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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Silver Horde, by Rex Beach
+
+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 Silver Horde
+
+Author: Rex Beach
+
+Posting Date: May 2, 2013 [EBook #6017]
+Release Date: July, 2004
+First Posted: October 17, 2002
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SILVER HORDE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Carel Lyn Miske, Charles Franks and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE SILVER HORDE
+
+BY REX BEACH
+
+Author of "The Auction Block" "The Spoilers" "The Iron Trail" etc.
+
+
+
+
+
+  BOOKS BY REX BEACH
+
+
+  TOO FAT TO FIGHT
+  THE WINDS OF CHANCE
+  LAUGHING BILL HYDE
+  RAINBOW'S END
+  THE CRIMSON GARDENIA AND OTHER TALES OF ADVENTURE
+  HEART OF THE SUNSET
+  THE AUCTION BLOCK
+  THE IRON TRAIL
+  THE NET
+  THE NE'ER-DO-WELL
+  THE SPOILERS
+  THE BARRIER
+  THE SILVER HORDE
+  GOING SOME
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+    I. WHEREIN A SPIRITLESS MAN AND A ROGUE APPEAR
+   II. IN WHICH THEY BREAK BREAD WITH A LONELY WOMAN
+  III. IN WHICH CHERRY MALOTTE DISPLAYS A TEMPER
+   IV. IN WHICH SHE GIVES HEART TO A HOPELESS MAN
+    V. IN WHICH A COMPACT IS FORMED
+   VI. WHEREIN BOREAS TAKES A HAND
+  VII. AND NEPTUNE TAKES ANOTHER
+ VIII. WHEREIN BOYD ADMITS HIS FAILURE
+   IX. AND IS GRANTED A YEAR OF GRACE
+    X. IN WHICH BIG GEORGE MEETS HIS ENEMY
+   XI. WHEREIN BOYD EMERSON IS TWICE AMAZED
+  XII. IN WHICH MISS WAYLAND IS OF TWO MINDS
+ XIII. IN WHICH CHERRY MALOTTE BECOMES SUSPICIOUS
+  XIV. IN WHICH THEY RECOGNIZE THE ENEMY
+   XV. THE DOORS OF THE VAULT SWING SHUT
+  XVI. WILLIS MARSH COMES OUT FROM COVER
+ XVII. A NEW ENEMY APPEARS
+XVIII. WILLIS MARSH SPRINGS A TRAP
+  XIX. IN WHICH A MUTINY IS THREATENED
+   XX. WHEREIN "FINGERLESS" FRASER RETURNS
+  XXI. A HAND IN THE DARK
+ XXII. THE SILVER HORDE
+XXIII. IN WHICH MORE PLANS ARE LAID
+ XXIV. WHEREIN "THE GRANDE DAME" ARRIVES, LADEN WITH DISAPPOINTMENTS
+  XXV. THE CHASE
+ XXVI. IN WHICH A SCORE IS SETTLED
+XXVII. AND A DREAM COMES TRUE
+
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+THE GIRL STOOD BAREHEADED UNDER THE WINTRY SKY
+
+OUT ACROSS THE LONESOME WASTE THEY JOURNEYED
+
+MILDRED CEASED PLAYING AND SWUNG ABOUT--"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?"
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THE GIRL STOOD BAREHEADED UNDER THE WINTRY SKY]
+
+
+
+
+THE SILVER HORDE
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+WHEREIN A SPIRITLESS MAN AND A ROGUE APPEAR
+
+
+The trail to Kalvik leads down from the northward mountains over the
+tundra which flanks the tide flats, then creeps out upon the salt ice
+of the river and across to the village. It boasts no travel in summer,
+but by winter an occasional toil-worn traveller may be seen issuing
+forth from the Great Country beyond, bound for the open water; while
+once in thirty days the mail-team whirls out of the forest to the
+south, pauses one night to leave word of the world, and then is
+swallowed up in the silent hills. Kalvik, to be sure, is not much of a
+place, being hidden away from the main-travelled routes to the interior
+and wholly unknown except to those interested in the fisheries.
+
+A Greek church, a Russian school with a cassocked priest presiding,
+and, about a hundred houses, beside the cannery buildings, make up the
+village. At first glance these canneries might convey the impression of
+a considerable city, for there are ten plants, in all, scattered along
+several miles of the river-bank; but in winter they stand empty and
+still, their great roofs drummed upon by the fierce Arctic storms,
+their high stacks pointing skyward like long, frozen fingers black with
+frost. There are the natives, of course, but they do not count,
+concealed as they are in burrows. No one knows their number, not even
+the priest who gathers toll from them.
+
+Early one December afternoon there entered upon this trail from the
+timberless hills far away to the northward a weary team of six dogs,
+driven by two men. It had been snowing since dawn, and the dim
+sled-tracks were hidden beneath a six-inch fluff which rendered
+progress difficult and called the whip into cruel service. A gray
+smother sifted down sluggishly, shutting out hill and horizon, blending
+sky and landscape into a blurred monotone, playing strange pranks with
+the eye that grew tired trying to pierce it.
+
+The travellers had been plodding sullenly, hour after hour, dispirited
+by the weight of the storm, which bore them down like some impalpable,
+resistless burden. There was no reality in earth, air, or sky. Their
+vision was rested by no spot of color save themselves, apparently
+swimming through an endless, formless atmosphere of gray.
+
+"Fingerless" Fraser broke trail, but to Boyd Emerson, who drove, he
+seemed to be a sort of dancing doll, bobbing and swaying grotesquely,
+as if suspended by invisible wires. At times, it seemed to the driver's
+whimsical fancy as if each of them trod a measure in the centre of a
+colorless universe, something after the fashion of goldfish floating in
+a globe.
+
+Fraser pulled up without warning and instantly the dogs stopped,
+straightway beginning to soothe their trail-worn pads and to strip the
+ice-pellets from between their toes. But the "wheelers" were too tired
+to make the effort, so Emerson went forward and performed the task for
+them, while Fraser floundered back and sank to a sitting posture on the
+sled.
+
+"Whew!" he exclaimed, "this is sure tough. If I don't see a tree or
+something with enough color to bust this monotony I'll go dotty."
+
+"Another day like this and we'd both be snow-blind," observed Emerson
+grimly, as he bent to his task. "But it can't be far to the river now."
+
+"This fall has covered the trail till I have to feel it out with my
+feet," grumbled Fraser. "When I step off to one side I go in up to my
+hips. It's like walking a plank a foot deep in feathers, and I feel
+like I was a mile above the earth in a heavy fog." After a moment he
+continued: "Speaking of feathers, how'd you like to have a fried
+chicken _a la_ Maryland?"
+
+"Shut up!" said the man at the dogs, crossly.
+
+"Well, it don't do any harm to think about it," growled Fraser,
+good-naturedly. He felt out a pipe from his pocket and endeavored
+unsuccessfully to blow through it, then complained:
+
+"The damn thing is froze. It seems like a man can't practice no vices
+whatever in this country. I'm glad I'm getting out of it."
+
+"So am I," agreed the younger man. Having completed his task, he came
+back to the sled and seated himself beside the other.
+
+"As I was saying a mile back yonder," Fraser resumed, "whatever made
+you snatch me away from them blue-coated minions of the law, I don't
+know. You says it's for company, to be sure, but we visit with one
+another about like two deef-mutes. Why did you do it, Bo?"
+
+"Well, you talk enough for both of us."
+
+"Yes, but that ain't no reason why you should lay yourself liable to
+the 'square-toes.' You ain't the kind to take a chance just because
+you're lonesome."
+
+"I picked you up because of your moth-eaten morals, I dare say. I was
+tired of myself, and you interested me. Besides," Emerson added,
+reflectively, "I have no particular cause to love the law, either."
+
+"That's how I sized it," said Fraser, wagging his head with animation,
+"I knew you'd had some kind of a run-in. What was it? This is low down,
+see, and confidential, as between two crooks. I'll never snitch."
+
+"Hold on there! I'm not a crook. I'm not sufficiently ingenious to be a
+member of your honorable profession."
+
+"Well, I guess my profession is as honorable as most. I've tried all of
+them, and they're all alike. It's simply a question of how the other
+fellow will separate easiest." He stopped and tightened his snow-shoe
+thong, then rising, gazed curiously at the listless countenance of his
+travelling companion, feeling anew the curiosity that had fretted him
+for the past three weeks; finally he observed, with a trace of
+impatience:
+
+"Well, if you ain't one of us, you'd ought to be. You've got the best
+poker face I ever see; it's as blind as a plastered wall. You ain't had
+a real expression on it since you hauled me off that ice-floe in Norton
+Sound."
+
+He swung ahead of the dogs; they rose reluctantly, and with a crack of
+the whip the little caravan crawled noiselessly into the gray twilight.
+
+An hour later they dropped from the plain, down through a gutter-like
+gully to the river, where they found a trail, glass-hard beneath its
+downy covering. A cold breath sucked up from the sea; ahead they saw
+the ragged ice up-ended by the tide, but their course was well marked
+now, so they swung themselves upon the sled, while the dogs shook off
+their lethargy and broke into their pattering, tireless wolf-trot.
+
+At length they came to a point where the trail divided, one branch
+leading off at right angles from the shore and penetrating the hummocks
+that marked the tide limit. Evidently it led to the village which they
+knew lay somewhere on the farther side, hidden by a mile or more of
+sifting snow, so they altered their course and bore out upon the river.
+
+The going here was so rough that both men leaped from their seats and
+ran beside the sled, one at the front, the other guiding it from the
+rear. Up and down over the ridges the trail led, winding through the
+frozen inequalities, the dogs never breaking their tireless trot. They
+mounted a swelling ridge and rushed down to the level river ice beyond,
+but as they did so they felt their footing sag beneath them, heard a
+shivering creak on every side, and, before they could do more than cry
+out warningly, saw water rising about the sled-runners. The momentum of
+the heavy sledge, together with the speed of the racing dogs, forced
+them out upon the treacherous ice before they could check their speed.
+Emerson shouted, the dogs leaped, but with a crash the ice gave way,
+and for a moment the water closed over him.
+
+Clinging to the sled to save himself, his weight slowed it down, and
+the dogs stopped. "Fingerless" Fraser broke through in turn, gasping as
+the icy water rose to his armpits. Slowly at first the sled sank, till
+it floated half submerged, and this spot which a moment before had
+seemed so safe and solid became now a churning tangle of broken
+fragments, men and dogs struggling in a liquid that seemed dark as
+syrup contrasted with the surrounding whiteness. The lead animals,
+under whose feet the ice was still firm, turned inquiringly, then
+settled on their haunches with lolling tongues. The pair next ahead of
+the sledge paddled frantically, straining to reach the solid sheet
+beyond, but were held back by their harness. Emerson used the sled for
+a footing and endeavored to gain the ice at one side, but it broke
+beneath him and he lunged in up to his shoulders. Again he tried, but
+again the ice broke under his hand, more easily now.
+
+Fraser struggled to get out in the opposite direction, each man aiming
+to secure an independent footing, but their efforts only enlarged the
+pool. The chill went through them like thin blades, and they chattered
+gaspingly, fighting with desperation, while the wheel dogs, involved in
+the harness, began to whine and cough, at which Emerson shouted:
+
+"Cut the team loose, quick!" But the other spat out a mouthful of salt
+water and spluttered:
+
+"I--I can't swim!"
+
+Whereupon the first speaker half swam half dragged himself through the
+slush and broken debris to the forward end of the sled, and seeking out
+the sheath-knife from beneath his parka, cut the harness of the two
+distressed animals. Once free, they scrambled to safety, shook
+themselves, and rolled in the dry snow.
+
+Emerson next attempted to lift the nose of the sled up on the ice,
+shouting at the remainder of the team to pull, but they only wagged
+their tails and whined excitedly at this unusual form of entertainment.
+Each time he tried to lift the sled he crashed through fresh ice,
+finally bearing the next pair of dogs with him, and then the two
+animals in the lead. All of them became hopelessly entangled.
+
+He could have won his way back to the permanent ice as Fraser was
+doing, but there was no way of getting his team there and he would not
+sacrifice those dumb brutes now growing frantic. One of them pawed the
+sheath-knife from his hand. He had become almost numb with cold and
+despair when he heard the jingle of many small bells, and a sharp
+command uttered in a new voice.
+
+Out of the snow fog from the direction in which they were headed broke
+a team running full and free. At a word they veered to the right and
+came to a pause, avoiding the danger-spot. Even from his hasty glance
+Emerson marvelled at the outfit, having never seen the like in all his
+travels through the North, for each animal of the twelve stood hip-high
+to a tall man, and they were like wolves of one pack, gray and gaunt
+and wicked. The basket-sled behind them was long and light, and of a
+design that was new to him, while the furs in it were of white fox.
+
+The figure wrapped up in them spoke again sharply, whereupon a tall
+Indian runner left the team and headed swiftly for the scene of the
+accident. As he approached, Emerson noted the fellow's flowing parka of
+ground-squirrel skins, from which a score of fluffy tails fell free,
+and he saw that this was no Indian, but a half-breed of peculiar
+coppery lightness. The man ran forward till he neared the edge of the
+opening where the tide had caused the floes to separate and the cold
+had not had time as yet to heal it; then flattening his body to its
+full length on the ice, he crawled out cautiously and seized the lead
+dog. Carefully he wormed his way backward to security, then leaned his
+weight upon the tugline.
+
+It had been a ticklish operation, requiring nice skill and dexterity,
+but now that his footing was sure the runner exerted his whole
+strength, and as the dogs scratched and tore for firm foothold, the
+sled came crunching closer and closer through the half-inch skin of
+ice. Then he reached down and dragged Emerson out, dripping and
+nerveless from his immersion. Together they rescued the outfit.
+
+The person in the sledge had watched them silently, but now spoke in a
+strange patois, and the breed gave voice to her words, for it was a
+woman.
+
+"One mile you go--white man house. Go quick--you freeze." He pointed
+back whence the two men had come, indicating the other branch of the
+trail.
+
+Fraser had emerged meanwhile and circled the water-hole, but even this
+brief exposure to the open air had served to harden his wet garments
+into a crackling armor. With rattling teeth, he asked:
+
+"Ain't you got no dry clothes? Our stuff is soaked."
+
+Again the Indian translated some words from the girl.
+
+"No! You hurry and no stop here. We go quick over yonder. No can stop
+at all."
+
+He hurried back to his mistress, cried once to the pack of gray dogs,
+"Oonah!" and they were off as if in chase. They left the trail and
+circled toward the shore, the driver standing erect upon the heels of
+the runners, guiding his team with wide-flung gestures and sharp cries,
+the rush of air fluttering the many squirrel-tails of his parka like
+fairy streamers.
+
+As they dashed past, both white men had one fleeting glimpse of a
+woman's face beneath a furred hood, and then it was gone. For a moment
+they stood and stared after the fast-dwindling team, while the breath
+of the Arctic sea stiffened their garments and froze their boot-soles
+to the ice.
+
+"Did you see?" Fraser ejaculated. "Good Lord, it's a _woman!_ A
+_blonde_ woman!"
+
+Emerson stirred himself. "Nonsense! She must be a breed," said he.
+
+"Breeds don't have yellow hair!" declared the other.
+
+Swiftly they bent in the free dogs and lashed the team to a run. They
+felt the chill of death in their bones, and instead of riding they ran
+with the sled till their blood beat painfully. Their outer coverings
+were like shells, their underclothes were soaked, and although their
+going was difficult and clumsy, they dared not stop, for this is the
+extremest peril of the North.
+
+Ten minutes later they swung over the river-bank and into the midst of
+great rambling frame buildings, seen dimly through the falling snow.
+Their trail led them to a high-banked cabin, from the stovepipe of
+which they saw heat-waves pouring. The dogs broke into cry, and were
+answered by many others conjured from their hiding-places. Both men
+were greatly distressed by now, and could handle themselves only with
+difficulty. Another mile would have meant disaster.
+
+"Rout out the owner and tell him we're wet," said Emerson; "I'll free
+the dogs."
+
+As Fraser disappeared, the young man ran forward to slip the harness
+from his animals, but found it frozen into their fur, the knots and
+buckles transformed into unmanageable lumps of ice, so he wrenched the
+camp axe from the sled and cut the thongs, then hacked loose the stiff
+sled-lashings, seized the sodden sleeping-bags, and made for the house.
+A traveller's first concern is for his dogs, then for his bedding.
+
+Before he could reach the cabin the door opened and Fraser appeared, a
+strange, dazed look on his face. He was followed by a large man of
+coarse and sullen countenance, who paused on the threshold.
+
+"Don't bother with the rest of the stuff," Emerson chattered.
+
+"It's no use," Fraser replied; "we can't go in."
+
+The former paused, forgetting the cold in his amazement.
+
+"What's wrong? Somebody sick?"
+
+"I don't know what's the matter. This man just says 'nix,' that's all."
+
+The fellow, evidently a watchman, nodded his head, and growled, "Yaas!
+Ay got no room."
+
+"But you don't understand," said Emerson. "We're wet. We broke through
+the ice. Never mind the room, we'll get along somehow." He advanced
+with the tight-rolled sleeping-bags under his arm, but the man stood
+immovable, blocking the entrance.
+
+"You can't come in har! You find anoder house t'ree mile furder."
+
+The traveller, however, paid no heed to these words, but pushed
+forward, shifting the bundle to his shoulder and holding it so that it
+was thrust into the Swede's face. Involuntarily the watchman drew back,
+whereupon the unwelcome visitor crowded past, jostling his inhospitable
+host roughly, laughing the while, although in his laughter there rang a
+dangerous metallic note. Emerson's quick action gained him entrance and
+Fraser followed behind into the living-room, where a flat-nosed squaw
+withdrew before them. The young man flung down his burden, and
+addressed her peremptorily.
+
+"Punch up that fire, and get us something to eat, quick!" Turning to
+the owner of the house, who lumbered in after them, he disregarded the
+fellow's scowl, and said:
+
+"Why, you've got lots of room, old man! We'll pay our way. Now get some
+more firewood, will you? I'm chilled to the bone. That's a good
+fellow." His forceful heartiness forbade dispute, and the man obeyed,
+sourly.
+
+The two new-comers stripped off their outer clothing, and in a trice
+the small room became littered and hung with steaming garments. They
+took possession of the house, and ordered the Swede and his squaw about
+with firm good nature, until the couple slunk into an inner room and
+began to talk in low tones.
+
+Fraser had been watching the fellow, and now remarked to his companion:
+
+"Say, what ails that ginney?"
+
+The assumption of good-nature fell away from Boyd Emerson as he replied:
+
+"I never knew anybody to refuse shelter to freezing men before. There's
+something back of this--he's got some reason for his refusal. I don't
+want any trouble, but--"
+
+The inner door opened, and the watchman reappeared. Evidently his
+sluggish resolution had finally set itself.
+
+"You can't stop har!" he said. "Ay got orders."
+
+Emerson was at the fire, busy rubbing the cramps from his arms, and did
+not answer. When Fraser likewise ignored the Swede, he repeated his
+command, louder this time.
+
+"Get out of may house, quick!"
+
+Both men kept their backs turned and continued to ignore him, at which
+the fellow advanced heavily, and threatened them in a big, raucous
+voice, trembling with rage:
+
+"By Yingo, Ay trow you out!"
+
+He stooped and gathered up the garments nearest him, then stepped
+toward the outer door; but before he could make good his threat,
+Emerson whirled like a cat, his deep-set eyes dark with sudden fury,
+and seized his host by the nape of the neck. He jerked him back so
+roughly that the wet clothes flapped to the floor in four directions,
+whereat the Scandinavian let forth a bellow; but Emerson struck him
+heavily on the jaw with his open hand, then hurled him backward into
+the room so violently that he reeled, and his legs colliding with a
+bench, he fell against the wall. Before he could recover, his assailant
+stepped in between his wide-flung hands and throttled him, beating his
+head violently against the logs. The fellow undertook to grapple with
+him, at which Emerson wrenched himself free, and, stepping back, spoke
+in a quivering voice which Fraser had never heard before:
+
+"I'm just playing with you now--I don't want to hurt you."
+
+"Get out of my house! Ay got orders!" cried the watchman wildly, and
+made for him again. It was evident that the man was not lacking in
+stupid courage, but Emerson, driven to it, stepped aside, and swung
+heavily. The squaw in the doorway screamed, and the Swede fell full
+length. Again Boyd was upon him, the restraint of the past long weeks
+now unbridled, his temper unchecked. He dragged his victim through the
+store-room, grinding his face into the floor at every effort to rise.
+He forced him to his own door-sill, jerked the door open, and kicked
+him out into the snow; then barred the entrance, and returned to the
+warmth of the logs, his face convulsed and his lips working.
+
+"Fingerless" Fraser gazed at him queerly, as if at some utterly strange
+phenomenon, then drawled, with a sly chuckle:
+
+"Well, well, you're bloody gentle, I must say. I didn't think it was in
+you."
+
+When the other vouchsafed no answer, he took his pipe from a pocket of
+his steaming mackinaw, and filled it from a tobacco-box on the
+window-sill; then, leaning back in his chair, he propped his feet up on
+the table and sighed luxuriously, as he murmured:
+
+"These scenes of violence just upset me something dreadful!"
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+IN WHICH THEY BREAK BREAD WITH A LONELY WOMAN
+
+
+It was perhaps two hours later that Fraser went to the window for the
+twentieth time, and, breathing against the pane, cleared a peep-hole,
+announcing:
+
+"He's gone!"
+
+Emerson, absorbed in a book, made no answer. After his encounter with
+the householder he had said little, and upon finding this coverless,
+brown-stained volume--a tattered copy of Don Quixote--he had relapsed
+into utter silence.
+
+"I say, he's gone!" reiterated the man at the window.
+
+Still no reply was forthcoming, and, seating himself near the stove,
+Fraser spread his hands before him in the shape of a book, and began
+whimsically, in a dry monotone, as if reading to himself:
+
+"At which startling news, Mr. Emerson, with his customary vivacity,
+smiled engagingly, and answered back:
+
+"'Why do you reckon he has departed, Mr. Fraser?"
+
+"'Because he's lost his voice cussing us,' I replied, graciously.
+
+"'Oh no!' exclaimed the genial Mr. Emerson, more for the sake of
+conversation than argument; 'he has got cold feet!' Evidently unwilling
+to let the conversation lag, the garrulous Mr. Emerson continued, 'It's
+a dark night without, and I fear some mischief is afoot.'
+
+"'Yes; but what of yonder beautchous gel?' said I, at which he burst
+into wild laughter."
+
+Emerson laid down his book.
+
+"What are you muttering about?" he asked.
+
+"I merely remarked that our scandalized Scandalusian has got tired of
+singin' Won't You Open that Door and Let Me In? and has ducked."
+
+"Where has he gone?"
+
+"I ain't no mind-reader; maybe he's loped off to Seattle after a
+policeman and a writ of _ne plus ultra._ Maybe he has gone after a
+clump of his countrymen--this is herding-season for Swedes."
+
+Without answering, Emerson rose, and, going to the inner door, called
+through to the squaw:
+
+"Get us a cup of coffee."
+
+"Coffee!" interjected Fraser; "why not have a real feed? I'm hungry
+enough to eat anything except salt-risin' bread and Roquefort cheese."
+
+"No," said the other; "I don't want to cause any more trouble than
+necessary."
+
+"Well, there's a lot of grub in the cache. Let's load up the sled."
+
+"I'm hardly a thief."
+
+"Oh, but--"
+
+"No!"
+
+"Fingerless" Fraser fell back into sour silence.
+
+When the slatternly woman had slunk forth and was busied at the stove,
+Emerson observed, musingly:
+
+"I wonder what possessed that fellow to act as he did."
+
+"He said he had orders," Fraser offered. "If I had a warm cabin, a lot
+of grub--and a squaw--I'd like to see somebody give _me_ orders."
+
+Their clothing was dry now, and they proceeded to dress leisurely. As
+Emerson roped up the sleeping-bags, Fraser suddenly suspended
+operations on his attire, and asked, querulously:
+
+"What's the matter? We ain't goin' to move, are we?"
+
+"Yes. We'll make for one of the other canneries," answered Emerson,
+without looking up.
+
+"But I've got sore feet," complained the adventurer.
+
+"What! again?" Emerson laughed skeptically. "Better walk on your hands
+for a while."
+
+"And it's getting dark, too."
+
+"Never mind. It can't be far. Come now."
+
+He urged the fellow as he had repeatedly urged him before, for Fraser
+seemed to have the blood of a tramp in his veins; then he tried to
+question the woman, but she maintained a frightened silence. When they
+had finished their coffee, Emerson laid two silver dollars on the
+table, and they left the house to search out the river-trail again.
+
+The early darkness, hastened by the storm, was upon them when they
+crept up the opposite bank an hour later, and through the gloom beheld
+a group of great shadowy buildings. Approaching the solitary gleam of
+light shining from the window of the watchman's house, they applied to
+him for shelter.
+
+"We are just off a long trip, and our dogs are played out," Emerson
+explained. "We'll pay well for a place to rest."
+
+"You can't stop here," said the fellow, gruffly.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"I've got no room."
+
+"Is there a road-house near by?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"You'd better find out mighty quick," retorted the young man, with
+rising temper at the other's discourtesy.
+
+"Try the next place below," said the watchman, hurriedly, slamming the
+door in their faces and bolting it. Once secure behind his barricade,
+he added: "If he won't let you in, maybe the priest can take care of
+you at the Mission."
+
+"This here town of Kalvik is certainly overjoyed at our arrival," said
+Fraser, "ain't it?"
+
+But his irate companion made no comment, whereat, sensing the anger
+behind his silence, the speaker, for once, failed to extemporize an
+answer to his own remark.
+
+At the next stop they encountered the same gruff show of inhospitality,
+and all they could elicit from the shock-headed proprietor was another
+direction, in broken English, to try the Russian priest.
+
+"I'll make one more try," said Emerson, between his teeth, gratingly,
+as they swung out into the darkness a second time. "If that doesn't
+succeed, then I'll take possession again. I won't be passed on all
+night this way."
+
+"The 'buck' will certainly show us to the straw," said "Fingerless"
+Fraser.
+
+"The what?"
+
+"The 'buck'--the sky-dog--oh, the priest!"
+
+But when, a mile farther on, they drew up before a white pile
+surmounted by a dimly discerned Greek cross, no sign of life was to be
+seen, and their signals awakened no response.
+
+"Gone!--and they knew it."
+
+The vicious manner in which Emerson handled his whip as he said the
+words betrayed his state of mind. Three weeks of unvarying hardship and
+toilsome travel had worn out both men, and rendered them well-nigh
+desperate. Hence they wasted no words when, for the fourth time, their
+eyes caught the welcome sight of a shining radiance in the gloom of the
+gathering night. The trail-weary team stopped of its own accord.
+
+"Unhitch!" ordered Emerson, doggedly, as he began to untie the ropes of
+the sled. He shouldered the sleeping-bags, and made toward the light
+that filtered through the crusted windows, followed by Fraser similarly
+burdened. But as they approached they saw at once that this was no
+cannery; it looked more like a road-house or trading-post, for the
+structure was low and it was built of logs. Behind and connected with
+it by a covered hall or passageway crouched another squat building of
+the same character, its roof piled thick with a mass of snow, its
+windows glowing. Those warm squares of light, set into the black walls
+and overhung by white-burdened eaves, gave the place the appearance of
+a Christmas-card, it was so snug and cozy. Even the glitter was there,
+caused by the rays refracted from the facets of the myriad
+frost-crystals.
+
+They mounted the steps of the nigh building, and, without knocking,
+flung the door open, entered, then tossed their bundles to the floor.
+With a sharp exclamation at this unceremonious intrusion, an Indian
+woman, whom they had surprised, dropped her task and regarded them,
+round-eyed.
+
+"We're all right this time," observed Emerson, as he swept the place
+with his eyes. "It's a store." Then to the woman he said, briefly: "We
+want a bed and something to eat."
+
+On every side the walls were shelved with merchandise, while the
+counter carried a supply of clothing, skins, and what not; a
+cylindrical stove in the centre of the room emanated a hot, red glow.
+
+"This looks like the Waldorf to me," said "Fingerless" Fraser, starting
+to remove his parka, the fox fringe on the hood of which was white from
+his breath.
+
+"What you want?" demanded the squaw, coming forward.
+
+Boyd, likewise divesting himself of his furs, noticed that she was
+little more than a girl--a native, undoubtedly; but she was neatly
+dressed, her skin was light, and her hair twisted into a smooth black
+knot at the back of her head.
+
+"Food! Sleep!" he replied to her question.
+
+"You can't stop here," the girl asserted, firmly.
+
+"Oh yes, we can," said Emerson. "You have plenty of room, and there's
+lots of food"--he indicated the shelves of canned goods.
+
+The squaw, without moving, raised her voice and called: "Constantine!
+Constantine!"
+
+A door in the farther shadows opened, and the tall figure of a man
+emerged, advancing swiftly, his soft soles noiseless beneath him.
+
+"Well, well! It's old Squirrel-Tail," cried Fraser. "Good-evening,
+Constantine."
+
+It was the copper-hued native who had rescued them from the river
+earlier in the day; but although he must have recognized them, his
+demeanor had no welcome in it. The Indian girl broke into a torrent of
+excited volubility, unintelligible to the white men.
+
+"You no stop here," said Constantine, finally; and, making toward the
+outer door, he flung it open, pointing out into the night.
+
+"We've come a long way, and we're tired," Emerson argued, pacifically.
+"We'll pay you well."
+
+Constantine only replied with added firmness, "No," to which the other
+retorted with a flash of rising anger, "_Yes!_"
+
+He faced the Indian with his back to the stove, his voice taking on a
+determined note. "We won't leave here until we are ready. We're tired,
+and we're going to stay here--do you understand? Now tell your
+'klootch' to get us some supper. Quick!"
+
+The breed's face blazed. Without closing the door, he moved directly
+upon the interloper, his design recognizable in his threatening
+attitude; but before he could put his plan into execution, a soft voice
+from the rear of the room halted him.
+
+"Constantine," it said.
+
+The travellers whirled to see, standing out in relief against the
+darkness of the passage whence the Indian had just come a few seconds
+before, the golden-haired girl of the storm, to whom they had been
+indebted for their rescue. She advanced, smiling pleasantly, enjoying
+their surprise.
+
+"What is the trouble?"
+
+"These men no stop here!" cried Constantine violently. "You speak! I
+make them go."
+
+"I--I--beg pardon," began Emerson. "We didn't intend to take forcible
+possession, but we're played out--we've been denied shelter
+everywhere--we felt desperate--"
+
+"You tried the canneries above?" interrupted the girl.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And they referred you to the priest? Quite so." She laughed softly,
+her voice a mellow contralto. "The Father has been gone for a month; he
+wouldn't have let you in if he'd been there."
+
+She addressed the Indian girl in Aleut and signalled to Constantine, at
+which the two natives retired--Constantine reluctantly, like a
+watch-dog whose suspicions are not fully allayed.
+
+"We're glad of an opportunity to thank you for your timely service this
+afternoon," said Emerson. "Had we known you lived here, we certainly
+should not have intruded in this manner." He found himself growing
+hotly uncomfortable as he began to realize the nature of his position,
+but the young woman spared him further apologies by answering,
+carelessly:
+
+"Oh, that was nothing. I've been expecting you hourly. You see,
+Constantine's little brother has the measles, and I had to get to him
+before the natives could give the poor little fellow a Russian bath and
+then stand him out in the snow. They have only one treatment for all
+diseases. That's why I didn't stop and give you more explicit
+directions this morning."
+
+"If your--er--father--" The girl shook her head.
+
+"Then your husband--I should like to arrange with him to hire lodgings
+for a few days. The matter of money--"
+
+Again she came to his rescue.
+
+"I am the man of the house. I'm boss here. This splendor is all mine."
+She waved a slender white hand majestically at the rough surroundings,
+laughing in a way that put Boyd Emerson more at his ease. "You are
+quite welcome to stay as long as you wish. Constantine objects to my
+hospitality, and treats all strangers alike, fearing they may be
+Company men. When you didn't arrive at dark, I thought perhaps he was
+right this time, and that you had been taken in by one of the watchmen."
+
+"We throwed a Swede out on his neck," declared Fraser, swelling with
+conscious importance, "and I guess he's 'crabbed' us with the other
+squareheads."
+
+"Oh, no! They have instructions not to harbor any travellers. It's as
+much as his job is worth for any of them to entertain you. Now, won't
+you make yourselves at home while Constantine attends to your dogs?
+Dinner will soon be ready, and I hope you will do me the honor of
+dining with me," she finished, with a graciousness that threw Emerson
+into fresh confusion.
+
+He murmured "Gladly," and then lost himself in wonder at this
+well-gowned girl living amid such surroundings. Undeniably pretty,
+graceful in her movements, bearing herself with certainty and
+poise--who was she? Where did she come from? And what in the world was
+she doing here?
+
+He became aware that "Fingerless" Fraser was making the introductions.
+"This is Mr. Emerson; my name is French. I'm one of the Virginia
+Frenches, you know; perhaps you have heard of them. No? Well, they're
+the real thing."
+
+The girl bowed, but Emerson forestalled her acknowledgment by breaking
+in roughly, with a threatening scowl at the adventurer:
+
+"His name isn't French at all, Madam; it's Fraser--'Fingerless' Fraser.
+He's an utterly worthless rogue, and absolutely unreliable so far as I
+can learn. I picked him up on the ice in Norton Sound, with a marshal
+at his heels."
+
+"That marshal wasn't after me," stoutly denied Fraser, quite unabashed.
+"Why, he's a friend of mine--we're regular chums--everybody knows that.
+He wanted to give me some papers to take outside, that's all."
+
+Boyd shrugged his shoulders indifferently:
+
+"Warrants!"
+
+"Not at all! Not at all!" airily.
+
+Their hostess, greatly amused at this remarkable turn of the ceremony,
+prevented any further argument by saying:
+
+"Well, French or Fraser, whichever it is, you are both welcome.
+However, I should prefer to think of you as a runaway rather than as an
+intimate friend of the marshal at Nome; I happen to know him."
+
+"Well, we ain't what you'd exactly call pals," Fraser hastily
+disclaimed. "I just sort of bow to him"--he gave an imitation of a
+slight, indifferent headshake--"that way!"
+
+"I see," commented their hostess, quizzically; then recalling herself,
+she continued: "I should have made myself known before; I am Miss
+Malotte."
+
+"Ch--" began the crook, then shut his lips abruptly, darting a shrewd
+glance at the girl. Emerson saw their eyes meet, and fancied that the
+woman's smile sat a trifle unnaturally on her lips, while the delicate
+coloring of her face changed imperceptibly. As the fellow mumbled some
+acknowledgment, she turned to the younger man, inquiring impersonally:
+
+"I suppose you are bound for the States?"
+
+"Yes; we intend to catch the mail-boat at Katmai. I am taking Fraser
+along for company; it's hard travelling alone in a strange country.
+He's a nuisance, but he's rather amusing at times."
+
+"I certainly am," agreed that cheerful person, now fully at his ease.
+"I've a bad memory for names!"--he looked queerly at his hostess--"but
+I'm very amusing, very!"
+
+"Not 'very,'" corrected Emerson.
+
+Then they talked of the trail, the possibilities of securing supplies,
+and of hiring a guide. By-and-by the girl rose, and after showing them
+to a room, she excused herself on the score of having to see to the
+dinner. When she had withdrawn, "Fingerless" Fraser pursed his thin
+lips into a noiseless whistle, then observed:
+
+"Well, I'll--be--cussed!"
+
+"Who is she?" asked Emerson, in a low, eager tone. "Do you know?"
+
+"You heard, didn't you? She's Miss Malotte, and she's certainly some
+considerable lady."
+
+The same look that Emerson had noted when their hostess introduced
+herself to them flitted again into the crook's unsteady eyes.
+
+"Yes, but _who_ is she? What does this mean?" Emerson pointed to the
+provisions and fittings about them. "What is she doing here alone?"
+
+"Maybe you'd better ask her yourself," said Fraser.
+
+For the first time in their brief acquaintance, Emerson detected a
+strange note in the rogue's voice, but it was too slight to provoke
+reply, so he brushed it aside and prepared himself for dinner.
+
+The Indian girl summoned them, and they followed her through the long
+passageway into the other house, where, to their utter astonishment,
+they seemed to step out of the frontier and into the heart of
+civilization. They found a tiny dining-room, perfectly appointed, in
+the centre of which, wonder of wonders, was a round table gleaming like
+a deep mahogany pool, upon the surface of which floated gauzy
+hand-worked napery, glinting silver, and sparkling crystal, the dark
+polish of the wood reflecting the light from shaded candles. It held a
+delicately figured service of blue and gold, while the selection of
+thin-stemmed glasses all in rows indicated the character of the
+entertainment that awaited them. The men's eyes were too busy with the
+unaccustomed sight to note details carefully, but they felt soft carpet
+beneath their feet and observed that the walls were smooth and
+harmoniously papered.
+
+When one has lived long in the rough where things come with the husk
+on, he fancies himself weaned away from the dainty, the beautiful, and
+the artistic; after years of a skillet-and-sheath-knife existence he
+grows to feel a scorn for the finer, softer, inconsequent trifles of
+the past, only to find, of a sudden, that, unknown to him perhaps, his
+soul has been hungering for them all the while. The feel of cool linen
+comes like the caress of a forgotten sweetheart, the tinkle of glass
+and silver are so many chiming fairy bells inviting him back into the
+foretime days. And so these two unkempt men, toughened and browned to
+the texture of leather by wind and snow, brought by trail and campfire
+to disregard ceremony and look upon mealtime as an unsatisfying,
+irksome period, stood speechless, affording the girl the feminine
+pleasure of enjoying their discomfiture.
+
+"This is m--marvelous," murmured Emerson, suddenly conscious of his
+rough clothing, his fur boots, and his hands cracked by frost. "I'm
+afraid we're not in keeping."
+
+"Indeed you are," said the girl, "and I am delighted to have somebody
+to talk to. It's very lonesome here, month after month."
+
+"This is certainly a swell tepee," Fraser remarked, staring about in
+open admiration. "How did you do it?"
+
+"I brought my things with me from Nome."
+
+"Nome!" ejaculated Emerson, quickly.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Why, I've been in Nome ever since the camp was discovered. It's
+strange we never met."
+
+"I didn't stay there very long. I went back to Dawson."
+
+Again he fancied the girl's eyes held a vague challenge, but he could
+not be sure; for she seated him, and then gave some instructions to the
+Aleut girl, who had entered noiselessly. It was the strangest meal Boyd
+Emerson had ever eaten, for here, in a forgotten corner of an unknown
+land, hidden behind high-banked log walls, he partook of a perfect
+dinner, well served, and presided over by a gracious, richly gowned
+young woman who talked interestingly on many subjects, For a second
+time he lost himself in a maze of conjecture. Who was she? What was her
+mission here? Why was she alone? But not for long; he was too heavily
+burdened by the responsibility and care of his own affairs to waste
+much time by the way on those of other people; and becoming absorbed in
+his own thoughts, he grew more silent as the signs of refinement and
+civilization about him revived memories long stifled. Fraser, on the
+contrary, warmed by the wine, blossomed like the rose, and talked
+garrulously, recounting marvellous stories, as improbable as they were
+egotistical. He monopolized his hostess' attention, the while his
+companion became more preoccupied, more self-contained, almost sullen.
+
+This was not the effect for which the girl had striven; her younger
+guest's taciturnity, which grew as the dinner progressed, piqued her,
+so at the first opportunity she bent her efforts toward rallying him.
+He answered politely, but she was powerless to shake off his mood. It
+was not abashment, as she realized when, from the corner of her eye,
+she observed him covertly stroke the linen and finger the silver as if
+to renew a sense of touch long unused. Being unaccustomed to any sort
+of indifference in men, his spiritless demeanor put her on her mettle,
+yet all to no avail; she could not find a seam in that mask of listless
+abstraction. At last he spoke of his own accord:
+
+"You said those watchmen have instructions not to harbor travellers.
+Why is that?"
+
+"It is the policy of the Companies. They are afraid somebody will
+discover gold around here."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"You see, this is the greatest salmon river in the world; the 'run' is
+tremendous, and seems to be unfailing; hence the cannery people wish to
+keep it all to themselves."
+
+"I don't quite understand--"
+
+"It is simple enough. Kalvik is so isolated and the fishing season is
+so short that the Companies have to send their crews in from the States
+and take them out again every summer. Now, if gold were discovered
+hereabouts, the fishermen would all quit and follow the 'strike,' which
+would mean the ruin of the year's catch and the loss of many hundreds
+of thousands of dollars, for there is no way of importing new help
+during the short summer months. Why, this village would become a city
+in no time if such a thing were to happen; the whole region would fill
+up with miners, and not only would labor conditions be entirely upset
+for years, but the eyes of the world, being turned this way, other
+people might go into the fishing business and create a competition
+which would both influence prices, and deplete the supply of fish in
+the Kalvik River. So you see there are many reasons why this region is
+forbidden to miners."
+
+"I see."
+
+"You couldn't buy a pound of food nor get a night's lodging here for a
+king's ransom. The watchmen's jobs depend upon their unbroken bond of
+inhospitality, and the Indians dare not sell you anything, not even a
+dogfish, under penalty of starvation, for they are dependent upon the
+Companies' stores."
+
+"So that is why you have established a trading-post of your own?"
+
+"Oh dear, no. This isn't a store. This food is for my men."
+
+"Your men?"
+
+"Yes, I have a crew out in the hills on a grub-stake. This is our
+cache. While they prospect for gold, I stand guard over the provisions."
+
+Fraser chuckled softly. "Then you are bucking the Salmon Trust?"
+
+"After a fashion, yes. I knew this country had never been gone over, so
+I staked six men, chartered a schooner, and came down here from Nome in
+the early spring. We stood off the watchmen, and when the supply-ships
+arrived, we had these houses completed, and my men were out in the
+hills where it was hard to follow them. I stayed behind, and stood the
+brunt of things."
+
+"But surely they didn't undertake to injure you?" said Emerson, now
+thoroughly interested in this extraordinary young woman.
+
+"Oh, didn't they!" she answered, with a peculiar laugh. "You don't
+appreciate the character of these people. When a man fights for money,
+just plain, sordid money, he loses all sense of honor, chivalry, and
+decency, he employs any means that come handy. There is no real code of
+financial morality, and the battle for dollars is the bitterest of all
+contests. Of course, being a woman, they couldn't very well attack me
+personally, but they tried everything except physical violence, and I
+don't know how long they will refrain from that. These plants are owned
+separately, but they operate under an agreement, with one man at the
+head. His name is Marsh--Willis Marsh, and, of course, he's not my
+friend."
+
+"Sort of 'United we stand, divided we fall.'"
+
+"Exactly. That spreads the responsibility, and seems to leave nobody
+guilty for their evil deeds. The first thing they did was to sink my
+schooner--in the morning you will see her spars sticking up through the
+ice out in front there. One of their tugs 'accidentally' ran her down,
+although she was at anchor fully three hundred feet inside the channel
+line. Then Marsh actually had the effrontery to come here personally
+and demand damages for the injury to his towboat, claiming there were
+no lights on the schooner."
+
+Cherry Malotte's eyes grew dark with indignation as she continued:
+"Nobody thinks of hanging lanterns to little crafts like her at anchor
+under such conditions. Having allowed me to taste his power, that man
+first threatened me covertly, and then proceeded to persecute me in a
+more open manner. When I still remained obdurate, he--he"--she paused.
+"You may have heard of it. He killed one of my men."
+
+"Impossible!" ejaculated Boyd.
+
+"Oh, but it isn't impossible. Anything is possible with unscrupulous
+men where there is no law; they halt at nothing when in chase of money.
+They are different from women in that. I never heard of a woman doing
+murder for money."
+
+"Was it really murder?"
+
+"Judge for yourself. My man came down for supplies, and they got him
+drunk--he was a drinking man--then they stabbed him. They said a
+Chinaman did it in a brawl, but Willis Marsh was to blame. They brought
+the poor fellow here, and laid him on my steps, as if I had been the
+cause of it. Oh, it was horrible, horrible!" Her eyes suddenly dimmed
+over and her white hands clenched.
+
+"And you still stuck to your post?" said Emerson, curiously.
+
+"Certainly! This adventure means a great deal to me, and, besides, _I
+will not be beaten_"--the stem of the glass with which she had been
+toying snapped suddenly--"at anything."
+
+She appeared, all in a breath, to have become prematurely hard and
+worldly, after the fashion of those who have subsisted by their wits.
+To Emerson she seemed to have grown at least ten years older. Yet it
+was unbelievable that this slip of a woman should be possessed of the
+determination, the courage, and the administrative ability to conduct
+so desperate an enterprise. He could understand the feminine rashness
+that might have led her to embark upon it in the first place, but to
+continue in the face of such opposition--why, that was a man's work and
+required a man's powers, and yet she was utterly unmasculine. Indeed,
+it seemed to him that he had never met a more womanly woman. Everything
+about her was distinctly feminine.
+
+"Fortunately, the fishing season is short," she added, while a pucker
+of perplexity came between her dainty brows; "but I don't know what
+will happen next summer."
+
+"I'd like to meet this Marsh-hen party," observed Fraser, his usually
+colorless eyes a bright sea-green.
+
+"Do you fear further--er--violence?" asked Emerson.
+
+Cherry shrugged her rounded shoulders. "I anticipate it, but I don't
+fear it. I have Constantine to protect me, and you will admit he is a
+capable bodyguard." She smiled slightly, recalling the scene she had
+interrupted before dinner. "Then, too, Chakawana, his sister, is just
+as devoted. Rather a musical name, don't you think so, Chakawana? It
+means 'The Snowbird' in Aleut, but when she's aroused she's more like a
+hawk. It's the Russian in her, I dare say."
+
+The girl became conscious that her guests were studying her with
+undisguised amazement now, and therefore arose, saying, "You may smoke
+in the other room if you wish."
+
+Lost in wonder at this unconventional creature, and dazed by the
+strangeness of the whole affair, Emerson gained his feet and followed
+her, with "Fingerless" Fraser at his heels.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+IN WHICH CHERRY MALOTTE DISPLAYS A TEMPER
+
+
+The unsuspected luxury of the dining-room, and the excellence of the
+dinner itself had in a measure prepared Emerson for what he found in
+the living-room. One thing only staggered him--a piano. The bear-skins
+on the floor, the big, sleepy chairs, the reading-table littered with
+magazines, the shelves of books, even the basket of fancy-work--all
+these he could accept without further parleying; but a piano! in
+Kalvik! Observing his look, the girl said:
+
+"I am dreadfully extravagant, am I not? But I love it, and I have so
+little to do. I read and play and drive my dog-team--that's about all."
+
+"And rescue drowning men in time for dinner," added Boyd Emerson, not
+knowing whether he liked this young woman or not. He knew this north
+country from bitter experience, knew that none but the strong can
+survive, and recognizing himself as a failure, her calm assurance and
+self-certainty offended him vaguely. It seemed as if she were
+succeeding where he had failed, which rather jarred his sense of the
+fitness of things. Then, too, conventionality is a very agreeable
+social bond, the true value of which is not often recognized until it
+is found missing, and this girl was anything but conventional.
+
+Again he withdrew into that silent mood from which no effort on the
+part of his hostess could arouse him, and it soon became apparent from
+the listless hang of his hands and the distant light in his eyes that
+he had even become unconscious of her presence in the room. Observing
+the cause of her impatience, Fraser interrupted his interminable
+monologue to say, without change of intonation:
+
+"Don't get sore on him; he's that way half the time. I rode herd one
+night on a feller that was going to hang for murder at dawn, and he set
+just like that for hours." She raised her brows inquiringly, at which
+he continued: "But you can't always tell; when my brother got married
+he acted the same way."
+
+After an hour, during which Emerson barely spoke, she tired of the
+other man's anecdotes, which had long ceased to be amusing, and, going
+to the piano, shuffled the sheet music idly, inquiring:
+
+"Do you care for music?" Her remark was aimed at Emerson, but the other
+answered:
+
+"I'm a nut on it."
+
+She ignored the speaker, and cast another question over her shoulder:
+
+"What kind do you prefer?" Again the adventurer outran his companion to
+the reply:
+
+"My favorite hymn is the _Maple Leaf Rag_. Let her go, professor."
+
+Cherry settled herself obligingly and played ragtime, although she
+fancied that Emerson stirred uneasily as if the musical interruption
+disturbed him; but when she swung about on her seat at the conclusion,
+he was still lax and indifferent.
+
+"That certainly has some class to it," "Fingerless" Fraser said,
+admiringly. "Just go through the reperchure from soda to hock, will
+you? I'm certainly fond of that coon clatter." And realizing that his
+pleasure was genuine, she played on and on for him, to the muffled
+thump of his feet, now and then feeding her curiosity with a stolen
+glance at the other. She was in the midst of some syncopated measure
+when Boyd spoke abruptly: "Please play something."
+
+She understood what he meant and began really to play, realizing very
+soon that at least one of her guests knew and loved music. Under her
+deft fingers the instrument became a medium for musical speech. Gay
+roundelays, swift, passionate Hungarian dances, bold Wagnerian strains
+followed in quick succession, and the more utter her abandon the more
+certainly she felt the younger man respond.
+
+Strange to say, the warped soul of "Fingerless" Fraser likewise felt
+the spell of real music, and he stilled his loose-hinged tongue.
+By-and-by she began to sing, more for her own amusement than for
+theirs, and after awhile her fingers strayed upon the sweet chords of
+Bartlett's _A Dream_, a half-forgotten thing, the tenderness of which
+had lived with her from girlhood. She heard Emerson rise, then knew he
+was standing at her shoulder. Could he sing, she wondered, as he began
+to take up the words of the song? Then her dream-filled eyes widened as
+she listened to his voice breathing life into the beautiful words. He
+sang with the ease and flexibility of an artist, his powerful baritone
+blending perfectly with her contralto.
+
+For the first time she felt the man's personality, his magnetism, as if
+he had dropped his cloak and stood at her side in his true semblance.
+As they finished the song she wheeled abruptly, her face flushed, her
+ripe lips smiling, her eyes moist, and looked up to find him
+marvelously transformed. His even teeth gleamed forth from a brown face
+that had become the mirror of a soul as spirited as her own, for the
+blending of their voices had brought them into a similar harmony of
+understanding.
+
+"Oh, _thank_ you," she breathed.
+
+"Thank _you_," he said. "I--I--that's the first time in ages that I've
+had the heart to sing. I was hungry for music, I was starving for it.
+I've sat in my cabin at night longing for it until my soul fairly ached
+with the silence. I've frozen beneath the Northern Lights straining my
+ears for the melody that ought to go with them--they must have an
+accompaniment somewhere, don't you think so?"
+
+"Yes, yes," she breathed.
+
+"They _must_ have; they are too gloriously, terribly beautiful to be
+silent. I've stood in the whispering spruce groves and tried to sing
+contentment back into my heart, but I couldn't do it. This is the first
+real taste I've had in three years. Three years!"
+
+He was talking rapidly, his blue eyes dancing. Cherry remembered
+thinking at dinner that those eyes were of too light and hard a blue
+for tenderness. She now observed that they were singularly deep and
+passionate.
+
+"Why, I've gone about with a comb and a piece of tissue-paper at my
+lips like any kid. I once made a banjo out of a cigar-box and bale
+wire, and while I was in the Kougarok I walked ten miles to hear a
+nigger play a harmonica. I did all sorts of things to coax music into
+this country, but it is silent and unresponsive, absolutely dead and
+discordant." He made a gesture which in a woman would have ended in a
+shudder.
+
+He took a seat near the girl, and continued to talk feverishly, unable
+to give voice to his thoughts rapidly enough. His reserve vanished, his
+silence gave way to a confidential warmth which suffused his listener
+and drew her to him. The overpowering force of his strong nature swept
+her out of herself, while her ready sympathy took fire and caught at
+his half-expressed ideas and stumbling words, stimulating him with her
+warm understanding. Her quick wit rallied him and awoke echoes of his
+past youth, until they began to laugh and jest with the _camaraderie_
+of boy and girl. With their better acquaintance her assumption of
+masculinity fell from her, and she became the "womanly woman"--dainty,
+vivacious, captivating.
+
+Fraser, whom both had forgotten, looked on at first in gaping, silent
+awe, staring and blinking at his travelling companion, who had
+undergone such a metamorphosis. But restraint and silence were
+impossible to him for long, and in time he ambled clumsily into the
+conversation. It jarred, of course, but he could not be ignored, and
+gradually he claimed more and more of the talk until the young couple
+yielded to the monologue, smiling at each other in mutual understanding.
+
+Emerson listened tolerantly, idly running through the magazines at his
+hand, his hostess watching him covertly, albeit her ears were drummed
+by the other's monotone. How much better this mood became the young
+man! Suddenly the smile of amusement that lurked about his lip corners
+and gave him a pleasing look hardened in a queer fashion--he started,
+then stared at one of the pages while the color died out of his brown
+cheeks. Cherry saw the hand that held the magazine tremble. He looked
+up at her, and, disregarding Fraser, broke in, harshly:
+
+"Have you read this magazine?"
+
+"Not entirely. It came in the last mail."
+
+"I'd like to take one page out of it," he said. "May I?"
+
+"Why, certainly," she replied. "You may have the whole thing if you
+like." He produced a knife, and with one quick stroke cut a single leaf
+out of the magazine, which he folded and thrust into the breast of his
+coat.
+
+"Thank you," he muttered; then fell to staring ahead of him, again
+heedless of his surroundings. This abrupt relapse into his former state
+of sullen and defiant silence tantalized the girl to the verge of
+anger, especially now that she had seen something of his true self. She
+was painfully conscious of a sense of betrayal at having yielded so
+easily to his pleasant mood, only to be shut out on an instant's whim,
+while a girlish curiosity to know the cause of the change overpowered
+her. He offered no explanation, however, and took no further part in
+the conversation until, noting the lateness of the hour, he rose and
+thanked her for her hospitality in the same deadly indifferent manner.
+
+"The music was a great treat," he said, looking beyond her and holding
+aloof--"a very great treat. I enjoyed it immensely. Good-night."
+
+Cherry Malotte had experienced a new sensation, and she didn't like it.
+She vowed angrily that she disliked men who looked past her; indeed,
+she could not recall any other who had ever done so. Her chief concern
+had always been to check their ardor. She resolved viciously that
+before she was through with this young man he would make her a less
+listless adieu. She assured herself that he was a selfish, sullen boor,
+who needed to be taught a lesson in manners for his own good if for
+nothing else; that a woman's curiosity had aught to do with her
+exasperation she would have denied. She abhorred curiosity. As a matter
+of fact, she told herself that he did not interest her in the least,
+except as a discourteous fellow who ought to be shocked into a
+consciousness of his bad manners, and therefore the moment the two men
+were well out of the room she darted to the table, snatched up the
+magazine, and skimmed through it feverishly. Ah! here was the place!
+
+A woman's face with some meaningless name beneath filled each page.
+Along the top ran the heading, "Famous American Beauties." So it was a
+woman! She skipped backward and forward among the pages for further
+possible enlightenment, but there was no article accompanying the
+pictures. It was merely an illustrated section devoted to the
+photographs of prominent actresses and society women, most of whom she
+had never heard of, though here and there she saw a name that was
+familiar. In the centre was that tantalizingly clean-cut edge which had
+subtracted a face from the gallery--a face which she wanted very much
+to see. She paused and racked her brain, her brows furrowed with the
+effort at recollection, but she had only glanced at the pages when the
+magazine came, and had paid no attention to this part of it. Her anger
+at her failure to recall this particular face aroused her to the fact
+that she was acting very foolishly, at which she laughed aloud.
+
+"Well, what of it?" she demanded of the empty room. "He's in love with
+some society ninny, and I don't care what she looks like." She shrugged
+her shoulders carelessly; then, in a sudden access of fury, she flung
+the mutilated magazine viciously into a far corner of the room.
+
+The travellers slept late on the following morning, for the weariness
+of weeks was upon them, and the little bunk-room they occupied adjoined
+the main building and was dark. When they came forth they found
+Chakawana in the store, and a few moments later were called to
+breakfast.
+
+"Where is your mistress?" inquired Boyd.
+
+"She go see my sick broder," said the Indian girl, recalling Cherry's
+mention of the child ill with measles. "She all the time give medicine
+to Aleut babies," Chakawana continued. "All the time give, give, give
+something. Indian people love her."
+
+"She's sort of a Lady Bountiful to these bums," remarked Fraser.
+
+"Does she let them trade in yonder?" Boyd asked, indicating the store.
+
+"Oh yes! Everything cheap to Indian people. Indian got no money, all
+the same." Then, as if realizing that her hasty tongue had betrayed
+some secret of moment, the Aleut girl paused, and, eying them sharply,
+demanded, "What for you ask?"
+
+"No reason in particular."
+
+"What for you ask?" she insisted. "Maybe you b'long Company, eh?"
+Emerson laughed, but she was not to be put off easily, and, with
+characteristic guile, announced boldly: "I lie to you. She no trade
+with Aleut people. No; Chakawana lie!"
+
+"She's afraid we'll tell this fellow Marsh," Fraser remarked to
+Emerson; then, as if that name had some powerful effect upon their
+informant, Chakawana advanced to the table, and, leaning over it, said:
+
+"You know Willis Marsh?" Her pretty wooden face held a mingled
+expression of fear, malice, and curiosity.
+
+"Ouch!" said Fraser, shoving back from his plate. "Don't look at me
+like that before I've had my coffee."
+
+"Maybe you know him in San Flancisco, eh?"
+
+"No, no! We never heard of him until last night."
+
+"I guess you lie!" She smiled at them wheedlingly, but Boyd reassured
+her.
+
+"No! We don't know him at all."
+
+"Then what for you speak his name?"
+
+"Miss Malotte told us about him at dinner."
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"By-the-way, what kind of a looking feller is he?" asked Fraser.
+
+"He's fine, han'some man," said Chakawana. "Nice fat man. Him got hair
+like--like fire."
+
+"He's fat and red-headed, eh? He must be a picture."
+
+"Yes," agreed the girl, rather vaguely.
+
+"Is he married?"
+
+"I don't know. Maybe he lie. Maybe he got woman."
+
+"The masculine sex seems to stand like a band of horse-thieves with
+this dame," Fraser remarked to his companion. "She thinks we're all
+liars."
+
+After a moment, Chakawana continued, "Where you go now?"
+
+"To the States; to the 'outside,'" Boyd answered.
+
+"Then you see Willis Marsh, sure thing. He lives there. Maybe you
+speak, eh?"
+
+"Well, Mr. Marsh may be a big fellow around Kalvik, but I don't think
+he occupies so much space in the United States that we will meet him,"
+laughed Emerson; but even yet the girl seemed unconvinced, and went on
+rather fearfully: "Maybe you see him all the same."
+
+"Perhaps. What then?"
+
+"You speak my name?"
+
+"Why, no, certainly not."
+
+"If I see him, I'll give him your love," offered "Fingerless" Fraser,
+banteringly; but Chakawana's light-hued cheeks blanched perceptibly,
+and she cried, quickly:
+
+"No! No! Willis Marsh bad, bad man. You no speak, please! Chakawana
+poor Aleut girl. Please?"
+
+Her alarm was so genuine that they reassured her; and having completed
+their meal, they rose and left the room. Outside, Fraser said: "This
+cannery guy has certainly buffaloed these savages. He must be a
+slave-driver." Then as they filled their pipes, he added: "She was
+plumb scared to death of him, wasn't she?"
+
+"Think so?" listlessly.
+
+"Sure. Didn't she show it?"
+
+"Um-m, I suppose so."
+
+They were still talking when they heard the jingle of many bells, then
+a sharp command from Constantine, and the next instant the door burst
+open to admit Cherry, who came with a rush of youth and health as fresh
+as the bracing air that followed her. The cold had reddened her cheeks
+and quickened her eyes; she was the very embodiment of the day itself,
+radiantly bright and tinglingly alive.
+
+"Good-morning, gentlemen!" she cried, removing the white fur hood which
+gave a setting to her sparkling eyes and teeth. "Oh, but it's a
+glorious morning! If you want to feel your blood leap and your lungs
+tingle, just let Constantine take you for a spin behind that team. We
+did the five miles from the village in seventeen minutes."
+
+"And how is your measley patient?" asked Fraser.
+
+"He's doing well, thank you." She stepped to the door to admit
+Chakawana, who had evidently hurried around from the other house, and
+now came in, bareheaded and heedless of the cold, bearing a bundle
+clasped to her breast. "I brought the little fellow home with me. See!"
+
+The Indian girl bore her burden to the stove, where she knelt to lift
+the covering from the child's face.
+
+"Hey there! Look out!" ejaculated Fraser, retreating in alarm. "I never
+had no measles." But Chakawana went on cuddling the infant in a
+motherly fashion while Cherry reassured her guests.
+
+"Is that an Indian child?" asked Emerson, curiously, noting the little
+fellow's flushed fair skin. The kneeling girl turned upward a pair of
+tearful, defiant eyes, answering quickly:
+
+"Yes, him Aleut baby."
+
+"Him our little broder," came the deep voice of Constantine, who had
+entered unnoticed; and a moment later, in obedience to an order from
+Cherry, they bore their charge to their own quarters at the rear.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+IN WHICH SHE GIVES HEART TO A HOPELESS MAN
+
+
+"I dare say Kalvik is rather lively during the summer season," Emerson
+remarked to Cherry, later in the day.
+
+"Yes; the ships arrive in May, and the fish begin to run in July. After
+that nobody sleeps."
+
+She had come upon him staring dispiritedly at the fire, and his
+dejection softened her and drew out her womanly sympathy. She had
+renewed her efforts to cheer him up, seeking to stir him out of the
+gloom that imprisoned him. With the healthy optimism and exuberance of
+her normal youth she could not but deplore the mischance that had
+changed him into the sullen, silent brute he seemed.
+
+"It must be rather interesting," he observed, indifferently.
+
+"It is more than that; it is inspiring. Why, the story of the salmon is
+an epic in itself. You know they live a cycle of four years, no more,
+always returning to the waters of their nativity to die; and I have
+heard it said that during one of those four years they disappear, no
+one knows where, reappearing out of the mysterious depths of the sea as
+if at a signal. They come by the legion, in countless scores of
+thousands; and when once they have tasted the waters of their birth
+they never touch food again, never cease their onward rush until they
+become bruised and battered wrecks, drifting down from the
+spawning-beds. When the call of nature is answered and the spawn is
+laid they die. They never seek the salt sea again, but carpet the
+rivers with their bones. When they feel the homing impulse they come
+from the remotest depths, heading unerringly for the particular parent
+stream whence they originated. If sand-bars should block their course
+in dry seasons or obstacles intercept them, they will hurl themselves
+out of the water in an endeavor to get across. They may disregard a
+thousand rivers, one by one; but when they finally taste the sweet
+currents which flow from their birthplaces their whole nature changes,
+and even their physical features alter: they grow thin, and the head
+takes on the sinister curve of the preying bird."
+
+"I had no idea they acted that way," said Boyd. "You paint a vivid
+picture."
+
+"That's because they interest me. As a matter of fact, these fisheries
+are more fascinating than any place I've ever seen. Why, you just ought
+to witness the 'run.' These empty waters become suddenly crowded, and
+the fish come in a great silver horde, which races up, up, up toward
+death and obliteration. They come with the violence of a summer storm;
+like a prodigious gleaming army they swarm and bend forward, eager,
+undeviating, one-purposed. It's quite impossible to describe it--this
+great silver horde. They are entirely defenceless, of course, and
+almost every living thing preys upon them. The birds congregate in
+millions, the four-footed beasts come down from the hills, the Apaches
+of the sea harry them in dense droves, and even man appears from
+distant coasts to take his toll; but still they press bravely on. The
+clank of machinery makes the hills rumble, the hiss of steam and the
+sighs of the soldering-furnaces are like the complaint of some giant
+overgorging himself. The river swarms with the fleets of fish-boats,
+which skim outward with the dawn to flit homeward again at twilight and
+settle like a vast brood of white-winged gulls. Men let the hours go by
+unheeded, and forget to sleep."
+
+"What sort of men do they hire?"
+
+"Chinese, Japs, and Italians, mainly. It's like a foreign country here,
+only there are no women. The bunk-rooms are filled with opium fumes and
+noisy with clacking tongues. On one side of the village streets the
+Orientals burn incense to their Joss, across the way the Latins worship
+the Virgin. They work side by side all day until they are ready to
+drop, then mass in the street and knife each other over their rival
+gods."
+
+"How long does it all last?"
+
+"Only about six weeks; then the furnace fires die out, the ships are
+loaded, the men go to sleep, and the breezes waft them out into the
+August haze, after which Kalvik sags back into its ten months' coma,
+becoming, as you see it now, a dead, deserted village, shunned by man."
+
+"Jove! you have a graphic tongue," said Boyd, appreciatively. "But I
+don't see how those huge plants can pay for their upkeep with such a
+short run."
+
+"Well, they do; and, what's more, they pay tremendously; sometimes a
+hundred per cent. a year or more."
+
+"Impossible!" Emerson was now thoroughly aroused, and Cherry continued:
+
+"Two years ago a ship sailed into port in early May loaded with an army
+of men, with machinery, lumber, coal, and so forth. They landed, built
+the plant, and had it ready to operate by the time the run started.
+They made their catch, and sailed away again in August with enough
+salmon in the hold to pay twice over for the whole thing. Willis Marsh
+did even better than that the year before, but of course the price of
+fish was high then. Next season will be another big year."
+
+"How is that?"
+
+"Every fourth season the run is large; nobody knows why. Every time
+there is a Presidential election the fish are shy and very scarce; that
+lifts prices. Every year in which a President of the United States is
+inaugurated they are plentiful."
+
+Boyd laughed. "The Alaska salmon takes more interest in politics than I
+do. I wonder if he is a Republican or a Democrat?"
+
+"Inasmuch as he is a red salmon, I dare say you'd call him a
+Socialist," laughed Cherry.
+
+Emerson rose, and began to pace back and forth. "And you mean to say
+the history of the other canneries is the same?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"I had no idea there were such profits in the fisheries up here."
+
+"Nobody knows it outside of those interested. The Kalvik River is the
+most wonderful salmon river in the world, for it has never failed once;
+that's why the Companies guard it so jealously; that's why they denied
+you shelter. You see, it is set away off here in one corner of Behring
+Sea without means of communication or access, and they intend to keep
+it so."
+
+It was evident that the young man was vitally interested now. Was it
+the prospective vision of almighty dollars that was needed to release
+the hidden spring that had baffled the girl? With this clue in mind,
+she watched him closely and fed his eagerness.
+
+"These figures you mention are on record?" he inquired.
+
+"I believe they are available."
+
+"What does it cost to install and operate a cannery for the first
+season?"
+
+"About two hundred thousand dollars, I am told. But I believe one can
+mortgage his catch or borrow money on it from the banks, and so not
+have to carry the full burden."
+
+The man stared at his companion with unseeing eyes for a moment, then
+asked: "What's to prevent me from going into the business?"
