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diff --git a/old/bdlit10.txt b/old/bdlit10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ece869f --- /dev/null +++ b/old/bdlit10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12906 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Burning Daylight, by Jack London +#5 in our series by Jack London + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association / Benedictine + University" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Benedictine University". + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +BURNING DAYLIGHT + +by Jack London + + + + +PART I + + + +CHAPTER I + +It was a quiet night in the Shovel. At the bar, which ranged +along one side of the large chinked-log room, leaned half a dozen +men, two of whom were discussing the relative merits of +spruce-tea and lime-juice as remedies for scurvy. They argued +with an air of depression and with intervals of morose silence. +The other men scarcely heeded them. In a row, against the +opposite wall, were the gambling games. The crap-table was +deserted. One lone man was playing at the faro-table. The +roulette-ball was not even spinning, and the gamekeeper stood by +the roaring, red-hot stove, talking with the young, dark-eyed +woman, comely of face and figure, who was known from Juneau to +Fort Yukon as the Virgin. Three men sat in at stud-poker, but +they played with small chips and without enthusiasm, while there +were no onlookers. On the floor of the dancing-room, which +opened out at the rear, three couples were waltzing drearily to +the strains of a violin and a piano. + +Circle City was not deserted, nor was money tight. The miners +were in from Moseyed Creek and the other diggings to the west, +the summer washing had been good, and the men's pouches were +heavy with dust and nuggets. The Klondike had not yet been +discovered, nor had the miners of the Yukon learned the +possibilities of deep digging and wood-firing. No work was done +in the winter, and they made a practice of hibernating in the +large camps like Circle City during the long Arctic night. Time +was heavy on their hands, their pouches were well filled, and the +only social diversion to be found was in the saloons. Yet the +Shovel was practically deserted, and the Virgin, standing by the +stove, yawned with uncovered mouth and said to Charley Bates:- + +"If something don't happen soon, I'm gin' to bed. What's the +matter with the camp, anyway? Everybody dead?" + +Bates did not even trouble to reply, but went on moodily rolling +a cigarette. Dan MacDonald, pioneer saloonman and gambler on the +upper Yukon, owner and proprietor of the Tivoli and all its +games, wandered forlornly across the great vacant space of floor +and joined the two at the stove. + +"Anybody dead?" the Virgin asked him. + +"Looks like it," was the answer. + +"Then it must be the whole camp," she said with an air of +finality and with another yawn. + +MacDonald grinned and nodded, and opened his mouth to speak, when +the front door swung wide and a man appeared in the light. A +rush of frost, turned to vapor by the heat of the room, swirled +about him to his knees and poured on across the floor, growing +thinner and thinner, and perishing a dozen feet from the stove. +Taking the wisp broom from its nail inside the door, the newcomer +brushed the snow from his moccasins and high German socks. He +would have appeared a large man had not a huge French-Canadian +stepped up to him from the bar and gripped his hand. + +"Hello, Daylight!" was his greeting. "By Gar, you good for sore +eyes!" + +"Hello, Louis, when did you-all blow in?" returned the newcomer. +"Come up and have a drink and tell us all about Bone Creek. Why, +dog-gone you-all, shake again. Where's that pardner of yours? +I'm looking for him." + +Another huge man detached himself from the bar to shake hands. +Olaf Henderson and French Louis, partners together on Bone Creek, +were the two largest men in the country, and though they were but +half a head taller than the newcomer, between them he was dwarfed +completely. + +"Hello, Olaf, you're my meat, savvee that," said the one called +Daylight. "To-morrow's my birthday, and I'm going to put you-all +on your back--savvee? And you, too, Louis. I can put you-all on +your back on my birthday--savvee? Come up and drink, Olaf, and +I'll tell you-all about it." + +The arrival of the newcomer seemed to send a flood of warmth +through the place. "It's Burning Daylight," the Virgin cried, +the first to recognize him as he came into the light. Charley +Bates' tight features relaxed at the sight, and MacDonald went +over and joined the three at the bar. With the advent of Burning +Daylight the whole place became suddenly brighter and cheerier. +The barkeepers were active. Voices were raised. Somebody +laughed. And when the fiddler, peering into the front room, +remarked to the pianist, "It's Burning Daylight," the waltz-time +perceptibly quickened, and the dancers, catching the contagion, +began to whirl about as if they really enjoyed it. It was known +to them of old time that nothing languished when Burning Daylight +was around. + +He turned from the bar and saw the woman by the stove and the +eager look of welcome she extended him. + +"Hello, Virgin, old girl," he called. "Hello, Charley. What's +the matter with you-all? Why wear faces like that when coffins +cost only three ounces? Come up, you-all, and drink. Come up, +you unburied dead, and name your poison. Come up, everybody. +This is my night, and I'm going to ride it. To-morrow I'm +thirty, and then I'll be an old man. It's the last fling of +youth. Are you-all with me? Surge along, then. Surge along. + +"Hold on there, Davis," he called to the faro-dealer, who had +shoved his chair back from the table. "I'm going you one flutter +to see whether you-all drink with me or we-all drink with you." + +Pulling a heavy sack of gold-dust from his coat pocket, he +dropped it on the HIGH CARD. + +"Fifty," he said. + +The faro-dealer slipped two cards. The high card won. He +scribbled the amount on a pad, and the weigher at the bar +balanced fifty dollars' worth of dust in the gold-scales and +poured it into Burning Daylight's sack. The waltz in the back +room being finished, the three couples, followed by the fiddler +and the pianist and heading for the bar, caught Daylight's eye. + +"Surge along, you-all" he cried. "Surge along and name it. This +is my night, and it ain't a night that comes frequent. Surge up, +you Siwashes and Salmon-eaters. It's my night, I tell you-all--" + +"A blame mangy night," Charley Bates interpolated. + +"You're right, my son," Burning Daylight went on gaily. + +"A mangy night, but it's MY night, you see. I'm the mangy old +he-wolf. Listen to me howl." + +And howl he did, like a lone gray timber wolf, till the Virgin +thrust her pretty fingers in her ears and shivered. A minute +later she was whirled away in his arms to the dancing-floor, +where, along with the other three women and their partners, a +rollicking Virginia reel was soon in progress. Men and women +danced in moccasins, and the place was soon a-roar, Burning +Daylight the centre of it and the animating spark, with quip and +jest and rough merriment rousing them out of the slough of +despond in which he had found them. + +The atmosphere of the place changed with his coming. He seemed +to fill it with his tremendous vitality. Men who entered from +the street felt it immediately, and in response to their queries +the barkeepers nodded at the back room, and said comprehensively, +"Burning Daylight's on the tear." And the men who entered +remained, and kept the barkeepers busy. The gamblers took heart +of life, and soon the tables were filled, the click of chips and +whir of the roulette-ball rising monotonously and imperiously +above the hoarse rumble of men's voices and their oaths and heavy +laughs. + +Few men knew Elam Harnish by any other name than Burning +Daylight, the name which had been given him in the early days in +the land because of his habit of routing his comrades out of +their blankets with the complaint that daylight was burning. Of +the pioneers in that far Arctic wilderness, where all men were +pioneers, he was reckoned among the oldest. Men like Al Mayo and +Jack McQuestion antedated him; but they had entered the land by +crossing the Rockies from the Hudson Bay country to the east. +He, however, had been the pioneer over the Chilcoot and Chilcat +passes. In the spring of 1883, twelve years before, a stripling +of eighteen, he had crossed over the Chilcoot with five comrades. + +In the fall he had crossed back with one. Four had perished by +mischance in the bleak, uncharted vastness. And for twelve years +Elam Harnish had continued to grope for gold among the shadows of +the Circle. + +And no man had groped so obstinately nor so enduringly. He had +grown up with the land. He knew no other land. Civilization was +a dream of some previous life. Camps like Forty Mile and Circle +City were to him metropolises. And not alone had he grown up +with the land, for, raw as it was, he had helped to make it. He +had made history and geography, and those that followed wrote of +his traverses and charted the trails his feet had broken. + +Heroes are seldom given to hero-worship, but among those of that +young land, young as he was, he was accounted an elder hero. In +point of time he was before them. In point of deed he was beyond +them. In point of endurance it was acknowledged that he could +kill the hardiest of them. Furthermore, he was accounted a nervy +man, a square man, and a white man. + +In all lands where life is a hazard lightly played with and +lightly flung aside, men turn, almost automatically, to gambling +for diversion and relaxation. In the Yukon men gambled their +lives for gold, and those that won gold from the ground gambled +for it with one another. Nor was Elam Harnish an exception. He +was a man's man primarily, and the instinct in him to play the +game of life was strong. Environment had determined what form +that game should take. He was born on an Iowa farm, and his +father had emigrated to eastern Oregon, in which mining country +Elam's boyhood was lived. He had known nothing but hard knocks +for big stakes. Pluck and endurance counted in the game, but the +great god Chance dealt the cards. Honest work for sure but +meagre returns did not count. A man played big. He risked +everything for everything, and anything less than everything +meant that he was a loser. So for twelve Yukon years, Elam +Harnish had been a loser. True, on Moosehide Creek the past +summer he had taken out twenty thousand dollars, and what was +left in the ground was twenty thousand more. But, as he himself +proclaimed, that was no more than getting his ante back. He had +ante'd his life for a dozen years, and forty thousand was a small +pot for such a stake--the price of a drink and a dance at the +Tivoli, of a winter's flutter at Circle City, and a grubstake for +the year to come. + +The men of the Yukon reversed the old maxim till it read: hard +come, easy go. At the end of the reel, Elam Harnish called the +house up to drink again. Drinks were a dollar apiece, gold rated +at sixteen dollars an ounce; there were thirty in the house that +accepted his invitation, and between every dance the house was +Elam's guest. This was his night, and nobody was to be allowed +to pay for anything. + +Not that Elam Harnish was a drinking man. Whiskey meant little +to him. He was too vital and robust, too untroubled in mind and +body, to incline to the slavery of alcohol. He spent months at a +time on trail and river when he drank nothing stronger than +coffee, while he had gone a year at a time without even coffee. +But he was gregarious, and since the sole social expression of +the Yukon was the saloon, he expressed himself that way. When he +was a lad in the mining camps of the West, men had always done +that. To him it was the proper way for a man to express himself +socially. He knew no other way. + +He was a striking figure of a man, despite his garb being similar +to that of all the men in the Tivoli. Soft-tanned moccasins of +moose-hide, beaded in Indian designs, covered his feet. His +trousers were ordinary overalls, his coat was made from a +blanket. Long-gauntleted leather mittens, lined with wool, hung +by his side. They were connected in the Yukon fashion, by a +leather thong passed around the neck and across the shoulders. +On his head was a fur cap, the ear-flaps raised and the +tying-cords dangling. His face, lean and slightly long, with the +suggestion of hollows under the cheek-bones, seemed almost +Indian. The burnt skin and keen dark eyes contributed to this +effect, though the bronze of the skin and the eyes themselves +were essentially those of a white man. He looked older than +thirty, and yet, smooth-shaven and without wrinkles, he was +almost boyish. This impression of age was based on no tangible +evidence. It came from the abstracter facts of the man, from +what he had endured and survived, which was far beyond that of +ordinary men. He had lived life naked and tensely, and something +of all this smouldered in his eyes, vibrated in his voice, and +seemed forever a-whisper on his lips. + +The lips themselves were thin, and prone to close tightly over +the even, white teeth. But their harshness was retrieved by the +upward curl at the corners of his mouth. This curl gave to him +sweetness, as the minute puckers at the corners of the eyes +gave him laughter. These necessary graces saved him from a +nature that was essentially savage and that otherwise would have +been cruel and bitter. The nose was lean, full-nostrilled, and +delicate, and of a size to fit the face; while the high forehead, +as if to atone for its narrowness, was splendidly domed and +symmetrical. In line with the Indian effect was his hair, very +straight and very black, with a gloss to it that only health +could give. + +"Burning Daylight's burning candlelight," laughed Dan MacDonald, +as an outburst of exclamations and merriment came from the +dancers. + +"An' he is der boy to do it, eh, Louis?" said Olaf Henderson. + +"Yes, by Gar! you bet on dat," said French Louis. "Dat boy is +all gold--" + +"And when God Almighty washes Daylight's soul out on the last big +slucin' day," MacDonald interrupted, "why, God Almighty'll have +to shovel gravel along with him into the sluice-boxes." + +"Dot iss goot," Olaf Henderson muttered, regarding the gambler +with profound admiration. + +"Ver' good," affirmed French Louis. "I t'ink we take a drink on +dat one time, eh?" + + + +CHAPTER II + +It was two in the morning when the dancers, bent on getting +something to eat, adjourned the dancing for half an hour. And it +was at this moment that Jack Kearns suggested poker. Jack Kearns +was a big, bluff-featured man, who, along with Bettles, had made +the disastrous attempt to found a post on the head-reaches of the +Koyokuk, far inside the Arctic Circle. After that, Kearns had +fallen back on his posts at Forty Mile and Sixty Mile and changed +the direction of his ventures by sending out to the States for a +small sawmill and a river steamer. The former was even then +being sledded across Chilcoot Pass by Indians and dogs, and would +come down the Yukon in the early summer after the ice-run. Later +in the summer, when Bering Sea and the mouth of the Yukon cleared +of ice, the steamer, put together at St. Michaels, was to be +expected up the river loaded to the guards with supplies. + +Jack Kearns suggested poker. French Louis, Dan MacDonald, and +Hal Campbell (who had make a strike on Moosehide), all three of +whom were not dancing because there were not girls enough to go +around, inclined to the suggestion. They were looking for a +fifth man when Burning Daylight emerged from the rear room, the +Virgin on his arm, the train of dancers in his wake. In response +to the hail of the poker-players, he came over to their table in +the corner. + +"Want you to sit in," said Campbell. "How's your luck?" + +"I sure got it to-night," Burning Daylight answered with +enthusiasm, and at the same time felt the Virgin press his arm +warningly. She wanted him for the dancing. "I sure got my luck +with me, but I'd sooner dance. I ain't hankerin' to take the +money away from you-all." + +Nobody urged. They took his refusal as final, and the Virgin was +pressing his arm to turn him away in pursuit of the +supper-seekers, when he experienced a change of heart. It was +not that he did not want to dance, nor that he wanted to hurt +her; but that insistent pressure on his arm put his free +man-nature in revolt. The thought in his mind was that he did +not want any woman running him. Himself a favorite with women, +nevertheless they did not bulk big with him. They were toys, +playthings, part of the relaxation from the bigger game of life. +He met women along with the whiskey and gambling, and from +observation he had found that it was far easier to break away +from the drink and the cards than from a woman once the man was +properly entangled. + +He was a slave to himself, which was natural in one with a +healthy ego, but he rebelled in ways either murderous or panicky +at being a slave to anybody else. Love's sweet servitude was a +thing of which he had no comprehension. Men he had seen in love +impressed him as lunatics, and lunacy was a thing he had never +considered worth analyzing. But comradeship with men was +different from love with women. There was no servitude in +comradeship. It was a business proposition, a square deal +between men who did not pursue each other, but who shared the +risks of trail and river and mountain in the pursuit of life and +treasure. Men and women pursued each other, and one must needs +bend the other to his will or hers. Comradeship was different. +There was no slavery about it; and though he, a strong man beyond +strength's seeming, gave far more than he received, he gave not +something due but in royal largess, his gifts of toil or heroic +effort falling generously from his hands. To pack for days over +the gale-swept passes or across the mosquito-ridden marshes, and +to pack double the weight his comrade packed, did not involve +unfairness or compulsion. Each did his best. That was the +business essence of it. Some men were stronger than +others--true; +but so long as each man did his best it was fair exchange, the +business spirit was observed, and the square deal obtained. + +But with women--no. Women gave little and wanted all. Women had +apron-strings and were prone to tie them about any man who looked +twice in their direction. There was the Virgin, yawning her head +off when he came in and mightily pleased that he asked her to +dance. One dance was all very well, but because he danced twice +and thrice with her and several times more, she squeezed his arm +when they asked him to sit in at poker. It was the obnoxious +apron-string, the first of the many compulsions she would exert +upon him if he gave in. Not that she was not a nice bit of a +woman, healthy and strapping and good to look upon, also a very +excellent dancer, but that she was a woman with all a woman's +desire to rope him with her apron-strings and tie him hand and +foot for the branding. Better poker. Besides, he liked poker as +well as he did dancing. + +He resisted the pull on his arm by the mere negative mass of him, +and said:-- + +"I sort of feel a hankering to give you-all a flutter." + +Again came the pull on his arm. She was trying to pass the +apron-string around him. For the fraction of an instant he was a +savage, dominated by the wave of fear and murder that rose up in +him. For that infinitesimal space of time he was to all purposes +a frightened tiger filled with rage and terror at the +apprehension of the trap. Had he been no more than a savage, he +would have leapt wildly from the place or else sprung upon her +and destroyed her. But in that same instant there stirred in him +the generations of discipline by which man had become an +inadequate social animal. Tact and sympathy strove with him, and +he smiled with his eyes into the Virgin's eyes as he said:-- + +"You-all go and get some grub. I ain't hungry. And we'll dance +some more by and by. The night's young yet. Go to it, old +girl." + +He released his arm and thrust her playfully on the shoulder, at +the same time turning to the poker-players. + +"Take off the limit and I'll go you-all." + +"Limit's the roof," said Jack Kearns. + +"Take off the roof." + +The players glanced at one another, and Kearns announced, "The +roof's off." + +Elam Harnish dropped into the waiting chair, started to pull out +his gold-sack, and changed his mind. The Virgin pouted a moment, +then followed in the wake of the other dancers. + +"I'll bring you a sandwich, Daylight," she called back over her +shoulder. + +He nodded. She was smiling her forgiveness. He had escaped the +apron-string, and without hurting her feelings too severely. + +"Let's play markers," he suggested. "Chips do everlastingly +clutter up the table....If it's agreeable to you-all?" + +"I'm willing," answered Hal Campbell. "Let mine run at five +hundred." + +"Mine, too," answered Harnish, while the others stated the values +they put on their own markers, French Louis, the most modest, +issuing his at a hundred dollars each. + +In Alaska, at that time, there were no rascals and no tin-horn +gamblers. Games were conducted honestly, and men trusted one +another. A man's word was as good as his gold in the blower. A +marker was a flat, oblong composition chip worth, perhaps, a +cent. But when a man betted a marker in a game and said it was +worth five hundred dollars, it was accepted as worth five hundred +dollars. Whoever won it knew that the man who issued it would +redeem it with five hundred dollars' worth of dust weighed out on +the scales. The markers being of different colors, there was no +difficulty in identifying the owners. Also, in that early Yukon +day, no one dreamed of playing table-stakes. A man was good in a +game for all that he possessed, no matter where his possessions +were or what was their nature. + +Harnish cut and got the deal. At this good augury, and while +shuffling the deck, he called to the barkeepers to set up the +drinks for the house. As he dealt the first card to Dan +MacDonald, on his left, he called out: + +"Get down to the ground, you-all, Malemutes, huskies, and Siwash +purps! Get down and dig in! Tighten up them traces! Put your +weight into the harness and bust the breast-bands! Whoop-la! +Yow! We're off and bound for Helen Breakfast! And I tell +you-all clear and plain there's goin' to be stiff grades and fast +goin' to-night before we win to that same lady. And somebody's +goin' to bump...hard." + +Once started, it was a quiet game, with little or no +conversation, though all about the players the place was a-roar. +Elam Harnish had ignited the spark. More and more miners dropped +in to the Tivoli and remained. When Burning Daylight went on the +tear, no man cared to miss it. The dancing-floor was full. +Owing to the shortage of women, many of the men tied bandanna +handkerchiefs around their arms in token of femininity and danced +with other men. All the games were crowded, and the voices of +the men talking at the long bar and grouped about the stove were +accompanied by the steady click of chips and the sharp whir, +rising and falling, of the roulette-ball. All the materials of a +proper Yukon night were at hand and mixing. + +The luck at the table varied monotonously, no big hands being +out. As a result, high play went on with small hands though no +play lasted long. A filled straight belonging to French Louis +gave him a pot of five thousand against two sets of threes held +by Campbell and Kearns. One pot of eight hundred dollars was won +by a pair of treys on a showdown. And once Harnish called Kearns +for two thousand dollars on a cold steal. When Kearns laid down +his hand it showed a bobtail flush, while Harnish's hand proved +that he had had the nerve to call on a pair of tens. + +But at three in the morning the big combination of hands arrived. + +It was the moment of moments that men wait weeks for in a poker +game. The news of it tingled over the Tivoli. The onlookers +became quiet. The men farther away ceased talking and moved over +to the table. The players deserted the other games, and the +dancing-floor was forsaken, so that all stood at last, fivescore +and more, in a compact and silent group, around the poker-table. +The high betting had begun before the draw, and still the high +betting went on, with the draw not in sight. Kearns had dealt, +and French Louis had opened the pot with one marker--in his case +one hundred dollars. Campbell had merely "seen" it, but Elam +Harnish, corning next, had tossed in five hundred dollars, with +the remark to MacDonald that he was letting him in easy. + +MacDonald, glancing again at his hand, put in a thousand in +markers. Kearns, debating a long time over his hand, finally +"saw." It then cost French Louis nine hundred to remain in the +game, which he contributed after a similar debate. It cost +Campbell likewise nine hundred to remain and draw cards, but to +the surprise of all he saw the nine hundred and raised another +thousand. + +"You-all are on the grade at last," Harnish remarked, as he saw +the fifteen hundred and raised a thousand in turn. "Helen +Breakfast's sure on top this divide, and you-all had best look +out for bustin' harness." + +"Me for that same lady," accompanied MacDonald's markers for two +thousand and for an additional thousand-dollar raise. + +It was at this stage that the players sat up and knew beyond +peradventure that big hands were out. Though their features +showed nothing, each man was beginning unconsciously to tense. +Each man strove to appear his natural self, and each natural self +was different. Hal Campbell affected his customary cautiousness. + +French Louis betrayed interest. MacDonald retained his +whole-souled benevolence, though it seemed to take on a slightly +exaggerated tone. Kearns was coolly dispassionate and +noncommittal, while Elam Harnish appeared as quizzical and +jocular as ever. Eleven thousand dollars were already in the +pot, and the markers were heaped in a confused pile in the centre +of the table. + +"I ain't go no more markers," Kearns remarked plaintively. "We'd +best begin I.O.U.'s." + +"Glad you're going to stay," was MacDonald's cordial response. + +"I ain't stayed yet. I've got a thousand in already. How's it +stand now?" + +"It'll cost you three thousand for a look in, but nobody will +stop you from raising." + +"Raise--hell. You must think I got a pat like yourself." +Kearns looked at his hand. "But I'll tell you what I'll do, Mac. + +"I've got a hunch, and I'll just see that three thousand." + +He wrote the sum on a slip of paper, signed his name, and +consigned it to the centre of the table. + +French Louis became the focus of all eyes. He fingered his cards +nervously for a space. Then, with a "By Gar! Ah got not one +leetle beet hunch," he regretfully tossed his hand into the +discards. + +The next moment the hundred and odd pairs of eyes shifted to +Campbell. + +"I won't hump you, Jack," he said, contenting himself with +calling the requisite two thousand. + +The eyes shifted to Harnish, who scribbled on a piece of paper +and shoved it forward. + +"I'll just let you-all know this ain't no Sunday-school society +of philanthropy," he said. "I see you, Jack, and I raise you a +thousand. Here's where you-all get action on your pat, Mac." + +"Action's what I fatten on, and I lift another thousand," was +MacDonald's rejoinder. "Still got that hunch, Jack?" + +"I still got the hunch." Kearns fingered his cards a long +time. "And I'll play it, but you've got to know how I stand. +There's my steamer, the Bella--worth twenty thousand if she's +worth an ounce. There's Sixty Mile with five thousand in stock +on the shelves. And you know I got a sawmill coming in. It's at +Linderman now, and the scow is building. Am I good?" + +"Dig in; you're sure good," was Daylight's answer. "And while +we're about it, I may mention casual that I got twenty thousand +in Mac's safe, there, and there's twenty thousand more in the +ground on Moosehide. You know the ground, Campbell. Is they +that-all in the dirt?" + +"There sure is, Daylight." + +"How much does it cost now?" Kearns asked. + +"Two thousand to see." + +"We'll sure hump you if you-all come in," Daylight warned him. + +"It's an almighty good hunch," Kearns said, adding his slip for +two thousand to the growing heap. "I can feel her crawlin' up +and down my back." + +"I ain't got a hunch, but I got a tolerable likeable hand," +Campbell announced, as he slid in his slip; "but it's not a +raising hand." + +"Mine is," Daylight paused and wrote. "I see that thousand and +raise her the same old thousand." + +The Virgin, standing behind him, then did what a man's best +friend was not privileged to do. Reaching over Daylight's +shoulder, she picked up his hand and read it, at the same time +shielding the faces of the five cards close to his chest. What +she saw were three queens and a pair of eights, but nobody +guessed what she saw. Every player's eyes were on her face as +she scanned the cards, but no sign did she give. Her features +might have been carved from ice, for her expression was precisely +the same before, during, and after. Not a muscle quivered; nor +was there the slightest dilation of a nostril, nor the slightest +increase of light in the eyes. She laid the hand face down again +on the table, and slowly the lingering eyes withdrew from her, +having learned nothing. + +MacDonald smiled benevolently. "I see you, Daylight, and I hump +this time for two thousand. How's that hunch, Jack?" + +"Still a-crawling, Mac. You got me now, but that hunch is a +rip-snorter persuadin' sort of a critter, and it's my plain duty +to ride it. I call for three thousand. And I got another hunch: +Daylight's going to call, too." + +"He sure is," Daylight agreed, after Campbell had thrown up his +hand. "He knows when he's up against it, and he plays accordin'. +I see that two thousand, and then I'll see the draw." + +In a dead silence, save for the low voices of the three players, +the draw was made. Thirty-four thousand dollars were already in +the pot, and the play possibly not half over. To the Virgin's +amazement, Daylight held up his three queens, discarding his +eights and calling for two cards. And this time not even she +dared look at what he had drawn. She knew her limit of control. +Nor did he look. The two new cards lay face down on the table +where they had been dealt to him. + +"Cards?" Kearns asked of MacDonald. + +"Got enough," was the reply. + +"You can draw if you want to, you know," Kearns warned him. + +"Nope; this'll do me." + +Kearns himself drew two cards, but did not look at them. + +Still Harnish let his cards lie. + +"I never bet in the teeth of a pat hand," he said slowly, looking +at the saloon-keeper. "You-all start her rolling, Mac." + +MacDonald counted his cards carefully, to make double sure it +was not a foul hand, wrote a sum on a paper slip, and slid it +into the pot, with the simple utterance:-- + +"Five thousand." + +Kearns, with every eye upon him, looked at his two-card draw, +counted the other three to dispel any doubt of holding more than +five cards, and wrote on a betting slip. + +"I see you, Mac," he said, "and I raise her a little thousand +just so as not to keep Daylight out." + +The concentrated gaze shifted to Daylight. He likewise examined +his draw and counted his five cards. + +"I see that six thousand, and I raise her five thousand...just to +try and keep you out, Jack." + +"And I raise you five thousand just to lend a hand at keeping +Jack out," MacDonald said, in turn. + +His voice was slightly husky and strained, and a nervous twitch +in the corner of his mouth followed speech. + +Kearns was pale, and those who looked on noted that his hand +trembled as he wrote his slip. But his voice was unchanged. + +"I lift her along for five thousand," he said. + +Daylight was now the centre. The kerosene lamps above flung high +lights from the rash of sweat on his forehead. The bronze of his +cheeks was darkened by the accession of blood. His black eyes +glittered, and his nostrils were distended and eager. They were +large nostrils, tokening his descent from savage ancestors who +had survived by virtue of deep lungs and generous air-passages. +Yet, unlike MacDonald, his voice was firm and customary, and, +unlike Kearns, his hand did not tremble when he wrote. + +"I call, for ten thousand," he said. "Not that I'm afraid of +you-all, Mac. It's that hunch of Jack's." + +"I hump his hunch for five thousand just the same," said +MacDonald. "I had the best hand before the draw, and I still +guess I got it." + +"Mebbe this is a case where a hunch after the draw is better'n +the hunch before," Kearns remarked; "wherefore duty says, 'Lift +her, Jack, lift her,' and so I lift her another five thousand." + +Daylight leaned back in his chair and gazed up at the kerosene +lamps while he computed aloud. + +"I was in nine thousand before the draw, and I saw and raised +eleven thousand--that makes thirty. I'm only good for ten more." + +He leaned forward and looked at Kearns. "So I call that ten +thousand." + +"You can raise if you want," Kearns answered. "Your dogs are +good for five thousand in this game." + +"Nary dawg. You-all can win my dust and dirt, but nary one of my +dawgs. I just call." + +MacDonald considered for a long time. No one moved or whispered. + +Not a muscle was relaxed on the part of the onlookers. Not the +weight of a body shifted from one leg to the other. It was a +sacred silence. Only could be heard the roaring draft of the +huge stove, and from without, muffled by the log-walls, the +howling of dogs. It was not every night that high stakes were +played on the Yukon, and for that matter, this was the highest in +the history of the country. The saloon-keeper finally spoke. + +"If anybody else wins, they'll have to take a mortgage on the +Tivoli." + +The two other players nodded. + +"So I call, too." MacDonald added his slip for five thousand. + +Not one of them claimed the pot, and not one of them called the +size of his hand. Simultaneously and in silence they faced their +cards on the table, while a general tiptoeing and craning of +necks took place among the onlookers. Daylight showed four +queens and an ace; MacDonald four jacks and an ace; and Kearns +four kings and a trey. Kearns reached forward with an encircling +movement of his arm and drew the pot in to him, his arm shaking +as he did so. + +Daylight picked the ace from his hand and tossed it over +alongside MacDonald's ace, saying:-- + +"That's what cheered me along, Mac. I knowed it was only kings +that could beat me, and he had them. + +"What did you-all have?" he asked, all interest, turning to +Campbell. + +"Straight flush of four, open at both ends--a good drawing hand." + +"You bet! You could a' made a straight, a straight flush, or a +flush out of it." + +"That's what I thought," Campbell said sadly. "It cost me six +thousand before I quit." + +"I wisht you-all'd drawn," Daylight laughed. "Then I wouldn't a' +caught that fourth queen. Now I've got to take Billy Rawlins' +mail contract and mush for Dyea. What's the size of the +killing, Jack?" + +Kearns attempted to count the pot, but was too excited. Daylight +drew it across to him, with firm fingers separating and stacking +the markers and I.O.U.'s and with clear brain adding the sum. + +"One hundred and twenty-seven thousand," he announced. "You-all +can sell out now, Jack, and head for home." + +The winner smiled and nodded, but seemed incapable of speech. + +"I'd shout the drinks," MacDonald said, "only the house don't +belong to me any more." + +"Yes, it does," Kearns replied, first wetting his lips with his +tongue. "Your note's good for any length of time. But the +drinks are on me." + +"Name your snake-juice, you-all--the winner pays!" Daylight called +out loudly to all about him, at the same time rising from his chair +and catching the Virgin by the arm. "Come on for a reel, you-all +dancers. The night's young yet, and it's Helen Breakfast and the +mail contract for me in the morning. Here, you-all Rawlins, you--I +hereby do take over that same contract, and I start for salt water +at nine A.M.--savvee? Come on, you-all! Where's that fiddler?" + + + +CHAPTER III + +It was Daylight's night. He was the centre and the head of the +revel, unquenchably joyous, a contagion of fun. He multiplied +himself, and in so doing multiplied the excitement. No prank he +suggested was too wild for his followers, and all followed save +those that developed into singing imbeciles and fell warbling by +the wayside. Yet never did trouble intrude. It was known on the +Yukon that when Burning Daylight made a night of it, wrath and +evil were forbidden. On his nights men dared not quarrel. In +the younger days such things had happened, and then men had known +what real wrath was, and been man-handled as only Burning +Daylight could man-handle. On his nights men must laugh and be +happy or go home. Daylight was inexhaustible. In between dances +he paid over to Kearns the twenty thousand in dust and +transferred to him his Moosehide claim. Likewise he arranged the +taking over of Billy Rawlins' mail contract, and made his +preparations for the start. He despatched a messenger to rout +out Kama, his dog-driver--a Tananaw Indian, far-wandered from his +tribal home in the service of the invading whites. Kama entered +the Tivoli, tall, lean, muscular, and fur-clad, the pick of his +barbaric race and barbaric still, unshaken and unabashed by the +revellers that rioted about him while Daylight gave his orders. +"Um," said Kama, tabling his instructions on his fingers. "Get +um letters from Rawlins. Load um on sled. Grub for Selkirk--you +think um plenty dog-grub stop Selkirk?" + +"Plenty dog-grub, Kama." + +"Um, bring sled this place nine um clock. Bring um snowshoes. +No bring um tent. Mebbe bring um fly? um little fly?" + +"No fly," Daylight answered decisively. + +"Um much cold." + +"We travel light--savvee? We carry plenty letters out, plenty +letters back. You are strong man. Plenty cold, plenty travel, +all right." + +"Sure all right," Kama muttered, with resignation. + +"Much cold, no care a damn. Um ready nine um clock." + +He turned on his moccasined heel and walked out, imperturbable, +sphinx-like, neither giving nor receiving greetings nor looking +to right or left. The Virgin led Daylight away into a corner. + +"Look here, Daylight," she said, in a low voice, "you're busted." + +"Higher'n a kite." + +"I've eight thousand in Mac's safe--" she began. + +But Daylight interrupted. The apron-string loomed near and he +shied like an unbroken colt. + +"It don't matter," he said. "Busted I came into the world, +busted I go out, and I've been busted most of the time since I +arrived. Come on; let's waltz." + +"But listen," she urged. "My money's doing nothing. I could +lend it to you--a grub-stake," she added hurriedly, at sight of +the alarm in his face. + +"Nobody grub-stakes me," was the answer. "I stake myself, and +when I make a killing it's sure all mine. No thank you, old +girl. Much obliged. I'll get my stake by running the mail out +and in." + +"Daylight," she murmured, in tender protest. + +But with a sudden well-assumed ebullition of spirits he drew her +toward the dancing-floor, and as they swung around and around in +a waltz she pondered on the iron heart of the man who held her in +his arms and resisted all her wiles. + +At six the next morning, scorching with whiskey, yet ever +himself, he stood at the bar putting every man's hand down. The +way of it was that two men faced each other across a corner, +their right elbows resting on the bar, their right hands gripped +together, while each strove to press the other's hand down. Man +after man came against him, but no man put his hand down, even +Olaf Henderson and French Louis failing despite their hugeness. +When they contended it was a trick, a trained muscular knack, he +challenged them to another test. + +"Look here, you-all" he cried. "I'm going to do two things: +first, weigh my sack; and second, bet it that after you-all have +lifted clean from the floor all the sacks of flour you-all are +able, I'll put on two more sacks and lift the whole caboodle +clean." + +"By Gar! Ah take dat!" French Louis rumbled above the cheers. + +"Hold on!" Olaf Henderson cried. "I ban yust as good as you, +Louis. I yump half that bet." + +Put on the scales, Daylight's sack was found to balance an even +four hundred dollars, and Louis and Olaf divided the bet between +them. Fifty-pound sacks of flour were brought in from +MacDonald's cache. Other men tested their strength first. They +straddled on two chairs, the flour sacks beneath them on the +floor and held together by rope-lashings. Many of the men were +able, in this manner, to lift four or five hundred pounds, while +some succeeded with as high as six hundred. Then the two giants +took a hand, tying at seven hundred. French Louis then added +another sack, and swung seven hundred and fifty clear. Olaf +duplicated the performance, whereupon both failed to clear eight +hundred. Again and again they strove, their foreheads beaded +with sweat, their frames crackling with the effort. Both were +able to shift the weight and to bump it, but clear the floor with +it they could not. + +"By Gar! Daylight, dis tam you mek one beeg meestake," French +Louis said, straightening up and stepping down from the chairs. +"Only one damn iron man can do dat. One hundred pun' more--my +frien', not ten poun' more." The sacks were unlashed, but when +two sacks were added, Kearns interfered. "Only one sack more." + +"Two!" some one cried. "Two was the bet." + +"They didn't lift that last sack," Kearns protested. + +"They only lifted seven hundred and fifty." + +But Daylight grandly brushed aside the confusion. + +"What's the good of you-all botherin' around that way? What's +one more sack? If I can't lift three more, I sure can't lift +two. Put 'em in." + +He stood upon the chairs, squatted, and bent his shoulders down +till his hands closed on the rope. He shifted his feet slightly, +tautened his muscles with a tentative pull, then relaxed again, +questing for a perfect adjustment of all the levers of his body. + +French Louis, looking on sceptically, cried out, + +"Pool lak hell, Daylight! Pool lak hell!" + +Daylight's muscles tautened a second time, and this time in +earnest, until steadily all the energy of his splendid body was +applied, and quite imperceptibly, without jerk or strain, the +bulky nine hundred pounds rose from the door and swung back and +forth, pendulum like, between his legs. + +Olaf Henderson sighed a vast audible sigh. The Virgin, who had +tensed unconsciously till her muscles hurt her, relaxed. While +French Louis murmured reverently:-- + +"M'sieu Daylight, salut! Ay am one beeg baby. You are one beeg +man." + +Daylight dropped his burden, leaped to the floor, and headed for +the bar. + +"Weigh in!" he cried, tossing his sack to the weigher, who +transferred to it four hundred dollars from the sacks of the two +losers. + +"Surge up, everybody!" Daylight went on. "Name your +snake-juice! The winner pays!" + +"This is my night!" he was shouting, ten minutes later. "I'm +the lone he-wolf, and I've seen thirty winters. This is my +birthday, my one day in the year, and I can put any man on his +back. Come on, you-all! I'm going to put you-all in the snow. +Come on, you chechaquos [1] and sourdoughs[2], and get your +baptism!" + +[1] Tenderfeet. [2] Old-timers. + + +The rout streamed out of doors, all save the barkeepers and the +singing Bacchuses. Some fleeting thought of saving his own +dignity entered MacDonald's head, for he approached Daylight with +outstretched hand. + +"What? You first?" Daylight laughed, clasping the other's hand +as if in greeting. + +"No, no," the other hurriedly disclaimed. "Just congratulations +on your birthday. Of course you can put me in the snow. What +chance have I against a man that lifts nine hundred pounds?" + +MacDonald weighed one hundred and eighty pounds, and Daylight had +him gripped solely by his hand; yet, by a sheer abrupt jerk, he +took the saloon-keeper off his feet and flung him face downward +in the snow. In quick succession, seizing the men nearest him, +he threw half a dozen more. Resistance was useless. They flew +helter-skelter out of his grips, landing in all manner of +attitudes, grotesquely and harmlessly, in the soft snow. It soon +became difficult, in the dim starlight, to distinguish between +those thrown and those waiting their turn, and he began feeling +their backs and shoulders, determining their status by whether or +not he found them powdered with snow. + +"Baptized yet?" became his stereotyped question, as he reached +out his terrible hands. + +Several score lay down in the snow in a long row, while many +others knelt in mock humility, scooping snow upon their heads and +claiming the rite accomplished. But a group of five stood +upright, backwoodsmen and frontiersmen, they, eager to contest +any man's birthday. + +Graduates of the hardest of man-handling schools, veterans of +multitudes of rough-and-tumble battles, men of blood and sweat +and endurance, they nevertheless lacked one thing that Daylight +possessed in high degree--namely, an almost perfect brain and +muscular coordination. It was simple, in its way, and no virtue +of his. He had been born with this endowment. His nerves +carried messages more quickly than theirs; his mental processes, +culminating in acts of will, were quicker than theirs; his +muscles themselves, by some immediacy of chemistry, obeyed the +messages of his will quicker than theirs. He was so made, his +muscles were high-power explosives. The levers of his body +snapped into play like the jaws of steel traps. And in addition +to all this, his was that super-strength that is the dower of but +one human in millions--a strength depending not on size but on +degree, a supreme organic excellence residing in the stuff of the +muscles themselves. Thus, so swiftly could he apply a stress, +that, before an opponent could become aware and resist, the aim +of the stress had been accomplished. In turn, so swiftly did he +become aware of a stress applied to him, that he saved himself by +resistance or by delivering a lightning counter-stress. + +"It ain't no use you-all standing there," Daylight addressed the +waiting group. "You-all might as well get right down and take +your baptizing. You-all might down me any other day in the year, +but on my birthday I want you-all to know I'm the best man. Is +that Pat Hanrahan's mug looking hungry and willing? Come on, +Pat." Pat Hanrahan, ex-bare-knuckle-prize fighter and +roughhouse-expert, stepped forth. The two men came against each +other in grips, and almost before he had exerted himself the +Irishman found himself in the merciless vise of a half-Nelson +that buried him head and shoulders in the snow. Joe Hines, +ex-lumber-jack, came down with an impact equal to a fall from a +two-story building--his overthrow accomplished by a +cross-buttock, +delivered, he claimed, before he was ready. + +There was nothing exhausting in all this to Daylight. He did +not heave and strain through long minutes. No time, practically, +was occupied. His body exploded abruptly and terrifically in one +instant, and on the next instant was relaxed. Thus, Doc Watson, +the gray-bearded, iron bodied man without a past, a fighting +terror himself, was overthrown in the fraction of a second +preceding his own onslaught. As he was in the act of gathering +himself for a spring, Daylight was upon him, and with such +fearful suddenness as to crush him backward and down. Olaf +Henderson, receiving his cue from this, attempted to take +Daylight unaware, rushing upon him from one side as he stooped +with extended hand to help Doc Watson up. Daylight dropped on +his hands and knees, receiving in his side Olaf's knees. Olaf's +momentum carried him clear over the obstruction in a long, flying +fall. Before he could rise, Daylight had whirled him over on his +back and was rubbing his face and ears with snow and shoving +handfuls down his neck. "Ay ban yust as good a man as you ban, +Daylight," Olaf spluttered, as he pulled himself to his feet; "but +by Yupiter, I ban navver see a grip like that." French Louis was +the last of the five, and he had seen enough to make him +cautious. He circled and baffled for a full minute before coming +to grips; and for another full minute they strained and reeled +without either winning the advantage. And then, just as the +contest was becoming interesting, Daylight effected one of his +lightning shifts, changing all stresses and leverages and at the +same time delivering one of his muscular explosions. French +Louis resisted till his huge frame crackled, and then, slowly, +was forced over and under and downward. + +"The winner pays!" Daylight cried; as he sprang to his feet and +led the way back into the Tivoli. "Surge along you-all! This way +to the snake-room!" + +They lined up against the long bar, in places two or three deep, +stamping the frost from their moccasined feet, for outside the +temperature was sixty below. Bettles, himself one of the gamest +of the old-timers in deeds and daring ceased from his drunken lay +of the "Sassafras Root," and titubated over to congratulate +Daylight. But in the midst of it he felt impelled to make a +speech, and raised his voice oratorically. + +"I tell you fellers I'm plum proud to call Daylight my friend. +We've hit the trail together afore now, and he's eighteen carat +from his moccasins up, damn his mangy old hide, anyway. He was a +shaver when he first hit this country. When you fellers was his +age, you wa'n't dry behind the ears yet. He never was no kid. +He was born a full-grown man. An' I tell you a man had to be a +man in them days. This wa'n't no effete civilization like it's +come to be now." Bettles paused long enough to put his arm in +a proper bear-hug around Daylight's neck. "When you an' me +mushed into the Yukon in the good ole days, it didn't rain +soup and they wa'n't no free-lunch joints. Our camp fires was +lit where we killed our game, and most of the time we lived on +salmon-tracks and rabbit-bellies--ain't I right?" + +But at the roar of laughter that greeted his inversion, Bettles +released the bear-hug and turned fiercely on them. "Laugh, you +mangy short-horns, laugh! But I tell you plain and simple, the +best of you ain't knee-high fit to tie Daylight's moccasin +strings. + +"Ain't I right, Campbell? Ain't I right, Mac? Daylight's one of +the old guard, one of the real sour-doughs. And in them days +they wa'n't ary a steamboat or ary a trading-post, and we cusses +had to live offen salmon-bellies and rabbit-tracks." + +He gazed triumphantly around, and in the applause that followed +arose cries for a speech from Daylight. He signified his +consent. A chair was brought, and he was helped to stand upon +it. He was no more sober than the crowd above which he now +towered--a wild crowd, uncouthly garmented, every foot moccasined +or muc-lucked[3], with mittens dangling from necks and with furry +ear-flaps raised so that they took on the seeming of the winged +helmets of the Norsemen. Daylight's black eyes were flashing, +and the flush of strong drink flooded darkly under the bronze of +his cheeks. He was greeted with round on round of affectionate +cheers, which brought a suspicious moisture to his eyes, albeit +many of the voices were inarticulate and inebriate. And yet, men +have so behaved since the world began, feasting, fighting, and +carousing, whether in the dark cave-mouth or by the fire of the +squatting-place, in the palaces of imperial Rome and the rock +strongholds of robber barons, or in the sky-aspiring hotels of +modern times and in the boozing-kens of sailor-town. Just so +were these men, empire-builders in the Arctic Light, boastful and +drunken and clamorous, winning surcease for a few wild moments +from the grim reality of their heroic toil. Modern heroes they, +and in nowise different from the heroes of old time. "Well, +fellows, I don't know what to say to you-all," Daylight began +lamely, striving still to control his whirling brain. "I think +I'll tell you-all a story. I had a pardner wunst, down in +Juneau. He come from North Caroliney, and he used to tell this +same story to me. It was down in the mountains in his country, +and it was a wedding. There they was, the family and all the +friends. The parson was just puttin' on the last touches, and he +says, 'They as the Lord have joined let no man put asunder.' + +[3] Muc-luc: a water-tight, Eskimo boot, made from walrus-hide +and trimmed with fur. + + +"'Parson,' says the bridegroom, 'I rises to question your +grammar in that there sentence. I want this weddin' done right.' + +"When the smoke clears away, the bride she looks around and sees +a dead parson, a dead bridegroom, a dead brother, two dead +uncles, and five dead wedding-guests. + +"So she heaves a mighty strong sigh and says, 'Them new-fangled, +self-cocking revolvers sure has played hell with my prospects.' + +"And so I say to you-all," Daylight added, as the roar of +laughter died down, "that them four kings of Jack Kearns sure has +played hell with my prospects. I'm busted higher'n a kite, and +I'm hittin' the trail for Dyea--" + +"Goin' out?" some one called. A spasm of anger wrought on his +face for a flashing instant, but in the next his good-humor was +back again. + +"I know you-all are only pokin' fun asking such a question," he +said, with a smile. "Of course I ain't going out." + +"Take the oath again, Daylight," the same voice cried. + +"I sure will. I first come over Chilcoot in '83. I went out +over the Pass in a fall blizzard, with a rag of a shirt and a cup +of raw flour. I got my grub-stake in Juneau that winter, and in +the spring I went over the Pass once more. And once more the +famine drew me out. Next spring I went in again, and I swore +then that I'd never come out till I made my stake. Well, I ain't +made it, and here I am. And I ain't going out now. I get the +mail and I come right back. I won't stop the night at Dyea. +I'll hit up Chilcoot soon as I change the dogs and get the mail +and grub. And so I swear once more, by the mill-tails of hell +and the head of John the Baptist, I'll never hit for the Outside +till I make my pile. And I tell you-all, here and now, it's got +to be an almighty big pile." + +"How much might you call a pile?" Bettles demanded from beneath, +his arms clutched lovingly around Daylight's legs. + +"Yes, how much? What do you call a pile?" others cried. + +Daylight steadied himself for a moment and debated. "Four or +five millions," he said slowly, and held up his hand for silence +as his statement was received with derisive yells. "I'll be real +conservative, and put the bottom notch at a million. And for not +an ounce less'n that will I go out of the country." + +Again his statement was received with an outburst of derision. +Not only had the total gold output of the Yukon up to date been +below five millions, but no man had ever made a strike of a +hundred thousand, much less of a million. + +"You-all listen to me. You seen Jack Kearns get a hunch +to-night. We had him sure beat before the draw. His ornery +three kings was no good. But he just knew there was another king +coming--that was his hunch--and he got it. And I tell you-all I +got a hunch. There's a big strike coming on the Yukon, and it's +just about due. I don't mean no ornery Moosehide, Birch-Creek +kind of a strike. I mean a real rip-snorter hair-raiser. I tell +you-all she's in the air and hell-bent for election. Nothing can +stop her, and she'll come up river. There's where you-all track +my moccasins in the near future if you-all want to find +me--somewhere in the country around Stewart River, Indian River, +and Klondike River. When I get back with the mail, I'll head +that way so fast you-all won't see my trail for smoke. She's +a-coming, fellows, gold from the grass roots down, a hundred +dollars to the pan, and a stampede in from the Outside fifty +thousand strong. You-all'll think all hell's busted loose when +that strike is made." + +He raised his glass to his lips. "Here's kindness, and hoping +you-all will be in on it." + +He drank and stepped down from the chair, falling into another +one of Bettles' bear-hugs. + +"If I was you, Daylight, I wouldn't mush to-day," Joe Hines +counselled, coming in from consulting the spirit thermometer +outside the door. "We're in for a good cold snap. It's +sixty-two below now, and still goin' down. Better wait till she +breaks." + +Daylight laughed, and the old sour-doughs around him laughed. + +"Just like you short-horns," Bettles cried, "afeard of a little +frost. And blamed little you know Daylight, if you think frost +kin stop 'm." + +"Freeze his lungs if he travels in it," was the reply. + +"Freeze pap and lollypop! Look here, Hines, you only ben in this +here country three years. You ain't seasoned yet. I've seen +Daylight do fifty miles up on the Koyokuk on a day when the +thermometer busted at seventy-two." + +Hines shook his head dolefully. + +"Them's the kind that does freeze their lungs," he lamented. "If +Daylight pulls out before this snap breaks, he'll never get +through--an' him travelin' without tent or fly." + +"It's a thousand miles to Dyea," Bettles announced, climbing on +the chair and supporting his swaying body by an arm passed around +Daylight's neck. "It's a thousand miles, I'm sayin' an' most of +the trail unbroke, but I bet any chechaquo--anything he +wants--that Daylight makes Dyea in thirty days." + +"That's an average of over thirty-three miles a day," Doc Watson +warned, "and I've travelled some myself. A blizzard on Chilcoot +would tie him up for a week." + +"Yep," Bettles retorted, "an' Daylight'll do the second thousand +back again on end in thirty days more, and I got five hundred +dollars that says so, and damn the blizzards." + +To emphasize his remarks, he pulled out a gold-sack the size of a +bologna sausage and thumped it down on the bar. Doc Watson +thumped his own sack alongside. + +"Hold on!" Daylight cried. "Bettles's right, and I want in on +this. I bet five hundred that sixty days from now I pull up at +the Tivoli door with the Dyea mail." + +A sceptical roar went up, and a dozen men pulled out their sacks. + +Jack Kearns crowded in close and caught Daylight's attention. + +"I take you, Daylight," he cried. "Two to one you don't--not in +seventy-five days." + +"No charity, Jack," was the reply. "The bettin's even, and the +time is sixty days." + +"Seventy-five days, and two to one you don't," Kearns insisted. +"Fifty Mile'll be wide open and the rim-ice rotten." + +"What you win from me is yours," Daylight went on. "And, by +thunder, Jack, you can't give it back that way. I won't bet with +you. You're trying to give me money. But I tell you-all one +thing, Jack, I got another hunch. I'm goin' to win it back some +one of these days. You-all just wait till the big strike up +river. Then you and me'll take the roof off and sit in a game +that'll be full man's size. Is it a go?" + +They shook hands. + +"Of course he'll make it," Kearns whispered in Bettles' ear. +"And there's five hundred Daylight's back in sixty days," he +added aloud. + +Billy Rawlins closed with the wager, and Bettles hugged Kearns +ecstatically. + +"By Yupiter, I ban take that bet," Olaf Henderson said, dragging +Daylight away from Bettles and Kearns. + +"Winner pays!" Daylight shouted, closing the wager. + +"And I'm sure going to win, and sixty days is a long time between +drinks, so I pay now. Name your brand, you hoochinoos! Name +your brand!" + +Bettles, a glass of whiskey in hand, climbed back on his chair, +and swaying back and forth, sang the one song he knew:-- + + "O, it's Henry Ward Beecher + And Sunday-school teachers + All sing of the sassafras-root; + But you bet all the same, + If it had its right name + It's the juice of the forbidden fruit." + +The crowd roared out the chorus:-- + + "But you bet all the same + If it had its right name + It's the juice of the forbidden fruit." + +Somebody opened the outer door. A vague gray light filtered in. + +"Burning daylight, burning daylight," some one called warningly. + +Daylight paused for nothing, heading for the door and pulling +down his ear-flaps. Kama stood outside by the sled, a long, +narrow affair, sixteen inches wide and seven and a half feet in +length, its slatted bottom raised six inches above the steel-shod +runners. On it, lashed with thongs of moose-hide, were the light +canvas bags that contained the mail, and the food and gear for +dogs and men. In front of it, in a single line, lay curled five +frost-rimed dogs. They were huskies, matched in size and color, +all unusually large and all gray. From their cruel jaws to their +bushy tails they were as like as peas in their likeness to +timber-wolves. Wolves they were, domesticated, it was true, but +wolves in appearance and in all their characteristics. On top +the sled load, thrust under the lashings and ready for immediate +use, were two pairs of snowshoes. + +Bettles pointed to a robe of Arctic hare skins, the end of which +showed in the mouth of a bag. + +"That's his bed," he said. "Six pounds of rabbit skins. Warmest +thing he ever slept under, but I'm damned if it could keep me +warm, and I can go some myself. Daylight's a hell-fire furnace, +that's what he is." + +"I'd hate to be that Indian," Doc Watson remarked. + +"He'll kill'm, he'll kill'm sure," Bettles chanted exultantly. +"I know. I've ben with Daylight on trail. That man ain't never +ben tired in his life. Don't know what it means. I seen him +travel all day with wet socks at forty-five below. There ain't +another man living can do that." + +While this talk went on, Daylight was saying good-by to those +that clustered around him. The Virgin wanted to kiss him, and, +fuddled slightly though he was with the whiskey, he saw his way +out without compromising with the apron-string. He kissed the +Virgin, but he kissed the other three women with equal +partiality. He pulled on his long mittens, roused the dogs to +their feet, and took his Place at the gee-pole.[4] + +[4] A gee-pole: stout pole projecting forward from one side of +the front end of the sled, by which the sled is steered. + + +"Mush, you beauties!" he cried. + +The animals threw their weights against their breastbands on the +instant, crouching low to the snow, and digging in their claws. +They whined eagerly, and before the sled had gone half a dozen +lengths both Daylight and Kama (in the rear) were running to keep +up. And so, running, man and dogs dipped over the bank and down +to the frozen bed of the Yukon, and in the gray light were gone. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +On the river, where was a packed trail and where snowshoes were +unnecessary, the dogs averaged six miles an hour. To keep up +with them, the two men were compelled to run. Daylight and Kama +relieved each other regularly at the gee-pole, for here was the +hard work of steering the flying sled and of keeping in advance +of it. The man relieved dropped behind the sled, occasionally +leaping upon it and resting. + +It was severe work, but of the sort that was exhilarating. + +They were flying, getting over the ground, making the most of the +packed trail. Later on they would come to the unbroken trail, +where three miles an hour would constitute good going. Then +there would be no riding and resting, and no running. Then the +gee-pole would be the easier task, and a man would come back to +it to rest after having completed his spell to the fore, breaking +trail with the snowshoes for the dogs. Such work was far from +exhilarating also, they must expect places where for miles at a +time they must toil over chaotic ice-jams, where they would be +fortunate if they made two miles an hour. And there would be the +inevitable bad jams, short ones, it was true, but so bad that a +mile an hour would require terrific effort. Kama and Daylight +did not talk. In the nature of the work they could not, nor in +their own natures were they given to talking while they worked. +At rare intervals, when necessary, they addressed each other in +monosyllables, Kama, for the most part, contenting himself with +grunts. Occasionally a dog whined or snarled, but in the main +the team kept silent. Only could be heard the sharp, jarring +grate of the steel runners over the hard surface and the creak of +the straining sled. + +As if through a wall, Daylight had passed from the hum and roar +of the Tivoli into another world--a world of silence and +immobility. Nothing stirred. The Yukon slept under a coat of +ice three feet thick. No breath of wind blew. Nor did the sap +move in the hearts of the spruce trees that forested the river +banks on either hand. The trees, burdened with the last +infinitesimal pennyweight of snow their branches could hold, +stood in absolute petrifaction. The slightest tremor would have +dislodged the snow, and no snow was dislodged. The sled was the +one point of life and motion in the midst of the solemn quietude, +and the harsh churn of its runners but emphasized the silence +through which it moved. + +It was a dead world, and furthermore, a gray world. The weather +was sharp and clear; there was no moisture in the atmosphere, no +fog nor haze; yet the sky was a gray pall. The reason for this +was that, though there was no cloud in the sky to dim the +brightness of day, there was no sun to give brightness. Far to +the south the sun climbed steadily to meridian, but between it +and the frozen Yukon intervened the bulge of the earth. The +Yukon lay in a night shadow, and the day itself was in reality a +long twilight-light. At a quarter before twelve, where a wide +bend of the river gave a long vista south, the sun showed its +upper rim above the sky-line. But it did not rise +perpendicularly. Instead, it rose on a slant, so that by high +noon it had barely lifted its lower rim clear of the horizon. It +was a dim, wan sun. There was no heat to its rays, and a man +could gaze squarely into the full orb of it without hurt to his +eyes. No sooner had it reached meridian than it began its slant +back beneath the horizon, and at quarter past twelve the earth +threw its shadow again over the land. + +The men and dogs raced on. Daylight and Kama were both savages +so far as their stomachs were concerned. They could eat +irregularly in time and quantity, gorging hugely on occasion, and +on occasion going long stretches without eating at all. As for +the dogs, they ate but once a day, and then rarely did they +receive more than a pound each of dried fish. They were +ravenously hungry and at the same time splendidly in condition. +Like the wolves, their forebears, their nutritive processes were +rigidly economical and perfect. There was no waste. The last +least particle of what they consumed was transformed into energy. + +And Kama and Daylight were like them. Descended themselves from +the generations that had endured, they, too, endured. Theirs was +the simple, elemental economy. A little food equipped them with +prodigious energy. Nothing was lost. A man of soft +civilization, sitting at a desk, would have grown lean and +woe-begone on the fare that kept Kama and Daylight at the +top-notch of physical efficiency. They knew, as the man at the +desk never knows, what it is to be normally hungry all the time, +so that they could eat any time. Their appetites were always +with them and on edge, so that they bit voraciously into whatever +offered and with an entire innocence of indigestion. + +By three in the afternoon the long twilight faded into night. +The stars came out, very near and sharp and bright, and by their +light dogs and men still kept the trail. They were +indefatigable. And this was no record run of a single day, but +the first day of sixty such days. Though Daylight had passed a +night without sleep, a night of dancing and carouse, it seemed to +have left no effect. For this there were two explanations first, +his remarkable vitality; and next, the fact that such nights were +rare in his experience. Again enters the man at the desk, whose +physical efficiency would be more hurt by a cup of coffee at +bedtime than could Daylight's by a whole night long of strong +drink and excitement. + +Daylight travelled without a watch, feeling the passage of time +and largely estimating it by subconscious processes. By what he +considered must be six o'clock, he began looking for a +camping-place. The trail, at a bend, plunged out across the +river. Not having found a likely spot, they held on for the +opposite bank a mile away. But midway they encountered an +ice-jam which took an hour of heavy work to cross. At last +Daylight glimpsed what he was looking for, a dead tree close by +the bank. The sled was run in and up. Kama grunted with +satisfaction, and the work of making camp was begun. + +The division of labor was excellent. Each knew what he must do. +With one ax Daylight chopped down the dead pine. Kama, with a +snowshoe and the other ax, cleared away the two feet of snow +above the Yukon ice and chopped a supply of ice for cooking +purposes. A piece of dry birch bark started the fire, and +Daylight went ahead with the cooking while the Indian unloaded +the sled and fed the dogs their ration of dried fish. The food +sacks he slung high in the trees beyond leaping-reach of the +huskies. Next, he chopped down a young spruce tree and trimmed +off the boughs. Close to the fire he trampled down the soft snow +and covered the packed space with the boughs. On this flooring +he tossed his own and Daylight's gear-bags, containing dry socks +and underwear and their sleeping-robes. Kama, however, had two +robes of rabbit skin to Daylight's one. + +They worked on steadily, without speaking, losing no time. Each +did whatever was needed, without thought of leaving to the other +the least task that presented itself to hand. Thus, Kama saw +when more ice was needed and went and got it, while a snowshoe, +pushed over by the lunge of a dog, was stuck on end again by +Daylight. While coffee was boiling, bacon frying, and flapjacks +were being mixed, Daylight found time to put on a big pot of +beans. Kama came back, sat down on the edge of the spruce +boughs, and in the interval of waiting, mended harness. + +"I t'ink dat Skookum and Booga make um plenty fight maybe," Kama +remarked, as they sat down to eat. + +"Keep an eye on them," was Daylight's answer. + +And this was their sole conversation throughout the meal. Once, +with a muttered imprecation, Kama leaped away, a stick of +firewood in hand, and clubbed apart a tangle of fighting dogs. +Daylight, between mouthfuls, fed chunks of ice into the tin pot, +where it thawed into water. The meal finished, Kama replenished +the fire, cut more wood for the morning, and returned to the +spruce bough bed and his harness-mending. Daylight cut up +generous chunks of bacon and dropped them in the pot of bubbling +beans. The moccasins of both men were wet, and this in spite of +the intense cold; so when there was no further need for them to +leave the oasis of spruce boughs, they took off their moccasins +and hung them on short sticks to dry before the fire, turning +them about from time to time. When the beans were finally +cooked, Daylight ran part of them into a bag of flour-sacking a +foot and a half long and three inches in diameter. This he then +laid on the snow to freeze. The remainder of the beans were left +in the pot for breakfast. + +It was past nine o'clock, and they were ready for bed. The +squabbling and bickering among the dogs had long since died down, +and the weary animals were curled in the snow, each with his feet +and nose bunched together and covered by his wolf's brush of a +tail. Kama spread his sleeping-furs and lighted his pipe. +Daylight rolled a brown-paper cigarette, and the second +conversation of the evening took place. + +"I think we come near sixty miles," said Daylight. + +"Um, I t'ink so," said Kama. + +They rolled into their robes, all-standing, each with a woolen +Mackinaw jacket on in place of the parkas[5] they had worn all +day. Swiftly, almost on the instant they closed their eyes, they +were asleep. The stars leaped and danced in the frosty air, and +overhead the colored bars of the aurora borealis were shooting +like great searchlights. + +[5] Parka: a light, hooded, smock-like garment made of cotton +drill. + + +In the darkness Daylight awoke and roused Kama. Though the +aurora still flamed, another day had begun. Warmed-over +flapjacks, warmed-over beans, fried bacon, and coffee composed +the breakfast. The dogs got nothing, though they watched with +wistful mien from a distance, sitting up in the snow, their tails +curled around their paws. Occasionally they lifted one fore paw +or the other, with a restless movement, as if the frost tingled +in their feet. It was bitter cold, at least sixty-five below +zero, and when Kama harnessed the dogs with naked hands he was +compelled several times to go over to the fire and warm the +numbing finger-tips. Together the two men loaded and lashed the +sled. They warmed their hands for the last time, pulled on their +mittens, and mushed the dogs over the bank and down to the +river-trail. According to Daylight's estimate, it was around +seven o'clock; but the stars danced just as brilliantly, and +faint, luminous streaks of greenish aurora still pulsed overhead. + +Two hours later it became suddenly dark--so dark that they kept +to the trail largely by instinct; and Daylight knew that his +time-estimate had been right. It was the darkness before dawn, +never anywhere more conspicuous than on the Alaskan winter-trail. + +Slowly the gray light came stealing through the gloom, +imperceptibly at first, so that it was almost with surprise that +they noticed the vague loom of the trail underfoot. Next, they +were able to see the wheel-dog, and then the whole string of +running dogs and snow-stretches on either side. Then the near +bank loomed for a moment and was gone, loomed a second time and +remained. In a few minutes the far bank, a mile away, +unobtrusively came into view, and ahead and behind, the whole +frozen river could be seen, with off to the left a wide-extending +range of sharp-cut, snow-covered mountains. And that was all. +No sun arose. The gray light remained gray. + +Once, during the day, a lynx leaped lightly across the trail, +under the very nose of the lead-dog, and vanished in the white +woods. The dogs' wild impulses roused. They raised the +hunting-cry of the pack, surged against their collars, and +swerved aside in pursuit. Daylight, yelling "Whoa!" struggled +with the gee-pole and managed to overturn the sled into the soft +snow. The dogs gave up, the sled was righted, and five minutes +later they were flying along the hard-packed trail again. The +lynx was the only sign of life they had seen in two days, and it, +leaping velvet-footed and vanishing, had been more like an +apparition. + +At twelve o'clock, when the sun peeped over the earth-bulge, +they stopped and built a small fire on the ice. Daylight, with +the ax, chopped chunks off the frozen sausage of beans. These, +thawed and warmed in the frying-pan, constituted their meal. +They had no coffee. He did not believe in the burning of +daylight for such a luxury. The dogs stopped wrangling with one +another, and looked on wistfully. Only at night did they get +their pound of fish. In the meantime they worked. + +The cold snap continued. Only men of iron kept the trail at such +low temperatures, and Kama and Daylight were picked men of their +races. But Kama knew the other was the better man, and thus, at +the start, he was himself foredoomed to defeat. Not that he +slackened his effort or willingness by the slightest conscious +degree, but that he was beaten by the burden he carried in his +mind. His attitude toward Daylight was worshipful. Stoical, +taciturn, proud of his physical prowess, he found all these +qualities incarnated in his white companion. Here was one that +excelled in the things worth excelling in, a man-god ready to +hand, and Kama could not but worship--withal he gave no signs of +it. No wonder the race of white men conquered, was his thought, +when it bred men like this man. What chance had the Indian +against such a dogged, enduring breed? Even the Indians did not +travel at such low temperatures, and theirs was the wisdom of +thousands of generations; yet here was this Daylight, from the +soft Southland, harder than they, laughing at their fears, and +swinging along the trail ten and twelve hours a day. And this +Daylight thought that he could keep up a day's pace of +thirty-three miles for sixty days! Wait till a fresh fall of +snow came down, or they struck the unbroken trail or the rotten +rim-ice that fringed open water. + +In the meantime Kama kept the pace, never grumbling, never +shirking. Sixty-five degrees below zero is very cold. Since +water freezes at thirty-two above, sixty-five below meant +ninety-seven degrees below freezing-point. Some idea of the +significance of this may be gained by conceiving of an equal +difference of temperature in the opposite direction. One hundred +and twenty-nine on the thermometer constitutes a very hot day, +yet such a temperature is but ninety-seven degrees above +freezing. Double this difference, and possibly some slight +conception may be gained of the cold through which Kama and +Daylight travelled between dark and dark and through the dark. + +Kama froze the skin on his cheek-bones, despite frequent +rubbings, and the flesh turned black and sore. Also he slightly +froze the edges of his lung-tissues--a dangerous thing, and the +basic reason why a man should not unduly exert himself in the +open at sixty-five below. But Kama never complained, and +Daylight was a furnace of heat, sleeping as warmly under his six +pounds of rabbit skins as the other did under twelve pounds. + +On the second night, fifty more miles to the good, they camped in +the vicinity of the boundary between Alaska and the Northwest +Territory. The rest of the journey, save the last short stretch +to Dyea, would be travelled on Canadian territory. With the hard +trail, and in the absence of fresh snow, Daylight planned to make +the camp of Forty Mile on the fourth night. He told Kama as +much, but on the third day the temperature began to rise, and +they knew snow was not far off; for on the Yukon it must get warm +in order to snow. Also, on this day, they encountered ten miles +of chaotic ice-jams, where, a thousand times, they lifted the +loaded sled over the huge cakes by the strength of their arms and +lowered it down again. Here the dogs were well-nigh useless, and +both they and the men were tried excessively by the roughness of +the way. An hour's extra running that night caught up only part +of the lost time. + +In the morning they awoke to find ten inches of snow on their +robes. The dogs were buried under it and were loath to leave +their comfortable nests. This new snow meant