result of a +conviction that would last until he himself shattered it. Then, in the +midst of his elation, he shivered again and drew the lash across the +near horse's back. The wonder and delight he felt had suddenly gone. + +"Few would venture to predict as much. Now and then I feel that our +deeds are scarcely contrived by our own will, and one could fancy our +parts had been thrust upon us in a grim joke," he said. "For instance, +isn't it strange that I should have a share in the rousing of +Silverdale to a sense of its responsibilities? Lord, what I could make +of it if fate had but given me a fair opportunity!" + +He spoke almost fiercely, but the words did not displease the girl. +The forceful ring in his voice set something thrilling within her, and +she knew by this time that his assertions seldom went beyond the fact. + +"But you will have the opportunity, and we need you here," she said. + +"No," said Witham slowly. "I am afraid not. Still, I will finish the +work I see in front of me. That at least--one cannot hope for the +unattainable." + +Maud Barrington was sensible of a sudden chill. "Still, if one has +strength and patience, is anything quite unattainable?" + +Witham looked out across the prairie, and for a moment the demons of +pride and ambition rioted within him. He knew there were in him the +qualities that compel success, and the temptation to stretch out a +daring hand and take all he longed for grew almost overmastering. +Still, he also knew how strong the innate prejudices of caste and +tradition are in most women of his companion's station, and she had +never hidden one aspect of her character from him. It was with a +smothered groan he realized that if he flung the last shred of honour +aside and grasped the forbidden fruit it would turn to bitterness in +his mouth. + +"Yes," he said very slowly. "There is a limit, which only fools would +pass." + +Then there was silence for a while, until, as they swept across the +rise, Maud Barrington laughed as she pointed to the lights that +blinked in the hollow, and Witham realized that the barrier between +them stood firm again. + +"Our views seldom coincide for very long, but there is something else +to mention before we reach the Grange," she said. "You must have paid +out a good many dollars for the ploughing of your land and mine, and +nobody's exchequer is inexhaustible at Silverdale. Now I want you to +take a cheque from me." + +"Is it necessary, that I should?" + +"Of course," said the girl, with a trace of displeasure. + +Witham laughed. "Then I shall be prepared to hand you my account +whenever you demand it." + +He did not look at his companion again, but with a tighter grip than +there was any need for on the reins, sent the light wagon jolting down +the slope to Silverdale Grange. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE UNEXPECTED + + +The sun beat down on the prairie, which was already losing its flush +of green, but it was cool where Maud Barrington and her aunt stood in +the shadow of the bluff by Silverdale Grange. The birches, tasselled +now with whispering foliage, divided the homestead from the waste +which would lie white and desolate under the parching heat, and that +afternoon it seemed to the girl that the wall of green shut out more +than the driving dust and sun-glare from the Grange, for where the +trees were thinner she could see moving specks of men and horses +athwart the skyline. + +They had toiled in the sun-baked furrow since the first flush of +crimson streaked the prairie's rim, and the chill of dusk would fall +upon the grasses before their work was done. Those men who bore the +burden and heat of the day were, the girl knew, helots now, but there +was in them the silent vigour and something of the sombreness of the +land of rock and forest they came from, and a time would come when +others would work for them. Winning slowly, holding grimly, they were +moving on, while secure in its patrician tranquility Silverdale stood +still, and Maud Barrington smiled curiously as she glanced down at the +long white robe that clung very daintily about her and then towards +her companions in the tennis field. Her apparel had cost many dollars +in Montreal, and there was a joyous irresponsibility in the faces of +those she watched. + +"It is a little unequal, isn't it, aunt?" she said. "One feels +inclined to wonder what we have done that we should have exemption +from the charge laid upon the first tiller of the soil we and the men +who are plodding through the dust there are descended from." + +Miss Barrington laughed a little as she glanced with a nod of +comprehension at the distant toilers, and more gravely towards the +net. Merry voices came up to her through the shadows of the trees as +English lad and English maiden, lissom and picturesque in many-hued +jackets and light dresses, flitted across the little square of velvet +green. The men had followed the harrow and seeder a while that +morning. Some of them, indeed, had for a few hours driven a team, and +then left the rest to the hired hands, for the stress and sweat of +effort that was to turn the wilderness into a granary was not for such +as them. + +"Don't you think it is all made up to those others?" she asked. + +"In one sense--yes," said the girl. "Of course, one can see that all +effort must have its idealistic aspect, and there may be men who find +their compensation in the thrill of the fight, and the knowledge of +work well done when they rest at night. Still, I fancy most of them +only toil to eat, and their views are not revealed to us. We are, you +see, women--and we live at Silverdale." + +Her aunt smiled again. "How long is it since the plough crossed the +Red River, and what is Manitoba now? How did those mile furrows come +there, and who drove the road that takes the wheat out through the +granite of the Superior shore? It is more than their appetites that +impelled those men, my dear. Still, it is scarcely wise to expect too +much when one meets them, for though one could feel it is presumptuous +to forgive its deficiencies, the Berserk type of manhood is not +conspicuous for its refinement." + +For no apparent reason Maud Barrington evaded her aunt's gaze. "You," +she said dryly, "have forgiven one of that type a good deal already, +but, at least, we have never seen him when the fit was upon him." + +Miss Barrington laughed. "Still, I have no doubt that, sooner or +later, you will enjoy the spectacle." + +Just then a light wagon came up behind them, and when one of the hired +men helped them in they swept out of the cool shade into the dust and +glare of the prairie, and when, some little time later, with the thud +of hoofs and rattle of wheels softened by the bleaching sod, they +rolled down a rise, there was spread out before them evidence of man's +activity. + +Acre by acre, gleaming chocolate brown against the grey and green of +the prairie, the wheat loam rolled away, back to the ridge, over it, +and on again. It was such a breadth of sowing as had but once, when +wheat was dear, been seen at Silverdale, but still across the +foreground, advancing in echelon, came lines of dusty teams, and there +was a meaning in the furrows they left behind them, for they were not +ploughing where the wheat had been. Each wave of lustrous clods that +rolled from the gleaming shares was so much rent from the virgin +prairie, and a promise of what would come when man had fulfilled his +mission and the wilderness would blossom. There was a wealth of food +stored, little by little during ages past counting, in every yard of +the crackling sod to await the time when the toiler with the sweat of +the primeval curse upon his forehead should unseal it with the plough. +It was also borne in upon Maud Barrington that the man who directed +those energies was either altogether without discernment, or one who +saw further than his fellows and had an excellent courage, when he +flung his substance into the furrows while wheat was going down. Then, +as the hired man pulled up the wagon, she saw him. + +A great plough with triple shares had stopped at the end of the +furrow, and the leading horses were apparently at variance with the +man who, while he gave of his own strength to the uttermost, was +asking too much from them. Young and indifferently broken, tortured by +swarming insects, and galled by the strain of the collar, they had +laid back their ears, and the wickedness of the bronco strain shone in +their eyes. One rose almost upright amidst a clatter of harness, its +mate squealed savagely, and the man who loosed one hand from the +headstall flung out an arm. Then he and the pair whirled round +together amidst the trampled clods in a blurred medley of +spume-flecked bodies, soil-stained jean, flung-up hoofs, and an arm +that swung and smote again. Miss Barrington grew a trifle pale as she +watched, but a little glow crept into her niece's eyes. + +The struggle, however, ended suddenly, and hailing a man who plodded +behind another team, Witham picked up his broad hat, which was +trampled into shapelessness, and turned towards the wagon. There was +dust and spume upon him, a rent in the blue shirt, and the knuckles of +one hand dripped red, but he laughed as he said, "I did not know we +had an audience, but this, you see, is necessary." + +"Is it?" asked Miss Barrington, who glanced at the ploughing. "When +wheat is going down?" + +Witham nodded. "Yes," he said. "I mean, to me; and the price of wheat +is only part of the question." + +Miss Barrington stretched out her hand, though her niece said nothing +at all. "Of course, but I want you to help us down. Maud has an +account you have not sent in, to ask you for." + +Witham first turned to the two men who now stood by the idle machine. +"You'll have to drive those beasts of mine as best you can, Tom, and +Jake will take your team. Get them off again now. This piece of +breaking has to be put through before we loose again." + +Then he handed his visitors down, and Maud Barrington fancied as he +walked with them to the house that the fashion in which the damaged +hat hung down over his eyes would have rendered most other men +ludicrous. He left them a space in his bare sitting-room, which +suggested only grim utility, and Miss Barrington smiled when her niece +glanced at her. + +"And this is how Lance, the profligate, lives!" said she. + +Maud Barrington shook her head. "No," she said. "Can you believe that +this man was ever a prodigal?" + +Her aunt was a trifle less astonished than she would once have been, +but before she could answer Witham, who had made a trifling change in +his clothing, came in. + +"I can give you some green tea, though I am afraid it might be a good +deal better than it is, and our crockery is not all you have been used +to," he said. "You see, we have only time to think of one thing until +the sowing is through." + +Miss Barrington's eyes twinkled. "And then?" + +"Then," said Witham, with a little laugh, "there will be prairie hay +to cut, and after that the harvest coming on." + +"In the meanwhile, it was business that brought me here, and I have a +cheque with me," said Maud Barrington. "Please let us get it over +first of all." + +Witham sat down at a table and scribbled on a strip of paper. "That," +he said gravely, "is what you owe me for the ploughing." + +There was a little flush in his face as he took the cheque the girl +filled in, and both felt somewhat grateful for the entrance of a man +in blue jean with the tea. It was of very indifferent quality, and he +had sprinkled a good deal on the tray, but Witham felt a curious +thrill as he watched the girl pour it out at the head of the bare +table. Her white dress gleamed in the light of a dusty window, and the +shadowy cedar boarding behind her forced up each line of the shapely +figure. Again the maddening temptation took hold of him and he +wondered whether he had betrayed too much, when he felt the elder +lady's eyes upon him. There was a tremor in his brown fingers as he +took the cup held out to him, but his voice was steady. + +"You can scarcely fancy how pleasant this is," he said. "For eight +years, in fact, ever since I left England, no woman has ever done any +of these graceful little offices for me." + +Miss Barrington glanced at her niece, and both of them knew that, if +the lawyer had traced Courthorne's past correctly, this could not be +true. Still, there was no disbelief in the elder lady's eyes, and the +girl's faith remained unshaken. + +"Eight years," she said, with a little smile, "is a very long while." + +"Yes," said Witham, "horribly long, and one year at Silverdale is +worth them all--that is, a year like this one, which is going to be +remembered by all who have sown wheat on the prairie; and that leads +up to something. When I have ploughed all my own holding I shall not +be content, and I want to make another bargain. Give me the use of +your unbroken land, and I will find horses, seed, and men, while we +will share what it yields us when the harvest is in." + +The girl was astonished. This, she knew, was splendid audacity, for +the man had already staken very heavily on the crop he had sown, and +while the daring of it stirred her she sat silent a moment. + +"I could lose nothing, but you will have to bring out a host of men +and have risked so much," she said. "Nobody but you, and I, and three +or four others in all the province, are ploughing more than half their +holdings." + +The suggestion of comradeship set Witham's blood tingling, but it was +with a little laugh he turned over the pile of papers on the table, +and then took them up in turn. + +"'Very little ploughing has been done in the tracts of Minnesota +previously alluded to. Farmers find wheat cannot be grown at present +prices, and there is apparently no prospect of a rise,'" he said. + +"'The Dakota wheat-growers are mostly following. They can't quite +figure how they would get eighty cents for the dollar's worth of +seeding this year.' + +"'Milling very quiet in Winnipeg. No inquiries from Europe coming in, +and Manitoba dealers generally find little demand for harrows or +seeders this year. Reports from Assiniboia seem to show that the one +hope this season will be mixed farming and the neglect of cereals.'" + +"There is only one inference," he said. "When the demand comes there +will be nothing to meet it with." + +"When it comes," said Maud Barrington quietly. "But you who believe it +will stand alone." + +"Almost," said Witham. "Still there are a few much cleverer men who +feel as I do. I can't give you all my reasons, or read you the sheaf +of papers from the Pacific slope, London, New York, Australia; but, +while men lose hope, and little by little the stocks run down, the +world must be fed. Just as sure as the harvest follows the sowing, it +will wake up suddenly to the fact that it is hungry. They are buying +cotton and scattering their money in other nations' bonds in the old +country now, for they and the rest of Europe forget their necessities +at times, but it is impossible to picture them finding their granaries +empty and clamouring for bread?" + +It was a crucial test of faith, and the man knew it, as the woman did. +He stood alone, with the opinions of the multitude against him; but +there was, Maud Barrington felt, a great if undefinable difference +between his quiet resolution and the gambler's recklessness. Once more +the boldness of his venture stirred her, and this time there was a +little flash in her eyes as she bore witness to her perfect +confidence. + +"You shall have the land, every acre of it, to do what you like with, +and I will ask no questions whether you win or lose," she said. + +Then Miss Barrington glanced at him in turn. "Lance, I have a thousand +dollars I want you to turn into wheat for me." + +Witham's fingers trembled, and a darker hue crept into his tan. +"Madam," he said, "I can take no money from you." + +"You must," said the little white-haired lady. "For your mother's +sake, Lance. It is a brave thing you are doing, and you are the son of +one who was my dearest friend." + +Witham turned his head away, and both women wondered when he looked +round again. His face seemed a trifle drawn, and his voice was +strained. + +"I hope," he said slowly, "it will in some degree make amends for +others I have done. In the meanwhile, there are reasons why your +confidence humiliates me." + +Miss Barrington rose and her niece after her. "Still I believe it is +warranted, and you will remember there are two women who have trusted +you, hoping for your success. And now, I fancy, we have kept you too +long." + +Witham stood holding the door open a moment, with his head bent, and +then suddenly straightened himself. + +"I can at least be honest with you in this venture," he said, with a +curious quietness. + +Nothing further was said, but when his guests drove away Witham sat +still awhile, and then went back very grim in face to his ploughing. +He had passed other unpleasant moments of that kind since he came to +Silverdale, and long afterwards the memory of them brought a flush to +his face. The excuses he had made seemed worthless when he strove to +view what he had done, and was doing, through those women's eyes. + +It was dusk when he returned to the homestead worn out in body but +more tranquil in mind, and stopped a moment in the doorway to look +back on the darkening sweep of the ploughing. He felt with no +misgivings that his time of triumph would come, and in the meanwhile +the handling of this great farm with all the aids that money could buy +him was a keen joy to him; but each time he met Maud Barrington's eyes +he realized the more surely that the hour of his success must also see +accomplished an act of abnegation, which he wondered with a growing +fear whether he could find the strength for. Then as he went in a man +who cooked for his hired assistants came to meet him. + +"There's a stranger inside waiting for you," he said. "Wouldn't tell +me what he wanted, but sat right down as if the place was his and +helped himself without asking to your cigars. Wanted something to +drink, too, and smiled at me kind of wicked when I brought him the +cider." + +The room was almost dark when Witham entered it and stood still a +moment staring at a man who sat, cigar in hand, quietly watching him. +His appearance was curiously familiar, but Witham could not see his +face until he moved forward another step or two. Then he stopped once +more, and the two, saying nothing, looked at one another. It was +Witham who spoke first, and his voice was very even. + +"What do you want here?" he asked. + +The other man laughed. "Isn't that a curious question when the place +is mine? You don't seem overjoyed to see me come to life again." + +Witham sat down and slowly lighted a cigar. "We need not go into that. +I asked you what you want." + +"Well," said Courthorne dryly, "it is not a great deal. Only the means +to live in a manner more befitting a gentleman than I have been able +to do lately." + +"You have not been prospering?" and Witham favoured his companion with +a slow scrutiny. + +"No," and Courthorne laughed again. "You see, I could pick up a +tolerable living as Lance Courthorne, but there is very little to be +made at my business when you commence in new fields as an unknown +man." + +"Well," said Witham coldly, "I don't know that it wouldn't be better +to face my trial than stay here at your mercy. So far as my +inclinations go, I would sooner fight than have any further dealings +with a man like you." + +Courthorne shook his head. "I fixed up the thing too well, and you +would be convicted. Still, we'll not go into that, and you will not +find me unreasonable. A life at Silverdale would not suit me, and you +know by this time that it would be difficult to sell the place, while +I don't know where I could find a tenant who would farm it better than +you. That being so, it wouldn't be good policy to bleed you too +severely. Still, I want a thousand dollars in the meanwhile. They're +mine, you see." + +Witham sat still a minute. He was sensible of a fierce distrust and +hatred of the man before him, but he felt he must at least see the +consummation of his sowing. + +"Then you shall have them on condition that you go away, and stay +away, until harvest is over. After that I will send for you and shall +have more to tell you. If in the meantime you come back here, or hint +that I am Witham, I will surrender to the police or decide our +differences in another fashion." + +Courthorne nodded. "That is direct," he said. "One knows where he is +when he deals with a man who talks as you do. Now, are you not curious +as to the way I cheated both the river and the police?" + +"No," said Witham grimly, "not in the least. We will talk business +together when it is necessary, but I can only decline to discuss +anything else with you." + +Courthorne laughed. "There's nothing to be gained by pretending to +misunderstand you, but it wouldn't pay me to be resentful when I'm +graciously willing to let you work for me. Still, I have been inclined +to wonder how you were getting on with my estimable relatives and +connexions. One of them has, I hear, unbent a trifle towards you, but +I would like to warn you not to presume on any small courtesy shown +you by the younger Miss Barrington." + +Witham stood up and set his back to the door. "You heard my terms, but +if you mention that lady again in connexion with me it would suit me +equally well to make good all I owe you very differently." + +Courthorne did not appear in any way disconcerted, but before he could +answer a man outside opened the door. + +"Here's Sergeant Stimson and one of his troopers wanting you," he +said. + +Witham looked at Courthorne, but the latter smiled. "The visit has +nothing to do with me. It is probably accidental; but I fancy Stimson +knows me, and it wouldn't be advisable for him to see us both +together. Now, I wonder whether you could make it fifteen hundred +dollars." + +"No," said Witham. "Stay, if it pleases you." + +Courthorne shook his head. "I don't know that it would. You don't do +it badly, Witham." + +He went out by another door almost as the grizzled sergeant came in +and stood still, looking at the master of the homestead. + +"I haven't seen you since I came here, Mr. Courthorne, and now you +remind me of another man I once had dealings with," he said. + +Witham laughed a little. "I scarcely fancy that is very civil, +Sergeant." + +"Well," said the prairie-rider, "there is a difference, when I look at +you more closely. Let me see, I met you once or twice back there in +Alberta?" + +He appeared to be reflecting, but Witham was on his guard. "More +frequently, I fancy, but you had nothing definite against me, and the +times have changed. I would like to point that out to you civilly. +Your chiefs are also on good terms with us at Silverdale, you see." + +The sergeant laughed. "Well, sir, I meant no offence, and called round +to requisition a horse. One of the Whitesod boys has been deciding a +quarrel with a neighbour with an axe, and while I fancy they want me +at once, my beast got his foot in a badger hole." + +"Tell Tom in the stables to let you have your choice," said Witham. +"If you like them, there's no reason you shouldn't take some of these +cigars along." + +The sergeant went out, and when the beat of hoofs sank into the +silence of the prairie, Witham called Courthorne in. "I have offered +you no refreshment, but the best in the house is at your service," he +said. + +Courthorne looked at him curiously, and for the first time Witham +noticed that the life he had led was telling upon his companion. + +"As your guest?" he asked. + +"Yes," said Witham. "I am tenant here, and, that I may owe you +nothing, purpose paying you a second thousand dollars when the crop is +in, as well as bank-rate interest on the value of the stock and +machines and the money I have used, as shown in the documents handed +me by Colonel Barrington. With wheat at its present price, nobody +would give you more for the land. In return, I demand the +unconditional use of the farm until within three months from harvest I +have the elevator warrants for whatever wheat I raise, which will +belong to me. If you do not agree, or remain here after sunrise +to-morrow, I shall ride over to the outpost and make a declaration." + +"Well," said Courthorne slowly, "you can consider it a deal." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +FACING THE FLAME + + +Courthorne rode away next morning, and some weeks had passed when Maud +Barrington came upon Witham sitting beside his mower in a sloo. He did +not at first see her, for the rattle of the machines in a neighbouring +hollow drowned the muffled beat of hoofs, and the girl, reining her +horse in, looked down on him. The man was sitting very still, which +was unusual with him, a hammer in his hand, gazing straight before +him, as though he could see something beyond the shimmering heat that +danced along the rim of the prairie. + +Summer had come, and the grass, which grew scarcely ankle-deep on the +great levels, was once more white and dry; but in the hollows that had +held the melting snow it stood waist-high, scented with peppermint, +harsh and wiry, and Witham had set out with every man he had to +harvest it. Already a line of loaded wagons crawled slowly across the +prairie, and men and horses moved half-seen amid the dust that whirled +about another sloo. Out of it came the trampling of hoofs and the +musical tinkle of steel. + +Suddenly Witham looked up, and the care which was stamped upon it fled +from his face when he saw the girl. The dust that lay thick upon his +garments had spared her, and as she sat, patting the restless horse, +with a little smile in her face which showed just touched by the sun +beneath the big white hat, something in her dainty freshness reacted +upon the tired man's fancy. He had long borne the stress and the +burden, and as he watched her a longing to taste for at least a space +the life of leisure and refinement came upon him, as it had done too +often for his tranquility since he came to Silverdale. This woman who +had been born to it could, it seemed to him, lift the man she trusted +beyond the sordid cares of the turmoil to her own high level, and as +he waited for her to speak, a fit of passion shook him. It betrayed +itself only by the sudden hardening of his face. + +"It is the first time I have surprised you idle. You were dreaming," +she said. + +Witham smiled a trifle mirthlessly. "I was, but I am afraid the +fulfillment of the dreams is not for me. One is apt to be pulled up +suddenly when he ventures over far." + +"We are inquisitive, you know," said Maud Barrington; "can't you tell +me what they were?" + +Witham did not know what impulse swayed him, and afterwards blamed +himself for complying; but the girl's interest compelled him, and he +showed her a little of what was in his heart. + +"I fancy I saw Silverdale gorging the elevators with the choicest +wheat," he said. "A new bridge flung level across the ravine where the +wagons go down half-loaded to the creek; a dam turning the hollow +into a lake, and big turbines driving our own flouring mill. Then +there were herds of cattle fattening on the strippings of the grain +that wasteful people burn, our products clamoured for, east in the old +country, and west in British Columbia--and for a background, +prosperity and power, even if it was paid for with half the traditions +of Silverdale. Still, you see it may all be due to the effect of the +fierce sunshine on an idle man's fancy." + +Maud Barrington regarded him steadily, and the smile died out of her +eyes. "But," she said, slowly "is all that quite beyond realization. +Could you not bring it about?" + +Witham saw her quiet confidence and something of her pride. There was +no avarice in this woman, but the slight dilation of the nostrils and +the glow in her eyes told of ambition, and for a moment his soul was +not his own. + +"I could," he said; and Maud Barrington, who watched the swift +straightening of his shoulders and lifting of his head, felt that he +spoke no more than the truth. Then with a sudden access of bitterness, +"But I never will." + +"Why?" she asked. "Have you grown tired of Silverdale, or has what you +pictured no charm for you?" + +Witham leaned, as it were wearily against the wheel of the mower. "I +wonder if you could understand what my life has been. The crushing +poverty that rendered every effort useless from the beginning, the +wounds that come from using imperfect tools, and the numb hopelessness +that follows repeated failure. They are tolerably hard to bear alone, +but it is more difficult to make the best of them when the poorly-fed +body is as worn out as the mind. To stay here would be--paradise--but +a glimpse of it will probably have to suffice. Its gates are well +guarded and without are the dogs, you know." + +Something in Maud Barrington thrilled in answer to the faint +hoarseness in Witham's voice, and she did not resent it. She was a +woman with all her sex's instinctive response to passion and emotion, +though as yet the primitive impulses that stir the hearts of men had +been covered, if not wholly hidden, from her by the thin veneer of +civilization. Now, at least, she felt in touch with them, and for a +moment she looked at the man with a daring that matched his own +shining in her eyes. + +"And you fear the angel with the sword?" she said. "There is nothing +so terrible at Silverdale." + +"No," said Witham, "I think it is the load I have to carry I fear the +most." + +For the moment Maud Barrington had flung off the bonds of +conventionality. "Lance," she said, "you have proved your right to +stay at Silverdale, and would not what you are doing now cover a great +deal in the past?" + +Witham smiled wryly. "It is the present that is difficult," he said. +"Can a man be pardoned and retain the offence?" + +He saw the faint bewilderment in the girl's face give place to the +resentment of frankness unreturned, and with a little shake of his +shoulders shrank into himself. Maud Barrington, who understood it, +once more put on the becoming reticence of Silverdale. + +"We are getting beyond our depth, and it is very hot," she said. "You +have all this hay to cut!" + +Witham laughed as he bent over the mower's knife. "Yes," he said, "it +is really more in my line, and I have kept you in the sun too long." + +In another few moments Maud Barrington was riding across the prairie, +but when the rattle of the machine rose from the sloo behind her she +laughed curiously. + +"The man knew his place, but you came perilously near making a fool of +yourself this morning, my dear," she said. + +It was a week or two later, and very hot when, with others of his +neighbours, Witham sat in the big hall at Silverdale Grange. The +windows were open wide, and the smell of hot dust came in from the +white waste which rolled away beneath the stars. There was also +another odour in the little puffs of wind that flickered in, and far +off where the arch of indigo dropped to the dusky earth wavy lines of +crimson moved along the horizon. It was then the season when fires +that are lighted by means which no man knows creep up and down the +waste of grass, until they put on speed and roll in a surf of flame +before a sudden breeze. Still, nobody was anxious about them, for the +guarding furrows that would oppose a space of dusty soil to the march +of the flame had been ploughed round every homestead at Silverdale. + +Maud Barrington was at the piano, and her voice was good; while +Witham, who had known what it is to toil from red dawn to sunset +without hope of more than daily food, found the simple song she had +chosen chime with his mood: "All day long the reapers." + +A faint staccato drumming that rose from the silent prairie throbbed +through the final chords of it, and when the music ceased, swelled +into the gallop of a horse. It seemed in some curious fashion +portentous, and when there was a rattle and jingle outside other eyes +than Witham's were turned towards the door. It swung open presently, +and Dane came in. There was quiet elation and some diffidence in his +bronzed face as he turned to Colonel Barrington. + +"I could not get away earlier from the settlement, sir, but I have +great news," he said. "They have awoke to the fact that stocks are +getting low in the old country. Wheat moved up at Winnipeg, and there +was almost a rush to buy yesterday." + +There was a sudden silence, for among those present were men who +remembered the acres of good soil they had not ploughed, but a little +grim smile crept into their leader's face. + +"It is," he said quietly, "too late for most of us. Still, we will not +grudge you your good fortune, Dane. You and a few of the others owe it +to Courthorne." + +Every eye was on the speaker, for it had become known among his +neighbours that he had sold for a fall; but Barrington could lose +gracefully. Then both his niece and Dane looked at Witham with a +question in their eyes. + +"Yes," he said very quietly, "it