+
+"Several things. Have you the money?"
+
+"Possibly. What else?"
+
+"A site."
+
+"That ought to be easy."
+
+Cherry laughed. "On the contrary, a suitable cannery site is very hard
+to get, because there are natural conditions necessary, fresh flowing
+water for one; and, furthermore, because the companies have taken them
+all up."
+
+"Ah! I see." The light died out of Emerson's eyes, the eagerness left
+his voice. He flung himself dejectedly into a chair by the fire,
+moodily watching the flames licking the burning logs. All at once he
+gripped the arms of his chair, and muttered through set jaws: "God, I'd
+like to take one more chance!" The girl darted a swift look at him, but
+he fell to brooding again, evidently insensible to her presence. At
+length he stirred himself to ask: "Can I hire a guide hereabout? We'll
+have to be going on in a day or so."
+
+"Constantine will get you one. I suppose, of course, you will avoid the
+Katmai Pass?"
+
+"Avoid it? Why?"
+
+"It's dangerous, and nobody travels it except in the direst emergency.
+It's much the shortest route to the coast, but it has a record of some
+thirty deaths. I should advise you to cross the range farther east,
+where the divide is lower. The mail-boat touches at both places."
+
+He nodded agreement. "There's no use taking chances. I'm in no hurry. I
+wish there was some way of repaying you for your kindness. We were
+pretty nearly played out when we got here."
+
+"Oh, I'm quite selfish," she disclaimed. "If you endured a few months
+of this monotony, you'd understand."
+
+During the rest of that day Boyd was conscious several times of being
+regarded with scrutinizing eyes by Cherry. At dinner, and afterward in
+the living-room while Fraser talked, he surprised the same questioning
+look on her face. Again she played for him, but he refused to sing,
+maintaining an unbroken taciturnity. After they retired she sat long
+alone, her brows furrowed as if wrestling with some knotty problem. "I
+wonder if he would do it!" she said, at last. "I wonder if he _could_
+do it!" She rose, and began to pace the floor; then added, as if in
+desperation: "Well, I must do _something_, for this can't last. Who
+knows--perhaps this is my chance; perhaps he has been sent."
+
+There are times when momentous decisions are influenced by the most
+trivial circumstances; times when affairs of the greatest importance
+are made or marred by the lift of an eyebrow or the tone of a voice;
+times when life-long associations are severed and new ties contracted
+purely upon intuition, and this woman felt instinctively that such an
+hour had now struck for her. It was late before she finally came to
+peace with the conflict in her mind and lay herself down to rest.
+
+On the following morning she told Constantine to hitch up her team and
+have it waiting when breakfast was finished. Then she turned to
+Emerson, who came into the room, and said, quietly:
+
+"I have something to show you if you will take a short ride with me."
+
+The young man, impressed by the gravity of her manner, readily
+consented. Half an hour later he wrapped her up in the sledge-robe and
+took station at the rear, whip in hand. Constantine freed the leader,
+and they went off at a mad run, whisking out from the buildings and
+swooping down the steep bank to the main-travelled trail. When they had
+gained the level and the dogs were straightened into their gait, they
+skimmed over the snow with the flight of a bird.
+
+"That's a wonderful team you have," Boyd observed, as he glanced over
+the double row of undulating gray backs and waving plume-like tails.
+
+"The best in the country," she smiled back at him. "They are good for a
+hundred miles a day."
+
+The young man gave himself up to the unique and rather delightful
+experience of being transported through an unknown country to an
+unknown destination by a charming girl of whom he also knew nothing. He
+watched her in silence; but when he forebore to question her, she
+turned, exposing a rounded, ravishing cheek, glowing against the white
+fur of her hood.
+
+"Have you no curiosity, sir?"
+
+"None! Nothing but satisfaction," he observed.
+
+It was his first attempt at gallantry, and she flashed him a bright,
+approving glance. Then, as if suddenly checked by second thought, she
+frowned slightly and turned away. She had mapped out a course of action
+during the night in which it was her purpose to use this man if he
+proved amenable, but the success of her plan would depend largely on a
+continuance of their present friendly relations. In order, therefore,
+to forestall any possible change of base, she began to unfold her
+scheme in a business-like tone:
+
+"Yesterday you seemed to be taken by the fishing business."
+
+"I certainly was until you told me there were no cannery sites left."
+
+"There is one. When I came here a year ago the whole river was open, so
+on an outside chance I located a site, the best one available. When
+Willis Marsh learned of it, he took up all of the remaining places,
+and, although at the time I had no idea what I was going to do with my
+property, I have hung on to it."
+
+"Is that where we are going?"
+
+"Yes. You seemed eager yesterday to get in on a new chance, so I am
+taking you out to look over the ground."
+
+"What's the use? I can't buy your site."
+
+"Nobody asked you to," she smiled. "I wouldn't sell it to you if you
+had the money; but if you will build a cannery on it, I'll turn in the
+ground for an interest."
+
+Emerson meditated a moment, then replied: "I can't say yes or no. It's
+a pretty big proposition--two hundred thousand dollars, you said?"
+
+"Yes. It's a big opportunity. You can clean up a hundred per cent. in a
+year. Do you think you could raise the money to build a plant?"
+
+"I might. I have some wealthy friends," he said, cautiously. "But I am
+not sure."
+
+"At least you can try? That's all anybody can do."
+
+"But I don't know anything about the business. I couldn't make it
+succeed."
+
+"I've thought of all that, and there's a way to make success certain. I
+believe you have executive ability and can handle men."
+
+"Oh yes; I've done that sort of thing." His broad shoulders went up as
+he drew a long breath. "What's your plan?"
+
+"There's a man down the coast, George Balt, who knows more about the
+business than any four people in Kalvik. He's been a fisherman all his
+life. He discovered the Kalvik River, built the first cannery here, and
+was its foreman until he quarrelled with Marsh, who proceeded to
+discipline him. Balt isn't the kind of man to be disciplined; so, not
+having enough money to build a cannery, he took his scanty capital and
+started a saltery on his own account. That suited Marsh exactly; he
+broke George in a year, absolutely ruined him, utterly wiped him out,
+just as he intends to wipe out insignificant me! Thinking to bide his
+time and recoup his fallen fortunes George came back into camp; but he
+owns a valuable trap site which Marsh and his colleagues want; and
+before they would give him work, they tried to make him assign it to
+them, and contract never to go in business on his own account.
+Naturally George refused, so they disciplined him some more. He's been
+starving now for two years. Marsh and his companions rule this region
+just as the Hudson's Bay Company used to govern its concessions: by
+controlling the natives and preventing independent white men from
+gaining a foothold.
+
+"No man dares to furnish food to George Balt; no man dares to give him
+a bed, no cannery will let him work. He has to take a dory to Dutch
+Harbor to get food. He doesn't dare leave the country and abandon the
+meagre thousands he has invested in buildings, so he has stayed on
+living off the country like a Siwash. He's a simple, big-hearted sort
+of fellow, but his life is centred in this business; it's all he knows.
+He considers himself the father of this section; and when he sees
+others rounding up the task that he began, it breaks his poor heart.
+Why, every summer when the run starts he comes across the marshes and
+slinks about the Kalvik thickets like a wraith, watching from afar just
+in order to be near it all. He stands alone and forsaken, harking to
+the clank of the machinery, every bolt of which he placed; watching his
+enemies enrich themselves from that gleaming silver army, which he
+considers his very own. He is shunned like a leper. No man is allowed
+to speak to him or render him any sort of fellowship, and it has made
+the man half mad, it has turned him into a vengeful, hate-filled
+fanatic, living only for retaliation. Some time I believe he will kill
+Marsh."
+
+"Hm-m! One seems to be forever crossing the trail of this Marsh," said
+Boyd, who had listened intently.
+
+"Yes. His aim is to gain control of this whole region, and if you
+decide to go into the enterprise you must expect to find him the most
+unscrupulous and vindictive enemy ever man had; make no mistake about
+that. It's only fair to warn you that this will be no child's play;
+but, on the other hand, the man who beats Marsh will have done
+something." She paused as if weighing her next words, then said,
+deliberately: "And I believe you are the one to do it."
+
+But Emerson was not concerned about his destiny just then, nor for the
+dangerous enmity of Marsh. He was following another train of thought.
+
+"And so Balt knows this business from the inside out?" he said.
+
+"Thoroughly; every dip, angle, and spur of it, so to speak. He's
+practical and he's honest, in addition to which his trap-site is the
+key to the whole situation. You see, the salmon run in regular definite
+courses, year after year, just as if they were following a beaten
+track. At certain places these courses come close to the shore where
+conditions make it possible to drive piling and build traps which
+intercept them by the million. One trap will do the work of an army of
+fishermen with nets in deep water. It is to get this property for
+himself that Marsh has persecuted George so unflaggingly."
+
+"Would he join us in such an enterprise, with five chances to one
+against success?"
+
+"Would he!" Cherry laughed. "Wait and see."
+
+They had reached their destination--the mouth of a deep creek, up which
+Cherry turned her dogs. Emerson leaped from the sled, and, running
+forward, seized the leader, guiding it into a clump of spruce, among
+the boles of which he tangled the harness, for this team was like a
+pack of wolves, ravenous for travel and intolerant of the leash.
+
+Together they ascended the bank and surveyed the surroundings, Cherry
+expatiating upon every feature with the fervor of a land agent bent on
+weaving his spell about a prospective buyer. And in truth she had
+chosen well, for the conditions seemed ideal.
+
+"It all sounds wonderfully attractive and feasible," said Boyd, at
+last; "but we must weigh the overwhelming odds against success. First,
+of course, is the question of capital. I have a little property of my
+own which I can convert. But two hundred thousand dollars! That's a
+tremendous sum to raise, even for a fellow with a circle of wealthy
+friends. Second, there's the question of time. It's now early December,
+and I'd have to be back here by the first of May. Third, could I run
+the plant and make it succeed? It must be a wonderfully technical
+business, and I am utterly ignorant of every phase of it. Then, too,
+there are a thousand other difficulties, such as getting machinery out
+here in time, hiring Chinese labor, chartering a ship, placing the
+output--"
+
+"George Balt has done all that many times, and knows everything about
+it," Cherry interrupted, with decision. "Every difficulty can be met
+when the time comes. What other people have done, you ought to be able
+to do."
+
+But he was not to be won by flattery. Youth that he was, he already
+knew the vanity of human hopes, and it was his nature to look at all
+sides of a question before answering it finally.
+
+"The slightest error of judgment would mean failure and ruin," he
+reflected, "for this country isn't like any other. It is cut off from
+the rest of the world, and there's no time to go back and pick up."
+
+"The odds are great, of course," she acquiesced, "but the winnings are
+in proportion. It isn't casino, by any means. This is worth while.
+Every man who has done anything in this world believes in a goddess of
+luck, and it's the element of chance that makes life worth living."
+
+"That's all right in theory," he answered her, somewhat cynically, "but
+in practice you'll find that luck is largely the result of previous
+judgment. For every obstacle I have mentioned, a thousand unsuspected
+difficulties will arise, any one of which--" The girl interrupted him
+sharply for a second time, looking him squarely in the eyes, her own
+flushed face alight with determination.
+
+"There's only one person in the whole world who can defeat you, and
+that person is yourself; and no man can finish a task before he begins
+it. We'll grant there's a chance for failure--a million chances; but
+don't try to count them. Count the chances for success. Don't be
+faint-hearted, for there's no such thing as fear. It doesn't exist.
+It's merely an absence of courage, just as indecision is merely a lack
+of decision. I never saw anything yet of which I was afraid--and you're
+a _man_. The deity of success is a woman, and she insists on being won,
+not courted. You've got to seize her and bear her off, instead of
+standing under her window with a mandolin. You need to be rough and
+masterful with her. Nobody ever reasoned himself out of a street fight.
+He had to act. If a man thinks over a proposition long enough it will
+whip him, no matter how simple it is. It's the lightning flash that
+guides a man. You must lay your course in the blue dazzle, then follow
+it in the dark; and when you come to the end, it always lightens again.
+Don't stand still, staring through the gloom, and then try to walk
+while the lightning lasts, because you won't get anywhere."
+
+Her words were charged with an electric force that communicated itself
+to the young man and galvanized him into action. He would have spoken,
+but she stayed him, and went on:
+
+"Wait; I'm not through yet. I've watched you, and I know you are down
+on your luck for some reason. You've been miscast somehow and you've
+had the heart taken out of you; but I'm sure it's in you to succeed,
+for you're young and intelligent, cool and determined. I am giving you
+this chance to play the biggest game of your life, and erase in eight
+short months every trace of failure. I'm not doing it altogether
+unselfishly, for I believe you've been sent to Kalvik to work out your
+own salvation and mine, and that of poor George Balt, whom you've never
+seen. You're going to do this thing, and you're going to make it win."
+
+Emerson reached out impulsively and caught her tiny, mittened hand. His
+eyes were shining, his face had lost the settled look of dejection, and
+was all aglow with a new dawn of hope. Even his shoulders were lifted
+and thrown back as if from some sudden access of vigor that lightened
+his burden.
+
+"You're right!" he said, firmly. "We'll send for Balt to-night."
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+IN WHICH A COMPACT IS FORMED
+
+
+Now that he had committed himself to action, Boyd Emerson became a
+different being. He was no longer the dispirited cynic of yesterday,
+but an eager, voluble optimist athirst for knowledge and afire with
+impatience. On the homeward drive he had bombarded Cherry with a
+running fusillade of questions, so that by the time they had arrived at
+her house she was mentally and physically fatigued. He seemed
+insatiable, drawing from her every atom of information she possessed,
+and although he was still hard, incisive, and aloof, it was in quite a
+different way. The intensity of his concentration had gathered all
+feeling into one definite passion, and had sucked him dry of ordinary
+emotions.
+
+In the days that followed she was at his elbow constantly, aiding him
+at every turn in his zeal to acquire a knowledge of the cannery system.
+The odd conviction grew upon her that he was working against time, that
+there was a limit to his period of action, for he seemed obsessed by an
+ever-growing passion to accomplish some end within a given time, and
+had no thought for anything beyond the engrossing issue into which he
+had plunged. She was dumfounded by his sudden transformation, and
+delighted at first, but later, when she saw that he regarded her only
+as a means to an end, his cool assumption of leadership piqued her and
+she felt hurt.
+
+Constantine had been sent for Balt, with instructions to keep on until
+he found the fisherman, even if the quest carried him over the range.
+During the days of impatient waiting they occupied their time largely
+in reconnoitring the nearest cannery, permission to go over which
+Cherry had secured from the watchman, who was indebted to her. The man
+was timid at first, but Emerson won him over, then proceeded to pump
+him dry of information, as he had done with his hostess. He covered the
+plant like a ferret; he showed such powers of adaptability and
+assimilation as to excite the girl's wonder; his grasp of detail was
+instant; his retentive faculty tenacious; he never seemed to rest.
+
+"Why, you already know more about a cannery than a superintendent
+does," she remarked, after nearly a week of this. "I believe you could
+build one yourself."
+
+He smiled. "I'm an engineer by education, and this is really in my
+line. It's the other part that has me guessing."
+
+"Balt can handle that."
+
+"But why doesn't he come?" he questioned, crossly. A score of times he
+had voiced his impatience, and Cherry was hard pushed to soothe him.
+
+Nor was she the only one to note the change in him; Fraser followed him
+about and looked on in bewilderment.
+
+"What have you done to 'Frozen Annie'?" he asked Cherry on one
+occasion. "You must have fed him a speed-ball, for I never saw a guy
+gear up so fast. Why, he was the darndest crape-hanger I ever met till
+you got him gingered up; he didn't have no more spirit than a sick
+kitten. Of course, he ain't what you'd call genial and expansive yet,
+but he's developed a remarkable burst of speed, and seems downright
+hopeful at times."
+
+"Hopeful of what?"
+
+"Ah! that's where I wander; he's a puzzle to me. Hopeful of making
+money, I suppose."
+
+"That isn't it. I can see he doesn't care for the money itself," the
+girl declared, emphatically. She would have liked to ask Fraser if he
+knew anything about the mysterious beauty of the magazine, but
+refrained.
+
+"I don't think so, either," said the man. "He acts more like somebody
+was going to ring the gong on him if this fish thing don't let him out.
+It seems to be a case bet with him."
+
+"It's a case bet with me, too," said the girl. "My men are ready to
+quit, and--well, Willis Marsh will see that I am financially ruined!"
+
+"Oho! So this is your only 'out,'" grinned "Fingerless" Fraser. "Now, I
+had a different idea as to why you got Emerson started." He was
+observing her shrewdly.
+
+"What idea, pray?"
+
+"Well, talking straight and side-stepping subterfuge, this is a lonely
+place for a woman like you, and our mutual friend ain't altogether
+unattractive."
+
+Cherry's cheeks flamed, but her tone was icy. "This is entirely a
+business matter."
+
+"Hm--m--! I ain't never heard you touted none as a business woman,"
+said the adventurer.
+
+"Have you ever heard me"--the color faded from the girl's face, and it
+was a trifle drawn--"discussed in _any_ way?"
+
+"You know, Emerson makes me uncomfortable sometimes, he is so damn
+moral," Fraser replied, indirectly. "He won't stand for anything off
+color. He's a real square guy, he is, the kind you read about."
+
+"You didn't answer my question," insisted Cherry.
+
+Again Fraser evaded the issue. "Now, if this Marsh is going after you
+in earnest this summer, why don't you let me stick around here till
+spring and look-out your game? I'll drop a monkey-wrench in his
+gear-case or put a spider in his dumpling; and it's more than an even
+shot that if him and I got to know each other right well, I'd own his
+cannery before fall."
+
+"Thank you, I can take care of myself!" said the girl, in a tone that
+closed the conversation.
+
+Late one stormy night--Constantine had been gone a week--the two men
+whom they were expecting blew in through the blinding smother, half
+frozen and well-nigh exhausted, with the marks of hard travel showing
+in their sunken cheeks and in the bleeding pads of their dog-team. But
+although a hundred miles of impassable trails lay behind them, Balt
+refused rest or nourishment until he had learned why Cherry had sent
+for him.
+
+"What's wrong?" he demanded of her, staring with suspicious eyes at the
+strangers.
+
+As briefly as possible she outlined the situation the while Boyd
+Emerson took his measure, for no person quite like this fisherman had
+ever crossed the miner's path. He saw a huge, barrel-chested creature
+whose tremendous muscles bulged beneath his nondescript garments, whose
+red, upstanding bristle of hair topped a leather countenance from which
+gleamed a pair of the most violent eyes Emerson had ever beheld, the
+dominant expression of which was rage. His jaw was long, and the seams
+from nostril and lip, half hidden behind a stiff stubble, gave it the
+set of granite. His hands were gnarled and cracked from an age-long
+immersion in brine, his voice was hoarse with the echo of drumming
+ratlines. He might have lived forty, sixty years, but every year had
+been given to the sea, for its breath was in his lungs, its foaming
+violence was in his blood.
+
+As the significance of Cherry's words sank into his mind, the signs of
+an unholy joy overspread the fisherman's visage; his thick lips writhed
+into an evil grin, and his hairy paws continued to open and close
+hungrily.
+
+"Do you mean business?" he bellowed at Emerson.
+
+"I do."
+
+"Can you fight?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Will you do what I tell you, or have you got a lot of sick notions?"
+
+"No," the young man declared, stoutly, "I have no scruples; but I won't
+do what you or anybody else tells me. I'll do what I please. I intend
+to run this enterprise absolutely, and run it my way."
+
+"This gang won't stop at anything," warned Balt.
+
+"Neither will I," affirmed the other, with a scowl and a dangerous
+down-drawing of his lip corners. "I've _got_ to win, so don't waste
+time wondering how far I'll go. What I want to know is if you will join
+my enterprise."
+
+The giant uttered a mirthless chuckle. "I'll give my life to it."
+
+"I knew you would," flashed Cherry, her eyes beaming.
+
+"And if we don't beat Willis Marsh, by God, I'll kill him!" Balt
+shouted, fully capable of carrying out his threat, for his bloodshot
+eyes were lit with bitter hatred and the memory of his wrongs was like
+gall in his mouth. Turning to the girl, he said:
+
+"Now give me something to eat. I've been living on dog fish till my
+belly is full of bones."
+
+He ripped the ragged parka from his back and flung it in a sodden heap
+beside the stove; then strode after her, with the others following.
+
+She seated him at her table and spread food before him--great
+quantities of food, which he devoured ravenously, humped over in his
+seat like a bear, his jaw hanging close to his plate. His appetite was
+as ungoverned as his temper; he did not taste his meal nor note its
+character, but demolished whatever fell first to his hand, staring
+curiously up from under his thatched brows at Emerson, now and then
+grunting some interruption to the other's rapid talk. Of Cherry and of
+"Fingerless" Fraser, who regarded him with awe, he took not the
+slightest heed. He gorged himself with sufficient provender for four
+people; then observing that the board was empty, swept the crumbs and
+remnants from his lips, and rose, saying:
+
+"Now, let's go out by the stove. I've been cold for three days."
+
+Cherry left the two of them there, and long after she had gone to bed
+she heard the murmur of their voices.
+
+"It's all arranged," they advised her at the breakfast-table. "We leave
+to-morrow."
+
+"To-morrow?" she echoed, blankly.
+
+"To-morrow?" likewise questioned Fraser, in alarm. "Oh, say! You can't
+do that. My feet are too sore to travel. I've certainly got a bad pair
+of 'dogs.'"
+
+"We start in the morning. We have no time to waste."
+
+Cherry turned to the fisherman. "You can't get ready so soon, George."
+
+"I'm ready now," answered the big fellow.
+
+She felt a sudden dread at her heart. What if they failed and did not
+return? What if some untoward peril should overtake them on the outward
+trip? It was a hazardous journey, and George Balt was the most reckless
+man on the Behring coast. She cast a frightened glance at Emerson, but
+none of the men noticed it. Even if they had observed the light that
+had come into those clear eyes, they would not have known it for the
+dawn of a new love any more than she herself realized what her
+reasonless fears betokened. She had little time to ponder, however, for
+Emerson's next words added to her alarm:
+
+"We'll catch the mail-boat at Katmai."
+
+"Katmai!" she broke in, sharply. "You said you were going by the
+Iliamna route."
+
+"The other is shorter."
+
+She turned on Balt, angrily. "You know better than to suggest such a
+thing."
+
+"I didn't suggest it," said Balt. "It's Mr. Emerson's own idea; he
+insists."
+
+"I'm for the long, safe proposition every time," Fraser announced, as
+if settling the matter definitely, languidly filling his pipe.
+
+Boyd's voice broke in curtly upon his revery. "You're not going with
+us."
+
+"The hell I ain't!" exploded the other. "Why not?"
+
+"There won't be room. You understand--it's hard travelling with three."
+
+"Oh, see here, now, pal! You promised to take me to the States," the
+adventurer demurred. "You wouldn't slough me at this gravel-pit, after
+you _promised?"_ He was visibly alarmed.
+
+"Very well," said Emerson, resignedly, "If you feel that way about it,
+come along; but I won't take you east of Seattle."
+
+"Seattle ain't so bad," Fraser replied. "I guess I can pick up a pinch
+of change there, all right. But Kalvik--Wow!"
+
+"Why do you have to go so soon?" Cherry asked Emerson, when the two
+others had left them.
+
+"Because every day counts."
+
+"But why the Katmai route? It's the stormy season, and you may have to
+wait two weeks for the mail-boat after you reach the coast."
+
+"Yes; but, on the other hand, if we should miss it by one day, it would
+mean a month's delay. She ought to be due in about ten days, so we
+can't take any chances."
+
+"I shall be dreadfully worried until I know you are safely over," said
+the girl, a new note of wistful tenderness in her voice.
+
+"Nonsense! We've all taken bigger risks before."
+
+"Do you know," she began, hesitatingly, "I've been thinking that
+perhaps you'd better not take up this enterprise, after all."
+
+"Why not?" he asked, with an incredulous stare. "I thought you were
+enthusiastic on the subject."
+
+"I am--I--believe in the proposition thoroughly," Cherry limped on,
+"but--well, I was entirely selfish in getting you started, for it
+possibly means my own salvation, but--"
+
+"It's my last chance also," Boyd broke in. "That's only another reason
+for you to continue, however. Why have you suddenly weakened?"
+
+"Because I see you don't realize what you are going into," she said,
+desperately. "Because you don't appreciate the character of the men you
+will clash with. There is actual physical peril attached to this
+undertaking, and Marsh won't hesitate to--to do anything under the sun
+to balk you. It isn't worth while risking your life for a few dollars."
+
+"Oh, isn't it!" Emerson laughed a trifle harshly. "My dear girl, you
+don't know what I am willing to risk for those 'few dollars'; you don't
+know what success means to me. Why, if I don't make this thing win,
+I'll be perfectly willing to let Marsh wreak his vengeance upon me--I
+might even help him."
+
+"Oh no!"
+
+"You may rest assured of one thing: if he is unscrupulous, so shall I
+be. If he undertakes to check me, I'll--well, I'll fight fire with
+fire."
+
+His face was not pleasant to look at now, and the girl felt an access
+of that vague alarm which had been troubling her of late. She saw again
+that old light of sullen desperation in the man's eye, and marked with
+it a new, dogged, dangerous gleam as of one possessed, which proclaimed
+his extreme necessity.
+
+"But what has occurred to make you change your mind?" he asked, causing
+the faintest flush to rise in her cheeks.
+
+"A few days ago you were a stranger, now you are a friend," she
+replied, steadily. "One's likes and dislikes grow rapidly when they are
+not choked by convention. I like you too well to see you do this. You
+are too good a man to become the prey of those people. Remember George
+Balt."
+
+"Balt hasn't started yet. For the first time he is a real menace to
+Willis Marsh."
+
+"Won't you take my advice and reconsider?" urged the girl.
+
+"Listen!" said the young man. "I came to this country with a definite
+purpose in mind, and I had three years in which to work it out. I
+needed money--God, how I needed money! They may talk about the
+emptiness of riches, and tell you that men labor not for the 'kill' but
+for the pursuit, not for the score but for the contest. Maybe some of
+them do; but with me it was gold I needed, gold I had to have, and I
+didn't care much how I got it, so long as I got it honestly. I didn't
+crave the pleasure of earning it nor the thrill of finding it; I just
+wanted the thing itself, and came up here because I thought the
+opportunities were greater here than elsewhere. I'd have gone to the
+Sahara or into Thibet just as willingly. I left behind a good many
+things to which I had been raised, and forsook opportunities which to
+most fellows of my age would seem golden; but I did it eagerly, because
+I had only three years of grace and knew I must win in that time. Well,
+I went at it. No chance was too desperate, no peril was too great, no
+hardship too intense for me. I bent every effort to my task, until mind
+and body became sleepless, unresting implements for the working out of
+my purpose. I lost all sensibility to effort, to fatigue, to physical
+suffering; I forgot all things in the world except my one idea. I
+focussed every power upon my desire, but a curse was on me. A curse!
+Nothing less.
+
+"At first I took misfortune philosophically; but when it came and slept
+with me, I began to rage at it. Month after month, year by year, it
+rose with me at dawn and lay down by me at night. Misfortune
+beleaguered me and dogged my heels, until it became a thing of
+amusement to every one except myself. To me it was terrifying, because
+my time was shortening, and the last day of grace was rushing toward me.
+
+"Just to show you what luck I played in:--at Dawson I found a prospect
+that would have made most men rich, and although such a thing had never
+happened in that particular locality before, it pinched out. I tried
+again and again and again, and finally found another mine, only to be
+robbed of it by the Canadian laws in such a manner that there wasn't
+the faintest hope of my recovering the property. Men told me about
+opportunities they couldn't avail themselves of, and, although I did
+what they themselves would have done, these chances proved to be
+ghastly jokes. I finally shifted from mining to other ventures, and the
+town burned. I awoke in a midnight blizzard to see my chance for a
+fortune licked up by flames, while the hiss of the water from the
+firemen's hose seemed directed at me and the voice of the crowd sounded
+like jeers.
+
+"I was among the first at Nome and staked alongside the discoverers,
+who undertook to put me in right for once; but although the fellows
+around me made fortunes in a day, my ground was barren and my bed-rock
+swept clean by that unseen hand which I always felt but could never
+avoid. I leased proven properties, only to find that the pay ceased
+without reason. I did this so frequently that owners began to refuse me
+and came to consider me a thing of evil omen. Once a broken snow-shoe
+in a race to the recorder's office lost me a fortune; at another time a
+corrupt judge plunged me from certainty to despair, and all the while
+my time was growing shorter and I was growing poorer.
+
+"Two hours after the Topkuk strike was made I drove past the shaft, but
+the one partner known to me had gone to the cabin to build a fire, and
+the other one lied to me, thinking I was a stranger. I heard afterward
+that just as I drove away my friend came to the door and called after
+me, but the day was bitter, and my ears were muffled with fur, while
+the dry snow beneath the runners shrieked so that it drowned his cries.
+Me chased me for half a mile to make me rich, but the hand of fate
+lashed my dogs faster and faster, while that hellish screeching
+outdinned his voice. Six hours later Topkuk was history. You've seen
+stampedes--you understand.
+
+"My name became a by-word and caused people to laugh, though they
+shrank from me, for miners and sailors are equally superstitious. No
+man ever had more opportunities than I, and no man was ever so
+miserably unfortunate in missing them. In time I became whipped,
+utterly without hope. Yet almost from habit I fought on and on, with my
+ears deaf to the voices that mocked me.
+
+"Three years isn't very long as you measure time, but the death-watch
+drags, and the priest's prayers are an eternity when the hangman waits
+outside. But the time came and passed at length, and I saw my beautiful
+breathing dream become a rotting corpse. Still, I struggled along,
+until one day something snapped and I gave up--for all time. I
+realized, as you said, that I was 'miscast,' that I had never been of
+this land, so I was headed for home. Home!" Emerson smiled bitterly.
+"The word doesn't mean anything to me now, but anyhow I was headed for
+God's country, an utter failure, in a worse plight than when I came
+here, when you put this last chance in front of me. It may be another
+_ignis fatuus_, such as the others I have pursued, for I have been
+chasing rainbows now for three years, and I suppose I shall go on
+chasing them; but as long as there is a chance left, I can't quit--I
+_can't_. And something tells me that I have left that ill-omened thing
+behind at last, and I am going to win!"
+
+Cherry had listened eagerly to this bitter tirade, and was deeply
+touched by the pathos of the youth's sense of failure. His poignant
+pessimism, however, only seemed to throw into relief the stubborn
+fixedness of his dominant purpose. The moving cause of it all, whatever
+it was--and it could only be a woman--aroused a burning curiosity in
+her, and she said:
+
+"But you're too late. You say your time was up some time ago."
+
+"Perhaps," he returned, staring into the distances. "That's what I was
+going out to ascertain. I thought I might have a few days of grace
+allowed me." He turned his eyes directly upon her, and concluded, in a
+matter-of-fact tone: "That's why I can't quit, now that you've set me
+in motion again, now that you've given me another chance. That's why we
+leave to-morrow and go by way of the Katmai Pass."
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+WHEREIN BOREAS TAKES A HAND
+
+
+All that day the men busied themselves in preparation for the start.
+Balt was ferociously exultant, Emerson was boiling with impatience,
+while Fraser, whose calm nothing disturbed, slept most of the time,
+observing that this was his last good bed for a while, and therefore he
+wished to make it work.
+
+Beneath her quiet cheerfulness, Cherry nursed a forlorn heart; for when
+these men were gone she would be left alone and friendless again,
+buried in the heart of an inaccessible wilderness, given over to her
+fears and the intrigues of her enemies. She had eyes mainly for
+Emerson, and although in her glance there was good-fellowship, in her
+heart was hot resentment--first at him because he had awakened in her
+the warm interest she felt for him, and, second, at herself for
+harboring any such interest. Why should this self-centred youth,
+wrapped up in his own affairs to her own utter exclusion, give her
+cause to worry? Why should she allow him to step into her quiet life
+and upset her well-ordered existence?
+
+"How do you like him?" she asked Balt, once.
+
+"He's my style, all right," said the big man. "He's desp'rate, and
+he'll fight; that's what I want--somebody that won't blench at anything
+when the time comes." He ground his teeth, and his red eyes flamed,
+reflecting the sense of injury that seared his brain. "What he don't
+know about the business, I do, and we'll make it win. But, say, ain't
+he awful at asking questions? My head aches and my back is lame from
+answering him. Seems like he remembers it all, too."
+
+Goaded by the wrong he had suffered, and almost maniacal in his
+eagerness for the coming struggle, the giant's frenzy told Cherry that
+the fight would be an unrelenting one, and again a vague tremor of
+regret at having drawn this youth into the affair crept over her and
+sharpened the growing pain at her heart.
+
+During the evening Emerson left the two other men in the store, and,
+seeking her out in the little parlor, asked her to play for him. She
+consented gladly, and, as on their first evening together, he sang with
+her. Again the blending of their voices brought them closer, his
+aloofness wore off, and he became an agreeable, accomplished companion
+whose merry wit and boyish sympathy stirred emotions in the girl that
+threatened her peace of mind. This had been the only companionship with
+her own kind she had enjoyed for months, and with his melting mood came
+a softening of her own nature, in which she appeared before him
+gracious and irresistible. Banteringly, and rising out of his elation,
+he tried to please her, and, in the same spirit that calls the bird to
+its mate, she responded. It was their last hour together before
+embarking on his perilous journey in search of the Golden Fleece, and
+his starved affections clamored for sympathy, while the iron in his
+blood felt the magnetic propinquity of sex. When he said good-night it
+was with a wholly new conception of his hostess, and of her power to
+charm as well as manage men and affairs; but he could well have
+dispensed with an uncomfortable feeling that came over him as he
+reviewed the events of the evening over a last pipe, that he had been
+playing with fire. For her part, she lay awake far into the morning
+hours, now blissfully floating on the current of half-formed desires,
+now vaguely fearing some dread that clutched her.
+
+The good-byes were brief and commonplace; there was time for nothing
+more, for the dogs were straining to be off and the December air bit
+fiercely. But Cherry called Emerson aside, and in a rather tremulous
+voice begged him again to consider well this enterprise before finally
+committing himself to it. "If this were any other country, if there
+were any law up here or any certainty of getting a square deal, I'd
+never say a word, I'd urge you to go the limit. But--"
+
+He was about to laugh off her fears as he had done before, when the
+plaintive wrinkle between her brows and the forlorn droop of her lips
+stayed him. Without thought of consequences, and prompted largely by
+his leaping spirits, he stooped and, before she could divine his
+purpose, kissed her.
+
+"Good-bye!" he laughed, with dancing eyes. "That's my answer!" and the
+next second was at the sled. The dogs leaped at his shout, and the
+cavalcade was in motion.
+
+The others had not observed his leave-taking, and now cried a final
+farewell; but the girl stood without sound or gesture, bareheaded under
+the wintry sky, a startled, wondering light in her eyes which did not
+fade until the men were lost to view far up the river trail. Then she
+breathed deeply and turned into the house, oblivious to Constantine and
+the young squaw, who held the sick baby up for her inspection.
+
+The hazards of winter travel in the North are manifold at best, but the
+country which Emerson and his companions had to traverse was
+particularly perilous, owing to the fact that their course led them
+over the backbone of the great Alaskan Range, that desolate,
+skyscraping rampart which interposes itself between the hate of the
+Arctic seas and the tossing wilderness of the North Pacific. This range
+forms a giant, ice-armored tusk thrust out to the westward and curved
+like the horn of an African rhino, its tip pointed eight hundred miles
+toward the Asiatic coast, its soaring peaks veiled in perpetual mist
+and volcanic fumes, its slopes agleam with lonely ice-fields. It is a
+saw-toothed ridge, for the most part narrow, unbroken, and cruel, and
+the rival winter gales roar over it in a never-ceasing war. On the
+north lies the Forgotten Land, to the south are the tempered reaches of
+the Pacific. In summer the stern sweep of rock and tundra is soaked
+with weeping rains, and given over to the herding caribou or the great
+grass-eating bear; but when from the polar regions the white hand of
+winter stretches forth, the grieving seas lift themselves, the rain
+turns to bitter, hail-burdened hurricanes that charge and retreat in a
+death-dealing conflict, sheathing the barrier anew, and confounding the
+hearts of men on land and sea. The coast is unlighted and badly mapped,
+hence the shore is a graveyard for ships, while through the guts, which
+at intervals penetrate the range, the blizzards screech until
+travellers burrow into drifts to avoid their fury or lie out in stiff
+sleeping-bags exposed to their anger. It is a region of sudden storms,
+a battle-ground of the elements, which have swept it naked of cover in
+ages past, and it is peopled scantily by handfuls of coughing natives,
+whose igloos are hidden in hollows or chained to the ground with cables
+and ship's gear.
+
+It was thither the travellers were bound, headed toward Katmai Pass,
+which is no more than a gap between peaks, through which the hibernal
+gales suck and swirl. This pass is even balder than the surrounding
+barrens, for it forms a funnel at each end, confining the winds and
+affording them freer course. Notwithstanding the fact that it had an
+appalling death-list and was religiously shunned, Emerson would hearken
+to no argument for a safer route, insisting that they could spare no
+time for detours. Nothing dampened his spirits, no hardship daunted
+him; he was tireless, ferocious in his haste.
+
+A week of hard travel found them camped in the last fringe of
+cottonwood that fronted the glacial slopes, their number augmented now
+by a native from a Russian village with an unpronounceable name, who,
+at the price of an extortionate bribe, had agreed to pilot them
+through. For three days they lay idle, the taut walls of their tent
+thrumming to an incessant fusillade of ice particles that whirled down
+ahead of the blast, while Emerson fumed to be gone.
+
+The fourth morning broke still and quiet; but, after a careful scrutiny
+of the peaks, the Indian shook his head and spoke to Balt, who nodded
+in agreement.
+
+"What's the matter?" growled Emerson. "Why don't we get under way?" But
+the other replied:
+
+"Not to-day. Them tips are smoking, see!" He indicated certain gauzy
+streamers that floated like vapor from the highest pinnacles. "That's
+snow, dry snow, and it shows that the wind is blowing up there. We
+dassent tackle it."
+
+"Do you mean we must lie here waiting for an absolutely calm day?"
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"Why, it may be a week!"
+
+"It may be two of them; then, again, it may be all right to-morrow."
+
+"Nonsense! That breeze won't hurt anybody."
+
+"Breeze!" Balt laughed. "It's more like a tornado up yonder. No, we've
+just got to take it easy till the right moment comes, and then make a
+dash. It's thirty miles to the nearest stick of timber; and once you
+get into the Pass, you can't stop till you're through."
+
+Still unconvinced, and surly at the delay, Emerson resigned himself,
+while Balt saw to their sled, tended the dogs, and made final
+preparations. "Fingerless" Fraser lay flat on his back and nursed a
+pair of swollen tendons that had been galled by his snowshoe thongs,
+reviling at the fortune that had cast him into such inhospitable
+surroundings, heaping anathemas upon the head of him who had invented
+snowshoes, complaining of everything in general, from the indigestible
+quality of baking-powder bread to the odor of the guide who crouched
+stolidly beside the stove, feeding it with green willows and twisted
+withes.
+
+The next dawn showed the mountain peaks limned like clean-cut ivory
+against the steel-blue sky, and as they crept up through the defiles
+the air was so motionless that the smoke of their pipes hung about
+their heads, while the creak of their soles upon the dry surface of the
+snow roused echoes from the walls on either side. At first their
+progress was rapid, but in time the drifts grew deeper, and they came
+to bluffs where they were forced to notch footholds, unpack their load
+and relay it to the top, then free the dogs, and haul the sled up with
+a rope, hand over hand. These labors, besides being intensely
+fatiguing, delayed them considerably, added to which the higher
+altitudes were covered with a soft eider-down that reached nearly to
+their knees and shoved ahead of the sled in great masses. Thus they
+dragged their burden through instead of over it.
+
+By mid-day they had gained the summit, and found themselves in the
+heart of a huge desolation, hedged in by a chaos of peaks and
+pinnacles, the snows unbroken by twig or bush, untracked by living
+sign. Here and there the dark face of some white-cowled rock or cliff
+scowled at them, and although they were drenched with sweat and parched
+from thirst, nowhere was there the faintest tinkle of running water,
+while the dry powder under foot scratched their throats like iron
+filings when they turned to it for relief. All were jaded and silent,
+save Emerson, who urged them on incessantly.
+
+It was early in the afternoon when the Indian stopped and began testing
+the air; Balt also seemed suddenly to scent a change in the atmospheric
+conditions.
+
+"What's wrong now?" Emerson asked, gruffly.
+
+"Feels like wind," answered the big man, with a shake of his head. The
+native began to chatter excitedly, and as they stood there a chill
+draught fanned their cheeks. Glancing upward at the hillsides, they saw
+that the air was now thickened as if by smoke, and, dropping their
+eyes, they saw the fluff beneath their feet stir lazily. Little wisps
+of snow-vapor began to dance upon the ridges, whisking out of sight as
+suddenly as they appeared. They became conscious of a sudden fall in
+the temperature, and they knew that the cold of interstellar space
+dwelt in that ghostly breath which smote them. Before they were well
+aware of the ominous significance of these signs the storm was upon
+them, sweeping through the chute wherein they stood with rapidly
+increasing violence. The terrible, unseen hand of the Frozen North had
+unleashed its brood of furies, and the air rang with their hideous
+cries. It was Dante's third circle of hell let loose--Cerberus baying
+through his wide, threefold throat, and the voices of tormented souls
+shrilling through the infernal shades. It came from behind them,
+lifting the fur on the backs of the wolf-dogs and filling it with
+powder, pelting their hides with sharp particles until they refused to
+stand before it, and turned and crouched with flattened ears in the
+shelter of the sled. In an instant the wet faces of the men were dried
+and their steaming garments hardened to shells, while their blood began
+to move more sluggishly.
+
+Fraser shouted something, but Emerson's whipping garments drowned the
+words, and without waiting to ascertain what the adventurer had said
+the young man ran forward and cut the dogs loose, while Balt and the
+guide fell to unlashing the sled, the tails of their parkas meanwhile
+snapping like boat sails, their cap strings streaming. As they freed
+the last knot the hurricane ripped the edge of the tarpaulin from their
+clumsy fingers, and, seizing a loosely folded blanket belonging to the
+native, snatched it away. The fellow clutched wildly at it, but the
+cloth sailed ahead of the blast as if on wings, then, dropping to the
+surface of the snow, opened out, whereupon some twisting current bore
+it aloft again, and it swooped down the hill like a great bat, followed
+by a wail of despair from the owner. Other loose articles on the top of
+the load were picked up like chaff--coffee pot, frying pan, and
+dishes--then hurtled away like charges of canister, rolling, leaping,
+skipping down into the swale ahead, then up over the next ridge and out
+of sight. But the men were too fiercely beset by the confusion to
+notice their loss. There was no question of facing the wind, for it was
+more cruel than the fierce breath of an open furnace, searing the naked
+flesh like a flame.
+
+All the morning the air had hung in perfect poise, but some change of
+temperature away out over one of the rival oceans had upset the
+aerostatic balance, and the wind tore through this gap like the torrent
+below a broken reservoir.
+
+The contour of the surrounding hills altered, the whole country took on
+a different aspect, due to the rapid charging of the atmosphere, the
+limits of vision grew shorter and strangely distorted. Although as yet
+the snows were barely beginning to move, the men knew they would
+shortly be forced to grope their way through dense clouds that would
+blot out every landmark, and the touch of which would be like the
+stroke of a red-hot rasp.
+
+Balt came close to Emerson, and bellowed into his ear:
+
+"What shall we do? Roll up in the bedding or run for it?"
+
+"How far is it to timber?"
+
+"Twelve or fifteen miles."
+
+"Let's run for it! We're out of grub, anyhow, and this may last for
+days."
+
+There was no use of trying to secure additional clothing from the
+supply in the sled, so they abandoned their outfit and allowed
+themselves to be driven ahead of the storm, trusting to the native's
+sense of direction and keeping close together. The dogs were already
+well drifted over, and refused to stir.
+
+Once they were gone a stone's throw from the sled there was no turning
+back, and although the wind was behind them progress was difficult, for
+they came upon chasms which they had to avoid; they crossed slippery
+slopes, where the storm had bared the hard crust and which their feet
+refused to grip. In such places they had to creep on hands and knees,
+calling to one another for guidance. They were numbed, blinded, choked
+by the rage of the blizzard; their faces grew stiff, and their lungs
+froze. At times they fell, and were skidded along ahead of the blasts.
+This forced them to crawl back again, for they dared not lose their
+course. At one place they followed a hog-back, where the rocks came to
+a sharp ridge like the summit of a roof, this they bestrode, inching
+along a foot at a time, wearing through the palms of their mittens and
+chafing their garments. No cloth could withstand the roughened
+surfaces, and in time the bare flesh of their hands became exposed, but
+there was little sensation, and no time for rest or means of relief.
+Soon they began to leave blood stains behind them.
+
+All four men were old in the ways of the North, and, knowing their
+present extremity, they steeled themselves to suffering, but their
+tortures were intense, not the least of which was thirst. Exhaustion
+comes quickly under such conditions.
+
+Much has been written concerning the red man's physical powers of
+endurance, but as a rule no Indian is the equal of his white brother,
+due as much perhaps to lack of mental force as to generations of
+insufficient clothing and inanition, so it was not surprising that as
+the long afternoon dragged to a close the Aleut guide began to weaken.
+He paused with more frequency, and it required more effort to start
+him; he fell oftener and rose with more difficulty, but the others were
+dependent upon his knowledge of the trail, and could not take the lead.
+
+Darkness found them staggering on, supporting him wherever possible. At
+length he became unable to guide them farther, and Balt, who had once
+made the trip, took his place, while the others dragged the poor
+creature along at the cost of their precious strength.
+
+At one time he begged them to leave him, and both Balt and "Fingerless"
+Fraser agreed, but Emerson would have none of it.
+
+"He'll die, anyhow," argued the fisherman.
+
+"He's as good as dead now," supplemented Fraser, "and we may be ten
+miles from timber."
+
+"I made him come, and I'll take him through," said Emerson, stubbornly;
+and so they crawled their weary way, sore beset with their dragging
+burden. Slow at best, their advance now became snail-like, for darkness
+had fallen, and threatened to blot them out. It betrayed them down
+declivities, up and out of which they had to dig their way. In such
+descents they were forced to let go the helpless man, whose body rolled
+ahead of them like a boneless sack; but these very mishaps helped to
+keep the spark of life in him, for at every disheartening pause the
+others rubbed and pounded him, though they knew that their efforts were
+hopeless, and would have been better spent upon themselves.
+
+Fraser, never a strong man, gave out in time, and it looked as if he
+might overtax the powers of the other two, but Balt's strength was that
+of a bull, while Emerson subsisted on his nerve, fairly consuming his
+soul.
+
+They grew faint and sick, and knew themselves to be badly frozen; but
+their leader spurred them on, draining himself in the effort. For the
+first time Emerson realized that the adventurer had been a drag on him
+ever since their meeting.
+
+They had long since lost all track of time and place, trusting blindly
+to a downward course. The hurricane still harried them with unabated
+fury, when all at once they came to another bluff where the ground fell
+away abruptly. Without waiting to investigate whether the slope
+terminated in a drift or a precipice, they flung themselves over. Down
+they floundered, the two half-insensible men tangled together as if in
+a race for total oblivion, only to plunge through a thicket of willow
+tops that whipped and stung them. On they went, now vastly heartened,
+over another ridge, down another declivity, and then into a grove of
+spruce timber, where the air suddenly stilled, and only the tree-tops
+told of the rushing wind above.
+
+It was well-nigh an hour before Balt and Emerson succeeded in starting
+a fire, for it was desperate work groping for dry branches, and they
+themselves were on the verge of collapse before the timid blaze finally
+showed the two more unfortunate ones huddled together.
+
+Cherry had given Emerson a flask of liquor before starting, and this he
+now divided between Fraser and the guide, having wisely refused it to
+them until shelter was secured. Then he melted snow in Balt's tin cup
+and poured pints of hot water into the pair until the adventurer began
+to rally; but the Aleut was too far gone, and an hour before the
+laggard dawn came he died.
+
+They walked Fraser around the fire all night, threshing his tortured
+body and fighting off their own deadly weariness, meanwhile absorbing
+the insufficient heat of the flames.
+
+When daylight came they tried hard to lash the corpse into a
+spruce-top, but their strength was unequal to the task, and they were
+forced to leave the body to the mercy of the wolves as they turned
+their faces expectantly down the valley toward the village.
+
+The day was well spent when they struggled into Katmai and plodded up
+to a half-rotted log store, the roof of which was protected from the
+winter gales by two anchor chains passed over the ridge and made fast
+to posts well buried in the ground. A globular, quarter-breed Russian
+trader, with eyes so crossed that he could distinguish nothing at a
+yard's distance, took them in and administered to their most crying
+needs, then dispatched an outfit for the guide's body.
+
+The initial stage of the journey, Emerson realized with thanksgiving,
+was over. As soon as he was able to talk he inquired straightway
+concerning the mail-boat.
+
+"She called here three days ago, bound west," said the trader.
+
+"That's all right. She'll be back in about a week, eh?"
+
+"No; she won't stop here coming back. Her contract don't call for it."
+
+"What!" Emerson felt himself sickening.
+
+"No, she won't call here till next month; and then if it's storming
+she'll go on to the westward, and land on her way back."
+
+"How long will that be?"
+
+"Maybe seven or eight weeks."
+
+In his weakened condition the young man groped for the counter to
+support himself. So the storm's delay at the foot of the Pass had
+undone him! Fate, in the guise of Winter, had unfurled those floating
+snow-banners from the mountain peaks to thwart him once more! Instead
+of losing the accursed thing that had hung over him these past three
+years, it had merely redoubled its hold; that mocking power had held
+the bait of Tantalus before his eyes, only to hurl him back into
+hopeless despair; for, figuring with the utmost nicety, he had reckoned
+that there was just time to execute his mission, and even a month's
+delay would mean certain failure. He turned hopelessly toward his two
+companions, but Fraser had relapsed into a state of coma, while Big
+George was asleep beside the stove.
+
+For a long time he stood silent and musing, while the fat storekeeper
+regarded him stupidly; then he fumbled with clumsy fingers at his
+breast, and produced the folded page of a magazine. He held it for a
+time without opening it; then crushed it slowly in his fist, and flung
+the crumpled ball into the open coals.
+
+He sighed heavily, and turned upon the trader a frost-blackened
+countenance, out of which all the light had gone.
+
+"Give us beds," he said; "we want to sleep."
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+AND NEPTUNE TAKES ANOTHER
+
+
+Out of consideration for his companions, Emerson did not acquaint them
+with the evil tidings until the next morning; moreover, he was
+swallowed up in black despair, and had no heart left in him for any
+further exertion. He had allowed the Russian to show him to a bed, upon
+which he flung himself, half dressed, while the others followed suit.
+But he was too tired to sleep. His nerves had been filed to such a fine
+edge that slumber became a process which required long hours of
+coaxing, during which he tossed restlessly, a prey to those hideous
+nightmares that lurk on the border-land of dreams. His distorted
+imagination flung him again and again into the agonizing maelstrom of
+the last thirty-six hours, and in his waking moments the gaunt spectre
+of failure haunted him. This was no new apparition, but never before
+had it appeared so horrible as now. He was too worn out to rave, his
+strength was spent, and his mind wandered hither and thither like a
+rudderless ship. So he lay staring into the dark with dull, tragic
+eyes, utterly inert, his body racked by a thousand pains.
+
+Nor did "Fingerless" Fraser meet with better fortune. He found little
+rest or sleep, and burdened the night with his groanings. His condition
+called for the frequent attendance of the trader, who ministered to his
+needs with the ease and certainty of long practice, rousing him now and
+then to give him nourishment, and redressing his frozen members when
+necessary. As for Balt, he slept like an Eskimo dog, wrapped in the
+senseless trance of complete physical relaxation. Being a creature of
+no imagination, he had taxed nothing beyond his body, which was capable
+of tremendous resistance, wherefore he escaped the nerve-racking
+torment and mental distress of the others.
+
+As warmth and repose gradually adjusted the balance between mind and
+body, Emerson fell into a deep sleep, and it was late in the day when
+he awoke, every muscle aching, every joint stiff, every step attended
+with pain. He found his companions up and already breakfasted, Big
+George none the worse for his ordeal, while Fraser, bandaged and
+smarting, was his old shrewd self. Emerson's first inquiry was for the
+body of the guide.
+
+"They brought him in this morning," answered the fisherman. "He's in
+cold storage at the church. When the priest comes over next month
+they'll bury him."
+
+"He was a right nice feller," said Fraser, "but I'm glad I ain't in his
+mukluks. If you two hadn't stuck to me--well, him and me would have
+done a brother act at this church festival."
+
+"How are your frost-bites?" Emerson asked, seating himself with painful
+care.
+
+"Fine--all but the bum hook." He held up his crippled hand, which was
+well bandaged. "However, I guess I can save my gun-finger, so all is
+not lost."
+
+"Have you heard about the mail-boat?"
+
+"No."
+
+"We've missed her."
+
+"What d'you mean?" demanded Big George, blankly.
+
+"I mean that the storm delayed us just long enough to ruin us."
+
+"Why--er--let's wait till the next trip," offered the fisherman.
+
+Emerson shook his head. "She may not be back here for eight weeks. No!
+We're done for."
+
+Balt was like a big boy in distress. His face wrinkled as if he were
+about to burst into loud lamentations; then a thought seized him.
+
+"I'll tell you what we'll do!" he cried, with a heavy attempt at
+meeting the problem. "We'll put off the scheme for a year. We'll take
+plenty of time, and open up a year from next spring."
+
+"No," said Emerson, with a dejected shake of the head. "If I can't put
+it through on the flash, I can't do it at all. My time is up. I'm down
+and out. All our pretty plans have gone to smash. You'd better go back
+to Kalvik, George."
+
+At this suggestion, Balt rose ponderously and began to rave. To see his
+vengeance slip from his grasp enraged him. He cursed shockingly,
+clinching his great fists above his head, and grinding forth
+imprecations which caused Fraser to quail and cry out aghast:
+
+"Hey, you! Quit that! D'you want to hang a Jonah onto us?"
+
+But the fisherman only goaded himself into a greater passion, during
+which Petellin, the storekeeper, entered, and forthwith began to cross
+himself devoutly. Observing this fervent pantomime, Balt turned upon
+the trader and directed his outburst at him:
+
+"Where in hell is this steamer?"
+
+"Out to the westward somewhere."
+
+"Well, she's a mail-boat, ain't she? Then why don't she stop here
+coming back? Answer me!"
+
+The rotund man shrugged his fat shoulders. "She's got to call at Uyak
+Bay going east."
+
+Emerson looked up quickly, "Where is Uyak Bay?"
+
+"Over on Kodiak Island," Big George answered; then turned again to vent
+his spleen on the trader.
+
+"What right have them steamboat people got to cut out this place for an
+empty cannery? Why, there ain't nobody at Uyak. It's more of that
+damned Company business. They own this whole country, and run it to
+suit themselves."
+
+"She ain't my boat," said Petellin. "You'd ought to have got here a few
+days sooner."
+
+"My God! I'm sorry we waited at the Pass," said Emerson. "The weather
+couldn't have been any worse that first day than it was when we came
+across."
+
+Detecting in this remark a criticism of his caution, Big George turned
+about and faced the speaker; but as he met Emerson's eye he checked the
+explosion, and, seizing his cap, bolted out into the cold to walk off
+his mad rage.
+
+"When is the boat due at Uyak?" Emerson asked.
+
+"'Most any time inside of a week."
+
+"How far is that from here?"
+
+"It ain't so far--only about fifty miles." Then, catching the light
+that flamed into the miner's eyes, Petellin hastened to observe: "But
+you can't get there. It's across the Straits--Shelikof Straits."
+
+"What of that! We can hire a sail-boat, and--"
+
+"I ain't got any sail-boat. I lost my sloop last year hunting
+sea-otter."
+
+"We can hire a small boat of _some_ sort, can't we, and get the natives
+to put us across? There must be plenty of boats here."
+
+"Nothing but skin boats, kyaks, and bidarkas--you know. Anyhow, you
+couldn't cross at this time of year--it's too stormy; these Straits is
+the worst piece of water on the coast. No, you'll have to wait."
+
+Emerson sank back into his chair, and stared hopelessly at the fire.
+
+"Better have some breakfast," the trader continued; but the other only
+shook his head. And after a farewell squint of curiosity, the fat man
+rolled out again in pursuit of his duties.
+
+"I've heard tell of these Shelikof Straits," Fraser remarked. "I bunked
+with a bear-hunter from Kodiak once, and he said they was certainly
+some hell in winter." When Emerson made no reply, the fellow's
+colorless eyes settled upon him with a trace of solicitude, and he
+resumed: "I'm doggone sorry you lost out, pal, but mebbe something'll
+turn up yet." Then, seeing that the young man was deaf to his
+condolence, he muttered: "So, you've got 'em again, eh? Um!" As usual
+on such occasions, he fell into his old habit of reading aloud, as it
+were, an imaginary scene to himself:
+
+"'Yes, I've got 'em again,' says Mr. Emerson, always eager to give
+entertainment with the English language. 'I am indeed blue this
+afternoon. Won't you talk to me? I feel that the sound of a dear
+friend's voice will drive dull care away.'
+
+"'Gladly,' says I; 'I am a silent man by birth and training, and my
+thoughts is jewels, but for you, I'll scatter them at large, and you
+can take your pick. Now, this salmon business ain't what it's cracked
+up to be, after all. It's a smelly proposition, no matter how you take
+it, and a fisherman ain't much better than a Reub; ask any wise guy.
+I'd rather see you in some profesh that don't stink so, like selling
+scented soap. There was a feller at Dyea who done well at it. What
+think you?'
+
+"'It's a dark night without,' says Mr. Emerson, 'and I fear some
+mischief is afoot!'
+
+"'But what of yonder beauteous--'"
+
+Unheeding this chatter, the disheartened man got up at this juncture,
+as if a sudden thought impelled him, and followed Balt out into the
+cold. He turned down the bank to the creek, however, and made a careful
+examination of all the canoes that went with the village. Fifteen
+minutes later he had searched out the disgruntled fisherman, and cried,
+excitedly:
+
+"I've got it! We'll catch that boat yet!"
+
+"How?" growled the big man, sourly.
+
+"There's a large open skin-boat, an oomiak, down on the beach. We'll
+hire a crew of Indians to put us across to Uyak."
+
+"Can't be done," said Big George, still gruffly. "It's the wrong
+season. You know the Shelikof Straits is a bad place even for
+steamships at this time of year. They're like that Pass up yonder, only
+worse."
+
+"But it's only fifty miles across."
+
+"Fifty miles of that kind of water in an open canoe may be just as bad
+as five hundred--unless you're lucky. And I ain't noticed anything so
+damned lucky about us."
+
+"Well, it's that or nothing. It's our only chance. Are you game?"
+
+"Come on," cried Big George, "let's find Petellin!"
+
+When that worthy heard their desire, he uttered a shriek of denial.
+
+"In summer, yes, but now--you can't do it. It has been tried too often.
+The Straits is always rough, and the weather is too cold to sit all day
+in an oomiak, you'd freeze."
+
+"We'll chance it."
+
+"No, _no_, NO! If it comes on to storm, you'll go to sea. The tides are
+strong; you can't see your course, and--"
+
+"We'll use a compass. Now, you get me enough men to handle that oomiak,
+that's a good fellow. I'll attend to the rest."
+
+"But they won't go," declared the little fat man. "They know what it
+means. Why--"
+
+"Call them in. I'll do the talking." And accordingly the storekeeper
+went in search of the village chief, shaking his head and muttering at
+the madness of these people.
+
+"Fingerless" Fraser, noticing the change in Balt and Emerson when they
+re-entered the store, questioned them as to what had happened; and in
+reply to his inquiry, Big George said:
+
+"We're going to tackle the Straits in a small boat."
+
+"What! Not on your life! Why, that's the craziest stunt I ever heard
+of. Don't you know--"
+
+"Yes, we know," Emerson shut him up, brusquely. "You don't have to go
+with us."
+
+"Well, I should say not. Hunh! Do I look like I'd do a thing like that?
+If I do, it's because I'm sick. I just got this far by a gnat's
+eyelash, and hereinafter I take the best of it every time."
+
+"You can wait for the mail-boat."
+
+"I certainly can, and, what's more, I will. And I'll register myself,
+too. There ain't goin' to be any accidents to me whatever."
+
+Although the two men were pleased at the remote chance of catching the
+steamer, their ardor received a serious set-back when the trader came
+in with the head man of the village and a handful of hunters, for
+Emerson found that money was quite powerless to tempt them. Using the
+Russian as interpreter, he coaxed and wheedled, increasing his offer
+out of all proportion to the exigencies of the occasion; and still
+finding them obdurate, in despair he piled every coin he owned upon the
+counter. But the men only shook their heads and palavered among
+themselves.
+
+"They say it's too cold," translated Petellin. "They will freeze, and
+money is no good to dead men." Another native spoke: "'It is very
+stormy this month,' they say. 'The waves would sink an open boat.'"
+
+"Then they can put us across in bidarkas," insisted Emerson, who had
+noted the presence of several of these smaller crafts, which are
+nothing more than long walrus-hide canoes completely decked over, save
+for tiny cockpits wherein the paddlers sit. "They don't have to come
+back that way; they can wait at Uyak for the next trip of the steamer.
+Why, I'm offering them more pay than they can make in ten years."
+
+"Better get them to do it," urged Big George. "You'll get the coin all
+back from them; they'll have to trade here." But Petellin's arguments
+were as ineffective as Emerson's, and after an hour's futile haggling
+the natives were about to leave when Emerson said:
+
+"Ask them what they'll take to sell me a bidarka."
+
+"One hundred dollars," Petellin told him, after an instant's parley.
+
+Emerson turned to George. "Will you tackle it alone with me?"
+
+The fisherman hesitated. "Two of us couldn't make it. Get a third man,
+and I'll go you." Accordingly Emerson resumed the subject with the
+Indians, but now their answer was short and decisive. Not one of them
+would venture forth unless accompanied by one of his own kind, in whose
+endurance and skill with a paddle he had confidence. It seemed as if
+fate had laid one final insurmountable obstacle in the path of the two
+white men, when "Fingerless" Fraser, who had been a silent witness of
+the whole scene, spoke up, in his voice a bitter complaint:
+
+"Well, that puts it up to me, I suppose. I'm always the fall guy, damn
+it!"
+
+"_You!_ You go!" cried Emerson, astounded beyond measure at this offer,
+and still doubting. The fellow had so consistently shirked every
+hardship, and so systematically refused every hazard, no matter how
+slight!
+
+"Well, I don't _want_ to," Fraser flared up, "you can just lay a bet on
+that. But these Siwashes won't stand the gaff, they're too wise; so
+I've _got_ to, ain't I?" He glared belligerently from one to the other.
+
+"Can you handle a boat?" demanded Big George.
+
+"Can I handle a--Hunh!" sniffed the fellow. "Say, just because you've
+got corns on your palms as big as pancakes, you needn't think you're
+the only human that ever pulled an oar. I was the first man through
+Miles Canon. During the big rush in '98 I ran the rapids for a living.
+I got fifty dollars a trip, and it only took me three minutes by the
+watch. That was the only easy money I ever picked up. Why, them
+tenderfeet used to cry like babies when they got a peek at them rapids.
+Can I handle a b----Yes, and I wish I was back there right now instead
+of hitched up with a pair of yaps that don't know when they're well
+off."
+
+"But, look here, Fraser," Emerson spoke up, "I don't think you are
+strong enough for this trip. It may take us forty-eight hours of
+constant paddling against wind and tide to make Uyak. George and I are
+fit enough, but you know you aren't--"
+
+"Fingerless" Fraser turned violently upon the speaker.
+
+"Now, for Heaven's sake, cut that out, will you? Just because you
+happened to give me a little lift on this cussed Katmai Pass, I s'pose
+you'll never get done throwing it up to me. My feet were sore; that's
+why I petered out. If it hadn't been for my bum 'dogs' I'd have walked
+both of you down; but they were sore. Can't you understand? _My feet
+were sore._"
+
+He was whining now, and this unexpected angle of the man's disposition
+completely confused the others and left them rather at a loss what to
+say. But before they could make any comment, he rose stiffly and blazed
+forth:
+
+"But I won't start to-day. I hurt too much, and my mits is froze. If
+you want to wait till I'm healed up so I can die in comfort, why, go
+ahead and buy that fool-killer boat, and we'll all commit suicide
+together." He stumped indignantly out of the room, his friends too
+greatly dumfounded even to smile.
+
+For the next two days the men rested, replenishing their strength; but
+Fraser developed a wolfish temper which turned him into a veritable
+chestnut burr. There was no handling him. His scars were not deep nor
+his hurts serious, however, so by the afternoon of the second day he
+announced, with surly distemper, that he would be ready to leave on the
+following morning, and the others accordingly made preparation for an
+early start. They selected the most seaworthy canoe, which at best was
+a treacherous craft, and stocked it well with water, cooked food, and
+stimulants.
+
+Since their arrival at Katmai the weather had continued calm; and
+although the view they had through the frowning headlands showed the
+Straits black and angry, they prayed that the wind would hold off for
+another twenty-four hours. Again Petellin importuned them to forego
+this journey, and again they turned deaf ears to his entreaties and
+retired early, to awaken with the rickety log store straining at its
+cables under the force of a blizzard that had blotted out the mountains
+and was rousing the sea to fury. Fraser openly rejoiced, and Balt's
+heavy brows, which had carried a weight of trouble, cleared; but
+Emerson was plunged into as black a mood as that of the storm which had
+swallowed up the landscape. For three days the tempest held them
+prisoners, then died as suddenly as it had arisen; but the surf
+continued to thunder upon the beach for many hours, while Emerson
+looked on with hopeless, sullen eyes. When at last they did set out--a
+week, to a day, from their arrival at Katmai--it was to find such a
+heavy sea running outside the capes that they had hard shift to make it
+back to the village, drenched, dispirited, and well-nigh dead from the
+cold and fatigue. Although Fraser had fully recovered from his
+collapse, he nevertheless complained upon every occasion, and whined
+loudly at every ache. He voiced his tortures eloquently, and bewailed
+the fate that had brought his fortunes to such an ebb, burdening the
+air so heavily with his complaints that Big George broke out, in
+exasperation:
+
+"Shut up! You don't have to go with us! I'd rather tackle it alone than
+listen to you!"
+
+"That's right," agreed Emerson, whose patience was also worn out by the
+rogue's unceasing jeremiad. "We'll try it without him to-morrow."
+
+"Oh, you will, will you?" snorted Fraser, indignantly. "So, after me
+getting well on purpose to make this trip, you want to dump me here
+with this fat man. I'll stand as much as anybody, but I won't stand for
+no deal like that. No, sir! You said I could go, and I'm going. Why,
+I'd rather drown than stick in this burgh with that greasy Russian
+porpoise. Gee! this is a shine village."