hard going. The +sled runners would not slide over it so well, while one of the +men must go in advance of the dogs and pack it down with +snowshoes so that they should not wallow. Quite different was it +from the ordinary snow known to those of the Southland. It was +hard, and fine, and dry. It was more like sugar. Kick it, and +it flew with a hissing noise like sand. There was no cohesion +among the particles, and it could not be moulded into snow- +balls. It was not composed of flakes, but of crystals--tiny, +geometrical frost-crystals. In truth, it was not snow, but +frost. + +The weather was warm, as well, barely twenty below zero, and the +two men, with raised ear-flaps and dangling mittens, sweated as +they toiled. They failed to make Forty Mile that night, and when +they passed that camp next day Daylight paused only long enough +to get the mail and additional grub. On the afternoon of the +following day they camped at the mouth of the Klondike River. +Not a soul had they encountered since Forty Mile, and they had +made their own trail. As yet, that winter, no one had travelled +the river south of Forty Mile, and, for that matter, the whole +winter through they might be the only ones to travel it. In that +day the Yukon was a lonely land. Between the Klondike River and +Salt Water at Dyea intervened six hundred miles of snow-covered +wilderness, and in all that distance there were but two places +where Daylight might look forward to meeting men. Both were +isolated trading-posts, Sixty Mile and Fort Selkirk. In the +summer-time Indians might be met with at the mouths of the +Stewart and White rivers, at the Big and Little Salmons, and on +Lake Le Barge; but in the winter, as he well knew, they would be +on the trail of the moose-herds, following them back into the +mountains. + +That night, camped at the mouth of the Klondike, Daylight did not +turn in when the evening's work was done. Had a white man been +present, Daylight would have remarked that he felt his "hunch" +working. As it was, he tied on his snowshoes, left the dogs +curled in the snow and Kama breathing heavily under his rabbit +skins, and climbed up to the big flat above the high earth-bank. +But the spruce trees were too thick for an outlook, and he +threaded his way across the flat and up the first steep slopes of +the mountain at the back. Here, flowing in from the east at +right angles, he could see the Klondike, and, bending grandly +from the south, the Yukon. To the left, and downstream, toward +Moosehide Mountain, the huge splash of white, from which it took +its name, showing clearly in the starlight. Lieutenant Schwatka +had given it its name, but he, Daylight, had first seen it long +before that intrepid explorer had crossed the Chilcoot and rafted +down the Yukon. + +But the mountain received only passing notice. Daylight's +interest was centered in the big flat itself, with deep water all +along its edge for steamboat landings. + +"A sure enough likely town site," he muttered. "Room for a camp +of forty thousand men. All that's needed is the gold-strike." +He meditated for a space. "Ten dollars to the pan'll do it, and +it'd be the all-firedest stampede Alaska ever seen. And if it +don't come here, it'll come somewhere hereabouts. It's a sure +good idea to keep an eye out for town sites all the way up." + +He stood a while longer, gazing out over the lonely flat and +visioning with constructive imagination the scene if the stampede +did come. In fancy, he placed the sawmills, the big trading +stores, the saloons, and dance-halls, and the long streets of +miners' cabins. And along those streets he saw thousands of men +passing up and down, while before the stores were the heavy +freighting-sleds, with long strings of dogs attached. Also he +saw the heavy freighters pulling down the main street and heading +up the frozen Klondike toward the imagined somewhere where the +diggings must be located. + +He laughed and shook the vision from his eyes, descended to the +level, and crossed the flat to camp. Five minutes after he had +rolled up in his robe, he opened his eyes and sat up, amazed that +he was not already asleep. He glanced at the Indian sleeping +beside him, at the embers of the dying fire, at the five dogs +beyond, with their wolf's brushes curled over their noses, and at +the four snowshoes standing upright in the snow. + +"It's sure hell the way that hunch works on me" he murmured. +His mind reverted to the poker game. "Four kings!" He grinned +reminiscently. "That WAS a hunch!" + +He lay down again, pulled the edge of the robe around his neck +and over his ear-flaps, closed his eyes, and this time fell +asleep. + + + +CHAPTER V + +At Sixty Mile they restocked provisions, added a few pounds of +letters to their load, and held steadily on. From Forty Mile +they had had unbroken trail, and they could look forward only to +unbroken trail clear to Dyea. Daylight stood it magnificently, +but the killing pace was beginning to tell on Kama. His pride +kept his mouth shut, but the result of the chilling of his lungs +in the cold snap could not be concealed. Microscopically small +had been the edges of the lung-tissue touched by the frost, but +they now began to slough off, giving rise to a dry, hacking +cough. Any unusually severe exertion precipitated spells of +coughing, during which he was almost like a man in a fit. The +blood congested in his eyes till they bulged, while the tears ran +down his cheeks. A whiff of the smoke from frying bacon would +start him off for a half-hour's paroxysm, and he kept carefully +to windward when Daylight was cooking. + +They plodded days upon days and without end over the soft, +unpacked snow. It was hard, monotonous work, with none of the +joy and blood-stir that went with flying over hard surface. Now +one man to the fore in the snowshoes, and now the other, it was a +case of stubborn, unmitigated plod. A yard of powdery snow had +to be pressed down, and the wide-webbed shoe, under a man's +weight, sank a full dozen inches into the soft surface. Snowshoe +work, under such conditions, called for the use of muscles other +than those used in ordinary walking. From step to step the +rising foot could not come up and forward on a slant. It had to +be raised perpendicularly. When the snowshoe was pressed into +the snow, its nose was confronted by a vertical wall of snow +twelve inches high. If the foot, in rising, slanted forward the +slightest bit, the nose of the shoe penetrated the obstructing +wall and tipped downward till the heel of the shoe struck the +man's leg behind. Thus up, straight up, twelve inches, each foot +must be raised every time and all the time, ere the forward swing +from the knee could begin. + +On this partially packed surface followed the dogs, the man at +the gee-pole, and the sled. At the best, toiling as only picked +men could toil, they made no more than three miles an hour. This +meant longer hours of travel, and Daylight, for good measure and +for a margin against accidents, hit the trail for twelve hours a +day. Since three hours were consumed by making camp at night and +cooking beans, by getting breakfast in the morning and breaking +camp, and by thawing beans at the midday halt, nine hours were +left for sleep and recuperation, and neither men nor dogs wasted +many minutes of those nine hours. + +At Selkirk, the trading post near Pelly River, Daylight suggested +that Kama lay over, rejoining him on the back trip from Dyea. A +strayed Indian from Lake Le Barge was willing to take his place; +but Kama was obdurate. He grunted with a slight intonation of +resentment, and that was all. The dogs, however, Daylight +changed, leaving his own exhausted team to rest up against his +return, while he went on with six fresh dogs. + +They travelled till ten o'clock the night they reached Selkirk, +and at six next morning they plunged ahead into the next stretch +of wilderness of nearly five hundred miles that lay between +Selkirk and Dyea. A second cold snap came on, but cold or warm +it was all the same, an unbroken trail. When the thermometer +went down to fifty below, it was even harder to travel, for at +that low temperature the hard frost-crystals were more like +sand-grains in the resistance they offered to the sled runners. +The dogs had to pull harder than over the same snow at twenty or +thirty below zero. Daylight increased the day's travel to +thirteen hours. He jealously guarded the margin he had gained, +for he knew there were difficult stretches to come. + +It was not yet quite midwinter, and the turbulent Fifty Mile +River vindicated his judgment. In many places it ran wide open, +with precarious rim-ice fringing it on either side. In numerous +places, where the water dashed against the steep-sided bluffs, +rim-ice was unable to form. They turned and twisted, now +crossing the river, now coming back again, sometimes making half +a dozen attempts before they found a way over a particularly bad +stretch. It was slow work. The ice-bridges had to be tested, +and either Daylight or Kama went in advance, snowshoes on their +feet, and long poles carried crosswise in their hands. Thus, if +they broke through, they could cling to the pole that bridged the +hole made by their bodies. Several such accidents were the share +of each. At fifty below zero, a man wet to the waist cannot +travel without freezing; so each ducking meant delay. As soon as +rescued, the wet man ran up and down to keep up his circulation, +while his dry companion built a fire. Thus protected, a change +of garments could be made and the wet ones dried against the next +misadventure. + +To make matters worse, this dangerous river travel could not be +done in the dark, and their working day was reduced to the six +hours of twilight. Every moment was precious, and they strove +never to lose one. Thus, before the first hint of the coming of +gray day, camp was broken, sled loaded, dogs harnessed, and the +two men crouched waiting over the fire. Nor did they make the +midday halt to eat. As it was, they were running far behind +their schedule, each day eating into the margin they had run up. +There were days when they made fifteen miles, and days when they +made a dozen. And there was one bad stretch where in two days +they covered nine miles, being compelled to turn their backs +three times on the river and to portage sled and outfit over the +mountains. + +At last they cleared the dread Fifty Mile River and came out on +Lake Le Barge. Here was no open water nor jammed ice. For +thirty miles or more the snow lay level as a table; withal it lay +three feet deep and was soft as flour. Three miles an hour was +the best they could make, but Daylight celebrated the passing of +the Fifty Mile by traveling late. At eleven in the morning they +emerged at the foot of the lake. At three in the afternoon, as +the Arctic night closed down, he caught his first sight of the +head of the lake, and with the first stars took his bearings. At +eight in the evening they left the lake behind and entered the +mouth of the Lewes River. Here a halt of half an hour was made, +while chunks of frozen boiled beans were thawed and the dogs +were given an extra ration of fish. Then they pulled on up the +river till one in the morning, when they made their regular camp. + +They had hit the trail sixteen hours on end that day, the dogs +had come in too tired to fight among themselves or even snarl, +and Kama had perceptibly limped the last several miles; yet +Daylight was on trail next morning at six o'clock. By eleven he +was at the foot of White Horse, and that night saw him camped +beyond the Box Canon, the last bad river-stretch behind him, the +string of lakes before him. + +There was no let up in his pace. Twelve hours a day, six in the +twilight, and six in the dark, they toiled on the trail. Three +hours were consumed in cooking, repairing harnesses, and making +and breaking camp, and the remaining nine hours dogs and men +slept as if dead. The iron strength of Kama broke. Day by day +the terrific toil sapped him. Day by day he consumed more of his +reserves of strength. He became slower of movement, the +resiliency went out of his muscles, and his limp became +permanent. Yet he labored stoically on, never shirking, never +grunting a hint of complaint. Daylight was thin-faced and tired. + +He looked tired; yet somehow, with that marvelous mechanism of a +body that was his, he drove on, ever on, remorselessly on. Never +was he more a god in Kama's mind than in the last days of the +south-bound traverse, as the failing Indian watched him, ever to +the fore, pressing onward with urgency of endurance such as Kama +had never seen nor dreamed could thrive in human form. + +The time came when Kama was unable to go in the lead and break +trail, and it was a proof that he was far gone when he permitted +Daylight to toil all day at the heavy snowshoe work. Lake by +lake they crossed the string of lakes from Marsh to Linderman, +and began the ascent of Chilcoot. By all rights, Daylight should +have camped below the last pitch of the pass at the dim end of +day; but he kept on and over and down to Sheep Camp, while behind +him raged a snow-storm that would have delayed him twenty-four +hours. + +This last excessive strain broke Kama completely. In the morning +he could not travel. At five, when called, he sat up after a +struggle, groaned, and sank back again. Daylight did the camp +work of both, harnessed the dogs, and, when ready for the start, +rolled the helpless Indian in all three sleeping robes and lashed +him on top of the sled. The going was good; they were on the +last lap; and he raced the dogs down through Dyea Canon and along +the hard-packed trail that led to Dyea Post. And running still, +Kama groaning on top the load, and Daylight leaping at the +gee-pole to avoid going under the runners of the flying sled, +they arrived at Dyea by the sea. + +True to his promise, Daylight did not stop. An hour's time saw +the sled loaded with the ingoing mail and grub, fresh dogs +harnessed, and a fresh Indian engaged. Kama never spoke from the +time of his arrival till the moment Daylight, ready to depart, +stood beside him to say good-by. They shook hands. + +"You kill um dat damn Indian," Kama said. "Sawee, Daylight? You +kill um." + +"He'll sure last as far as Pelly," Daylight grinned. + +Kama shook his head doubtfully, and rolled over on his side, +turning his back in token of farewell. + +Daylight won across Chilcoot that same day, dropping down five +hundred feet in the darkness and the flurrying snow to Crater +Lake, where he camped. It was a 'cold' camp, far above the +timber-line, and he had not burdened his sled with firewood. +That night three feet of snow covered them, and in the black +morning, when they dug themselves out, the Indian tried to +desert. He had had enough of traveling with what he considered a +madman. But Daylight persuaded him in grim ways to stay by the +outfit, and they pulled on across Deep Lake and Long Lake and +dropped down to the level-going of Lake Linderman. It was the +same killing pace going in as coming out, and the Indian did not +stand it as well as Kama. He, too, never complained. Nor did he +try again to desert. He toiled on and did his best, while he +renewed his resolve to steer clear of Daylight in the future. +The days slipped into days, nights and twilight's alternating, +cold snaps gave way to snow-falls, and cold snaps came on again, +and all the while, through the long hours, the miles piled up +behind them. + +But on the Fifty Mile accident befell them. Crossing an +ice-bridge, the dogs broke through and were swept under the +down-stream ice. The traces that connected the team with the +wheel-dog parted, and the team was never seen again. Only the +one wheel-dog remained, and Daylight harnessed the Indian and +himself to the sled. But a man cannot take the place of a dog at +such work, and the two men were attempting to do the work of five +dogs. At the end of the first hour, Daylight lightened up. +Dog-food, extra gear, and the spare ax were thrown away. Under +the extraordinary exertion the dog snapped a tendon the following +day, and was hopelessly disabled. Daylight shot it, and +abandoned the sled. On his back he took one hundred and sixty +pounds of mail and grub, and on the Indian's put one hundred and +twenty-five pounds. The stripping of gear was remorseless. The +Indian was appalled when he saw every pound of worthless mail +matter retained, while beans, cups, pails, plates, and extra +clothing were thrown by the board. One robe each was kept, one +ax, one tin pail, and a scant supply of bacon and flour. Bacon +could be eaten raw on a pinch, and flour, stirred in hot water, +could keep men going. Even the rifle and the score of rounds of +ammunition were left behind. + +And in this fashion they covered the two hundred miles to +Selkirk. Daylight travelled late and early, the hours formerly +used by camp-making and dog-tending being now devoted to the +trail. At night they crouched over a small fire, wrapped in +their robes, drinking flour broth and thawing bacon on the ends +of sticks; and in the morning darkness, without a word, they +arose, slipped on their packs, adjusted head-straps, and hit the +trail. The last miles into Selkirk, Daylight drove the Indian +before him, a hollow-cheeked, gaunt-eyed wraith of a man who else +would have lain down and slept or abandoned his burden of mail. + +At Selkirk, the old team of dogs, fresh and in condition, were +harnessed, and the same day saw Daylight plodding on, alternating +places at the gee-pole, as a matter of course, with the Le Barge +Indian who had volunteered on the way out. Daylight was two days +behind his schedule, and falling snow and unpacked trail kept him +two days behind all the way to Forty Mile. And here the weather +favored. It was time for a big cold snap, and he gambled on it, +cutting down the weight of grub for dogs and men. The men of +Forty Mile shook their heads ominously, and demanded to know what +he would do if the snow still fell. + +"That cold snap's sure got to come," he laughed, and mushed out +on the trail. + +A number of sleds had passed back and forth already that winter +between Forty Mile and Circle City, and the trail was well +packed. And the cold snap came and remained, and Circle City was +only two hundred miles away. The Le Barge Indian was a young +man, unlearned yet in his own limitations, and filled with pride. + +He took Daylight's pace with joy, and even dreamed, at first, +that he would play the white man out. The first hundred miles he +looked for signs of weakening, and marveled that he saw them not. + +Throughout the second hundred miles he observed signs in himself, +and gritted his teeth and kept up. And ever Daylight flew on +and on, running at the gee-pole or resting his spell on top the +flying sled. The last day, clearer and colder than ever, gave +perfect going, and they covered seventy miles. It was ten at +night when they pulled up the earth-bank and flew along the main +street of Circle City; and the young Indian, though it was his +spell to ride, leaped off and ran behind the sled. It was +honorable braggadocio, and despite the fact that he had found his +limitations and was pressing desperately against them, he ran +gamely on. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A crowd filled the Tivoli--the old crowd that had seen Daylight +depart two months before; for this was the night of the sixtieth +day, and opinion was divided as ever as to whether or not he +would compass the achievement. At ten o'clock bets were still +being made, though the odds rose, bet by bet, against his +success. Down in her heart the Virgin believed he had failed, +yet she made a bet of twenty ounces with Charley Bates, against +forty ounces, that Daylight would arrive before midnight. + +She it was who heard the first yelps of the dogs. + +"Listen!" she cried. "It's Daylight!" + +There was a general stampede for the door; but where the double +storm-doors were thrown wide open, the crowd fell back. They +heard the eager whining of dogs, the snap of a dog-whip, and the +voice of Daylight crying encouragement as the weary animals +capped all they had done by dragging the sled in over the wooden +floor. They came in with a rush, and with them rushed in the +frost, a visible vapor of smoking white, through which their +heads and backs showed, as they strained in the harness, till +they had all the seeming of swimming in a river. Behind them, at +the gee-pole, came Daylight, hidden to the knees by the swirling +frost through which he appeared to wade. + +He was the same old Daylight, withal lean and tired-looking, and +his black eyes were sparkling and flashing brighter than ever. +His parka of cotton drill hooded him like a monk, and fell in +straight lines to his knees. Grimed and scorched by camp-smoke +and fire, the garment in itself told the story of his trip. A +two-months' beard covered his face; and the beard, in turn, was +matted with the ice of his breathing through the long +seventy-mile run. + +His entry was spectacular, melodramatic; and he knew it. It was +his life, and he was living it at the top of his bent. Among his +fellows he was a great man, an Arctic hero. He was proud of the +fact, and it was a high moment for him, fresh from two thousand +miles of trail, to come surging into that bar-room, dogs, sled, +mail, Indian, paraphernalia, and all. He had performed one more +exploit that would make the Yukon ring with his name--he, Burning +Daylight, the king of travelers and dog-mushers. + +He experienced a thrill of surprise as the roar of welcome went +up and as every familiar detail of the Tivoli greeted his +vision--the long bar and the array of bottles, the gambling games, +the big stove, the weigher at the gold-scales, the musicians, the +men and women, the Virgin, Celia, and Nellie, Dan MacDonald, +Bettles, Billy Rawlins, Olaf Henderson, Doc Watson,--all of them. + +It was just as he had left it, and in all seeming it might well +be the very day he had left. The sixty days of incessant travel +through the white wilderness suddenly telescoped, and had no +existence in time. They were a moment, an incident. He had +plunged out and into them through the wall of silence, and back +through the wall of silence he had plunged, apparently the next +instant, and into the roar and turmoil of the Tivoli. + +A glance down at the sled with its canvas mail-bags was necessary +to reassure him of the reality of those sixty days and the two +thousand miles over the ice. As in a dream, he shook the hands +that were thrust out to him. He felt a vast exaltation. Life +was magnificent. He loved it all. A great sense of humanness +and comradeship swept over him. These were all his, his own +kind. It was immense, tremendous. He felt melting in the heart +of him, and he would have liked to shake hands with them all at +once, to gather them to his breast in one mighty embrace. + +He drew a deep breath and cried: "The winner pays, and I'm the +winner, ain't I? Surge up, you-all Malemutes and Siwashes, and +name your poison! There's your Dyea mail, straight from Salt +Water, and no hornswogglin about it! Cast the lashings adrift, +you-all, and wade into it!" + +A dozen pairs of hands were at the sled-lashings, when the young +Le Barge Indian, bending at the same task, suddenly and limply +straightened up. In his eyes was a great surprise. He stared +about him wildly, for the thing he was undergoing was new to him. + +He was profoundly struck by an unguessed limitation. He shook as +with a palsy, and he gave at the knees, slowly sinking down to +fall suddenly across the sled and to know the smashing blow of +darkness across his consciousness. + +"Exhaustion," said Daylight. "Take him off and put him to bed, +some of you-all. He's sure a good Indian." + +"Daylight's right," was Doc Watson's verdict, a moment later. +"The man's plumb tuckered out." + +The mail was taken charge of, the dogs driven away to quarters +and fed, and Bettles struck up the paean of the sassafras root as +they lined up against the long bar to drink and talk and collect +their debts. + +A few minutes later, Daylight was whirling around the +dance-floor, waltzing with the Virgin. He had replaced his parka +with his fur cap and blanket-cloth coat, kicked off his frozen +moccasins, and was dancing in his stocking feet. After wetting +himself to the knees late that afternoon, he had run on without +changing his foot-gear, and to the knees his long German socks +were matted with ice. In the warmth of the room it began to thaw +and to break apart in clinging chunks. These chunks rattled +together as his legs flew around, and every little while they +fell clattering to the floor and were slipped upon by the other +dancers. But everybody forgave Daylight. He, who was one of the +few that made the Law in that far land, who set the ethical pace, +and by conduct gave the standard of right and wrong, was +nevertheless above the Law. He was one of those rare and favored +mortals who can do no wrong. What he did had to be right, +whether others were permitted or not to do the same things. Of +course, such mortals are so favored by virtue of the fact that +they almost always do the right and do it in finer and higher +ways than other men. So Daylight, an elder hero in that young +land and at the same time younger than most of them, moved as a +creature apart, as a man above men, as a man who was greatly man +and all man. And small wonder it was that the Virgin yielded +herself to his arms, as they danced dance after dance, and was +sick at heart at the knowledge that he found nothing in her more +than a good friend and an excellent dancer. Small consolation it +was to know that he had never loved any woman. She was sick with +love of him, and he danced with her as he would dance with any +woman, as he would dance with a man who was a good dancer and +upon whose arm was tied a handkerchief to conventionalize him +into a woman. + +One such man Daylight danced with that night. Among frontiersmen +it has always been a test of endurance for one man to whirl +another down; and when Ben Davis, the faro-dealer, a gaudy +bandanna on his arm, got Daylight in a Virginia reel, the fun +began. The reel broke up and all fell back to watch. Around and +around the two men whirled, always in the one direction. Word +was passed on into the big bar-room, and bar and gambling tables +were deserted. Everybody wanted to see, and they packed and +jammed the dance-room. The musicians played on and on, and on +and on the two men whirled. Davis was skilled at the trick, and +on the Yukon he had put many a strong man on his back. But after +a few minutes it was clear that he, and not Daylight, was going. + +For a while longer they spun around, and then Daylight suddenly +stood still, released his partner, and stepped back, reeling +himself, and fluttering his hands aimlessly, as if to support +himself against the air. But Davis, a giddy smile of +consternation on his face, gave sideways, turned in an attempt to +recover balance, and pitched headlong to the floor. Still +reeling and staggering and clutching at the air with his hands, +Daylight caught the nearest girl and started on in a waltz. +Again he had done the big thing. Weary from two thousand miles +over the ice and a run that day of seventy miles, he had whirled +a fresh man down, and that man Ben Davis. + +Daylight loved the high places, and though few high places there +were in his narrow experience, he had made a point of sitting in +the highest he had ever glimpsed. The great world had never +heard his name, but it was known far and wide in the vast silent +North, by whites and Indians and Eskimos, from Bering Sea to the +Passes, from the head reaches of remotest rivers to the tundra +shore of Point Barrow. Desire for mastery was strong in him, and +it was all one whether wrestling with the elements themselves, +with men, or with luck in a gambling game. It was all a game, +life and its affairs. And he was a gambler to the core. Risk +and chance were meat and drink. True, it was not altogether +blind, for he applied wit and skill and strength; but behind it +all was the everlasting Luck, the thing that at times turned on +its votaries and crushed the wise while it blessed the +fools--Luck, the thing all men sought and dreamed to conquer. +And so he. Deep in his life-processes Life itself sang the siren +song of its own majesty, ever a-whisper and urgent, counseling +him that he could achieve more than other men, win out where they +failed, ride to success where they perished. It was the urge of +Life healthy and strong, unaware of frailty and decay, drunken +with sublime complacence, ego-mad, enchanted by its own mighty +optimism. + +And ever in vaguest whisperings and clearest trumpet-calls came +the message that sometime, somewhere, somehow, he would run Luck +down, make himself the master of Luck, and tie it and brand it as +his own. When he played poker, the whisper was of four aces and +royal flushes. When he prospected, it was of gold in the +grass-roots, gold on bed-rock, and gold all the way down. At +the sharpest hazards of trail and river and famine, the message +was that other men might die, but that he would pull through +triumphant. It was the old, old lie of Life fooling itself, +believing itself--immortal and indestructible, bound to achieve +over other lives and win to its heart's desire. + +And so, reversing at times, Daylight waltzed off his dizziness +and led the way to the bar. But a united protest went up. His +theory that the winner paid was no longer to be tolerated. It +was contrary to custom and common sense, and while it emphasized +good-fellowship, nevertheless, in the name of good-fellowship it +must cease. The drinks were rightfully on Ben Davis, and Ben +Davis must buy them. Furthermore, all drinks and general treats +that Daylight was guilty of ought to be paid by the house, for +Daylight brought much custom to it whenever he made a night. +Bettles was the spokesman, and his argument, tersely and +offensively vernacular, was unanimously applauded. + +Daylight grinned, stepped aside to the roulette-table, and bought +a stack of yellow chips. At the end of ten minutes he weighed in +at the scales, and two thousand dollars in gold-dust was poured +into his own and an extra sack. Luck, a mere flutter of luck, +but it was his. Elation was added to elation. He was living, +and the night was his. He turned upon his well-wishing critics. + +"Now the winner sure does pay," he said. + +And they surrendered. There was no withstanding Daylight when he +vaulted on the back of life, and rode it bitted and spurred. + +At one in the morning he saw Elijah Davis herding Henry Finn and +Joe Hines, the lumber-jack, toward the door. Daylight +interfered. + +"Where are you-all going?" he demanded, attempting to draw them +to the bar. + +"Bed," Elijah Davis answered. + +He was a lean tobacco-chewing New Englander, the one daring +spirit in his family that had heard and answered the call of the +West shouting through the Mount Desert back odd-lots. "Got to," +Joe Hines added apologetically. "We're mushing out in the +mornin'." + +Daylight still detained them. "Where to? What's the +excitement?" + +"No excitement," Elijah explained. "We're just a-goin' to play +your hunch, an' tackle the Upper Country. Don't you want to come +along?" + +"I sure do," Daylight affirmed. + +But the question had been put in fun, and Elijah ignored the +acceptance. + +"We're tacklin' the Stewart," he went on. "Al Mayo told me he +seen some likely lookin' bars first time he come down the +Stewart, and we're goin' to sample 'em while the river's froze. +You listen, Daylight, an' mark my words, the time's comin' when +winter diggin's'll be all the go. There'll be men in them days +that'll laugh at our summer stratchin' an' ground-wallerin'." + +At that time, winter mining was undreamed of on the Yukon. From +the moss and grass the land was frozen to bed-rock, and frozen +gravel, hard as granite, defied pick and shovel. In the summer +the men stripped the earth down as fast as the sun thawed it. +Then was the time they did their mining. During the winter they +freighted their provisions, went moose-hunting, got all ready for +the summer's work, and then loafed the bleak, dark months through +in the big central camps such as Circle City and Forty Mile. + +"Winter diggin's sure comin'," Daylight agreed. "Wait till that +big strike is made up river. Then you-all'll see a new kind of +mining. What's to prevent wood-burning and sinking shafts and +drifting along bed-rock? Won't need to timber. That frozen muck +and gravel'll stand till hell is froze and its mill-tails is +turned to ice-cream. Why, they'll be working pay-streaks a +hundred feet deep in them days that's comin'. I'm sure going +along with you-all, Elijah." + +Elijah laughed, gathered his two partners up, and was making a +second attempt to reach the door. + +"Hold on," Daylight called. "I sure mean it." + +The three men turned back suddenly upon him, in their faces +surprise, delight, and incredulity. + +"G'wan, you're foolin'," said Finn, the other lumberjack, a +quiet, steady, Wisconsin man. + +"There's my dawgs and sled," Daylight answered. "That'll make two +teams and halve the loads--though we-all'll have to travel easy for +a spell, for them dawgs is sure tired." + +The three men were overjoyed, but still a trifle incredulous. + +"Now look here," Joe Hines blurted out, "none of your foolin, +Daylight. We mean business. Will you come?" + +Daylight extended his hand and shook. + +"Then you'd best be gettin' to bed," Elijah advised. "We're +mushin' out at six, and four hours' sleep is none so long." + +"Mebbe we ought to lay over a day and let him rest up," Finn +suggested. + +Daylight's pride was touched. + +"No you don't," he cried. "We all start at six. What time do +you-all want to be called? Five? All right, I'll rouse you-all +out." + +"You oughter have some sleep," Elijah counselled gravely. "You +can't go on forever." + +Daylight was tired, profoundly tired. Even his iron body +acknowledged weariness. Every muscle was clamoring for bed and +rest, was appalled at continuance of exertion and at thought of +the trail again. All this physical protest welled up into his +brain in a wave of revolt. But deeper down, scornful and +defiant, was Life itself, the essential fire of it, whispering +that all Daylight's fellows were looking on, that now was the +time to pile deed upon deed, to flaunt his strength in the face +of strength. It was merely Life, whispering its ancient lies. +And in league with it was whiskey, with all its consummate +effrontery and vain-glory. + +"Mebbe you-all think I ain't weaned yet?" Daylight demanded. +"Why, I ain't had a drink, or a dance, or seen a soul in two +months. You-all get to bed. I'll call you-all at five." + +And for the rest of the night he danced on in his stocking feet, +and at five in the morning, rapping thunderously on the door of +his new partners' cabin, he could be heard singing the song that +had given him his name:-- + +"Burning daylight, you-all Stewart River hunchers! Burning +daylight! Burning daylight! Burning daylight!" + + + +CHAPTER VII + +This time the trail was easier. It was better packed, and they +were not carrying mail against time. The day's run was shorter, +and likewise the hours on trail. On his mail run Daylight had +played out three Indians; but his present partners knew that they +must not be played out when they arrived at the Stewart bars, so +they set the slower pace. And under this milder toil, where his +companions nevertheless grew weary, Daylight recuperated and +rested up. At Forty Mile they laid over two days for the sake of +the dogs, and at Sixty Mile Daylight's team was left with the +trader. Unlike Daylight, after the terrible run from Selkirk to +Circle City, they had been unable to recuperate on the back +trail. So the four men pulled on from Sixty Mile with a fresh +team of dogs on Daylight's sled. + +The following night they camped in the cluster of islands at the +mouth of the Stewart. Daylight talked town sites, and, though +the others laughed at him, he staked the whole maze of high, +wooded islands. + +"Just supposing the big strike does come on the Stewart," he +argued. "Mebbe you-all'll be in on it, and then again mebbe +you-all won't. But I sure will. You-all'd better reconsider +and go in with me on it." + +But they were stubborn. + +"You're as bad as Harper and Joe Ladue," said Joe Hines. +"They're always at that game. You know that big flat jest below +the Klondike and under Moosehide Mountain? Well, the recorder at +Forty Mile was tellin' me they staked that not a month ago--The +Harper & Ladue Town Site. Ha! Ha! Ha!" + +Elijah and Finn joined him in his laughter; but Daylight was +gravely in earnest. + +"There she is!" he cried. "The hunch is working! It's in the +air, I tell you-all! What'd they-all stake the big flat for if +they-all didn't get the hunch? Wish I'd staked it." + +The regret in his voice was provocative of a second burst of +laughter. + +"Laugh, you-all, laugh! That's what's the trouble with you-all. +You-all think gold-hunting is the only way to make a stake. But +let me tell you-all that when the big strike sure does come, +you-all'll do a little surface-scratchin' and muck-raking, but +danged little you-all'll have to show for it. You-all laugh at +quicksilver in the riffles and think flour gold was manufactured +by God Almighty for the express purpose of fooling suckers and +chechaquos. Nothing but coarse gold for you-all, that's your +way, not getting half of it out of the ground and losing into the +tailings half of what you-all do get. + +"But the men that land big will be them that stake the town +sites, organize the tradin' companies, start the banks--" + +Here the explosion of mirth drowned him out. Banks in Alaska! +The idea of it was excruciating. + +"Yep, and start the stock exchanges--" + +Again they were convulsed. Joe Hines rolled over on his +sleeping-robe, holding his sides. + +"And after them will come the big mining sharks that buy whole +creeks where you-all have been scratching like a lot of picayune +hens, and they-all will go to hydraulicking in summer and +steam-thawing in winter--" + +Steam-thawing! That was the limit. Daylight was certainly +exceeding himself in his consummate fun-making. +Steam-thawing--when even wood-burning was an untried experiment, +a dream in the air! + +"Laugh, dang you, laugh! Why your eyes ain't open yet. You-all +are a bunch of little mewing kittens. I tell you-all if that +strike comes on Klondike, Harper and Ladue will be millionaires. +And if it comes on Stewart, you-all watch the Elam Harnish town +site boom. In them days, when you-all come around makin' poor +mouths..." He heaved a sigh of resignation. "Well, I +suppose I'll have to give you-all a grub-stake or soup, or +something or other." + +Daylight had vision. His scope had been rigidly limited, yet +whatever he saw, he saw big. His mind was orderly, his +imagination practical, and he never dreamed idly. When he +superimposed a feverish metropolis on a waste of timbered, +snow-covered flat, he predicated first the gold-strike that made +the city possible, and next he had an eye for steamboat landings, +sawmill and warehouse locations, and all the needs of a +far-northern mining city. But this, in turn, was the mere +setting for something bigger, namely, the play of temperament. +Opportunities swarmed in the streets and buildings and human and +economic relations of the city of his dream. It was a larger +table for gambling. The limit was the sky, with the Southland on +one side and the aurora borealis on the other. The play would be +big, bigger than any Yukoner had ever imagined, and he, Burning +Daylight, would see that he got in on that play. + +In the meantime there was naught to show for it but the hunch. +But it was coming. As he would stake his last ounce on a good +poker hand, so he staked his life and effort on the hunch that +the future held in store a big strike on the Upper River. So he +and his three companions, with dogs, and sleds, and snowshoes, +toiled up the frozen breast of the Stewart, toiled on and on +through the white wilderness where the unending stillness was +never broken by the voices of men, the stroke of an ax, or the +distant crack of a rifle. They alone moved through the vast and +frozen quiet, little mites of earth-men, crawling their score of +miles a day, melting the ice that they might have water to drink, +camping in the snow at night, their wolf-dogs curled in +frost-rimed, hairy bunches, their eight snowshoes stuck on end in +the snow beside the sleds. + +No signs of other men did they see, though once they passed a +rude poling-boat, cached on a platform by the river bank. +Whoever had cached it had never come back for it; and they +wondered and mushed on. Another time they chanced upon the site +of an Indian village, but the Indians had disappeared; +undoubtedly they were on the higher reaches of the Stewart in +pursuit of the moose-herds. Two hundred miles up from the Yukon, +they came upon what Elijah decided were the bars mentioned by Al +Mayo. A permanent camp was made, their outfit of food cached on +a high platform to keep it from the dogs, and they started work +on the bars, cutting their way down to gravel through the rim of +ice. + +It was a hard and simple life. Breakfast over, and they were at +work by the first gray light; and when night descended, they did +their cooking and camp-chores, smoked and yarned for a while, +then rolled up in their sleeping-robes, and slept while the +aurora borealis flamed overhead and the stars leaped and danced +in the great cold. Their fare was monotonous: sour-dough bread, +bacon, beans, and an occasional dish of rice cooked along with a +handful of prunes. Fresh meat they failed to obtain. There was +an unwonted absence of animal life. At rare intervals they +chanced upon the trail of a snowshoe rabbit or an ermine; but in +the main it seemed that all life had fled the land. It was a +condition not unknown to them, for in all their experience, at +one time or another, they had travelled one year through a region +teeming with game, where, a year or two or three years later, no +game at all would be found. + +Gold they found on the bars, but not in paying quantities. +Elijah, while on a hunt for moose fifty miles away, had panned +the surface gravel of a large creek and found good colors. They +harnessed their dogs, and with light outfits sledded to the +place. Here, and possibly for the first time in the history of +the Yukon, wood-burning, in sinking a shaft, was tried. It was +Daylight's initiative. After clearing away the moss and grass, a +fire of dry spruce was built. Six hours of burning thawed eight +inches of muck. Their picks drove full depth into it, and, when +they had shoveled out, another fire was started. They worked +early and late, excited over the success of the experiment. Six +feet of frozen muck brought them to gravel, likewise frozen. +Here progress was slower. But they learned to handle their fires +better, and were soon able to thaw five and six inches at a +burning. Flour gold was in this gravel, and after two feet it +gave away again to muck. At seventeen feet they struck a thin +streak of gravel, and in it coarse gold, testpans running as high +as six and eight dollars. Unfortunately, this streak of gravel +was not more than an inch thick. Beneath it was more muck, +tangled with the trunks of ancient trees and containing fossil +bones of forgotten monsters. But gold they had found--coarse +gold; and what more likely than that the big deposit would be +found on bed-rock? Down to bed-rock they would go, if it were +forty feet away. They divided into two shifts, working day and +night, on two shafts, and the smoke of their burning rose +continually. + +It was at this time that they ran short of beans and that Elijah +was despatched to the main camp to bring up more grub. Elijah +was one of the hard-bitten old-time travelers himself. The round +trip was a hundred miles, but he promised to be back on the third +day, one day going light, two days returning heavy. Instead, he +arrived on the night of the second day. They had just gone to +bed when they heard him coming. + +"What in hell's the matter now?" Henry Finn demanded, as the +empty sled came into the circle of firelight and as he noted that +Elijah's long, serious face was longer and even more serious. + +Joe Hines threw wood on the fire, and the three men, wrapped in +their robes, huddled up close to the warmth. Elijah's whiskered +face was matted with ice, as were his eyebrows, so that, what of +his fur garb, he looked like a New England caricature of Father +Christmas. + +"You recollect that big spruce that held up the corner of the +cache next to the river?" Elijah began. + +The disaster was quickly told. The big tree, with all the +seeming of hardihood, promising to stand for centuries to come, +had suffered from a hidden decay. In some way its rooted grip on +the earth had weakened. The added burden of the cache and the +winter snow had been too much for it; the balance it had so long +maintained with the forces of its environment had been +overthrown; it had toppled and crashed to the ground, wrecking +the cache and, in turn, overthrowing the balance with environment +that the four men and eleven dogs had been maintaining. Their +supply of grub was gone. The wolverines had got into the wrecked +cache, and what they had not eaten they had destroyed. + +"They plumb e't all the bacon and prunes and sugar and dog-food," +Elijah reported, "and gosh darn my buttons, if they didn't gnaw +open the sacks and scatter the flour and beans and rice from Dan +to Beersheba. I found empty sacks where they'd dragged them a +quarter of a mile away." + +Nobody spoke for a long minute. It was nothing less than a +catastrophe, in the dead of an Arctic winter and in a +game-abandoned land, to lose their grub. They were not +panic-stricken, but they were busy looking the situation squarely +in the face and considering. Joe Hines was the first to speak. + +"We can pan the snow for the beans and rice... though there +wa'n't more'n eight or ten pounds of rice left." + +"And somebody will have to take a team and pull for Sixty Mile," +Daylight said next. + +"I'll go," said Finn. + +They considered a while longer. + +"But how are we going to feed the other team and three men till +he gets back?" Hines demanded. + +"Only one thing to it," was Elijah's contribution. "You'll have +to take the other team, Joe, and pull up the Stewart till you +find them Indians. Then you come back with a load of meat. +You'll get here long before Henry can make it from Sixty Mile, +and while you're gone there'll only be Daylight and me to feed, +and we'll feed good and small." + +"And in the morning we-all'll pull for the cache and pan snow to +find what grub we've got." Daylight lay back, as he spoke, and +rolled in his robe to sleep, then added: "Better turn in for an +early start. Two of you can take the dogs down. Elijah and +me'll skin out on both sides and see if we-all can scare up a +moose on the way down." + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +No time was lost. Hines and Finn, with the dogs, already on +short rations, were two days in pulling down. At noon of the +third day Elijah arrived, reporting no moose sign. That night +Daylight came in with a similar report. As fast as they arrived, +the men had started careful panning of the snow all around the +cache. It was a large task, for they found stray beans fully a +hundred yards from the cache. One more day all the men toiled. +The result was pitiful, and the four showed their caliber in the +division of the few pounds of food that had been recovered. +Little as it was, the lion's share was left with Daylight and +Elijah. The men who pulled on with the dogs, one up the Stewart +and one down, would come more quickly to grub. The two who +remained would have to last out till the others returned. +Furthermore, while the dogs, on several ounces each of beans a +day, would travel slowly, nevertheless, the men who travelled +with them, on a pinch, would have the dogs themselves to eat. +But the men who remained, when the pinch came, would have no +dogs. It was for this reason that Daylight and Elijah took the +more desperate chance. They could not do less, nor did they care +to do less. The days passed, and the winter began merging +imperceptibly into the Northland spring that comes like a +thunderbolt of suddenness. It was the spring of 1896 that was +preparing. Each day the sun rose farther east of south, remained +longer in the sky, and set farther to the west. March ended and +April began, and Daylight and Elijah, lean and hungry, wondered +what had become of their two comrades. Granting every delay, and +throwing in generous margins for good measure, the time was long +since passed when they should have returned. Without doubt they +had met with disaster. The party had considered the possibility +of disaster for one man, and that had been the principal reason +for despatching the two in different directions. But that +disaster should have come to both of them was the final blow. + +In the meantime, hoping against hope, Daylight and Elija eked out +a meagre existence. The thaw had not yet begun, so they were +able to gather the snow about the ruined cache and melt it in +pots and pails and gold pans. Allowed to stand for a while, when +poured off, a thin deposit of slime was found on the bottoms of +the vessels. This was the flour, the infinitesimal trace of it +scattered through thousands of cubic yards of snow. Also, in +this slime occurred at intervals a water-soaked tea-leaf or +coffee-ground, and there were in it fragments of earth and +litter. But the farther they worked away from the site of the +cache, the thinner became the trace of flour, the smaller the +deposit of slime. + +Elijah was the older man, and he weakened first, so that he came +to lie up most of the time in his furs. An occasional tree- +squirrel kept them alive. The hunting fell upon Daylight, and it +was hard work. With but thirty rounds of ammunition, he dared +not risk a miss; and, since his rifle was a 45-90, he was +compelled to shoot the small creatures through the head. There +were very few of them, and days went by without seeing one. When +he did see one, he took infinite precautions. He would stalk it +for hours. A score of times, with arms that shook from weakness, +he would draw a sight on the animal and refrain from pulling the +trigger. His inhibition was a thing of iron. He was the master. +Not til absolute certitude was his did he shoot. No matter how +sharp the pangs of hunger and desire for that palpitating morsel +of chattering life, he refused to take the slightest risk of a +miss. He, born gambler, was gambling in the bigger way. His +life was the stake, his cards were the cartridges, and he played +as only a big gambler could play, with infinite precaution, with +infinite consideration. Each shot meant a squirrel, and though +days elapsed between shots, it never changed his method of play. + +Of the squirrels, nothing was lost. Even the skins were boiled +to make broth, the bones pounded into fragments that could be +chewed and swallowed. Daylight prospected through the snow, and +found occasional patches of mossberries. At the best, +mossberries were composed practically of seeds and water, with a +tough rind of skin about them; but the berries he found were of +the preceding year, dry and shrivelled, and the nourishment they +contained verged on the minus quality. Scarcely better was the +bark of young saplings, stewed for an hour and swallowed after +prodigious chewing. + +April drew toward its close, and spring smote the land. The days +stretched out their length. Under the heat of the sun, the snow +began to melt, while from down under the snow arose the trickling +of tiny streams. For twenty-four hours the Chinook wind blew, +and in that twenty-four hours the snow was diminished fully a +foot in depth. In the late afternoons the melting snow froze +again, so that its surface became ice capable of supporting a +man's weight. Tiny white snow-birds appeared from the south, +lingered a day, and resumed their journey into the north. Once, +high in the air, looking for open water and ahead of the season, +a wedged squadron of wild geese honked northwards. And down by +the river bank a clump of dwarf willows burst into bud. These +young buds, stewed, seemed to posess an encouraging nutrition. +Elijah took heart of hope, though he was cast down again when +Daylight failed to find another clump of willows. + +The sap was rising in the trees, and daily the trickle of unseen +streamlets became louder as the frozen land came back to life. +But the river held in its bonds of frost. Winter had been long +months in riveting them, and not in a day were they to be broken, +not even by the thunderbolt of spring. May came, and stray +last-year's mosquitoes, full-grown but harmless, crawled out of +rock crevices and rotten logs. Crickets began to chirp, and more +geese and ducks flew overhead. And still the river held. By May +tenth, the ice of the Stewart, with a great rending and snapping, +tore loose from the banks and rose three feet. But it did not go +down-stream. The lower Yukon, up to where the Stewart flowed +into it, must first break and move on. Until then the ice of the +Stewart could only rise higher and higher on the increasing flood +beneath. When the Yukon would break was problematical. Two +thousand miles away it flowed into Bering Sea, and it was the ice +conditions of Bering Sea that would determine when the Yukon +could rid itself of the millions of tons of ice that cluttered +its breast. + +On the twelfth of May, carrying their sleeping-robes, a pail, an +ax, and the precious rifle, the two men started down the river on +the ice. Their plan was to gain to the cached poling-boat they +had seen, so that at the first open water they could launch it +and drift with the stream to Sixty Mile. In their weak +condition, without food, the going was slow and difficult. +Elijah developed a habit of falling down and being unable to +rise. Daylight gave of his own strength to lift him to his feet, +whereupon the older man would stagger automatically on until he +stumbled and fell again. + +On the day they should have reached the boat, Elijah collapsed +utterly. When Daylight raised him, he fell again. Daylight +essayed to walk with him, supporting him, but such was Daylight's +own weakness that they fell together. + +Dragging Elijah to the bank, a rude camp was made, and Daylight +started out in search of squirrels. It was at this time that he +likewise developed the falling habit. In the evening he found +his first squirrel, but darkness came on without his getting a +certain shot. With primitive patience he waited till next day, +and then, within the hour, the squirrel was his. + +The major portion he fed to Elijah, reserving for himself the +tougher parts and the bones. But such is the chemistry of life, +that this small creature, this trifle of meat that moved, by +being eaten, transmuted to the meat of the men the same power to +move. No longer did the squirrel run up spruce trees, leap from +branch to branch, or cling chattering to giddy perches. Instead, +the same energy that had done these things flowed into the wasted +muscles and reeling wills of the men, making them move--nay, +moving them--till they tottered the several intervening miles to +the cached boat, underneath which they fell together and lay +motionless a long time. + +Light as the task would have been for a strong man to lower the +small boat to the ground, it took Daylight hours. And many hours +more, day by day, he dragged himself around it, lying on his side +to calk the gaping seams with moss. Yet, when this was done, the +river still held. Its ice had risen many feet, but would not +start down-stream. And one more task waited, the launching of +the boat when the river ran water to receive it. Vainly Daylight +staggered and stumbled and fell and crept through the snow that +was wet with thaw, or across it when the night's frost still +crusted it beyond the weight of a man, searching for one more +squirrel, striving to achieve one more transmutation of furry +leap and scolding chatter into the lifts and tugs of a man's body +that would hoist the boat over the rim of shore-ice and slide it +down into the stream. + +Not till the twentieth of May did the river break. The +down-stream movement began at five in the morning, and already +were the days so long that Daylight sat up and watched the +ice-run. Elijah was too far gone to be interested in the +spectacle. Though vaguely conscious, he lay without movement +while the ice tore by, great cakes of it caroming against the +bank, uprooting trees, and gouging out earth by hundreds of tons. + +All about them the land shook and reeled from the shock of these +tremendous collisions. At the end of an hour the run stopped. +Somewhere below it was blocked by a jam. Then the river began to +rise, lifting the ice on its breast till it was higher than the +bank. From behind ever more water bore down, and ever more +millions of tons of ice added their weight to the congestion. +The pressures and stresses became terrific. Huge cakes of ice +were squeezed out till they popped into the air like melon seeds +squeezed from between the thumb and forefinger of a child, while +all along the banks a wall of ice was forced up. When the jam +broke, the noise of grinding and smashing redoubled. For another +hour the run continued. The river fell rapidly. But the wall of +ice on top the bank, and extending down into the falling water, +remained. + +The tail of the ice-run passed, and for the first time in six +months Daylight saw open water. He knew that the ice had not yet +passed out from the upper reaches of the Stewart, that it lay in +packs and jams in those upper reaches, and that it might break +loose and come down in a second run any time; but the need was +too desperate for him to linger. Elijah was so far gone that he +might pass at any moment. As for himself, he was not sure that +enough strength remained in his wasted muscles to launch the +boat. It was all a gamble. If he waited for the second ice-run, +Elijah would surely die, and most probably himself. If he +succeeded in launching the boat, if he kept ahead of the second +ice-run, if he did not get caught by some of the runs from the +upper Yukon; if luck favored in all these essential particulars, +as well as in a score of minor ones, they would reach Sixty Mile +and be saved, if--and again the if--he had strength enough to +land the boat at Sixty Mile and not go by. + +He set to work. The wall of ice was five feet above the ground +on which the boat rested. First prospecting for the best +launching-place, he found where a huge cake of ice shelved upward +from the river that ran fifteen feet below to the top of the +wall. This was a score of feet away, and at the end of an hour +he had managed to get the boat that far. He was sick with nausea +from his exertions, and at times it seemed that blindness smote +him, for he could not see, his eyes vexed with spots and points +of light that were as excruciating as diamond-dust, his heart +pounding up in his throat and suffocating him. Elijah betrayed +no interest, did not move nor open his eyes; and Daylight fought +out his battle alone. At last, falling on his knees from the +shock of exertion, he got the boat poised on a secure balance on +top the wall. Crawling on hands and knees, he placed in the boat +his rabbit-skin robe, the rifle, and the pail. He did not bother +with the ax. It meant an additional crawl of twenty feet and +back, and if the need for it should arise he well knew he would +be past all need. + +Elijah proved a bigger task than he had anticipated. A few +inches at a time, resting in between, he dragged him over the +ground and up a broken rubble of ice to the side of the boat. +But into the boat he could not get him. Elijah's limp body was +far more difficult to lift and handle than an equal weight of +like dimensions but rigid. Daylight failed to hoist him, for the +body collapsed at the middle like a part-empty sack of corn. +Getting into the boat, Daylight tried vainly to drag his comrade +in after him. The best he could do was to get Elijah's head and +shoulders on top the gunwale. When he released his hold, to +heave from farther down the body, Elijah promptly gave at the +middle and came down on the ice. + +In despair, Daylight changed his tactics. He struck the other in +the face. + +"God Almighty, ain't you-all a man?" he cried. "There! damn +you-all! there!" + +At each curse he struck him on the cheeks, the nose, the mouth, +striving, by the shock of the hurt, to bring back the sinking +soul and far-wandering will of the man. The eyes fluttered open. + +"Now listen!" he shouted hoarsely. "When I get your head to the +gunwale, hang on! Hear me? Hang on! Bite into it with your +teeth, but HANG ON!" + +The eyes fluttered down, but Daylight knew the message had been +received. Again he got the helpless man's head and shoulders on +the gunwale. + +"Hang on, damn you! Bite in!" he shouted, as he shifted his grip +lower down. + +One weak hand slipped off the gunwale, the fingers of the other +hand relaxed, but Elijah obeyed, and his teeth held on. When the +lift came, his face ground forward, and the splintery wood tore +and crushed the skin from nose, lips, and chin; and, face +downward, he slipped on and down to the bottom of the boat till +his limp middle collapsed across the gunwale and his legs hung +down outside. But they were only his legs, and Daylight shoved +them in; after him. Breathing heavily, he turned Elijah over on +his back, and covered him with his robes. + +The final task remained--the launching of the boat. This, of +necessity, was the severest of all, for he had been compelled to +load his comrade in aft of the balance. It meant a supreme +effort at lifting. Daylight steeled himself and began. +Something must have snapped, for, though he was unaware of it, +the next he knew he was lying doubled on his stomach across the +sharp stern of the boat. Evidently, and for the first time in +his life, he had fainted. Furthermore, it seemed to him that he +was finished, that he had not one more movement left in him, and +that, strangest of all, he did not care. Visions came to him, +clear-cut and real, and concepts sharp as steel cutting-edges. +He, who all his days had looked on naked Life, had never seen so +much of Life's nakedness before. For the first time he +experienced a doubt of his own glorious personality. For the +moment Life faltered and forgot to lie. After all, he was a +little earth-maggot, just like all the other earth-maggots, like +the squirrel he had eaten, like the other men he had seen fail +and die, like Joe Hines and Henry Finn, who had already failed +and were surely dead, like Elijah lying there uncaring, with his +skinned face, in the bottom of the boat. Daylight's position was +such that from where he lay he could look up river to the bend, +around which, sooner or later, the next ice-run would come. And +as he looked he seemed to see back through the past to a time +when neither white man nor Indian was in the land, and ever he +saw the same Stewart River, winter upon winter, breasted with +ice, and spring upon spring bursting that ice asunder and running +free. And he saw also into an illimitable future, when the last +generations of men were gone from off the face of Alaska, when +he, too, would be gone, and he saw, ever remaining, that river, +freezing and fresheting, and running on and on. + +Life was a liar and a cheat. It fooled all creatures. It had +fooled him, Burning Daylight, one of its chiefest and most joyous +exponents. He was nothing--a mere bunch of flesh and nerves and +sensitiveness that crawled in the muck for gold, that dreamed and +aspired and gambled, and that passed and was gone. Only the dead +things remained, the things that were not flesh and nerves and +sensitiveness, the sand and muck and gravel, the stretching +flats, the mountains, the river itself, freezing and breaking, +year by year, down all the years. When all was said and done, it +was a scurvy game. The dice were loaded. Those that died did +not win, and all died. Who won? Not even Life, the +stool-pigeon, the arch-capper for the game--Life, the ever +flourishing graveyard, the everlasting funeral procession. + +He drifted back to the immediate present for a moment and noted +that the river still ran wide open, and that a moose-bird, +perched on the bow of the boat, was surveying him impudently. +Then he drifted dreamily back to his meditations. + +There was no escaping the end of the game. He was doomed surely +to be out of it all. And what of it? He pondered that question +again and again. + +Conventional religion had passed Daylight by. He had lived a +sort of religion in his square dealing and right playing with +other men, and he had not indulged in vain metaphysics about +future life. Death ended all. He had always believed that, and +been unafraid. And at this moment, the boat fifteen feet above +the water and immovable, himself fainting with weakness and +without a particle of strength left in him, he still believed +that death ended all, and he was still unafraid. His views were +too simply and solidly based to be overthrown by the first +squirm, or the last, of death-fearing life. + +He had seen men and animals die, and into the field of his +vision, by scores, came such deaths. He saw them over again, +just as he had seen them at the time, and they did not shake him. + +What of it? They were dead, and dead long since. They weren't +bothering about it. They weren't lying on their bellies across a +boat and waiting to die. Death was easy--easier than he had ever +imagined; and, now that it was near, the thought of it made him +glad. + +A new vision came to him. He saw the feverish city of his +dream--the gold metropolis of the North, perched above the Yukon +on a high earth-bank and far-spreading across the flat. He saw +the river steamers tied to the bank and lined against it three +deep; he saw the sawmills working and the long dog-teams, with +double sleds behind, freighting supplies to the diggings. And he +saw, further, the gambling-houses, banks, stock-exchanges, and +all the gear and chips and markers, the chances and +opportunities, of a vastly bigger gambling game than any he had +ever seen. It was sure hell, he thought, with the hunch +a-working and that big strike coming, to be out of it all. Life +thrilled and stirred at the thought and once more began uttering +his ancient lies. + +Daylight rolled over and off the boat, leaning against it as he +sat on the ice. He wanted to be in on that strike. And why +shouldn't he? Somewhere in all those wasted muscles of his was +enough strength, if he could gather it all at once, to up-end the +boat and launch it. Quite irrelevantly the idea suggested itself +of buying a share in the Klondike town site from Harper and Joe +Ladue. They would surely sell a third interest cheap. Then, if +the strike came on the Stewart, he would be well in on it with +the Elam Harnish town site; if on the Klondike, he would not be +quite out of it. + +In the meantime, he would gather strength. He stretched out on +the ice full length, face downward, and for half an hour he lay +and rested. Then he arose, shook the flashing blindness from his +eyes, and took hold of the boat. He knew his condition +accurately. If the first effort failed, the following efforts +were doomed to fail. He must pull all his rallied strength into +the one effort, and so thoroughly must he put all of it in that +there would be none left for other attempts. + +He lifted, and he lifted with the soul of him as well as with the +body, consuming himself, body and spirit, in the effort. The +boat rose. He thought he was going to faint, but he continued to +lift. He felt the boat give, as it started on its downward +slide. With the last shred of his strength he precipitated +himself into it, landing in a sick heap on Elijah's legs. He was +beyond attempting to rise, and as he lay he heard and felt the +boat take the water. By watching the tree-tops he knew it was +whirling. A smashing shock and flying fragments of ice told him +that it had struck the bank. A dozen times it whirled and +struck, and then it floated easily and free. + +Daylight came to, and decided he had been asleep. The sun +denoted that several hours had passed. It was early afternoon. +He dragged himself into the stern and sat up. The boat was in +the middle of the stream. The wooded banks, with their +base-lines of flashing ice, were slipping by. Near him floated a +huge, uprooted pine. A freak of the current brought the boat +against it. Crawling forward, he fastened the painter to a root. + +The tree, deeper in the water, was travelling faster, and the +painter tautened as the boat took the tow. Then, with a last +giddy look around, wherein he saw the banks tilting and swaying +and the sun swinging in pendulum-sweep across the sky, Daylight +wrapped himself in his rabbit-skin robe, lay down in the bottom, +and fell asleep. + +When he awoke, it was dark night. He was lying on his back, and +he could see the stars shining. A subdued murmur of swollen +waters could be heard. A sharp jerk informed him that the boat, +swerving slack into the painter, had been straightened out by the +swifter-moving pine tree. A piece of stray drift-ice thumped +against the boat and grated along its side. Well, the following +jam hadn't caught him yet, was his thought, as he closed his eyes +and slept again. + +It was bright day when next he opened his eyes. The sun showed +it to be midday. A glance around at the far-away banks, and he +knew that he was on the mighty Yukon. Sixty Mile could not be +far away. He was abominably weak. His movements were slow, +fumbling, and inaccurate, accompanied by panting and +head-swimming, as he dragged himself into a sitting-up position +in the stern, his rifle beside him. He looked a long time at +Elijah, but could not see whether he breathed or not, and he was +too immeasurably far away to make an investigation. + +He fell to dreaming and meditating again, dreams and thoughts +being often broken by sketches of blankness, wherein he neither +slept, nor was unconscious, nor was aware of anything. It seemed +to him more like cogs slipping in his brain. And in this +intermittent way he reviewed the situation. He was still alive, +and most likely would be saved, but how came it that he was not +lying dead across the boat on top the ice-rim? Then he +recollected the great final effort he had made. But why had he +made it? he asked himself. It had not been fear of death. He +had not been afraid, that was sure. Then he remembered the hunch +and the big strike he believed was coming, and he knew that the +spur had been his desire to sit in for a hand at that big game. +And again why? What if he made his million? He would die, just +the same as those that never won more than grub-stakes. Then +again why? But the blank stretches in his thinking process began +to come more frequently, and he surrendered to the delightful +lassitude that was creeping over him. + +He roused with a start. Something had whispered in him that he +must awake. Abruptly he saw Sixty Mile, not a hundred feet away. + +The current had brought him to the very door. But the same +current was now sweeping him past and on into the down-river +wilderness. No one was in sight. The place might have been +deserted, save for the smoke he saw rising from the kitchen +chimney. He tried to call, but found he had no voice left. An +unearthly guttural hiss alternately rattled and wheezed in his +throat. He fumbled for the rifle, got it to his shoulder, and +pulled the trigger. The recoil of the discharge tore through his +frame, racking it with a thousand agonies. The rifle had fallen +across his knees, and an attempt to lift it to his shoulder +failed. He knew he must be quick, and felt that he was fainting, +so he pulled the trigger of the gun where it lay. This time it +kicked off and overboard. But just before darkness rushed over +him, he saw the kitchen door open, and a woman look out of the +big log house that was dancing a monstrous jig among the trees. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Ten days later, Harper and Joe Ladue arrived at Sixty Mile, and +Daylight, still a trifle weak, but strong enough to obey the +hunch that had come to him, traded a third interest in his +Stewart town site for a third interest in theirs on the Klondike. + +They had faith in the Upper Country, and Harper left down-stream, +with a raft-load of supplies, to start a small post at the mouth +of the Klondike. + +"Why don't you tackle Indian River, Daylight?" Harper advised, at +parting. "There's whole slathers of creeks and draws draining in +up there, and somewhere gold just crying to be found. That's my +hunch. There's a big strike coming, and Indian River ain't going +to be a million miles away." + +"And the place is swarming with moose," Joe Ladue added. "Bob +Henderson's up there somewhere, been there three years now, +swearing something big is going to happen, living off'n straight +moose and prospecting around like a crazy man." + +Daylight decided to go Indian River a flutter, as he expressed +it; but Elijah could not be persuaded into accompanying him. +Elijah's soul had been seared by famine, and he was obsessed by +fear of repeating the experience. + +"I jest can't bear to separate from grub," he explained. "I know +it's downright foolishness, but I jest can't help it. It's all I +can do to tear myself away from the table when I know I'm full to +bustin' and ain't got storage for another bite. I'm going back +to Circle to camp by a cache until I get cured." + +Daylight lingered a few days longer, gathering strength and +arranging his meagre outfit. He planned to go in light, carrying +a pack of seventy-five pounds and making his five dogs pack as +well, Indian fashion, loading them with thirty pounds each. +Depending on the report of Ladue, he intended to follow Bob +Henderson's example and live practically on straight meat. When +Jack Kearns' scow, laden with the sawmill from Lake Linderman, +tied up at Sixty Mile, Daylight bundled his outfit and dogs on +board, turned his town-site application over to Elijah to be +filed, and the same day was landed at the mouth of Indian River. + +Forty miles up the river, at what had been described to him as +Quartz Creek, he came upon signs of Bob Henderson's work, and +also at Australia Creek, thirty miles farther on. The weeks came +and went, but Daylight never encountered the other man. However, +he found moose plentiful, and he and his dogs prospered on the +meat diet. He found "pay" that was no more than "wages" on a +dozen surface bars, and from the generous spread of flour gold in +the muck and gravel of a score of creeks, he was more confident +than ever that coarse gold in quantity was waiting to be +unearthed. Often he turned his eyes to the northward ridge of +hills, and pondered if the gold came from them. In the end, he +ascended Dominion Creek to its head, crossed the divide, and came +down on the tributary to the Klondike that was later to be called +Hunker Creek. While on the divide, had he kept the big dome on +his right, he would have come down on the Gold Bottom, so named +by Bob Henderson, whom he would have found at work on it, taking +out the first pay-gold ever panned on the Klondike. Instead, +Daylight continued down Hunker to the Klondike, and on to the +summer fishing camp of the Indians on the Yukon. + +Here for a day he camped with Carmack, a squaw-man, and his +Indian brother-in-law, Skookum Jim, bought a boat, and, with his +dogs on board, drifted down the Yukon to Forty Mile. August was +drawing to a close, the days were growing shorter, and winter was +coming on. Still with unbounded faith in his hunch that a strike +was coming in the Upper Country, his plan was to get together a +party of four or five, and, if that was impossible, at least a +partner, and to pole back up the river before the freeze-up to do +winter prospecting. But the men of Forty Mile were without +faith. The diggings to the westward were good enough for them. + +Then it was that Carmack, his brother-in-law, Skookum Jim, and +Cultus Charlie, another Indian, arrived in a canoe at Forty Mile, +went straight to the gold commissioner, and recorded three claims +and a discovery claim on Bonanza Creek. After that, in the +Sourdough Saloon, that night, they exhibited coarse gold to the +sceptical crowd. Men grinned and shook their heads. They had +seen the motions of a gold strike gone through before. This was +too patently a scheme of Harper's and Joe Ladue's, trying to +entice prospecting in the vicinity of their town site and trading +post. And who was Carmack? A squaw-man. And who ever heard of +a squaw-man striking anything? And what was Bonanza Creek? +Merely a moose pasture, entering the Klondike just above its +mouth, and known to old-timers as Rabbit Creek. Now if Daylight +or Bob Henderson had recorded claims and shown coarse gold, +they'd known there was something in it. But Carmack, the +squaw-man! And Skookum Jim! And Cultus Charlie! No, no; that +was asking too much. + +Daylight, too, was sceptical, and this despite his faith in the +Upper Country. Had he not, only a few days before, seen Carmack +loafing with his Indians and with never a thought of prospecting? + +But at eleven that night, sitting on the edge of his bunk and +unlacing his moccasins, a thought came to him. He put on his +coat and hat and went back to the Sourdough. Carmack was still +there, flashing his coarse gold in the eyes of an unbelieving +generation. Daylight ranged alongside of him and emptied +Carmack's sack into a blower. This he studied for a long time. +Then, from his own sack, into another blower, he emptied several +ounces of Circle City and Forty Mile gold. Again, for a long +time, he studied and compared. Finally, he pocketed his own +gold, returned Carmack's, and held up his hand for silence. + +"Boys, I want to tell you-all something," he said. "She's sure +come--the up-river strike. And I tell you-all, clear and +forcible, this is it. There ain't never been gold like that in a +blower in this country before. It's new gold. It's got more +silver in it. You-all can see it by the color. Carmack's sure +made a strike. Who-all's got faith to come along with me?" + +There were no volunteers. Instead, laughter and jeers went up. + +"Mebbe you got a town site up there," some one suggested. + +"I sure have," was the retort, "and a third interest in Harper +and Ladue's. And I can see my corner lots selling out for more +than your hen-scratching ever turned up on Birch Creek." + +"That's all right, Daylight," one Curly Parson interposed +soothingly. "You've got a reputation, and we know you're dead +sure on the square. But you're as likely as any to be mistook on +a flimflam game, such as these loafers is putting up. I ask you +straight: When did Carmack do this here prospecting? You said +yourself he was lying in camp, fishing salmon along with his +Siwash relations, and that was only the other day." + +"And Daylight told the truth," Carmack interrupted excitedly. +"And I'm telling the truth, the gospel truth. I wasn't +prospecting. Hadn't no idea of it. But when Daylight pulls out, +the very same day, who drifts in, down river, on a raft-load of +supplies, but Bob Henderson. He'd come out to Sixty Mile, +planning to go back up Indian River and portage the grub across +the divide between Quartz Creek and Gold Bottom--" + +"Where in hell's Gold Bottom?" Curly Parsons demanded. + +"Over beyond Bonanza that was Rabbit Creek," the squaw-man went +on. "It's a draw of a big creek that runs into the Klondike. +That's the way I went up, but I come back by crossing the divide, +keeping along the crest several miles, and dropping down into +Bonanza. 