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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/28579.txt b/28579.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2d426c7 --- /dev/null +++ b/28579.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9014 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Homesteaders, by Robert J. C. Stead + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Homesteaders + A Novel of the Canadian West + +Author: Robert J. C. Stead + +Release Date: April 20, 2009 [EBook #28579] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HOMESTEADERS *** + + + + +Produced by Marlo Dianne + + + + + + + + +THE HOMESTEADERS + + +A NOVEL OF THE CANADIAN WEST + + +by + + +Robert J. C. Stead + + +Author of "Kitchener and Other Poems," "Songs of the Prairie," "The +Cow Puncher," ETC + + +The Musson Book Company Limited +Publishers Toronto + + + + +FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1916. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PRELUDE +I. THE BECK OF FORTUNE +II. INTO THE WILDERNESS +III. PRAIRIE LAND +IV. ROUGHING IT +V. THE SHORES OF THE INFINITE +VI. IN THE SPELL OF THE MIRAGE +VII. THE CALL OF THE FARTHER WEST +VIII. INTO THE NIGHT +IX. CRUMBLING CASTLES +X. INTO THE FARTHER WEST +XI. THE PRICE OF "SUCCESS" +XII. A WHIFF OF NEW ATMOSPHERE +XIII. SETTING THE TRAP +XIV. THE GAMBLERS +XV. THE LURE OF EASY MONEY +XVI. THE HONOUR OF THIEVES +XVII. THE FIGHT IN THE FOOTHILLS +XVIII. CONVERGING TRAILS +XIX. PRISONERS OF FATE +XX. AN INQUEST--AND SOME EXPLANATIONS + + + + +THE HOMESTEADERS + + + + +PRELUDE + + +Six little slates clattered into place, and six little figures stood +erect between their benches. + +"Right! Turn!" said the master. "March! School is dismissed"; and six +pairs of bare little legs twinkled along the aisle, across the +well-worn threshold, down the big stone step, and into the dusty +road, warm with the rays of the Indian summer sun. + +The master watched them from the open window until they vanished +behind a ridge of beech trees that cut his vision from the +concession. While they remained within sight a smile played upon the +features of his strong, sun-burned face, but as the last little +calico dress was swallowed by the wood the smile died down, and for a +moment he stood, a grave and thoughtful statue framed within the +white pine casings of the sash. His sober grey eyes stared unseeing +into the forest, while the light wind that stirred the golden maple +leaves toyed gently with his unruly locks. + +His brown study lasted only a moment. With a quick movement he walked +to the blackboard, caught up a section of sheepskin, and began +erasing the symbols of the day's instructions. + +"Well, I suppose there's reward in heaven," he said to himself, as he +set the little schoolroom in order. "There isn't much here. The +farmers will pay a man more to doctor their sick sheep than to teach +their children. But, of course, they get both mutton and wool from a +sheep. I won't stand it longer than the spring. If others can take +the chance I can take it too. If it were not for her I would go +to-morrow." + +The last remark seemed to unlink a new chain of thought. The grey +eyes lit up again. He wielded the broom briskly for a minute, then +tossed it in a corner, fastened the windows, slipped a little folder +into his pocket, locked the door behind him, carefully placed the key +under the stone step where the first child in the morning would find +it, and swung in a rapid stride down a by-path leading from the +little schoolhouse into the forest. + +Ten minutes' quick walking in the woods, now glorious in all their +autumn splendour, brought him to a point where the sky stood up, pale +blue, evasive, through the trees. The next moment he was at the +water's edge, and a limpid lake stretched away to where the forests +of the farther shore mingled hazily with sky and water. The point +where he stood was a little bay, ringed with water-worn stones and +hemmed around by the forest, except for one wedge of blue that +broadened into the distance. He glanced about, as though expecting +someone; he whistled a line of a popular song, but the only reply was +from a saucy eavesdropper which, perched on a near-by limb, trilled +back its own liquid notes in answer. + +"I may as well improve the moments consulting my chart," he remarked +to his undulating image in the water. "This thing of embarking on two +new seas at once calls for skilful piloting." He seated himself on a +stone, drew from his pocket the folder, and spread a map before him. + +In a few moments he was so engrossed that he did not hear the almost +noiseless motion of a canoe as it thrust its brown nose into the blue +wedge before him. The canoe slid with its own momentum gracefully +through the quiet waters, suddenly revealing a picture for the heart +of any artist. Kneeling near its stern, her paddle held aloft and +dripping, her brown arms and browner hair glistening in the mellow +sun, her face bright with the light of its own expectancy, was a +lithe and beautiful girl. In an instant her eye located the young man +on the bank, and her lips moulded as though to speak; but when she +saw how unobserved she was she remained silent and upright as an +Indian while the canoe slipped gently toward the shore. Presently it +cushioned its nose in the velvety sand. She rose silently from her +seat, and stole on moccasined tip-toes along the stones until she +could have touched his hair with her fingers. But her eyes fell over +his shoulder on the papers before him. + +"Always at your studies," she cried, as he sprang eagerly to his +feet. "You must be seeking a professorship. But I suppose you have to +be always brushing up," she continued, banteringly. "Your oldest +pupil must be--let me see--not less than eight?" + +He smothered her banter with his affection, but she stole the map +from his fingers. + +"I declare, if it isn't Manitoba! What next? Siberia or Patagonia? I +thought you were still in the Eastern Townships." + +"So I am--in school. But out of school I am spending a good deal of +my time in Manitoba, Mary." + +She caught a grave note in his voice as he said her name. Seizing his +cheeks between her hands she turned his face to her. "Answer me, John +Harris. You are not thinking of going to Manitoba!" + +"Suppose I say I am?" + +"Then I am going too!" + +"Mary!" + +"John! Nothing unusual about a wife going with her husband, is +there?" + +"No, of course, but you know--" + +"Yes, I know"--glancing at the ring on her finger. "This still stands +at par, doesn't it?" + +"Yes, dear," he answered, raising the ring to his lips. "You know it +does. But to venture into that wilderness means--you see, it means so +much more to a woman than to a man." + +"Not as much as staying at home--alone. You didn't really think I +would do that?" + +"No, not exactly that. Let us sit down and I will tell you what I +thought. Here, let me get the cushion...There, that's better. Now let +me start at the beginning. + +"Until you came here last summer--until all this happened, you +know--I was quite satisfied to go on teaching--" + +"And I have sown discontent--" + +"Please don't interrupt. Teaching seemed as good as anything else--" + +"As good as anything else! Better than anything else, I should say. +What is better than training the tender child, inspiring him with +your ideals--" + +"Oh, I know all about that. Until I began to have some genuine ideals +of my own I was satisfied with it. But now--well, everything is +different." + +"I know," she answered. "The salary won't support two. There's the +rub." + +They sat for some minutes, gazing dreamily across the broad sheet of +silver. + +"And so you are going to Manitoba?" she said at length. + +"Yes. There are possibilities there. It's a gamble, and that is why I +didn't want to share it with you--at first. I thought I would spend a +year; locate a homestead; get some kind of a house built; perhaps +break some land. Then I would come back." + +"And you weren't going to give me a word in all those preparations +for our future? You have a lot to learn yet, John. You won't find it +in that folder, either." + +He laughed lightly--a happy, boyish laugh. For weeks the +determination to seek his fortune in the then almost unknown Canadian +West had been growing upon him, and as it grew he shrank more and +more from disclosing his plans to his _fiancee_. Had she been one of +the country girls of the neighbourhood, a daughter of the sturdy +backwoods pioneers, bred to hard work in field and barnyard, he would +have hesitated less. But she was sprung from gentler stock. It seemed +almost profane to think of her in the lonely life of a homesteader on +the bleak, unsettled plains--to see her in the monotony and drudgery +of the pioneer life. He had been steeling himself for the ordeal; +schooling himself with arguments; fortressing his resolve, +unconsciously, perhaps, with the picture of his own heroism in +braving the unknown. And she had scaled every breastwork at a bound, +and captured the citadel by the adroit diplomacy of apparent +surrender. + +She had snatched his confession at an unguarded moment. He had not +meant to tell her so much--so soon. As he thought over the wheels he +had set in motion their possible course staggered him, and he found +himself arguing against the step he contemplated. + +"It's a gamble," he repeated. "The agricultural possibilities of the +country have not been established. It may be adapted only to buffalo +and Indians. They say the Selkirk settlers have seen hardships +compared with which Ontario pioneers lived in luxury...We may be far +back from civilization, far from neighbours, or doctors, or churches, +or any of those things which we take as a matter of course." + +"Then you will need me with you, John, and I am going." + +She could not mistake the look of admiration in his eyes. "Mary," he +said, "you are a hero. I didn't think it was in you. I mean I--" + +"A heroine, if you please," she corrected. "But I am not that--not +the least bit. I want go because--because to go with you, even to +Manitoba, is not nearly so dreadful as to stay home without you." + +"But come," said the girl, springing lightly to her feet, "we have +matters of great moment for immediate consideration." + +He was at her heels. One hand resting on his strong arm sufficed to +steady her firm body as she tip-toed over the stones. Somewhere in +the canoe she found a parcel, wrapped in a white napkin. Under a +friendly beech she laid her dainties before him. + +In a crimson glory the sun had sunk behind the black forest across +the lake. The silver waters had draped in mist their fringe of +inverted trees along the shore, and lay, passive and breathing and +very still, beneath the smooth-cutting canoe... One by one the stars +came out in the heavens, and one by one their doubles wavered and +mimicked in the lake. A duller point of light bespoke a settler's +cabin on the distant shore. + +"And we shall build our own home, and live our own lives, and love +each other--always,--only, for ever and ever?" she breathed. + +"For ever and ever," he answered. + +A waterfowl cut the air in his sharp, whistling flight. The last +white shimmer of daylight faded from the surface of the lake. The +lovers floated on, gently, joyously, into their ocean of hope and +happiness. + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +THE BECK OF FORTUNE + + +The last congratulations had been offered; the last good wishes, +somewhat mixed with tears, had been expressed. The bride, glowing in +the happy consciousness of her own beauty, and deified by the great +tenderness that enveloped her new estate like a golden mist, said her +farewells with steady voice and undrooping eyes. Once only, when two +frail arms drew her to the great mother-heart that was fighting with +joy and unspoken sorrow through its travail of the soul, did their +bright rays moisten and tremble like sun-shafts in a pool. It was for +the moment only; one hallowing kiss on the dear, white cheek; then, +with uplifted head, she said good-bye, and the mother smiled upon her +in a pride that was deeper than her pain. The breed that had not +feared, a generation back, to cross the seas and carve a province and +a future from the forest, was not a breed to withhold its most +beautiful and noble from the ventures of the greater West. + +It had been a busy winter for John Harris, and this, although the +consummation of his great desire, was but the threshold to new +activities and new outlets for his intense energies. Since the face +and form of Mary Allan had first enraptured him in his little +backwoods school district, a vast ambition had possessed his soul, +and to-day, which had seemed to be its end, he now knew to be but its +beginning. The ready consent of his betrothed to share his life in +the unknown wilderness between the Red River and the Rocky Mountains +had been a tide which, taken at its flood, might well lead him on to +fortune. At the conclusion of his fall term he had resigned his +position as teacher, and with his small savings had set about +accumulating equipment essential to the homesteader. A team of +horses, cows, a few ducks, geese, and hens; a plough, a wagon, a +sleigh, a set of carpenter's tools; a gun, an axe, a compass, a chest +of medicine, a box of books; a tent, bedding, spare clothing--these +he had gathered together at the village store or at farmers' "sales," +and the doing so had almost exhausted the winter and his money. + +Because his effects were not enough to fill a car he had "doubled up" +with Tom Morrison, a fine farmer whose worldly success had been +somewhat less than his deserts, and who bravely hoped to mend his +broken fortunes where land might be had for the taking. Their car had +already gone forward, with Morrison's hired man nestling obviously in +the hay, and two others hid under the mangers. When railways were +invented they were excepted from the protection of the Eighth +Commandment. + +So John Harris and his bride took the passenger train from her city +home, while their goods and chattels, save for their personal +baggage, rumbled on in a box-car or crowded stolidly into congested +side-tracks as the exigencies of traffic required. + +At a junction point they were transferred from the regular passenger +service to an immigrant train. Immigrant trains, in the spring of +'eighty-two, were somewhat more and less than they now are. The +tourist sleeper, with its comfortable berths, its clean linen, its +kitchen range, and its dusky attendant, restrained to an attitude of +agreeable deference by his anticipation of a gratuity, was a grey +atom of potentiality in the brain of an unknown genius. Even the +colonist car, which has done noble service in later days in the +peopling of the Prairie West, was only in the early stages of its +evolution. The purpose of immigrant trains was to move people. To +supply comforts as well as locomotion was an extravagance undreamed +of in transportation. + +The train was full. Every seat was taken; aisles were crowded with +standing passengers who stumbled over bundles and valises with every +pitch in the uncertain road-bed; women fought, bravely with memories +too recent to be healed, and children crowed in lusty abandon or +shrieked as they fell between the slippery seats. The men were making +acquaintances; the communities from which they came were sufficiently +interwoven to link up relationships with little difficulty, and +already they were exchanging anecdotes in high hilarity or discussing +plans and prospects with that mutual sympathy which so quickly arises +among those who seek their fortunes together under strange +conditions. + +One or two of the passengers had already made the trip to Manitoba, +and were now on the journey a second time, accompanied by their wives +and families. These men were soon noted as individuals of some +moment; they became the centre of little knots of conversation, and +their fellow-immigrants hung in reverent attention upon every word +from their lips. Their description of the great plains, where one +might look as far as the eye could carry in every direction without +seeing house or tree or any obstruction of the vision, fell with all +the wonder of the Arabian Nights upon the eager company. Stories of +the trail, of Red River cart and ox-team, of duck shooting by the +prairie sleughs, the whiff of black powder from their muzzle-loaders +and the whistle of sharp wings against the sky; of the clatter of +wild geese which made sleep impossible, and the yelp of prairie +wolves snapping up through the darkness; of thunder and lightning, of +tempest and rain, of storm and blizzard and snow and cold--cold that +crackled in the empty heavens like breaking glass and withered the +cheek like fire; of Indians, none too certain, slipping like +moccasined ghosts down the twilight, or peering unexpectedly through +cabin windows; of hardship and privation and strength and courage and +possibilities beyond the measure of the imagination--these fell from +the lips of the favoured old-timers, punctuated with jest and +prophecy and nicely-timed intervals of silence. + +"And is there no stones there, or stumps?" asked a woman, big of +bicep and deep of chest from years of wrestling with the rocks and +timbers of Lanark. "Has the bush all been cleared away?" + +"Bush? There's no bush to clear. The prairie's as bald as yer +table--no reflection on yer cookin', ma good woman, but so it is, +excep' for the grass that tickles yer fingers as ye walk an' the +pea-vine that up-ends ye when ye're no thinkin'. Bush! Ah've burnt +more bush from ma ten-acre clearin' than ye'll find in a dozen +counties. 