+
+"Then take your medicine like a man, and quit kicking."
+
+"If you prefer to swallow your groans, you do it. I like to make a fuss
+when I suffer. I enjoy it more that way."
+
+Again Petellin called them at daylight, and they were off; this time
+with better success, for the waves had abated sufficiently for them to
+venture beyond the partial shelter of the bay. All three knew the
+desperate chance they were taking, and they spoke little as they made
+their way out into the Straits. Their craft was strange to them, and
+the positions they were forced to occupy soon brought on cramped
+muscles. The bidarka is a frail, narrow framework over which is
+stretched walrus skin, and it is so fashioned that the crew sits, one
+behind the other, in circular openings with legs straight out in front.
+To keep themselves dry each man had donned a native water garment--a
+loose, hooded shirt manufactured from the bladders of seals. These
+shirts--or kamlikas, as they are called--are provided with draw-strings
+at wrists, face, and bottom, so that when the skirt is stretched over
+the rim of the cockpit and corded tight, it renders the canoe well-nigh
+waterproof, even though the decks are awash.
+
+The whole contrivance is peculiarly aboriginal and unsuited to the uses
+of white men; and, while unusually seaworthy, the bidarka requires more
+skill in the handling than does a Canadian birch bark, hence the wits
+of the three travellers were taxed to the utmost.
+
+Out across the lonesome waste they journeyed, steadily creeping farther
+from the village, which of a sudden seemed a very safe and desirable
+place, with its snug store, its blazing fires, and its warm beds. The
+sea tossed them like a cork, coating their paddles and the decks of the
+canoe with ice, which they were at great pains to break off. It wet
+them in spite of their precautions, and its salt breath searched out
+their marrow, regardless of their unceasing labors; and these labors
+were in truth unceasing, for fifty miles of open water lay before them;
+fifty miles, which meant twelve hours of steady paddling. Gradually,
+imperceptibly, the mountain shores behind them shrank down upon the
+gray horizon. It seemed that for once the weather was going to be kind
+to them, and their spirits rose in consequence. They ate frequently,
+food being the great fuel of the North, and midday found them well out
+upon the heaving bosom of the Straits with the Kodiak shores plainly
+visible. Then, as if tired of toying with them, the wind rose. It did
+not blow up a gale--merely a frigid breath that cut them like steel and
+halted their progress. Had it sprung from the north it would have
+wafted them on their way, but it drew in from the Pacific, straight
+into their teeth, forcing them to redouble their exertions. It was not
+of sufficient violence to overcome their efforts, but it held them back
+and stirred up a nasty cross sea into which the canoe plunged and
+wallowed. In the hope that it would die down with the darkness, the
+boatmen held on their course, and night closed over them still paddling
+silently.
+
+It was nearly noon on the following day when the watchman at the Uyak
+cannery beheld a native canoe creeping slowly up the bay, and was
+astonished to find it manned by three white men in the last stages of
+exhaustion--so stiff and cramped and numb that he was forced to help
+them from their places when at last they effected a landing. One of
+them, in fact, was unconscious and had to be carried to the house,
+which did not surprise the watchman when he learned whence they had
+come. He did marvel, however, that another of the travellers should
+begin to cry weakly when told that the mail boat had sailed for Kodiak
+the previous evening. He gave them stimulants, then prepared hot food
+for them, for both Balt and Emerson were like sleep-walkers; and
+Fraser, when he was restored to consciousness, was too weak to stand.
+
+"Too bad you didn't get in last night," said the care-taker,
+sympathetically. "She won't be back now for a month or more."
+
+"How long will she lie in Kodiak?" Big George asked.
+
+"The captain told me he was going to spend Christmas there. Lefs
+see--to-day is the 22nd--she'll pull out for Juneau on the morning of
+the 26th; that's three days."
+
+"We must catch her," cried Emerson, quickly. "If you'll land us in
+Kodiak on time I'll pay you anything you ask."
+
+"I'd like to, but I can't," the man replied. "You see, I'm here all
+alone, except for Johnson. He's the watchman for the other plant."
+
+"Then for God's sake get us some natives. I don't care what it costs."
+
+
+"There ain't any natives here. This ain't no village. There's nothing
+here but these two plants, and Johnson or me dassent leave."
+
+Emerson turned his eyes upon the haggard man who sprawled weakly in a
+chair; and Fraser, noting the appeal, answered, gamely, with a forced
+smile on his lips, though they were drawn and bloodless:
+
+"Sure! I'll be ready to leave in the morning, pal!"
+
+The old Russian village of Kodiak lies on the opposite side of the
+island from the canneries, a bleak, wind-swept relic of the country's
+first occupation, and although peopled largely by natives and breeds,
+there is also a considerable white population, to whom Christmas is a
+season of thanksgiving and celebration. Hence it was that the crew of
+the Dora were well content to pass the Yuletide there, where the girls
+are pretty and a hearty welcome is accorded to every one. There were
+drinking and dancing and music behind the square-hewn log walls, and
+the big red stoves made havoc with the salt wind. The town was well
+filled and the merrymaking vigorous, and inasmuch as winter is a time
+of rest, during which none but the most foolhardy trust themselves to
+the perils of the sea, it caused much comment when late on Christmas
+afternoon an ice-burdened canoe, bearing three strange white men,
+landed on the beach beside the dock--or were they white men, after all?
+Their faces were so blackened and split from the frost they seemed to
+be raw bleeding masks, their hands were cracked and stiff beneath their
+mittens. They were hollow-eyed and gaunt, their cheeks sunken away as
+if from a wasting illness, and they could not walk, but crept across
+the snow-covered shingle on hands and knees, then reaching the street
+hobbled painfully, while their limbs gave way as if paralyzed. One of
+them lacked strength even to leave the canoe, and when two sailors ran
+down and lifted him out, he gabbled strangely in the jargon of the
+mining camp and the gambling table. Of the other two, one, a great
+awkward shambling giant of a creature, stumbled out along the dock
+toward the ship, his head hung low and swinging from side to side, his
+shoulders drooping, his arms loose-hinged, his knees bending.
+
+[Illustration: OUT ACROSS THE LONESOME WASTE THEY JOURNEYED]
+
+But the third voyager, who had with difficulty won his way up to the
+level of the street, presented the strangest appearance. There was
+something uncanny about him. As he gained the street, he waved back all
+proffered assistance, then paused, with his swaying body propped upon
+widespread legs, staring malignantly into the north. From their deep
+sockets his eyes glittered like live coals, while his blackened,
+swollen lips split in a grimace that bared his teeth. He raised his
+arms slowly and shook his clenched fists defiantly at the Polar skies,
+muttering unintelligible things, then staggered after his companions.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+WHEREIN BOYD ADMITS HIS FAILURE
+
+
+A week later Boyd and George were watching the lights of Port Townsend
+blink out in the gloom astern. A quick change of boats at Juneau had
+raised their spirits, enabling them to complete the second stage of
+their journey in less than the expected time, and the southward run,
+out from the breath of the Arctics into a balmier climate, had removed
+nearly the last trace of their suffering from the frost.
+
+A sort of meditative silence which had fallen upon the two men was
+broken at last by George, who for some time had been showing signs of
+uneasiness.
+
+"How long are we going to stay in Seattle?" he inquired.
+
+"Only long enough," Boyd replied, "for me to arrange a connection with
+some bank. That will require a day, perhaps."
+
+"I suppose a feller has got to dress pretty swell back there in
+Chicago," George ventured.
+
+"Some people do."
+
+"Full-dress suits of clothes, eh?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Did you ever wear one?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"Well, I'll be--" The fisherman checked himself and gazed at his
+companion as if he saw him suddenly in a new light; in fact, he had
+discovered many strange phases of this young man's character during the
+past fortnight. "Right along?" he questioned, incredulously.
+
+"Why, yes. Pretty steadily."
+
+"All day, at a time?"
+
+Boyd laughed. "I haven't worn one in the daytime since I left college.
+They are used only at night."
+
+George pondered this for some time, while Emerson stared out into the
+velvet darkness, to be roused again a moment later.
+
+"A feller told me a funny thing once. He said them rich men back East
+had women come around and clean their finger-nails, and shine 'em up.
+Is that right?"
+
+"Quite right!"
+
+Another pause, then Balt cleared his throat and said, with an
+assumption of carelessness:
+
+"Well, I don't suppose--you ever had 'em--shine your finger-nails, did
+you?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+The big man opened his mouth to speak; then, evidently changing his
+mind, observed, "Seems to me I'd better stay here on the coast and wait
+for you."
+
+"No, indeed!" the other answered, quickly. "I will need you in raising
+that money. You know the practical side of the fishing business, and I
+don't."
+
+"All right, I'll go. If you can stand for me, I'll stand for the
+full-dress suits of clothes and the finger-nail women. Anyhow, it won't
+last long."
+
+"When were you outside last?"
+
+"Four years ago."
+
+"Ever been East?"
+
+"Sure! I've got a sister in Spokane Falls. But I don't like it back
+there."
+
+"You will have a good time in Chicago." Boyd smiled.
+
+"Fingerless" Fraser came to them from the lighted regions amidship,
+greeting them cheerfully.
+
+"Well, we're pretty near there, ain't we? I'm glad of it; I've about
+cleaned up this ship."
+
+The adventurer had left his companions alone much of the time during
+the trip--greatly to Boyd's relief, for the fellow was an
+unconscionable bore--and had thus allowed them time to perfect their
+plans and thresh out numberless details.
+
+"I grabbed another farmer's son at supper--just got through with him.
+He was good for three-fifty."
+
+"Three hundred and fifty _dollars?_" questioned Balt.
+
+"Yep! I opened a little stud game for him. Beats all how these suckers
+fall for the old stuff."
+
+"Where did you get money to gamble with?" inquired Boyd.
+
+"Oh! I won a pinch of change last night in a bridge game with that
+Dawson Bunch."
+
+"But it must have required a bank-roll to sit in a game with them. They
+seem to be heavy spenders. How did you manage that?"
+
+"I sold some mining property the day before. I got the captain of the
+ship." Fraser chuckled.
+
+"Did you swindle that old fellow?" Emerson cried, angrily. "See here! I
+won't allow--"
+
+"Swindle! Who said I 'swindled' anybody? I wouldn't trim my worst
+enemy."
+
+"You have no mining claims."
+
+"What makes you think I haven't? Alaska is a big country."
+
+"You told me so."
+
+"Well, I didn't have any claims at that time, but since we came aboard
+of this wagon at Juneau I have improved each shining hour. While you
+and George was building canneries I was rustling. And I did pretty
+well, if I do say it as shouldn't."
+
+Emerson shrugged his broad shoulders. "You will get into trouble! If
+you do, I won't come to your rescue. I have helped you all I can."
+
+"Not me!" denied the self-satisfied Fraser. "There ain't a chance. Why?
+Because I'm on the level, I am. That's why. But say, getting money from
+these Reubs is a joke. It's like kicking a lamb in the face." He
+clinked some gold coins in his pocket and began to whistle noiselessly.
+"When do we pull out for Chi?" he next inquired.
+
+"We?" said Emerson. "I told you I would take you as far as Seattle. I
+can't stand for your 'work.' I think you had better stop here, don't
+you?"
+
+"Perhaps it _is_ for the best," Fraser observed, carelessly. "Time
+alone can tell." He bade them good-night and disappeared to snatch a
+few hours' sleep, but upon their arrival at the dock on the following
+morning, without waiting for an invitation he bundled himself into
+their carriage and rode to the hotel, registering immediately beneath
+them. They soon lost sight of him, however, for their next move was in
+the direction of a clothier's, where they were outfitted from sole to
+crown. The garments they stood up in showed whence they had come; yet
+the strangeness of their apparel excited little comment, for Seattle is
+the gateway to the great North Country, and hither the Northmen
+foregather, going and coming. But to them the city was very strange and
+exciting. The noises deafened them, the odors of civilization now
+tantalized, now offended their nostrils; the crowding streams of
+humanity confused them, fresh from their long sojourn in the silences
+and solitudes. Every clatter and crash, every brazen clang of gong,
+caused George to start; he watched his chance and took street-crossings
+as if pursued.
+
+"If one of them bells rings behind me," he declared, "I'll jump through
+a plate-glass window." When his roving eyes first lighted upon a fruit
+stand he bolted for it and filled his pockets with tomatoes.
+
+"I've dreamed about these things for four years," he declared, "and I
+can't stand it any longer." He bit into one voraciously, and thereafter
+followed his companion about munching tomatoes at every step, refilling
+his pockets as his supply diminished. To show his willingness for any
+sacrifice, he volunteered to wear a dress suit if Emerson would buy it
+for him, and it required considerable argument to convince him that the
+garb was unnecessary.
+
+"You better train me up before we get East," he warned, "or I'll make
+your swell friends sore and spoil the deal. I could wear it on the cars
+and get easy in it."
+
+"My dear fellow, it takes more than a week to 'get easy' in a dress
+suit." Boyd smiled, amused at his earnestness, for the big fellow was
+merely a boy out on a wonderful vacation.
+
+"Well, if there is a Down-East manicure woman in Seattle, show her to
+me and I'll practice on her," he insisted. "She can halter-break me, at
+least."
+
+"Yes, it might not hurt to get that off your hands," Emerson
+acknowledged, at which the clothier's clerk, who had noted the
+condition of the fisherman's huge paws, snickered audibly.
+
+It was a labor of several hours to fit Big George's bulky frame, and
+when the two returned to the hotel Emerson found the representative of
+an afternoon newspaper anxiously awaiting him at the desk.
+
+"We noticed your arrival from the North," began the reporter, "and Mr.
+Athens sent me down to get a story."
+
+"Athens! Billy Athens?"
+
+"Yes! He is the editor. I believe you two were college mates. He wanted
+to know if you are the Boyd Emerson of the Michigan football team."
+
+"Well, well!" Boyd mused. "Billy Athens was a good tackle."
+
+"He thought you might have something interesting to tell about Alaska,"
+the newspaper man went on. "However, I won't need to take much of your
+time, for your partner has been telling me all about you and your trip
+and your great success."
+
+"My partner?"
+
+"Yes. Mr. Frobisher. He heard me inquire about you and volunteered to
+give me an interview in your name."
+
+"Frobisher!" said Emerson, now thoroughly mystified.
+
+"Sure, that's him, over yonder." The reporter indicated "Fingerless"
+Fraser, who, having watched the interview from a distance, now solemnly
+closed one eye and stuck his tongue into his cheek.
+
+"Oh, yes, yes! _Frobisher!_" Boyd stammered. "Certainly!"
+
+"He is a character, isn't he? He told me how you rescued that girl when
+she broke through the ice at Kalvik."
+
+"He did?"
+
+"Quite a romance, wasn't it? It is a good newspaper story and I'll play
+it up. He is going to let me in on that hydraulic proposition of yours,
+too. Of course I haven't much money, but it sounds great, and--"
+
+"How far along did you get with your negotiations about this hydraulic
+proposition?" Boyd asked, curiously.
+
+"Just far enough so I'm all on edge for it. I'll make up a little pool
+among the boys at the office and have the money down here before you
+leave to-night."
+
+"I am sorry, but Mr. Frobisher and I will have to talk it over first,"
+said Emerson, grimly. "I think we will keep that 'hydraulic
+proposition' in the family, so to speak."
+
+"Then you won't let me in?"
+
+"Not just at present."
+
+"I'm sorry! I should like to take a chance with somebody who is really
+successful at mining. When a fellow drones along on a salary month
+after month it makes him envious to see you Klondikers hit town with
+satchels full of coin. Perhaps you will give me a chance later on?"
+
+"Perhaps," acceded Boyd; but when the young man had gone he strode
+quickly over to Fraser, who was lolling back comfortably, smoking a
+ridiculously long cigar with an elaborate gold band.
+
+"Look here, Mr. 'Frobisher,'" he said, in a low tone, "what do you mean
+by mixing me up in your petty-larceny frauds?"
+
+Fraser grinned. "'Frobisher' is hot monaker, ain't it? It sounds like
+the money. I believe I'll stick to 'Frobisher.'"
+
+"I spiked your miserable little scheme, and if you try anything more
+like that, I'll have to cut you out altogether."
+
+"Pshaw!" said the adventurer, mildly. "Did you say that hydraulic mine
+was no good? Too bad! That reporter agreed to take some stock right
+away, and promised to get his editor in on it, too."
+
+"His editor!" Emerson cried, aghast. "Why, his editor happens to be a
+friend of mine, whose assistance I may need very badly when I get back
+from Chicago."
+
+"Oh, well! That's different, of course."
+
+"Now see here, Fraser, I want you to leave me out of your machinations,
+absolutely. You've been very decent to me in many ways, but if I hear
+of anything more like this I shall hand you over to the police."
+
+"Don't be a sucker all your life," admonished the rogue. "You stick to
+me, and I'll make you a lot of money. I like you--"
+
+Emerson, now seriously angry, wheeled and left him, realizing that the
+fellow was morally atrophied. He could not forget, however, that except
+for this impossible creature he himself would be lying at Petellin's
+store at Katmai with no faintest hope of completing his mission,
+wherefore he did his best to swallow his indignation.
+
+"Hey! What time do we leave?" Fraser called after him, but the young
+man would not answer, proceeding instead to his room, there to renew
+his touch with the world through strange clean garments, the feel of
+which awakened memories and spurred him on to feverish haste. When he
+had dressed he hurried to a telegraph office and dispatched two
+messages to Chicago, one addressed to his own tailor, the other to a
+number on Lake Shore Drive. Over the latter he pondered long, tearing
+up several drafts which did not suit him, finally giving one to the
+operator with an odd mingling of timidity and defiance. This done, he
+hastened to one of the leading banks, and two hours later returned to
+the hotel, jubilant.
+
+He found Big George in the lobby staring with fascinated eyes at his
+finger-nails, which were strangely purified and glossy.
+
+"Look at 'em!" the fisherman broke out, admiringly. "They're as clean
+as a hound's tooth. They shine so I dassent take hold of anything."
+
+"I have made my deal with the bank," Boyd exulted. "All I need to raise
+now is one hundred thousand dollars. The bank will advance the rest."
+
+"That's great," said Balt, without interrupting the contemplation of
+his digits. "That's certainly immense. Say! Don't they glisten?"
+
+"They look very nice--"
+
+"Stylish! I think."
+
+"That one hundred thousand dollars makes all the difference in the
+world. The task is easy, now. We will make it go, sure. These bankers
+know what that salmon business is. Why, I had no trouble at all. They
+say we can't lose if we have a good site on the Kalvik River."
+
+"They're wise, all right. I guess that girl took me for a Klondiker,"
+George observed. "She charged me double. But she was a nice girl,
+though. I was kind of rattled when I walked in and sat down, and I
+couldn't think of nothing to talk about. I never opened my head all the
+time, but she didn't notice it. When I left she asked me to come back
+again and have another nice long visit. She's an _awful_ fine girl."
+
+"Look out!" laughed his companion. "Every Alaskan falls in love with a
+manicurist at some time or other. It seems to be in the blood. We are
+going to have no matrimony, mind you."
+
+"Lord! She wouldn't look at me," said the fisherman, suddenly, assuming
+a lobster pink.
+
+That evening they dined as befits men just out from a long
+incarceration in the North, first having tried unsuccessfully to locate
+Fraser; for the rogue was bound to them by the intangible ties of
+hardship and trail life, and they could not bear to part from him
+without some expression of gratitude for the sacrifices he had made.
+But he was nowhere to be found, not even at train time.
+
+"That seems hardly decent," Boyd remarked. "He might at least have said
+good-bye and wished us well."
+
+"When he's around he makes me sore, and when he's away I miss him,"
+said George. "He's probably out organizing something--or somebody."
+
+At the station they waited until the last warning had sounded, vainly
+hoping that Fraser would put in an appearance, then sought their
+Pullman more piqued than they cared to admit. When the train pulled
+out, they went forward to the smoking compartment, still meditating
+upon this unexpected defection; but as they lighted their cigars, a
+familiar voice greeted them:
+
+"Hello, you!"--and there was Fraser grinning at their astonishment.
+
+"What are you doing here?" they cried, together.
+
+"Me? Oh, I'm on my way East."
+
+"Whereabouts East?"
+
+"Chicago, ain't it? I thought that was what you said." He seated
+himself and lighted another long cigar.
+
+"Are you going to Chicago?" George asked.
+
+"Sure! We've got to put this cannery deal over." The crook sighed
+luxuriously and began to blow smoke rings. "Pretty nice train, ain't
+it?"
+
+"Yes," ejaculated Emerson, undecided whether to be pleased or angered
+at the fellow's presence. "Which is your car?"
+
+"This one--same as yours. I've got the drawing-room."
+
+"What are you going to do in Chicago?"
+
+"Oh, I ain't fully decided yet, but I might do a little promoting.
+Seattle is too full of Alaskan snares."
+
+Emerson reflected for a moment before remarking: "I dare say you will
+tangle me up in some new enterprise that will land us both in jail, so
+for my own protection I'll tell you what I'll do. I have noticed that
+you are a good salesman, and if you will take up something legitimate--"
+
+"Legitimate!" Fraser interrupted, with indignation. "Why, all my
+schemes are legitimate. Anybody can examine them. If he don't like
+them, he needn't go in. If he weakens on one proposition, I'll get
+something that suits him better. You've got me wrong."
+
+"If you want to handle something honest, I'll let you place some of
+this cannery stock on a commission."
+
+"I don't see nothing attractive in that when I can sell stock of my own
+and keep _all_ the money. Maybe I'll organize a cannery company of my
+own in Chicago--"
+
+"If you do--" Boyd exploded.
+
+"Very well! Don't get sore. I only just suggested the possibility. If
+that is your graft, I'll think up something better."
+
+The younger man shook his head. "You are impossible," said he, "and yet
+I can't help liking you."
+
+Late into the night they talked, Emerson oscillating between extreme
+volubility and deep abstraction. At one moment he was as gay as a
+prospective bridegroom, at the next he was more dejected than a man
+under sentence. And instead of growing calmer his spirits became more
+and more variable with the near approach of the journey's end.
+
+In Chicago, as in Seattle, Fraser accompanied his fellow-travellers to
+their hotel, and would have registered himself under some high-sounding
+alias except for a whispered threat from Boyd. That young gentleman,
+after seeing his companions comfortably ensconced, left them to their
+own devices while he drove to the tailor to whom he had telegraphed,
+returning in a short time garbed in new clothes. He found Fraser
+sipping a solitary cocktail and visiting with the bartender on the
+closest terms of intimacy.
+
+"George?" said that one, in answer to his inquiry. "Oh, George has gone
+on a still-hunt for a manicure parlor. Ain't that a rave? He's gone
+finger-mad. He'd ought to have them front feet shod. He don't need a
+manicurist; what he wants is a blacksmith."
+
+"He is rather out of his latitude, so I wish you would keep an eye on
+him," Boyd said.
+
+"All right! I'll take him out in the park on a leash, but if he tries
+to bite anybody I'll have to muzzle him. He ain't safe in the heart of
+a great city; he's a menace to the life and limb of every manicure
+woman who crosses his path. You gave him an awful push on the downward
+path when you laid him against this finger stuff."
+
+Promptly at four o'clock Emerson called a cab and was driven toward the
+North Side. As the vehicle rolled up Lake Shore Drive the excitement
+under which he had been laboring for days increased until he tapped his
+feet nervously, clenched his gloved fingers, and patted the cushions as
+if to accelerate the horse's footfalls. Would he never arrive! The
+animal appeared to crawl more slowly every moment, the rubber-rimmed
+wheels to turn more sluggishly with each revolution. He called to the
+driver to hurry, then found himself of a sudden gripped by an
+overpowering hesitation, and grew frightened at his own haste. The
+close atmosphere of the cab seemed to stifle him: he jerked the window
+open, flung back the lapels of his great coat, and inhaled the sharp
+Lake air in deep breaths. Why did that driver lash a willing steed?
+They were nearly there, and he was not ready yet. He leaned out to
+check their speed, then closed his lips and settled back in his seat,
+staring at the houses slipping past. How well he remembered every one
+of them!
+
+The dark stone frowned at him, the leaded windows stared at him through
+a blind film of unrecognition, the carven gargoyles grinned mockingly
+at him.
+
+It all oppressed him heavily and crushed whatever hope had lain at his
+heart when he left the hotel. Never before had his goal seemed so
+unattainable; never before had he felt so bitterly the cruelty of
+riches, the hopelessness of poverty.
+
+The vehicle drew up at last before one of the most pretentious
+residences, a massive pile of stone and brick fronting the Lake with
+what seemed to him a singularly proud and chilling aspect. His hand
+shook as he paid the driver, and it was a very pale though very erect
+young man who mounted the stone steps to the bell. Despite the
+stiffness with which he held himself, he felt the muscles at his knees
+trembling weakly, while his lungs did not seem to fill, even when he
+inhaled deeply. During the moments that he waited he found his body
+pulsating to the slow, heavy thumping of his heart; then a familiar
+face greeted him.
+
+"How do you do, Hawkins," he heard himself saying, as a liveried old
+man ushered him in and took his coat. "Don't you remember me?"
+
+"Yes, sir! Mr. Emerson. You have been away for a long time, sir."
+
+"Is Miss Wayland in?"
+
+"Yes, sir; she is expecting you. This way, please."
+
+Boyd followed, thankful for the subdued light which might conceal his
+agitation. He knew where they were going: she had always awaited him in
+the library, so it seemed. And how well he remembered that wonderful
+book walled room! It was like her to welcome him on the spot where she
+had bade him good-bye three years ago.
+
+Hawkins held the portieres aside and Boyd heard their velvet swish at
+his back, yet for the briefest instant he did not see her, so
+motionless did she stand. Then he cried, softly:
+
+"My Lady!" and strode forward.
+
+"Boyd! Boyd!" she answered and came to meet him, yielding herself to
+his arms. She felt his heart pounding against hers like the heart of a
+runner who has spent himself at the tape, felt his arms quivering as if
+from great fatigue. For a long time neither spoke.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+AND IS GRANTED A YEAR OF GRACE
+
+
+"And so all your privations and hardships went for nothing," said
+Mildred Wayland, when Boyd had recounted the history of his pilgrimage
+into the North.
+
+"Yes," he replied; "as a miner, I am a very wretched failure."
+
+She shrugged her shoulders in disapproval.
+
+"Don't use that term!" she cried. "There is no word so hateful to me as
+'failure'--I suppose, because father has never failed in anything. Let
+us say that your success has been delayed."
+
+"Very well. That suits me better, also, but you see I've forgotten how
+to choose nice words."
+
+They were seated in the library, where for two hours they had remained
+undisturbed, Emerson talking rapidly, almost incoherently, as if this
+were a sort of confessional, the girl hanging eagerly upon his every
+word, following his narrative with breathless interest. The story had
+been substantially the same as that which, once before, he had related
+to Cherry Malotte; but now the facts were deeply, intimately colored
+with all the young man's natural enthusiasm and inmost personal
+feeling. To his listener it was like some wonderful, far-off romance,
+having to do with strange people whose motives she could scarcely grasp
+and pitched amid wild scenes that she could not fully picture.
+
+"And you did all that for me," she mused, after a time.
+
+"It was the only way."
+
+"I wonder if any other man I know would take those risks just for--me."
+
+"Of course. Why, the risk, I mean the physical peril and hardship and
+discomfort, don't amount to--that." He snapped his fingers. "It was
+only the unending desolation that hurt; it was the separation from you
+that punished me--the thought that some luckier fellow might--"
+
+"Nonsense!" Mildred was really indignant. "I told you to fix your own
+time and I promised to wait. Even if I had not--cared for you, I would
+have kept my word. That is a Wayland principle. As it is, it
+was--comparatively easy."
+
+"Then you do love me, my Lady?" He leaned eagerly toward her.
+
+"Do you need to ask?" she whispered from the shelter of his arms. "It
+is the same old fascination of our girl and boy days. Do you remember
+how completely I lost my head about you?" She laughed softly. "I used
+to think you wore a football suit better than anybody in the world!
+Sometimes I suspect that it is merely that same girlish hero-worship
+and can't last. But it _has_ lasted--so far. Three years is a long time
+for a girl like me to wait, isn't it?"
+
+"I know! I know!" he returned, jealously. "But I have lived that time
+with nothing but a memory, while you have had other things to occupy
+you. You are flattered and courted by men, scores of men--"
+
+"Oh!"
+
+"Legions of men! Oh, I know. Haven't I devoured society columns by the
+yard? The papers were six months old, to be sure, when I got them, but
+every mention of you was like a knife stab to me. Jealousy drove me to
+memorize the name of every man with whom you were seen in public, and I
+called down all sorts of curses upon their heads. I used to torture my
+lonely soul with hideous pictures of you--"
+
+"Hideous pictures of me?" The girl perked her head to one side and
+glanced at him bewitchingly, "You're very flattering!"
+
+"Yes, pictures of you with a caravan of suitors at your heels."
+
+"You foolish boy! Suitors don't come in caravans they come in cabs."
+
+"Well, my simile isn't far wrong in other respects," he replied, with a
+flash of her spirit. "But anyhow I pictured you surrounded by all the
+beautiful things of your life here, forever in the scent of flowers, in
+the lights of drawing-rooms, in the soft music of hidden instruments.
+God! how I tortured myself! You were never out of mind for an hour. My
+days were given to you, and I used to pray that my dreams might hold
+nothing but you. You have been my fetish from the first day I met you,
+and my worship has grown blinder every hour, Mildred. You were always
+out of my reach, but I have kept my eyes raised toward you just the
+same, and I have never looked aside, never faltered." He paused to
+feast his eyes upon her, and then in a half-whisper finished, "Oh, my
+Lady, how beautiful you are!"
+
+And indeed she was; for her face, ordinarily so imperious, was now
+softly alight; her eyes, which other men found cold, were kindled with
+a rare warmth of understanding; her smile was almost wistfully sweet.
+To her lover she seemed to bend beneath the burden of her brown hair,
+yet her slim figure had the strength and poise which come of fine
+physical inheritance and high spirit. Every gesture, every unstudied
+attitude, revealed the grace of the well born woman.
+
+It was this "air" of hers, in fact, which had originally attracted him.
+He recalled how excited he had been in that far-away time when he had
+first learned her identity--for the name of Wayland was spoken
+soundingly in the middle West. In the early stages of their
+acquaintance he had looked upon her aloofness as an affectation, but a
+close intimacy had compelled a recognition of it as something wholly
+natural; he found her as truly a patrician as Wayne Wayland, her
+father, could wish. The old man's domain was greater than that of many
+princes, and his power more absolute. His only daughter he spoiled as
+thoroughly as he ruled his part of the financial world, and wilful
+Mildred, once she had taken an interest in the young college man so
+evidently ready to be numbered among her lovers, did not pause half
+way, but made her preference patent to all, and opened to him a realm
+of dazzling possibilities. He well remembered the perplexities of those
+first delirious days when her regard was beginning to make itself
+apparent. She was so different, so wonderfully far removed from all he
+knew, that he doubted his own senses.
+
+His friends, indeed, lost no opportunity of informing him that he was a
+tremendously favored young man, but this phase of the affair had caused
+him little thought, simply because the girl herself had come so swiftly
+to overshadow, in his regard, every other consideration--even her own
+wealth and position. At the same time he could not but be aware that
+his standing in his little world was subtly altered as soon as he
+became known as the favored suitor of Wayne Wayland's daughter. He
+began to receive favors from comparative strangers; unexpected social
+privileges were granted him; his way was made easier in a hundred
+particulars. From every quarter delicately gratifying distinctions came
+to him. Without his volition he found that he had risen to an entirely
+different position from that which he had formerly occupied; the mere
+coupling of his name with Mildred Wayland's had lifted him into a
+calcium glare. It affected him not at all, he only knew that he was
+truly enslaved to the girl, that he idolized her, that he regarded her
+as something priceless, sacred. She, in turn, frankly capitulated to
+him, in proud disregard of what her world might say, as complete in her
+surrender to this new lover as she had been inaccessible in her reserve
+toward all the rest.
+
+And when he had graduated, how proud of her he had been! How little he
+had realized the gulf that separated them, and how quick had been his
+awakening!
+
+It was Wayne Wayland who had shown him his folly. He had talked to the
+young engineer kindly, if firmly, being too shrewd an old diplomat to
+fan the flame of a headstrong love with vigorous opposition.
+
+"Mildred is a rich girl," the old financier had told Boyd, "a very rich
+girl; one of the richest girls in this part of the world; while you, my
+boy--what have you to offer?"
+
+"Nothing! But you were not always what you are now," Emerson had
+replied. "Every man has to make a start. When you married, you were as
+poor as I am."
+
+"Granted! But I married a poor girl, from my own station in life.
+Fortunately she had the latent power to develop with me as I grew; so
+that we kept even and I never outdistanced her. But Mildred is spoiled
+to begin with. I spoiled her purposely, to prevent just this sort of
+thing. She is bred to luxury, her friends are rich, and she doesn't
+know any other kind of life. Her tastes and habits and inclinations are
+extravagant, to put it plainly--yes, worse than extravagant; they are
+positively scandalous. She is about the richest girl in the country,
+and by virtue of wealth as well as breeding she is one of the American
+aristocracy. Oh! people may say what they please, but we have an
+aristocracy all the same which is just as well marked and just as
+exclusive as if it rested upon birth instead of bank accounts."
+
+"You wouldn't object to our marriage if I were rich and Mildred were
+poor," Emerson had said, rather cynically.
+
+"Perhaps not. A poor girl can marry a rich man and get along all right
+if she has brains; but a very rich girl can't marry a very poor man and
+be happy unless she is peculiarly constituted. I happen to know that my
+girl isn't so constituted. She is utterly impossible as a poor man's
+wife. She can't _do_ anything: she can't economize, she can't amuse
+herself, she can't be happy without the things she is accustomed to; it
+is in her blood and training and disposition. She would try, bless you!
+she would try all right--for a while--but I know her better than she
+knows herself. You see, I have the advantage of knowing myself and of
+having known her mother before her. She is a hothouse flower, and
+adversity would wither her. Mind you, I don't say that her husband must
+be a millionaire, but he will need a running start on the road to make
+her happy, and--well, the fellow who gets my girl will make her happy
+or I'll make him damned miserable!" The old fellow had squared his jaws
+belligerently at this statement.
+
+"You have nothing against me--personally, I mean?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"She loves me."
+
+"She seems to. But both of you are young and may get over it before you
+reach the last hurdle."
+
+"Then you forbid it?" Boyd had queried, his own glance challenging that
+of her father.
+
+"By no means. I neither forbid nor consent. I merely ask you to stand
+still and use your eyes for a little while. You have intelligence.
+Don't be hasty. I am going to tell her just what I have told you, and I
+think she is sensible enough to realize the truth of my remarks. No!
+instead of forbidding you Mildred's society, I am going to give you all
+you want of it. I am going to make you free at our house. I am going to
+see that you meet her friends and go where she goes. I want you to do
+the things that she does and see how she lives. The more you see of us,
+the better it will suit me. I have been studying you for some time, Mr.
+Emerson, and I think I have read you correctly. After you have spent a
+few months with us, come to me again and we will talk it over. I may
+say yes by that time, or you may not wish me to. Perhaps Mildred will
+decide for both of us."
+
+"That is satisfactory to me."
+
+"Very well! We dine at seven to-night; and we shall expect you."
+
+That Mr. Wayland had made no mistake in his judgment, Emerson had soon
+been forced to admit; for the more he saw of Mildred's life, the more
+plainly he perceived the barriers that lay between them. Those months
+had been an education to him. He had become an integral part of
+Chicago's richer social world. The younger set had accepted him readily
+enough on the score of his natural good parts, while the name of Wayne
+Wayland had acted like magic upon the elders. Yet it had been a cruel
+time of probation for the young lover, who continually felt the
+searching eyes of the old man reading him; and despite the fact that
+Mildred took no pains to conceal her preference for him, there had been
+no lack of other suitors, all of whom Boyd hated with a perfect hate.
+
+They had never discussed the matter, yet both the lovers had been
+conscious that the old man's words were pregnant with truth, and after
+a few months, during which Emerson had made little progress in his
+profession, Mildred had gone to her father and frankly begged his aid.
+But he had remained like adamant.
+
+"I have been pretty lenient so far. He will have to make his own way
+without my help. You know he isn't my candidate."
+
+Recognizing the despair which was possessing her lover, and jealous for
+her own happiness, Mildred had arranged that both of them, together,
+should have a talk with her father. The result had been the same. Mr.
+Wayland listened grimly, then said:
+
+"This request for assistance shows that both of you are beginning to
+realize the wisdom of my remarks of a year ago."
+
+"I'm not asking aid from you," Emerson had blazed forth. "I can take
+care of myself and of Mildred."
+
+"Permit me to show you that you can't. Your life and training have not
+fitted you for the position of Mildred's husband. Have you any idea how
+many millions she is going to own?"
+
+"No, and I don't care to know."
+
+"I don't care to tell you either, but the Wayland fortune will carry
+such a tremendous responsibility with it that my successor will have to
+be a stronger man than I am to hold it together. I merely gathered it;
+he must keep it. You haven't qualified in either respect yet."
+
+Mildred had interrupted petulantly. "Oh, this endless chatter of money!
+It is disgusting. I only wish we were poor. Instead of a blessing, our
+wealth is an unmitigated curse--a terrible, exhausting burden. I hear
+of nothing else from morning till night. It gives us no pleasure,
+nothing but care and worry and--wrinkles. I can do without horses and
+motors and maids, and all that. I want to live, really to _live_." She
+had arisen and gone over to Boyd, laying her hand upon his shoulder. "I
+will give it all up. Let us try to be happy without it."
+
+It had been a tense moment for both men. Their eyes had met defiantly,
+but, reading in the father's face the contempt that waited upon an
+unmanly decision, Boyd's pride stood up stiffly.
+
+"No," he replied, "I can't let you do that. Not yet, anyhow. Mr.
+Wayland is right, in a way. If he had not been so decent I would have
+married you anyhow, but I am indebted to him. He has shown me a lot
+more of your life than I knew before, and he has made his word good. I
+am going to ask you to wait, however; for quite a while, it may be. I
+am going to take a gambler's chance."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"A gold strike has been made in Alaska--"
+
+"Alaska!"
+
+"Yes! The Klondike. You have read of it? I am told that the chances
+there are like those in the days of '49, and I am going."
+
+So it was that he had made his choice, fixing his own time for
+returning, and so it was that Mildred Wayland had awaited him.
+
+If to-day, after three years of deprivation, she seemed to him more
+beautiful than ever--the interval having served merely to enhance her
+charm and strengthen the yearning of his heart--she seemed in the same
+view still further removed from his sphere. More reserved, more
+dignified, in the reserve of developed womanhood, her cession was the
+more gracious and wonderful.
+
+His story finished, Boyd went on to tell her vaguely of his future
+plans, and at the last he asked her, with something less than an
+accepted lover's confidence:
+
+"Will you wait another year?"
+
+She laughed lightly. "You dear boy, I am not up for auction. This is
+not the 'third and last call.' I am not sure I could induce anybody to
+take me, even if I desired."
+
+"I read the rumor of your engagement in a back number of a San
+Francisco paper. Is your retinue as large as ever?"
+
+She smiled indifferently. "It alters with the season, but I believe the
+general average is about the same. You know most of them." She
+mentioned a number of names, counting them off on her finger-tips.
+"Then, of course, there are the old standbys, Mr. Macklin, Tommy
+Turner, the Lawton boys--"
+
+"And Alton Clyde!"
+
+"To be sure; little Alton, like the brook, runs on forever. He still
+worships you, Boyd, by the way."
+
+"And there are others?"
+
+"A few."
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Nobody you know."
+
+"Any one in particular?" Boyd demanded, with a lover's insistence.
+
+Miss Wayland's hesitation was so brief as almost to escape his notice.
+"Nobody who counts. Of course, father has his predilections and insists
+upon engineering my affairs in the same way he would float a railroad
+enterprise, but you can imagine how romantic the result is."
+
+"Who is the favored party?" the young man asked, darkly. But she arose
+to push back the heavy draperies and gaze for a moment out into the
+deepening twilight. When she answered, it was in a tone of ordinary
+indifference.
+
+"Really it isn't worth discussing. I shall not marry until I am ready,
+and the subject bores me." An instant later she turned to regard him
+with direct eyes.
+
+"Do you remember when I offered to give it all up and go with you,
+Boyd?"
+
+"I have never forgotten for an instant,"
+
+"You refused to allow it."
+
+"Certainly! I had seen too much of your life, and my pride figured a
+bit, also."
+
+"Do you still feel the same way?" Her eyes searched his face rather
+anxiously.
+
+"I do! It is even more impossible now than then. I am utterly out of
+touch with this environment. My work will take me back where you could
+not go--into a land you would dislike, among a people you could not
+understand. No; we did quite the sensible thing."
+
+She sighed gratefully and settled upon the window-seat, her back to the
+light. "I am glad you feel that way. I--I--think I am growing more
+sensible too. I have begun to understand how practical father was, and
+how ridiculous I was. Perhaps I am not so impulsive--you see, I am
+years older now--perhaps I am more selfish. I don't know which it is
+and--I can't express my feelings, but I have had sufficient time since
+you went away to think and to look into my own soul. Really I have
+become quite introspective. Of course, my feeling for you is just the
+same as it was, dear, but I--I can't--" She waved a graceful hand to
+indicate her surroundings. "Well, this is my world, and I am a part of
+it. You understand, don't you? The thought of giving it up makes me
+really afraid. I don't like rough things." She shook herself and gave
+voice to a delicious, bubbling little laugh. "I am frightfully
+spoiled." Emerson drew her to him tenderly.
+
+"My darling, I understand perfectly, and I love you too well to take
+you away from it all; but you will wait for me, won't you?"
+
+"Of course," she replied, quickly. "As long as you wish."
+
+"But I am going to have you!" he cried, insistently. "You are going to
+be my wife," He repeated the words softly, reverently: "My wife."
+
+She gazed up at him with a puzzled little frown. "What bothers me is
+that you understand me and my life so well, while I scarcely understand
+you or yours at all. That seems to tell me that I am unsuited to you in
+some way. Why, when you told me that story of your hardships and all
+that, I listened as if it were a play or a book, but really it didn't
+_mean_ anything to me or stir me as it should. I can't understand my
+own failure to understand. That awful country, those barbarous people,
+the suffering, the cold, the snow, the angry sea; I don't grasp what
+they mean. I was never cold, or hungry, or exhausted. I--well, it is
+fascinating to hear about, because you went through it, but _why_ you
+did it, how you _felt_"--she made a gesture as if at a loss for words.
+"Do you see what I am trying to convey?"
+
+"Perfectly," he answered, releasing her with a little unadmitted sense
+of disappointment at his heart. "I suppose it is only natural."
+
+"I do hope you succeed this time," she continued. "I am growing deadly
+tired of things. Not tired of waiting for you, but I am getting to be
+old; I am, indeed. Why, at times I actually have an inclination to do
+fancy-work--the unfailing symptom. Do you realize that I am
+_twenty-five years old!_"
+
+"Age of decrepitude! And more glorious than any woman in the world!" he
+cried.
+
+There was a click outside the library door, and the room, which
+unnoticed by them had become nearly dark, was suddenly flooded with
+light. The portieres parted, and Wayne Wayland stood in the opening.
+
+"Ah, here you are, my boy! Hawkins told me you had returned."
+
+He advanced to shake the young man's hand, his demeanor gracious and
+hearty. "Welcome home. You have been having quite a vacation, haven't
+you? Let's see, it's two years, isn't it?"
+
+"Three years!" Emerson replied.
+
+"Impossible! Dear, dear, how time flies when one is busy."
+
+"Boyd has been telling me of his adventures," said Mildred. "He is
+going to dine with us."
+
+"Indeed." Mr. Wayland displayed no great degree of enthusiasm. "And
+have you returned, like Pizarro, laden with all the gold of the Incas?
+Or did Pizarro return? It seems to me that he settled somewhere on the
+Coast." The old man laughed at his own conceit.
+
+"I judge Pizarro was a better miner than I," Boyd smiled. "There were
+plenty of Esquimau princes whom I might have held for ransom, but if I
+had done so, all the rest of the tribe would have come to board with
+them."
+
+"Have you come home to stay?"
+
+"No, sir; I shall return in a few weeks."
+
+Mr. Wayland's cordiality seemed to increase in some subtle manner.
+
+"Well, I am sorry you didn't make a fortune, my boy. But, rich or poor,
+your friends are delighted to see you, and we shall certainly keep you
+for dinner. I am interested in that Northwestern country myself, and I
+want to ask some questions about it."
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+IN WHICH BIG GEORGE MEETS HIS ENEMY
+
+
+It was well on toward midnight when Emerson reached his hotel, and
+being too full of his visit with Mildred to sleep, he strolled through
+the lobby and into the Pompeian Room. The theatre crowds had not
+dispersed, and the place was a-glitter; for it was the grand-opera
+season. The room was so well filled that he had difficulty in finding a
+seat, and he made his way slowly, meditating gloomily upon the fact
+that out of all this concourse in which he had once figured not a
+single familiar face greeted him. Finding no unoccupied table, he was
+about to retreat when he heard his name spoken and felt a vigorous slap
+upon the back.
+
+"Boyd Emerson! By Jove, I'm glad to see you!" He turned to face an
+anaemic youth whose colorless, gas-bleached face was wrinkled into an
+expansive grin.
+
+"Hello, Alton!"
+
+They shook hands like old friends, while Alton Clyde continued to
+express his delight.
+
+"So you've been roughing it out in Nebraska, eh?"
+
+"Alaska."
+
+"So it was. I always get those places mixed. Come over and have a
+drink. I want to talk to you. Funny thing, I just met a Klondiker
+myself this evening. Great chap, too! I want you to know him: he's
+immense. Only watch out he don't get you full. He's an awful spender.
+I'm half kippered myself. His name is Froelich, but he isn't a
+Dutchman. Ever meet him up there?"
+
+"I think not."
+
+"Come on, you'll like him."
+
+Clyde led his companion toward a table, chattering as they went. "Y'
+know, I'm democratic myself, and I'm fond of these rough fellows. I'd
+like to go out to Nebraska--"
+
+"Alaska."
+
+"--and punch cows and shoot a pistol and yell. I'm really tremendously
+rough. Here he is! Mr. Froelich, my old friend Mr. Emerson. We played
+football together--or, at least, he played; I was too light."
+
+Mr. Froelich shoved back his chair and turned, exposing the face of
+"Fingerless" Fraser, quite expressionless save for the left eyelid,
+which drooped meaningly.
+
+"'Froelich'!" said Boyd, angrily; "good heavens, Fraser, have you
+picked another? I thought you were going to stick to 'Frobisher.'"
+Turning to Clyde, he observed: "This man's name is Fraser. One of his
+peculiarities is a dislike of proper names. He has never found one that
+suited him."
+
+"I like 'Froelich' pretty well," observed the imperturbable Fraser. "It
+sounds distanguay, and--"
+
+"Don't believe anything he tells you," Boyd broke in, seating himself.
+"He is the most circumstantial liar in the Northwest, and if you don't
+watch him every minute he will sell you a hydraulic mine, or a rubber
+plantation, or a sponge fishery. Underneath his eccentricities,
+however, he is really a pretty decent fellow, and I am indebted to him
+for my presence here to-night."
+
+Alton Clyde made his astonishment evident by inquiring incredulously of
+Fraser, "Then that scheme of yours to establish a gas plant at Nome was
+all--"
+
+"Certainly!" Emerson laughed. "The incandescent lamp travels about as
+fast as the prospector. Nome is lighted by electricity, and has been
+for years."
+
+"_Is_ it?" demanded Fraser, with an assumption of the supremest
+surprise.
+
+"You know as well as I do."
+
+"H'm! I'd forgotten. Just the same, my plan was a good one. Gas is
+cheaper." He reached for his glass, at which Clyde's eye fell upon his
+missing fingers, and the young clubman exploded:
+
+"Well! If that's the kind of pill you are, maybe you didn't lose your
+mit in the Boer War either."
+
+Emerson answered for the adventurer: "Hardly! He got blood-poisoning
+from a hangnail."
+
+Clyde began to laugh uncontrollably. "Really! That's great! Oh, that's
+lovely! Here I've been gobbling fairy tales like a black bass at
+sunset. He! he! he! I must introduce Mr. Froel--Mr. Fra--Mr.
+What's-his-name to the boys. He! he! he!"
+
+It was evident that Fraser was not accustomed to this sort of
+treatment; his injured pride took refuge in a haughty silence, which
+further stirred the risibilities of Clyde until that young man's thin
+shoulders shook, and he doubled up, his hollow chest touching his
+knees. He pounded the tiles with his cane, stamped his patent-leather
+boots, and wept tears of joy.
+
+"What's the joke?" demanded the rogue. "Anybody would think _I_ was the
+sucker."
+
+"Where is George?" questioned Boyd, to change the subject.
+
+"In his trundle-bed, I suppose," said Fraser, stiffly.
+
+"Along about nine o'clock he begins to yawn like a trained seal. That's
+how I came to fall in with--this." He indicated the giggling Clyde. "I
+didn't have anything better to do."
+
+"Did you show George around, as I asked?"
+
+"Sure! After that fairy--_farrier_, I should say--finished his front
+feet, I took him out and let him look at the elevated railroad. Then he
+came back and hunted up the janitor of the building. He spent the
+evening in the basement with the engineer. Oh, he's had a splendid day!"
+
+"I say, Boyd, have you got another one like--like this?" Clyde asked,
+nodding at Fraser, who snorted indignantly.
+
+"Not exactly. Balt is quite the antithesis of Mr. Fraser. He is a
+fisherman, and he has never been East before."
+
+"He's learning the manicure business," sniffed the adventurer. "He has
+his nails curried every day. Says it tickles."
+
+"Oh, glory be!" ejaculated the clubman. "I must meet him, too. Let me
+show him the town, will you? I'll foot the bills; I'll make it
+something historic. Please do! I'm bored to death."
+
+"We can't spare the time; we are here on business," said Emerson.
+
+"Business!" Clyde remarked. "That sounds interesting. I haven't seen
+anybody for years who was really busy at anything that was worth being
+busy at. It must be a great sensation to really do something."
+
+"Don't you do anything?"
+
+"Oh yes; I'm as busy as a one-legged sword-dancer, but I don't _do_
+anything. It's the same old thing: leases to sign, rents to collect,
+and that sort of rot. My agent does most of it, however. I wish I were
+like you, Boyd; you always were a lucky chap." Emerson smiled rather
+grimly at thought of the earlier part of the evening and of his present
+fortune.
+
+"Oh, I mean it!" said Clyde. "Look how lucky you were at the
+university. Everything came your way. Even M--" He checked himself and
+jerked his head in the direction of the North Side. "You know! She's
+never been able to see any of us fellows with a spy-glass since you
+left, and I have proposed regularly every full moon." He wagged his
+curly head solemnly and sighed. "Well, there is only one man I'd rather
+see get her than you, and that's me--or I--whichever is proper."
+
+"I'm not sure it's proper for either of us to get her," smiled Boyd.
+
+"Well, I'm glad you've returned anyhow; for there's an added starter."
+
+"Who is he?"
+
+"He's some primitive Western fellow like yourself! I don't know his
+name--never met him, in fact. But while we Chicago fellows were
+cantering along in a bunch, watching each other, he got the rail."
+
+"From the way her father spoke and acted I judged he had somebody in
+sight." Boyd's eyes were keenly alight, and Clyde continued.
+
+"We've just _got_ to keep her in Chicago, and you're the one to do it.
+I tell you, old man, she has missed you. Yes, sir, she has missed you a
+blamed sight more than the rest of us have. Oh, you don't know how
+lucky you are."
+
+"I lucky! H'm! You fellows are rich--"
+
+"Bah! _I'm_ not. I've gone through most of what I had. All that is left
+are the rents; they keep me going, after a fashion. Now that it is too
+late, I'm beginning to wake up; I'm getting tired of loafing. I'd like
+to get out and do something, but I can't; I'm too well known in
+Chicago, and besides, as a business man I'm certainly a nickel-plated
+rotter."
+
+"I'll give you a chance to recoup," said Boyd. "I am here to raise some
+money on a good proposition."
+
+The younger man leaned forward eagerly. "If you say it's good, that's
+all I want to know. I'll take a chance. I'm in for anything from
+pitch-and-toss to manslaughter."
+
+"I'll tell you what it is, and you can use your own judgment."
+
+"I haven't a particle," Clyde confessed. "If I had, I wouldn't need to
+invest. Go ahead, however; I'm all ears." He pulled his chair closer
+and listened intently while the other outlined the plan, his weak gray
+eyes reflecting the old hero-worship of his college days. To him, Boyd
+Emerson had ever represented the ultimate type of all that was most
+desirable, and time had not lessened his admiration.
+
+"It looks as if there might be a jolly rumpus, doesn't it?" he
+questioned, when the speaker had finished.
+
+"It does."
+
+"Then I've got to see it. I'll put in my share if you'll let me go
+along."
+
+"You go! Why, you wouldn't like that sort of thing," said Emerson,
+considerably nonplussed.
+
+"Oh, wouldn't I? I'd _eat_ it! It's just what I need. I'd revel in that
+out-door life." He threw back his narrow shoulders. "I'm a regular
+scout when it comes to roughing it. Why, I camped in the Thousand
+Islands all one summer, and I've been deer-hunting in the Adirondacks.
+We didn't get any--they were too far from the hotel; but I know all
+about mountain life."
+
+"This is totally different," Boyd objected; but Clyde ran on, his
+enthusiasm growing as he tinted the mental picture to suit himself.
+
+"I'm a splendid fisherman, too, and I've plenty of tackle."
+
+"We shall use nets."
+
+"Don't do it! It isn't sportsmanlike. I'll take a book of flies and
+whip that stream to a froth." Emerson interrupted him to explain
+briefly the process of salmon-catching, but the young man was not to be
+discouraged.
+
+"You give me something to do--something where I don't have to lift
+heavy weights or carry boxes--and watch me work! I tell you, it's what
+I've been looking for, and I didn't know it; I'll get as husky as you
+are and all sunburnt. Tell me the sort of furs and the kind of pistols
+to buy, and I'll put ten thousand dollars in the scheme. That's all I
+can spare."
+
+"You won't need either furs or firearms," laughed Boyd. "When we get
+back to Kalvik the days will be long and hot, and the whole country
+will be a blaze of wild flowers."
+
+"That's fine! I love flowers. If I can't catch fish for the cannery,
+I'll make up for it in some other way."
+
+"Can you keep books?"
+
+"No; but I can play a mandolin," Clyde offered, optimistically. "I
+guess a little music would sound pretty good up there in the
+wilderness."
+
+"Can you play a mandolin?" inquired "Fingerless" Fraser, observing the
+young fellow with grave curiosity.
+
+"Sure; I'm out of practice, but--"
+
+"Take him!" said Fraser, turning upon Emerson.
+
+"He can set on the front porch of the cannery with wild flowers in his
+hair and play _La Paloma_. It will make those other fish-houses mad
+with jealousy. Get a window-box and a hammock, and maybe Willis Marsh
+will run in and spend his evenings with you."
+
+"Don't josh!" insisted Clyde, seriously. "I want to go--"
+
+"Me josh?" Fraser's face was like wood.
+
+"I'll think it over," Emerson said, guardedly.
+
+Without warning, the adventurer burst into shrill laughter.
+
+"Are you laughing at me?" angrily demanded the city youth.
+
+Fraser composed his features, which seemed to have suddenly disrupted.
+"Certainly not! I just thought of something that happened to my father
+when I was a little child." Again he began to shake, at which Clyde
+regarded him narrowly; but his merriment was so impersonal as to allay
+suspicion, and the young fellow went on with undiminished enthusiasm:
+
+"You think it over, and in the mean time I'll get a bunch of the
+fellows together. We'll all have lunch at the University Club
+to-morrow, and you can tell them about the affair."
+
+Fraser abruptly ended his laughter as Boyd's heel came heavily in
+contact with his instep under the table. Clyde was again lost in an
+exposition of his fitness as a fisherman when Fraser burst out:
+
+"Hello! There's George. He's walking in his sleep, and thinks this is a
+manicure stable."
+
+Emerson turned to behold Balt's huge figure all but blocking the
+distant door. It was evident that he had been vainly trying to attract
+their attention for some time, but lacked the courage to enter the
+crowded room, for, upon catching Boyd's eye, he beckoned vigorously.
+
+"Call him in," said Clyde, quickly. "I want to meet him. He looks just
+my sort." And accordingly Emerson motioned to the fisherman. Seeing
+there was no help for it, Big George composed himself and ventured
+timidly across the portal, steering a tortuous course toward his
+friends; but in these unaccustomed waters his bulk became unmanageable
+and his way beset with perils. Deeming himself in danger of being run
+down by a waiter, he sheered to starboard, and collided with a table at
+which there was a theatre party. Endeavoring to apologize, he backed
+into a great pottery vase, which rocked at the impact and threatened to
+topple from its foundation.
+
+"I'd rather take an ox-team through this room than him," said Fraser.
+"He'll wreck something, sure."
+
+Conscious of the attention he was attracting on all sides, Big George
+became seized with an excess of awkwardness; his face blazed, and the
+perspiration started from his forehead.
+
+"I hope the head waiter doesn't speak to him," Boyd observed. "He is
+mad enough to rend him limb from limb." But the words were barely
+spoken when they saw a steward hasten toward George and address him,
+following which the big fellow's voice rumbled angrily:
+
+"No, I ain't made any mistake! I'm a boarder here, and you get out of
+my way or I'll step on you." He strode forward threateningly, at which
+the waiter hopped over the train of an evening dress and bowed
+obsequiously. The noise of laughter and many voices ceased. In the
+silence George pursued his way regardless of personal injury or
+property damage, breaking trail, as it were, to his destination, where
+he sank limply into a chair which creaked beneath his weight.
+
+"Gimme a lemonade, quick; I'm all het up," he ordered. "I can't get no
+footholt on these fancy floors, they're so dang slick."
+
+After a half-dazed acknowledgment of his introduction to Alton Clyde,
+he continued: "I've been trying to flag you for ten minutes." He mopped
+his brow feebly.
+
+"What is wrong?"
+
+"Everything! It's too noisy for me in this hotel. I've been trying to
+sleep for three hours, but this band keeps playing, and that elevated
+railroad breaks down every few minutes right under my window. There's
+whistles blowing, bells ringing, and--can't we find some quiet
+road-house where I can get an hour's rest? Put me in a boiler-shop or a
+round-house, where I can go to sleep."
+
+"The hotels are all alike," Boyd answered. "You will soon get used to
+it."
+
+"Who, me? Never! I want to get back to God's country."
+
+"Hurrah for you!" ejaculated Clyde. "Same here. And I'm going with you."
+
+"How's that?" questioned George.
+
+"Mr. Clyde offers to put ten thousand dollars into the deal if he can
+go to Kalvik with us and help run the cannery," explained Emerson.
+
+George looked over the clubman carefully from his curly crown to his
+slender, high-heeled shoes, then smiled broadly.
+
+"It's up to Mr. Emerson. I'm willing if he is." Whereupon, vastly
+encouraged, Clyde proceeded to expatiate upon his own surpassing
+qualifications. While he was speaking, a party of three men approached,
+and seated themselves at an adjoining table. As they pulled out their
+chairs, Big George chanced to glance in their direction; then he put
+down his lemonade glass carefully.
+
+"What's the matter?" Boyd demanded, in a low tone, for the big fellow's
+face had suddenly gone livid, while his eyes had widened like those of
+an enraged animal.
+
+"That's him!" George growled, "That's the dirty hound!"
+
+"Sit still!" commanded Fraser; for the fisherman had shoved back from
+the table and was rising, his hands working hungrily, the cords in his
+neck standing out rigidly. Seeing the murder-light in his companion's
+eyes, the speaker leaned forward and thrust the big fellow back into
+the chair from which he had half lifted himself.
+
+"Don't make a fool of yourself," he cautioned.
+
+Clyde, who had likewise witnessed the giant's remarkable metamorphosis,
+now inquired its meaning.
+
+"That's him!" repeated George, his eyes glaring redly. "That's Willis
+Marsh."
+
+"Where?" Emerson whirled curiously; but there was no need for George to
+point out his enemy, for one of the strangers stood as if frozen, with
+his hand upon the back of his chair, an expression of the utmost
+astonishment upon his face. A smile was dying from his lips.
+
+Boyd beheld a plump, thick-set man of thirty-eight in evening dress.
+There was nothing distinctive about him except, perhaps, his hair,
+which was of a decided reddish hue. He was light of complexion; his
+mouth was small and of a rather womanish appearance, due to the full
+red lips. He was well groomed, well fed, in all ways he was a typical
+city-bred man. He might have been a broker, though he did not carry the
+air of any particular profession.
+
+That he was, at all events, master of his emotions he soon gave
+evidence. Raising his brows in recognition, he nodded pleasantly to
+Balt; then, as if on second thought, excused himself to his companions
+and stepped toward the other group. The legs of George's chair scraped
+noisily on the tiles as he rose; the sound covered Fraser's quick
+admonition:
+
+"Take it easy, pal; let him talk."
+
+"How do you do, George? What in the name of goodness are you doing
+here? I hardly recognized you." Marsh's voice was round and musical,
+his accent Eastern. With an assumption of heartiness, he extended a
+white-gloved hand, which the big, uncouth man who faced him refused to
+take. The other three had risen. George seemed to be groping for a
+retort. Finally he blurted out, hoarsely:
+
+"Don't offer me your hand. It's dirty! It's got blood on it!"
+
+"Nonsense!" Marsh smiled. "Let's be friends again, George. Bygones are
+bygones. I came over to make up with you and ask about affairs at
+Kalvik. If you are here on business and I can help--"
+
+"You dirty rat!" breathed the fisherman.
+
+"Very well; if you wish to be obstinate--" Willis Marsh shrugged his
+shoulders carelessly, although in his voice there was a metallic note.
+"I have nothing to say." He turned a very bright and very curious pair
+of eyes upon George's companions, as if seeking from them some hint as
+to his victim's presence there. It was but a momentary flash of
+inquiry, however, and then his gaze, passing quickly over Clyde and
+Fraser, settled upon Emerson.
+
+"Mr. Balt and I had a business misunderstanding," he said, smoothly,
+"which I hoped was forgotten. It didn't amount to much--"
+
+At this Balt uttered a choking snarl and stepped forward, only to meet
+Boyd, who intercepted him.
+
+"Behave yourself!" he ordered. "Don't make a scene," and before the big
+fellow could prevent it he had linked arms with him, and swung him
+around. The movement was executed so naturally that none of the patrons
+of the cafe noticed it, except, perhaps, as a preparation for
+departure. Marsh bowed civilly and returned to his seat, while Boyd
+sauntered toward the exit, his arm which controlled George tense as
+iron beneath his sleeve. He felt the fisherman's great frame quivering
+against him and heard the excited breath halting in his lungs; but
+possessed with the sole idea of getting him away without disorder, he
+smiled back at Clyde and Fraser, who were following, and chatted
+agreeably with his prisoner until they had reached the foyer. Then he
+released his hold and said, quietly:
+
+"You'd better go up to your room and cool off. You came near spoiling
+everything."
+
+"He tried to shake hands," George mumbled, "_with me!_ That thieving
+whelp tried to shake--" He trailed off into an unintelligible jargon of
+curses and threats which did not end until he had reached the elevator.
+Here Alton Clyde clamored for enlightenment as to the reason for this
+eruption.
+
+"That is the fellow we will have to fight," Boyd explained. "He is the
+head of the cannery combination at Kalvik, and a bitter enemy of
+George's. If he suspects our motives or gets wind of our plans, we're
+done for."
+
+Clyde spoke more earnestly than at any time during the evening. "Well,
+that absolutely settles it as far as I am concerned. This is bound to
+end in a row."
+
+"You mean you don't want to join us?"
+
+"_Don't want to!_ Why, I've just _got_ to, that's all. The ten thousand
+is yours, but if you don't take me along I'll stow away."
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+WHEREIN BOYD EMERSON IS TWICE AMAZED
+
+
+Nearly a month had elapsed when Emerson at last expressed to George the
+discouragement that for several days had lain silently in both men's
+minds.
+
+"It looks like failure, doesn't it?"
+
+"Sure does! You've played your string out, eh?"
+
+"Absolutely. I've done everything except burglary, but I can't raise
+that hundred thousand dollars. From the way we started off it looked
+easy, but times are hard and I've bled my friends of every dollar they
+can spare. In fact, some of them have put in more than they can afford."
+
+"It's an awful big piece of money," Balt admitted, with a sigh.
+
+"I never fully realized before how very large," Boyd said. "And yet,
+without that amount the Seattle bank won't back us for the remainder."
+
+"Oh, it's no use to tackle the business on a small scale." Big George
+pondered for a moment. "We can't wait much longer. We'd ought to be on
+the coast now. We're shy twenty-five thousand dollars, eh?"
+
+"Yes, and I can't see any possible way of raising it. I've done the
+best I could, and so has Clyde, but it's no use."
+
+The strain of the past month was evident in Emerson's face, which was
+worn and tired, as if from sleepless nights. Of late he had lapsed
+again into that despondent mood which Fraser had observed in Alaska,
+his moments of depression growing more frequent as the precious days
+slipped past. Every waking hour he had devoted to the promotion of his
+enterprise. He had laughed at rebuffs and refused discouragement; he
+had solicited every man who seemed in any way likely to be interested.
+He had gone from office to office, his hours regulated by watch and
+note-book, always retailing the same facts, always convincingly lucid
+and calmly enthusiastic. But a scarcity of money seemed prevalent.
+Those who sought investment either had better opportunities or refused
+to finance an undertaking so far from home, and apparently so hazardous.
+
+During those three years in the North, Boyd had worked with feverish
+haste and suffered many disappointments; but never before had he used
+such a vast amount of nervous force as in this short month, never had
+fortune seemed so maddeningly stubborn. But he had hung on with bulldog
+tenacity, not knowing how to give up, until at last he had placed his
+stock to the extent of seventy-five thousand dollars, only to realize
+that he had exhausted his vital force as well as his list of
+acquaintances. In public he maintained a sanguine front, but in private
+he let go, and only his two Alaskan friends had sounded the depths of
+his disappointment.
+
+One other, to be sure, had some inkling of what troubled him, yet to
+Mildred he had never explained the precise nature of his difficulties.
+She did not even know his plans. He spent many evenings with her, and
+she would have given him more of her society had he consented to go out
+with her, for the demands upon her time were numerous; but this he
+could never bring himself to do, being too wearied in mind and body,
+and wishing to spare himself any additional mental disquiet.