is the turning of the tide." + +He crossed over to Barrington, who smiled at him dryly as he said, "It +is a trifle soon to admit that I was wrong." + +Witham made a gesture of almost impatient deprecation. "I was +wondering how far I might presume, sir. You have forward wheat to +deliver?" + +"I have," said Barrington; "unfortunately, a good deal. You believe +the advance will continue?" + +"Yes," said Witham simply. "Still it is but the beginning, and there +will be a reflux before the stream sets in. Wait a little, sir, and +then telegraph your broker to cover all your contracts when the price +drops again." + +"I fancy it would be wiser to cut my losses now," said Barrington +dryly. + +Then Witham did a somewhat daring thing, for he raised his voice a +trifle, in a fashion that seemed to invite the attention of the rest +of the company. + +"The more certain the advance seems to be, the fiercer will be the +bears' last attack," he said. "They have to get from under, and will +take heavy chances to force prices back. As yet, they may contrive to +check or turn the stream, and then every wise man who has sold down +will try to cover, but no one can tell how far it may carry us, once +it sets strongly in." + +The men understood, as did Colonel Barrington, that they were being +warned, above their leader's head; and his niece, while resenting the +slight, admitted the courage of the man. Barrington's face was +sardonic, and a less resolute man would have winced under the +implication as he said: + +"This is, no doubt, intuition. I fancy you told us you had no dealings +on the markets at Winnipeg." + +Witham looked steadily at the speaker, and the girl noticed with a +curious approval that he smiled. + +"Perhaps it is, but I believe events will prove me right. In any case, +what I had the honour of telling you and Miss Barrington was the +fact," he said. + +Nobody spoke, and the girl was wondering by what means the strain, +which, though few heard what Barrington said, all seemed to feel, +could be relieved, when out of the darkness came a second beat of +hoofs, and by and by a man swaying on the driving-seat of a jolting +wagon swept into the light from the windows. Then there were voices +outside, and a breathless lad came in. + +"A big grass fire coming right down on Courthorne's farm!" he said. +"It was tolerably close when I got away." + +In an instant there was commotion, and every man in Silverdale Grange +was on his feet. For the most part they took life lightly, and looked +upon their farming as an attempt to combine the making of dollars with +gentlemanly relaxation; but there were no laggards among them when +there was perilous work to be done, and they went out to meet the fire +joyously. Inside five minutes scarcely a horse remained in the +stables, and the men were flying at a gallop across the dusky prairie, +laughing at the risk of a stumble in a deadly badger hole. Yet in the +haste of saddling, they found time to arrange a twenty-dollar +sweepstake and the allowance for weight. + +Up the long rise and down the back of it they swept, stirrup as yet by +stirrup and neck by neck, while the roar of the hoofs reft the silence +of the prairie like the roll of musketry. Behind came the wagons, +lurching up the slope, and the blood surged to the brave young faces +as the night wind smote them and fanned into brightness the crimson +smear on the horizon. They were English lads, and healthy Englishmen, +of the stock that had furnished their nation's fighting line, and not +infrequently counted no sacrifice too great that brought their colours +home first on the racing turf. Still, careless to the verge of +irresponsibility as they were in most affairs that did not touch their +pride, the man who rode with red spurs and Dane next behind him, a +clear length before the first of them, asked no better allies in what +was to be done. + +Then the line drew out as the pace began to tell, though the rearmost +rode grimly, knowing the risks the leaders ran, and that the chance of +being first to meet the fire might yet fall to them. There was not one +among them who would not have killed his best horse for that honour, +and for further incentive the Colonel's niece, in streaming habit, +flitted in front of them. She had come up from behind them, and passed +them on a rise, for Barrington disdained to breed horses for dollars +alone, and there was blood well known on the English turf in the beast +she rode. + +By-and-by a straggling birch bluff rose blackly across their way, but +nobody swung wide. Swaying low while the branches smote them, they +went through, the twigs crackling under foot, and here and there the +red drops trickling down a flushed, scarred face, for the slanting +rent of a birch bough cuts like a knife. Dim trees whirled by them, +undergrowth went down, and they were out on the dusty grass again, +while hurled straight, like field guns wanted at the front, the +bouncing wagons went through behind. Then the fire rose higher in +front of them, and when they topped the last rise the pace grew faster +still. The slope they thundered down was undermined by gophers and +seamed by badger-holes, but they took their chances gleefully, sparing +no effort of hand and heel, for the sum of twenty dollars and the +credit of being first man in. Then the smoke rolled up to them, and +when eager hands drew bridle at last a youthful voice rose +breathlessly out of it: + +"Stapleton a good first, but he'll go back on weight. It used to be +black and orange when he was at home." + +There was a ripple of hoarse laughter, a gasping cheer, and then +silence, for now their play was over, and it was with the grim +quietness, which is not unusual with their kind, the men of Silverdale +turned towards the fire. It rolled towards the homestead, a waving +crimson wall, not fast, but with remorseless persistency, out of the +dusky prairie, and already the horses were plunging in the smoke of +it. That, however, did not greatly concern the men, for the bare fire +furrows stretched between themselves and it; but there was also +another blaze inside the defences, and, unless it was checked, nothing +could save house and barns and granaries, rows of costly binders, and +stock of prairie hay. They looked for a leader, and found one ready, +for Witham's voice came up through the crackle of the fire: + +"Some of you lead the saddle-horses back to the willows and picket +them. The rest to the stables and bring out the working beasts. The +ploughs are by the corral, and the first team that comes up is to be +harnessed to each in turn. Then start in, and turn over a fall-depth +furrow a furlong from the fire." + +There was no confusion, and already the hired men were busy with two +great machines until Witham displaced two of them. + +"How that fire passed the guards I don't know, but there will be time +to find out later," he said to Dane. "Follow with the big breaker--it +wants a strong man to keep that share in--as close as you can." + +Then they were off, a man at the heads of the leading horses harnessed +to the great machines, and Witham sitting very intent in the +driving-seat of one, while the tough sod crackled under the rending +shares. Both the man and the reins were needed when the smoke rolled +down on them, but it was for a moment torn aside again, and there +roared up towards the blurred arch of indigo a great rush of flame. +The heat of it smote into prickliness the uncovered skin, and in spite +of all that Witham could do, the beasts recoiled upon the machine +behind them. Then they swung round wrenching the shares from the +triplex furrow, and for a few wild minutes man and terrified beast +fought for the mastery. Breathless, half-strangled objurgations, the +clatter of trace and swivel, and the thud of hoofs, rose muffled +through the roar of the fire, for while swaying, plunging, panting, +they fought with fist and hoof, it was rolling on, and now the heat +was almost insupportable. The victory, however, was to the men, and +when the great machine went on again, Maud Barrington, who with the +wife of one of her neighbours had watched the struggle, stood +wide-eyed, half-afraid, and yet thrilled in every fibre. + +"It was splendid!" she said. "They can't be beaten." + +Her companion seemed to shiver a little. "Yes," she said, "perhaps it +was, but I wish it was over. It would appeal to you differently, my +dear, if you had a husband at one of those horse's heads." + +For a moment Maud Barrington wondered whether it would, and then, when +a red flame flickered out towards the team, felt a little chill of +dread. In another second the smoke whirled about them, and she moved +backward choking with her companion. The teams, however, went on, and, +though the men who led them afterwards wondered how they kept their +grip on the horses' heads, came out frantic with fear on the farther +side. Then it was that while the machines swung round and other men +ran to help, Witham, springing from the driving-seat, found Dane +amidst the swaying, plunging medley of beasts and men. + +"If you can't find hook or clevis, cut the trace," he said. "It can't +burn the plough, and the devils are out of hand now. The fire will +jump these furrows, and we've got to try again." + +In another minute four maddened beasts were careering across the +prairie with portions of their trappings banging about them, while one +man who was badly kicked sat down grey in face and gasping, and the +fire rolled up to the ridge of loam, checked, and then sprang across +it here and there. + +"I'll take one of those lad's places," said Dane: "That fellow can't +hold the breaker straight, Courthorne." + +It was a minute or two later when he flung a breathless lad away from +his plough, and the latter turned upon him hoarse with indignation. + +"I raced Stapleton for it. Loose your hold, confound you. It's mine," +he said. + +Dane turned and laughed at him as he signed to one of the Ontario +hired men to take the near horse's head. + +"You're a plucky lad, and you've done what you could," he said. +"Still, if you get in the way of a grown man now, I'll break your head +for you." + +He was off in another moment, crossed Witham, who had found fresh +beasts, in his furrow, and had turned and doubled it before the fire +that had passed the other barrier came close upon them. Once more the +smoke grew blinding, and one of Dane's beasts went down. + +"I'm out of action now," he said. "Try back. That team will never face +it, Courthorne." + +Witham's face showed very grim under the tossing flame. "They've got +to. I'm going through," he said. "If the others are to stop it behind +there, they must have time." + +Then he and the husband of the woman who had spoken to Maud Barrington +passed on with the frantic team into the smoke that was streaked with +flame. + +"Good Lord!" said Dane, and added more as, sitting on the horse's +head, he turned his tingling face from the fire. + +It was some minutes before he and the hired man who came up loosed the +fallen horse, and led it and its fellow back towards the last defences +the rest had been raising, while the first furrows checked but did not +stay the conflagration. There he presently came upon the man who had +been with Witham. + +"I don't know where Courthorne is," he said. "The beasts bolted with +us just after we'd gone through the worst of it, and I fancy they took +the plough along. Anyway, I didn't see what became of them, and don't +fancy anybody would have worried much about them after being trampled +on by a horse in the lumbar region." + +Dane saw that the man was limping and white in face, and asked no more +questions. It was evident to him that Courthorne would be where he was +most needed, and he did what he could with those who were adding +furrow to furrow across the path of the fire. It rolled up to them +roaring, stopped, flung a shower of burning filaments before it, sank +and swept aloft again, while the sparks rained down upon the grass +before the draught it made. + +Blackened men with smouldering clothes were, however, ready, and they +fought each incipient blaze with soaked grain bags, and shovels, some +of them also, careless of blistered arms, with their own wet jackets. +As fast as each fire was trampled out another sprang into life, but +the parent blaze that fed them sank and died, and at last there was a +hoarse cheer. They had won, and the fire they had beaten passed on +divided across the prairie, leaving the homestead unscathed between. + +Then they turned to look for their leader, and did not find him until +a lad came up to Dane. + +"Courthorne's back by the second furrows, and I fancy he's badly +hurt," he said. "He didn't appear to know me, and his head seems all +kicked in." + +It was not apparent how the news went round, but in a few more minutes +Dane was kneeling beside a limp, blackened object stretched amidst the +grass, and while his comrades clustered behind her, Maud Barrington +bent over him. Her voice was breathless as she asked, "You don't +believe him dead?" + +Somebody had brought a lantern, and Dane felt inclined to gasp when he +saw the girl's white face, but what she felt was not his business +then. + +"He's of a kind that is very hard to kill. Hold that lantern so I can +see him," he said. + +The rest waited silent, glad that there was somebody to take a lead, +and in a few moments Dane looked round again. + +"Ride in to the settlement, Stapleton, and bring that doctor fellow +out if you bring him by the neck. Stop just a moment. You don't know +where you're to bring him to." + +"Here, of course," said the lad, breaking into a run. + +"Wait," and Dane's voice stopped him. "Now, I don't fancy that would +do. It seems to me that this is a case in which a woman to look after +him would be necessary." + +Then, before any of the married men or their wives who had followed +them could make an offer, Maud Barrington touched his shoulder. + +"He is coming to the Grange," she said. + +Dane nodded, signed to Stapleton, then spoke quickly to the men about +him and turned to Maud Barrington. + +"Ride on at a gallop and get everything ready. I'll see he comes to no +harm," he said. + +The girl felt curiously grateful as she rode out with her companion, +and Dane who laid Witham carefully in a wagon, drew two of the other +men aside when it rolled away towards the Grange. + +"There is something to be looked into. Did you notice anything unusual +about the affair?" he said. "Since you asked me, I did," said one of +the men. "I, however, scarcely cared to mention it until I had time +for reflection, but while I fancy the regulation guards would have +checked the fire on the boundaries without our help, I don't see how +one started in the hollow inside them." + +"Exactly," said Dane very dryly. "Well, we have got to discover it, +and the more quickly we do it the better. I fancy, however, that the +question who started it is what we have to consider." + +The men looked at one another, and the third of them nodded. + +"I fancy it comes to that--though it is horribly unpleasant to admit +it," he said. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +MAUD BARRINGTON IS MERCILESS + + +Dane overtook the wagon close by the birch bluff at Silverdale +Grange. It was late then, but there were lights in the windows that +blinked beyond the trees, and, when the wagon stopped, Barrington +stood in the doorway with one or two of his hired men. Accidents are +not infrequent on the prairie, where surgical assistance is not always +available, and there was a shutter ready on the ground beside him, for +the Colonel had seen the field hospital in operation. + +"Unhook the tailboard," he said sharply. "Two of you pick up the +shutter. Four more here. Now, arms about his shoulders, hips, and +knees. Lift and lower--step off with right foot leading bearer, with +your left in the rear!" + +It was done in a few moments, and when the bearers passed into the big +hall that rang with their shuffling steps, Maud Barrington shivered as +she waited with her aunt in an inner room. That tramping was horribly +suggestive, and she had seen but little of sickness and grievous +wounds. Still, the fact scarcely accounted for the painful throbbing +of her heart, and the dizziness that came upon her. Then the bearers +came in, panting, with Barrington and Dane behind them, and the girl +was grateful to her aunt, who laid a hand upon her arm when she saw +the singed head, and blackened face that was smeared with a ruddier +tint, upon the shutter. + +"Lower!" said Colonel Barrington. "Lift, as I told you," and the +huddled object was laid upon the bed. Then there was silence until the +impassive voice rose again. + +"We shall not want you, Maud. Dane, you and I will get these burnt +things off him." + +The girl went out, and while she stood, feeling curiously chilly in an +adjoining room, Barrington bent over his patient. + +"Well put together!" he said thoughtfully. "Most of his people were +lighter in the frame. Well, we can only oil the burns, and get a cold +compress about his head. All intact, so far as I can see, and I fancy +he'd pull through a good deal more than has happened to him. I am +obliged for your assistance, but I need not keep you." + +The men withdrew, and when a rattle of wheels rose from the prairie, +Maud Barrington waylaid her uncle in the hall. Her fingers were +trembling, and, though her voice was steady, the man glanced at her +curiously as she asked, "How is he?" + +"One can scarcely form an opinion yet," he said slowly. "He is burned +here and there, and his head is badly cut, but it is the concussion +that troubles me. A frantic horse kicks tolerably hard, you know, but +I shall be able to tell you more when the doctor comes to-morrow. In +the meanwhile you had better rest, though you could look in and see if +your aunt wants anything in an hour or two." + +Maud Barrington passed an hour in horrible impatience, and then stole +quietly into the sick-room. The windows were open wide, and the shaded +lamp burned unsteadily as the cool night breeze flowed in. Its dim +light just touched the man who lay motionless with a bandage round his +head, and the drawn pallor of his face once more sent a shiver through +the girl. Then Miss Barrington rose and lifted a warning hand. + +"Quite unconscious still," she said softly. "I fancy he was knocked +down by one of the horses and trampled on, but your uncle has hopes of +him. He has evidently led a healthy life." + +The girl was a little less serene than usual then, and drew back into +the shadow. + +"Yes," she said. "We did not think so once." + +Miss Barrington smiled curiously. "Are you very much astonished, Maud? +Still, there is nothing you can do for me, and we shall want you +to-morrow." + +Realizing that there was no need for her, the girl went out, and when +the door closed behind her the little white-haired lady bent down and +gazed at her patient long and steadily. Then she shook her head, and +moved back to the seat she had risen from, with perplexity in her +face. + +In the meantime Maud Barrington sat by the open window in her room, +staring out into the night. There was a whispering in the birch bluff, +and the murmuring of leagues of grasses rose from the prairie that +stretched away beyond it. Still, though the wind fanned her throbbing +forehead with a pleasant coolness, the nocturnal harmonies awoke no +response in her. Sleep was out of the question, for her brain was in a +whirl of vague sensation, through which fear came uppermost every now +and then. Why anything which could befall this man who had come out of +the obscurity and was he had told her, to go back into it again, +should disturb her, Maud Barrington did not know; but there was no +disguising the fact that she would feel his loss grievously, as others +at Silverdale would do. Then with a little tremor she wondered whether +they must lose him, and, rising, stood tensely still, listening for +any sound from the room where the sick man lay. + +There was nothing but the sighing of the grasses outside and the +murmur of the birches in the bluff, until the doleful howl of a coyote +stole faintly out of the night. Again the beast sent its cry out upon +the wind, and the girl trembled as she listened. The unearthly wail +seemed charged with augury, and every nerve in her thrilled. + +Then she sank down into her chair again, and sat still, hoping, +listening, fearing, and wondering when the day would come, until at +last her eyes grew heavy, and it was with a start she roused herself +when a rattle of wheels came up out of the prairie in the early +morning. Then a spume-flecked team swept up to the house, a door swung +open, there was a murmur of voices and a sound of feet that moved +softly in the hall, after which for what seemed an interminable time, +silence reigned again. At last, when the stealthy patter of feet +recommenced, the girl slipped down the stairway and came upon +Barrington. Still, she could not ask the question that was trembling +on her lips. + +"Is there anything I can do?" she said. + +Barrington shook his head. "Not now! The doctor is here, and does not +seem very anxious about him. The concussion is not apparently serious, +and his other injuries will not trouble him much." + +Maud Barrington said nothing and turned away, sensible of a great +relief, while her aunt entering her room an hour later found her lying +fast asleep but still dressed as she had last seen her. Then, being a +discerning woman, she went out softly with a curious smile, and did +not at any time mention what she had seen. + +It was that evening, and Barrington had departed suddenly on business +to Winnipeg, when Dane rode up to the Grange. He asked for Miss +Barrington and her niece, and when he heard that his comrade was +recovering sensibility, sat down looking very grave. + +"I have something to tell you, but Courthorne must not know until he +is better, while I'm not sure that we need tell him then," he said. +"In the meanwhile, I am also inclined to fancy it would be better kept +from Colonel Barrington on his return. It is the first time anything +of the kind has happened at Silverdale, and it would hurt him +horribly, which decided us to come first to you." + +"You must be more concise," said Miss Barrington quietly, and Dane +trifled with the hat in his hand. + +"It is," he said, "a most unpleasant thing, and is known to three men +only, of whom I am one. We have also arranged that nobody else will +chance upon what we have discovered. You see, Ferris is unfortunately +connected with you, and his people have had trouble enough already." + +"Ferris?" said Maud Barrington, with a sudden hardening of her face. +"You surely don't mean----" + +Dane nodded. "Yes," he said reluctantly. "I'm afraid I do. Now, if you +will listen to me for a minute or two." + +He told his story with a grim, convincing quietness, and the blood +crept into the girl's cheeks as she followed his discoveries step by +step. Glancing at her aunt, she saw that there was horror as well as +belief in the gentle lady's face. + +"Then," she said with cold incisiveness, "Ferris cannot stay here, and +he shall be punished." + +"No," said Dane. "We have no room for a lad of his disposition at +Silverdale--but I'm very uncertain in regard to the rest. You see, +it couldn't be done without attracting attention--and I have the +honour of knowing his mother. You will remember how she lost +another son. That is why I did not tell Colonel Barrington. He is a +trifle--precipitate--occasionally." + +Miss Barrington glanced at him gratefully. "You have done wisely," she +said. "Ethel Ferris has borne enough, and she has never been the same +since the horrible night they brought Frank home, for she knew how he +came by his death, though the coroner brought it in misadventure. I +also fancy my brother would be implacable in a case like this, though +how far I am warranted in keeping the facts from him I do not know." + +Dane nodded gravely. "We leave that to you. You will, however, +remember what happened once before. We cannot go through what we did +then again." + +Miss Barrington recalled the formal court-martial that had once been +held in the hall of the Grange, when every man in the settlement had +been summoned to attend, for there were offences in regard to which +her brother was inflexible. When it was over and the disgraced man +went forth an outcast, a full account of the proceedings had been +forwarded to those at home who had hoped for much from him. + +"No," she said. "For the sake of the woman who sent him here we must +stop short of that." + +Then Maud Barrington looked at them both. "There is one person you do +not seem to consider at all, and that is the man who lies here in +peril through Ferris's fault," she said. "Is there nothing due to +him?" + +Dane noticed the sternness in her eyes, and glanced as if for support +towards Miss Barrington. "I fancy he would be the last to claim it if +he knew what we do. Still, in the meanwhile, I leave the affair to +your aunt and you. We would like to have your views before doing +anything further." + +He rose as he spoke, and when he had gone out Maud Barrington sat down +at a writing table. "Aunt," she said quietly, "I will ask Ferris to +come here at once." + +It was next day when Ferris came, evidently ill at ease, though he +greeted Miss Barrington with elaborate courtesy, and would have done +the same with her niece but the girl turned from him with visible +disdain. + +"Sit down," she said coldly. "Colonel Barrington is away, but his +sister will take his place, and after him I have the largest stake in +the welfare of Silverdale. Now, a story has come to our ears which, if +it had not been substantiated, would have appeared incredible. Shall +Miss Barrington tell it you?" + +Ferris, who was a very young man, flushed, but the colour faded and +left his cheeks a trifle grey. He was not a very prepossessing lad, +for it requires a better physique than he was endowed with to bear the +stamp of viciousness that is usually most noticeable on the feeble, +but he was distinguished by a trace of arrogance that not infrequently +served him as well as resolution. + +"If it would not inconvenience Miss Barrington, it would help me to +understand a good deal I can find no meaning for now," he said. + +The elder lady's face grew sterner, and very quietly but remorselessly +she set forth his offence, until no one who heard the tale could have +doubted the origin of the fire. + +"I should have been better pleased had you, if only when you saw we +knew everything, appeared willing to confess your fault and make +amends," she said. + +Ferris laughed as ironically as he dared under the eyes which had lost +their gentleness. "You will pardon me for telling you that I have no +intention of admitting it now. That you should be so readily +prejudiced against me is not gratifying, but, you see, nobody could +take any steps without positive proof of the story, and my word is at +least as credible as that of the interloper who told it you." + +Maud Barrington raised her head suddenly, and looked at him with a +curious light in her eyes, but the elder lady made a little gesture of +deprecation. + +"Mr. Courthorne has told us nothing," she said. "Still, three +gentlemen whose worth is known at Silverdale are willing to certify +every point of it. If we lay the affair before Colonel Barrington, you +will have an opportunity of standing face to face with them." + +The lad's assurance, which, so far and no further, did duty for +courage, deserted him. He was evidently not prepared to be made the +subject of another court-martial, and the hand he laid on the table in +front of him trembled a little. + +"Madam," he said hoarsely, "if I admit everything what will you do?" + +"Nothing," said Maud Barrington coldly. "On conditions that within a +month you leave Silverdale." + +Ferris stared at her. "You can't mean that. You see, I'm fond of +farming, and nobody would give me what the place cost me. I couldn't +live among the outside settler fellows." + +The girl smiled coldly. "I mean exactly what you heard, and, if you do +not enlighten them, the settlers would probably not object to you. +Your farm will be taken over at what you gave for it." + +Ferris stood up. "I am going to make a last appeal. Silverdale's the +only place fit for a gentleman to live in in Canada, and I want to +stay here. You don't know what it would cost me to go away, and I'd do +anything for reparation--send a big cheque to a Winnipeg hospital and +starve myself to make up for it if that would content you. Only, don't +send me away." + +His tone grew almost abject as he proceeded, and while Miss +Barrington's eyes softened, her niece's heart grew harder because of +it, as she remembered that he had brought a strong man down. + +"No," she said dryly. "That would punish your mother and sisters from +whom you would cajole the money. You can decide between leaving +Silverdale and having the story, and the proof of it, put into the +hands of Colonel Barrington." + +She sat near an open window regarding him with quiet scorn, and the +light that shone upon her struck a sparkle from her hair and set the +rounded cheek and neck gleaming like ivory. The severity of her pose +became her, and the lad's callow desire that had driven him to his +ruin stirred him to impotent rage in his desperation. There were grey +patches in his cheeks, and his voice was strained and hoarse. + +"You have no mercy on me because I struck at him," he said. "The one +thing I shall always be sorry for is that I failed, and I would go +away with pleasure if the horse had trampled the life out of him. +Well, there was a time when you could have made what you wished of me, +and now, at least, I shall not see the blackleg you have showered your +favours on drag you down to the mire he came from." + +Maud Barrington's face had grown very colourless, but she said +nothing, and her aunt rose and raised the hammer of a gong. + +"Ferris," she said, "do you wish to be led out by the hired men?" + +The lad laughed, and the hideous merriment set the white-haired lady's +nerves on edge. "Oh, I am going now; but, for once, let us be honest. +It was for her I did it, and if it had been any other man I had +injured, she would have forgiven me." + +Then with an ironical farewell he swung out of the room, and the two +women exchanged glances when the door closed noisily behind him. Miss +Barrington was flushed with anger, but her niece's face was paler than +usual. + +"Are there men like him?" she said. + +Miss Barrington shook off her anger and, rising, laid a gentle hand on +her niece's shoulder. "Very few, I hope," she said. "Still, it would +be better if we sent word to Dane. You would not care for that tale to +spread?" + +For a moment the girl's cheek flamed, then she rose quietly and +crossed the room. + +"No," she said; and her aunt stood still, apparently lost in +contemplation, after the door swung softly to. Then she sat down at +the writing table. There was very little in the note, but an hour +after Dane received it that night, a wagon drew up outside Ferris's +farm. Two men went quietly in and found the owner of the homestead +sitting with a sheaf of papers scattered about the table in front of +him. + +"Come back to-morrow. I can't be worried now," he said. "Well, why the +devil don't you go?" + +Dane laid a hand on his shoulder. "We are waiting for you. You are +coming with us!" + +Ferris turned and stared at them. "Where to?" + +"To the railroad," said Dane dryly. "After that you can go just where +it pleases you. Now, there's no use whatever making a fuss, and every +care will be taken of your property until you can arrange to dispose +of it. Hadn't you better get ready?" + +The grim quietness of the voice was sufficient, and Ferris, who saw +that force would be used if it was necessary, decided that it was +scarcely likely his hired men would support him. + +"I might have expected it!" he said. "Of course, it was imprudent to +speak the truth to our leader's niece. You know what I have done." + +"I know what you did the night Courthorne nearly lost his life," said +Dane. "One would have fancied that would have contented you." + +"Well," said Ferris, "if you like to hear of a more serious offence, +I'll oblige you." + +Dane's finger closed on his arm. "If you attempt to tell me, I'll +break your head for you." + +Next moment Ferris was lifted from his chair, and in less than ten +minutes Dane thrust him into the wagon, where another man, who passed +a hand through his arm, sat beside him. It was a very long drive to +the railroad, but few words were exchanged during it, and when they +reached the settlement one of Ferris's companions mounted guard +outside the hotel he found accommodation in, until the Montreal +express crawled up above the rim of the prairie. Then both went with +him to the station, and as the long cars rolled in Dane turned quietly +to the lad. + +"Now, I am quite aware that we are incurring some responsibility, so +you need not waste your breath," he said. "There are, however, lawyers +in Winnipeg, if you fancy it is advisable to make use of them, and you +know where I and Macdonald are, if you want us. In the meanwhile, your +farm will be run better than ever it was in your hands, until you +dispose of it. That is all I have to tell you, except that if any +undesirable version of the affair gets about, Courthorne or I will +assuredly find you." + +Then there was a scream of the whistle, and the train rolled away with +Ferris standing white with fury on the platform of a car. + +In the meanwhile, Maud Barrington spent a sleepless night. Ferris's +taunt had reached its mark, and she realized with confusion that it +was the truth he spoke. The fact that brought the blood to her cheeks +would no longer be hidden, and she knew it was a longing to punish the +lad who had struck down the man she loved that had led to her +insistence on the former leaving Silverdale. It was a difficult +admission, but she made it that night. The outcast who had stepped out +of the obscurity and into her peaceful life, had shown himself a man +that any woman might be proud to mate with; and, though he had said +very little, and now and then his words were bitter, she knew that he +loved her. Whatever he had done--and she felt against all the +teachings of her reason that it had not been evil--he had shown +himself the equal of the best at Silverdale, and she laughed as she +wondered which of the men there she could set in the balance against +him. Then she shivered a little, remembering that there was a barrier +whose extent he alone realized between them, and wondered vaguely what +the future would bring. + +It was a week or two before Witham was on his feet again, and Maud +Barrington was one of the first to greet him when he walked feebly +into the hall. She had, however, decided on the line of conduct that +would be most fitting, and there was no hint of more than neighbourly +kindliness in her tone. They had spoken about various trifles when +Witham turned to her. + +"You and Miss Barrington have taken such good care of me that, if I +consulted my inclinations I would linger in convalescence a long +while," he said. "Still, I must make an effort to get away to-morrow." + +"We cannot take the responsibility of letting you go under a week +yet," said Maud Barrington. "Have you anything especially important to +do?" + +"Yes," said Witham--and the girl understood the grimness of his +face--"I have." + +"It concerns the fire?" + +Witham looked at her curiously. "I would sooner you did not ask me +that question, Miss Barrington." + +"I scarcely fancy it is necessary," said the girl, with a little +smile. "Still I have something to tell you, and a favour to ask. +Ferris has left Silverdale, and you must never make any attempt to +discover what caused the fire." + +"You know?" + +"Yes," said Maud Barrington. "Dane, Macdonald, and Hassal know, too; +but you will not ask them, and if you did they would not tell you." + +"I can refuse you nothing," said Witham with a laugh, though his voice +betrayed him. "Still, I want a _quid pro quo_. Wait until Ferris's +farm is in the sale list, and then take it with the growing crop." + +"I could not. There are reasons," said the girl. + +Witham gazed at her steadily, and a little colour crept to his +forehead, but he answered unconcernedly, "They can be over-ridden. It +may be the last favour I shall ever ask you." + +"No," said Maud Barrington. "Anything else you wish, but not that. You +must believe, without wondering why, that it is out of the question!" + +Witham yielded with a curious little smile. "Well," he said, "we will +let it drop. I ask no questions. You have accepted so much already +without understanding it." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +WITH THE STREAM + + +It was Witham's last afternoon at the Grange, and almost unpleasantly +hot, while the man whose vigour had not as yet returned to him was +content to lounge in the big window-seat listlessly watching his +companion. He had borne the strain of effort long, and the time of his +convalescence amidst the tranquility of Silverdale Grange had, with +the gracious kindliness of Miss Barrington and her niece, been a +revelation to him. There were moments when it brought him bitterness +and self-reproach, but these were usually brief, and he made the most +of what he knew might never be his again, telling himself that it +would at least be something to look back upon. + +Maud Barrington sat close by, glancing through the letters a mounted +man had brought in, and the fact that his presence put no restraint on +her curiously pleased the man. At last, however, she opened a paper +and passed it across to him. + +"You have been very patient, but no doubt you will find something that +will atone for my silence there," she said. + +Witham turned over the journal, and then smiled at her. "Is there +anything of moment in your letters?" + +"No," said the girl with a little laugh. "I scarcely think there is--a +garden party, a big reception, the visit of a high official, and a +description of the latest hat. Still, you know, that is supposed to be +enough for us." + +"Then I wonder whether you will find this more interesting. 'The bears +made a determined rally yesterday, and wheat moved back again. There +was later in the day a rush to sell, and prices now stand at almost +two cents below their lowest level.'" + +"Yes," said Maud Barrington, noticing the sudden intentness of his +pallid face. "I do. It is serious news for you?" + +"And for you! You see where I have led you. Ill or well, I must start +for Winnipeg to-morrow." + +Maud Barrington smiled curiously. "You and I and a handful of others +stand alone, but I told you I would not blame you whether we won or +lost. Do you know that I am grateful for the glimpses of the realities +of life that you have given me?" + +Witham felt his pulses throb faster, for the girl's unabated +confidence stirred him, but he looked at her gravely. "I wonder if you +realize what you have given me in return? Life as I had seen it was +very grim and bare--and now I know what, with a little help, it is +possible to make of it." + +"With a little help?" said Maud Barrington. + +Witham nodded, and his face, which had grown almost wistful, hardened. +"Those who strive in the pit are apt to grow blind to the best--the +sweetness and order and all the little graces that mean so much. Even +if their eyes are opened, it is usually too late. You see, they lose +touch with all that lies beyond the struggle, and without some one to +lead them they cannot get back to it. Still, if I talk in this fashion +you will laugh at me; but every one has his weakness now and then--and +no doubt I shall make up for it at Winnipeg to-morrow. One cannot +afford to be fanciful when wheat is two cents down." + +Maud Barrington was not astonished. Tireless in his activities and, +more curious still, almost ascetic in his mode of life, the man had +already given her glimpses of his inner self and the vague longings +that came upon him. He never asked her pity, but she found something +pathetic in his attitude, for it seemed he knew that the stress and +the turmoil alone could be his. Why this was so, she did not know, but +it was with a confidence that could not be shaken now she felt it was +through no fault of his. His last words, however, showed her that the +mask was on again. + +"I scarcely fancy you are well enough, but if you must go, I wonder +whether you would do a good turn to Alfreton?" she said. "The lad has +been speculating and he seems anxious lately." + +"It is natural that they should all bring their troubles to you." + +Maud Barrington laughed. "I, however, generally pass them on to you." + +A trace of colour crept into the man's face, and his voice was a +trifle hoarse as he said. "Do you know that I would ask nothing better +than to take every care you had and bear it for you?" + +"Still," said the girl with a little smile, "that is very evidently +out of the question." + +Witham rose, and she saw that one hand was closed as he looked down +upon her. Then he turned and stared out at the prairie, but there was +something very significant in the rigidity of his attitude, and his +face seemed to have grown suddenly careworn when he glanced back at +her. + +"Of course," he said quietly. "You see, I have been ill, and a little +off my balance lately. That accounts for erratic speeches, though I +meant it all. Colonel Barrington is still in Winnipeg?" + +"Yes," said the girl, who was not convinced by the explanation, very +quietly. "I am a little anxious about him, too. He sold wheat forward, +and I gather from his last letter has not bought it yet. Now, as +Alfreton is driving in to-morrow, he could take you." + +Witham was grateful to her, and still more to Miss Barrington, who +came in just then; while he did not see the girl again before he +departed with Alfreton on the morrow. When they had left Silverdale a +league behind, the trail dipped steeply amidst straggling birches to a +bridge which spanned the creek in a hollow, and Witham glanced at the +winding ascent thoughtfully. + +"It has struck me that going round by this place puts another six +miles on to your journey to the railroad, and a double team could not +pull a big load up," he said. + +The lad nodded. "The creek is a condemned nuisance. We have either to +load light when we are hauling grain in and then pitch half the bags +off at the bottom and come back for them--while, you know, one man +can't put up many four bushel bags--or keep a man and horses at the +ravine until we're through." + +Witham laughed. "Now, I wonder whether you ever figured how much those +little things put up the price of your wheat." + +"This is the only practicable way down," said the lad. "You can +scarcely climb up one side where the ravine's narrow abreast of +Silverdale." + +"Drive round. I want to see it," said Witham. "Call at Rushforth for a +spool of binder twine." + +Half-an-hour later Alfreton pulled the wagon up amidst the birches on +the edge of the ravine, which just there sloped steep as a railway +cutting, and not very much broader, to the creek. Witham gazed at it, +and then handed the twine to the hired man. + +"Take that with you, Charley, and get down," he said. "If you strip +your boots off you can wade through the creek." + +"I don't know that I want to," said the man. + +"Well," said Witham, "it would please me if you did, as well as cool +your feet. Then you could climb up and hold that twine down on the +other side." + +The man grinned; and, though Alfreton remembered that he was not +usually so tractable with him, proceeded to do Witham's bidding. When +he came back there was a twinkle of comprehension in his eyes; and +Witham, who cut off the length of twine, smiled at Alfreton. + +"It is," he said dryly, "only a little idea of mine." + +They drove on, and, reaching Winnipeg next day, went straight to +Graham the wheat-broker's offices. He kept them waiting some time, and +in the meanwhile men with intent faces passed hastily in and out +through the outer office. Some of them had telegrams or bundles of +papers in their hands, and the eyes of all were eager. The corridor +rang with footsteps, the murmur of voices seemed to vibrate through +the great building; while it seemed to Alfreton there was a suggestion +of strain and expectancy in all he heard and saw. Witham, however, sat +gravely still, though the lad noticed that his eyes were keener than +usual, for the muffled roar of the city, patter of messengers' feet, +ceaseless tinkle of telephone call bells, and whirr of the elevators, +each packed with human freight, all stirred him. Hitherto, he had +grappled with nature, but now he was to test his judgment against the +keenest wits of the cities, and stand or fall by it, in the struggle +that was to be waged over the older nation's food. + +At last, however, a clerk signed to them from a doorway, and they +found Graham sitting before a littered table. A man sat opposite him +with the telephone receiver in his hand. + +"Sorry to keep you, but I've both hands full just now. Every man in +this city is thinking wheat," he said. "Has he word from Chicago, +Thomson?" + +"Yes," said the clerk. "Bears lost hold this morning. General buying!" + +Just then the door swung open, and a breathless man came in. "Guess I +scared that clerk of yours who wanted to turn me off," he said. "Heard +what Chicago's doing? Well, you've got to buy for me now. They're +going to send her right up into the sky, and it's 'bout time I got out +before the bulls trample the life out of me." + +"Quite sure you can't wait until to-morrow?" asked Graham. + +The man shook his head. "No, sir. When I've been selling all along the +line! Send off right away, and tell your man on the market to cover +every blame sale for me." + +Graham signed to the clerk, and as the telephone bell tinkled, a lad +brought in a message. The broker opened it. "'New York lost advance +and recovered it twice in the first hour,'" he read. "'At present a +point or two better. Steady buying in Liverpool.'" + +"That," said the other man, "is quite enough for me. Let me have the +contracts as soon as they're ready." + +He went out, and Graham turned to Witham. "There's half-a-dozen more +of them outside," he said. "Do you buy or sell?" + +Witham laughed. "I want to know which a wise man would do." + +"Well," said Graham, "I can't tell you. The bulls rushed wheat up as I +wired you, but the other folks got their claws in and worried it down +again. Wheat's anywhere and nowhere all the time, and I'm advising +nobody just now. No doubt you've formed your own opinion." + +Witham nodded. "It's the last of the grappled, and the bears aren't +quite beaten yet, but any time the next week or two the decisive turn +will come. Then, if they haven't got out, there'll be very little left +of them." + +"You seem tolerably sure of the thing. Got plenty of confidence in the +bulls?" + +Witham smiled. "I fancy I know how Western wheat was sown this year +better than any statistician of the ring, and it's not the bulls I'm +counting on but those millions of hungry folks in the old country. +It's not New York or Chicago, but Liverpool the spark is coming from." + +"Well," said Graham, "that's my notion, too, but I've no time for +anybody who hasn't grist for me just now. Still, I'd be glad to come +round and take you home to supper if you haven't the prejudice, which +is not unknown at Silverdale, against eating with a man who makes his +dollars on the market and didn't get them given him." + +Witham laughed, and held up a lean brown hand. "All I ever had until +less than a year ago I earned with that. I'll be ready for you." + +He went out with Alfreton, and noticed that the lad ate little at +lunch. When the meal was over he glanced at him with a smile through +the cigar smoke. + +"I think it would do you good to take me into your confidence," he +said. + +"Well," said Alfreton, "it would be a relief to talk, and I feel I +could trust you. Still, it's only fair to tell you I didn't at the +beginning. I was an opinionated ass, you see." + +Witham laughed. "I don't mind in the least, and we have most of us +felt that way." + +"Well," said the lad, "I was a little short of funds, and proud of +myself, and when everybody seemed certain that wheat was going down +for ever, I thought I saw my chance of making a little. Now I've more +wheat than I care to think of to deliver, the market's against me. If +it stiffens any further it will break me; and that's not all, you see. +Things have gone tolerably badly with the folks at home, and I fancy +it took a good deal of what should have been the girls' portion to +start me at Silverdale." + +"Then," said Witham, "it's no use trying to show you how foolish +you've been. That is the usual thing, and it's easy; but what the man +in the hole wants to know is the means of getting out again." + +Alfreton smiled ruefully. "I'm tolerably far in. I could just cover at +to-day's prices if I pledged my crop, but it would leave me nothing to +go on with and the next advance would swamp the farm." + +"Well," said Witham quietly, "don't buy to-day. There's going to be an +advance that will take folks' breath away, but the time's not quite +ripe yet. You'll see prices knocked back a little the next day or two, +and then you will cover your sales to the last bushel." + +"But are you sure?" asked the lad a trifle hoarsely. "You see, if +you're mistaken, it will mean ruin to me." + +Witham laid his hand on his shoulder. "If I am wrong, I'll make your +losses good." + +Nothing more was said on that subject, but Alfreton's face grew +anxious once more as they went up and down the city. Everybody was +talking wheat, which was not astonishing, for that city and the two +great provinces to the west of it lived by the trade in grain; and +before the afternoon had passed they learned that there had been a +persistent advance. The lad's uneasiness showed itself, but when they +went back to the hotel about the supper hour Witham smiled at him. + +"You're feeling sick?" he said. "Still, I don't fancy you need worry." + +Then Graham appeared and claimed him, and it was next morning when he +saw Alfreton again. He was breakfasting with Colonel Barrington and +Dane, and Witham noticed that the older man did not appear to have +much appetite. When the meal was finished he drew him aside. + +"You have covered your sales, sir?" he asked. + +"No, sir," said Barrington. "I have not." + +"Then I wonder if it would be presumption if I asked you a question?" + +Barrington looked at him steadily. "To be frank, I fancy it would be +better if you did not. I have, of course, only my own folly to blame +for believing I could equal your natural aptitude for this risky +amusement, which I had, and still have, objections to. I was, however, +in need of money, and seeing your success, yielded to the temptation. +I am not laying any of the responsibility on you, but am not inclined +to listen to more of your suggestions." + +Witham met his gaze without embarrassment. "I am sorry you have been +unfortunate, sir." + +Just then Dane joined them. "I sat up late last night in the hope of +seeing you," he said. "Now, I don't know what to make of the market, +but there were one or two fellows who would have bought my estimated +crop from me at a figure which would have about covered working +expenses. Some of the others who did not know you were coming in, put +their affairs in my hands, too." + +"Sell nothing," said Witham quietly. + +It was an hour later when a messenger from Graham found them in the +smoking-room, and Colonel Barrington smiled dryly as he tore up the +envelope handed him. + +"'Market opened with sellers prevailing. Chicago flat!'" he read. + +Dane glanced at Witham somewhat ruefully, but the latter's eyes were +fixed on Colonel Barrington. + +"If I had anything to cover I should still wait," he said. + +"That," said Dane, "is not exactly good news to me." + +"Our turn will come," said Witham gravely. + +That day, and during several which followed it, wheat moved down, and +Dane said nothing to Witham about what he felt, though his face grew +grimmer as the time went on. Barrington was quietly impassive when +they met him, while Alfreton, who saw a way out of his difficulties, +was hard to restrain. Witham long afterwards remembered that horrible +suspense, but he showed no sign of what he was enduring then, and was +only a trifle quieter than usual when he and Alfreton entered Graham's +office one morning. It was busier than ever, while the men who +hastened in and out seemed to reveal by attitude and voice that they +felt something was going to happen. + +"In sellers' favour!" said the broker. "Everybody with a few dollars +is hammering prices one way or the other. Nothing but wheat is heard +of in this city. Well, we'll simmer down when the turn comes, and +though I'm piling up dollars, I'll be thankful. Hallo, Thomson, +anything going on now?" + +"Chicago buying," said the clerk. "Now it's Liverpool! Sellers holding +off. Wanting a two-eights more the cental." + +The telephone bell tinkled again, and there was a trace of excitement +in the face of the man who answered it. + +"Walthew has got news ahead of us," he said. "Chicago bears caved in. +Buying orders from Liverpool broke them. Got it there strong." + +Witham tapped Alfreton's shoulder. "Now is the time. Tell him to buy," +he said. "We'll wait outside until you've put this deal through, +Graham." + +It was twenty minutes before Graham came out to them. "I'll let you +have your contracts, Mr. Alfreton, and my man on the market just fixed +them in time," he said. "They're up a penny on the cental in Liverpool +now, and nobody will sell, while here in Winnipeg they're falling over +each other to buy. Never had such a circus since the trade began." + +Alfreton, who seemed to quiver, turned to his companion, and then +forgot what he had to tell him. Witham had straightened himself and +his eyes were shining, while the lad was puzzled by his face. Still, +save for the little tremor in it, his voice was very quiet. + +"It has come at last," he said. "Two farms would not have covered your +losses, Alfreton, if you had waited until to-morrrow. Have supper with +us Graham--if you like it, lakes of champagne." + +"I want my head, but I'll come," said Graham, with a curious smile. "I +don't know that it wouldn't pay me to hire yours just now." + +Then Witham turned suddenly, and running down the stairway shook the +man awaiting him by the arm. + +"The flood's with us now," he said. "Find Colonel Barrington, and make +him cover everything before he's ruined. Dane, you and I, and a few +others, will see the dollars rolling into Silverdale." + +Dane found Barrington, who listened with a grim smile to what he had +to tell him. + +"The words are yours, Dane, but that is all," he said. "Wheat will go +down again, and I do not know that I am grateful to Courthorne." + +Dane dare urge nothing further, and spent the rest of that day +wandering up and down the city, in a state of blissful content, with +Alfreton and Witham. One of them had turned his losses into a small +profit, and the other two, who had, hoping almost against hope, sown +when others had feared to plough, saw that the harvest would repay +them beyond their wildest expectations. They heard nothing but +predictions of higher prices everywhere, and the busy city seemed to +throb with exultation. The turn had come, and there was hope for the +vast wheat lands it throve upon. + +Graham had much to tell them when they sat down to the somewhat +elaborate meal Witham termed supper that night, and he nodded +approvingly when Dane held out his glass of champagne and touched his +comrade's. + +"I'm not fond of speeches, Courthorne, and I fancy our tastes are the +same," he said. "Still, I can't let this great night pass without +greeting you as the man who has saved not a few of us at Silverdale. +We were in a very tight place before you came, and we are with you +when you want us from this time, soul and body, and all our +possessions." Alfreton's eyes glistened, and his hand shook a little +as he touched the rim of Witham's goblet. + +"There are folks in the old country who will bless you when they +know," he said. "You'll forget it, though I can't, that I was once +against you." + +Witham nodded to them gravely, and when the glasses were empty shook +hands with the three. + +"We have put up a good fight, and I think we shall win; but, while you +will understand me better by-and-by what you have offered me almost +hurts," he said. + +"What we have given is yours. We don't take it back," said Dane. + +Witham smiled, though there was a wistfulness in his eyes as he saw +the faint bewilderment in his companions' faces. + +"Well," he said slowly, "you can do a little for me now. Colonel +Barrington was right when he set his face against speculation, and it +was only because I saw dollars were badly needed at Silverdale, and +the one means of getting them, I made my deal. Still, if we are to +succeed as farmers we must market our wheat as cheaply as our rivals, +and we want a new bridge on the level. Now, I got a drawing of one and +estimates for British Columbia stringers, yesterday, while the birches +in the ravine will give us what else we want. I'll build a bridge +myself, but it will cheapen the wheat-hauling to everybody, and you +might like to help me." + +Dane glanced at the drawing laid before him, but Alfreton spoke first. +"One hundred dollars. I'm only a small man, but I wish it was five," +he said. + +"I'll make it that much, and see the others do their share," said +Dane, and then glanced at the broker with a curious smile. + +"How does he do it--this and other things? He was never a business +man!" + +Graham nodded. "He can't help it. It was born in him. You and I can +figure and plan, but Courthorne is different--the right thing comes to +him. I knew, the first night I saw him, you had got the man you wanted +at Silverdale." + +Then Witham stood up, wineglass in hand. "I am obliged to you, but I +fancy this has gone far enough," he said. "There is one man who has +done more for you than I could ever do. Prosperity is a good thing, +but you at least know what he has aimed at stands high above that. May +you have the head of the Silverdale community long with you!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +UNDER TEST + + +The prairie lay dim and shadowy in the creeping dusk when Witham sat +on a redwood stringer near the head of his partly-finished bridge. +There was no sound from the hollow behind him but the faint gurgle of +the creek and the almost imperceptible vibration of countless minute +wings. The birches which climbed the slope to it wound away sinuously, +a black wall on either hand, and the prairie lying grey and still +stretched back into the silence in front of him. Here and there a +smouldering fire showed dully red on the brink of the ravine, but the +tired men who had lighted them were already wrapped in heavy slumber. + +The prairie hay was gathered, harvest had not come, and for the last +few weeks Witham, with his hired men from the bush of Ontario, had +toiled at the bridge with a tireless persistency which had somewhat +astonished the gentlemen farmers of Silverdale. They, however, rode +over every now and then, and most cheerfully rendered what assistance +they could, until it was time to return for tennis or a shooting +sweepstake, and Witham thanked them gravely, even when he and his +Ontario axemen found it necessary to do the work again. He could have +told nobody why he had undertaken to build the bridge, which could be +of no use to him, but he was in a measure prompted by instincts born +in him; for he was one of the Englishmen who, with a dim recognition +of the primeval charge to subdue the earth and render it fruitful, +gravitate to the newer lands, and usually leave their mark upon them. +He had also a half-defined notion that it would be something he could +leave behind in reparation, that the men of Silverdale might remember +the stranger who had imposed on them more leniently, while in the +strain of the mental struggle strenuous occupation was a necessity to +him. + +A bundle of papers it was now too dim to see lay beside him, clammy +with the dew, and he sat bareheaded, a pipe which had gone out in his +hand, staring across the prairie with an ironical smile in his eyes. +He had planned boldly and striven tirelessly, and now the fee he could +not take would surely be tendered him. Wheat was growing dearer every +day, and such crops as he had sown had not been seen at Silverdale. +Still, the man, who had had few compunctions before he met Maud +Barrington, knew now that in a little while he must leave all he had +painfully achieved behind. What he would do then he did not know, for +only one fact seemed certain--in another four months, or less, he +would have turned his back on Silverdale. + +Presently, however, the sound of horse-hoofs caught his ears, and he +stood up when a mounted figure rose out of the prairie. The moon had +just swung up, round and coppery, from behind a rise, and when horse +and rider cut black and sharp against it his pulses throbbed faster +and a little flush crept into his face, for he knew every line of the +figure in the saddle. Some minutes had passed when Maud Barrington +rode slowly to the head of the bridge, and pulled up her horse at the +sight of him. + +The moon, turning silver now, shone behind her head, and a tress of +hair sparkled beneath her wide hat, while the man had a glimpse of the +gleaming whiteness of rounded cheek and neck. Her face he could not +see, but shapely shoulders, curve of waist, and sweeping line of the +light habit were forced up as in a daguerreotype, and as the girl sat +still looking down on him, slender, lissom, dainty, etherealized +almost by the brightening radiance, she seemed to him a visionary +complement of the harmonies of the night. It also appeared wiser to +think of her as such than a being of flesh and blood whom he had +wildly ventured to long for, and he almost regretted when her first +words dispelled the illusion. + +"It is dreadfully late," she said. "Pluto went very lame soon after I +left Macdonald's, and I knew if I went back for another horse he would +have insisted on riding home with me. I had slipped away while he was +in the granary. One can cross the bridge?" + +"Not mounted," said Witham. "There are only a few planks between the +stringers here and there, but, if you don't mind waiting, I can lead +your horse across." + +He smiled a little, for the words seemed trivial and out of place in +face of the effect the girl's appearance had on him, but she glanced +at him questioningly. + +"No!" she said. "Now, I would have gone round by the old bridge, only +that Allardyce told me you let him ride across this afternoon." + +"Still," and the man stopped a moment, "it was daylight then, you +see." + +Maud Barrington laughed a little, for his face was visible, and she +understood the slowness of his answer. "Is that all? It is moonlight +now." + +"No," said Witham dryly, "but one is apt to make an explanation too +complete occasionally. Will you let me help you down?" + +Maud Barrington held out her hands, and when he swung her down watched +him tramp away with the horse with a curious smile. A light compliment +seldom afforded her much pleasure, but the man's grim reserve had now +and then piqued more than her curiosity, though she was sensible that +the efforts she occasionally made to uncover what lay behind it were +not without their risk. Then he came back, and turned to her very +gravely. + +"Let me have your hand," he said. + +Maud Barrington gave it him, and hoped the curious little thrill that +ran through her when his hard fingers closed upon her palm did not +communicate itself to him. She also noticed that he moved his head +sharply a moment, and then looked straight in front again. Then the +birches seemed to fall away beneath them, and they moved out across +the dim gully with the loosely-laid planking rattling under their +feet, until they came to a strip scarcely three feet wide which +spanned a gulf of blackness in the shadow of the trees. + +"Hold fast!" said Witham with a trace of hoarseness. "You are sure you +feel quite steady?" + +"Of course!" said the girl with a little laugh, though she recognized +the anxiety in his voice, and felt his hand close almost cruelly on +her own. She was by no means timorous, and still less fanciful, but +when they moved out into the blackness that closed about them above +and beneath along the slender strip of swaying timber she was glad of +the masterful grip. It seemed in some strange fashion portentous, for +she felt that she would once more be willing to brave unseen perils, +secure only in his guidance. What he felt she did not know, and was +sensible of an almost overwhelming curiosity, until when at last +well-stiffened timber lay beneath them, she contrived to drop a glove +just where the moonlight smote the bridge. Witham stooped, and his +face was clear in the silvery light when he rose again. Maud +Barrington saw the relief in it, and, compelled by some influence, +stood still looking at him with a little glow behind the smile in her +eyes. A good deal was revealed to both of them in that instant, but +the man dare not admit it, and was master of himself. + +"Yes," he said, very simply, "I am glad you are across." + +Maud Barrington laughed. "I scarcely fancy the risk was very great, +but tell me about the bridge," she said. "You are living beside it?" + +"Yes," said Witham, "in a tent, I must have it finished before +harvest, you see!" + +The girl understood why this was necessary, but deciding that she had +on other occasions ventured sufficiently far with that topic, moved on +across the bridge. + +"A tent," she said, "cannot be a very comfortable place to live in, +and who cooks for you?" + +Witham smiled dryly. "I am used to it, and can do all the cooking that +is necessary," he said. "It is the