'Deed, ye'll think a little more bush 'd be a guid thing +when ye have yer house to build an' a hungry stove to keep roarin' +from November to April." + +"But whereby do they make their fences, if they ha' no cedar rails?" +demanded the woman, still unconvinced. + +"Fences? An' why for would ye fence a farm, ye unsociable body? To +keep the gophers out? Or to keep the badgers in? Seein' ye have all +out-doors for yer cattle, an' the days of the buffalo are over, +thanks to the white man's powder an' shot, what would ye have with +fences?" + +"But are ye sure it has no been all ploughed some time?" persisted +the woman, who could not bring herself to believe that Nature, +unaided, had left great areas ready for the hand of the husbandman. A +life of environment amid forests and rocks had sorely cramped her +imagination. + +"Ah'm no sayin' for sure, but whoever ploughed it took a man's order. +It will be a thousand miles long, Ah'm thinkin', an' nobody knows how +wide. Pioneers like you an' me ha' been workin' our hands off in +Canada" (it was a trick of the old-timers to think only of the +Eastern Provinces as Canada), "an' in a hundred years we have no +cleared what'd be a garden patch to that farm out yonder. Ah'm +thinkin' it was a bigger Hand than yours or mine that did that +clearin'." + +"Tell us about the crops," said one of the men passengers. "What like +wheat can ye grow?" + +"Like corn," said the narrator, with great deliberation. "Heads like +ears o' corn. Wheat that grows so fast ye can hear it. Nothin' +uncommon to walk into wheat-fields when they's knee-high, an' have to +fight yer way out like a jungle." + +"Is the Injuns werry big?" piped a little voice. "My pa's go'n'to +make me a bone-arrow so I can kill 'em all up." + +"That's a brave soldier," said the man, drawing the child to his +knee. "But Ah know a better way to fight Indians than with bows an' +arrows. D'ye want me to tell ye a story?" + +"'S about Moses?" + +"No, Ah ain't quite up-to-date on Moses, but Ah can tell ye a story +about a better way to fight Indians than with arrows an' powder. Ah +fight 'em with flour an' blankets an' badger-meat, an' it's a long +way better." + +The child climbed up on the friendly knee, and interested himself in +the great silver watch-chain that looped convenient to his fingers. +"Go on wif your story, man," he said. "I's listenin'." + +And big Aleck McCrae forgot the immigrants crowded around, forgot the +lurch of the train and the window-glimpse of forests heavy-blanketed +with snow, as he ploughed his fertile imagination and spread a sudden +harvest of wonderment before the little soul that clung to his great +watch-chain. + +Harris and his young bride found much to occupy their attention. +Their minds were big with plans, nebulous and indefinite but charged +with potentiality, which they should put into effect when they had +selected their prairie home. To the young girl, naturally of romantic +temperament, the journey of life upon which they had so recently +embarked together took on something of the glamour of knightly +adventure. Through the roseate lens of early womanhood the vague, +undefined difficulties that loomed before her were veiled in a mist +of glory, as she felt that no sacrifice could really hurt, no +privation could cut too deep, while she was fulfilling her destiny as +wife and comrade to the bravest and best of men. The vast plains, +heart-breaking in their utter emptiness, could only be full to +her--full of life, and love, and colour; full of a happiness too +great to be contained. She watched the gaunt trees rising naked from +the white forest, and her mind flitted on a thousand miles in +advance, while on the cold window-sill her fingers tapped time to the +click of the car wheels underneath. + +Harris, too, was busy with his thoughts. He measured the obstacles +ahead with the greater precision of the masculine mind. To him, love +was not a magician's wand to dissolve his difficulties in thin air, +but a mighty power which should enable him to uproot them from his +path. No matter what stood in the way--what loneliness, what +hardship, what disappointment and even disillusionment--he should +fight his way out to ultimate victory for the sake of the dear girl +at his side. As she watched the wintry landscape dreamily through the +window he shot quick glances at her fine face; the white brow, the +long lashes tempering the light of her deep magnetic eyes; the +perfect nose, through whose thin walls was diffused the faintest pink +against a setting of ivory; lips, closed and tender as in the sleep +of a little child; chin, strong, but not too strong; and a neck full +and beautiful, the whole forming a picture of purity, gentleness, and +confidence which set his being aglow with the joy of immeasurable +possession. As he thought of her love, her faith, her confidence, he +swore in his own big heart that neither harm nor want nor sorrow +should come upon her; that through every adversity of life he would +be her protector, her champion, her defence. And so in the charm and +mirage of their young dream they rode dauntlessly, joyously, into the +unknown. + +With Ned Beacon, the trusty hired man, in charge of the carload of +effects, under the direction of Tom Morrison, Harris was relieved of +many duties and responsibilities that would have broken in somewhat +rudely on his dream. Traffic was congested with the immigrant +movement; cars were side-tracked at nameless places for indefinite +periods, but stock had to be fed and cared for; bonds had to be +provided, and all the conditions of departmental red tape complied +with when the effects entered the United States, for in 1882 the +All-Canadian railway was a young giant fighting for life with the +mighty rocks of the North Shore route, and railway traffic with the +New West was, perforce, billed over American roads. These details and +a score of others called for patience, for tact, and a judicious +distribution of dollar bills. Harris made a mental note of his +obligation to Tom Morrison in the matter. He was shrewd enough to +surmise that this was the farmer's very practical wedding gift, but +he took debit for it nevertheless. + +And so the journey wore on. As day succeeded day to the monotonous +rumble of the car wheels the immigrants became better acquainted, and +friendships took root that in after years were to brave every storm +of adversity and bloom forth in the splendid community of spirit and +sacrifice which particularly distinguished the pioneers. But the +strain of travel drew heavily upon physical endurance; meals eaten +stale from lunch-baskets, or hastily snatched at wayside stations; +the cramp of days spent in the crowded seats; lack of exercise and +lack of sleep; these laid their heavy finger on the strongest and +heartiest. But one night the word went round that daylight would see +them back on Canadian soil, and the lagging spirit of the travellers +was revived. Someone struck up an impromptu song, parodied from a +well-known hymn; men, and children joined in the chorus as they +caught the words, and rolled it forth with a vigour that vibrated +every timber of the car. + + +"O, Prairie Land, sweet Prairie Land, +Where everyone joins heart and hand," + + +they sang, and the sociability of the party teemed to swell with the +volume of the song. A bond of human interest, human +interdependence--perhaps, even, some phase of human suffering, was +already linking them together with links of steel that should +withstand every shock of the coming years, and bind together the +foundations of a mighty land. + +In the cold grey of a March morning, when the sun had not yet +dispelled the mists of night, and the fringing woods back from the +Red River loomed white and spectral through the frost, they +re-entered the Empire, and in a few minutes were detraining at +Emerson, the boundary town and gateway to the prairies which for a +thousand miles stretched into the mysteries of the unknown. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +INTO THE WILDERNESS + + +Emerson was the gateway of the great invasion. Situated just on the +Canadian side of the International Boundary, the "farthest west" of +rail communication, on the threshold of the prairie country, it +seemed the strategical point for the great city which must arise with +the settlement and development of the fertile kingdom of territory +lying between the Lake of the Woods and the Rocky Mountains, and +between the Forty-ninth Parallel and the unknown northern limit of +agriculture. Sixty miles northward, at the junction of the Red and +Assiniboine Rivers, Winnipeg was throwing street-tendrils out from +her main traffic trunk which marked the route the Indian carts had +followed for years as they bore their buffalo hides and pemmican to +the Hudson's Bay Company's post at Fort Garry. Winnipeg was to be on +the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway--at least, so the +promoters of its town-lot activity affirmed; but Selkirk, still +farther north, was already flourishing in the assurance that the +railway would cross the river at that point. But the Canadian Pacific +Railway as yet existed upon paper; its advance guard were pouring +nitro-glycerine into the rocks of the wild Lake Superior fastnesses, +and a little band of resolute men were risking financial disaster an +indomitable effort to drive through a project which had dismayed even +the Government of Canada. Some there were who said the Canadian +Pacific would never be built, many there were who said that if built +it always be a charge upon the country--that in the very nature of +things it could never become self-supporting. + +So while Winnipeg and Selkirk indulged their visions Emerson was +already enjoying to the full the prosperity which accompanied the +inrush of settlers. Although the immigrants were not wealthy as the +term is now understood even in an agricultural community, most of +them had enough money to pay for their outfitting and place them on +their homesteads for operations. Accommodation in Emerson was at a +premium; hotel space was out of the question, and even the barest +rooms commanded mining-camp prices. Those commodities which the +settler must needs have had taken their cue from hotel prices, and +were quoted at figures that provoked much thoughtful head-scratching +on the part of the thrifty and somewhat close-fisted new arrivals +from the East. + +Harris left his wife with a company of other women in the Government +immigration building while he set out to find, if possible, lodgings +where she might live until he was ready to take her to the homestead +country. He must first make a trip of exploration himself, and as +this might require several weeks his present consideration was to +place her in proper surroundings before he left. He soon found that +all the hotels were full, and had they not been full the prices +demanded were so exorbitant as to be beyond his reach; and even had +it been otherwise he would have asked her to share the hardships of +the exploration trip rather than leave her amid associations which +were all too apparent in the hotel section of the town. The parasites +and camp-followers of society, attracted by the easy money that might +be wrung in devious ways from the inflowing tide of farmers, were +already represented in force, and flaunted brazenly the seamy side of +the civilization which was advancing into the New West. + +Turning to parts of the town which were less openly engaged in +business, legitimate, questionable, or beyond question, Harris +inquired at many doors for lodgings for himself and wife, or for his +wife alone. The response ranged from curt announcements that the +inmates "ain't takin' boarders" to sympathetic assurances that if it +were possible to find room for another it would be done, but the +house was already crowded to suffocation. Great lines of washing in +the back yards, and groups dirty children splashing in the spring +mud, bore testimony to the congestion. The March sun was beating down +with astonishing fierceness and the unside-walked streets were a +welter of slush. In two hours Harris, notwithstanding his stout frame +and his young enthusiasm, dragged himself somewhat disconsolately +back to the immigration building with the information that his search +had been fruitless. + +At the door he met Tom Morrison and another, whom he recognized as +the teller of Indian stories which had captivated the children of his +car. Morrison was a man of forty, with a dash of grey in his hair and +a kindly twinkle in his shrewd eyes; his companion was A bigger man, +of about the same age, whose weather-beaten face bore testimony to +the years already spent in pioneer life on the prairie. + +"And what luck have ye had?" asked Morrison, seizing the young man by +the arm. "Little, I'll be thinkin', by the smile ye're forcin' up. +But what am I thinkin' of? Mr. McCrae is from 'way out in the Wakopa +County, and an old-timer on the prairie. He knows every corner in the +town, I'm thinkin'--" + +"Aleck McCrae," said the big man. "We leave our 'misters' east of the +Great Lakes. An' Ah'm not from Wakopa, unless you give that name to +all the country from Pembina Crossing to Turtle Mountain. Ah'm doing +business all through there, an' no more partial to one place than +another." + +"What is your line of business, Mr. McCrae?" asked Harris. + +"Aleck, I said, an' Aleck it is." + +"All right," said the other, laughing. "What is your business, +Aleck?" + +"My business is assisting settlers to get located on suitable land, +an' ekeing out my own living by the process. There's a strip of +country in there, fifty miles long by twenty miles wide, that Ah know +like you knew your own farm down East. It cost me something to learn +it, an' Ah sell the information for part of what it cost. Perhaps Ah +can do something for you later, along professional lines. Just now, +as Tom here tells me, you're hunting a house for the wife. Ah know +Emerson too well to suppose you have found one." + +"I haven't, for a fact," said Harris, reminded of the urgency of his +mission. "I've tramped more mud this morning than would make a good +farm in Ontario, but mud is all I got for my trouble." + +"It's out of the question," said McCrae. "Besides, it's not so +necessary as you think. What with the bad time our train made, an' +the good time the stock-train made, an' the fact that they started +ahead of us, they're in the yards now. That's a piece of luck, to +start with. 