+
+Neither Mildred nor her father ever spoke of that unknown suitor in his
+presence, and their very silence invested the mysterious man with
+menacing possibilities which did not tend to soothe Boyd's troubled
+mind. In fact, Mr. Wayland, despite his genial manner, inspired him
+with a vague sense of hostility, and, as if he were not sufficiently
+distracted by all this, Fraser and George kept him in a constant state
+of worry from other causes. The former was continually involving him in
+some wildly impossible enterprise which seemed ever in danger of police
+interference. He could not get rid of the fellow, for Fraser calmly
+included him in all his machinations, dragging him in willy-nilly,
+until in Boyd's ears there sounded the distant clank of chains and the
+echo of the warden's tread. A dozen times he had exposed the rogue and
+established his own position, only to find himself the next day
+wallowing in some new complication more difficult than that from which
+he had escaped. Ordinarily it would have been laughable, but at this
+crisis it was tragic.
+
+As for George, he had been very quiet since the night of his encounter
+with Marsh, and he spent much of his time by himself. This was a relief
+to Boyd, until he happened several times to meet the big fellow in
+strange places at unexpected hours, surprising in his eyes a look of
+expectant watchfulness, the meaning of which at first puzzled him. It
+took but little observation, however, to learn that the fisherman spent
+his days in hotel lobbies, always walking about through the crowd, and
+that by night he patrolled the theatre district, slinking about as if
+to avoid observation. Emerson finally realized with a shock that George
+was in search of his enemy; but no amount of argument could alter the
+fellow's mind, and he continued to hunt with the silence of a lone
+wolf. What the result of his meeting Marsh would be Boyd hesitated to
+think, but neither George nor he discovered any trace of that gentleman.
+
+These various cares, added to the consequences of his inability to
+finance the cannery project, had reduced Emerson to a state bordering
+upon collapse. Balt had entered his room that morning for his daily
+report of progress, and after his partner's confession of failure had
+fetched a deep sigh.
+
+"Well, it's tough, after all we've went through," he said. Then, after
+a pause, "Cherry will be broken-hearted."
+
+"I hadn't thought of her," confessed the other.
+
+"You see, it's her last chance, too."
+
+"So she told me. I'm sorry I brought you all these thousands of miles
+on a wild-goose chase, but--"
+
+"I don't care for myself. I'll get back somehow and live in the brush,
+like I used to, and some day I'll get my chance. But she's a woman, and
+she can't fight Marsh like I can."
+
+"Just who or what is she?" Boyd inquired, curiously, glad of anything
+to divert his thoughts from their present channel.
+
+"She's just a big-hearted girl, and the only person, red, white, or
+yellow, who gave me a kind word or a bite to eat till you came along.
+That's all I know about her. I'd have gone crazy only for her." The big
+man ground his teeth as the memory of his injuries came uppermost.
+
+Before Boyd could follow the subject further, Alton Clyde strolled in
+upon them, arrayed immaculately, with gloves, tie, spats, and a derby
+to match, a striped waistcoast, and a gold-headed walking-stick.
+
+"Salutations, fellow-fishermen!" he began. "I just ran in to settle the
+details of our trip. I want my tailor to get busy on my wardrobe
+to-morrow." Boyd shook his head.
+
+"Ain't going to be no wardrobe," said Balt.
+
+"Why? Has something happened to scare the fish?"
+
+"I can't raise the money," Emerson confessed.
+
+"Still shy that twenty-five thou?" questioned the clubman.
+
+"Yes! I'm done."
+
+"That's a shame! I had some ripping clothes planned--English
+whip-cord--"
+
+"That stuff won't rip," George declared. "But over-alls is plenty good."
+
+Clyde tapped the narrow points of his shoes with his walking-stick,
+frowning in meditation. "I'm all in, and so are the rest of the
+fellows. By Jove, this will be a disappointment to Mildred! Have you
+told her?"
+
+"No. She doesn't know anything about the plan, and I didn't want to
+tell her until I had the money. Now I can't go to her and acknowledge
+another failure."
+
+"I'm terribly disappointed," said Clyde. There was a moment's silence;
+then he went to the telephone and called the hotel office: "Get me a
+cab at once--Mr. Clyde. I'll be right down."
+
+Turning to the others, he remarked: "I'll see what I can do; but as a
+promoter, I'm a joke. However, the trip will do me good, and I am
+hungry for the fray; the smell of battle is in my nostrils, and I am
+champing at my bit. Woof! Leave it to me." He smote the air with his
+slender cane, and made for the door with an appearance of fierce
+determination upon his colorless face. "You'll hear from me in the
+morning. So long!"
+
+His martial air amused the two, but Boyd soon dismissed him from his
+mind and spent that evening in such moody silence that, in desperation,
+Big George forsook him and sought out the manicure parlor. Fraser was
+busied on some enterprise of his own.
+
+The thought of Alton Clyde's raising twenty-five thousand dollars where
+he had failed was ridiculous to Emerson. He was utterly astounded when
+that radiantly attired youth strolled into his room on the following
+morning and tossed a thick roll of bills upon the table, saying,
+carelessly:
+
+"There it is; count it."
+
+"What?"
+
+"Twenty-five one-thousand-dollar notes. Anyhow, I think there are
+twenty-five of them, but I'm not sure. I counted them twice: once I
+made twenty-four and the next time twenty-six, but I had my gloves on;
+so I struck an averages and took the paying teller's word for it."
+
+Emerson leaped to his feet, staring at the dandy as if not
+comprehending this sudden turn of fortune.
+
+"Did you rustle this money without any help?" he demanded.
+
+"Abso-blooming-lutely!"
+
+"Is it your own?"
+
+"Well, hardly! It is so far from it that I was sorely tempted to spread
+my wings and soar to foreign parts. It wouldn't have taken much of a
+nudge to butt me clear over into Canada this morning."
+
+"Where in the world did you get it, Al?"
+
+"What difference does that make? I _got_ it, didn't I?" He slapped his
+trousers leg daintily with his stick. "You can issue the stock in my
+name."
+
+Boyd seized the little fellow and whirled him around the room, laughing
+gleefully, lifted in one moment from the pit of despair to the height
+of optimism.
+
+"Stop it! I'm all rumpled!" gasped Clyde, finally, sinking into a chair
+"When I get rumpled in the morning I stay rumpled all day. Don't you
+touch me!"
+
+"Whose money is this? What good angel took pity on us?"
+
+Clyde's faded eyes dropped. "Well, I turned a trick, and to all intents
+and purposes it is mine. There it is. I didn't steal it, and--you don't
+have to know _everything,_ do you? That is why I got the check cashed."
+
+"I beg your pardon," Boyd apologized; "I didn't mean to pry into your
+affairs, and it is none of my business, anyhow. I'm glad enough to get
+the money, no matter where it came from. I'd forgive you if you had
+stolen it." He began to dress hurriedly. "You are the fairy prince of
+this enterprise, Alton, and you can go to Kalvik and pick flowers or
+play the mandolin or do anything you wish. Now for a telegram to the
+bank at Seattle. We leave to-morrow."
+
+"Oh, here, now! I can't get my wardrobe ready."
+
+"Ward--nothing! You don't need any clothes! You can get all that stuff
+in Seattle."
+
+"Must have wardrobe," firmly maintained Clyde. "No can do without."
+
+"George and I will be in Seattle for several weeks, so you can come on
+later."
+
+"No, sir! I'm going to trail my bet with yours. I might change my mind
+if I hung around here alone. I'll make my tailor work all night
+to-night; it will do him good. But it upsets me to be hurried; it
+upsets me worse than being rumpled in the morning."
+
+That was a busy day for Boyd Emerson, but he was too elated to notice
+fatigue, even while dressing for the Waylands'. He had arranged to come
+an hour before dinner, that Mildred and he might have a little time to
+themselves, and his haste to acquaint her with the news of his success
+brought him to the Lake Shore house ahead of time. She did not keep him
+waiting, however, and when she appeared, gowned for dinner, he fairly
+swept her off her feet with his abruptness.
+
+"It's a go, my Lady; I have succeeded."
+
+"I knew it by your smile. I am so glad!"
+
+"Yes. I have all the money I need, and I am off for the Coast
+to-morrow."
+
+"Oh!" She drew back from him. "To-morrow! Why, you wretch! You seem
+actually glad of it!"
+
+"I am."
+
+"Confusion! Of all the discourteous lovers--!" She simulated such an
+expression of injury that his dancing eyes became grave. "My poor
+heart!"
+
+"Are you sorry?"
+
+"Sorry? Indeed! La, la!" She gave a dainty French shrug of her bare
+shoulders and tossed her head. "I summon my pride. My spirit is
+aroused. I rejoice; I laugh; I sing! Sorry? Pooh!" Then she melted with
+an impulsiveness rare in her, saying, "Tell me all about it, please;
+tell me everything."
+
+He held her slender hand. "This morning I was bluer than a tatooed man,
+but to-night I am in the clouds, for I have overcome the greatest
+obstacle that stands between us. It is only a question of months now
+until I can come to your father with sufficient means to satisfy him.
+Of course, there are chances of failure, but I don't admit them. I have
+such a superabundance of courage now that I can't imagine defeat."
+
+"Do you know," she said, hesitatingly, "you have never told me anything
+about this plan of yours? You have never takes me into your confidence
+in the slightest degree."
+
+"I didn't think you would care to know the details, dear. This is so
+entirely a business matter. It is so sordidly commonplace, and you are
+so very far removed from sordid things that I didn't think you would
+care to hear of it. My mind won't associate you with commercialism. I
+have always burned incense to you; I have always seen you in shaded
+light and through the smoke of altar fires, so to speak."
+
+"I realize that I don't appreciate the things that you have done," said
+the girl, "but I should like to know more about this new adventure."
+
+"I warn you, it is not romantic," he smiled, "although to me anything
+which brings me closer to you is invested with the very essence of
+romance." He told her briefly of his enterprise and the difficulties he
+had conquered. "It looks like plain sailing now," he concluded. "I will
+have to work hard, but that just suits me, for it will occupy the time
+while I am away from you. There will be no mail or communication with
+the outside world after we sail, except at long intervals. But I am
+sure you will feel the messages I shall send you every hour."
+
+"And so you are going to put fish into little tin cans?" said Mildred.
+
+"Very prosy, isn't it?"
+
+"Of course, you will have men to do it. You won't do that sort of thing
+yourself?"
+
+"Assuredly not. There will be some hundreds of Chinese."
+
+"Will you have to catch the fish? Will you pull on a long fish-line? I
+should think that would be rather nice."
+
+"No," he laughed.
+
+"At any rate, you will wear oilskins and a 'sou'wester,' won't you?"
+
+"Yes, just like the pictures you see on bill-boards."
+
+She meditated for an instant. "Why don't you build a railroad or do
+something such as father does? He makes a great deal of money out of
+railroads."
+
+"He is also a director in the largest packing concern at the Stock
+Yards," Boyd reminded her. "This is much the same sort of thing."
+
+"To be sure! Do you know, he has become greatly interested in your
+country of late. I have heard him speak of Alaska frequently. In fact,
+I think that is one reason why he has been so nice to you; he wants to
+learn all he can about it."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Oh, dear, I never know why he does anything."
+
+"Tell me, does he still legislate in favor of this mysterious suitor
+whose identity you have never revealed to me?"
+
+"Nonsense!" said the girl. "There is no mysterious suitor, and father
+does not legislate for or against any one. He isn't that sort."
+
+"And yet I never seem to meet this stranger."
+
+"Indeed!" she observed, a trifle indifferently. "It is your own fault.
+You never go out any more. However, you won't have long to wait. Father
+telephoned that he is to dine with us."
+
+"To-night?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"But, Mildred, this is our last evening together," said Emerson,
+seriously. "Can't we have it alone?"
+
+"I am afraid not. I had nothing to say in the matter. It is some
+business affair."
+
+So the fellow was a business associate of the magnate, thought Boyd.
+"Who is he?"
+
+"He is merely--" Mildred paused to listen. "Here they are now. Please
+don't look so tragic, Othello."
+
+Hearing voices outside the library, the young man asked, hurriedly:
+"Give me some time alone with you, my Lady. I must leave early."
+
+"We will come in here while they are smoking," she said.
+
+There was time for no more, for Wayne Wayland entered, followed by
+another gentleman, at the first sight of whom Emerson started, while
+his mind raced off into a dizzy whirl of incredulity. It could not be!
+It was too grotesque--too ridiculous! What prank of malicious fate was
+this? He turned his eyes to the door again, to see if by any chance
+there were a third visitor, but there was not, and he was forced to
+respond to Mr. Wayland's greeting. The other man had meanwhile stepped
+directly to Mildred, as if he had eyes for no one else, and was bowing
+over her hand when her father spoke.
+
+"Mr. Emerson, let me present you to Mr. Marsh. I believe you have never
+happened to meet here." Marsh turned as if reluctant to release the
+girl's hand, and not until his own was outstretched did he recognize
+the other. Even then he betrayed his recognition only by a slight lift
+of the eyebrows and an intensification of his glance.
+
+The two mumbled the customary salutations while their eyes met. At
+their first encounter Boyd had considered Marsh rather indistinct in
+type, but with a lover's jealousy he now beheld a rival endowed with
+many disquieting attributes.
+
+"You two will get along famously," said Mr. Wayland. "Mr. Marsh is
+acquainted with your country, Boyd."
+
+"Ah!" Marsh exclaimed, quickly. "Are you an Alaskan, Mr. Emerson?"
+
+"Indeed, he is so wedded to the country that he is going back
+to-morrow," Mildred offered.
+
+Marsh's first look of challenge now changed to one of the liveliest
+interest, and Boyd imagined the fellow endeavoring to link him, through
+the affair at the restaurant, with the presence of Big George in
+Chicago. Although the full significance of the meeting had not struck
+the young lover yet, upon the heels of his first surprise came the
+realization that this man was to be not only his rival in love, but the
+greatest menace to the success of his venture--that venture which meant
+the world to him.
+
+"Yes," he answered, cautiously, "I am a typical Alaskan--disappointed,
+but not discouraged."
+
+"What business?"
+
+"Mining!"
+
+"Oh!" indifferently. Marsh addressed himself to Mr. Wayland: "I told
+you the commercial opportunities in that country were far greater than
+those in the mining business. All miners have the same story." Sensing
+the slight in his tone, rather than in his words, Mildred hastened to
+the defence of her fiance, nearly causing disaster thereby.
+
+"Boyd has something far better than mining now. He was telling me about
+it as--"
+
+"You interrupted us," interjected Emerson, panic stricken. "I didn't
+have time to explain the nature of my enterprise."
+
+The girl was about to put in a disclaimer, when he flashed a look at
+her which she could not help but heed. "I am very stupid about such
+things," she offered, easily. "I would not have understood it, I am
+sure." To her father, she continued, leaving what she felt to be
+dangerous ground: "I didn't look for you so early."
+
+"We finished sooner than I expected," Mr. Wayland answered, "so I drove
+Willis to his hotel and waited for him to dress. I was afraid he might
+disappoint us if I let him out of my sight. I couldn't allow that--not
+to-night of all nights, eh?" The magnate laughed knowingly at Marsh.
+
+"I have never yet disappointed Miss Wayland, and I never shall," the
+new-comer replied, eying the girl in such a way that Boyd felt a sudden
+desire to choke him until his smooth, expressionless face matched the
+color of his evening coat. "I can imagine your daughter's feminine
+guests staying away, Mr. Wayland, but her masculine friends, never!"
+
+"What rot!" thought Emerson.
+
+"Well, I couldn't take any chances to-night," the father reasserted,
+"for this is a celebration. I will tell Hawkins to open a bottle of
+that Private Cuvee, '86."
+
+"What machinations have you precious conspirators been at now?" queried
+Mildred.
+
+"My dear, I have effected a wonderful deal to-day," said her father.
+"With the help of Mr. Marsh, I closed the last details of a
+consolidation which has occupied me for many months."
+
+"Another trust, I suppose."
+
+"Certain people might call it that," chuckled the old man. "Willis was
+the inspiring genius, and did most of the work; the credit is his."
+
+"Not at all! Not at all!" disclaimed the modest Marsh. "I was but a
+child in your father's hands, Miss Wayland. He has given me a liberal
+education in finance."
+
+"It was a beautiful affair, eh?" questioned the magnate.
+
+"Wonderful."
+
+"May I inquire the nature of this merger?" Emerson ventured, amazed at
+this disclosure of the intimate relations existing between the two.
+
+"Certainly," replied Wayne Wayland. "There is no longer any secret
+about it, and the papers will be full of the story in the morning. I
+have combined the packing industries of the Pacific Coast under the
+name of the North American Packers' Association."
+
+Boyd felt himself growing numb.
+
+"What do you mean by 'packing industries'?" asked Mildred.
+
+"Canneries--salmon fisheries! We own sixty per cent. of the plants of
+the entire Coast, including Alaska. That's why I've been so keen about
+that north country, Boyd. You never guessed it, eh?"
+
+"No, sir," Boyd stammered.
+
+"Well, we control the supply, and we will regulate the market. We will
+allow only what competition we desire. Oh, it is all in our hands. It
+was a beautiful transaction, and one of the largest I ever effected."
+
+Was he dreaming? Boyd wondered. His mouth was dry, but he managed to
+inquire:
+
+"What about the independent canneries?"
+
+Marsh laughed. "There is no sentiment in business! There are about
+forty per cent. too many plants to suit us. I believe I am capable of
+attending to them."
+
+"Mr. Marsh is the General Manager," Wayland explained. "With the market
+in our own hands, and sufficient capital to operate at a loss for a
+year, or two years, if necessary, I don't think the independent plants
+will cost us much."
+
+Emerson found his sweetheart's eyes fixed upon him oddly. She turned to
+her father and said: "I consider that positively criminal."
+
+"Tut, tut, my dear! It sounds cruel, of course, but it is business, and
+it is being done every day; isn't it, Boyd?"
+
+Boyd made no answer, but Marsh hastened to add:
+
+"You see, Miss Wayland, business, in the last analysis, is merely a
+survival of the fittest; only the strong and merciless can hold their
+own."
+
+"Exactly," confirmed her father. "One can't allow sentiment to affect
+one. It isn't business. But you don't understand such things. Now, if
+you young people will excuse me, I shall remove the grime of toil, and
+return like a giant refreshed." He chuckled to himself and left the
+room, highly pleased with the events of the day.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+IN WHICH MISS WAYLAND IS OF TWO MINDS
+
+
+That Willis Marsh still retained some curiosity regarding Emerson's
+presence at the Annex on that night four weeks before, and that the
+young man's non-committal reply to his inquiry about the new enterprise
+mentioned by Mildred had not entirely satisfied him, was proved by the
+remark which he addressed to the girl the moment her father's departure
+afforded him an opportunity.
+
+"You said Mr. Emerson's new proposition was better than mining, did you
+not?" He was the embodiment of friendly interest, showing just the
+proper degree of complaisant expectancy. "I am decidedly curious to
+know what undertaking is sufficiently momentous to draw a young man
+away from beauty's side up into such a wilderness, particularly in the
+dead of winter."
+
+Miss Wayland's guarded reply gave Emerson a moment in which to collect
+his thoughts. He was still too much confused by the recent disclosures
+to adjust himself fully to the situation. The one idea uppermost in his
+mind was to enlighten Marsh as little as possible; for if this new
+train of events was really to prove his undoing, as already he half
+believed, he would at any rate save himself from the humiliation of
+acknowledging defeat. If, on the other hand, he should decide to go
+ahead and wage war against the trust as an independent packer, then
+secrecy for the present was doubly imperative.
+
+Once Marsh gained an inkling that he and Big George were equipping
+themselves to go back to Kalvik--to Kalvik, Marsh's own stronghold, of
+all places!--he could and would thwart them without doubt. These
+thoughts flashed through Boyd's mind with bewildering rapidity, yet he
+managed to equal the other's show of polite indifference as he remarked:
+
+"I am not far enough along with my plans to discuss them."
+
+"Perhaps if I knew their nature I might--"
+
+Boyd laughed. "I am afraid a hydraulic proposition would not interest
+such a hard-headed business man as you." To himself he added: "Good
+heavens! I am worse than Fraser with his nebulous schemes!"
+
+"Oh, hydraulic mining? Well, hardly!" the other replied. "I understood
+Miss Wayland to say that this was something better than a mine."
+
+"Is a hydraulic a mine?" inquired Mildred; "I thought it was a
+water-power of some sort!"
+
+"Once a miner always a miner," the younger man quoted, lightly.
+
+As if with a shadow of doubt, Marsh next inquired:
+
+"Didn't I meet you the other evening at the Annex?"
+
+Boyd admitted the fact, with the air of one who exaggerates his
+interest in a trifling topic for the sake of conversation. He was
+beginning to be surprised at his own powers of dissimulation.
+
+"And you were with George Balt?"
+
+"Exactly. I picked him up on my way out from Nome; he was so thoroughly
+disgusted with Alaska that I helped him get back to the States."
+
+Marsh's eyes gleamed at this welcome intelligence for certain
+misgivings had preyed upon him since that night of the encounter. He
+turned to the girl with the explanation:
+
+"This fellow we speak of is a queer, unbalanced savage who nurses an
+insane hatred for me. I employed him once, but had to discharge him for
+incompetence, and he has threatened my life repeatedly. You may imagine
+the start it gave me to stroll into a cafe, at this distance from
+Kalvik, and find him seated at a near-by table."
+
+"How strange!" Miss Wayland observed. "What did he do?"
+
+"Mr. Emerson prevented him from making a scene. Only for his
+interference I might have been forced to--protect myself."
+
+In spite of himself Boyd could not but wonder if Marsh were really the
+sort of man he had been painted; or if, as might appear sufficiently
+credible, he had been maligned through Cherry's prejudice and George
+Balt's hatred. To-night he seemed the most kindly and courteous of men.
+
+Under Mildred's skilful direction the conversation had drifted into
+other channels by the time Mr. Wayland returned. Now, all at once, Boyd
+beheld the magnate in a new guise. Until to-night he had seen in him
+nothing more than a prospective father-in-law, a stubborn, dominant old
+fellow whose half-contemptuous toleration, unpleasant enough at times,
+never really amounted to active enmity. Now, however, he recognized in
+Wayne Wayland a commercial foe, and his knowledge of the man's
+character gave sufficient assurance that he might expect no mercy or
+consideration from him one moment after it transpired that their
+financial interests were in conflict.
+
+So far the two had never seriously clashed, but sooner or later the
+capitalist must learn the truth; and when he did, when that iron-jawed,
+iron-willed autocrat once discovered that this youth whom he had taken
+into his home with so little thought of possible harm had actually
+dared to oppose him, his indignation would pass all bounds.
+
+And then, for the first time, Emerson realized the impropriety of his
+own present position. He was here under false pretences; they had bared
+to him secrets not rightly his, with which he might arm himself. When
+this, too, became known to the financier, he would regard him not only
+as a presumptuous enemy, but as a traitor. Boyd knew the old tyrant too
+well to doubt his course of action; thenceforth there would be war to
+the hilt.
+
+The enterprise which an hour ago had seemed so certain of success, the
+enterprise which he had fathered at such cost of labor and suffering,
+now seemed entirely hopeless. The futility of trying to oppose these
+men, equipped as they were with limitless means and experience, struck
+him with such force as to make him almost physically faint and sick.
+Even had his canning plant been open and running, he knew that they
+would never take him in; Wayne Wayland's consistent attitude toward him
+showed that plainly enough. And with nothing more tangible to offer
+than a half-born dream, they would laugh him to scorn. Furthermore,
+they had proclaimed their determination to choke all rivalry.
+
+A sort of panic seized Boyd. If his present scheme fell through, what
+else could he do? Whither could he turn, even for his own livelihood,
+except back to the hateful isolation of a miner's life? That would mean
+other years as black as those just ended. There had been a time when he
+could boldly have taken the bit in his teeth and forced Mr. Wayland to
+reckon with him, but since his return Mildred herself had withdrawn her
+consent to a marriage that would mean immediate separation from the
+life that she loved. That course, therefore, was closed to him. If ever
+he was to win her, he must play this game of desperate chances to the
+end.
+
+The announcement of dinner interrupted his dismayed reflections, and he
+walked out in company with Mr. Wayland, who linked arms with him as if
+to afford Willis Marsh every advantage, fleeting though it might prove.
+
+"He is a wonderful fellow," the old gentleman observed, _sotto voce_,
+indicating Marsh--"one of the keenest business men I ever met."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"Indeed, he is. He is a money-maker, too; his associates swear by him.
+If I were you, my boy, I would study him; he is a good man to imitate."
+
+At the dinner-table the talk at first was general, and of a character
+appropriate for the hour, but Miss Wayland, oddly enough, seemed bent
+upon leading the discussion back into its former course, and displayed
+such an unusual thirst for information regarding the North American
+Packers' Association that her father was moved to remark upon it.
+
+"What in the world has come over you, Mildred?" he said. "You never
+cared to hear about my doings before."
+
+"Please don't discourage me," she urged. "I am really in earnest; I
+should like to know all about this new trust of yours. Perhaps my
+little universe is growing a bit tiresome to me."
+
+"Miss Mildred is truly your daughter," Marsh observed, admiringly. "But
+I fear the matter doesn't interest Mr. Emerson?"
+
+"Oh, indeed it does," Mildred smilingly responded. "Doesn't it, Boyd?"
+
+He flushed uncomfortably as he acquiesced.
+
+"Now, please tell me more about it," the girl went on. "You know you
+are both full of the thing, and there are only we four here, so let's
+be natural; I am dreadfully tired of being conventional."
+
+"Tut, tut!" exclaimed her father. "That comes of association with these
+untamed Westerners." Yet he plainly showed that he was flattered by her
+unexpected enthusiasm and more than ready to humor her.
+
+Both men, in truth, were jubilant, and so thoroughly in tune with the
+subject which had obsessed them these past months that it took little
+urging to set them talking in harmony with the girl's wishes. Readily
+accepting the cue of informality, they grew communicative, and told of
+the troubles they had encountered in launching the gigantic
+combination, joking over the obstacles that had threatened to wreck it,
+and complimenting each other upon their persistence and sagacity.
+
+Meanwhile, Emerson's discomfort steadily increased. He wondered if this
+were a deliberate effort on Mildred's part, or if she really had any
+idea of what bearing it all had upon his plans. The further it went,
+however, the more clearly he perceived the formidable nature of the new
+barrier between himself and Mildred which her father had unwittingly
+raised.
+
+"So far it has been all hard work," Wayne Wayland at length announced,
+"but in the future I propose to derive some pleasure from this affair.
+I am tired out. For a long time I have been planning a trip somewhere,
+and now I think I shall make a tour of inspection in the spring and
+visit the various holdings of the North American Packers' Association.
+In that way I can combine recreation and business."
+
+"But you detest travel as much as I do," said Mildred.
+
+"This would be entirely different from ordinary travel. The first
+vice-president has his yacht on the Pacific Coast, and offers her to
+the board of directors for a summer's cruise."
+
+"How far will you go?" questioned Boyd.
+
+"Clear up to Mr. Marsh's station."
+
+"Kalvik?"
+
+"Yes; that is the plan," Marsh chimed in. "The scenery is more
+marvellous than that of Norway, the weather is delightful. Moreover,
+_The Grande Dame_ is the best-equipped yacht on the Pacific, so the
+board of directors can take their families with them, and enjoy a
+wonderful outing among the fjords and glaciers beneath the midnight
+sun. You see, I am selfish in urging it, Miss Wayland. I expect you to
+join the party."
+
+"I am sure you would like it, Mildred," the magnate added.
+
+Boyd could scarcely believe his ears. Would they come to Kalvik? Would
+they all assemble there in that unmapped nook? And suppose they
+should--had he the courage to continue his mad enterprise? It was all
+so unreal! He was torn between the desire to have Mildred agree, and
+fear of the influence Marsh might gain during such a trip. But Miss
+Wayland evidently had an eye to her own comfort, for she replied:
+
+"No, indeed! The one thing I abhor above land travel is a sea voyage; I
+am a wretched sailor."
+
+"But this trip would be worth while," urged her father. "Why, it will
+be a regular voyage of discovery; I am as excited over it as a country
+boy on circus day."
+
+Marsh seconded him with all his powers of persuasion, but the girl,
+greatly to Emerson's surprise, merely reaffirmed her determination.
+
+"Oh, I dare say I should enjoy the scenery," she observed, with a
+glance at Boyd; "but, on the other hand, I don't care for rough things,
+and I prefer hearing about canneries to visiting them. They must be
+very smelly. Above all, I simply refuse to be seasick." In her eyes was
+a half-defiant look which Emerson had never seen there before.
+
+"I am sorry," Marsh acknowledged, frankly. "You see, there are no women
+in our country; and six months without a word or a smile from your
+gentle sex makes a man ready to hate himself and his fellow-creatures."
+
+"Are there no women in Alaska?" questioned the girl.
+
+"In the mining-camps, yes, but we fishermen live lonely lives."
+
+"But the coy, shrinking Indian maidens? I have read about them."
+
+"They are terrible affairs," Marsh declared. "They are flat of nose,
+their lips are pierced, and they are very--well, dirty."
+
+"Not always!" Boyd gave voice to his general annoyance and growing
+dislike for Marsh in an abrupt denial, "I have seen some very
+attractive squaws, particularly breeds."
+
+"Where?" demanded the other, sceptically.
+
+"Well, at Kalvik, for instance,"
+
+"Kalvik!" ejaculated Marsh.
+
+"Yes; your home. You must know Chakawana, the girl they call 'The
+Snowbird'?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Come, come! She knows you very well."
+
+"Ah, a mystery! He is concealing something!" cried Miss Wayland.
+
+Marsh directed a sharp glance at Boyd before answering. "I presume you
+refer to Constantine's sister; I was speaking generally--of course,
+there are exceptions. As a matter of fact, I wasn't exactly right when
+I said we had no white women whatever at Kalvik. Mr. Emerson doubtless
+has met Cherry Malotte?"
+
+"I have," acknowledged Boyd. "She was very kind to us."
+
+"More damning disclosures," chuckled Mr. Wayland. "Pray, who is she?"
+
+"I should like very much to know," Emerson answered.
+
+"Oh, delightful!" exclaimed Mildred. "First, a beautiful Indian girl;
+now, a mysterious white woman! Why, Kalvik is decidedly interesting."
+
+"There is nothing mysterious about the white woman," said Marsh. "She
+is quite typical--just a plain mining camp hanger-on who drifted down
+our way."
+
+"Not at all," Boyd disclaimed, angrily. "Miss Malotte is a fine woman;"
+then, at Marsh's short laugh, "and her conduct bears favorable
+comparison with that of the other white people at Kalvik."
+
+Marsh allowed his eyes to waver at this, but to Mildred he apologized.
+"She is not the sort one cares to discuss."
+
+"How do you know?" demanded Cherry's champion. "Do you know anything
+against her character?"
+
+"I know she is a disturbing element at Kalviks and has caused us a
+great deal of trouble."
+
+It was Boyd's turn to laugh. "But surely that has nothing to do with
+her character."
+
+"My dear fellow"--Marsh shrugged his shoulders apologetically--"if I
+had dreamed she was a friend of yours, I never would have spoken."
+
+"She is a friend," Emerson persisted doggedly, "and I admire her
+because she is a girl of spirit. If she had not been possessed of
+enough courage to disregard your instructions, I might have been forced
+to eject your watchman and take possession of one of your canneries."
+
+"We can't entertain all comers. We leave that to Miss Malotte."
+
+"And George Balt, eh?"
+
+"Dear! dear!" laughed Miss Wayland. "I feel as if I were at a meeting
+of the Woman's Guild."
+
+"In our business we must adhere to a definite policy," Marsh explained
+to the others. "Sometimes we are misjudged by travellers who consider
+us heartless, but we can't take care of every one."
+
+"Not even your sick natives. Well, but for Miss Malotte some of your
+fishermen would have starved this winter, and you might have been
+short-handed next year."
+
+"We give them work. Why should we support them?"
+
+"I don't know of any legal reason, and ethics don't count for much up
+there. Nevertheless, Cherry Malotte has seen to it that the children,
+at least, haven't suffered. She saved a little brother of this
+Constantine you mention."
+
+"Constantine has no brother," Marsh answered. "I happen to know,
+because he worked for me."
+
+"This was a little red-headed youngster."
+
+"Ah!" Marsh's ejaculation was sharp. "What was the matter with it?"
+
+"Measles."
+
+"Did it get well?"
+
+"It was getting along all right when I left."
+
+The other fell silent, while Miss Wayland inquired, curiously: "What is
+this mysterious woman like?"
+
+"She is young, refined--thoroughly nice in every way."
+
+"Good-looking also, I dare say?"
+
+"Very."
+
+She was about to pursue her inquiries further, but the dinner was
+finished and Mr. Wayland had asked for his favorite cigars, so she rose
+and Boyd accompanied her, leaving the others to smoke. But, strangely
+enough, Marsh remained in such a state of preoccupation, even after
+their departure, that Mr. Wayland's attempts at conversation elicited
+only the vaguest and shortest of answers.
+
+In the music-room Mildred turned upon Boyd. "Why didn't you tell me
+about this woman before?"
+
+"I didn't think of her."
+
+"And yet she is young, beautiful, refined, lives a romantic sort of
+existence, and entertained you--" She tossed her head.
+
+"Are you jealous?" he inquired, with a smile.
+
+"Of such a person? Certainly not."
+
+"I wish you were," he confessed, truthfully. "If you would only get
+really jealous, I should be delighted. I should begin to feel a little
+sure of you."
+
+She seated herself at the piano and struck a few idle notes, inquiring,
+casually: "Kalvik is the name of the place where you are going, isn't
+it?"
+
+"It is."
+
+"I suppose you will see a great deal of this--Cherry Malotte?"
+
+"Undoubtedly, inasmuch as we are partners."
+
+"Partners!" Mildred ceased playing and swung about. "What do you mean?"
+
+"She is interested in this enterprise; the cannery site is hers."
+
+"I see!" After a moment, "Does this new affair of father's have any
+particular effect on your plans?"
+
+"Yes and no," he answered, feeling again the weight of this last
+complication, forgotten for the moment.
+
+"What do you wish me to do?"
+
+"Nothing; only for the present please don't mention my scheme either to
+him or to Mr. Marsh. I am a bit uncertain as to my course. You see, it
+means so much to me that I can't bear to give it up, and yet it may
+lead to great--unpleasantness."
+
+She nodded, comprehendingly.
+
+The others joined them, and Boyd made his adieus; but in leaving he
+bore with him a weight of doubt and uneasiness in strange contrast with
+the buoyancy he had felt upon his arrival.
+
+Willis Marsh, on the contrary, lost no time in emerging from his
+taciturn mood upon Boyd's departure, and seemed filled with even more
+than his accustomed optimism. Whatever had been the cause of his
+transitory depression, he could not fail to reflect that his fortunes
+had been singularly fair of late; and now that the other man was out of
+the way, Miss Wayland, for the first time in his acquaintance, began to
+display a lively interest in his affairs, which made his satisfaction
+complete. She questioned him closely regarding his work and habits in
+the North, letting down her reserve to such an unparalleled extent that
+when Mr. Wayland at last excused himself and retired to the library,
+Marsh felt that the psychological moment had arrived.
+
+[Illustration: MILDRED CEASED PLAYING AND SWUNG ABOUT--"WHAT DO YOU
+MEAN?"]
+
+"This has been a day of triumphs for me," he stated, "and I am anxious
+to crown it with even a greater good-fortune."
+
+"Don't be greedy," the girl cautioned.
+
+"That is man's nature."
+
+She laughed lightly. "Having used my poor, yielding parent for your own
+needs, you now wish to employ his innocent child in the same manner. Is
+there no limit to your ambition?"
+
+"There is, and I can reach it with your help."
+
+"Please don't count on me; I am the most disappointing of creatures."
+
+But he disregarded her words. "I hope not; at any rate, I must know."
+
+"I warn you," she said.
+
+"Nevertheless, I insist; and yet--I don't quite know how to begin. It
+isn't a new story to you perhaps--what I am trying to say--but it is to
+me, I can assure you--and it means everything to me. I don't even have
+to tell you what it is--you must have seen it in my eyes. I--I have
+never cared much for women--I am a man's man, but--"
+
+"Please don't," she interrupted, quietly. But he continued, unheeding:
+
+"You must know that I love you. Every man must love you, but no man
+could love you more than I do. I--I could make a lot of romantic
+avowals, Miss--Mildred, but I am not an adept at such things. You can
+make me very happy if--"
+
+"I am sorry--"
+
+"I know. What I have said is trite, but my whole heart is in it. Your
+father approves, I am quite sure, and so it all rests with you."
+
+For the first time the girl realized the deadly earnestness of the man
+and felt the unusual force of his personality, which made it seem no
+light matter to refuse him. He took his disappointment quietly,
+however, and raised himself immensely in her estimation by his graceful
+acceptance of the inevitable.
+
+"It is pretty hard on a fellow," he smiled, "but please don't let it
+make any difference in our relations. I hope to remain a welcome
+visitor and to see as much of you as before."
+
+"More, if you wish."
+
+"I begin to understand that Mr. Emerson is a lucky chap." He still
+smiled.
+
+She ignored his meaning, and replied: "Boyd and I have been the closest
+of friends for many years."
+
+"So I have been told," and he smiled at her again, in the same manner.
+Somehow the smile annoyed her--it seemed to savor of self-confidence.
+When he bade her good-bye an hour later he was still smiling.
+
+Mr. Wayland was busy over some rare first edition, recently received
+from his English collector, when she sought him out in the library. He
+looked up to inquire:
+
+"Has Willis gone?"
+
+"Yes. He sent you his adieus by me." A moment later she added: "He
+asked me to marry him."
+
+"Of course," nodded the magnate, "they all do that. What did you say?"
+
+"What I always say."
+
+"H'm!" He tapped his eyeglasses meditatively upon the bridge of his
+high-arched nose. "You might do worse. He suits me."
+
+"I have no doubt he could hold the millions together. In fact, he is
+the first one I have seen of whose ability in that line I am quite
+certain. However--" She made a slight gesture of dismissal.
+
+"I hope you didn't offend him?"
+
+She raised her brows.
+
+"Forgive me. I might have known--" He stared at the page before him for
+a moment. "You have a certain finality about you that is almost
+masculine. They never return to the charge--"
+
+"Oh yes," she demurred. "There is Alton Clyde, for instance--"
+
+Mr. Wayland dismissed Clyde with an inarticulate grunt of contempt
+which measured that young man's claim to consideration more
+comprehensively than could a wealth of words.
+
+"I would think it over if I were you," he advised. Then he pondered.
+"If you would only change your mind, occasionally, like other girls--"
+
+"I have changed my mind to-night--since Mr. Marsh left."
+
+"Good!" he declared, heartily.
+
+"Yes. I have decided to go to Kalvik with you."
+
+On that very night, in a little, snow-smothered cabin crouching close
+against the Kalvik bluffs, another girl was seated at a piano. Her
+slim, white fingers had strayed upon the notes of a song which Boyd
+Emerson had sung. In her dream-filled eyes was the picture of a
+rough-garbed, silent man at her shoulder, and in her ears was the sound
+of his voice. Clear to the last melting note she played the air, and
+then a pitiful sob shook her. She bowed her golden head and hid her
+face in her arms, for a memory was upon her, a forgotten kiss was hot
+upon her lips, and she was very lonely.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+IN WHICH CHERRY MALOTTE BECOMES SUSPICIOUS
+
+
+At the hotel Emerson found Clyde and Fraser in Balt's room awaiting
+him. They were noisy and excited at the success of the enterprise and
+at the prospect of immediate action.
+
+Quoth "Fingerless" Fraser: "It has certainly lifted a load off my mind
+to put this deal through."
+
+Emerson was forced to smile. "Now that you have succeeded," said he,
+"what next?"
+
+"Back to the Coast. This town is a bum."
+
+"Are you going west with us?"
+
+"Sure! Why not? This game ain't opened yet."
+
+"How long are we to be favored with your assistance?"
+
+"Hard telling. I want to see you get off on the right foot; I'd feel
+bad if you fell down."
+
+"Well, of all--"
+
+"Let him rave," advised George. "He can't sell us nothing."
+
+"I did _my_ share, anyhow," Alton Clyde declared, curling up
+comfortably in his chair, with a smile of such beatitude that Fraser
+cried:
+
+"Now purr! Nice kitty! Seems like I can see a canary feather sticking
+to your mustache."
+
+"It is my debut in business," Clyde explained. "It's my commercial
+coming-out party. I never did anything useful before in my whole life,
+so, naturally, I'm all swelled up."
+
+"It ain't necessary for me to itemize _my_ statement," Fraser observed.
+"A moment's consecutive thought will show anybody who's capable of
+bearing the strain of that much brain effort where I came in." Gazing
+upon them with prophetic eye, he announced: "And mark what I say,
+gents: I'll be even a bigger help to you before you get through. You do
+the rough work; I'll be there with the bottle of oil and the
+hand-polish. Yes, sir! When the time comes I'll go down in the little
+bag of tricks and dig up anything you need, from a jig dance to a jimmy
+and a bottle of soup."
+
+"I know what you call 'soup'!" exclaimed Alton, with lively interest.
+"Did you ever crack a safe? By Jove, that's immense!"
+
+"I've worked in banks, considerable," "Fingerless" Fraser admitted,
+with admirable caution. "What I mean to say is, I'm a general handy
+man, and I may be useful, so you better let me stick around."
+
+Boyd told them little of the news that had startled him earlier in the
+evening, beyond the bare fact that Marsh had floated a packers' trust,
+and that secrecy, for the present, was now doubly necessary to the
+success of their undertaking. The full significance of the merger,
+therefore, did not strike his associates, even when, on the train, the
+next day, they read the announcement of its formation in the
+newspapers. Balt alone took notice of it, and fell into a furious rage
+at his enemy's success.
+
+Alton Clyde, on the other hand, was more than ever elated over his
+share in a conspiracy threatened by so formidable a foe; and when
+Emerson constituted him a sort of secretary, with duties mainly of
+sending and receiving telegrams, his delight was beyond measure. He
+grew, in fact, insufferably conceited, and his overweening sense of his
+own importance became a severe trial to Fraser, who was roused to his
+most elaborate efforts of sarcasm. The adventurer wasted hours in a
+search for fitting similes by which to measure the clubman's general
+and comprehensive ineptitude, all of which rebounded from his victim's
+armor of complacency.
+
+No sooner were they fairly under way for the West than Emerson began
+the definite shaping of his plans. He and George carefully went over
+the many details of their coming work and sent many messages, with the
+result that outfitters in a dozen lines were awaiting them when they
+arrived in Seattle. Without loss of time Boyd installed himself and his
+friends at a hotel, secured a competent and close-mouthed stenographer,
+and then sought out the banker with whom he had made a tentative
+agreement before going to Chicago. Mr. Hilliard greeted him cordially.
+
+"I see you have carried out your part of the programme," said he; "but
+before we definitely commit ourselves, we should like to know what
+effect this new trust is going to have on the canning business."
+
+"You mean the N. A. P. A.?"
+
+"Precisely. Our Chicago correspondent can't tell us any more than we
+have learned from the press--namely, that a combination has been
+formed. We are naturally somewhat cautious about financing a
+competitive plant until we know what policy the trust will pursue."
+
+Here was exactly the complication Boyd had feared; therefore, it was
+with some trepidation that he argued:
+
+"The trust is in business for the money, and its very formation ought
+to be conclusive evidence of your good judgment. However, you have
+backed so many plants such as mine that you know, as well as I do, the
+big profits to be taken."
+
+"That isn't the point. Ordinarily we would not waver an instant, but
+the Wayland-Marsh outfit is apt to upset conditions. If we only knew--"
+
+"I know!" boldly declared Boyd. "Mr. Wayland outlined his policy to me
+before the public knew anything about the trust."
+
+"Indeed? Are you acquainted with Wayne Wayland?" asked Mr. Hilliard,
+with a new light of curiosity in his eyes.
+
+"I know him well."
+
+"Ah! I congratulate you. Perhaps this is--er, Wayland money behind you?"
+
+"That I am not at liberty to discuss," the younger man replied,
+evasively. "However, just to make your loan absolutely sure, I have
+taken steps to sell my season's output in advance. The commission men
+will be in town shortly, and I shall contract for the entire catch at a
+stipulated price. Is that satisfactory?"
+
+"Entirely so," declared Mr. Hilliard, heartily. "Go ahead and order
+your machinery and supplies." As Boyd rose to go, he added, "By the
+way, what do you know about the mineral possibilities of the region
+back of Kalvik?"
+
+"Not much; the country is new. There is a--woman at Kalvik who has some
+men out prospecting."
+
+"Cherry Malotte?"
+
+"Do you know her?" asked Boyd, with astonishment.
+
+"Very well, indeed. I have had some correspondence with her quite
+recently." Then, noting Boyd's evident curiosity, he went on: "You see,
+I have made a number of mining investments in the North--entirely on my
+own account," he hastened to explain. "Of course, the bank could not do
+such a thing. My operations have turned out so well that I keep several
+men just to follow new strikes."
+
+"Has Miss Malotte made a strike?"
+
+"Not exactly, but she has uncovered some promising copper prospects."
+
+"H'm! That is news to me. It is rather a small country, after all,
+isn't it?" He would have liked to ask the banker certain further
+questions, but resisted the temptation, and shortly after plunged into
+his work so vigorously that the subject faded wholly from his mind.
+
+Now it was that George Balt made his importance felt. In the days which
+followed he and Boyd toiled early and late, for a thousand things
+needed doing at once. Promptness was, above all things, the essence of
+this enterprise, and the lumber merchants, coal dealers, machinery
+salesmen, and ship chandlers with whom they dealt vowed they never had
+met men who reached their decisions so quickly and labored not only
+with such consuming haste, but with such unerring certainty. There was
+no haggling over prices, no loss of time in seeking competitive bids;
+and because George always knew precisely what he wanted, their task of
+selection became comparatively easy. With every detail of the business
+he was familiar, from long experience. There was no piece of machinery
+that he did not know better than its makers. There was never any
+hesitancy as between rival types or loading down with superfluous gear.
+His main concern was for dates of delivery.
+
+Three weeks passed quickly in strenuous effort, and then one morning
+the partners awoke to the realization that there was little more for
+them to do. Orders were in, shipments had started. They had well-nigh
+completed the charter of a ship, and a sailing date had been set. There
+were numerous details yet to be arranged, but the enterprise was in
+motion, and what remained was simple. Despite their desperate hurry
+they had made no mistakes, and for this the credit lay largely with Big
+George.
+
+Through it all Clyde had lent them enthusiastic if feeble assistance;
+and now that the strain was off, he gave fitting expression to his
+delight by getting drunk. Being temperamental to a degree, he craved
+company; and, knowing full well the opposition he would encounter from
+his friends, he annexed a bibulous following of loafers whose time hung
+heavy and who were at all times eager to applaud a loose tongue so long
+as it was accompanied by a loose purse. Toward midnight "Fingerless"
+Fraser, cruising in a nocturnal search for adventure and profit, found
+him in a semi-maudlin state, descanting vaporously to his train; and,
+upon catching mention of the Kalvik fisheries, snatched him homeward
+and put him to bed, after which he locked him into his room, threw the
+key over the transom, and stood guard outside until assured that he
+slept.
+
+At an early hour the adventurer was peremptorily roused, to find
+Emerson hammering at his door in a fine fury.
+
+"What is this?" demanded Boyd, through white lips, thrusting a morning
+paper before Fraser's sleepy eyes.
+
+"It's a newspaper," yawned the other--"a regular newspaper."
+
+"Where did this story come from?" With menacing finger Boyd indicated a
+front column, headed:
+
+    NEW ENEMY OF THE SALMON TRUST!
+
+        FIRST GUN FIRED IN BATTLE FOR FISHERIES!
+
+    N. A. P. A. PROMISED BITTER FIGHT FOR SUPREMACY OF
+                        ALASKAN WATERS!
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"You don't know?"
+
+"No; I never read anything but the 'Past Performances' and the funny
+page. What does it say?"
+
+"It is the whole story of our enterprise, but ridiculously garbled and
+exaggerated. It says I have headed a new canning company to buck the
+trust. It tells about George's feud with Marsh, and says we have both
+been secretly preparing to down him. Good Lord! It's liable to queer us
+with the bank and upset the whole deal."
+
+"I didn't give it out."
+
+"It is all done in your particularly picturesque style," declared
+Emerson, angrily. "Alton swears he knows nothing about it, so you must
+have done it. It is too nearly correct to have come from a stranger."
+
+"Well?" inquired Fraser, quietly.
+
+"The harm is done, but I want to know who is to blame." When the other
+made no answer except to stare at him curiously, he flamed up, "Why
+don't you confess?"
+
+For the first time during their acquaintance, "Fingerless" Fraser
+seemed at a loss for words; but whether for shame or some other motive,
+his companion was unable to tell. His nature was so warped that his
+emotions expressed themselves in ways not always easy to follow, and
+now he merely remarked, with apparent sullenness:
+
+"I'm certainly a hot favorite with you." He clambered stiffly back into
+bed and turned his defiant face to the wall, nor would he meet his
+accuser's eyes or open his lips, even when Boyd flung out of the room,
+convinced that he was the culprit.
+
+All that day Emerson waited fearfully for some word from Hilliard, but
+night came without it; and when several days in succession had passed
+without a sign from the banker, he breathed more easily. He had already
+begun to assure himself that, after all, the exposure would have no
+effect, when one evening the call he dreaded came. A telephone message
+summoned him to the bank at eleven o'clock the following morning.
+
+"That means trouble," he grimly told George.
+
+"Maybe not," the big fisherman replied. "If Hilliard took any stock in
+the story, it seems like he'd have jumped you the next day."
+
+"Our machinery is ordered. You realize what it will mean if he backs
+water now?"
+
+"Sure! We'll have to go to some other bank."
+
+"Humph! I'll wring Fraser's neck," muttered Emerson. "We have troubles
+enough without any new ones."
+
+It was with no little anxiety that he asked for the banker at the
+appointed hour, and was shown into an anteroom, with the announcement:
+
+"Mr. Hilliard is busy; he wishes you to wait."
+
+Inside the glass partition Boyd heard a woman's voice and Hilliard's
+laughter. He took some comfort in the thought that the banker was in a
+good-humor, at least; but, being too nervous to sit still, he stood at
+the window, gazing with vacant eyes at the busy street crowds. Facing
+him, across the way, was a bulletin-board in front of a newspaper
+office; and, after a time, he noted idly among its various items of
+information the announcement that the mail steamer _Queen_ had arrived
+at midnight from Skagway. He wondered why Cherry had not written.
+Surely she must be anxious to know his progress. He should have advised
+her of his whereabouts.
+
+The door to Hilliard's office opened, and he heard the rustle of a
+woman's dress; then his own name spoken--"Come in, Mr. Emerson."
+
+His attention centred on the approaching interview, he did not glance
+toward the departing visitor until she stopped suddenly at the outer
+door, and came straight toward him with outstretched hands.
+
+"Boyd!"
+
+He checked himself, and turned to face Cherry Malotte.
+
+"Why, Cherry," he ejaculated, "what in the world--" He took her two
+hands in his, and she laughed up into his face. "In the name of Heaven,
+where did you come from?"
+
+"I arrived last night on the _Queen_," she said. "Oh, I'm glad to see
+you!"
+
+"But what brings you to the States? I thought you were in Kal--"
+
+"Sh-h!" She laid a finger on her lips, with a glance over her shoulder
+at the door to the inner office. "I'll tell you about it later."
+
+"Mr. Hilliard will see you now, sir," the attendant announced to
+Emerson.
+
+"I must talk to you right away!" Boyd exclaimed, hurriedly. "I won't be
+long. Can you wait?"
+
+"Certainly; I'll wait right here. Only hurry, hurry!"
+
+The pleasure of seeing her was so genuine that he squeezed her hands
+heartily, and entered Hilliard's sanctum with a smile on his lips. It
+was gone, however, when he reappeared a half-hour later, and in its
+place an expression which caused her to inquire, quickly, "What is the
+matter? Is something wrong?"
+
+He nodded, but it was not until they had reached the outer office that
+he said: "Yes, something is decidedly wrong." Then, in answer to her
+further question: "Wait a while; I'm too angry to talk. I'll have to
+tell you all about it before you'll understand." He began to mutter
+harshly under his breath: "Come along. We'll have lunch, and I'll
+explain. First, however, tell me why you came out at this season."
+
+"I have a big mining deal on with Mr. Hilliard. He sent for me, and I
+came. Oh, I hardly know where to begin! But you remember when you were
+in Kalvik I told you that I had several men out prospecting?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, last summer, long before you came through, one of them located a
+ledge of copper."
+
+"You never told me."
+
+"There wasn't anything to tell at that time--I hadn't received any
+assay reports, and I didn't know whether the thing was worth telling;
+but shortly after you left the returns came in, and they showed
+remarkable values. Now here is the wonderful part of the story. Unknown
+to me, my man had sent out other samples and a letter to a friend of
+his here in Seattle. That man had assays made on his own account, and
+came to Mr. Hilliard with the result. The very next boat brought him
+and Hilliard's expert to Katmai. They came over with the mail-carrier.
+We had opened up the ore body somewhat in the mean time, and it didn't
+take those men long to see what we had. They were back at my place in
+no time with a proposition. When I refused to tie up the ground, they
+made me come out with them--foxy Mr. Halliard had foreseen what would
+happen, and instructed them to bring me to him if they had to kidnap
+me. Well, I was a willing victim, and here I am, prepared to deal with
+Mr. Banker, provided we can reach an agreement. What do you think of me
+as a business woman?"
+
+Boyd smiled at her enthusiasm. "I think you are fine in every way, and
+I hope you take all of his money away from him. I can't get any."
+
+"It will take a lot of capital and time to develop the mine, and I am
+fighting now for control--he is a tight-fisted old fellow."
+
+"I should say he is," remarked Emerson. "He has just thrown a bomb into
+our camp that makes my teeth rattle. He promised to back me for one
+hundred thousand dollars, and this morning went back on his word and
+lay down, absolutely."
+
+"Begin at the beginning, and tell me everything," commanded the girl.
+"I'm dying to know what you have been doing. Now, right from the start,
+mind you."
+
+They had reached Emerson's hotel, and, escorting her to the
+luncheon-room, he proceeded to trace his progress from the day he had
+bade her farewell in the snows of Kalvik. They had finished their meal
+before his narrative came to a close.
+
+"To-day Hilliard called me in and coolly informed me that his bank
+could not make the loan he had promised me, notwithstanding the fact
+that I had relied on his assurances and ordered my supplies, which are
+now being shipped."
+
+"Did he offer any reason for his withdrawal?"
+
+"Oh, I dare say he gave a reason, but he beclouded it with so many
+words that it was merely a fog by the time he got through. All I could
+distinguish in the general obscurity was that he would not produce. He
+said something about the bank being overloaded and the board refusing
+its consent. It's remarkable what a barricade a banker can build out of
+one board."
+
+"And yet, as I understand it, you have sold your output in advance, at
+a fixed price."
+
+"Correct."
+
+"It is very strange! The bank would be perfectly safe."
+
+"He merely bulkheaded himself in with a lot of smooth language, and
+when I tried to argue myself over I just slid off. The moment I stepped
+into his office I felt the temperature drop. Something new has come up;
+what it is, I don't know. Anyhow, he froze me out."
+
+"We must raise that money somewhere or we are ruined," Cherry observed,
+with decision.
+
+"Well, rather!" Boyd agreed, with a desperate grimace.
+
+The girl laughed. "Mr. Hilliard and I merely tried each other's mettle
+this morning. I am to return at four."
+
+"Let's meet later and dress each other's wounds," he suggested.
+Cherry's presence had heartened him wonderfully, and the sight of her
+brightly animated face across the table inspired him with a kind of
+joyous courage, the like of which he had scarcely felt since their
+former meeting. In her company his worries had almost disappeared,
+laughter had become a living thing, and youth a blessing.
+
+"I'll agree to anything," she answered; then, becoming suddenly
+earnest, she spoke with shining eyes: "Mr. Hilliard is going to open up
+this copper, and it is going to make me rich--rich! I can't tell you
+what that means to me--you wouldn't understand. I can leave that whole
+North Country behind me, and all that it signifies. I can be what I
+want to be--what I really am."
+
+Boyd saw the great yearning in her eyes, saw that she was fairly
+breathless with the intensity of her hope. He reached forth and, taking
+her tightly clasped hands in his, said, simply:
+
+"If I can help you in any way it will be my greatest pleasure." Her
+glance dropped before his straight gaze, and she answered:
+
+"You are a good man. I am glad to have you for a friend. But you will
+pardon my selfishness, won't you? I didn't mean to put forward my own
+affairs when yours are going so badly."
+
+"They went very well," he declared, "until I tried to climb
+this--glacier."
+
+"Did that newspaper story frighten Mr. Hilliard?"
+
+"I couldn't make out whether it did or not."
+
+"Let's see! It was nearly a week ago that it appeared."
+
+"Five days, to be exact."
+
+"It takes three days to come from Chicago, doesn't it?"
+
+"What has that to do with it?"
+
+"Hasn't it struck you as strange that Hilliard should wait until you
+had sewed yourself up in a web of contracts and obligations before
+advising you of the bad news?"
+
+"If you mean that this is the doing of that Chicago outfit, why did
+they wait so long? If the Associated Press sent that item to Chicago,
+or if they were advised from here, why didn't they wire back? It all
+could have been effected by telegraph in no time."
+
+"It wouldn't be possible to do such a thing by wire or by mail, and,
+besides, Willis Marsh doesn't work that way. If that despatch was
+printed in Chicago, and if he saw it, I predict trouble for you in
+raising one hundred thousand dollars in Seattle."
+
+"You are not a bit reassuring. However, I shall soon determine." He
+arose. "I'll call for you at seven, and I'll wager right now that your
+fears are groundless. Prepare to see me return with a ring through the
+nose of our giant."
+
+"At seven, sharp!" she agreed. "Meanwhile I shall delight myself with a
+shopping expedition. I'm a perfect sight."
+
+At seven she descended from her room in answer to his call, to find him
+pacing the hotel parlor, his jaw set stubbornly.
+
+"What luck?" she demanded.
+
+"You spoke with the tongue of a prophet. Money has suddenly become very
+scarce in Seattle."
+
+"How many banks did you try?"
+
+"Three. I shall try the rest to-morrow. How did you fare?"
+
+"First blood is mine. I feel that I shall capture Mr. Hilliard. Now, no
+more business, do you understand? No, you are not to mention the
+subject again. You need a rest. Do you know that your face is haggard
+and drawn? You are tired out."
+
+After a moment's pause, he acknowledged: "I believe I am. I--I am very
+glad you have come, Cherry."
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+IN WHICH THEY RECOGNIZE THE ENEMY
+
+
+Boyd Emerson slept well that night, notwithstanding the disturbing
+occurrences of the day, for during the evening Cherry had tactfully
+diverted him from all mention of business, trusts, or canneries, much
+as a good physical director, on the eve of a contest, relieves the
+grinding monotony of an athlete's training. The brain, after all, is
+but flesh and blood, and, like the muscles, requires rest; an unbroken
+intensity of contemplation tends inevitably to weariness and pessimism.
+
+They had dined gayly, tete-a-tete, while care fled before the girl's
+exuberant spirits. Contentment had deepened in the companionable
+enjoyment of a play, and later a little supper-party, at which Big
+George and Alton Clyde were present, had completed Boyd's mental
+refreshment, to Cherry's satisfaction.
+
+True, it had required all her skill to prevent the big fisherman from
+holding forth upon the issue uppermost in his mind; but his loyalty to
+her was doglike, and once he found that his pet topic was tabooed, he
+lapsed into a good-natured contemplation of his finger-nails, which he
+polished industriously with his napkin.
+
+The girl had further demonstrated her power over all sorts and
+conditions of men by reducing the blase young club-man to a state of
+grinning admiration, "Fingerless" Fraser alone had been missing from
+the coterie. He had discovered them from a distance, to be sure, and
+come over to exchange greetings with Cherry, but the disastrous result
+of the fellow's garrulity was still so fresh in Boyd's mind that he
+could not invite him to join them, and Fraser, with singular modesty,
+had quickly withdrawn, to wander lonesomely for a while, till sheer
+ennui drove him to bed. His dejection awakened little sympathy in Boyd,
+who felt happier for the removal of his irritating presence.
+
+In the morning Boyd was brought sharply back to a realization of his
+difficult position by a letter from Mildred Wayland.
+
+"Father and I had another scene over you," wrote Mildred. "It was the
+first quarrel we ever had, and I'm half sick as a result. I simply
+can't bear that sort of thing, and we have agreed to drop the subject.
+What roused him to such a sudden fury I'm sure I don't know."
+
+Boyd knew, however, and the knowledge did not add to his comfort.
+
+It seemed, indeed, as if the Trust's enmity had marked him in the eyes
+of the whole financial world; he was again denied assistance at the
+banks, and this time in a manner to show him the futility of argument
+or further effort. The reasons given were as final as they were vague,
+and night found the young promoter half dazed and desperately
+frightened at the completeness of the disaster which had overwhelmed
+him in the brief space of thirty-six hours. He could not blind himself
+to the situation. Those Chicago men who had backed him were personal
+friends, and they had risked their hard-earned dollars purely upon the
+strength of his vivid assurances. He had prevailed upon them to invest
+more than they could afford, and while ultimate failure might be
+forgiven, it savored less of indiscretion than of criminal culpability
+to be left at the very outset of the enterprise with a shipload of
+useless machinery upon the docks at Seattle. Ruin was close upon him.
+
+In his perplexity he turned naturally to Cherry, who listened to his
+tale of repeated failure with furrowed brows, pondering the matter as
+seriously as if the responsibility had been her own.
+
+"The battle has begun sooner than I expected," she said, at length. "I
+never dreamed they could fix the banks so quickly."
+
+"Somehow, I can't believe this is the work of the Trust people; I don't
+see how they could accomplish so much in so short a time. Why, it came
+like a thunderclap."
+
+"I hope I am wrong," she answered, "but something unexpected must have
+happened to change Mr. Hilliard's attitude. What could it be except
+pressure from higher sources?"
+
+"Has he dropped any hint before you?"
+
+"Not a hint. He wouldn't let go of anything. Why, he is too
+close-fisted to drop his r's."
+
+"So I am told. He belongs to that anomalous class who are as rigid in
+business methods as they are loose in private morals."
+
+"Indeed!" Cherry seemed curious.
+
+"But inasmuch as his extravagance begins at 10 P.M. and ends at 10
+A.M., it doesn't seem to affect his social standing. However, we
+needn't discuss his personal character; there's enough to think of
+without that. Will you take dinner with me this evening, so that we can
+talk over any further developments?"
+
+"I am to dine with Mr. Hilliard," said the girl.
+
+"Oh!" Boyd's tone of disappointment seemed disproportionate to the
+occasion. He endeavored to disguise his feeling by saying, lightly:
+"You are breaking into exclusive circles. He lives in quite a palace,
+I'm told."
+
+"I--I'm not dining at his home." Cherry hesitated, and Boyd flashed a
+sharp glance at her. A faint color flushed her cheeks, as she
+explained: "He could not see me at the office to-day, so he arranged
+for me to take dinner with him."
+
+"I see." Boyd detected a note hitherto strange in his own voice. "I am
+going to try the Tacoma banks to-morrow. Would you like to run over
+with me in the morning. The Sound trip is beautiful."
+
+"I would love to," she exclaimed. "I may have something to report if I
+can make Mr. Hilliard talk."
+
+"Out of curiosity, I should like to know what influenced him." All
+women were more or less suspicious, he reflected, and some of them were
+highly intuitive; still, he could not believe that this was all Willis
+Marsh's doing. As he mused he idly thumbed the pages of a magazine. He
+was about to lay it down when his eye caught a well-known face, and he
+started, then glanced at the date of issue. It was a duplicate of that
+copy which had affected him so deeply in Cherry's house at Kalvik. He
+lifted his eyes to find her scrutinizing him.
+
+"No, you can't cut out that page," she said, with a slightly
+embarrassed laugh.
+
+"Where did you run across this?"
+
+"I didn't run across it" she admitted; "I scoured the book-stalls for
+it all the morning. Curiosity is a feminine trait, you know."
+
+"I don't quite understand."
+
+"That missing page has caused me insomnia for months. But now I'm as
+puzzled as ever, for there are two pictures, one on either side of the
+leaf, and each has possibilities. Which is it--the society bud or the
+prima donna?"
+
+"I don't know what you mean," he answered, somewhat stiffly. His love
+for Mildred Wayland had always been so sacred and inviolable a thing
+that even Cherry's frank inquisitiveness seemed an intrusion.
+
+"I'll call for you in time for the nine-o'clock boat," he added, as he
+arose to go. "Meanwhile, if you get a hint from Hilliard, it may be
+useful."
+
+Left to his own devices, Boyd spent the evening in gloomy solitude,
+vainly seeking for some way out of his difficulties. But, despite his
+preoccupation with his own affairs, a vague feeling of resentment at
+the thought of Cherry and Hilliard kept forcing itself upon his mind.
+Perhaps the girl's indiscretion was of no very serious nature; yet he
+found it hard to excuse even a small breach of propriety upon her part.
+Surely, she must understand the imprudence of dining alone with the
+banker. His attentions to her could have but one interpretation. And
+she was too nice a girl to compromise herself in the slightest degree.
+Although he told himself that a business reason had prompted her, and
+reflected that the business methods of women are baffling to the mind
+of mere man, his reasoning quite failed to reconcile him to the
+situation. In the end he had to acknowledge that he did not like the
+look of it in the least.
+
+But in the morning he found it impossible to maintain a critical
+attitude in Cherry's presence. She had finished her breakfast when he
+called, and was awaiting him, clad in a brown velvet suit which set off
+her trim figure with all the effectiveness of skilful tailoring. Brown
+boots and gloves to match, with a dainty turban in which lay the golden
+gleam of a pheasant's plumage, completed the picture. She was as
+perfect to the eye as the morning itself.
+
+"Well, did Hilliard expose the hidden mysteries of the banking system?"
+he questioned, as they walked down toward the water front.
+
+"He did. It is no mystery at all now."
+
+"Then it was that newspaper story that frightened him."
+
+"Indirectly, perhaps. He didn't mention it."
+
+"What did he say?"
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"Nothing! Then how--?",
+
+"He informed me that you are in love with the society girl and not with
+the actress. He said you are engaged to marry Miss Wayland."
+
+"Yes. But what did he say about the loan?"
+
+"Only what I have told you. The rest is easy. Had you been less
+secretive, I would have known instantly whom to blame for this trouble.
+Wayne Wayland and Willis Marsh are working double, and inasmuch as you
+are _persona non grata--"_
+
+"Who told you I am _persona non grata?"_
+
+"You told me yourself without intending to. Please give me credit for
+some shrewdness. If you had been a welcome suitor, you would have had
+no difficulty in raising twice two hundred thousand dollars in Chicago.
+Then, too, I remember the story you told me at Kalvik, your mental
+attitude--many things, in fact. Oh, it was very simple."
+
+"Well, what of it? What has all that got to do with my present
+difficulty?"