'Come along with me, Carmack, and get staked,' says Bob +Henderson to me. 'I've hit it this time, on Gold Bottom. I've +took out forty-five ounces already.' And I went along, Skookum +Jim and Cultus Charlie, too. And we all staked on Gold Bottom. +I come back by Bonanza on the chance of finding a moose. Along +down Bonanza we stopped and cooked grub. I went to sleep, and +what does Skookum Jim do but try his hand at prospecting. He'd +been watching Henderson, you see. He goes right slap up to the +foot of a birch tree, first pan, fills it with dirt, and washes +out more'n a dollar coarse gold. Then he wakes me up, and I goes +at it. I got two and a half the first lick. Then I named the +creek 'Bonanza,' staked Discovery, and we come here and +recorded." + +He looked about him anxiously for signs of belief, but found +himself in a circle of incredulous faces--all save Daylight, who +had studied his countenance while he told his story. + +"How much is Harper and Ladue givin' you for manufacturing a +stampede?" some one asked. + +"They don't know nothing about it," Carmack answered. "I tell +you it's the God Almighty's truth. I washed out three ounces in +an hour." + +"And there's the gold," Daylight said. "I tell you-all boys they +ain't never been gold like that in the blower before. Look at +the color of it." + +"A trifle darker," Curly Parson said. "Most likely Carmack's +been carrying a couple of silver dollars along in the same sack. +And what's more, if there's anything in it, why ain't Bob +Henderson smoking along to record?" + +"He's up on Gold Bottom," Carmack explained. "We made the strike +coming back." + +A burst of laughter was his reward. + +"Who-all'll go pardners with me and pull out in a poling-boat +to-morrow for this here Bonanza?" Daylight asked. + +No one volunteered. + +"Then who-all'll take a job from me, cash wages in advance, to +pole up a thousand pounds of grub?" + +Curly Parsons and another, Pat Monahan, accepted, and, with his +customary speed, Daylight paid them their wages in advance and +arranged the purchase of the supplies, though he emptied his sack +in doing so. He was leaving the Sourdough, when he suddenly +turned back to the bar from the door. + +"Got another hunch?" was the query. + +"I sure have," he answered. "Flour's sure going to be worth what +a man will pay for it this winter up on the Klondike. Who'll +lend me some money?" + +On the instant a score of the men who had declined to accompany +him on the wild-goose chase were crowding about him with +proffered gold-sacks. + +"How much flour do you want?" asked the Alaska Commercial +Company's storekeeper. + +"About two ton." + +The proffered gold-sacks were not withdrawn, though their owners +were guilty of an outrageous burst of merriment. + +"What are you going to do with two tons?" the store-keeper +demanded. + +"Son," Daylight made reply, "you-all ain't been in this country +long enough to know all its curves. I'm going to start a +sauerkraut factory and combined dandruff remedy." + +He borrowed money right and left, engaging and paying six other +men to bring up the flour in half as many more poling-boats. +Again his sack was empty, and he was heavily in debt. + +Curly Parsons bowed his head on the bar with a gesture of +despair. + +"What gets me," he moaned, "is what you're going to do with it +all." + +"I'll tell you-all in simple A, B, C and one, two, three." +Daylight held up one finger and began checking off. "Hunch +number one: a big strike coming in Upper Country. Hunch number +two: Carmack's made it. Hunch number three: ain't no hunch at +all. It's a cinch. If one and two is right, then flour just has +to go sky-high. If I'm riding hunches one and two, I just got to +ride this cinch, which is number three. If I'm right, flour'll +balance gold on the scales this winter. I tell you-all boys, +when you-all got a hunch, play it for all it's worth. What's +luck good for, if you-all ain't to ride it? And when you-all +ride it, ride like hell. I've been years in this country, just +waiting for the right hunch to come along. And here she is. +Well, I'm going to play her, that's all. Good night, you-all; +good night." + + + +CHAPTER X + +Still men were without faith in the strike. When Daylight, +with his heavy outfit of flour, arrived at the mouth of the +Klondike, he found the big flat as desolate and tenantless as +ever. Down close by the river, Chief Isaac and his Indians were +camped beside the frames on which they were drying salmon. +Several old-timers were also in camp there. Having finished +their summer work on Ten Mile Creek, they had come down the +Yukon, bound for Circle City. But at Sixty Mile they had learned +of the strike, and stopped off to look over the ground. They had +just returned to their boat when Daylight landed his flour, and +their report was pessimistic. + +"Damned moose-pasture," quoth one, Long Jim Harney, pausing to +blow into his tin mug of tea. "Don't you have nothin' to do with +it, Daylight. It's a blamed rotten sell. They're just going +through the motions of a strike. Harper and Ladue's behind it, +and Carmack's the stool-pigeon. Whoever heard of mining a +moose-pasture half a mile between rim-rock and God alone knows +how far to bed-rock!" + +Daylight nodded sympathetically, and considered for a space. + +"Did you-all pan any?" he asked finally. + +"Pan hell!" was the indignant answer. "Think I was born +yesterday! Only a chechaquo'd fool around that pasture long +enough to fill a pan of dirt. You don't catch me at any such +foolishness. One look was enough for me. We're pulling on in +the morning for Circle City. I ain't never had faith in this +Upper Country. Head-reaches of the Tanana is good enough for me +from now on, and mark my words, when the big strike comes, she'll +come down river. Johnny, here, staked a couple of miles below +Discovery, but he don't know no better." Johnny looked +shamefaced. + +"I just did it for fun," he explained. "I'd give my chance in +the creek for a pound of Star plug." + +"I'll go you," Daylight said promptly. "But don't you-all come +squealing if I take twenty or thirty thousand out of it." + +Johnny grinned cheerfully. + +"Gimme the tobacco," he said. + +"Wish I'd staked alongside," Long Jim murmured plaintively. + +"It ain't too late," Daylight replied. + +"But it's a twenty-mile walk there and back." + +"I'll stake it for you to-morrow when I go up," Daylight offered. + +"Then you do the same as Johnny. Get the fees from Tim Logan. +He's tending bar in the Sourdough, and he'll lend it to me. Then +fill in your own name, transfer to me, and turn the papers over +to Tim." + +"Me, too," chimed in the third old-timer. + +And for three pounds of Star plug chewing tobacco, Daylight +bought outright three five-hundred-foot claims on Bonanza. He +could still stake another claim in his own name, the others being +merely transfers. + +"Must say you're almighty brash with your chewin' tobacco," Long +Jim grinned. "Got a factory somewheres?" + +"Nope, but I got a hunch," was the retort, "and I tell you-all +it's cheaper than dirt to ride her at the rate of three plugs for +three claims." + +But an hour later, at his own camp, Joe Ladue strode in, fresh +from Bonanza Creek. At first, non-committal over Carmack's +strike, then, later, dubious, he finally offered Daylight a +hundred dollars for his share in the town site. + +"Cash?" Daylight queried. + +"Sure. There she is." + +So saying, Ladue pulled out his gold-sack. Daylight hefted it +absent-mindedly, and, still absent-mindedly, untied the strings +and ran some of the gold-dust out on his palm. It showed darker +than any dust he had ever seen, with the exception of Carmack's. +He ran the gold back tied the mouth of the sack, and returned it +to Ladue. + +"I guess you-all need it more'n I do," was Daylight's comment. + +"Nope; got plenty more," the other assured him. + +"Where that come from?" + +Daylight was all innocence as he asked the question, and Ladue +received the question as stolidly as an Indian. Yet for a swift +instant they looked into each other's eyes, and in that instant +an intangible something seemed to flash out from all the body and +spirit of Joe Ladue. And it seemed to Daylight that he had +caught this flash, sensed a secret something in the knowledge and +plans behind the other's eyes. + +"You-all know the creek better'n me," Daylight went on. "And if +my share in the town site's worth a hundred to you-all with what +you-all know, it's worth a hundred to me whether I know it or +not." + +"I'll give you three hundred," Ladue offered desperately. + +"Still the same reasoning. No matter what I don't know, it's +worth to me whatever you-all are willing to pay for it." + +Then it was that Joe Ladue shamelessly gave over. He led +Daylight away from the camp and men and told him things in +confidence. + +"She's sure there," he said in conclusion. "I didn't sluice it, +or cradle it. I panned it, all in that sack, yesterday, on the +rim-rock. I tell you, you can shake it out of the grassroots. +And what's on bed-rock down in the bottom of the creek they ain't +no way of tellin'. But she's big, I tell you, big. Keep it +quiet, and locate all you can. It's in spots, but I wouldn't be +none surprised if some of them claims yielded as high as fifty +thousand. The only trouble is that it's spotted." + + * * * + +A month passed by, and Bonanza Creek remained quiet. A +sprinkling of men had staked; but most of them, after staking, +had gone on down to Forty Mile and Circle City. The few that +possessed sufficient faith to remain were busy building log +cabins against the coming of winter. Carmack and his Indian +relatives were occupied in building a sluice box and getting a +head of water. The work was slow, for they had to saw their +lumber by hand from the standing forest. But farther down +Bonanza were four men who had drifted in from up river, Dan +McGilvary, Dave McKay, Dave Edwards, and Harry Waugh. They were +a quiet party, neither asking nor giving confidences, and they +herded by themselves. But Daylight, who had panned the spotted +rim of Carmack's claim and shaken coarse gold from the +grass-roots, and who had panned the rim at a hundred other places +up and down the length of the creek and found nothing, was +curious to know what lay on bed-rock. He had noted the four +quiet men sinking a shaft close by the stream, and he had heard +their whip-saw going as they made lumber for the sluice boxes. +He did not wait for an invitation, but he was present the first +day they sluiced. And at the end of five hours' shovelling for +one man, he saw them take out thirteen ounces and a half of gold. + +It was coarse gold, running from pinheads to a twelve-dollar +nugget, and it had come from off bed-rock. The first fall snow +was flying that day, and the Arctic winter was closing down; but +Daylight had no eyes for the bleak-gray sadness of the dying, +short-lived summer. He saw his vision coming true, and on the +big flat was upreared anew his golden city of the snows. Gold +had been found on bed-rock. That was the big thing. Carmack's +strike was assured. Daylight staked a claim in his own name +adjoining the three he had purchased with his plug tobacco. This +gave him a block of property two thousand feet long and extending +in width from rim-rock to rim-rock. + +Returning that night to his camp at the mouth of Klondike, he +found in it Kama, the Indian he had left at Dyea. Kama was +travelling by canoe, bringing in the last mail of the year. In +his possession was some two hundred dollars in gold-dust, which +Daylight immediately borrowed. In return, he arranged to stake a +claim for him, which he was to record when he passed through +Forty Mile. When Kama departed next morning, he carried a number +of letters for Daylight, addressed to all the old-timers down +river, in which they were urged to come up immediately and stake. + +Also Kama carried letters of similar import, given him by the +other men on Bonanza. + +"It will sure be the gosh-dangdest stampede that ever was," +Daylight chuckled, as he tried to vision the excited populations +of Forty Mile and Circle City tumbling into poling-boats and +racing the hundreds of miles up the Yukon; for he knew that his +word would be unquestioningly accepted. + +With the arrival of the first stampeders, Bonanza Creek woke up, +and thereupon began a long-distance race between unveracity and +truth, wherein, lie no matter how fast, men were continually +overtaken and passed by truth. When men who doubted Carmack's +report of two and a half to the pan, themselves panned two and a +half, they lied and said that they were getting an ounce. And +long ere the lie was fairly on its way, they were getting not one +ounce but five ounces. This they claimed was ten ounces; but +when they filled a pan of dirt to prove the lie, they washed out +twelve ounces. And so it went. They continued valiantly to lie, +but the truth continued to outrun them. + +One day in December Daylight filled a pan from bed rock on his +own claim and carried it into his cabin. Here a fire burned and +enabled him to keep water unfrozen in a canvas tank. He squatted +over the tank and began to wash. Earth and gravel seemed to fill +the pan. As he imparted to it a circular movement, the lighter, +coarser particles washed out over the edge. At times he combed +the surface with his fingers, raking out handfuls of gravel. The +contents of the pan diminished. As it drew near to the bottom, +for the purpose of fleeting and tentative examination, he gave +the pan a sudden sloshing movement, emptying it of water. And +the whole bottom showed as if covered with butter. Thus the +yellow gold flashed up as the muddy water was flirted away. It +was gold--gold-dust, coarse gold, nuggets, large nuggets. He was +all alone. He set the pan down for a moment and thought long +thoughts. Then he finished the washing, and weighed the result +in his scales. At the rate of sixteen dollars to the ounce, the +pan had contained seven hundred and odd dollars. It was beyond +anything that even he had dreamed. His fondest anticipation's +had gone no farther than twenty or thirty thousand dollars to a +claim; but here were claims worth half a million each at the +least, even if they were spotted. + +He did not go back to work in the shaft that day, nor the next, +nor the next. Instead, capped and mittened, a light stampeding +outfit, including his rabbit skin robe, strapped on his back, he +was out and away on a many-days' tramp over creeks and divides, +inspecting the whole neighboring territory. On each creek he was +entitled to locate one claim, but he was chary in thus +surrendering up his chances. On Hunker Creek only did he stake a +claim. Bonanza Creek he found staked from mouth to source, while +every little draw and pup and gulch that drained into it was +like-wise staked. Little faith was had in these side-streams. +They had been staked by the hundreds of men who had failed to get +in on Bonanza. The most popular of these creeks was Adams. The +one least fancied was Eldorado, which flowed into Bonanza, just +above Karmack's Discovery claim. Even Daylight disliked the +looks of Eldorado; but, still riding his hunch, he bought a half +share in one claim on it for half a sack of flour. A month later +he paid eight hundred dollars for the adjoining claim. Three +months later, enlarging this block of property, he paid forty +thousand for a third claim; and, though it was concealed in the +future, he was destined, not long after, to pay one hundred and +fifty thousand for a fourth claim on the creek that had been the +least liked of all the creeks. + +In the meantime, and from the day he washed seven hundred dollars +from a single pan and squatted over it and thought a long +thought, he never again touched hand to pick and shovel. As he +said to Joe Ladue the night of that wonderful washing:-- + +"Joe, I ain't never going to work hard again. Here's where I +begin to use my brains. I'm going to farm gold. Gold will grow +gold if you-all have the savvee and can get hold of some for +seed. When I seen them seven hundred dollars in the bottom of +the pan, I knew I had the seed at last." + +"Where are you going to plant it?" Joe Ladue had asked. + +And Daylight, with a wave of his hand, definitely indicated the +whole landscape and the creeks that lay beyond the divides. + +"There she is," he said, "and you-all just watch my smoke. +There's millions here for the man who can see them. And I seen +all them millions this afternoon when them seven hundred dollars +peeped up at me from the bottom of the pan and chirruped, 'Well, +if here ain't Burning Daylight come at last.'" + + + +CHAPTER XI + +The hero of the Yukon in the younger days before the Carmack +strike, Burning Daylight now became the hero of the strike. The +story of his hunch and how he rode it was told up and down the +land. Certainly he had ridden it far and away beyond the +boldest, for no five of the luckiest held the value in claims +that he held. And, furthermore, he was still riding the hunch, +and with no diminution of daring. The wise ones shook their +heads and prophesied that he would lose every ounce he had won. +He was speculating, they contended, as if the whole country was +made of gold, and no man could win who played a placer strike in +that fashion. + +On the other hand, his holdings were reckoned as worth millions, +and there were men so sanguine that they held the man a fool who +coppered[6] any bet Daylight laid. Behind his magnificent +free-handedness and careless disregard for money were hard, +practical judgment, imagination and vision, and the daring of the +big gambler. He foresaw what with his own eyes he had never +seen, and he played to win much or lose all. + +[6] To copper: a term in faro, meaning to play a card to lose. + +"There's too much gold here in Bonanza to be just a pocket," he +argued. "It's sure come from a mother-lode somewhere, and other +creeks will show up. You-all keep your eyes on Indian River. +The creeks that drain that side the Klondike watershed are just +as likely to have gold as the creeks that drain this side." + +And he backed this opinion to the extent of grub-staking half a +dozen parties of prospectors across the big divide into the +Indian River region. Other men, themselves failing to stake on +lucky creeks, he put to work on his Bonanza claims. And he paid +them well--sixteen dollars a day for an eight-hour shift, and he +ran three shifts. He had grub to start them on, and when, on the +last water, the Bella arrived loaded with provisions, he traded a +warehouse site to Jack Kearns for a supply of grub that lasted +all his men through the winter of 1896. And that winter, when +famine pinched, and flour sold for two dollars a pound, he kept +three shifts of men at work on all four of the Bonanza claims. +Other mine-owners paid fifteen dollars a day to their men; but he +had been the first to put men to work, and from the first he paid +them a full ounce a day. One result was that his were picked +men, and they more than earned their higher pay. + +One of his wildest plays took place in the early winter after the +freeze-up. Hundreds of stampeders, after staking on other creeks +than Bonanza, had gone on disgruntled down river to Forty Mile +and Circle City. Daylight mortgaged one of his Bonanza dumps +with the Alaska Commercial Company, and tucked a letter of credit +into his pouch. Then he harnessed his dogs and went down on the +ice at a pace that only he could travel. One Indian down, +another Indian back, and four teams of dogs was his record. And +at Forty Mile and Circle City he bought claims by the score. +Many of these were to prove utterly worthless, but some few of +them were to show up more astoundingly than any on Bonanza. He +bought right and left, paying as low as fifty dollars and as high +as five thousand. This highest one he bought in the Tivoli +Saloon. It was an upper claim on Eldorado, and when he agreed to +the price, Jacob Wilkins, an old-timer just returned from a look +at the moose-pasture, got up and left the room, saying:-- + +"Daylight, I've known you seven year, and you've always seemed +sensible till now. And now you're just letting them rob you +right and left. That's what it is--robbery. Five thousand for a +claim on that damned moose-pasture is bunco. I just can't stay +in the room and see you buncoed that way." + +"I tell you-all," Daylight answered, "Wilkins, Carmack's strike's +so big that we-all can't see it all. It's a lottery. Every +claim I buy is a ticket. And there's sure going to be some +capital prizes." + +Jacob Wilkins, standing in the open door, sniffed incredulously. + +"Now supposing, Wilkins," Daylight went on, "supposing you-all +knew it was going to rain soup. What'd you-all do? Buy spoons, +of course. Well, I'm sure buying spoons. She's going to rain +soup up there on the Klondike, and them that has forks won't be +catching none of it." + +But Wilkins here slammed the door behind him, and Daylight broke +off to finish the purchase of the claim. + +Back in Dawson, though he remained true to his word and never +touched hand to pick and shovel, he worked as hard as ever in his +life. He had a thousand irons in the fire, and they kept him +busy. Representation work was expensive, and he was compelled to +travel often over the various creeks in order to decide which +claims should lapse and which should be retained. A quartz miner +himself in his early youth, before coming to Alaska, he dreamed +of finding the mother-lode. A placer camp he knew was ephemeral, +while a quartz camp abided, and he kept a score of men in the +quest for months. The mother-lode was never found, and, years +afterward, he estimated that the search for it had cost him fifty +thousand dollars. + +But he was playing big. Heavy as were his expenses, he won more +heavily. He took lays, bought half shares, shared with the men +he grub-staked, and made personal locations. Day and night his +dogs were ready, and he owned the fastest teams; so that when a +stampede to a new discovery was on, it was Burning Daylight to +the fore through the longest, coldest nights till he blazed his +stakes next to Discovery. In one way or another (to say nothing +of the many worthless creeks) he came into possession of +properties on the good creeks, such as Sulphur, Dominion, +Excelsis, Siwash, Cristo, Alhambra, and Doolittle. The thousands +he poured out flowed back in tens of thousands. Forty Mile men +told the story of his two tons of flour, and made calculations of +what it had returned him that ranged from half a million to a +million. One thing was known beyond all doubt, namely, that the +half share in the first Eldorado claim, bought by him for a half +sack of flour, was worth five hundred thousand. On the other +hand, it was told that when Freda, the dancer, arrived from over +the passes in a Peterborough canoe in the midst of a drive of +mush-ice on the Yukon, and when she offered a thousand dollars +for ten sacks and could find no sellers, he sent the flour to her +as a present without ever seeing her. In the same way ten sacks +were sent to the lone Catholic priest who was starting the first +hospital. + +His generosity was lavish. Others called it insane. At a time +when, riding his hunch, he was getting half a million for half a +sack of flour, it was nothing less than insanity to give twenty +whole sacks to a dancing-girl and a priest. But it was his way. +Money was only a marker. It was the game that counted with him. +The possession of millions made little change in him, except that +he played the game more passionately. Temperate as he had always +been, save on rare occasions, now that he had the wherewithal for +unlimited drinks and had daily access to them, he drank even +less. The most radical change lay in that, except when on trail, +he no longer did his own cooking. A broken-down miner lived in +his log cabin with him and now cooked for him. But it was the +same food: bacon, beans, flour, prunes, dried fruits, and rice. +He still dressed as formerly: overalls, German socks, moccasins, +flannel shirt, fur cap, and blanket coat. He did not take up +with cigars, which cost, the cheapest, from half a dollar to a +dollar each. The same Bull Durham and brown-paper cigarette, +hand-rolled, contented him. It was true that he kept more dogs, +and paid enormous prices for them. They were not a luxury, but a +matter of business. He needed speed in his travelling and +stampeding. And by the same token, he hired a cook. He was too +busy to cook for himself, that was all. It was poor business, +playing for millions, to spend time building fires and boiling +water. + +Dawson grew rapidly that winter of 1896. Money poured in on +Daylight from the sale of town lots. He promptly invested it +where it would gather more. In fact, he played the dangerous +game of pyramiding, and no more perilous pyramiding than in a +placer camp could be imagined. But he played with his eyes wide +open. + +"You-all just wait till the news of this strike reaches the +Outside," he told his old-timer cronies in the Moosehorn Saloon. +"The news won't get out till next spring. Then there's going to +be three rushes. A summer rush of men coming in light; a fall +rush of men with outfits; and a spring rush, the next year after +that, of fifty thousand. You-all won't be able to see the +landscape for chechaquos. Well, there's the summer and fall rush +of 1897 to commence with. What are you-all going to do about +it?" + +"What are you going to do about it?" a friend demanded. + +"Nothing," he answered. "I've sure already done it. I've got a +dozen gangs strung out up the Yukon getting out logs. You-all'll +see their rafts coming down after the river breaks. Cabins! +They sure will be worth what a man can pay for them next fall. +Lumber! It will sure go to top-notch. I've got two sawmills +freighting in over the passes. They'll come down as soon as the +lakes open up. And if you-all are thinking of needing lumber, +I'll make you-all contracts right now--three hundred dollars a +thousand, undressed." + +Corner lots in desirable locations sold that winter for from ten +to thirty thousand dollars. Daylight sent word out over the +trails and passes for the newcomers to bring down log-rafts, and, +as a result, the summer of 1897 saw his sawmills working day and +night, on three shifts, and still he had logs left over with +which to build cabins. These cabins, land included, sold at from +one to several thousand dollars. Two-story log buildings, in the +business part of town, brought him from forty to fifty thousand +dollars apiece. These fresh accretions of capital were +immediately invested in other ventures. He turned gold over and +over, until everything that he touched seemed to turn to gold. + +But that first wild winter of Carmack's strike taught Daylight +many things. Despite the prodigality of his nature, he had +poise. He watched the lavish waste of the mushroom millionaires, +and failed quite to understand it. According to his nature and +outlook, it was all very well to toss an ante away in a night's +frolic. That was what he had done the night of the poker-game in +Circle City when he lost fifty thousand--all that he possessed. +But he had looked on that fifty thousand as a mere ante. When it +came to millions, it was different. Such a fortune was a stake, +and was not to be sown on bar-room floors, literally sown, flung +broadcast out of the moosehide sacks by drunken millionaires +who had lost all sense of proportion. There was McMann, who ran +up a single bar-room bill of thirty-eight thousand dollars; and +Jimmie the Rough, who spent one hundred thousand a month for four +months in riotous living, and then fell down drunk in the snow +one March night and was frozen to death; and Swiftwater Bill, +who, after spending three valuable claims in an extravagance of +debauchery, borrowed three thousand dollars with which to leave +the country, and who, out of this sum, because the lady-love that +had jilted him liked eggs, cornered the one hundred and ten dozen +eggs on the Dawson market, paying twenty-four dollars a dozen for +them and promptly feeding them to the wolf-dogs. + +Champagne sold at from forty to fifty dollars a quart, and +canned oyster stew at fifteen dollars. Daylight indulged in no +such luxuries. He did not mind treating a bar-room of men to +whiskey at fifty cents a drink, but there was somewhere in his +own extravagant nature a sense of fitness and arithmetic that +revolted against paying fifteen dollars for the contents of an +oyster can. On the other hand, he possibly spent more money in +relieving hard-luck cases than did the wildest of the new +millionaires on insane debauchery. Father Judge, of the +hospital, could have told of far more important donations than +that first ten sacks of flour. And old-timers who came to +Daylight invariably went away relieved according to their need. +But fifty dollars for a quart of fizzy champagne! That was +appalling. + +And yet he still, on occasion, made one of his old-time +hell-roaring nights. But he did so for different reasons. +First, it was expected of him because it had been his way in the +old days. And second, he could afford it. But he no longer +cared quite so much for that form of diversion. He had +developed, in a new way, the taste for power. It had become a +lust with him. By far the wealthiest miner in Alaska, he wanted +to be still wealthier. It was a big game he was playing in, and +he liked it better than any other game. In a way, the part he +played was creative. He was doing something. And at no time, +striking another chord of his nature, could he take the joy in a +million-dollar Eldorado dump that was at all equivalent to the +joy he took in watching his two sawmills working and the big down +river log-rafts swinging into the bank in the big eddy just above +Moosehide Mountain. Gold, even on the scales, was, after all, an +abstraction. It represented things and the power to do. But the +sawmills were the things themselves, concrete and tangible, and +they were things that were a means to the doing of more things. +They were dreams come true, hard and indubitable realizations of +fairy gossamers. + +With the summer rush from the Outside came special correspondents +for the big newspapers and magazines, and one and all, using +unlimited space, they wrote Daylight up; so that, so far as the +world was concerned, Daylight loomed the largest figure in +Alaska. Of course, after several months, the world became +interested in the Spanish War, and forgot all about him; but in +the Klondike itself Daylight still remained the most prominent +figure. Passing along the streets of Dawson, all heads turned to +follow him, and in the saloons chechaquos watched him awesomely, +scarcely taking their eyes from him as long as he remained in +their range of vision. Not alone was he the richest man in the +country, but he was Burning Daylight, the pioneer, the man who, +almost in the midst of antiquity of that young land, had crossed +the Chilcoot and drifted down the Yukon to meet those elder +giants, Al Mayo and Jack McQuestion. He was the Burning Daylight +of scores of wild adventures, the man who carried word to the +ice-bound whaling fleet across the tundra wilderness to the +Arctic Sea, who raced the mail from Circle to Salt Water and back +again in sixty days, who saved the whole Tanana tribe from +perishing in the winter of '91--in short, the man who smote the +chechaquos' imaginations more violently than any other dozen men +rolled into one. + +He had the fatal facility for self-advertisement. Things he did, +no matter how adventitious or spontaneous, struck the popular +imagination as remarkable. And the latest thing he had done was +always on men's lips, whether it was being first in the +heartbreaking stampede to Danish Creek, in killing the record +baldface grizzly over on Sulphur Creek, or in winning the +single-paddle canoe race on the Queen's Birthday, after being +forced to participate at the last moment by the failure of the +sourdough representative to appear. Thus, one night in the +Moosehorn, he locked horns with Jack Kearns in the long-promised +return game of poker. The sky and eight o'clock in the morning +were made the limits, and at the close of the game Daylight's +winnings were two hundred and thirty thousand dollars. To Jack +Kearns, already a several-times millionaire, this loss was not +vital. But the whole community was thrilled by the size of the +stakes, and each one of the dozen correspondents in the field +sent out a sensational article. + + + +CHAPTER XII + +Despite his many sources of revenue, Daylight's pyramiding kept +him pinched for cash throughout the first winter. The +pay-gravel, thawed on bed-rock and hoisted to the surface, +immediately froze again. Thus his dumps, containing several +millions of gold, were inaccessible. Not until the returning sun +thawed the dumps and melted the water to wash them was he able to +handle the gold they contained. And then he found himself with a +surplus of gold, deposited in the two newly organized banks; and +he was promptly besieged by men and groups of men to enlist his +capital in their enterprises. + +But he elected to play his own game, and he entered combinations +only when they were generally defensive or offensive. Thus, +though he had paid the highest wages, he joined the Mine-owners' +Association, engineered the fight, and effectually curbed the +growing insubordination of the wage-earners. Times had changed. +The old days were gone forever. This was a new era, and +Daylight, the wealthy mine-owner, was loyal to his class +affiliations. It was true, the old-timers who worked for him, in +order to be saved from the club of the organized owners, were +made foremen over the gang of chechaquos; but this, with +Daylight, was a matter of heart, not head. In his heart he could +not forget the old days, while with his head he played the +economic game according to the latest and most practical methods. + +But outside of such group-combinations of exploiters, he refused +to bind himself to any man's game. He was playing a great lone +hand, and he needed all his money for his own backing. The newly +founded stock-exchange interested him keenly. He had never +before seen such an institution, but he was quick to see its +virtues and to utilize it. Most of all, it was gambling, and on +many an occasion not necessary for the advancement of his own +schemes, he, as he called it, went the stock-exchange a flutter, +out of sheer wantonness and fun. + +"It sure beats faro," was his comment one day, when, after +keeping the Dawson speculators in a fever for a week by alternate +bulling and bearing, he showed his hand and cleaned up what would +have been a fortune to any other man. + +Other men, having made their strike, had headed south for the +States, taking a furlough from the grim Arctic battle. But, +asked when he was going Outside, Daylight always laughed and said +when he had finished playing his hand. He also added that a man +was a fool to quit a game just when a winning hand had been dealt +him. + +It was held by the thousands of hero-worshipping chechaquos that +Daylight was a man absolutely without fear. But Bettles and Dan +MacDonald and other sourdoughs shook their heads and laughed as +they mentioned women. And they were right. He had always been +afraid of them from the time, himself a lad of seventeen, when +Queen Anne, of Juneau, made open and ridiculous love to him. For +that matter, he never had known women. Born in a mining-camp +where they were rare and mysterious, having no sisters, his +mother dying while he was an infant, he had never been in contact +with them. True, running away from Queen Anne, he had later +encountered them on the Yukon and cultivated an acquaintance with +them--the pioneer ones who crossed the passes on the trail of the +men who had opened up the first diggings. But no lamb had ever +walked with a wolf in greater fear and trembling than had he +walked with them. It was a matter of masculine pride that he +should walk with them, and he had done so in fair seeming; but +women had remained to him a closed book, and he preferred a game +of solo or seven-up any time. + +And now, known as the King of the Klondike, carrying several +other royal titles, such as Eldorado King, Bonanza King, the +Lumber Baron, and the Prince of the Stampeders, not to omit the +proudest appellation of all, namely, the Father of the +Sourdoughs, he was more afraid of women than ever. As never +before they held out their arms to him, and more women were +flocking into the country day by day. It mattered not whether he +sat at dinner in the gold commissioner's house, called for the +drinks in a dancehall, or submitted to an interview from the +woman representative of the New York Sun, one and all of them +held out their arms. + +There was one exception, and that was Freda, the girl that +danced, and to whom he had given the flour. She was the only +woman in whose company he felt at ease, for she alone never +reached out her arms. And yet it was from her that he was +destined to receive next to his severest fright. It came about +in the fall of 1897. He was returning from one of his dashes, +this time to inspect Henderson, a creek that entered the Yukon +just below the Stewart. Winter had come on with a rush, and he +fought his way down the Yukon seventy miles in a frail +Peterborough canoe in the midst of a run of mush-ice. Hugging +the rim-ice that had already solidly formed, he shot across the +ice-spewing mouth of the Klondike just in time to see a lone man +dancing excitedly on the rim and pointing into the water. Next, +he saw the fur-clad body of a woman, face under, sinking in the +midst of the driving mush-ice. A lane opening in the swirl of +the current, it was a matter of seconds to drive the canoe to the +spot, reach to the shoulder in the water, and draw the woman +gingerly to the canoe's side. It was Freda. And all might yet +have been well with him, had she not, later, when brought back to +consciousness, blazed at him with angry blue eyes and demanded: +"Why did you? Oh, why did you?" + +This worried him. In the nights that followed, instead of +sinking immediately to sleep as was his wont, he lay awake, +visioning her face and that blue blaze of wrath, and conning her +words over and over. They rang with sincerity. The reproach was +genuine. She had meant just what she said. And still he +pondered. + +The next time he encountered her she had turned away from him +angrily and contemptuously. And yet again, she came to him to +beg his pardon, and she dropped a hint of a man somewhere, +sometime,--she said not how,--who had left her with no desire to +live. Her speech was frank, but incoherent, and all he gleaned +from it was that the event, whatever it was, had happened years +before. Also, he gleaned that she had loved the man. + +That was the thing--love. It caused the trouble. It was more +terrible than frost or famine. Women were all very well, in +themselves good to look upon and likable; but along came this +thing called love, and they were seared to the bone by it, made +so irrational that one could never guess what they would do next. + +This Freda-woman was a splendid creature, full-bodied, beautiful, +and nobody's fool; but love had come along and soured her on the +world, driving her to the Klondike and to suicide so compellingly +that she was made to hate the man that saved her life. + +Well, he had escaped love so far, just as he had escaped +smallpox; yet there it was, as contagious as smallpox, and a +whole lot worse in running its course. It made men and women do +such fearful and unreasonable things. It was like delirium +tremens, only worse. And if he, Daylight, caught it, he might +have it as badly as any of them. It was lunacy, stark lunacy, +and contagious on top of it all. A half dozen young fellows were +crazy over Freda. They all wanted to marry her. Yet she, in +turn, was crazy over that some other fellow on the other side of +the world, and would have nothing to do with them. + +But it was left to the Virgin to give him his final fright. She +was found one morning dead in her cabin. A shot through the head +had done it, and she had left no message, no explanation. Then +came the talk. Some wit, voicing public opinion, called it a +case of too much Daylight. She had killed herself because of +him. Everybody knew this, and said so. The correspondents wrote +it up, and once more Burning Daylight, King of the Klondike, was +sensationally featured in the Sunday supplements of the United +States. The Virgin had straightened up, so the feature-stories +ran, and correctly so. Never had she entered a Dawson City +dance-hall. When she first arrived from Circle City, she had +earned her living by washing clothes. Next, she had bought a +sewing-machine and made men's drill parkas, fur caps, and +moosehide mittens. Then she had gone as a clerk into the First +Yukon Bank. All this, and more, was known and told, though one +and all were agreed that Daylight, while the cause, had been the +innocent cause of her untimely end. + +And the worst of it was that Daylight knew it was true. Always +would he remember that last night he had seen her. He had +thought nothing of it at the time; but, looking back, he was +haunted by every little thing that had happened. In the light of +the tragic event, he could understand everything--her quietness, +that calm certitude as if all vexing questions of living had been +smoothed out and were gone, and that certain ethereal sweetness +about all that she had said and done that had been almost +maternal. He remembered the way she had looked at him, how she +had laughed when he narrated Mickey Dolan's mistake in staking +the fraction on Skookum Gulch. Her laughter had been lightly +joyous, while at the same time it had lacked its oldtime +robustness. Not that she had been grave or subdued. On the +contrary, she had been so patently content, so filled with peace. + +She had fooled him, fool that he was. He had even thought that +night that her feeling for him had passed, and he had taken +delight in the thought, and caught visions of the satisfying +future friendship that would be theirs with this perturbing love +out of the way. + +And then, when he stood at the door, cap in hand, and said good +night. It had struck him at the time as a funny and embarrassing +thing, her bending over his hand and kissing it. He had felt +like a fool, but he shivered now when he looked back on it and +felt again the touch of her lips on his hand. She was saying +good-by, an eternal good-by, and he had never guessed. At that +very moment, and for all the moments of the evening, coolly and +deliberately, as he well knew her way, she had been resolved to +die. If he had only known it! Untouched by the contagious +malady himself, nevertheless he would have married her if he had +had the slightest inkling of what she contemplated. And yet he +knew, furthermore, that hers was a certain stiff-kneed pride that +would not have permitted her to accept marriage as an act of +philanthropy. There had really been no saving her, after all. +The love-disease had fastened upon her, and she had been doomed +from the first to perish of it. + +Her one possible chance had been that he, too, should have caught +it. And he had failed to catch it. Most likely, if he had, it +would have been from Freda or some other woman. There was +Dartworthy, the college man who had staked the rich fraction on +Bonanza above Discovery. Everybody knew that old Doolittle's +daughter, Bertha, was madly in love with him. Yet, when he +contracted the disease, of all women, it had been with the wife +of Colonel Walthstone, the great Guggenhammer mining expert. +Result, three lunacy cases: Dartworthy selling out his mine for +one-tenth its value; the poor woman sacrificing her +respectability and sheltered nook in society to flee with him in +an open boat down the Yukon; and Colonel Walthstone, breathing +murder and destruction, taking out after them in another open +boat. The whole impending tragedy had moved on down the muddy +Yukon, passing Forty Mile and Circle and losing itself in the +wilderness beyond. But there it was, love, disorganizing men's +and women's lives, driving toward destruction and death, turning +topsy-turvy everything that was sensible and considerate, making +bawds or suicides out of virtuous women, and scoundrels and +murderers out of men who had always been clean and square. + +For the first time in his life Daylight lost his nerve. He was +badly and avowedly frightened. Women were terrible creatures, +and the love-germ was especially plentiful in their neighborhood. + +And they were so reckless, so devoid of fear. THEY were not +frightened by what had happened to the Virgin. They held out +their arms to him more seductively than ever. Even without his +fortune, reckoned as a mere man, just past thirty, magnificently +strong and equally good-looking and good-natured, he was a prize +for most normal women. But when to his natural excellences were +added the romance that linked with his name and the enormous +wealth that was his, practically every free woman he encountered +measured him with an appraising and delighted eye, to say nothing +of more than one woman who was not free. Other men might have +been spoiled by this and led to lose their heads; but the only +effect on him was to increase his fright. As a result he refused +most invitations to houses where women might be met, and +frequented bachelor boards and the Moosehorn Saloon, which had no +dance-hall attached. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +Six thousand spent the winter of 1897 in Dawson, work on the +creeks went on apace, while beyond the passes it was reported +that one hundred thousand more were waiting for the spring. Late +one brief afternoon, Daylight, on the benches between French Hill +and Skookum Hill, caught a wider vision of things. Beneath him +lay the richest part of Eldorado Creek, while up and down Bonanza +he could see for miles. It was a scene of a vast devastation. +The hills, to their tops, had been shorn of trees, and their +naked sides showed signs of goring and perforating that even the +mantle of snow could not hide. Beneath him, in every direction +were the cabins of men. But not many men were visible. A +blanket of smoke filled the valleys and turned the gray day to +melancholy twilight. Smoke arose from a thousand holes in the +snow, where, deep down on bed-rock, in the frozen muck and +gravel, men crept and scratched and dug, and ever built more +fires to break the grip of the frost. Here and there, where new +shafts were starting, these fires flamed redly. Figures of men +crawled out of the holes, or disappeared into them, or, on raised +platforms of hand-hewn timber, windlassed the thawed gravel to +the surface, where it immediately froze. The wreckage of the +spring washing appeared everywhere--piles of sluice-boxes, +sections of elevated flumes, huge water-wheels,--all the debris +of an army of gold-mad men. + +"It-all's plain gophering," Daylight muttered aloud. + +He looked at the naked hills and realized the enormous wastage of +wood that had taken place. From this bird's-eye view he +realized the monstrous confusion of their excited workings. It +was a gigantic inadequacy. Each worked for himself, and the +result was chaos. In this richest of diggings it cost out by +their feverish, unthinking methods another dollar was left +hopelessly in the earth. Given another year, and most of the +claims would be worked out, and the sum of the gold taken out +would no more than equal what was left behind. + +Organization was what was needed, he decided; and his quick +imagination sketched Eldorado Creek, from mouth to source, and +from mountain top to mountain top, in the hands of one capable +management. Even steam-thawing, as yet untried, but bound to +come, he saw would be a makeshift. What should be done was to +hydraulic the valley sides and benches, and then, on the creek +bottom, to use gold-dredges such as he had heard described as +operating in California. + +There was the very chance for another big killing. He had +wondered just what was precisely the reason for the Guggenhammers +and the big English concerns sending in their high-salaried +experts. That was their scheme. That was why they had +approached him for the sale of worked-out claims and tailings. +They were content to let the small mine-owners gopher out what +they could, for there would be millions in the leavings. + +And, gazing down on the smoky inferno of crude effort, Daylight +outlined the new game he would play, a game in which the +Guggenhammers and the rest would have to reckon with him. Cut +along with the delight in the new conception came a weariness. +He was tired of the long Arctic years, and he was curious about +the Outside--the great world of which he had heard other men talk +and of which he was as ignorant as a child. There were games out +there to play. It was a larger table, and there was no reason +why he with his millions should not sit in and take a hand. So +it was, that afternoon on Skookum Hill, that he resolved to play +this last best Klondike hand and pull for the Outside. + +It took time, however. He put trusted agents to work on the +heels of great experts, and on the creeks where they began to buy +he likewise bought. Wherever they tried to corner a worked-out +creek, they found him standing in the way, owning blocks of +claims or artfully scattered claims that put all their plans to +naught. + +"I play you-all wide open to win--am I right" he told them once, +in a heated conference. + +Followed wars, truces, compromises, victories, and defeats. By +1898, sixty thousand men were on the Klondike and all their +fortunes and affairs rocked back and forth and were affected by +the battles Daylight fought. And more and more the taste for the +larger game urged in Daylight's mouth. Here he was already +locked in grapples with the great Guggenhammers, and winning, +fiercely winning. Possibly the severest struggle was waged on +Ophir, the veriest of moose-pastures, whose low-grade dirt was +valuable only because of its vastness. The ownership of a block +of seven claims in the heart of it gave Daylight his grip and +they could not come to terms. The Guggenhammer experts concluded +that it was too big for him to handle, and when they gave him an +ultimatum to that effect he accepted and bought them out. + +The plan was his own, but he sent down to the States for +competent engineers to carry it out. In the Rinkabilly +watershed, eighty miles away, he built his reservoir, and for +eighty miles the huge wooden conduit carried the water across +country to Ophir. Estimated at three millions, the reservoir and +conduit cost nearer four. Nor did he stop with this. Electric +power plants were installed, and his workings were lighted as +well as run by electricity. Other sourdoughs, who had struck it +rich in excess of all their dreams, shook their heads gloomily, +warned him that he would go broke, and declined to invest in so +extravagant a venture. + +But Daylight smiled, and sold out the remainder of his town-site +holdings. He sold at the right time, at the height of the placer +boom. When he prophesied to his old cronies, in the Moosehorn +Saloon, that within five years town lots in Dawson could not be +given away, while the cabins would be chopped up for firewood, he +was laughed at roundly, and assured that the mother-lode would be +found ere that time. But he went ahead, when his need for lumber +was finished, selling out his sawmills as well. Likewise, he began +to get rid of his scattered holdings on the various creeks, and +without thanks to any one he finished his conduit, built his +dredges, imported his machinery, and made the gold of Ophir +immediately accessible. And he, who five years before had crossed +over the divide from Indian River and threaded the silent +wilderness, his dogs packing Indian fashion, himself living Indian +fashion on straight moose meat, now heard the hoarse whistles +calling his hundreds of laborers to work, and watched them toil +under the white glare of the arc-lamps. + +But having done the thing, he was ready to depart. And when he +let the word go out, the Guggenhammers vied with the English +concerns and with a new French company in bidding for Ophir and +all its plant. The Guggenhammers bid highest, and the price they +paid netted Daylight a clean million. It was current rumor that +he was worth anywhere from twenty to thirty millions. But he +alone knew just how he stood, and that, with his last claim sold +and the table swept clean of his winnings, he had ridden his +hunch to the tune of just a trifle over eleven millions. + +His departure was a thing that passed into the history of the +Yukon along with his other deeds. All the Yukon was his guest, +Dawson the seat of the festivity. On that one last night no +man's dust save his own was good. Drinks were not to be +purchased. Every saloon ran open, with extra relays of exhausted +bartenders, and the drinks were given away. A man who refused +this hospitality, and persisted in paying, found a dozen fights +on his hands. The veriest chechaquos rose up to defend the name +of Daylight from such insult. And through it all, on moccasined +feet, moved Daylight, hell-roaring Burning Daylight, +over-spilling with good nature and camaraderie, howling his +he-wolf howl and claiming the night as his, bending men's arms +down on the bars, performing feats of strength, his bronzed face +flushed with drink, his black eyes flashing, clad in overalls and +blanket coat, his ear-flaps dangling and his gauntleted mittens +swinging from the cord across the shoulders. But this time it +was neither an ante nor a stake that he threw away, but a mere +marker in the game that he who held so many markers would not +miss. + +As a night, it eclipsed anything that Dawson had ever seen. It +was Daylight's desire to make it memorable, and his attempt was a +success. A goodly portion of Dawson got drunk that night. The +fall weather was on, and, though the freeze-up of the Yukon still +delayed, the thermometer was down to twenty-five below zero and +falling. Wherefore, it was necessary to organize gangs of +life-savers, who patrolled the streets to pick up drunken men +from where they fell in the snow and where an hour's sleep would +be fatal. Daylight, whose whim it was to make them drunk by +hundreds and by thousands, was the one who initiated this life +saving. He wanted Dawson to have its night, but, in his deeper +processes never careless nor wanton, he saw to it that it was a +night without accident. And, like his olden nights, his ukase +went forth that there should be no quarrelling nor fighting, +offenders to be dealt with by him personally. Nor did he have to +deal with any. Hundreds of devoted followers saw to it that the +evilly disposed were rolled in the snow and hustled off to bed. +In the great world, where great captains of industry die, all +wheels under their erstwhile management are stopped for a minute. + +But in the Klondike, such was its hilarious sorrow at the +departure of its captain, that for twenty-four hours no wheels +revolved. Even great Ophir, with its thousand men on the +pay-roll, closed down. On the day after the night there were no +men present or fit to go to work. + +Next morning, at break of day, Dawson said good-by. The +thousands that lined the bank wore mittens and their ear-flaps +pulled down and tied. It was thirty below zero, the rim-ice was +thickening, and the Yukon carried a run of mush-ice. From the +deck of the Seattle, Daylight waved and called his farewells. As +the lines were cast off and the steamer swung out into the +current, those near him saw the moisture well up in Daylight's +eyes. In a way, it was to him departure from his native land, +this grim Arctic region which was practically the only land he +had known. He tore off his cap and waved it. + +"Good-by, you-all!" he called. "Good-by, you-all!" + + + + + +PART II + + + +CHAPTER I + +In no blaze of glory did Burning Daylight descend upon San +Francisco. Not only had he been forgotten, but the Klondike +along with him. The world was interested in other things, and the +Alaskan adventure, like the Spanish War, was an old story. Many +things had happened since then. Exciting things were happening +every day, and the sensation-space of newspapers was limited. The +effect of being ignored, however, was an exhilaration. Big man as +he had been in the Arctic game, it merely showed how much bigger +was this new game, when a man worth eleven millions, and with a +history such as his, passed unnoticed. + +He settled down in St. Francis Hotel, was interviewed by the +cub-reporters on the hotel-run, and received brief paragraphs of +notice for twenty-four hours. He grinned to himself, and began +to look around and get acquainted with the new order of beings +and things. He was very awkward and very self-possessed. In +addition to the stiffening afforded his backbone by the conscious +ownership of eleven millions, he possessed an enormous certitude. + +Nothing abashed him, nor was he appalled by the display and +culture and power around him. It was another kind of wilderness, +that was all; and it was for him to learn the ways of it, the +signs and trails and water-holes where good hunting lay, and the +bad stretches of field and flood to be avoided. As usual, he +fought shy of the women. He was still too badly scared to come +to close quarters with the dazzling and resplendent creatures his +own millions made accessible. + +They looked and longed, but he so concealed his timidity that he +had all the seeming of moving boldly among them. Nor was it his +wealth alone that attracted them. He was too much a man, and too +much an unusual type of man. Young yet, barely thirty-six, +eminently handsome, magnificently strong, almost bursting with a +splendid virility, his free trail-stride, never learned on +pavements, and his black eyes, hinting of great spaces and +unwearied with the close perspective of the city dwellers, drew +many a curious and wayward feminine glance. He saw, grinned +knowingly to himself, and faced them as so many dangers, with a +cool demeanor that was a far greater personal achievement than +had they been famine, frost, or flood. + +He had come down to the States to play the man's game, not the +woman's game; and the men he had not yet learned. They struck +him as soft--soft physically; yet he divined them hard in their +dealings, but hard under an exterior of supple softness. It +struck him that there was something cat-like about them. He met +them in the clubs, and wondered how real was the good-fellowship +they displayed and how quickly they would unsheathe their claws +and gouge and rend. "That's the proposition," he repeated to +himself; "what will they-all do when the play is close and down +to brass tacks?" He felt unwarrantably suspicious of them. +"They're sure slick," was his secret judgment; and from bits of +gossip dropped now and again he felt his judgment well +buttressed. On the other hand, they radiated an atmosphere of +manliness and the fair play that goes with manliness. They might +gouge and rend in a fight--which was no more than natural; but he +felt, somehow, that they would gouge and rend according to rule. +This was the impression he got of them--a generalization tempered +by knowledge that there was bound to be a certain percentage of +scoundrels among them. + +Several months passed in San Francisco during which time he +studied the game and its rules, and prepared himself to take a +hand. He even took private instruction in English, and succeeded +in eliminating his worst faults, though in moments of excitement +he was prone to lapse into "you-all," "knowed," "sure," and +similar solecisms. He learned to eat and dress and generally +comport himself after the manner of civilized man; but through it +all he remained himself, not unduly reverential nor +considerative, and never hesitating to stride rough-shod over any +soft-faced convention if it got in his way and the provocation +were great enough. Also, and unlike the average run of weaker +men coming from back countries and far places, he failed to +reverence the particular tin gods worshipped variously by the +civilized tribes of men. He had seen totems before, and knew +them for what they were. + +Tiring of being merely an onlooker, he ran up to Nevada, where +the new gold-mining boom was fairly started--"just to try a +flutter," as he phrased it to himself. The flutter on the +Tonopah Stock Exchange lasted just ten days, during which time +his smashing, wild-bull game played ducks and drakes with the +more stereotyped gamblers, and at the end of which time, having +gambled Floridel into his fist, he let go for a net profit of +half a million. Whereupon, smacking his lips, he departed for +San Francisco and the St. Francis Hotel. It tasted good, and +his hunger for the game became more acute. + +And once more the papers sensationalized him. BURNING DAYLIGHT +was a big-letter headline again. Interviewers flocked about him. + +Old files of magazines and newspapers were searched through, and +the romantic and historic Elam Harnish, Adventurer of the Frost, +King of the Klondike, and father of the Sourdoughs, strode upon +the breakfast table of a million homes along with the toast and +breakfast foods. Even before his elected time, he was forcibly +launched into the game. Financiers and promoters, and all the +flotsam and jetsam of the sea of speculation surged upon the +shores of his eleven millions. In self-defence he was +compelled to open offices. He had made them sit up and take +notice, and now, willy-nilly, they were dealing him hands and +clamoring for him to play. Well, play he would; he'd show 'em; +even despite the elated prophesies made of how swiftly he would +be trimmed--prophesies coupled with descriptions of the bucolic +game he would play and of his wild and woolly appearance. + +He dabbled in little things at first--"stalling for time," as he +explained it to Holdsworthy, a friend he had made at the +Alta-Pacific Club. Daylight himself was a member of the club, +and Holdsworthy had proposed him. And it was well that Daylight +played closely at first, for he was astounded by the multitudes +of sharks--"ground-sharks," he called them--that flocked about +him. + +He saw through their schemes readily enough, and even marveled +that such numbers of them could find sufficient prey to keep them +going. Their rascality and general dubiousness was so +transparent that he could not understand how any one could be +taken in by them. + +And then he found that there were sharks and sharks. Holdsworthy +treated him more like a brother than a mere fellow-clubman, +watching over him, advising him, and introducing him to the +magnates of the local financial world. Holdsworthy's family +lived in a delightful bungalow near Menlo Park, and here Daylight +spent a number of weekends, seeing a fineness and kindness of +home life of which he had never dreamed. Holdsworthy was an +enthusiast over flowers, and a half lunatic over raising prize +poultry; and these engrossing madnesses were a source of +perpetual joy to Daylight, who looked on in tolerant good humor. +Such amiable weaknesses tokened the healthfulness of the man, and +drew Daylight closer to him. A prosperous, successful business +man without great ambition, was Daylight's estimate of him--a man +too easily satisfied with the small stakes of the game ever to +launch out in big play. + +On one such week-end visit, Holdsworthy let him in on a good +thing, a good little thing, a brickyard at Glen Ellen. Daylight +listened closely to the other's description of the situation. It +was a most reasonable venture, and Daylight's one objection was +that it was so small a matter and so far out of his line; and he +went into it only as a matter of friendship, Holdsworthy +explaining that he was himself already in a bit, and that while +it was a good thing, he would be compelled to make sacrifices in +other directions in order to develop it. Daylight advanced the +capital, fifty thousand dollars, and, as he laughingly explained +afterward, "I was stung, all right, but it wasn't Holdsworthy +that did it half as much as those blamed chickens and fruit-trees +of his." + +It was a good lesson, however, for he learned that there were few +faiths in the business world, and that even the simple, homely +faith of breaking bread and eating salt counted for little in the +face of a worthless brickyard and fifty thousand dollars in cash. + +But the sharks and sharks of various orders and degrees, he +concluded, were on the surface. Deep down, he divined, were the +integrities and the stabilities. These big captains of industry +and masters of finance, he decided, were the men to work with. +By the very nature of their huge deals and enterprises they had +to play fair. No room there for little sharpers' tricks and +bunco games. It was to be expected that little men should salt +gold-mines with a shotgun and work off worthless brick-yards on +their friends, but in high finance such methods were not worth +while. There the men were engaged in developing the country, +organizing its railroads, opening up its mines, making accessible +its vast natural resources. Their play was bound to be big and +stable. "They sure can't afford tin-horn tactics," was his +summing up. + +So it was that he resolved to leave the little men, the +Holdsworthys, alone; and, while he met them in good-fellowship, +he chummed with none, and formed no deep friendships. He did not +dislike the little men, the men of the Alta-Pacific, for +instance. He merely did not elect to choose them for partners in +the big game in which he intended to play. What that big game +was, even he did not know. He was waiting to find it. And in +the meantime he played small hands, investing in several +arid-lands reclamation projects and keeping his eyes open for the +big chance when it should come along. + +And then he met John Dowsett, the great John Dowsett. The whole +thing was fortuitous. This cannot be doubted, as Daylight +himself knew, it was by the merest chance, when in Los Angeles, +that he heard the tuna were running strong at Santa Catalina, +and went over to the island instead of returning directly to San +Francisco as he had planned. There he met John Dowsett, resting +off for several days in the middle of a flying western trip. +Dowsett had of course heard of the spectacular Klondike King and +his rumored thirty millions, and he certainly found himself +interested by the man in the acquaintance that was formed. +Somewhere along in this acquaintanceship the idea must have +popped into his brain. But he did not broach it, preferring to +mature it carefully. So he talked in large general ways, and did +his best to be agreeable and win Daylight's friendship. + +It was the first big magnate Daylight had met face to face, and +he was pleased and charmed. There was such a kindly humanness +about the man, such a genial democraticness, that Daylight found +it hard to realize that this was THE John Dowsett, president of +a string of banks, insurance manipulator, reputed ally of the +lieutenants of Standard Oil, and known ally of the Guggenhammers. + +Nor did his looks belie his reputation and his manner. + +Physically, he guaranteed all that Daylight knew of him. Despite +his sixty years and snow-white hair, his hand-shake was firmly +hearty, and he showed no signs of decrepitude, walking with a +quick, snappy step, making all movements definitely and +decisively. His skin was a healthy pink, and his thin, clean +lips knew the way to writhe heartily over a joke. He had honest +blue eyes of palest blue; they looked out at one keenly and +frankly from under shaggy gray brows. His mind showed itself +disciplined and orderly, and its workings struck Daylight as +having all the certitude of a steel trap. He was a man who +KNEW and who never decorated his knowledge with foolish frills +of sentiment or emotion. That he was accustomed to command was +patent, and every word and gesture tingled with power. Combined +with this was his sympathy and tact, and Daylight could note +easily enough all the earmarks that distinguished him from a +little man of the Holdsworthy caliber. Daylight knew also his +history, the prime old American stock from which he had +descended, his own war record, the John Dowsett before him who +had been one of the banking buttresses of the Cause of the Union, +the Commodore Dowsett of the War of 1812 the General Dowsett of +Revolutionary fame, and that first far Dowsett, owner of lands +and slaves in early New England. + +"He's sure the real thing," he told one of his fellow-clubmen +afterwards, in the smoking-room of the Alta-Pacific. "I tell +you, Gallon, he was a genuine surprise to me. I knew the big +ones had to be like that, but I had to see him to really know it. +He's one of the fellows that does things. You can see it +sticking out all over him. He's one in a thousand, that's +straight, a man to tie to. There's no limit to any game he +plays, and you can stack on it that he plays right up to the +handle. I bet he can lose or win half a dozen million without +batting an eye." + +Gallon puffed at his cigar, and at the conclusion of the +panegyric regarded the other curiously; but Daylight, ordering +cocktails, failed to note this curious stare. + +"Going in with him on some deal, I suppose," Gallon remarked. + +"Nope, not the slightest idea. Here's kindness. I was just +explaining that I'd come to understand how these big fellows do +big things. Why, d'ye know, he gave me such a feeling that he +knew everything, that I was plumb ashamed of myself." + +"I guess I could give him cards and spades when it comes to +driving a dog-team, though," Daylight observed, after a +meditative pause. "And I really believe I could put him on to a +few wrinkles in poker and placer mining, and maybe in paddling a +birch canoe. And maybe I stand a better chance to learn the game +he's been playing all his life than he would stand of learning +the game I played up North." + + + +CHAPTER II + +It was not long afterward that Daylight came on to New York. A +letter from John Dowsett had been the cause--a simple little +typewritten letter of several lines. But Daylight had thrilled +as he read it. He remembered the thrill that was his, a callow +youth of fifteen, when, in Tempas Butte, through lack of a fourth +man, Tom Galsworthy, the gambler, had said, "Get in, Kid; take a +hand." That thrill was his now. The bald, typewritten +sentences seemed gorged with mystery. "Our Mr. Howison will +call upon you at your hotel. He is to be trusted. We must not +be seen together. You will understand after we have had our +talk." Daylight conned the words over and over. That was it. +The big game had arrived, and it looked as if he were being +invited to sit in and take a hand. Surely, for no other reason +would one man so peremptorily invite another man to make a +journey across the continent. + +They met--thanks to "our" Mr. Howison,--up the Hudson, in a +magnificent country home. Daylight, according to instructions, +arrived in a private motor-car which had been furnished him. +Whose car it was he did not know any more than did he know the +owner of the house, with its generous, rolling, tree-studded +lawns. Dowsett was already there, and another man whom Daylight +recognized before the introduction was begun. It was Nathaniel +Letton, and none other. Daylight had seen his face a score of +times in the magazines and newspapers, and read about his +standing in the financial world and about his endowed University +of Daratona. He, likewise, struck Daylight as a man of power, +though he was puzzled in that he could find no likeness to +Dowsett. Except in the matter of cleanness,--a cleanness that +seemed to go down to the deepest fibers of him,--Nathaniel Letton +was unlike the other in every particular. Thin to emaciation, he +seemed a cold flame of a man, a man of a mysterious, chemic sort +of flame, who, under a glacier-like exterior, conveyed, somehow, +the impression of the ardent heat of a thousand suns. His large +gray eyes were mainly responsible for this feeling, and they +blazed out feverishly from what was almost a death's-head, so +thin was the face, the skin of which was a ghastly, dull, dead +white. Not more than fifty, thatched with a sparse growth of +iron-gray hair, he looked several times the age of Dowsett. Yet +Nathaniel Letton possessed control--Daylight could see that +plainly. He was a thin-faced ascetic, living in a state of high, +attenuated calm--a molten planet under a transcontinental ice +sheet. And yet, above all most of all, Daylight was impressed by +the terrific and almost awful cleanness of the man. There was +no dross in him. He had all the seeming of having been purged by +fire. Daylight had the feeling that a healthy man-oath would be +a deadly offence to his ears, a sacrilege and a blasphemy. + +They drank--that is, Nathaniel Letton took mineral water served +by the smoothly operating machine of a lackey who inhabited the +place, while Dowsett took Scotch and soda and Daylight a +cocktail. Nobody seemed to notice the unusualness of a Martini +at midnight, though Daylight looked sharply for that very thing; +for he had long since learned that Martinis had their strictly +appointed times and places. But he liked Martinis, and, being a +natural man, he chose deliberately to drink when and how he +pleased. Others had noticed this peculiar habit of his, but not +so Dowsett and Letton; and Daylight's secret thought was: "They +sure wouldn't bat an eye if I called for a glass of corrosive +sublimate." + +Leon Guggenhammer arrived in the midst of the drink, and ordered +Scotch. Daylight studied him curiously. This was one of the +great Guggenhammer family; a younger one, but nevertheless one of +the crowd with which he had locked grapples in the North. Nor +did Leon Guggenhammer fail to mention cognizance of that old +affair. He complimented Daylight on his prowess--"The echoes of +Ophir came down to us, you know. And I must say, Mr. Daylight--er, +Mr. Harnish, that you whipped us roundly in that affair." + +Echoes! Daylight could not escape the shock of the phrase--echoes +had come down to them of the fight into which he had flung all his +strength and the strength of his Klondike millions. The +Guggenhammers sure must go some when a fight of that dimension +was no more than a skirmish of which they deigned to hear echoes. + +"They sure play an almighty big game down here," was his +conclusion, accompanied by a corresponding elation that it was +just precisely that almighty big game in which he was about to be +invited to play a hand. For the moment he poignantly regretted +that rumor was not true, and that his eleven millions were not +in reality thirty millions. Well, that much he would be frank +about; he would let them know exactly how many stacks of chips he +could buy. + +Leon Guggenhammer was young and fat. Not a day more than thirty, +his face, save for the adumbrated puff sacks under the eyes, was +as smooth and lineless as a boy's. He, too, gave the impression +of cleanness. He showed in the pink of health; his unblemished, +smooth-shaven skin shouted advertisement of his splendid physical +condition. In the face of that perfect skin, his very fatness +and mature, rotund paunch could be nothing other than normal. He +was constituted to be prone to fatness, that was all. + +The talk soon centred down to business, though Guggenhammer had +first to say his say about the forthcoming international yacht +race and about his own palatial steam yacht, the Electra, whose +recent engines were already antiquated. Dowsett broached the +plan, aided by an occasional remark from the other two, while +Daylight asked questions. Whatever the proposition was, he was +going into it with his eyes open. And they filled his eyes with +the practical vision of what they had in mind. + +"They will never dream you are with us," Guggenhammer +interjected, as the outlining of the matter drew to a close, his +handsome Jewish eyes flashing enthusiastically. "They'll think +you are raiding on your own in proper buccaneer style." + +"Of course, you understand, Mr. Harnish, the absolute need for +keeping our alliance in the dark," Nathaniel Letton warned +gravely. + +Daylight nodded his head. "And you also understand," Letton went +on, "that the result can only be productive of good. The thing +is legitimate and right, and the only ones who may be hurt are +the stock gamblers themselves. It is not an attempt to smash the +market. As you see yourself, you are to bull the market. The +honest investor will be the gainer." + +"Yes, that's the very thing," Dowsett said. "The commercial need +for copper is continually increasing. Ward Valley Copper, and +all that it stands for,--practically one-quarter of the world's +supply, as I have shown you,--is a big thing, how big, even we can +scarcely estimate. Our arrangements are made. We have plenty of +capital ourselves, and yet we want more. Also, there is too much +Ward Valley out to suit our present plans. Thus we kill both +birds with one stone--" + +"And I am the stone," Daylight broke in with a smile. + +"Yes, just that. Not only will you bull Ward Valley, but you +will at the same time gather Ward Valley in. This will be of +inestimable advantage to us, while you and all of us will profit +by it as well. And as Mr. Letton has pointed out, the thing is +legitimate and square. On the eighteenth the directors meet, +and, instead of the customary dividend, a double dividend will be +declared." + +"And where will the shorts be then?" Leon Guggenhammer cried +excitedly. + +"The shorts will be the speculators," Nathaniel Letton explained, +"the gamblers, the froth of Wall Street--you understand. The +genuine investors will not be hurt. Furthermore, they will have +learned for the thousandth time to have confidence in Ward +Valley. And with their confidence we can carry through the large +developments we have outlined to you." + +"There will be all sorts of rumors on the street," Dowsett warned +Daylight, "but do not let them frighten you. These rumors may +even originate with us. You can see how