'S nothing unusual for settlers to be held Up here two +an' three weeks waiting for their freight, an' all the time bills +piling up an' the cash running down in a way that knocks holes in +their pockets." + +"But I can't put my wife in a stock-car!" protested Harris. + +"There's worse places," McCrae answered, calmly worrying a +considerable section from a plug of black chewing tobacco. "Worse +places, Ah should say. Ah've seen times when a good warm stock-car +would have passed for heaven. But that ain't what Ah have in mind. +We'll all turn in an' get the stock unloaded, hitch up horses, pack a +load, an' get away. Morrison's hired man'll drive his team, an' +Tom'll stay here himself an' look after the rest of the stuff. Ah've +been making a canvass, an' Ah find we have six or seven families who +can be ready to pull out this afternoon. An soon as we get into +settled country, perhaps we can get accommodation, such as it is, +along the way. But my team will go along, with a good tent an' some +cooking outfit. Everyone has bedding, so we're all right for that. +Now, if all hustle we can be started by four o'clock, an' out ten or +twelve miles before we pitch camp. That's far enough for the horses +the first day, anyway. How does it suit you?" + +"What do you say, Mr. Morrison?" + +"I think Aleck's plan is best. I've my wife and the two girls, and +there's no roof for their heads here. I can find a place for myself, +but I've got to get them started. Ned is a trusty man; he will drive +my team. It suits me." + +"But after we get there?" said Harris, "For my part, I don't know +where I'm going. Even with Aleck's help it will take some time to +look up my land and build a place to live in. Mind you," he said, as +if forestalling a question in their minds, "I'm mightily obliged for +the kindness of your offer, and it isn't myself I'm thinking about." + +"Hoots, man!" said Morrison. "We ken who you're thinkin' about, right +well. And a poor man ye'd be if ye didn't, for a bonnier lass never +came out of Canada, and that's saying somethin'. But she'll be all +right out there, and a deal better than if you left her here. There's +not many settlers with houses in the country yet, Aleck tells me, but +there's a few, and it's wonderful the e-las-ticity of a shanty on the +prairie." + +"Tom's right," said McCrae. "We haven't many of the conveniences of +civilization out there yet, but we haven't the narrowness or vices +either, an' your wife'll be both welcome an' safe in any farmer's +home. Now, if it's all settled," continued McCrae, who had the +leader's knack of suppressing indecision at the psychological moment, +"we'll all turn in with unloading of the stock." Harris ran to tell +his wife that they were to join a party for "the front" that very +afternoon. She received the news joyously. Her only fear had been +that she would be left behind during the weeks in which her husband +made his exploration of the country. + +In a few minutes all hands, both men and women, were busy at the +cars. The horses, stiff and sore after their long journey, stalked +rheumatically down the gangway. Feeling solid ground beneath their +feet, they shook their heads vigorously, as though to rid them of the +rumble of the cars, and presently were rolling and stretching in the +warm sun. Dogs limped with muddy paws and boisterous affection upon +masters and mistresses; cows lowed, roosters crowed, and pigs emitted +little grunts, of that supreme happiness peculiar to their race. Many +hands made the work light, and by mid-afternoon six sleighs were +loaded for the journey. All the women and children were to go with +the party; Morrison and one or two men would remain in Emerson, +complete the unloading, and take charge of the effects until the +teams should return from their long journey. McCrae, on account of +his knowledge of the town and of the needs of the journey was chosen +to secure the supplies. His team, which had wintered at Emerson, was +to take the lead, and in his sleigh were a large tent, some cooking +equipment, and an assortment of eatables, consisting mainly of dried +meat, lard, beans, molasses, bread, flour, oatmeal, and tea. McCrae +provided his team and equipment without charge; the cost of the +provisions was reckoned up and divided among the immigrants in their +various proportions to the whole party. + +Each settler's sleigh carried that which seemed most indispensable. +First came the settler's family, which, large or small, was crowded +into the deep box. McCrae made them pack hay in the bottom of the +sleigh-boxes, and over this were laid robes and blankets, on which +the immigrants sat, as thickly as they could be placed. More robes +and blankets were laid on top, and sacks stuffed very full of hay +served the double purpose of cushioning their backs and conveying +fodder for the animals. Such space as remained was devoted to grain +for the horses, bundles of clothing and boxes of dishes, kitchen +utensils, and family effects. In one of the sleighs a pig was +quartered, and in another was a crate of hens which poked their heads +stupidly through the cracks, blinking at the bright light. Behind the +sleighs were tethered the cattle. + +Morrison came up to Harris's sleigh, and gave it an approving +inspection. + +"You will all be fine," he said, "and a great deal better than +wearyin' about here. Besides, you're just as well to be away," he +added, in a somewhat lower voice. "McCrae tells me if this sun keeps +up the roads will be gone before we know it, and that means a delay +of two or three weeks. There's been a tremendous snow this winter, +and a steady thaw, what with these north-runnin' rivers, means floods +on the low-lyin' lands, and perhaps in the town itself, McCrae tells +me he's none too sure about the bridge." + +At this moment McCrae himself joined the group. "There's only two in +your party, Harris," he said, "an' while Ah don't want to interrupt +your honeymoon, there's another passenger to be taken care of. Dr. +Blain is going with us, and Ah'm going to put him in your charge. +He's a bit peculiar, but Ah don't think he'll give you any trouble. +It's just a case of being too much of a good fellow. One thing Ah +know--he's a doctor. Saw him last fall on a scarlet fever job. +Settler's sod shack, twenty miles from nowhere. Three children down, +mother down, father frantic. Well, Ah now that Blain camped right +there in the thick of it; doctored, nursed, cooked, kep' house--did +everything. An' they're all of 'em alive an' well to-day, or were +when last Ah saw them. So he's worth more'n a speaking acquaintance, +Harris; you may know that better some day. Ah'm going up town for him +now; you can shift your stuff a little an' make room." + +The whole party were ready for the road and waiting before McCrae +appeared again. When he came a companion staggered somewhat +uncertainly by his side. + +"I'm aw'right, McCrae," he was saying. "I'm aw' right. Shay, whash +thish? Shildren v Ishrul?" + +"Come now, Doctor, straighten up. Ah want to introduce you." + +"Introdush me? Thash right. Make me 'cquainted wish the ladish. How +juhdo, Princhessh?" he said, stopping and gesticulating before an +imaginary figure. "Thish is Dr. Blain, late of--late of--wash that, +McCrae? Oh, very good. I'm awl right." + +Half leading and half pulling, McCrae at last brought the doctor to +Harris's sleigh. "Sorry he's in this shape," he whispered. "He'll +likely go to sleep, an' be all right when he wakes up. Ah can't take +him in my sleigh, an' Ah feel sure you can handle him." + +"I'll do the best I can," said Harris, though he was little pleased +with the prospect. + +"Straighten up, Doctor," said McCrae, giving him a good poke in the +ribs. "This is Mr. Harris, who you will travel with--Jack Harris. An' +Mrs. Harris." + +The doctor had glanced only casually at Harris, but at the mention of +the woman's name he straightened up and stood alone. + +"Glad to meet you, madam," he said. "And it's only proper that the +pleasure should be all mine." There was a little bitterness in his +voice that did not escape her ear. + +"But indeed I am glad to meet _you_," she answered. "Mr. McCrae has +been telling us something of your work among the settlers. We are +very fortunate to have you with us." + +He shot a keen look into her face. She returned his gaze frankly, and +he found sarcasm neither in her eyes nor her voice. + +"Help me in, McCrae," he said. "I'm a bit unsteady...There now, my +bag. Don't move, Mrs. Harris...I think we are quite ready now, are we +not?" + +"Most remarkable man," whispered McCrae to Harris. "Wonderful how he +can pull himself together." + +McCrae hurried to his own sleigh, called a cheery "All ready!" and +the party at once proceeded to get under way. This was not +accomplished without difficulty. The cattle showed no disposition to +follow the sleighs, but hung back, pulling on their ropes with +amazing strength. One or two, in an excess of stubbornness, sat down +in the snow and had to be dragged bodily. The settlers had three or +four dogs along, but it was not considered safe to let them get at +the cattle, lest the frightened animals should break their ropes and +occasion further delay. The situation was only relieved by a number +of men following behind, prodding vigorously and twisting the tails +of the most recalcitrant. Presently the cows began to swing along, +and, finding that no harm befell them, they soon settled into a slow +but steady gait, and gave no more trouble until they began to tire +with their travel. + +The horses, too, had their own difficulties. Jaded and nervous with +their long trip in the cars, and strange to the air and surroundings, +they fidgeted and fretted, and soon the sweat-line was creeping up +their backs. The sleigh trails stood high over the level of the +surrounding prairie, and the horses were continually slipping off. +The snow packed in hard balls under their feet, and at intervals the +drivers were obliged to get out and clear it away. The March sun, +which had shone down with such fierce heat during the middle of the +day, now swung far to the westward, facing the travellers over an +ocean of snow stretching away into the unknown. The day grew colder; +women and children drew blankets tighter about them, and huddled +lower in the sleighs to escape a sharp wind that slipped silently +down from the north, carrying a ground-drift of icy particles in its +breath. + +Harris's thoughts were on his team, on the two cows trudging behind, +and on the multiplicity of arrangements which his new life would +present for decision and settlement. But his wife gazed silently out +over the ocean of snow. The rays of the sun fell gratefully on her +cheeks, pale and somewhat wan with her long journey. But the sun went +down, and the western sky, cloudless and measureless, faded from gold +to copper, and from copper to silver, and from silver to lead. +Turning uncomfortably in her crowded seat the girl could see, far +beyond the last of the teams, the road over which they had travelled, +stretching away until it lost itself, a point in the gathering +darkness. To the west it lost itself over the shoulder of the +prairie... The men had ceased to shout to each other; the cattle +plodded uncomplainingly; silently they moved in the midst of a +silence expanding into the infinite. It was her first sight of the +prairie, and a strange mixture of emotions, of awe, and loneliness, +and a certain indifference to personal consequences, welled up within +her. Once or twice she thought of home--a home so far away that it +might have been in another planet. But she would not let her mind +dwell on it for long. She was going to be brave. She had talked with +the other women on the train and in the town. They were women from +Ontario farms, some of them well into middle life, women who had +known the drudge of unremitting toil since childhood. Their speech +was faulty; their manners would not have passed muster amid her old +associations; but their quiet optimism was unbounded, their courage +was an inspiration. She too would be brave! For the sake of the brave +man who sat at her side, guiding his team in the deepening darkness; +for the sake of the new home that they two should build somewhere +over the horizon; for the sake of the civilization that was to be +planted, of the nation that must arise, of the manhood and womanhood +of to-morrow--she would be brave. Deep in her heart she swore she +would be brave, even while a recreant tear stole forth unbidden and +froze into a little pearl of pathos on her cheek. + +A bright star shone down from the west; one by one they appeared in +the heavens...It grew colder. The snow no longer caked on the horses' +feet; the sleigh-runners creaked and whined uncannily. + +Suddenly a strange sound came down on the north wind--a sound that +made the girl who had just been vowing to be brave nestle still +closer to the big man at her side, and his arm fell protectingly +about her. It was a succession of sharp barks like those of a dog, +but the barks presently ran together in a long, doleful howl that +rose in a high crescendo on the night air, and then slowly died away +into a minor note that seemed to echo back and forth across the +plain. As it died out in one point of the compass it was taken up in +another, until the little party wending its way in the darkness +seemed altogether surrounded by it. + +"What is it?" whispered the girl. "What is it, Jack? Do you know?" + +"I don't know," said the man. "It sounds like--wolves." + +"Don't be alarmed, Mrs. Harris," said a quiet voice. Looking around +they found the doctor sitting up in the sleigh. He had fallen asleep +as soon as the journey started, and they had almost forgotten his +presence. + +"Don't be alarmed," he repeated. "Their howl is the only terrifying +thing about them. Prairie wolves are very different from their +cousins of the woods. They fill the night air with their howling, but +they are cowardly brutes and would rather run than fight." + +"I suppose you have had some strange experiences with animals of the +prairies," said the girl, with a brave effort to appear at ease, but +before the doctor could answer the team came to a sudden stop. The +sleigh in front was obstructing the road, and the party closed up in +solid formation. + +"Camp Number One," called Aleck McCrae, from the head sleigh. "The +horses and cattle are tired, an'--" + +"And the captain is hungry," put in Ned Beacon. "Isn't that right?" + +"Well, Ah _am_ nursing a young appetite," admitted Aleck, exhibiting +the slack of his belt. "Now, run these sleighs up in two rows," and +Aleck indicated where he wanted them placed. "It's hard on the horses +an' cattle, after the warm cars, but they'll stand it tonight if +they're well blanketed. To-morrow night we'll be among the +Mennonites, with a chance of getting stable room." + +Under Aleck's direction the sleighs were run up in two rows, about +twenty feet apart, facing the north. Two sleighs were then run across +the opening at the north end, so that altogether they formed a +three-sided court. Men with shovels quickly cleared the snow from the +northerly portion of the court, and there the tent was pitched. On +the south side of the tent, where they were sheltered from the north +wind, the horses and cattle were lined up as closely as they could be +crowded. Horse blankets, buffalo robes, rag carpets, and even family +bedding, were tied about the animals. The horses were supplied with +hay and oats and the cattle with hay alone, and after eating they lay +down for the night, and were soon blowing and heaving in a warm fog +of comfort. + +Meanwhile inside the tent was a scene of great activity. The ground +was covered with blankets, robes, and bedding. A lantern from the +centre pole sent wedge-shaped shadows darting back and forth; the +camp stove was set up, and a fire from wood which McCrae had brought +along was soon crackling in it. Pots and pans were produced; women +eager to be of service swarmed about the stove, and children, free at +last of their muffling wraps, romped in high-laughtered glee among +the robes or danced back and forward with the swinging shadows. + +"Now this won't do at all," said McCrae, returning from an inspection +of affairs outside. "Too many cooks, you know. Ah want one woman +here. Everybody else sit down." + +The captain's word was recognized as law. He selected an able-looking +settler's wife as assistant cook, while the others, men, women, and +children, sitting down, seemed to fill the tent to the limit of its +capacity. + +Savoury smells soon were coming from hot frying-pans, as sliced ham, +with bread and gravy, was served up in tin plates and passed about +the tent. Everybody--married men and women, maidens and young men, +girls, boys, and little children--was ravenously hungry, and for a +few minutes little could be heard but the plying of the viands. But +as the first edge of hunger became dulled the edge of wit sharpened, +and laughter and banter rollicked back and forward through the tent. +The doctor, now quite sober, took a census, and found the total +population to be twenty-eight. These he classified as twelve married, +eight eligible, seven children, and himself, for whom he found no +classification. + +"You have a head for figures, Harris, I think," he said. "How much +space can be allotted to each?" + +Harris found that the tent was twelve by eighteen feet, and that +about eight feet of floor space would be available for each person, +if they moved the stove out. + +"The space is sufficient, but the ventilation isn't," said the +doctor, as he set about opening ventilator flaps. "If I am to be +responsible for your health there are just two rules to follow. Do +whatever Aleck McCrae tells you, and don't be afraid of fresh air, +even with frost in it." + +The tin plates had gone back to McCrae, and were returning, loaded +this time with bread and molasses. A steaming cup of tea accompanied +each plate. Fortunately there was milk for the children, two of the +cows having contributed this important item of the commissariat. + +When the meal was over and the dishes washed and packed, Aleck made +another round of the camp before settling down for the night. +Meantime mothers gathered their families about them as best they +could; the little ones sleepily mumbled their prayers, and all hands, +young and old, nestled down like a brood of tired chickens under the +white wings of the protecting tent. Outside the ground-drift sifted +gently about the sleighs, the cows sighed in contentment, and the +wolves yapped to each other in the distance. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +PRAIRIE LAND + + +The afternoon that has just been described was typical of the days +that were to follow as the immigrant party laboured its slow +pilgrimage into the Farther West. True, they entered on the very next +day a district having some pretence of settlement, where it was +sometimes possible to secure shelter for the women and children under +hospitable Mennonite roofs. The peculiar housekeeping principles of +this class of settlers, however, which involved the lodging of cattle +and horses in the same building with the human members of the family, +discouraged too great intimacy with them, and for the most part the +new-comers preferred the shelter of their own tent. They soon emerged +from the Red River Valley, left the vast, level, treeless plain +behind them, and plunged into the rolling and lightly wooded Pembina +region. Here clumps of small willows and, where repeated fires had +not destroyed them, light bluffs of slender poplars afforded a +measure of protection, and from the resources of the few scattered +settlers already in the country they were able to replenish their +supplies of fodder for the stock, and even to add to their own +larder. Fortunately the wind continued to blow from the north, and, +although the sun shone with astonishing fierceness in the middle of +the day, the snow thawed but little and the trail remained passable. +Other parties of settlers, wending their way westward to the region +where homesteads were still available, or moving in to lands located +the previous year, were overtaken; and again the party were +themselves overtaken by more rapid-moving immigrants from behind, so +that in the course of four or five days their cavalcade stretched far +ahead and far to the rear. Acquaintanceships were made quickly--no +one stood on ceremony; and as the journey wore on the Harrises began +to feel that they already possessed many friends in the country, and +that life on the prairie would not be altogether lonely. + +After numerous consultations with McCrae, Harris had arranged that +his immediate destination should be in a district where the scrub +country melted into open prairie on the western side of the Pembina. +The Arthurses, who were also of the party, had homesteaded there, and +Fred Arthurs had built a little house on the land the year before. +Arthurs was now bringing his young wife to share with him the +privations and the privileges of their new home. A friendship had +already sprung up between Mrs. Arthurs and Mrs. Harris, and nothing +seemed more appropriate than that the two women should occupy the +house together while Harris sought out new homestead land and Arthurs +proceeded with the development of his farm. It was McCrae, whose +interest in every member of the expedition was that of a father, that +dropped the germ of this suggestion into Arthurs' receptive ear, and +it was with paternal satisfaction he found the young couples speedily +work out for themselves the arrangements which he had planned for +them all along. + +After the crossing of the Pembina the party began to scatter--some to +homesteads already located; others to friends who would billet them +until their arrangements were completed. As team after team swung out +from the main road a certain sense of loss was experienced by those +who were left, but it was cheery words and good wishes and mutual +invitations that marked each separation. At length came the trail, +almost lost in the disappearing snow, that led to Arthurs' homestead. +A quick handshake with McCrae, Ned Beacon, and the doctor, and a few +others who had grown upon them in the journey, and the two young +couples turned out to break their way over the little-used route that +now lay before them. + +Darkness was settling down--darkness of the seventh night since their +departure from Emerson--when, like a mole on the face of the plain, a +little grey lump grew on the horizon. Arthurs rose in his sleigh and +waved his fur cap in the air; Harris sent back an answering cheer; +the women plied their husbands with questions; even the horses took +on new energy, and plunged desperately through the frozen snow which +one moment supported their weight and the next splintered in broken +ice-cakes beneath them. Slowly the mole grew until in the gathering +shadows it took on indistinctly the shape of a building, and just as +the rising moon crested the ridge of the Pembina hills the travellers +swung up at the door. Arthurs had carried the key of the padlock in +his hand for the last mile; everybody was out of the sleighs in a +moment, and the next they were stamping their cramped feet on the +cold wooden floor of the little shack. Arthurs walked unerringly to a +nail on the wall and took down a lantern; its dull flame drove the +mist slowly down the glass, and presently the light was beating back +from the glistening frost which sparkled on every log of the little +room. + +"Well, here we are in Hungry Hall," said Arthurs. "Everything just as +I left it." Then, turning to his wife, "Come, Lil," he said. "Jack, +perhaps you have an engagement of your own." He took his wife in a +passionate embrace and planted a fervent kiss upon her lips, while +Harris followed his example. Then they sat down on the boxes that +served for chairs, amid a happiness too deep for words...So the +minutes passed until Mrs. Arthurs sprang to her feet. "Why, Mary," +she exclaimed, "I do believe you're crying," while the moisture +glistened on her own cheek. "Now, you men, clear out! I suppose you +think the horses will stable themselves? Yes, I see you have the box +full of wood, Fred. That's not so bad for a start. Leave some +matches, and say, you might just get our boxes in here. Remember +we've lived in these clothes for the best part of two weeks." + +The young men sprang to their task, and as soon as they were out of +the house the girls threw their arms about each other and wept like +women together. It was only for a moment; a quick dash of the hand +across the eyes, and both were busy removing coats and wraps. + +The door opened, and their "boxes," as well as other equipment from +the sleighs, were carried in, and the men disappeared to the little +stable at the back of the house. After several attempts the girls +succeeded in starting a fire in the rusted stove, and soon its +grateful heat was radiating to every corner of the room. As they +busied themselves unpacking dishes and provisions they had +opportunity to take observations of the new place that for one was to +be home and for the other a very welcome haven in a strange land. + +The house was built of poplar logs, hewed and dovetailed at the +corners with the skill of the Ontario woodsman. It was about twelve +by sixteen feet in size, with collar-beams eight feet from the floor. +The roof was of two thicknesses of elm boards, with tar-paper +between. The floor was of poplar boards. The door was in the east +side, near the south-east corner; the stove stood about the centre of +the east wall. The only window was in the south; six panes of +eight-by-ten glass sufficed for light. Through this window another +lantern shone back from the darkness, and the flickering light from +the stove danced in duplicate. A rough board table sat under the +window; a box nailed in the south-west corner evidently served as +cupboard. No tools or movables of any value had been left in the +place, Arthurs having stored such effects with a neighbour, some +dozen miles away, lest they be stolen from the cabin by some +unscrupulous traveller during his absence. + +"I like the plan of it very much," said Mrs. Arthurs, after a general +survey of the room. "Don't you think Fred has shown good judgment in +the design? This"--indicating the door--"will be my reception-room. +And this, a little further in, is the parlour. The kitchen and pantry +are right at hand--so convenient for the maid in serving, you know. +And then our rooms. Fred and I will have the long room in the +north-west wing, while you, of course, will occupy the guest-chamber +in the northeast. Do not be alarmed, my dear; if the silence of the +prairies weighs too heavily upon you we shall be within call. The +bath may be reached from either room with equal convenience." + +Both laughed, but Mary, more serious and sober-minded, was already +slicing ham and greasing a frying-pan. "We need water, Lil--get some +snow while I find the tea. The bread is hard, but there'll be coals +presently, and we shall have toast. Lucky there were baked potatoes +left over from last night's camp; they'll fry up fine along with +this--" But already Lil was outside gathering snow. + +She returned in breathless excitement. "Oh, Mary, I've just had a +great thought. All my wedding china--presents, you know--is in that +box, and I have my wedding clothes, too. Have you yours?" + +"Of course. But why--" + +"Why, dear, don't you see? The men are busy shovelling a path into +the stable. It'll be an hour yet before they are in. Let's put on our +wedding dresses, and set the table with our best dishes and best +linen, just for a kind of post-nuptial. Let's!" + +"But ham and fried potatoes!" + +"And toast. Didn't you promise toast? And tea. And I'll wager there's +some jam among provisions. Oh, let's hurry." + +An hour later, when the hungry men returned after making their horses +and cattle comfortable, they stopped in amazement at the sight that +confronted them. Snowy linen, delicate china, and sparkling glass +returned the soft light from one of those great lamps such as are +bought only for presentation; and beside the table, like fairies +spirited from a strange land, stood two beautiful women, robed in the +delicate draperies of their bridal hour. Exclamations of surprise +were drowned in a flood of tender associations, and never in palace +or banquet-hall did sweeter content and happiness reign than among +these four young pioneers as they sat down to their first home-served +meal in the new land. + +The days that followed were days of intense activity for both men and +women. There was much to do, inside and out. In the interior of the +little house an extraordinary change was wrought; simple draperies +and pictures relieved the bareness of the walls; shelves were built +for the accommodation of many trinkets dear to the feminine heart; a +rag carpet covered the centre of the floor; plain but appetising +dishes peeked enticingly from behind the paper curtain that now +clothed the bare ribs of the cupboard; and a sense of homeliness +pervaded the atmosphere. The two men, in their own realm, had found +much to occupy them, although for some days the range of their +activities was limited owing to the necessity of giving the horses a +much-needed rest before putting them back into the harness. + +A week had passed, and no sign of life, other than that of the little +party itself, had been seen about the Arthurses' homestead, when one +day Harris's eyes already becoming keen to the prairie distances, +espied a dark point on the horizon. It grew slowly from a point to a +spot, from a spot to an object, and at length was defined as a man on +horseback. Presently Aleck McCrae drew up at the door. + +"Hello, farmers," he cried, "how goes the battle? An' the good wives? +Building a little Eden in this wilderness, I'll warrant. Tell them to +put another name in the pot, an' a hungry name at that. I haven't +seen a white woman's meal I don't know when." + +The friends gathered about the old-timer, plying him with questions, +which he answered or discussed until the meal was over, holding his +own business quietly in the background. But, with supper ended, his +pipe in his teeth and his feet resting comfortably in the oven, he +broached his subject. + +"Ready for the road in the morning, Jack? Don't want to break up your +little honeymoon, y' know, but the month is wearing on. Nothing but +horseback for it now, an' they do say the settlers are crowding up +something wonderful. The best land's going fast. Most of them will +hold up now, with the roads breaking, but by slipping out on our +horses we can locate an' file before the real spring rush opens. You +should get some kind of shelter up before the frost is out of the +ground, so's to lose no time from ploughing once the spring opens." + +Harris needed no urging, and in the early morning the two men, with +blankets and provisions, started out on horseback for the still +farther West. The snow was now going rapidly; water stood in a +thousand pools and ponds on the face of the prairie, or ran with +swift noiselessness in the creeks and ravines, although the real +"break-up" of the streams would not occur until early in April. By +avoiding the sleigh-trails and riding over the open prairie fairly +sound footing was found for the horses and a good opportunity given +to observe the land. Harris soon found that more judgment was +required in the selection of a prairie farm than he had supposed, and +he congratulated himself upon having fallen in with so experienced a +plainsman as McCrae. On the first day they rode over mile after mile +of beautiful country, following the survey stakes as closely as +possible, and noting their location from time to time by the +lettering on the posts. + +"This is good enough for me," said Harris at length, as their horses +crested a little elevation from which the prairie stretched away in +all directions, smooth as a table. "Isn't it magnificent! And all +free for the taking!" + +"It's pretty to look at," said McCrae, "but I guess you didn't come +West for scenery, did you?" + +"Well, what's the matter with it? Look at that grass. If the soil +wasn't all right it wouldn't grow native crops like that, would it?" + +"The soil's all right," answered McCrae. "Nothing better anywhere, +an' you can plough a hundred and sixty acres to every +quarter-section. But this is in the frost belt. They get it every +August--sometimes July. Shouldn't wonder but it'll be all right in +time, when the country gets settled up, but most homesteaders can't +afford to wait. We've got to get further West yet, into the higher +land of the Turtle Mountain slopes. I know there's good stuff there +that hasn't been taken." + +And so they pressed on, until, in the bright sunshine, the blue line +of the Turtle Mountain lay like a lake on the western horizon. Here +McCrae began paying more minute attention to the soil, examining the +diggings around badger holes, watching out for clumps of "wolf +willow," with always a keen eye for stones and low-lying alkali +patches and the general topography of the quarter. + +"This is more rolling country, with more land broken up by sleughs +an' creeks, but it's good stuff," he said. "It's early to make +predictions, but I'll risk one guess. There are two classes of people +coming into this country--men who are looking for wheat land, nothing +but wheat land, an' men who want some wheat land an' some stock land. +I predict that in twenty-five years the wheat farmers will be working +for the mortgage companies, an' the stock farmers will be building up +bank accounts. Now stock must have water, an' if you can get natural +shelter, so much the better. A creek may break your land a little, +but it's worth more than it costs." + +Many times in their explorations they passed over sections that +Harris would have accepted, but McCrae objected, finding always some +flaw not apparent to the untrained eye. Once, where a little river +had worn its way across the plain, they came on a sod shack, where a +settler was already located. "Nice spot," said McCrae, "but too +sandy. His farm'll blow away when he breaks the sod. There's an easy +crossing there' though, an' perhaps he thinks the railway will hit +him when it comes. That's all a gamble. It may go north of the lake; +if it does we only bet on the wrong horse. We've got to take our +chance on that." + +But at length they rode over a quarter where McCrae turned his horse +and rode back again. Forward and back, forward and back, they rode +the whole hundred and sixty acres, until not a rood of it had escaped +their scrutiny. On the south-east corner a stream, in a ravine of +some depth, cut off a triangle of a few acres' extent. Otherwise it +was prairie sod, almost level, with yellow clay lying at the badger +holes. Down in the ravine, where they had been sheltered from fire, +were red willows, choke-cherry bushes, and a few little poplars and +birches; a winding pond marked the course of the stream, which was +running in considerable volume. Even