+
+"Listen! You want to marry the daughter of the greatest trust-builder
+in the country, and he doesn't want you for a son-in-law. You undertake
+an enterprise which seriously threatens his financial interests, and if
+successful in that, you could defy his opposition in the other matter.
+Now all goes well until he learns of your plans, then he strikes with
+his own weapons. A word here and there, a hint to the banks, and your
+fine castle comes tumbling down about your ears. I thought you had more
+perception."
+
+The girl's voice was sharp, and she wore that expression of unyouthful
+weariness that Boyd had noted before. He could not help wondering what
+bitter experience had taught her disillusion, what strange environment
+had edged her wits with worldly wisdom.
+
+"We haven't figured Marsh in at all," he said, tentatively.
+
+"He figures, nevertheless, as I intend to show you to-day. To begin
+with, please notice that unobtrusive man in the gray suit--not now!
+Don't look around for a minute. You will see him on the opposite side
+of the street."
+
+Boyd turned, to observe a rat-faced fellow across the way, evidently
+bound for the Tacoma boat.
+
+"Is he following us?"
+
+"I see him, everywhere I go."
+
+Boyd's face clouded angrily, at which Cherry exclaimed: "Now, for
+Heaven's sake, don't mimic Big George, or we'll never learn anything!"
+
+"I won't stand for a spy!" he growled.
+
+"And be arrested?"
+
+"No," he assured her, grimly. "It may be as you suspect, but you
+needn't fear that I'll ever go to jail for assaulting one of Willis
+Marsh's helpers."
+
+She glanced up quickly, as if detecting a double meaning in his words;
+then, at the smouldering fires she beheld, observed, in a gentler tone:
+"You care a great deal for Miss Wayland, don't you?"
+
+His only answer was a deep breath and a slow turning of the head, but
+once she had seen the look in his eyes she needed no other. She could
+only say: "I hope she is worthy of all she is causing you to suffer,
+Boyd, so few of us are."
+
+She did not speak again, but in her heart was a great heaviness. They
+reached the dock and lost sight of the spy, only to have him reappear
+soon after the boat cleared, and while neither spoke of it, they felt
+his presence during the whole trip.
+
+Before them Rainier lifted its majestic, snow-crowned head high into
+the heavens, its serrated slopes softened by a purple haze, its soaring
+crest limned in blazing glory by the sun. The bay beneath them was like
+a huge silver shield, flat-rolled and glittering, inlaid with master
+cunning between wooded hills that swept away into mysterious distances,
+there to rise skyward in an ever-changing, ever-charming confusion. It
+reflected fairy-like islands, overgrown till they bowed to their
+mirrored likenesses. Now a smiling inlet opened up a perspective of
+golden sand and whispering shingle; again a frowning bluff slipped
+past, lost in lonely contemplation of its own inverted image. The day
+was gorgeous, inspiring. Their course lay through an enchanted region,
+so suggestive of splendid possibilities that Boyd was constrained to
+observe:
+
+"You know, if the Pilgrim Fathers had landed here in the first place,
+New England would never have been discovered," a remark at which Cherry
+nodded in complete agreement.
+
+At Tacoma Boyd left her, to go about his business, but joined her later
+at lunch, with the joyful announcement:
+
+"I've had better luck, this time. They said there would be no
+difficulty whatever in handling the matter, and they are to let me know
+definitely to-morrow."
+
+"Did Hawkshaw hound you to the bank?" she inquired.
+
+"I rather think so."
+
+"Then to-morrow will tell the tale."
+
+"You mean the bank will turn me down?"
+
+"Yes, if I've sized up the situation correctly. I dare say these banks
+are as cautious as those in Seattle, and a few words over the telephone
+would do the trick."
+
+"I'm inclined to give that shadow a little personal attention," the
+young man mused; but when she questioned him, he only smiled and
+assured her of his caution.
+
+Again on the return trip they discovered the fellow among the
+passengers, but Boyd made no sign until the boat was landing. Then
+Cherry found that he had edged her into the crowd massed at the
+gangway, and caught sight of the man in gray immediately ahead of them.
+She noticed that while Emerson maintained a flow of conversation his
+eyes were constantly upon the fellow's back, and that he kept a
+position close to his shoulder, regardless of jostling from the others.
+She could not tell what this foreboded, nor did she gain a hint of
+Boyd's purpose, until the gang-plank was in place and they were out
+upon it. A narrow space separated the boat from the dock; as they
+crossed this, Boyd slipped and half fell on the slanting planks. She
+never knew exactly what happened, except that he released her arm and
+lunged violently against the man in gray, who was next him. It occurred
+with the suddenness of pure accident, and the next she saw was the
+stranger plunging downward along the piling, clutching wildly at the
+vessel's side, while Boyd clung to the guard-rope as if about to lose
+his balance.
+
+The man's cry as he struck the water alarmed the crowd and caused a
+momentary stampede, in which Cherry and Boyd were thrust shoreward; but
+the confusion quickly subsided, as an officer flung a heaving-line to
+the gasping creature beneath. A moment later the hatless spy was
+dragged to the dock, indignant and sputtering.
+
+"I'm very sorry, sir." Boyd apologized, profusely. "It was all my
+fault. The plank was steep, and I was forced off my feet. Whenever I'm
+followed too closely, I lose my head--it's a weakness I have."
+
+The man ceased cursing to dart a sharp glance at him, but he was still
+too unmanned by his cold immersion to do more than chatter angrily. In
+the hubbub Emerson led his companion out into the street, where she
+beheld him shaking with suppressed laughter.
+
+"Boyd," she cried, in a shocked voice, "then it was--you--you might
+have killed him! Suppose his head had struck a timber!"
+
+"Yes, that would have been too bad!" he declared; then, at the sight of
+her face, his chuckle changed to a wolfish snarl. "He'll know enough to
+keep away from me hereafter. I won't play with him the next time."
+
+"Don't! Don't! I never saw you look so. Why, it might have been murder!"
+
+"Well?" He stared at her, curiously.
+
+"I--I didn't think it of you." She shuddered weakly, but he only
+shrugged his shoulders and said, with a finality that cut off further
+discussion: "He's a spy! I won't be spied upon."
+
+When Boyd entered his room at the hotel, whither he had gone after
+leaving Cherry at Hilliard's bank, Big George greeted him excitedly.
+
+"Here's hell to pay. We can't get that barkentine."
+
+"The _Margaret?_ Why not? The charter was all arranged."
+
+"The agent telephoned that we couldn't have her."
+
+"What reasons did he offer?"
+
+"None. We can't have her, that's all."
+
+"She's the only available ship on the Sound. Our stuff will be here in
+a fortnight."
+
+"Some of it will."
+
+"What do you--?"
+
+"Boilers held up."
+
+"Boilers?"
+
+"Yes. Read that." Balt tossed him a telegram.
+
+"'Shipment delayed,'" read Boyd. "Well! This is growing interesting.
+Thank Heaven, other people handle machinery!" He reached for a blank,
+and hurriedly wrote a message cancelling his order. "I guess Cherry was
+right. Marsh is fighting to delay us." He began a recital of the
+morning's occurrences, but before he had finished he was called to the
+telephone.
+
+"More bad news!" he exclaimed, as he re-entered the room. "The
+Jackson-Nebur Company say they can't make delivery of their order. I
+wonder what next."
+
+"We don't need nothing more to cripple us," George declared, blankly.
+"Any one of these blows is a knockout."
+
+It was perhaps an hour later that Cherry entered unannounced.
+
+"I just ran in for a minute to tell you something new. When I came up
+from the bank, the elevator boy at the hotel made a mistake and carried
+me past my floor. Without noticing the difference, I went down the
+hall, and whom should I run right into, coming out of a room, but our
+detective! As he opened the door I heard him say, 'Very well, sir, I'll
+report to-morrow.'"
+
+"To whom was he reporting?"
+
+"I don't know. A few minutes later I called you up, to tell you about
+it; but while I was waiting for my number, the operator evidently got
+the wires crossed or left a switch open, for I heard this much of a
+conversation:
+
+"'Our contract covers fifty thousand cases at five dollars. We thought
+that was at least twenty cents under the market.'
+
+"I was about to ring off when I remembered that you had sold your
+output of fifty thousand cases to Bloc & Company for five dollars a
+case, so I listened, on a chance, and heard another voice reply--"
+
+"Whose voice?"
+
+"I don't know. It said, 'We'll undersell that by one dollar.'
+
+"'Good Lord!' said the first speaker, 'that means a loss of--' and then
+I was cut off. I thought I'd better come over in person instead of
+trusting to the wire."
+
+"And you didn't recognize either speaker?"
+
+"No. But I discovered at the office that rooms 610 and 612--the suite I
+saw that detective coming out of--are occupied by a Mr. Jones, of New
+York, who arrived three days ago. I'll bet anything you please that
+you'll hear from Bloc & Company within twenty-four hours, and that the
+occupant of those rooms at the Hotel Buller is Willis Marsh."
+
+Big George began to mutter profanely. "It looks like they had us, and
+all because Fraser's tongue is hung in the middle."
+
+"All the same, we'll fight it out," said Emerson, grimly. "If I can
+raise that money in Tacoma--" Again the telephone bell buzzed noisily.
+
+"Bloc & Company," predicted Cherry, but for once she was wrong.
+
+"A call from Tacoma," said Boyd, the receiver to his ear; "it must be
+the Second National. They were not to let me know till to-morrow."
+Through the open door of the adjoining room his words came distinctly,
+while the others listened in tense silence.
+
+"Hello! Yes! This is Boyd Emerson." Then followed a pause, during which
+the thin, rasping voice of the distant speaker murmured unintelligibly.
+
+"Why not? Can't you give me a reason? I thought you said--Very well.
+Good-bye."
+
+Emerson hung up the receiver carefully, and with the same deliberation
+turned to face his companions. He nodded, and spread his hands outward
+in an unmistakable gesture.
+
+"What! already?" queried the girl.
+
+"They must have been reached by 'phone."
+
+"That detective may have called Marsh up from there."
+
+"That means it won't do any good to try further in Tacoma. The other
+banks have undoubtedly been fixed, or they soon will be. If I can slip
+away undiscovered, I'll try Vancouver next, but I haven't much hope."
+
+"It looks bad, doesn't it?" said Cherry.
+
+"As we stand at present," Boyd acknowledged, "we are the owners of one
+hundred thousand dollars' worth of useless machinery and unsalable
+supplies."
+
+"And all," mused the girl, "because of a loose tongue and a little
+type!"
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE DOORS OF THE VAULT SWING SHUT
+
+
+"I say, old man, just how do we stack up?" questioned Alton Clyde,
+when, later in the week, he had succeeded in pinning Boyd down for a
+moment's conversation. "Blessed if I know what's going on."
+
+"Well, we're up against it."
+
+"How?"
+
+"That newspaper story started it." Emerson's teeth snapped angrily, and
+Clyde's colorless eyes shifted. "Fraser let his tongue wag, and
+immediately the banks closed up on me. I've tried every one in this
+city, in Tacoma, in Vancouver, and in Victoria, but it seems that they
+have all been advised of war in the canning business. Our ship was
+taken away from us, and although I have found another, I'm afraid to
+charter it until I see my way out. Then there have been delays in
+various shipments--boilers, tin, lumber, and all that. I haven't
+worried you with half the details; but George and I have forgotten what
+a night's rest looks like. Now Bloc & Company are trying to get out of
+their contract to take our output." Emerson sighed heavily and sank
+deeper into his chair, his weariness of mind and body betrayed by his
+utter relaxation. "I guess we are done for. I'm about all in."
+
+"Glory be!" exclaimed the dapper little club-man, with a comical furrow
+of care upon his brow. "When you give up, it is quitting time."
+
+"I haven't given up; I am doing all I can, but things are in a
+diabolical tangle. Some of our supplies are here; others are laid out
+on the road; some seem to be utterly lost. We have had to make
+substitutions of machinery, our bills are overdue, and--but what's the
+use! We need money. That's the crux of the whole affair. When Hilliard
+balked, he threw the whole proposition."
+
+"And I'm stung for ten thou," reflected Clyde, lugubriously. "Ten
+thousand drops of my heart's red blood! Good Lord! I'm a fierce
+business man. Say! I ought to be the purchasing agent for the Farmers'
+Alliance; gold bricks are my specialty. I haven't won a bet since the
+battle of Bull Run."
+
+"What about the twenty-five thousand dollars that you raised?" Emerson
+asked.
+
+Clyde began to laugh, shrilly. "That's painfully funny. I hadn't
+thought about that."
+
+"The situation may be remarkable, but I don't see anything humorous in
+it," said Emerson, dryly.
+
+"Oh, you would if you only knew, but I can't tell you what it is. You
+see, I promised not to divulge where the money came from, and when I
+give my word I'm a regular Sphinx. But it's funny." After an instant he
+said, in all seriousness: "If Hilliard holds the combination to this
+thing, why don't you have Cherry help us?"
+
+"Cherry! How can she help?"
+
+"She can do anything she wants with him."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"I may be a heavy autumn frost as a financier," the younger man
+remarked, "but when it comes to women I'm as wise as a wharf rat. I've
+been watching her work, and it's great; people have begun to talk about
+it. Every night it's a dinner and a theatre party. Every day, orchids
+and other extortionate bouquets, with jewel-boxes tied on with blue
+ribbons. His motor is at her disposal at all times, and she treats his
+chauffeur with open contempt. If that doesn't signify--"
+
+"Nonsense!" exclaimed the other with disgust. "She is too nice a girl
+for that. You have misconstrued Hilliard's politeness."
+
+Finding his worldly wisdom at issue, Clyde defended himself stoutly. "I
+tell you, he has gone off his blooming balance; I know the symptoms;
+leave it to old Doctor Clyde."
+
+"You say other people have noticed it?"
+
+"I do! Everybody in town except you and the news-dealer at the
+corner--he's blind."
+
+Emerson rose from his chair, and began to pace about slowly. "If
+Hilliard has turned that girl's head with his attentions, I'll--"
+
+Clyde threw back his head and laughed in open derision. "Don't worry
+about her--he is the one to be pitied. She's taking him on a
+Seeing-Seattle trip of the most approved and expensive character."
+
+"She isn't that kind," Emerson hotly denied.
+
+"Now don't be a boy until your beard trips you up. That girl is about
+to break into old Hilliard's vault, and while she's in there, with the
+gas lighted and a suit case to lug off the bank-notes, why not tell her
+to toss in a few bundles for us?"
+
+"If I can't get along without taking money from a woman, I'll throw up
+the whole deal."
+
+The curious look which Boyd had noted once before came into Clyde's
+eyes, and this time, to judge by the young fellow's manner, he might
+have translated it into words but for the entrance at that moment of
+Cherry herself, accompanied by "Fingerless" Fraser.
+
+"What luck in Vancouver?" she inquired,
+
+"None whatever. The banks won't listen to me and I can't interest any
+private parties."
+
+"See here," volunteered Fraser, "why don't you let me sell some of your
+stock? I'm there with the big talk."
+
+Emerson turned on him suddenly. "You have demonstrated that. If you had
+kept your mouth shut we'd have been at sea by now."
+
+The fellow's face paled slightly as he replied: "I told you once that I
+didn't tip your mit."
+
+"Don't keep that up!" cried Boyd, his much-tried temper ready to give
+way. "I can put up with anything but a lie."
+
+Noting the signs of a rising storm, Clyde scrambled out of his chair,
+saying: "Well, I think I'll be going." He picked up his hat and stick,
+and hurriedly left the room, followed in every movement by the angry
+eyes of Fraser, who seemed on the point of an explosion.
+
+"I don't believe Fraser gave out the story," said Cherry, at which he
+flashed her a grateful glance.
+
+"You can make a book on that," he declared. "I may be a crook, but I'm
+no sucker, and I know when to hobble my talk and when to slip the
+bridle. I did five years once when it wasn't coming to me, and I can do
+it again--if I have to." He jammed his hat down over his ears, and
+walked out.
+
+"I really think he is telling the truth," said the girl. "He is
+dreadfully hurt to think you distrust him."
+
+"He and I have threshed that out," Emerson declared, pacing the room
+with nervous strides. "When I think what an idiotic trifle it was that
+caused this disaster, I could throttle him--and I would if I didn't
+blame myself for it." He paused to stare unseeingly at her. "I'm
+waiting for the crash to come before I walk into room 610 at the Hotel
+Buller and settle with 'Mr. Jones, of New York.'"
+
+"You aren't seriously thinking of any such melodramatic finish, are
+you?" she inquired.
+
+"When I first met you in Kalvik, I said I would stop at nothing to
+succeed. Well, I meant it. I am more desperate now than I was then. I
+could have stood over that wretch at the dock, the other day, and
+watched him drown, because he dared to step in between me and my work,
+I could walk into Willis Marsh's room and strangle him, if by so doing
+I could win. Yes!" he checked her, "I know I am wrong, but that is how
+I feel. I have wrung my soul dry. I have toiled and sweated and
+suffered for three years, constantly held down by the grip of some
+cursed evil fortune. A dozen times I have climbed to the very brink of
+success, only to be thrust down by some trivial cause like this. Can
+you wonder that I have watched my honor decay and crumble?--that I've
+ceased to care what means I use so long as I succeed? I have fought
+fair so far, but now, I tell you, I've come to a point where I'd
+sacrifice anything, everything to get what I want--and I want that
+girl."
+
+"You are tired and overwrought," said Cherry, quietly. "You don't mean
+what you say. The success of this enterprise, with any happiness it may
+bring you, isn't worth a human life; nor is it worth what you are
+suffering."
+
+"Perhaps not, from your point of view," he said, roughly, then struck
+his palm with closed fist. "What an idiot I was to begin all this--to
+think I could win with no weapons and no aid except a half-mad
+fisherman, an addle-brained imbecile, a confidence man--"
+
+"And a woman," supplemented Cherry. Then, more gravely: "I'm the one to
+blame; I got you into it."
+
+"No, I blame no one but myself. Whatever you're responsible for,
+there's only one person you've harmed--yourself."
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Cherry.
+
+Her surprise left him unimpressed.
+
+"Let's be frank," he said. "It is best to have such things out and be
+done with them. I traded my friendship for money and I am ruined. You
+are staking your honor against Hilliard's bank-notes." Her look
+commanded him, pleaded with him, to stop; but her silence only made him
+the more fiercely determined to force an explanation. "Oh, I'm in no
+mood to speak gently," he said; then added, with a sting of contempt in
+his tone: "I didn't think you would pay quite that price for your
+copper-mine."
+
+Cherry Malotte paled to her lips, and when she spoke her voice was
+oddly harsh. "Kindly be more explicit; I don't know what you are
+talking about."
+
+"Then, for your own good, you'd better understand. According to
+accepted standards, there is one thing no woman should trade upon."
+
+"Go on!"
+
+"You have set yourself to trap Hilliard, and, from what I hear, you are
+succeeding. He is a married man. He is twice your age. He is
+notorious--all of which you must know, and yet you have deliberately
+yielded yourself to him for a price."
+
+Suddenly he found the girl standing over him with burning eyes and
+quivering body.
+
+"What right have you to say such things to me?" she cried. "A moment
+ago you acknowledged yourself a murderer--at least in thought; you said
+you would sacrifice anything or everything to gain your ends. Do you
+think I'm like that, too? Are my methods to be called shameful because
+your own are criminal? And suppose they were! Do you think that you and
+your love for that unfeeling woman, who sent you out to toil and suffer
+and sweat your soul dry in the solitude of that horrible country, are
+the only issues in the world?"
+
+"We won't speak of her," he broke in, sharply.
+
+"Oh yes, we will You say I have set a price on myself. Well, she set a
+price on herself, but you can't see it. Her price was your honor, that
+has crumbled; your conscience, that has rotted. You have paid it, and
+you would pay double if she exacted it. But one thing you shall not do:
+you shall not judge of my bargains, nor decide what I have paid to any
+man."
+
+Never before had Boyd seen a woman so transformed by the passion of
+anger. Her lids had drooped, half hiding her eyes. Her whole expression
+had hardened; she was the picture of defiant fury. The mask had
+slipped, and he caught a glimpse of the naked, passionate soul,
+upheaved to its depths. Oddly enough, he felt it thrill him.
+
+"I beg your pardon," he said. "You are your own mistress, and you have
+the right to make any bargain you choose."
+
+She turned away, and, going to the window, stared down upon the busy
+street, striving to calm herself. For a time the room was silent, save
+for the muffled sounds from below; then she faced him again, and he saw
+that her eyes were misty with tears. "I want you to know," she said,
+"that I understand your position perfectly. If you don't succeed, you
+not only lose the girl but ruin yourself, for you can never repay the
+men who trusted you. That is a very big thing to a man, I know, yet
+there must be a way out--there always is. Perhaps it will present
+itself when you least expect it." She gave him a tired little smile
+before lowering her veil.
+
+He rose, and laid his hand on her arm. "Forgive my brutal bluntness.
+I'm not clever at such things, but I would have said as much to my
+sister if I had one."
+
+It was an honest attempt to comfort her, but it failed. "Good-bye," she
+said; "you mustn't give up."
+
+All the way back to her hotel her mind dwelt bitterly upon his parting
+words. "His sister! his sister!" she kept repeating. "God! Can't he
+see?" If he had shown even a momentary jealousy of Hilliard it would
+not have been so hard, but this impersonal attitude was maddening! The
+man had but one idea in the world, one dream, one vision--another
+woman. Alone in her room, she still felt the flesh of her arm burn,
+where he had laid his hand, and then came the thrill of that forgotten
+kiss. How many times had she felt the pressure of his lips upon hers!
+How many hopes had she built upon that memory! But the thought of
+Boyd's indifference rose in sharp conflict with the tenderness that
+prompted her to help him at any cost. After all, why not take what was
+offered her and let this man shift for himself? Why not live her life
+as she had planned it before he came? The reward was at hand--she had
+only to take it and let him go down as a sacrifice to that ice-woman he
+coveted.
+
+Dusk was falling when she ceased pacing the floor, and with set,
+defiant face went to the telephone, to call up Hilliard at the Rainier
+Club.
+
+"I have thought over your proposition and I have changed my mind," she
+said. "Yes, you may send the car for me at seven." Then, in reply to
+some request, she laughed back, through white lips: "Very well, if you
+wish it--the blue dress. Yes! The blue decollete dress." She hung up
+the receiver, then stood with hands clinched while a shiver ran through
+her slender body. She stepped to a closet, and flung open the door to
+stare at the array of gowns.
+
+"So this is the end of my good resolutions," she laughed, and snatched
+a garment recklessly from its hook. "Now for all the miserable tricks
+of the trade!"
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+WILLIS MARSH COMES OUT FROM COVER
+
+
+George Balt, Clyde, and Fraser formed a glum trio as they sat in a nook
+of the hotel cafe, sipping moodily at their glasses, when, on the
+following afternoon, Emerson joined them. But they sensed some untoward
+happening even before he spoke; for his face wore a look of dazed
+incredulity, and his manner was so extraordinary that they questioned
+in chorus:
+
+"What's the matter? Are you sick?"
+
+"No," said he. "But I--I must have lost my mind."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"The trick is turned."
+
+"The trick!"
+
+"I have raised the money."
+
+With a shout that startled the other occupants of the room, Balt and
+Clyde jumped to their feet and began to caper about in a frenzy. Even
+"Fingerless" Fraser's expressionless face cracked in a wide grin of
+amazement.
+
+"About noon I was called on the 'phone by Hilliard. He asked me to come
+down to the bank at once, and I went. He said he had reconsidered, and
+wanted to put up the money. It's up. He'll back us. I've got it in
+writing. It's all cinched. One hundred thousand dollars--and more, if
+we need it."
+
+"You must have made a great talk," declared Clyde.
+
+"I said nothing. He offered it himself, as a personal loan. It has
+nothing to do with the bank."
+
+"Well, I'm--!" cried Big George.
+
+"And that goes two ways," supplemented Fraser.
+
+"I'm going to tell Cherry, now. She will be delighted."
+
+Alton Clyde tittered. "I told you she could pull it off," he said.
+
+"This was Hilliard's own notion," Boyd returned, coldly. "He merely
+reconsidered his decision, and--"
+
+"Turn over! You're on your back."
+
+"It was only yesterday afternoon that I talked with Cherry. I dare say
+she hasn't seen him since."
+
+"Well, I happen to know that she has. As I came home last night I saw
+them together. They came out of that French cafe across the street, and
+got into Hilliard's car. She was dressed up like a pony."
+
+"What's that got to do with it?" demanded "Fingerless" Fraser.
+
+"She pulled the old fellow's leg, that's all," explained Alton.
+
+"Well, it wasn't your leg, was it?" inquired Fraser, sourly.
+
+"No; I've no kick coming. I think she's mighty clever."
+
+"If I thought she had done that," said Emerson, slowly, "I wouldn't
+touch a penny of the money."
+
+"I don't care where the money came from or how it got here," rumbled
+Balt. "It's here; that's enough."
+
+"I care, and I intend to find out."
+
+"Oh, come now, don't spoil a good piece of work," cautioned Clyde,
+visibly perturbed at Boyd's expression. "You know you aren't the only
+one to consider in this matter; the rest of us are entitled to a
+look-in. For Heaven's sake, try to control this excess of virtue, and
+when you get into one of those Martin Luther moods, just reflect that I
+have laid ten thousand aching simoleons on the altar."
+
+"Sure!" supplemented George; "and look at me and Cherry. Success means
+as much to her as it does to any of us, and if she pulled this off, you
+bet she knew what she was doing. Anyhow, you ain't got any right to
+break up the play."
+
+But Boyd clung to his point with a stubbornness which he himself found
+it difficult to explain. The arguments of the others only annoyed him.
+The walk to Cherry's hotel afforded him time for reflection which,
+while it deepened his doubt, somewhat lessened his impatience, and when
+he was shown into her presence he did not begin in the impetuous manner
+he had designed. A certain hesitation and dread of the truth mastered
+him, and, moreover, the girl's appearance dismayed him. She seemed
+almost ill. She was listless and fagged. Upon his announcement of the
+good news, she only smiled wearily, and said:
+
+"I told you not to give up. The unexpected always happens."
+
+"And was it unexpected--to you?" he asked, awkwardly.
+
+"What happens is nearly always unexpected--when it's good."
+
+"Not to the one who brings it about."
+
+"What makes you think I had anything to do with it?"
+
+"You were with Hilliard last night."
+
+She nodded slightly, "We closed our negotiations for the copper-mine
+last night."
+
+"How did you come out?"
+
+"He takes it over, and does the development work," she answered.
+
+"That means that you are independent; that you can leave the North
+Country and do all the things you want to do?" This time her smile was
+puzzling. "You don't seem very glad!"
+
+"No! Realization discounts anticipation about ninety per cent but don't
+let's talk about me. I--I'm unstrung to-day."
+
+"I'm sorry you aren't going back to Kalvik," he said, with genuine
+regret.
+
+"But I am," she declared, quickly. "I'm going back with you and George
+if you will let me. I want to see the finish of our enterprise."
+
+"See here, Cherry, I hope you didn't influence Hilliard in this affair?"
+
+"Why probe the matter?"
+
+"Because I haven't lost all my manhood," he answered, roughly.
+"Yesterday you assumed the blame for this trouble, and spoke of
+sacrifices--and--well, I don't know much about women; but for all I
+know, you may have some ridiculous, quixotic strain in your make-up. I
+hope you didn't--"
+
+"What?"
+
+"Well, do anything you may be sorry for." At last he detected a gleam
+of spirit in her eyes.
+
+"Suppose I did. What difference to you would that make?" He shifted
+uncomfortably under her scrutiny.
+
+"Suppose that Mr. Hilliard had called on me for some great sacrifice
+before he gave up that money. Would you allow it to affect you?"
+
+"Of course," he answered. Then, unable to sit still under her searching
+gaze, he arose with flushed face, to meet further discomfiture as she
+continued:
+
+"Even if it meant your own ruin, the loss of the fortune you have
+raised among your friends--money that is entrusted to you--and--and the
+relinquishment of Miss Wayland? Honestly, now"--her voice had softened
+and dropped to a lower key--"would it make any difference?"
+
+"Certainly!"
+
+"How much difference?"
+
+"I'm in a very embarrassing position," he said, slowly. "You must
+realize that with others depending on me I'm not free to follow my own
+inclinations."
+
+She uttered a little, mocking laugh. "Pardon me. It was not a fair
+question, and I shouldn't have asked it; but your hesitation was
+sufficient answer." Then, as he broke into a heated denial, she went on:
+
+"Like most men, you think a woman has but one asset upon which to
+trade. However, if I felt responsible for your difficulties, that was
+my affair; and if I determined to help extricate you, that also
+concerned me alone." He stepped forward as if to protest, but she
+silenced his speech with an imperious little stamp of her foot. "This
+spasm of righteousness on your part is only temporary--yes it is"--as
+he attempted to break in--"and now that you have voiced it and freed
+your mind, you can feel at rest. Have you not repeatedly asserted that
+to win Miss Wayland you would use any means that offered? You are not
+really sincere in this sudden squeamishness, and I would like you
+better if you had seized your advantage at once, without stopping to
+consider whence or how it came. That would have been
+primitive--elemental--and every woman loves an elemental lover."
+
+He was no subtle casuist, and found himself without words to reply. The
+girl's sharp challenging of his motives had disconcerted him without
+helping him to a clearer understanding of his own mind, and in spite of
+the cheering turn his fortunes had taken it was in no very amiable mood
+that he left her at last, no whit the wiser for all his questioning. In
+the hotel lobby below he encountered the newspaper reporter who had
+fallen under Fraser's spell upon their first arrival from the North.
+The man greeted him eagerly.
+
+"How d'y'do, Mr. Emerson. Can you give me any news about the fisheries?"
+
+"No!"
+
+"I thought there might be something new bearing on my story."
+
+"Indeed! So you are the chap who wrote that article some time ago, eh?"
+
+"Yes, sir. Good, wasn't it?"
+
+"Doubtless, from the newspaper point of view. Where did you get it?"
+
+"From Mr. Clyde."
+
+"Clyde! You mean Fraser--Frobisher, I should say."
+
+"No, sir. Alton Clyde! He was pretty talkative the night I saw him."
+The reporter laughed, meaningly.
+
+"Drunk, do you mean?"
+
+"Oh, not exactly drunk, but pretty wet. He knew what he was saying,
+however. Can't you give me something more?"
+
+"Nothing." Boyd hurried to his hotel, a prey to mingled anger and
+contrition. So Fraser had told the truth, after all, and with a kind of
+sullen loyalty had chosen to remain under a cloud himself rather than
+inform on a friend. It was quite in keeping with the fellow's peculiar
+temperament. As it happened, Boyd found the two men together and lost
+no time in acquainting them with his discovery.
+
+"I've come to apologize to you," he said to Fraser, who grinned broadly
+and was seized with a sudden abashment which stilled his tongue.
+Emerson turned to Clyde. "Why did you permit me to do this injustice?"
+
+"I--I didn't mean to give out any secrets--I don't remember doing it,"
+Alton apologized, lamely. "You know I can't drink much. I don't
+remember a thing about it, honestly." Boyd regarded him coldly, but the
+young man's penitence seemed so genuine, he looked so weak, so
+pitifully incompetent, that the other lacked heart to chastise him. It
+requires resistance to develop heat, and against the absence of
+character it is impossible to create any sort of emotion.
+
+"When you got drunk that night you not only worked a great hardship on
+all of us, but afterward you allowed me to misjudge a very faithful
+man," declared Boyd. "Fraser's ways are not mine, and I have said harsh
+things to him when my temper prompted; but I am not ungrateful for the
+service he has done me and the sacrifices he has made. Now, Alton, you
+have chosen to join us in a desperate venture, and the farther we go
+the more vigorous will be the resistance we shall meet. If you can't
+keep a close mouth, and do as you are told, you'd better go back to
+Chicago. By rare good luck we have averted this disaster, but I have no
+hope of being so fortunate again."
+
+"Don't climb any higher," admonished "Fingerless" Fraser. "He's all
+fluffed up now. I'll lay you eight to one he don't make another break
+of the kind."
+
+"No, I was so com-cussed-pletely pickled that I forgot I even spoke
+about the salmon-canning business. I'll break my corkscrew and seal my
+flask, and from this moment until we come out next fall the demon rum
+and I are divorced. Is that good news?"
+
+"Everything is a joke to you, isn't it?" said Boyd. "If this trip
+doesn't make a man of you, you'll never grow up. Now I've got work for
+all of us, including you, Fraser."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"Go down to the freight-office and trace a shipment of machinery, while
+I--"
+
+"Nix! That ain't my line. If you need a piece of rough money quick, why
+I'll take my gat and stick somebody up in an alley, or I'll feel out a
+safe combination for you in the dark; but this chaperoning freight cars
+ain't my game. I'd only crab it."
+
+"I thought you wanted to help."
+
+"I do, sure I do! I'll be glad when you're on your way, but I must
+respectfully duck all bills-of-lading and shipping receipts."
+
+"You are merely lazy," Emerson smiled. "Nevertheless, if we get in a
+tight place, I'll make you take a hand in spite of yourself."
+
+"Any time you need me," cheerfully volunteered the other, lighting a
+fresh cigar. "Only don't give me child's work."
+
+As if Hilliard's conversion had marked the turning-point of their luck,
+the partners now entered upon a period of almost uninterrupted success.
+In the reaction from their recent discouragement they took hold of
+their labors with fresh energy, and fortune aided them in unexpected
+ways. Boyd signed his charter, securing a tramp steamer then
+discharging at Tacoma. Balt closed his contracts for Chinese labor, and
+the scattered car-loads of material, which had been lost en route or
+mysteriously laid out on sidings, began to come in as if of their own
+accord. Those supplies which had been denied them they found in
+unexpected quarters close at hand; and almost before they were aware of
+it _The Bedford Castle_ had finished unloading and was coaling at the
+bunkers.
+
+A brigade of Orientals and a miniature army of fishermen had appeared
+as if by magic, and were quartered in the lower part of the city
+awaiting shipment. Boyd and Big George worked unceasingly in the midst
+of a maelstrom of confusion, the centre of which was the dock. There,
+one throbbing April evening, _The Bedford Castle_ berthed, ready to
+receive her cargo, and the two men made their way toward their hotel,
+weary, but glowing with the grateful sense of an arduous duty well
+performed. The following morning would find the wharf swarming with
+stevedores and echoing to the rattle of trucks, the clank of hoists,
+and the shrill whistles of the signalmen.
+
+"Looks like they couldn't stop us now," said Balt.
+
+"It does," agreed Emerson. "We ought to clear in four days--that'll be
+the 15th."
+
+"It smells like an early spring, too," the fisherman observed, sniffing
+the air. "If it is, we'll be in Kalvik the first week in May."
+
+"Is your sense of smell sharp enough to tell what's happening up there?"
+
+"Sure."
+
+"Suppose it's a backward season?"
+
+"Then we'll lay in the ice alongside the Company boats till she breaks.
+That may be in June."
+
+"I would like to get in early, and have the buildings started before
+Marsh arrives. There's no telling what he may try."
+
+George gave his companion a short nod. "And there ain't no telling what
+we may try right back at him. Anyhow, he'll have to fight in the open,
+and that's better than this shadow-boxing that we've been doing."
+
+"I'm off to tell Cherry," said Boyd. "She'll need to be getting ready."
+
+His course took him past Hilliard's bank, and when abreast of it he
+nearly collided with a man who came hurrying forth, an angry scowl
+between his eyes giving evidence of a surly humor. In the well-groomed,
+fiery-haired, plump-figured man who, absorbed in his own anger, was
+rushing by without raising his eyes, Emerson recognized the manager of
+the North American Packers' Association.
+
+"Good-evening, Mr. Marsh."
+
+Marsh whirled about. "Eh? Ah!" With a visible effort he smoothed the
+lines from his brow; his full lips lost their angry pout, and he showed
+his teeth in a startled, apprehensive smile.
+
+"Why, yes--it's Emerson. How are you, Mr. Emerson?" He extended a soft
+hand, which Boyd took. Apparently reassured by this mute response,
+Marsh continued: "I heard you were in town. How is the new cannery
+coming on?"
+
+"Nicely, thank you. When did you arrive from the East?"
+
+"I just got in. Haven't had time to get straightened out yet. We--Mr.
+Wayland and I--were speaking of you before I left Chicago. We
+were--somewhat surprised to learn that you were engaging in the same
+line of business as ourselves."
+
+"Doubtless."
+
+"I told him there was room for us all."
+
+"You did?"
+
+"Yes! I assured him that his resentment was unwarranted."
+
+"He resents something, does he?"
+
+"Well, naturally," Marsh declared, with a wintry smile. "In view of the
+circumstances I may truthfully say that his feelings embrace not only a
+sense of resentment, but the firmly fixed idea that he has been
+betrayed--however, you are no doubt aware of all that. You have an able
+champion on the ground." He looked out across the street abstractedly.
+"Miss Wayland and I did our utmost to convince him you merely took a
+legitimate commercial advantage in dining at his house the night before
+you left."
+
+"It was good of you to take my part," said Boyd, with such an air of
+simple cordiality that Marsh shot a startled glance at him. "Now that
+we are to be neighbors this summer, I hope we will get well acquainted,
+for Mr. Wayland spoke highly of you, and strongly advised me to pattern
+after you."
+
+Marsh hid his bewilderment behind an expression which he strove to make
+as friendly as Emerson's own. "I understand you are banking here," he
+said, jerking his head toward the building at his back.
+
+"Yes. I was offered a number of propositions, but Mr. Hilliard was so
+insistent and made such substantial inducements that I finally placed
+the business with him."
+
+The animosity that glimmered for one fleeting instant in Marsh's eyes
+amused Boyd greatly, advertising as it did, that for once the Trust's
+executive felt himself at a disadvantage. The younger man never doubted
+for an instant that his coup in securing Hilliard's assistance at the
+eleventh hour was responsible for his enemy's sudden appearance from
+cover, nor that the arrival of _The Bedford Castle_ had brought Marsh
+to the banker's office out of hours in final desperation. From the
+man's bearing he judged that the interview had not been as placid as a
+spring morning, and this awoke in him not only a keen sense of elation
+but the very natural desire to goad his opponent.
+
+"All in all, we have been singularly fortunate in our enterprise thus
+far," he continued, smoothly. "We were held up on some of our
+machinery, but in every instance the delay turned out a blessing in
+disguise, for it enabled us to buy in other quarters at a saving."
+
+"I'm delighted to hear it," Marsh declared. "When do you sail?"
+
+"Immediately. We begin to load to-morrow."
+
+"I have changed my plans somewhat," the other announced. "I'll follow
+your tracks before long."
+
+"What is your hurry?"
+
+"Repairs. Kalvik is our most important station, so I want to get it in
+first-class shape before Mr. Wayland and Mildred arrive."
+
+"Mildred!" ejaculated Boyd, surprised past resenting Marsh's use of the
+girl's first name. "Is she coming?"
+
+The other's smile was peculiarly irritating.
+
+"Oh, indeed yes! We expect to make the trip quite an elaborate
+excursion. Sorry I can't ask you to join us on the homeward voyage,
+but--" he shrugged his fat shoulders. "Run in and see me before you
+leave. I may be able to give you some pointers."
+
+"Thank you. I hope you'll enjoy the summer up there in the wilderness.
+It will be a relief to get away from all conventions and restraints."
+
+The men extended their hands and the Trust's manager said, in final
+invitation, "Drop in on me any day at the office. I'm at the National
+Building."
+
+"Oh, you've moved, eh?" said Boyd, with a semblance of careless
+interest.
+
+"Moved? No!"
+
+"Indeed! I thought you were still at 610, Hotel Buller." With a short
+laugh and a casual gesture of adieu he turned, leaving the manager of
+the Trust staring after him, an astonished pucker upon his womanish
+mouth, a vindictive glare in his eyes. Not until his rival had turned
+the corner did Willis Marsh remove his gaze. Then he found that he was
+trembling as if from weakness.
+
+"The ruffian!" He reached into his pocket and produced a gold
+cigarette-case, repeatedly snapping the heavy sides together with
+vicious force. When he attempted to light a match it broke in his
+fingers, then in a temper he threw the cigarette from him and hurried
+away, his plump face working, his lips drawn into a spiteful fold.
+
+For the first time in a fortnight Boyd allowed himself the luxury of a
+long sleep, and a late breakfast on the following morning. But the meal
+came to an abrupt conclusion when Balt, who always arose with the sun,
+rushed in upon him and exclaimed:
+
+"Hey! come on down to the dock, quick. There's hell to pay!"
+
+"What's up now?"
+
+"Strike! The longshoremen have walked out on us. I was on hand early to
+oversee the loading, but the whole mob refused to commence. There's
+some union trouble because _The Bedford Castle_ discharged her cargo
+with scab labor."
+
+"In Tacoma?"
+
+"No. In Frisco; next to her last trip."
+
+"Why, that's ridiculous! What does Captain Peasley say?"
+
+"He says--I'll have to wait till we're outside before I can repeat what
+he says."
+
+Together the two hurried to the water-front to find a crowd of surly
+stevedores loafing about the dock, and an English sea-captain at
+breakfast in his cabin, his attention divided equally between toast,
+tea, marmalade and profanity.
+
+"The beggars are mad, absolutely mad," declared the Captain. "I can't
+understand it. I'm still in my bed when I'm aroused by an insolent
+loafer who calls himself a walking delegate and tells me his union
+won't load me until I pay some absurd sum."
+
+"What did you tell him?" inquired Emerson.
+
+"What did I tell him?" Captain Peasley laid down his knife gently and
+wiped the tea from his drooping mustache, then squared about in his
+seat. "Here's what I told him as near as my memory serves." Whereupon
+he broke into a tornado of nautical profanity so picturesquely British
+in its figures, and so whole-souled in its vigor, that his auditors
+could not but smile. "Then I bashed him with my boot, and bloody well
+pursued him over the rail. Two thousand dollars! Sweet mother of Queen
+Anne! Wouldn't I look well, now, handing four hundred pounds over to
+those highbinders? My owners would hang me."
+
+"So they demand two thousand dollars!"
+
+"Yes! Just because of some bally rot about who may and who may not work
+for a living on the docks at Frisco."
+
+"What are you going to do about it?"
+
+"I'm going to make a swimming delegate out of the next walking emissary
+that boards me. Two thousand dollars!" He hid half a slice of toast
+behind his mustache and stirred his tea violently.
+
+"It's Marsh again," said Big George.
+
+"I dare say," Emerson answered. "It's a hold-up pure and simple.
+However, if ships can be unloaded with non-union labor they can be
+loaded in the same manner, and Captain Peasley talks like a man who
+would like to have the argument out. I want you to stay here and watch
+our freight while I see the head of the union."
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+A NEW ENEMY APPEARS
+
+
+When Boyd returned some two hours later he found the dock deserted save
+for Big George, who prowled watchfully about the freight piles.
+
+"Well, did you fix it up?" the fisherman inquired.
+
+"No," exclaimed Boyd. "It's a rank frame-up, and I refused to be bled."
+
+"Good for you."
+
+"There are some things a fellow's manhood won't stand for. I'll carry
+that freight aboard with my own hands before I'll be robbed by a labor
+union at the bidding of Willis Marsh."
+
+"Say! Will you let me load this ship my way?" George asked.
+
+"Can you do it?"
+
+Balt's thick lips drew back from his yellow teeth in that smile which
+Emerson had come to recognize as a harbinger of the violent acts that
+rejoiced his lawless soul.
+
+"Listen," said he, with a chuckle. "Down the street yonder I've got a
+hundred fishermen. Half of them are drunk at this minute, and the rest
+are half drunk."
+
+"Then they are of no use to us."
+
+"I don't reckon you ever seen a herd of Kalvik fishermen out of a job,
+did you? Well, there's just two things they know, fishing and fighting,
+and this ain't the fishing season. When they hit Seattle, the police
+force goes up into the residence section and stufts cotton in its ears,
+because the only thing that is strong enough to stand between a uniform
+and a fisherman is a hill."
+
+"Can you induce them to work?"
+
+"I can. All I'm afraid of is that I can't induce them to quit. They're
+liable to put this freight aboard _The Bedford Castle_, and then pull
+down the dock in a spirit of playfulness and pile it in Captain
+Peasley's cabin. There ain't no convulsion of nature that's equal to a
+gang of idle fishermen."
+
+"When can they begin?"
+
+"Well, it will take me all night to round them up, and I'll have to
+lick four or five, but there ought to be a dozen or two on hand in the
+morning." George cast a roving eye over the warehouse from the heavy
+planking under foot to the wide-spanning rafters above. "Yes," he
+concluded, "I don't see nothing breakable, so I guess it's safe."
+
+"Would you like me to go with you?"
+
+The giant considered him speculatively. "I don't think so. I ain't
+never seen you in action. No, you better stay here and arrange to guard
+this stuff till morning. I'll do the rest."
+
+Boyd did not see him again that day, nor at the hotel during the
+evening, but on the following morning, true to his word, the big fellow
+walked into the warehouse followed by a score or more of fishermen. At
+first sight there was nothing imposing about these men: they were
+rough-garbed and unkempt, in the main; but upon closer observation Boyd
+noticed that they were thick-chested and broad-shouldered, and walked
+with the swinging gait that comes from heaving decks. While the
+majority of them were neither distinctly American nor markedly foreign
+in appearance, being rather of that composite caste that peoples the
+outer reaches of the far West, they were all deeply browned by sun and
+weather, and spoke the universal idiom of the sea. There were men here
+from Finland and Florida, Portugal and Maine, fused into one
+nondescript type by the melting-pot of the frontier. Some wore the
+northern mackinaw in spite of the balmy April morning, others were
+dressed like ranch hands on circus day, and a few with the ornateness
+of Butte miners on parade.
+
+Certain ones displayed fresh contusions on cheek and jaw, or peered
+forth from lately blackened eyes, and these, Boyd noticed, invariably
+fawned upon Big George or treated him with elephantine playfulness,
+winking swollen lids at him in a mysterious understanding which puzzled
+the young man, until he saw that Balt himself bore similar signs of
+strife. The big man's lips were cut, while back of one ear a knot had
+sprung up over night like a fungus.
+
+They fell to work quickly, stripping themselves to their undershirts;
+they manned the hoists, seized trucks and bale-hooks, and began their
+tasks with a thoroughly non-union energy. Some of them were still so
+drunk that they staggered, their awkwardness affording huge sport to
+their companions, yet even in their intoxication they were surprisingly
+capable. There was a great deal of laughter and disorder on every hand,
+and all made frequent trips to the water-taps, returning adrip to the
+waist, their hair and beards bejewelled with drops. Boyd saw one, a
+well-dressed fellow in a checked suit, remove his clothes and hang them
+carefully upon a nail, then painfully unlace his patent-leather shoes,
+after which, regardless of the litter under foot and the splinters in
+the floor, he tramped about in bare feet and red underwear. Without
+exception, they seemed possessed by the spirit of boys at play. Having
+seen them well under way and the winches working, George sought out
+Boyd and proudly inquired:
+
+"What do you think of them, eh?"
+
+"They are splendid. But where are the others?"
+
+"Well, there are two or three that won't be able to get around at all."
+He meditatively stroked the knuckles of his right hand, which were
+badly bruised. "But the balance will be here to-morrow. These are just
+the mildest-mannered ones--the family men, you might say. The others
+will show up gradual. You see, if there had been any fighting going on
+here, I'd have got most of them right off the bat, but there wasn't any
+inducement to offer except hard work, so they wasn't quite so anxious
+to commence."
+
+"Humph! There ought to be enough excitement before long to satisfy any
+one," said Boyd, with a trace of worry in his voice.
+
+"As sure as you're a foot high!" exclaimed George, hopefully. "It's the
+only way we'll get that ship loaded on time. All we need is a riot or
+two."
+
+A man passed them trundling a heavy truck, but seeing Big George, he
+paused, wiped the sweat from his face, then grinned and winked
+fraternally.
+
+"Hey! If this work is too heavy for you, why don't you quit?" growled
+Balt, but strangely enough the fellow took no offence. Instead, he
+closed his swollen eye for a second time, then spat upon his hands,
+and, as he struggled with his burden, grunted pleasantly:
+
+"I pretty near--got you, Georgie. If you hadn't 'a' ducked, we'd 'a'
+been at it yet, eh?"
+
+Balt smiled in turn, then gingerly felt of the knob behind his ear.
+
+"Did you have a fight with him?" queried Emerson.
+
+"Not exactly a fight, but he put this nubbin on my conch," answered the
+fisherman. "He's a tough proposition, one of the best we've got."
+
+"What was the trouble?"
+
+"Nothing! I used to have to lick him every year. We've sort of missed
+each other lately."
+
+"Then you were merely renewing a pleasant acquaintance?" laughed the
+younger man. "He hit you in the mouth too, I see."
+
+"No, I got that from a stranger. I was bedding him down when he kicked
+me with his boot. He ain't here this morning."'
+
+"If I were you, I'd go up to the hotel and get some sleep," Boyd
+advised. "I'll oversee things."
+
+George hesitated. "I don't know if I'd better go or not. They've all
+got hang-overs, and they're liable to bu'st out any minute if you don't
+watch them. They ain't vicious, understand; they just like to frolic
+around."
+
+"I'll watch them."
+
+After a contemplative glance at his companion's well-knit figure, Balt
+gave in, with the final caution: "Don't let them get the upper hand, or
+there won't be no living with them."
+
+After his departure, Boyd was not long in learning the cause of his
+hesitancy, for no sooner did the men realize the change in authority
+over them than they undertook to feel out the mettle of their new
+foreman. Directly one of them approached him, with the demand:
+
+"Get us a drink, boss; we're thirsty."
+
+"There is the water-tap," said Emerson. "Help yourself."
+
+"Go on! We don't want water. Rustle up a keg of beer, will you?"
+
+"Nothing doing."
+
+He turned back to his task, but a moment later Boyd saw him making for
+the shore end of the dock, and with a few strides placed himself in his
+path.
+
+"Where are you going?"
+
+"After a drink, of course."
+
+"You want to quit, eh?"
+
+The man eyed him for an instant, then answered: "No! The job's all
+right, but I'm thirsty."
+
+Those working near ceased their labors and gathered around, whereupon
+their companion addressed them.
+
+"Say! It's a great note when a fellow can't have a drink. Come on,
+boys, I'll set 'em up." There was a general laugh and a forward
+movement of all within hearing, which Boyd checked with a rough command.
+
+"Get back to work, all of you." But the spokesman, disregarding his
+words, attempted to pass, whereupon without warning Boyd knocked him
+down with a clean blow to the face. At this the others yelled and
+rushed forward, only to be met by their foreman, who had snatched a
+bale-hook. It was an ugly weapon, and he used it so viciously that they
+quickly gave him room.
+
+"Now get to work," he ordered, quietly. "You can quit if you want to,
+but I'll lay out the first fellow that goes after a drink. Make up your
+minds what you want to do. Quick!"
+
+There was a moment's hesitation, and then, with the absurd vagary of a
+crowd, they broke into loud laughter and slouched back to work, two of
+them dragging the cause of the outburst to the water-faucet, where they
+held his head under the stream until he began to sputter and squirm.
+Before those at the gangway had noticed the disturbance it was all
+over, and thereafter Boyd experienced no trouble. On the contrary, they
+worked the better for his proof of authority, and took him into their
+fellowship as if he had qualified to their entire satisfaction. Even
+the man he had struck seemed to share in the general respect rather
+than to cherish the least ill-feeling. The respite was brief, however,
+for the work had not continued many hours before a stranger made his
+way quietly in upon the dock and began to argue with the first
+fisherman he met. Boyd discovered him quickly, and, approaching him,
+demanded:
+
+"What do you want?"
+
+"Nothing," said the new-comer.
+
+"Then get out."
+
+"What for? I'm just talking to this man."
+
+"I can't allow any talking here. Hurry up and get out."
+
+"This is a free country. I ain't hurting you."
+
+"Will you go?"
+
+"Say! You can't load that cargo this way," the man began,
+threateningly. "And you can't make me go--"
+
+At which Emerson seized him by the collar and quickly disproved the
+assertion, to the great delight of the fishermen. He marched his
+prisoner to the dock entrance and thrust him out into the street with
+the warning: "Don't you let me catch you in here again."
+
+"I'm a union man and you can't load that ship with 'scabs!'" The
+stranger swore as he slunk off. "You'll be sorry for this." But Boyd
+motioned him away and summoned two of his men to stand guard with him.
+
+All that morning the three held their posts, refusing to admit any one
+who did not have business within, the while a considerable crowd
+assembled in the street. The first actual violence, however, occurred
+when the fishermen knocked off for the noon hour. Sensing the storm
+about to break, Boyd called up the Police Department from the
+dock-office, then summoned Big George, who appeared in quick time. It
+was with considerable difficulty that the non-union crew fought its way
+back to resume work at one o'clock.
+
+During the afternoon the strikers made several attempts to enter the
+dock-shed, and it required a firm stand by the guards to restrain them.
+These growing signs of excitement pleased the fishermen intensely, and
+at each advance of the crowd it became as great a task to hold them
+back as it was to check the union forces. During one of these
+disturbances Captain Peasley made his way shoreward from the ship to
+scan the scene, and the sight of his uniform excited the ire of the
+strikers afresh. After a glance over the mob, he remarked to Emerson:
+
+"Bli'me! It looks like a bloody riot already, doesn't it? Four hundred
+pounds to those dock wallopers! Huh! You know if I allowed them to
+bleed me that way--"
+
+At that instant, from some quarter, a railroad spike whizzed past the
+Captain's head, banging against the boards behind him with such a thump
+that the dignified Englishman ducked quickly amid a shout of derision.
+He began to curse them roundly in his own particular style.
+
+"You'd better keep under cover, Captain," advised Emerson. "They don't
+seem to care for you."
+
+"So it would appear," he agreed. "They're getting nawsty, aren't they?
+I hope it doesn't lawst."
+
+"Well, I hope it does," said George Balt. "If they'll only keep at it
+and beat up some of our boys at quitting-time the whole gang will be
+here in the morning."
+
+It seemed that his wishes bade fair to be realized, for, as the day
+wore on, instead of diminishing, the excitement increased. By evening
+it became so menacing that Boyd was forced to send in an urgent demand
+for a squadron of bluecoats to escort his men to their lodgings, and it
+was only by the most vigorous efforts that a serious clash was averted.
+Nor was this task the easier since it did not meet with the approval of
+the fishermen themselves, who keenly resented protection of any sort.
+
+True to George's prediction, the next morning found the non union men
+out in such force that they were divided into a night and a day crew,
+half of them being sent back to report later, while among the mountains
+of freight the work went forward faster than ever. But the night had
+served to point the anger of the strikers, and the dock owners,
+becoming alarmed for the safety of their property, joined with Emerson
+in establishing a force of a dozen able-bodied guards, armed with
+clubs, to assist the police in disputing the shore line with the
+rioters. The police themselves had proved ineffective, even betraying a
+half-hearted sympathy with the union men, who were not slow to profit
+by it. Even so, the day passed rather quietly, as did the next. But in
+time the agitation became so general as to paralyze a wide section of
+the water-front, and the city awoke to the realization that a serious
+conflict was in progress. The handful of fishermen, hidden under the
+roof of the great warehouse, outnumbered twenty to one, and guarded
+only by a thin line of pickets, became a centre of general interest.
+
+As the violence of the mob, stimulated rather than checked by the
+indifference of the police, became more openly daring, so likewise did
+the reprisals of the fishermen, goaded now to a stubborn rage. They
+would not hear to having their food brought to them, but insisted daily
+on emerging in a body at noon and spending the hour in combat. Not to
+speak of the physical disabilities they incurred in these affrays, the
+excitement distracted them and affected their work disastrously, to the
+great concern of their employer.
+
+It was on the fourth day that Boyd espied the man in the gray suit
+among the strikers and pointed him out to his three companions, Clyde
+and Fraser having joined him and George in a spirit of curiosity. Clyde
+was for immediately executing a sally to capture the fellow, explaining
+that once they had him inside the dock-house they could beat him until
+he confessed that Marsh was behind the strike, but his valor shrank
+amazingly when Fraser maliciously suggested that he himself lead the
+dash.
+
+"No!" he exclaimed. "I'm not a fighting man, but I'm a good general.
+You know, Napoleon was about my size."
+
+"I never noticed the resemblance," remarked Fraser.
+
+"All the same, your idea ain't so bad," said Balt. "There's somebody
+stirring those fellows up, and I think it's that detective. I wouldn't
+mind getting my hands on him, and if you'll all stick with me I'll go
+out after him."
+
+"Not for mine," hastily declared "Fingerless" Fraser. "I don't want to
+fight anybody. I'm here as a spectator."
+
+"You're not afraid?" questioned Emerson.
+
+"Not exactly afraid, but what's the use of my getting mixed up in this
+row? It ain't _my_ cannery."
+
+Now, while a mob is by nature noisy and threatening, there is little
+real danger in it until its diffusive violence is directed into one
+channel by a leader. Then, indeed, it becomes a terrible thing, and to
+the watchers at the dock it became evident, in time, that a guiding
+influence was at work among their enemies. Sure enough, late in the
+afternoon of the fourth day, without a moment's warning, the strikers
+rushed in a body, bearing down the guards like reeds. They came so
+unexpectedly that there was no time to muster reinforcements at the
+gate; almost before the fishermen could drop their tasks, their enemies
+were inside the building and pandemonium had broken loose. The
+structure rocked to the tumult of pounding heels, of yells and
+imprecations, the lofty roof serving to toss back and magnify the
+uproar.
+
+Emerson and his companions found themselves carried away before the
+onslaught like chips in the surf, then sucked into a maelstrom where
+the first duty was self-preservation. Behind locked doors and shivering
+glass a terrified office-clerk, receiver to ear, was calling madly for
+Police Headquarters, while in the main building itself the crowd
+bellowed and roared and the hollow floor reverberated to the thunder of
+trampling feet and the crash of tumbling freight-piles.
+
+Boyd succeeded in keeping his footing and eventually fought his way to
+a backing of crated machinery, where he stooped and ripped a cleat
+loose; then, laying about him with this weapon, he cleared a space. It
+was already difficult to distinguish friend from foe, but he saw Alton
+Clyde go down a short distance away and made a rush to rescue him. His
+pine slat splintered against a head, he dodged a missile, then struck
+with the fragment in his hand, and, snatching Clyde by the arm, dragged
+him out from under foot. Battered and bruised, the two won back to
+Emerson's first position, and watched the tide surge past.
+
+At the first alarm the fishermen had armed themselves with bale-hooks
+and bludgeons, and for a time worked havoc among their assailants; but
+as the fight became more general they were forced apart and drawn into
+the crowd, whereupon the combatants split up into groups, milling about
+like frightened cattle. Men broke out from these struggling clusters to
+nurse their injuries or beat a retreat, only to be overrun and
+swallowed up again in a new commotion.
+
+Emerson saw the big, barefooted fisherman in the red underclothes,
+armed with a sledge-hammer, go through the ranks of his enemies like a
+tornado, only to be struck by some missile hurled from a distance. With
+a shout of rage the fellow turned and flung his own weapon at his
+assailant, felling him like an ox, then he in turn was blotted out by a
+surge of rioters. But there was little time for observation, as the
+scene was changing with kaleidoscopic rapidity and there was the
+ever-present necessity of self-protection. Seeing Clyde's helpless
+condition, Emerson shouted:
+
+"Come on! I'll help you aboard the ship." He found a hardwood club
+beneath his feet--one of those cudgels that are used in pounding
+rope-slings and hawsers--and with it cleared a pathway for Clyde and
+himself. But while still at a distance from the ship's gangway, he
+suddenly spied the man in the gray suit, who had climbed upon one of
+the freight-piles, whence he was scanning the crowd. The man likewise
+recognized Emerson, and pointed him out, crying something
+unintelligible in the tumult, then leaped down from his vantage-point.
+The next instant Boyd saw him approaching, followed by several others.
+He endeavored to hustle Clyde to the big doors ahead of the oncomers,
+but being intercepted, backed against the shed wall barely in time to
+beat off the foremost.
+
+His nearest assailant had armed himself with an iron bar and endeavored
+to guard the first blow with this instrument, but it flew from his
+grasp, and he sustained the main force of the impact on his forearm.
+Then, though Boyd fell back farther, the others rushed in and he found
+himself hard beset. What happened thereafter neither he nor Alton
+Clyde, who was half-dazed to begin with, ever clearly remembered, for
+in such over-charged instants the mental photograph is wont to be
+either unusually distinct or else fogged to such a blur that only the
+high-lights stand out clearly in retrospect.
+
+Before he had recognized the personal nature of the assault, Emerson
+found himself engaged in a furious hand-to-hand struggle where a want
+of room hampered the free use of his cudgel, and he was forced to rely
+mainly upon his fists. Blows were rained upon him from unguarded
+quarters, he was kicked, battered, and flung about, his blind instinct
+finally leading him to clinch with whomsoever his hands encountered.
+Then a sudden blackness swallowed him up, after which he found himself
+upon his knees, his arms loosely encircling a pair of legs, and
+realized that he had been half-stunned by a blow from behind. The legs
+he was clutching tried to kick him loose, at which he summoned all his
+strength, knowing that he must go down no further; but as he struggled
+upward, something smote him in the side with sickening force, and he
+went to his knees again.
+
+Close beside him he saw the club he had dropped, and endeavored to
+reach it; but before he could do so, a hand snatched it away and he
+heard a voice cursing above him. A second time he tried to rise, but
+his shocked nerves failed to transmit the impulse to his muscles; he
+could only raise his shoulder and fling an arm weakly above his head in
+anticipation of the crushing blow he knew was coming. But it did not
+descend, Instead, he heard a gun shot--that sound for which his ears
+had been strained from the first--and then for an instant he wondered
+if it had been directed at himself. A weight sank across his calves,
+the legs he had been holding broke away from his grasp; then, with a
+final effort, he pulled himself free and staggered to his feet, his
+head rocking, his knees sagging. He saw a man's figure facing him, and
+lunged at it, to bring up in the arms of "Fingerless" Fraser, who cried
+sharply:
+
+"Are you hurt, Bo?"
+
+Too dazed to answer, he turned and beheld the body of a man stretched
+face downward on the floor. Beyond, the fellow in the gray suit was
+disappearing into the crowd. Even yet Boyd did not realize whence the
+shot had come, although the smell of powder was sharp in his nostrils.
+Then he saw a gleam of blue metal in Fraser's hands.
+
+"Give me that gun!" he panted, but his deliverer held him off.
+
+"I may need it myself, and I ain't got but the one here! Let's get
+Clyde out of this."
+
+Stepping over the motionless form at his feet, Fraser lifted the young
+club-man, who was huddled in a formless heap as if he had fallen from a
+great height, and together the two dragged him toward _The Bedford
+Castle_. As they went aboard, they were nearly run down by a body of
+reinforcements that Captain Peasley had finally mustered from between
+decks. Down the gang-plank and over the side they poured, grimy
+stokers, greasy oilers, and swearing deckhands, equipped with
+capstan-bars, wrenches, and marlin-spikes. Without waiting to observe
+the effect of these new-comers, Boyd and Fraser bundled Alton into the
+first cabin at hand, then turned back.
+
+"Better stay here and look after him. You're all in, yourself," the
+adventurer advised. "I'm going to hunt up George."
+
+He was away on the instant, with Boyd staggering after him, still weak
+and shaking, the vague discomfort of running blood at the back of his
+neck, muttering thickly as he went: "Give me your gun, Fraser! Give me
+your gun!"
+
+The battle was still raging when the police arrived, after an
+interminable delay, and it ceased only at the rough play of
+night-sticks, and after repeated charges of the uniformed men had
+broken up the ranks of the strikers. The dock was cleared at length,
+and wagon-loads of bleeding, struggling combatants rolled away to jail,
+union and non-union men bundled in together. But work was not resumed
+that day, despite the fact that Big George, bruised, ragged, and torn,
+doubled his force of pickets and took personal charge of them.
+
+That night, under glaring headlines, the evening papers told the story,
+reporting one fisherman fatally hurt, one striker dead of a gunshot
+wound, and many others injured.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+WILLIS MARSH SPRINGS A TRAP
+
+
+The ensuing days were strenuous ones for the partners, working as they
+did, with a crippled force and under constant guard. Riot was in the
+air, and violence on every side. By the police, whose apathy
+disappeared only when an opportunity occurred of arresting the men they
+were supposed to protect, they were more handicapped than helped. The
+appearance of a fisherman at any point along the water-front became a
+sure signal for strife.
+
+Day by day the feeling on both sides grew stronger, till the non-union
+men were cemented together in a spirit of bitterest indignation, which
+materially lessened their zeal for work. Every act of violence
+intensified their rage. They armed themselves, in defiance of orders,
+tossed restraint to the winds, and sought the slightest opportunity of
+wreaking vengeance upon their enemies. Nor were the rioters less
+determined. Authority, after all, is but a hollow shell, which, once
+broken, is quickly disintegrated. Fierce engagements took place,
+populating the hospitals. It became necessary to guard all property in
+the warehouse districts, and men ceased to venture there alone after
+dark.
+
+One circumstance caused Boyd no little surprise and uneasiness--the
+fact that no vigorous effort had been made to fix the blame for the
+striker's death on that riotous afternoon. Surely, he reasoned, Marsh's
+detective must have witnessed the killing, and must recognize the ease
+with which the act could now be saddled upon him. If delay were their
+object, Emerson could not understand why they did not seek to have him
+arrested. The consequences might well be serious if Marsh's money were
+used; but, as the days slipped past and nothing occurred, he decided
+that he had been overfearful on this score, or else that the manager of
+the Packers' Trust had limits beyond which he would not push his
+persecution.
+
+A half-mile from Captain Peasley's ship, the rival Company tenders were
+loading rapidly with union labor, and it seemed that in spite of Boyd's
+plan to be first at Kalvik, Marsh's force would beat him to the ground
+unless greater efforts were made. When he communicated these fears to
+Big George, the fisherman suddenly became a slave-driver. He passed
+among his men, cajoling, threatening, bribing, and they began to work
+like demons, with the result that when the twentieth arrived he was
+able to announce to his partner that the work would be finished some
+time during the following morning.
+
+The next day Emerson and Clyde drove down to the dock with Cherry in a
+closed carriage, experiencing no annoyance beyond some jeers and
+insults as they passed through the picket line. Boyd had barely seen
+them comfortably established on board, when up the ship's gangway came
+"Fingerless" Fraser radiantly attired, three heavily laden hotel
+porters groaning at his back, the customary thick-waisted cigar between
+his teeth.
+
+"Are you going with us?" Boyd inquired.
+
+"Sure."
+
+"See here. Is life one long succession of surprise parties with you?"
+
+"Why, I've figgered on this right along."
+
+"But the ship is jammed now. There is no room."
+
+"Oh, I fixed that up long ago. I am going to bunk with the steward."
+
+"Well, why in the world didn't you let us know you were coming?"