usual home for the beginner, and I +lived six months in one--on grindstone bread, the tinctured glucose +you are probably not acquainted with as 'drips,' and rancid pork--when +I first came out to this country and hired myself, for ten dollars +monthly, to another man. It is a diet one gets a little tired of +occasionally, but after breaking prairie twelve hours every day one +can eat almost anything, and when I afterwards turned farmer my credit +was rarely good enough to provide the pork." + +The girl looked at him curiously, for she knew how some of the smaller +settlers lived, and once more felt divided between wonder and +sympathy. She could picture the grim self-denial, for she had seen the +stubborn patience in this man's face as well as a stamp that was not +borne by any other man at Silverdale. Some of the crofter settlers, +who periodically came near starvation in their sod hovels, and the men +from Ontario who staked their little handful of dollars on the first +wheat crop to be wrested from the prairie, bore it, however. From what +Miss Barrington had told her, it was clear that Courthorne's first +year in Canada could not have been spent in this fashion, but there +was no doubt in the girl's mind as she listened. Her faith was equal +to a more strenuous test. + +"There is a difference in the present, but who taught you +bridge-building? It takes years to learn the use of the axe," she +said. + +Witham laughed. "I think it took me four, but the man who has not a +dollar to spare usually finds out how to do a good many things for +himself, and I had working drawings of the bridge made in Winnipeg. +Besides, your friends have helped me with their hands as well as their +good-will. Except at the beginning, they have all been kind to me, and +one could not well have expected very much from them then." + +Maud Barrington coloured a trifle as she remembered her own attitude +towards him. "Cannot you forget it?" she said, with a curious little +ring in her voice. "They would do anything you asked them now." + +"One generally finds it useful to have a good memory, and I remember +most clearly that, although they had very little reason for it, most +of them afterwards trusted me. That made, and still makes, a great +difference to me." + +The girl appeared thoughtful. "Does it?" she said. "Still, do you +know, I fancy that if they had tried to drive you out, you would have +stayed in spite of them." + +"Yes," said Witham dryly, "I believe I would, but the fact that in a +very little while they held out a friendly hand to a stranger steeped +in suspicion, and gave him the chance to prove himself their equal, +carries a big responsibility. That, and your aunt's goodness, puts so +many things one might have done out of the question." + +The obvious inference was that the prodigal had been reclaimed by the +simple means of putting him on his honour, but that did not for a +moment suggest itself to the girl. She had often regretted her own +disbelief, and once more felt the need for reparation. + +"Lance," she said, very quietly, "my aunt was wiser than I was, but +she was mistaken. What she gave you out of her wide charity was +already yours by right." + +That was complete and final, for Maud Barrington did nothing by half, +and Witham recognized that she held him blameless in the past, which +she could not know, as well as in the present, which was visible to +her. Her confidence stung him as a whip, and when in place of +answering he looked away, the girl fancied that a smothered groan +escaped him. She waited, curiously expectant, but he did not speak, +and just then the fall of hoofs rose from behind the birches in the +bluff. Then a man's voice came through it singing a little French +song, and Maud Barrington glanced at her companion. + +"Lance," she said, "how long is it since you sang that song?" + +"Well," said Witham, doggedly conscious of what he was doing, "I do +not know a word of it, and never heard it in my life." + +Maud Barrington stared at him. "Think," she said. "It seems ever so +long ago, but you cannot have forgotten. Surely you remember Madame +Aubert, who taught me to prattle in French, and the day you slipped +into the music-room and picked up the song, while she tried in vain to +teach it me. Can't you recollect how I cried, when you sang it in the +billiard-room, and Uncle Geoffrey gave you the half-sovereign which +had been promised to me?" + +"No," said Witham a trifle hoarsely, and with his head turned from her +watched the trail. + +A man in embroidered deerskin jacket was riding into the moonlight, +and though the little song had ceased, and the wide hat hid his face, +there was an almost insolent gracefulness in his carriage that seemed +familiar to Witham. It was not the _abandon_ of the swashbuckler +stock-rider from across the frontier, but something more finished and +distinguished that suggested the bygone cavalier. Maud Barrington, it +was evident, also noticed it. + +"Geoffrey Courthorne rode as that man does," she said. "I remember +hearing my mother once tell him that he had been born too late, +because his attributes and tastes would have fitted him to follow +Prince Rupert." + +Witham made no answer, and the man rode on until he drew bridle in +front of them. Then he swung his hat off, and while the moonlight +shone into his face looked down with a little ironical smile at the +man and woman standing beside the horse. Witham closed one hand a +trifle, and slowly straightened himself, feeling that there was need +of all his self-control, for he saw his companion glance at him, and +then almost too steadily at Lance Courthorne. + +The latter said nothing for a space of seconds, for which Witham hated +him, and yet in the tension of the suspense he noticed that the signs +of indulgence he had seen on the last occasion were plainer in +Courthorne's face. The little bitter smile upon his lips was also not +quite in keeping with the restlessness of his fingers upon the bridle. + +"Is that bridge fit for crossing, farmer?" he asked. + +"Yes," said Witham quietly. "You must lead your horse." + +Maud Barrington had in the meanwhile stood very still, and now moved +as by an effort. "It is time I rode on, and you can show the stranger +across," she said. "I have kept you at least five minutes longer than +was necessary." + +Courthorne, Witham fancied, shifted one foot from the stirrup, but +then sat still as the farmer held his hand for the girl to mount by, +while when she rode away he looked at his companion with a trace of +anger as well as irony in his eyes. + +"Yes," said Witham. "What you heard was correct. Miss Barrington's +horse fell lame coming from one of the farms, which accounts for her +passing here so late. I had just led the beast across the incompleted +bridge. Still, it is not on my account I tell you this. Where have you +been and why have you broken one of my conditions?" + +Courthorne laughed. "It seems to me you are adopting a somewhat +curious tone. I went to my homestead to look for you." + +"You have not answered my other question, and in the meanwhile I am +your tenant, and the place is mine." + +"We really needn't quibble," said Courthorne. "I came for the very +simple reason that I wanted money." + +"You had one thousand dollars," said Witham dryly. + +Courthorne made a little gesture of resignation. "It is, however, +certain that I haven't got them now. They went as dollars usually do. +The fact is, I have met one or two men recently who apparently know +rather more about games of chance than I do, and I passed on the fame, +which was my most valuable asset, to you." + +"You passed me on the brand of a crime I never committed," said Witham +grimly. "That, however, is not the question now. Not one dollar, +except at the time agreed upon, will you get from me. Why did you come +here dressed as we usually are on the prairie?" + +Courthorne glanced down at the deerskin jacket and smiled as he +straightened himself into a caricature of Witham's mounted attitude. +It was done cleverly. + +"When I ride in this fashion we are really not very unlike, you see, +and I let one or two men I met get a good look at me," he said. "I +meant it as a hint that it would be wise of you to come to terms with +me." + +"I have done so already. You made the bargain." + +"Well," said Courthorne smiling, "a contract may be modified at any +time when both parties are willing." + +"One is not," said Witham dryly. "You heard my terms, and nothing that +you can urge will move me a hairsbreadth from them." + +Courthorne looked at him steadily, and some men would have found his +glance disconcerting, for now and then all the wickedness that was in +him showed in his half-closed eyes. Still, he saw that the farmer was +unyielding. + +"Then we will let it go; in the meanwhile," he said, "take me across +the bridge." + +They were half-way along it when he pulled the horse up, and once more +looked down on Witham. + +"Your hand is a tolerably good one so long as you are willing to +sacrifice yourself, but it has its weak points, and there is one thing +I could not tolerate," he said. + +"What is that?" + +Courthorne laughed wickedly, "You wish me to be explicit? Maud +Barrington is devilishly pretty, but it is quite out of the question +that you should ever marry her." + +Witham turned towards him with the veins on his forehead swollen. +"Granting that it is so, what is that to you?" + +Courthorne nodded as if in comprehension. "Well, I'm probably not +consistent, but one rarely quite loses touch with everything, and if I +believed that my kinswoman was growing fond of a beggarly farmer, I'd +venture to put a sudden stop to your love-making. This, at least, is +perfectly _bona fide_, Witham." + +Witham had borne a good deal of late, and his hatred of the man flared +up. He had no definite intention, but he moved a pace forward, and +Courthorne touched the horse with his heel. It backed, and then +growing afraid of the blackness about it plunged, while Witham for the +first time saw that there was a gap in the loosely-laid planking close +behind it. Another plunge or flounder, and horse and rider would go +down together. + +For a moment he held his breath and watched. Then, as the beast, +resisting its rider's efforts, backed again, sprang forward and seized +the bridle. + +"Get your spurs in! Shove him forward for your life," he said. + +There was a momentary struggle on the slippery planking, and, almost +as its hind hoofs overhung the edge, Witham dragged the horse away. +Courthorne swung himself out of the saddle, left the farmer the +bridle, and glanced behind him at the gap. Then he turned, and the two +men looked at each other steadily. Their faces were a trifle paler +than usual. + +"You saw it?" asked Courthorne. + +"Yes, but not until you backed the beast and he commenced plunging." + +"He plunged once or twice before you caught the bridle?" + +"Yes," said Witham quietly. + +Courthorne laughed. "You are a curious man. It would have cleared the +ground for you." + +"No," said Witham dryly, "I don't know that you will understand me, +but I scarcely think it would. It may have been a mistake of mine to +do what I did, but I have a good deal on my shoulders already." + +Courthorne made no answer as he led his horse across the bridge. Then +he mounted and looked down on the farmer who stood beside him. + +"I remember some things, though I don't always let them influence me +to my detriment," he said. "I'm going back to the railroad, and then +West, and don't quite know when you will have the pleasure of seeing +me again." + +Witham watched him quietly. "It would be wiser if you did not come +back until I send for you." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +COURTHORNE BLUNDERS + + +Lance Courthorne had lightly taken a good many risks in his time, for +he usually found a spice of danger stimulating, and there was in him +an irresponsible daring that not infrequently served him better than a +well-laid plan. There are also men of his type who, for a time at +least, appear immune from the disasters which follow the one rash +venture the prudent make, and it was half in frolic and half in malice +he rode to Silverdale dressed as a prairie farmer in the light of day, +and forgot that their occupation sets a stamp he had never worn upon +the tillers of the soil. The same spirit induced him to imitate one or +two of Witham's gestures for the benefit of his cook, and afterwards +wait for a police trooper, who, apparently desired to overtake him +when he had just left the homestead. + +He pulled his horse up when the other man shouted to him, and trusting +to the wide hat that hid most of his face, smiled out of half-closed +eyes when he handed a packet. + +"You have saved me a ride, Mr. Courthorne, I heard you were at the +bridge," the trooper said, "If you'll sign for those documents I +needn't keep you." + +He brought out a pencil, and Courthorne scribbled on the paper handed +him. He was quite aware that there was a risk attached to this, but if +Witham had any communications with the police it appeared advisable to +discover what they were about. Then he laughed, as riding on again he +opened the packet. + +"Agricultural Bureau documents," he said. "This lot to be returned +filled in! Well, if I can remember, I'll give them to Witham." + +As it happened, he did not remember; but he made a worse mistake just +before his departure from the railroad settlement. He had spent two +nights at a little wooden hotel, which was not the one where Witham +put up when he drove into the place, and to pass the time commenced a +flirtation with the proprietor's daughter. The girl was pretty, and +Courthorne a man of different type from the wheat-growers she had been +used to. When his horse was at the door, he strolled into the saloon +where he found the girl alone in the bar. + +"I'm a very sad man to-day, my dear," he said, and his melancholy +became him. + +The girl blushed prettily. "Still," she said, "whenever you want to, +you can come back again." + +"If I did, would you be pleased to see me?" + +"Of course!" said the girl. "Now, you wait a minute, and I'll give you +something to remember me by. I don't mix this up for everybody." + +She busied herself with certain decanters and essences, and Courthorne +held the glass she handed him high. + +"The brightest eyes and the reddest lips between Winnipeg and the +Rockies!" he said. "This is nectar, but I would like to remember you +by something sweeter still!" + +Their heads were not far apart when he laid down his glass, and before +the girl quite knew what was happening an arm was round her neck. Next +moment she had flung the man backwards, and stood very straight, +quivering with anger and crimson in face, for Courthorne, as +occasionally happens with men of his type, assumed too much, and did +not always know when to stop. Then she called sharply, "Jake." + +There was a tramp of feet outside, and when a big, grim-faced man +looked in at the door Courthorne decided it was time for him to effect +his retreat while it could be done with safety. He knew already that +there were two doors to the saloon, and his finger closed on the neck +of a decanter. Next moment it smote the newcomer on the chest, and +while he staggered backwards with the fluid trickling from him, +Courthorne departed through the opposite entrance. Once outside, he +mounted leisurely, but nobody came out from the hotel, and shaking the +bridle with a little laugh he cantered out of the settlement. + +In the meanwhile, the other man carefully wiped his garments, and then +turned to his companion. + +"Now what's all this about?" he said. + +The girl told him, and the man ruminated for a minute or two. "Well, +he's gone, and I don't know that I'm sorry there wasn't a circus +here," he said. "I figured there was something not square about that +fellow, anyway. Registered as Guyler from Minnesota, but I've seen +somebody like him among the boys from Silverdale. Guess I'll find out +when I ride over about the horse, and then I'll have a talk with him +quietly." + +In the meanwhile, the police trooper who had handed him the packet +returned to the outpost, and, as it happened, found the grizzled +Sergeant Stimson, who appeared astonished to see him back so soon +there. + +"I met Courthorne near his homestead, and gave him the papers, sir," +he said. + +"You did?" said the Sergeant. "Now that's kind of curious, because +he's at the bridge." + +"It couldn't have been anybody else, because he took the documents and +signed for them," said the trooper. + +"Big bay horse?" + +"No, sir," said the trooper. "It was a bronco, and a screw at that." + +"Well," said Stimson dryly, "let me have your book. If Payne has come +in, tell him I want him." + +The trooper went out, and when his comrade came in Stimson laid a +strip of paper before him. "You have seen Courthorne's writing," he +said; "would you call it anything like that?" + +"No, sir," said Trooper Payne. "I would not!" + +Stimson nodded. "Take a good horse and ride round by the bridge. If +you find Courthorne there, as you probably will, head for the +settlement and see if you can come across a man who might pass for +him. Ask your question as though the answer didn't count, and tell +nobody what you hear but me." + +Payne rode out, and when he returned three days later, Sergeant +Stimson made a journey to confer with one of his superiors. The +officer was a man who had risen in the service somewhat rapidly, and +when he heard the tale said nothing, while he turned over a bundle of +papers a trooper brought him. Then he glanced at Stimson thoughtfully. + +"I have a report of the Shannon shooting case here," he said. "How did +it strike you at the time?" + +Stimson's answer was guarded. "As a curious affair. You see, it was +quite easy to get at Witham's character from anybody down there, and +he wasn't the kind of man to do the thing. There were one or two other +trifles I couldn't quite figure out the meaning of." + +"Witham was drowned?" said the officer. + +"Well," said Stimson, "the trooper who rode after him heard him break +through the ice, but nobody ever found him, though a farmer came upon +his horse." + +The officer nodded. "I fancy you are right, and the point is this. +There were two men, who apparently bore some resemblance to each +other, engaged in an unlawful venture, and one of them commits a crime +nobody believed him capable of, but which would have been less out of +keeping with the other's character. Then the second man comes into an +inheritance, and leads a life which seems to have astonished everybody +who knows him. Now, have you ever seen these two men side by side?" + +"No, sir," said Stimson. "Courthorne kept out of our sight when he +could in Alberta, and I don't think I or any of the boys, except +Shannon, ever saw him for more than a minute or two. Now and then we +passed Witham on the prairie or saw him from the trail, but I think I +only once spoke to him." + +"Well," said the officer, "it seems to me I had better get you sent +back to your old station, where you can quietly pick up the threads +again. Would the trooper you mentioned be fit to keep an eye on things +at Silverdale?" + +"No one better, sir," said Stimson. + +"Then it shall be done," said the officer. "The quieter you keep the +affair the better." + +It was a week or two later when Witham returned to his homestead from +the bridge, which was almost completed. Dusk was closing in, but as he +rode down the rise he could see the wheat roll in slow ripples back +into the distance. The steady beat of its rhythmic murmur told of +heavy ears, and where the stalks stood waist-high on the rise, the +last flush of saffron in the north-west was flung back in a dull +bronze gleam. The rest swayed athwart the shadowy hollow, dusky indigo +and green, but that flash of gold and red told that harvest was nigh +again. + +Witham had seen no crop to compare with it during the eight years he +had spent in the Dominion. There had been neither drought nor hail +that year, and now, when the warm western breezes kept sweet and +wholesome the splendid ears they fanned, there was removed from him +the terrors of the harvest frost, which not infrequently blights the +fairest prospects in one bitter night. Fate, which had tried him +hardly hitherto, denying the seed its due share of fertilizing rain, +sweeping his stock from existence with icy blizzard, and mowing down +the tall green corn with devastating hail, was now showering favours +on him when it was too late. Still, though he felt the irony of it, he +was glad, for others had followed his lead, and while the lean years +had left a lamentable scarcity of dollars at Silverdale, wealth would +now pour in to every man who had had the faith to sow. + +He dismounted beside the oats which he would harvest first, and +listened with a curious stirring of his pulses to their musical +patter. It was not the full-toned song of the wheat, but there was +that in the quicker beat of it which told that each graceful tassel +would redeem its promise. He could not see the end of them, but by the +right of the producer they were all his. He knew that he could also +hold them by right of conquest, too, for that year a knowledge of his +strength had been forced upon him. Still, from something he had seen +in the eyes of a girl and grasped at in the words of a white-haired +lady, he realized that there is a limit beyond which man's ambition +may not venture, and a right before which even that of possession must +bow. + +It had been shown him plainly that no man of his own devices can make +the wheat grow, and standing beside it in the creeping dusk he felt in +a vague, half-pagan fashion that there was, somewhere behind what +appeared the chaotic chances of life, a scheme of order and justice +immutable, which would in due time crush the too presumptuous human +atom who opposed himself to it. Regret and rebellion were, it seemed, +equally futile, and he must go out from Silverdale before retribution +overtook him. He had done wrong, and, though he had made what +reparation he could, knew that he would carry his punishment with him. + +The house was almost dark when he reached it, and as he went in his +cook signed to him. "There's a man in here waiting for you," he said. +"He doesn't seem in any way friendly or civil." + +Witham nodded as he went on, wondering with a grim expectancy whether +Courthorne had returned again. If he had, he felt in a mood for very +direct speech with him. His visitor was, however, not Courthorne. +Witham could see that at a glance, although the room was dim. + +"I don't seem to know you, but I'll get a light in a minute," he said. + +"I wouldn't waste time," said the other. "We can talk just as straight +in the dark, and I guess this meeting will finish up outside on the +prairie. You've given me a good deal of trouble to trail you, Mr. +Guyler." + +"Well," said Witham dryly, "it seems to me that you have found the +wrong man." + +The stranger laughed unpleasantly. "I was figuring you'd take it like +that, but you can't bluff me. Well now, I've come round to take it out +of you for slinging that decanter at me, and if there is another +thing, we needn't mention it." + +Witham stared at the man, and his astonishment was evident, but the +fact that he still spoke with an English accentuation, as Courthorne +did, was against him. + +"To the best of my recollection, I have never suffered the +unpleasantness of meeting you in my life," he said. "I certainly never +threw a decanter or anything else at you, though I understand that one +might feel tempted to." + +The man rose up slowly, and appeared big and heavy-shouldered as he +moved athwart the window. "I guess that is quite enough for me," he +said. "What were you condemned Englishmen made for, anyway, but to +take the best of what other men worked for, until the folks who've got +grit enough run you out of the old country! Lord, why don't they drown +you instead of dumping you and your wickedness on to us? Still, I'm +going to show one of you, as I've longed to do, that you can't play +your old tricks with the women of this country." + +"I don't see the drift of a word of it," said Witham. "Hadn't you +better come back when you've worked the vapours off to-morrow?" + +"Come out!" said the other man grimly. "There's scarcely room in here. +Well then, have it your own way, and the devil take care of you!" + +"I think there's enough," said Witham, and as the other swung forward, +closed with him. + +He felt sick and dizzy for a moment, for he had laid himself open and +the first blow got home, but he had decided that if the grapple was +inevitable, it was best to commence it and end it speedily. A few +seconds later there was a crash against the table, and the stranger +gasped as he felt the edge of it pressed into his backbone. Then he +felt himself borne backwards until he groaned under the strain, and +heard a hoarse voice say, "If you attempt to use that foot again, I'll +make the leg useless all your life to you. Come right in here, Tom." + +A man carrying a lantern came in, and stared at the pair as he set it +down. "Do you want me to see a fair finish-up?" he said. + +"No," said Witham. "I want you to see this gentleman out with me. Nip +his arms behind his back; he can't hurt you." + +It was done with a little difficulty, and there was a further scuffle +in the hall, for the stranger resisted strenuously, but a minute later +the trio reeled out of the door just as a buggy pulled up. Then, as +the evicted man plunged forward alone, Witham, straightening himself +suddenly, saw that Colonel Barrington was looking down on him, and +that his niece was seated at his side. He stood still, flushed and +breathless, with his jacket hanging rent half-way up about him, and +the Colonel's voice was quietly ironical. + +"I had a question or two to ask you, but can wait," he said. "No doubt +I shall find you less engaged another time." + +He flicked the horse, and as the buggy rolled away the other man +walked up to Witham. + +"While I only wanted to get rid of you before, I feel greatly tempted +to give you your wish now," said the latter. + +The stranger laughed dryly. "I guess you needn't worry. I don't fight +because I'm fond of it, and you're not the man." + +"Not the man?" said Witham. + +"No, sir," said the other. "Not like him, now I can see you better. +Well, I'm kind of sorry I started a circus here." + +A suspicion of the truth flashed upon Witham. "What sort of a man was +the one you mistook for me?" + +"Usual British waster. Never done a day's work in his life, and never +wanted to; too tired to open his eyes more than half-way when he +looked at you, but if he ever fools round the saloon again, he'll know +what he is before I'm through with him." + +Witham laughed. "I wouldn't be rash or you may get another +astonishment. We really know one or two useful things in the old +country, but you can't fetch the settlement before morning, and we'll +put you up if you like." + +"No, sir," said the other dryly. "I'm not fond of Englishmen, and we +might get arguing, while I've had 'bout enough of you for one night." + +He rode away, and Witham went back into the house very thoughtfully, +wondering whether he would be called upon to answer for more of +Courthorne's doings. + +It was two or three days later when Maud Barrington returned with her +aunt from a visit to an outlying farm, where, because an account of +what took place in the saloon had by some means been spread about, she +heard a story brought in from the settlement. It kept her silent +during the return journey, and Miss Barrington said nothing, but when +the Colonel met them in the hall he glanced at his niece. + +"I see Mrs. Carndall has been telling you both a tale," he said. "It +would have been more fitting if she had kept it to herself." + +"Yes," said Maud Barrington. "Still, you do not credit it?" + +Barrington smiled a trifle dryly. "I should very much prefer not to, +my dear, but what we saw the other night appears to give it +probability. The man Courthorne was dismissing somewhat summarily is, +I believe, to marry the lady in question. You will remember I asked +you once before whether the leopard can change his spots." + +The girl laughed a little. "Still, are you not presuming when you take +it for granted that there are spots to change?" + +Colonel Barrington said nothing further, and it was late that night +when the two women reopened the subject. + +"Aunt," said Maud Barrington, "I want to know what you think about +Mrs. Carndall's tale." + +The little lady shook her head. "I should like to disbelieve it if I +could." + +"Then," said Maud Barrington, "why don't you?" + +"Can you give me any reasons? One must not expect too much from human +nature, my dear." + +The girl sat silent awhile, remembering the man whom she had at first +sight, and in the moonlight, fancied was like her companion at the +time. It was not, however, the faint resemblance that had impressed +her, but a vague something in his manner--his grace, his half-veiled +insolence, his poise in the saddle. She had only seen Lance Courthorne +on a few occasions when she was very young, but she had seen others of +his race, and the man reminded her of them. Still, she felt +half-instinctively that as yet it would be better that nobody should +know this, and she stooped over some lace on the table as she answered +the elder lady. + +"I only know one, and it is convincing. That Lance should have done +what he is credited with doing is quite impossible." + +Miss Barrington smiled. "I almost believe so, too, but others of his +family have done such things somewhat frequently. Do you know that +Lance has all along been a problem to me, for there is a good deal in +my brother's question. Although it seems out of the question, I have +wondered whether there could be two Lance Courthornes in Western +Canada." + +The girl looked at her aunt in silence for a space, but each hid a +portion of her thoughts. Then Maud Barrington laughed. + +"The Lance Courthorne now at Silverdale is as free from reproach as +any man may be," she said. "I can't tell you why I am sure of it--but +I know I am not mistaken." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE FACE AT THE WINDOW + + +It was a hot morning when Sergeant Stimson and Corporal Payne rode +towards the railroad across the prairie. The grassy levels rolled away +before them, white and parched, into the blue distance, where willow +grove and straggling bluff floated on the dazzling horizon, and the +fibrous dust rose in little puffs beneath the horses' feet, until +Stimson pulled his beast up in the shadow of the birches by the +bridge, and looked back towards Silverdale. There, wooden homesteads +girt about with barns and granaries rose from the whitened waste, and +behind some of them stretched great belts of wheat. Then the Sergeant, +understanding the faith of the men who had sown that splendid grain, +nodded, for he was old and wise, and had seen many adverse seasons, +and the slackness that comes, when hope has gone, to beaten men. + +"They will reap this year--a handful of cents on every bushel," he +said. "A fine gentleman is Colonel Barrington, but some of them will +be thankful there's a better head than the one he has at Silverdale. + +"Yes, sir," said Corporal Payne, who wore the double chevrons for the +first time, and surmised that his companion's observations were not +without their purpose. + +Stimson glanced at the bridge. "Good work," he said. "It will save +them dollars on every load they haul in. A gambler built it! Do they +teach men to use the axe in Montana saloons?" + +The corporal smiled and waited for what he felt would come. He was no +longer the hot-blooded lad who had come out from the old country, for +he had felt the bonds of discipline, and been taught restraint and +silence on the lonely marches of the prairie. + +"I have," he said tentatively, "fancied there was something a little +unusual about the thing." + +Stimson nodded, but his next observation was apparently quite +unconnected with the topic. "You were a raw colt when I got you, +Payne, and the bit galled you now and then, but you had good hands on +a bridle, and somebody who knew his business had taught you to sit a +horse in the old country. Still, you were not as handy with brush and +fork at stable duty." + +The bronze seemed to deepen in the corporal's face, but it was turned +steadily toward his officer. "Sir," he said, "has that anything to do +with what you were speaking of?" + +Stimson laughed softly. "That depends, my lad. Now, I've taught you to +ride straight and to hold your tongue. I've asked you no questions, +but I've eyes in my head, and it's not without a purpose you've been +made corporal. You're the kind they give commissions to now and +then--and your folks in the old country never raised you for a police +trooper." + +"Can you tell me how to win one?" asked the corporal, and Stimson +noticed the little gleam in his eyes. + +"There's one road to advancement, and you know where to find the +trooper's duty laid down plain," he said with a dry smile. "Now, you +saw Lance Courthorne once or twice back there in Alberta?" + +"Yes, sir; but never close to." + +"And you knew Farmer Witham?" + +Payne appeared thoughtful. "Of course I met him a few times on the +prairie, always on horseback, with his big hat on; but Witham is +dead--that is, I heard him break through the ice." + +The men's eyes met for a moment, and Stimson smiled curiously. "There +is," he said, "still a warrant out for him. Now, you know where I am +going, and while I am away you will watch Courthorne and his +homestead. If anything curious happens there you will let me know. The +new man has instructions to find you any duty that will suit you." + +The corporal looked at his officer steadily, and again there was +comprehension in his eyes. Then he nodded. "Yes, sir. I have wondered +whether, if Shannon could have spoken another word that night, it +would have been Witham the warrant was issued for." + +Stimson raised a restraining hand. "My lad," he said dryly, "the +police trooper who gets advancement is the one that carries out his +orders and never questions them until he can show that they are wrong. +Then he uses a good deal of discretion. Now you know your duty?" + +"Yes, sir," said Payne, and Stimson shaking his bridle cantered off +across the prairie. + +Then, seeing no need to waste time, the corporal rode towards +Courthorne's homestead and found its owner stripping a binder. Pieces +of the machine lay all around him, and from the fashion in which he +handled them it was evident that he was capable of doing what the +other men at Silverdale left to the mechanic at the settlement. Payne +wondered, as he watched him, who had taught the gambler to use spanner +and file. + +"I will not trouble you if you are busy, Mr. Courthorne; but if you +would give me the returns the Bureau ask for, it would save me riding +round again," he said. + +"I'm afraid I can't," said Witham. "You see, I haven't had the +papers." + +"Trooper Bacon told me he had given them to you." + +"I don't seem to remember it," said Witham. + +Payne laughed. "One forgets things when he is busy. Still, you had +them--because you signed for them." + +Witham looked up suddenly, and in another moment smiled; but he was a +trifle too late, for Payne had seen his astonishment, and that he was +now on guard. + +"Well," he said, "I haven't got them now. Send me a duplicate. You +have, no doubt, some extra forms at the outpost." + +Payne decided that the man had never had the documents, but was too +clever to ask any questions or offer explanations that might involve +him. It was evident he knew that somebody had personated him, and the +fact sent a little thrill through the corporal; he was at least on the +trail. + +"I'll bring you one round the next time I'm in the neighbourhood," he +said; and Witham sat still with the spanner lying idle in his hand +when he rode away. + +He realized that Courthorne had taken the papers, and his face grew +anxious as well as grim. The harvest was almost ready now, and a +little while would see it in. Then his work would be over; but he had +of late felt a growing fear lest something, that would prevent its +accomplishment, might happen in the meanwhile. Then almost fiercely he +resumed the stripping of the machine. + +An hour or two later Dane rode up, and sat still in his saddle looking +down on Witham with a curious smile in his face. + +"I was down at the settlement and found a curious story going round," +he said. "Of course, it had its humorous aspect, but I don't know that +the thing was quite discreet. You see, Barrington has once or twice +had to put a stern check on the indulgence in playfulness of that kind +by some of the younger men, and you are becoming an influence at +Silverdale." + +"You naturally believed what you heard. It was in keeping with what +you have seen of me?" + +Dane's eyes twinkled. "I didn't want to, and I must admit that it +isn't. Still, a good many of you quiet men are addicted to +occasionally astonishing our friends, and I can't help a fancy that +you could do that kind of thing as well as most folks, if it pleased +you. It fact, there was an artistic finish to the climax that +suggested your usual thoroughness." + +"It did?" said Witham grimly, remembering his recent visitor and one +or two of Courthorne's Albertan escapades. "Still, as I'm afraid I +haven't the dramatic instinct, do you mind telling me how?" + +Dane laughed. "Well, it is probable there are other men who would have +kissed the girl, but I don't know that it would have occurred to them +to smash a decanter on the irate lover's head." + +Witham felt his finger tingle for a grip on Courthorne's throat. "And +that's what I've been doing lately? You, of course, concluded that +after conducting myself in an exemplary fashion an astonishing time it +was a trifling lapse?" + +"Well," said Dane dryly. "As I admitted, it appeared somewhat out of +your usual line; but when I heard that a man from the settlement had +been ejected with violence from your homestead, what could one +believe?" + +"Colonel Barrington told you that!" + +"No," said Dane; "you know he didn't. Still, he had a hired man riding +a horse he'd bought, and I believe--though it is not my affair--Maud +Barrington was there. Now, of course, one feels diffident about +anything that may appear like preaching, but you see a good many of us +are following you, and I wouldn't like you to have many little lapses +of that kind while I am backing you. You and I have done with these +frivolities some time ago, but there are lads here they might appeal +to. I should be pleased if you could deny the story." + +Witham's face was grim. "I'm afraid it would not suit me to do as much +just now," he said. "Still, between you and me, do you believe it +likely that I would fly at that kind of game?" + +Dane laughed softly. "Well," he said, "tastes differ, and the girl is +pretty, while, you know, after all they're very much the same. We +have, however, got to look at the thing sensibly, and you admit you +can't deny it." + +"I told you it wouldn't suit me." + +"Then there is a difference?" + +Witham nodded. "You must make the best of that, but the others may +believe exactly what they please. It will be a favour to me if you +remember it." + +Dane smiled curiously. "Then I think it is enough for me, and you will +overlook my presumption. Courthorne, I wonder now and then when I +shall altogether understand you!" + +"The time will come," said Witham dryly, to hide what he felt; for his +comrade's simple avowal had been wonderfully eloquent. Then Dane +touched his horse with his heel and rode away. + +It was two or three weeks later when Witham, being requested to do so, +drove over to attend one of the assemblies at Silverdale Grange. It +was dark when he reached the house, for the nights were drawing in; +but because of the temperature, few of the great oil lamps were +lighted, and the windows were open wide. Somebody had just finished +singing when he walked into the big general room, and he would have +preferred another moment to make his entrance, but disdained to wait. +He, however, felt a momentary warmth in his face when Miss Barrington, +stately as when he had first seen her in her rustling silk and ancient +laces, came forward to greet him with her usual graciousness. He knew +that every eye was upon them, and guessed why she had done so much. + +What she said was of no moment, but the fact that she had received him +without sign of coldness was eloquent, and the man bent very +respectfully over the little white hand. Then he stood straight and +square for a moment and met her eyes. + +"Madam," he said, "I shall know who to come to when I want a friend." + +Afterwards he drifted towards a group of married farmers and their +wives, who, except for that open warranty, might have been less +cordial to him; and presently, though he was never quite sure how it +came about, found himself standing beside Maud Barrington. She smiled +at him and then glanced towards one of the open windows, outside which +one or two of the older men were sitting. + +"The room is very hot," said Witham tentatively. + +"Yes," said the girl, "I fancy it would be cooler in the hall." + +They passed out together into the shadowy hall, but a little gleam of +light from the doorway behind them rested on Maud Barrington as she +sat down. She looked inquiringly at the man as though in wait for +something. + +"It is distinctly cooler here," he said. + +Maud Barrington laughed impatiently. "It is," she said. + +"Well," said Witham, with a little smile. "I will try again. Wheat has +made another advance lately." + +The girl turned towards him with a little sparkle in her eyes. Witham +saw it, and the faint shimmer of the pearls upon the whiteness of her +neck and then moved his head so that he looked out upon the dusky +prairie. + +"Pshaw!" she said. "You know why you were brought here to-night." + +Witham admired her courage, but did not turn round, for there were +times when he feared his will might fail him. "I fancy I know why your +aunt was so gracious to me. Do you know that her confidence almost +hurts me." + +"Then why don't you vindicate it and yourself? Dane would be your +mouthpiece, and two or three words would be sufficient." + +Witham made no answer for a space. Somebody was singing in the room +behind them, and through the open window he could see the stars in the +soft indigo above the great sweep of prairie. He noticed them +vacantly, and took a curious impersonal interest in the two dim +figures standing close together outside the window. One was a young +English lad, and the other a girl in a long white dress. What they +were doing there was no concern of his, but any trifle that diverted +his attention a moment was welcome in that time of strain, for he had +felt of late that exposure was close at hand, and was fiercely anxious +to finish his work before it came. Maud Barrington's finances must be +made secure before he left Silverdale, and he must remain at any cost +until the wheat was sold. + +Then he turned slowly towards her. "It is not your aunt's confidence +that hurts me the most." + +The girl looked at him steadily, the colour a trifle plainer in her +face, which she would not turn from the light, and a growing wonder in +her eyes. + +"Lance," she said, "we both know that it is not misplaced. Still, your +impassiveness does not please us." + +Witham groaned inwardly, and the swollen veins showed on his forehead. +His companion had leaned forward a little, so that she could see him, +and one white shoulder almost touched his own. The perfume of her hair +was in his nostrils, and when he remembered how cold she had once been +to him, a longing that was stronger than the humiliation that came +with it grew almost overwhelming. Still, because of her very trust in +him, there was a wrong he could not do, and it dawned on him that a +means of placing himself beyond further temptation was opening to him. +Maud Barrington, he knew, would have scanty sympathy with an intrigue +of the kind Courthorne's recent adventure pointed to. + +"You mean, why do I not deny what you have no doubt heard?" he said. +"What could one gain by that if you had heard the truth?" + +Maud Barrington laughed softly. "Isn't the question useless?" + +"No," said Witham, a trifle hoarsely now. + +The girl touched his arm almost imperiously as he turned his head +again. + +"Lance," she said, "men of your kind need not deal in subterfuge. The +wheat and the bridge you built speak for you." + +"Still----" persisted Witham, and the girl checked him with a smile. + +"I fancy you are wasting time," she said. "Now, I wonder whether, when +you were in England, you ever saw a play founded on an incident in the +life of a once famous actor. At the time it rather appealed to me. The +hero, with a chivalric purpose, assumed various shortcomings he had +really no sympathy with--but while there is, of course, no similarity +beyond the generous impulse between the cases, he did not do it +clumsily. It is, however, a trifle difficult to understand what +purpose you could have, and one cannot help fancying that you owe a +little to Silverdale and yourself." + +It was a somewhat daring parallel; for Witham, who dare not look at +his companion and saw that he had failed, knew the play. + +"Isn't the subject a trifle difficult?" he asked. + +"Then," said Maud Barrington, "we will end it. Still, you promised +that I should understand--a good deal--when the time came." + +Witham nodded gravely. "You shall," he said. + +Then, somewhat to his embarrassment, the two figures moved further +across the window, and as they were silhouetted against the blue +duskiness, he saw that there was an arm about the waist of the girl's +white dress. He became sensible that Maud Barrington saw it too, and +then that, perhaps to save the situation, she was smiling. The two +figures, however, vanished, and a minute later a young girl in a long +white dress came in and stood still, apparently dismayed, when she saw +Maud Barrington. She did not notice Witham, who sat further in the +shadow. He, however, saw her face suddenly crimson. + +"Have you been here long?" she asked. + +"Yes," said Maud Barrington, with a significant glance towards the +window. "At least ten minutes. I am sorry, but I really couldn't help +it. It was very hot in the other room, and Allender was singing." + +"Then," said the girl, with a little tremor in her voice, "you will +not tell?" + +"No," said Maud Barrington. "But you must not do it again." + +The girl stooped swiftly and kissed her, then recoiled with a gasp +when she saw the man, but Maud Barrington laughed. + +"I think," she said, "I can answer for Mr. Courthorne's silence. +Still, when I have an opportunity, I am going to lecture you." + +Witham turned with a twinkle he could not quite repress in his eyes, +and with a flutter of her dress the girl whisked away. + +"I'm afraid this makes me an accessory, but I can only neglect my +manifest duty, which would be to warn her mother," said Maud +Barrington. + +"Is it a duty?" asked Witham, feeling that the further he drifted away +from the previous topic, the better it would be for him. + +"Some people would fancy so," said his companion. "Lily will have a +good deal of money by and by, and she is very young. Atterly has +nothing but an unprofitable farm; but he is an honest lad, and I know +she is very fond of him." + +"And would that count against the dollars?" + +Maud Barrington laughed a little. "Yes," she said quietly. "I think it +would if the girl is wise. Even now such things do happen; but I fancy +it is time I went back again." + +She moved away, but Witham stayed where he was until the lad came in +with a cigar in his hand. + +"Hallo, Courthorne!" he said. "Did you notice anybody pass the window +a little while ago?" + +"You are the first come in through it," said Witham dryly. "The kind +of things you wear admit of climbing." + +The lad glanced at him with a trace of embarrassment. + +"I don't quite understand you; but I meant a man," he said. "He was +walking curiously, as if he was half asleep, but he slipped round the +corner of the building, and I lost him." + +Witham laughed. "There's a want of finish in the tale, but you needn't +worry about me. I didn't see a man." + +"There's rather less wisdom than usual in your remarks to-night; but I +tell you I saw him," said the lad. + +He passed on, and a minute later there was a cry from the inner room. +"It's there again! Can't you see the face at the window?" + +Witham was in the larger room next moment, and saw, as a startled girl +had evidently done, a face that showed distorted and white to +ghastliness through the window. He also recognized it, and running +back through the hall was outside in another few seconds. Courthorne +was leaning against one of the casements as though faint with weakness +or pain, and collapsed when Witham dragged him backwards into the +shadow. He had scarcely laid him down when the window was opened and +Colonel Barrington's shoulders showed black against the light. + +"Come outside alone, sir," said Witham. Barrington did so, and Witham +stood so that no light fell on the pallid face in the grass. "It's a +man I have dealings with," he said. "He has evidently ridden out from +the settlement and fallen from his horse." + +"Why should he fall?" asked the Colonel. + +Witham laughed. "There is a perfume about him that is tolerably +conclusive. I was, however, on the point of going, and if you will +tell your hired man to get my wagon out, I'll take him away quietly. +You can make light of the affair to the others." + +"Yes," said Barrington. "Unless you think the man is hurt, that would +be best, but we'll keep him if you like." + +"No, sir. I couldn't trouble you," said Witham hastily. "Men of his +kind are also very hard to kill." + +Five minutes later he and the hired man hoisted Courthorne into the +wagon and packed some hay about him, while, soon after the rattle of +wheels sank into the silence of the prairie, the girl Maud Barrington +had spoken to rejoined her companion. + +"Could Courthorne have seen you coming in?" he asked. + +"Yes," said the girl, blushing. "He did." + +"Then it can't be helped, and, after all, Courthorne wouldn't talk, +even if he wasn't what he is," said the lad. "You don't know why, and +I'm not going to tell you, but it wouldn't become him." + +"You don't mean Maud Barrington?" asked his companion. + +"No," said the lad with a laugh. "Courthorne is not like me. He has no +sense. It's quite another kind of girl, you see." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +COLONEL BARRINGTON IS CONVINCED + + +It was not until early morning that Courthorne awakened from the +stupor he sank into, soon after Witham conveyed him into his +homestead. First, however, he asked for a little food, and ate it with +apparent difficulty. When Witham came in, he looked up from the bed +where he lay, with the dust still white upon his clothing, and his +face showed grey and haggard in the creeping light. + +"I'm feeling a trifle better now," he said; "still, I scarcely fancy I +could get up just yet. I gave you a little surprise last night?" + +Witham nodded. "You did. Of course, I knew how much your promise was +worth, but in view of the risks you ran, I had not expected you to +turn up at the Grange." + +"The risks!" said Courthorne with an unpleasant smile. + +"Yes," said Witham wearily; "I have a good deal on hand I would like +to finish here, and it will not take me long, but I am quite prepared +to give myself up now, if it is necessary." + +Courthorne laughed. "I don't think you need, and it wouldn't be wise. +You see, even if you made out your innocence, which you couldn't do, +you rendered yourself an accessory by not denouncing me long ago. I +fancy we can come to an understanding which would be pleasanter to +both of us." + +"The difficulty," said Witham, "is that an understanding is useless +when made with a man who never keeps his word." + +"Well," said Courthorne dryly, "we shall gain nothing by paying each +other compliments, and whether you believe it or otherwise, it was not +by intention I turned up at the Grange. I was coming here from a place +west of the settlement and you can see that I have been ill if you +look at me. I counted too much on my strength, couldn't find a +homestead where I could get anything to eat, and the rest may be +accounted for by the execrable brandy I had with me. Anyway, the horse +threw me and made off, and after lying under some willows a good deal +of the day, I dragged myself along until I saw a house." + +"That," said Witham, "is beside the question. What do you want of me? +Dollars, in all probability. Well, you will not get them." + +"I'm afraid I'm scarcely fit for a discussion now," said Courthorne. +"The fact is, it hurts me to talk, and there's an aggressiveness about +you which isn't pleasant to a badly-shaken man. Wait until this +evening, but there is no necessity for you to ride to the outpost +before you have heard me." + +"I'm not sure it would be advisable to leave you here," said Witham +dryly. + +Courthorne smiled ironically. "Use your eyes. Would any one expect me +to get up and indulge in a fresh folly? Leave me a little brandy--I +need it--and go about your work. You'll certainly find me here when +you want me." + +Witham, glancing at the man's face, considered this very probable, and +went out. He found his cook, who could be trusted, and said to him, +"The man yonder is tolerably sick, and you'll let him have a little +brandy, and something to eat when he asks for it. Still, you'll bring +the decanter away with you, and lock him in whenever you go out." + +The man nodded, and making a hasty breakfast, Witham, who had business +at several outlying farms, mounted and rode away. It was evening +before he returned, and found Courthorne lying in a big chair with a +cigar in his hand, languidly _debonair_ but apparently ill. His face +was curiously pallid, and his eyes dimmer than they had been, but +there was a sardonic twinkle in them. + +"You take a look at the decanter," said the man, who went up with +Witham, carrying a lamp. "He's been wanting brandy all the time, but +it doesn't seem to have muddled him." + +Witham dismissed the man and sat down in front of Courthorne. + +"Well?" he said. + +Courthorne laughed. "You ought to be a witty man, though one would +scarcely charge you with that. You surmised correctly this morning. It +is dollars I want." + +"You had my answer." + +"Of course. Still, I don't want very many in the meanwhile, and you +haven't heard what led up to the demand, or why I came back to you. +You are evidently not curious, but I'm going to tell you. Soon after I +left you, I fell very sick, and lay in the saloon of a little desolate +settlement for days. The place was suffocating, and the wind blew the +alkali dust in. They had only horrible brandy, and bitter water to +drink it with, and I lay there on my back, panting, with the flies +crawling over me. I knew if I stayed any longer it would finish me, +and when there came a merciful cool day I got myself into the saddle +and started off to find you. I don't quite know how I made the +journey, and during a good deal of it I couldn't see the prairie, but +I knew you would feel there was an obligation on you to do something +for me. Of course, I could put it differently." + +Witham had as little liking for Courthorne as he had ever had, but he +remembered the time when he had lain very sick in his lonely log hut. +He also remembered that everything he now held belonged to this man. + +"You made the bargain," he said, less decisively. + +Courthorne nodded. "Still, I fancy one of the conditions could be +modified. Now, if I wait for another three months I may be dead before +the reckoning comes, and while that probably wouldn't grieve you, I +could, when it appeared advisable, send for a magistrate and make a +deposition." + +"You could," said Witham. "I have, however, something of the same kind +in contemplation." + +Courthorne smiled curiously. "I don't know that it will be necessary. +Carry me on until you have sold your crop, and then make a reasonable +offer, and it's probable you may still keep what you have at +Silverdale. To be quite frank, I've a notion that my time in this +world is tolerably limited, and I want a last taste of all it has to +offer a man of my capacities before I leave it. One is a long while +dead, you know." + +Witham nodded, for he understood. He had also during the grim cares of +the lean years known the fierce longing for one deep draught of the +wine of pleasure, whatever it afterwards cost him. + +"It was that which induced you to look for a little relaxation at the +settlement at my expense," he said. "A trifle paltry, wasn't it?" + +Courthorne laughed. "It seems you don't know me yet. That was a +frolic, indulged in out of humour, for your benefit. You see, your +role demanded a good deal more ability than you ever displayed in it, +and it did not seem fitting that a very puritanical and priggish +person should pose as me at Silverdale. The little affair was the one +touch of verisimilitude about the thing. No doubt my worthy connexions +are grieving over your lapse." + +"My sense of humour had never much chance of developing," said Witham +grimly. "What is the matter with you?" + +"Pulmonary haemorrhage!" said Courthorne. "Perhaps it was born in me, +but I never had much trouble until after that night in the snow at the +river. Would you care to hear about it? We're not fond of each other, +but after the steer-drivers I've been herding with, it's a relief to +talk to a man of moderate intelligence." + +"Go on," said Witham. + +"Well," said Courthorne, "when the trooper was close behind me, my +horse went through the ice, but somehow I crawled out. We were almost +across the river, and it was snowing fast, while I had a fancy that I +might have saved the horse but, as the trooper would probably have +seen a mounted man, I let him go. The stream sucked him under, and, +though you may not believe it, I felt very mean when I saw nothing but +the hole in the ice. Then, as the troopers didn't seem inclined to +cross, I went on through the snow, and, as it happened, blundered +across Jardine's old shanty. There was still a little prairie hay in +the place, and I lay in it until morning, dragging fresh armfuls +around me as I burnt it in the stove. Did you ever spend a night, wet +through, in a place that was ten to twenty under freezing?" + +"Yes," said Witham dryly. "I have done it twice." + +"Well," said Courthorne, "I fancy that night narrowed in my life for +me, but I made out across the prairie in the morning, and as we had a +good many friends up and down the country, one of them took care of +me." + +Witham sat silent a while. The story had held his attention, and the +frankness of the man who lay panting a little in his chair had its +effect on him. There was no sound from the prairie, and the house was +very still. + +"Why did you kill Shannon?" he asked at length. + +"Is any one quite sure of his motives?" said Courthorne. "The lad had +done something which was difficult to forgive him, but I think I would +have let him go if he hadn't recognized me. The world is tolerably +good to the man who has no scruples, you see, and I took all it +offered me, while it did not seem fitting that a clod of a trooper +without capacity for enjoyment, or much more sensibility than the +beast he rode, should put an end to all my opportunities. Still, it +was only when he tried to warn his comrades he threw his last chance +away." + +Witham shivered a little at the dispassionate brutality of the speech, +and then checked the anger that came upon him. + +"Fate, or my own folly, has put it out of my power to denounce you +without abandoning what I have set my heart upon, and after all it is +not my business," he said. "I will give you five hundred dollars and +you can go to Chicago or Montreal, and consult a specialist. If the +money is exhausted before I send for you, I will pay your hotel bills, +but every dollar will be deducted when we come to the reckoning." + +Courthorne laughed a little. "You had better make it seven-fifty. Five +hundred dollars will not go very far with me." + +"Then you will have to husband them," said Witham dryly. "I am paying +you at a rate agreed upon for the use of your land and small bank +balance handed me, and want all of it. The rent is a fair one in face +of the fact that a good deal of the farm consisted of virgin prairie, +which can be had from the Government for nothing." + +He said nothing further, and soon after he went out Courthorne went to +sleep, but Witham sat by an open window with a burned-out cigar in his +hand, staring at the prairie while the night wore through, until he +rose with a shiver in the chill of early morning to commence his task +again. + +A few days later he saw Courthorne safely into a sleeping car with a +ticket for Chicago in his pocket, and felt that a load had been lifted +off his shoulders when the train rolled out of the little prairie +station. Another week had passed, when, riding home one evening, he +stopped at the Grange, and, as it happened, found Maud Barrington +alone. She received him without any visible restraint, but he realized +that all that had passed at their last meeting was to be tacitly +ignored. + +"Has your visitor recovered yet?" she asked. + +"So far as to leave my place, and I was not anxious to keep him," said +Witham with a little laugh. "I am sorry he disturbed you." + +Maud Barrington seemed thoughtful. "I can scarcely think the man was +to blame." + +"No?" said Witham. + +The girl looked at him curiously, and shook her head. "No," she said. +"I heard my uncle's explanation, but it was not convincing. I saw the +man's face." + +It was several seconds before Witham answered, and then he took the +bold course. + +"Well?" he said. + +Maud Barrington made a curious little gesture. "I knew I had seen it +before at the bridge, but that was not all. It was vaguely familiar, +and I felt I ought to know it. It reminded me of somebody." + +"Of me?" and Witham laughed. + +"No. There was a resemblance, but it was very superficial. That man's +face had little in common with yours." + +"These faint likenesses are not unusual," said Witham, and once more +Maud Barrington looked at him steadily. + +"No," she said. "Of course not. Well, we will conclude that my fancies +ran away with me, and be practical. What is wheat doing just now?" + +"Rising still," said Witham, and regretted the alacrity with which he +had seized the opportunity of changing the topic when he saw that it +had not escaped the notice of his companion. "You and I and a few +others will be rich this year." + +"Yes, but I am afraid some of the rest will find it has only further +anxieties for them." + +"I fancy," said Witham, "you are thinking of one." + +Maud Barrington nodded. "Yes; I am sorry for him." + +"Then it would please you if I tried to straighten out things for him? +It would be difficult, but I believe it could be accomplished." + +Maud Barrington's eyes were grateful, but there was something that +Witham could not fathom behind her smile. + +"If you undertook it. One could almost believe you had the wonderful +lamp," she said. + +Witham smiled somewhat dryly. "Then all its virtues will be tested +to-night, and I had better make a commencement while I have the +courage. Colonel Barrington is in?" + +Maud Barrington went with him to the door, and then laid her hand a +moment on his arm. "Lance," she said, with a little tremor in her +voice, "if there was a time when our distrust hurt you, it has +recoiled upon our heads. You have returned it with a splendid +generosity." + +Witham did not trust himself to answer, but walked straight to +Barrington's room, and finding the door open went quietly in. The head +of the Silverdale settlement was sitting at a littered table in front +of a shaded lamp, and the light that fell upon it showed the care in +his face. It grew a trifle grimmer when he saw the younger man. + +"Will you sit down?" he said. "I have been looking for a visit from +you for some little time. It would have been more fitting had you made +it earlier." + +Witham nodded as he took a chair. "I fancy I understand you, but I +have nothing that you expect to hear to tell you, sir." + +"That," said Barrington, "is unfortunate. Now, it is not my business +to pose as a censor on the conduct of any man here, except when it +affects the community, but their friends have sent out a good many +young English lads, some of whom have not been too discreet in the old +country, to me. They did not do so solely that I might teach them +farming. A charge of that kind is no light responsibility, and I look +for assistance from the men who have almost as large a stake as I have +in the prosperity of Silverdale." + +"Have you ever seen me do anything you could consider prejudicial to +it?" asked Witham. + +"I have not," said Colonel Barrington. + +"And it was by her own wish Miss Barrington, who, I fancy, is seldom +mistaken, asked me to the Grange?" + +"Is is a good plea," said Barrington. "I cannot question anything my +sister does." + +"Then we will let it pass, though I am afraid you will consider what I +am going to ask a further presumption. You have forward wheat to +deliver, and find it difficult to obtain it?" + +Barrington's smile was somewhat grim. "In both cases you have surmised +correctly." + +Witham nodded. "Still, it is not mere inquisitiveness, sir. I fancy I +am the only man at Silverdale who can understand your difficulties, +and, what is more to the point, suggest a means of obviating them. You +still expect to buy at lower prices before the time to make delivery +comes?" + +Again the care crept into Barrington's face, and he sat silent for +almost a minute. Then he said, very slowly, "I feel that I should +resent the question, but I will answer. It is what I hope to do." + +"Well," said