as they stood on the bank a +great cracking was heard, and huge blocks of ice rose to the surface +of the pond. Some of these as they rose turned partly on their edge, +showing two smooth sides. + +"Good!" exclaimed McCrae. "There's some depth of water there. That +pond hasn't frozen solid, or the ice wouldn't come up like that. That +means water all winter for stock, independent of your well--a mighty +important consideration, which a lot of these land-grabbers don't +seem to reckon on. Now there's a good quarter, Jack. I don't say it's +the best there is; they'll be opening up new land that'd make your +teeth water twenty-five years from now. But we can't explore the +whole North-West, an' you're far enough from the railroad here. This +coulee will give shelter for your stock in raw weather, an' there's a +bench looks at though it was put there for your little house. There's +light timber to the north, fit for fuel an' building, within fifteen +miles, an' there'll be neighbours here before the summer's over, or +I'm no prophet. What do you say?" + +"The quarter suits me," said Harris. "And the adjoining quarter is +good stuff too. I can take pre-emption right on that. But there's +just one thing I'm in doubt about." + +"What's that?" + +"How I'm going to square it with you for the service you have given. +My cash is getting low, and--" + +"Don't worry about that. I generally size up my customer an' bill him +accordingly. If he has lots of money, an' seems likely to part with +it foolishly, I put as much of it as I can in safe keeping. But there +isn't any money fee as far as you're concerned. Fact is, I kinda +figure on trading this bill out with you." + +"Trading it out? How?" + +"Well, I expect to be roving this country, east an' west, for some +years to come, an' I've a little policy of establishing depots here +an' there--places where I can drop in for a square meal an' a sleep +an' a bit of Western hospitality. Places, too, if you like, where +there are men to say a good word for Aleck McCrae. How's that suit +you?" + +Harris took his friend's hand in a warm grip. He rightly guessed that +McCrae was not bartering his services for hospitality, but was making +it easy for Harris to accept them by appearing to bargain for a +service in return. So they shook hands together on the side of the +bank overlooking the little coulee, and as they looked in each +other's eyes Harris realized for the first time that McCrae was still +a young man. A sense of comradeship came over him--a feeling that +this man was more of a brother than a father. With admiring eyes he +looked on McCrae's fine face, his broad shoulders, his wonderful +physique, and the question he asked sprang from his lips before he +could arrest it. + +"Why don't you get married, Mac?" + +"Who, me?" said McCrae, laughing; but Harris detected a tone in his +voice that was not all happiness, and the thought came to him that +McCrae's craving for hospitality might root deeper than he supposed. + +"It's a long ride to the land office," continued McCrae, "an' you +can't file a minute too soon. We'd better find a corner post an? make +sure of the number of this section, an' put as much road behind us as +we can tonight." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +ROUGHING IT + + +After filing at the land office Harris returned at once to the +Arthurses' homestead. The news that the Harrises were to be +neighbours within forty miles was received with enthusiasm by both +Fred and Lilian Arthurs. But Harris was now consumed with a burning +energy; he allowed himself only a precious half-day at the home of +the Arthurses, bade his wife an affectionate farewell, and, with a +cheery good-bye to the warm friends on the homestead, he was away +down the trail to Emerson. By this time the sleighing was gone, and +as his wagon was left with the car he rode one horse and led the +other, carrying with him harness and such equipment as was absolutely +necessary on the road. He expected some trouble from the streams, +which were now breaking up in earnest, but he was determined that at +all costs he would get his wagon, plough, and tools to the homestead +before the frost came out of the ground and left the sod trails +absolutely impassable. + +On arrival at Emerson one of the first men he met was Tom Morrison. +The two pioneers shook hands warmly, and in a few words Harris told +of having selected his claim, waxing enthusiastic over the locality +in which his lot was to be cast. + +"I must get out there myself," said Morrison. + +"Do," Harris urged. "There are some other line quarters in the +neighbourhood, and nothing would be better than to have you on one of +them." + +"Well, we'll see. Now, I've got your wagon loaded ready for the road. +I couldn't get all your stuff on, but I loaded what you'll want +first, and the balance can come with the rest of mine, so you won't +have to make another trip. Ned has been back for some days, and we're +ready to pull out too. And the sooner the better. The river is risin' +real dangerous like, and if it keeps on this town's goin' to be under +water before it knows it. Indeed, it wouldn't surprise me if the +bridge went out. So we took the rest of the stuff--yours and +mine--out a day's haul on the road. It's in safe hands there, and we +can get it later even if the bridge does go. We thought we might as +well do that while waitin' for you." + +"Waiting for me?" repeated Harris. "You don't mean to say you have +stayed here just on my account?" + +"Oh, no; you see, we wanted to get all the stuff out of danger." + +But Harris read between the words that honest Tom had valued his +interests equally with his own. + +The west-bound trip was made in good time, although not without +difficulty at some points in the road, and before the 10th of April +Harris was back under the shelter of Arthurs' roof. He was for +pressing on alone in the morning, but he found that his wife had made +all her plans to accompany him and would listen neither to persuasion +nor reason. + +"No, Jack," she said, gently but firmly setting all his entreaties +aside. "I'm not going to let you do all the pioneering. I'm going +with you." + +"But, Mary, there's no house, and no shelter, and no +neighbours--nothing but sky and grass as far as you can see." + +"All the more reason I should go," she answered. "If you have to +rough it in the open you at least deserve your meals cooked for you, +and such other help as a woman can give. We will take the cows--one +of them is milking now; the calf will have to go in the wagon; but +we'll have lots of milk, and I'm sure we'll get along. But I really +must be with you. I really must, John, and you know--I'm going." + +So at last he consented. The supplies of provisions were increased; +room for the calf was found somewhere in the wagon, and together they +set out to wrestle their fortunes from the wilderness. + +On arrival at the homestead the young wife immediately gave evidence +that she intended to bear her full share of the pioneer's duties. A +comparatively dry spot was found among the little poplars, and here +she built a tent with blankets and a bit of rag-carpet that came in +most handy for such purposes. Their stove was set up, and although it +smoked stubbornly for lack of draught, it furnished heat for cooking, +and when Jack returned from tethering the horses the smell of frying +ham and hot tea struck his nostrils. + +"Well, that's better than rustling for myself, I will admit," he +said, as she placed his supper on an improvised table. "But it's +mighty rough on you." + +"No, it isn't, either. I'm healthy--why, this prairie air gives me an +appetite that city people would pay thousands for, and I'm +strong--and happy." + +He drew her to him, thrilled with the pride of her courage. + +That night, before the darkness had gathered too deep, they selected +the site of their house on the very bench that McCrae had indicated. +It was about an acre in extent, and stood halfway between the prairie +level and the bottom of the coulee, where a small river was now +running...They would face their house eastward, so it would look over +the pond fifty yards from the door, and the bank behind would shelter +it from the north-west winds of winter...It was quite dark when they +sought the cover of their little tent, and the wolves were howling +far down the ravine. + +Presently they were startled by a crashing noise, as of some big +animals rushing upon them through the poplars, and the horses, in +headlong haste, almost swept over their sleeping-place. On +recognizing their master the animals stood, snorting and shivering. + +"That wolf howl put the fear into the silly brutes," said Harris, +speaking calmly, although his own flesh was creeping just a little. +"I suppose they've ripped their tether ropes to pieces. Well, we'll +tie them down here, where they'll have company." And he led them back +a short distance into the bushes. + +A moment later, suddenly, as if congealed out of thin air, on the +bank right above them, silhouetted against the dim light in the +western sky, stood a horse and rider. Instantly into Harris's mind +came a warning of McCrae: "Sleep with one eye open when your horses +are tethered out." + +Harris had no proof that the strange rider was a horse thief, but it +struck him at the moment that the terror of the horses might not have +been due altogether to wolves. Sometimes these noble animals have an +uncanny instinct for detecting danger. He stole silently toward the +tent. There was a gun there, loaded with shot for any possible game +on the prairie. As he moved in the deep darkness of the valley he +stumbled over a root and fell. The same moment came a flash of light +on the bank, and Harris heard the "thuk" of a ball burying itself in +the sod. He lay perfectly still. The stranger peered into the +darkness for a full minute; then, dismounting, began to come +cautiously down the hillside. Harris would have rushed for his gun, +but he feared to reveal the whereabouts of his wife. So he lay still, +and the stranger came on, the glint of his gun-barrel showing in the +darkness. It was evident he thought his bullet had found its mark, +and he proposed still to possess himself of the horses. But he was +taking no chances. Presently he discerned Harris's body on the +ground, and again raised his gun to his shoulder. Harris lay in an +agony of suspense, praying that the aim would be faulty, and that his +assailant would advance until he could spring up and disarm him. Then +came another flash, a loud report, a yell from the intruder, who half +fell to earth, then scrambled to his feet, rushed up the bank, pulled +himself somewhat limply on his horse, and rode into the darkness. + +"Oh, Jack, are you killed?" cried the girl, rushing in his direction. + +"Not even hurt," he answered; and she fainted in his arms. + +He carried her to the tent and applied water to her forehead. As he +was engaged in restoring her his hand fell on his gun. The barrel was +hot. + +He raised her face to his, and kissed her again and again. + +In the morning they found a few drops of blood on the grass at the +top of the bank. + +Harris and his wife allowed themselves no time for nerve-strain over +the experience of their first night on their homestead. It was +fortunate for them there was so much to do, and that they were thrown +entirely upon their own resources. Their little store of money was +running very low, and they decided their house must be of the +cheapest possible construction. Harris had already discussed his +buildings with McCrae, who advised him to make use of sods, and gave +general directions how to do so; and he now set about to put McCrae's +suggestions into effect. Some fifteen miles north of the homestead +was a valley in which grew trees of sufficient size for building +purposes--poplars, cottonwoods, elms, and oaks. Farther down the +valley, at the head of a lake, was a saw-mill, where boards and +shingles might be bought--if one had money. + +So this morning, after caring for their cows, they hitched the horses +to the wagon, took an axe, a saw, their gun, and a lunch, and set out +for the valley, returning late at night with sufficient logs and +poles for the framework of their house and stable. The next day +construction was commenced. Four stout posts were set on end, +enclosing a rectangle twelve by sixteen feet. The tops of the posts +were connected by logs laid upon them, dovetailed at the corners +after the fashion of woodsmen, and held in position by wooden pins +driven in auger-holes. Lengthwise along the centre, to form a +ridgepole, another stout log was laid and the whole framework +supported by additional posts, among which were two on the east side +to enclose the door. Small poles were then placed on end, sloping +slightly inwards, and resting against the plate-logs. Similar poles +were laid from the plate-logs to the ridge-pole to support the roof. + +Harris found a southern slope where the frost was out enough to admit +of him ploughing some sods. He knew he would not get as good a sod +here as later in the season might be found in some low-lying spot, +but his first consideration was to get some kind of permanent +shelter. So he ploughed the sods, three inches thick and fourteen +inches wide, and cut them into two-foot lengths with his axe, to the +sad injury of its cutting edge. These sods were then built into a +wall like bricks, resting gently against the framework of poles, from +which, however, they were separated by a padding of grass, which +Harris cut in a sleugh with his scythe, and small willows from the +ravine. This mattress of grass and willows prevented any earth +shaking through into the house itself. A framework made of a hewn log +was inserted in the south wall to leave space for a window, which +should be bought when the family finances could afford such luxuries. +For the time being it would be left open in fine weather and covered +with canvas when the elements were gruff or unruly. The rag-carpet, +when no longer needed as a tent, would be draped in the doorway, +pending the purchase of boards to make a wooden door. + +For a roof grass was laid on the poles and covered tightly with sods. +Then Harris found a sticky, yellow clay in the side of the ravine, +and two or three inches of this he spread carefully over the sods, +like icing on a great cake. The greasy clay soon hardened in the sun, +and became so impervious to water that the heaviest rains of summer +made no impression upon it. + +When, save for the missing door and window, the house was finished, +they stood in the centre and admired. It was absolutely the product +of their own labour, applied to such scanty resources as the prairie +provided. But it was warm and snug, and, as they later on learned, +the wall and roof of sod were almost perfect non-conductors of either +heat or cold. The floor was of earth, but Mary Harris knew the +difference between earth and dirt, although the words are frequently +confounded, and her house was from the first a model of cleanliness +and order. + +By this time the snow was all gone, except in north-facing nooks +along the ravine, and the frost was out of the sod in all places deep +enough to admit of plouging. As the stock were taking no harm from +the open air, thanks to the shelter of the ravine, Harris decided to +delay the construction of his stable until after seeding and to +proceed at once with the ploughing of his land. He had also to make a +trip to Arthurs' for seed grain, and to borrow a couple of sections +of drag harrows. With it all, by the middle of May he had sown +fifteen acres of wheat, and notwithstanding a heavy snowfall about +the 23rd, by the 1st of June he had added ten acres of oats. With his +help Mary had planted a small garden of potatoes and vegetables, and +a few flowers were springing up at the door of the house. + +It was a life of hard, persistent work--of loneliness, privation, and +hardship. But it was also a life of courage, of health, of +resourcefulness, of a wild, exhilarating freedom found only in God's +open spaces. They had learned to know the animals of the field--the +cheeky gopher; the silent, over-industrious badger; the skunk, +unchallenged monarch of his immediate circle; the sneaky coyote, +whose terror is all in his howl; the red fox, softly searching amid +the grass for the nests of ducks or prairie chicken; and the rabbit, +curious but always gracefully elusive. Then there were the waterfowl, +infinite in number. The stuffed ducks on the dinner-table were +limited only by the amount of powder and shot which Harris cared to +spend on the pond at their door. At night, when the horses had been +unharnessed and dusk was setting in, he would slip his gun under his +arm and walk down among the willows. It was necessary only to wait. +Two graceful forms, feeding