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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/6017.txt b/6017.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b0efe8d --- /dev/null +++ b/6017.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13585 @@ +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 + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SILVER HORDE *** + +***** This file should be named 6017.txt or 6017.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/0/1/6017/ + +Produced by Carel Lyn Miske, Charles Franks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Silver Horde + +Author: Rex Beach + +Release Date: July, 2004 [EBook #6017] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on October 17, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE SILVER HORDE *** + + + + +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 +Bait 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 Bait 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 fatner. "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; be 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 end 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, THE SILVER HORDE *** + +This file should be named thslv10.txt or thslv10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, thslv11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, thslv10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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