+
+"Say, don't kid yourself. You knew I couldn't stay behind." Fraser blew
+a cloud of smoke airily. "I never start anything I can't finish, I keep
+telling you, and I'm going to put this deal through, now that I've got
+it started." With a half-embarrassed laugh and a complete change of
+manner, he laid his hand upon Boyd's shoulder, saying: "Pal, I ain't
+much good to myself or anybody else, but I like you and I want to stick
+around. Maybe I'll come in useful yet--you can't tell."
+
+Emerson had never glimpsed this side of the man's nature, and it rather
+surprised him.
+
+"Of course you can come along, old man," he responded, heartily. "We're
+glad to have you."
+
+To one who has never witnessed the spring sailing of a Northern
+cannery-tender, the event is well worth seeing; it is one of the
+curiosities of the Seattle water-front. Not only is there the
+inevitable confusion involved in the departure of an overloaded craft,
+but likewise there is all the noisy excitement that attends a shipment
+of Oriental troops.
+
+The Chinese maintain such a clatter as to drown the hoarse cries of the
+stevedores, the complaint of the creaking tackle, and the rumble of the
+winches. They scurry hither and yon like a distracted army, forever in
+the way, shouting, clacking, squealing in senseless turmoil. They are
+timid as to the water, and for them a voyage is at all times beset with
+many alarms. It is no more possible to restrain them than to calm a
+frightened herd of wild pigs, nor will they embark at all until their
+frenzy has run its course and died of its own exhaustion. To discipline
+them according to the seamen's standard is inadvisable, for many of
+them are "cutters," big, evil, saffron-hued fellows, whose trade it is
+to butcher and in whose dextrous hands a knife becomes a frightful
+weapon.
+
+The Japs, ordinarily so noiseless and submissive, yield to the
+contagion and add their share to the uproar. Each man carries a few
+pounds of baggage in bundles or packs or valises, and these scanty
+belongings he guards with shrieking solicitude.
+
+While the pandemonium of the Orientals who gathered to board _The
+Bedford Castle_ was sufficient in itself to cause consternation, it was
+as nothing to that which broke loose when the fishermen began to
+assemble. To a man they were drunk, belligerent and, declamatory. A
+few, to be sure, were still busy with the tag ends of the cargo, but
+the majority had gone to their lodgings for their packs, and now
+reappeared in a state of the wildest exuberance; for this would be
+their last spree of the season, and before them lay a period of long,
+sleepless nights, exposure, and unceasing labor, wherein a year's work
+must be crowded into three months. They, therefore, inaugurated the
+change in befitting style.
+
+On the whole, no explosive has ever been invented that is so noisy in
+its effect, so furiously expansive in its action, as the fumes of cheap
+whiskey. The great dock-shed soon began to reverberate to the wildest
+clamor, which added to the fury of the crowd outside. The strikers,
+unable to enter the building, flowed down upon the adjoining wharf, or
+clambered to the roofs nearby, whence they jeered insultingly. Among
+them was a newspaper photographer, bent on securing an unusual picture
+for his publication, and in truth the scene from this point of view was
+sufficiently novel and striking.
+
+The decks of the big, low-lying tramp steamer were piled high with gear
+of every description. A trio of stout tow-boats were blocked up
+amidships, long piles of lumber rose higher than a man's head, and the
+roofs of the deck-houses were jammed with fishing-boats nested, one
+inside the other, like pots in a kitchen. Every available inch was
+crowded with cases of gasoline, of groceries, and of the varied
+provisions required on an expedition of this magnitude. Aft, on rows of
+hooks, were suspended the carcasses of sheep and bullocks and hogs;
+there seemed to be nowhere another foot of available room. The red
+water-line of the ship was already submerged, yet notwithstanding this
+fact her derricks clanged noisily, her booms swung back and forth, and
+her gaping hatches swallowed momentary loads. Those fishermen who had
+come aboard early had settled like flies in the rigging, whence they
+taunted their enemies, hurling back insult for insult.
+
+It was much like the departure of a gold steamer during the early
+famine stages of the northward stampede, save that now there were no
+women, while the confusion was immeasurably greater, and through it all
+might be felt a certain strained and angry menace. All the long
+afternoon _The Bedford Castle_ lay at her moorings subjected to the
+customary eleventh-hour delays. As the time dragged on, and the liquor
+died in the fishermen, it became a herculean task to prevent them from
+issuing forth into the street, while the crowds outside seemed
+possessed of a desperate determination to force an entrance and bring
+the issue to a final settlement. But across the shore end of the dock a
+double cordon was drawn which hurled back the intruders at every
+advance.
+
+The fishermen who remained inside the barnlike structure, unable to
+come at their enemies, fought among themselves, bidding fair to wreck
+the building in the extravagance of their delirium, while outside the
+rival faction kept up a fire of missiles and execrations. As the hours
+crept onward the tension increased, and at last Boyd turned to Captain
+Peasley saying, "You'd better be ready to pull out at any minute, for
+if the mob breaks in we'll never be able to hold these maniacs." He
+pointed to the black swarm aloft, whence issued hoarse waves of sound.
+"I don't like the look of things, a little bit."
+
+"They are a trifle strained, to be sure," the Captain acknowledged.
+"I'll stand by to cast off at your signal, so you'd better pass the
+word around."
+
+Boyd left the ship and went to the dock-office, for there still
+remained one thing to be done: he could not leave without sounding a
+final note of triumph for Mildred. How sweet it would be to her ears he
+knew full well, yet he could not help wondering if she would feel the
+thrill that mastered him at this moment. As he saw the empty spaces
+where had stood those masses of freight which he had gathered at such
+cost, as he heard his own men bellowing defiance at his enemies and
+realized that his first long stride toward success had been taken, his
+heart swelled with gladness and the breath caught momentarily in his
+throat. After all, he was going to win! Out of the shimmering distance
+of his desire, the lady of his dreams drew closer to him; and ere long
+he could lay at her feet the burden of his travail, and then--.
+Oblivious to the turmoil all about, he wrote rapidly, almost
+incoherently, to Mildred, transcribing the mood of mingled tenderness
+and exultation which possessed him.
+
+"Outside the building," he concluded, "there is a raging mob. They
+would ruin me if they could, but they can't do it, they can't do it. We
+have beaten them all, my lady. We have won!"
+
+He was sealing his letter, when, without warning, "Fingerless" Fraser
+appeared at his side, his fishlike eyes agleam, his colorless face
+drawn with anxiety.
+
+"They've come to grab you for killing that striker," he began,
+breathlessly; "there's a couple of 'square-toes' on the dock now.
+Better take it on the 'lam'--quick!"
+
+"God!" So Marsh had withheld this stroke until the last moment, when
+the least delay would be fatal. Boyd knew that if he were brought into
+court he would have hard shift to clear himself against the mass of
+perjured testimony that his rival had doubtless gathered; but even this
+seemed as nothing in comparison with the main issue. For one wild
+instant he considered sending George Balt on with the ship. That would
+be folly, no doubt; yet plainly he could not hold _The Bedford Castle_
+and keep together that raging army of fishermen while he fought his way
+through the tedious vexations of a trial. He saw that he had
+under-estimated his enemy's cunning, and he realized that, if Marsh had
+planned this move, he would press his advantage to the full.
+
+"There's two plain-clothes men," he heard Fraser running on. "I 'made'
+'em as they were talking to Peasley. You'd better 'beat' it, quick!"
+
+"How? I couldn't get through that crowd. They know me. Listen!" Outside
+the street broke into a roar at some taunt of the fishermen high up in
+the rigging. "I can't run away, and if those detectives get me I'm
+ruined."
+
+"Well! What's to be done?" demanded Fraser, sharply. "If you say the
+word, we'll shoot it out with them, and get away on the ship before--"
+
+"We can't do that--there are a dozen policemen in front here."
+
+"Well, you'll have to move quick, or they'll 'cop' you, sure."
+
+Boyd clinched his hands in desperation. "I guess they've got me," he
+said, bitterly. "There's no way out."
+
+His eyes fell upon the letter containing his boastful assurance of
+victory. What a mockery!
+
+"From what they said I don't think they know you," Fraser continued.
+"Anyhow, they wanted Peasley to point you out. When they come off,
+maybe you can slip 'em."
+
+"But how?" Boyd seized eagerly upon the suggestion. "The wharf is
+empty--see! I'll have to cross it in plain sight."
+
+Through the rear door of the office that opened upon the dock proper
+they beheld the great floor almost entirely clear. Save for a few tons
+of freight at which Big George's men were working, it was as
+unobstructed as a lawn; and, although it was nearly the size of a city
+block, it afforded no more means of concealment than did the little
+office itself, with its glass doors, its counter, and its long desk, at
+the farther end of which a bill-clerk was poring over his task.
+Iron-barred windows at the front of the room looked out upon the
+street; other windows and a door at the right opened upon the driveway
+and railroad track, while at the rear the glass-panelled door through
+which they had just been peering gave egress only to the dock itself,
+up which the two officers were likely to come at any instant. Even as
+Emerson, with a last desperate glance, summed up the possible places of
+concealment, Fraser exclaimed, softly:
+
+"There they are now!" and they saw at the foot of the gang-plank two
+men talking with Big George. They saw Balt point the strangers
+carelessly to the office, whence he had seen Boyd disappearing a few
+moments before, and turn back to his stevedores; then they saw the
+plain-clothes men approaching.
+
+"Here! Gimme your coat and hat, quick!" cried Fraser in a low voice,
+his eyes blazing at a sudden, thought. He stripped his own garments
+from his back with feverish haste. "Put mine on. There! I'll stall for
+you. When they grab me, take it on the run. Understand!"
+
+"That won't do. Everybody knows me." Boyd cast an apprehensive glance
+at the arched back of the bill-clerk, but Fraser, quick of resource in
+such a situation, forced him swiftly to make the change, saying:
+
+"Nix. It's your only 'out.' Stand here, see!" He indicated a position
+beside the rear door. "I'll step out the other way where they can see
+me," he continued, pointing to the wagon-way at the right. "Savvy? When
+they grab me, you beat it, and don't wait for nothing."
+
+"But you--"
+
+Already they could hear the footsteps of the officers.
+
+"I'll take a chance. Good-bye."
+
+There was no time even for a hand-shake; Fraser stepped swiftly to the
+door, then strolled quietly out into the view of the two men, who an
+instant later accosted him.
+
+"Are you Mr. Boyd Emerson?"
+
+The adventurer answered brusquely, "Yes, but I can't talk to you now."
+
+"You are under arrest, Mr. Emerson."
+
+Boyd waited to hear no more. The glass door swung open noiselessly
+under his hand, and he stepped out just as the bill-clerk looked up
+from his work, staring out through the other entrance.
+
+"Fingerless" Fraser's voice was louder now, as if for a signal. "Arrest
+me? What do you mean? Get out of my way."
+
+"You'd better come peaceably."
+
+Boyd heard a sharp exclamation--"Get him, Bill!" And then the sound of
+men struggling. He ran, followed by a roar from the strikers, in whose
+full view Fraser's encounter with the plain-clothes men was taking
+place. A backward glance showed him that Fraser had drawn his pursuers
+to the street. He had broken away and dodged out into the open, where
+the other officers responded at a call and seized him as he apparently
+undertook to break through the cordon. This diversion served an
+unexpected purpose. Not only did it draw attention from Emerson's
+retreat, but it also gave the mob its long-awaited opportunity.
+Recognizing in the officers' quarry the supposed figure of Emerson, the
+hated cause of all this strife, the strikers gave vent to a great shout
+of rage and triumph, and surged forward across the wide street,
+carrying the police before them with irresistible force.
+
+In a moment it became not a question of keeping the entrance to the
+wharf, but of protecting the life of the prisoner, and the policemen
+rallied with their backs to the wall, their clubs working havoc with
+the heads that came within striking distance.
+
+Scarcely had Boyd reached Big George, when a wing of the besieging army
+swept in through the unguarded entrance and down the dock like an
+avalanche, leaving behind them the battling officers and the hungry
+pack clamoring for the prisoner.
+
+"Drop that freight, and get aboard the best way you can!" Boyd yelled
+at the fishermen, and with a bound was out into the open crying to
+Captain Peasley on the bridge:
+
+"Here they come! Cast off, for God's sake!"
+
+Instantly a wild cry of rage and defiance rose from the clotted rigging
+and upper works of _The Bedford Castle_. Down the fishermen swarmed,
+ready to over-flow the sides of the ship, but, with a sharp order to
+George, Boyd ran up the gang-plank and rushed along the rail to a
+commanding position in the path of his men, where, drawing his
+revolver, he roared at them to keep back, threatening the first to go
+ashore. His lungs were bursting from his sprint, and it was with
+difficulty that his voice rose above the turmoil; but he presented such
+a figure of determination that the men paused, and then the steamship
+whistle interrupted opportunely, with a deafening blast.
+
+The dozen men who had been slinging freight on the dock hastened up the
+gang-plank or climbed the fenders, while the signal-man clung to the
+lifting tackle, and, at the piping cry of his whistle, was swung aloft
+out of the very arms of the rioters.
+
+Above, on the flying bridge, Captain Peasley was bellowing orders; a
+quartermaster was running up the iron steps to the pilot-house; on deck
+the sailors were fighting their way to their posts through the ranks of
+the raging fishermen and the shrieking confusion of the Orientals; the
+last men aboard, with a "Heave Ho!" in unison, slid the gang-plank
+upward and out of reach. The neighboring roofs, lately so black, were
+emptying now, the onlookers hastening to join in the attack.
+
+Big George alone remained upon the wharf. As he saw the rush coming he
+had ordered his men to abandon their load; then he ran to the
+after-mooring, and, taking slack from a deck hand, cast it off. Back up
+the dock he went to the forward hawser, where, at a signal, he did the
+same, moving, toward the last, without excessive hurry, as if in a
+spirit of bravado. The ship was clear, and he had not cut a hawser. He
+had done his work; all but a ton or two of the cargo was stowed. There
+was no longer cause for delay.
+
+"Get aboard! Are you mad?" Emerson shouted, but the cry never reached
+him. Back he came slowly, in front of the press, secure in his
+tremendous strength, defiance in his every move, a smouldering
+challenge in his eyes; and noting that gigantic frame with its
+square-hewn, flaming face, not one of his enemies dared oppose him. But
+as he passed they yapped and snarled and jostled at his heels, hungry
+to rend him and only lacking courage.
+
+As yet the ship, although throbbing to the first pulsations of her
+engines, lay snug along the piling, but gradually her stern swung off
+and a wedge of clearance showed. Almost imperceptibly she drew back and
+rubbed against the timbers. A fender began to squeeze and complain. The
+dock planking creaked. Sixty seconds more and she would be out of
+arm's-reach, and still George made no haste. Again Boyd shouted at him,
+and then with one farewell glower over his shoulder the big fellow
+mounted a pile, stretched his arms upward to the bulwarks, and swung
+himself lightly aboard.
+
+Even yet Emerson's anxiety was of the keenest; for, notwithstanding the
+stress of these dragging moments, he had not forgotten Fraser, the
+vagabond, the morally twisted rascal, to whose courage and
+resourcefulness he owed so much. He strained his eyes for a glimpse of
+the fellow, at the same time dreading the sight of a uniform. Would the
+ship never get under way and out of hailing distance? If those officers
+had discovered their mistake, they might yet have time to stop him. He
+vowed desperately that he would not let them, not if he had to take
+_The Bedford Castle_ to sea with a gun at the back of her helmsman. He
+made his way hurriedly to the bridge, where he hastily explained to
+Captain Peasley his evasion of the officers; and here he found Cherry,
+her face flushed, her eyes sparkling with excitement, but far too wise
+to speak to him in his present state of mind.
+
+A scattered shower of missiles came aboard as the strikers kept pace
+with the steamer to the end of the slip, exciting the fishermen, who
+had again mounted the rigging, to a simian frenzy. Oaths, insults, and
+jeers were hurled back and forth; but as the big steamer gathered
+momentum and slid out of her berth, they grew gradually more
+indistinct, until at last they became muffled, broken, and meaningless.
+Even then the rival ranks continued to volley profanely at each other,
+while the Captain, with hand on the whistle-rope, blew taunting blasts;
+nor did the fishermen descend from their perches until the forms on the
+dock had blurred together and the city lay massed in the distance, tier
+upon tier, against the gorgeous evening sky.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+IN WHICH A MUTINY IS THREATENED
+
+
+Even after they were miles down the Sound, Boyd remained at his post,
+sweeping the waters astern in an anxious search for some swift harbor
+craft, the appearance of which would signal that his escape had been
+discovered.
+
+"I won't feel safe until we are past Port Townsend," he confessed to
+Cherry, who maintained a position at his side.
+
+"Why Port Townsend? We don't stop there."
+
+"No. But the police can wire on from Seattle to stop us and take me off
+at that point."
+
+"If they find out their mistake."
+
+"They must have found it out long ago. That's why I've got Peasley
+forcing this old tub; she's doing ten knots, and that's a breakneck
+speed for her. Once we're through the Straits, I'll be satisfied. But
+meanwhile--" Emerson lowered his glasses with a sigh of fatigue, and in
+the soft twilight the girl saw that his face was lined and careworn.
+The yearning at her heart lent poignant sympathy to her words, as she
+said:
+
+"You deserve to win, Boyd; you have made a good fight."
+
+"Oh, I'll win!" he declared, wearily. "I've got to win; only I wish we
+were past Port Townsend."
+
+"What will happen to Fraser?" she queried.
+
+"Nothing serious, I am sure. You see, they wanted me, and nobody else;
+once they find they have the wrong man I rather believe they will free
+him in disgust."
+
+A moment later he went on: "Just the same, it makes me feel depressed
+and guilty to leave him--I--I wouldn't desert a comrade for anything if
+the choice lay with me."
+
+"You did quite right," Cherry warmly assured him.
+
+"You see, I am not working for myself; I am doing this for another."
+
+It was the girl's turn to sigh softly, while the eyes she turned toward
+the west were strangely sad and dreamy. To her companion she seemed not
+at all like the buoyant creature who had kindled his courage when it
+was so low, the brave girl who had stood so steadfastly at his shoulder
+and kept his hopes alive during these last, trying weeks. It struck him
+suddenly that she had grown very quiet of late. It was the first time
+he had had the leisure to notice it, but now, when he came to reflect
+on it, he remembered that she had never seemed quite the same since his
+interview with her on that day when Hilliard had so unexpectedly come
+to his rescue. He wondered if in reality this change might not be due
+to some reflected alteration in himself. Well! He could not help it.
+
+Her strange behavior at that time had affected him more deeply than he
+would have thought possible; and while he had purposely avoided
+thinking much about the banker's sudden change of front, back of his
+devout thankfulness for the miracle was a vague suspicion, a curious
+feeling that made him uncomfortable in the girl's presence. He could
+not repent his determination to win at any price; yet he shrank, with a
+moral cowardice which made him inwardly writhe, from owning that Cherry
+had made the sacrifice at which Clyde and the others had hinted. If it
+were indeed true, it placed him in an intolerable position, wherein he
+could express neither his gratitude nor his censure. No doubt she had
+read the signs of his mental confusion, and her own delicate
+sensibility had responded to it.
+
+They remained side by side on the bridge while the day died amidst a
+wondrous panoply of color, each busied with thoughts that might not be
+spoken, in their hearts emotions oddly at variance. The sky ahead of
+them was wide-streaked with gold, as if for a symbol, interlaid with
+sooty clouds in silhouette; on either side the mountains rose from
+penumbral darkness to clear-cut heights still bright from the slanting
+radiance. Here and there along the shadowy shore-line a light was born;
+the smell of the salt sea was in the air. Above the rhythmic pulse of
+the steamer rose the voices of men singing between decks, while the
+parting waters at the prow played a soft accompaniment. A steward
+summoned them to supper, but Boyd refused, saying he could not eat, and
+the girl stayed with him while the miles slowly slipped past and the
+night encompassed them.
+
+"Two hours more," he told her, as the ship's bell sounded. "Then I can
+eat and sleep--and sing."
+
+Captain Peasley was pacing the bridge when later they breasted the
+glare of Port Townsend and saw in the distance the flashing
+searchlights of the forts that guard the Straits. They saw him stop
+suddenly, and raise his night-glasses; Boyd laid his hand on Cherry's
+arm. Presently the Captain crossed to them and said:
+
+"Yonder seems to be a launch making out. See? I wonder what's up."
+Almost in their path a tiny light was violently agitated. "By Jove!
+They're signalling."
+
+"You won't stop, will you?" questioned Emerson.
+
+"I don't know, I am sure. I may have to."
+
+The two boats were drawing together rapidly, and soon those on the
+bridge heard the faint but increasing patter of a gasoline exhaust.
+Carrying the same speed as _The Bedford Castle_, the launch shortly
+came within hailing distance. The cyclopean eye of the ship's
+searchlight blazed up, and the next instant, out from the gloom leaped
+a little craft, on the deck of which a man stood waving a lantern. She
+held steadfastly to her course, and a voice floated up to them:
+
+"Ahoy! What ship?"
+
+"_The Bedford Castle_, cannery-tender for Bristol Bay," Peasley shouted
+back.
+
+The man on the launch relinquished his lantern, and using both palms
+for a funnel, cried, more clearly now: "Heave to! We want to come
+aboard."
+
+With an exclamation of impatience, the commanding officer stepped to
+the telegraph, but Emerson forestalled him.
+
+"Wait, they're after me, Captain; it's the Port Townsend police, and if
+you let them aboard they'll take me off."
+
+"What makes you think so?" demanded Peasley.
+
+"Ask them."
+
+Turning, the skipper bellowed down the gleaming electric pathway, "Who
+are you?"
+
+"Police! We want to come aboard."
+
+"What did I tell you?" cried Emerson.
+
+Once more the Captain shouted: "What do you want?"
+
+"One of your passengers--Emerson. Heave to. You're passing us."
+
+"That's bloody hard luck, Mr. Emerson; I can't help myself," the
+Captain declared. But again Boyd blocked him as he started for the
+telegraph.
+
+"I won't stand it, sir. It's a conspiracy to ruin me."
+
+"But, my dear young man--"
+
+"Don't touch that instrument!"
+
+From the launch came cries of growing vehemence, and a startled murmur
+of voices rose from somewhere in the darkness of the deck beneath.
+
+"Stand aside," Peasley ordered, gruffly; but the other held his ground,
+saying, quietly:
+
+"I warn you. I am desperate."
+
+"Shall I stop her, sir?" the quartermaster asked from the shadows of
+the wheel-house.
+
+"No!" Emerson commanded, sharply, and in the glow from the
+binnacle-light they saw he had drawn his revolver, while on the instant
+up from the void beneath heaved the massive figure of Big George Balt,
+a behemoth, more colossal and threatening than ever in the dim light.
+Rumbling curses as he came, he leaped up the pilot-house steps,
+wrenched open the door, and with one sweep of his hairy paw flung the
+helmsman from his post, panting,
+
+"Keep her going, Cap', or I'll run them down!"
+
+"We stood by you, old man," Emerson urged; "you stand by us. They can't
+make you stop. They can't come aboard."
+
+The launch was abreast of them now, and skimming along so close that
+one might have tossed a biscuit aboard of her. For an instant Captain
+Peasley hesitated; then Emerson saw the ends of his bristly mustache
+rise above an expansive grin as he winked portentously. But his voice
+was convincingly loud and wrathful as he replied:
+
+"What do you mean, sir? I'll have my blooming ship libelled for this."
+
+"I'll make good your losses," Emerson volunteered, quickly, realizing
+that other ears were open.
+
+"Why, it's mutiny, sir."
+
+"Exactly! You can say you went out under duress."
+
+"I never heard of such a thing," stormed the skipper. Then, more
+quietly, "But I don't seem to have any choice in the matter; do I?"
+
+"None whatever."
+
+"Tell them to go to hell!" growled Balt from the open window above
+their head.
+
+A blasphemous outcry floated up from the launch, while heads protruded
+from the deck-house openings, the faces white in the slanting glare.
+"Why don't you heave to?" demanded a voice.
+
+Peasley stepped to the end of the bridge and called down: "I can't
+stop, my good man, they won't allow it, y' know. You'll have to bloody
+well come aboard yourself." Then, obedient to his command, the
+search-light traced an arc through the darkness and died out, leaving
+the little craft in darkness, save for its dim lantern.
+
+Unseen by the amazed quartermaster, who was startled out of speech and
+action, Emerson gripped the Captain's shoulder and whispered his
+thanks, while the Britisher grumbled under his breath:
+
+"Bli' me! Won't that labor crowd be hot? They nearly bashed in my head
+with that iron spike. Four hundred pounds! My word!"
+
+The sputter of the craft alongside was now punctuated by such a volley
+of curses that he raised his voice again: "Belay that chatter, will
+you? There's a lady aboard."
+
+The police launch sheered off, and the sound of her exhaust grew
+rapidly fainter and fainter. But not until it had wholly ceased did Big
+George give over his post at the wheel. Even then he went down the
+ladder reluctantly, and without a word of thanks, of explanation, or of
+apology. With him this had been but a part of the day's work. He saw
+neither sentiment nor humor in the episode. The clang of the
+deep-throated ship's bell spoke the hour, and, taking Cherry's arm,
+Boyd helped her to the deck.
+
+"Now let's eat something," said she.
+
+"Yes," he agreed, relief and triumph in his tone, "and drink something,
+too."
+
+"We'll drink to the health of 'Fingerless' Fraser."
+
+"To the health of 'Fingerless' Fraser," he echoed. "We will drink that
+standing."
+
+A week later, after an uneventful voyage across a sea of glass, _The
+Bedford Castle_ made up through a swirling tide-rip and into the
+fog-bound harbor of Unalaska. The soaring "goonies" that had followed
+them from Flattery had dropped astern at first sight of the volcanic
+headlands, and now countless thousands of sea-parrots fled from the
+ship's path, squattering away in comic terror, dragging their fat
+bodies across the sea as a boy skips a flat rock. It had been Captain
+Peasley's hope, here at the gateway of the Misty Sea, to learn
+something about the lay of the big ice-floes to the northward, but he
+was disappointed, for the season was yet too young for the
+revenue-cutters, and the local hunters knew nothing. Forced to rely on
+luck and his own skill, he steamed out again the next day, this time
+doubling back to the eastward and laying a cautious course along the
+second leg of the journey.
+
+Once through the ragged barrier that separates the North Pacific from
+her sister sea, the dank breath of the Arctic smote them fairly. The
+breeze that wafted out from the north brought with it the chill of
+limitless ice-fields, and the first night found them hove-to among the
+outposts of that shifting desert of death which debouches out of
+Behring Straits with the first approach of autumn, to retreat again
+only at the coming of reluctant summer. From the crow's-nest the
+lookout stared down upon a white expanse that stretched beyond the
+horizon. At dawn they began their careful search, feeling their way
+eastward through the open lanes and tortuous passages that separated
+the floes, now laying-to for the northward set of the fields to clear a
+path before them, now stealing through some narrow lead that opened
+into freer waters.
+
+_The Bedford Castle_ was a steel hull whose sides, opposed to the jaws
+of the ponderous masses, would have been crushed like an eggshell in a
+vise. Unlike a wooden ship, the gentlest contact would have sprung her
+plates, while any considerable collision would have pierced her as if
+she had been built of paper. Appreciating to the full the peril of his
+slow advance, Captain Peasley did all the navigating in person; but
+eventually they were hemmed in so closely that for a day and a night
+they could do nothing but drift with the pack. In time, however, the
+winds opened a crevice through which they retreated to follow the outer
+limits farther eastward, until they were balked again.
+
+Opposed to them were the forces of Nature, and they were wholly
+dependent upon her fickle favor. It might be a day, a week, a month
+before she would let them through, and, even when the barrier began to
+yield, another ship, a league distant, might profit by an opening which
+to them was barred. For a long, dull period the voyagers lay as
+helpless as if in dry-dock, while wandering herds of seals barked at
+them or bands of walruses ceased their fishing and crept out upon the
+ice-pans to observe these invaders of their peace. When an opportunity
+at last presented itself, they threaded their way southward, there to
+try another approach, and another, and another, until the first of May
+had come and gone, leaving them but little closer to their goal than
+when they first hove-to. Late one evening they discerned smoke on the
+horizon, and the next morning's light showed a three-masted steamship
+fast in the ice, a few miles to the westward.
+
+"That's _The Juliet_," Big George informed his companions, "one of the
+North American Packers' Association tenders."
+
+"She was loading when we left Seattle," Boyd remarked.
+
+"It is Willis Marsh's ship, so he must be aboard," supplemented Cherry.
+"She's a wooden ship, and built for this business. If we don't look out
+he'll beat us in, after all."
+
+"What good will that do him?" Clyde questioned. "The fish don't bite--I
+mean run--for sixty days yet."
+
+Emerson and Balt merely shrugged.
+
+To Cherry Malotte this had been a voyage of dreams; for once away from
+land, Boyd had become his real self again--that genial, irrepressible
+self she had seen but rarely--and his manner had lost the restraint and
+coolness which recently had disturbed their relations. Of necessity
+their cramped environment had thrown them much together, and their
+companionship had been most pleasant. She and Boyd had spent long hours
+together, during which his light-heartedness had rivalled that of Alton
+Clyde--hours wherein she had come to know him more intimately and to
+feel that he was growing to a truer understanding of herself. She
+realized beyond all doubt that for him there was but one woman in all
+the world, yet the mere pleasure of being near him was an anodyne for
+her secret distress. Womanlike, she took what was offered her and
+strove unceasingly for more.
+
+Two days after sighting _The Juliet_ they raised another ship, one of
+the sailing fleet which they knew to be hovering in the offing, and
+then on the fifth of the month the capricious current opened a way for
+them. Slowly at first they pushed on between the floes into a vast area
+of slush-ice, thence to a stretch as open and placid as a country
+mill-pond. The lookout pointed a path out of this, into which they
+steamed, coming at length to clear water, with the low shores of the
+mainland twenty miles away.
+
+At sundown they anchored in the wide estuary of the Kalvik River, the
+noisy rumble of their chains breaking the silence that for months had
+lain like a smother upon the port. The Indian village gave sign of life
+only in thin, azure wisps of smoke that rose from the dirt roofs; the
+cannery buildings stood as naked and uninviting as when Boyd had last
+seen them. The Greek cross crowning the little white church was gilded
+by the evening sun. Through the glasses Cherry spied a figure in the
+door of her house which she declared was Constantine, but with
+commendable caution the big breed forebore to join the fleet of kyaks
+now rapidly mustering. Taking Clyde with them, she and Boyd were soon
+on their way to the land, leaving George to begin discharging his
+cargo. The long voyage that had maddened the fishermen was at last at
+an end, and they were eager to begin their tasks.
+
+A three-mile pull brought the ship's boat to Cherry's landing, where
+Constantine and Chakawana met them, the latter hysterical with joy, the
+former showing his delight in a rare display of white teeth and a flow
+of unintelligible English. Even the sledge-dogs, now fat from idleness,
+greeted their mistress with a fierce clamor that dismayed Alton Clyde,
+to whom all was utterly new and strange.
+
+"Glory be!" he exclaimed. "They're nothing but wolves. Won't they bite?
+And the house--ain't it a hit! Why, it looks like a stage setting! Oh,
+say, I'm for this! I'm getting rough and primitive and brutal already!"
+
+When they passed from the store, with its shelves sadly naked now, to
+the cozy living quarters behind, his enthusiasm knew no bounds. Leaving
+Chakawana and her mistress to chatter and clack in their patois, he
+inspected the premises inside and out, peering into all sorts of
+corners, collecting souvenirs, and making friends with the saturnine
+breed.
+
+Cherry would not return to the ship, but Emerson and Clyde re-embarked
+and were rowed down to the cannery site, abreast of which lay _The
+Bedford Castle_, where they lingered until the creeping twilight forced
+them to the boat again. When they reached the ship the cool Arctic
+night had descended, but its quiet was broken by the halting nimble of
+steam-winches, the creak of tackle, the cries of men, and the sounds of
+a great activity. Baring his head to the breezes Boyd filled his lungs
+full of the bracing air, sweet with the flavor of spring, vowing
+secretly that no music that he had ever heard was the equal of this. He
+turned his face to the southward and smiled, while his thoughts sped a
+message of love and hope into the darkness.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+WHEREIN "FINGERLESS" FRASER RETURNS
+
+
+Big George had lost no time, and already the tow-boats were overboard,
+while a raft of timber was taking form alongside the ship. As soon as
+it was completed, it was loaded with crates and boxes and paraphernalia
+of all sorts, then towed ashore as the tide served. Another took its
+place, and another and another. All that night the torches flared and
+the decks drummed to a ceaseless activity. In the morning Boyd sent a
+squad of fishermen ashore to clear the ground for his buildings, and
+all day new rafts of lumber and material helped to increase the pile at
+the water's edge.
+
+His early training as an engineer now stood him in good stead, for a
+thousand details demanded expert supervision; but he was as completely
+at home at this work as was Big George in his own part of the
+undertaking, and it was not long before order began to emerge from what
+seemed a hopeless chaos. Never did men have more willing hands to do
+their bidding than did he and George; and when a week later _The
+Juliet_, with Willis Marsh on board, came to anchor, the bunk-houses
+were up and peopled, while the new site had become a beehive of
+activity.
+
+The mouth of the Kalvik River is several miles wide, yet it contains
+but a small anchorage suitable for deep-draught ships, the rest of the
+harbor being underlaid with mud-bars and tide-flats over which none but
+small boats may pass; and as the canneries are distributed up and down
+the stream for a considerable distance, it is necessary to transport
+all supplies to and from the ships by means of tugs and lighters. Owing
+to the narrowness of the channel, _The Juliet_ came to her moorings not
+far from _The Bedford Castle_.
+
+To Marsh, already furious at the trick the ice had played him, this
+forced proximity to his rival brought home with added irony the fact
+that he had been forestalled, while it emphasized his knowledge that
+henceforth the conflict would be carried on at closer quarters. It
+would be a contest between two men, both determined to win by fair
+means or foul.
+
+Emerson was a dream-dazzled youth, striving like a knight-errant for
+the love of a lady and the glory of conquest, but he was also a born
+fighter, and in every emergency he had shown himself as able as his
+experienced opponent.
+
+As Marsh looked about and saw how much Boyd's well-directed energy was
+accomplishing, he was conscious of a slight disheartenment. Still, he
+was on his own ground, he had the advantage of superior force, and
+though he was humiliated by his failure to throttle the hostile
+enterprise in its beginning, he was by no means at the end of his
+expedients. He was curious to see his rival in action, and he decided
+to visit him and test his temper.
+
+It was on the afternoon following his arrival that Marsh, after a tour
+of inspection, landed from his launch and strolled up to where Boyd
+Emerson was at work. He was greeted courteously, if a bit coolly, and
+found, as on their last meeting, that his own bearing was reflected
+exactly in that of Boyd. Both men, beneath the scant politeness of
+their outward manner, were aware that the time for ceremony had passed.
+Here in the Northland they faced each other at last as man to man.
+
+"I see you have a number of my old fishermen," Marsh observed.
+
+"Yes, we were fortunate in getting such good ones."
+
+"You were fortunate in many ways. In fact you are a very lucky young
+man."
+
+"Indeed! How?"
+
+"Well, don't you think you were lucky to beat that strike?"
+
+"It wasn't altogether luck. However, I do consider myself fortunate in
+escaping at the last moment," Boyd laughed easily. "By the way, what
+happened to the man they mistook for me?"
+
+"Let him go, I believe. I didn't pay much attention to the matter."
+Marsh had been using his eyes to good advantage, and, seeing the work
+even better in hand than he had supposed, he was moved by irritation
+and the desire to goad his opponent to say more than he had intended:
+"I rather think you will have a lot to explain, one of these days," he
+said, with deliberate menace.
+
+"With fifty thousand cases of salmon aboard _The Bedford Castle_ I will
+explain anything. Meanwhile the police may go to the devil!" The cool
+assurance of the young man's tone roused his would-be tormentor like a
+personal affront.
+
+"You got away from Seattle, but there is a commissioner at Dutch
+Harbor, also a deputy marshal, who may have better success with a
+warrant than those policemen had." The Trust's manager could not keep
+down the angry tremor in his voice, and the other, perceiving it,
+replied in a manner designed to inflame him still more:
+
+"Yes, I have heard of those officers. I understand they are both in
+your employ."
+
+"What!"
+
+"I hear you have bought them."
+
+"Do you mean to insinuate--"
+
+"I don't mean to insinuate anything. Listen! We are where we can talk
+plainly, Marsh, and I am tired of all this subterfuge. You did what you
+could to stop me, you even tried to have me killed--"
+
+"You dare to--"
+
+"But I guess it never occurred to you that I may be just as desperate
+as you are."
+
+The men stared at each other with hostile eyes, but the accusation had
+come so suddenly and with such boldness as to rob Marsh of words.
+Emerson went on in the same level voice: "I broke through in spite of
+you, and I'm on the job. If you want to cry quits, I'm willing; but, by
+God! I won't be balked, and if any of your hired marshals try to take
+me before I put up my catch I'll put you away. Understand?"
+
+Willis Marsh recoiled involuntarily before the sudden ferocity that
+blazed up in the speaker's face. "You are insane," he cried.
+
+"Am I?" Emerson laughed, harshly. "Well, I'm just crazy enough to do
+what I say. I don't think you're the kind that wants hand-to-hand
+trouble, so let's each attend to his own affair. I'm doing well, thank
+you, and I think I can get along better if yon don't come back here
+until I send for you. Something might fall on you."
+
+Marsh's full, red lips went pallid with rage as he said "Then it is to
+be war, eh?"
+
+"Suit yourself." Boyd pointed to the shore. "Your boatman is waiting
+for you."
+
+As Marsh made his way to the water's edge he stumbled like a blind man;
+his lips were bleeding where his small, sharp teeth had bitten them,
+and he panted like an hysterical woman.
+
+During the next fortnight the sailing-ships began to assemble, standing
+in under a great spread of canvas to berth close alongside the two
+steamships; for, once the ice had moved north, there was no further
+obstacle to their coming, and the harbor was soon livened with puffing
+tugs, unwieldy lighters, and fleets of smaller vessels. Where, but a
+short time before, the brooding silence had been undisturbed save for
+the plaint of wolf-dogs and the lazy voices of natives, a noisy army
+was now at work. The bustle of a great preparation arose; languid
+smoke-wreaths began to unfurl above the stacks of the canneries; the
+stamp and clank of tin-machines re-echoed; hammer and saw maintained a
+never-ceasing hubbub. Down at the new plant scows were being launched
+while yet the pitch was warm on their seams; buildings were rising
+rapidly, and a crew had gone up the river to get out a raft of piles.
+
+On the morning after the arrival of the last ship, Emerson and his
+companions were treated to a genuine surprise. Cherry had come down to
+the site as usual--she could not let a day go by without visiting the
+place--and Clyde, after a tardy breakfast, had just come ashore. They
+were watching Big George direct the launching of a scow, when all of a
+sudden they heard a familiar voice behind them cry, cheerfully:
+
+"Hello, white folks! Here we are, all together again."
+
+They turned to behold a villanous-looking man beaming benignly upon
+them. He was dirty, his clothes were in rags, and through a riotous
+bristle of beard that hid his thin features a mangy patch showed on
+either cheek. It was undeniably "Fingerless" Fraser, but how changed,
+how altered from that radiant flower of indolence they had known! He
+was pallid, emaciated, and bedraggled; his attitude showed hunger and
+abuse, and his bony joints seemed about to pierce through their
+tattered covering. As they stood speechless with amazement, he made his
+identification complete by protruding his tongue from the corner of his
+mouth and gravely closing one eye in a wink of exceeding wisdom.
+
+"Fraser!" they cried in chorus, then fell upon him noisily, shaking his
+grimy hands and slapping his back until he coughed weakly. Summoned by
+their shouts, Big George broke in upon the incoherent greeting, and at
+sight of his late comrade began to laugh hoarsely.
+
+"Glad to see you, old man!" he cried, "but how did you get here?"
+
+Fraser drew himself up with injured dignity, then spoke in dramatic
+accents. "I worked my way!" He showed the whites of his eyes,
+tragically.
+
+"You look like you'd walked in from Kansas," George declared.
+
+"Yes, sir, I _worked! Me!"_
+
+"How? Where?"
+
+"On that bloody wind-jammer." He stretched a long arm toward the harbor
+in a theatrical gesture.
+
+"But the police?" queried Boyd.
+
+"Oh, I squared them easy. It's you they want. Yes, sir, I _worked_."
+Again he scanned their faces anxiously. "I'm a scullery-maid."
+
+"What?"
+
+"That's what I said. I've rustled garbage-cans till the smell of food
+gives me a cold sweat. I'm as hungry as a starving Cuban, and yet the
+sight of a knife and fork turns my stomach." He wheeled suddenly upon
+Alton Clyde, whose burst of shrill laughter offended him. "Don't cry.
+Your sympathy unmans me."
+
+"Tell us about it," urged Cherry.
+
+"What's the use?" he demanded, with a glare at Clyde. "That bone-head
+wouldn't understand."
+
+"Go ahead," Boyd seconded, with twitching lips. "You look as if you had
+worked, and worked hard."
+
+"Hard? I'm the only man in the world who knows what hard work is!"
+
+"Start at the beginning--when you were arrested."
+
+"Well, I didn't care nothing about the sneeze," he took up the tale,
+"for I figure it out that they can't slough me without clearing you, so
+I never take no sleeping-powders, and, sure enough, about third
+drink-time the bulls spring me, and I screw down the main stem to the
+drink and get Jerry to your fade--"
+
+"Tell it straight," interrupted Cherry. "They don't understand you."
+
+"Well, there ain't any Pullmans running to this resort, so I stow away
+on a coal-burner, but somebody flags me. Then I try to hire out as a
+fisherman, but I ain't there with the gang talk and my stuff drags, so
+I fix it for a hide-away on _The Blessed Isle_--that's her name. Can
+you beat that for a monaker? This sailor of mine goes good to grub me,
+but he never shows for forty-eight hours--or years, I forget which.
+Anyhow, I stand it as long as I can, then I dig my way up to a hatch
+and mew like a house-cat. It seems they were hep from the start, and
+battened me down on purpose, then made book on how long I'd stay hid.
+Oh, it's a funny joke, and they all get a stomach laugh when I show.
+When I offer to pay my way they're insulted. Nix! that ain't their
+graft. They wouldn't take money from a stranger. Oh, no! They permit me
+to _work_ my way. The scullion has quit, see? So they promote me to his
+job. It's the only job I ever held, and I held it because it wouldn't
+let go of me, savvy? There's only three hundred men aboard _The Blessed
+Isle_, so all I have to do, regular, is to understudy the cooks, carry
+the grub, wait on table, wash the dishes, mop the floors, make the
+officers' beds, peel six bushels of potatoes a day, and do the laundry.
+Then, of course, there's some odd tasks. Oh, it was a swell job--more
+like a pastime. When a mop sees me coming now it dances a hornpipe, and
+I can't look a dish-rag in the face. All I see in my dreams is
+potato-parings and meat-rinds. I've got dish-water in my veins, and the
+whole universe looks greasy to me. Naturally it was my luck to pick the
+slowest ship in the harbor. We lay three weeks in the ice, that's all,
+and nobody worked but me and the sea-gulls."
+
+"You deserted this morning, eh?"
+
+"I did. I beat the barrier, and now I want a bath and some clean
+clothes and a whole lot of sleep. You don't need to disturb me till
+fall."
+
+He showed no interest whatever in the new plant, refusing even to look
+it over or to express an opinion upon the progress of the work; so they
+sent him out to the ship, where for days he remained in a toad-like
+lethargy, basking in the sun, sleeping three-fourths of the time and
+spending his waking hours in repeating the awful tale of his
+disgraceful peonage.
+
+To unload the machinery, particularly the heavier pieces, was by no
+means a simple matter, owing to the furious tides that set in and out
+of the Kalvik River. The first mishap occurred during the trip on which
+the boilers were towed in, and it looked to Boyd less like an accident
+than a carefully planned move to cripple him at one stroke. The other
+ships were busily discharging and the roadstead was alive with small
+craft of various kinds, when the huge boilers were swung over the side
+of _The Bedford Castle_ and blocked into position for the journey to
+the shore. George and a half-dozen of his men went along with the load
+while Emerson remained on the ship. They were just well under way when,
+either by the merest chance or by malicious design, several of the
+rival Company's towboats moored to the neighboring ships cast off. The
+anchorage was crowded and a boiling six-mile tide made it difficult at
+best to avoid collision.
+
+Hearing a confused shouting to shoreward, Boyd ran to the rail in time
+to see one of the Company tugs at the head of a string of towboats
+bearing down ahead of the current directly upon his own slow-moving
+lighter. Already it was so close at hand as to make disaster seem
+inevitable. He saw Balt wave his arms furiously and heard him bellow
+profane warnings while the fishermen scurried about excitedly, but
+still the tug held to its course. Boyd raised his voice in a wild
+alarm, but had they heard him there was nothing they could have done.
+Then suddenly the affair altered its complexion.
+
+The oncoming tug was barely twice its length from the scow when Boyd
+saw Big George cease his violent antics and level a revolver directly
+at the wheel-house of the opposing craft. Two puffs of smoke issued
+from weapon, then out from the glass-encased structure the steersman
+plunged, scrambled down the deck and into the shelter of the house.
+Instantly the bow of the tug swung off, and she came on sidewise,
+striking Balt's scow a glancing blow, the sound of which rose above the
+shouts, while its force threw the big fellow and his companions to
+their knees and shattered the glass in the pilot-house windows. The
+boats behind fouled each other, then drifted down upon the scow, and
+the tide, seizing the whole flotilla, began to spin it slowly. Rushing
+to the ladder, Emerson leaped into another launch which fortunately was
+at hand, and the next instant as the little craft sped out from the
+side of _The Bedford Castle_, he saw that a fight was in progress on
+the lighter. It was over quickly, and before he reached the scene the
+current had drifted the tows apart. George, it seemed, had boarded the
+tug, dragged the captain off, and beaten him half insensible before the
+man's companions had come to his rescue.
+
+"Is the scow damaged?" Emerson cried, as he came alongside.
+
+"She's leaking, but I guess we can make it," George reassured him.
+
+They directed the second launch to make fast, and, towed by both tugs,
+they succeeded in beaching their cargo a mile below the landing.
+
+"We'll calk her at low tide," George declared, well satisfied at this
+outcome of the misadventure. Then he fell to reviling the men who had
+caused it.
+
+"Don't waste your breath on them," Boyd advised. "We're lucky enough as
+it is. If that tug hadn't sheered off she would have cut us down, sure."
+
+"That fellow done it a-purpose," George swore. "Seamen ain't that
+careless. He tried to tell me he was rattled, but I rattled _him_."
+
+"If that's the case they may try it again," said the younger man.
+
+"Huh! I'll pack a 'thirty-thirty' from now on, and I bet they don't get
+within hailing distance without an iron-clad."
+
+The more calmly Emerson regarded the incident, the more he marvelled at
+the good-fortune that had saved him. "We had better wake up," he said.
+"We have been asleep so far. If Marsh planned this, he will plan
+something more."
+
+"Yes, and if he puts one wallop over we're done for," George agreed,
+pessimistically. "I'll keep a watchman aboard the scows hereafter.
+That's our vital spot."
+
+But the days sped past without further interference, and the
+construction of the plant progressed by leaps and bounds, while _The
+Bedford Castle_, having discharged her cargo, steamed away to return in
+August.
+
+The middle of June brought the first king salmon, scouts sent on ahead
+of the "sockeyes;" but Boyd made no effort to take advantage of this
+run, laboring manfully to prepare for the advance of the main army,
+that terrific horde that was soon to come from the mysterious depths,
+either to make or ruin him. Once the run proper started, there would be
+no more opportunity for building or for setting up machinery. He must
+be ready and waiting by the first of July.
+
+For some time his tin-machines had been busy, night and day, turning
+out great heaps of gleaming cans, while the carpenters and machinists
+completed their tasks. The gill-netters were overhauling their gear,
+the beach was lined with fishing-boats. On the dock great piles of
+seines and drift-nets were being inspected. Three miles below, Big
+George, with a picked crew and a pile-driver, was building the
+fish-trap. It consisted of half-mile "leads," or rows of piling, capped
+with stringers, upon which netting was hung, and terminated in
+"hearts," "corrals," and "spillers," the intricate arrangements of
+webbing and timbers out of which the fish were to be taken.
+
+It was for the title to the ground where his present operations were
+going forward that George had been so cruelly disciplined by the
+"interests;" and while he had held stubbornly to his rights for years
+in spite of the bitterest persecution, he was now for the first time
+able to utilize his site. Accordingly his exultation was tremendous.
+
+As for Boyd, the fever in his veins mounted daily as he saw his dream
+assuming concrete form. The many problems arising as the work advanced
+afforded him unceasing activity; the unforeseen obstacles which were
+encountered hourly required swift and certain judgment, taxing his
+ingenuity to the utmost. He became so filled with it all, so steeped
+with the spirit of his surroundings, that he had thought for nothing
+else. Every dawn marked the beginning of a new battle, every twilight
+heralded another council. His duties swamped him; he was worried,
+exultant, happy. Always he found Cherry at his shoulder, unobtrusive
+and silent for the most part, yet intensely observant and keenly alive
+to every action. She seemed to have the faculty of divination, knowing
+when to be silent and when to join her mood with his, and she gave him
+valuable help; for she possessed a practical mind and a masculine
+aptitude for details that surprised both him and George. But, rapidly
+as the work progressed, it seemed that good-fortune would never smile
+upon them for long. One day, when their preparations were nearly
+completed, a foreman came to Boyd, and said excitedly:
+
+"Boss, I'd like you to look at the Iron Chinks right away."
+
+"What's up?"
+
+"I don't know, but something is wrong." A hurried examination showed
+the machines to be cunningly crippled; certain parts were entirely
+missing, while others were broken.
+
+"They were all right when we brought them ashore," the man declared.
+"Somebody's been at them lately."
+
+"When? How?" questioned Boyd. "We have had watchmen on guard all the
+time. Have any strangers been about?"
+
+"Nobody seems to know. When we got ready to set 'em just now, I saw
+this."
+
+The Iron Chink, or mechanical cleaner, is perhaps the most ingenious of
+the many labor-saving devices used in the salmon fisheries. It is an
+awkward-looking, yet very effective contrivance of revolving knives and
+conveyors which seizes the fish whole and delivers it cleaned, clipped,
+cut, and ready to be washed. With superhuman dexterity it does the work
+of twenty lightning-like butchers. Without the aid of these Iron
+Chinks, Boyd knew that his fish would spoil before they could be
+handled. In a panic, he pursued his investigation far enough to realize
+that the machines were beyond repair; that what had seemed at first a
+trivial mishap was in fact an appalling disaster. Then, since his own
+experience left him without resource, he hastened straightway to George
+Balt. A half-hour's run down the bay and he clambered from his launch
+to the pile-driver, where, amid the confusion and noise, he made known
+his tidings. The big fellow's calmness amazed him.
+
+"What are you going to do now?"
+
+"Butcher by hand," said the fisherman.
+
+"But how? That takes skilled labor--lots of it."
+
+George grinned. "I'm too old a bird to be caught like this. I figured
+on accidents from the start, and when I hired my Chinamen I included a
+crew of cutters."
+
+"By Jove, you never told me!"
+
+"There wasn't no use. We ain't licked yet, not by a damned sight.
+Willis Marsh will have to try again."
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+A HAND IN THE DARK
+
+
+While they were talking a tug-boat towing a pile-driver came into view.
+Boyd asked the meaning of its presence in this part of the river.
+
+"I don't know," answered Big George, staring intently. "Yonder looks
+like another one behind it, with a raft of piles."
+
+"I thought all the Company traps were up-stream."
+
+"So they are. I can't tell what they're up to."
+
+A half-hour later, when the new flotilla had come to anchor a short
+distance below, Emerson's companion began to swear.
+
+"I might have known it."
+
+"What?"
+
+"Marsh aims to 'cork' us."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"He's going to build a trap on each side of this one and cut off our
+fish."
+
+"Good Lord! Can he do that?"
+
+"Sure. Why not? The law gives us six hundred yards both ways. As long
+as he stays outside of that limit he can do anything he wants to."
+
+"Then of what use is our trap? The salmon follow definite courses close
+to the shore, and if he intercepts them before they reach us--why, then
+we'll get only what he lets through."
+
+"That's his plan," said Big George, sourly, "It's an old game, but it
+don't always work. You can't tell what salmon will do till they do it.
+I've studied this point of land for five years, and I know more about
+it than anybody else except God 'lmighty. If the fish hug the shore,
+then we're up against it, but I think they strike in about here; that's
+why I chose this site. We can't tell, though, till the run starts. All
+we can do now is see that them people keep their distance."
+
+The "lead" of a salmon-trap consists of a row of web-hung piling that
+runs out from the shore for many hundred feet, forming a high, stout
+fence that turns the schools of fish and leads them into cunningly
+contrived enclosures, or "pounds," at the outer extremity, from which
+they are "brailed" as needed. These corrals are so built that once the
+fish are inside they cannot escape. The entire structure is devised
+upon the principle that the salmon will not make a short turn, but will
+swim as nearly as possible in a straight line. It looked to Boyd as if
+Marsh, by blocking the line of progress above and below, had virtually
+destroyed the efficiency of the new trap, rendering the cost of its
+construction a total loss.
+
+"Sometimes you can cork a trap and sometimes you can't," Balt went on.
+"It all depends on the currents, the lay of the bars, and a lot of
+things we don't know nothing about. I've spent years in trying to
+locate the point where them fish strike in, and I think it's just below
+here. It'll all depend on how good I guessed."
+
+"Exactly! And if you guessed wrong--"
+
+"Then we'll fish with nets, like we used to before there was any traps."
+
+That evening, when he had seen the night-shift started, Emerson decided
+to walk up to Cherry's house, for he was worried over the day's
+developments and felt that an hour of the girl's society might serve to
+clear his thoughts. His nerves were high-strung from the tension of the
+past weeks, and he knew himself in the condition of an athlete trained
+to the minute. In his earlier days he had frequently felt the same
+nervousness, the same intense mental activity, just prior to an
+important race or game, and he was familiar with those disquieting,
+panicky moments when, for no apparent reason, his heart thumped and a
+physical sickness mastered him. He knew that the fever would leave him,
+once the salmon began to run, just as it had always vanished at the
+crack of the starter's pistol or the shrill note of the referee's
+whistle. He was eager for action, eager to find himself possessed of
+that gloating, gruelling fury that drives men through to the finish
+line. Meanwhile, he was anxious to divert his mind into other channels.
+
+Cherry's house was situated a short distance above the cannery which
+served as Willis Marsh's headquarters, and Boyd's path necessarily took
+him past his enemy's very stronghold. Finding the tide too high to
+permit of passing beneath the dock, he turned up among the buildings,
+where, to his surprise, he encountered his own day-foreman talking
+earnestly with a stranger.
+
+The fisherman started guiltily as he saw him, and Boyd questioned him
+sharply.
+
+"What are you doing here, Larsen?"
+
+"I just walked up after supper to have a talk with an old mate."
+
+"Who is he?" Boyd glanced suspiciously at Larsen's companion.
+
+"He's Mr. Marsh's foreman."
+
+Emerson spoke out bluntly: "See here. I don't like this. These people
+have caused me a lot of trouble already, and I don't want my men
+hanging around here."
+
+"Oh, that's all right," said Larsen, carelessly. "Him and me used to
+fish together." And as if this were a sufficient explanation, he turned
+back to his conversation, leaving Emerson to proceed on his way,
+vaguely displeased at the episode, yet reflecting that heretofore he
+had never had occasion to doubt Larsen's loyalty.
+
+He found Cherry at home, and, flinging himself into one of her
+easy-chairs, relieved his mind of the day's occurrences.
+
+"Marsh is building those traps purely out of spite," she declared,
+indignantly, when he had finished. "He doesn't need any more fish--he
+has plenty of traps farther up the river."
+
+"To be sure! It looks as if we might have to depend upon the
+gill-netters."
+
+"We will know before long. If the fish strike in where George expects,
+Marsh will be out a pretty penny."
+
+"And if they don't strike in where George expects, we will be out all
+the expense of building that trap."
+
+"Exactly! It's a fascinating business, isn't it? It's a business in
+which the unexpected is forever happening. But the stakes are high
+and--I know you will succeed."
+
+Boyd smiled at her comforting assurance, her belief in him was always
+stimulating.
+
+"By-the-way," she continued, "have you heard the historic story about
+the pink salmon?"
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"Well, there was a certain shrewd old cannery-man in Washington State
+whose catch consisted almost wholly of pink fish. As you know, that
+variety does not bring as high a price as red salmon, like these. Well,
+finding that he could not sell his catch, owing to the popular
+prejudice about color, this man printed a lot of striking can-labels,
+which read, 'Best Grade Pink Salmon, Warranted not to Turn Red in the
+Can.' They tell me it worked like a charm."
+
+"No wonder!" Boyd laughed, beginning to feel the tension of his nerves
+relax at the restfulness of her influence. As usual, he fell at once
+into the mood she desired for him. He saw that her brows were furrowed
+and her rosy lips drawn into an unconscious pout as she said, more to
+herself than to him:
+
+"I wish I were a man. I'd like to engage in a business of this sort,
+something that would require ingenuity and daring. I'd like to handle
+big affairs."
+
+"It seems to me that you are in a business of that sort. You are one of
+us."
+
+"Oh, but you and George are doing it all."
+
+"There is your copper-mine. You surely handled that very cleverly."
+
+Cherry's expression altered, and she shot a quick glance at him as he
+went on:
+
+"How is it coming along, by-the-way? I haven't heard you mention it
+lately?"
+
+"Very well, I believe. The men were down the other day, and told me it
+was a big thing."
+
+"I'm delighted. How does it seem, to be rich?"
+
+There was the slightest hint of constraint in the girl's voice as she
+stared out at the slowly gathering twilight, murmuring:
+
+"I--I hardly know. Rich! That has always been my dream, and yet--"
+
+"The wonderful feature about dreams," he took advantage of her pause to
+say, "is that they come true."
+
+"Not all of them--not the real, wonderful dreams," she returned.
+
+"Oh yes! My dream is coming true, and so is yours."
+
+"I have given up hoping for that," she said, without turning.
+
+"But you shouldn't give up. Remember that all the great things ever
+accomplished were only dreams at first, and the greater the
+accomplishments, the more impossible they seemed to begin with."
+
+Something in the girl's attitude and in her silence made him feel that
+his words rang hollow and commonplace. While they had talked, an
+unaccustomed excitement had been mounting in his brain, and it held him
+now in a kind of delicious embarrassment. It was as if both had been
+suddenly enfolded in a new and mysterious understanding, without the
+need of speech. He did not tell himself that Cherry loved him; but he
+roused to a fresh perception of her beauty, and felt himself privileged
+in her nearness. At the same time he was seized with the old,
+half-resentful curiosity to learn her history. What wealth of romance
+lay shadowed in her eyes, what tragic story was concealed by her
+consistent silence, he could only guess; for she was a woman who spoke
+rarely of herself and lived wholly in the present. Her very reticence
+inspired confidence, and Boyd felt sure that here was a girl to whom
+one might confess the inmost secrets of a wretched soul and rest secure
+in the knowledge that his confession would be inviolate as if locked in
+the heart of mountains. He knew her for a steadfast friend, and he
+t'elt that she was beautiful, not only in face and form, but in all
+those little indescribable mannerisms which stamp the individual. And
+this girl was here alone with him, so close that by stretching out his
+arms he might enfold her. She allowed him to come and go at will; her
+intimacy with him was almost like that of an unspoiled boy--yet
+different, so different that he thrilled at the thought, and the blood
+pounded up into his throat.
+
+It may have been the unusual ardor of his gaze that warmed her cheeks
+and brought her eyes back from the world outside. At any rate, she
+turned, flashing him a startled glance that caused his pulse to leap
+anew. Her eyes widened and a flush spread slowly upward to her hair,
+then her lids drooped, as if weighted by unwonted shyness, and rising
+silently, she went past him to the piano. Never before had she
+surprised that look in his eyes, and at the realization a wave of
+confusion surged over her. She strove to calm herself through her
+music, which shielded while it gave expression to her mood, and neither
+spoke as the evening shadows crept in upon them. But the girl's
+exaltation was short-lived; the thought came that Boyd's feeling was
+but transitory; he was not the sort to burn lasting incense before more
+than one shrine. Nevertheless, at this moment he was hers, and in the
+joy of that certainty she let the moments slip.
+
+He stopped her at last, and they talked in the half-light, floating
+along together half dreamily, as if upon the bosom of some great
+current that bore them into strange regions which they dreaded yet
+longed to explore.
+
+They heard a child crying somewhere in the rear of the house, and
+Chakawana's voice soothing, then in a moment the Indian girl appeared
+in the doorway saying something about going out with Constantine.
+Cherry acquiesced half consciously, impatient of the intrusion.
+
+For a long time they talked, so completely in concord that for the most
+part their voices were low and their sentences so incomplete that they
+would have sounded incoherent and foolish to other ears. They were
+roused finally by the appreciation that it had grown very late and a
+storm was brewing. Boyd rose, and going to the door, saw that the sky
+was deeply overcast, rendering the night as dark as in a far lower
+latitude.
+
+"I've overstayed my welcome," he ventured, and smiled at her answering
+laugh.
+
+With a trace of solicitude, she said:
+
+"Wait! I'll get you a rain-coat," but he reached out a detaining hand.
+In the darkness it encountered the bare flesh of her arm.
+
+"Please don't! You'd have to strike a light to find it, and I don't
+want a light now."
+
+He was standing on the steps, with her slightly above him, and so close
+that he heard her sharp-drawn breath.
+
+"It _has_ been a pleasant evening," she said, inanely.
+
+"I saw you for the first time to-night, Cherry. I think I have begun to
+know you."
+
+Again she felt her heart leap. Reaching out to say good-bye, his hand
+slipped down over her arm, like a caress, until her palm lay in his.
+
+With trembling, gentle hands she pushed him from her; but even when the
+sound of his footsteps had died away, she stood with eyes straining
+into the gloom, in her breast a gladness so stifling that she raised
+her hands to still its tumult.
+
+Emerson, with the glow still upon him, felt a deep contentment which he
+did not trouble to analyze. It has been said that two opposite impulses
+may exist side by side in a man's mind, like two hostile armies which
+have camped close together in the night, unrevealed to each other until
+the morning. To Emerson the dawn had not yet come. He had no thought of
+disloyalty to Mildred, but, after his fashion, took the feeling of the
+moment unreflectively. His mood was averse to thought, and, moreover,
+the darkness forced him to give instant attention to his path. While
+the waters of the bay out to his right showed a ghostly gray, objects
+beneath the bluff where he walked were cloaked in impenetrable shadow.
+The air was damp with the breath of coming rain, and at rare intervals
+he caught a glimpse of the torn edges of clouds hurrying ahead of a
+wind that was yet unfelt.
+
+When the black bulk of Marsh's cannery loomed ahead of him, he left the
+gravel beach and turned up among the buildings, seeking to retrace his
+former course. He noticed that once he had left the noisy shingle, his
+feet made no sound in the soft moss. Thus it was that, as he turned the
+corner of the first building, he nearly ran against a man who was
+standing motionless against the wall. The fellow seemed as startled at
+the encounter as Emerson, and with a sharp exclamation leaped away and
+vanished into the gloom. Boyd lost no time in gaining the plank runway
+that led to the dock, and finding an angle in the building, backed into
+it and waited, half-suspecting that he had stumbled into a trap. He
+reflected that both the hour and the circumstances were unpropitious;
+for in case he should meet with foul play, Marsh might plausibly claim
+that he had been mistaken for a marauder. He determined, therefore, to
+proceed with the greatest caution. From his momentary glimpse of the
+man as he made off, he knew that he was tall and active--just the sort
+of person to prove dangerous in an encounter. But if his suspicions
+were correct there must be others close by, and Boyd wondered why he
+had heard no signal. After a breathless wait of a moment or two, he
+stole cautiously out, and, selecting the darkest shadows, slipped from
+one to another till he was caught by the sound of voices issuing from
+the yawning entrance of the main building on his right. The next moment
+his tension relaxed; one of the speakers was a woman. Evidently his
+alarm had been needless, for these people, whoever they were, made no
+effort to conceal their presence. On the contrary, the woman had raised
+her tone to a louder pitch, although her words were still
+undistinguishable.
+
+Greatly relieved, Boyd was about to go on, when a sharp cry, like a
+signal, came in the woman's voice, a cry which turned to a genuine wail
+of distress. The listener heard a man's voice cursing in answer, and
+then the sound of a scuffle, followed at length by a choking cry, that
+brought him bounding into the building. He ran forward, recklessly, but
+before he had covered half the distance he collided violently with a
+piece of machinery and went sprawling to the floor. A glance upward
+revealed the dim outlines of a "topper," and showed him farther down
+the building, silhouetted briefly against the lesser darkness of the
+windows, two struggling figures. As he regained his footing, something
+rushed past him--man or animal he could not tell which, for its feet
+made no more sound upon the floor than those of a wolf-dog. Then, as he
+bolted forward, he heard a man cry out, and found himself in the midst
+of turmoil. His hands encountered a human body, and he seized it, only
+to be hurled aside as if with a giant's strength. Again he clinched
+with a man's form, and bore it to the floor, cursing at the darkness
+and reaching for its throat. His antagonist raised his voice in wild
+clamor, while Boyd braced himself for another assault from those huge
+hands he had met a moment before. But it did not come. Instead, he
+heard a cry from the woman, an answer in a deeper voice, and then
+swift, pattering footsteps growing fainter. Meanwhile the man with whom
+he was locked was fighting desperately, with hands and feet and teeth,
+shouting hoarsely. Other footsteps sounded now, this time approaching,
+then at the door a lantern flared. A watchman came running down between
+the lines of machinery, followed by other figures half revealed.
+
+Boyd had pinned his antagonist against the cold sides of a retort at
+last, and with fingers clutched about his throat was beating his head
+violently against the iron, when by the lantern's gleam he caught one
+glimpse of the fat, purple face in front of him, and loosed his hold
+with a startled exclamation. Released from the grip that had nearly
+made an end of him, Willis Marsh staggered to his feet, then lurched
+forward as if about to fall from weakness. His eyes were staring, his
+blackened tongue protruded, while his head, battered and bleeding,
+lolled grotesquely from side to side as if in hideous merriment. His
+clothes were torn and soiled from the litter underfoot, and he
+presented a frightful picture of distress. But it was not this that
+caused Emerson the greatest astonishment. The man was wounded, badly
+wounded, as he saw by the red stream which gushed down over his breast.
+Boyd cast his eyes about for the other participants in the encounter,
+but they were nowhere visible; only an open door in the shadows close
+by hinted at the mode of their disappearance.
+
+There was a brief, noisy interval, during which Emerson was too
+astounded to attempt an answer to the questions hurled broadcast by the
+new-comers; then Marsh levelled a trembling finger at him and cried,
+hysterically:
+
+"There he is, men. He tried to murder me. I--I'm hurt. I'll have him
+arrested."