and why clearly. But +rumors are to be no concern of yours. You are on the inside. +All you have to do is buy, buy, buy, and keep on buying to the +last stroke, when the directors declare the double dividend. +Ward Valley will jump so that it won't be feasible to buy after +that." + +"What we want," Letton took up the strain, pausing significantly +to sip his mineral water, "what we want is to take large blocks +of Ward Valley off the hands of the public. We could do this +easily enough by depressing the market and frightening the +holders. And we could do it more cheaply in such fashion. But +we are absolute masters of the situation, and we are fair enough +to buy Ward Valley on a rising market. Not that we are +philanthropists, but that we need the investors in our big +development scheme. Nor do we lose directly by the transaction. +The instant the action of the directors becomes known, Ward +Valley will rush heavenward. In addition, and outside the +legitimate field of the transaction, we will pinch the shorts for +a very large sum. But that is only incidental, you understand, +and in a way, unavoidable. On the other hand, we shall not turn +up our noses at that phase of it. The shorts shall be the +veriest gamblers, of course, and they will get no more than they +deserve." + +"And one other thing, Mr. Harnish," Guggenhammer said, "if you +exceed your available cash, or the amount you care to invest in +the venture, don't fail immediately to call on us. Remember, we +are behind you." + +"Yes, we are behind you," Dowsett repeated. + +Nathaniel Letton nodded his head in affirmation. + +"Now about that double dividend on the eighteenth--" John Dowsett +drew a slip of paper from his note-book and adjusted his glasses. + +"Let me show you the figures. Here, you see..." + +And thereupon he entered into a long technical and historical +explanation of the earnings and dividends of Ward Valley from the +day of its organization. + +The whole conference lasted not more than an hour, during which +time Daylight lived at the topmost of the highest peak of life +that he had ever scaled. These men were big players. They were +powers. True, as he knew himself, they were not the real inner +circle. They did not rank with the Morgans and Harrimans. And +yet they were in touch with those giants and were themselves +lesser giants. He was pleased, too, with their attitude toward +him. They met him deferentially, but not patronizingly. It was +the deference of equality, and Daylight could not escape the +subtle flattery of it; for he was fully aware that in experience +as well as wealth they were far and away beyond him. + +"We'll shake up the speculating crowd," Leon Guggenhammer +proclaimed jubilantly, as they rose to go. "And you are the man +to do it, Mr. Harnish. They are bound to think you are on your +own, and their shears are all sharpened for the trimming of +newcomers like you." + +"They will certainly be misled," Letton agreed, his eerie gray +eyes blazing out from the voluminous folds of the huge Mueller +with which he was swathing his neck to the ears. "Their minds +run in ruts. It is the unexpected that upsets their stereotyped +calculations--any new combination, any strange factor, any fresh +variant. And you will be all that to them, Mr. Harnish. And I +repeat, they are gamblers, and they will deserve all that befalls +them. They clog and cumber all legitimate enterprise. You have +no idea of the trouble they cause men like us--sometimes, by their +gambling tactics, upsetting the soundest plans, even overturning +the stablest institutions." + +Dowsett and young Guggenhammer went away in one motor-car, and +Letton by himself in another. Daylight, with still in the +forefront of his consciousness all that had occurred in the +preceding hour, was deeply impressed by the scene at the moment +of departure. The three machines stood like weird night monsters +at the gravelled foot of the wide stairway under the unlighted +porte-cochere. It was a dark night, and the lights of the +motor-cars cut as sharply through the blackness as knives would +cut through solid substance. The obsequious lackey--the +automatic genie of the house which belonged to none of the three +men,--stood like a graven statue after having helped them in. +The fur-coated chauffeurs bulked dimly in their seats. One after +the other, like spurred steeds, the cars leaped into the +blackness, took the curve of the driveway, and were gone. + +Daylight's car was the last, and, peering out, he caught a +glimpse of the unlighted house that loomed hugely through the +darkness like a mountain. Whose was it? he wondered. How came +they to use it for their secret conference? Would the lackey +talk? How about the chauffeurs? Were they trusted men like +"our" Mr. Howison? Mystery? The affair was alive with it. And +hand in hand with mystery walked Power. He leaned back and +inhaled his cigarette. Big things were afoot. The cards were +shuffled even the for a mighty deal, and he was in on it. He +remembered back to his poker games with Jack Kearns, and laughed +aloud. He had played for thousands in those days on the turn of +a card; but now he was playing for millions. And on the +eighteenth, when that dividend was declared, he chuckled at the +confusion that would inevitably descend upon the men with the +sharpened shears waiting to trim him--him, Burning Daylight. + + + +CHAPTER III + +Back at his hotel, though nearly two in the morning, he found +the reporters waiting to interview him. Next morning there were +more. And thus, with blare of paper trumpet, was he received by +New York. Once more, with beating of toms-toms and wild +hullaballoo, his picturesque figure strode across the printed +sheet. The King of the Klondike, the hero of the Arctic, the +thirty-million-dollar millionaire of the North, had come to New +York. What had he come for? To trim the New Yorkers as he had +trimmed the Tonopah crowd in Nevada? Wall Street had best watch +out, for the wild man of Klondike had just come to town. Or, +perchance, would Wall Street trim him? Wall Street had trimmed +many wild men; would this be Burning Daylight's fate? Daylight +grinned to himself, and gave out ambiguous interviews. It helped +the game, and he grinned again, as he meditated that Wall Street +would sure have to go some before it trimmed him. + +They were prepared for him to play, and, when heavy buying of +Ward Valley began, it was quickly decided that he was the +operator. Financial gossip buzzed and hummed. He was after the +Guggenhammers once more. The story of Ophir was told over again +and sensationalized until even Daylight scarcely recognized it. +Still, it was all grist to his mill. The stock gamblers were +clearly befooled. Each day he increased his buying, and so eager +were the sellers that Ward Valley rose but slowly. "It sure +beats poker," Daylight whispered gleefully to himself, as he +noted the perturbation he was causing. The newspapers hazarded +countless guesses and surmises, and Daylight was constantly +dogged by a small battalion of reporters. His own interviews +were gems. Discovering the delight the newspapers took in his +vernacular, in his "you-alls," and "sures," and "surge-ups," he +even exaggerated these particularities of speech, exploiting the +phrases he had heard other frontiersmen use, and inventing +occasionally a new one of his own. + +A wildly exciting time was his during the week preceding Thursday +the eighteenth. Not only was he gambling as he had never gambled +before, but he was gambling at the biggest table in the world and +for stakes so large that even the case-hardened habitues of that +table were compelled to sit up. In spite of the unlimited +selling, his persistent buying compelled Ward Valley steadily to +rise, and as Thursday approached, the situation became acute. +Something had to smash. How much Ward Valley was this Klondike +gambler going to buy? How much could he buy? What was the Ward +Valley crowd doing all this time? Daylight appreciated the +interviews with them that appeared--interviews delightfully placid +and non-committal. Leon Guggenhammer even hazarded the opinion +that this Northland Croesus might possibly be making a mistake. +But not that they cared, John Dowsett explained. Nor did they +object. While in the dark regarding his intentions, of one thing +they were certain; namely, that he was bulling Ward Valley. And +they did not mind that. No matter what happened to him and his +spectacular operations, Ward Valley was all right, and would remain +all right, as firm as the Rock of Gibraltar. No; they had no Ward +Valley to sell, thank you. This purely fictitious state of the +market was bound shortly to pass, and Ward Valley was not to be +induced to change the even tenor of its way by any insane stock +exchange flurry. "It is purely gambling from beginning to end," +were Nathaniel Letton's words; "and we refuse to have anything to +do with it or to take notice of it in any way." + +During this time Daylight had several secret meetings with his +partners--one with Leon Guggenhammer, one with John Dowsett, and +two with Mr. Howison. Beyond congratulations, they really +amounted to nothing; for, as he was informed, everything was +going satisfactorily. + +But on Tuesday morning a rumor that was disconcerting came to +Daylight's ears. It was also published in the Wall Street +Journal, and it was to the effect, on apparently straight inside +information, that on Thursday, when the directors of Ward Valley +met, instead of the customary dividend being declared, an +assessment would be levied. It was the first check Daylight had +received. It came to him with a shock that if the thing were so +he was a broken man. And it also came to him that all this +colossal operating of his was being done on his own money. +Dowsett, Guggenhammer, and Letton were risking nothing. It was a +panic, short-lived, it was true, but sharp enough while it lasted +to make him remember Holdsworthy and the brick-yard, and to +impel him to cancel all buying orders while he rushed to a +telephone. + +"Nothing in it--only a rumor," came Leon Guggenhammer's throaty +voice in the receiver. "As you know," said Nathaniel Letton, "I +am one of the directors, and I should certainly be aware of it +were such action contemplated." And John Dowsett: "I warned you +against just such rumors. There is not an iota of truth in +it--certainly not. I tell you on my honor as a gentleman." + +Heartily ashamed of himself for his temporary loss of nerve, +Daylight returned to his task. The cessation of buying had +turned the Stock Exchange into a bedlam, and down all the line of +stocks the bears were smashing. Ward Valley, as the ape, +received the brunt of the shock, and was already beginning to +tumble. Daylight calmly doubled his buying orders. And all +through Tuesday and Wednesday, and Thursday morning, he went on +buying, while Ward Valley rose triumphantly higher. Still they +sold, and still he bought, exceeding his power to buy many times +over, when delivery was taken into account. What of that? On +this day the double dividend would be declared, he assured +himself. The pinch of delivery would be on the shorts. They +would be making terms with him. + +And then the thunderbolt struck. True to the rumor, Ward Valley +levied the assessment. Daylight threw up his arms. He verified +the report and quit. Not alone Ward Valley, but all securities +were being hammered down by the triumphant bears. As for Ward +Valley, Daylight did not even trouble to learn if it had fetched +bottom or was still tumbling. Not stunned, not even bewildered, +while Wall Street went mad, Daylight withdrew from the field to +think it over. After a short conference with his brokers, he +proceeded to his hotel, on the way picking up the evening papers +and glancing at the head-lines. BURNING DAYLIGHT CLEANED OUT, he +read; DAYLIGHT GETS HIS; ANOTHER WESTERNER FAILS TO FIND EASY +MONEY. As he entered his hotel, a later edition announced the +suicide of a young man, a lamb, who had followed Daylight's play. + +What in hell did he want to kill himself for? was Daylight's +muttered comment. + +He passed up to his rooms, ordered a Martini cocktail, took off +his shoes, and sat down to think. After half an hour he roused +himself to take the drink, and as he felt the liquor pass +warmingly through his body, his features relaxed into a slow, +deliberate, yet genuine grin. He was laughing at himself. + +"Buncoed, by gosh!" he muttered. + +Then the grin died away, and his face grew bleak and serious. +Leaving out his interests in the several Western reclamation +projects (which were still assessing heavily), he was a ruined +man. But harder hit than this was his pride. He had been so +easy. They had gold-bricked him, and he had nothing to show for +it. The simplest farmer would have had documents, while he had +nothing but a gentleman's agreement, and a verbal one at that. +Gentleman's agreement. He snorted over it. John Dowsett's voice, +just as he had heard it in the telephone receiver, sounded in his +ears the words, "On my honor as a gentleman." They were +sneak-thieves and swindlers, that was what they were, and they +had given him the double-cross. The newspapers were right. He +had come to New York to be trimmed, and Messrs. Dowsett, Letton, +and Guggenhammer had done it. He was a little fish, and they had +played with him ten days--ample time in which to swallow him, +along with his eleven millions. Of course, they had been +unloading on him all the time, and now they were buying Ward +Valley back for a song ere the market righted itself. Most +probably, out of his share of the swag, Nathaniel Letton would +erect a couple of new buildings for that university of his. Leon +Guggenhammer would buy new engines for that yacht, or a whole +fleet of yachts. But what the devil Dowsett would do with his +whack, was beyond him--most likely start another string of banks. + +And Daylight sat and consumed cocktails and saw back in his life +to Alaska, and lived over the grim years in which he had battled +for his eleven millions. For a while murder ate at his heart, +and wild ideas and sketchy plans of killing his betrayers flashed +through his mind. That was what that young man should have done +instead of killing himself. He should have gone gunning. +Daylight unlocked his grip and took out his automatic pistol--a +big Colt's .44. He released the safety catch with his thumb, and +operating the sliding outer barrel, ran the contents of the clip +through the mechanism. The eight cartridges slid out in a +stream. He refilled the clip, threw a cartridge into the +chamber, and, with the trigger at full cock, thrust up the safety +ratchet. He shoved the weapon into the side pocket of his coat, +ordered another Martini, and resumed his seat. + +He thought steadily for an hour, but he grinned no more. Lines +formed in his face, and in those lines were the travail of the +North, the bite of the frost, all that he had achieved and +suffered--the long, unending weeks of trail, the bleak tundra +shore of Point Barrow, the smashing ice-jam of the Yukon, the +battles with animals and men, the lean-dragged days of famine, +the long months of stinging hell among the mosquitoes of the +Koyokuk, the toil of pick and shovel, the scars and mars of +pack-strap and tump-line, the straight meat diet with the dogs, +and all the long procession of twenty full years of toil and +sweat and endeavor. + +At ten o'clock he arose and pored over the city directory. Then +he put on his shoes, took a cab, and departed into the night. +Twice he changed cabs, and finally fetched up at the night office +of a detective agency. He superintended the thing himself, laid +down money in advance in profuse quantities, selected the six men +he needed, and gave them their instructions. Never, for so +simple a task, had they been so well paid; for, to each, in +addition to office charges, he gave a five-hundred-dollar bill, +with the promise of another if he succeeded. Some time next day, +he was convinced, if not sooner, his three silent partners would +come together. To each one two of his detectives were to be +attached. Time and place was all he wanted to learn. + +"Stop at nothing, boys," were his final instructions. "I must +have this information. Whatever you do, whatever happens, I'll +sure see you through." + +Returning to his hotel, he changed cabs as before, went up to his +room, and with one more cocktail for a nightcap, went to bed and +to sleep. In the morning he dressed and shaved, ordered +breakfast and the newspapers sent up, and waited. But he did not +drink. By nine o'clock his telephone began to ring and the +reports to come in. Nathaniel Letton was taking the train at +Tarrytown. John Dowsett was coming down by the subway. Leon +Guggenhammer had not stirred out yet, though he was assuredly +within. And in this fashion, with a map of the city spread out +before him, Daylight followed the movements of his three men as +they drew together. Nathaniel Letton was at his offices in the +Mutual-Solander Building. Next arrived Guggenhammer. Dowsett +was still in his own offices. But at eleven came the word that +he also had arrived, and several minutes later Daylight was in a +hired motor-car and speeding for the Mutual-Solander Building. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +Nathaniel Letton was talking when the door opened; he ceased, +and with his two companions gazed with controlled perturbation at +Burning Daylight striding into the room. The free, swinging +movements of the trail-traveler were unconsciously exaggerated in +that stride of his. In truth, it seemed to him that he felt the +trail beneath his feet. + +"Howdy, gentlemen, howdy," he remarked, ignoring the unnatural +calm with which they greeted his entrance. He shook hands with +them in turn, striding from one to another and gripping their +hands so heartily that Nathaniel Letton could not forbear to +wince. Daylight flung himself into a massive chair and sprawled +lazily, with an appearance of fatigue. The leather grip he had +brought into the room he dropped carelessly beside him on the +floor. + +"Goddle mighty, but I've sure been going some," he sighed. "We +sure trimmed them beautiful. It was real slick. And the beauty +of the play never dawned on me till the very end. It was pure +and simple knock down and drag out. And the way they fell for it +was amazin'." + +The geniality in his lazy Western drawl reassured them. He was +not so formidable, after all. Despite the act that he had +effected an entrance in the face of Letton's instructions to the +outer office, he showed no indication of making a scene or +playing rough. + +"Well," Daylight demanded good-humoredly, "ain't you-all got a +good word for your pardner? Or has his sure enough brilliance +plumb dazzled you-all?" + +Letton made a dry sound in his throat. Dowsett sat quietly and +waited, while Leon Guggenhammer struggled into articulation. + +"You have certainly raised Cain," he said. + +Daylight's black eyes flashed in a pleased way. + +"Didn't I, though!" he proclaimed jubilantly. "And didn't we +fool'em! I was totally surprised. I never dreamed they would be +that easy. + +"And now," he went on, not permitting the pause to grow awkward, +"we-all might as well have an accounting. I'm pullin' West this +afternoon on that blamed Twentieth Century." He tugged at his +grip, got it open, and dipped into it with both his hands. "But +don't forget, boys, when you-all want me to hornswoggle Wall +Street another flutter, all you-all have to do is whisper the +word. I'll sure be right there with the goods." + +His hands emerged, clutching a great mass of stubs, check-books, +and broker's receipts. These he deposited in a heap on the big +table, and dipping again, he fished out the stragglers and added +them to the pile. He consulted a slip of paper, drawn from his +coat pocket, and read aloud:-- + +"Ten million twenty-seven thousand and forty-two dollars and +sixty-eight cents is my figurin' on my expenses. Of course +that-all's taken from the winnings before we-all get to figurin' +on the whack-up. Where's your figures? It must a' been a Goddle +mighty big clean-up." + +The three men looked their bepuzzlement at one another. The man +was a bigger fool than they had imagined, or else he was playing +a game which they could not divine. + +Nathaniel Letton moistened his lips and spoke up. + +"It will take some hours yet, Mr. Harnish, before the full +accounting can be made. Mr. Howison is at work upon it now. +We--ah--as you say, it has been a gratifying clean-up. Suppose we +have lunch together and talk it over. I'll have the clerks work +through the noon hour, so that you will have ample time to catch +your train." + +Dowsett and Guggenhammer manifested a relief that was almost +obvious. The situation was clearing. It was disconcerting, +under the circumstances, to be pent in the same room with this +heavy-muscled, Indian-like man whom they had robbed. They +remembered unpleasantly the many stories of his strength and +recklessness. If Letton could only put him off long enough for +them to escape into the policed world outside the office door, +all would be well; and Daylight showed all the signs of being put +off. + +"I'm real glad to hear that," he said. "I don't want to miss +that train, and you-all have done me proud, gentlemen, letting me +in on this deal. I just do appreciate it without being able to +express my feelings. But I am sure almighty curious, and I'd +like terrible to know, Mr. Letton, what your figures of our +winning is. Can you-all give me a rough estimate?" + +Nathaniel Letton did not look appealingly at his two friends, but +in the brief pause they felt that appeal pass out from him. +Dowsett, of sterner mould than the others, began to divine that +the Klondiker was playing. But the other two were still older +the blandishment of his child-like innocence. + +"It is extremely--er--difficult," Leon Guggenhammer began. "You +see, Ward Valley has fluctuated so, er--" + +"That no estimate can possibly be made in advance," Letton +supplemented. + +"Approximate it, approximate it," Daylight counselled cheerfully. + +"It don't hurt if you-all are a million or so out one side or the +other. The figures'll straighten that up. But I'm that curious +I'm just itching all over. What d'ye say?" + +"Why continue to play at cross purposes?" Dowsett demanded +abruptly and coldly. "Let us have the explanation here and now. +Mr. Harnish is laboring under a false impression, and he should +be set straight. In this deal--" + +But Daylight interrupted. He had played too much poker to be +unaware or unappreciative of the psychological factor, and he +headed Dowsett off in order to play the denouncement of the +present game in his own way. + +"Speaking of deals," he said, "reminds me of a poker game I once +seen in Reno, Nevada. It wa'n't what you-all would call a +square game. They-all was tin-horns that sat in. But they was a +tenderfoot--short-horns they-all are called out there. He stands +behind the dealer and sees that same dealer give hisself four +aces offen the bottom of the deck. The tenderfoot is sure +shocked. He slides around to the player facin' the dealer across +the table. + +"'Say,' he whispers, 'I seen the dealer deal hisself four aces.' + +"'Well, an' what of it?" says the player. + +"'I'm tryin' to tell you-all because I thought you-all ought to +know,' says the tenderfoot. 'I tell you-all I seen him deal +hisself four aces.' + +"'Say, mister,' says the player, 'you-all'd better get outa +here. You-all don't understand the game. It's his deal, ain't +it?'" + +The laughter that greeted his story was hollow and perfunctory, +but Daylight appeared not to notice it. + +"Your story has some meaning, I suppose," Dowsett said pointedly. + +Daylight looked at him innocently and did not reply. He turned +jovially to Nathaniel Letton. + +"Fire away," he said. "Give us an approximation of our winning. +As I said before, a million out one way or the other won't +matter, it's bound to be such an almighty big winning." By +this time Letton was stiffened by the attitude Dowsett had taken, +and his answer was prompt and definite. + +"I fear you are under a misapprehension, Mr. Harnish. There are +no winnings to be divided with you. Now don't get excited, I beg +of you. I have but to press this button..." + +Far from excited, Daylight had all the seeming of being stunned. +He felt absently in his vest pocket for a match, lighted it, and +discovered that he had no cigarette. The three men watched him +with the tense closeness of cats. Now that it had come, they +knew that they had a nasty few minutes before them. + +"Do you-all mind saying that over again?" Daylight said. "Seems +to me I ain't got it just exactly right. You-all said...?" + +He hung with painful expectancy on Nathaniel Letton's utterance. + +"I said you were under a misapprehension, Mr. Harnish, that was +all. You have been stock gambling, and you have been hard hit. +But neither Ward Valley, nor I, nor my associates, feel that we +owe you anything." + +Daylight pointed at the heap of receipts and stubs on the table. + +"That-all represents ten million twenty-seven thousand and +forty-two dollars and sixty-eight cents, hard cash. Ain't it +good for anything here?" + +Letton smiled and shrugged his shoulders. + +Daylight looked at Dowsett and murmured:-- + +"I guess that story of mine had some meaning, after all." He +laughed in a sickly fashion. "It was your deal all right, and +you-all dole them right, too. Well, I ain't kicking. I'm like +the player in that poker game. It was your deal, and you-all had +a right to do your best. And you done it--cleaned me out +slicker'n a whistle." + +He gazed at the heap on the table with an air of stupefaction. + +"And that-all ain't worth the paper it's written on. Gol dast it, +you-all can sure deal 'em 'round when you get a chance. +Oh, no, I ain't a-kicking. It was your deal, and you-all +certainly done me, and a man ain't half a man that squeals on +another man's deal. And now the hand is played out, and the +cards are on the table, and the deal's over, but..." + +His hand, dipping swiftly into his inside breast pocket, appeared +with the big Colt's automatic. + +"As I was saying, the old deal's finished. Now it's MY deal, and +I'm a-going to see if I can hold them four aces-- + +"Take your hand away, you whited sepulchre!" he cried sharply. + +Nathaniel Letton's hand, creeping toward the push-button on the +desk, was abruptly arrested. + +"Change chairs," Daylight commanded. "Take that chair over +there, you gangrene-livered skunk. Jump! By God! or I'll make +you leak till folks'll think your father was a water hydrant and +your mother a sprinkling-cart. You-all move your chair +alongside, Guggenhammer; and you-all Dowsett, sit right there, +while I just irrelevantly explain the virtues of this here +automatic. She's loaded for big game and she goes off eight +times. She's a sure hummer when she gets started. + +"Preliminary remarks being over, I now proceed to deal. +Remember, I ain't making no remarks about your deal. You done +your darndest, and it was all right. But this is my deal, and +it's up to me to do my darndest. In the first place, you-all +know me. I'm Burning Daylight--savvee? Ain't afraid of God, +devil, death, nor destruction. Them's my four aces, and they +sure copper your bets. Look at that there living skeleton. +Letton, you're sure afraid to die. Your bones is all rattling +together you're that scared. And look at that fat Jew there. +This little weapon's sure put the fear of God in his heart. He's +yellow as a sick persimmon. Dowsett, you're a cool one. You-all +ain't batted an eye nor turned a hair. That's because you're +great on arithmetic. And that makes you-all dead easy in this +deal of mine. You're sitting there and adding two and two +together, and you-all know I sure got you skinned. You know me, +and that I ain't afraid of nothing. And you-all adds up all your +money and knows you ain't a-going to die if you can help it." + +"I'll see you hanged," was Dowsett's retort. + +"Not by a damned sight. When the fun starts, you're the first I +plug. I'll hang all right, but you-all won't live to see it. +You-all die here and now while I'll die subject to the law's +delay--savvee? Being dead, with grass growing out of your +carcasses, you won't know when I hang, but I'll sure have the +pleasure a long time of knowing you-all beat me to it." + +Daylight paused. + +"You surely wouldn't kill us?" Letton asked in a queer, thin +voice. + +Daylight shook his head. + +"It's sure too expensive. You-all ain't worth it. I'd sooner +have my chips back. And I guess you-all'd sooner give my chips +back than go to the dead-house." + +A long silence followed. + +"Well, I've done dealt. It's up to you-all to play. But while +you're deliberating, I want to give you-all a warning: if that +door opens and any one of you cusses lets on there's anything +unusual, right here and then I sure start plugging. They ain't a +soul'll get out the room except feet first." + +A long session of three hours followed. The deciding factor was +not the big automatic pistol, but the certitude that Daylight +would use it. Not alone were the three men convinced of this, +but Daylight himself was convinced. He was firmly resolved to +kill the men if his money was not forthcoming. It was not an +easy matter, on the spur of the moment, to raise ten millions in +paper currency, and there were vexatious delays. A dozen times +Mr. Howison and the head clerk were summoned into the room. On +these occasions the pistol lay on Daylight's lap, covered +carelessly by a newspaper, while he was usually engaged in +rolling or lighting his brown-paper cigarettes. But in the end, +the thing was accomplished. A suit-case was brought up by one of +the clerks from the waiting motor-car, and Daylight snapped it +shut on the last package of bills. He paused at the door to make +his final remarks. + +"There's three several things I sure want to tell you-all. When +I get outside this door, you-all'll be set free to act, and I +just want to warn you-all about what to do. In the first place, +no warrants for my arrest--savvee? This money's mine, and I ain't +robbed you of it. If it gets out how you gave me the double-cross +and how I done you back again, the laugh'll be on you, and it'll +sure be an almighty big laugh. You-all can't afford that laugh. +Besides, having got back my stake that you-all robbed me of, if you +arrest me and try to rob me a second time, I'll go gunning for +you-all, and I'll sure get you. No little fraid-cat shrimps like +you-all can skin Burning Daylight. If you win you lose, and +there'll sure be some several unexpected funerals around this +burg. + +"Just look me in the eye, and you-all'll savvee I mean business. +Them stubs and receipts on the table is all yourn. Good day." + +As the door shut behind him, Nathaniel Letton sprang for the +telephone, and Dowsett intercepted him. + +"What are you going to do?" Dowsett demanded. + +"The police. It's downright robbery. I won't stand it. I tell +you I won't stand it." + +Dowsett smiled grimly, but at the same time bore the slender +financier back and down into his chair. + +"We'll talk it over," he said; and in Leon Guggenhammer he found +an anxious ally. + +And nothing ever came of it. The thing remained a secret with +the three men. Nor did Daylight ever give the secret away, +though that afternoon, leaning back in his stateroom on the +Twentieth Century, his shoes off, and feet on a chair, he +chuckled long and heartily. New York remained forever puzzled +over the affair; nor could it hit upon a rational explanation. +By all rights, Burning Daylight should have gone broke, yet it +was known that he immediately reappeared in San Francisco +possessing an apparently unimpaired capital. This was evidenced +by the magnitude of the enterprises he engaged in, such as, for +instance, Panama Mail, by sheer weight of money and fighting +power wresting the control away from Shiftily and selling out in +two months to the Harriman interests at a rumored enormous +advance. + + + +CHAPTER V + +Back in San Francisco, Daylight quickly added to his reputation +In ways it was not an enviable reputation. Men were afraid of +him. He became known as a fighter, a fiend, a tiger. His play +was a ripping and smashing one, and no one knew where or how his +next blow would fall. The element of surprise was large. He +balked on the unexpected, and, fresh from the wild North, his +mind not operating in stereotyped channels, he was able in +unusual degree to devise new tricks and stratagems. And once he +won the advantage, he pressed it remorselessly. "As relentless +as a Red Indian," was said of him, and it was said truly. + +On the other hand, he was known as "square." His word was as +good as his bond, and this despite the fact that he accepted +nobody's word. He always shied at propositions based on +gentlemen's agreements, and a man who ventured his honor as a +gentleman, in dealing with Daylight, inevitably was treated to an +unpleasant time. Daylight never gave his own word unless he held +the whip-hand. It was a case with the other fellow taking it or +nothing. + +Legitimate investment had no place in Daylight's play. It tied +up his money, and reduced the element of risk. It was the +gambling side of business that fascinated him, and to play in his +slashing manner required that his money must be ready to hand. +It was never tied up save for short intervals, for he was +principally engaged in turning it over and over, raiding here, +there, and everywhere, a veritable pirate of the financial main. +A five-per cent safe investment had no attraction for him; but to +risk millions in sharp, harsh skirmish, standing to lose +everything or to win fifty or a hundred per cent, was the savor +of life to him. He played according to the rules of the game, but +he played mercilessly. When he got a man or a corporation down +and they squealed, he gouged no less hard. Appeals for financial +mercy fell on deaf ears. He was a free lance, and had no friendly +business associations. Such alliances as were formed +from time to time were purely affairs of expediency, and he +regarded his allies as men who would give him the double-cross or +ruin him if a profitable chance presented. In spite of this +point of view, he was faithful to his allies. But he was +faithful just as long as they were and no longer. The treason +had to come from them, and then it was 'Ware Daylight. + +The business men and financiers of the Pacific coast never forgot +the lesson of Charles Klinkner and the California & Altamont +Trust Company. Klinkner was the president. In partnership with +Daylight, the pair raided the San Jose Interurban. The powerful +Lake Power & Electric Lighting corporation came to the rescue, +and Klinkner, seeing what he thought was the opportunity, went +over to the enemy in the thick of the pitched battle. Daylight +lost three millions before he was done with it, and before he was +done with it he saw the California & Altamont Trust Company +hopelessly wrecked, and Charles Klinkner a suicide in a felon's +cell. Not only did Daylight lose his grip on San Jose +Interurban, but in the crash of his battle front he lost heavily +all along the line. It was conceded by those competent to judge +that he could have compromised and saved much. But, instead, he +deliberately threw up the battle with San Jose Interurban and +Lake Power, and, apparently defeated, with Napoleonic suddenness +struck at Klinkner. It was the last unexpected thing Klinkner +would have dreamed of, and Daylight knew it. He knew, further, +that the California & Altamont Trust Company has an intrinsically +sound institution, but that just then it was in a precarious +condition due to Klinkner's speculations with its money. He +knew, also, that in a few months the Trust Company would be more +firmly on its feet than ever, thanks to those same speculations, +and that if he were to strike he must strike immediately. "It's +just that much money in pocket and a whole lot more," he was +reported to have said in connection with his heavy losses. "It's +just so much insurance against the future. Henceforth, men who +go in with me on deals will think twice before they try to +double-cross me, and then some." + +The reason for his savageness was that he despised the men with +whom he played. He had a conviction that not one in a hundred of +them was intrinsically square; and as for the square ones, he +prophesied that, playing in a crooked game, they were sure to +lose and in the long run go broke. His New York experience had +opened his eyes. He tore the veils of illusion from the business +game, and saw its nakedness. He generalized upon industry and +society somewhat as follows:-- + +Society, as organized, was a vast bunco game. There were many +hereditary inefficients--men and women who were not weak enough +to be confined in feeble-minded homes, but who were not strong +enough to be ought else than hewers of wood and drawers of water. + +Then there were the fools who took the organized bunco game +seriously, honoring and respecting it. They were easy game for +the others, who saw clearly and knew the bunco game for what it +was. + +Work, legitimate work, was the source of all wealth. That was to +say, whether it was a sack of potatoes, a grand piano, or a +seven-passenger touring car, it came into being only by the +performance of work. Where the bunco came in was in the +distribution of these things after labor had created them. He +failed to see the horny-handed sons of toil enjoying grand pianos +or riding in automobiles. How this came about was explained by +the bunco. By tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands men +sat up nights and schemed how they could get between the workers +and the things the workers produced. These schemers were the +business men. When they got between the worker and his product, +they took a whack out of it for themselves The size of the whack +was determined by no rule of equity; but by their own strength +and swinishness. It was always a case of "all the traffic can +bear." He saw all men in the business game doing this. + +One day, in a mellow mood (induced by a string of cocktails and +a hearty lunch), he started a conversation with Jones, the +elevator boy. Jones was a slender, mop-headed, man-grown, +truculent flame of an individual who seemed to go out of his way +to insult his passengers. It was this that attracted Daylight's +interest, and he was not long in finding out what was the matter +with Jones. He was a proletarian, according to his own +aggressive classification, and he had wanted to write for a +living. Failing to win with the magazines, and compelled to find +himself in food and shelter, he had gone to the little valley of +Petacha, not a hundred miles from Los Angeles. Here, toiling in +the day-time, he planned to write and study at night. But the +railroad charged all the traffic would bear. Petacha was a +desert valley, and produced only three things: cattle, fire-wood, +and charcoal. For freight to Los Angeles on a carload of +cattle the railroad charged eight dollars. This, Jones +explained, was due to the fact that the cattle had legs and could +be driven to Los Angeles at a cost equivalent to the charge per +car load. But firewood had no legs, and the railroad charged +just precisely twenty-four dollars a carload. + +This was a fine adjustment, for by working hammer-and-tongs +through a twelve-hour day, after freight had been deducted from +the selling price of the wood in Los Angeles, the wood-chopper +received one dollar and sixty cents. Jones had thought to get +ahead of the game by turning his wood into charcoal. His estimates +were satisfactory. But the railroad also made estimates. It +issued a rate of forty-two dollars a car on charcoal. At the end +of three months, Jones went over his figures, and found that he +was still making one dollar and sixty cents a day. + +"So I quit," Jones concluded. "I went hobbling for a year, and I +got back at the railroads. Leaving out the little things, I came +across the Sierras in the summer and touched a match to the +snow-sheds. They only had a little thirty-thousand-dollar fire. +I guess that squared up all balances due on Petacha." + +"Son, ain't you afraid to be turning loose such information?" +Daylight gravely demanded. + +"Not on your life," quoth Jones. "They can't prove it. You +could say I said so, and I could say I didn't say so, and a hell +of a lot that evidence would amount to with a jury." + +Daylight went into his office and meditated awhile. That was it: +all the traffic would bear. From top to bottom, that was the +rule of the game; and what kept the game going was the fact that +a sucker was born every minute. If a Jones were born every +minute, the game wouldn't last very long. Lucky for the players +that the workers weren't Joneses. + +But there were other and larger phases of the game. Little +business men, shopkeepers, and such ilk took what whack they +could out of the product of the worker; but, after all, it was +the large business men who formed the workers through the little +business men. When all was said and done, the latter, like Jones +in Petacha Valley, got no more than wages out of their whack. In +truth, they were hired men for the large business men. Still +again, higher up, were the big fellows. They used vast and +complicated paraphernalia for the purpose, on a large scale of +getting between hundreds of thousands of workers and their +products. These men were not so much mere robbers as gamblers. +And, not content with their direct winnings, being essentially +gamblers, they raided one another. They called this feature of +the game HIGH FINANCE. They were all engaged primarily in +robbing the worker, but every little while they formed +combinations and robbed one another of the accumulated loot. +This explained the fifty-thousand-dollar raid on him by +Holdsworthy and the ten-million-dollar raid on him by Dowsett, +Letton, and Guggenhammer. And when he raided Panama Mail he had +done exactly the same thing. Well, he concluded, it was finer +sport robbing the robbers than robbing the poor stupid workers. + +Thus, all unread in philosophy, Daylight preempted for himself +the position and vocation of a twentieth-century superman. He +found, with rare and mythical exceptions, that there was no +noblesse oblige among the business and financial supermen. As +a clever traveler had announced in an after-dinner speech at the +Alta-Pacific, "There was honor amongst thieves, and this was what +distinguished thieves from honest men." That was it. It hit +the nail on the head. These modern supermen were a lot of sordid +banditti who had the successful effrontery to preach a code of +right and wrong to their victims which they themselves did not +practise. With them, a man's word was good just as long as he +was compelled to keep it. THOU SHALT NOT STEAL was only +applicable to the honest worker. They, the supermen, were above +such commandments. They certainly stole and were honored by +their fellows according to the magnitude of their stealings. + +The more Daylight played the game, the clearer the situation +grew. Despite the fact that every robber was keen to rob every +other robber, the band was well organized. It practically +controlled the political machinery of society, from the ward +politician up to the Senate of the United States. It passed laws +that gave it privilege to rob. It enforced these laws by means +of the police, the marshals, the militia and regular army, and +the courts. And it was a snap. A superman's chiefest danger was +his fellow-superman. The great stupid mass of the people did not +count. They were constituted of such inferior clay that the +veriest chicanery fooled them. The superman manipulated the +strings, and when robbery of the workers became too slow or +monotonous, they turned loose and robbed one another. + +Daylight was philosophical, but not a philosopher. He had never +read the books. He was a hard-headed, practical man, and +farthest from him was any intention of ever reading the books. +He had lived life in the simple, where books were not necessary +for an understanding of life, and now life in the complex +appeared just as simple. He saw through its frauds and fictions, +and found it as elemental as on the Yukon. Men were made of the +same stuff. They had the same passions and desires. Finance was +poker on a larger scale. The men who played were the men who had +stakes. The workers were the fellows toiling for grubstakes. He +saw the game played out according to the everlasting rules, and +he played a hand himself. The gigantic futility of humanity +organized and befuddled by the bandits did not shock him. It was +the natural order. Practically all human endeavors were futile. +He had seen so much of it. His partners had starved and died on +the Stewart. Hundreds of old-timers had failed to locate on +Bonanza and Eldorado, while Swedes and chechaquos had come in +on the moose-pasture and blindly staked millions. It was life, +and life was a savage proposition at best. Men in civilization +robbed because they were so made. They robbed just as cats +scratched, famine pinched, and frost bit. + +So it was that Daylight became a successful financier. He did not +go in for swindling the workers. Not only did he not have the +heart for it, but it did not strike him as a sporting +proposition. The workers were so easy, so stupid. It was more +like slaughtering fat hand-reared pheasants on the English +preserves he had heard about. The sport to him, was in waylaying +the successful robbers and taking their spoils from them. There +was fun and excitement in that, and sometimes they put up the +very devil of a fight. Like Robin Hood of old, Daylight proceeded +to rob the rich; and, in a small way, to distribute to the needy. + +But he was charitable after his own fashion. The great mass of +human misery meant nothing to him. That was part of the +everlasting order. He had no patience with the organized +charities and the professional charity mongers. Nor, on the +other hand, was what he gave a conscience dole. He owed no man, +and restitution was unthinkable. What he gave was a largess, a +free, spontaneous gift; and it was for those about him. He never +contributed to an earthquake fund in Japan nor to an open-air +fund in New York City. Instead, he financed Jones, the elevator +boy, for a year that he might write a book. When he learned that +the wife of his waiter at the St. Francis was suffering from +tuberculosis, he sent her to Arizona, and later, when her case +was declared hopeless, he sent the husband, too, to be with her +to the end. Likewise, he bought a string of horse-hair bridles +from a convict in a Western penitentiary, who spread the good +news until it seemed to Daylight that half the convicts in that +institution were making bridles for him. He bought them all, +paying from twenty to fifty dollars each for them. They were +beautiful and honest things, and he decorated all the available +wall-space of his bedroom with them. + +The grim Yukon life had failed to make Daylight hard. It +required civilization to produce this result. In the fierce, +savage game he now played, his habitual geniality imperceptibly +slipped away from him, as did his lazy Western drawl. As his +speech became sharp and nervous, so did his mental processes. In +the swift rush of the game he found less and less time to spend +on being merely good-natured. The change marked his face itself. + +The lines grew sterner. Less often appeared the playful curl of +his lips, the smile in the wrinkling corners of his eyes. The +eyes themselves, black and flashing, like an Indian's, betrayed +glints of cruelty and brutal consciousness of power. His +tremendous vitality remained, and radiated from all his being, +but it was vitality under the new aspect of the man-trampling +man-conqueror. His battles with elemental nature had been, in a +way, impersonal; his present battles were wholly with the males +of his species, and the hardships of the trail, the river, and +the frost marred him far less than the bitter keenness of the +struggle with his fellows. + +He still had recrudescence of geniality, but they were largely +periodical and forced, and they were usually due to the cocktails +he took prior to meal-time. In the North, he had drunk deeply +and at irregular intervals; but now his drinking became +systematic and disciplined. It was an unconscious development, +but it was based upon physical and mental condition. The +cocktails served as an inhibition. Without reasoning or thinking +about it, the strain of the office, which was essentially due to +the daring and audacity of his ventures, required check or +cessation; and he found, through the weeks and months, that the +cocktails supplied this very thing. They constituted a stone +wall. He never drank during the morning, nor in office hours; +but the instant he left the office he proceeded to rear this wall +of alcoholic inhibition athwart his consciousness. The office +became immediately a closed affair. It ceased to exist. In the +afternoon, after lunch, it lived again for one or two hours, +when, leaving it, he rebuilt the wall of inhibition. Of course, +there were exceptions to this; and, such was the rigor of his +discipline, that if he had a dinner or a conference before him in +which, in a business way, he encountered enemies or allies and +planned or prosecuted campaigns, he abstained from drinking. But +the instant the business was settled, his everlasting call went +out for a Martini, and for a double-Martini at that, served in a +long glass so as not to excite comment. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +Into Daylight's life came Dede Mason. She came rather +imperceptibly. He had accepted her impersonally along with the +office furnishing, the office boy, Morrison, the chief, +confidential, and only clerk, and all the rest of the accessories +of a superman's gambling place of business. Had he been asked any +time during the first months she was in his employ, he would have +been unable to tell the color of her eyes. From the fact that she +was a demiblonde, there resided dimly in his subconsciousness a +conception that she was a brunette. Likewise he had an idea that +she was not thin, while there was an absence in his mind of any +idea that she was fat. As to how she dressed, he had no ideas at +all. He had no trained eye in such matters, nor was he interested. +He took it for granted, in the lack of any impression to the +contrary, that she was dressed some how. He knew her as "Miss +Mason," and that was all, though he was aware that as a +stenographer she seemed quick and accurate. This +impression, however, was quite vague, for he had had no +experience with other stenographers, and naturally believed that +they were all quick and accurate. + +One morning, signing up letters, he came upon an I shall. +Glancing quickly over the page for similar constructions, he +found a number of I wills. The I shall was alone. It stood out +conspicuously. He pressed the call-bell twice, and a moment +later Dede Mason entered. "Did I say that, Miss Mason?" he +asked, extending the letter to her and pointing out the criminal +phrase. A shade of annoyance crossed her face. She stood +convicted. + +"My mistake," she said. "I am sorry. But it's not a mistake, +you know," she added quickly. + +"How do you make that out?" challenged Daylight. "It sure don't +sound right, in my way of thinking." + +She had reached the door by this time, and now turned the +offending letter in her hand. "It's right just the same." + +"But that would make all those I wills wrong, then," he argued. + +"It does," was her audacious answer. "Shall I change them?" + +"I shall be over to look that affair up on Monday." Daylight +repeated the sentence from the letter aloud. He did it with a +grave, serious air, listening intently to the sound of his own +voice. He shook his head. "It don't sound right, Miss Mason. +It just don't sound right. Why, nobody writes to me that way. +They all say I will--educated men, too, some of them. Ain't that +so?" + +"Yes," she acknowledged, and passed out to her machine to make +the correction. + +It chanced that day that among the several men with whom he sat +at luncheon was a young Englishman, a mining engineer. Had it +happened any other time it would have passed unnoticed, but, +fresh from the tilt with his stenographer, Daylight was struck +immediately by the Englishman's I shall. Several times, in the +course of the meal, the phrase was repeated, and Daylight was +certain there was no mistake about it. + +After luncheon he cornered Macintosh, one of the members whom he +knew to have been a college man, because of his football +reputation. + +"Look here, Bunny," Daylight demanded, "which is right, I shall +be over to look that affair up on Monday, or I will be over to +look that affair up on Monday?" + +The ex-football captain debated painfully for a minute. "Blessed +if I know," he confessed. "Which way do I say it?" + +"Oh, I will, of course." + +"Then the other is right, depend upon it. I always was rotten on +grammar." + +On the way back to the office, Daylight dropped into a bookstore +and bought a grammar; and for a solid hour, his feet up on the +desk, he toiled through its pages. "Knock off my head with +little apples if the girl ain't right," he communed aloud at the +end of the session. For the first time it struck him that there +was something about his stenographer. He had accepted her up to +then, as a female creature and a bit of office furnishing. But +now, having demonstrated that she knew more grammar than did +business men and college graduates, she became an individual. +She seemed to stand out in his consciousness as conspicuously as +the I shall had stood out on the typed page, and he began to take +notice. + +He managed to watch her leaving that afternoon, and he was aware +for the first time that she was well-formed, and that her manner +of dress was satisfying. He knew none of the details of women's +dress, and he saw none of the details of her neat shirt-waist and +well-cut tailor suit. He saw only the effect in a general, +sketchy way. She looked right. This was in the absence of +anything wrong or out of the way. + +"She's a trim little good-looker," was his verdict, when the +outer office door closed on her. + +The next morning, dictating, he concluded that he liked the way +she did her hair, though for the life of him he could have given +no description of it. The impression was pleasing, that was all. + +She sat between him and the window, and he noted that her hair +was light brown, with hints of golden bronze. A pale sun, +shining in, touched the golden bronze into smouldering fires that +were very pleasing to behold. Funny, he thought, that he had +never observed this phenomenon before. + +In the midst of the letter he came to the construction which had +caused the trouble the day before. He remembered his wrestle +with the grammar, and dictated. + +"I shall meet you halfway this proposition--" + +Miss Mason gave a quick look up at him. The action was purely +involuntary, and, in fact, had been half a startle of surprise. +The next instant her eyes had dropped again, and she sat waiting +to go on with the dictation. But in that moment of her glance +Daylight had noted that her eyes were gray. He was later to +learn that at times there were golden lights in those same gray +eyes; but he had seen enough, as it was, to surprise him, for he +became suddenly aware that he had always taken her for a brunette +with brown eyes, as a matter of course. + +"You were right, after all," he confessed, with a sheepish grin +that sat incongruously on his stern, Indian-like features. + +Again he was rewarded by an upward glance and an acknowledging +smile, and this time he verified the fact that her eyes were +gray. + +"But it don't sound right, just the same," he complained. At +this she laughed outright. + +"I beg your pardon," she hastened to make amends, and then +spoiled it by adding, "but you are so funny." + +Daylight began to feel a slight awkwardness, and the sun would +persist in setting her hair a-smouldering. + +"I didn't mean to be funny," he said. + +"That was why I laughed. But it is right, and perfectly good +grammar." + +"All right," he sighed--"I shall meet you halfway in this +proposition--got that?" And the dictation went on. He discovered +that in the intervals, when she had nothing to do, she read books +and magazines, or worked on some sort of feminine fancy work. + +Passing her desk, once, he picked up a volume of Kipling's poems +and glanced bepuzzled through the pages. "You like reading, Miss +Mason?" he said, laying the book down. + +"Oh, yes," was her answer; "very much." + +Another time it was a book of Wells', The Wheels of Change. +"What's it all about?" Daylight asked. + +"Oh, it's just a novel, a love-story." She stopped, but he still +stood waiting, and she felt it incumbent to go on. + +"It's about a little Cockney draper's assistant, who takes a +vacation on his bicycle, and falls in with a young girl very much +above him. Her mother is a popular writer and all that. And the +situation is very curious, and sad, too, and tragic. Would you +care to read it?" + +"Does he get her?" Daylight demanded. + +"No; that's the point of it. He wasn't--" + +"And he doesn't get her, and you've read all them pages, hundreds +of them, to find that out?" Daylight muttered in amazement. + +Miss Mason was nettled as well as amused. + +"But you read the mining and financial news by the hour," she +retorted. + +"But I sure get something out of that. It's business, and it's +different. I get money out of it. What do you get out of +books?" + +"Points of view, new ideas, life." + +"Not worth a cent cash." + +"But life's worth more than cash," she argued. + +"Oh, well," he said, with easy masculine tolerance, "so long as +you enjoy it. That's what counts, I suppose; and there's no +accounting for taste." + +Despite his own superior point of view, he had an idea that she +knew a lot, and he experienced a fleeting feeling like that of a +barbarian face to face with the evidence of some tremendous +culture. To Daylight culture was a worthless thing, and yet, +somehow, he was vaguely troubled by a sense that there was more +in culture than he imagined. + +Again, on her desk, in passing, he noticed a book with which he +was familiar. This time he did not stop, for he had recognized +the cover. It was a magazine correspondent's book on the +Klondike, and he knew that he and his photograph figured in it +and he knew, also, of a certain sensational chapter concerned +with a woman's suicide, and with one "Too much Daylight." + +After that he did not talk with her again about books. He imagined +what erroneous conclusions she had drawn from that particular +chapter, and it stung him the more in that they were undeserved. +Of all unlikely things, to have the reputation of being a +lady-killer,--he, Burning Daylight,--and to have a woman kill +herself out of love for him. He felt that he was a most +unfortunate man and wondered by what luck that one book of all +the thousands of books should have fallen into his stenographer's +hands. For some days afterward he had an uncomfortable sensation +of guiltiness whenever he was in Miss Mason's presence; and once +he was positive that he caught her looking at him with a curious, +intent gaze, as if studying what manner of man he was. + +He pumped Morrison, the clerk, who had first to vent his personal +grievance against Miss Mason before he could tell what little he +knew of her. + +"She comes from Siskiyou County. She's very nice to work with in +the office, of course, but she's rather stuck on herself-- +exclusive, you know." + +"How do you make that out?" Daylight queried. + +"Well, she thinks too much of herself to associate with those she +works with, in the office here, for instance. She won't have +anything to do with a fellow, you see. I've asked her out +repeatedly, to the theatre and the chutes and such things. But +nothing doing. Says she likes plenty of sleep, and can't stay up +late, and has to go all the way to Berkeley--that's where she +lives." + +This phase of the report gave Daylight a distinct satisfaction. +She was a bit above the ordinary, and no doubt about it. But +Morrison's next words carried a hurt. + +"But that's all hot air. She's running with the University boys, +that's what she's doing. She needs lots of sleep and can't go to +the theatre with me, but she can dance all hours with them. I've +heard it pretty straight that she goes to all their hops and such +things. Rather stylish and high-toned for a stenographer, I'd +say. And she keeps a horse, too. She rides astride all over +those hills out there. I saw her one Sunday myself. Oh, she's a +high-flyer, and I wonder how she does it. Sixty-five a month +don't go far. Then she has a sick brother, too." + +"Live with her people?" Daylight asked. + +"No; hasn't got any. They were well to do, I've heard. They +must have been, or that brother of hers couldn't have gone to the +University of California. Her father had a big cattle-ranch, but +he got to fooling with mines or something, and went broke before +he died. Her mother died long before that. Her brother must +cost a lot of money. He was a husky once, played football, was +great on hunting and being out in the mountains and such things. +He got his accident breaking horses, and then rheumatism or +something got into him. One leg is shorter than the other and +withered up some. He has to walk on crutches. I saw her out +with him once--crossing the ferry. The doctors have been +experimenting on him for years, and he's in the French Hospital +now, I think." + +All of which side-lights on Miss Mason went to increase +Daylight's interest in her. Yet, much as he desired, he failed +to get acquainted with her. He had thoughts of asking her to +luncheon, but his was the innate chivalry of the frontiersman, +and the thoughts never came to anything. He knew a +self-respecting, square-dealing man was not supposed to take his +stenographer to luncheon. Such things did happen, he knew, for +he heard the chaffing gossip of the club; but he did not think +much of such men and felt sorry for the girls. He had a strange +notion that a man had less rights over those he employed than +over mere acquaintances or strangers. Thus, had Miss Mason not +been his employee, he was confident that he would have had her to +luncheon or the theatre in no time. But he felt that it was an +imposition for an employer, because he bought the time of an +employee in working hours, to presume in any way upon any of the +rest of that employee's time. To do so was to act like a bully. +The situation was unfair. It was taking advantage of the fact +that the employee was dependent on one for a livelihood. The +employee might permit the imposition through fear of angering the +employer and not through any personal inclination at all. + +In his own case he felt that such an imposition would be +peculiarly obnoxious, for had she not read that cursed Klondike +correspondent's book? A pretty idea she must have of him, a girl +that was too high-toned to have anything to do with a +good-looking, gentlemanly fellow like Morrison. Also, and down +under all his other reasons, Daylight was timid. The only thing +he had ever been afraid of in his life was woman, and he had been +afraid all his life. Nor was that timidity to be put easily to +flight now that he felt the first glimmering need and desire for +woman. The specter of the apron-string still haunted him, and +helped him to find excuses for getting on no forwarder with Dede +Mason. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Not being favored by chance in getting acquainted with Dede +Mason, Daylight's interest in her slowly waned. This was but +natural, for he was plunged deep in hazardous operations, and the +fascinations of the game and the magnitude of it accounted for +all the energy that even his magnificent organism could generate. + +Such was his absorption that the pretty stenographer slowly and +imperceptibly faded from the forefront of his consciousness. +Thus, the first faint spur, in the best sense, of his need for +woman ceased to prod. So far as Dede Mason was concerned, he +possessed no more than a complacent feeling of satisfaction in +that he had a very nice stenographer. And, completely to put the +quietus on any last lingering hopes he might have had of her, he +was in the thick of his spectacular and intensely bitter fight +with the Coastwise Steam Navigation Company, and the Hawaiian, +Nicaraguan, and Pacific-Mexican Steamship-Company. He stirred +up a bigger muss than he had anticipated, and even he was +astounded at the wide ramifications of the struggle and at the +unexpected and incongruous interests that were drawn into it. +Every newspaper in San Francisco turned upon him. It was true, +one or two of them had first intimated that they were open to +subsidization, but Daylight's judgment was that the situation did +not warrant such expenditure. Up to this time the press had been +amusingly tolerant and good-naturedly sensational about him, but +now he was to learn what virulent scrupulousness an antagonized +press was capable of. Every episode of his life was resurrected +to serve as foundations for malicious fabrications. Daylight was +frankly amazed at the new interpretation put upon all he had +accomplished and the deeds he had done. From an Alaskan hero he +was metamorphosed into an Alaskan bully, liar, desperado, and all +around "bad Man." Not content with this, lies upon lies, out of +whole cloth, were manufactured about him. He never replied, +though once he went to the extent of disburdening his mind to +half a dozen reporters. "Do your damnedest," he told them. +"Burning Daylight's bucked bigger things than your dirty, lying +sheets. And I don't blame you, boys... that is, not much. +You can't help it. You've got to live. There's a mighty lot of +women in this world that make their living in similar fashion to +yours, because they're not able to do anything better. +Somebody's got to do the dirty work, and it might as well be you. +You're paid for it, and you ain't got the backbone to rustle +cleaner jobs." + +The socialist press of the city jubilantly exploited this +utterance, scattering it broadcast over San Francisco in tens of +thousands of paper dodgers. And the journalists, stung to the +quick, retaliated with the only means in their power-printer's +ink abuse. The attack became bitterer than ever. The whole +affair sank to the deeper deeps of rancor and savageness. The +poor woman who had killed herself was dragged out of her grave +and paraded on thousands of reams of paper as a martyr and a +victim to Daylight's ferocious brutality. Staid, statistical +articles were published, proving that he had made his start by +robbing poor miners of their claims, and that the capstone to his +fortune had been put in place by his treacherous violation of +faith with the Guggenhammers in the deal on Ophir. And there +were editorials written in which he was called an enemy of +society, possessed of the manners and culture of a caveman, a +fomenter of wasteful business troubles, the destroyer of the +city's prosperity in commerce and trade, an anarchist of dire +menace; and one editorial gravely recommended that hanging would +be a lesson to him and his ilk, and concluded with the fervent +hope that some day his big motor-car would smash up and smash him +with it. + +He was like a big bear raiding a bee-hive and, regardless of the +stings, he obstinately persisted in pawing for the honey. He +gritted his teeth and struck back. Beginning with a raid on two +steamship companies, it developed into a pitched battle with a +city, a state, and a continental coastline. Very well; they +wanted fight, and they would get it. It was what he wanted, and +he felt justified in having come down from the Klondike, for here +he was gambling at a bigger table than ever the Yukon had +supplied. Allied with him, on a splendid salary, with princely +pickings thrown in, was a lawyer, Larry Hegan, a young Irishman +with a reputation to make, and whose peculiar genius had been +unrecognized until Daylight picked up with him. Hegan had Celtic +imagination and daring, and to such degree that Daylight's cooler +head was necessary as a check on his wilder visions. Hegan's was +a Napoleonic legal mind, without balance, and it was just this +balance that Daylight supplied. Alone, the Irishman was doomed +to failure, but directed by Daylight, he was on the highroad to +fortune and recognition. Also, he was possessed of no more +personal or civic conscience than Napoleon. + +It was Hegan who guided Daylight through the intricacies of +modern politics, labor organization, and commercial and +corporation law. It was Hegan, prolific of resource and +suggestion, who opened Daylight's eyes to undreamed possibilities +in twentieth-century warfare; and it was Daylight, rejecting, +accepting, and elaborating, who planned the campaigns and +prosecuted them. With the Pacific coast from Peugeot Sound to +Panama, buzzing and humming, and with San Francisco furiously +about his ears, the two big steamship companies had all the +appearance of winning. It looked as if Burning Daylight was +being beaten slowly to his knees. And then he struck--at the +steamship companies, at San Francisco, at the whole Pacific +coast. + +It was not much of a blow at first. A Christian Endeavor +convention being held in San Francisco, a row was started by +Express Drivers' Union No. 927 over the handling of a small heap +of baggage at the Ferry Building. A few heads were broken, a +score of arrests made, and the baggage was delivered. No one +would have guessed that behind this petty wrangle was the fine +Irish hand of Hegan, made potent by the Klondike gold of Burning +Daylight. It was an insignificant affair at best--or so it +seemed. But the Teamsters' Union took up the quarrel, backed by +the whole Water Front Federation. Step by step, the strike +became involved. A refusal of cooks and waiters to serve scab +teamsters or teamsters' employers brought out the cooks and +waiters. The butchers and meat-cutters refused to handle meat +destined for unfair restaurants. The combined Employers' +Associations put up a solid front, and found facing them the +40,000 organized laborers of San Francisco. The restaurant +bakers and the bakery wagon drivers struck, followed by the +milkers, milk drivers, and chicken pickers. The building trades +asserted its position in unambiguous terms, and all San Francisco +was in turmoil. + +But still, it was only San Francisco. Hegan's intrigues were +masterly, and Daylight's campaign steadily developed. The +powerful fighting organization known as the Pacific Slope +Seaman's Union refused to work vessels the cargoes of which were +to be handled by scab longshoremen and freight-handlers. The +union presented its ultimatum, and then called a strike. This +had been Daylight's objective all the time. Every incoming +coastwise vessel was boarded by the union officials and its crew +sent ashore. And with the Seamen went the firemen, the +engineers, and the sea cooks and waiters. Daily the number of +idle steamers increased. It was impossible to get scab crews, +for the men of the Seaman's Union were fighters trained in the +hard school of the sea, and when they went out it meant blood and +death to scabs. This phase of the strike spread up and down the +entire Pacific coast, until all the ports were filled with idle +ships, and sea transportation was at a standstill. The days and +weeks dragged out, and the strike held. The Coastwise Steam +Navigation Company, and the Hawaiian, Nicaraguan, and +Pacific-Mexican Steamship Company were tied up completely. The +expenses of combating the strike were tremendous, and they were +earning nothing, while daily the situation went from bad to +worse, until "peace at any price" became the cry. And still +there was no peace, until Daylight and his allies played out +their hand, raked in the winnings, and allowed a goodly portion +of a continent to resume business. + +It was noted, in following years, that several leaders of workmen +built themselves houses and blocks of renting flats and took +trips to the old countries, while, more immediately, other +leaders and "dark horses" came to political preferment and the +control of the municipal government and the municipal moneys. In +fact, San Francisco's boss-ridden condition was due in greater +degree to Daylight's widespreading battle than even San Francisco +ever dreamed. For the part he had played, the details of which +were practically all rumor and guesswork, quickly leaked out, and +in consequence he became a much-execrated and well-hated man. +Nor had Daylight himself dreamed that his raid on the steamship +companies would have grown to such colossal proportions. + +But he had got what he was after. He had played an exciting hand +and won, beating the steamship companies down into the dust and +mercilessly robbing the stockholders by perfectly legal methods +before he let go. Of course, in addition to the large sums of +money he had paid over, his allies had rewarded themselves by +gobbling the advantages which later enabled them to loot the +city. His alliance with a gang of cutthroats had brought about a +lot of cutthroating. But his conscience suffered no twinges. He +remembered what he had once heard an old preacher utter, namely, +that they who rose by the sword perished by the sword. One took +his chances when he played with cutting throats, and his, +Daylight's, throat was still intact. That was it! And he had +won. It was all gamble and war between the strong men. The +fools did not count. They were always getting hurt; and that +they always had been getting hurt was the conclusion he drew from +what little he knew of history. San Francisco had wanted war, +and he had given it war. It was the game. All the big fellows +did the same, and they did much worse, too. + +"Don't talk to me about morality and civic duty," he replied to a +persistent interviewer. "If you quit your job tomorrow and went +to work on another paper, you would write just what you were told +to write. It's morality and civic duty now with you; on the new +job it would be backing up a thieving railroad with... morality +and civic duty, I suppose. Your price, my son, is just about +thirty per week. That's what you sell for. But your paper would +sell for a bit more. Pay its price to-day, and it would shift +its present rotten policy to some other rotten policy; but it +would never let up on morality and civic duty. + +"And all because a sucker is born every minute. So long as the +people stand for it, they'll get it good and plenty, my son. And +the shareholders and business interests might as well shut up +squawking about how much they've been hurt. You never hear ary +squeal out of them when they've got the other fellow down and are +gouging him. This is the time THEY got gouged, and that's all +there is to it. Talk about mollycoddles! Son, those same +fellows would steal crusts from starving men and pull gold +fillings from the mouths of corpses, yep, and squawk like Sam +Scratch if some blamed corpse hit back. They're all tarred with +the same brush, little and big. Look at your Sugar Trust--with +all its millions stealing water like a common thief from New York +City, and short-weighing the government on its phoney scales. +Morality and civic duty! Son, forget it." + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Daylight's coming to civilization had not improved him. True, +he wore better clothes, had learned slightly better manners, and +spoke better English. As a gambler and a man-trampler he had +developed remarkable efficiency. Also, he had become used to a +higher standard of living, and he had whetted his wits to razor +sharpness in the fierce, complicated struggle of fighting males. +But he had hardened, and at the expense of his old-time, +whole-souled geniality. Of the essential refinements of +civilization he knew nothing. He did not know they existed. He +had become cynical, bitter, and brutal. Power had its effect on +him that it had on all men. Suspicious of the big exploiters, +despising the fools of the exploited herd, he had faith only in +himself. This led to an undue and erroneous exaltation of his +ego, while kindly consideration of others--nay, even simple +respect--was destroyed, until naught was left for him but to +worship at the shrine of self. Physically, he was not the man of +iron muscles who had come down out of the Arctic. He did not +exercise sufficiently, ate more than was good for him, and drank +altogether too much. His muscles were getting flabby, and his +tailor called attention to his increasing waistband. In fact, +Daylight was developing a definite paunch. This physical +deterioration was manifest likewise in his face. The lean Indian +visage was suffering a city change. The slight hollows in the +cheeks under the high cheek-bones had filled out. The beginning +of puff-sacks under the eyes was faintly visible. The girth of +the neck had increased, and the first crease and fold of a double +chin were becoming plainly discernible. The old effect of +asceticism, bred of terrific hardships and toil, had vanished; +the features had become broader and heavier, betraying all the +stigmata of the life he lived, advertising the man's +self-indulgence, harshness, and brutality. + +Even his human affiliations were descending. Playing a lone +hand, contemptuous of most of the men with whom he played, +lacking in sympathy or understanding of them, and certainly +independent of them, he found little in common with those to be +encountered, say at the Alta-Pacific. In point of fact, when the +battle with the steamship companies was at its height and his +raid was inflicting incalculable damage on all business +interests, he had been asked to resign from the Alta-Pacific. +The idea had been rather to his liking, and he had found new +quarters in clubs like the Riverside, organized and practically +maintained by the city bosses. He found that he really liked +such men better. They were more primitive and simple, and they +did not put on airs. They were honest buccaneers, frankly in the +game for what they could get out of it, on the surface more raw +and savage, but at least not glossed over with oily or graceful +hypocrisy. The Alta-Pacific had suggested that his resignation +be kept a private matter, and then had privily informed the +newspapers. The latter had made great capital out of the forced +resignation, but Daylight had grinned and silently gone his way, +though registering a black mark against more than one club member +who was destined to feel, in the days to come, the crushing +weight of the Klondiker's financial paw. + +The storm-centre of a combined newspaper attack lasting for +months, Daylight's character had been torn to shreds. There was +no fact in his history that had not been distorted into a +criminality or a vice. This public making of