Witham, "I am afraid you will find prices higher still. +There is very little wheat in Minnesota this year, and what there was +in Dakota was cut down by hail. Millers in St. Paul and Minneapolis +are anxious already, and there is talk of a big corner in Chicago. +Nobody is offering again, while you know what land lies fallow in +Manitoba, and the activity of their brokers shows the fears of +Winnipeg millers with contracts on hand. This is not my opinion alone. +I can convince you from the papers and market reports I see before +you." + +Barrington could not controvert the unpleasant truth he was still +endeavouring to shut his eyes to. "The demand from the East may +slacken," he said. + +Witham shook his head. "Russia can give them nothing. There was a +failure in the Indian monsoon, and South American crops were small. +Now, I am going to take a further liberty. How much are you short?" + +Barrington was never sure why he told him, but he was hard pressed +then, and there was a quiet forcefulness about the younger man that +had its effect on him. "That," he said, holding out a document, "is +the one contract I have not covered." + +Witham glanced at it. "The quantity is small. Still, money is very +scarce, and bank interest almost extortionate just now." + +Barrington flushed a trifle, and there was anger in his face. He knew +the fact that his loss on this sale should cause him anxiety was +significant, and that Witham had surmised the condition of his +finances tolerably correctly. + +"Have you not gone quite far enough?" he said. + +Witham nodded. "I fancy I need ask no more, sir. You can scarcely buy +the wheat, and the banks will advance nothing further on what you have +to offer at Silverdale. It would be perilous to put yourself in the +hands of a mortgage-broker." + +Barrington stood up very grim and straight, and there were not many +men at Silverdale who would have met his gaze. + +"Your content is a little too apparent, but I can still resent an +impertinence," he said. "Are my affairs your business?" + +"Sit down, sir," said Witham. "I fancy they are, and had it not been +necessary, I would not have ventured so far. You have done much for +Silverdale, and it had cost you a good deal, while it seems to me that +every man here has a duty to the head of the settlement. I am, +however, not going to urge that point, but have, as you know, a +propensity for taking risks. I can't help it. It was probably born in +me. Now, I will take that contract up for you." + +Barrington gazed at him in bewildered astonishment. "But you would +lose on it heavily. How could you overcome a difficulty that is too +great for me?" + +"Well," said Witham with a little smile, "it seems I have some ability +in dealing with these affairs." + +Barrington did not answer for a while, and when he spoke it was +slowly. "You have a wonderful capacity for making any one believe in +you." + +"That is not the point," said Witham. "If you will let me have the +contract, or, and it comes to the same thing, buy the wheat it calls +for, and if advisable sell as much again, exactly as I tell you, at my +risk and expense, I shall get what I want out of it. My affairs are a +trifle complicated, and it would take some little time to make you +understand how this would suit me. In the meanwhile you can give me a +mere I O U for the difference between what you sold at, and the price +to-day, to be paid without interest and whenever it suits you. It +isn't very formal, but you will have to trust me." + +Barrington moved twice up and down the room before he turned to the +younger man. "Lance," he said, "when you first came here, any deal of +this kind between us would have been out of the question. Now, it is +only your due to tell you that I have been wrong from the beginning, +and you have a good deal to forgive." + +"I think we need not go into that," said Witham, with a little smile. +"This is a business deal, and if it hadn't suited me I would not have +made it." + +He went out in another few minutes with a little strip of paper, and +just before he left the Grange placed it in Maud Barrington's hand. + +"You will not ask any questions, but if ever Colonel Barrington is not +kind to you, you can show him that," he said. + +He had gone in another moment, but the girl, comprehending dimly what +he had done, stood still, staring at the paper with a warmth in her +cheeks and a mistiness in her eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +SERGEANT STIMSON CONFIRMS HIS SUSPICIONS + + +It was late in the afternoon when Colonel Barrington drove up to +Witham's homestead. He had his niece and sister with him, and when he +pulled up his team, all three were glad of the little breeze that came +down from the blueness of the north and rippled the whitened grass. It +had blown over leagues of sun-bleached prairie, and the great +desolation beyond the pines of the Saskatchewan, but had not wholly +lost the faint wholesome chill it brought from the Pole. + +There was no cloud in the vault of ether, and slanting sunrays beat +fiercely down upon the prairie, until the fibrous dust grew fiery, and +the eyes ached from the glare of the vast stretch of silvery grey. The +latter was, however, relieved by stronger colour in front of the +party, for, blazing gold on the dazzling stubble, the oat sheaves +rolled away in long rows that diminished and melted into each other, +until they cut the blue of the sky in a delicate filigree. Oats had +moved up in value in sympathy with wheat, and the good soil had most +abundantly redeemed its promise that year. Colonel Barrington, +however, sighed a little as he looked at them, and remembered that +such a harvest might have been his. + +"We will get down and walk towards the wheat," he said. "It is a good +crop, and Lance is to be envied." + +"Still," said Miss Barrington, "he deserved it, and those sheaves +stand for more than the toil that brought them there." + +"Of course!" said the Colonel with a curious little smile. "For +rashness, I fancied, when they showed the first blade above the clod, +but I am less sure of it now. Well, the wheat is even finer." + +A man who came up took charge of the horses, and the party walked in +silence towards the wheat. It stretched before them in a vast +parallelogram, and while the oats were the pale gold of the austral, +there was the tint of the ruddier metal of their own North-West in +this. It stood tall and stately, murmuring as the sea does, until it +rolled before a stronger puff of breeze in waves of ochre, through +which the warm bronze gleamed when its rhythmic patter swelled into +deeper-toned harmonies. There was that in the elfin music and blaze of +colour which appealed to sensual ear and eye, and something which +struck deeper still, as it did in the days men poured libations on the +fruitful soil, and white-robed priest blessed it, when the world was +young. + +Maud Barrington felt it vaguely, but she recognized more clearly, as +her aunt had done, the faith and daring of the sower. The earth was +very bountiful, but that wheat had not come there of itself; and she +knew the man who had called it up had done more than bear his share of +the primeval curse which, however, was apparently more or less evaded +at Silverdale. Even when the issue appeared hopeless, the courage that +held him resolute in face of other's fears, and the greatness of his +projects, had appealed to her, and it almost counted for less that he +had achieved success. Then, glancing further across the billowing +grain she saw him--still, as it seemed it had always been with him, +amidst the stress and dust of strenuous endeavour. + +Once more, as she had seen them when the furrows were bare at seed +time, and there was apparently only ruin in store for those who raised +the Eastern people's bread, lines of dusty teams came plodding down +the rise. They advanced in echelon, keeping their time and distance +with a military precision; but in place of the harrows the tossing +arms of the binders flashed and swung. The wheat went down before +them, their wake was strewn with gleaming sheaves, and one man came +foremost, swaying in the driving-seat of a rattling machine. His face +was the colour of a Blackfoot's, and she could see the darkness of his +neck above the loose-fronted shirt and a bare blackened arm that was +raised to hold the tired beasts to their task. Their trampling and the +crash and rattle that swelled in slow crescendo drowned the murmur of +the wheat, until one of the machines stood still, and the leader, +turning a moment in his saddle, held up a hand. Then those that came +behind swung into changed formation, passed, and fell into indented +line again, while Colonel Barrington nodded with grim approval. + +"It is very well done," he said. "The best of harvesters! No newcomers +yonder. They're capable Manitoba men. I don't know where he got them, +and, in any other year, one would have wondered where he would find +the means of paying them. We have never seen farming of this kind at +Silverdale." + +He seemed to sigh a little, while his hand closed on the bridle; and +Maud Barrington fancied she understood his thoughts just then. + +"Nobody can be always right, and the good years do not come alone," +she said. "You will plough every acre next one." + +Barrington smiled dryly. "I'm afraid that will be a little late, my +dear. Any one can follow, but since, when everybody's crop is good, +the price comes down, the man who gets the prize is the one who shows +the way." + +"He was content to face the risk," said Miss Barrington. + +"Of course," said the Colonel quietly. "I should be the last to make +light of his foresight and courage. Indeed, I am glad I can +acknowledge it, in more ways than one, for I have felt lately that I +am getting an old man. Still, there is one with greater capacities +ready to step into my shoes; and though it was long before I could +overcome my prejudice against him, I think I should now be content to +let him have them. Whatever Lance may have been, he was born a +gentleman, and blood is bound to tell." + +Maud Barrington, who was of a patrician parentage, and would not at +one time have questioned this assertion, wondered why she felt less +sure of it just then. + +"But if he had not been, would not what he has done be sufficient to +vouch for him?" she said. + +Barrington smiled a little, and the girl felt that her question was +useless as she glanced at him. He sat very straight in his saddle, +immaculate in dress, with a gloved hand on his hip and a stamp which +he had inherited, with the thinly-covered pride that usually +accompanies it, from generations of a similar type, on his clean-cut +face. It was evidently needless to look for any sympathy with that +view from him. + +"My dear," he said, "there are things at which the others can beat us; +but, after all, I do not think they are worth the most; and while +Lance has occasionally exhibited a few undesirable characteristics, no +doubt acquired in this country, and has not been always blameless, the +fact that he is a Courthorne at once covers and accounts for a good +deal." + +Then Witham recognized them, and made a sign to one of the men behind +him as he hauled his binder clear of the wheat. He had dismounted in +another minute and came towards them, with the jacket he had not +wholly succeeded in struggling into loose about his shoulders. + +"It is almost time I gave my team a rest," he said. "Will you come +with me to the house?" + +"No," said Colonel Barrington. "We only stopped in passing. The crop +will harvest well." + +"Yes," said Witham, turning with a little smile to Miss Barrington. +"Better than I expected, and prices are still moving up. You will +remember, madam, who it was wished me good fortune. It has undeniably +come!" + +"Then," said the white-haired lady, "next year I will do as much +again, though it will be a little unnecessary, because you have my +good wishes all the time. Still, you are too prosaic to fancy they can +have anything to do with--this." + +She pointed to the wheat, but though Witham smiled again, there was a +curious expression in his face as he glanced at her niece. + +"I certainly do, and your good-will has made a greater difference than +you realize to me," he said. + +Miss Barrington looked at him steadily. "Lance," she said, "there is +something about you and your speeches that occasionally puzzles me. +Now, of course, that was the only rejoinder you could make, but I +fancied you meant it." + +"I did," said Witham, with a trace of grimness in his smile. "Still, +isn't it better to tell any one too little rather than too much?" + +"Well," said Miss Barrington, "you are going to be franker with me by +and by. Now, my brother has been endeavouring to convince us that you +owe your success to qualities inherited from bygone Courthornes." + +Witham did not answer for a moment and then he laughed. "I fancy +Colonel Barrington is wrong," he said. "Don't you think there are +latent capabilities in every man, though only one here and there gets +an opportunity of using them? In any case, wouldn't it be pleasanter +for any one to feel that his virtues were his own and not those of his +family?" + +Miss Barrington's eyes twinkled but she shook her head. "That," she +said, "would be distinctly wrong of him, but I fancy it is time we +were getting on." + +In another few minutes Colonel Barrington took up the reins, and as +they drove slowly past the wheat his niece had another view of the +toiling teams. They were moving on tirelessly with their leader in +front of them, and the rasp of the knives, trample of hoofs, and clash +of the binders' wooden arms once more stirred her. She had heard those +sounds often before, and attached no significance to them; but now she +knew a little of the stress and effort that preceded them; she could +hear through the turmoil the exultant note of victory. + +Then the wagon rolled more slowly up the rise and had passed from +view behind it when a mounted man rode up to Witham with an envelope +in his hand. + +"Mr. Macdonald was in at the settlement, and the telegraph clerk gave +it him," he said. "He told me to come along with it." + +Witham opened the message, and his face grew grim as he read, "Send me +five hundred dollars. Urgent." + +Then he thrust it into his pocket and went on with his harvesting, +when he had thanked the man. He also worked until dusk was creeping up +across the prairie before he concerned himself further about the +affair; and then the note he wrote was laconic. + +"Enclosed you will find fifty dollars, sent only because you may be +ill. In case of necessity, you can forward your doctor's or hotel +bills," it ran. + +It was with a wry smile he watched the man ride off towards the +settlement with it. "I shall not be sorry when the climax comes," he +said. "The strain is telling." + +In the meanwhile, Sergeant Stimson had been quietly renewing his +acquaintance with certain ranchers and herders of sheep scattered +across the Albertan prairie some six hundred miles away. They found +him more communicative and cordial than he used to be, and with one or +two he unbent so far as, in the face of regulations, to refresh +himself with whisky which had contributed nothing to the Canadian +revenue. Now, the lonely ranchers have, as a rule, few opportunities +of friendly talk with anybody, and as they responded to the sergeant's +geniality, he became acquainted with a good many facts, some of which +confirmed certain vague suspicions of his, though others astonished +him. In consequence of this, he rode out one night with two or three +troopers of a Western squadron. + +His apparent business was somewhat prosaic. Musquash, the Blackfoot, +in place of remaining quietly on his reserve, had in a state of +inebriation reverted to the primitive customs of his race, and taking +the trail not only annexed some of his white neighbours' ponies and +badly frightened their wives, but drove off a steer with which he +feasted his people. The owner, following, came upon the hide, and +Musquash, seeing it was too late to remove the brand from it, +expressed his contrition, and pleaded in extenuation that he was +rather worthy of sympathy than blame, because he would never have laid +hands on what was not his had not a white man sold him deleterious +liquor. As no white man is allowed to supply an Indian with alcohol in +any form, the wardens of the prairie took a somewhat similar view of +the case; and Stimson was, from motives which he did not mention, +especially anxious to get his grip upon the other offender. + +The night when they rode out was very dark, and they spent half of it +beneath a birch bluff, seeing nothing whatever, and only hearing a +coyote howl. It almost appeared that there was something wrong with +the information supplied them respecting the probable running of +another load of prohibited whisky, and towards morning Stimson rode up +to the young commissioned officer. + +"The man who brought us word has either played their usual trick and +sent us here while his friends take the other trail, or somebody saw +us ride out and went south to tell the boys," he said. "Now, you might +consider it advisable that I and one of the troopers should head for +the ford at Willow Hollow, sir." + +"Yes," said the young officer, who was quite aware that there was as +yet many things connected with his duties he did not know. "Now I come +to think of it, Sergeant, I do. We'll give you two hours, and then, if +you don't turn up, ride over after you; it's condemnably shivery +waiting for nothing here." + +Stimson saluted and shook his bridle, and rather less than an hour +later faintly discerned a rattle of wheels that rose from a long way +off across the prairie. Then he used the spur, and by and by it became +evident that the drumming of their horses' feet had carried far, for +though the rattle grew a little louder there was no doubt that whoever +drove the wagon had no desire to be overtaken. Still, two horses +cannot haul a vehicle over a rutted trail as fast as one can carry a +man, and when the wardens of the prairie raced towards the black wall +of birches that rose higher in front of them, the sound of wheels +seemed very near. It, however, ceased suddenly, and was followed by a +drumming that could only have been made by a galloping horse. + +"One beast!" said the Sergeant. "Well, they'd have two men, anyway, in +that wagon. Get down and picket. We'll find the other fellow +somewhere in the bluff." + +They came upon him within five minutes endeavouring to cut loose the +remaining horse from the entangled harness in such desperate haste +that he did not hear them until Stimson grasped his shoulder. + +"Hold out your hands," he said. "You have your carbine ready, +trooper?" + +The man made no resistance, and Stimson laughed when the handcuffs +were on. + +"Now," he said, "where's your partner?" + +"I don't know that I mind telling you," said the prisoner. "It was a +low down trick he played on me. We got down to take out the horses, +when we saw we couldn't get away from you, and I'd a blanket girthed +round the best of them, when he said he'd hold him while I tried what +I could do with the other. Well, I let him, and the first thing I knew +he was off at a gallop, leaving me with the other kicking devil two +men couldn't handle. You'll find him rustling south over the Montana +trail." + +"Mount and ride!" said Stimson, and when his companion galloped off +turned once more to his prisoner. + +"You'll have a lantern somewhere, and I'd like a look at you," he +said. "If you're the man I expect, I'm glad I found you." + +"It's in the wagon," said the other dejectedly. + +Stimson got a light, and when he had released and picketed the +plunging horse, held it so that he could see his prisoner. Then he +nodded with evident contentment. + +"You may as well sit down. We've got to have a talk," he said. + +"Well," said the other, "I'd help you to catch Harmon if I could, but +I can prove he hired me to drive him over to Kemp's in the wagon, and +you'd find it difficult to show I knew what there was in the packages +he took along." + +Stimson smiled dryly. "Still," he said, "I think it could be done, and +I've another count against you. You had one or two deals with the boys +some little while ago." + +"I'm not afraid of your fixing up against me anything I did then," +said the other man. + +"No?" said Stimson. "Now, I guess you're wrong, and it might be a good +deal more serious than whisky-running. One night a man crawled up to +your homestead through the snow, and you took him in." + +He saw the sudden fear in his companion's face before he turned it +from the lantern. + +"It has happened quite a few times," said the latter. "We don't turn +any stranger out in this country." + +"Of course!" said the Sergeant gravely, though he felt a little thrill +of content as he saw the shot, he had been by no means sure of, had +told. "That man, however, had lost his horse in the river, and it was +the one he got from you that took him out of the country. Now, if we +could show you knew what he had done, it might go as far as hanging +somebody." + +The man was evidently not a confirmed law-breaker, but merely one of +the small farmers who were willing to pick up a few dollars by +assisting the whisky-runners now and then, and he abandoned all +resistance. + +"Sergeant," he said, "it was most a week before I knew, and if anybody +had told me at the time I'd have turned him out to freeze before I'd +have let him have a horse of mine." + +"That wouldn't go very far if we brought the charge against you," said +Stimson grimly. "If you'd sent us word when you did know, we'd have +had him." + +"Well," said the man, "he was across the frontier by that time, and I +don't know that most folks would have done it, if they'd had the +warning the boys sent me." + +Stimson appeared to consider for almost a minute, and then gravely +rapped his companion's arm. + +"It seems to me that the sooner you and I have an understanding, the +better it will be for you," he said. + +They were some time arriving at it, and the Sergeant's superiors might +not have been pleased with all he promised during the discussion. +Still, he was flying at higher game and had to sacrifice a little, +while he knew his man. + +"We'll fix it up without you, as far as we can; but if we want you to +give evidence that the man who lost his horse in the river was not +Farmer Witham, we'll know where to find you," he said. "You'll have to +take your chance of being tried with him, if we find you trying to get +out of the country." + +It was half an hour later when the rest of the troopers arrived, and +Stimson had some talk with their officer aside. + +"A little out of the usual course, isn't it?" said the latter. "I +don't know that I'd have countenanced it, so to speak, off my own bat +at all, but I had a tolerably plain hint that you were to use your +discretion over this affair. After all, one has to stretch a point or +two occasionally." + +"Yes, sir," said Stimson; "a good many now and then." + +The officer smiled a little and went back to the rest. "Two of you +will ride after the other rascal," he said. "Now look here, my man; +the first time my troopers, who'll call round quite frequently, don't +find you about your homestead, you'll land yourself in a tolerably +serious difficulty. In the meanwhile, I'm sorry we can't bring a +charge of whisky-running against you, but another time be careful who +you hire your wagon to." + +Then there was a rapid drumming of hoofs as two troopers went off at a +gallop, while when the rest turned back towards the outpost, Stimson +rode with them, quietly content. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE REVELATION + + +Witham's harvesting prospered as his sowing had done, for day by day +the bright sunshine shone down on standing wheat and lengthening rows +of sheaves. It was in the bracing cold of sunrise the work began, and +the first pale stars were out before the tired men and jaded horses +dragged themselves home again. Not infrequently it happened that the +men wore out the teams and machines, but there was no stoppage then, +for fresh horses were led out from the corral or a new binder was +ready. Every minute was worth a dollar, and Witham, who had apparently +foreseen and provided for everything, wasted none. + +Then--for wheat is seldom stacked in that country--as the days grew +shorter and the evenings cool, the smoke of the big thrasher streaked +the harvest field, and the wagons went jolting between humming +separator and granary, until the latter was gorged to repletion, and +the wheat was stored within a willow framing beneath the chaff and +straw that streamed from the shoot of the great machine. Witham had +round him the best men that dollars could hire, and toiled tirelessly +with the grimy host in the whirling dust of the thrasher and amidst +the sheaves, wherever another pair of hands, or the quick decision +that would save an hour's delay, was needed most. + +As compared with the practice of insular Britain, there were not half +enough of them; but wages are high in that country, and the crew of +the thrasher paid by the bushel, while the rest had long worked for +their own hand on the levels of Manitoba and in the bush of Ontario, +and knew that the sooner their toil was over the sooner they would go +home again with well-lined pockets. So, generously fed, splendid human +muscle kept pace with clinking steel under a stress that is seldom +borne outside the sun-bleached prairie at harvest time, and Witham +forgot everything save the constant need for the utmost effort of body +and brain. It was even of little import to him that prices moved +steadily upwards as he toiled. + +At last it was finished, and only knee-high stubble covered his land +and that of Maud Barrington; while--for he was one who could venture +fearlessly and still know when he had risked enough--soon after it was +thrashed out the wheat was sold. The harvesters went home with enough +to maintain them through the winter; and Witham, who spent two days +counting his gain, wrote asking Graham to send him an accountant from +Winnipeg. With him he spent a couple more, and then, with an effort he +was never to forget, prepared himself for the reckoning. It was time +to fling off the mask before the eyes of all who had trusted him. + +He had thought over it carefully, and his first decision had been to +make the revelation alone to Colonel Barrington. That, however, would, +he felt be too simple, and his pride rebelled against anything that +would stamp him as one who dare not face the men he had deceived. One +by one they had tacitly offered him their friendship and then their +esteem, until he knew that he was virtually leader at Silverdale; and +it seemed fitting that he should admit the wrong he had done them, and +bear the obloquy before them all. For a while the thought of Maud +Barrington restrained him, and then he brushed that aside. He had +fancied with masculine blindness that what he felt for her had been +well concealed, and that her attitude to him could be no more than +kindly sympathy with one who was endeavouring to atone for a +discreditable past. Her anger and astonishment would be hard to bear, +but once more his pride prompted him, and he decided that she should +at least see he had the courage to face the results of his +wrong-doing. As it happened, he was also given an opportunity when he +was invited to the harvest celebration that was held each year at +Silverdale. + +It was a still, cool evening when every man of the community, and most +of the women gathered in the big dining-room of the Grange. The +windows were shut now, for the chill of the early frost was on the +prairie, and the great lamps burned steadily above the long tables. +Cut glass, dainty china and silver gleamed beneath them amidst the +ears of wheat that stood in clusters for sole and appropriate +ornamentation. They merited the place of honour, for wheat had brought +prosperity to every man at Silverdale who had had the faith to sow +that year. + +On either hand were rows of smiling faces: the men's burned and +bronzed, the women's kissed into faintly warmer colour by the sun, and +white shoulders shone amidst the sombrely covered ones, while here and +there a diamond gleamed on a snowy neck. Barrington sat at the head of +the longest table, with his niece and sister, Dane, and his oldest +followers about him, and Witham at its foot, dressed very simply after +the usual fashion of the prairie farmers. There were few in the +company who had not noticed this, though they did not as yet +understand its purport. + +Nothing happened during dinner, but Maud Barrington noticed that +although some of his younger neighbours rallied him, Witham was grimly +quiet. When it was over, Barrington rose, and the men who knew the +care he had borne that year never paid him more willing homage than +they did when he stood smiling down on them. As usual, he was +immaculate in dress, erect, and quietly commanding; but, in spite of +its smile, his face seemed worn, and there were thickening wrinkles, +which told of anxiety, about his eyes. + +"Another year has gone, and we have met again to celebrate with +gratefulness the fulfilment of the promise made when the world was +young," he said. "We do well to be thankful, but I think humility +becomes us, too. While we doubted, the sun and the rain have been with +us for a sign that, though men grow faint-hearted and spare their +toil, seed time and harvest shall not fail." + +It was the first time Colonel Barrington had spoken in quite that +strain, and when he paused a moment there was a curious stillness, for +those who heard him noticed an unusual tremor in his voice. There was +also a gravity that was not far removed from sadness in his face when +he went on again, but the intentness of his retainers would have been +greater had they known that two separate detachments of police +troopers were then riding toward Silverdale. + +"The year has brought its changes and set its mark deeply on some of +us," he said. "We cannot recall it, or retrieve our blunders, but we +can hope they will be forgiven us, and endeavour to avoid them again. +This is not the fashion in which I had meant to speak to you to-night, +but after the bounty showered upon us I feel my responsibility. The +law is unchangeable. The man who would have bread to eat or sell must +toil for it, and I, in disregard of it, bade you hold your hand. Well, +we have had our lesson, and we will be wiser another time; but I have +felt that my usefulness as your leader is slipping away from me. This +year has shown me that I am getting an old man." + +Dane kicked the foot of a lad beside him, and glanced at the piano as +he stood up. + +"Sir," he said simply, "although we have differed about trifles and +may do again, we don't want a better one--and if we did, we couldn't +find him." + +A chord from the piano rang through the approving murmurs, and the +company rose to their feet before the lad had beaten out the first bar +of the jingling rhythm. Then the voices took it up, and the great hall +shook to the rafters with the last "Nobody can deny." + +Trite as it was, Barrington saw the darker flush in the bronzed faces, +and there was a shade of warmer colour in his own as he went on again. + +"The things one feels the most are those one can least express, and I +will not try to tell you how I value your confidence," he said. +"Still, the fact remains that sooner or later I must let the reins +fall into younger hands, and there is a man here who will, I fancy, +lead you farther than you would ever go with me. Times change, and he +can teach you how those who would do the most for the Dominion need +live to-day. He is also, and I am glad of it, one of us, for +traditions do not wholly lose their force, and we know that blood will +tell. That this year has not ended hi disaster irretrievable is due to +our latest comrade, Lance Courthorne." + +This time there were no musical honours or need of them, for a shout +went up that called forth an answering rattle from the cedar +panelling. It was flung back from table to table up and down the great +room, and when the men sat down flushed and breathless, their eyes +still shining, the one they admitted had saved Silverdale rose up +quietly at the foot of the table. The hand he laid on the snowy cloth +shook a little, and the bronze that generally suffused it was less +noticeable in his face. All who saw it felt that something unusual was +coming, and Maud Barrington leaned forward a trifle with a curious +throbbing of her heart. + +"Comrades! It is, I think, the last time you will hear the term from +me," he said--"I am glad that we have made and won a good fight at +Silverdale, because it may soften your most warranted resentment when +you think of me." + +Every eye was turned upon him, and an expression of bewilderment crept +into the faces, while a lad who sat next to him touched his arm +reassuringly. + +"You'll feel your feet in a moment, but