+
+The seriousness of the accusation struck the young man on the instant;
+he turned upon the group.
+
+"I didn't do that. I heard a fight going on and ran in here--"
+
+"He's a liar," the wounded man interrupted, shrilly. "He stabbed me!
+See?" He tried to strip the shirt from his wounds, then fell to
+chattering and shaking. "Oh, God! I'm hurt." He staggered to a
+packing-case and sank upon it weakly fumbling at his sodden shoulder.
+
+"I didn't do that," repeated Boyd. "I don't know who stabbed him. I
+didn't."
+
+"Then who did?" some one demanded.
+
+"What are you doing in here? You'd a killed him in a minute," said the
+man with the lantern.
+
+"We'll fix you for this," a third voice threatened.
+
+"Listen," Boyd said, in a tone to make them pause. "There has been a
+mistake here. I was passing the building when I heard a woman scream,
+and I rushed in to prevent Marsh from choking her to death."
+
+"A woman!" chorused the group.
+
+"That's what I said."
+
+"Where is she now?"
+
+"I don't know. I didn't see her at all. I grappled with the first
+person I ran into. She must have gone out as you came in." Boyd
+indicated the side door, which was still ajar.
+
+"It's a lie," screamed Marsh.
+
+"It's the truth," stoutly maintained Emerson, "and there was a man with
+her, too. Who was she, Marsh? Who was the man?"
+
+"She--she--I don't know."
+
+"Don't lie."
+
+"I'm hurt," reiterated the stricken man, feebly. Then, seeing the
+bewilderment in the faces about him, he burst out anew: "Don't stand
+there like a lot of fools. Why don't you get him?"
+
+"If I stabbed him I must have had a knife," Emerson said, again
+checking the forward movement. "You may search me if you like. See?" He
+opened his coat and displayed his belt.
+
+"He's got a six-shooter," some one said.
+
+"Yes, and I may use it," said Emerson, quietly.
+
+"Maybe he dropped the knife," said the watchman, and began to search
+about the floor, followed by the others.
+
+"It may have been the woman herself who stabbed Mr. Marsh," offered
+Emerson. "He was strangling her when I arrived."
+
+Roused by this statement to a fresh denial, Marsh cried out:
+
+"I tell you there wasn't any woman."
+
+"And there isn't any knife either," Emerson sneered.
+
+The men paused uncertainly. Seeing that they were undecided whether to
+believe him or his assailant, Marsh went on:
+
+"If he hasn't a knife, then he must have had a friend with him--"
+
+"Then tell your men what we were doing in here and how you came to be
+alone with us in the dark." Emerson stared at his accuser curiously,
+but the Trust's manager seemed at a loss. "See here, Marsh, if you will
+tell us whom you were choking, maybe we can get at the truth of this
+affair."
+
+Without answering, Marsh rose, and, leaning upon the watchman's arm,
+said:
+
+"Help me up to the house. I'm hurt. Send the launch to the upper plant
+for John; he knows something about medicine." With no further word, he
+made his way out of the building, followed by the mystified fishermen.
+
+No one undertook to detain Emerson, and he went his way, wondering what
+lay back of the night's adventure. He racked his brain for a hint as to
+the identity of the woman and the reason of her presence alone with
+Marsh in such a place. Again he thought of that mysterious third person
+whose movements had been so swift and furious, but his conjectures left
+him more at sea than ever. Of one thing he felt sure. It was not enmity
+alone that prompted Marsh to accuse him of the stabbing. The man was
+concealing something, in deadly fear of the truth, for rather than
+submit to questioning he had let his enemy go scot-free.
+
+Suddenly Boyd paused in his walk, recalling again the shadowy outlines
+of the figure with whom he had so nearly collided on his way up from
+the beach. There was something familiar about it, he mused; then, with
+a low whistle of surprise, he smote his palms together. He began to see
+dimly.
+
+For more than an hour the young man paced back and forth before the
+door of his sleeping-quarters, so deeply immersed in thought that only
+the breaking storm drove him within. When at last he retired, it was
+with the certainty that this night had placed a new weapon in his hand;
+but of what tremendous value it was destined to prove, he little knew.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+THE SILVER HORDE
+
+
+The main body of salmon struck into the Kalvik River on the first day
+of July. For a week past the run had been slowly growing, while the
+canneries tested themselves, but on the opening day of the new month
+the horde issued boldly forth from the depths of the sea, and the
+battle began in earnest. They came during the hush of the dawn, a mad,
+crowding throng from No Man's Land, to wake the tide-rips and people
+the shimmering reaches of the bay, lashing them to sudden life and
+fury. Outside, the languorous ocean heaved as smiling and serene as
+ever, but within the harbor a wondrous change occurred.
+
+As if in answer to some deep-sea signal, the tides were quickened by a
+coursing multitude, steadfast and unafraid, yet foredoomed to die by
+the hand of man, or else more surely by the serving of their destiny.
+Clad in their argent mail of blue and green, they worked the bay to
+madness; they overwhelmed the waters, surging forward in great droves
+and columns, hesitating only long enough to frolic with the shifting
+currents, as if rejoicing in their strength and beauty.
+
+At times they swam with cleaving fins exposed: again they churned the
+placid waters until swift combers raced across the shallow bars like
+tidal waves while the deeper channels were shot through with shadowy
+forms or pierced by the lightning glint of silvered bellies. They
+streamed in with the flood tide to retreat again with the ebb, but
+there was neither haste nor caution in their progress; they had come in
+answer to the breeding call of the sea, and its exultation was upon
+them, driving them relentlessly onward. They had no voice against its
+overmastering spell.
+
+Mustering in the early light like a swarm of giant white-winged moths,
+the fishing-boats raced forth with the flowing tide, urged by sweep and
+sail and lusty sinews. Paying out their hundred-fathom nets, they
+drifted over the banks like flocks of resting sea-gulls, only to come
+ploughing back again deep laden with their spoils. Grimy tugboats lay
+beside the traps, shrilling the air with creaking winches as they
+"brailed" the struggling fish, a half-ton at a time, from the "pounds,"
+now churned to milky foam by the ever-growing throng of prisoners; and
+all the time the big plants gulped the sea harvest, faster and faster,
+clanking and gnashing their metal jaws, while the mounds of salmon lay
+hip-deep to the crews that fed the butchering machines.
+
+The time had come for man to take his toll.
+
+Now dawned a period of feverish activity wherein no one might rest
+short of actual exhaustion. Haste became the cry, and comfort fled.
+
+At Emerson's cannery there fell a sudden panic, for fifty fishermen
+quit. Returning from the banks on the night before the run started,
+they stacked their gear and notified Boyd Emerson of their
+determination. Then, despite his utmost efforts to dissuade them, they
+took their packs upon their shoulders and marched up the beach to
+Willis Marsh's plant. Larsen, the day-foreman, acted as their
+spokesman, and Boyd recognized, too late, the result of that
+conversation he had interrupted on the night of his visit to Cherry.
+
+This defection diminished his boat-crew by more than half, and while
+the shoremen stoutly maintained their loyalty, the chance of putting up
+a pack seemed lost. Success or failure in the Behring Sea fisheries may
+depend upon the loss of a day. Emerson found himself facing a situation
+more desperate than any heretofore; Marsh had delayed the execution of
+his plans until the run had started, and there was no possibility of
+recruiting a new force. Alarmed beyond measure, Boyd swallowed his
+pride and went straightway to his enemy. He found Marsh well recovered
+from his flesh-wound of a week or more before, yet extremely cautious
+for his safety, as he evidenced by conducting the interview before
+witnesses.
+
+"We are short-handed, and I gave instructions to secure every available
+man," he announced at the conclusion of Emerson's story. "It is not my
+fault if your men prefer to work for me."
+
+"Then you force me to retaliate," said Boyd. "I shall hire your men out
+from under you."
+
+Marsh laughed provokingly.
+
+"Try it! I am a good organizer if nothing else. If you send emissaries
+to my plants, it will cause certain violence--and I think you had
+better avoid that, for we outnumber you ten to one."
+
+Stormy accusations and retorts followed, till Emerson left the place in
+helpless disgust.
+
+Nor had he hit upon any method of relief when Cherry came down to the
+plant on the following morning, though he and Big George had spent the
+night in conference. She lost no time in futile indignation, but
+inquired straightway:
+
+"What are you doing about it? The fish have begun to run, and you can't
+afford to lose an hour."
+
+"I have sent a man to each of the other plants to hire fishermen at any
+price, but I have no hope that they will succeed. Marsh has his crews
+too well in hand for that."
+
+Cherry nodded. "They wouldn't dare quit him now. He'd never let them
+return to this country if they did. Meanwhile, the rest of your force
+is on the banks, I presume."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"How many boats have you?"
+
+"Ten."
+
+"Heavens! And this is the first day of the run! It looks bad, doesn't
+it? Has the trap begun to fill?"
+
+"No. George is down there now. I guess Marsh succeeded in corking it.
+Meanwhile all the other plants are working while my Chinks are playing
+fan-tan."
+
+Cherry gazed curiously at her companion, to see how he accepted this
+latest shift of fortune. She knew that it spelled disaster; for a light
+catch, with the tremendous financial loss entailed, would not only mean
+difficulty with Hilliard's loan, but other complications impossible to
+forecast. Her mind sped onward to the effect of a failure upon Boyd's
+private affairs. He had told her in unmistakable terms that this was
+his last chance, the final hope upon which hung the realization of his
+dreams. In some way his power to hold Mildred Wayland was bound up with
+his financial success. If he should lose her, where would he turn? she
+asked herself, and something within her answered that he would look for
+consolation to the woman who had stood at his shoulder all these weary
+months. Sudden emotion swept over her at the thought. What cared she
+for his success or failure? He was the one man she had ever known, the
+mate for whom she had been moulded. If this were his last chance, it
+promised to be the opportunity she had so long awaited; for once that
+other was out of his mind, Cherry felt that he would turn to her. She
+knew it intuitively, knew it from the light she had seen in his eyes
+that night at her house, knew it by the promptings of her own heart at
+this moment. She began to tremble, and felt her breast swelling with a
+glad determination; but he interrupted her flight of fancy with a sigh
+of such hopeless weariness that her pity rose instinctively. He gave
+her a sad little smile as he said:
+
+"I seem to bring misfortune upon every one connected with me, don't I?
+I'm afraid I'm a poor sort."
+
+How boyish he was, the girl thought tenderly, yet how splendidly brave
+he had been throughout the fight! There was a voiceless, maternal
+yearning in her heart as she asked him, gravely:
+
+"If you fail now, it will mean--the end of everything, will it not?"
+
+"Yes." He squared his tired shoulders. "But I am not beaten yet. You
+taught me never to give up, Cherry. If I have to go back home without a
+catch and see Hilliard take this plant over, why--I'll begin once more
+at something new, and some day I will succeed. But I sha'n't give up.
+I'll can what salmon we catch and then begin all over again next
+season."
+
+"And--suppose you don't succeed? Suppose Hilliard won't carry you?"
+
+"Then I shall try something else; maybe I shall go to mining again, I
+don't know. Anyhow, _she_ would not let me grow disheartened if she
+were here, she wouldn't let me quit. She isn't that sort."
+
+Cherry Malotte stirred and shifted her gaze uncertainly to the gleaming
+bay. Abreast of them the fleet of fishing-boats were drifting with the
+tide; in the distance others were dotted, clear away to where the opal
+ocean lay. A tug was passing, and she saw the sun flash from the cargo
+in its tow, while the faint echo of a song came wafting to her ears.
+She stood so for a long moment, fighting manfully with herself, then
+wheeled upon him suddenly. There was a new tone in her voice as she
+said:
+
+"If you will let me have one of your launches, I may be able to help
+you."
+
+"How?" he demanded, quickly.
+
+"Never mind how--it's a long chance and hardly worth trying, but--may I
+take the boat?"
+
+"Certainly," said he, "there's one lying at the dock."
+
+He led her to the shore and saw her aboard, then waved good-bye and
+walked moodily back to the office, gratified that she should try to
+help him, yet certain that she could not succeed where he and George
+had failed.
+
+"Fingerless" Fraser had breakfasted late, as was his luxurious custom,
+and shortly before noon, in the course of his dissatisfied meanderings,
+he found his friend in the office, lost in sombre thought. It was the
+first time in many weeks that he had seen this mood in Boyd, and after
+a fruitless effort to make him talk, he fell into his old habit of
+imaginary reading, droning away to himself as if from a printed page:
+
+"'Your stay among us has not been very pleasant, has it?' Mr. Emerson
+inquired.
+
+"'Not so that you could notice it," replied our hero. 'I don't like
+fish, and I never did.'
+
+"'That is the result of prejudice; the fish is a noble animal,' Mr.
+Emerson declared.
+
+"'He's not an animal at all,' our hero gently corrected. 'He's a biped,
+a regular wild biped without either love of home or affection for his
+children. The salmon is of a low order of intelligence, and has a Queen
+Anne slant to his roof. No person with a retreating forehead like that
+knows very much. The only other member of the animal kingdom that is as
+foolish as the salmon is Alton Clyde. The fish has got a shade the best
+of it over him; but as for friendship and the gentler emotions--why,
+the salmon hasn't got them at all. The only thing he's got is a million
+eggs and a sense of direction. If he had a spark of intelligence he'd
+lay one egg a year, like a hen, and thus live for a million years. But
+does he? Not on your Sarony! He's a spendthrift, and turns his eggs
+loose--a hatful at a time. He's worse than a shotgun. And then, too,
+he's as clannish as a Harvard graduate, and don't associate with nobody
+out of his own set. No, sir! Give me a warm-blooded animal that suckles
+its young. I'll take a farmer, every time.'
+
+"'These are points I had never considered,' said Mr. Emerson, 'but
+every business has its drawbacks, you'll agree. If I have failed as a
+host, what can I do to entertain you while you grace our midst?'
+
+"'You can do most anything,' remarked his handsome companion, 'You can
+climb a tree, or do anything except fish all the time.'
+
+"'But it is a dark night without, and I fear some mischief is afoot!'
+
+"'True! But yonder beautcheous gel--'"
+
+Roused by the familiarity of these lines, Emerson looked up from his
+preoccupation and smiled at Fraser's serious pantomime.
+
+"Am I as bad as all that?" he inquired, with an effort at pleasantry.
+
+"You're worse, Bo! I guess you didn't know I was here, eh?"
+
+"No. By-the-way, what about that 'beautcheous gel and the mischief that
+is afoot? What is the rest of the story?"
+
+"I don't know. I never got past that place. Say! If I had time, I'll
+bet I could write a good book. I've got plenty to say."
+
+"Why don't you try it?"
+
+"Too busy!" yawned the adventurer, lazily. "Gee, this is a lonesome
+burg! Kalvik is sure out in the tall grass, ain't it? I feel as if I'd
+like to break a pane of glass. Let's start something."
+
+"I don't find it particularly dull at the present moment." Boyd rose
+and began to pace the room.
+
+"Oh, I heard all about your trouble. I just left the pest-house."
+
+"The what?"
+
+"The pest-house--Clyde's joint. Ain't he a calamity?"
+
+"In what way?"
+
+"Is there any way in which he ain't?"
+
+"You don't like him, do you?"
+
+"No, I don't," declared "Fingerless" Fraser stoutly, "and what's more
+I'm glad I don't like him. Because if I liked him, I'd associate with
+him, and I hate him."
+
+"What's the matter?"
+
+"Well, I like silence and quietude--I'm a fool about my quiet--but
+Clyde--" he paused, as if in search for suitable expression. "Well,
+whenever I try to say anything he interrupts me." After another pause
+he went on: "He's dead sore on this place, too, and whines around like
+a litter of pups. He says he was misled into coming up here, and has a
+hunch he's going to lose his bank-roll."
+
+"Last night's episode frightened him, I dare say."
+
+"Yes. Ever since he got that wallop on the burr in Seattle a guinea pig
+could lick him hand to hand. You'd think that ten thou' he put up was
+all the wealth of the Inkers."
+
+"The wealth of what?"
+
+"Inkers! That's a tribe of rich Mexicans. However, I suppose I'd hang
+to my coin the same way he does if I had a mayonnaise head like his.
+He's an awful shine as a business-man."
+
+"So he's homesick, eh?"
+
+"Sure! Offered to sell me his stock." Fraser threw back his head and
+gave vent to one of his rare laughs. "Ain't that a rave?"
+
+"Here he comes now," Boyd announced, with a glance out the window, and
+the next instant Alton Clyde entered, a picture of dejection.
+
+"Gee! This is fierce, isn't it?" the club-man began, flinging himself
+into the nearest chair. "They tell me it's all off, finally. What are
+you going to do?"
+
+"Put up what fish I can with a short crew," said Boyd.
+
+"We'll lose a lot of money."
+
+"Probably."
+
+Clyde's tone was querulous as he continued:
+
+"I'm sorry I ever went into this thing. You bet if I had known as much
+in Chicago as I know now, I would have hung on to my money and stayed
+at home."
+
+"You knew as much as we did," Boyd declared, curtly.
+
+"Oh, it's all right for you to talk. You haven't risked any coin in the
+deal, but I'm a rotten businessman, and I'll never make my ante back
+again if I lose it."
+
+"Don't whine about it," said Boyd, stiffly. "You can at least be game
+and lose like a man."
+
+"Then we _are_ going to lose, eh?" queried Clyde, in a scared voice. "I
+thought maybe you had a plan. Look here," he began an instant later,
+"Cherry pulled us out once before, why don't you let her see what she
+can do with Marsh?"
+
+Boyd scanned the speaker's face sharply before speaking.
+
+"What do you mean by that?"
+
+"I mean she can work him if she tries, the same way she worked
+Hilliard."
+
+"Marsh isn't in the mood to listen to arguments. I have tried that."
+
+"Who said anything about arguments? You know what I mean."
+
+"I don't care to listen to that sort of talk."
+
+"Why not? I'm entitled to have my say in things." Clyde was growing
+indignant. "I put in ten thousand of my own money and twenty-five
+thousand besides, on your assurances. That's thirty-five thousand more
+than you put up--"
+
+"Nevertheless, it doesn't give you the right to insult the girl."
+
+"Insult her! Bah! You're no fool, Boyd. Why did Hilliard advance that
+loan?"
+
+"Because he wanted to, I dare say."
+
+"What's the use of keeping that up? You know as well as I do that she
+worked him, and worked him well. She'd do it again if you asked her.
+She'd do anything for you."
+
+Boyd broke out roughly: "I tell you. I've heard enough of that talk,
+Alton. Anybody but an idiot would know that Cherry is far too good for
+what you suggest. And when you insult her, you insult me."
+
+"Oh, she's _good_ enough," said Clyde. "They're all good, but not
+perhaps in the way you mean--"
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"_I_ don't know, but Fraser does. He's known her for years. Haven't
+you, Fraser?" But the adventurer's face was like wood as they turned
+toward him.
+
+"I don't know nothing," replied "Fingerless" Fraser, with an admirable
+show of ignorance.
+
+"Well, judge for yourself." Clyde turned again to Emerson. "Who is she?
+Where did she come from? What is she doing here alone? Answer that.
+Now, she's interested in this deal just as much as any of us, and if
+you don't ask her to take a hand, I'm going to put it up to her myself."
+
+"You'll do nothing of the sort!" Boyd cried, savagely.
+
+Clyde rose hastily, and his voice was shaking with excitement as he
+stammered:
+
+"See here, Boyd, you're to blame for this trouble, and now you either
+get us out of it or buy my stock."
+
+"You know that I can't buy your stock."
+
+"Then I'll sell wherever I can. I've been stung, and I want my money.
+Only remember, I offered the stock to you first."
+
+"You've got a swell chance to make a turn in Kalvik," said Fraser. "Why
+don't you take it to Marsh?"
+
+"I will!" declared Alton.
+
+"You wouldn't do a trick like that?" Emerson questioned, quickly.
+
+"Why not? You won't listen to my advice. You're playing with other
+people's money, and it doesn't matter, to you whether you win or lose.
+If this enterprise fails, I suppose you can promote another."
+
+"Get out!" Boyd ordered, in such a tone that the speaker obeyed with
+ludicrous haste.
+
+"Fingerless" Fraser broke the silence that fell upon the young man's
+exit.
+
+"He's a nice little feller! I never knew one of those narrow-chested,
+five-o'clock-tea-drinkers that was on the level. He's got eighteen
+fancy vests, and wears a handkerchief up his sleeve. That put him in
+the end book with me, to start with."
+
+"Did you know Cherry before you came to Kalvik?" Boyd asked, searching
+his companion's face with a look the man could not evade.
+
+"Only casual."
+
+"Where?"
+
+"Nome--the year of the big rush."
+
+"During the mining troubles, eh?"
+
+"Sure."
+
+"What was she doing?"
+
+"Minding her business. She's good at that." Fraser's eyes had become
+green and fishy, as usual.
+
+"What do you know about her?"
+
+"Well, I know that a lot of fellows would 'go through' for her at the
+drop of a hat. She could have most anything they've got, I guess. Most
+any of them miners at Nome would give his right eye, or his only child,
+or any little thing like that if she asked it."
+
+"What else?"
+
+"Well, she was always considered a right good-looking party--"
+
+"Yes, yes, of course. But what do you know about the girl herself? Who
+is she? What is her history?"
+
+"Now, sir, I'm an awful poor detective," confessed "Fingerless" Fraser.
+"I've often noticed that about myself. If I was the kind that goes
+snooping around into other people's business, listening to all the
+gossip I'm told, I'd make a good witness. But I ain't. No, sir! I'm a
+rotten witness."
+
+Despite this indirect rebuke, Boyd might have continued his questioning
+had not George Balt's heavy step sounded outside. A moment later the
+big fellow entered.
+
+"What did you find at the traps?" asked Emerson, eagerly.
+
+"Nothing." George spoke shortly. "The fish struck in this morning, but
+our trap is corked." He wrenched off his rubber boots and flung them
+savagely under a bench.
+
+"What luck with the boats?"
+
+"Not much. Marsh's men are trying to surround our gill-netters, and we
+ain't got enough boats to protect ourselves." He looked up meaningly
+from under his heavy brows, and inquired: "How much longer are we going
+to stand for this?"
+
+"What do you mean? I've got men out hunting for new hands."
+
+"You know what I mean," the giant rumbled, his red eyes flaming. "You
+and I can get Willis Marsh."
+
+Emerson shot a quick glance at Fraser, who was staring fixedly at Big
+George.
+
+"He's got us right enough, and it's bound to come to a killing some
+day, so the sooner the better," the fisherman ran on. "We can get him
+to-night if you say so. Are you in on it?"
+
+Boyd faced the window slowly, while the others followed him with
+anxious eyes. Inside the room a death-like silence settled. In the
+distance they heard the sound of the canning machinery, a sound that
+was now a mockery. To Balt this last disaster was the culmination of a
+persecution so pitiless and unflagging that its very memory filled his
+simple mind with the fury of a goaded animal. To his companion it
+meant, almost certainly, the loss of Mildred Wayland--the girl who
+stood for his pride in himself and all that he held most desirable. He
+thought bitterly of all the suffering and hardship, the hunger of body
+and soul, that he had endured for her sake. Again he saw his hopes
+crumbling and his dreams about to fade; once more he felt his foothold
+giving way beneath him, as it had done so often in the past, and he was
+filled with sullen hate. Something told him that he would never have
+the heart to try again, and the thought left him cold with rage.
+
+Ever since those fishermen had walked out on the evening before, he had
+clung to the feeble hope that once the run began in earnest, George's
+trap would fill and save the situation; but now that the salmon had
+struck in and the trap was useless, his discouragement was complete;
+for there were no idle men in Kalvik, and there was no way of getting
+help. Moreover, Mildred Wayland was soon to arrive--the yacht was
+expected daily--and she would find him a failure. What was worse, she
+would find that Marsh had vanquished him. She had kept her faith in
+him, he reflected, but a woman's faith could hardly survive
+humiliation, and it was not in human nature to lean forever upon a
+broken reed. She would turn elsewhere--perhaps to the very man who had
+contrived his undoing. At thought of this, a sort of desperation seemed
+to master him; he began to mutter aloud.
+
+"What did you say?" queried Balt.
+
+"I said that you are right. The time is close at hand for some sort of
+a reckoning," answered Boyd, in a harsh, strained voice.
+
+"Good!"
+
+Emerson was upon the point of turning when his eyes fell upon a picture
+that made him start, then gaze more intently. Out upon the placid
+waters, abreast of the plant, the launch in which Cherry had departed
+was approaching, and it was loaded down with men. Not only were they
+crowded upon the craft itself, but trailing behind it, like the tail of
+a kite, was a long line of canoes, and these also were peopled.
+
+"Look yonder!" cried Boyd.
+
+"What?"
+
+"Cherry has got--a crew!" His voice broke, and he bolted toward the
+door as Big George leaped to the window.
+
+"Injuns, by God!" shouted the giant, and without stopping to stamp his
+feet into his boots, he rushed out barefoot after Boyd and Fraser;
+together, the three men reached the dock in time to help Cherry up the
+ladder.
+
+"What does this mean?" Boyd asked her, breathlessly. "Will these
+fellows work?"
+
+"That's what they're here for," said the girl. After her swarmed a
+crowd of slant-eyed, copper-hued Aleuts; those in the kyaks astern cast
+off and paddled toward the beach.
+
+"I've got fifty men, the best on the river; I tried to get more,
+but--there aren't any more."
+
+"Fingerless" Fraser slapped himself resoundingly upon the thigh and
+exploded profanely; Boyd seized the girl's hands in his and wrung them.
+
+"Cherry, you're a treasure!" The memory of his desperate resolution of
+a moment before swept over him suddenly, and his voice trembled with a
+great thankfulness.
+
+"Don't thank me!" Cherry exclaimed. "It was more Constantine's work
+than mine."
+
+"But I don't understand. These are Marsh's men."
+
+"To be sure, but I was good to them when they were hungry last winter,
+and I prevailed upon them to come. They aren't very good fishermen;
+they're awfully lazy, and they won't work half as hard as white men,
+but it's the best I could do." She laughed gladly, more than repaid by
+the look in her companion's face. "Now, get me some lunch. I'm fairly
+starved."
+
+Big George, when he had fully grasped the situation, became the boss
+fisherman on the instant; before the others had reached the cook-house
+he was busied in laying out his crews and distributing his gear. The
+impossible had happened; victory was in sight; the fish were
+running--he cared to know no more.
+
+That night the floors of the fish-dock groaned beneath a weight of
+silver-sided salmon piled waist-high to a tall man. All through the
+cool, dim-lit hours the ranks of Chinese butchers hacked and slit and
+slashed with swift, sure, tireless strokes, while the great building
+echoed hollowly to the clank of machines and the hissing sighs of the
+soldering-furnaces.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+IN WHICH MORE PLANS ARE LAID
+
+
+It seemed to Boyd that he had never felt such elation as during the
+days that followed. He trod upon air, his head was in the clouds. He
+joked with his men, inspiring them with his own good-humor and untiring
+energy. He was never idle save during the odd hours that he snatched
+for sleep. He covered the plant from top to bottom, and no wheel
+stopped turning, no mechanical device gave way, without his instant
+attention. So urgent was he that George Balt became desperate; for the
+Indians were not like white men, and proved a sad trial to the big
+fellow, who was accustomed to drive his crews with the cruelty of a
+convict foreman. Despite his utmost endeavors, he could not keep the
+plant running to capacity, and in his zeal he took the blame wholly
+upon himself.
+
+While the daily output was disappointing, Emerson drew consolation from
+the prospect that his pack would be large enough at least to avert
+utter ruin, and he argued that once he had won through this first
+season no power that Marsh could bring to bear would serve to crush
+him. He saw a moderate success ahead, if not the overwhelming victory
+upon which he had counted.
+
+Up at the Trust's headquarters Willis Marsh was in a fine fury. As far
+as possible, his subordinates avoided him. His superintendents,
+summoned from their work, emerged from the red-painted office on the
+hill with dampened brows and frightened glances over their shoulders.
+Many of them held their places through services that did not show upon
+the Company's books, but now they shook their heads and swore that some
+things were beyond them.
+
+Except for one step on Emerson's part, Marsh would have rested secure,
+and let time work out his enemy's downfall; but Boyd's precaution in
+contracting to sell his output in advance threatened to defeat him.
+Otherwise, Marsh would simply have cut down his rival's catch to the
+lowest point, and then broken the market in the fall. With the Trust's
+tremendous resources back of him, he could have afforded to hammer down
+the price of fish to a point where Emerson would either have been
+ruined or forced to carry his pack for a year, and in this course he
+would have been upheld by Wayne Wayland. But as matters stood, such
+tactics could only result in a serious loss to the brokers who had
+agreed to take Boyd's catch, and to the Trust itself. It was therefore
+necessary to work the young man's undoing here and now.
+
+Marsh knew that he had already wasted too much time in Kalvik, for he
+was needed at other points far to the southward; but he could not bear
+to leave this fight to other hands. Moreover, he was anxiously awaiting
+the arrival of _The Grande Dame,_ with Mildred and her father. One
+square of the calendar over his desk was marked in red, and the sight
+of it gave him fresh determination.
+
+On the third day after Boyd's deliverance, Constantine sought him out,
+in company with several of the native fishermen, translating their
+demand to be paid for the fish they had caught.
+
+"Can't they wait until the end of the week?" Emerson inquired.
+
+"No! They got no money--they got no grub. They say little baby is
+hongry, and they like money now. So soon they buy grub, they work some
+more."
+
+"Very well. Here's an order on the book-keeper."
+
+Boyd tore a leaf from his note-book and wrote a few words on it,
+telling the men to present it at the office. As Constantine was about
+to leave, he called to him:
+
+"Wait! I want to talk with you."
+
+The breed halted.
+
+"How long have you known Mr. Marsh?"
+
+"Me know him long time."
+
+"Do you like him?"
+
+A flicker ran over the fellow's coppery face as he replied:
+
+"Yes. Him good man."
+
+"You used to work for him, did you not?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Why did you quit?"
+
+Constantine hesitated slightly before answering: "Me go work for
+Cherry."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"She good to my little broder. You savvy little chil'ren--so big?"
+
+"Yes. I've seen him. He's a fine little fellow. By the way, do you
+remember that night about two weeks ago when I was at Cherry's
+house?--the night you and your sister went out?"
+
+"I 'member."
+
+"Where did you go?"
+
+Constantine shifted his walrus-soled boots. "What for you ask?"
+
+"Never mind! Where did you go when you left the house?"
+
+"Me go Indian village. What for you ask?"
+
+"Nothing. Only--if you ever have any trouble with Mr. Marsh, I may be
+able to help you. I like you--and I don't like him."
+
+The breed grunted unintelligibly, and was about to leave when Boyd
+reached forth suddenly and plucked the fellow's sheath-knife from its
+scabbard. With a startled cry, Constantine whirled, his face convulsed,
+his nostrils dilated like those of a frightened horse; but Emerson
+merely fingered the weapon carelessly, remarking:
+
+"That is a curious knife you have. I have noticed it several times." He
+eyed him shrewdly for a moment, then handed the blade back with a
+smile. Constantine slipped it into its place, and strode away without a
+word.
+
+It was considerably later in the day when Boyd discovered the Indians
+to whom he had given the note talking excitedly on the dock. Seeing
+Constantine in argument with them, he approached to demand an
+explanation, whereupon the quarter-breed held out a silver dollar in
+his palm with the words:
+
+"These men say this money no good."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"It no good. No can buy grub at Company store."
+
+Boyd saw that the group was eying him suspiciously.
+
+"Nonsense! What's the matter with it?"
+
+"Storekeeper laugh and say it come from you. He say, take it back. He
+no sell my people any flour."
+
+It was evident that even Constantine was vaguely distrustful.
+
+Another native extended a coin, saying;
+
+"We want money like this."
+
+Boyd took the piece and examined it, whereupon a light broke upon him.
+The coin was stamped with the initials of one of the old fishing
+companies, and he instantly recognized a ruse practiced in the North
+during the days of the first trading concerns. It had been the custom
+of these companies to pay their Indians in coins bearing their own
+impress and to refuse all other specie at their posts, thus compelling
+the natives to trade at company stores. By carefully building up this
+system they had obtained a monopoly of Indian labor, and it was evident
+that Marsh and his associates had robbed the Aleuts in the same manner
+during the days before the consolidation. Boyd saw at once the cause of
+the difficulty and undertook to explain it, but he had small success,
+for the Indians had learned a hard lesson and were loath to put
+confidence in the white man's promises. Seeing that his words carried
+no conviction, Emerson gave up at last, saying:
+
+"If the Company store won't take this money, I'll sell you whatever you
+need from the commissary. We are not going to have any trouble over a
+little thing like this."
+
+He marched the natives in a body to the storehouse, where he saw to it
+that they received what provisions they needed and assisted them in
+loading their canoes.
+
+But his amusement at the episode gave way to uneasiness on the
+following morning when the Aleuts failed to report for work, and by
+noon his anxiety resolved itself into strong suspicion.
+
+Balt had returned from the banks earlier in the morning with news of a
+struggle between his white crew and Marsh's men. George's boats had
+been surrounded during the night, nets had been cut, and several
+encounters had occurred, resulting in serious injury to his men. The
+giant, in no amiable mood, had returned for reinforcements, stating
+that the situation was becoming more serious every hour. Hearing of the
+desertion of the natives, he burst into profanity, then armed himself
+and returned to the banks, while Boyd, now thoroughly alarmed, took a
+launch and sped up the river to Cherry's house, in the hope that she
+could prevail upon her own recruits to return.
+
+He found the girl ready to accompany him, and they were about to embark
+when Chakawana came running from the house as if in sudden fright.
+
+"Where you go?" she asked her mistress.
+
+"I am going to the Indian village. You stay here--"
+
+"No, no! I no stop here alone. I go 'long too." She cast a glance over
+her shoulder.
+
+"But, Chakawana, what is the matter? Are you afraid?"
+
+"Yes." Chakawana nodded her pretty head vigorously.
+
+"What are you afraid of?" Boyd asked; but she merely stared at him with
+eyes as black and round as ox-heart cherries, then renewed her
+entreaty. When she had received permission and had hurried back to the
+house, her mistress remarked, with a puzzled frown:
+
+"I don't know what to make of her. She and Constantine have been acting
+very strangely of late. She used to be the happiest sort of creature,
+always laughing and singing, but she has changed entirely during the
+last few weeks. Both she and Constantine are forever whispering to each
+other and skulking about, until I am getting nervous myself." Then as
+the Indian girl came flying back with her tiny baby brother in her
+arms, Cherry added: "She's pretty, isn't she? I can't bear ugly people
+around me."
+
+At the native village, in spite of every effort she and Boyd could
+make, the Indians refused to go back to work. Many of them, so they
+learned, had already reported to the other canneries, evidently still
+doubtful of Emerson's assurances, and afraid to run the risk of
+offending their old employers. Those who were left were lazy fellows
+who did not care to work under any circumstances; these merely
+listened, then shrugged their shoulders and walked away.
+
+"Since they can't use your money at the store, they don't seem to care
+whether it is good or not," Cherry announced, after a time.
+
+"I'll give them enough provisions to last them all winter," Boyd
+offered, irritated beyond measure at such stupidity. "Tell them to move
+the whole blamed village down to my place, women and all. I'll take
+care of them." But after an hour of futile cajolery, he was forced to
+give up, realizing that Marsh had been at work again, frightening these
+simple people by threats of vengeance and starvation.
+
+"You can't blame the poor things. They have learned to fear the hand of
+the companies, and to know that they are absolutely dependent upon the
+cannery stores during the winter. But it's maddening!" She stamped her
+foot angrily. "And I was so proud of my work. I thought I had really
+done something to help at last. But I don't know what more we can do.
+I've reached the end of my rope."
+
+"So have I," he confessed. "Even with those fifty Aleuts, we weren't
+running at more than half capacity, but we were making a showing at
+least. Now!" He flung up his hands in a gesture of despair. "George is
+in trouble, as usual. Marsh's men have cut our nets, and the yacht may
+arrive at any time."
+
+"The yacht! What yacht?"
+
+"Mr. Wayland's yacht. He is making a tour of this coast with the other
+officers of the Trust and--Mildred."
+
+"Is--is she coming here?" demanded Cherry, in a strained voice.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Why didn't you tell me?"
+
+"I don't know, I didn't think you would be interested."
+
+"So she can't wait? She is so eager that she follows you from Chicago
+clear up into this wilderness. Then you won't need my assistance any
+more, will you?" Her lids drooped, half hiding her eyes, and her face
+hardened.
+
+"Of course I shall need your help. Her coming won't make any
+difference."
+
+"It strikes me that you have allowed me to make a fool of myself long
+enough," said Cherry, angrily. "Here I have been breaking my heart over
+this enterprise, while you have known all the time that she was coming.
+Why, you have merely used me--and George, and all the rest of us, for
+that matter--" She laughed harshly.
+
+"You don't understand," said Boyd. "Miss Wayland--"
+
+"Oh yes, I do. I dare say it will gratify her to straighten out your
+troubles. A word from her lips and your worries will vanish like a
+mist. Let us acknowledge ourselves beaten and beg her to save us."
+
+Boyd shook his head in negation, but she gave him no time for speech.
+
+"It seems that you wanted to pose as a hero before her, and employed us
+to build up your triumph. Well, I am glad we failed. I'm glad Willis
+Marsh showed you how very helpless you are. Let her come to your rescue
+now. I'm through. Do you understand? I'm through!"
+
+Emerson gazed at her in astonishment, the outburst had been so
+unexpected, but he realized that he owed her too much to take offence.
+
+"Miss Wayland will take no hand in my affairs. I doubt if she will even
+realize what this trouble is all about," he said, a trifle stiffly. "I
+suppose I did want to play the hero, and I dare say I did use you and
+the others, but you knew that all the time."
+
+"Why won't she help you?" queried Cherry. "Doesn't she care enough
+about you? Doesn't she know enough to understand your plight?"
+
+"Yes, but this is my fight, and I've got to make good without her
+assistance. She isn't the sort to marry a failure, and she has left me
+to make my own way. Besides, she would not dare go contrary to her
+father's wishes, even if she desired--that is part of her education.
+Oh, Wayne Wayland's opposition isn't all I have had to overcome. I have
+had to show his daughter that I am one of her own kind, for she hates
+weakness."
+
+"And you think that woman loves you! Why, she isn't a woman at all--she
+doesn't know what love means. When a woman loves, do you imagine she
+cares for money or fame or success? If I cared for a man, do you think
+I'd stop to ask my father if I might marry him or wait for my lover to
+prove himself worthy of me? Do you think I'd send him through the hell
+you have suffered to try his metal?" She laughed outright. "Why, I'd
+become what he was, and I'd fight with him. I'd give him all I
+had--money, position, friends, influence; if my people objected, I'd
+tell them to go hang, I'd give them up and join him! I'd use every
+dollar, every wile and feminine device that I possessed in his service.
+When a woman loves, she doesn't care what the world says; the man may
+be a weakling, or worse, but he is still her lover, and she will go to
+him."
+
+The words had come tumbling forth until Cherry was forced to pause for
+breath.
+
+"You don't understand," said Boyd. "You are primitive; you have lived
+in the open; she is exactly your opposite. Conservatism is bred in her,
+and she can't help her nature. It was hard even for me to understand at
+first; but when I saw her life, when I saw how she had been reared from
+childhood, I understood perfectly. I would not have her other than she
+is; it is enough for me to know that in her own way she cares for me."
+
+Cherry tossed her head in derision. "For my part, I prefer red blood to
+sap, and when I love I want to know it--I don't want to have it proved
+to me like a problem in geometry. I want to love and hate, and do wild,
+impulsive things against my own judgment."
+
+"Have you ever loved in that way?" he inquired, abruptly.
+
+"Yes," she answered, without hesitation, looking him squarely in the
+eye with an expression he could not fathom. "Thank Heaven, I'm not the
+artificial kind! As you say, I'm primitive. I have lived!" Her crimson
+lips curled scornfully.
+
+"I didn't expect you to understand her," he said. "But she loves me.
+And I--well, she is my religion. A man must have some God; he can't
+worship his own image."
+
+Cherry Malotte turned slowly to the landing-place and made her way into
+the launch. All the way back she kept silence, and Boyd, confused by
+her attack upon the citadel of his faith and strangely sore at heart,
+made no effort at speech.
+
+"Fingerless" Fraser met him at the water's edge.
+
+"Where in the devil have you been?" he cried, breathlessly.
+
+"At the Indian village after help. Why?"
+
+"Big George is in more trouble; he sent for help two hours ago. I was
+just going to 'beat it' down there."
+
+"What's up?"
+
+"There's six of your men in the bunk-house all beat up; they don't look
+like they'd fish any more for a while. Marsh's men threw their salmon
+overboard, and they had another fight. Things are getting warm."
+
+"We can't allow ourselves to be driven from the banks," said Boyd,
+quickly. "I'll get the shoremen together right away. Find Alton, and
+bring him along; we'll need every man we can get."
+
+"Nothing doing with that party; he's quit like a house cat, and gone to
+bed."
+
+"Very well; he's no good, anyhow; he's better out of the way."
+
+He hurried through the building, now silent and half deserted,
+gathering a crew; then, leaving only the Orientals and the watchman to
+guard the plant, he loaded his men into the boats and set out.
+
+All that afternoon and on through the long, murky hours of the night
+the battle raged on the lower reaches of the Kalvik. Boat crews
+clashed; half-clad men cursed each other and fought with naked fists,
+with oars and clubs; and when these failed, they drove at one another
+with wicked one-tined fish "pues." All night the hordes of salmon
+swarmed upward toward the fatal waters of their birth, through sagging
+nets that were torn and slit; beneath keels that rocked to the impact
+of struggling, heedless bodies.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+WHEREIN "THE GRANDE DAME" ARRIVES, LADEN WITH DISAPPOINTMENTS
+
+
+As the sun slanted up between the southward hills, out from the
+gossamer haze that lay like filmy forest smoke above the ocean came a
+snow-white yacht. She stole inward past the headlands, as silent as a
+wraith, leaving a long, black streamer penciled against the sky; so
+still was the dawn that the breath from her funnel lay like a trail
+behind her, slowly fading and blending with the colors of the morning.
+
+The waters were gleaming nickel beneath her prow, and she clove them
+like a blade; against the dove-gray sky her slender rigging was traced
+as by some finely pointed instrument; her sides were as clean as the
+stainless breasts of the gulls that floated near the shore.
+
+As she came proudly up through the fleets of fishing-boats, perfect in
+every line and gliding with stately dignity, the grimy little crafts
+drew aside as if in awe, while tired-eyed men stared silently at her as
+if at a vision.
+
+To Boyd Emerson she seemed like an angel of mercy, and he stood forth
+upon the deck of his launch searching her hungrily for the sight of a
+woman's figure. When he had first seen the ship rounding the point he
+had uttered a cry, then fallen silent watching her as she drew near,
+heedless of his surroundings. His heart was leaping, his breath was
+choking him. It seemed as if he must shout Mildred's name aloud and
+stretch his arms out to her. Of course, she would see him as _The
+Grande Dame_ passed--she would be looking for him, he knew. She would
+be standing there, wet with the dew, searching with all her eyes.
+Doubtless she had waited patiently at her post from the instant land
+came into sight. Seized by a sudden panic lest she pass him unnoticed,
+he ordered his launch near the yacht's course, where he could command a
+view of her cabin doors and the wicker chairs upon her deck. His eyes
+roved over the craft, but all he saw was a uniformed officer upon the
+bridge and the bronzed faces of the watch staring over the rail. By now
+_The Grande Dame_ was so close that he might have flung a line to her,
+and above the muffled throbbing of her engines he heard the captain
+give some low-spoken command. Yet nowhere could he catch a glimpse of
+Mildred. He saw close-drawn curtains over the cabin windows, indicating
+that the passengers were still asleep. Then, as he stood there,
+heavy-hearted, drooping with fatigue, his wet body chilled by the
+morning's breath, _The Grande Dame_ glided past, and he found the shell
+beneath his feet rocking in her wake.
+
+As he turned shoreward George Balt hailed him, and brought his own
+launch alongside.
+
+"What craft is that?" he inquired.
+
+"She is the Company's yacht with the N. A. P. A. officers aboard."
+
+The big fellow stared curiously after the retreating ship.
+
+"Some of our boys is hurt pretty bad," he observed. "I've told them to
+take in their nets and go back to the plant."
+
+"We all need breakfast."
+
+"I don't want nothing. I'm going over to the trap."
+
+Emerson shrugged his shoulders listlessly; he was very tired. "What is
+the use? It won't pay us to lift it."
+
+"I've watched that point of land for five years, and I never seen fish
+act this way before," Balt growled, stubbornly. "If they don't strike
+in to-day, we better close down. Marsh's men cut half our nets and
+crippled more than half our crew last night." He began to rumble
+curses. "Say! We made a mistake the other day, didn't we? We'd ought to
+have put that feller away. It ain't too late yet."
+
+"Wait! Wayne Wayland is aboard that yacht; I know him. He's a hard man,
+and I've heard strange stories about him, but I don't believe he knows
+all that Marsh has been doing. I'm going to see him and tell him
+everything."
+
+"S'pose he turns you down?"
+
+"Then there will be time enough to--to consider what you suggest. I
+don't like to think about it."
+
+"You don't have to," said Balt, lowering his voice so that the helmsmen
+could not hear. "I've been thinking it over all night, and it looks
+like I'd ought to do it myself. Marsh is coming to me anyhow, and--I'm
+older than you be. It ain't right for a young feller like you to take a
+chance. If they get me, you can run the business alone."
+
+Boyd laid his hand on his companion's shoulder.
+
+"No," he said. "Perhaps I wouldn't stick at murder--I don't know. But I
+won't profit by another man's crime, and if it comes to that, I'll take
+my share of the risk and the guilt. Whatever you do, I stand with you.
+But we'll hope for better things. It's no easy thing for me to go to
+Mr. Wayland asking a favor. You see, his daughter is--Well, I--I want
+to see her very badly."
+
+Balt eyed him shrewdly.
+
+"I see! And that makes it dead wrong for you to take a hand. If it's
+necessary to get Marsh, I'll do it alone. With him out of the way, I
+think you can make a go of it. He's like a rattler--somebody's got to
+stomp on him. Now I'm off for the trap. Let me know what the old man
+says."
+
+Boyd returned to the cannery with the old mood of self-disgust and
+bitterness heavy upon him. He realized that George's offer to commit
+murder had not shocked him as much as upon its first mention. He knew
+that he had thought of shedding human blood with as little compunction
+as if the intended victim had been some noxious animal. He felt,
+indeed, that if his love for Mildred made him a criminal, she too would
+be soiled by his dishonor, and for her sake he shrank from the idea of
+violence, yet he lacked the energy at that time to put it from him.
+Well, he would go to her father, humble himself, and beg for
+protection. If he failed, then Marsh must look out for himself. He
+could not find it in his heart to spare his enemy.
+
+At the plant he found Alton Clyde tremendously excited at the arrival
+of the yacht, and eager to visit his friends. He sent him to the
+launch, and, after a hasty breakfast, joined him.
+
+On their way out, Boyd felt a return of that misgiving which had
+mastered him on his first meeting with Mildred in Chicago. For the
+second time he was bringing her failure instead of the promised
+victory. Now, as then, she would find him in the bitterness of defeat,
+and he could not but wonder how she would bear the disappointment. He
+hoped at least that she would understand his appeal to her father; that
+she would see him not as a suppliant begging for mercy, but as a foeman
+worthy of respect, demanding his just dues. Surely he had proved
+himself capable. Wayne Wayland could hardly make him contemptible in
+Mildred's eyes. Yet a feeling of disquiet came over him as he drew near
+_The Grande Dame_.
+
+Willis Marsh was ahead of him, standing with Mr. Wayland at the rail.
+Some one else was with them; Boyd's heart leaped wildly as he
+recognized her. He would have known that slim figure anywhere--and
+Mildred saw him too, pointing him out to her companions.
+
+With knees shaking under him, he came stumbling up the landing-ladder,
+a tall, gaunt figure of a man in rough clothing and boots stained with
+the sea--salt. He looked older by five years than when the girl had
+last seen him; his cheeks were hollowed and his lips cracked by the
+wind, but his eyes were aflame with the old light, his smile was for
+her alone.
+
+He never remembered the spoken greetings nor the looks the others gave
+him, for her soft, cool hands lay in his hard, feverish palms, and she
+was smiling up at him.
+
+Alton Clyde was at his heels, and he felt Mildred disengage her hand.
+He tore his eyes away from her face long enough to nod at Marsh,--who
+gave him a menacing look, then turned to Wayne Wayland. The old man was
+saying something, and Boyd answered him unintelligibly, after which he
+took Mildred's hands once more with such an air of unconscious
+proprietorship that Willis Marsh grew pale to the lips and turned his
+back. Other people, whom Boyd had not noticed until now, came down the
+deck--men and women with field-glasses and cameras swung over their
+shoulders. He found that he was being introduced to them by Mildred,
+whose voice betrayed no tremor, and whose manners were as collected as
+if this were her own drawing-room, and the man at her side a casual
+acquaintance. The strangers mingled with the little group, levelled
+their glasses, and made senseless remarks after the manner of tourists
+the world over. Boyd gathered somehow that they were officers of the
+Trust, or heavy stockholders, and their wives. They seemed to accept
+him as an uninteresting bit of local color, and he regarded them with
+equal indifference, for his eyes were wholly occupied with Mildred, his
+ears deaf to all but her voice. At length he saw some of them going
+over the rail, and later found himself alone with his sweetheart. He
+led her to a deck-chair, and seated himself beside her.
+
+"At last!" he breathed. "You are here, Mildred. You really came, after
+all?"
+
+"Yes, Boyd."
+
+"And are you glad?"
+
+"Indeed I am. The trip has been wonderful."
+
+"It doesn't seem possible. I can't believe that this is really
+you--that I am not dreaming, as usual."
+
+"And you? How have you been?"
+
+"I've been well--I guess I have--I haven't had time to think of myself.
+Oh, my Lady!" His voice broke with tenderness, and he laid his hand
+gently upon hers.
+
+She withdrew it quickly.
+
+"Not here! Remember where we are. You are not looking well, Boyd. I
+don't know that I ever saw you look so badly. Perhaps it is your
+clothes."
+
+"I am tired," he confessed, feeling anew the weariness of the past
+twenty-four hours. He covertly stroked a fold of her dress, murmuring:
+"You are here, after all. And you love me, Mildred? You haven't
+changed, have you?"
+
+"Not at all. Have you?"
+
+His deep breath and the light that flamed into his face was her answer.
+"I want to be alone with you," he cried, huskily. "My arms ache for
+you. Come away from here; this is torture. I'm like a man dying of
+thirst."
+
+No woman could have beheld his burning eagerness without an answering
+thrill, and although Mildred sat motionless, her lids drooped slightly
+and a faint color tinged her cheeks. Her idle hands clasped themselves
+rigidly.
+
+"You are always the same," she smiled. "You sweep me away from myself
+and from everything. I have never seen any one like you. There are
+people everywhere. Father is somewhere close by."
+
+"I don't care-"
+
+"I do."
+
+"My launch is alongside; let me take you ashore and show you what I
+have done. I want you to see."
+
+"I can't. I promised to go ashore with the Berrys and Mr. Marsh."
+
+"Marsh!"
+
+"Now don't get tragic! We are all going to look over his plant and have
+lunch there--they are expecting me. Oh, dear!" she cried, plaintively,
+"I have seen and heard nothing but canneries ever since we left
+Vancouver. The men talk nothing but fish and packs and markets and
+dividends. It's all deadly stupid, and I'm wretchedly tired of it.
+Father is the worst of the lot, of course."
+
+Emerson's eyes shifted to his own cannery. "You haven't seen
+mine--ours," said he.
+
+"Oh yes, I have. Mr. Marsh pointed it out to father and me. It looks
+just like all the others." There was an instant's pause before she ran
+on. "Do you know, there is only one interesting feature about them, to
+my notion, and that is the way the Chinamen smoke. Those funny, crooked
+pipes and those little wads of tobacco are too ridiculous." The
+lightness of her words damped his ardor, and brought back the sense of
+failure. That formless huddle of buildings in the distance seemed to
+him all at once very dull and prosaic. Of course, it was just like
+scores of others that his sweetheart had seen all the way north from
+the border-line. He had never thought of that till now.
+
+"I was down with the fishing fleet at the mouth of the bay this morning
+when you came in. I thought I might see you," he said.
+
+"At that hour? Heavens! I was sound asleep. It was hard enough to get
+up when we were called. Father might have instructed the captain not to
+steam so fast."
+
+Boyd stared at her in hurt surprise; but she was smiling at Alton Clyde
+in the distance, and did not observe his look.
+
+"Don't you care even to hear what I have done?" he inquired.
+
+"Of course," said Mildred, bringing her eyes back to him.
+
+Hesitatingly he told her of his disappointments, the obstacles he had
+met and overcome, avoiding Marsh's name, and refraining from placing
+the blame where it belonged. When he had concluded, she shook her head.
+
+"It is too bad. But Mr. Marsh told us all about it before you came.
+Boyd, I never thought well of this enterprise. Of course, I didn't say
+anything against it, you were so enthusiastic, but you really ought to
+try something big. I am sure you have the ability. Why, the successful
+men I know at home have no more intelligence than you, and they haven't
+half your force. As for this--well, I think you can accomplish more
+important things than catching fish."
+
+"Important!" he cried. "Why, the salmon industry is one of the most
+important on the Coast. It employs ten thousand men in Alaska alone,
+and they produce ten million dollars every year."
+
+"Oh, let's not go into statistics," said Mildred, lightly; "they make
+my head ache. What I mean is that a fisherman is nothing like--an
+attorney or a broker or an architect, for instance; he is more like a
+miner. Pardon me, Boyd, but look at your clothes." She began to laugh.
+"Why, you look like a common laborer!"
+
+He became conscious for the first time that he cut a sorry figure.
+Everything around him spoke of wealth and luxury. Even the sailor that
+passed at the moment was better dressed than he. He felt suddenly
+awkward and out of place.
+
+"I might have slicked up a bit," he acknowledged, lamely; "but when you
+came, I forgot everything else."
+
+"I was dreadfully embarrassed when I introduced you to the Berrys and
+the rest. I dare say they thought you were one of Mr. Marsh's foremen."
+
+Never before had Boyd known the least constraint in Mildred's presence,
+but now he felt the rebuke behind her careless manner, and it wounded
+him deeply. He did not speak, and after a moment she went on, with an
+abrupt change of subject:
+
+"So that funny little house over there against the hill is where the
+mysterious woman lives?"
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Cherry Malotte."
+
+"Yes. How did you learn that?"
+
+"Mr. Marsh pointed it out. He said she came up on the same ship with
+you."
+
+"That is true."
+
+"Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you write me that she was with you
+in Seattle?"
+
+"I don't know; I didn't think of it." She regarded him coolly.
+
+"Has anybody discovered who or what she is?"
+
+"Why are you so curious about her?"
+
+Mildred shrugged her shoulders. "Your discussion with Willis Marsh that
+night at our house interested me very much. I thought I would ask Mr.
+Marsh to bring her around when we went ashore. It would be rather
+amusing. She wouldn't come out to the yacht and return my call, would
+she?" Boyd smiled at her frank concern at this possibility.
+
+"You don't know the kind of girl she is," he said. "She isn't at all
+what you think; I don't believe you would be able to meet her in the
+way you suggest."
+
+"Indeed!" Mildred arched her brows. "Why?"
+
+"She wouldn't fancy being 'brought around,' particularly by Marsh."
+
+From her look of surprise, he knew that he had touched on dangerous
+ground, and he made haste to lead the conversation back to its former
+channel. He wished to impress Mildred with the fact that if he had not
+quite succeeded, he had by no means failed; but she listened
+indifferently, with the air of humoring an insistent child.
+
+"I wish you would give it up and try something else," she said, at
+last. "This is no place for you. Why, you are losing all your old wit
+and buoyancy, you are actually growing serious. And serious people are
+not at all amusing."
+
+Just then Alton Clyde and a group of people, among whom was Willis
+Marsh, emerged from the cabin, talking and laughing. Mildred arose,
+saying:
+
+"Here come the Berrys, ready to go ashore."
+
+"When may I see you again?" he inquired, quickly.
+
+"You may come out this evening."
+
+His eyes blazed as he answered, "I shall come!"
+
+As the others came up, she said:
+
+"Mr. Emerson can't accompany us. He wishes to see father."
+
+"I just left him in the cabin," said Marsh. He helped the ladies to the
+ladder, and a moment later Emerson waved the party adieu, then turned
+to the saloon in search of Wayne Wayland.
+
+In Mr. Wayland's stiff greeting there was no hint that the two men had
+ever been friendly, but Emerson was prepared for coolness, and seated
+himself without waiting for an invitation, glad of the chance to rest
+his tired limbs. He could not refrain from comparing these splendid
+quarters with his own bare living shack. The big carved desk, the heavy
+leather chairs, the amply fitted sideboard, seemed magnificent by
+contrast. His eyes roved over the walls with their bookshelves and rare
+paintings, and between velour hangings he caught a glimpse of a bedroom
+all in cool, white enamel. The unaccustomed feel of the velvet carpet
+was grateful to his feet; he coveted that soft bed in yonder with its
+smooth linen. For all these things he felt the savage hunger that comes
+of deprivation and hardship.
+
+Mr. Wayland had removed his glasses, and was waiting grimly.
+
+"I have a good deal to say to you, sir," Emerson began, "and I would
+like you to hear me through."
+
+"Go ahead."
+
+"I am going to tell you some things about Mr. Marsh that I dare say you
+will disbelieve, but I can verify my statements. I think you are a just
+man, and I don't believe you know, or would approve, the methods he has
+used against me."
+
+"If this is to be an arraignment of Mr. Marsh, I suggest that you wait
+until he can be present. He has gone ashore with the women folks."
+
+"I prefer to talk to you, first. We can call him in later if you wish."
+
+"Before we begin, may I inquire what you expect of me?"
+
+"I expect relief."
+
+"You remember our agreement?"
+
+"I don't want assistance; I want relief."
+
+"Whatever the distinction in the words, I understand that you are
+asking a favor?"
+
+"I don't consider it so."
+
+"Very well. Proceed."
+
+"When you sent me out three years ago to make a fortune for Mildred, it
+was understood that there should be fair play on both sides--"
+
+"Have you played fair?" quickly interposed the old man.
+
+"I have. When I came to Chicago, I had no idea that you were interested
+in the Pacific Coast fisheries, I had raised the money before I
+discovered that you even knew Willis Marsh. Then it was too late to
+retreat. When I reached Seattle, all sorts of unexpected obstacles came
+up. I lost the ship I had chartered; machinery houses refused
+deliveries; shipments went astray; my bank finally refused its loan,
+and every other bank in the Northwest followed suit. I was harassed in
+every possible way. And it wasn't chance that caused it; it was Willis
+Marsh. He set spies upon me, he incited a dock strike that resulted in
+a riot and the death of at least one man; moreover, he tried to have me
+killed."
+
+"How do you know he did that?"
+
+"I have no legal proof, but I know it just the same."
+
+Mr. Wayland smiled. "That is not a very definite charge. You surely
+don't hold him responsible for the death of that striker?"
+
+"I do; and for the action of the police in trying to fix the crime upon
+me. You know, perhaps, how I got away from Seattle. When Marsh arrived
+at Kalvik, he first tried to sink my boilers; failing in that, he
+ruined my Iron Chinks; then he 'corked' my fish-trap, not because he
+needed more fish, but purely to spoil my catch. The day the run started
+he bribed my fishermen to break their contracts, leaving me
+short-handed. He didn't need more men, but did that simply to cripple
+me. I got Indians to replace the white men, but he won them away by a
+miserable trick and by threats that I have no doubt he would make good
+if the poor devils dared to stand out.
+
+"His men won't allow my fellows to work; we have had our nets cut and
+our fish thrown out. Last night we had a bad time on the banks, and a
+number of people were hurt. The situation is growing worse every hour,
+and there will be bloodshed unless this persecution stops. All I want
+is a fair chance. There are fish enough for us all in the Kalvik, but
+that man has used the power of your organization to ruin me--not for
+business reasons, but for personal spite. I have played the game
+squarely, Mr. Wayland, but unless this ceases I'm through."
+
+"You are through?"
+
+"Yes. The run is nearly a week old, and I haven't begun to pack my
+salmon. I have less than half a boat crew, and of those half are laid
+up."
+
+The president of the Trust stirred for the first time since Boyd had
+begun his recital; the grim lines about his mouth set themselves
+deeper, and, staring with cold gray eyes at the speaker, he said:
+
+"Well, sir! What you have told me confirms my judgment that Willis
+Marsh is the right man in the right place."
+
+Completely taken back by this unexpected reply, Boyd exclaimed:
+
+"You don't mean to say that you approve of what he has done?"
+
+"Yes, of what I know he has done. Mr. Marsh is pursuing a definite
+policy laid down by his board of directors. You have shown me that he
+has done his work well. You knew before you left the East that we
+intended to crush all opposition."
+
+Emerson's voice was sharp as he cried: "I understand all that; but am I
+to understand also that the directors of the N. A. P. A. instructed him
+to kill me?"
+
+"Tut, tut! Don't talk nonsense. You admit that you have no proof of
+Willis' connection with the attempt upon your life. You put yourself in
+the way of danger when you hired scab labor to break that strike. I
+think you got off very easily."
+
+"If Marsh was instructed to crush the independents, why has he centred
+all his efforts on me alone? Why has he spent this summer in Kalvik and
+not among the other stations to the south?"
+
+"That is our business. Different methods are required in different
+localities."
+
+"Then you have no criticism to make--you uphold him?" Boyd's
+indignation was getting beyond control.
+
+"None whatever. I cannot agree that Marsh is even indirectly
+responsible for the collision of the scows, for the damage to your
+machinery, or for the fighting between the men. On the contrary, I know
+that he is doing his best to prevent violence, because it interferes
+with the catch. He hired your men because he needed them. Nobody knows
+who broke your machinery. As for your fish-trap, you are privileged to
+build another, or a dozen more, wherever you please. Willis has already
+told me everything that you have said, and it strikes me that you have
+simply been outgeneraled. Your complaints do not appeal to me. Even
+granting your absurd assumption that Marsh tried to put you out of the
+way, it seems to me that you have more than evened the score."
+
+"How?"
+
+"He is still wearing bandages over that knife-thrust you gave him."
+
+Emerson leaped to his feet.
+
+"He knows I didn't do that; everybody knows it!" he cried. "He lied to
+you."
+
+"We won't discuss that," said Wayne Wayland, curtly. "What do you want
+me to do?"
+
+"I want you to end this persecution. I want you to sail him off."
+
+"In other words, you want me to save you."
+
+Emerson swallowed. "I suppose it amounts to that. I want to be let
+alone, I want a square deal."
+
+"Well, I won't." Wayne Wayland's voice hardened suddenly; his sound,
+white teeth snapped together. "You are getting exactly what you
+deserve. You betrayed me by spying upon me while you broke bread in my
+house. I see nothing reprehensible in Mr. Marsh's conduct; but even if
+I did, I would not censure him; any measures are justifiable against a
+traitor."
+
+Boyd Emerson's face went gray beneath its coating of tan, and his voice
+threatened to break as he said:
+
+"I am no traitor, and you know it. I thought you a man of honor, and I
+came to you, not for help but for justice. But I see I was mistaken. I
+am beginning to believe that Marsh acted under your instructions from
+the first."
+
+"Believe what you choose."
+
+"You think you've got me, but you haven't. I'll beat you yet."
+
+"You can't beat me at anything." Mr. Wayland's jaws were set like iron.
+
+"Not this year perhaps, but next. You and Marsh have whipped me this
+time; but the salmon will come again, and I'll run my plant in spite of
+hell!"
+
+Wayne Wayland made as if to speak, but Boyd went on unheeding: "You've
+taken a dislike to me, but your conduct shows that you fear me. You are
+afraid I'll succeed, and I will."
+
+"Brave talk!" said the older man. "But you owe one hundred thousand
+dollars, and your stockholders will learn of your mismanagement."
+
+"Your persecution, you mean!" cried the other. "I can explain. They
+will wait another year. I will raise more money, and they will stand by
+me."
+
+"Perhaps I know more about that than you do."
+
+Emerson strode toward the desk menacingly, crying, in a quivering voice:
+
+"I warn you to keep your hands off of them. By God! don't try any of
+your financial trickery with me, or I'll--"
+
+Wayne Wayland leaped from his chair, his face purple and his eyes
+flashing savagely.
+
+"Leave this yacht!" he thundered. "I won't allow you to insult me; I
+won't stand your threats. I've got you where I want you, and when the
+time comes you'll know it. Now, get out!" He stretched forth a great
+square hand and closed it so fiercely that the fingers cracked. "I'll
+crush you--like that!"
+
+Boyd turned and strode from the cabin.
+
+Half-blinded with anger, he stumbled down the ladder to his launch.
+
+"Back to the plant!" he ordered, then gazed with lowering brows and
+defiant eyes at _The Grande Dame_ as she rested swanlike and serene at
+her moorings. His anger against Mildred's father destroyed for the time
+all thought of his disappointment at her own lack of understanding and
+her cool acceptance of his failure. He saw only that his affairs had
+reached a final climax where he must bow to the inevitable, or--Big
+George's parting words came to him--strike one last blow in reprisal. A
+kind of sickening rage possessed him. He had tried to fight fair
+against an enemy who knew no scruple, partly that he might win that
+enemy's respect. Now he was thoroughly beaten and humbled. After all,
+he was merely an adventurer, without friends of resources. His long
+struggle had made him the type of man of whom desperate things might be
+expected. He might as well act the part. Why should he pretend to
+higher standards than Wayne Wayland or Marsh? George's way was best. By
+the time he had reached the cannery, he had practically made up his
+mind.
+
+It was the hour of his darkest despair--the real crisis in his life.
+There are times when it rests with fate to make a strong man stronger
+or turn him altogether to evil. Such a man will not accept misfortune
+tamely. He is the reverse of those who are good through weakness; it is
+his nature to sin strongly.
+
+But the unexpected happened, and Boyd's black mood vanished in
+amazement at the sight which met his eyes. Moored to the fish-dock was
+a lighter awash with a cargo that made him stare and doubt his vision.
+He had seen his scanty crew of gill-netters return empty-handed with
+the rising sun, exhausted, disheartened, depleted in numbers; yet there
+before him were thousands of salmon. They were strewn in a great mass
+upon the dock and inside the shed, while from the scow beneath they
+came in showers as the handlers tossed them upward from their pues.
+Through the wide doors he saw the backs of the butchers busily at work
+over their tables, and heard the uproar of his cannery running full for
+the first time.
+
+Before the launch had touched, he had leaped to the ladder and swung
+himself upon the dock. He stumbled into the arms of Big George.
+
+"Where--did those--fish come from?" he cried, breathlessly.
+
+"From the trap." George smiled as he had not smiled in many weeks.