him over into an +iniquitous monster had pretty well crushed any lingering hope he +had of getting acquainted with Dede Mason. He felt that there +was no chance for her ever to look kindly on a man of his +caliber, and, beyond increasing her salary to seventy-five +dollars a month, he proceeded gradually to forget about her. The +increase was made known to her through Morrison, and later she +thanked Daylight, and that was the end of it. + +One week-end, feeling heavy and depressed and tired of the city +and its ways, he obeyed the impulse of a whim that was later to +play an important part in his life. The desire to get out of the +city for a whiff of country air and for a change of scene was the +cause. Yet, to himself, he made the excuse of going to Glen +Ellen for the purpose of inspecting the brickyard with which +Holdsworthy had goldbricked him. + +He spent the night in the little country hotel, and on Sunday +morning, astride a saddle-horse rented from the Glen Ellen +butcher, rode out of the village. The brickyard was close at +hand on the flat beside the Sonoma Creek. The kilns were visible +among the trees, when he glanced to the left and caught sight of +a cluster of wooded knolls half a mile away, perched on the +rolling slopes of Sonoma Mountain. The mountain, itself wooded, +towered behind. The trees on the knolls seemed to beckon to him. + +The dry, early-summer air, shot through with sunshine, was wine +to him. Unconsciously he drank it in deep breaths. The prospect +of the brickyard was uninviting. He was jaded with all things +business, and the wooded knolls were calling to him. A horse was +between his legs--a good horse, he decided; one that sent him back +to the cayuses he had ridden during his eastern Oregon boyhood. +He had been somewhat of a rider in those early days, and the champ +of bit and creak of saddle-leather sounded good to him now. + +Resolving to have his fun first, and to look over the brickyard +afterward, he rode on up the hill, prospecting for a way across +country to get to the knolls. He left the country road at the +first gate he came to and cantered through a hayfield. The grain +was waist-high on either side the wagon road, and he sniffed the +warm aroma of it with delighted nostrils. Larks flew up before +him, and from everywhere came mellow notes. From the appearance +of the road it was patent that it had been used for hauling clay +to the now idle brickyard. Salving his conscience with the idea +that this was part of the inspection, he rode on to the +clay-pit--a huge scar in a hillside. But he did not linger long, +swinging off again to the left and leaving the road. Not a +farm-house was in sight, and the change from the city crowding +was essentially satisfying. He rode now through open woods, +across little flower-scattered glades, till he came upon a +spring. Flat on the ground, he drank deeply of the clear water, +and, looking about him, felt with a shock the beauty of the +world. It came to him like a discovery; he had never realized it +before, he concluded, and also, he had forgotten much. One could +not sit in at high finance and keep track of such things. As he +drank in the air, the scene, and the distant song of larks, he +felt like a poker-player rising from a night-long table and +coming forth from the pent atmosphere to taste the freshness of +the morn. + +At the base of the knolls he encountered a tumble-down +stake-and-rider fence. From the look of it he judged it must be +forty years old at least--the work of some first pioneer who had +taken up the land when the days of gold had ended. The woods +were very thick here, yet fairly clear of underbrush, so that, +while the blue sky was screened by the arched branches, he was +able to ride beneath. He now found himself in a nook of several +acres, where the oak and manzanita and madrono gave way to +clusters of stately redwoods. Against the foot of a steep-sloped +knoll he came upon a magnificent group of redwoods that seemed to +have gathered about a tiny gurgling spring. + +He halted his horse, for beside the spring uprose a wild +California lily. It was a wonderful flower, growing there in the +cathedral nave of lofty trees. At least eight feet in height, +its stem rose straight and slender, green and bare for two-thirds +its length, and then burst into a shower of snow-white waxen +bells. There were hundreds of these blossoms, all from the one +stem, delicately poised and ethereally frail. Daylight had never +seen anything like it. Slowly his gaze wandered from it to all +that was about him. He took off his hat, with almost a vague +religious feeling. This was different. No room for contempt and +evil here. This was clean and fresh and beautiful-something he +could respect. It was like a church. The atmosphere was one of +holy calm. Here man felt the prompting of nobler things. Much +of this and more was in Daylight's heart as he looked about him. +But it was not a concept of his mind. He merely felt it without +thinking about it at all. + +On the steep incline above the spring grew tiny maidenhair ferns, +while higher up were larger ferns and brakes. Great, +moss-covered trunks of fallen trees lay here and there, slowly +sinking back and merging into the level of the forest mould. +Beyond, in a slightly clearer space, wild grape and honeysuckle +swung in green riot from gnarled old oak trees. A gray Douglas +squirrel crept out on a branch and watched him. From somewhere +came the distant knocking of a woodpecker. This sound did not +disturb the hush and awe of the place. Quiet woods, noises +belonged there and made the solitude complete. The tiny bubbling +ripple of the spring and the gray flash of tree-squirrel were as +yardsticks with which to measure the silence and motionless +repose. + +"Might be a million miles from anywhere," Daylight whispered to +himself. + +But ever his gaze returned to the wonderful lily beside the +bubbling spring. + +He tethered the horse and wandered on foot among the knolls. +Their tops were crowned with century-old spruce trees, and their +sides clothed with oaks and madronos and native holly. But to +the perfect redwoods belonged the small but deep canon that +threaded its way among the knolls. Here he found no passage out +for his horse, and he returned to the lily beside the spring. On +foot, tripping, stumbling, leading the animal, he forced his way +up the hillside. And ever the ferns carpeted the way of his +feet, ever the forest climbed with him and arched overhead, and +ever the clean joy and sweetness stole in upon his senses. + +On the crest he came through an amazing thicket of velvet-trunked +young madronos, and emerged on an open hillside that led down +into a tiny valley. The sunshine was at first dazzling in its +brightness, and he paused and rested, for he was panting from the +exertion. Not of old had he known shortness of breath such as +this, and muscles that so easily tired at a stiff climb. A tiny +stream ran down the tiny valley through a tiny meadow that was +carpeted knee-high with grass and blue and white nemophila. The +hillside was covered with Mariposa lilies and wild hyacinth, down +through which his horse dropped slowly, with circumspect feet and +reluctant gait. + +Crossing the stream, Daylight followed a faint cattle trail over +a low, rocky hill and through a wine-wooded forest of manzanita, +and emerged upon another tiny valley, down which filtered another +spring-fed, meadow-bordered streamlet. A jack-rabbit bounded +from a bush under his horse's nose, leaped the stream, and +vanished up the opposite hillside of scrub-oak. Daylight watched +it admiringly as he rode on to the head of the meadow. Here he +startled up a many-pronged buck, that seemed to soar across the +meadow, and to soar over the stake-and-rider fence, and, still +soaring, disappeared in a friendly copse beyond. + +Daylight's delight was unbounded. It seemed to him that he had +never been so happy. His old woods' training was aroused, and he +was keenly interested in everything in the moss on the trees and +branches; in the bunches of mistletoe hanging in the oaks; in the +nest of a wood-rat; in the water-cress growing in the sheltered +eddies of the little stream; in the butterflies drifting through +the rifted sunshine and shadow; in the blue jays that flashed in +splashes of gorgeous color across the forest aisles; in the tiny +birds, like wrens, that hopped among the bushes and imitated +certain minor quail-calls; and in the crimson-crested woodpecker +that ceased its knocking and cocked its head on one side to +survey him. Crossing the stream, he struck faint vestiges of a +wood-road, used, evidently, a generation back, when the meadow +had been cleared of its oaks. He found a hawk's nest on the +lightning-shattered tipmost top of a six-foot redwood. And to +complete it all his horse stumbled upon several large broods of +half-grown quail, and the air was filled with the thrum of their +flight. He halted and watched the young ones "petrifying" and +disappearing on the ground before his eyes, and listening to the +anxious calls of the old ones hidden in the thickets. + +"It sure beats country places and bungalows at Menlo Park," he +communed aloud; "and if ever I get the hankering for country +life, it's me for this every time." + +The old wood-road led him to a clearing, where a dozen acres of +grapes grew on wine-red soil. A cow-path, more trees and +thickets, and he dropped down a hillside to the southeast +exposure. Here, poised above a big forested canon, and looking +out upon Sonoma Valley, was a small farm-house. With its barn +and outhouses it snuggled into a nook in the hillside, which +protected it from west and north. It was the erosion from this +hillside, he judged, that had formed the little level stretch of +vegetable garden. The soil was fat and black, and there was +water in plenty, for he saw several faucets running wide open. + +Forgotten was the brickyard. Nobody was at home, but Daylight +dismounted and ranged the vegetable garden, eating strawberries +and green peas, inspecting the old adobe barn and the rusty +plough and harrow, and rolling and smoking cigarettes while he +watched the antics of several broods of young chickens and the +mother hens. A foottrail that led down the wall of the big +canyon invited him, and he proceeded to follow it. A +water-pipe, usually above ground, paralleled the trail, which he +concluded led upstream to the bed of the creek. The wall of the +canon was several hundred feet from top to bottom, and +magnificent were the untouched trees that the place was plunged +in perpetual shade. He measured with his eye spruces five and +six feet in diameter and redwoods even larger. One such he +passed, a twister that was at least ten or eleven feet through. +The trail led straight to a small dam where was the intake for +the pipe that watered the vegetable garden. Here, beside the +stream, were alders and laurel trees, and he walked through +fern-brakes higher than his head. Velvety moss was everywhere, +out of which grew maiden-hair and gold-back ferns. + +Save for the dam, it was a virgin wild. No ax had invaded, and +the trees died only of old age and stress of winter storm. The +huge trunks of those that had fallen lay moss-covered, slowly +resolving back into the soil from which they sprang. Some had +lain so long that they were quite gone, though their faint +outlines, level with the mould, could still be seen. Others +bridged the stream, and from beneath the bulk of one monster half +a dozen younger trees, overthrown and crushed by the fall, +growing out along the ground, still lived and prospered, their +roots bathed by the stream, their upshooting branches catching +the sunlight through the gap that had been made in the forest +roof. + +Back at the farm-house, Daylight mounted and rode on away from +the ranch and into the wilder canons and steeper steeps beyond. +Nothing could satisfy his holiday spirit now but the ascent of +Sonoma Mountain. And here on the crest, three hours afterward, +he emerged, tired and sweaty, garments torn and face and hands +scratched, but with sparkling eyes and an unwonted zestfulness of +expression. He felt the illicit pleasure of a schoolboy playing +truant. The big gambling table of San Francisco seemed very far +away. But there was more than illicit pleasure in his mood. It +was as though he were going through a sort of cleansing bath. No +room here for all the sordidness, meanness, and viciousness that +filled the dirty pool of city existence. Without pondering in +detail upon the matter at all, his sensations were of +purification and uplift. Had he been asked to state how he felt, +he would merely have said that he was having a good time; for he +was unaware in his self-consciousness of the potent charm of +nature that was percolating through his city-rotted body and +brain--potent, in that he came of an abysmal past of wilderness +dwellers, while he was himself coated with but the thinnest rind +of crowded civilization. + +There were no houses in the summit of Sonoma Mountain, and, all +alone under the azure California sky, he reined in on the +southern edge of the peak. He saw open pasture country, +intersected with wooded canons, descending to the south and west +from his feet, crease on crease and roll on roll, from lower +level to lower level, to the floor of Petaluma Valley, flat as a +billiard-table, a cardboard affair, all patches and squares of +geometrical regularity where the fat freeholds were farmed. +Beyond, to the west, rose range on range of mountains cuddling +purple mists of atmosphere in their valleys; and still beyond, +over the last range of all, he saw the silver sheen of the +Pacific. Swinging his horse, he surveyed the west and north, +from Santa Rosa to St. Helena, and on to the east, across Sonoma +to the chaparral-covered range that shut off the view of Napa +Valley. Here, part way up the eastern wall of Sonoma Valley, in +range of a line intersecting the little village of Glen Ellen, he +made out a scar upon a hillside. His first thought was that it +was the dump of a mine tunnel, but remembering that he was not in +gold-bearing country, he dismissed the scar from his mind and +continued the circle of his survey to the southeast, where, +across the waters of San Pablo Bay, he could see, sharp and +distant, the twin peaks of Mount Diablo. To the south was Mount +Tamalpais, and, yes, he was right, fifty miles away, where the +draughty winds of the Pacific blew in the Golden Gate, the smoke +of San Francisco made a low-lying haze against the sky. + +"I ain't seen so much country all at once in many a day," he +thought aloud. + +He was loath to depart, and it was not for an hour that he was +able to tear himself away and take the descent of the mountain. +Working out a new route just for the fun of it, late afternoon +was upon him when he arrived back at the wooded knolls. Here, on +the top of one of them, his keen eyes caught a glimpse of a shade +of green sharply differentiated from any he had seen all day. +Studying it for a minute, he concluded that it was composed of +three cypress trees, and he knew that nothing else than the hand +of man could have planted them there. Impelled by curiosity +purely boyish, he made up his mind to investigate. So densely +wooded was the knoll, and so steep, that he had to dismount and +go up on foot, at times even on hands and knees struggling hard +to force a way through the thicker underbrush. He came out +abruptly upon the cypresses. They were enclosed in a small +square of ancient fence; the pickets he could plainly see had +been hewn and sharpened by hand. Inside were the mounds of two +children's graves. Two wooden headboards, likewise hand-hewn, +told the state Little David, born 1855, died 1859; and Little +Roy, born 1853, died 1860. + +"The poor little kids," Daylight muttered. The graves showed +signs of recent care. Withered bouquets of wild flowers were on +the mounds, and the lettering on the headboards was freshly +painted. Guided by these clews, Daylight cast about for a trail, +and found one leading down the side opposite to his ascent. +Circling the base of the knoll, he picked up with his horse and +rode on to the farm-house. Smoke was rising from the chimney and +he was quickly in conversation with a nervous, slender young man, +who, he learned, was only a tenant on the ranch. How large was +it? A matter of one hundred and eighty acres, though it seemed +much larger. This was because it was so irregularly shaped. +Yes, it included the clay-pit and all the knolls, and its +boundary that ran along the big canon was over a mile long. + +"You see," the young man said, "it was so rough and broken that +when they began to farm this country the farmers bought in the +good land to the edge of it. That's why its boundaries are all +gouged and jagged. + +"Oh, yes, he and his wife managed to scratch a living without +working too hard. They didn't have to pay much rent. Hillard, +the owner, depended on the income from the clay-pit. Hillard was +well off, and had big ranches and vineyards down on the flat of +the valley. The brickyard paid ten cents a cubic yard for the +clay. As for the rest of the ranch, the land was good in +patches, where it was cleared, like the vegetable garden and the +vineyard, but the rest of it was too much up-and-down." + +"You're not a farmer," Daylight said. The young man laughed and +shook his head. "No; I'm a telegraph operator. But the wife and +I decided to take a two years' vacation, and... here we are +But the time's about up. I'm going back into the office this +fall after I get the grapes off." + +Yes, there were about eleven acres in the vineyard--wine grapes. +The price was usually good. He grew most of what they ate. If +he owned the place, he'd clear a patch of land on the side-hill +above the vineyard and plant a small home orchard. The soil was +good. There was plenty of pasturage all over the ranch, and +there were several cleared patches, amounting to about fifteen +acres in all, where he grew as much mountain hay as could be +found. It sold for three to five dollars more a ton than the +rank-stalked valley hay. + +Daylight listened, there came to him a sudden envy of this young +fellow living right in the midst of all this which Daylight had +travelled through the last few hours. + +"What in thunder are you going back to the telegraph office for?" +he demanded. + +The young man smiled with a certain wistfulness. "Because we +can't get ahead here..." (he hesitated an instant), "and +because there are added expenses coming. The rent, small as it +is, counts; and besides, I'm not strong enough to effectually +farm the place. If I owned it, or if I were a real husky like +you, I'd ask nothing better. Nor would the wife." Again the +wistful smile hovered on his face. "You see, we're country born, +and after bucking with cities for a few years, we kind of feel we +like the country best. We've planned to get ahead, though, and +then some day we'll buy a patch of land and stay with it." + +The graves of the children? Yes, he had relettered them and hoed +the weeds out. It had become the custom. Whoever lived on the +ranch did that. For years, the story ran, the father and mother +had returned each summer to the graves. But there had come a +time when they came no more, and then old Hillard started the +custom. The scar across the valley? An old mine. It had never +paid. The men had worked on it, off and on, for years, for the +indications had been good. But that was years and years ago. No +paying mine had ever been struck in the valley, though there had +been no end of prospect-holes put down and there had been a sort +of rush there thirty years back. + +A frail-looking young woman came to the door to call the young +man to supper. Daylight's first thought was that city living had +not agreed with her. And then he noted the slight tan and +healthy glow that seemed added to her face, and he decided that +the country was the place for her. Declining an invitation to +supper, he rode on for Glen Ellen sitting slack-kneed in the +saddle and softly humming forgotten songs. He dropped down the +rough, winding road through covered pasture, with here and +there thickets of manzanita and vistas of open glades. He +listened greedily to the quail calling, and laughed outright, +once, in sheer joy, at a tiny chipmunk that fled scolding up a +bank, slipping on the crumbly surface and falling down, then +dashing across the road under his horse's nose and, still +scolding, scrabbling up a protecting oak. + +Daylight could not persuade himself to keep to the travelled +roads that day, and another cut across country to Glen Ellen +brought him upon a canon that so blocked his way that he was glad +to follow a friendly cow-path. This led him to a small frame +cabin. The doors and windows were open, and a cat was nursing a +litter of kittens in the doorway, but no one seemed at home. He +descended the trail that evidently crossed the canon. Part way +down, he met an old man coming up through the sunset. In his +hand he carried a pail of foamy milk. He wore no hat, and in his +face, framed with snow-white hair and beard, was the ruddy glow +and content of the passing summer day. Daylight thought that he +had never seen so contented-looking a being. + +"How old are you, daddy?" he queried. + +"Eighty-four," was the reply. "Yes, sirree, eighty-four, and +spryer than most." + +"You must a' taken good care of yourself," Daylight suggested. + +"I don't know about that. I ain't loafed none. I walked across +the Plains with an ox-team and fit Injuns in '51, and I was a +family man then with seven youngsters. I reckon I was as old +then as you are now, or pretty nigh on to it." + +"Don't you find it lonely here?" + +The old man shifted the pail of milk and reflected. "That all +depends," he said oracularly. "I ain't never been lonely except +when the old wife died. Some fellers are lonely in a crowd, and +I'm one of them. That's the only time I'm lonely, is when I go +to 'Frisco. But I don't go no more, thank you 'most to death. +This is good enough for me. I've ben right here in this valley +since '54--one of the first settlers after the Spaniards." + +Daylight started his horse, saying:-- + +"Well, good night, daddy. Stick with it. You got all the young +bloods skinned, and I guess you've sure buried a mighty sight of +them." + +The old man chuckled, and Daylight rode on, singularly at peace +with himself and all the world. It seemed that the old +contentment of trail and camp he had known on the Yukon had come +back to him. He could not shake from his eyes the picture of the +old pioneer coming up the trail through the sunset light. He was +certainly going some for eighty-four. The thought of following +his example entered Daylight's mind, but the big game of San +Francisco vetoed the idea. + +"Well, anyway," he decided, "when I get old and quit the game, +I'll settle down in a place something like this, and the city can +go to hell." + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Instead of returning to the city on Monday, Daylight rented the +butcher's horse for another day and crossed the bed of the valley +to its eastern hills to look at the mine. It was dryer and rockier +here than where he had been the day before, and the ascending +slopes supported mainly chaparral, scrubby and dense and impossible +to penetrate on horseback. But in the canyons water was plentiful +and also a luxuriant forest growth. The mine was an abandoned +affair, but he enjoyed the half-hour's scramble +around. He had had experience in quartz-mining before he went to +Alaska, and he enjoyed the recrudescence of his old wisdom in +such matters. The story was simple to him: good prospects that +warranted the starting of the tunnel into the sidehill; the three +months' work and the getting short of money; the lay-off while +the men went away and got jobs; then the return and a new stretch +of work, with the "pay" ever luring and ever receding into the +mountain, until, after years of hope, the men had given up and +vanished. Most likely they were dead by now, Daylight thought, +as he turned in the saddle and looked back across the canyon at +the ancient dump and dark mouth of the tunnel. + +As on the previous day, just for the joy of it, he followed +cattle-trails at haphazard and worked his way up toward the +summits. Coming out on a wagon road that led upward, he followed +it for several miles, emerging in a small, mountain-encircled +valley, where half a dozen poor ranchers farmed the wine-grapes +on the steep slopes. Beyond, the road pitched upward. Dense +chaparral covered the exposed hillsides but in the creases of the +canons huge spruce trees grew, and wild oats and flowers. + +Half an hour later, sheltering under the summits themselves, he +came out on a clearing. Here and there, in irregular patches +where the steep and the soil favored, wine grapes were growing. +Daylight could see that it had been a stiff struggle, and that +wild nature showed fresh signs of winning--chaparral that had +invaded the clearings; patches and parts of patches of vineyard, +unpruned, grassgrown, and abandoned; and everywhere old +stake-and-rider fences vainly striving to remain intact. Here, +at a small farm-house surrounded by large outbuildings, the road +ended. Beyond, the chaparral blocked the way. + +He came upon an old woman forking manure in the barnyard, and +reined in by the fence. + +"Hello, mother," was his greeting; "ain't you got any men-folk +around to do that for you?" + +She leaned on her pitchfork, hitched her skirt in at the waist, +and regarded him cheerfully. He saw that her toil-worn, +weather-exposed hands were like a man's, callused, +large-knuckled, and gnarled, and that her stockingless feet were +thrust into heavy man's brogans. + +"Nary a man," she answered. "And where be you from, and all the +way up here? Won't you stop and hitch and have a glass of wine?" + +Striding clumsily but efficiently, like a laboring-man, she led +him into the largest building, where Daylight saw a hand-press +and all the paraphernalia on a small scale for the making of +wine. It was too far and too bad a road to haul the grapes to +the valley wineries, she explained, and so they were compelled to +do it themselves. "They," he learned, were she and her daughter, +the latter a widow of forty-odd. It had been easier before the +grandson died and before he went away to fight savages in the +Philippines. He had died out there in battle. + +Daylight drank a full tumbler of excellent Riesling, talked a few +minutes, and accounted for a second tumbler. Yes, they just +managed not to starve. Her husband and she had taken up this +government land in '57 and cleared it and farmed it ever since, +until he died, when she had carried it on. It actually didn't +pay for the toil, but what were they to do? There was the wine +trust, and wine was down. That Riesling? She delivered it to the +railroad down in the valley for twenty-two cents a gallon. And +it was a long haul. It took a day for the round trip. Her +daughter was gone now with a load. + +Daylight knew that in the hotels, Riesling, not quite so good +even, was charged for at from a dollar and a half to two dollars +a quart. And she got twenty-two cents a gallon. That was the +game. She was one of the stupid lowly, she and her people before +her--the ones that did the work, drove their oxen across the +Plains, cleared and broke the virgin land, toiled all days and +all hours, paid their taxes, and sent their sons and grandsons +out to fight and die for the flag that gave them such ample +protection that they were able to sell their wine for twenty-two +cents. The same wine was served to him at the St. Francis for +two dollars a quart, or eight dollars a short gallon. That was +it. + +Between her and her hand-press on the mountain clearing and him +ordering his wine in the hotel was a difference of seven dollars +and seventy-eight cents. A clique of sleek men in the city got +between her and him to just about that amount. And, besides +them, there was a horde of others that took their whack. They +called it railroading, high finance, banking, wholesaling, real +estate, and such things, but the point was that they got it, +while she got what was left,--twenty-two cents. Oh, well, a +sucker was born every minute, he sighed to himself, and nobody +was to blame; it was all a game, and only a few could win, but it +was damned hard on the suckers. + +"How old are you, mother?" he asked. + +"Seventy-nine come next January." + +"Worked pretty hard, I suppose?" + +"Sense I was seven. I was bound out in Michigan state until I +was woman-grown. Then I married, and I reckon the work got +harder and harder." + +"When are you going to take a rest?" + +She looked at him, as though she chose to think his question +facetious, and did not reply. + +"Do you believe in God?" + +She nodded her head. + +"Then you get it all back," he assured her; but in his heart he +was wondering about God, that allowed so many suckers to be born +and that did not break up the gambling game by which they were +robbed from the cradle to the grave. + +"How much of that Riesling you got?" + +She ran her eyes over the casks and calculated. "Just short of +eight hundred gallons." + +He wondered what he could do with all of it, and speculated as to +whom he could give it away. + +"What would you do if you got a dollar a gallon for it?" he +asked. + +"Drop dead, I suppose." + +"No; speaking seriously." + +"Get me some false teeth, shingle the house, and buy a new wagon. +The road's mighty hard on wagons." + +"And after that?" + +"Buy me a coffin." + +"Well, they're yours, mother, coffin and all." + +She looked her incredulity. + +"No; I mean it. And there's fifty to bind the bargain. Never +mind the receipt. It's the rich ones that need watching, their +memories being so infernal short, you know. Here's my address. +You've got to deliver it to the railroad. And now, show me the +way out of here. I want to get up to the top." + +On through the chaparral he went, following faint cattle. +trails and working slowly upward till he came out on the divide +and gazed down into Napa Valley and back across to Sonoma +Mountain... "A sweet land," he muttered, "an almighty sweet +land." + +Circling around to the right and dropping down along the +cattle-trails, he quested for another way back to Sonoma Valley; +but the cattle-trails seemed to fade out, and the chaparral to +grow thicker with a deliberate viciousness and even when he won +through in places, the canon and small feeders were too +precipitous for his horse, and turned him back. But there was no +irritation about it. He enjoyed it all, for he was back at his +old game of bucking nature. Late in the afternoon he broke +through, and followed a well-defined trail down a dry canon. +Here he got a fresh thrill. He had heard the baying of the hound +some minutes before, and suddenly, across the bare face of the +hill above him, he saw a large buck in flight. And not far +behind came the deer-hound, a magnificent animal. Daylight sat +tense in his saddle and watched until they disappeared, his +breath just a trifle shorter, as if he, too, were in the chase, +his nostrils distended, and in his bones the old hunting ache and +memories of the days before he came to live in cities. + +The dry canon gave place to one with a slender ribbon of running +water. The trail ran into a wood-road, and the wood-road emerged +across a small flat upon a slightly travelled county road. There +were no farms in this immediate section, and no houses. The soil +was meagre, the bed-rock either close to the surface or +constituting the surface itself. Manzanita and scrub-oak, +however, flourished and walled the road on either side with a +jungle growth. And out a runway through this growth a man +suddenly scuttled in a way that reminded Daylight of a rabbit. + +He was a little man, in patched overalls; bareheaded, with a +cotton shirt open at the throat and down the chest. The sun was +ruddy-brown in his face, and by it his sandy hair was bleached on +the ends to peroxide blond. He signed to Daylight to halt, and +held up a letter. "If you're going to town, I'd be obliged if +you mail this." + +"I sure will." Daylight put it into his coat pocket. + +"Do you live hereabouts, stranger?" + +But the little man did not answer. He was gazing at Daylight in +a surprised and steadfast fashion. + +"I know you," the little man announced. "You're Elam +Harnish--Burning Daylight, the papers call you. Am I right?" + +Daylight nodded. + +"But what under the sun are you doing here in the chaparral?" + +Daylight grinned as he answered, "Drumming up trade for a free +rural delivery route." + +"Well, I'm glad I wrote that letter this afternoon," the little +man went on, "or else I'd have missed seeing you. I've seen your +photo in the papers many a time, and I've a good memory for +faces. I recognized you at once. My name's Ferguson." + +"Do you live hereabouts?" Daylight repeated his query. + +"Oh, yes. I've got a little shack back here in the bush a hundred +yards, and a pretty spring, and a few fruit trees and berry bushes. +Come in and take a look. And that spring is a dandy. You never +tasted water like it. Come in and try it." + +Walking and leading his horse, Daylight followed the +quick-stepping eager little man through the green tunnel and +emerged abruptly upon the clearing, if clearing it might be +called, where wild nature and man's earth-scratching were +inextricably blended. It was a tiny nook in the hills, protected +by the steep walls of a canon mouth. Here were several large +oaks, evidencing a richer soil. The erosion of ages from the +hillside had slowly formed this deposit of fat earth. Under the +oaks, almost buried in them, stood a rough, unpainted cabin, the +wide verandah of which, with chairs and hammocks, advertised an +out-of doors bedchamber. Daylight's keen eyes took in every +thing. The clearing was irregular, following the patches of the +best soil, and every fruit tree and berry bush, and even each +vegetable plant, had the water personally conducted to it. The +tiny irrigation channels were every where, and along some of them +the water was running. + +Ferguson looked eagerly into his visitor's face for signs of +approbation. + +"What do you think of it, eh?" + +"Hand-reared and manicured, every blessed tree," Daylight +laughed, but the joy and satisfaction that shone in his eyes +contented the little man. + +"Why, d'ye know, I know every one of those trees as if they were +sons of mine. I planted them, nursed them, fed them, and brought +them up. Come on and peep at the spring." + +"It's sure a hummer," was Daylight's verdict, after due +inspection and sampling, as they turned back for the house. + +The interior was a surprise. The cooking being done in the +small, lean-to kitchen, the whole cabin formed a large living +room. A great table in the middle was comfortably littered with +books and magazines. All the available wall space, from floor to +ceiling, was occupied by filled bookshelves. It seemed to +Daylight that he had never seen so many books assembled in one +place. Skins of wildcat, 'coon, and deer lay about on the +pine-board floor. + +"Shot them myself, and tanned them, too," Ferguson proudly +asserted. + +The crowning feature of the room was a huge fireplace of rough +stones and boulders. + +"Built it myself," Ferguson proclaimed, "and, by God, she drew! +Never a wisp of smoke anywhere save in the pointed channel, and +that during the big southeasters." + +Daylight found himself charmed and made curious by the little +man. Why was he hiding away here in the chaparral, he and his +books? He was nobody's fool, anybody could see that. Then why? +The whole affair had a tinge of adventure, and Daylight accepted +an invitation to supper, half prepared to find his host a +raw-fruit-and-nut-eater or some similar sort of health faddest. +At table, while eating rice and jack-rabbit curry (the latter +shot by Ferguson), they talked it over, and Daylight found the +little man had no food "views." He ate whatever he liked, and +all he wanted, avoiding only such combinations that experience +had taught him disagreed with his digestion. + +Next, Daylight surmised that he might be touched with religion; +but, quest about as he would, in a conversation covering the most +divergent topics, he could find no hint of queerness or +unusualness. So it was, when between them they had washed and +wiped the dishes and put them away, and had settled down to a +comfortable smoke, that Daylight put his question. + +"Look here, Ferguson. Ever since we got together, I've been +casting about to find out what's wrong with you, to locate a +screw loose somewhere, but I'll be danged if I've succeeded. +What are you doing here, anyway? What made you come here? What +were you doing for a living before you came here? Go ahead and +elucidate yourself." + +Ferguson frankly showed his pleasure at the questions. + +"First of all," he began, "the doctors wound up by losing all +hope for me. Gave me a few months at best, and that, after a +course in sanatoriums and a trip to Europe and another to +Hawaii. They tried electricity, and forced feeding, and fasting. +I was a graduate of about everything in the curriculum. They +kept me poor with their bills while I went from bad to worse. +The trouble with me was two fold: first, I was a born weakling; +and next, I was living unnaturally--too much work, and +responsibility, and strain. I was managing editor of the +Times-Tribune--" + +Daylight gasped mentally, for the Times-Tribune was the biggest +and most influential paper in San Francisco, and always had been +so. + +"--and I wasn't strong enough for the strain. Of course my body +went back on me, and my mind, too, for that matter. It had to be +bolstered up with whiskey, which wasn't good for it any more than +was the living in clubs and hotels good for my stomach and the +rest of me. That was what ailed me; I was living all wrong." + +He shrugged his shoulders and drew at his pipe. + +"When the doctors gave me up, I wound up my affairs and gave the +doctors up. That was fifteen years ago. I'd been hunting +through here when I was a boy, on vacations from college, and +when I was all down and out it seemed a yearning came to me to go +back to the country. So I quit, quit everything, absolutely, and +came to live in the Valley of the Moon--that's the Indian name, +you know, for Sonoma Valley. I lived in the lean-to the first +year; then I built the cabin and sent for my books. I never knew +what happiness was before, nor health. Look at me now and dare +to tell me that I look forty-seven." + +"I wouldn't give a day over forty," Daylight confessed. + +"Yet the day I came here I looked nearer sixty, and that was +fifteen years ago." + +They talked along, and Daylight looked at the world from new +angles. Here was a man, neither bitter nor cynical, who laughed +at the city-dwellers and called them lunatics; a man who did not +care for money, and in whom the lust for power had long since +died. As for the friendship of the city-dwellers, his host spoke +in no uncertain terms. + +"What did they do, all the chaps I knew, the chaps in the clubs +with whom I'd been cheek by jowl for heaven knows how long? I +was not beholden to them for anything, and when I slipped out +there was not one of them to drop me a line and say, 'How are +you, old man? Anything I can do for you?' For several weeks it +was: 'What's become of Ferguson?' After that I became a +reminiscence and a memory. Yet every last one of them knew I had +nothing but my salary and that I'd always lived a lap ahead of +it." + +"But what do you do now?" was Daylight's query. "You must need +cash to buy clothes and magazines?" + +"A week's work or a month's work, now and again, ploughing in the +winter, or picking grapes in the fall, and there's always odd +jobs with the farmers through the summer. I don't need much, so +I don't have to work much. Most of my time I spend fooling +around the place. I could do hack work for the magazines and +newspapers; but I prefer the ploughing and the grape picking. +Just look at me and you can see why. I'm hard as rocks. And I +like the work. But I tell you a chap's got to break in to it. +It's a great thing when he's learned to pick grapes a whole long +day and come home at the end of it with that tired happy feeling, +instead of being in a state of physical collapse. That +fireplace--those big stones--I was soft, then, a little, anemic, +alcoholic degenerate, with the spunk of a rabbit and about one +per cent as much stamina, and some of those big stones nearly +broke my back and my heart. But I persevered, and used my body +in the way Nature intended it should be used--not bending over a +desk and swilling whiskey... and, well, here I am, a better man +for it, and there's the fireplace, fine and dandy, eh? + +"And now tell me about the Klondike, and how you turned San +Francisco upside down with that last raid of yours. You're a +bonny fighter, you know, and you touch my imagination, though my +cooler reason tells me that you are a lunatic like the rest. The +lust for power! It's a dreadful affliction. Why didn't you stay +in your Klondike? Or why don't you clear out and live a natural +life, for instance, like mine? You see, I can ask questions, +too. Now you talk and let me listen for a while." + +It was not until ten o'clock that Daylight parted from Ferguson. +As he rode along through the starlight, the idea came to him of +buying the ranch on the other side of the valley. There was no +thought in his mind of ever intending to live on it. His game was +in San Francisco. But he liked the ranch, and as soon as he got +back to the office he would open up negotiations with Hillard. +Besides, the ranch included the clay-pit, and it would give him the +whip-hand over Holdsworthy if he ever tried to cut up any didoes. + + + +CHAPTER X + +The time passed, and Daylight played on at the game. But the +game had entered upon a new phase. The lust for power in the +mere gambling and winning was metamorphosing into the lust for +power in order to revenge. There were many men in San Francisco +against whom he had registered black marks, and now and again, +with one of his lightning strokes, he erased such a mark. He +asked no quarter; he gave no quarter. Men feared and hated him, +and no one loved him, except Larry Hegan, his lawyer, who would +have laid down his life for him. But he was the only man with +whom Daylight was really intimate, though he was on terms of +friendliest camaraderie with the rough and unprincipled following +of the bosses who ruled the Riverside Club. + +On the other hand, San Francisco's attitude toward Daylight had +undergone a change. While he, with his slashing buccaneer +methods, was a distinct menace to the more orthodox financial +gamblers, he was nevertheless so grave a menace that they were +glad enough to leave him alone. He had already taught them the +excellence of letting a sleeping dog lie. Many of the men, who +knew that they were in danger of his big bear-paw when it reached +out for the honey vats, even made efforts to placate him, to get +on the friendly side of him. The Alta-Pacific approached him +confidentially with an offer of reinstatement, which he promptly +declined. He was after a number of men in that club, and, +whenever opportunity offered, he reached out for them and mangled +them. Even the newspapers, with one or two blackmailing +exceptions, ceased abusing him and became respectful. In short, +he was looked upon as a bald-faced grizzly from the Arctic wilds +to whom it was considered expedient to give the trail. At the +time he raided the steamship companies, they had yapped at him +and worried him, the whole pack of them, only to have him whirl +around and whip them in the fiercest pitched battle San Francisco +had ever known. Not easily forgotten was the Pacific Slope +Seaman's strike and the giving over of the municipal government +to the labor bosses and grafters. The destruction of Charles +Klinkner and the California and Altamont Trust Company had been a +warning. But it was an isolated case; they had been confident in +strength in numbers--until he taught them better. + +Daylight still engaged in daring speculations, as, for instance, +at the impending outbreak of the Japanese-Russian War, when, in +the face of the experience and power of the shipping gamblers, he +reached out and clutched practically a monopoly of available +steamer-charters. There was scarcely a battered tramp on the +Seven Seas that was not his on time charter. As usual, his +position was, "You've got to come and see me"; which they did, +and, to use another of his phrases, they "paid through the nose" +for the privilege. And all his venturing and fighting had now but +one motive. Some day, as he confided to Hegan, when he'd made a +sufficient stake, he was going back to New York and knock the spots +out of Messrs. Dowsett, Letton, and Guggenhammer. He'd +show them what an all-around general buzz-saw he was and what a +mistake they'd made ever to monkey with him. But he never lost +his head, and he knew that he was not yet strong enough to go +into death-grapples with those three early enemies. In the +meantime the black marks against them remained for a future +easement day. + +Dede Mason was still in the office. He had made no more +overtures, discussed no more books and no more grammar. He had +no active interest in her, and she was to him a pleasant memory +of what had never happened, a joy, which, by his essential +nature, he was barred from ever knowing. Yet, while his interest +had gone to sleep and his energy was consumed in the endless +battles he waged, he knew every trick of the light on her hair, +every quick denote mannerism of movement, every line of her +figure as expounded by her tailor-made gowns. Several times, six +months or so apart, he had increased her salary, until now she +was receiving ninety dollars a month. Beyond this he dared not +go, though he had got around it by making the work easier. This +he had accomplished after her return from a vacation, by +retaining her substitute as an assistant. Also, he had changed +his office suite, so that now the two girls had a room by +themselves. + +His eye had become quite critical wherever Dede Mason was +concerned. He had long since noted her pride of carriage. It +was unobtrusive, yet it was there. He decided, from the way she +carried it, that she deemed her body a thing to be proud of, to +be cared for as a beautiful and valued possession. In this, and +in the way she carried her clothes, he compared her with her +assistant, with the stenographers he encountered in other +offices, with the women he saw on the sidewalks. "She's sure +well put up," he communed with himself; "and she sure knows how +to dress and carry it off without being stuck on herself and +without laying it on thick." + +The more he saw of her, and the more he thought he knew of her, +the more unapproachable did she seem to him. But since he had no +intention of approaching her, this was anything but an +unsatisfactory fact. He was glad he had her in his office, and +hoped she'd stay, and that was about all. + +Daylight did not improve with the passing years. The life was +not good for him. He was growing stout and soft, and there was +unwonted flabbiness in his muscles. The more he drank cocktails, +the more he was compelled to drink in order to get the desired +result, the inhibitions that eased him down from the concert +pitch of his operations. And with this went wine, too, at meals, +and the long drinks after dinner of Scotch and soda at the +Riverside. Then, too, his body suffered from lack of exercise; +and, from lack of decent human associations, his moral fibres +were weakening. Never a man to hide anything, some of his +escapades became public, such as speeding, and of joy-rides in +his big red motor-car down to San Jose with companions distinctly +sporty--incidents that were narrated as good fun and comically in +the newspapers. + +Nor was there anything to save him. Religion had passed him by. +"A long time dead" was his epitome of that phase of speculation. +He was not interested in humanity. According to his rough-hewn +sociology, it was all a gamble. God was a whimsical, abstract, +mad thing called Luck. As to how one happened to be born--whether +a sucker or a robber--was a gamble to begin with; Luck dealt out +the cards, and the little babies picked up the hands allotted them. +Protest was vain. Those were their cards and they had to play +them, willy-nilly, hunchbacked or straight backed, crippled or +clean-limbed, addle-pated or clear-headed. There was no fairness +in it. The cards most picked up put them into the sucker class; +the cards of a few enabled them to become robbers. The playing +of the cards was life--the crowd of players, society. + +The table was the earth, and the earth, in lumps and chunks, from +loaves of bread to big red motor-cars, was the stake. And in the +end, lucky and unlucky, they were all a long time dead. + +It was hard on the stupid lowly, for they were coppered to lose +from the start; but the more he saw of the others, the apparent +winners, the less it seemed to him that they had anything to brag +about. They, too, were a long time dead, and their living did +not amount to much. It was a wild animal fight; the strong +trampled the weak, and the strong, he had already discovered,--men +like Dowsett, and Letton, and Guggenhammer,--were not necessarily +the best. He remembered his miner comrades of the Arctic. They +were the stupid lowly, they did the hard work and were robbed of +the fruit of their toil just as was the old woman making wine in +the Sonoma hills; and yet they had finer qualities of truth, and +loyalty, and square-dealing than did the men who robbed them. The +winners seemed to be the crooked ones, the unfaithful ones, the +wicked ones. And even they had no say in the matter. They played +the cards that were given them; and Luck, the monstrous, mad-god +thing, the owner of the whole shebang, looked on and grinned. It +was he who stacked the universal card-deck of existence. + +There was no justice in the deal. The little men that came, the +little pulpy babies, were not even asked if they wanted to try a +flutter at the game. They had no choice. Luck jerked them into +life, slammed them up against the jostling table, and told them: +"Now play, damn you, play!" And they did their best, poor little +devils. The play of some led to steam yachts and mansions; of +others, to the asylum or the pauper's ward. Some played the one +same card, over and over, and made wine all their days in the +chaparral, hoping, at the end, to pull down a set of false teeth +and a coffin. Others quit the game early, having drawn cards +that called for violent death, or famine in the Barrens, or +loathsome and lingering disease. The hands of some called for +kingship and irresponsible and numerated power; other hands +called for ambition, for wealth in untold sums, for disgrace and +shame, or for women and wine. + +As for himself, he had drawn a lucky hand, though he could not +see all the cards. Somebody or something might get him yet. The +mad god, Luck, might be tricking him along to some such end. An +unfortunate set of circumstances, and in a month's time the +robber gang might be war-dancing around his financial carcass. +This very day a street-car might run him down, or a sign fall +from a building and smash in his skull. Or there was disease, +ever rampant, one of Luck's grimmest whims. Who could say? +To-morrow, or some other day, a ptomaine bug, or some other of a +thousand bugs, might jump out upon him and drag him down. There +was Doctor Bascom, Lee Bascom who had stood beside him a week ago +and talked and argued, a picture of magnificent youth, and +strength, and health. And in three days he was dead--pneumonia, +rheumatism of the heart, and heaven knew what else--at the end +screaming in agony that could be heard a block away. That had +been terrible. It was a fresh, raw stroke in Daylight's +consciousness. And when would his own turn come? Who could say? + +In the meantime there was nothing to do but play the cards he +could see in his hand, and they were BATTLE, REVENGE, AND +COCKTAILS. And Luck sat over all and grinned. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +One Sunday, late in the afternoon, found Daylight across the bay +in the Piedmont hills back of Oakland. As usual, he was in a big +motor-car, though not his own, the guest of Swiftwater Bill, +Luck's own darling, who had come down to spend the clean-up of +the seventh fortune wrung from the frozen Arctic gravel. A +notorious spender, his latest pile was already on the fair road +to follow the previous six. He it was, in the first year of +Dawson, who had cracked an ocean of champagne at fifty dollars a +quart; who, with the bottom of his gold-sack in sight, had +cornered the egg-market, at twenty-four dollars per dozen, to the +tune of one hundred and ten dozen, in order to pique the +lady-love who had jilted him; and he it was, paying like a prince +for speed, who had chartered special trains and broken all +records between San Francisco and New York. And here he was once +more, the "luck-pup of hell," as Daylight called him, throwing +his latest fortune away with the same old-time facility. + +It was a merry party, and they had made a merry day of it, +circling the bay from San Francisco around by San Jose and up to +Oakland, having been thrice arrested for speeding, the third +time, however, on the Haywards stretch, running away with their +captor. Fearing that a telephone message to arrest them had been +flashed ahead, they had turned into the back-road through the +hills, and now, rushing in upon Oakland by a new route, were +boisterously discussing what disposition they should make of the +constable. + +"We'll come out at Blair Park in ten minutes," one of the men +announced. "Look here, Swiftwater, there's a crossroads right +ahead, with lots of gates, but it'll take us backcountry clear +into Berkeley. Then we can come back into Oakland from the other +side, sneak across on the ferry, and send the machine back around +to-night with the chauffeur." + +But Swiftwater Bill failed to see why he should not go into +Oakland by way of Blair Park, and so decided. + +The next moment, flying around a bend, the back-road they were +not going to take appeared. Inside the gate leaning out from her +saddle and just closing it, was a young woman on a chestnut +sorrel. With his first glimpse, Daylight felt there was +something strangely familiar about her. The next moment, +straightening up in the saddle with a movement he could not fail +to identify, she put the horse into a gallop, riding away with +her back toward them. It was Dede Mason--he remembered what +Morrison had told him about her keeping a riding horse, and he +was glad she had not seen him in this riotous company. +Swiftwater Bill stood up, clinging with one hand to the back of +the front seat and waving the other to attract her attention. +His lips were pursed for the piercing whistle for which he was +famous and which Daylight knew of old, when Daylight, with a hook +of his leg and a yank on the shoulder, slammed the startled Bill +down into his seat. + +"You m-m-must know the lady," Swiftwater Bill spluttered. + +"I sure do," Daylight answered, "so shut up." + +"Well, I congratulate your good taste, Daylight. She's a peach, +and she rides like one, too." + +Intervening trees at that moment shut her from view, and +Swiftwater Bill plunged into the problem of disposing of their +constable, while Daylight, leaning back with closed eyes, was +still seeing Dede Mason gallop off down the country road. +Swiftwater Bill was right. She certainly could ride. And, +sitting astride, her seat was perfect. Good for Dede! That was +an added point, her having the courage to ride in the only +natural and logical manner. Her head as screwed on right, that +was one thing sure. + +On Monday morning, coming in for dictation, he looked at her with +new interest, though he gave no sign of it; and the stereotyped +business passed off in the stereotyped way. But the following +Sunday found him on a horse himself, across the bay and riding +through the Piedmont hills. He made a long day of it, but no +glimpse did he catch of Dede Mason, though he even took the +back-road of many gates and rode on into Berkeley. Here, along +the lines of multitudinous houses, up one street and down +another, he wondered which of them might be occupied by her. +Morrison had said long ago that she lived in Berkeley, and she +had been headed that way in the late afternoon of the previous +Sunday--evidently returning home. + +It had been a fruitless day, so far as she was concerned; and yet +not entirely fruitless, for he had enjoyed the open air and the +horse under him to such purpose that, on Monday, his instructions +were out to the dealers to look for the best chestnut sorrel that +money could buy. At odd times during the week he examined +numbers of chestnut sorrels, tried several, and was unsatisfied. +It was not till Saturday that he came upon Bob. Daylight knew +him for what he wanted the moment he laid eyes on him. A large +horse for a riding animal, he was none too large for a big man +like Daylight. In splendid condition, Bob's coat in the sunlight +was a flame of fire, his arched neck a jeweled conflagration. + +"He's a sure winner," was Daylight's comment; but the dealer was +not so sanguine. He was selling the horse on commission, and its +owner had insisted on Bob's true character being given. The +dealer gave it. + +"Not what you'd call a real vicious horse, but a dangerous one. +Full of vinegar and all-round cussedness, but without malice. +Just as soon kill you as not, but in a playful sort of way, you +understand, without meaning to at all. Personally, I wouldn't +think of riding him. But he's a stayer. Look at them lungs. +And look at them legs. Not a blemish. He's never been hurt or +worked. Nobody ever succeeded in taking it out of him. Mountain +horse, too, trail-broke and all that, being raised in rough +country. Sure-footed as a goat, so long as he don't get it into +his head to cut up. Don't shy. Ain't really afraid, but makes +believe. Don't buck, but rears. Got to ride him with a +martingale. Has a bad trick of whirling around without cause +It's his idea of a joke on his rider. It's all just how he feels +One day he'll ride along peaceable and pleasant for twenty miles. +Next day, before you get started, he's well-nigh unmanageable. +Knows automobiles so he can lay down alongside of one and sleep +or eat hay out of it. He'll let nineteen go by without batting +an eye, and mebbe the twentieth, just because he's feeling +frisky, he'll cut up over like a range cayuse. Generally +speaking, too lively for a gentleman, and too unexpected. +Present owner nicknamed him Judas Iscariot, and refuses to sell +without the buyer knowing all about him first. There, that's +about all I know, except look at that mane and tail. Ever see +anything like it? Hair as fine as a baby's." + +The dealer was right. Daylight examined the mane and found it +finer than any horse's hair he had ever seen. Also, its color +was unusual in that it was almost auburn. While he ran his +fingers through it, Bob turned his head and playfully nuzzled +Daylight's shoulder. + +"Saddle him up, and I'll try him," he told the dealer. "I wonder +if he's used to spurs. No English saddle, mind. Give me a good +Mexican and a curb bit--not too severe, seeing as he likes to +rear." + +Daylight superintended the preparations, adjusting the curb strap +and the stirrup length, and doing the cinching. He shook his +head at the martingale, but yielded to the dealer's advice and +allowed it to go on. And Bob, beyond spirited restlessness and a +few playful attempts, gave no trouble. Nor in the hour's ride +that followed, save for some permissible curveting and prancing, +did he misbehave. Daylight was delighted; the purchase was +immediately made; and Bob, with riding gear and personal +equipment, was despatched across the bay forthwith to take up his +quarters in the stables of the Oakland Riding Academy. + +The next day being Sunday, Daylight was away early, crossing on +the ferry and taking with him Wolf, the leader of his sled team, +the one dog which he had selected to bring with him when he left +Alaska. Quest as he would through the Piedmont hills and along +the many-gated back-road to Berkeley, Daylight saw nothing of +Dede Mason and her chestnut sorrel. But he had little time for +disappointment, for his own chestnut sorrel kept him busy. Bob +proved a handful of impishness and contrariety, and he tried out +his rider as much as his rider tried him out. All of Daylight's +horse knowledge and horse sense was called into play, while Bob, +in turn, worked every trick in his lexicon. Discovering that his +martingale had more slack in it than usual, he proceeded to give +an exhibition of rearing and hind-leg walking. After ten +hopeless minutes of it, Daylight slipped off and tightened the +martingale, whereupon Bob gave an exhibition of angelic goodness. + +He fooled Daylight completely. At the end of half an hour of +goodness, Daylight, lured into confidence, was riding along at a +walk and rolling a cigarette, with slack knees and relaxed seat, +the reins lying on the animal's neck. Bob whirled abruptly and +with lightning swiftness, pivoting on his hind legs, his fore +legs just lifted clear of the ground. Daylight found himself +with his right foot out of the stirrup and his arms around the +animal's neck; and Bob took advantage of the situation to bolt +down the road. With a hope that he should not encounter Dede +Mason at that moment, Daylight regained his seat and checked in +the horse. + +Arrived back at the same spot, Bob whirled again. This time +Daylight kept his seat, but, beyond a futile rein across the +neck, did nothing to prevent the evolution. He noted that Bob +whirled to the right, and resolved to keep him straightened out +by a spur on the left. But so abrupt and swift was the whirl +that warning and accomplishment were practically simultaneous. + +"Well, Bob," he addressed the animal, at the same time wiping the +sweat from his own eyes, "I'm free to confess that you're sure +the blamedest all-fired quickest creature I ever saw. I guess +the way to fix you is to keep the spur just a-touching--ah! you +brute!" + +For, the moment the spur touched him, his left hind leg had +reached forward in a kick that struck the stirrup a smart blow. +Several times, out of curiosity, Daylight attempted the spur, +and each time Bob's hoof landed the stirrup. Then Daylight, +following the horse's example of the unexpected, suddenly drove +both spurs into him and reached him underneath with the quirt. + +"You ain't never had a real licking before," he muttered as Bob, +thus rudely jerked out of the circle of his own impish mental +processes, shot ahead. + +Half a dozen times spurs and quirt bit into him, and then +Daylight settled down to enjoy the mad magnificent gallop. No +longer punished, at the end of a half mile Bob eased down into a +fast canter. Wolf, toiling in the rear, was catching up, and +everything was going nicely. + +"I'll give you a few pointers on this whirling game, my boy," +Daylight was saying to him, when Bob whirled. + +He did it on a gallop, breaking the gallop off short by fore legs +stiffly planted. Daylight fetched up against his steed's neck +with clasped arms, and at the same instant, with fore feet clear +of the ground, Bob whirled around. Only an excellent rider could +have escaped being unhorsed, and as it was, Daylight was nastily +near to it. By the time he recovered his seat, Bob was in full +career, bolting the way he had come, and making Wolf side-jump to +the bushes. + +"All right, darn you!" Daylight grunted, driving in spurs and +quirt again and again. "Back-track you want to go, and +back-track you sure will go till you're dead sick of it." + +When, after a time, Bob attempted to ease down the mad pace, +spurs and quirt went into him again with undiminished vim and put +him to renewed effort. And when, at last, Daylight decided +that the horse had had enough, he turned him around abruptly and +put him into a gentle canter on the forward track. After a time +he reined him in to a stop to see if he were breathing painfully. + +Standing for a minute, Bob turned his head and nuzzled his +rider's stirrup in a roguish, impatient way, as much as to +intimate that it was time they were going on. + +"Well, I'll be plumb gosh darned!" was Daylight's comment. "No +ill-will, no grudge, no nothing-and after that lambasting! You're +sure a hummer, Bob." + +Once again Daylight was lulled into fancied security. For an +hour Bob was all that could be desired of a spirited mount, when, +and as usual without warning, he took to whirling and bolting. +Daylight put a stop to this with spurs and quirt, running him +several punishing miles in the direction of his bolt. But when +he turned him around and started forward, Bob proceeded to feign +fright at trees, cows, bushes, Wolf, his own shadow--in short, at +every ridiculously conceivable object. At such times, Wolf lay +down in the shade and looked on, while Daylight wrestled it out. + +So the day passed. Among other things, Bob developed a trick of +making believe to whirl and not whirling. This was as +exasperating as the real thing, for each time Daylight was fooled +into tightening his leg grip and into a general muscular tensing +of all his body. And then, after a few make-believe attempts, +Bob actually did whirl and caught Daylight napping again and +landed him in the old position with clasped arms around the neck. + +And to the end of the day, Bob continued to be up to one trick or +another; after passing a dozen automobiles on the way into +Oakland, suddenly electing to go mad with fright at a most +ordinary little runabout. And just before he arrived back at the +stable he capped the day with a combined whirling and rearing that +broke the martingale and enabled him to gain a perpendicular +position on his hind legs. At this juncture a rotten stirrup +leather parted, and Daylight was all but unhorsed. + +But he had taken a liking to the animal, and repented not of his +bargain. He realized that Bob was not vicious nor mean, the +trouble being that he was bursting with high spirits and was +endowed with more than the average horse's intelligence. It was +the spirits and the intelligence, combined with inordinate +roguishness, that made him what he was. What was required to +control him was a strong hand, with tempered sternness and yet +with the requisite touch of brutal dominance. + +"It's you or me, Bob," Daylight told him more than once that day. + +And to the stableman, that night:-- + +"My, but ain't he a looker! Ever see anything like him? Best +piece of horseflesh I ever straddled, and I've seen a few in my +time." + +And to Bob, who had turned his head and was up to his playful +nuzzling:-- + +"Good-by, you little bit of all right. See you again next Sunday +A.M., and just you bring along your whole basket of tricks, you +old son-of-a-gun." + + + +CHAPTER XII + +Throughout the week Daylight found himself almost as much +interested in Bob as in Dede; and, not being in the thick of any +big deals, he was probably more interested in both of them than +in the business game. Bob's trick of whirling was of especial +moment to him. How to overcome it,--that was the thing. Suppose +he did meet with Dede out in the hills; and suppose, by some +lucky stroke of fate, he should manage to be riding alongside of +her; then that whirl of Bob's would be most disconcerting and +embarrassing. He was not particularly anxious for her to see him +thrown forward on Bob's neck. On the other hand, suddenly to +leave her and go dashing down the back-track, plying quirt and +spurs, wouldn't do, either. + +What was wanted was a method wherewith to prevent that lightning +whirl. He must stop the animal before it got around. The reins +would not do this. Neither would the spurs. Remained the quirt. + +But how to accomplish it? Absent-minded moments were many that +week, when, sitting in his office chair, in fancy he was astride +the wonderful chestnut sorrel and trying to prevent an anticipated +whirl. One such moment, toward the end of the week, +occurred in the middle of a conference with Hegan. Hegan, +elaborating a new and dazzling legal vision, became aware that +Daylight was not listening. His eyes had gone lack-lustre, and +he, too, was seeing with inner vision. + +"Got it" he cried suddenly. "Hegan, congratulate me. It's as +simple as rolling off a log. All I've got to do is hit him on +the nose, and hit him hard." + +Then he explained to the startled Hegan, and became a good +listener again, though he could not refrain now and again from +making audible chuckles of satisfaction and delight. That was +the scheme. Bob always whirled to the right. Very well. He +would double the quirt in his hand and, the instant of the whirl, +that doubled quirt would rap Bob on the nose. The horse didn't +live, after it had once learned the lesson, that would whirl in +the face of the doubled quirt. + +More keenly than ever, during that week in the office did +Daylight realize that he had no social, nor even human contacts +with Dede. The situation was such that he could not ask her the +simple question whether or not she was going riding next Sunday. +It was a hardship of a new sort, this being the employer of a +pretty girl. He looked at her often, when the routine work of +the day was going on, the question he could not ask her tickling +at the founts of speech--Was she going riding next Sunday? And +as he looked, he wondered how old she was, and what love passages +she had had, must have had, with those college whippersnappers +with whom, according to Morrison, she herded and danced. His +mind was very full of her, those six days between the Sundays, +and one thing he came to know thoroughly well; he wanted her. +And so much did he want her that his old timidity of the +apron-string was put to rout. He, who had run away from women +most of his life, had now grown so courageous as to pursue. Some +Sunday, sooner or later, he would meet her outside the office, +somewhere in the hills, and then, if they did not get acquainted, +it would be because she did not care to get acquainted. + +Thus he found another card in the hand the mad god had dealt him. + +How important that card was to become he did not dream, yet he +decided that it was a pretty good card. In turn, he doubted. +Maybe it was a trick of Luck to bring calamity and disaster upon +him. Suppose Dede wouldn't have him, and suppose he went on +loving her more and more, harder and harder? All his old +generalized terrors of love revived. He remembered the +disastrous love affairs of men and women he had known in the +past. There was Bertha Doolittle, old Doolittle's daughter, who +had been madly in love with Dartworthy, the rich Bonanza fraction +owner; and Dartworthy, in turn, not loving Bertha at all, but +madly loving Colonel Walthstone's wife and eloping down the Yukon +with her; and Colonel Walthstone himself, madly loving his own +wife and lighting out in pursuit of the fleeing couple. And what +had been the outcome? Certainly Bertha's love had been +unfortunate and tragic, and so had the love of the other three. +Down below Minook, Colonel Walthstone and Dartworthy had fought +it out. Dartworthy had been killed. A bullet through the +Colonel's lungs had so weakened him that he died of pneumonia the +following spring. And the Colonel's wife had no one left alive +on earth to love. + +And then there was Freda, drowning herself in the running +mush-ice because of some man on the other side of the world, and +hating him, Daylight, because he had happened along and pulled +her out of the mush-ice and back to life. And the Virgin.... +The old memories frightened him. If this love-germ gripped him +good and hard, and if Dede wouldn't have him, it might be almost +as bad as being gouged out of all he had by Dowsett, Letton, and +Guggenhammer. Had his nascent desire for Dede been less, he +might well have been frightened out of all thought of her. As it +was, he found consolation in the thought that some love affairs +did come out right. And for all he knew, maybe Luck had stacked +the cards for him to win. Some men were born lucky, lived lucky +all their days, and died lucky. Perhaps, too, he was such a man, +a born luck-pup who could not lose. + +Sunday came, and Bob, out in the Piedmont hills, behaved like an +angel. His goodness, at times, was of the spirited prancing +order, but otherwise he was a lamb. Daylight, with doubled quirt +ready in his right hand, ached for a whirl, just one whirl, which +Bob, with an excellence of conduct that was tantalizing, refused +to perform. But no Dede did Daylight encounter. He vainly +circled about among the hill roads and in the afternoon took the +steep grade over the divide of the second range and dropped into +Maraga Valley. Just after passing the foot of the descent, he +heard the hoof beats of a cantering horse. It was from ahead and +coming toward him. What if it were Dede? He turned Bob around +and started to return at a walk. If it were Dede, he was born to +luck, he decided; for the meeting couldn't have occurred under +better circumstances. Here they were, both going in the same +direction, and the canter would bring her up to him just where +the stiff grade would compel a walk. There would be nothing else +for her to do than ride with him to the top of the divide; and, +once there, the equally stiff descent on the other side would +compel more walking. + +The canter came nearer, but he faced straight ahead until he +heard the horse behind check to a walk. Then he glanced over his +shoulder. It was Dede. The recognition was quick, and, with +her, accompanied by surprise. What more natural thing than that, +partly turning his horse, he should wait till she caught up with +him; and that, when abreast they should continue abreast on up +the grade? He could have sighed with relief. The thing was +accomplished, and so easily. Greetings had been exchanged; here +they were side by side and going in the same direction with miles +and miles ahead of them. + +He noted that her eye was first for the horse and next for him. + +"Oh, what a beauty" she had cried at sight of Bob. From the +shining light in her eyes, and the face filled with delight, he +would scarcely have believed that it belonged to a young woman he +had known in the office, the young woman with the controlled, +subdued office face. + +"I didn't know you rode," was one of her first remarks. "I +imagined you were wedded to get-there-quick machines." + +"I've just taken it up lately," was his answer. "Beginning to +get stout; you know, and had to take it off somehow." + +She gave a quick sidewise glance that embraced him from head to +heel, including seat and saddle, and said:-- + +"But you've ridden before." + +She certainly had an eye for horses and things connected with +horses was his thought, as he replied:-- + +"Not for many years. But I used to think I was a regular +rip-snorter when I was a youngster up in Eastern Oregon, sneaking +away from camp to ride with the cattle and break cayuses and +that sort of thing." + +Thus, and to his great relief, were they launched on a topic of +mutual interest. He told her about Bob's tricks, and of the +whirl and his scheme to overcome it; and she agreed that horses +had to be handled with a certain rational severity, no matter how +much one loved them. There was her Mab, which she had for eight +years and which she had had break of stall-kicking. The process +had been painful for Mab, but it had cured her. + +"You've ridden a lot," Daylight said. + +"I really can't remember the first time I was on a horse," she +told him. "I was born on a ranch, you know, and they couldn't +keep me away from the horses. I must have been born with the +love for them. I had my first pony, all my own, when I was six. +When I was eight I knew what it was to be all day in the saddle +along with Daddy. By the time I was eleven he was taking me on +my first deer hunts. I'd be lost without a horse. I hate +indoors, and without Mab here I suppose I'd have been sick and +dead long ago." + +"You like the country?" he queried, at the same moment catching +his first glimpse of a light in her eyes other than gray. "As +much as I detest the city," she answered. "But a woman can't +earn a living in the country. So I make the best of it--along +with Mab." + +And thereat she told him more of her ranch life in the days +before her father died. And Daylight was hugely pleased with +himself. They were getting acquainted. The conversation had not +lagged in the full half hour they had been together. + +"We come pretty close from the same part of the country," he +said. "I was raised in Eastern Oregon, and that's none so far +from Siskiyou." + +The next moment he could have bitten out his tongue for her quick +question was:-- + +"How did you know I came from Siskiyou? I'm sure I never +mentioned it." + +"I don't know," he floundered temporarily. "I heard somewhere +that you were from thereabouts." + +Wolf, sliding up at that moment, sleek-footed and like a shadow, +caused her horse to shy and passed the awkwardness off, for they +talked Alaskan dogs until the conversation drifted back to +horses. And horses it was, all up the grade and down the other +side. + +When she talked, he listened and followed her, and yet all the +while he was following his own thoughts and impressions as well. +It was a nervy thing for her to do, this riding astride, and he +didn't know, after all, whether he liked it or not. His ideas of +women were prone to be old-fashioned; they were the ones he had +imbibed in the early-day, frontier life of his youth, when no +woman was seen on anything but a side-saddle. He had grown up to +the tacit fiction that women on horseback were not bipeds. It +came to him with a shock, this sight of her so manlike in her +saddle. But he had to confess that the sight looked good to him +just + +Two other immediate things about her struck him. First, there +were the golden spots in her eyes. Queer that he had never +noticed them before. Perhaps the light in the office had not +been right, and perhaps they came and went. No; they were glows +of color--a sort of diffused, golden light. Nor was it golden, +either, but it was nearer that than any color he knew. It +certainly was not any shade of yellow. A lover's thoughts are +ever colored, and it is to be doubted if any one else in the +world would have called Dede's eyes golden. But Daylight's mood +verged on the tender and melting, and he preferred to think of +them as golden, and therefore they were golden. + +And then she was so natural. He had been prepared to find her a +most difficult young woman to get acquainted with. Yet here it +was proving so simple. There was nothing highfalutin about her +company manners--it was by this homely phrase that he +differentiated this Dede on horseback from the Dede