under a grassy bank, hearing a slight +rustle above, would shove with quick, silent stroke into the supposed +safety of their native element. Harris would peer through the dusk +for the brighter markings of the male, for only a game-murderer +shoots the female in the nesting season. Then, as they separated a +little, his gun would speak; a sudden splashing of water; a sharp +whistle of rapid wings cutting the air; a form, paddling an uncertain +circle in the pond, then lying strangely flat upon the surface. +Harris as yet had no dog, and often it meant stripping and a sharp +plunge in the ice-cold water to bring in the trophy; but the strong, +athletic young man counted that only part of the sport. At other +times the nights were clamorous with the honking of wild geese, and +in the morning Harris, slipping quietly over the bank of the coulee, +would see the prairie white as from new-fallen snow with the backs of +countless thousands of "wavies." Sometimes the geese, secure in the +supposedly unsettled wilderness, relaxed the vigour of their military +guard, and on such occasions he could get within range. But if there +is one quality the goose lacks it is that which is most attributed to +him--foolishness. On his marches through the unmapped desert of the +air he moves with the precision of an army in the field, scouting out +all the land, taking aerial observations before making camp, and +immediately throwing out sentries around his feeding ground. But +long-continued immunity from attack breeds carelessness, even in a +goose, and the price of such neglect frequently adorned the table in +Harris's cabin. + +The prairie flowers, too, were a never-ending delight to the heart of +the young woman. She knew some of them by name, but many were +peculiar to the prairie. The first few warm days of spring had +clothed all the wilderness with a magic carpet of pale-purplish +blossoms, and the advancing season brought new blooms to view with +every passing week. On Sundays, when there was total relaxation from +their regular labours, the two, arm in arm, would stroll along the +bank of the ravine, or walk, ankle-deep in strawberry blossoms, far +over the undulating plain to the west. Returning, they would find +their way to the edge of the stream, where, in the shallow crossing, +the suckers would dart in all directions in panic at their +appearance. Here they would sit and listen to the gentle murmur of +the water, while fleecy clouds mirrored themselves in its glassy +depths, and plovers ran whistling up and down the bank, and a +meadow-lark sent its limpid challenge from a neighbouring bush. And +at night, when the moon rose in wonderful whiteness and purity, +wrapping field and ravine in a riot of silver, the strange, +irresistible, unanswerable longing of the great plains stole down +upon them, and they knew that here indeed was life in its fulness--a +participation in the Infinite, indefinable, but all-embracing, +everlasting. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +THE SHORES OF THE INFINITE + + +The summer was a season of great activity and development. Harris did +not sow any crop after the 1st of June, but applied himself then to +the construction of his stable, which was built after the same +fashion as the house. The shelter of its cool walls and roof was +gratefully sought by the cows in the heat of the day, and its +comparative freedom from mosquitoes was a haven to the horses in the +evenings. Then there was more land to plough, and Harris's soul never +dulled to the delight of driving the ploughshare through the virgin +sod. There was something almost sacred in the bringing of his will to +bear upon soil which had come down to him through all the ages fresh +from the hand of the Creator. The blackbirds that followed at his +heel in long, respectful rows, solemnly seeking the trophies of their +chase, might have been incarnations from the unrecorded ages that had +known these broad fields for chase and slaughter, but never for +growth and production. The era of the near vision, demanding its +immediate reward, had passed away, and in its place was the day of +faith, for without faith there can be neither seed-time nor harvest. + +But it was not only on Harris's homestead that development was taking +place. As McCrae had predicted, there was a considerable movement of +settlers into the district, and at several points their tents or rude +houses now broke the vast sweep of the horizon. Tom Morrison had +found land to the satisfaction of his heart within three miles of the +Harris homestead, and his big log-house, eighteen by twenty-four, +assumed the proportions of a castle by comparison with the smaller +homes springing up around. Some miles to the east Dick Matheson, +straight from the lumber camps of the Madawaski, had pitched his +tent, and a few miles farther on was his friend of the shanties, John +Burton. To the west were the Grants, and to the north Hiram Riles and +his wife, Eliza. A mixed community they were, drawn from many +corners, and all of them more or less under the heel of poverty; but +they were filled with enthusiasm, with resourcefulness, and an +indomitable determination to face and overcome all obstacles. A +missionary had in some way spied out the field, and held monthly +Sunday services at Morrison's house; and Dr. Blain, when not in one +of his unfortunate debauches, had his headquarters at the new town of +Plainville, which consisted of Sempter's general store and a +"stopping-place," and which had sprung up near the junction of two +streams in anticipation of the railway. + +None of these pioneers was possessed of a complete farming equipment, +but each had something which his neighbour lacked, and they made +common cause together in their struggle with Nature. Thus Harris had +no mower, but when haying season came he was able to borrow +Morrison's, at the same time lending his plough to Riles, who +simultaneously accommodated Morrison with his hayrack. Among the +women exchanging became something of an exact science. Mrs. Grant was +the proud possessor of a very modern labour-saver in the shape of a +clothes-wringer, as a consequence of which wash-day was rotated +throughout the community, and it was well known that Mrs. Riles and +Mrs. Harris had to do their churning alternately. But it was Mrs. +Morrison's sewing-machine that was the great boon to the community, +and to it, perhaps, as much as the open-hearted hospitality of honest +Tom and his wife, was due the fact that their house became the social +centre of the district. + +Nor was the settlement deprived of its share of sport and amusement. +On one of his periodical visits McCrae donated a baseball, and Harris +quickly shaped a bat from the trunk of a stout willow he found by the +river-bed. They had all outdoors to play in, and it was a simple +matter to mow the grass from a stretch of level prairie and turn over +the sod at points to mark the bases. Unfortunately, there were not +enough men in the community to make two baseball teams, but a species +of game was devised in which the players batted in turn, and when not +batting or base-running were always on the "out" side. Harris +developed considerable ability as a pitcher, throwing the powerful +straight ball which in those days was a greater menace to the bare +hands of the catcher than to the batter at the plate. On the occasion +of his monthly visits the missionary, who was an ardent ball-player, +generally contrived to reach Morrison's by Saturday afternoon, and so +was able to take part in the Saturday night game. And although he +never took advantage of his association with the young men to +"preach" to them, except on Sundays, a sense of comradeship sprang +up, and a standard of sport was established which bore fruit in the +community many years later. + +And so the first summer wore away and the first harvest was at hand. +Any disappointment which had been occasioned by backward conditions +earlier in the season was effaced by the wonderful crop which now +crowned the efforts of the pioneers. On their finest Eastern farms +they had seen nothing to equal the great stand of wheat and oats +which now enveloped them, neck-high, whenever they invaded it. The +great problem before the settlers was the harvesting of this crop. It +was a mighty task to attempt with their scythes, but there was no +self-binder, or even reaper, within many miles. + +Finally Morrison solved the problem for the whole community by +placing an order, at a fabulous figure, for a self-binder from the +United States. It was a cumbrous, wooden-frame contrivance, guiltless +of the roller bearings, floating aprons, open elevators, amid sheaf +carriers of a later day, but it served the purpose, and with its aid +the harvest of the little settlement was safely placed in sheaf. The +farmers then stacked their grain in the fields, taking care to plough +double fire-guards, with a burnt space between, as a precaution, +against the terrifying fires which broke over the prairie as soon as +the September frosts had dried the grass. A community some twenty +miles to the eastward boasted a threshing mill, and arrangements were +made for its use after it had discharged the duties of its own +locality. The machine was driven by horse-power, and in the dawn of +the crisp November mornings the crescendo of its metallic groan could +be heard for miles across the brown prairie. It, too, with its hand +feed, its open straw-carriers, its low-down delivery, which +necessitated digging a hole in the frozen earth to accommodate the +bags, and its possible capacity of six hundred bushels a day, bears +mean comparison with its modern successor; but it threshed grain at a +lower cost per bushel, and threw less into the straw than has ever +been accomplished by the mighty steam and gasoline inventions which +have displaced it. + +When Harris's threshing was done he found he had six hundred bushels +of wheat and seven hundred bushels of oats in cone-shaped piles on +his fields. The roads were fine and hard, and no snow had yet fallen, +so he determined to begin at once with the marketing of his wheat. +His last cent had been spent months before; indeed, it had been only +through the courtesy of the storekeeper at Plainville, who was also +postmaster, and who had stretched the law to the point of accepting +hen eggs as legal tender in exchange for postage stamps, that Mary +Harris had been able to keep up the brave, optimistic series of +letters written "home." So Harris decided that he would at once +market some of his wheat. Most of the oats would be needed for his +horses and for seed, and what remained would command good prices from +new settlers the following spring, but some of the wheat must be +turned into money at once. During the latter part of the summer they +had lived exclusively on the produce of their farm; on vegetables +from the garden, fish and ducks from the stream, prairie chickens, +and an occasional rabbit from the fields. The wild geese had deserted +them early in the spring, and returned only after harvest. But now +they should have a change on their table. Mary had accepted the +pioneer fare of the summer without complaint, but of late Harris had +discovered a strange longing in her ryes, and more than once she had +arrested herself in the words "I wish we had--" Then two penitent +little tears would steal softly clown her cheeks, and she would bury +her head in his arms as he soothed her with loving words and promised +that "after threshing things would be different." + +So now he set out for Emerson with the best load his horses could +draw. The first few miles he drove in silence, for there was a heavy +weight at his heart as he thought of the little wife alone with the +responsibilities of the farm...That she would be faithful to every +responsibility he knew beyond question...But he was not quite +satisfied. A strange moodiness had come over her, and even with him +at home she had at times given way to fits of downheartedness which +seemed altogether alien to her nature. + +But this morning as he drove the well-worn trail, a burnished sun +mounted higher and higher ahead of him, and with it his own spirits +rose until he found himself whistling and boyishly building castles +in the air. But his castles, as he told himself, had solid +foundations; indeed, they were not even speculations, but already +might be accepted as assured accomplishments. Some things he +certainly must do for Mary. First of these was the purchase of a +glass window for the house, and next to that he promised enough +boards for a door, and perhaps enough to floor part of their little +room. Then there should be sugar, and tea, and flour, and warm boots, +and some much-needed kitchen utensils. True, he needed some things +himself, but his needs could wait. And then there were other things. +Oh, he knew what to get. He hadn't been having little conferences +with Mrs. Morrison for nothing...A tender smile gently suffused his +face, and his cheery whistle soared above the rumble of the +wagon-wheels on the hard lumps of the trail. + +Ten days later he retraced his course in the teeth of a blinding +blizzard. A dozen times he had been lost in the last forty-eight +hours, but he had developed the prairie-dweller's sense of direction, +and had always been able again to locate the trail. The Arthurs would +have detained him, almost by force, but the thought of a pale, +patient face, wrung with an agony of anxiety not for itself, made him +adamant in his resolve to go home at whatever cost. The roads were +almost impassable; he left his lumber at Arthurs', but carried with +him his window, a few boards for a door, and a little bundle of +drygoods. Everything else had gone by the way, surrendered in +exchange for food and shelter for himself and horses. + +It was not dreadfully cold, but the sky seemed only a vast turmoil of +snow. The north-west wind pelted the flakes in his face, where they +melted with the warmth of his skin and again drooped in tenacious +icicles from his eyebrows and moustache. The horses, too, were half +blinded with the storm, and the empty wagon dragged laboriously +through the deep drifts. Darkness came down very early, but at last +Harris began to recognize familiar landmarks close by the trail, and +just as night was settling in he drew into the partial shelter of the +bench on the bank of the coulee. The horses pulled on their reins +persistently for the stable, but Harris forced them up to the house. +His loud shout was whipped away by the wind and strangled in a +moment, so he climbed stiffly from the wagon and pulled with numbed +hands at the double thickness of carpet that did service for a door. +He fancied he heard a sound, but could be sure of nothing; he called +her name again and again, but could distinguish no answer. But at +last the fastenings which held the carpet gave way, and he half +walked, half fell, into the house. + +The lantern burned dimly, but it was not at the lantern he looked. In +the farthest corner, scarcely visible in the feeble light, stood his +wife, and at her shoulder was the gun, trained steadily upon him. + +"Mary, Mary, don't you know me?" he cried. + +She dropped her weapon to the floor, where it went off, harmlessly +burying its charge in the sod wall. + +"Thank God, oh, thank God!" she exclaimed. + +He threw off his wet overcoat and rushed to her side. But she sat +silent on the bed, staring absently at the light flickering +uncertainly in the wind from the open door. + +He hastily rearranged the carpet, then, returning to her, he took her +hands in his and rubbed them briskly. But she still stared vaguely at +the light. + +Suddenly a thought came to him. He rushed outside, to find that the +horses, of their own accord, had taken shelter beside the stable. +Here from the wagon he drew a little bundle and hurried back to the +house. + +She was sitting where he left her, shivering slightly and watching +the play of the light as it flickered up and down the wall. He tore +the package open and spread its contents before her. + +At first she took no notice, but gradually her eyes found the outline +of soft cloth and dainty feminine devices. With a great joy he +watched the colour returning as her set face relaxed in a smile of +ineffable tenderness. She raised her face to his and slipped her arms +about his neck, and he knew that for the moment he had snatched her +out of the valley of the shadow. + +Harris made no more attempts to market his wheat that winter. His +wife's health now became his first consideration, but, even had there +been no such problem, experience had shown that nothing was to be +gained by making the long and expensive trip to Emerson. The cost of +subsistence of man and team on the way devoured all the proceeds of +the wheat; indeed, there were instances on record in