+"They've struck in like I knew they would, and they're running now by
+the thousands. I've fished these waters for years, but I never seen the
+likes of it. They'll tear that trap to pieces. They're smothering in
+the pot, tons and tons of 'em, with millions more milling below the
+leads because they can't get in. It's a sight you'll not see once in a
+lifetime."
+
+"That means that we can run the plant--that we'll get all we can use?"
+
+"Hell! We've got fish enough to run two canneries. They've struck their
+gait I tell you, and they'll never stop now night or day till they're
+through. We don't need no gill-netters; what we need is butchers and
+slimers and handlers. There never was a trap site in the North till
+this one; I told Willis Marsh that years ago." He flung out a long,
+hairy arm, bared half to the shoulder, and waved it exultantly. "We
+built this plant to cook forty thousand salmon a day, but I'll bring
+you three thousand every hour, and you've got to cook 'em. Do you hear?"
+
+"And they couldn't cork us, after all!" Emerson leaned unsteadily
+against a pile, for his head was whirling.
+
+"No! We'll show that gang what a cannery can do. Marsh's traps will rot
+where they stand." Big George shook his tight-clinched fist again.
+"We've won, my boy! We've won!"
+
+"Then don't let us stand here talking!" cried Emerson, sharply. "Hurry!
+Hurry!" He turned, and sped up the dock.
+
+He had come into his own at last, and he vowed with tight-shut teeth
+that no wheel should stop, no belt should slacken, no man should leave
+his duty till the run had passed. At the entrance to the throbbing,
+clanging building he paused an instant, and with a smile looked toward
+the yacht floating lazily in the distance. Then, with knees sagging
+beneath him from weariness, he entered.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+THE CLASH
+
+
+"I've heard the news!" cried Cherry, later that afternoon, shrieking to
+make herself heard above the rattle and jar of the machinery.
+
+"There seems to be a Providence that watches over fishermen," said Boyd.
+
+"I am happy, for your sake, and I want to apologize for my display of
+temper. Come away where I won't have to scream so. I want to talk to
+you."
+
+"It is music to my ears," he answered, as he led her past the rows of
+Chinamen bowed before their soldering-torches as if busied with some
+heathen rites. "But I'm glad to sit down just the same. I've been on my
+feet for thirty-six hours."
+
+"You poor boy! Why don't you take some sleep?"
+
+"I can't. George is coming with another load of fish, and the plant is
+so new I am afraid to leave it even for an hour."
+
+"It's too much for one man," she declared.
+
+"Oh, I'll sleep to-morrow."
+
+"Did you see--her?" questioned Cherry.
+
+"Yes!"
+
+"She must be very proud of you," she said, wistfully.
+
+"I--I--don't think she understands what I am trying to do, or what it
+means. Our talk was not very satisfactory."
+
+"She surely must have understood what Marsh is doing."
+
+"I didn't tell her that."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"What good would it have done?"
+
+"Why"--Cherry seemed bewildered--"she could put a stop to it; she could
+use her influence with her father against Marsh. I expected to see your
+old crew back at work again. Oh, I wish I had her power!"
+
+"She wouldn't take a hand under any circumstances--it wouldn't occur to
+her--and naturally I couldn't ask her." Boyd flushed uncomfortably.
+"Thanks to George's trap, there is no need." He went on to tell Cherry
+of the scene with Mr. Wayland and its stormy ending.
+
+"They have used all their resources to down you," she said, "but luck
+is with you, and you mustn't let them succeed. Now is the time to show
+them what is in you. Go in and win her now, against all of them."
+
+He was grateful for her sympathy, yet somehow it made him uncomfortable.
+
+"What was it you wished to see me about?" he asked.
+
+"Oh! Have you seen Chakawana?"
+
+"No."
+
+"She disappeared early this morning soon after the yacht came in; I
+can't find her anywhere. She took the baby with her and--I'm worried."
+
+"Doesn't Constantine know where she is?"
+
+"Why, Constantine is down here, isn't he?"
+
+"He hasn't been here since yesterday."
+
+Cherry rose nervously. "There is something wrong, Boyd. They have been
+acting queerly for a long time."
+
+"Then you are alone at your place," he said, thoughtfully. "I think you
+had better come down here."
+
+"Oh no!"
+
+"I shall send some one up to spend the night at your house. You
+shouldn't be left unprotected." But just then Constantine came
+sauntering round the corner of the building.
+
+"Thank Heaven!" cried Cherry. "He will know where the others are."
+
+But when his mistress questioned him, Constantine merely replied: "I
+don' know. I no see Chakawana."
+
+"They have been gone since morning, and I can't find them anywhere."
+
+"Umph! I guess they all right."
+
+"There is something queer about this," said Emerson. "Where have you
+been all day?"
+
+"I go sleep. I tired from fighting last night. I come back now and go
+work. Bime'by Chakawana come back too, I guess."
+
+"Well, I don't need you to-night, so you'd better go back to Cherry's
+house and stay there till I send for you."
+
+Constantine acquiesced calmly, and a few minutes later accompanied his
+mistress up the beach.
+
+As she passed Marsh's cannery, Cherry saw a tender moored to the dock,
+and noticed strangers among the buildings. They stared at her
+curiously, as if the sight of a white girl attended by a copper-hued
+giant were part of the picturesqueness they expected. As she drew near
+her own house, she saw a woman approaching, and while yet a
+stone's-throw distant she recognized her. A jealous tightening of her
+throat and a flutter at her breast told her that this was Mildred
+Wayland.
+
+Cherry would have passed on silently, but Miss Wayland checked her.
+
+"Pardon me," she said. "Will you tell me what that odd-looking building
+is used for?" She pointed to the village above.
+
+"That is the Greek church."
+
+"How interesting! Are there many Greeks here?"
+
+"No. It is a relic of the Russian days. The natives worship there."
+
+"I intended to go closer; but the walking is not very good, is it?" She
+glanced down at her dainty French shoes, then at Cherry's
+hunting-boots. "Do you live here?"
+
+"Yes. In the log house yonder."
+
+"Indeed! I tried to find some one there, but--you were out, of course.
+You have it arranged very cozily, I see." Mildred's manner was faintly
+patronizing. She was vexed at the beauty and evident refinement of this
+woman whom she had thought to find so different.
+
+"If you will go back I will show it to you from the inside, Miss
+Wayland." Cherry enjoyed her start at the name and the look of cold
+hostility that followed.
+
+"You have the advantage of me," said Mildred. "I did not think we had
+met. You are--?" She raised her brows, inquiringly.
+
+"Cherry Malotte, of course."
+
+"I remember. Mr. Marsh spoke of you."
+
+"I am sorry."
+
+"I beg your pardon?"
+
+"I say I am sorry Mr. Marsh ever spoke of me."
+
+Mildred smiled frigidly. "Evidently you do not like him?"
+
+"Nobody in Alaska likes him. Do you?"
+
+"You see, I am not an Alaskan."
+
+It occurred to Cherry that this girl was ignorant of the unexpected
+change in Boyd's affairs. She decided to sound her--to find out for
+herself the answer to those questions which Boyd had evaded. He had not
+spoken to Mildred of Marsh. Perhaps if she knew the truth, she would
+love him better, and even now her assistance would not be valueless.
+
+"Do you know that Mr. Marsh is to blame for all of Boyd's misfortune?"
+she said.
+
+"Boyd's?"
+
+"Yes, Boyd's, of course. Oh, let us not pretend--I call him by his
+first name. I think you ought to know the truth about this business,
+even if Boyd is too chivalrous to tell you."
+
+"Why do you think he has not told me?"
+
+"I have just come from him."
+
+"If Mr. Emerson blames any one but himself for his failure, I am sure
+he would have told me."
+
+"Then you don't know him."
+
+"I never knew him to ask another to defend him."
+
+"He never asked me to defend him. I merely thought that if you knew the
+truth, you might help him."
+
+"I? How?"
+
+"It is for you to find a way. He has met with opposition and treachery
+at every step; I think it is time some one came to his aid."
+
+"He has had your assistance at all times, has he not?"
+
+"I have tried to help wherever I could, but--I haven't your power."
+
+Mildred shrugged her shoulders. "You even went to Seattle to help him,
+did you not?"
+
+"I went there on my own business."
+
+"Why do you take such an interest in Mr. Emerson's affairs, may I ask?"
+
+"It was I who induced him to take up this venture," said Cherry,
+proudly. "I found him discouraged, ready to give up; I helped to put
+new heart into him. I have something at stake in the enterprise,
+too--but that's nothing. I hate to see a good man driven to the wall by
+a scoundrel like Marsh."
+
+"Wait! There is something to be said on both sides. Mr. Marsh was
+magnanimous enough to overlook that attempt upon his life."
+
+"What attempt?"
+
+"You must have heard. He was wounded in the shoulder."
+
+"Didn't Boyd tell you the truth about that?"
+
+"He told me everything," said Mildred, coldly. This woman's attitude
+was unbearable. It would seem that she even dared to criticise her,
+Mildred Wayland, for her treatment of Boyd. She pretended to a truer
+friendship, a more intimate knowledge of him. But no--it wasn't
+pretense. It was too natural, too unconscious, for that; and therein
+lay the sting.
+
+"I shall ask him about it again this evening," she continued. "If there
+has really been persecution, as you suggest, I shall tell my father."
+
+"You won't see Boyd this evening," said Cherry.
+
+"Oh yes, I shall."
+
+"He is very busy and--I don't think he can see you."
+
+"You don't understand. I told him to come out to the yacht!" Mildred's
+temper rose at the light she saw in the other woman's face.
+
+"But if he should disappoint you," Cherry insisted, "remember that the
+fish are running, and you have no time to lose if you are going to
+help."
+
+Mildred tossed her head. "To be frank with you, I never liked this
+enterprise of Boyd's. Now that I have seen the place and the
+people--well, I can't say that I like it better."
+
+"The country is a bit different, but the people are much the same in
+Kalvik and in Chicago. You will find unscrupulous men and unselfish
+women everywhere."
+
+Mildred gave her a cool glance that took her in from head to foot.
+
+"And vice versa, I dare say. You speak from a wider experience than I."
+With a careless nod she picked her way toward the launch, where her
+friends were already assembling. She was angry and suspicious. Her
+pride was hurt because she had not been able to feel superior to the
+other woman. Instead, she had descended to the weak resource of
+innuendo, while Cherry had been simple and direct. She had expected to
+recognize instantly the type of person with whom she had to deal, but
+she found herself baffled. Who was this woman? What was she doing here?
+Why had Boyd never told her of this extraordinary intimacy? She
+remembered more than one occasion when he had defended the woman. She
+resolved to put an end to the affair at once; Boyd must either give up
+Cherry or--
+
+During the talk between the two young women Constantine had kept at a
+respectful distance, but when Mildred had gone he came up to Cherry,
+with the question:
+
+"Who is that?"
+
+"That is Miss Wayland. That is the richest girl in the world,
+Constantine."
+
+"Humph!"
+
+"And the pity of it is, she doesn't understand how very rich she is.
+Her father owns all these canneries and many more besides, and lots of
+railroads--but you don't know what a railroad is, do you?"
+
+"Mebbe him rich as Mr. Marsh, eh?"
+
+"A thousand time richer. Mr. Marsh works for him the way you work for
+me."
+
+Being too much a gentleman to dispute his mistress' word, Constantine
+merely shook his head and smiled broadly.
+
+"She fine lady," he acknowledged. "She got plenty nice dress--silik."
+
+"Yes, silk."
+
+"She more han'somer than you be," he added, with reluctant candor.
+"Mebbe that's lie 'bout Mr. Marsh, eh? White men all work for Mr.
+Marsh. He no work for nobody."
+
+"No, it is true. Mr. Marsh knows how rich she is, and that is why he
+wants to marry her."
+
+The breed wheeled swiftly, his soft soles crunching the gravel.
+
+"Mr. Marsh want _marry_ her?" he repeated, as if doubting his ears.
+
+"Yes. That is why he has fought Mr. Emerson--they both want to marry
+her. That is why Marsh broke Mr. Emerson's machinery, and hired his men
+away from him, and cut his nets. They hate each other--do you
+understand?"
+
+"Me savvy!" said Constantine shortly, then strode on beside the girl.
+"Me think all the time Mr. Emerson goin' marry you."
+
+Cherry gasped. "No, no! Why, he is in love with Miss Wayland."
+
+"S'pose he don' marry her?"
+
+"Than Mr. Marsh will get her, I dare say."
+
+After a moment Constantine announced, with conviction: "I guess Mr.
+Marsh is damn bad man."
+
+"I'm glad you have discovered that. He has even tried to kill Mr.
+Emerson; that shows the sort of man he is."
+
+"It's good thing--get marry!" said Constantine, vaguely. "The Father
+say if woman don' marry she go to hell."
+
+"I'd hate to think that," laughed the girl.
+
+"That's true," the other affirmed, stoutly. "The pries' he say so, and
+pries' don' lie. He say man takes a woman and don' get marry, they both
+go to hell and burn forever. Bime'by little baby come, and he go to
+hell, too."
+
+"Oh, I understand! The Father wants to make sure of his people, and he
+is quite right. You natives haven't observed the law very carefully."
+
+"He say Indian woman stop with white man, she never see Jesus' House no
+more. She go to hell sure, and baby go too. You s'pose that's true?"
+
+"I dare say it is, in a way."
+
+"By God! That's tough on little baby!" exclaimed Constantine, fervently.
+
+All that night Boyd stayed at his post, while the cavernous building
+shuddered and hissed to the straining toil of the machines and the
+gasping breath of the furnaces. As the darkness gathered, he had gone
+out upon the dock to look regretfully toward the twinkling lights on
+_The Grande Dame_, then turned doggedly back to his labors. Another
+load had just arrived from the trap; already the plant, untried by the
+stress of a steady run, was clogged and working far below capacity. He
+would have sent Mildred word, but he had not a single man to spare.
+
+At ten o'clock the next morning he staggered into his quarters, more
+dead than alive. In his heart was a great thankfulness that Big George
+had not found him wanting. The last defective machine was mended, the
+last weakness strengthened, and the plant had reached its fullest
+stride. The fish might come now in any quantity; the rest was but a
+matter of coal and iron and human endurance. Meanwhile he would sleep.
+
+He met "Fingerless" Fraser emerging, decked royally in all the splendor
+of new clothes and spotless linen.
+
+"Where are you going?" Boyd asked him.
+
+"I'm going out into society."
+
+"Clyde is taking you to the yacht, eh?"
+
+"No! He's afraid of my work, so I'm going out on my own. He told me all
+about the swell quilts at Marsh's place, so I thought I'd lam up there
+and look them over. I may cop an heiress." He winked wisely. "If I see
+one that looks gentle, I'm liable to grab me some bride. He says there
+ain't one that's got less than a couple of millions in her kick."
+
+Boyd was too weary to do more than wish him success, but it seemed that
+fortune favored Fraser, for before he had gone far he saw a young woman
+seated in a patch of wild flowers, plucking the blooms with careless
+hand while she drank in the beauty of the bright Arctic morning. She
+was simply dressed, yet looked so prosperous that Fraser instantly
+decided:
+
+"That's her! I'll spread my checks with this one."
+
+"Good-morning!" he began.
+
+The girl gave him an indifferent glance from two fearless eyes, and
+nodded slightly. But "Fingerless" Fraser upon occasion could summon a
+smile that was peculiarly engaging. He did so now, seating himself hat
+in hand, with the words:
+
+"If you don't mind, I'll rest a minute. I'm out for my morning walk.
+It's a nice day, isn't it?" As she did not answer, he ran on, glibly:
+"My name is De Benville--I'm one of the New Orleans branch. That's my
+cannery down yonder." He pointed in the direction from which he had
+just come.
+
+"Indeed!" said the young lady.
+
+"Yes. It's mine."
+
+A wrinkle gathered at the corners of the stranger's eyes; her face
+showed a flicker of amusement.
+
+"I thought that was Mr. Emerson's cannery," she said.
+
+"Oh, the idea! He only runs it for me. I put up the money. You know
+him, eh?"
+
+The girl nodded. "Yes; I know Mr. Clyde also."
+
+"Who--Alton?" he queried, with reassuring warmth. "Why, you and I have
+got mutual friends. Alton and me is pals." He shook his head solemnly.
+"Ain't he a scourge?"
+
+"I beg your pardon."
+
+"I say, ain't he an awful thing? He ain't anything like Emerson.
+There's a ring-tailed swallow, all right, all right! I like him."
+
+"Are you very intimate with him?"
+
+"Am I? I'm closer to him than a porous plaster. When Boyd ain't around,
+I'm him, that's all." From her look Fraser judged that he was
+progressing finely. He hastened to add: "I always like to help out
+young fellows like him. I like to give 'em a chance. That's my name,
+you know, Chancy De Benville--always game to take a chance. Is that
+your yacht?"
+
+"No. My father and I are merely passengers."
+
+"So you trailed the old skeezicks along with you? Well, that's right.
+Make the most of your father while you've got him. If I'd paid more
+attention to mine I'd have been better off now. But I was wild." Fraser
+winked in a manner to inform his listener that all worldly wisdom was
+his. "I wanted to be a jockey, and the old party cut me off. What I've
+got now, I made all by myself, but if I'd stayed in Bloomington I might
+have been president of the bank by this time."
+
+"Bloomington! I understood you to say New Orleans."
+
+"My old man had a whole string of banks," Fraser averred, hastily.
+
+"Tell me--is Mr. Emerson ill?" asked the girl.
+
+"Ill enough to lick a den of wildcats."
+
+"He intended coming out to the yacht last night, but he disappointed
+us."
+
+"He's as busy as an ant-hill. I met him turning in just as I came out
+for my constitutional."
+
+"Where had he been all night?" Her voice betrayed an interest that
+Fraser was quick to detect. He answered, cannily:
+
+"You can search me! I don't keep cases on him. As long as he does his
+work, I don't care where he goes at quitting time." He resolved that
+this girl should learn nothing from him.
+
+"There seem to be very few white women in this place," she said, after
+a pause.
+
+"Only one, till you people came. Maybe you've crossed her trail?"
+
+"Hardly!"
+
+"Oh, she's all right. Take it on the word of a fire-man, she's an ace."
+
+"Mr. Emerson told me about her. He seems quite fond of her."
+
+"I've always said they'd make a swell-looking pair."
+
+"One can hardly blame her for trying to catch him."
+
+"Oh, you can make book that she didn't start no love-making. She ain't
+the kind to curl up in a man's ear and whisper. She don't have to. All
+she needs to do is look natural; the men will fall like ripe
+persimmons."
+
+"They have been together a great deal, I suppose."
+
+"Every hour of the day, and the days are long," said Fraser,
+cheerfully. "But he ain't crippled; he could have walked away if he'd
+wanted to. It's a good thing he didn't, though, because she's done more
+to win this bet for us than we've done ourselves."
+
+"She's unusually pretty," the girl remarked, coldly.
+
+"Yes, and she's just as bright as she is good-looking--but I don't care
+for blondes." Fraser gazed admiringly at the brown hair before him, and
+rolled his eyes eloquently. "I'm strong for brunettes, I am. It's the
+Creole blood in me."
+
+She gathered up her wild flowers and rose, saying:
+
+"I must be going."
+
+"I'll go with you." He jumped to his feet with alacrity.
+
+"Thank you. I prefer to walk alone."
+
+"Couldn't think of it. I'll--" But he paused at the lift of her brows
+and the extraordinarily frigid look she gave him. He stood in his
+tracks, watching her descend the river trail.
+
+"Declined with thanks!" he murmured. "I'd need ear-muffs and mittens to
+handle her. I think I'll build me some bonfire and thaw out. She must
+own the mint."
+
+At the upper cannery Mildred found Alton Clyde with the younger Berry
+girl. She called him aside, and talked earnestly with him for several
+minutes.
+
+"All right," he said, at length. "I'm glad to get out, of course; the
+rest is up to you."
+
+Mildred's lips were white and her voice hard as she cried:
+
+"I am thoroughly sick of it all. I have played the fool long enough."
+
+"Now look here," Clyde objected, weakly, "you may be mistaken, and--it
+doesn't look like quite the square thing to do." But she silenced him
+with an angry gesture.
+
+"Leave that to me. I'm through with him."
+
+"All right. Let's hunt up the governor." Together they went to the
+office in search of Wayne Wayland.
+
+A half-hour later, when Clyde rejoined Miss Berry, she noticed that he
+seemed ill at ease, gazing down the bay with a worried, speculative
+look in his colorless eyes.
+
+Boyd Emerson roused from his death-like slumber late in the afternoon,
+still worn from his long strain and aching in every muscle. He was in
+wretched plight physically, but his heart was aglow with gladness. Big
+George was still at the trap, and the unceasing rumble from across the
+way told him that the fish were still coming in. As he was finishing
+his breakfast, a watchman appeared in the doorway.
+
+"There's a launch at the dock with some people from above," he
+announced. "I stopped them, according to orders, but they want to see
+you."
+
+"Show them to the office." Boyd rose and went into the other building,
+where, a moment later, he was confronted by Wayne Wayland and Willis
+Marsh. The old man nodded to him shortly. Marsh began:
+
+"We heard about your good-fortune. Mr. Wayland has come to look over
+your plant."
+
+"It is not for sale."
+
+"How many fish are you getting?"
+
+"That is my business." He turned to Mr. Wayland. "I hardly expected to
+see you here. Haven't you insulted me enough?"
+
+"Just a moment before you order me out. I'm a stockholder in this
+company, and I am within my rights."
+
+"You a stockholder? How much stock do you own? Where did you get it?"
+
+"I own thirty-five thousand shares outright." Mr. Wayland tossed a
+packet of certificates upon the table. "And I have options on all the
+stock you placed in Chicago. I said you would hear from me when the
+time came."
+
+"So you think the time has come to crush me, eh?" said Emerson. "Well,
+you've been swindled. Only one-third of the capital stock has been
+sold, and Alton Clyde holds thirty-five thousand shares of that."
+
+The old man smiled grimly. "I have not been swindled."
+
+"Then Clyde sold out!" exploded Boyd.
+
+"Yes. I paid him back the ten thousand dollars he put in, and I took
+over the twenty-five thousand shares you got Mildred to take."
+
+"Mildred!" Emerson started as if he had been struck. "Are you insane?
+Mildred doesn't own--Why, Alton never told me who put up that money!"
+
+"Don't tell me you didn't know!" cried Wayne Wayland. "You knew all the
+time. You worked your friends out, and then sent that whipper-snapper
+to my daughter when you saw you were about to fail. You managed well;
+you knew she couldn't refuse."
+
+"How did you find out that she held the stock?"
+
+"She told me, of course."
+
+"Don't ask me to believe that. If she hadn't told you before, she
+wouldn't tell you now. All I can say is that she acted of her own free
+will. I never dreamed she put up that twenty-five thousand dollars.
+What do you intend to do, now that you have taken over these holdings?"
+
+"What do you think? I would spend ten times the money to save my
+daughter." The old man was quivering.
+
+"You are only a minority stockholder; the control of this enterprise
+still rests with me and my friends."
+
+"Your friends!" cried Mr. Wayland. "That's what brings me here--you and
+your friends! I'll break you and your friends, if it takes my fortune."
+
+"I can understand your dislike of me, but my associates have never
+harmed you."
+
+"Your associates! And who are they? A lawless ruffian, who openly
+threatened Willis Marsh's murder, and a loose woman from the
+dance-halls."
+
+"Take care!" cried Emerson, in a sharp voice.
+
+The old man waved his hands as if at a loss for words. "Look here! You
+can't be an utter idiot. You must know who she is."
+
+"Do you? Then tell me."
+
+Wayne Wayland turned his back in disgust. "Do you really wish to know?"
+Marsh's smooth voice questioned.
+
+"I do."
+
+"She is a very common sort," said Willis Marsh. "I am surprised that
+you never heard of her while you were in the 'upper country.' She
+followed the mining camps and lived as such women do. She is an expert
+with cards--she even dealt faro in some of the camps."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+"I looked up her history in Seattle. She is very--well, notorious."
+
+"People talk like that about nearly every woman in Alaska."
+
+"I didn't come here to argue about that woman's character," broke in
+Mr. Wayland.
+
+"You have said enough now, so that you will either prove your words or
+apologize."
+
+"If you want proof, take your own relation with her. It's notorious;
+even Mildred has heard of it."
+
+"I can explain to her in a word."
+
+"Perhaps you can also explain that affair with Hilliard. If so, you had
+better do it. I suppose you didn't know anything about that, either. I
+suppose you don't know why he advanced that loan after once refusing
+it. They have a name for men like you who take money from women of her
+sort."
+
+Emerson uttered a terrible cry, and his face blanched to a gray pallor.
+
+"Do you mean to say--I sent--her--to Hilliard?"
+
+"Hilliard as good as told me so himself. Do you wonder that I am
+willing to spend a fortune to protect my girl from a man like you? I'm
+going to break you. I've got a foothold in this enterprise of yours,
+and I'll root you out if it takes a million. I'll kick you back into
+the gutter, where you belong."
+
+Boyd stood appalled at the violence of this outburst. The man seemed
+insane. He could not find words to answer him.
+
+"You did not come down here to tell me that," he said, at last.
+
+"No. I came here with a message from Mildred; she has told me to
+dismiss you once and for all."
+
+"I shall take my dismissal from no one but her. I can explain
+everything."
+
+"I expected you to say that. If you want her own words, read this."
+With shaking fingers, he thrust a letter before Emerson's eyes. "Read
+it!"
+
+The young man opened the envelope, and read, in a hand-writing he knew
+only too well:
+
+"DEAR BOYD,--The conviction has been growing on me for some time that
+you and I have made a serious mistake. It is not necessary to go into
+details--let us spare each other that unpleasantness. I am familiar
+with all that father will say to you, and his feelings are mine; hence
+there is no necessity for further explanations. Believe me, this is
+much the simplest way.
+
+"MILDRED."
+
+Boyd crushed the note in his palm and tossed it away carelessly.
+
+"You dictate well," he said, quietly, "but I shall tell her the truth,
+and she will--"
+
+"Oh no, you won't. You won't see her again. I have seen to that.
+Mildred is engaged to Willis Marsh. It's all settled. I warn you to
+keep away. Her engagement has been announced to all our friends on the
+yacht."
+
+"I tell you I won't take my dismissal from any one but her. I shall
+come aboard _The Grande Dame_ to-night."
+
+"Mr. Marsh and I may have something to say to that."
+
+Boyd wheeled upon Marsh with a look that made him recoil.
+
+"If you try to cross me, I'll strip your back and lash you till you
+howl like a dog."
+
+Marsh's florid face went pale; his tongue became suddenly too dry for
+speech. But Wayne Wayland was not to be cowed.
+
+"I warn you again to keep away from my daughter!" he cried, furiously.
+
+"And I warn you that I shall come aboard the yacht to-night alone."
+
+The president of the Trust turned, and, followed by his lieutenant,
+left the room without another word.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+IN WHICH A SCORE IS SETTLED
+
+
+Cherry Malotte, coming down to the cannery on her daily visit, saw
+Willis Marsh and Mr. Wayland leaving it. Wondering, she hurried into
+the main building in search of Boyd. The place was as busy as when she
+had left it on the afternoon before, and she saw that the men had been
+at work all night; many of them were sprawled in corners, where they
+had sunk from weariness, snatching a moment's rest before the boss
+kicked them back to their posts. The Chinese hands were stoically
+performing their tasks, their yellow faces haggard with the strain; at
+the butchering-tables yesterday's crew was still slitting, slashing,
+hacking at the pile of fish that never seemed to grow less. Some of
+them were giving up, staggering away to their bunks, while others with
+more vitality had stood so long in the slime and salt drip that their
+feet had swelled, and it had become necessary to cut off their shoes.
+
+Boyd was standing in the door of the office. In a few words he told her
+of Mr. Wayland's threat.
+
+"Do you think he can injure the company?" she inquired, anxiously.
+
+"I haven't a doubt of it. He can work very serious harm, at least."
+
+"Tell me--why did he turn against you so suddenly? What made Miss
+Wayland angry with you?"
+
+"I--I would rather not"
+
+"Why? I'm your partner, and I ought to be told, You and George and I
+will have to work together closer than ever now. Don't let's begin by
+concealing anything."
+
+"Well, perhaps you had better know the whole thing," said Boyd, slowly.
+"Mildred does not like you; her father's mind has been poisoned by
+Marsh. It seems they resent our friendship; they believe--all sorts of
+things."
+
+"So I am the cause of your trouble, after all."
+
+"They blame me equally--more than you. It seems that Marsh made an
+inquiry into your--well, your life history--and he babbled all the
+gossip he heard to them. Of course they believed it, not knowing you as
+I do, and they misunderstood our friendship. But I can explain, and I
+shall, to Mildred. Then I shall prove Marsh a liar. Perhaps I can show
+Mr. Wayland that he was in the wrong. It's our only hope."
+
+"What did Marsh say about me?" asked the girl.
+
+She was pale to the lips.
+
+"He said a lot of things that at any other time I would have made him
+swallow on the spot. But it's only a pleasure deferred. With your help,
+I'll do it in their presence. I don't like to tell you this, but the
+truth is vital to us all, and I want to arm myself."
+
+Cherry was silent.
+
+"You may leave it to me," he said, gently. "I will see that Marsh sets
+you right."
+
+"There is nothing to set right," said the girl, wearily. "Marsh told
+the truth, I dare say."
+
+"The truth! My God! You don't know what you're saying!"
+
+"Yes, I do." She returned his look of shocked horror with half-hearted
+defiance. "You must have known who I am. Fraser knew, and he must have
+told you. You knew I had followed the mining camps, you knew I had
+lived by my wits. You must have known what people thought of me. I cast
+my lot in with the people of this country, and I had to match my wits
+with those of every man I met. Sometimes I won, sometimes I did not.
+You know the North."
+
+"I didn't know," he said, slowly. "I never thought--I wouldn't allow
+myself to think--"
+
+"Why not? It is nothing to you. You have lived, and so have I. I made
+mistakes--what girl doesn't who has to fight her way alone? But my past
+is my own; it concerns nobody but me." She saw the change in his face,
+and her reckless spirit rose. "Oh, I've shocked you! You think all
+women should be like Miss Wayland. Have you ever stopped to think that
+even you are not the same man you were when you came fresh from
+college? You know the world now; you have tasted its wickedness. Would
+you change your knowledge for your earlier innocence? You know you
+would not, and you have no right to judge me by a separate code. What
+difference does it make who I am or what I have done? I didn't ask your
+record when I gave you the chance to win Miss Wayland, and neither you
+nor she have any right to challenge mine."
+
+"I agree with you in that."
+
+"I came away from the mining camps because of wagging tongues--because
+I was forever misjudged. Whatever I may have been, I have at least
+played fair with that girl; it hurts me now to be accused by her. I saw
+your love for her, and I never tried to rob her. Oh, don't look as if I
+couldn't have done differently if I had tried. I could have injured her
+very easily if I had been the sort she thinks me. But I helped you in
+every way I could. I made sacrifices, I did things she would never have
+done."
+
+She stopped on the verge of tears. Boyd felt the justice of her words.
+He could not forget the unselfish devotion and loyalty she had shown
+throughout his long struggle. For the hundredth time there came to him
+the memory of her services in the matter of Hilliard's loan, and the
+thought caused him unspeakable distress.
+
+"Why--did you do all this?" he asked.
+
+"Don't you know?" Cherry gazed at him with a faint smile.
+
+Then, for the first time, the whole truth burst upon him. The surprise
+of it almost deprived him of speech, and he stammered:
+
+"No, I--I--" Then he fell silent.
+
+"What little I did, I did because I love you," said the girl, in a
+tired voice. "You may as well know, for it makes no difference now."
+
+"I--I am sorry," he said, gripped by a strong emotion that made him go
+hot and cold. "I have been a fool."
+
+"No, you were merely wrapped up in your own affairs. You see, I had
+been living my own life, and was fairly contented till you came; then
+everything changed. For a long time I hoped you might grow to love me
+as I loved you, but I found it was no use. When I saw you so honest and
+unselfish in your devotion to that other girl, I thought it was my
+chance to do something unselfish in my turn. It was hard--but I did my
+best. I think I must love you in the same way you love her, Boyd, for
+there is nothing in all the world I would not do to make you happy.
+That's all there is to the poor little story, and it won't make any
+difference now, except that you and I can't go on as we have done; I
+shall never have the courage to come back after this. You will win Miss
+Wayland yet, and attain your heart's desire. I am only sorry that I
+have made it harder for you--that I cannot help you any further. But I
+cannot. There is but one thing more I can do--"
+
+"I want no more sacrifice!" he cried, roughly. "I've been blind. I've
+taken too much from you already."
+
+The girl stood for a moment with her eyes turned toward the river. Then
+she said:
+
+"I must think. I--I want to go away. Good-bye."
+
+"Good-bye," he returned, and stood watching her as she hurried away,
+half suspecting the tears that were trembling amid her lashes.
+
+It was not until supper-time that Boyd saw "Fingerless" Fraser, and
+questioned him about his quest for an heiress.
+
+"Nothing doing in the heiress business," replied the adventurer. "I
+couldn't stand the exposure."
+
+"They were cold, eh?"
+
+"Yep! They weathered me out."
+
+"Did you really meet any of those people?"
+
+"Sure! I met 'em all, but I didn't catch their names. I 'made' one
+before I'd gone a mile--tall, slim party, with cracked ice in her
+voice."
+
+Boyd looked up quickly. "Did you introduce yourself?"
+
+"As Chancy De Benville, that's all. How is that for a drawing-room
+monaker? She fell for the name all right, but there must have been
+something phony about the clothes. That's the trouble with this park
+harness; if I'd wore my 'soup and fish' and my two-gallon hat, I'd have
+passed for a gentleman sure. I'm strong for those evening togs. I see
+another one later; a little Maduro colored skirt with a fat nose."
+
+"Miss Berry."
+
+"I'm glad to meet her. I officed her out of a rowboat and told her I
+was Mr. Yonkers of New York. We was breezing along on the bit till
+Clyde broke it up. He called me Fraser, and it was cold in a minute.
+Fraser is a cheap name, anyhow; I'm sorry I took it."
+
+"Do you mean to say it isn't your real name?" asked his companion, in
+genuine bewilderment.
+
+"Naw! Switzer is what I was born with. Say it slow and it sounds like
+an air brake, don't it? I never won a bet as long as I packed it
+around, and Fraser hasn't got it beat by more than a lip."
+
+"Well!" Boyd breathed deeply. "You are the limit."
+
+"Speaking of clothes, I notice you are dressed up like a fruit salad.
+What is it? The yacht!"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You'd better hurry; she sails at high tide."
+
+"Sails!"
+
+"Alton told me so, and said that he was going along."
+
+"Thank Heaven for that, anyhow, but--I don't understand about the
+other."
+
+Boyd voiced the question that was foremost in his mind.
+
+"Did you know Cherry in the 'upper country'?"
+
+"Nope."
+
+"She said you did."
+
+"She said that?"
+
+"Yes. She thought you had told me who she was."
+
+"Hell! She might have known I'd never crack. It's her own business,
+and--I've got troubles enough with this cannery on my hands."
+
+"I wish you had told me," said Emerson.
+
+"Why? There's no use of rehearsing the dog-eared dope. Nobody can live
+the past over again, and who wants to repeat the present? It's only the
+future that's worth while. I guess her future is just as good as
+anybody's."
+
+"What she told me came as a shock."
+
+"Fingerless" Fraser grunted. "I don't know why. For my part, I can't
+stand for an ingenue. If ever I get married, Cherry's the sort for me.
+I'm out of the kindergarten myself, and I'd hate to spend my life
+cutting paper figures for my wife. No, sir! If I ever seize a frill, I
+want her to know as much as me; then she won't tear away with the first
+dark-eyed diamond broker that stops in front of my place to crank up
+his whizz-buggy. You never heard of a wise woman breaking up her own
+home, did you? It's the pink-faced dolls from the seminary that fall
+for Bertie the Beautiful Cloak Model."
+
+Fraser whittled himself a toothpick as he went on:
+
+"A feller in my line of business don't gather much useful information,
+but he certainly gets Jerry to the female question in all its dips,
+angles, and spurs. Cherry Malotte is the squarest girl I ever saw, and
+while she may have been crowded at the turn, she'll finish true. It
+takes a thoroughbred to do that, and the guy that gets her will win his
+Derby. Now, those fillies on the yacht, for instance, warm up fine, but
+you can't tell how they'll run."
+
+"We're not talking of marriage," said Boyd, as he rose. When he had
+gone out, Fraser ruminated aloud:
+
+"Maybe not! I ain't very bright, and we may have been talking about the
+weather. However, if you're after that wild-flower dame with the
+cold-storage talk instead of Cherry Malotte, why, I hope you get her.
+There's no accounting for tastes. I certainly did my best to send you
+along this morning." Turning to the Jap steward, he remarked, sagely:
+"My boy, always remember one thing--if you can't boost, don't knock."
+
+Wayne Wayland was by no means sure that Boyd would not make good his
+threat to visit the yacht that evening, and in any case he wished to be
+prepared. A scene before the other passengers of _The Grande Dame_ was
+not to be thought of. Besides, if the young man were roughly handled,
+it would make him a martyr in Mildred's eyes. He talked over the matter
+with Marsh, who suggested that the sightseers should dine ashore and
+spend the evening with him at the plant. With only Mildred and her
+father left on the yacht, there would be no possibility of scandal,
+even if Emerson were mad enough to force an interview.
+
+"And what is more," declared Mr. Wayland, "I shall give orders to clear
+on the high tide. That fellow is a menace, and the sooner Mildred is
+away from him the better. You shall go with us, my boy."
+
+But when he went to Mildred, to explain the nature of his arrangements,
+he found her in a furious temper.
+
+"Why did you announce my engagement to Mr. Marsh?" she demanded,
+angrily. "The whole ship is talking about it. By what right did you do
+that?"
+
+"I did it for your own sake," said the old man. "This whelp, Emerson,
+has made a fool of you and of me long enough. There must be an end to
+it."
+
+"But I don't love Willis Marsh!" she cried. "You forget I am of age."
+
+"Nonsense! Willis is a fine fellow, he loves you, and he is the best
+business man for his years I have ever known. If it were not for this
+foolish boy-and-girl affair, you would return his love. He suits me,
+and--well, I have put my foot down, so there's an end of it."
+
+"Do you intend to force me to marry him?"
+
+Mr. Wayland recognized the danger-signal.
+
+"Absurd! Take all the time you wish; you'll come around all right. That
+reprobate you were engaged to defied me and defended that woman."
+
+He told of his stormy interview with Boyd, concluding: "It is fortunate
+we found him out, Mildred. I have guarded you all my life. I have
+lavished everything money could buy upon you. I have built up the
+greatest fortune in all the West for you. I have kept you pure and
+sweet and good--and to think that such a fellow should dare--" Mr.
+Wayland choked with anger. "The one thing I cannot stand in a man or a
+woman is immorality. I have lived clean myself, and my son shall be as
+clean as I."
+
+"Did you say that Boyd threatened to come aboard this evening?"
+questioned the girl.
+
+"Yes. But I swore that he should not."
+
+"And still he repeated his threat?" Mildred's eyes were strangely
+bright. She was smiling as if to herself.
+
+"He did, the braggart! He had better not try it."
+
+"Then he'll come," said Mildred.
+
+It was twilight when Willis Marsh was rowed out to the yacht. He found
+Mr. Wayland and Mildred seated in deck-chairs enjoying the golden
+sunset while the old man smoked. Marsh explained that he had excused
+himself from his guests to go whither his inclination led him, and drew
+his seat close to Mildred, rejoicing in the fact that no one could
+gainsay him this privilege. In reality, he had been drawn to _The
+Grande Dame_ largely by a lurking fear of Emerson. He was not entirely
+sure of the girl, and would not feel secure until the shores of Kalvik
+had sunk from sight and his rival had been left behind. But in spite of
+his uneasiness, it was the happiest moment of his life. If he had
+failed to ruin his enemy in the precise way he had planned, he was
+fairly satisfied with what he had accomplished. He had shifted the
+battle to stronger shoulders, and he had gained the woman he wanted.
+Moreover, he had won the unfaltering loyalty of Wayne Wayland, the
+dominant figure of the West. Nothing could keep him now from the
+success his ambition demanded. It added to his satisfaction to note the
+group of lusty sailors at the rail. He almost wished that Emerson would
+try to come aboard, that he might witness his discomfiture. Meanwhile
+he did his best to be pleasant.
+
+His complaisant enjoyment was interrupted at last by the approach of
+the second officer, who announced that a lady wished to see Mr. Wayland.
+
+"A lady?" asked the old man, in surprise.
+
+"Yes, sir. She came alongside in a small boat, just now, with some
+natives. I stopped her at the landing, but she says she must see you at
+once."
+
+"Ah! That woman again." Mr. Wayland's jaws snapped. "Tell her to
+begone. I refuse to see her."
+
+"Very well, sir!" The mate turned, but Mildred said, suddenly:
+
+"Wait! Why don't you talk to her, father?"
+
+"That creature? I have nothing to say to her."
+
+"Quite right!" agreed Marsh, with a cautionary glance at the speaker.
+"She is up to some trick."
+
+"She may have something really important to say to you," urged the girl.
+
+"No."
+
+Mildred leaned forward, and called to the ship's officer: "Show her up.
+I will see her."
+
+"Mildred, you mustn't talk to that woman!" her father cried.
+
+"It is very unwise," Marsh chimed in, apprehensively. "She isn't the
+sort of person--"
+
+Miss Wayland chilled him with a look and waved the mate away, then sank
+back into her chair.
+
+"I have talked with her already. I assure you she is not dangerous."
+
+"Have your own way," Mr. Wayland grunted. "But it is bound to lead to
+something unpleasant. She has probably come with a message from--that
+fellow."
+
+Willis Marsh squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. He fixed his eyes upon
+the knot of men at the starboard rail; an expression of extreme
+alertness came over his bland features. His feet were drawn under him,
+and his fingers were clinched upon the arms of his chair. Then, with a
+sharp indrawing of his breath, he leaped up and darted down the deck.
+
+Over the side had come Cherry Malotte, accompanied by an Indian girl in
+shawl and moccasins--a slim, shrinking creature who stood as if
+bewildered, twisting her hands and staring about with frightened eyes.
+Behind them, head and shoulders above the sailors, towered a giant
+copper-hued breed with a child in his arms.
+
+They saw that Marsh was speaking to the newcomers, but could not
+distinguish his words. The Indian girl fell back as if terrified. She
+cried out something in her own tongue, shook her head violently, and
+pointed to her white companion. Marsh's face was livid; he shook a
+quivering hand in Cherry Malotte's face. It seemed as if he would
+strike her; but Constantine strode between them, scowling silently down
+into the smaller man's face, his own visage saturnine and menacing.
+Marsh retreated a step, chattering excitedly. Then Cherry's voice came
+clearly to the listeners:
+
+"It is too late now, Mr. Marsh. You may as well face the music."
+
+Followed by the stares of the sailors, she came up the deck toward the
+old man and his daughter, who had arisen, the Indian girl clinging to
+her sleeve, the tall breed striding noiselessly behind. Willis Marsh
+came with them, his white lips writhing, his face like putty. He made
+futile detaining grasps at Constantine, and in the silence that
+suddenly descended upon the ship, they heard him whispering.
+
+"What is the meaning of this?" demanded Mr. Wayland.
+
+"I heard you were about to sail, so I came out to see you before--"
+
+Marsh broke in, hoarsely: "She's a bad woman! She has come here for
+blackmail!"
+
+"Blackmail!" cried Wayne Wayland. "I thought as much!"
+
+"That's her game. She wants money!"
+
+Cherry shrugged her shoulders and showed her white teeth in a smile.
+
+"Mr. Marsh anticipates slightly. You may judge if he is right."
+
+Marsh started to speak, but Mildred Wayland, who had been watching him
+intently, was before him.
+
+"Who sent you here, Miss?"
+
+"No one sent me. If Mr. Marsh will stop his chatter, I can make myself
+understood."
+
+"Don't listen to her--"
+
+Cherry turned upon him swiftly. "You've got to face it, so you may as
+well keep still."
+
+He fell silent.
+
+"We heard that Mr. Marsh was going away with you, and I came out to ask
+him for enough money to support his child while he is gone."
+
+"His child!" Wayne Wayland turned upon his daughter's fiance with a
+face of stern surprise. "Willis, tell her she is lying!"
+
+"She's lying!" Marsh repeated, obediently; but they saw the truth in
+his face.
+
+Cherry spoke directly to Miss Wayland now. "I have supported this
+little fellow and his mother for a year." She indicated the red-haired
+youngster in Constantine's arms. "That is all I care to do. When you
+people arrived, Mr. Marsh induced Chakawana to take the baby up-river
+to a fishing-camp and stay there until you had gone. But Constantine
+heard that he intended to marry you, and hearing also that he intended
+leaving to-night, Constantine brought his sister back in the hope that
+Mr. Marsh would do what is right. You see, he promised to marry
+Chakawana long before he met you."
+
+Mildred could have done murder at the expression she saw in Cherry's
+face. This woman she had scorned had humbled her in earnest. With
+flashing eyes she turned upon her father.
+
+"Since you were so prompt in announcing my engagement, perhaps you can
+deny it with equal promptness."
+
+"Good God! What a scandal if this is true!" Wayne Wayland wiped his
+forehead.
+
+"Oh, it's true," said Cherry.
+
+In the silence that followed the child struggled out of Constantine's
+arms and stood beside his mother, the better to inspect these
+strangers. His little face was grimy, his clothes, cut in the native
+fashion, were poor and not very clean; yet he was more white than
+Aleut, and no one seeing him could doubt his parentage. The seamen had
+left their posts, and were watching with such absorption that they
+failed to see a skiff with a single oarsman swing past the stern of
+_The Grande Dame_ and make fast to the landing. Still unobserved, the
+man mounted the companionway swiftly.
+
+For once in his life Wayne Wayland was too confused for definite
+speech. Willis Marsh stood helpless, his plump face slack-jowled and
+beaded with sweat. He could not yet grasp the completeness of his
+downfall, and waited anxiously for some further sign from Mildred. It
+came at last in a look that scorched him, firing him to a last effort.
+
+"Don't believe her!" he broke out. "She is lying to protect her own
+lover!" He pointed to Chakawana. "That girl is the child's mother, but
+its father is Boyd Emerson!"
+
+"Boyd Emerson was never in Kalvik until last December," said Cherry.
+"The child is three years old."
+
+"It seems I am being discussed," said a voice behind them. Emerson
+clove his way through the sailors, striding directly to Marsh. "What is
+the meaning of this?"
+
+Mildred Wayland laid a fluttering hand upon her breast. "I knew he
+would come," she breathed.
+
+Constantine broke his silence for the first time, addressing Mildred
+directly.
+
+"This baby b'long Mr. Marsh. He say he goin' marry Chakawana, but he
+lie; he goin' marry you because you are rich girl." He turned to Marsh.
+"What for you lie, eh?" He leaned forward with a frightful scowl. "I
+tell you long time ago I kill you if you don' marry my sister."
+
+"Now I understand!" exclaimed Boyd. "It was you who stabbed him that
+night in the cannery."
+
+"Yes! Chakawana tell him what the pries' say 'bout woman what don'
+marry. My sister say she go to hell herself and don' care a damn, but
+it ain't right for little baby to go to hell too."
+
+"What do you mean by that?" asked Mr. Wayland.
+
+"The Father say if white man take Indian woman and don' marry her, she
+go to hell for thousan' year--mebbe two, three thousan' year. Anyhow,
+she don' never see Jesus' House. That's bad thing!" The breed shook his
+head seriously. "Chakawana she's good girl, and she go to church; I
+give money to the pries' too, plenty money every time, but he says
+that's no good--she's got to be marry or she'll burn for always with
+little baby. By God! that's make her scare', because little baby ain't
+do nothing to burn that way. Mr. Marsh he say it's all damn lie, and he
+don't care if little baby do go to hell. You hear that? He don't care
+for little baby."
+
+Constantine's eyes were full of tears as he strove laboriously to voice
+his religious teachings. He went on with growing agitation:
+
+"Chakawana she's mighty scare' of that bad place, and she ask Mr. Marsh
+again to marry her, but he beat her. That's when I try to kill him.
+Mebbe Mr. Emerson ain't come so quick, Mr. Marsh go to hell himself."
+
+Wayne Wayland turned upon Marsh.
+
+"Why don't you say something?"
+
+"I told you the brat isn't mine!" he cried. "If it isn't Emerson's,
+it's Cherry Malotte's. They want money, but I won't be bled."
+
+"You marry my sister?" asked Constantine.
+
+"No!" snarled Willis Marsh. "You can all go to hell and take the child
+with you--"
+
+Without a single warning cry, the breed lunged swiftly; the others saw
+something gleam in his hand. Emerson jumped for him, and the three men
+went to the deck in a writhing tangle, sending the furniture spinning
+before them. Mildred screamed, the sailors rushed forward, pushing her
+aside and blotting out her view. The sudden violence of the assault had
+frightened her nearly out of her senses. She fled to her father,
+striving to hide her face against his breast, but something drew her
+eyes back to the spot where the men were clinched. She heard Boyd
+Emerson cry to the sailors:
+
+"Get out of the way! I've got him!" Then saw him locked in the Indian's
+arms. They had gained their feet now, and spun backward, bringing up
+against the yacht's cabin with a crash of shivering glass. A knife,
+wrenched from the breed's grasp, went whirling over the side into the
+sea. Cherry Malotte ran forward, and at her voice the savage ceased his
+struggles.
+
+Wayne Wayland loosed his daughter's hold and thrust his way in among
+the sailors, kneeling beside the man he had chosen for his son-in-law.
+Emerson joined him, then rose quickly, crying:
+
+"Is there a doctor among your party?"
+
+"Doctor Berry! Send for Berry! He's gone ashore!" exclaimed Mr. Wayland.
+
+"Quick! Somebody fetch Doctor Berry!" Boyd directed.
+
+As the sailors drew apart, Mildred Wayland saw a sight that made her
+grow deathly faint and close her eyes. Turning, she fled blindly into
+the cabin. A few moments later Emerson found her stretched unconscious
+at the head of the main stairs, with a hysterical French maid sobbing
+over her.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+AND A DREAM COMES TRUE
+
+
+For nearly an hour Boyd Emerson sat alone on the deck of _The Grande
+Dame_, a prey to conflicting emotions, the while he waited for Mildred
+to appear. There was no one to dispute his presence now, for the
+tourists who had followed Doctor Berry from the shore in hushed
+excitement avoided him, and the sailors made no effort to carry out
+their earlier instructions; hence he was allowed opportunity to adjust
+himself to the sudden change. It was not so much the unexpected
+downfall of Willis Marsh, and the new light thus thrown upon his own
+enterprise that upset him, as a puzzling alteration in his own purposes
+and inclinations. He had come out to the yacht defiantly, to make good
+his threat, and to force an understanding with Mildred Wayland, but now
+that he was here and his way made easy he began to question his own
+desires. Now that he thought about it, that note, instead of filling
+him with dismay, had rather left him relieved. It was as if he had been
+freed of a burden, and this caused him a vague uneasiness. Was it
+because he was tired by the struggle for this girl, for whom he had
+labored so faithfully? After three years of unflagging devotion, was he
+truly relieved to have her dismiss him? Or was it that here, in this
+primal country, stripped of all conventions, he saw her and himself in
+a new light? He did not know.
+
+The late twilight was fading when Mildred came from her state-room. She
+found Boyd pacing the deck, a cigar between his teeth.
+
+"Where are those people?" she inquired.
+
+"They went ashore. Marsh doesn't care to press a charge against the
+Indian."
+
+"I hear he is not badly hurt, after all."
+
+"That is true. But it was a close shave."
+
+Mildred shuddered. "It was horrible!"
+
+"I never dreamed that Constantine would do such a thing, but he is more
+Russian than Aleut, and both he and his sister are completely under the
+spell of the priest. They are intensely religious, and their idea of
+damnation is very vivid."
+
+"Have you seen father?"
+
+"We had a short talk."
+
+"Did you make up?"
+
+"No! But I think he is beginning to understand things better--at least,
+as far as Marsh is concerned. The rest is only a matter of time."
+
+"What a frightful situation! Why did you ever let father announce my
+engagement to that man?"
+
+Emerson gazed at her in astonishment. "I? Pardon me--how could I help
+it?"
+
+"You might have avoided quarrelling with him. I think you are very
+inconsiderate of me."
+
+Boyd regarded the coal of his cigar with a slight gleam of amusement in
+his eyes as she ran on:
+
+"Even that woman took occasion to humiliate me in the worst possible
+way."
+
+"It strikes me that she did you a very great service. I have no doubt
+it was quite as distasteful to her as to you."
+
+"Absurd! It was her chance for revenge, and she rejoiced in making me
+ridiculous."
+
+"Then it is the first ignoble thing I ever knew her to do," said Boyd,
+slowly. "She has helped me in a hundred ways. Without her assistance, I
+could never have won through. That cannery site would still be grown up
+to moss and trees, and I would still be a disheartened dreamer."
+
+"It's very nice of you, of course, to appreciate what she has done. But
+she can't help you any more. You surely don't intend to keep up your
+acquaintance with her now." He made no reply, and, taking his silence
+for agreement, she went on: "The trip home will be terribly dull for
+me, I'm afraid. I think--yes, I shall have father ask you to go back
+with us."
+
+"But I am right in the midst of the run. I can't leave the business."
+
+"Oh, business! Do you care more for business than for me? I don't think
+you realize how terribly hard for me all this has been--I'm still
+frightened. I shall die of nervousness without some one to talk to."
+
+"It's quite impossible! I--don't want to go back now."
+
+"Indeed? And no doubt it was impossible for you to come out here last
+night for the same reason."
+
+"It was. The fish struck in, and I could not leave."
+
+"It was that woman who kept you!" cried Mildred. "It is because of her
+that you refuse to leave this country!"
+
+"Please don't," he said, quietly. "I have never thought of her in that
+way--"
+
+"Then come away from this wretched place. I detest the whole
+country--the fisheries, the people, everything. This isn't your proper
+sphere. Why come away, now, at once, and begin something new, something
+worth while?"
+
+"Do you realize the hopes, the heartaches, the vital effort I have put
+into this enterprise?" he questioned.
+
+But she only said:
+
+"I don't like it. It isn't a nice business. Let father take the plant
+over. If you need money, I have plenty--"
+
+"Wait!" he interrupted, sharply. "Sit down, I want to talk to you." He
+drew the wrap closer about her shoulders and led her to a deck-chair.
+The change in him was becoming more apparent. He knew now that he had
+never felt the same since his first meeting with Mildred upon the
+arrival of _The Grande Dame_. Even then she had repelled him by her
+lack of sympathy. She had shown no understanding of his efforts, and
+now she revealed as complete a failure to grasp his code of honor. It
+never occurred to her that any loyalty of man to man could offset her
+simple will. She did not see that his desertion of George would be
+nothing short of treachery.
+
+It seemed to him all at once that they had little in common. She was
+wrapped completely in the web of her own desires; she would make her
+prejudices a law for him. Above all, she could not respond to the
+exultation of his success. She had no conception of the pride of
+accomplishment that is the wine of every true man's life. He had waged
+a bitter fight that had sapped his very soul, he had made and won the
+struggle that a man makes once in a lifetime, and now, just when he had
+proved himself strong and fair in the sight of his fellows, she asked
+him to forego it all. Engrossed in her own egoism, she required of him
+a greater sacrifice than any he had made. Now that he had shown his
+strength, she wanted to load him down with golden fetters--to make him
+a dependent. Was it because she feared another girl? She had tried to
+help him, he knew--in her way--and the thought of it touched him. That
+was like the Mildred he had always known--to act fearlessly, heedless
+of what her father might do or say. Somehow he had never felt more
+convinced of the sincerity of her love, but he found himself thinking
+of it as of something of the past. After all, what she had done had
+been little, considering her power. She had given carelessly, out of
+her abundance, while Cherry--He saw it all now, and a sudden sense of
+loyalty and devotion to the girl who had really shared his struggles
+swept over him in a warm tide. It was most unlike his distant worship
+of Mildred. She had been his dream, but the other was bone of his bone
+and flesh of his flesh.
+
+For a long time the two sat talking while these thoughts took gradual
+form in the young man's mind, and although the deck was deserted, Miss
+Wayland had no need now to curb her once headstrong wooer.
+
+He could not put into words the change that was working in him; but she
+saw it, and, grasping its meaning at last, she began to battle like a
+mother for her child. His awakening had been slow, and hers was even
+slower; but once she found her power over him waning, her sense of loss
+grew and grew as he failed to answer to her half-spoken appeal.
+
+Womanlike, she capitulated at last. What matter if he stayed here where
+his hopes were centred? This life in the North had claimed him, and she
+would wait until he came for her. But still he did not respond, and it
+was not long until she had persuaded herself that his battle with the
+wilderness had put red blood into his veins, and his conduct had been
+no worse than that of other men. Finally she tried to voice these
+thoughts, but she only led him to a stiff denial of the charges she
+wished to forgive. As she saw him slipping further away from her, she
+summoned all her arts to rekindle the flame which had burned so
+steadily; and when these failed, she surrendered every prejudice. It
+was his love she wanted. All else was secondary. At last she knew
+herself. She could have cried at the sudden realization that he had not
+kissed her since their parting in Chicago; and when she saw he had no
+will to do so, the memory of his last embrace arose to torture her. She
+was almost glad when a launch bringing her father came from the shore,
+and the old man joined them.
+
+The two men bore themselves with unbending formality, unable as yet to
+forget their mutual wrongs. The interruption gave Boyd the opportunity
+he had not been brave enough to make, and he bade them both good-bye,
+for the tide was at its flood, and the hour of their departure was at
+hand.
+
+There was a meaningless exchange of words, and a handshake in the glare
+from the cabin lights that showed Mildred's pallid lips and frightened
+eyes. Then Emerson went over the side, and the darkness swallowed him
+up.
+
+The girl clutched at her father's arm, standing as if frozen while the
+creak of rowlocks grew fainter and fainter and died away. Then she
+turned.
+
+"You see--he came!" she said.
+
+The old man saw the agony that blanched her cheeks, and answered,
+gently:
+
+"Yes, daughter!" He struggled with himself, "And if you wish it, he may
+come again."
+
+"But he won't come again. That is what makes it so hard; he will never
+come back."
+
+She turned away, but not quickly enough to keep him from seeing that
+her eyes were wet. Wayne Wayland beheld what he would have given half
+his mighty fortune to prevent. He cried out angrily, but she
+anticipated his thought.
+
+"No, no, you must never injure him again, for he was right and we were
+wrong. You see I--couldn't understand."
+
+He left her staring into the night, and walked heavily below.
+
+Emerson felt a great sense of relief and deliverance as he leaned
+against his oars. His heart sang to the murmur of the waters overside;
+for the first time in many months he felt young and free. How blind he
+had been and how narrow had been his escape from a life that could lead
+to but one result! The girl was sweet and good and wonderful in many
+ways, but--three years had altered him more than he had realized. He
+had begun to understand himself that very afternoon, when Cherry had
+told him her own unhappy secret. The shock of her disclosure had roused
+him from his dream, and once he began to see himself as he really was
+the rest had come quickly. He had been doubtful even when he went out
+to the yacht, but what happened there had destroyed the last trace of
+uncertainty. He knew that for him there was but one woman in all the
+world. It was no easy battle he had fought with himself. He had been
+reared to respect the conventions, and he knew that Cherry's life had
+not been all he could wish. But he fronted the issue squarely, and
+tried to throttle his inbred prejudice. Although he had felt the truth
+of Fraser's arguments and of Cherry's own words, he had still refused
+to yield until his love for the girl swept over him in all its power;
+then he made his choice.
+
+The one thing he found most difficult to accept was her conduct with
+Hilliard. Those other charges against the girl were vague and shadowy,
+but this was concrete, and he was familiar with every miserable detail
+of it. It took all his courage to face it, but he swore savagely that
+if the conditions had been reversed, Cherry would not have faltered for
+an instant. Moreover, what she had done had been done for love of him;
+it was worse than vile to hesitate. Her past was her own, and all he
+could rightfully claim was her future. He shut his teeth and laid his
+course resolutely for her landing, striving to leave behind this one
+hideous memory, centring his mind upon the girl herself and shutting
+out her past. It was the bitterest fight he had ever waged; but when he
+reached the shore and tied his skiff, he was exalted by the knowledge
+that he had triumphed, that this painful episode was locked away with
+all the others.
+
+Now that he had conquered, he was filled with a consuming eagerness. As
+he stole up through the shadows he heard her playing, and when he drew
+nearer he recognized the notes of that song that had banished his own
+black desolation on the night of their first meeting. He paused outside
+the open window and saw by the shaded lamplight that she was playing
+from memory, her fingers wandering over the keyboard without conscious
+effort. Then she took up the words, with all the throbbing tenderness
+that lives in a deep, contralto voice:
+
+    "Last night I was dreaming of thee, love--was dreaming;
+        I dreamed thou didst promise--"
+
+
+Cherry paused as if entranced, for she thought she heard another voice
+join with hers; then she bowed her head and sobbed in utter
+wretchedness, knowing it for nothing more than her own fancy. Too many
+times, as in other twilights past, she had heard that mellow voice
+blend with hers, only to find that her ears had played her false and
+she was alone with a memory that would never die.
+
+Of all the days of her life this was the saddest, this hour the
+loneliest, and the tears she had withheld so bravely as long as there
+was work to do came now in unbidden profusion.
+
+To face those people on the yacht had been an act of pure devotion to
+Boyd, for her every instinct had rebelled against it; yet she had known
+that some desperate stroke in his defence must be delivered instantly.
+Otherwise the ruin of all his hopes would follow. She had hit upon the
+device of using Constantine and Chakawana largely by chance, for not
+until the previous day had she learned the truth. She had not dared to
+hope for such unqualified success, nor had she foreseen the tragic
+outcome. She had simply carried her plan through to its natural
+conclusion. Now that her work was done, she gave way completely and
+wept like a little girl. He was out there now with his love. They would
+never waste a thought upon that other girl who had made their happiness
+possible. The thought was almost more than she could bear. Never again
+could she have Boyd to herself, never enjoy his careless friendship as
+of old; even that was over, now that he knew the truth.
+
+The first and only kiss he had ever given her burned fresh upon her
+lips. She recalled that evening they had spent alone in this very room,
+when he had seemed to waver and her hopes had risen at the dawning of a
+new light in his eyes. At the memory she cried aloud, as if her heart
+would break:
+
+"Boyd! Boyd!"
+
+He entered noiselessly and took her in his arms.
+
+"Yes, dear!" he murmured. But she rose with a startled exclamation, and
+wrenched herself from his embrace. The piano gave forth a discordant
+crash. Shrinking back as from an apparition, she stared into his
+flushed and smiling face; then breathed:
+
+"You! Why are you--here!"
+
+"Because I love you!"
+
+She closed her eyes and swayed as if under the spell of wonderful
+music; he saw the throbbing pulse at her throat. Then she flung out her
+hands, crying, piteously:
+
+"Go away, please, before I find it is only another dream."
+
+She raised her lids to find him still standing there then felt him with
+fluttering fingers.
+
+"Our dreams have come true," he said, gently, and strove to imprison
+her hand.
+
+"No, no!" Her voice broke wildly. "You don't mean it. You--you haven't
+come to stay."
+
+"I have come to stay if you will let me, dear."
+
+She broke from his grasp and moved quickly away.
+
+"Why are you here? I left you out there with--her. I made your way
+clear. Why have you come back? What more can I do? Dear God! What more
+can I do?" She was panting as if desperately frightened.
+
+"There is but one thing more you can do to make me happy. You can be my
+wife."
+
+"But I don't understand!" She shook her head hopelessly. "You are
+jesting with me. You love Miss Wayland."
+
+"No. Miss Wayland leaves to-night, and I shall never see her again."
+
+"Then you won't marry her?"
+
+"No."
+
+A dull color rose to Cherry Malotte's cheeks; she swallowed as if her
+throat were very dry, and said, slowly:
+
+"Then she refused you in spite of everything, and you have come to me
+because of what I told you this afternoon. You are doing this out of
+pity--or is it because you are angry with her? No, no, Boyd! I won't
+have it. I don't want your pity--I don't want what she cast off."
+
+"It has taken me a long time to find myself, Cherry, for I have been
+blinded by a vision," he answered. "I have been dreaming, and I never
+saw clearly till to-day. I came away of my own free will; and I came
+straight to you because it is you I love and shall always love."
+
+The girl suddenly began to beat her hands together.
+
+"You--forget what I--have been!" she cried, in a voice that tore her
+lover's heartstrings. "You can't want to--marry me?"
+
+"To-night," he said, simply, and held out his arms to her. "I love you
+and I want you. That is all I know or care about."
+
+He found her upon his breast, sobbing and shaking as if she had sought
+shelter there from some great peril. He buried his face in the soft
+masses of her hair, whispering fondly to her till her emotion spent
+itself. She turned her face shyly up at length and pressed her lips to
+his. Then, holding herself away from him, she said, with a
+half-doubtful yet radiant look:
+
+"It is not too late yet. I will give you one final chance to save
+yourself."
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"Then I have done my duty!" She snuggled closer to him. "And you have
+no regrets?"
+
+"Only one. I am sorry that I can't give you more than my name. I may
+have to go out into the world and begin all over if Mr. Wayland carries
+out his threat. I may be the poorest of the poor."
+
+"That will be my opportunity to show how well I love you. You can be no
+poorer than I in this world's goods."
+
+"You at least have your copper-mine."
+
+"I have no mine," said the girl. "Not even the smallest interest in
+one."
+
+"But--I don't understand."
+
+She dropped her eyes. "Mr. Hilliard is a hard man to deal with. I had
+to give him all my share in the claims."
+
+"I suppose you mean you sold out to him."
+
+"No! When I found you could not raise the money, I gave him my share in
+the mine. With that as a consideration, he made you the loan. You are
+not angry, are you?"
+
+"Angry!" Emerson's tone conveyed a supreme gladness. "You don't
+know--how happy you have made me."
+
+"Hark!" She laid a finger upon his lips. Through the breathless night
+there came the faint rumble of a ship's chains.
+
+"_The Grande Dame!_" he cried. "She sails at the flood tide."
+
+They stood together in the open doorway of the little house and watched
+the yacht's lights as they described a great curve through the
+darkness, then slowly faded into nothingness down the bay. Cherry drew
+herself closer to Boyd.
+
+"What a wonderful Providence guides us, after all," she said. "That
+girl had everything in the world, and I was poor--so poor--until this
+hour. God grant she may some day be as rich as I!"
+
+Out on _The Grande Dame_ the girl who had everything in the world
+maintained a lonely vigil at the rail, straining with tragic eyes until
+the sombre shadows that marked the shores of the land she feared had
+shrunk to a faint, low-lying streak on the horizon. Then she turned and
+went below, numbed by the knowledge that she was very poor and very
+wretched, and had never understood.
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Silver Horde, by Rex Beach
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