with the +office manners whom he had always known. And yet, while he was +delighted with the smoothness with which everything was going, +and with the fact that they had found plenty to talk about, he +was aware of an irk under it all. After all, this talk was empty +and idle. He was a man of action, and he wanted her, Dede Mason, +the woman; he wanted her to love him and to be loved by him; and +he wanted all this glorious consummation then and there. Used to +forcing issues used to gripping men and things and bending them +to his will, he felt, now, the same compulsive prod of mastery. +He wanted to tell her that he loved her and that there was +nothing else for her to do but marry him. And yet he did not +obey the prod. Women were fluttery creatures, and here mere +mastery would prove a bungle. He remembered all his hunting +guile, the long patience of shooting meat in famine when a hit or +a miss meant life or death. Truly, though this girl did not yet +mean quite that, nevertheless she meant much to him--more, now, +than ever, as he rode beside her, glancing at her as often as he +dared, she in her corduroy riding-habit, so bravely manlike, yet +so essentially and revealingly woman, smiling, laughing, talking, +her eyes sparkling, the flush of a day of sun and summer breeze +warm in her cheeks. + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +Another Sunday man and horse and dog roved the Piedmont hills. +And again Daylight and Dede rode together. But this time her +surprise at meeting him was tinctured with suspicion; or rather, +her surprise was of another order. The previous Sunday had been +quite accidental, but his appearing a second time among her +favorite haunts hinted of more than the fortuitous. Daylight was +made to feel that she suspected him, and he, remembering that he +had seen a big rock quarry near Blair Park, stated offhand that +he was thinking of buying it. His one-time investment in a +brickyard had put the idea into his head--an idea that he decided +was a good one, for it enabled him to suggest that she ride along +with him to inspect the quarry. + +So several hours he spent in her company, in which she was much +the same girl as before, natural, unaffected, lighthearted, +smiling and laughing, a good fellow, talking horses with +unflagging enthusiasm, making friends with the crusty-tempered +Wolf, and expressing the desire to ride Bob, whom she declared +she was more in love with than ever. At this last Daylight +demurred. Bob was full of dangerous tricks, and he wouldn't +trust any one on him except his worst enemy. + +"You think, because I'm a girl, that I don't know anything +about horses," she flashed back. "But I've been thrown off and +bucked off enough not to be over-confident. And I'm not a fool. +I wouldn't get on a bucking horse. I've learned better. And I'm +not afraid of any other kind. And you say yourself that Bob +doesn't buck." + +"But you've never seen him cutting up didoes," Daylight said. + +"But you must remember I've seen a few others, and I've been on +several of them myself. I brought Mab here to electric cars, +locomotives, and automobiles. She was a raw range colt when she +came to me. Broken to saddle that was all. Besides, I won't +hurt your horse." + +Against his better judgment, Daylight gave in, and, on an +unfrequented stretch of road, changed saddles and bridles. + +"Remember, he's greased lightning," he warned, as he helped her +to mount. + +She nodded, while Bob pricked up his ears to the knowledge that +he had a strange rider on his back. The fun came quickly +enough--too quickly for Dede, who found herself against Bob's neck +as he pivoted around and bolted the other way. Daylight followed +on her horse and watched. He saw her check the animal quickly to +a standstill, and immediately, with rein across neck and a decisive +prod of the left spur, whirl him back the way he had come and +almost as swiftly. + +"Get ready to give him the quirt on the nose," Daylight called. + +But, too quickly for her, Bob whirled again, though this time, by +a severe effort, she saved herself from the undignified position +against his neck. His bolt was more determined, but she pulled +him into a prancing walk, and turned him roughly back with her +spurred heel. There was nothing feminine in the way she handled +him; her method was imperative and masculine. Had this not been +so, Daylight would have expected her to say she had had enough. +But that little preliminary exhibition had taught him something +of Dede's quality. And if it had not, a glance at her gray eyes, +just perceptibly angry with herself, and at her firm-set mouth, +would have told him the same thing. Daylight did not suggest +anything, while he hung almost gleefully upon her actions in +anticipation of what the fractious Bob was going to get. And Bob +got it, on his next whirl, or attempt, rather, for he was no more +than halfway around when the quirt met him smack on his tender +nose. There and then, in his bewilderment, surprise, and pain, +his fore feet, just skimming above the road, dropped down. + +"Great!" Daylight applauded. "A couple more will fix him. He's +too smart not to know when he's beaten." + +Again Bob tried. But this time he was barely quarter around when +the doubled quirt on his nose compelled him to drop his fore feet +to the road. Then, with neither rein nor spur, but by the mere +threat of the quirt, she straightened him out. + +Dede looked triumphantly at Daylight. + +"Let me give him a run?" she asked. + +Daylight nodded, and she shot down the road. He watched her out +of sight around the bend, and watched till she came into sight +returning. She certainly could sit her horse, was his thought, +and she was a sure enough hummer. God, she was the wife for a +man! Made most of them look pretty slim. And to think of her +hammering all week at a typewriter. That was no place for her. +She should be a man's wife, taking it easy, with silks and satins +and diamonds (his frontier notion of what befitted a wife +beloved), and dogs, and horses, and such things--"And we'll see, +Mr. Burning Daylight, what you and me can do about it," he +murmured to himself! and aloud to her:-- + +"You'll do, Miss Mason; you'll do. There's nothing too good in +horseflesh you don't deserve, a woman who can ride like that. +No; stay with him, and we'll jog along to the quarry." He +chuckled. "Say, he actually gave just the least mite of a +groan that last time you fetched him. Did you hear it? And did +you see the way he dropped his feet to the road--just like he'd +struck a stone wall. And he's got savvee enough to know from now +on that that same stone wall will be always there ready for him +to lam into." + +When he parted from her that afternoon, at the gate of the road +that led to Berkeley, he drew off to the edge of the intervening +clump of trees, where, unobserved, he watched her out of sight. +Then, turning to ride back into Oakland, a thought came to him +that made him grin ruefully as he muttered: "And now it's up to +me to make good and buy that blamed quarry. Nothing less than +that can give me an excuse for snooping around these hills." + +But the quarry was doomed to pass out of his plans for a time, +for on the following Sunday he rode alone. No Dede on a chestnut +sorrel came across the back-road from Berkeley that day, nor the +day a week later. Daylight was beside himself with impatience +and apprehension, though in the office he contained himself. He +noted no change in her, and strove to let none show in himself. +The same old monotonous routine went on, though now it was +irritating and maddening. Daylight found a big quarrel on his +hands with a world that wouldn't let a man behave toward his +stenographer after the way of all men and women. What was the +good of owning millions anyway? he demanded one day of the +desk-calendar, as she passed out after receiving his dictation. + +As the third week drew to a close and another desolate Sunday +confronted him, Daylight resolved to speak, office or no office. +And as was his nature, he went simply and directly to the point +She had finished her work with him, and was gathering her note +pad and pencils together to depart, when he said:-- + +"Oh, one thing more, Miss Mason, and I hope you won't mind my +being frank and straight out. You've struck me right along as a +sensible-minded girl, and I don't think you'll take offence at +what I'm going to say. You know how long you've been in the +office--it's years, now, several of them, anyway; and you know +I've always been straight and aboveboard with you. I've never +what you call--presumed. Because you were in my office I've +tried to be more careful than if--if you wasn't in my office--you +understand. But just the same, it don't make me any the less +human. I'm a lonely sort of a fellow--don't take that as a bid +for kindness. What I mean by it is to try and tell you just how +much those two rides with you have meant. And now I hope you +won't mind my just asking why you haven't been out riding the +last two Sundays?" + +He came to a stop and waited, feeling very warm and awkward, the +perspiration starting in tiny beads on his forehead. She did not +speak immediately, and he stepped across the room and raised the +window higher. + +"I have been riding," she answered; "in other directions." + +"But why...?" He failed somehow to complete the question. "Go +ahead and be frank with me," he urged. "Just as frank as I am +with you. Why didn't you ride in the Piedmont hills? I hunted +for you everywhere. + +"And that is just why." She smiled, and looked him straight in +the eyes for a moment, then dropped her own. "Surely, you +understand, Mr. Harnish." + +He shook his head glumly. + +"I do, and I don't. I ain't used to city ways by a long shot. +There's things one mustn't do, which I don't mind as long as I +don't want to do them." + +"But when you do?" she asked quickly. + +"Then I do them." His lips had drawn firmly with this affirmation +of will, but the next instant he was amending the statement "That +is, I mostly do. But what gets me is the things you mustn't do +when they're not wrong and they won't hurt anybody--this riding, +for instance." + +She played nervously with a pencil for a time, as if debating her +reply, while he waited patiently. + +"This riding," she began; "it's not what they call the right thing. +I leave it to you. You know the world. You are Mr. Harnish, the +millionaire--" + +"Gambler," he broke in harshly + +She nodded acceptance of his term and went on. + +"And I'm a stenographer in your office--" + +"You're a thousand times better than me--" he attempted to +interpolate, but was in turn interrupted. + +"It isn't a question of such things. It's a simple and fairly +common situation that must be considered. I work for you. And +it isn't what you or I might think, but what other persons will +think. And you don't need to be told any more about that. You +know yourself." + +Her cool, matter-of-fact speech belied her--or so Daylight +thought, looking at her perturbed feminineness, at the rounded +lines of her figure, the breast that deeply rose and fell, and at +the color that was now excited in her cheeks. + +"I'm sorry I frightened you out of your favorite stamping +ground," he said rather aimlessly. + +"You didn't frighten me," she retorted, with a touch of fire. +"I'm not a silly seminary girl. I've taken care of myself for a +long time now, and I've done it without being frightened. We +were together two Sundays, and I'm sure I wasn't frightened of +Bob, or you. It isn't that. I have no fears of taking care of +myself, but the world insists on taking care of one as well. +That's the trouble. It's what the world would have to say about +me and my employer meeting regularly and riding in the hills on +Sundays. It's funny, but it's so. I could ride with one of the +clerks without remark, but with you--no." + +"But the world don't know and don't need to know," he cried. + +"Which makes it worse, in a way, feeling guilty of nothing and +yet sneaking around back-roads with all the feeling of doing +something wrong. It would be finer and braver for me +publicly..." + +"To go to lunch with me on a week-day," Daylight said, divining +the drift of her uncompleted argument. + +She nodded. + +"I didn't have that quite in mind, but it will do. I'd prefer +doing the brazen thing and having everybody know it, to doing the +furtive thing and being found out. Not that I'm asking to be +invited to lunch," she added, with a smile; "but I'm sure you +understand my position." + +"Then why not ride open and aboveboard with me in the hills?" he +urged. + +She shook her head with what he imagined was just the faintest +hint of regret, and he went suddenly and almost maddeningly +hungry for her. + +"Look here, Miss Mason, I know you don't like this talking over +of things in the office. Neither do I. It's part of the whole +thing, I guess; a man ain't supposed to talk anything but +business with his stenographer. Will you ride with me next +Sunday, and we can talk it over thoroughly then and reach some +sort of a conclusion. Out in the hills is the place where you +can talk something besides business. I guess you've seen enough +of me to know I'm pretty square. I--I do honor and respect you, +and... and all that, and I .." He was beginning to flounder, and +the hand that rested on the desk blotter was visibly trembling. +He strove to pull himself together. "I just want to harder than +anything ever in my life before. I--I--I can't explain myself, +but I do, that's all. Will you?--Just next Sunday? To-morrow?" + +Nor did he dream that her low acquiescence was due, as much as +anything else, to the beads of sweat on his forehead, his +trembling hand, and his all too-evident general distress. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +"Of course, there's no way of telling what anybody wants from +what they say." Daylight rubbed Bob's rebellious ear with his +quirt and pondered with dissatisfaction the words he had just +uttered. They did not say what he had meant them to say. "What +I'm driving at is that you say flatfooted that you won't meet me +again, and you give your reasons, but how am I to know they are +your real reasons? Mebbe you just don't want to get acquainted +with me, and won't say so for fear of hurting my feelings. Don't +you see? I'm the last man in the world to shove in where I'm not +wanted. And if I thought you didn't care a whoop to see anything +more of me, why, I'd clear out so blamed quick you couldn't see +me for smoke." + +Dede smiled at him in acknowledgment of his words, but rode on +silently. And that smile, he thought, was the most sweetly +wonderful smile he had ever seen. There was a difference in it, +he assured himself, from any smile she had ever given him before. + +It was the smile of one who knew him just a little bit, of one +who was just the least mite acquainted with him. Of course, he +checked himself up the next moment, it was unconscious on her +part. It was sure to come in the intercourse of any two persons. + +Any stranger, a business man, a clerk, anybody after a few casual +meetings would show similar signs of friendliness. It was bound +to happen, but in her case it made more impression on him; and, +besides, it was such a sweet and wonderful smile. Other women he +had known had never smiled like that; he was sure of it. + +It had been a happy day. Daylight had met her on the back-road +from Berkeley, and they had had hours together. It was only now, +with the day drawing to a close and with them approaching the +gate of the road to Berkeley, that he had broached the important +subject. + +She began her answer to his last contention, and he listened +gratefully. + +"But suppose, just suppose, that the reasons I have given are the +only ones?--that there is no question of my not wanting to know +you?" + +"Then I'd go on urging like Sam Scratch," he said quickly. +"Because, you see, I've always noticed that folks that incline to +anything are much more open to hearing the case stated. But if +you did have that other reason up your sleeve, if you didn't want +to know me, if--if, well, if you thought my feelings oughtn't to +be hurt just because you had a good job with me..." Here, his +calm consideration of a possibility was swamped by the fear that +it was an actuality, and he lost the thread of his reasoning. +"Well, anyway, all you have to do is to say the word and I'll +clear out. + +"And with no hard feelings; it would be just a case of bad luck +for me. So be honest, Miss Mason, please, and tell me if that's +the reason--I almost got a hunch that it is." + +She glanced up at him, her eyes abruptly and slightly moist, half +with hurt, half with anger. + +"Oh, but that isn't fair," she cried. "You give me the choice of +lying to you and hurting you in order to protect myself by +getting rid of you, or of throwing away my protection by telling +you the truth, for then you, as you said yourself, would stay and +urge." + +Her cheeks were flushed, her lips tremulous, but she continued to +look him frankly in the eyes. + +Daylight smiled grimly with satisfaction. + +"I'm real glad, Miss Mason, real glad for those words." + +"But they won't serve you," she went on hastily. "They can't +serve you. I refuse to let them. This is our last ride, and... +here is the gate." + +Ranging her mare alongside, she bent, slid the catch, and +followed the opening gate. + +"No; please, no," she said, as Daylight started to follow. + +Humbly acquiescent, he pulled Bob back, and the gate swung shut +between them. But there was more to say, and she did not ride +on. + +"Listen, Miss Mason," he said, in a low voice that shook with +sincerity; "I want to assure you of one thing. I'm not just +trying to fool around with you. I like you, I want you, and I +was never more in earnest in my life. There's nothing wrong in +my intentions or anything like that. What I mean is strictly +honorable--" + +But the expression of her face made him stop. She was angry, and +she was laughing at the same time. + +"The last thing you should have said," she cried. "It's like +a--a matrimonial bureau: intentions strictly honorable; object, +matrimony. But it's no more than I deserved. This is what I +suppose you call urging like Sam Scratch." + +The tan had bleached out of Daylight's skin since the time he +came to live under city roofs, so that the flush of blood showed +readily as it crept up his neck past the collar and overspread +his face. Nor in his exceeding discomfort did he dream that she +was looking upon him at that moment with more kindness than at +any time that day. It was not in her experience to behold big +grown-up men who blushed like boys, and already she repented the +sharpness into which she had been surprised. + +"Now, look here, Miss Mason," he began, slowly and stumblingly at +first, but accelerating into a rapidity of utterance that was +almost incoherent; "I'm a rough sort of a man, I know that, and I +know I don't know much of anything. I've never had any training +in nice things. I've never made love before, and I've never been +in love before either--and I don't know how to go about it any +more than a thundering idiot. What you want to do is get behind +my tomfool words and get a feel of the man that's behind them. +That's me, and I mean all right, if I don't know how to go about +it." + +Dede Mason had quick, birdlike ways, almost flitting from mood to +mood; and she was all contrition on the instant. + +"Forgive me for laughing," she said across the gate. "It wasn't +really laughter. I was surprised off my guard, and hurt, too. +You see, Mr. Harnish, I've not been..." + +She paused, in sudden fear of completing the thought into which +her birdlike precipitancy had betrayed her. + +"What you mean is that you've not been used to such sort of +proposing," Daylight said; "a sort of on-the-run, 'Howdy, +glad-to-make-your-acquaintance, won't-you-be-mine' proposition." + +She nodded and broke into laughter, in which he joined, and which +served to pass the awkwardness away. He gathered heart at this, +and went on in greater confidence, with cooler head and tongue. + +"There, you see, you prove my case. You've had experience in +such matters. I don't doubt you've had slathers of proposals. +Well, I haven't, and I'm like a fish out of water. Besides, this +ain't a proposal. It's a peculiar situation, that's all, and I'm +in a corner. I've got enough plain horse-sense to know a man +ain't supposed to argue marriage with a girl as a reason for +getting acquainted with her. And right there was where I was in +the hole. Number one, I can't get acquainted with you in the +office. Number two, you say you won't see me out of the office +to give me a chance. Number three, your reason is that folks +will talk because you work for me. Number four, I just got to +get acquainted with you, and I just got to get you to see that I +mean fair and all right. Number five, there you are on one side +the gate getting ready to go, and me here on the other side the +gate pretty desperate and bound to say something to make you +reconsider. Number six, I said it. And now and finally, I just +do want you to reconsider." + +And, listening to him, pleasuring in the sight of his earnest, +perturbed face and in the simple, homely phrases that but +emphasized his earnestness and marked the difference between him +and the average run of men she had known, she forgot to listen +and lost herself in her own thoughts. The love of a strong man +is ever a lure to a normal woman, and never more strongly did +Dede feel the lure than now, looking across the closed gate at +Burning Daylight. Not that she would ever dream of marrying +him--she had a score of reasons against it; but why not at least +see more of him? He was certainly not repulsive to her. On the +contrary, she liked him, had always liked him from the day she +had first seen him and looked upon his lean Indian face and into +his flashing Indian eyes. He was a figure of a man in more ways +than his mere magnificent muscles. Besides, Romance had gilded +him, this doughty, rough-hewn adventurer of the North, this man +of many deeds and many millions, who had come down out of the +Arctic to wrestle and fight so masterfully with the men of the +South. + +Savage as a Red Indian, gambler and profligate, a man without +morals, whose vengeance was never glutted and who stamped on the +faces of all who opposed him--oh, yes, she knew all the hard +names he had been called. Yet she was not afraid of him. There +was more than that in the connotation of his name. Burning +Daylight called up other things as well. They were there in the +newspapers, the magazines, and the books on the Klondike. When +all was said, Burning Daylight had a mighty connotation--one to +touch any woman's imagination, as it touched hers, the gate +between them, listening to the wistful and impassioned simplicity +of his speech. Dede was after all a woman, with a woman's +sex-vanity, and it was this vanity that was pleased by the fact +that such a man turned in his need to her. + +And there was more that passed through her mind--sensations of +tiredness and loneliness; trampling squadrons and shadowy armies +of vague feelings and vaguer prompting; and deeper and dimmer +whisperings and echoings, the flutterings of forgotten +generations crystallized into being and fluttering anew and +always, undreamed and unguessed, subtle and potent, the spirit +and essence of life that under a thousand deceits and masks +forever makes for life. It was a strong temptation, just to ride +with this man in the hills. It would be that only and nothing +more, for she was firmly convinced that his way of life could +never be her way. On the other hand, she was vexed by none of +the ordinary feminine fears and timidities. That she could take +care of herself under any and all circumstances she never +doubted. Then why not? It was such a little thing, after all. + +She led an ordinary, humdrum life at best. She ate and slept and +worked, and that was about all. As if in review, her anchorite +existence passed before her: six days of the week spent in the +office and in journeying back and forth on the ferry; the hours +stolen before bedtime for snatches of song at the piano, for +doing her own special laundering, for sewing and mending and +casting up of meagre accounts; the two evenings a week of social +diversion she permitted herself; the other stolen hours and +Saturday afternoons spent with her brother at the hospital; and +the seventh day, Sunday, her day of solace, on Mab's back, out +among the blessed hills. But it was lonely, this solitary +riding. Nobody of her acquaintance rode. Several girls at the +University had been persuaded into trying it, but after a Sunday +or two on hired livery hacks they had lost interest. There was +Madeline, who bought her own horse and rode enthusiastically for +several months, only to get married and go away to live in +Southern California. After years of it, one did get tired of +this eternal riding alone. + +He was such a boy, this big giant of a millionaire who had half +the rich men of San Francisco afraid of him. Such a boy! She +had never imagined this side of his nature. + +"How do folks get married?" he was saying. "Why, number one, +they meet; number two, like each other's looks; number three, get +acquainted; and number four, get married or not, according to how +they like each other after getting acquainted. But how in +thunder we're to have a chance to find out whether we like each +other enough is beyond my savvee, unless we make that chance +ourselves. I'd come to see you, call on you, only I know you're +just rooming or boarding, and that won't do." + +Suddenly, with a change of mood, the situation appeared to Dede +ridiculously absurd. She felt a desire to laugh--not angrily, +not hysterically, but just jolly. It was so funny. Herself, the +stenographer, he, the notorious and powerful gambling +millionaire, and the gate between them across which poured his +argument of people getting acquainted and married. Also, it was +an impossible situation. On the face of it, she could not go on +with it. This program of furtive meetings in the hills would +have to discontinue. There would never be another meeting. And +if, denied this, he tried to woo her in the office, she would be +compelled to lose a very good position, and that would be an end +of the episode. It was not nice to contemplate; but the world of +men, especially in the cities, she had not found particularly +nice. She had not worked for her living for years without losing +a great many of her illusions. + +"We won't do any sneaking or hiding around about it," Daylight +was explaining. "We'll ride around as bold if you please, and if +anybody sees us, why, let them. If they talk--well, so long as +our consciences are straight we needn't worry. Say the word, and +Bob will have on his back the happiest man alive." + +She shook her head, pulled in the mare, who was impatient to be +off for home, and glanced significantly at the lengthening +shadows. + +"It's getting late now, anyway," Daylight hurried on, "and we've +settled nothing after all. Just one more Sunday, anyway--that's +not asking much--to settle it in." + +"We've had all day," she said. + +"But we started to talk it over too late. We'll tackle it +earlier next time. This is a big serious proposition with me, I +can tell you. Say next Sunday?" + +"Are men ever fair?" she asked. "You know thoroughly well that +by 'next Sunday' you mean many Sundays." + +"Then let it be many Sundays," he cried recklessly, while she +thought that she had never seen him looking handsomer. "Say the +word. Only say the word. Next Sunday at the quarry..." + +She gathered the reins into her hand preliminary to starting. + +"Good night," she said, "and--" + +"Yes," he whispered, with just the faintest touch of +impressiveness. + +"Yes," she said, her voice low but distinct. + +At the same moment she put the mare into a canter and went down +the road without a backward glance, intent on an analysis of her +own feelings. With her mind made up to say no--and to the last +instant she had been so resolved--her lips nevertheless had said +yes. Or at least it seemed the lips. She had not intended to +consent. Then why had she? Her first surprise and bewilderment +at so wholly unpremeditated an act gave way to consternation as +she considered its consequences. She knew that Burning Daylight +was not a man to be trifled with, that under his simplicity and +boyishness he was essentially a dominant male creature, and that +she had pledged herself to a future of inevitable stress and +storm. And again she demanded of herself why she had said yes at +the very moment when it had been farthest from her intention. + + + +CHAPTER XV + +Life at the office went on much the way it had always gone. +Never, by word or look, did they acknowledge that the situation +was in any wise different from what it had always been. Each +Sunday saw the arrangement made for the following Sunday's ride; +nor was this ever referred to in the office. Daylight was +fastidiously chivalrous on this point. He did not want to lose +her from the office. The sight of her at her work was to him an +undiminishing joy. Nor did he abuse this by lingering over +dictation or by devising extra work that would detain her longer +before his eyes. But over and beyond such sheer selfishness of +conduct was his love of fair play. He scorned to utilize the +accidental advantages of the situation. Somewhere within him +was a higher appeasement of love than mere possession. He wanted +to be loved for himself, with a fair field for both sides. + +On the other hand, had he been the most artful of schemers he +could not have pursued a wiser policy. Bird-like in her love of +individual freedom, the last woman in the world to be bullied in +her affections, she keenly appreciated the niceness of his +attitude. She did this consciously, but deeper than all +consciousness, and intangible as gossamer, were the effects of +this. All unrealizable, save for some supreme moment, did the +web of Daylight's personality creep out and around her. Filament +by filament, these secret and undreamable bonds were being +established. They it was that could have given the cue to her +saying yes when she had meant to say no. And in some such +fashion, in some future crisis of greater moment, might she not, +in violation of all dictates of sober judgment, give another +unintentional consent? + +Among other good things resulting from his growing intimacy with +Dede, was Daylight's not caring to drink so much as formerly. +There was a lessening in desire for alcohol of which even he at +last became aware. In a way she herself was the needed +inhibition. The thought of her was like a cocktail. Or, at any +rate, she substituted for a certain percentage of cocktails. +From the strain of his unnatural city existence and of his +intense gambling operations, he had drifted on to the cocktail +route. A wall must forever be built to give him easement from +the high pitch, and Dede became a part of this wall. Her +personality, her laughter, the intonations of her voice, the +impossible golden glow of her eyes, the light on her hair, her +form, her dress, her actions on horseback, her merest physical +mannerisms--all, pictured over and over in his mind and dwelt +upon, served to take the place of many a cocktail or long Scotch +and soda. + +In spite of their high resolve, there was a very measurable +degree of the furtive in their meetings. In essence, these +meetings were stolen. They did not ride out brazenly together in +the face of the world. On the contrary, they met always +unobserved, she riding across the many-gated backroad from +Berkeley to meet him halfway. Nor did they ride on any save +unfrequented roads, preferring to cross the second range of hills +and travel among a church-going farmer folk who would scarcely +have recognized even Daylight from his newspaper photographs. + +He found Dede a good horsewoman--good not merely in riding but in +endurance. There were days when they covered sixty, seventy, and +even eighty miles; nor did Dede ever claim any day too long, +nor--another strong recommendation to Daylight--did the hardest +day ever the slightest chafe of the chestnut sorrel's back. "A +sure enough hummer," was Daylight's stereotyped but ever +enthusiastic verdict to himself. + +They learned much of each other on these long, uninterrupted +rides. They had nothing much to talk about but themselves, and, +while she received a liberal education concerning Arctic travel +and gold-mining, he, in turn, touch by touch, painted an ever +clearer portrait of her. She amplified the ranch life of her +girlhood, prattling on about horses and dogs and persons and +things until it was as if he saw the whole process of her growth +and her becoming. All this he was able to trace on through the +period of her father's failure and death, when she had been +compelled to leave the university and go into office work. The +brother, too, she spoke of, and of her long struggle to have him +cured and of her now fading hopes. Daylight decided that it was +easier to come to an understanding of her than he had +anticipated, though he was always aware that behind and under all +he knew of her was the mysterious and baffling woman and sex. +There, he was humble enough to confess to himself, was a +chartless, shoreless sea, about which he knew nothing and which +he must nevertheless somehow navigate. + +His lifelong fear of woman had originated out of +non-understanding and had also prevented him from reaching any +understanding. Dede on horseback, Dede gathering poppies on a +summer hillside, Dede taking down dictation in her swift +shorthand strokes--all this was comprehensible to him. But he +did not know the Dede who so quickly changed from mood to mood, +the Dede who refused steadfastly to ride with him and then +suddenly consented, the Dede in whose eyes the golden glow +forever waxed and waned and whispered hints and messages that +were not for his ears. In all such things he saw the glimmering +profundities of sex, acknowledged their lure, and accepted them +as incomprehensible. + +There was another side of her, too, of which he was consciously +ignorant. She knew the books, was possessed of that mysterious +and awful thing called "culture." And yet, what continually +surprised him was that this culture was never obtruded on their +intercourse. She did not talk books, nor art, nor similar +folderols. Homely minded as he was himself, he found her almost +equally homely minded. She liked the simple and the +out-of-doors, the horses and the hills, the sunlight and the +flowers. He found himself in a partly new flora, to which she +was the guide, pointing out to him all the varieties of the oaks, +making him acquainted with the madrono and the manzanita, +teaching him the names, habits, and habitats of unending series +of wild flowers, shrubs, and ferns. Her keen woods eye was +another delight to him. It had been trained in the open, and +little escaped it. One day, as a test, they strove to see which +could discover the greater number of birds' nests. And he, who +had always prided himself on his own acutely trained observation, +found himself hard put to keep his score ahead. At the end of +the day he was but three nests in the lead, one of which she +challenged stoutly and of which even he confessed serious doubt. +He complimented her and told her that her success must be due to +the fact that she was a bird herself, with all a bird's keen +vision and quick-flashing ways. + +The more he knew her the more he became convinced of this +birdlike quality in her. That was why she liked to ride, he +argued. It was the nearest approach to flying. A field of +poppies, a glen of ferns, a row of poplars on a country lane, the +tawny brown of a hillside, the shaft of sunlight on a distant +peak--all such were provocative of quick joys which seemed to him +like so many outbursts of song. Her joys were in little things, +and she seemed always singing. Even in sterner things it was the +same. When she rode Bob and fought with that magnificent brute +for mastery, the qualities of an eagle were uppermost in her. + +These quick little joys of hers were sources of joy to him. He +joyed in her joy, his eyes as excitedly fixed on her as bears +were fixed on the object of her attention. Also through her he +came to a closer discernment and keener appreciation of nature. +She showed him colors in the landscape that he would never have +dreamed were there. He had known only the primary colors. All +colors of red were red. Black was black, and brown was just +plain brown until it became yellow, when it was no longer brown. +Purple he had always imagined was red, something like blood, +until she taught him better. Once they rode out on a high hill +brow where wind-blown poppies blazed about their horses' knees, +and she was in an ecstasy over the lines of the many distances. +Seven, she counted, and he, who had gazed on landscapes all his +life, for the first time learned what a "distance" was. After +that, and always, he looked upon the face of nature with a more +seeing eye, learning a delight of his own in surveying the +serried ranks of the upstanding ranges, and in slow contemplation +of the purple summer mists that haunted the languid creases of +the distant hills. + +But through it all ran the golden thread of love. At first he +had been content just to ride with Dede and to be on comradely +terms with her; but the desire and the need for her increased. +The more he knew of her, the higher was his appraisal. Had she +been reserved and haughty with him, or been merely a giggling, +simpering creature of a woman, it would have been different. +Instead, she amazed him with her simplicity and wholesomeness, +with her great store of comradeliness. This latter was the +unexpected. He had never looked upon woman in that way. Woman, +the toy; woman, the harpy; woman, the necessary wife and mother +of the race's offspring,--all this had been his expectation and +understanding of woman. But woman, the comrade and playfellow +and joyfellow--this was what Dede had surprised him in. And the +more she became worth while, the more ardently his love burned, +unconsciously shading his voice with caresses, and with equal +unconsciousness flaring up signal fires in his eyes. Nor was she +blind to it yet, like many women before her, she thought to play +with the pretty fire and escape the consequent conflagration. + +"Winter will soon be coming on," she said regretfully, and with +provocation, one day, "and then there won't be any more riding." + +"But I must see you in the winter just the same," he cried +hastily. + +She shook her head. + +"We have been very happy and all that," she said, looking at him +with steady frankness. "I remember your foolish argument for +getting acquainted, too; but it won't lead to anything; it can't. +I know myself too well to be mistaken." + +Her face was serious, even solicitous with desire not to hurt, +and her eyes were unwavering, but in them was the light, golden +and glowing--the abyss of sex into which he was now unafraid to +gaze. + +"I've been pretty good," he declared. "I leave it to you if I +haven't. It's been pretty hard, too, I can tell you. You just +think it over. Not once have I said a word about love to you, +and me loving you all the time. That's going some for a man +that's used to having his own way. I'm somewhat of a rusher when +it comes to travelling. I reckon I'd rush God Almighty if it +came to a race over the ice. And yet I didn't rush you. I guess +this fact is an indication of how much I do love you. Of course +I want you to marry me. Have I said a word about it, though? +Nary a chirp, nary a flutter. I've been quiet and good, though +it's almost made me sick at times, this keeping quiet. I haven't +asked you to marry me. I'm not asking you now. Oh, not but what +you satisfy me. I sure know you're the wife for me. But how +about myself? Do you know me well enough know your own mind?" +He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, and I ain't going to +take chances on it now. You've got to know for sure whether you +think you could get along with me or not, and I'm playing a slow +conservative game. I ain't a-going to lose for overlooking my +hand." + +This was love-making of a sort beyond Dede's experience. Nor had +she ever heard of anything like it. Furthermore, its lack of +ardor carried with it a shock which she could overcome only by +remembering the way his hand had trembled in the past, and by +remembering the passion she had seen that very day and every day +in his eyes, or heard in his voice. Then, too, she recollected +what he had said to her weeks before: "Maybe you don't know what +patience is," he had said, and thereat told her of shooting +squirrels with a big rifle the time he and Elijah Davis had +starved on the Stewart River. + +"So you see," he urged, "just for a square deal we've got to see +some more of each other this winter. Most likely your mind ain't +made up yet--" + +"But it is," she interrupted. "I wouldn't dare permit myself to +care for you. Happiness, for me, would not lie that way. I like +you, Mr. Harnish, and all that, but it can never be more than +that." + +"It's because you don't like my way of living," he charged, +thinking in his own mind of the sensational joyrides and general +profligacy with which the newspapers had credited him--thinking +this, and wondering whether or not, in maiden modesty, she would +disclaim knowledge of it. + +To his surprise, her answer was flat and uncompromising. + +"No; I don't." + +"I know I've been brash on some of those rides that got into the +papers," he began his defense, "and that I've been travelling +with a lively crowd." + +"I don't mean that," she said, "though I know about it too, and +can't say that I like it. But it is your life in general, your +business. There are women in the world who could marry a man +like you and be happy, but I couldn't. And the more I cared for +such a man, the more unhappy I should be. You see, my +unhappiness, in turn, would tend to make him unhappy. I should +make a mistake, and he would make an equal mistake, though his +would not be so hard on him because he would still have his +business." + +"Business!" Daylight gasped. "What's wrong with my business? I +play fair and square. There's nothing under hand about it, which +can't be said of most businesses, whether of the big corporations +or of the cheating, lying, little corner-grocerymen. I play the +straight rules of the game, and I don't have to lie or cheat or +break my word." + +Dede hailed with relief the change in the conversation and at the +same time the opportunity to speak her mind. + +"In ancient Greece," she began pedantically, "a man was judged a +good citizen who built houses, planted trees--" She did not +complete the quotation, but drew the conclusion hurriedly. "How +many houses have you built? How many trees have you planted?" + +He shook his head noncommittally, for he had not grasped the +drift of the argument. + +"Well," she went on, "two winters ago you cornered coal--" + +"Just locally," he grinned reminiscently, "just locally. And I +took advantage of the car shortage and the strike in British +Columbia." + +"But you didn't dig any of that coal yourself. Yet you forced it +up four dollars a ton and made a lot of money. That was your +business. You made the poor people pay more for their coal. You +played fair, as you said, but you put your hands down into all +their pockets and took their money away from them. I know. I +burn a grate fire in my sitting-room at Berkeley. And instead of +eleven dollars a ton for Rock Wells, I paid fifteen dollars that +winter. You robbed me of four dollars. I could stand it. But +there were thousands of the very poor who could not stand it. +You might call it legal gambling, but to me it was downright +robbery." + +Daylight was not abashed. This was no revelation to him. He +remembered the old woman who made wine in the Sonoma hills and +the millions like her who were made to be robbed. + +"Now look here, Miss Mason, you've got me there slightly, I +grant. But you've seen me in business a long time now, and you +know I don't make a practice of raiding the poor people. I go +after the big fellows. They're my meat. They rob the poor, and +I rob them. That coal deal was an accident. I wasn't after the +poor people in that, but after the big fellows, and I got them, +too. The poor people happened to get in the way and got hurt, +that was all. + +"Don't you see," he went on, "the whole game is a gamble. +Everybody gambles in one way or another. The farmer gambles +against the weather and the market on his crops. So does the +United States Steel Corporation. The business of lots of men is +straight robbery of the poor people. But I've never made that my +business. You know that. I've always gone after the robbers." + +"I missed my point," she admitted. "Wait a minute." + +And for a space they rode in silence. + +"I see it more clearly than I can state it, but it's something +like this. There is legitimate work, and there's work that--well, +that isn't legitimate. The farmer works the soil and produces +grain. He's making something that is good for humanity. He +actually, in a way, creates something, the grain that will fill +the mouths of the hungry." + +"And then the railroads and market-riggers and the rest proceed +to rob him of that same grain,"--Daylight broke in Dede smiled +and held up her hand. + +"Wait a minute. You'll make me lose my point. It doesn't hurt +if they rob him of all of it so that he starves to death. The +point is that the wheat he grew is still in the world. It +exists. Don't you see? The farmer created something, say ten +tons of wheat, and those ten tons exist. The railroads haul the +wheat to market, to the mouths that will eat it. This also is +legitimate. It's like some one bringing you a glass of water, +or taking a cinder out of your eye. Something has been done, in +a way been created, just like the wheat." + +"But the railroads rob like Sam Scratch," Daylight objected. + +"Then the work they do is partly legitimate and partly not. Now +we come to you. You don't create anything. Nothing new exists +when you're done with your business. Just like the coal. You +didn't dig it. You didn't haul it to market. You didn't deliver +it. Don't you see? that's what I meant by planting the trees +and building the houses. You haven't planted one tree nor built +a single house." + +"I never guessed there was a woman in the world who could talk +business like that," he murmured admiringly. "And you've got me +on that point. But there's a lot to be said on my side just the +same. Now you listen to me. I'm going to talk under three +heads. Number one: We live a short time, the best of us, and +we're a long time dead. Life is a big gambling game. Some are +born lucky and some are born unlucky. Everybody sits in at the +table, and everybody tries to rob everybody else. Most of them +get robbed. They're born suckers. + +"Fellow like me comes along and sizes up the proposition. I've got +two choices. I can herd with the suckers, or I can herd with the +robbers. As a sucker, I win nothing. Even the crusts of bread +are snatched out of my mouth by the robbers. I work hard all my +days, and die working. And I ain't never had a flutter. I've had +nothing but work, work, work. They talk about the dignity of +labor. I tell you there ain't no dignity in that sort of labor. +My other choice is to herd with the robbers, and I herd with them. +I play that choice wide open to win. I get the automobiles, and +the porterhouse steaks, and the soft beds. + +"Number two: There ain't much difference between playing halfway +robber like the railroad hauling that farmer's wheat to market, +and playing all robber and robbing the robbers like I do. And, +besides, halfway robbery is too slow a game for me to sit in. +You don't win quick enough for me." + +"But what do you want to win for?" Dede demanded. "You have +millions and millions, already. You can't ride in more than one +automobile at a time, sleep in more than one bed at a time." + +"Number three answers that," he said, "and here it is: Men and +things are so made that they have different likes. A rabbit +likes a vegetarian diet. A lynx likes meat. Ducks swim; +chickens are scairt of water. One man collects postage stamps, +another man collects butterflies. This man goes in for +paintings, that man goes in for yachts, and some other fellow for +hunting big game. One man thinks horse-racing is It, with a big +I, and another man finds the biggest satisfaction in actresses. +They can't help these likes. They have them, and what are they +going to do about it? Now I like gambling. I like to play the +game. I want to play it big and play it quick. I'm just made +that way. And I play it." + +"But why can't you do good with all your money?" + +Daylight laughed. + +"Doing good with your money! It's like slapping God in the face, +as much as to tell him that he don't know how to run his world +and that you'll be much obliged if he'll stand out of the way and +give you a chance. Thinking about God doesn't keep me sitting up +nights, so I've got another way of looking at it. Ain't it +funny, to go around with brass knuckles and a big club breaking +folks' heads and taking their money away from them until I've got +a pile, and then, repenting of my ways, going around and +bandaging up the heads the other robbers are breaking? I leave +it to you. That's what doing good with money amounts to. Every +once in a while some robber turns soft-hearted and takes to +driving an ambulance. That's what Carnegie did. He smashed +heads in pitched battles at Homestead, regular wholesale +head-breaker he was, held up the suckers for a few hundred +million, and now he goes around dribbling it back to them. +funny? I leave it to you." + +He rolled a cigarette and watched her half curiously, half +amusedly. His replies and harsh generalizations of a harsh +school were disconcerting, and she came back to her earlier +position. + +"I can't argue with you, and you know that. No matter how right +a woman is, men have such a way about them well, what they say +sounds most convincing, and yet the woman is still certain they +are wrong. But there is one thing--the creative joy. Call it +gambling if you will, but just the same it seems to me more +satisfying to create something, make something, than just to roll +dice out of a dice-box all day long. Why, sometimes, for +exercise, or when I've got to pay fifteen dollars for coal, I +curry Mab and give her a whole half hour's brushing. And when I +see her coat clean and shining and satiny, I feel a satisfaction +in what I've done. So it must be with the man who builds a house +or plants a tree. He can look at it. He made it. It's his +handiwork. Even if somebody like you comes along and takes his +tree away from him, still it is there, and still did he make it. +You can't rob him of that, Mr. Harnish, with all your millions. +It's the creative joy, and it's a higher joy than mere gambling. +Haven't you ever made things yourself--a log cabin up in the +Yukon, or a canoe, or raft, or something? And don't you remember +how satisfied you were, how good you felt, while you were doing +it and after you had it done?" + +While she spoke his memory was busy with the associations she +recalled. He saw the deserted flat on the river bank by the +Klondike, and he saw the log cabins and warehouses spring up, and +all the log structures he had built, and his sawmills working +night and day on three shifts. + +"Why, dog-gone it, Miss Mason, you're right--in a way. I've +built hundreds of houses up there, and I remember I was proud and +glad to see them go up. I'm proud now, when I remember them. +And there was Ophir--the most God-forsaken moose-pasture of a +creek you ever laid eyes on. I made that into the big Ophir. +Why, I ran the water in there from the Rinkabilly, eighty miles +away. They all said I couldn't, but I did it, and I did it by +myself. The dam and the flume cost me four million. But you +should have seen that Ophir--power plants, electric lights, and +hundreds of men on the pay-roll, working night and day. I guess +I do get an inkling of what you mean by making a thing. I made +Ophir, and by God, she was a sure hummer--I beg your pardon. I +didn't mean to cuss. But that Ophir!--I sure am proud of her +now, just as the last time I laid eyes on her." + +"And you won something there that was more than mere money," Dede +encouraged. "Now do you know what I would do if I had lots of +money and simply had to go on playing at business? Take all the +southerly and westerly slopes of these bare hills. I'd buy them +in and plant eucalyptus on them. I'd do it for the joy of doing +it anyway; but suppose I had that gambling twist in me which you +talk about, why, I'd do it just the same and make money out of +the trees. And there's my other point again. Instead of raising +the price of coal without adding an ounce of coal to the market +supply, I'd be making thousands and thousands of cords of +firewood--making something where nothing was before. And +everybody who ever crossed on the ferries would look up at these +forested hills and be made glad. Who was made glad by your +adding four dollars a ton to Rock Wells?" + +It was Daylight's turn to be silent for a time while she waited +an answer. + +"Would you rather I did things like that?" he asked at last. + +"It would be better for the world, and better for you," she +answered noncommittally. + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +All week every one in the office knew that something new and big +was afoot in Daylight's mind. Beyond some deals of no +importance, he had not been interested in anything for several +months. But now he went about in an almost unbroken brown study, +made unexpected and lengthy trips across the bay to Oakland, or +sat at his desk silent and motionless for hours. He seemed +particularly happy with what occupied his mind. At times men +came in and conferred with him--and with new faces and differing +in type from those that usually came to see him. + +On Sunday Dede learned all about it. "I've been thinking a lot +of our talk," he began, "and I've got an idea I'd like to give it +a flutter. And I've got a proposition to make your hair stand +up. It's what you call legitimate, and at the same time it's the +gosh-dangdest gamble a man ever went into. How about planting +minutes wholesale, and making two minutes grow where one minute +grew before? Oh, yes, and planting a few trees, too--say several +million of them. You remember the quarry I made believe I was +looking at? Well, I'm going to buy it. I'm going to buy these +hills, too, clear from here around to Berkeley and down the other +way to San Leandro. I own a lot of them already, for that +matter. But mum is the word. I'll be buying a long time to come +before anything much is guessed about it, and I don't want the +market to jump up out of sight. You see that hill over there. +It's my hill running clear down its slopes through Piedmont and +halfway along those rolling hills into Oakland. And it's nothing +to all the things I'm going to buy." + +He paused triumphantly. "And all to make two minutes grow where +one grew before?" Dede queried, at the same time laughing +heartily at his affectation of mystery. + +He stared at her fascinated. She had such a frank, boyish way of +throwing her head back when she laughed. And her teeth were an +unending delight to him. Not small, yet regular and firm, +without a blemish, he considered then the healthiest, whitest, +prettiest teeth he had ever seen. And for months he had been +comparing them with the teeth of every woman he met. + +It was not until her laughter was over that he was able to +continue. + +"The ferry system between Oakland and San Francisco is the worst +one-horse concern in the United States. You cross on it every +day, six days in the week. That's say, twenty-five days a month, +or three hundred a year. Now long does it take you one way? +Forty minutes, if you're lucky. I'm going to put you across in +twenty minutes. If that ain't making two minutes grow where one +grew before, knock off my head with little apples. I'll save you +twenty minutes each way. That's forty minutes a day, times three +hundred, equals twelve thousand minutes a year, just for you, +just for one person. Let's see: that's two hundred whole hours. +Suppose I save two hundred hours a year for thousands of other +folks,--that's farming some, ain't it?" + +Dede could only nod breathlessly. She had caught the contagion +of his enthusiasm, though she had no clew as to how this great +time-saving was to be accomplished. + +"Come on," he said. "Let's ride up that hill, and when I get you +out on top where you can see something, I'll talk sense." + +A small footpath dropped down to the dry bed of the canon, which +they crossed before they began the climb. The slope was steep +and covered with matted brush and bushes, through which the +horses slipped and lunged. Bob, growing disgusted, turned back +suddenly and attempted to pass Mab. The mare was thrust sidewise +into the denser bush, where she nearly fell. Recovering, she +flung her weight against Bob. Both riders' legs were caught in +the consequent squeeze, and, as Bob plunged ahead down hill, Dede +was nearly scraped off. Daylight threw his horse on to its +haunches and at the same time dragged Dede back into the saddle. +Showers of twigs and leaves fell upon them, and predicament +followed predicament, until they emerged on the hilltop the worse +for wear but happy and excited. Here no trees obstructed the +view. The particular hill on which they were, out-jutted from +the regular line of the range, so that the sweep of their vision +extended over three-quarters of the circle. Below, on the flat +land bordering the bay, lay Oakland, and across the bay was San +Francisco. Between the two cities they could see the white +ferry-boats on the water. Around to their right was Berkeley, +and to their left the scattered villages between Oakland and San +Leandro. Directly in the foreground was Piedmont, with its +desultory dwellings and patches of farming land, and from +Piedmont the land rolled down in successive waves upon Oakland. + +"Look at it," said Daylight, extending his arm in a sweeping +gesture. "A hundred thousand people there, and no reason there +shouldn't be half a million. There's the chance to make five +people grow where one grows now. Here's the scheme in a +nutshell. Why don't more people live in Oakland? No good +service with San Francisco, and, besides, Oakland is asleep. +It's a whole lot better place to live in than San Francisco. +Now, suppose I buy in all the street railways of Oakland, +Berkeley, Alameda, San Leandro, and the rest,--bring them under +one head with a competent management? Suppose I cut the time to +San Francisco one-half by building a big pier out there almost to +Goat Island and establishing a ferry system with modern +up-to-date boats? Why, folks will want to live over on this +side. Very good. They'll need land on which to build. So, first +I buy up the land. But the land's cheap now. Why? Because it's +in the country, no electric roads, no quick communication, nobody +guessing that the electric roads are coming. I'll build the roads. +That will make the land jump up. Then I'll sell the land as fast +as the folks will want to buy because of the improved ferry +system and transportation facilities. + +"You see, I give the value to the land by building the roads. +Then I sell the land and get that value back, and after that, +there's the roads, all carrying folks back and forth and earning +big money. Can't lose. And there's all sorts of millions in it. + +"I'm going to get my hands on some of that water front and the +tide-lands. Take between where I'm going to build my pier and +the old pier. It's shallow water. I can fill and dredge and put +in a system of docks that will handle hundreds of ships. San +Francisco's water front is congested. No more room for ships. +With hundreds of ships loading and unloading on this side right +into the freight cars of three big railroads, factories will +start up over here instead of crossing to San Francisco. That +means factory sites. That means me buying in the factory sites +before anybody guesses the cat is going to jump, much less, which +way. Factories mean tens of thousands of workingmen and their +families. That means more houses and more land, and that means +me, for I'll be there to sell them the land. And tens of +thousands of families means tens of thousands of nickels every +day for my electric cars. The growing population will mean more +stores, more banks, more everything. And that'll mean me, for +I'll be right there with business property as well as home +property. What do you think of it?" + +Therefore she could answer, he was off again, his mind's eye +filled with this new city of his dream which he builded on the +Alameda hills by the gateway to the Orient. + +"Do you know--I've been looking it up--the Firth Of Clyde, where +all the steel ships are built, isn't half as wide as Oakland +Creek down there, where all those old hulks lie? Why ain't it a +Firth of Clyde? Because the Oakland City Council spends its time +debating about prunes and raisins. What is needed is somebody to +see things, and, after that, organization. That's me. I didn't +make Ophir for nothing. And once things begin to hum, outside +capital will pour in. All I do is start it going. 'Gentlemen,' +I say, 'here's all the natural advantages for a great metropolis. +God Almighty put them advantages here, and he put me here to see +them. Do you want to land your tea and silk from Asia and ship +it straight East? Here's the docks for your steamers, and here's +the railroads. Do you want factories from which you can ship +direct by land or water? Here's the site, and here's the modern, +up-to-date city, with the latest improvements for yourselves and +your workmen, to live in.'" + +"Then there's the water. I'll come pretty close to owning the +watershed. Why not the waterworks too? There's two water +companies in Oakland now, fighting like cats and dogs and both +about broke. What a metropolis needs is a good water system. +They can't give it. They're stick-in-the-muds. I'll gobble them +up and deliver the right article to the city. There's money +there, too--money everywhere. Everything works in with +everything else. Each improvement makes the value of everything +else pump up. It's people that are behind the value. The bigger +the crowd that herds in one place, the more valuable is the real +estate. And this is the very place for a crowd to herd. Look at +it. Just look at it! You could never find a finer site for a +great city. All it needs is the herd, and I'll stampede a couple +of hundred thousand people in here inside two years. And what's +more it won't be one of these wild cat land booms. It will be +legitimate. Twenty years for now there'll be a million people on +this side the bay. Another thing is hotels. There isn't a +decent one in the town. I'll build a couple of up-to-date ones +that'll make them sit up and take notice. I won't care if they +don't pay for years. Their effect will more than give me my +money back out of the other holdings. And, oh, yes, I'm going to +plant eucalyptus, millions of them, on these hills." + +"But how are you going to do it?" Dede asked. "You haven't +enough money for all that you've planned." + +"I've thirty million, and if I need more I can borrow on the land +and other things. Interest on mortgages won't anywhere near eat +up the increase in land values, and I'll be selling land right +along." + +In the weeks that followed, Daylight was a busy man. He spent +most of his time in Oakland, rarely coming to the office. He +planned to move the office to Oakland, but, as he told Dede, the +secret preliminary campaign of buying had to be put through +first. Sunday by Sunday, now from this hilltop and now from +that, they looked down upon the city and its farming suburbs, and +he pointed out to her his latest acquisitions. At first it was +patches and sections of land here and there; but as the weeks +passed it was the unowned portions that became rare, until at +last they stood as islands surrounded by Daylight's land. + +It meant quick work on a colossal scale, for Oakland and the +adjacent country was not slow to feel the tremendous buying. But +Daylight had the ready cash, and it had always been his policy to +strike quickly. Before the others could get the warning of the +boom, he quietly accomplished many things. At the same time that +his agents were purchasing corner lots and entire blocks in the +heart of the business section and the waste lands for factory +sites, Day was rushing franchises through the city council, +capturing the two exhausted water companies and the eight or nine +independent street railways, and getting his grip on the Oakland +Creek and the bay tide-lands for his dock system. The tide-lands +had been in litigation for years, and he took the bull by the +horns--buying out the private owners and at the same time leasing +from the city fathers. + +By the time that Oakland was aroused by this unprecedented +activity in every direction and was questioning excitedly the +meaning of it, Daylight secretly bought the chief Republican +newspaper and the chief Democratic organ, and moved boldly into +his new offices. Of necessity, they were on a large scale, +occupying four floors of the only modern office building in the +town--the only building that wouldn't have to be torn down later +on, as Daylight put it. There was department after department, a +score of them, and hundreds of clerks and stenographers. As he +told Dede: "I've got more companies than you can shake a stick +at. There's the Alameda & Contra Costa Land Syndicate, the +Consolidated Street Railways, the Yerba Buena Ferry Company, the +United Water Company, the Piedmont Realty Company, the Fairview +and Portola Hotel Company, and half a dozen more that I've got to +refer to a notebook to remember. There's the Piedmont Laundry +Farm, and Redwood Consolidated Quarries. Starting in with our +quarry, I just kept a-going till I got them all. And there's the +ship-building company I ain't got a name for yet. Seeing as I +had to have ferry-boats, I decided to build them myself. They'll +be done by the time the pier is ready for them. Phew! It all +sure beats poker. And I've had the fun of gouging the robber +gangs as well. The water company bunches are squealing yet. I +sure got them where the hair was short. They were just about all +in when I came along and finished them off." + +"But why do you hate them so?" Dede asked. + +"Because they're such cowardly skunks." + +"But you play the same game they do." + +"Yes; but not in the same way." Daylight regarded her +thoughtfully. "When I say cowardly skunks, I mean just +that,--cowardly skunks. They set up for a lot of gamblers, and +there ain't one in a thousand of them that's got the nerve to be +a gambler. They're four-flushers, if you know what that means. +They're a lot of little cottontail rabbits making believe they're +big rip-snorting timber wolves. They set out to everlastingly +eat up some proposition but at the first sign of trouble they +turn tail and stampede for the brush. Look how it works. When +the big fellows wanted to unload Little Copper, they sent Jakey +Fallow into the New York Stock Exchange to yell out: 'I'll buy +all or any part of Little Copper at fifty five,' Little Copper +being at fifty-four. And in thirty minutes them cottontails-- +financiers, some folks call them--bid up Little Copper to sixty. +And an hour after that, stampeding for the brush, they were +throwing Little Copper overboard at forty-five and even forty. + +"They're catspaws for the big fellows. Almost as fast as they +rob the suckers, the big fellows come along and hold them up. Or +else the big fellows use them in order to rob each other. That's +the way the Chattanooga Coal and Iron Company was swallowed up by +the trust in the last panic. The trust made that panic. It had +to break a couple of big banking companies and squeeze half a +dozen big fellows, too, and it did it by stampeding the +cottontails. The cottontails did the rest all right, and the +trust gathered in Chattanooga Coal and Iron. Why, any man, with +nerve and savvee, can start them cottontails jumping for the +brush. I don't exactly hate them myself, but I haven't any +regard for chicken-hearted four-flushers." + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +For months Daylight was buried in work. The outlay was terrific, +and there was nothing coming in. Beyond a general rise in land +values, Oakland had not acknowledged his irruption on the +financial scene. The city was waiting for him to show what he +was going to do, and he lost no time about it. The best skilled +brains on the market were hired by him for the different branches +of the work. Initial mistakes he had no patience with, and he +was determined to start right, as when he engaged Wilkinson, +almost doubling his big salary, and brought him out from Chicago +to take charge of the street railway organization. Night and day +the road gangs toiled on the streets. And night and day the +pile-drivers hammered the big piles down into the mud of San +Francisco Bay. The pier was to be three miles long, and the +Berkeley hills were denuded of whole groves of mature eucalyptus +for the piling. + +At the same time that his electric roads were building out +through the hills, the hay-fields were being surveyed and broken +up into city squares, with here and there, according to best +modern methods, winding boulevards and strips of park. Broad +streets, well graded, were made, with sewers and water-pipes +ready laid, and macadamized from his own quarries. Cement +sidewalks were also laid, so that all the purchaser had to do was +to select his lot and architect and start building. The quick +service of Daylight's new electric roads into Oakland made this +big district immediately accessible, and long before the ferry +system was in operation hundreds of residences were going up. + +The profit on this land was enormous. In a day, his onslaught of +wealth had turned open farming country into one of the best +residential districts of the city. + +But this money that flowed in upon him was immediately poured +back into his other investments. The need for electric cars was +so great that he installed his own shops for building them. And +even on the rising land market, he continued to buy choice +factory sites and building properties. On the advice of +Wilkinson, practically every electric road already in operation +was rebuilt. The light, old fashioned rails were torn out and +replaced by the heaviest that were manufactured. Corner lots, on +the sharp turns of narrow streets, were bought and ruthlessly +presented to the city in order to make wide curves for his tracks +and high speed for his cars. Then, too, there were the main-line +feeders for his ferry system, tapping every portion of Oakland, +Alameda, and Berkeley, and running fast expresses to the pier +end. The same large-scale methods were employed in the water +system. Service of the best was needed, if his huge land +investment was to succeed. Oakland had to be made into a +worth-while city, and that was what he intended to do. In +addition to his big hotels, he built amusement parks for the +common people, and art galleries and club-house country inns for +the more finicky classes. Even before there was any increase in +population, a marked increase in street-railway traffic took +place. There was nothing fanciful about his schemes. They were +sound investments. + +"What Oakland wants is a first class theatre," he said, and, +after vainly trying to interest local capital, he started the +building of the theatre himself; for he alone had vision for the +two hundred thousand new people that were coming to the town. + +But no matter what pressure was on Daylight, his Sundays he +reserved for his riding in the hills. It was not the winter +weather, however, that brought these rides with Dede to an end. +One Saturday afternoon in the office she told him not to expect +to meet her next day, and, when he pressed for an explanation: + +"I've sold Mab." + +Daylight was speechless for the moment. Her act meant one of so +many serious things that he couldn't classify it. It smacked +almost of treachery. She might have met with financial disaster. + +It might be her way of letting him know she had seen enough of +him. Or... + +"What's the matter?" he managed to ask. + +"I couldn't afford to keep her with hay forty-five dollars a +ton," Dede answered. + +"Was that your only reason?" he demanded, looking at her +steadily; for he remembered her once telling him how she had +brought the mare through one winter, five years before, when hay +had gone as high as sixty dollars a ton. + +"No. My brother's expenses have been higher, as well, and I was +driven to the conclusion that since I could not afford both, I'd +better let the mare go and keep the brother." + +Daylight felt inexpressibly saddened. He was suddenly aware of a +great emptiness. What would a Sunday be without Dede? And +Sundays without end without her? He drummed perplexedly on the +desk with his fingers. + +"Who bought her?" he asked. Dede's eyes flashed in the way long +since familiar to him when she was angry. + +"Don't you dare buy her back for me," she cried. "And don't deny +that that was what you had in mind." + +"I won't deny it. It was my idea to a tee. But I wouldn't have +done it without asking you first, and seeing how you feel about +it, I won't even ask you. But you thought a heap of that mare, +and it's pretty hard on you to lose her. I'm sure sorry. And +I'm sorry, too, that you won't be riding with me tomorrow. I'll +be plumb lost. I won't know what to do with myself." + +"Neither shall I," Dede confessed mournfully, "except that I +shall be able to catch up with my sewing." + +"But I haven't any sewing." + +Daylight's tone was whimsically plaintive, but secretly he was +delighted with her confession of loneliness. It was almost worth +the loss of the mare to get that out of her. At any rate, he +meant something to her. He was not utterly unliked. + +"I wish you would reconsider, Miss Mason," he said softly. "Not +alone for the mare's sake, but for my sake. Money don't cut any +ice in this. For me to buy that mare wouldn't mean as it does to +most men to send a bouquet of flowers or a box of candy to a +young lady. And I've never sent you flowers or candy." He +observed the warning flash of her eyes, and hurried on to escape +refusal. "I'll tell you what we'll do. Suppose I buy the mare +and own her myself, and lend her to you when you want to ride. +There's nothing wrong in that. Anybody borrows a horse from +anybody, you know." + +Agin he saw refusal, and headed her off. + +"Lots of men take women buggy-riding. There's nothing wrong in +that. And the man always furnishes the horse and buggy. Well, +now, what's the difference between my taking you buggy-riding and +furnishing the horse and buggy, and taking you horse-back-riding +and furnishing the horses?" + +She shook her head, and declined to answer, at the same time +looking at the door as if to intimate that it was time for this +unbusinesslike conversation to end. He made one more effort. + +"Do you know, Miss Mason, I haven't a friend in the world outside +you? I mean a real friend, man or woman, the kind you chum with, +you know, and that you're glad to be with and sorry to be away +from. Hegan is the nearest man I get to, and he's a million +miles away from me. Outside business, we don't hitch. He's got +a big library of books, and some crazy kind of culture, and he +spends all his off times reading things in French and German and +other outlandish lingoes--when he ain't writing plays and poetry. +There's nobody I feel chummy with except you, and you know how +little we've chummed--once a week, if it didn't rain, on Sunday. +I've grown kind of to depend on you. You're a sort of--of--of--" + +"A sort of habit," she said with a smile. + +"That's about it. And that mare, and you astride of her, coming +along the road under the trees or through the sunshine--why, with +both you and the mare missing, there won't be anything worth +waiting through the week for. If you'd just let me buy her +back--" + +"No, no; I tell you no." Dede rose impatiently, but her eyes +were moist with the memory of her pet. "Please don't mention her +to me again. If you think it was easy to part with her, you are +mistaken. But I've seen the last of her, and I want to forget +her." + +Daylight made no answer, and the door closed behind him. + +Half an hour later he was conferring with Jones, the erstwhile +elevator boy and rabid proletarian whom Daylight long before had +grubstaked to literature for a year. The resulting novel had +been a failure. Editors and publishers would not look at it, and +now Daylight was using the disgruntled author in a little private +secret service system he had been compelled to establish for +himself. Jones, who affected to be surprised at nothing after +his crushing experience with railroad freight rates on firewood +and charcoal, betrayed no surprise now when the task was given to +him to locate the purchaser of a certain sorrel mare. + +"How high shall I pay for her?" he asked. + +"Any price. You've got to get her, that's the point. Drive a +sharp bargain so as not to excite suspicion, but buy her. Then you +deliver her to that address up in Sonoma County. The man's the +caretaker on a little ranch I have there. Tell him he's to take +whacking good care of her. And after that forget all about it. +Don't tell me the name of the man you buy her from. Don't tell +me anything about it except that you've got her and delivered +her. Savvee?" + +But the week had not passed, when Daylight noted the flash in +Dede's eyes that boded trouble. + +"Something's gone wrong--what is it?" he asked boldly. + +"Mab," she said. "The man who bought her has sold her already. +If I thought you had anything to do with it--" + +"I don't even know who you sold her to," was Daylight's answer. +"And what's more, I'm not bothering my head about her. She was +your mare, and it's none of my business what you did with her. +You haven't got her, that's sure and worse luck. And now, while +we're on touchy subjects, I'm going to open another one with you. +And you needn't get touchy about it, for it's not really your +business at all." + +She waited in the pause that followed, eyeing him almost +suspiciously. + +"It's about that brother of yours. He needs more than you can do +for him. Selling that mare of yours won't send him to Germany. +And that's what his own doctors say he needs--that crack German +specialist who rips a man's bones and muscles into pulp and then +molds them all over again. Well, I want to send him to Germany +and give that crack a flutter, that's all." + +"If it were only possible" she said, half breathlessly, and +wholly without anger. "Only it