that's a curious fashion of +putting it," he said. + +Witham turned to Barrington, and stood silent a moment. He saw Maud +Barrington's face showing strained and intent, but less bewildered +than the others, and that of her aunt, which seemed curiously +impassive, and a little thrill ran through him. It passed, and once +more he only saw the leader of Silverdale. + +"Sir," he said, "I did you a wrong when I came here, and with your +convictions you would never tolerate me as your successor." + +There was a rustle of fabric as some of the women moved, and a murmur +of uncontrollable astonishment, while those who noticed it remembered +Barrington's gasp. It expressed absolute bewilderment, but in another +moment he smiled. + +"Sit down, Lance," he said. "You need make no speeches. We expect +better things from you." + +Witham stood very still. "It was the simple truth I told you, sir," he +said. "Don't make it too hard for me." + +Just then there was a disturbance at the rear of the room, and a man, +who shook off the grasp of one that followed him, came in. He moved +forward with uneven steps, and then, resting his hand on a chair-back, +faced about and looked at Witham. The dust was thick upon his clothes, +but it was his face that seized and held attention. It was horribly +pallid, save for the flush that showed in either cheek, and his +half-closed eyes were dazed. + +"I heard them cheering," he said. "Couldn't find you at your +homestead. You should have sent the five hundred dollars. They would +have saved you this." + +The defective utterance would alone have attracted attention, and, +with the man's attitude, was very significant, but it was equally +evident to most of those who watched him that he was also struggling +with some infirmity. Western hospitality has, however, no limit, and +one of the younger men drew out a chair. + +"Hadn't you better sit down, and if you want anything to eat we'll get +it you," he said. "Then you can tell us what your errand is." + +The man made a gesture of negation, and pointed to Witham. + +"I came to find a friend of mine. They told me at his homestead that +he was here," he said. + +There was an impressive silence, until Colonel Barrington glanced at +Witham, who still stood, quietly impassive, at the foot of the table. + +"You know our visitor?" he said. "The Grange is large enough to give a +stranger shelter." + +The man laughed. "Of course, he does! It's my place he's living in!" + +Barrington turned again to Witham and his face seemed to have grown a +trifle stern. + +"Who is this man?" he said. + +Witham looked steadily in front of him, vacantly noticing the rows of +faces turned towards him under the big lamps. "If he had waited a few +minutes longer, you would have known," he said. "He is Lance +Courthorne!" + +This time the murmurs implied incredulity, but the man who stood +swaying a little with his hand on the chair, and a smile in his +half-closed eyes, made an ironical inclination. + +"It's evident you don't believe it, or wish to. Still, it's true," he +said. + +One of the men nearest him rose and quietly pushed him into the chair. + +"Sit down in the meanwhile," he said dryly. "By and by, Colonel +Barrington will talk to you." + +Barrington thanked him with a gesture, and glanced at the rest. "One +would have preferred to carry out this inquiry more privately," he +said, very slowly, but with hoarse distinctness. "Still, you have +already heard so much." + +Dane nodded. "I fancy you are right, sir. Because we have known and +respected the man who has, at least, done a good deal for us, it would +be better that we should hear the rest." + +Barrington made a little gesture of agreement, and once more fixed his +eyes on Witham. "Then will you tell us who you are?" + +"A struggling prairie farmer," said Witham quietly. "The son of an +English country doctor, who died in penury, and one who, from your +point of view, could never have been entitled to more than courteous +toleration from any of you." + +He stopped, but--for the astonishment was passing--there was negation +in the murmurs which followed, while somebody said, "Go on!" + +Dane stood up. "I fancy our comrade is mistaken," he said. "Whatever +he may have been, we recognize our debt to him. Still, I think he owes +us a more complete explanation." + +Then Maud Barrington, sitting where all could see her, signed +imperiously to Alfreton, who was on his feet next moment, with +Macdonald and more of the men following him. + +"I," he said with a little ring in his voice and a flush in his young +face, "owe him everything, and I'm not the only one. This, it seems to +me, is the time to acknowledge it." + +Barrington checked him with a gesture. "Sit down, all of you. Painful +and embarrassing as it is, now we have gone so far, this affair must +be elucidated. It would be better if you told us more." + +Witham drew back a chair, and when Courthorne moved, the man who sat +next to him laid a grasp on his arm. "You will oblige me by not making +any remarks just now," he said dryly. "When Colonel Barrington wants +to hear anything from you he'll ask you." + +"There is little more," said Witham. "I could see no hope in the old +country, and came out to this one with one hundred pounds, a distant +connexion lent me. That sum will not go very far anywhere, as I found +when, after working for other men, I bought stock and took up +Government land. To hear how I tried to do three men's work for six +weary years, and at times went for months together half-fed, might not +interest you, though it has its bearing on what came after. The +seasons were against me, and I had not the dollars to tide me over the +time of drought and blizzard until a good one came. Still, though my +stock died, and I could scarcely haul in the little wheat the frost +and hail left me, with my worn-out team, I held on, feeling that I +could achieve prosperity if I once had the chances of other men." + +He stopped a moment, and Macdonald poured out a glass of wine and +passed it across to him in a fashion that made the significance of +what he did evident. + +"We know what kind of a struggle you made by what we have seen at +Silverdale," he said. + +Witham put the glass aside, and turned once more to Colonel +Barrington. + +"Still," he said, "until Courthorne crossed my path, I had done no +wrong, and I was in dire need of the money that tempted me to take his +offer. He made a bargain with me that I should ride his horse and +personate him, that the police troopers might leave him unsuspected to +lead his comrades running whisky, while they followed me. I kept my +part of the bargain, and it cost me what I fancy I can never recover, +unless the trial I shall shortly face will take the stain from me. +While I passed for him your lawyer found me, and I had no choice +between being condemned as a criminal for what Courthorne had in the +meanwhile done, or continuing the deception. He had, as soon as I had +left him, taken my horse and garments, so that if seen by the police +they would charge me. I could not take your money, but, though +Courthorne was apparently drowned I did wrong when I came to +Silverdale. For a time the opportunities dazzled me; ambition drew me +on, and I knew what I could do." + +He stopped again, and once more there was a soft rustle of dresses, +and a murmur, as those who listened gave inarticulate expression to +their feelings. Moving a little, he looked steadily at Maud +Barrington, and her aunt, who sat close together. + +"Then," he said very slowly, "it was borne in upon me that I could not +persist in deceiving you. Courthorne, I fancied, could not return to +trouble me, but the confidence that little by little you placed in me +rendered it out of the question. Still, I saw that I could save some +at least at Silverdale from drifting to disaster, and there was work +for me here which would go a little way in reparation, and now that it +is done I was about to bid you good-bye and ask you not to think too +hardly of me." + +There was a moment's intense silence until once more Dane rose up, and +pointed to Courthorne sitting with half-closed eyes, dusty, partly +dazed by indulgence, and with the stamp of dissolute living on him, in +his chair. Then, he glanced at Witham's bronzed face, which showed +quietly resolute at the bottom of the table. + +"Whatever we would spare you and ourselves, sir, we must face the +truth," he said. "Which of these men was needed at Silverdale?" + +Again the murmurs rose up, but Witham sat silent, his pulses throbbing +with a curious exultation. He had seen the colour creep into Maud +Barrington's face, and her aunt's eyes, when he told her what had +prompted him to leave Silverdale, and knew they understood him. Then, +in the stillness that followed, the drumming of hoofs rose from the +prairie. It grew louder, and when another sound became audible too, +more than one of those who listened recognized the jingle of +accoutrements. Courthorne rose unsteadily, and made for the door. + +"I think," he said with a curious laugh, "I must be going. I don't +know whether the troopers want me or your comrade." + +A lad sprang to his feet, and as he ran to the door called "Stop him!" + +In another moment Dane had caught his arm, and his voice rang through +the confusion, as everybody turned or rose. + +"Keep back all of you," he said. "Let him go!" + +Courthorne was outside by this time, and only those who reached the +door before Dane closed it heard a faint beat of hoofs as somebody +rode quietly away beneath the bluff, while as the rest clustered +together, wondering, a minute or two later, Corporal Payne, flecked +with spume and covered with dust came in. He raised his hand in +salutation to Colonel Barrington, who sat very grim in face in his +chair at the head of the table. + +"I'm sorry, sir, but it's my duty to apprehend Lance Courthorne," he +said. + +"You have a warrant?" asked Barrington. + +"Yes, sir," said the corporal. + +There was intense silence for a moment. Then the Colonel's voice broke +through it very quietly. + +"He is not here," he said. + +Payne made a little deprecatory gesture. "We knew he came here. It is +my duty to warn you that proceedings will be taken against any one +concealing or harbouring him." + +Barrington rose up very stiffly, with a little grey tinge in his face, +but words seemed to fail him, and Dane laid his hand on the corporal's +shoulder. + +"Then," he said grimly, "don't exceed it. If you believe he's here, we +will give you every opportunity of finding him." + +Payne called to a comrade outside, who was, as it happened, new to the +force, and they spent at least ten minutes questioning the servants +and going up and down the house. Then, as they glanced into the +general room, the trooper looked deprecatingly at his officer. + +"I fancied I heard somebody riding by the bluff just before we reached +the house," he said. + +Payne wheeled round with a flash in his eyes. "Then you have lost us +our man. Out with you, and tell Jackson to try the bluff for a trail." + +They had gone in another moment, and Witham still sat at the foot of +the table and Barrington at the head, while the rest of the company +were scattered, some wonderingly silent, though others talked in +whispers, about the room. As yet they felt only consternation and +astonishment. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +COURTHORNE MAKES REPARATION + + +The silence in the big room had grown oppressive when Barrington +raised his head and sat stiffly upright. + +"What has happened has been a blow to me, and I am afraid I am +scarcely equal to entertaining you to-night," he said. "I should, +however, like Dane and Macdonald, and one or two of the older men, to +stay a while. There is still, I fancy, a good deal for us to do." + +The others turned towards the door, but as they passed Witham, Miss +Barrington turned and touched his shoulder. The man, looking up +suddenly, saw her and her niece standing close beside her. + +"Madam," he said hoarsely, though it was Maud Barrington he glanced +at, "the comedy is over. Well, I promised you an explanation, and now +you have it you will try not to think too bitterly of me. I cannot ask +you to forgive me." + +The little white-haired lady pointed to the ears of wheat which stood +gleaming ruddy-bronze in front of him. + +"That," she said very quietly, "will make it easier." + +Maud Barrington said nothing, but every one in the room saw her +standing a moment beside the man with a little flush in her face and +no blame in her eyes. Then she passed on, but, short as it was, the +pause had been very significant, for it seemed that whatever the +elders of the community might decide, the two women, whose influence +was supreme at Silverdale, had given the impostor absolution. + +The girl could not analyse her feelings, but through them all a vague +relief was uppermost; for whatever he had been, it was evident the man +had done one wrong only, and daringly, and that was a good deal easier +to forgive than several incidents in Courthorne's past would have +been. Then she was conscious that Miss Barrington's eyes were upon +her. + +"Aunt," she said with a little tremor in her voice, "it is almost +bewildering. Still one seemed to feel that what that man has done +could never have been the work of Lance Courthorne." + +Miss Barrington made no answer, but her face was very grave; and just +then those nearest it drew back a little from the door. A trooper +stood outside it, his carbine glinting in the light, and another was +silhouetted against the sky, sitting motionless in his saddle further +back on the prairie. + +"The police are still there," said somebody. + +One by one they passed out under the trooper's gaze, but there was the +usual delay in harnessing and saddling, and the first vehicle had +scarcely rolled away when again the beat of hoofs and thin jingle of +steel came portentously out of the silence. Maud Barrington shivered a +little as she heard it. + +In the meanwhile, the few who remained had seated themselves about +Colonel Barrington. When there was quietness again he glanced at +Witham, who still sat at the foot of the table. + +"Have you anything more to tell us?" he asked. "These gentlemen are +here to advise me if necessary." + +"Yes," said Witham quietly. "I shall probably leave Silverdale before +morning, and have now to hand you a statement of my agreement with +Courthorne and the result of my farming here, drawn up by a Winnipeg +accountant. Here is also a document in which I have taken the liberty +of making you and Dane my assigns. You will, as authorized by it, pay +to Courthorne the sum due to him, and with your consent, which you +have power to withhold, I propose taking one thousand dollars only of +the balance that remains to me. I have it here now, and in the +meanwhile surrender it to you. Of the rest, you will make whatever use +that appears desirable for the general benefit of Silverdale. +Courthorne has absolutely no claim upon it." + +He laid a wallet on the table, and Dane glanced at Colonel Barrington, +who nodded when he returned it unopened. + +"We will pass it without counting. You accept the charge, sir?" he +said. + +"Yes," said Barrington gravely. "It seems it is forced on me. Well, we +will glance through the statement." + +For at least ten minutes nobody spoke, and then Dane said, "There are +prairie farmers who would consider what he is leaving behind him a +competence." + +"If this agreement, which was apparently verbal, is confirmed by +Courthorne, the entire sum rightfully belongs to the man he made his +tenant," said Barrington; and Macdonald smiled gravely as he glanced +at Witham. + +"I think we can accept the statement that it was made, without +question, sir," he said. + +Witham shook his head. "I claim one thousand dollars as the fee of my +services, and they should be worth that much; but I will take no +more." + +"Are we not progressing a little too rapidly, sir?" said Dane. "It +seems to me we have yet to decide whether it is necessary that the man +who has done so much for us should leave Silverdale." + +Witham smiled a trifle grimly. "I think," he said, "that question will +very shortly be answered for you." + +Macdonald held his hand up, and a rapid thud of hoofs came faintly +through the silence. + +"Troopers! They are coming here," he said. + +"Yes," said Witham. "I fancy they will relieve you from any further +difficulty." + +Dane strode to one of the windows, and glanced at Colonel Barrington +as he pulled back the catch. Witham, however, shook his head, and a +little flush crept into Dane's bronzed face. + +"Sorry. Of course, you are right," he said. "It will be better that +they should acquit you." + +No one moved for a few more minutes, and then with a trooper behind +him Sergeant Stimson came in, and laid his hand on Witham's shoulder. + +"I have a warrant for your apprehension, Farmer Witham," he said. "You +probably know the charge against you." + +"Yes," said Witham, simply. "I hope to refute it. I will come with +you." + +He went out, and Barrington stared at the men about him. "I did not +catch the name before. That was the man who shot the police trooper in +Alberta?" + +"No, sir," said Dane very quietly. "Nothing would induce me to believe +it of him." + +Barrington looked at him in bewilderment. "But he must have +done--unless," he said, and ended with a little gasp. "Good Lord! +There was the faint resemblance, and they changed horses--it is +horrible." + +Dane's eyes were very compassionate as he laid his hand gently on his +leader's shoulder. + +"Sir," he said, "you have our sympathy, and I am sorry that to offer +it is all we can do. Now, I think, we have stayed too long already." + +They went out and left Colonel Barrington sitting alone with a grey +face at the head of the table. + +It was a minute or two later when Witham swung himself into the saddle +at the door of the Grange; All the vehicles had not left as yet, and +there was a little murmur of sympathy--when the troopers closed in +about him. Still before they rode away, one of the men wheeled his +horse aside, and Witham saw Maud Barrington standing bareheaded by his +stirrup. The moonlight showed that her face was impassive but +curiously pale. + +"We could not let you go without a word; and you will come back to us +with your innocence made clear," she said. + +Her voice had a little ring in it that carried far, and her companions +heard her. What Witham said, they could not hear, and he did not +remember it, but he swung his hat off, and those who saw the girl at +his stirrup recognized with confusion that she alone had proclaimed +her faith, while they had stood aside from him. Then the Sergeant +raised his hand and the troopers rode forward with their prisoner. + +In the meanwhile, Courthorne was pressing south for the American +frontier and daylight was just creeping across the prairie when the +pursuers, who had found his trail and the ranch he obtained a fresh +horse at, had sight of him. There were three of them, riding wearily, +grimed with dust, when a lonely mounted figure showed for a moment on +the crest of a rise. In another minute it dipped into a hollow, and +Corporal Payne smiled grimly. + +"I think we have him now. The creek can't be far away, and he's west +of the bridge," he said. "While we try to head him off, you'll follow +behind him Hilton." + +One trooper sent the spurs in and, while the others swung off, rode +straight on. Courthorne was at least a mile from them, but they were +nearer the bridge, and Payne surmised that his jaded horse would fail +him if he essayed to ford the creek and climb the farther side of the +deep ravine it flowed through. They saw nothing of him when they swept +across the rise, for here and there a grove of willows stretched out +across the prairie from the sinuous band of trees in front of them. +These marked the river hollow, and Payne knowing that the chase might +be ended in a few more minutes did not spare the spur. He also +remembered, as he tightened his grip on the bridle, the white face of +Trooper Shannon flecked with the drifting snow. + +The bluff that rose steadily higher came back to them, willow and +straggling birch flashed by, and at last Payne drew bridle where a +rutted trail wound down between the trees to the bridge in the hollow. +A swift glance showed him that a mounted man could scarcely make his +way between them and he smiled dryly as he signed to his companion. + +"Back your horse clear of the trail," he said; and there was a rattle +as he flung his carbine across the saddle. "With Hilton behind him, +he'll ride straight into our hands." + +He wheeled his horse in among the birches, and then sat still, with +fingers that quivered a little on the carbine stock, until a faint +drumming rose from the prairie. + +"He's coming!" said the trooper. "Hilton's hanging on to him!" + +Payne made no answer, and the sound that rang more loudly every moment +through the greyness of the early daylight was not pleasant to hear. +Man's vitality is near its lowest about that hour, and the troopers +had ridden furiously the long night through, while one of them, who +knew Lance Courthorne, surmised that there was grim work before him. +Still, though he shivered as a little chilly wind shook the birch +twigs, he set his lips, and once more remembered the comrade who had +ridden far and kept many a lonely vigil with him. + +Then a mounted man appeared in the space between the trees. His horse +was jaded, and he rode loosely, swaying once or twice in his saddle; +but he came straight on, and there was a jingle and rattle as the +troopers swung out into the trail. The man saw them, for he glanced +over his shoulder, as if at the rider who appeared behind, and then +sent the spurs in again. + +"Pull him up," cried Corporal Payne, and his voice was a little +strained. "Stop right where you are before we fire on you!" + +The man must have seen the carbines, for he raised himself a trifle, +and Payne saw his face under the flapping hat. It was drawn and grey, +but there was no sign of yielding or consternation in the half-closed +eyes. Then he lurched in his saddle, as from exhaustion or weariness, +and straightened himself again with both hands on the bridle. Payne +saw his heels move and the spurs drip red, and slid his left hand +further along the carbine stock. The trail was steep and narrow. A +horseman could scarcely turn in it, and the stranger was coming on at +a gallop. + +"He will have it," said the trooper hoarsely. "If he rides one of us +down he may get away." + +"We have got to stop him," said Corporal Payne. + +Once more the swaying man straightened himself, flung his head back, +and with a little breathless laugh drove his horse furiously at Payne. +He was very close now, and his face showed livid under the smearing +dust; but his lips were drawn up in a little bitter smile as he rode +straight upon the levelled carbines. Payne at least understood it, and +the absence of flung-up hand or cry. Courthorne's inborn instincts +were strong to the end. + +There was a hoarse shout from the trooper, and no answer, and a +carbine flashed. Then Courthorne loosed the bridle, reeled sideways +from the saddle, rolled half round with one foot in the stirrup and +his head upon the ground, and was left behind, while the riderless +horse and pursuer swept past the two men who, avoiding them by a +hairsbreadth, sat motionless a moment in the thin drifting smoke. + +Then Corporal Payne swung himself down, and, while the trooper +followed, stooped over the man who lay, a limp huddled object, in the +trail. He blinked up at them out of eyes that were almost closed. + +"I think you have done for me," he said. + +Payne glanced at his comrade. "Push on to the settlement," he said. +"They've a doctor there. Bring him and Harland the magistrate out." + +The trooper seemed glad to mount and ride away, and Payne once more +bent over the wounded man. + +"Very sorry," he said. "Still, you see, you left me no other means of +stopping you. Now, is there anything I can do for you?" + +A little wry smile crept into Courthorne's face. "Don't worry," he +said. "I had no wish to wait for the jury, and you can't get at an +injury that's inside me." + +He said nothing more, and it seemed a very long while to Corporal +Payne and Trooper Hilton, who rejoined him, before a wagon with two +men in it beside the trooper came jolting up the trail. They got out, +and one of them, who was busy with Courthorne for some minutes, nodded +to Payne. + +"Any time in the next twelve hours. He may last that long," he said. +"Nobody's going to worry him now, but I'll see if I can revive him a +little when we get to Adamson's. It can't be more than a league away." + +They lifted Courthorne, who appeared insensible, into the wagon, and +Payne signed to Trooper Hilton. "Take my horse and tell Colonel +Barrington. Let him understand there's no time to lose. Then you can +bring Stimson." + +The tired lad hoisted himself into his saddle and groaned a little as +he rode away, but he did his errand, and late that night Barrington +and Dane drove up to a lonely homestead. A man led them into a room +where a limp figure was lying on a bed. + +"Been kind of sleeping most of the day, but the doctor has given him +something that has wakened him," he said. + +Barrington returned Payne's greeting and sat down with Dane close +beside him, while, when the wounded man raised his head, the doctor +spoke softly to the magistrate from the settlement a league or two +away. + +"I fancy he can talk to you, but you had better be quick if you wish +to ask him anything," he said. + +Courthorne seemed to have heard him, for he smiled a little as he +glanced at Barrington. "I'm afraid it will hurt you to hear what I +have to tell this gentleman," he said. "Now, I want you to listen +carefully, and every word put down. Doctor, a little more brandy." + +Barrington apparently would have spoken, but while the doctor held a +glass to the bloodless lips the magistrate, who took up a strip of +paper, signed to him. + +"We'll have it in due form. Give him that book, doctor," he said. +"Now, repeat after me, and then we'll take your testimony." + +It was done, and a flicker of irony showed in Courthorne's half-closed +eyes. + +"You feel more sure of me after that?" he said, in a voice that was +very faint and strained. "Still, you see, I could gain nothing by +deviating from the truth now. Well, I shot Trooper Shannon. You'll +have the date in the warrant. Don't know if it will seem strange to +you, but I forget it. I borrowed Farmer Witham's horse and rifle +without his knowledge, though I had paid him a trifle to personate me +and draw the troopers off the whisky-runners. That was Witham's only +complicity. The troopers, who fancied they were chasing him, followed +me until his horse which I was riding went through the ice; but Witham +was in Montana at the time, and did not know that I was alive until a +very little while ago. Now, you can straighten that up and read it out +to me." + +The magistrate's pen scratched noisily in the stillness of the room, +but before he had finished, Sergeant Stimson, hot and dusty, came in. +Then he raised his hand, and for a while his voice rose and fell +monotonously until Courthorne nodded. + +"That's all right," he said. "I'll sign." + +The doctor raised him a trifle, and moistened his lips with brandy as +he gave him the pen. It scratched for a moment or two, and then fell +from his relaxing fingers, while the man who took the paper wrote +across the foot of it, and then would have handed it to Colonel +Barrington, but that Dane quietly laid his hand upon it. + +"No," he said. "If you want another witness, take me." + +Barrington thanked him with a gesture; and Courthorne, looking round, +saw Stimson. + +"You have been very patient, Sergeant, and it's rough on you that the +one man you can lay your hands upon is slipping away from you," he +said. "You'll see by my deposition that Witham thought me as dead as +the rest of you did." + +Stimson nodded to the magistrate. "I heard what was read, and it is +confirmed by the facts I have picked up," he said. + +Then Courthorne turned to Barrington. "I sympathize with you, sir," he +said, "This must be horribly mortifying; but, you see, Witham once +stopped my horse backing over a bridge into a gully when just to hold +his hand would have rid him of me. You will not grudge me the one good +turn I have probably done any man, when I shall assuredly not have the +chance of doing another." + +Barrington winced a little, for he recognized the irony in the failing +voice; but he rose and moved towards the bed. + +"Lance," he said, a trifle hoarsely, "it is not that which makes what +has happened horrible to me, and I am only glad that you have righted +this man. Your father had many claims on me, and things might have +gone differently if, when you came out to Canada, I had done my duty +by his son." + +Courthorne smiled a little, but without bitterness. "It would have +made no difference, sir; and, after all, I led the life that suited +me. By and by you will be grateful to me. I sent you a man who will +bring prosperity to Silverdale." + +Then he turned to Stimson, and his voice sank almost beyond hearing as +he said, "Sergeant, remember Witham fancied I was dead." + +He moved his head a trifle, and the doctor, stooping over him, signed +to the rest, who went out except Barrington. + +It was some hours later, and very cold, when Barrington came softly +into the room where Dane lay half asleep in a big chair. The latter +glanced at him with a question in his eyes, and the Colonel nodded +very gravely. + +"Yes," he said. "He has slipped out of the troopers' hands and beyond +our reproaches--but I think the last thing he did will count for a +little." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +WITHAM RIDES AWAY + + +The first of the snow was driving across the prairie before a bitter +wind when Maud Barrington stood by a window of the Grange looking out +into the night. The double casements rattled, the curtains behind her +moved with the icy draughts, until, growing weary of watching the +white flakes whirl past, she drew them to and walked slowly towards a +mirror. Then a faint tinge of pink crept into her cheeks, and a +softness that became her into her eyes. They, however, grew critical +as she smoothed back a tress of lustrous hair a trifle from her +forehead, straightened the laces at neck and wrist, and shook into +more flowing lines the long black dress. Maud Barrington was not +unduly vain, but it was some time before she seemed contented, and one +would have surmised that she desired to appear her best that night. + +The result was beyond cavil in its artistic simplicity, for the girl, +knowing the significance that trifles have at times, had laid aside +every adornment that might hint at wealth, and the sombre draperies +alone emphasized the polished whiteness of her face and neck. Still, +and she did not know whether she was pleased or otherwise at this, the +mirror had shown the stamp which revealed itself even in passive pose +and poise of head. It was her birthright, and would not be disguised. + +Then she drew a low chair towards the stove, and once more the faint +colour crept into her face as she took up a note. It was laconic, and +requested permission to call at the Grange, but Maud Barrington was +not deceived, and recognized the consideration each word had cost the +man who wrote it. Afterwards she glanced at her watch, raised it with +a little gesture of impatience to make sure it had not stopped, and +sat still, listening to the moaning of the wind, until the door +opened, and Miss Barrington came in. She glanced at her niece, who +felt that her eyes had noticed each detail of her somewhat unusual +dress, but said nothing until the younger woman turned to her. + +"They would scarcely come to-night, aunt," she said. + +Miss Barrington, listening a moment, heard the wind that whirled the +snow about the lonely building, but smiled incredulously. + +"I fancy you are wrong, and I wish my brother were here," she said. +"We could not refuse Mr. Witham permission to call, but whatever +passes between us will have more than its individual significance. +Anything we tacitly promise the others will agree to, and I feel the +responsibility of deciding for Silverdale." + +Miss Barrington went out; but her niece, who understood her smile and +that she had received a warning, sat with a strained expression in her +eyes. The prosperity of Silverdale had been dear to her, but she knew +she must let something that was dearer still slip away from her, or, +since they must come from her, trample on her pride as she made the +first advances. It seemed a very long while before there was a +knocking at the outer door, and she rose with a little quiver when +light steps came up the stairway. + +In the meanwhile, two men stood beside the stove in the hall until an +English maid returned to them. + +"Colonel Barrington is away, but Miss Barrington and Miss Maud are at +home," she said. "Will you go forward into the morning-room when you +have taken off your furs?" + +"Did you know Barrington was not here?" asked Witham, when the maid +moved away. + +Dane appeared embarrassed. "The fact is, I did." + +"Then," said Witham dryly, "I am a little astonished you did not think +fit to tell me." + +Dane's face flushed, but he laid his hand on his comrade's arm. "No," +he said. "I didn't. Now, listen to me for the last time, Witham. I've +not been blind, you see; and, as I told you, your comrades have +decided that they wish you to stay. Can't you sink your confounded +pride and take what is offered you?" + +Witham shook his grasp off, and there was weariness in his face. "You +need not go through it all again. I made my decision a long while +ago." + +"Well," said Dane, with a gesture of hopelessness, "I've done all I +could and, since you are going on, I'll look at that trace clip while +you tell Miss Barrington. I mean the younger one." + +"The harness can wait," said Witham. "You are coming with me." + +A little grim smile crept into Dane's eyes. "I am not. I wouldn't +raise a finger to help you now," he said, and retreated hastily. + + * * * * * + +It was five minutes later when Witham walked quietly into Maud +Barrington's presence, and sat down when the girl signed to him. He +wondered if she guessed how his heart was beating. + +"It is very good of you to receive me, but I felt I could not slip +away without acknowledging the kindness you and Miss Barrington have +shown me," he said. "I did not know Colonel Barrington was away." + +The girl smiled a little. "Or you would not have come? Then we should +have had no opportunity of congratulating you on your triumphant +acquittal. You see it must be mentioned." + +"I'm afraid there was a miscarriage of justice," said Witham quietly. +"Still, though it is a difficult subject, the deposition of the man I +supplanted went a long way, and the police did not seem desirous of +pressing a charge against me. Perhaps I should have insisted on +implicating myself, but you would scarcely have looked for that after +what you now know of me." + +Maud Barrington braced herself for an effort, though she was outwardly +very calm. "No," she said, "no one would have looked for it from any +man placed as you were, and you are purposing to do more than is +required of you. Why will you go away?" + +"I am a poor man," said Witham. "One must have means to live at +Silverdale." + +"Then," said the girl with a soft laugh which cost her a good deal, +"it is because you prefer poverty, and you have at least one +opportunity at Silverdale. Courthorne's land was mine to all intents +and purposes before it was his, and now it reverts to me. I owe him +nothing, and he did not give it me. Will you stay and farm it on +whatever arrangement Dane and Macdonald may consider equitable? My +uncle's hands are too full for him to attempt it." + +"No," said Witham, and his voice trembled a little. "Your friends +would resent it." + +"Then," said the girl, "why have they urged you to stay?" + +"A generous impulse. They would repent of it by and by. I am not one +of them, and they know it now, as I did at the beginning. No doubt +they would be courteous, but you see a half-contemptuous toleration +would gall me." + +There was a little smile on Maud Barrington's lips, but it was not in +keeping with the tinge in her cheek and the flash in her eyes. + +"I once told you that you were poor at subterfuge, and you know you +are wronging them," she said. "You also know that even if they were +hostile to you, you could stay and compel them to acknowledge you. I +fancy you once admitted as much to me. What has become of this pride +of the democracy you showed me?" + +Witham made a deprecatory gesture. "You must have laughed at me. I had +not been long at Silverdale then," he said dryly. "I should feel very +lonely now. One man against long generations. Wouldn't it be a trifle +unequal?" + +Maud Barrington smiled again. "I did not laugh, and this is not +England, though what you consider prejudices do not count for so much +as they used to there, while there is, one is told quite frequently, +no limit to what a man may attain to here, if he dares sufficiently." + +A little quiver ran through Witham, and he rose and stood looking down +on her, with one brown hand clenched on the table and the veins +showing on his forehead. + +"You would have me stay?" he said. + +Maud Barrington met his eyes, for the spirit that was in her was the +equal of his. "I would have you be yourself--what you were when you +came here in defiance of Colonel Barrington, and again when you sowed +the last acre of Courthorne's land, while my friends, who are yours +too, looked on wondering. Then you would stay--if it pleased you. +Where has your splendid audacity gone?" + +Witham slowly straightened himself and the girl noticed the damp the +struggle had brought there on his forehead, for he understood that if +he would stretch out his hand and take it what he longed for might be +his. + +"I do not know, any more than I know where it came from, for until I +met Courthorne I had never made a big venture in my life," he said. +"It seems it has served its turn and left me--for now there are things +I am afraid to do." + +"So you will go away and forget us?" + +Witham stood very still a moment, and the girl, who felt her heart +beating noticed that his face was drawn. Still, she could go no +further. Then he said very slowly, "I should be under the shadow +always if I stay, and my friends would feel it even more deeply than I +would do. I may win the right to come back again if I go away." + +Maud Barrington made no answer, but both knew no further word could be +spoken on that subject until, if fate ever willed it, the man returned +again, and it was a relief when Miss Barrington came in with Dane. He +glanced at his comrade keenly, and then, seeing the grimness in his +face, quietly declined the white-haired lady's offer of hospitality. +Five minutes later the farewells were said and Maud Barrington stood +with the stinging flakes whirling about her in the doorway, while the +sleigh slid out into the filmy whiteness that drove across the +prairie. When it vanished she turned back into the warmth and +brightness with a little shiver and one hand tightly closed. + +The great room seemed very lonely when, while the wind moaned outside, +she and her aunt sat down to dinner. Neither of them appeared +communicative, and both felt it a relief when the meal was over. Then +Maud Barrington smiled curiously as she rose and stood with hands +stretched out towards the stove. + +"Aunt," she said, "Twoinette has twice asked me to go back to +Montreal, and I think I will. The prairie is very dreary in the +winter." + +It was about this time when, as the whitened horses floundered through +the lee of a bluff where there was shelter from the wind, the men in +the sleigh found opportunity for speech. + +"Now," said Dane quietly, "I know that we have lost you, for a while +at least. Will you ever come back, Witham?" + +Witham nodded. "Yes," he said. "When time has done its work and +Colonel Barrington asks me, if I can buy land enough to give me a +standing at Silverdale." + +"That," said Dane, "will need a good many dollars, and you insisted on +flinging those you had away. How are you going to make them?" + +"I don't know," said Witham simply. "Still, by some means it will be +done." + +It was next day when he walked into Graham's office at Winnipeg, and +laughed when the broker who shook hands, passed the cigar box across +to him. + +"We had better understand each other first," he said. "You have heard +what has happened to me, and will not find me a profitable customer +to-day." + +"These cigars are the best in the city, or I wouldn't ask you to take +one," said Graham dryly. "You understand me, anyway. Wait until I tell +my clerk that if anybody comes round I'm busy." + +A bell rang, a little window opened and shut again, and Witham smiled +over his cigar. + +"I want to make thirty thousand dollars as soon as I can, and it seems +to me there are going to be opportunities in this business. Do you +know anybody who would take me as clerk or salesman?" + +Graham did not appear astonished. + +"You'll scarcely make them that way if I find you a berth at fifty a +month," he said. + +"No," said Witham. "Still, I wouldn't purpose keeping it for more than +six months or so. By that time I should know a little about the +business." + +"Got any dollars now?" + +"One thousand," said Witham quietly. + +Graham nodded. "Smoke that cigar out, and don't worry me. I've got +some thinking to do." + +Witham took up a journal, and laid it down again twenty minutes later. +"Well," he said, "you think it's too big a thing?" + +"No," said Graham. "It depends upon the man, and it might be done. +Knowing the business goes a good way, and so does having dollars in +hand, but there's something that's born in one man in a thousand that +goes a long way further still. I can't tell you what it is, but I know +it when I see it." + +"Then," said Witham, "you have seen this thing in me?" + +Graham nodded gravely. "Yes, sir, but you don't want to get proud. You +had nothing to do with the getting of it. It was given you. Now, we're +going to have a year that will not be forgotten by those who handle +wheat and flour, and the men with the long heads will roll the dollars +in. Well, I've no use for another clerk, and my salesman's good enough +for me, but if we can agree on the items I'll take you for a partner." + +The offer was made and accepted quietly, and when a rough draft of the +arrangement had been agreed upon, Graham nodded as he lighted another +cigar. + +"You may as well take hold at once, and there's work ready now," he +said. "You've heard of the old St. Louis mills back on the edge of the +bush country. Never did any good. Folks who had them were short of +dollars, and didn't know how they should be run. Well, I and two other +men have bought them for a song, and while the place is tumbling in, +the plant seems good. Now, I can get hold of orders for flour when I +want them, and everybody with dollars to spare will plank them right +into any concern handling food-stuffs this year. You go down to-morrow +with an engineer, and, when you've got the mills running and orders +coming in, we'll sell out to a company if we don't want them." + +Witham sat silent a space, turning over a big bundle of plans and +estimates. Then he said, "You'll have to lay out a pile of dollars." + +Graham laughed. "That's going to be your affair. When you want them +the dollars will be ready, and there's only one condition. Every +dollar we put down has got to bring another in." + +"But," said Witham, "I don't know anything about milling." + +"Then," said Graham dryly, "you have got to learn. A good many men +have got quite rich in this country running things they didn't know +much about when they took hold of them." + +"There's one more point," said Witham. "I must make those thirty +thousand dollars soon, or they'll be no great use to me, and when I +have them I may want to leave you." + +"That's all right," said Graham. "By the time you've done it, you'll +have made sixty for me. We'll go out and have some lunch to clinch the +deal if you're ready." + +It might have appeared unusual in England, but it was much less so in +a country where the specialization of professions is still almost +unknown, and the man who can adapt himself attains ascendency, and on +the morrow Witham arrived at a big wooden building beside a +pine-shrouded river. It appeared falling to pieces, and the engineer +looked disdainfully at some of the machinery, but, somewhat against +his wishes, he sat up with his companion most of the night in a little +log hotel, and orders that occasioned one of Graham's associates +consternation were mailed to the city next morning. Then machines came +out by the carload, and men with tools in droves. Some of them +murmured mutinously when they found they were expected to do as much +as their leader who was not a tradesman, but these were forthwith sent +back again, and the rest were willing to stay and earn the premium he +promised them for rapid work. + +Before the frost grew Arctic, the building stood firm and the hammers +rang inside it night and day until when the ice had bound the dam and +lead the fires were lighted and the trials under steam again. It cost +more than water, but buyers with orders from the East were clamouring +for flour just then. For a fortnight Witham snatched his food in +mouthfuls, and scarcely closed his eyes, when Graham found him pale +and almost haggard when he came down with several men from the cities +in response to a telegram. For an hour they moved up and down, +watching whirring belt and humming roller, and then, whitened with the +dust, stood very intent and quiet while one of them dipped up a little +flour from the delivery hopper. His opinions on, and dealings in that +product were famous in the land. He said nothing for several minutes, +and then, brushing the white dust from his hands, turned with a little +smile to Graham. + +"We'll have some baked, but I don't know that there's much use for it. +This will grade a very good first," he said. "You can book me the +thousand two eighties for a beginning now." + +Witham's fingers trembled, but there was a twinkle in Graham's eyes as +he brought his hand down on his shoulder. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "I was figuring right on this when I brought the +champagne along. It was all I could do, but Imperial Tokay wouldn't be +good enough to rinse this dust down with, when every speck of it +that's on you means dollars by the handful rolling in." + +It was a very contented and slightly hilarious party that went back to +the city, but Witham sat down before a shaded lamp with a wet rag +round his head when they left him, and bent over a sheaf of drawings +until his eyes grew dim. Then he once more took up a little strip of +paper that Graham had given him, and leaned forward with his arms upon +the table. The mill was very silent at last, for of all who toiled in +it that day one weary man alone sat awake, staring, with aching eyes, +in front of him. There was, however, a little smile in them, for +roseate visions floated before them. If the promise that strip of +paper held out was redeemed, they might be materialized, for those who +had toiled and wasted their substance that the eastern peoples might +be fed would that year, at least, not go without their reward. Then he +stretched out his arms wearily above his head. + +"It almost seems that what I have hoped for may be mine," he said. +"Still, there is a good deal to be done first, and not two hours left +before I begin it to-morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +REINSTATION + + +A year of tireless effort and some anxiety had passed since Witham had +seen the first load of flour sent to the east, when he and Graham sat +talking in their Winnipeg office. The products of the St. Louis mills +were already in growing demand, and Graham appeared quietly contented +as he turned over the letters before him. When he laid down the last +one, however, he glanced at his companion somewhat anxiously. + +"We have got to fix up something soon," he said. "I have booked all +the St. Louis can turn out for six months ahead, and the syndicate is +ready to take the business over, though I don't know quite whether it +would be wise to let them. It seems to me that milling is going to pay +tolerably well for another year, and if I knew what you were wanting, +it would suit me better." + +"I told you I wanted thirty thousand dollars," said Witham quietly. + +"You've got them," said Graham. "When the next balance comes out +you'll have a good many more. The question is, what you're going to do +with them now they're yours?" + +Witham took out a letter from Dane and passed it across to Graham. +"I'm sorry to tell you the Colonel is getting no better," it ran. "The +specialist we brought in seems to think he will never be quite himself +again, and now he has let the reins go, things are falling to pieces +at Silverdale. Somebody left Atterly a pile of money, and he is going +back to the old country, Carshalton is going, too; and, as they can't +sell out to any one we don't approve of, the rest insisted on my +seeing you. I purpose starting to-morrow." + +"What happened to Colonel Barrington?" asked Graham. + +"His sleigh turned over," said Witham. "Horse trampled on him, and it +was an hour or two before his hired man could get him under shelter." + +"You would be content to turn farmer again?" + +"I think I would," said Witham. "At least, at Silverdale." + +Graham made a little grimace. "Well," he said resignedly, "I guess +it's human nature; but I'm thankful now and then there's nothing about +me but my dollars that would take the eye of any young woman. I figure +they're kind of useful to wake up a man so he'll stir round looking +for something to offer one of them, but he is apt to find his business +must go second when she has got it and him, and he has to waste on +house fixings what would give a man a fair start in life. Still, it's +no use talking. What have you told him?" + +Witham laughed a little. "Nothing," he said. "I will let him come, and +you shall have my decision when I've been to Silverdale." + +It was next day when Dane arrived at Winnipeg, and Witham listened +gravely to all he had to tell him. + +"I have two questions to ask," he said. "Would the others be unanimous +in receiving me, and does Colonel Barrington know of your mission?" + +"Yes to both," said Dane. "We haven't a man there who would not hold +out his hand to you, and Barrington has been worrying and talking a +good deal about you lately. He seems to fancy nothing has gone right +at Silverdale since you left it, and others share his opinion. The +fact is, the old man is losing his grip tolerably rapidly." + +"Then," said Witham quietly, "I'll go down with you, but I can make no +promise until I have heard the others." + +Dane smiled a little. "That is all I want. I don't know whether I told +you that Maud Barrington is there. Would to-morrow suit you?" + +"No," said Witham. "I will come to-day." + +It was early next morning when they stepped out of the stove-warmed +car into the stinging cold of the prairie. Fur-clad figures, showing +shapeless in the creeping light, clustered about them, and Witham felt +himself thumped on the shoulders by mittened hands, while Alfreton's +young voice broke through the murmurs of welcome. + +"Let him alone while he's hungry," he said. "It's the first time in +its history they've had breakfast ready at this hour in the hotel, and +it would not have been accomplished if I hadn't spent most of +yesterday playing cards with the man who keeps it and making love to +the young women!" + +"That's quite right," said another lad. "When he takes his cap off +you'll see how one of them rewarded him. But come along, Witham. +It--is--ready." + +The greetings might, of course, have been expressed differently, but +Witham also was not addicted to displaying all he felt, and the little +ring in the lads' voices was enough for him. As they moved towards the +hotel he saw that Dane was looking at him. + +"Well?" said the latter, "you see, they want you." + +That was probably the most hilarious breakfast that had ever been held +in the wooden hotel; and before it was over, three of his companions +had said to Witham, "Of course, you'll drive in with me!" + +"Boys," he said, as they put their furs on, and his voice shook a +trifle, "I can't ride in with everybody who has asked me unless you +dismember me." + +Finally, Alfreton, who was a trifle too quick for the others, got him +into his sleigh, and they swept out behind a splendid team into the +frozen stillness of the prairie. The white leagues rolled behind them, +the cold grew intense; but while Witham was for the most part silent +and apparently preoccupied, Alfreton talked almost incessantly, and +only once looked grave. That happened when Witham asked about Colonel +Barrington. + +The lad shook his head. "I scarcely think he will ever take hold +again," he said. "You will understand me better when you see him." + +They stopped awhile at mid-day at an outlying farm, but Witham glanced +inquiringly at Alfreton when one of the sleighs went on. The lad +smiled at him. + +"Yes," he said. "He is going on to tell them we have got you." + +"They would have found it out in a few more hours," said Witham. + +Alfreton's eyes twinkled. "No doubt they would," he said dryly. +"Still, you see, somebody was offering two to one that Dane couldn't +bring you, and you know we're generally keen about any kind of wager." + +The explanation, which was not quite out of keeping with the customs +of the younger men at Silverdale did not content Witham, but he said +nothing. So far his return had resembled a triumph, and while the +sincerity of the welcome had its effect on him, he shrank a little +from what he fancied might be waiting him. + +The creeping darkness found them still upon the waste, and the cold +grew keener when the stars peeped out. Even sound seemed frozen, and +the faint muffled beat of hoofs unreal and out of place in the icy +stillness of the wilderness. Still, the horses knew they were nearing +home, and swung into faster pace, while the men drew fur caps down and +the robes closer round them as the draught their passage made stung +them with a cold that seemed to sear the skin where there was an inch +left uncovered on the face. Now and then a clump of willows or a birch +bluff flitted out of the dimness, grew a trifle blacker, and was left +behind; but there was still no sign of habitation, and Alfreton, too +chilled at last to speak, passed the reins to Witham and beat his +mittened hands. Witham could scarcely grasp them, for he had lived of +late in the cities, and the cold he had been sheltered from was +numbing. + +For another hour they slid onwards, and then a dim blur crept out of +the white waste. It rose higher, cutting more blackly against the sky; +and Witham recognized with a curious little quiver the birch bluff +that sheltered Silverdale Grange. Then, as they swept through the +gloom of it, a row of ruddy lights blinked across the snow; and Witham +felt his heart beat as he watched the homestead grow into form. He had +first come there an impostor, and had left it an outcast; while now it +was amidst the acclamations of those who had once looked on him with +suspicion he was coming back again. + +Still, he was almost too cold for any definite feeling but the sting +of the frost, and it was very stiffly he stood up, shaken by vague +emotions, when at last the horses stopped. A great door swung open, +somebody grasped his hand, there was a murmur of voices, and partly +dazed by the change of temperature he blundered into the warmth of the +hall. The blaze of light bewildered him, and he was but dimly sensible +that the men who greeted him were helping him to shake off his furs; +while the next thing he was sure of was that a little white-haired +lady was holding out her hand. + +"We are all very glad to see you back," she said, with a simplicity +that yet suggested stateliness. "Your friends insisted on coming over +to welcome you, and Dane will not let you keep them waiting too long. +Dinner is almost ready." + +Witham could not remember what he answered, but Miss Barrington smiled +at him as she moved away, for the flush in his face was very eloquent. +The man was very grateful for that greeting, and what it implied. It +was a few minutes later when he found himself alone with Dane, who +laughed softly as he nodded to him. + +"You are convinced at last?" he said. "Still there is a little more of +the same thing to be faced; and, if it would relieve you, I will send +for Alfreton, who has some taste in that direction, to fix that tie +for you. You have been five minutes over it, and it evidently does not +please you. It's the first time I've ever seen you worry about your +dress." + +Witham turned, and a curious smile crept into his face as he laid a +lean hand that shook a little on the toilet table. + +"I also think it's the first time these fingers wouldn't do what I +wanted them. You can deduce what you please from that," he said. + +Dane only nodded, and when they went down together laid a kindly grasp +upon his comrade's arm as he led him into the great dining-room. Every +man at Silverdale was apparently there, as were most of the women; and +Witham stood still a moment, very erect, with shoulders square, +because the posture enabled him to conceal the tremor that ran through +him when he saw the smiling faces turned upon him. Then he moved +slowly down the room towards Maud Barrington, and felt her hand rest +for a second between his fingers, which he feared were too responsive. +After that, everybody seemed to speak to him, and he was glad when he +found himself sitting next to Miss Barrington at the head of the long +table, with her niece opposite him. + +He could not remember what he or the others talked about during the +meal, but he had a vague notion that there was now and then a silence +of attention when he answered a question, and that the little lady's +face grew momentarily grave when, as the voice sank a trifle, he +turned to her. + +"I would have paid my respects to Colonel Barrington, but Dane did not +consider it advisable," he said. + +"No," said Miss Barrington. "He has talked a good deal about you +during the last two days, but he is sleeping now, and we did not care +to disturb him. I am afraid you will find a great change in him when +you see him." + +Witham asked no more questions on that topic until later in the +evening, when he found a place apart from the rest by Miss +Barrington's side. He fancied this would not have happened without her +connivance and she seemed graver than usual when he stood by her +chair. + +"I don't wish to pain you, but I surmise that Colonel Barrington is +scarcely well enough to be consulted about anything of importance just +now," he said. + +Miss Barrington made a little gesture of assent. "We usually pay him +the compliment, but I am almost afraid he will never make a decision +of moment again." + +"Then," said Witham slowly, "you stand in his place, and I fancy you +know why I have come back to Silverdale. Will you listen for a very +few minutes while I tell you about my parents and what my upbringing +has been? I must return to Winnipeg, for a time, at least, to-morrow." + +Miss Barrington signed her willingness, and the man spoke rapidly with +a faint trace of hoarseness. Then he looked down on her. + +"Madam," he said, "I have told you everything, partly from respect for +those who only by a grim sacrifice did what they could for me, and +that you may realize the difference between myself and the rest at +Silverdale. I want to be honest now at least, and I discovered, not +without bitterness at the time, that the barriers between our castes +are strong in the old country." + +Miss Barrington smiled a little. "Have I ever made you feel it here?" + +"No," said Witham gravely. "Still, I am going to put your forbearance +to a strenuous test. I want your approval. I have a question to ask +your niece to-night." + +"If I withheld it?" + +"It would hurt me," said Witham. "Still, I would not be astonished, +and I could not blame you." + +"But it would make no difference?" + +"Yes," said Witham gravely. "It would, but it would not cause me to +desist. Nothing would do that, if Miss Barrington can overlook the +past." + +The little white-haired lady smiled at him. "Then," she said, "if it +is any comfort to you, you have my good wishes. I do not know what +Maud's decision will be, but that is the spirit which would have +induced me to listen in times long gone by!" + +She rose and left him, and it may have been by her arranging that +shortly afterwards Witham found Maud Barrington passing through the +dimly-lighted hall. He opened the door she moved towards a trifle, and +then stood facing her, with it in his hand. + +"Will you wait a moment, and then you may pass if you wish," he said. +"I had one great inducement for coming here to-night. I wonder if you +know what it is?" + +The girl stood still and met his gaze, though, dim as the light was, +the man could see the crimson in her cheeks. + +"Yes," she said, very quietly. + +"Then," said Witham with a little smile, though the fingers on the +door quivered visibly, "I think the audacity you once mentioned must +have returned to me, for I am going to make a very great venture." + +For a moment Maud Barrington turned her eyes away. "It is the daring +venture that most frequently succeeds." + +Then she felt the man's hand on her shoulder, and that he was +compelling her to look up at him. + +"It is you I came for," he said quietly. "Still, for you know the +wrong I have done, I dare not urge you, and have little to offer. It +is you who must give everything, if you can come down from your +station and be content with mine." + +"One thing," said Maud Barrington, very softly, "is, however, +necessary." + +"That," said Witham, "was yours ever since we spent the night in the +snow." + +The girl felt his grip upon her shoulder grow almost painful, but her +eyes shone softly when she lifted her head again. + +"Then," she said, "what I can give is yours--and it seems you have +already taken possession." + +Witham drew her towards him, and it may have been by Miss Barrington's +arranging that nobody entered the hall, but at last the girl glanced +up at the man half-shyly as she said, "Why did you wait so long?" + +"It was well worth while," said Witham. "Still, I think you know." + +"Yes," said Maud Barrington softly. "Now, at least, I can tell you I +am glad you went away--but if you had asked me I would have gone with +you." + +It was some little time later when Miss Barrington came in and, after +a glance at Witham, kissed her niece. Then she turned to the man. "My +brother is asking for you," she said. "Will you come up with me?" + +Witham followed her, and hid his astonishment when he found Colonel +Barrington lying in a big chair. His face was haggard and pale, his +form seemed to have grown limp and fragile, and the hand he held out +trembled. + +"Lance," he said, "I am very pleased to have you home again. I hear +you have done wonders in the city, but you are, I think, the first of +your family who could ever make money. I have, as you will see, not +been well lately." + +"I am relieved to find you better than I expected, sir," Witham said +quietly. "Still, I fancy you are forgetting what I told you the night +I went away." + +Barrington nodded, and then made a little impatient gesture. "There +was something unpleasant, but my memory seems to be going, and my +sister has forgiven you. I know you did a good deal for us at +Silverdale, and showed yourself a match for the best of them in the +city. That pleases me. By and by, you will take hold here after me." + +Witham glanced at Miss Barrington, who smiled somewhat sadly. + +"I am glad you mentioned that, sir, because I purpose staying at +Silverdale now," he said. "It leads up to what I have to ask you." + +Barrington's perceptions seemed to grow clearer, and he asked a few +pertinent questions before he nodded approbation. + +"Yes," he said, "she is a good girl--a very good girl, and it would be +a suitable match. I should like somebody to send for her." + +Maud Barrington came in softly, with a little glow in her eyes and a +flush in her face, and Barrington smiled at her. + +"My dear, I am very pleased, and I wish you every happiness," he said. +"Once I would scarcely have trusted you to Lance, but he will forgive +me, and has shown me that I was wrong. You and he will make Silverdale +famous, and it is comforting to know, now my rest is very near, that +you have chosen a man of your own station to follow me. With all our +faults and blunders, blood is bound to tell." + +Witham saw that Miss Barrington's eyes were a trifle misty, and he +felt his face grow hot, but the girl's fingers touched his arm, and he +followed, when, while her aunt signed approbation, she led him away. +Then, when they stood outside she laid her hands upon his face and +drew it down to her. + +"You will forget it, dear, and he is still wrong. If you had been +Lance Courthorne, I should never have done this," she said. + +"No," said the man gravely. "I think there are many ways in which he +is right, but you can be content with Witham the prairie farmer?" + +Maud Barrington drew closer to him with a little smile in her eyes. +"Yes," she said simply. "There never was a Courthorne who could stand +beside him." + + +London: Ward, Lock & Co., Ltd. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE IMPOSTOR*** + + +******* This file should be named 39698.txt or 39698.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/9/6/9/39698 + + + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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