the settlement +where men who attempted such trips during the winter actually came +back poorer than they left, while those who could show a gain of a +bag of sugar, a sack of flour, or a box of groceries were considered +fortunate indeed. + +"What shall we eat?" said Harris to his wife, when, after a full +discussion, it was decided that no more grain could be marketed until +spring. + +"Oh, we shall not suffer," was her calm reply. "We have over five +hundred bushels of wheat." + +"But we can't eat wheat!" + +"I'm not so sure of that. I heard Mr. McCrae say that lots of +families had wintered on wheat. Indeed, boiled wheat is something of +a delicacy. Even the best city families rarely have it, although it +is more nutritious than flour and much easier to prepare." + +Harris thrilled with joy over his wife's vivacity. The strange gloom +that oppressed her so much of late had cost him many anxious hours. + +"Besides," she continued, "we are well off to what some of them are. +We have a good supply of vegetables, and one of the cows will milk +most of the winter, and we have half a dozen laying hens. Then you +will be able to shoot a rabbit now and again." + +"Yes, we'll be all right," he agreed. "Perhaps I will get a day or +two out at the lake. They say there is fine fishing all winter where +some of the springs keep the ice open. And then, there's always a +chance to pick off a deer." + +So, in high spirits, they planned for their winter. There were long +hours, and little diversion, and the desolation of bleak, snowbound +prairies on every side, but through it all they kept up their courage +and their hopefulness. Mary spent much time with her needle, from +which John, when he felt she was applying herself too closely, +beguiled her to a game of checkers or an hour with one of their few +but valued books. To supplement their reading matter Mrs. Morrison +sent over her little library, which consisted of "The Life of David +Livingstone" and a bound number of "The Gospel Tribune." And there +were frequent visits and long evenings spent about a cosy fire, when +the Morrisons, or the Grants, or the Rileses, dropped in to while +away the time. The little sod house was warm and snug, and as the men +played checkers while the women sewed, what cared the pioneers for +the snow and the cold and the wind whistling across the plains? + + +*** + + +At last came the crisis. At four in the afternoon Harris kissed his +wife an affectionate farewell, hitched his horses to the sleigh, and +started out posthaste for Plainville. The sun, hanging low to the +western horizon, was banded by a great ring of yellow and gold, +bulging into two dull reflected glows at either side. A ground-drift +of snow whipped keenly across the hard crust, and the north-west wind +had a rip to it, but overhead the sky was clear and the blue +amazingly deep. Harris drove by way of the Morrisons, where a few low +words sent Tom to the stable at a trot to hitch his own team, while +the good wife bustled about in the "room," almost overwhelmed with +the importance of her mission. + +"I will go for the doctor, Jack, and you go back and take the wife +with you," was Morrison's kindly offer, but Harris would not agree. +It was dark by this time, and he felt that he could trust no one else +to make the journey to Plainville. Besides, there was more than a +chance that Dr. Blain might be incapable, and in that case it meant a +drive of thirty miles farther. + +"It's good of you, Morrison," he said, "but you are more used to your +wife's'bidding than I am, and you can be of good service there, if +you will." And without waiting to argue he sprang into his sleigh +again and was whipping his team into the darkness. + +Dr. Blain, when at home, was to be found at the stopping-place. +Harris tied his team at the door and went in, shaking the snow and +frost from his great-coat. The air inside was close and stifling with +tobacco, not unmixed with stronger fumes. A much-smoked oil lamp, +hung by a wall-bracket, shed a certain sickly light through the thick +air, and was supplemented in its illumination by rays from the door +of a capacious wood stove which stood in the centre of the room, and +about which half a dozen men were sitting. + +"Night, Harris," said the landlord, who had a speaking acquaintance +with every settler within twenty miles. "Ye're drivin' late. Ye'll +have a bite supper, an' stable the team?" + +"No, Hank, not to-night, thanking you the same. But I'm after Dr. +Blain, and I'm in a hurry. Is he here, and--is he fit?" There was an +anxiety in the last words that did not escape the host. + +"Nothin' ser'ous, I hope? Frost, or somethin'?" Then, without waiting +for reply, he continued: "Yes, doctor's here. Upstairs, bed to the +right as ye go up. Just got in a little back. As for fit--dig 'im out +an' judge for yourself." + +Harris lost no time in scaling the ladder which led to the upper +half-storey of the building. It was a garret--nothing better--where +the cold stars looked through knot-holes in the poplar shingles, and +the ends of the shingle-nails were tipped with frost. Another +wall-lamp burned uncertainly here, flickering in the wind that +whistled through the cracks in the gables, and by its light Harris +found "the bed to the right." The form of a man lay diagonally across +it, face downward, with arms extended above the head, and so still +that Harris paused for a moment in a strange alarm. Then he slipped +his hand on the doctor's neck and found it warm. + +"Come, Doctor," he said, "I want you with me." But the sleeping man +answered with not so much as a groan. + +"Come, Dr. Blain," Harris repeated, shaking him soundly. "I want you +to go home with me." He might have been speaking to the dead. + +In sudden exasperation he seized the doctor by the shoulders, and +with one heave of his mighty arms set him upright on the floor and +shook him vigorously. + +Dr. Blain opened his eyes and blinked uncertainly at the light. +"Whatche doing, Harris?" he said at length, and the recognition +brought a thrill of hope. "'S no use...Gotta sleep it off. 'S no use, +Harris. 'S no use." And he crumpled up in the bed. + +But Harris was desperate. "Now I'm not going to fool with you," he +said. "You get up and come with me or I'll take you. Which is it?" + +But the doctor only mumbled "'S no use," and fell heavily to sleep. + +Throwing open his coat to get free motion for his arms, Harris in a +moment wrapped the sleeping man in a couple of blankets from the bed, +threw him over his shoulder, carried him down the rickety ladder, and +deposited him, none too gently, in the sleigh. There was a mild cheer +from the men about the stove over these heroic measures, and one of +them thoughtfully threw the doctor's satchel into the sleigh. The +next moment all were lost in the darkness. + +Harris drove for an hour, watching the trail keenly in the whitish +mist of the winter's night, and urging the horses to the limit of +their exertions. He had almost forgotten his passenger when he felt a +stir in the bottom of the sleigh. Looking down closely he found the +doctor trying to extricate a flask from one of his pockets. With a +quick wrench he took it from him, and would have thrown it into the +snow, but the thought struck him that it might be needed, and he put +it into his own pocket. + +The doctor struggled to his feet. "Say, Harris, you're friend o' +mine, but don't take too many liberties, see? 'S no use tryin' +without it. Jush give me that bottle now, or I'll get out an' go +home." + +Harris was so pleased at the signs of returning coherence that he +could have hugged the doctor, but he only said, "You've had enough +for to-night. And you won't get out, because if you try to I'll knock +you senseless in the bottom of the sleigh." + +Then the doctor changed his tactics. He threw his arms about Harris's +neck, and genuine tears coursed down his cheeks. + +"Say, Harris, you don' know anything about it. You don' know what I'm +up agains'. Jush got in from Wakopa to-day, and I haven't had my +closh off for week. 'S right! I tell you, Harris, you don' know...Oh, +I know I'm a fool--yes, don' tell me. But th' engineer knows it too +when he ties down th' shafety valve t' make th' grade. Dosh it jush +th' same. Thash jus' like me. Come on, Harris, hand it over. I got t' +have it, or I can't make the grade." + +"Well, you'll make the grade first to-night," said Harris. + +After that the doctor remained silent for some time. Then suddenly he +demanded: "Shay, Harris, where you takin' me to, anyway?" + +"I'm taking you home." + +"Home? What home? I got no home, jus'a--" + +"I'm taking you to my home." + +"Wha' for? You're all right, I guess..." Suddenly the doctor stood +erect. "Harris, is your wife sick?" + +"That's why I came for you." + +"Well, why the devil didn't you say so? Here, give me that whip. +Harris, Harris, what did you waste time arguing for?" + +"I didn't waste much. The argument was mostly on your side." + +"Harris," said the doctor, after a long silence, "you think I'm a +fool. You're right. It isn't as though I didn't know. I know the road +I'm going, and the end thereof... And yet, in a pinch, I can pull +myself together. I'm all right now. But it'll get me again as soon as +this is over... Any good I am, any good I do, is just a bit of +salvage out of the wreck. The wreck--yes, it's a good word +that--wreck." + + +*** + + +Just as the dawn was breaking he knelt beside her. Her eyes were very +large and quiet, and her face was white and still. But she raised one +pale hand, and the thin fingers fondled in his hair. She drew his +face very gently down, and big silent tears stood in his eyes. + +"We will call him Allan," he said. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +IN THE SPELL OF THE MIRAGE + + +A quarter of a century is a short time as world history goes, but it +is a considerable era in the life of the Canadian West. More +things--momentous things--than can be hinted at in this narrative +occurred in the twenty-five years following the great inrush of 1882. +The boundless prairie reaches of Manitoba were now comparatively well +settled, and the tide of immigration, which, after a dozen years' +stagnation, had set in again in greater flood than ever, was now +sweeping over the newer lands still farther west. Railways had +supplanted ox-cart and bob-sleigh as the freighters of the plains; +the farmer read his daily paper on the porch after supper, while his +sons and daughters drove to town in "top" buggies, tailor-made suits, +and patent-leather shoes. The howl of the coyote had given way to the +whistle of the locomotive; beside the sod hut of earlier days rose +the frame or brick house proclaiming prosperity or social ambition. +The vast sweep of the horizon, once undefiled by any work of man, was +pierced and broken with elevators, villages, and farm buildings, and +the whiff of coal smoke was blown down the air which had so lately +known only the breath of the prairies. The wild goose no longer +loitered in the brown fields in spring and autumn, and the wild duck +had sought the safety of the little lakes. The pioneer days had +passed away, and civilization and prosperity were rampant in the +land. There were those, too, who thought that perhaps the country had +lost something in all its gaining; that perhaps there was less +idealism and less unreckoning hospitality in the brick house on the +hill than there once had been in the sod shack In the hollow. + +Mary Harris hurried about her capacious kitchen, deep in the +preparation of the evening meal. The years had taken toll of the +freshness of her young beauty; the shoulders, in mute testimony to +much hard labour of the hands, had drooped forward over the deepening +chest; the hair was thinner, and farther back above the forehead, and +streaked with grey at the temples; the mouth lacked the rosy +sensuousness of youth, and sat now in a mould, half of resolution, +half submission. Yet her foot had lost little of its sprightliness, +and the sympathy in her fine eyes seemed to have deepened with the +years. + +A moist but appetizing steam rose from the vegetable pots on the +range, and when she threw back the iron door to feed more coal the +hot glow from within danced a reflection along the bright row of +utensils hanging from the wall, and even sought out the brass plate +on the cream separator at the far end of the big room. Through the +screen door came the monotonously redundant clic...a...clank of the +windmill, and a keen ear might have caught the light splash of water +as it fell in the wooden horse-troughs from the iron nozzle of the +pump. + +Mary stuck a fork in a potato to ascertain if the "bone" was all +gone, meanwhile shielding her face from the steam with the pot lid, +held aloft in an aproned hand. Having satisfied herself that the meal +was making satisfactory progress, she stepped to the door and sent a +quick look across the fields, to where a streak of black smoke was +scrawled along the sky. + +"Beulah," she called, turning toward the interior part of the house. +"Come, Beulah, set the table. They're coming from the field." + +In a moment a girl of twenty, plainly attired in a neat calico dress, +entered the kitchen. She was fresh and beautiful as her mother had +been that first summer in the sod house on the bench, and something +in her appearance suggested that with her mother's beauty and fine +sensibility she had inherited the indomitable spirit which had made +John Harris one of the must prosperous farmers in the district. She +moved in an easy, unconscious grace of self-reliance--a reliance that +must be just a little irritating to men of old-fashioned notions +concerning woman's dependence on the sterner sex--drew the long +wooden table, with its covering of white oilcloth, into the centre of +the kitchen, and began placing the dishes in position. + +"I don't see why we can't have supper in the dining-room," she +protested at length. "Before we built the new house we were always +talking about how fine it would be to have a separate room, for our +meals, and now we don't eat in it once a week." + +"I know," said the mother, in a quiet, tired voice. "But you know +what your father thinks about it. You know how down he is on style." + +"It's no great style to eat in a dining-room," continued the girl. +"What did he build it for? To take off his boots in? That's about all +he does there, nights before he goes to bed." + +"Now, Beulah, don't be unreasonable. You know we always have meals +there Sundays. But your father likes the kitchen best when it ain't +too hot. And besides, I can hardly take them into the dining-room +while the ploughing's on. You know how greasy they are with the +engine." + +"They're ploughing over at Grant's, too, and when I dropped in there +yesterday the dinner was set in the dining-room, and a clean white +linen cloth on the table, and napkins set for the men, and I guess +they use the same kind of grease as we do," persisted the girl. "And +I noticed when they came in to dinner Mr. Grant and the boys, and the +hired man too, all put their coats on--not their working coats, but +coats they had hanging in a closet handy. It didn't take a minute, +but it looked different." + +"Now, Beulah, you know your father would never stand for putting on +airs like that. He--" + +"'Tisn't putting on airs. It's putting on clothes--clean clothes to +eat in. Susy Grant never has to feel--I hate to say it, +Mother--_ashamed_ if any of her friends drop in at mealtime. And I +couldn't help thinking how fine Harry looked--" + +"'Pon my word, Beulah, I'm beginning to think you must be a bit soft +on Harry Grant. I had thought perhaps your weakness was toward Jim, +but perhaps I'm mistaken." + +"Can't a girl say a fellow's fine-looking without being soft about +it?" she continued. "As for Jim--" + +But at this moment the conversation was cut short by the scraping of +heavy boots on the ploughshare nailed to the block at the door, and +John Harris, followed by Allan and the hired man, Jim, walked into +the kitchen. The farmer's frame was heavier than in his younger days, +and his hair, too, was streaked with grey, but every muscle in his +great body seemed to bulge with strength. His face was brown with the +prairie sun and wind of twenty-five summers, and lines of worry and +care had cut their tracings about the mouth and eyes. Beside him +stood Allan, his only son, straighter and lither of figure, but +almost equally powerful. The younger man was, indeed, a replica of +the older, and although they had their disagreements, constant +association had developed a fine comradeship, and, on the part of the +son, a loyalty equal to any strain. The hired man, Jim, was lighter +and finer of feature, and his white teeth gleamed against the +nut-brown of his face in a quiet smile that refused to