isn't, and you know it isn't. I +can't accept money from you--" + +"Hold on, now," he interrupted. "Wouldn't you accept a drink of +water from one of the Twelve Apostles if you was dying of thirst? +Or would you be afraid of his evil intentions"--she made a +gesture of dissent "--or of what folks might say about it?" + +"But that's different," she began. + +"Now look here, Miss Mason. You've got to get some foolish +notions out of your head. This money notion is one of the +funniest things I've seen. Suppose you was falling over a cliff, +wouldn't it be all right for me to reach out and hold you by the +arm? Sure it would. But suppose you ended another sort of +help--instead of the strength of arm, the strength of my pocket? +That would be all and that's what they all say. But why do they +say it. Because the robber gangs want all the suckers to be +honest and respect money. If the suckers weren't honest and +didn't respect money, where would the robbers be? Don't you see? +The robbers don't deal in arm-holds; they deal in dollars. +Therefore arm-holds are just common and ordinary, while dollars +are sacred--so sacred that you didn't let me lend you a hand with +a few. + +"Or here's another way," he continued, spurred on by her mute +protest. "It's all right for me to give the strength of my arm +when you're falling over a cliff. But if I take that same +strength of arm and use it at pick-and-shovel work for a day and +earn two dollars, you won't have anything to do with the two +dollars. Yet it's the same old strength of arm in a new form, +that's all. Besides, in this proposition it won't be a claim on +you. It ain't even a loan to you. It's an arm-hold I'm giving +your brother--just the same sort of arm-hold as if he was falling +over a cliff. And a nice one you are, to come running out and +yell 'Stop!' at me, and let your brother go on over the cliff. +What he needs to save his legs is that crack in Germany, and +that's the arm-hold I'm offering. + +"Wish you could see my rooms. Walls all decorated with horsehair +bridles--scores of them--hundreds of them. They're no use to me, +and they cost like Sam Scratch. But there's a lot of convicts +making them, and I go on buying. Why, I've spent more money in a +single night on whiskey than would get the best specialists and +pay all the expenses of a dozen cases like your brother's. And +remember, you've got nothing to do with this. If your brother +wants to look on it as a loan, all right. It's up to him, and +you've got to stand out of the way while I pull him back from +that cliff." + +Still Dede refused, and Daylight's argument took a more painful +turn. + +"I can only guess that you're standing in your brother's way on +account of some mistaken idea in your head that this is my idea +of courting. Well, it ain't. You might as well think I'm +courting all those convicts I buy bridles from. I haven't asked +you to marry me, and if I do I won't come trying to buy you into +consenting. And there won't be anything underhand when I come +a-asking." + +Dede's face was flushed and angry. "If you knew how ridiculous +you are, you'd stop," she blurted out. "You can make me more +uncomfortable than any man I ever knew. Every little while you +give me to understand that you haven't asked me to marry you yet. +I'm not waiting to be asked, and I warned you from the first that +you had no chance. And yet you hold it over my head that some +time, some day, you're going to ask me to marry you. Go ahead +and ask me now, and get your answer and get it over and done with." + +He looked at her in honest and pondering admiration. "I want you +so bad, Miss Mason, that I don't dast to ask you now," he said, +with such whimsicality and earnestness as to make her throw her +head back in a frank boyish laugh. "Besides, as I told you, I'm +green at it. I never went a-courting before, and I don't want to +make any mistakes." + +"But you're making them all the time," she cried impulsively. +"No man ever courted a woman by holding a threatened proposal +over her head like a club." + +"I won't do it any more," he said humbly. "And anyway, we're off +the argument. My straight talk a minute ago still holds. You're +standing in your brother's way. No matter what notions you've +got in your head, you've got to get out of the way and give him a +chance. Will you let me go and see him and talk it over with +him? I'll make it a hard and fast business proposition. I'll +stake him to get well, that's all, and charge him interest." + +She visibly hesitated. + +"And just remember one thing, Miss Mason: it's HIS leg, not +yours." + +Still she refrained from giving her answer, and Daylight went on +strengthening his position. + +"And remember, I go over to see him alone. He's a man, and I can +deal with him better without womenfolks around. I'll go over +to-morrow afternoon." + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +Daylight had been wholly truthful when he told Dede that he had +no real friends. On speaking terms with thousands, on fellowship +and drinking terms with hundreds, he was a lonely man. He failed +to find the one man, or group of several men, with whom he could +be really intimate. Cities did not make for comradeship as did +the Alaskan trail. Besides, the types of men were different. +Scornful and contemptuous of business men on the one hand, on the +other his relations with the San Francisco bosses had been more +an alliance of expediency than anything else. He had felt more +of kinship for the franker brutality of the bosses and their +captains, but they had failed to claim any deep respect. They +were too prone to crookedness. Bonds were better than men's word +in this modern world, and one had to look carefully to the bonds. + +In the old Yukon days it had been different. Bonds didn't go. A +man said he had so much, and even in a poker game his appeasement +was accepted. + +Larry Hegan, who rose ably to the largest demands of Daylight's +operations and who had few illusions and less hypocrisy, might +have proved a chum had it not been for his temperamental twist. +Strange genius that he was, a Napoleon of the law, with a power +of visioning that far exceeded Daylight's, he had nothing in +common with Daylight outside the office. He spent his time with +books, a thing Daylight could not abide. Also, he devoted +himself to the endless writing of plays which never got beyond +manuscript form, and, though Daylight only sensed the secret +taint of it, was a confirmed but temperate eater of hasheesh. +Hegan lived all his life cloistered with books in a world of +agitation. With the out-of-door world he had no understanding +nor tolerance. In food and drink he was abstemious as a monk, +while exercise was a thing abhorrent. Daylight's friendships, in +lieu of anything closer, were drinking friendships and roistering +friendships. And with the passing of the Sunday rides with Dede, +he fell back more and more upon these for diversion. The +cocktail wall of inhibition he reared more assiduously than ever. + +The big red motor-car was out more frequently now, while a stable +hand was hired to give Bob exercise. In his early San Francisco +days, there had been intervals of easement between his deals, but +in this present biggest deal of all the strain was unremitting. +Not in a month, or two, or three, could his huge land investment +be carried to a successful consummation. And so complete and +wide-reaching was it that complications and knotty situations +constantly arose. Every day brought its problems, and when he +had solved them in his masterful way, he left the office in his +big car, almost sighing with relief at anticipation of the +approaching double Martini. Rarely was he made tipsy. His +constitution was too strong for that. Instead, he was that +direst of all drinkers, the steady drinker, deliberate and +controlled, who averaged a far higher quantity of alcohol than +the irregular and violent drinker. For six weeks hard-running he +had seen nothing of Dede except in the office, and there he +resolutely refrained from making approaches. But by the seventh +Sunday his hunger for her overmastered him. It was a stormy day. + +A heavy southeast gale was blowing, and squall after squall of +rain and wind swept over the city. He could not take his mind +off of her, and a persistent picture came to him of her sitting +by a window and sewing feminine fripperies of some sort. When +the time came for his first pre-luncheon cocktail to be served to +him in his rooms, he did not take it. + +Filled with a daring determination, he glanced at his note book +for Dede's telephone number, and called for the switch. + +At first it was her landlady's daughter who was raised, but in a +minute he heard the voice he had been hungry to hear. + +"I just wanted to tell you that I'm coming out to see you," he +said. "I didn't want to break in on you without warning, that +was all." + +"Has something happened?" came her voice. + +"I'll tell you when I get there," he evaded. + +He left the red car two blocks away and arrived on foot at the +pretty, three-storied, shingled Berkeley house. For an instant +only, he was aware of an inward hesitancy, but the next moment he +rang the bell. He knew that what he was doing was in direct +violation of her wishes, and that he was setting her a difficult +task to receive as a Sunday caller the multimillionaire and +notorious Elam Harnish of newspaper fame. On the other hand, the +one thing he did not expect of her was what he would have termed +"silly female capers." + +And in this he was not disappointed. + +She came herself to the door to receive him and shake hands with +him. He hung his mackintosh and hat on the rack in the +comfortable square hall and turned to her for direction. + +"They are busy in there," she said, indicating the parlor from +which came the boisterous voices of young people, and through the +open door of which he could see several college youths. "So you +will have to come into my rooms." + +She led the way through the door opening out of the hall to the +right, and, once inside, he stood awkwardly rooted to the floor, +gazing about him and at her and all the time trying not to gaze. +In his perturbation he failed to hear and see her invitation to a +seat. So these were her quarters. The intimacy of it and her +making no fuss about it was startling, but it was no more than he +would have expected of her. It was almost two rooms in one, the +one he was in evidently the sitting-room, and the one he could +see into, the bedroom. Beyond an oaken dressing-table, with an +orderly litter of combs and brushes and dainty feminine +knickknacks, there was no sign of its being used as a bedroom. +The broad couch, with a cover of old rose and banked high with +cushions, he decided must be the bed, but it was farthest from +any experience of a civilized bed he had ever had. + +Not that he saw much of detail in that awkward moment of +standing. His general impression was one of warmth and comfort +and beauty. There were no carpets, and on the hardwood floor he +caught a glimpse of several wolf and coyote skins. What captured +and perceptibly held his eye for a moment was a Crouched Venus +that stood on a Steinway upright against a background of +mountain-lion skin on the wall. + +But it was Dede herself that smote most sharply upon sense and +perception. He had always cherished the idea that she was very +much a woman--the lines of her figure, her hair, her eyes, her +voice, and birdlike laughing ways had all contributed to this; +but here, in her own rooms, clad in some flowing, clinging gown, +the emphasis of sex was startling. He had been accustomed to her +only in trim tailor suits and shirtwaists, or in riding costume +of velvet corduroy, and he was not prepared for this new +revelation. She seemed so much softer, so much more pliant, and +tender, and lissome. She was a part of this atmosphere of +quietude and beauty. She fitted into it just as she had fitted +in with the sober office furnishings. + +"Won't you sit down?" she repeated. + +He felt like an animal long denied food. His hunger for her +welled up in him, and he proceeded to "wolf" the dainty morsel +before him. Here was no patience, no diplomacy. The +straightest, direct way was none too quick for him and, had he +known it, the least unsuccessful way he could have chosen. + +"Look here," he said, in a voice that shook with passion, +"there's one thing I won't do, and that's propose to you in the +office. That's why I'm here. Dede Mason, I want you. I just +want you." + +While he spoke he advanced upon her, his black eyes burning with +bright fire, his aroused blood swarthy in his cheek. + +So precipitate was he, that she had barely time to cry out her +involuntary alarm and to step back, at the same time catching one +of his hands as he attempted to gather her into his arms. + +In contrast to him, the blood had suddenly left her cheeks. The +hand that had warded his off and that still held it, was +trembling. She relaxed her fingers, and his arm dropped to his +side. She wanted to say something, do something, to pass on from +the awkwardness of the situation, but no intelligent thought nor +action came into her mind. She was aware only of a desire to +laugh. This impulse was party hysterical and partly spontaneous +humor--the latter growing from instant to instant. Amazing as +the affair was, the ridiculous side of it was not veiled to her. +She felt like one who had suffered the terror of the onslaught of +a murderous footpad only to find out that it was an innocent +pedestrian asking the time. + +Daylight was the quicker to achieve action. "Oh, I know I'm a +sure enough fool," he said. "I--I guess I'll sit down. Don't +be scairt, Miss Mason. I'm not real dangerous." + +"I'm not afraid," she answered, with a smile, slipping down +herself into a chair, beside which, on the floor, stood a +sewing-basket from which, Daylight noted, some white fluffy thing +of lace and muslin overflowed. Again she smiled. "Though I +confess you did startle me for the moment." + +"It's funny," Daylight sighed, almost with regret; "here I am, +strong enough to bend you around and tie knots in you. Here I +am, used to having my will with man and beast and anything. And +here I am sitting in this chair, as weak and helpless as a little +lamb. You sure take the starch out of me." + +Dede vainly cudgeled her brains in quest of a reply to these +remarks. Instead, her thought dwelt insistently upon the +significance of his stepping aside, in the middle of a violent +proposal, in order to make irrelevant remarks. What struck her +was the man's certitude. So little did he doubt that he would +have her, that he could afford to pause and generalize upon love +and the effects of love. + +She noted his hand unconsciously slipping in the familiar way +into the side coat pocket where she knew he carried his tobacco +and brown papers. + +"You may smoke, if you want to," she said. He withdrew his hand +with a jerk, as if something in the pocket had stung him. + +"No, I wasn't thinking of smoking. I was thinking of you. +What's a man to do when he wants a woman but ask her to marry +him? That's all that I'm doing. I can't do it in style. I +know that. But I can use straight English, and that's good +enough for me. I sure want you mighty bad, Miss Mason. You're +in my mind 'most all the time, now. And what I want to know +is--well, do you want me? That's all." + +"I--I wish you hadn't asked," she said softly. + +"Mebbe it's best you should know a few things before you give me +an answer," he went on, ignoring the fact that the answer had +already been given. "I never went after a woman before in my +life, all reports to the contrary not withstanding. The stuff +you read about me in the papers and books, about me being a +lady-killer, is all wrong. There's not an iota of truth in it. I +guess I've done more than my share of card-playing and +whiskey-drinking, but women I've let alone. There was a woman +that killed herself, but I didn't know she wanted me that bad or +else I'd have married her--not for love, but to keep her from +killing herself. She was the best of the boiling, but I never +gave her any encouragement. I'm telling you all this because +you've read about it, and I want you to get it straight from me. + +"Lady-killer! " he snorted. "Why, Miss Mason, I don't mind +telling you that I've sure been scairt of women all my life. +You're the first one I've not been afraid of. That's the strange +thing about it. I just plumb worship you, and yet I'm not afraid +of you. Mebbe it's because you're different from the women I +know. You've never chased me. Lady-killer! Why, I've been +running away from ladies ever since I can remember, and I +guess all that saved me was that I was strong in the wind and +that I never fell down and broke a leg or anything. + +"I didn't ever want to get married until after I met you, and +until a long time after I met you. I cottoned to you from the +start; but I never thought it would get as bad as marriage. Why, +I can't get to sleep nights, thinking of you and wanting you." + +He came to a stop and waited. She had taken the lace and muslin +from the basket, possibly to settle her nerves and wits, and was +sewing upon it. As she was not looking at him, he devoured her +with his eyes. He noted the firm, efficient hands--hands that +could control a horse like Bob, that could run a typewriter +almost as fast as a man could talk, that could sew on dainty +garments, and that, doubtlessly, could play on the piano over +there in the corner. Another ultra-feminine detail he +noticed--her slippers. They were small and bronze. He had never +imagined she had such a small foot. Street shoes and riding +boots were all that he had ever seen on her feet, and they had +given no advertisement of this. The bronze slippers fascinated +him, and to them his eyes repeatedly turned. + +A knock came at the door, which she answered. Daylight could not +help hearing the conversation. She was wanted at the telephone. + +"Tell him to call up again in ten minutes," he heard her say, and +the masculine pronoun caused in him a flashing twinge of +jealousy. Well, he decided, whoever it was, Burning Daylight +would give him a run for his money. The marvel to him was that a +girl like Dede hadn't been married long since. + +She came back, smiling to him, and resumed her sewing. His eyes +wandered from the efficient hands to the bronze slippers and back +again, and he swore to himself that there were mighty few +stenographers like her in existence. That was because she must +have come of pretty good stock, and had a pretty good raising. +Nothing else could explain these rooms of hers and the clothes +she wore and the way she wore them. + +"Those ten minutes are flying," he suggested. + +"I can't marry you," she said. + +"You don't love me?" + +She shook her head. + +"Do you like me--the littlest bit?" + +This time she nodded, at the same time allowing the smile of +amusement to play on her lips. But it was amusement without +contempt. The humorous side of a situation rarely appealed in +vain to her. + +"Well, that's something to go on," he announced. "You've got to +make a start to get started. I just liked you at first, and look +what it's grown into. You recollect, you said you didn't like my +way of life. Well, I've changed it a heap. I ain't gambling +like I used to. I've gone into what you called the legitimate, +making two minutes grow where one grew before, three hundred +thousand folks where only a hundred thousand grew before. And +this time next year there'll be two million eucalyptus growing on +the hills. Say do you like me more than the littlest bit?" + +She raised her eyes from her work and looked at him as she +answered: + +"I like you a great deal, but--" + +He waited a moment for her to complete the sentence, failing +which, he went on himself. + +"I haven't an exaggerated opinion of myself, so I know I ain't +bragging when I say I'll make a pretty good husband. You'd find +I was no hand at nagging and fault-finding. I can guess what it +must be for a woman like you to be independent. Well, you'd be +independent as my wife. No strings on you. You could follow +your own sweet will, and nothing would be too good for you. I'd +give you everything your heart desired--" + +"Except yourself," she interrupted suddenly, almost sharply. + +Daylight's astonishment was momentary. + +"I don't know about that. I'd be straight and square, and live +true. I don't hanker after divided affections." + +"I don't mean that," she said. "Instead of giving yourself to +your wife, you would give yourself to the three hundred thousand +people of Oakland, to your street railways and ferry-routes, to +the two million trees on the hills to everything +business--and--and to all that that means." + +"I'd see that I didn't," he declared stoutly. "I'd be yours to +command." + +"You think so, but it would turn out differently." She suddenly +became nervous. "We must stop this talk. It is too much like +attempting to drive a bargain. 'How much will you give?' 'I'll +give so much.' 'I want more,' and all that. I like you, but not +enough to marry you, and I'll never like you enough to marry +you." + +"How do you know that?" he demanded. + +"Because I like you less and less." + +Daylight sat dumfounded. The hurt showed itself plainly in his +face. + +"Oh, you don't understand," she cried wildly, beginning to lose +self-control--"It's not that way I mean. I do like you; the more +I've known you the more I've liked you. And at the same time the +more I've known you the less would I care to marry you." + +This enigmatic utterance completed Daylight's perplexity. + +"Don't you see?" she hurried on. "I could have far easier +married the Elam Harnish fresh from Klondike, when I first laid +eyes on him long ago, than marry you sitting before me now." + +He shook his head slowly. "That's one too many for me. The more +you know and like a man the less you want to marry him. +Familiarity breeds contempt--I guess that's what you mean." + +"No, no," she cried, but before she could continue, a knock came +on the door. + +"The ten minutes is up," Daylight said. + +His eyes, quick with observation like an Indian's, darted about +the room while she was out. The impression of warmth and comfort +and beauty predominated, though he was unable to analyze it; +while the simplicity delighted him--expensive simplicity, he +decided, and most of it leftovers from the time her father went +broke and died. He had never before appreciated a plain hardwood +floor with a couple of wolfskins; it sure beat all the carpets in +creation. He stared solemnly at a bookcase containing a couple +of hundred books. There was mystery. He could not understand +what people found so much to write about. + +Writing things and reading things were not the same as doing +things, and himself primarily a man of action, doing things was +alone comprehensible. + +His gaze passed on from the Crouched Venus to a little tea-table +with all its fragile and exquisite accessories, and to a shining +copper kettle and copper chafing-dish. Chafing dishes were not +unknown to him, and he wondered if she concocted suppers on this +one for some of those University young men he had heard whispers +about. One or two water-colors on the wall made him conjecture +that she had painted them herself. There were photographs of +horses and of old masters, and the trailing purple of a Burial of +Christ held him for a time. But ever his gaze returned to that +Crouched Venus on the piano. To his homely, frontier-trained +mind, it seemed curious that a nice young woman should have such +a bold, if not sinful, object on display in her own room. But he +reconciled himself to it by an act of faith. Since it was Dede, +it must be eminently all right. Evidently such things went along +with culture. Larry Hegan had similar casts and photographs in +his book-cluttered quarters. But then, Larry Hegan was +different. There was that hint of unhealth about him that +Daylight invariably sensed in his presence, while Dede, on the +contrary, seemed always so robustly wholesome, radiating an +atmosphere compounded of the sun and wind and dust of the open +road. And yet, if such a clean, healthy woman as she went in for +naked women crouching on her piano, it must be all right. Dede +made it all right. She could come pretty close to making +anything all right. Besides, he didn't understand culture +anyway. + +She reentered the room, and as she crossed it to her chair, he +admired the way she walked, while the bronze slippers were +maddening. + +"I'd like to ask you several questions," he began immediately +"Are you thinking of marrying somebody?" + +She laughed merrily and shook her head. + +"Do you like anybody else more than you like me?--that man at the +'phone just now, for instance?" + +"There isn't anybody else. I don't know anybody I like well +enough to marry. For that matter, I don't think I am a marrying +woman. Office work seems to spoil one for that." + +Daylight ran his eyes over her, from her face to the tip of a +bronze slipper, in a way that made the color mantle in her +cheeks. At the same time he shook his head sceptically. + +"It strikes me that you're the most marryingest woman that ever +made a man sit up and take notice. And now another question. +You see, I've just got to locate the lay of the land. Is there +anybody you like as much as you like me?" + +But Dede had herself well in hand. + +"That's unfair," she said. "And if you stop and consider, +you will find that you are doing the very thing you +disclaimed--namely, nagging. I refuse to answer any more +of your questions. Let us talk about other things. +How is Bob?" + +Half an hour later, whirling along through the rain on Telegraph +Avenue toward Oakland, Daylight smoked one of his brown-paper +cigarettes and reviewed what had taken place. It was not at all +bad, was his summing up, though there was much about it that was +baffling. There was that liking him the more she knew him and at +the same time wanting to marry him less. That was a puzzler. + +But the fact that she had refused him carried with it a certain +elation. In refusing him she had refused his thirty million +dollars. That was going some for a ninety dollar-a-month +stenographer who had known better ties. She wasn't after money, +that was patent. Every woman he had encountered had seemed +willing to swallow him down for the sake of his money. Why, he +had doubled his fortune, made fifteen millions, since the day she +first came to work for him, and behold, any willingness to marry +him she might have possessed had diminished as his money had +increased. + +"Gosh!" he muttered. "If I clean up a hundred million on this +land deal she won't even be on speaking terms with me." + +But he could not smile the thing away. It remained to baffle +him, that enigmatic statement of hers that she could more easily +have married the Elam Harnish fresh from the Klondike than the +present Elam Harnish. Well, he concluded, the thing to do was +for him to become more like that old-time Daylight who had come +down out of the North to try his luck at the bigger game. But +that was impossible. He could not set back the flight of time. +Wishing wouldn't do it, and there was no other way. He might as +well wish himself a boy again. + +Another satisfaction he cuddled to himself from their interview. +He had heard of stenographers before, who refused their +employers, and who invariably quit their positions immediately +afterward. But Dede had not even hinted at such a thing. No +matter how baffling she was, there was no nonsensical silliness +about her. She was level headed. But, also, he had been +level-headed and was partly responsible for this. He hadn't +taken advantage of her in the office. True, he had twice +overstepped the bounds, but he had not followed it up and made a +practice of it. She knew she could trust him. But in spite of +all this he was confident that most young women would have been +silly enough to resign a position with a man they had turned +down. And besides, after he had put it to her in the right +light, she had not been silly over his sending her brother to +Germany. + +"Gee!" he concluded, as the car drew up before his hotel. "If +I'd only known it as I do now, I'd have popped the question the +first day she came to work. According to her say-so, that would +have been the proper moment. She likes me more and more, and the +more she likes me the less she'd care to marry me! Now what do +you think of that? She sure must be fooling." + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +Once again, on a rainy Sunday, weeks afterward, Daylight +proposed to Dede. As on the first time, he restrained himself +until his hunger for her overwhelmed him and swept him away in +his red automobile to Berkeley. He left the machine several +blocks away and proceeded to the house on foot. But Dede was +out, the landlady's daughter told him, and added, on second +thought, that she was out walking in the hills. Furthermore, the +young lady directed him where Dede's walk was most likely to +extend. + +Daylight obeyed the girl's instructions, and soon the street he +followed passed the last house and itself ceased where began the +first steep slopes of the open hills. The air was damp with the +on-coming of rain, for the storm had not yet burst, though the +rising wind proclaimed its imminence. As far as he could see, +there was no sign of Dede on the smooth, grassy hills. To the +right, dipping down into a hollow and rising again, was a large, +full-grown eucalyptus grove. Here all was noise and movement, +the lofty, slender trunked trees swaying back and forth in the +wind and clashing their branches together. In the squalls, above +all the minor noises of creaking and groaning, arose a deep +thrumming note as of a mighty harp. Knowing Dede as he did, +Daylight was confident that he would find her somewhere in this +grove where the storm effects were so pronounced. And find her +he did, across the hollow and on the exposed crest of the +opposing slope where the gale smote its fiercest blows. + +There was something monotonous, though not tiresome, about the +way Daylight proposed. Guiltless of diplomacy subterfuge, he was +as direct and gusty as the gale itself. He had time neither for +greeting nor apology. + +"It's the same old thing," he said. "I want you and I've come +for you. You've just got to have me, Dede, for the more I think +about it the more certain I am that you've got a Sneaking liking +for me that's something more than just Ordinary liking. And you +don't dast say that it isn't; now dast you?" + +He had shaken hands with her at the moment he began speaking, and +he had continued to hold her hand. Now, when she did not answer, +she felt a light but firmly insistent pressure as of his drawing +her to him. Involuntarily, she half-yielded to him, her desire +for the moment stronger than her will. Then suddenly she drew +herself away, though permitting her hand still to remain in his. + +"You sure ain't afraid of me?" he asked, with quick compunction. + +"No." She smiled woefully. "Not of you, but of myself." + +"You haven't taken my dare," he urged under this encouragement. + +"Please, please," she begged. "We can never marry, so don't let +us discuss it." + +"Then I copper your bet to lose." He was almost gay, now, for +success was coming faster than his fondest imagining. She liked +him, without a doubt; and without a doubt she liked him well +enough to let him hold her hand, well enough to be not repelled +by the nearness of him. + +She shook her head. "No, it is impossible. You would lose your +bet." + +For the first time a dark suspicion crossed Daylight's mind--a +clew that explained everything. + +"Say, you ain't been let in for some one of these secret +marriages have you?" + +The consternation in his voice and on his face was too much for +her, and her laugh rang out, merry and spontaneous as a burst of +joy from the throat of a bird. + +Daylight knew his answer, and, vexed with himself decided that +action was more efficient than speech. So he stepped between her +and the wind and drew her so that she stood close in the shelter +of him. An unusually stiff squall blew about them and thrummed +overhead in the tree-tops and both paused to listen. A shower of +flying leaves enveloped them, and hard on the heel of the wind +came driving drops of rain. He looked down on her and on her +hair wind-blown about her face; and because of her closeness to +him and of a fresher and more poignant realization of what she +meant to him, he trembled so that she was aware of it in the hand +that held hers. + +She suddenly leaned against him, bowing her head until it rested +lightly upon his breast. And so they stood while another squall, +with flying leaves and scattered drops of rain, rattled past. +With equal suddenness she lifted her head and looked at him. + +"Do you know," she said, "I prayed last night about you. I +prayed that you would fail, that you would lose everything +everything." + +Daylight stared his amazement at this cryptic utterance. "That +sure beats me. I always said I got out of my depth with women, +and you've got me out of my depth now. Why you want me to lose +everything, seeing as you like me--" + +"I never said so." + +"You didn't dast say you didn't. So, as I was saying: liking me, +why you'd want me to go broke is clean beyond my simple +understanding. It's right in line with that other puzzler of +yours, the more-you-like-me-the-less-you-want-to-marry-me one. +Well, you've just got to explain, that's all." + +His arms went around her and held her closely, and this time she +did not resist. Her head was bowed, and he had not see her face, +yet he had a premonition that she was crying. He had learned the +virtue of silence, and he waited her will in the matter. Things +had come to such a pass that she was bound to tell him something +now. Of that he was confident. + +"I am not romantic," she began, again looking at him as he spoke. + +"It might be better for me if I were. Then I could make a fool +of myself and be unhappy for the rest of my life. But my +abominable common sense prevents. And that doesn't make me a bit +happier, either." + +"I'm still out of my depth and swimming feeble," Daylight said, +after waiting vainly for her to go on. "You've got to show me, +and you ain't shown me yet. Your common sense and praying that +I'd go broke is all up in the air to me. Little woman, I just +love you mighty hard, and I want you to marry me. That's +straight and simple and right off the bat. Will you marry me?" + +She shook her head slowly, and then, as she talked, seemed to +grow angry, sadly angry; and Daylight knew that this anger was +against him. + +"Then let me explain, and just as straight and simply as you have +asked." She paused, as if casting about for a beginning. "You +are honest and straightforward. Do you want me to be honest and +straightforward as a woman is not supposed to be?--to tell you +things that will hurt you?--to make confessions that ought to +shame me? to behave in what many men would think was an +unwomanly manner?" + +The arm around her shoulder pressed encouragement, but he did not +speak. + +"I would dearly like to marry you, but I am afraid. I am proud +and humble at the same time that a man like you should care for +me. But you have too much money. There's where my abominable +common sense steps in. Even if we did marry, you could never be +my man--my lover and my husband. You would be your money's man. +I know I am a foolish woman, but I want my man for myself. You +would not be free for me. Your money possesses you, taking your +time, your thoughts, your energy, everything, bidding you go here +and go there, do this and do that. Don't you see? Perhaps it's +pure silliness, but I feel that I can love much, give much--give +all, and in return, though I don't want all, I want much--and I +want much more than your money would permit you to give me. + +"And your money destroys you; it makes you less and less nice. +I am not ashamed to say that I love you, because I shall never +marry you. And I loved you much when I did not know you at all, +when you first came down from Alaska and I first went into the +office. You were my hero. You were the Burning Daylight of the +gold-diggings, the daring traveler and miner. And you looked it. +I don't see how any woman could have looked at you without loving +you--then. But you don't look it now. + +"Please, please, forgive me for hurting you. You wanted straight +talk, and I am giving it to you. All these last years you have +been living unnaturally. You, a man of the open, have been +cooping yourself up in the cities with all that that means. You +are not the same man at all, and your money is destroying you. +You are becoming something different, something not so healthy, +not so clean, not so nice. Your money and your way of life are +doing it. You know it. You haven't the same body now that you +had then. You are putting on flesh, and it is not healthy flesh. +You are kind and genial with me, I know, but you are not kind and +genial to all the world as you were then. You have become harsh +and cruel. And I know. Remember, I have studied you six days a +week, month after month, year after year; and I know more about +the most insignificant parts of you than you know of all of me. +The cruelty is not only in your heart and thoughts, but it is +there in face. It has put its lines there. I have watched them +come and grow. Your money, and the life it compels you to lead +have done all this. You are being brutalized and degraded. And +this process can only go on and on until you are hopelessly +destroyed--" + +He attempted to interrupt, but she stopped him, herself +breathless and her voice trembling. + +"No, no; let me finish utterly. I have done nothing but think, +think, think, all these months, ever since you came riding with +me, and now that I have begun to speak I am going to speak all +that I have in me. I do love you, but I cannot marry you and +destroy love. You are growing into a thing that I must in the +end despise. You can't help it. More than you can possibly love +me, do you love this business game. This business--and it's all +perfectly useless, so far as you are concerned--claims all of +you. I sometimes think it would be easier to share you equitably +with another woman than to share you with this business. I might +have half of you, at any rate. But this business would claim, +not half of you, but nine-tenths of you, or ninety-nine +hundredths. + +"Remember, the meaning of marriage to me is not to get a man's +money to spend. I want the man. You say you want ME. And +suppose I consented, but gave you only one-hundredth part of me. +Suppose there was something else in my life that took the other +ninety-nine parts, and, furthermore, that ruined my figure, that +put pouches under my eyes and crows-feet in the corners, that +made me unbeautiful to look upon and that made my spirit +unbeautiful. Would you be satisfied with that one-hundredth part +of me? Yet that is all you are offering me of yourself. Do you +wonder that I won't marry you?--that I can't?" + +Daylight waited to see if she were quite done, and she went on +again. + +"It isn't that I am selfish. After all, love is giving, not +receiving. But I see so clearly that all my giving could not do +you any good. You are like a sick man. You don't play business +like other men. You play it heart and and all of you. No matter +what you believed and intended a wife would be only a brief +diversion. There is that magnificent Bob, eating his head off in +the stable. You would buy me a beautiful mansion and leave me in +it to yawn my head off, or cry my eyes out because of my +helplessness and inability to save you. This disease of business +would be corroding you and marring you all the time. You play it +as you have played everything else, as in Alaska you played the +life of the trail. Nobody could be permitted to travel as fast +and as far as you, to work as hard or endure as much. You hold +back nothing; you put all you've got into whatever you are +doing." + +"Limit is the sky," he grunted grim affirmation. + +"But if you would only play the lover-husband that way--" + +Her voice faltered and stopped, and a blush showed in her wet +cheeks as her eyes fell before his. + +"And now I won't say another word," she added. "I've delivered a +whole sermon." + +She rested now, frankly and fairly, in the shelter of his arms, +and both were oblivious to the gale that rushed past them in +quicker and stronger blasts. The big downpour of rain had not +yet come, but the mist-like squalls were more frequent. Daylight +was openly perplexed, and he was still perplexed when he began to +speak. + +"I'm stumped. I'm up a tree. I'm clean flabbergasted, Miss +Mason--or Dede, because I love to call you that name. I'm free +to confess there's a mighty big heap in what you say. As I +understand it, your conclusion is that you'd marry me if I hadn't +a cent and if I wasn't getting fat. No, no; I'm not joking. I +acknowledge the corn, and that's just my way of boiling the +matter down and summing it up. If I hadn't a cent, and if I was +living a healthy life with all the time in the world to love you +and be your husband instead of being awash to my back teeth in +business and all the rest--why, you'd marry me. + +"That's all as clear as print, and you're correcter than I ever +guessed before. You've sure opened my eyes a few. But I'm +stuck. What can I do? My business has sure roped, thrown, and +branded me. I'm tied hand and foot, and I can't get up and +meander over green pastures. I'm like the man that got the bear +by the tail. I can't let go; and I want you, and I've got to let +go to get you. + +"I don't know what to do, but something's sure got to happen--I +can't lose you. I just can't. And I'm not going to. Why, +you're running business a close second right now. Business never +kept me awake nights. + +"You've left me no argument. I know I'm not the same man that +came from Alaska. I couldn't hit the trail with the dogs as I +did in them days. I'm soft in my muscles, and my mind's gone +hard. I used to respect men. I despise them now. You see, I +spent all my life in the open, and I reckon I'm an open-air man. +Why, I've got the prettiest little ranch you ever laid eyes on, +up in Glen Ellen. That's where I got stuck for that brick-yard. +You recollect handling the correspondence. I only laid eyes on +the ranch that one time, and I so fell in love with it that I +bought it there and then. I just rode around the hills, and was +happy as a kid out of school. I'd be a better man living in the +country. The city doesn't make me better. You're plumb right +there. I know it. But suppose your prayer should be answered +and I'd go clean broke and have to work for day's wages?" + +She did not answer, though all the body of her seemed to urge +consent. + +"Suppose I had nothing left but that little ranch, and was +satisfied to grow a few chickens and scratch a living somehow-- +would you marry me then, Dede?" + +"Why, we'd be together all the time!" she cried. + +"But I'd have to be out ploughing once in a while," he warned, "or +driving to town to get the grub." + +"But there wouldn't be the office, at any rate, and no man to +see, and men to see without end. But it is all foolish and +impossible, and we'll have to be starting back now if we're to +escape the rain." + +Then was the moment, among the trees, where they began the +descent of the hill, that Daylight might have drawn her closely +to him and kissed her once. But he was too perplexed with the +new thoughts she had put into his head to take advantage of the +situation. He merely caught her by the arm and helped her over +the rougher footing. + +"It's darn pretty country up there at Glen Ellen," he said +meditatively. "I wish you could see it." + +At the edge of the grove he suggested that it might be better for +them to part there. + +"It's your neighborhood, and folks is liable to talk." + +But she insisted that he accompany her as far as the house. + +"I can't ask you in," she said, extending her hand at the foot of +the steps. + +The wind was humming wildly in sharply recurrent gusts, but still +the rain held off. + +"Do you know," he said, "taking it by and large, it's the +happiest day of my life." He took off his hat, and the wind +rippled and twisted his black hair as he went on solemnly, "And +I'm sure grateful to God, or whoever or whatever is responsible +for your being on this earth. For you do like me heaps. It's +been my joy to hear you say so to-day. It's--" He left the +thought arrested, and his face assumed the familiar whimsical +expression as he murmured: "Dede, Dede, we've just got to get +married. It's the only way, and trust to luck for it's coming +out all right--". + +But the tears were threatening to rise in her eyes again, as she +shook her head and turned and went up the steps. + + + +CHAPTER XX + +When the ferry system began to run, and the time between Oakland +and San Francisco was demonstrated to be cut in half, the tide of +Daylight's terrific expenditure started to turn. Not that it +really did turn, for he promptly went into further investments. +Thousands of lots in his residence tracts were sold, and +thousands of homes were being built. Factory sites also were +selling, and business properties in the heart of Oakland. All +this tended to a steady appreciation in value of Daylight's huge +holdings. But, as of old, he had his hunch and was riding it. +Already he had begun borrowing from the banks. The magnificent +profits he made on the land he sold were turned into more land, +into more development; and instead of paying off old loans, he +contracted new ones. As he had pyramided in Dawson City, he now +pyramided in Oakland; but he did it with the knowledge that it +was a stable enterprise rather than a risky placer-mining boom. + +In a small way, other men were following his lead, buying and +selling land and profiting by the improvement work he was doing. +But this was to be expected, and the small fortunes they were +making at his expense did not irritate him. There was an +exception, however. One Simon Dolliver, with money to go in +with, and with cunning and courage to back it up, bade fair to +become a several times millionaire at Daylight's expense. +Dolliver, too, pyramided, playing quickly and accurately, and +keeping his money turning over and over. More than once Daylight +found him in the way, as he himself had got in the way of the +Guggenhammers when they first set their eyes on Ophir Creek. + +Work on Daylight's dock system went on apace, yet was one of +those enterprises that consumed money dreadfully and that could +not be accomplished as quickly as a ferry system. The +engineering difficulties were great, the dredging and filling a +cyclopean task. The mere item of piling was anything but small. +A good average pile, by the time it was delivered on the ground, +cost a twenty-dollar gold piece, and these piles were used in +unending thousands. All accessible groves of mature eucalyptus +were used, and as well, great rafts of pine piles were towed down +the coast from Peugeot Sound. + +Not content with manufacturing the electricity for his street +railways in the old-fashioned way, in power-houses, Daylight +organized the Sierra and Salvador Power Company. This +immediately assumed large proportions. Crossing the San Joaquin +Valley on the way from the mountains, and plunging through the +Contra Costa hills, there were many towns, and even a robust +city, that could be supplied with power, also with light; and it +became a street- and house-lighting project as well. As soon as +the purchase of power sites in the Sierras was rushed through, +the survey parties were out and building operations begun. + +And so it went. There were a thousand maws into which he poured +unceasing streams of money. But it was all so sound and +legitimate, that Daylight, born gambler that he was, and with his +clear, wide vision, could not play softly and safely. It was a +big opportunity, and to him there was only one way to play it, +and that was the big way. Nor did his one confidential adviser, +Larry Hegan, aid him to caution. On the contrary, it was +Daylight who was compelled to veto the wilder visions of that +able hasheesh dreamer. Not only did Daylight borrow heavily from +the banks and trust companies, but on several of his corporations +he was compelled to issue stock. He did this grudgingly however, +and retained most of his big enterprises of his own. Among the +companies in which he reluctantly allowed the investing public to +join were the Golden Gate Dock Company, and Recreation Parks +Company, the United Water Company, the Uncial Shipbuilding +Company, and the Sierra and Salvador Power Company. +Nevertheless, between himself and Hegan, he retained the +controlling share in each of these enterprises. + +His affair with Dede Mason only seemed to languish. While +delaying to grapple with the strange problem it presented, his +desire for her continued to grow. In his gambling simile, his +conclusion was that Luck had dealt him the most remarkable card +in the deck, and that for years he had overlooked it. Love was +the card, and it beat them all. Love was the king card of +trumps, the fifth ace, the joker in a game of tenderfoot poker. +It was the card of cards, and play it he would, to the limit, +when the opening came. He could not see that opening yet. The +present game would have to play to some sort of a conclusion +first. + +Yet he could not shake from his brain and vision the warm +recollection of those bronze slippers, that clinging gown, and +all the feminine softness and pliancy of Dede in her pretty +Berkeley rooms. Once again, on a rainy Sunday, he telephoned +that he was coming. And, as has happened ever since man first +looked upon woman and called her good, again he played the blind +force of male compulsion against the woman's secret weakness to +yield. Not that it was Daylight's way abjectly to beg and +entreat. On the contrary, he was masterful in whatever he did, +but he had a trick of whimsical wheedling that Dede found harder +to resist than the pleas of a suppliant lover. It was not a +happy scene in its outcome, for Dede, in the throes of her own +desire, desperate with weakness and at the same time with her +better judgment hating her weakness cried out:-- + +"You urge me to try a chance, to marry you now and trust to luck +for it to come out right. And life is a gamble say. Very well, +let us gamble. Take a coin and toss it in the air. If it comes +heads, I'll marry you. If it doesn't, you are forever to leave +me alone and never mention marriage again." + +A fire of mingled love and the passion of gambling came into +Daylight's eyes. Involuntarily his hand started for his pocket +for the coin. Then it stopped, and the light in his eyes was +troubled. + +"Go on," she ordered sharply. "Don't delay, or I may change my +mind, and you will lose the chance." + +"Little woman." His similes were humorous, but there was no +humor in their meaning. His thought was as solemn as his voice. +"Little woman, I'd gamble all the way from Creation to the Day of +Judgment; I'd gamble a golden harp against another man's halo; +I'd toss for pennies on the front steps of the New Jerusalem or +set up a faro layout just outside the Pearly Gates; but I'll be +everlastingly damned if I'll gamble on love. Love's too big to +me to take a chance on. Love's got to be a sure thing, and +between you and me it is a sure thing. If the odds was a hundred +to one on my winning this flip, just the same, nary a flip." + +In the spring of the year the Great Panic came on. The first +warning was when the banks began calling in their unprotected +loans. Daylight promptly paid the first several of his personal +notes that were presented; then he divined that these demands but +indicated the way the wind was going to blow, and that one of +those terrific financial storms he had heard about was soon to +sweep over the United States. How terrific this particular storm +was to be he did not anticipate. Nevertheless, he took every +precaution in his power, and had no anxiety about his weathering +it out. + +Money grew tighter. Beginning with the crash of several of the +greatest Eastern banking houses, the tightness spread, until +every bank in the country was calling in its credits. Daylight +was caught, and caught because of the fact that for the first +time he had been playing the legitimate business game. In the +old days, such a panic, with the accompanying extreme shrinkage +of values, would have been a golden harvest time for him. As it +was, he watched the gamblers, who had ridden the wave of +prosperity and made preparation for the slump, getting out from +under and safely scurrying to cover or proceeding to reap a +double harvest. Nothing remained for him but to stand fast and +hold up. + +He saw the situation clearly. When the banks demanded that he +pay his loans, he knew that the banks were in sore need of the +money. But he was in sorer need. And he knew that the banks did +not want his collateral which they held. It would do them no +good. In such a tumbling of values was no time to sell. His +collateral was good, all of it, eminently sound and worth while; +yet it was worthless at such a moment, when the one unceasing cry +was money, money, money. Finding him obdurate, the banks +demanded more collateral, and as the money pinch tightened they +asked for two and even three times as much as had been originally +accepted. Sometimes Daylight yielded to these demands, but more +often not, and always battling fiercely. + +He fought as with clay behind a crumbling wall. All portions of +the wall were menaced, and he went around constantly +strengthening the weakest parts with clay. This clay was money, +and was applied, a sop here and a sop there, as fast as it was +needed, but only when it was directly needed. The strength of +his position lay in the Yerba Buena Ferry Company, the +Consolidated Street Railways, and the United Water Company. +Though people were no longer buying residence lots and factory +and business sites, they were compelled to ride on his cars and +ferry-boats and to consume his water. When all the financial +world was clamoring for money and perishing through lack of it, +the first of each month many thousands of dollars poured into his +coffers from the water-rates, and each day ten thousand dollars, +in dime and nickels, came in from his street railways and +ferries. + +Cash was what was wanted, and had he had the use of all this +steady river of cash, all would have been well with him. As it +was, he had to fight continually for a portion of it. +Improvement work ceased, and only absolutely essential repairs +were made. His fiercest fight was with the operating expenses, +and this was a fight that never ended. There was never any +let-up in his turning the thumb-screws of extended credit and +economy. From the big wholesale suppliers down through the +salary list to office stationery and postage stamps, he kept the +thumb-screws turning. When his superintendents and heads of +departments performed prodigies of cutting down, he patted them +on the back and demanded more. When they threw down their hands +in despair, he showed them how more could be accomplished. + +"You are getting eight thousand dollars a year," he told +Matthewson. "It's better pay than you ever got in your life +before. Your fortune is in the same sack with mine. You've got +to stand for some of the strain and risk. You've got personal +credit in this town. Use it. Stand off butcher and baker and +all the rest. Savvee? You're drawing down something like six +hundred and sixty dollars a month. I want that cash. From now +on, stand everybody off and draw down a hundred. I'll pay you +interest on the rest till this blows over." + +Two weeks later, with the pay-roll before them, it was:-- + +"Matthewson, who's this bookkeeper, Rogers? Your nephew? I +thought so. He's pulling down eighty-five a month. After--this +let him draw thirty-five. The forty can ride with me at +interest." + +"Impossible!" Matthewson cried. "He can't make ends meet on +his salary as it is, and he has a wife and two kids--" + +Daylight was upon him with a mighty oath. + +"Can't! Impossible! What in hell do you think I'm running? A +home for feeble-minded? Feeding and dressing and wiping the +little noses of a lot of idiots that can't take care of +themselves? Not on your life. I'm hustling, and now's the time +that everybody that works for me has got to hustle. I want no +fair-weather birds holding down my office chairs or anything +else. This is nasty weather, damn nasty weather, and they've got +to buck into it just like me. There are ten thousand men out of +work in Oakland right now, and sixty thousand more in San +Francisco. Your nephew, and everybody else on your pay-roll, can +do as I say right now or quit. Savvee? If any of them get +stuck, you go around yourself and guarantee their credit with the +butchers and grocers. And you trim down that pay-roll +accordingly. I've been carrying a few thousand folks that'll +have to carry themselves for a while now, that's all." + +"You say this filter's got to be replaced," he told his chief of +the water-works. "We'll see about it. Let the people of Oakland +drink mud for a change. It'll teach them to appreciate good +water. Stop work at once. Get those men off the pay-roll. +Cancel all orders for material. The contractors will sue? Let +'em sue and be damned. We'll be busted higher'n a kite or on +easy street before they can get judgment." + +And to Wilkinson: + +"Take off that owl boat. Let the public roar and come home early +to its wife. And there's that last car that connects with the +12:45 boat at Twenty-second and Hastings. Cut it out. I can't +run it for two or three passengers. Let them take an earlier +boat home or walk. This is no time for philanthropy. And you +might as well take off a few more cars in the rush hours. Let +the strap-hangers pay. It's the strap-hangers that'll keep us +from going under." + +And to another chief, who broke down under the excessive strain +of retrenchment:-- + +"You say I can't do that and can't do this. I'll just show you a +few of the latest patterns in the can-and-can't line. You'll be +compelled to resign? All right, if you think so I never saw the +man yet that I was hard up for. And when any man thinks I can't +get along without him, I just show him the latest pattern in that +line of goods and give him his walking-papers." + +And so he fought and drove and bullied and even wheedled his way +along. It was fight, fight, fight, and no let-up, from the first +thing in the morning till nightfall. His private office saw +throngs every day. All men came to see him, or were ordered to +come. Now it was an optimistic opinion on the panic, a funny +story, a serious business talk, or a straight take-it-or-leave-it +blow from the shoulder. And there was nobody to relieve him. It +was a case of drive, drive, drive, and he alone could do the +driving. And this went on day after day, while the whole +business world rocked around him and house after house crashed to +the ground. + +"It's all right, old man," he told Hegan every morning; and it +was the same cheerful word that he passed out all day long, +except at such times when he was in the thick of fighting to have +his will with persons and things. + +Eight o'clock saw him at his desk each morning. By ten o'clock, +it was into the machine and away for a round of the banks. And +usually in the machine with him was the ten thousand and more +dollars that had been earned by his ferries and railways the day +before. This was for the weakest spot in the financial dike. +And with one bank president after another similar scenes were +enacted. They were paralyzed with fear, and first of all he +played his role of the big vital optimist. Times were improving. + +Of course they were. The signs were already in the air. All +that anybody had to do was to sit tight a little longer and hold +on. That was all. Money was already more active in the East. +Look at the trading on Wall Street of the last twenty-four hours. + +That was the straw that showed the wind. Hadn't Ryan said so and +so? and wasn't it reported that Morgan was preparing to do this +and that? + +As for himself, weren't the street-railway earnings increasing +steadily? In spite of the panic, more and more people were +coming to Oakland right along. Movements were already beginning +in real estate. He was dickering even then to sell over a +thousand of his suburban acres. Of course it was at a sacrifice, +but it would ease the strain on all of them and bolster up the +faint-hearted. That was the trouble--the faint-hearts. Had there +been no faint-hearts there would have been no panic. There was +that Eastern syndicate, negotiating with him now to take the +majority of the stock in the Sierra and Salvador Power Company +off his hands. That showed confidence that better times were at +hand. + +And if it was not cheery discourse, but prayer and entreaty or +show down and fight on the part of the banks, Daylight had to +counter in kind. If they could bully, he could bully. If the +favor he asked were refused, it became the thing he demanded. +And when it came down to raw and naked fighting, with the last +veil of sentiment or illusion torn off, he could take their +breaths away. + +But he knew, also, how and when to give in. When he saw the wall +shaking and crumbling irretrievably at a particular place, he +patched it up with sops of cash from his three cash-earning +companies. If the banks went, he went too. It was a case of +their having to hold out. If they smashed and all the collateral +they held of his was thrown on the chaotic market, it would be +the end. And so it was, as the time passed, that on occasion his +red motor-car carried, in addition to the daily cash, the most +gilt-edged securities he possessed; namely, the Ferry Company, +United Water and Consolidated Railways. But he did this +reluctantly, fighting inch by inch. + +As he told the president of the Merchants San Antonio who made +the plea of carrying so many others:-- + +"They're small fry. Let them smash. I'm the king pin here. +You've got more money to make out of me than them. Of course, +you're carrying too much, and you've got to choose, that's all. +It's root hog or die for you or them. I'm too strong to smash. +You could only embarrass me and get yourself tangled up. Your +way out is to let the small fry go, and I'll lend you a hand to +do it." + +And it was Daylight, also, in this time of financial anarchy, who +sized up Simon Dolliver's affairs and lent the hand that sent +that rival down in utter failure. The Golden Gate National was +the keystone of Dolliver's strength, and to the president of that +institution Daylight said:-- + +"Here I've been lending you a hand, and you now in the last +ditch, with Dolliver riding on you and me all the time. It don't +go. You hear me, it don't go. Dolliver couldn't cough up eleven +dollars to save you. Let him get off and walk, and I'll tell you +what I'll do. I'll give you the railway nickels for four +days--that's forty thousand cash. And on the sixth of the month +you can count on twenty thousand more from the Water Company." +He shrugged his shoulders. "Take it or leave it. Them's my +terms." + +"It's dog eat dog, and I ain't overlooking any meat that's +floating around," Daylight proclaimed that afternoon to Hegan; +and Simon Dolliver went the way of the unfortunate in the Great +Panic who were caught with plenty of paper and no money. + +Daylight's shifts and devices were amazing. Nothing however +large or small, passed his keen sight unobserved. The strain he +was under was terrific. He no longer ate lunch. The days were +too short, and his noon hours and his office were as crowded as +at any other time. By the end of the day he was exhausted, and, +as never before, he sought relief behind his wall of alcoholic +inhibition. Straight to his hotel he was driven, and straight to +his rooms he went, where immediately was mixed for him the first +of a series of double Martinis. By dinner, his brain was well +clouded and the panic forgotten. By bedtime, with the assistance +of Scotch whiskey, he was full--not violently nor uproariously +full, nor stupefied, but merely well under the influence of a +pleasant and mild anesthetic. + +Next morning he awoke with parched lips and mouth, and with +sensations of heaviness in his head which quickly passed away. +By eight o'clock he was at his desk, buckled down to the fight, +by ten o'clock on his personal round of the banks, and after +that, without a moment's cessation, till nightfall, he was +handling the knotty tangles of industry, finance, and human +nature that crowded upon him. And with nightfall it was back to +the hotel, the double Martinis and the Scotch; and this was his +program day after day until the days ran into weeks. + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +Though Daylight appeared among his fellows hearty voiced, +inexhaustible, spilling over with energy and vitality, deep down +he was a very weary man. And sometime under the liquor drug, +snatches of wisdom came to him far more lucidity than in his +sober moments, as, for instance, one night, when he sat on the +edge of the bed with one shoe in his hand and meditated on Dede's +aphorism to the effect that he could not sleep in more than one +bed at a time. Still holding the shoe, he looked at the array of +horsehair bridles on the walls. Then, carrying the shoe, he got +up and solemnly counted them, journeying into the two adjoining +rooms to complete the tale. Then he came back to the bed and +gravely addressed his shoe:-- + +"The little woman's right. Only one bed at a time. One hundred +and forty hair bridles, and nothing doing with ary one of them. +One bridle at a time! I can't ride one horse at a time. Poor +old Bob. I'd better be sending you out to pasture. Thirty +million dollars, and a hundred million or nothing in sight, and +what have I got to show for it? There's lots of things money +can't buy. It can't buy the little woman. It can't buy +capacity. What's the good of thirty millions when I ain't got +room for more than a quart of cocktails a day? If I had a +hundred-quart-cocktail thirst, it'd be different. But one +quart--one measly little quart! Here I am, a thirty times over +millionaire, slaving harder every day than any dozen men that +work for me, and all I get is two meals that don't taste good, +one bed, a quart of Martini, and a hundred and forty hair bridles +to look at on the wall." + +He stared around at the array disconsolately. "Mr. Shoe, I'm +sizzled. Good night." + +Far worse than the controlled, steady drinker is the solitary +drinker, and it was this that Daylight was developing into. He +rarely drank sociably any more, but in his own room, by himself. +Returning weary from each day's unremitting effort, he drugged +himself to sleep, knowing that on the morrow he would rise up +with a dry and burning mouth and repeat the program. + +But the country did not recover with its wonted elasticity. +Money did not become freer, though the casual reader of +Daylight's newspapers, as well as of all the other owned and +subsidised newspapers in the country, could only have concluded +that the money tightness was over and that the panic was past +history. All public utterances were cheery and optimistic, but +privately many of the utters were in desperate straits. The +scenes enacted in the privacy of Daylight's office, and of the +meetings of his boards of directors, would have given the lie to +the editorials in his newspapers; as, for instance, when he +addressed the big stockholders in the Sierra and Salvador Power +Company, the United Water Company, and the several other stock +companies:-- + +"You've got to dig. You've got a good thing, but you'll have to +sacrifice in order to hold on. There ain't no use spouting hard +times explanations. Don't I know the hard times is on? Ain't +that what you're here for? As I said before, you've got to dig. +I run the majority stock, and it's come to a case of assess. +It's that or smash. If ever I start going you won't know what +struck you, I'll smash that hard. The small fry can let go, but +you big ones can't. This ship won't sink as long as you stay +with her. But if you start to leave her, down you'll sure go +before you can get to shore. This assessment has got to be met +that's all." + +The big wholesale supply houses, the caterers for his hotels, and +all the crowd that incessantly demanded to be paid, had their hot +half-hours with him. He summoned them to his office and +displayed his latest patterns of can and can't and will and +won't. + +"By God, you've got to carry me!" he told them. "If you think +this is a pleasant little game of parlor whist and that you can +quit and go home whenever you want, you're plumb wrong. Look +here, Watkins, you remarked five minutes ago that you wouldn't +stand for it. Now let me tell you a few. You're going to stand +for it and keep on standin's for it. You're going to continue +supplying me and taking my paper until the pinch is over. How +you're going to do it is your trouble, not mine. You remember +what I did to Klinkner and the Altamont Trust Company? I know +the inside of your business better than you do yourself, and if +you try to drop me I'll smash you. Even if I'd be going to smash +myself, I'd find a minute to turn on you and bring you down with +me. It's sink or swim for all of us, and I reckon you'll find it +to your interest to keep me on top the puddle." + +Perhaps his bitterest fight was with the stockholders of the +United Water Company, for it was practically the whole of the +gross earnings of this company that he voted to lend to himself +and used to bolster up his wide battle front. Yet he never +pushed his arbitrary rule too far. Compelling sacrifice from the +men whose fortunes were tied up with his, nevertheless when any +one of them was driven to the wall and was in dire need, Daylight +was there to help him back into the line. Only a strong man +could have saved so complicated a situation in such time of +stress, and Daylight was that man. He turned and twisted, +schemed and devised, bludgeoned and bullied the weaker ones, kept +the faint-hearted in the fight, and had no mercy on the deserter. + +And in the end, when early summer was on, everything began to +mend. Came a day when Daylight did the unprecedented. He left +the office an hour earlier than usual, and for the reason that +for the first time since the panic there was not an item of work +waiting to be done. He dropped into Hegan's private office, +before leaving, for a chat, and as he stood up to go, he said:-- + +"Hegan, we're all hunkadory. We're pulling out of the financial +pawnshop in fine shape, and we'll get out without leaving one +unredeemed pledge behind. The worst is over, and the end is in +sight. Just a tight rein for a couple more weeks, just a bit of +a pinch or a flurry or so now and then, and we can let go and +spit on our hands." + +For once he varied his program. Instead of going directly to his +hotel, he started on a round of the bars and cafes, drinking a +cocktail here and a cocktail there, and two or three when he +encountered men he knew. It was after an hour or so of this that +he dropped into the bar of the Parthenon for one last drink +before going to dinner. By this time all his being was +pleasantly warmed by the alcohol, and he was in the most genial +and best of spirits. At the corner of the bar several young men +were up to the old trick of resting their elbows and attempting +to force each other's hands down. One broad-shouldered young +giant never removed his elbow, but put down every hand that came +against him. Daylight was interested. + +"It's Slosson," the barkeeper told him, in answer to his query. +"He's the heavy-hammer thrower at the U.C. Broke all records +this year, and the world's record on top of it. He's a husky all +right all right." + +Daylight nodded and went over to him, placing his own arm in +opposition. + +"I'd like to go you a flutter, son, on that proposition," he +said. + +The young man laughed and locked hands with him; and to +Daylight's astonishment it was his own hand that was forced down +on the bar. + +"Hold on," he muttered. "Just one more flutter. I reckon I +wasn't just ready that time." + +Again the hands locked. It happened quickly. The offensive +attack of Daylight's muscles slipped instantly into defense, and, +resisting vainly, his hand was forced over and down. Daylight +was dazed. It had been no trick. The skill was equal, or, if +anything, the superior skill had been his. Strength, sheer +strength, had done it. He called for the drinks, and, still +dazed and pondering, held up his own arm, and looked at it as at +some new strange thing. He did not know this arm. It certainly +was not the arm he had carried around with him all the years. +The old arm? Why, it would have been play to turn down that +young husky's. But this arm--he continued to look at it with such +dubious perplexity as to bring a roar of laughter from the young +men. + +This laughter aroused him. He joined in it at first, and then +his face slowly grew grave. He leaned toward the hammer-thrower. + +"Son," he said, "let me whisper a secret. Get out of here and +quit drinking before you begin." + +The young fellow flushed angrily, but Daylight held steadily on. + +"You listen to your dad, and let him say a few. I'm a young man +myself, only I ain't. Let me tell you, several years ago for me +to turn your hand down would have been like committing assault +and battery on a kindergarten." + +Slosson looked his incredulity, while the others grinned and +clustered around Daylight encouragingly. + +"Son, I ain't given to preaching. This is the first time I ever +come to the penitent form, and you put me there yourself--hard. +I've seen a few in my time, and I ain't fastidious so as you can +notice it. But let me tell you right not that I'm worth the +devil alone knows how many millions, and that I'd sure give it +all, right here on the bar, to turn down your hand. Which means +I'd give the whole shooting match just to be back where I was +before I quit sleeping under the stars and come into the hen-coops +of cities to drink cocktails and lift up my feet and ride. +Son, that's that's the matter with me, and that's the way I feel +about it. The game ain't worth the candle. You just take care of +yourself, and roll my advice over once in a while. Good night." + +He turned and lurched out of the place, the moral effect of his +utterance largely spoiled by the fact that he was so patently +full while he uttered it. + +Still in a daze, Daylight made to his hotel, accomplished his +dinner, and prepared for bed. + +"The damned young whippersnapper!" he muttered. "Put my hand +down easy as you please. My hand!" + +He held up the offending member and regarded it with stupid +wonder. The hand that had never been beaten! The hand that had +made the Circle City giants wince! And a kid from college, with +a laugh on his face, had put it down--twice! Dede was right. He +was not the same man. The situation would bear more serious +looking into than he had ever given it. But this was not the +time. In the morning, after a good sleep, he would give it +consideration. + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +Daylight awoke with the familiar parched mouth and lips and +throat, took a long drink of water from the pitcher beside his +bed, and gathered up the train of thought where he had left it +the night before. He reviewed the easement of the financial +strain. Things were mending at last. While the going was still +rough, the greatest dangers were already past. As he had told +Hegan, a tight rein and careful playing were all that was needed +now. Flurries and dangers were bound to come, but not so grave +as the ones they had already weathered. He had been hit hard, +but he was coming through without broken bones, which was more +than Simon Dolliver and many another could say. And not one of +his business friends had been ruined. He had compelled them to +stay in line to save himself, and they had been saved as well. + +His mind moved on to the incident at the corner of the bar of the +Parthenon, when the young athlete had turned his hand down. He +was no longer stunned by the event, but he was shocked and +grieved, as only a strong man can be, at this passing of his +strength. And the issue was too clear for him to dodge, even +with himself. He knew why his hand had gone down. Not because +he was an old man. He was just in the first flush of his prime, +and, by rights, it was the hand of the hammer-thrower which +should have gone down. Daylight knew that he had taken liberties +with himself. He had always looked upon this strength of his as +permanent, and here, for years, it had been steadily oozing from +him. As he had diagnosed it, he had come in from under the stars +to roost in the coops of cities. He had almost forgotten how to +walk. He had lifted up his feet and been ridden around in +automobiles, cabs and carriages, and electric cars. He had not +exercised, and he had dry-rotted his muscles with alcohol. + +And was it worth it? What did all his money mean after all? +Dede was right. It could buy him no more than one bed at a time, +and at the same time it made him the abjectest of slaves. It +tied him fast. He was tied by it right now. Even if he so +desired, he could not lie abed this very day. His money called +him. The office whistle would soon blow, and he must answer it. +The early sunshine was streaming through his window--a fine day +for a ride in the hills on Bob, with Dede beside him on her Mab. +Yet all his millions could not buy him this one day. One of +those flurries might come along, and he had to be on the spot to +meet it. Thirty millions! And they were powerless to persuade +Dede to ride on Mab--Mab, whom he had bought, and who was unused +and growing fat on pasture. What were thirty millions when they +could not buy a man a ride with the girl he loved? Thirty +millions!--that made him come here and go there, that rode upon +him like so many millstones, that destroyed him while they grew, +that put their foot down and prevented him from winning this girl +who worked for ninety dollars a month. + +Which was better? he asked himself. All this was Dede's own +thought. It was what she had meant when she prayed he would go +broke. He held up his offending right arm. It wasn't the same +old arm. Of course she could not love that arm and that body as +she had loved the strong, clean arm and body of years before. He +didn't like that arm and body himself. A young whippersnapper +had been able to take liberties with it. It had gone back on +him. He sat up suddenly. No, by God, he had gone back on it! +He had gone back on himself. He had gone back on Dede. She was +right, a thousand times right, and she had sense enough to know +it, sense enough to refuse to marry a money slave with a +whiskey-rotted carcass. + +He got out of bed and looked at himself in the long mirror on the +wardrobe door. He wasn't pretty. The old-time lean cheeks +were gone. These were heavy, seeming to hang down by their own +weight. He looked for the lines of cruelty Dede had spoken of, +and he found them, and he found the harshness in the eyes as +well, the eyes that were muddy now after all the cocktails of the +night before, and of the months and years before. He looked at +the clearly defined pouches that showed under his eyes, and +they've shocked him. He rolled up the sleeve of his pajamas. No +wonder the hammer-thrower had put his hand down. Those weren't +muscles. A rising tide of fat had submerged them. He stripped +off the pajama coat. Again he was shocked, this time but the +bulk of his body. It wasn't pretty. The lean stomach had become +a paunch. The ridged muscles of chest and shoulders and abdomen +had broken down into rolls of flesh. + +He sat down on the bed, and through his mind drifted pictures of +his youthful excellence, of the hardships he had endured over +other men, of the Indians and dogs he had run off their legs in +the heart-breaking days and nights on the Alaskan trail, of the +feats of strength that had made him king over a husky race of +frontiersmen. + +And this was age. Then there drifted across the field of vision +of his mind's eye the old man he had encountered at Glen Ellen, +corning up the hillside through the fires of sunset, white-headed +and white-bearded, eighty-four, in his hand the pail of foaming +milk and in his face all the warm glow and content of the passing +summer day. That had been age. "Yes siree, eighty-four, and +spryer than most," he could hear the old man say. "And I ain't +loafed none. I walked across the Plains with an ox-team and fit +Injuns in '51, and I was a family man then with seven +youngsters." + +Next he remembered the old woman of the chaparral, pressing +grapes in her mountain clearing; and Ferguson, the little man who +had scuttled into the road like a rabbit, the one-time managing +editor of a great newspaper, who was content to live in the +chaparral along with his spring of mountain water and his +hand-reared and manicured fruit trees. Ferguson had solved a +problem. A weakling and an alcoholic, he had run away from the +doctors and the chicken-coop of a city, and soaked up health like +a thirsty sponge. Well, Daylight pondered, if a sick man whom +the doctors had given up could develop into a healthy farm +laborer, what couldn't a merely stout man like himself do under +similar circumstances? He caught a vision of his body with all +its youthful excellence returned, and thought of Dede, and sat +down suddenly on the bed, startled by the greatness of the idea +that had come to him. + +He did not sit long. His mind, working in its customary way, +like a steel trap, canvassed the idea in all its bearings. It +was big--bigger than anything he had faced before. And he faced +it squarely, picked it up in his two hands and turned it over and +around and looked at it. The simplicity of it delighted him. He +chuckled over it, reached his decision, and began to dress. +Midway in the dressing he stopped in order to use the telephone. + +Dede was the first he called up. + +"Don't come to the office this morning," he said. "I'm coming +out to see you for a moment." He called up others. He ordered +his motor-car. To Jones he gave instructions for the forwarding +of Bob and Wolf to Glen Ellen. Hegan he surprised by asking him +to look up the deed of the Glen Ellen ranch and make out a new +one in Dede Mason's name. "Who?" Hegan demanded. "Dede Mason," +Daylight replied imperturbably the 'phone must be indistinct this +morning. "D-e-d-e M-a-s o-n. Got it?" + +Half an hour later he was flying out to Berkeley. And for the +first time the big red car halted directly before the house. +Dede offered to receive him in the parlor, but he shook his head +and nodded toward her rooms. + +"In there," he said. "No other place would suit." + +As the door closed, his arms went out and around her. Then he +stood with his hands on her shoulders and looking down into her +face. + +"Dede, if I tell you, flat and straight, that I'm going up to +live on that ranch at Glen Ellen, that I ain't taking a cent with +me, that I'm going to scratch for every bite I eat, and that I +ain't going to play ary a card at the business game again, will +you come along with me?" + +She gave a glad little cry, and he nestled her in closely. But +the next moment she had thrust herself out from him to the old +position at arm's length. + +"I--I don't understand," she said breathlessly. + +"And you ain't answered my proposition, though I guess no answer +is necessary. We're just going to get married right away and +start. I've sent Bob and Wolf along already. When will you be +ready?" + +Dede could not forbear to smile. "My, what a hurricane of a man +it is. I'm quite blown away. And you haven't explained a word +to me." + +Daylight smiled responsively. + +"Look here, Dede, this is what card-sharps call a show-down. No +more philandering and frills and long-distance sparring between +you and me. We're just going to talk straight out in meeting--the +truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Now you +answer some questions for me, and then I'll answer yours." + +He paused. "Well, I've got only one question after all: Do you +love me enough to marry me?" + +"But--" she began. + +"No buts," he broke in sharply. "This is a show-down. When I +say marry, I mean what I told you at first, that we'd go up and +live on the ranch. Do you love me enough for that?" + +She looked at him for a moment, then her lids dropped, and all of +her seemed to advertise consent. + +"Come on, then, let's start." The muscles of his legs tensed +involuntarily as if he were about to lead her to the door. "My +auto's waiting outside. There's nothing to delay excepting +getting on your hat." + +He bent over her. "I reckon it's allowable," he said, as he +kissed her. + +It was a long embrace, and she was the first to speak. + +"You haven't answered my questions. How is this possible? How +can you leave your business? Has anything happened?" + +"No, nothing's happened yet, but it's going to, blame quick. +I've taken your preaching to heart, and I've come to the penitent +form. You are my Lord God, and I'm sure going to serve you. The +rest can go to thunder. You were sure right. I've been the +slave to my money, and since I can't serve two masters I'm +letting the money slide. I'd sooner have you than all the money +in the world, that's all." Again he held her closely in his +arms. "And I've sure got you, Dede. I've sure got you. + +"And I want to tell you a few more. I've taken my last drink. +You're marrying a whiskey-soak, but your husband won't be that. +He's going to grow into another man so quick you won't know him. +A couple of months from now, up there in Glen Ellen, you'll wake +up some morning and find you've got a perfect stranger in the +house with you, and you'll have to get introduced to him all over +again. You'll say, 'I'm Mrs. Harnish, who are you?' And I'll +say, 'I'm Elam Harnish's younger brother. I've just arrived from +Alaska to attend the funeral.' 'What funeral?' you'll say. And +I'll say, 'Why, the funeral of that good-for-nothing, gambling, +whiskey-drinking Burning Daylight--the man that died of fatty +degeneration of the heart from sitting in night and day at the +business game 'Yes ma'am,' I'll say, 'he's sure a gone 'coon, but +I've come to take his place and make you happy. And now, ma'am, +if you'll allow me, I'll just meander down to the pasture and +milk the cow while you're getting breakfast.'" + +Again he caught her hand and made as if to start with her for the +door. When she resisted, he bent and kissed her again and again. + +"I'm sure hungry for you, little woman," he murmured "You make +thirty millions look like thirty cents." + +"Do sit down and be sensible," she urged, her cheeks flushed, the +golden light in her eyes burning more golden than he had ever +seen it before. + +But Daylight was bent on having his way, and when he sat down it +was with her beside him and his arm around her. + +"'Yes, ma'am,' I'll say, 'Burning Daylight was a pretty good +cuss, but it's better that he's gone. He quit rolling up in his +rabbit-skins and sleeping in the snow, and went to living in a +chicken-coop. He lifted up his legs and quit walking and +working, and took to existing on Martini cocktails and Scotch +whiskey. He thought he loved you, ma'am, and he did his best, +but he loved his cocktails more, and he loved his money more, and +himself more, and 'most everything else more than he did you.' +And then I'll say, 'Ma'am, you just run your eyes over me and see +how different I am. I ain't got a cocktail thirst, and all the +money I got is a dollar and forty cents and I've got to buy a new +ax, the last one being plumb wore out, and I can love you just +about eleven times as much as your first husband did. You see, +ma'am, he went all to fat. And there ain't ary ounce of fat on +me.' And I'll roll up my sleeve and show you, and say, 'Mrs. +Harnish, after having experience with being married to that old +fat money-bags, do you-all mind marrying a slim young fellow like +me?' And you'll just wipe a tear away for poor old Daylight, and +kind of lean toward me with a willing expression in your eye, and +then I'll blush maybe some, being a young fellow, and put my arm +around you, like that, and then--why, then I'll up and marry my +brother's widow, and go out and do the chores while she's cooking +a bite to eat." + +"But you haven't answered my questions," she reproached him, as +she emerged, rosy and radiant, from the embrace that had +accompanied the culmination of his narrative. + +"Now just what do you want to know?" he asked. + +"I want to know how all this is possible? How you are able to +leave your business at a time like this? What you meant by +saying that something was going to happen quickly? I--" She +hesitated and blushed. "I answered your question, you know." + +"Let's go and get married," he urged, all the whimsicality of his +utterance duplicated in his eyes. "You know I've got to make way +for that husky young brother of mine, and I ain't got long to +live." She made an impatient moue, and he continued seriously. + +"You see, it's like this, Dede. I've been working like forty +horses ever since this blamed panic set in, and all the time some +of those ideas you'd given me were getting ready to sprout. +Well, they sprouted this morning, that's all. I started to get +up, expecting to go to the office as usual. But I didn't go to +the office. All that sprouting took place there and then. The +sun was shining in the window, and I knew it was a fine day in +the hills. And I knew I wanted to ride in the hills with you +just about thirty million times more than I wanted to go to the +office. And I knew all the time it was impossible. And why? +Because of the office. The office wouldn't let me. All my money +reared right up on its hind legs and got in the way and wouldn't +let me. It's a way that blamed money has of getting in the way. +You know that yourself. + +"And then I made up my mind that I was to the dividing of the +ways. One way led to the office. The other way led to Berkeley. +And I took the Berkeley road. I'm never going to set foot in the +office again. That's all gone, finished, over and done with, and +I'm letting it slide clean to smash and then some. My mind's set +on this. You see, I've got religion, and it's sure the old-time +religion; it's love and you, and it's older than the oldest +religion in the world. It's IT, that's what it is--IT, with a +capital I-T." + +She looked at him with a sudden, startled expression. + +"You mean--?" she began. + +"I mean just that. I'm wiping the slate clean. I'm letting it +all go to smash. When them thirty million dollars stood up to my +face and said I couldn't go out with you in the hills to-day, I +knew the time had come for me to put my foot down. And I'm +putting it down. I've got you, and my strength to work for you, +and that little ranch in Sonoma. That's all I want, and that's +all I'm going to save out, along with Bob and Wolf, a suit case +and a hundred and forty hair bridles. All the rest goes, and +good riddance. It's that much junk." + +But Dede was insistent. + +"Then this--this tremendous loss is all unnecessary?" she asked. + +"Just what I haven't been telling you. It IS necessary. If that +money thinks it can stand up right to my face and say I can't go +riding with you--" + +"No, no; be serious," Dede broke in. "I don't mean that, and you +know it. What I want to know is, from a standpoint of business, +is this failure necessary?" + +He shook his head. + +"You bet it isn't necessary. That's the point of it. I'm not +letting go of it because I'm licked to a standstill by the panic +and have got to let go. I'm firing it out when I've licked the +panic and am winning, hands down. That just shows how little I +think of it. It's you that counts, little woman, and I make my +play accordingly." + +But she drew away from his sheltering arms. + +"You are mad, Elam." + +"Call me that again," he murmured ecstatically. "It's sure +sweeter than the chink of millions." + +All this she ignored. + +"It's madness. You don't know what you are doing--" + +"Oh, yes, I do," he assured her. "I'm winning the dearest wish +of my heart. Why, your little finger is worth more--" + +"Do be sensible for a moment." + +"I was never more sensible in my lie. I know what I want, and +I'm going to get it. I want you and the open air. I want to get +my foot off the paving-stones and my ear away from the telephone. +I want a little ranch-house in one of the prettiest bits of +country God ever made, and I want to do the chores around that +ranch-house--milk cows, and chop wood, and curry horses, and +plough the ground, and all the rest of it; and I want you there +in the ranch-house with me. I'm plumb tired of everything else, +and clean wore out. And I'm sure the luckiest man alive, for +I've got what money can't buy. I've got you, and thirty millions +couldn't buy you, nor three thousand millions, nor thirty cents--" + +A knock at the door interrupted him, and he was left to stare +delightedly at the Crouched Venus and on around the room at +Dede's dainty possessions, while she answered the telephone. + +"It is Mr. Hegan," she said, on returning. "He is holding the +line. He says it is important." + +Daylight shook his head and smiled. + +"Please tell Mr. Hegan to hang up. I'm done with the office and +I don't want to hear anything about anything." + +A minute later she was back again. + +"He refuses to hang up. He told me to tell you that Unwin is in +the office now, waiting to see you, and Harrison, too. Mr. Hegan +said that Grimshaw and Hodgkins are in trouble. That it +looks as if they are going to break. And he said something about +protection." + +It was startling information. Both Unwin and Harrison +represented big banking corporations, and Daylight knew that if +the house of Grimshaw and Hodgkins went it would precipitate a +number of failures and start a flurry of serious dimensions. But +Daylight smiled, and shook his head, and mimicked the stereotyped +office tone of voice as he said:-- + +"Miss Mason, you will kindly tell Mr. Hegan that there is +nothing doing and to hang up." + +"But you can't do this," she pleaded. + +"Watch me," he grimly answered. + +"Elam!" + +"Say it again," he cried. "Say it again, and a dozen Grimshaws +and Hodgkins can smash!" + +He caught her by the hand and drew her to him. + +"You let Hegan hang on to that line till he's tired. We can't be +wasting a second on him on a day like this. He's only in love +with books and things, but I've got a real live woman in my arms +that's loving me all the time she's kicking over the traces." + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +"But I know something of the fight you have been making," Dede +contended. "If you stop now, all the work you have done, +everything, will be destroyed. You have no right to do it. You +can't do it." + +Daylight was obdurate. He shook his head and smiled +tantalizingly. + +"Nothing will be destroyed, Dede, nothing. You don't understand +this business game. It's done on paper. Don't you see? Where's +the gold I dug out of Klondike? Why, it's in twenty-dollar gold +pieces, in gold watches, in wedding rings. No matter what +happens to me, the twenty-dollar pieces, the watches, and the +wedding rings remain. Suppose I died right now. It wouldn't +affect the gold one iota. It's sure the same with this present +situation. All I stand for is paper. I've got the paper for +thousands of acres of land. All right. Burn up the paper, and +burn me along with it. The land remains, don't it? The rain +falls on it, the seeds sprout in it, the trees grow out of it, +the houses stand on it, the electric cars run over it. It's +paper that business is run on. I lose my paper, or I lose my +life, it's all the same; it won't alter one grain of sand in all +that land, or twist one blade of grass around sideways. + +"Nothing is going to be lost--not one pile out of the docks, not +one railroad spike, not one ounce of steam out of the gauge of a +ferry-boat. The cars will go on running, whether I hold the +paper or somebody else holds it. The tide has set toward +Oakland. People are beginning to pour in. We're selling +building lots again. There is no stopping that tide. No matter +what happens to me or the paper, them three hundred thousand +folks are coming in the same. And there'll be cars to carry them +around, and houses to hold them, and good water for them to drink +and electricity to give them light, and all the rest." + +By this time Hegan had arrived in an automobile. The honk of it +came in through the open window, and they saw, it stop alongside +the big red machine. In the car were Unwin and Harrison, while +Jones sat with the chauffeur. + +"I'll see Hegan," Daylight told Dede. "There's no need for the +rest. They can wait in the machine." + +"Is he drunk?" Hegan whispered to Dede at the door. + +She shook her head and showed him in. + +"Good morning, Larry," was Daylight's greeting. "Sit down and +rest your feet. You sure seem to be in a flutter." + +"I am," the little Irishman snapped back. "Grimshaw and Hodgkins +are going to smash if something isn't done quick. Why didn't you +come to the office? What are you going to do about it?" + +"Nothing," Daylight drawled lazily. "Except let them smash, I +guess--" + +"But--" + +"I've had no dealings with Grimshaw and Hodgkins. I don't owe +them anything. Besides, I'm going to smash myself. Look here, +Larry, you know me. You know when I make up my mind I mean it. +Well, I've sure made up my mind. I'm tired of the whole game. +I'm letting go of it as fast as I can, and a smash is the +quickest way to let go." + +Hegan stared at his chief, then passed his horror-stricken gaze +on to Dede, who nodded in sympathy. + +"So let her smash, Larry," Daylight went on. "All you've got to +do is to protect yourself and all our friends. Now you listen to +me while I tell you what to do. Everything is in good shape to +do it. Nobody must get hurt. Everybody that stood by me must +come through without damage. All the back wages and salaries +must be paid pronto. All the money I've switched away from the +water company, the street cars, and the ferries must be switched +back. And you won't get hurt yourself none. Every company you +got stock in will come through--" + +"You are crazy, Daylight!" the little lawyer cried out. "This is +all babbling lunacy. What is the matter with you? You haven't +been eating a drug or something?" + +"I sure have!" Daylight smiled reply. "And I'm now coughing it +up. I'm sick of living in a city and playing business--I'm going +off to the sunshine, and the country, and the green grass. And +Dede, here, is going with me. So you've got the chance to be the +first to congratulate me." + +"Congratulate the--the devil!" Hegan spluttered. "I'm not +going to stand for this sort of foolishness." + +"Oh, yes, you are; because if you don't there'll be a bigger +smash and some folks will most likely get hurt. You're worth a +million or more yourself, now, and if you listen to me you come +through with a whole skin. I want to get hurt, and get hurt to +the limit. That's what I'm looking for, and there's no man or +bunch of men can get between me and what I'm looking for. +Savvee, Hegan? Savvee?" + +"What have you done to him?" Hegan snarled at Dede. + +"Hold on there, Larry." For the first time Daylight's voice +was sharp, while all the old lines of cruelty in his face stood +forth. "Miss Mason is going to be my wife, and while I don't +mind your talking to her all you want, you've got to use a +different tone of voice or you'll be heading for a hospital, +which will sure be an unexpected sort of smash. And let me tell +you one other thing. This-all is my doing. She says I'm crazy, +too." + +Hegan shook his head in speechless sadness and continued to +stare. + +"There'll be temporary receiverships, of course," Daylight +advised; "but they won't bother none or last long. What you must +do immediately is to save everybody--the men that have been +letting their wages ride with me, all the creditors, and all the +concerns that have stood by. There's the wad of land that New +Jersey crowd has been dickering for. They'll take all of a +couple of thousand acres and will close now if you give them half +a chance. That Fairmount section is the cream of it, and they'll +dig up as high as a thousand dollars an acre for a part of it. +That'll help out some. That five-hundred acre tract beyond, +you'll be lucky if they pay two hundred an acre." + +Dede, who had been scarcely listening, seemed abruptly to make up +her mind, and stepped forward where she confronted the two men. +Her face was pale, but set with determination, so that Daylight, +looking at it, was reminded of the day when she first rode Bob. + +"Wait," she said. "I want to say something. Elam, if you do +this insane thing, I won't marry you. I refuse to marry you." + +Hegan, in spite of his misery, gave her a quick, grateful look. + +"I'll take my chance on that," Daylight began. + +"Wait!" she again interrupted. "And if you don't do this thing, +I will marry you." + +"Let me get this proposition clear." Daylight spoke with +exasperating slowness and deliberation. "As I understand it, if +I keep right on at the business game, you'll sure marry me? +You'll marry me if I keep on working my head off and drinking +Martinis?" + +After each question he paused, while she nodded an affirmation. + +"And you'll marry me right away?" + +"Yes." + +"To-day? Now?" + +"Yes." + +He pondered for a moment. + +"No, little woman, I won't do it. It won't work, and you know it +yourself. I want you--all of you; and to get it I'll have to +give you all of myself, and there'll be darn little of myself +left over to give if I stay with the business game. Why, Dede, +with you on the ranch with me, I'm sure of you--and of myself. +I'm sure of you, anyway. You can talk will or won't all you +want, but you're sure going to marry me just the same. And now, +Larry, you'd better be going. I'll be at the hotel in a little +while, and since I'm not going a step into the office again, +bring all papers to sign and the rest over to my rooms. And you +can get me on the 'phone there any time. This smash is going +through. Savvee? I'm quit and done." + +He stood up as a sign for Hegan to go. The latter was plainly +stunned. He also rose to his feet, but stood looking helplessly +around. + +"Sheer, downright, absolute insanity," he muttered. + +Daylight put his hand on the other's shoulder. + +"Buck up, Larry. You're always talking about the wonders of +human nature, and here I am giving you another sample of it and +you ain't appreciating it. I'm a bigger dreamer than you are, +that's all, and I'm sure dreaming what's coming true. It's the +biggest, best dream I ever had, and I'm going after it to get +it--" + +"By losing all you've got," Hegan exploded at him. + +"Sure--by losing all I've got that I don't want. But I'm +hanging on to them hundred and forty hair bridles just the same. +Now you'd better hustle out to Unwin and Harrison and get on down +town. I'll be at the hotel, and you can call me up any time." + +He turned to Dede as soon as Hegan was gone, and took her by the +hand. + +"And now, little woman, you needn't come to the office any more. +Consider yourself discharged. And remember I was your employer, +so you've got to come to me for recommendation, and if you're not +real good, I won't give you one. In the meantime, you just rest +up and think about what things you want to pack, because we'll +just about have to set up housekeeping on your stuff--leastways, +the front part of the house." + +"But, Elam, I won't, I won't! If you do this mad thing I never +will marry you." + +She attempted to take her hand away, but he closed on it with a +protecting, fatherly clasp. + +"Will you be straight and honest? All right, here goes. Which +would you sooner have--me and the money, or me and the ranch?" + +"But--" she began. + +"No buts. Me and the money?" + +She did not answer. + +"Me and the ranch?" + +Still she did not answer, and still he was undisturbed. + +"You see, I know your answer, Dede, and there's nothing more to +say. Here's where you and I quit and hit the high places for +Sonoma. You make up your mind what you want to pack, and I'll +have some men out here in a couple of days to do it for you. It +will be about the last work anybody else ever does for us. You +and I will do the unpacking and the arranging ourselves." + +She made a last attempt. + +"Elam, won't you be reasonable? There is time to reconsider. I +can telephone down and catch Mr. Hegan as soon as he reaches the +office--" + +"Why, I'm the only reasonable man in the bunch right now," he +rejoined. "Look at me--as calm as you please, and as happy as a +king, while they're fluttering around like a lot of cranky hens +whose heads are liable to be cut off." + +"I'd cry, if I thought it would do any good," she threatened. + +"In which case I reckon I'd have to hold you in my arms some more +and sort of soothe you down," he threatened back. "And now I'm +going to go. It's too bad you got rid of Mab. You could have +sent her up to the ranch. But see you've got a mare to ride of +some sort or other." + +As he stood at the top of the steps, leaving, she said:-- + +"You needn't send those men. There will be no packing, because I +am not going to marry you." + +"I'm not a bit scared," he answered, and went down the steps. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +Three days later, Daylight rode to Berkeley in his red car. It +was for the last time, for on the morrow the big machine passed +into another's possession. It had been a strenuous three days, +for his smash had been the biggest the panic had precipitated in +California. The papers had been filled with it, and a great cry +of indignation had gone up from the very men who later found that +Daylight had fully protected their interests. It was these +facts, coming slowly to light, that gave rise to the widely +repeated charge that Daylight had gone insane. It was the +unanimous conviction among business men that no sane man could +possibly behave in such fashion. On the other hand, neither his +prolonged steady drinking nor his affair with Dede became public, +so the only conclusion attainable was that the wild financier +from Alaska had gone lunatic. And Daylight had grinned and +confirmed the suspicion by refusing to see the reporters. + +He halted the automobile before Dede's door, and met her with his +same rushing tactics, enclosing her in his arms before a word +could be uttered. Not until afterward, when she had recovered +herself from him and got him seated, did he begin to speak. + +"I've done it," he announced. "You've seen the newspapers, of +course. I'm plumb cleaned out, and I've just called around to +find out what day you feel like starting for Glen Ellen. It'll +have to be soon, for it's real expensive living in Oakland these +days. My board at the hotel is only paid to the end of the week, +and I can't afford to stay after that. And beginning with +to-morrow I've got to use the street cars, and they sure eat up +the nickels." + +He paused, and waited, and looked at her. Indecision and trouble +showed on her face. Then the smile he knew so well began to grow +on her lips and in her eyes, until she threw back her head and +laughed in the old forthright boyish way. + +"When are those men coming to pack for me?" she asked. + +And again she laughed and simulated a vain attempt to escape his +bearlike arms. + +"Dear Elam," she whispered; "dear Elam." And of herself, for +the first time, she kissed him. + +She ran her hand caressingly through his hair. + +"Your eyes are all gold right now," he said. "I can look in them +and tell just how much you love me." + +"They have been all gold for you, Elam, for a long time. I +think, on our little ranch, they will always be all gold." + +"Your hair has gold in it, too, a sort of fiery gold." He +turned her face suddenly and held it between his hands and looked +long into her eyes. "And your eyes were full of gold only the +other day, when you said you wouldn't marry me." + +She nodded and laughed. + +"You would have your will," she confessed. "But I couldn't be a +party to such madness. All that money was yours, not mine. But +I was loving you all the time, Elam, for the great big boy you +are, breaking the thirty-million toy with which you had grown +tired of playing. And when I said no, I knew all the time it was +yes. And I am sure that my eyes were golden all the time. I had +only one fear, and that was that you would fail to lose +everything. Because, dear, I knew I should marry you anyway, and +I did so want just you and the ranch and Bob and Wolf and those +horse-hair bridles. Shall I tell you a secret? As soon as you +left, I telephoned the man to whom I sold Mab." + +She hid her face against his breast for an instant, and then +looked at him again, gladly radiant. + +"You see, Elam, in spite of what my lips said, my mind was made +up then. I--I simply had to marry you. But I was praying you +would succeed in losing everything. And so I tried to find what +had become of Mab. But the man had sold her and did not know +what had become of her. You see, I wanted to ride with you over +the Glen Ellen hills, on Mab and you on Bob, just as I had ridden +with you through the Piedmont hills." + +The disclosure of Mab's whereabouts trembled on Daylight's lips, +but he forbore. + +"I'll promise you a mare that you'll like just as much as Mab," +he said. + +But Dede shook her head, and on that one point refused to be +comforted. + +"Now, I've got an idea," Daylight said, hastening to get the +conversation on less perilous ground. "We're running away from +cities, and you have no kith nor kin, so it don't seem exactly +right that we should start off by getting married in a city. So +here's the idea: I'll run up to the ranch and get things in shape +around the house and give the caretaker his walking-papers. You +follow me in a couple of days, coming on the morning train. I'll +have the preacher fixed and waiting. And here's another idea. +You bring your riding togs in a suit case. And as soon as the +ceremony's over, you can go to the hotel and change. Then out +you come, and you find me waiting with a couple of horses, and +we'll ride over the landscape so as you can see the prettiest +parts of the ranch the first thing. And she's sure pretty, that +ranch. And now that it's settled, I'll be waiting for you at the +morning train day after to-morrow." + +Dede blushed as she spoke. + +"You are such a hurricane." + +"Well, ma'am," he drawled, "I sure hate to burn daylight. +And you and I have burned a heap of daylight. We've been +scandalously extravagant. We might have been married years ago." + +Two days later, Daylight stood waiting outside the little Glen +Ellen hotel. The ceremony was over, and he had left Dede to go +inside and change into her riding-habit while he brought the +horses. He held them now, Bob and Mab, and in the shadow of the +watering-trough Wolf lay and looked on. Already two days of +ardent California sun had touched with new fires the ancient +bronze in Daylight's face. But warmer still was the glow that +came into his cheeks and burned in his eyes as he saw Dede coming +out the door, riding-whip in hand, clad in the familiar corduroy +skirt and leggings of the old Piedmont days. There was warmth +and glow in her own face as she answered his gaze and glanced on +past him to the horses. Then she saw Mab. But her gaze leaped +back to the man. + +"Oh, Elam!" she breathed. + +It was almost a prayer, but a prayer that included a thousand +meanings Daylight strove to feign sheepishness, but his heart was +singing too wild a song for mere playfulness. All things had +been in the naming of his name--reproach, refined away by +gratitude, and all compounded of joy and love. + +She stepped forward and caressed the mare, and again turned and +looked at the man, and breathed:-- + +"Oh, Elam!" + +And all that was in her voice was in her eyes, and in them +Daylight glimpsed a profundity deeper and wider than any speech +or thought--the whole vast inarticulate mystery and wonder of sex +and love. + +Again he strove for playfulness of speech, but it was too great a +moment for even love fractiousness to enter in. Neither spoke. +She gathered the reins, and, bending, Daylight received her foot +in his hand. She sprang, as he lifted and gained the saddle. +The next moment he was mounted and beside her, and, with Wolf +sliding along ahead in his typical wolf-trot, they went up the +hill that led out of town--two lovers on two chestnut sorrel +steeds, riding out and away to honeymoon through the warm summer +day. Daylight felt himself drunken as with wine. He was at the +topmost pinnacle of life. Higher than this no man could climb +nor had ever climbed. It was his day of days, his love-time and +his mating-time, and all crowned by this virginal possession of a +mate who had said "Oh, Elam," as she had said it, and looked at +him out of her soul as she had looked. + +They cleared the crest of the hill, and he watched the joy mount +in her face as she gazed on the sweet, fresh land. He pointed out +the group of heavily wooded knolls across the rolling stretches of +ripe grain. + +"They're ours," he said. "And they're only a sample of the +ranch. Wait till you see the big canon. There are 'coons down +there, and back here on the Sonoma there are mink. And deer!-- +why, that mountain's sure thick with them, and I reckon we can +scare up a mountain-lion if we want to real hard. And, say, +there's a little meadow--well, I ain't going to tell you another +word. You wait and see for yourself." + +They turned in at the gate, where the road to the clay-pit +crossed the fields, and both sniffed with delight as the warm +aroma of the ripe hay rose in their nostrils. As on his first +visit, the larks were uttering their rich notes and fluttering up +before the horses until the woods and the flower-scattered glades +were reached, when the larks gave way to blue jays and +woodpeckers. + +"We're on our land now," he said, as they left the hayfield +behind. "It runs right across country over the roughest parts. +Just you wait and see." + +As on the first day, he turned aside from the clay-pit and worked +through the woods to the left, passing the first spring and +jumping the horses over the ruined remnants of the +stake-and-rider fence. From here on, Dede was in an unending +ecstasy. By the spring that gurgled among the redwoods grew +another great wild lily, bearing on its slender stalk the +prodigious outburst of white waxen bells. This time he did not +dismount, but led the way to the deep canon where the stream had +cut a passage among the knolls. He had been at work here, and a +steep and slippery horse trail now crossed the creek, so they +rode up beyond, through the somber redwood twilight, and, farther +on, through a tangled wood of oak and madrono. They came to a +small clearing of several acres, where the grain stood waist +high. + +"Ours," Daylight said. + +She bent in her saddle, plucked a stalk of the ripe grain, and +nibbled it between her teeth. + +"Sweet mountain hay," she cried. "The kind Mab likes." + +And throughout the ride she continued to utter cries and +ejaculations of surprise and delight. + +"And you never told me all this!" she reproached him, as they +looked across the little clearing and over the descending slopes +of woods to the great curving sweep of Sonoma Valley. + +"Come," he said; and they turned and went back through the forest +shade, crossed the stream and came to the lily by the spring. + +Here, also, where the way led up the tangle of the steep hill, he +had cut a rough horse trail. As they forced their way up the +zigzags, they caught glimpses out and down through the sea of +foliage. Yet always were their farthest glimpses stopped by the +closing vistas of green, and, yet always, as they climbed, did +the forest roof arch overhead, with only here and there rifts +that permitted shattered shafts of sunlight to penetrate. And +all about them were ferns, a score of varieties, from the tiny +gold-backs and maidenhair to huge brakes six and eight feet tall. + +Below them, as they mounted, they glimpsed great gnarled trunks +and branches of ancient trees, and above them were similar great +gnarled branches. + +Dede stopped her horse and sighed with the beauty of it all. + +"It is as if we are swimmers," she said, "rising out of a deep +pool of green tranquillity. Up above is the sky and the sun, but +this is a pool, and we are fathoms deep." + +They started their horses, but a dog-tooth violet, shouldering +amongst the maidenhair, caught her eye and made her rein in +again. + +They cleared the crest and emerged from the pool as if into +another world, for now they were in the thicket of velvet-trunked +young madronos and looking down the open, sun-washed hillside, +across the nodding grasses, to the drifts of blue and white +nemophilae that carpeted the tiny meadow on either side the tiny +stream. Dede clapped her hands. + +"It's sure prettier than office furniture," Daylight remarked. + +"It sure is," she answered. + +And Daylight, who knew his weakness in the use of the particular +word sure, knew that she had repeated it deliberately and with +love. + +They crossed the stream and took the cattle track over the low +rocky hill and through the scrub forest of manzanita, till they +emerged on the next tiny valley with its meadow-bordered +streamlet. + +"If we don't run into some quail pretty soon, I'll be surprised +some," Daylight said. + +And as the words left his lips there was a wild series of +explosive thrumming as the old quail arose from all about Wolf, +while the young ones scuttled for safety and disappeared +miraculously before the spectators' very eyes. + +He showed her the hawk's nest he had found in the +lightning-shattered top of the redwood, and she discovered a +wood-rat's nest which he had not seen before. Next they took the +old wood-road and came out on the dozen acres of clearing where the +wine grapes grew in the wine-colored volcanic soil. Then they +followed the cow-path through more woods and thickets and +scattered glades, and dropped down the hillside to where the +farm-house, poised on the lip of the big canon, came into view +only when they were right upon it. + +Dede stood on the wide porch that ran the length of the house +while Daylight tied the horses. To Dede it was very quiet. It +was the dry, warm, breathless calm of California midday. All the +world seemed dozing. From somewhere pigeons were cooing lazily. +With a deep sigh of satisfaction, Wolf, who had drunk his fill at +all the streams along the way, dropped down in the cool shadow of +the porch. She heard the footsteps of Daylight returning, and +caught her breath with a quick intake. He took her hand in his, +and, as he turned the door-knob, felt her hesitate. Then he put +his arm around her; the door swung open, and together they passed +in. + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +Many persons, themselves city-bred and city-reared, have fled to +the soil and succeeded in winning great happiness. In such cases +they have succeeded only by going through a process of savage +disillusionment. But with Dede and Daylight it was different. +They had both been born on the soil, and they knew its naked +simplicities and rawer ways. They were like two persons, after +far wandering, who had merely come home again. There was less of +the unexpected in their dealings with nature, while theirs was +all the delight of reminiscence. What might appear sordid and +squalid to the fastidiously reared, was to them eminently +wholesome and natural. The commerce of nature was to them no +unknown and untried trade. They made fewer mistakes. They +already knew, and it was a joy to remember what they had +forgotten. + +And another thing they learned was that it was easier for one who +has gorged at the flesh-pots to content himself with the +meagerness of a crust, than for one who has known only the crust. + +Not that their life was meagre. It was that they found keener +delights and deeper satisfactions in little things. Daylight, +who had played the game in its biggest and most fantastic +aspects, found that here, on the slopes of Sonoma Mountain, it +was still the same old game. Man had still work to perform, +forces to combat, obstacles to overcome. When he experimented in +a small way at raising a few pigeons for market, he found no less +zest in calculating in squabs than formerly when he had +calculated in millions. Achievement was no less achievement, +while the process of it seemed more rational and received the +sanction of his reason. + +The domestic cat that had gone wild and that preyed on his +pigeons, he found, by the comparative standard, to be of no less +paramount menace than a Charles Klinkner in the field of finance, +trying to raid him for several millions. The hawks and weasels +and 'coons were so many Dowsetts, Lettons, and Guggenhammers that +struck at him secretly. The sea of wild vegetation that tossed +its surf against the boundaries of all his clearings and that +sometimes crept in and flooded in a single week was no mean enemy +to contend with and subdue. His fat-soiled vegetable-garden in +the nook of hills that failed of its best was a problem of +engrossing importance, and when he had solved it by putting in +drain-tile, the joy of the achievement was ever with him. He +never worked in it and found the soil unpacked and tractable +without experiencing the thrill of accomplishment. + +There was the matter of the plumbing. He was enabled to purchase +the materials through a lucky sale of a number of his hair +bridles. The work he did himself, though more than once he was +forced to call in Dede to hold tight with a pipe-wrench. And in +the end, when the bath-tub and the stationary tubs were installed +and in working order, he could scarcely tear himself away from +the contemplation of what his hands had wrought. The first +evening, missing him, Dede sought and found him, lamp in hand, +staring with silent glee at the tubs. He rubbed his hand over +their smooth wooden lips and laughed aloud, and was as shamefaced +as any boy when she caught him thus secretly exulting in his own +prowess. + +It was this adventure in wood-working and plumbing that brought +about the building of the little workshop, where he slowly +gathered a collection of loved tools. And he, who in the old +days, out of his millions, could purchase immediately whatever he +might desire, learned the new joy of the possession that follows +upon rigid economy and desire long delayed. He waited three +months before daring the extravagance of a Yankee screw-driver, +and his glee in the marvelous little mechanism was so keen that +Dede conceived forthright a great idea. For six months she saved +her egg-money, which was hers by right of allotment, and on his +birthday presented him with a turning-lathe of wonderful +simplicity and multifarious efficiencies. And their mutual +delight in the tool, which was his, was only equalled by their +delight in Mab's first foal, which was Dede's special private +property. + +It was not until the second summer that Daylight built the huge +fireplace that outrivalled Ferguson's across the valley. For all +these things took time, and Dede and Daylight were not in a +hurry. Theirs was not the mistake of the average city-dweller +who flees in ultra-modern innocence to the soil. They did not +essay too much. Neither did they have a mortgage to clear, nor +did they desire wealth. They wanted little in the way of food, +and they had no rent to pay. So they planned unambiguously, +reserving their lives for each other and for the compensations of +country-dwelling from which the average country-dweller is +barred. From Ferguson's example, too, they profited much. Here +was a man who asked for but the plainest fare; who ministered to +his own simple needs with his own hands; who worked out as a +laborer only when he needed money to buy books and magazines; and +who saw to it that the major portion of his waking time was for +enjoyment. He loved to loaf long afternoons in the shade with +his books or to be up with the dawn and away over the hills. + +On occasion he accompanied Dede and Daylight on deer hunts +through the wild canons and over the rugged steeps of Hood +Mountain, though more often Dede and Daylight were out alone. +This riding was one of their chief joys. Every wrinkle and +crease in the hills they explored, and they came to know every +secret spring and hidden dell in the whole surrounding wall of +the valley. They learned all the trails and cow-paths; but +nothing delighted them more than to essay the roughest and most +impossible rides, where they were glad to crouch and crawl along +the narrowest deer-runs, Bob and Mab struggling and forcing their +way along behind. Back from their rides they brought the seeds +and bulbs of wild flowers to plant in favoring nooks on the +ranch. Along the foot trail which led down the side of the big +canon to the intake of the water-pipe, they established their +fernery. It was not a formal affair, and the ferns were left to +themselves. Dede and Daylight merely introduced new ones from +time to time, changing them from one wild habitat to another. It +was the same with the wild lilac, which Daylight had sent to him +from Mendocino County. It became part of the wildness of the +ranch, and, after being helped for a season, was left to its own +devices they used to gather the seeds of the California poppy +and scatter them over their own acres, so that the orange-colored +blossoms spangled the fields of mountain hay and prospered in +flaming drifts in the fence corners and along the edges of the +clearings. + +Dede, who had a fondness for cattails, established a fringe of +them along the meadow stream, where they were left to fight it +out with the water-cress. And when the latter was threatened +with extinction, Daylight developed one of the shaded springs +into his water-cress garden and declared war upon any invading +cattail. On her wedding day Dede had discovered a long dog-tooth +violet by the zigzag trail above the redwood spring, and here she +continued to plant more and more. The open hillside above the +tiny meadow became a colony of Mariposa lilies. This was due +mainly to her efforts, while Daylight, who rode with a +short-handled ax on his saddle-bow, cleared the little manzanita +wood on the rocky hill of all its dead and dying and overcrowded +weaklings. + +They did not labor at these tasks. Nor were they tasks. Merely +in passing, they paused, from time to time, and lent a hand to +nature. These flowers and shrubs grew of themselves, and their +presence was no violation of the natural environment. The man +and the woman made no effort to introduce a flower or shrub that +did not of its own right belong. Nor did they protect them from +their enemies. The horses and the colts and the cows and the +calves ran at pasture among them or over them, and flower or +shrub had to take its chance. But the beasts were not noticeably +destructive, for they were few in number and the ranch was large. + +On the other hand, Daylight could have taken in fully a dozen +horses to pasture, which would have earned him a dollar and a +half per head per month. But this he refused to do, because of +the devastation such close pasturing would produce. + +Ferguson came over to celebrate the housewarming that followed +the achievement of the great stone fireplace. Daylight had +ridden across the valley more than once to confer with him about +the undertaking, and he was the only other present at the sacred +function of lighting the first fire. By removing a partition, +Daylight had thrown two rooms into one, and this was the big +living-room where Dede's treasures were placed--her books, and +paintings and photographs, her piano, the Crouched Venus, the +chafing-dish and all its glittering accessories. Already, in +addition to her own wild-animal skins, were those of deer and +coyote and one mountain-lion which Daylight had killed. The +tanning he had done himself, slowly and laboriously, in frontier +fashion. + +He handed the match to Dede, who struck it and lighted the fire. +The crisp manzanita wood crackled as the flames leaped up and +assailed the dry bark of the larger logs. Then she leaned in the +shelter of her husband's arm, and the three stood and looked in +breathless suspense. When Ferguson gave judgment, it was with +beaming face and extended hand. + +"She draws! By crickey, she draws!" he cried. + +He shook Daylight's hand ecstatically, and Daylight shook his +with equal fervor, and, bending, kissed Dede on the lips. They +were as exultant over the success of their simple handiwork as +any great captain at astonishing victory. In Ferguson's eyes was +actually a suspicious moisture while the woman pressed even more +closely against the man whose achievement it was. He caught her +up suddenly in his arms and whirled her away to the piano, crying +out: "Come on, Dede! The Gloria! The Gloria!" + +And while the flames in the fireplace that worked, the triumphant +strains of the Twelfth Mass rolled forth. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +Daylight had made no assertion of total abstinence though he had +not taken a drink for months after the day he resolved to let his +business go to smash. Soon he proved himself strong enough to +dare to take a drink without taking a second. On the other hand, +with his coming to live in the country, had passed all desire and +need for drink. He felt no yearning for it, and even forgot that +it existed. Yet he refused to be afraid of it, and in town, on +occasion, when invited by the storekeeper, would reply: "All +right, son. If my taking a drink will make you happy here goes. +Whiskey for mine." + +But such a drink began no desire for a second. It made no +impression. He was too profoundly strong to be affected by a +thimbleful. As he had prophesied to Dede, Burning Daylight, the +city financier, had died a quick death on the ranch, and his +younger brother, the Daylight from Alaska, had taken his place. +The threatened inundation of fat had subsided, and all his +old-time Indian leanness and of muscle had returned. So, +likewise, did the old slight hollows in his cheeks come back. +For him they indicated the pink of physical condition. He became +the acknowledged strong man of Sonoma Valley, the heaviest lifter +and hardest winded among a husky race of farmer folk. And once a +year he celebrated his birthday in the old-fashioned frontier +way, challenging all the valley to come up the hill to the ranch +and be put on its back. And a fair portion of the valley +responded, brought the women-folk and children along, and +picnicked for the day. + +At first, when in need of ready cash, he had followed Ferguson's +example of working at day's labor; but he was not long in +gravitating to a form of work that was more stimulating and more +satisfying, and that allowed him even more time for Dede and the +ranch and the perpetual riding through the hills. Having been +challenged by the blacksmith, in a spirit of banter, to attempt +the breaking of a certain incorrigible colt, he succeeded so +signally as to earn quite a reputation as a horse-breaker. And +soon he was able to earn whatever money he desired at this, to +him, agreeable work. + +A sugar king, whose breeding farm and training stables were at +Caliente, three miles away, sent for him in time of need, and, +before the year was out, offered him the management of the +stables. But Daylight smiled and shook his head. Furthermore, +he refused to undertake the breaking of as many animals as were +offered. "I'm sure not going to die from overwork," he assured +Dede; and he accepted such work only when he had to have money. +Later, he fenced off a small run in the pasture, where, from time +to time, he took in a limited number of incorrigibles. + +"We've got the ranch and each other," he told his wife, "and I'd +sooner ride with you to Hood Mountain any day than earn forty +dollars. You can't buy sunsets, and loving wives, and cool +spring water, and such folderols, with forty dollars; and forty +million dollars can't buy back for me one day that I didn't ride +with you to Hood Mountain." + +His life was eminently wholesome and natural. Early to bed, he +slept like an infant and was up with the dawn. Always with +something to do, and with a thousand little things that enticed +but did not clamor, he was himself never overdone. Nevertheless, +there were times when both he and Dede were not above confessing +tiredness at bedtime after seventy or eighty miles in the saddle. + +Sometimes, when he had accumulated a little money, and when the +season favored, they would mount their horses, with saddle-bags +behind, and ride away over the wall of the valley and down into +the other valleys. When night fell, they put up at the first +convenient farm or village, and on the morrow they would ride on, +without definite plan, merely continuing to ride on, day after +day, until their money gave out and they were compelled to +return. On such trips they would be gone anywhere from a week to +ten days or two weeks, and once they managed a three weeks' trip. + +They even planned ambitiously some day when they were +disgracefully prosperous, to ride all the way up to Daylight's +boyhood home in Eastern Oregon, stopping on the way at Dede's +girlhood home in Siskiyou. And all the joys of anticipation were +theirs a thousand times as they contemplated the detailed +delights of this grand adventure. + +One day, stopping to mail a letter at the Glen Ellen post office, +they were hailed by the blacksmith. + +"Say, Daylight," he said, "a young fellow named Slosson sends you +his regards. He came through in an auto, on the way to Santa +Rosa. He wanted to know if you didn't live hereabouts, but the +crowd with him was in a hurry. So he sent you his regards and +said to tell you he'd taken your advice and was still going on +breaking his own record." + +Daylight had long since told Dede of the incident. + +"Slosson?" he meditated, "Slosson? That must be the +hammer-thrower. He put my hand down twice, the young scamp." +He turned suddenly to Dede. "Say, it's only twelve miles to +Santa Rosa, and the horses are fresh." + +She divined what was in his mind, of which his twinkling eyes and +sheepish, boyish grin gave sufficient advertisement, and she +smiled and nodded acquiescence. + +"We'll cut across by Bennett Valley," he said. "It's nearer that +way." + +There was little difficulty, once in Santa Rosa, of finding +Slosson. He and his party had registered at the Oberlin Hotel, +and Daylight encountered the young hammer-thrower himself in the +office. + +"Look here, son," Daylight announced, as soon as he had +introduced Dede, "I've come to go you another flutter at that +hand game. Here's a likely place." + +Slosson smiled and accepted. The two men faced each other, the +elbows of their right arms on the counter, the hands clasped. +Slosson's hand quickly forced backward and down. + +"You're the first man that ever succeeded in doing it," he said. +"Let's try it again." + +"Sure," Daylight answered. "And don't forget, son, that you're +the first man that put mine down. That's why I lit out after you +to-day." + +Again they clasped hands, and again Slosson's hand went down. He +was a broad-shouldered, heavy-muscled young giant, at least half +a head taller than Daylight, and he frankly expressed his chagrin +and asked for a third trial. This time he steeled himself to the +effort, and for a moment the issue was in doubt. With flushed +face and set teeth he met the other's strength till his crackling +muscles failed him. The air exploded sharply from his tensed +lungs, as he relaxed in surrender, and the hand dropped limply +down. + +"You're too many for me," he confessed. "I only hope you'll keep +out of the hammer-throwing game." + +Daylight laughed and shook his head. + +"We might compromise, and each stay in his own class. You stick +to hammer-throwing, and I'll go on turning down hands." + +But Slosson refused to accept defeat. + +"Say," he called out, as Daylight and Dede, astride their horses, +were preparing to depart. "Say--do you mind if I look you up +next year? I'd like to tackle you again." + +"Sure, son. You're welcome to a flutter any time. Though I give +you fair warning that you'll have to go some. You'll have to +train up, for I'm ploughing and chopping wood and breaking colts +these days." + +Now and again, on the way home, Dede could hear her big +boy-husband chuckling gleefully. As they halted their horses on +the top of the divide out of Bennett Valley, in order to watch +the sunset, he ranged alongside and slipped his arm around her +waist. + +"Little woman," he said, "you're sure responsible for it all. +And I leave it to you, if all the money in creation is worth as +much as one arm like that when it's got a sweet little woman like +this to go around." + +For of all his delights in the new life, Dede was his greatest. +As he explained to her more than once, he had been afraid of love +all his life only in the end to come to find it the greatest +thing in the world. Not alone were the two well mated, but in +coming to live on the ranch they had selected the best soil in +which their love would prosper. In spite of her books and music, +there was in her a wholesome simplicity and love of the open and +natural, while Daylight, in every fiber of him, was essentially +an open-air man. + +Of one thing in Dede, Daylight never got over marveling about, +and that was her efficient hands--the hands that he had first +seen taking down flying shorthand notes and ticking away at the +typewriter; the hands that were firm to hold a magnificent brute +like Bob, that wonderfully flashed over the keys of the piano, +that were unhesitant in household tasks, and that were twin +miracles to caress and to run rippling fingers through his hair. +But Daylight was not unduly uxorious. He lived his man's life +just as she lived her woman's life. There was proper division of +labor in the work they individually performed. But the whole was +entwined and woven into a fabric of mutual interest and +consideration. He was as deeply interested in her cooking and +her music as she was in his agricultural adventures in the +vegetable garden. And he, who resolutely declined to die of +overwork, saw to it that she should likewise escape so dire a +risk. + +In this connection, using his man's judgment and putting his +man's foot down, he refused to allow her to be burdened with the +entertaining of guests. For guests they had, especially in the +warm, long summers, and usually they were her friends from the +city, who were put to camp in tents which they cared for +themselves, and where, like true campers, they had also to cook +for themselves. Perhaps only in California, where everybody +knows camp life, would such a program have been possible. But +Daylight's steadfast contention was that his wife should not +become cook, waitress, and chambermaid because she did not happen +to possess a household of servants. On the other hand, +chafing-dish suppers in the big living-room for their camping +guests were a common happening, at which times Daylight allotted +them their chores and saw that they were performed. For one who +stopped only for the night it was different. Likewise it was +different with her brother, back from Germany, and again able to +sit a horse. On his vacations he became the third in the family, +and to him was given the building of the fires, the sweeping, and +the washing of the dishes. + +Daylight devoted himself to the lightening of Dede's labors, and +it was her brother who incited him to utilize the splendid +water-power of the ranch that was running to waste. It required +Daylight's breaking of extra horses to pay for the materials, and +the brother devoted a three weeks' vacation to assisting, and +together they installed a Pelting wheel. Besides sawing wood and +turning his lathe and grindstone, Daylight connected the power +with the churn; but his great triumph was when he put his arm +around Dede's waist and led her out to inspect a washing-machine, +run by the Pelton wheel, which really worked and really washed +clothes. + +Dede and Ferguson, between them, after a patient struggle, taught +Daylight poetry, so that in the end he might have been often +seen, sitting slack in the saddle and dropping down the mountain +trails through the sun-flecked woods, chanting aloud Kipling's +"Tomlinson," or, when sharpening his ax, singing into the +whirling grindstone Henley's "Song of the Sword." Not that he +ever became consummately literary in the way his two teachers +were. Beyond "Fra Lippo Lippi" and "Caliban and Setebos," he +found nothing in Browning, while George Meredith was ever his +despair. It was of his own initiative, however, that he invested +in a violin, and practised so assiduously that in time he and +Dede beguiled many a happy hour playing together after night had +fallen. + +So all went well with this well-mated pair. Time never dragged. +There were always new wonderful mornings and still cool twilights +at the end of day; and ever a thousand interests claimed him, and +his interests were shared by her. More thoroughly than he knew, +had he come to a comprehension of the relativity of things. In +this new game he played he found in little things all the +intensities of gratification and desire that he had found in the +frenzied big things when he was a power and rocked half a +continent with the fury of the blows he struck. With head and +hand, at risk of life and limb, to bit and break a wild colt and +win it to the service of man, was to him no less great an +achievement. And this new table on which he played the game was +clean. Neither lying, nor cheating, nor hypocrisy was here. The +other game had made for decay and death, while this new one made +for clean strength and life. And so he was content, with Dede at +his side, to watch the procession of the days and seasons from +the farm-house perched on the canon-lip; to ride through crisp +frosty mornings or under burning summer suns; and to shelter in +the big room where blazed the logs in the fireplace he had built, +while outside the world shuddered and struggled in the +storm-clasp of a southeaster. + +Once only Dede asked him if he ever regretted, and his answer was +to crush her in his arms and smother her lips with his. His +answer, a minute later, took speech. + +"Little woman, even if you did cost thirty millions, you are sure +the cheapest necessity of life I ever indulged in." And then +he added, "Yes, I do have one regret, and a monstrous big one, +too. I'd sure like to have the winning of you all over again. +I'd like to go sneaking around the Piedmont hills looking for +you. I'd like to meander into those rooms of yours at Berkeley +for the first time. And there's no use talking, I'm plumb +soaking with regret that I can't put my arms around you again +that time you leaned your head on my breast and cried in the wind +and rain." + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +But there came the day, one year, in early April, when Dede sat +in an easy chair on the porch, sewing on certain small garments, +while Daylight read aloud to her. It was in the afternoon, and a +bright sun was shining down on a world of new green. Along the +irrigation channels of the vegetable garden streams of water were +flowing, and now and again Daylight broke off from his reading to +run out and change the flow of water. Also, he was teasingly +interested in the certain small garments on which Dede worked, +while she was radiantly happy over them, though at times, when +his tender fun was too insistent, she was rosily confused or +affectionately resentful. + +From where they sat they could look out over the world. Like the +curve of a skirting blade, the Valley of the Moon stretched +before them, dotted with farm-houses and varied by pasture-lands, +hay-fields, and vineyards. Beyond rose the wall of the valley, +every crease and wrinkle of which Dede and Daylight knew, and at +one place, where the sun struck squarely, the white dump of the +abandoned mine burned like a jewel. In the foreground, in the +paddock by the barn, was Mab, full of pretty anxieties for the +early spring foal that staggered about her on tottery legs. The +air shimmered with heat, and altogether it was a lazy, basking +day. Quail whistled to their young from the thicketed hillside +behind the house. There was a gentle cooing of pigeons, and from +the green depths of the big canon arose the sobbing wood note of +a mourning dove. Once, there was a warning chorus from the +foraging hens and a wild rush for cover, as a hawk, high in the +blue, cast its drifting shadow along the ground. + +It was this, perhaps, that aroused old hunting memories in Wolf. +At any rate, Dede and Daylight became aware of excitement in the +paddock, and saw harmlessly reenacted a grim old tragedy of the +Younger World. Curiously eager, velvet-footed and silent as a +ghost, sliding and gliding and crouching, the dog that was mere +domesticated wolf stalked the enticing bit of young life that Mab +had brought so recently into the world. And the mare, her own +ancient instincts aroused and quivering, circled ever between the +foal and this menace of the wild young days when all her ancestry +had known fear of him and his hunting brethren. Once, she +whirled and tried to kick him, but usually she strove to strike +him with her fore-hoofs, or rushed upon him with open mouth and +ears laid back in an effort to crunch his backbone between her +teeth. And the wolf-dog, with ears flattened down and crouching, +would slide silkily away, only to circle up to the foal from the +other side and give cause to the mare for new alarm. Then +Daylight, urged on by Dede's solicitude, uttered a low +threatening cry; and Wolf, drooping and sagging in all the body +of him in token of his instant return to man's allegiance, slunk +off behind the barn. + +It was a few minutes later that Daylight, breaking off from his +reading to change the streams of irrigation, found that the water +had ceased flowing. He shouldered a pick and shovel, took a +hammer and a pipe-wrench from the tool-house, and returned to +Dede on the porch. + +"I reckon I'll have to go down and dig the pipe out," he told +her. "It's that slide that's threatened all winter. I guess +she's come down at last." + +"Don't you read ahead, now," he warned, as he passed around the +house and took the trail that led down the wall of the canon. + +Halfway down the trail, he came upon the slide. It was a small +affair, only a few tons of earth and crumbling rock; but, +starting from fifty feet above, it had struck the water pipe with +force sufficient to break it at a connection. Before proceeding +to work, he glanced up the path of the slide, and he glanced with +the eye of the earth-trained miner. And he saw what made his +eyes startle and cease for the moment from questing farther. + +"Hello," he communed aloud, "look who's here." + +His glance moved on up the steep broken surface, and across it +from side to side. Here and there, in places, small twisted +manzanitas were rooted precariously, but in the main, save for +weeds and grass, that portion of the canon was bare. There were +signs of a surface that had shifted often as the rains poured a +flow of rich eroded soil from above over the lip of the canon. + +"A true fissure vein, or I never saw one," he proclaimed softly. + +And as the old hunting instincts had aroused that day in the +wolf-dog, so in him recrudesced all the old hot desire of +gold-hunting. Dropping the hammer and pipe-wrench, but retaining +pick and shovel, he climbed up the slide to where a vague line of +outputting but mostly soil-covered rock could be seen. It was +all but indiscernible, but his practised eye had sketched the +hidden formation which it signified. Here and there, along this +wall of the vein, he attacked the crumbling rock with the pick +and shoveled the encumbering soil away. Several times he +examined this rock. So soft was some of it that he could break +it in his fingers. Shifting a dozen feet higher up, he again +attacked with pick and shovel. And this time, when he rubbed the +soil from a chunk of rock and looked, he straightened up +suddenly, gasping with delight. And then, like a deer at a +drinking pool in fear of its enemies, he flung a quick glance +around to see if any eye were gazing upon him. He grinned at his +own foolishness and returned to his examination of the chunk. A +slant of sunlight fell on it, and it was all aglitter with tiny +specks of unmistakable free gold. + +"From the grass roots down," he muttered in an awestricken voice, +as he swung his pick into the yielding surface. + +He seemed to undergo a transformation. No quart of cocktails had +ever put such a flame in his cheeks nor such a fire in his eyes. +As he worked, he was caught up in the old passion that had ruled +most of his life. A frenzy seized him that markedly increased +from moment to moment. He worked like a madman, till he panted +from his exertions and the sweat dripped from his face to the +ground. He quested across the face of the slide to the opposite +wall of the vein and back again. And, midway, he dug down +through the red volcanic earth that had washed from the +disintegrating hill above, until he uncovered quartz, rotten +quartz, that broke and crumbled in his hands and showed to be +alive with free gold. + +Sometimes he started small slides of earth that covered up his +work and compelled him to dig again. Once, he was swept fifty +feet down the canon-side; but he floundered and scrambled up +again without pausing for breath. He hit upon quartz that was so +rotten that it was almost like clay, and here the gold was richer +than ever. It was a veritable treasure chamber. For a hundred +feet up and down he traced the walls of the vein. He even +climbed over the canon-lip to look along the brow of the hill for +signs of the outcrop. But that could wait, and he hurried back +to his find. + +He toiled on in the same mad haste, until exhaustion and an +intolerable ache in his back compelled him to pause. He +straightened up with even a richer piece of gold-laden quartz. +Stooping, the sweat from his forehead had fallen to the ground. +It now ran into his eyes, blinding him. He wiped it from him +with the back of his hand and returned to a scrutiny of the gold. + +It would run thirty thousand to the ton, fifty thousand, anything-- +he knew that. And as he gazed upon the yellow lure, and +panted for air, and wiped the sweat away, his quick vision leaped +and set to work. He saw the spur-track that must run up from the +valley and across the upland pastures, and he ran the grades and +built the bridge that would span the canon, until it was real +before his eyes. Across the canon was the place for the mill, +and there he erected it; and he erected, also, the endless chain +of buckets, suspended from a cable and operated by gravity, that +would carry the ore across the canon to the quartz-crusher. +Likewise, the whole mine grew before him and beneath him-tunnels, +shafts, and galleries, and hoisting plants. The blasts of the +miners were in his ears, and from across the canon he could hear +the roar of the stamps. The hand that held the lump of quartz +was trembling, and there was a tired, nervous palpitation +apparently in the pit of his stomach. It came to him abruptly +that what he wanted was a drink--whiskey, cocktails, anything, a +drink. And even then, with this new hot yearning for the alcohol +upon him, he heard, faint and far, drifting down the green abyss +of the canon, Dede's voice, crying:-- + +"Here, chick, chick, chick, chick, chick! Here, chick, chick, +chick!" + +He was astounded at the lapse of time. She had left her sewing +on the porch and was feeding the chickens preparatory to getting +supper. The afternoon was gone. He could not conceive that he +had been away that long. + +Again came the call: "Here, chick, chick, chick, chick, chick! +Here, chick, chick, chick!" + +It was the way she always called--first five, and then three. He +had long since noticed it. And from these thoughts of her arose +other thoughts that caused a great fear slowly to grow in his +face. For it seemed to him that he had almost lost her. Not +once had he thought of her in those frenzied hours, and for that +much, at least, had she truly been lost to him. + +He dropped the piece of quartz, slid down the slide, and started +up the trail, running heavily. At the edge of the clearing he +eased down and almost crept to a point of vantage whence he could +peer out, himself unseen. She was feeding the chickens, tossing +to them handfuls of grain and laughing at their antics. + +The sight of her seemed to relieve the panic fear into which he +had been flung, and he turned and ran back down the trail. Again +he climbed the slide, but this time he climbed higher, carrying +the pick and shovel with him. And again he toiled frenziedly, +but this time with a different purpose. He worked artfully, +loosing slide after slide of the red soil and sending it +streaming down and covering up all he had uncovered, hiding from +the light of day the treasure he had discovered. He even went +into the woods and scooped armfuls of last year's fallen leaves +which he scattered over the slide. But this he gave up as a vain +task; and he sent more slides of soil down upon the scene of his +labor, until no sign remained of the out-jutting walls of the +vein. + +Next he repaired the broken pipe, gathered his tools together, +and started up the trail. He walked slowly, feeling a great +weariness, as of a man who had passed through a frightful crisis. + +He put the tools away, took a great drink of the water that again +flowed through the pipes, and sat down on the bench by the open +kitchen door. Dede was inside, preparing supper, and the sound +of her footsteps gave him a vast content. + +He breathed the balmy mountain air in great gulps, like a diver +fresh-risen from the sea. And, as he drank in the air, he gazed +with all his eyes at the clouds and sky and valley, as if he were +drinking in that, too, along with the air. + +Dede did not know he had come back, and at times he turned his +head and stole glances in at her--at her efficient hands, at the +bronze of her brown hair that smouldered with fire when she +crossed the path of sunshine that streamed through the window, at +the promise of her figure that shot through him a pang most +strangely sweet and sweetly dear. He heard her approaching the +door, and kept his head turned resolutely toward the valley. And +next, he thrilled, as he had always thrilled, when he felt the +caressing gentleness of her fingers through his hair. + +"I didn't know you were back," she said. "Was it serious?" + +"Pretty bad, that slide," he answered, still gazing away and +thrilling to her touch. "More serious than I reckoned. But I've +got the plan. Do you know what I'm going to do?--I'm going to +plant eucalyptus all over it. They'll hold it. I'll plant them +thick as grass, so that even a hungry rabbit can't squeeze +between them; and when they get their roots agoing, nothing in +creation will ever move that dirt again." + +"Why, is it as bad as that?" + +He shook his head. + +"Nothing exciting. But I'd sure like to see any blamed old slide +get the best of me, that's all. I'm going to seal that slide +down so that it'll stay there for a million years. And when the +last trump sounds, and Sonoma Mountain and all the other +mountains pass into nothingness, that old slide will be still +a-standing there, held up by the roots." + +He passed his arm around her and pulled her down on his knees. + +"Say, little woman, you sure miss a lot by living here on the +ranch--music, and theatres, and such things. Don't you ever have +a hankering to drop it all and go back?" + +So great was his anxiety that he dared not look at her, and when +she laughed and shook her head he was aware of a great relief. +Also, he noted the undiminished youth that rang through that same +old-time boyish laugh of hers. + +"Say," he said, with sudden fierceness, "don't you go fooling +around that slide until after I get the trees in and rooted. +It's mighty dangerous, and I sure can't afford to lose you now." + +He drew her lips to his and kissed her hungrily and passionately. + +"What a lover!" she said; and pride in him and in her own +womanhood was in her voice. + +"Look at that, Dede." He removed one encircling arm and swept +it in a wide gesture over the valley and the mountains beyond. +"The Valley of the Moon--a good name, a good name. Do you know, +when I look out over it all, and think of you and of all it +means, it kind of makes me ache in the throat, and I have things +in my heart I can't find the words to say, and I have a feeling +that I can almost understand Browning and those other high-flying +poet-fellows. Look at Hood Mountain there, just where the sun's +striking. It was down in that crease that we found the spring." + +"And that was the night you didn't milk the cows till ten +o'clock," she laughed. "And if you keep me here much longer, +supper won't be any earlier than it was that night." + +Both arose from the bench, and Daylight caught up the milk-pail +from the nail by the door. He paused a moment longer to look out +over the valley. + +"It's sure grand," he said. + +"It's sure grand," she echoed, laughing joyously at him and with +him and herself and all the world, as she passed in through the door. + +And Daylight, like the old man he once had met, himself went down +the hill through the fires of sunset with a milk pail on his arm. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Burning Daylight, by Jack London + diff --git a/old/bdlit10.zip b/old/bdlit10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7b4650d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/bdlit10.zip |