be displaced +in any emergency, and at times left the beholder in considerable +doubt as to the real emotions working behind. + +The men all wore blue overalls, dark blue or grey shirts, and heavy +boots. They were guiltless of coat or vest, and tossed their light +straw hats on the water-bench as they passed. There was a quick +splashing of greasy hands at the wash-basin, followed by a more +effectual rubbing on a towel made from a worn-out grain sack. The +hired man paused to change the water and wash his face, but the +others proceeded at once to the table, where no time was lost in +ceremony. Meat, potatoes, and boiled cabbage were supplied in +generous quantities on large platters. A fine stack of white bread +tiered high on a plate, and a mountainous pile of Mary Harris's +famous fresh buns towered on another. All hands ate at the table +together, although the hired man was usually last to sit down, owing +to his perverse insistence upon washing his face and combing his hair +before each meal. Although his loss of time sometimes irritated +Harris, he bore it in silence. There was no better farm hand in the +country-side than Jim Travers, and, as Harris often remarked, +employers nowadays couldn't afford to be too particular about +trifles. + +Harris helped himself generously to meat and vegetables and, having +done so, passed the platters to his son, and in this way they were +circulated about the table. Mary poured the tea from a big granite +pot at her elbow, and whenever a shortage of food threatened Beulah +rose from her place and refilled plate or platter. There was no talk +for the first few minutes, only the sound of knife and fork plied +vigorously and interchangeably by father and son, and with some +regard for convention by the other members of the family. John Harris +had long ago recognized the truth that the destiny of food was the +mouth, and whether conveyed on knife or fork made little difference. +Mary, too, had found a carelessness of little details both of manner +and speech coming over her, as her occasional "ain't" betrayed, but +since Jim had joined their table she had been on her guard. Jim +seldom said anything, but always that quiet smile lay like a mask +over his real emotions. + +When the first insistent demands of appetite had been appeased, +Harris, resting both elbows on the table, with knife and fork trained +on opposite corners of the ceiling, straightened himself somewhat and +remarked: + +"Allan an' me's goin' to town to-night; anything you want from +Sempter's store, Mary?" + +"That lets me in for the cows," said Beulah. "You were in town night +before last, too, and it was half-past nine before I got through +milking." + +"Oh, well, Jim was away that night," said Allan. + +"Jim has enough to do, without milking cows after hours," returned +the girl. "What do you want to go to town for again to-night, +anyway?" + +"Got to get more coal," said Harris. "We'll take two teams, an' it'll +be late when we get back." + +"Try and not be too late," said the mother, quietly. "You have to be +at work so early in the morning, you know." + +"I think it's all nonsense, this day-an'-night work," persisted +Beulah. "Is there never going to be any let-up to it?" + +"Beulah, you forget yourself," said her father, "If you'd more to do +you'd have less lime to fret about it. Your mother did more work in +one summer than you have in all your life, an' she's doin' more yet." + +"Oh, Beulah's a good help," interposed Mary. "I hope she never has to +work like I did." + +"I guess the work never hurt us," said Harris, helping himself to +preserved strawberries. "Just the same, I'm glad to see you gettin' +it a bit easier. But this younger generation--it beats me what we're +comin' to. Thinkin' about nothin' but fun and gaddin' to town every +night or two. And clo'es--Beulah here's got more clo'es than there +were in the whole Plainville settlement the first two or three +years." + +"I got more neighbours, too," interjected the girl. Then springing +up, she stood behind her father's chair and put her arm around his +neck. + +"Don't be cross, Dad," she whispered. "Your heart's in the right +place--but a long way in." + +He disengaged her, gently enough. As Beulah said, his heart was all +right, but a long way in. Twenty-five years of pitched battle with +circumstances--sometimes in victory, sometimes in defeat, but never +in despair; always with a load of expense about him, always with the +problem of income and outlay to be solved--had made of Harris a man +very different from the young idealist of '82. During the first years +of struggle for a bare existence in some way the flame of idealism +still burned, but with the dawn of the "better times" there came a +gradual shifting of standards and a new conception of essentials. At +first the settlers attached little value to their land; it was free +for the taking, and excited no envy among them. The crops of the +early years were unprofitable on account of the great distance to +market; later, when the railway came to their doors, the crops were +still unprofitable, owing to falling prices and diminishing yields +due to poor cultivation. Then came a decade during which those who +stayed in the country stayed because they could not get out, and it +became a current saying that the more land a man farmed the deeper he +got in debt. Homesteads were abandoned; settlers flew by night +"across the line" or to more distant districts to begin their fight +over again. And yet, in some way, Harris kept his idealism amid all +the adversity in which the community was steeped; reverses could +neither crush his spirit nor deflect it from its ambitions. + +Then came the swing of the pendulum. No one knows just what started +it prosperity-wards. Some said it was that the farmers, disheartened +with wheat-growing, were applying themselves to stock, and certain it +is that in "mixed farming" the community eventually found its +salvation; others attributed the change to improved agricultural +implements, to improved methods of farming, to greater knowledge of +prairie conditions, to reductions in the cost of transportation and +enlarged facilities for marketing, or to increasing world demand and +higher world prices for the product of the farm. But whatever the +causes--and no doubt all of the above contributed--the fact gradually +dawned upon the settlers that land--their land--was worth money. + +It was the farmers from the United States, scouting for cheaper lands +than were available in their own communities, who first drove the +conviction home. They came with money in their wallets; they were +actually prepared to exchange real money for land. Such a thing had +never before been heard of in Plainville district. At first the +settlers were sceptical. Here were two facts almost beyond the grasp +of their imagination: that farmers should buy land with money, and +the farmers should have money with which to buy land. True, a few of +them had already bought railway lands at three or four dollars an +acre, but they bought oil long terms, with a trifling investment, and +they aimed to pay for the lands out of the crops or not at all. + +But a few transactions took place; lands were sold at five dollars, +six dollars, eight dollars an acre. The farmers began to realize that +land represented wealth--that it was an asset, not a liability--and +there was a rush for the cheap railway lands that had so long gone +a-begging. Harris was among the first to sense the change in the +times, and a beautiful section of railway land that lay next to his +homestead he bought at four dollars an acre. The first crop more than +paid for the land, and Harris suddenly found himself on the way to +riches. + +The joy that came with the realization that fortune had knocked at +his door and he had heard was the controlling emotion of his heart +for a year or more. But gradually, like a fog blown across a moonlit +night, came a sense of chill and disappointment. If only he had +bought two sections! If at least he had proved up on his pre-emption, +which he might have had for nothing! He saw neighbours about him +adding quarter to quarter. None of them had done better than himself, +but some had done as well. And in some way the old sense of oneness, +the old community interest which had held the little band of pioneers +together amid their privations and their poverty, began to weaken and +dissolve, and in its place came an individualism and a materialism +that measured progress only in dollars and cents. Harris did not know +that his gods had fallen, that his ideals had been swept away; even +as he sat at supper this summer evening, with his daughter's arms +about his neck, he felt that he was still bravely, persistently, +pressing on toward the goal, all unaware that years ago he had left +that goal like a lighthouse on a rocky shore, and was now sweeping +along with the turbulent tide of Mammonism. He still saw the light +ahead, but it was now a phantom of the imagination. He said, "When I +am worth ten thousand I will have reached it"; when he was worth ten +thousand he found the faithless light had moved on to twenty-five +thousand. He said, "When I am worth twenty-five thousand I will have +reached it"; when he was worth twenty-five thousand he saw the glow +still ahead, beckoning him on to fifty thousand. It never occurred to +him to slacken his pace--to allow his mind a rest from its +concentration; if he had paused and looked about he might, even yet, +have recognized the distant lighthouse on the reef about the wreck of +his ideals. But to stop now might mean losing sight of his goal, and +John Harris held nothing in heaven or earth so great as its +attainment. + +So, gently enough, he disengaged his daughter's arms and finished his +supper in silence. As soon as it was ended the men started for the +barn, and in a few minutes two wagons rattled noisily down the trail. + +Beulah helped with the supper dishes, and then came out with the +milk-pails to the corral where the cows, puffing and chewing, +complacently awaited her arrival. But she had not reached the gate +when the hired man was at her side and had slipped one of the pails +from her arm. + +"Now, Jim, I don't think that's fair at all," she said; and there was +a tremor in her voice that vexed her. "Here you're slaving all day +with coal and water, and I think that's enough, without milking cows +at night." + +But Jim only smiled and stirred a cow into position. + +"Yes, that's like you," she continued. "Pick Daisie first, just +because you know she's tough as rubber. Say, Jim, honest goods," she +demanded, pausing and facing him, milk stool in hand, "why do you let +father put this kind of stuff over on you?" + +"Your father doesn't put anything over on me," he answered. "I'm very +fond of milking." + +"Yes, you are--not," she said. "You do it on my account, because +you're too big-hearted to quit before I'm through..." There was a +tuneful song of the tin pails as the white streams rattled on their +bottoms. + +"Jim," she said, after a while, when the noise of the milking was +drowned in the creamy froth, "I'm getting near the end of this kind +of thing. Father's getting more and more set on money all the time. +He thinks I should slave along too to pile up more beside what he's +got already, but I'm not going to do it much longer. Mother stands +it--I guess she's got used to him, and she won't say anything, but if +there's anything I'm not strong on it's silence. I'm not afraid of +work, or hardship either. I'd live in a sack if I had to. I'd--" + +"Would you live in a shack?" said Jim. + +She shot a quick look at him. But he was quietly smiling into his +milk-pail, and she decided to treat his question impersonally. + +"Yes, I'd live in a shack, too, if I had to. I put in my first years +in a sod-house, and there was more real happiness romping up and down +the land then than there is now. In those days everybody was so poor +that money didn't count...It's different now." + +Jim did not pursue the subject, and the milking was completed in +silence. Jim finished first, and presently the rising hum of the +cream separator was heard from the kitchen. + +"There he goes, winding his arm off--for me," said the girl, as she +rose from the last cow. "Poor Jim--I wish I knew whether it's just +human kindness makes him do it, or whether--" She stopped, colouring +a little over the thought that had almost escaped into words. + +When the heavy grind of the separating was finished Jim went quietly +to his own room, but the girl put on a clean dress and walked out +through the garden. Rows of mignonette and lobelia bordered the +footpath, and sweet, earthy garden smells filled the calm evening +air. The rows of currant and gooseberry bushes were heavy with green +fruit; the leaves of the Manitoba maples trembled ever so little in +the still air. The sun was setting, and fleecy fragments of cloud +were painted ruddy gold against the silver background of the sky. +From the barnyard came the contented sighing of the cows and the +anxious clucking of a hen gathering in her belated brood. The whole +country seemed bathed in peace--a peace deep and unpurchasable, +having no part in any of the affairs of man. + +At the lower gate she stooped to pick a flower, which she held for a +moment to her face; then, toying lightly with it in her fingers, she +slipped the latch and continued along the path leading down into the +ravine. It was dark and cool down there, with a touch of dampness in +the grass, and the balm-of-Gileads across the stream sent a fine +moist fragrance through the air. To the right lay the bench where the +sod-house had stood, not so much as a mound now marking the spot; but +the thoughts of the girl turned yearningly to it, and to the days of +the lonely but not unhappy childhood which it had sheltered. + +Presently she reached the water, and her quick ear caught the sound +of a musk-rat slipping gently into the stream from the reeds on the +opposite bank; she could see the widening wake where he ploughed his +swift way across the pond. Then her own figure stood up before her, +graceful and lithe as the willows on the bank. She surveyed it a +minute, then flicked the flower at her face in the water, and turned +slowly homeward. She was not unhappy, but a dull sense of loss +oppressed her--a sense that the world was very rich and very +beautiful, and that she was feasting neither on its richness nor its +beauty. There was a stirring of music and poetry in her soul, but +neither music nor poetry found expression. What she felt was a +consciousness that great things were just beyond the horizon of her +experience, things undefined and undefinable which, could she but +grasp them, would deepen life and sweeten life and give a purpose to +all her being. And as she walked up the path and the fragrant night +air filled her nostrils, something of that wilder life seemed borne +in upon her and sent a fresh spring to her ankle. And presently she +discovered she was thinking about Jim Travers. + +Her mother sat in the dining-room, knitting by the light of the +hanging lamp. Her face seemed very pale and lovely in the soft glow. + +"Don't you think you have done enough?" said the girl, slipping into +a sitting posture on the floor by her mother's knee. "You work, work, +work, all the time. I suppose they'll have to let you work in +heaven." + +"We value our work more as we grow older," said the mother..."It +helps to keep us from thinking." + +"There you go!" exclaimed the girl; but there was a tenderness in her +voice. "Worrying again. I wish they'd stay home for a change." + +The mother plied her needles in silence. "Slip away to bed, Beulah," +she said at length. "I will wait up for a while." + +Late in the night the girl heard heavy footsteps in the kitchen and +bursts of loud but indistinct talking. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +THE CALL OF THE FARTHER WEST + + +Notwithstanding Harris's late hours the household was early astir the +following morning. At five o'clock Jim was at work in the stables, +feeding, rubbing down, and harnessing his horses, while Allan and his +father walked to the engine, where they built a fresh fire and made +some minor repairs. Even at this early hour the sun shone brightly, +its rays mellowing in a sheen of ground-mist that enveloped the +prairie, but there is a tang in the Manitoba morning air even in +midsummer, and the men walked briskly through the crisp stubble. A +little later Beulah came down to the corral with her milk-pails, and +the cows, comfortably chewing where they rested on their warm spots +of earth, rose slowly and with evident great reluctance at her +approach. A spar of light blue smoke ascended in a perpendicular +column from the kitchen chimney; motherly hens led their broods forth +to forage; pigs grunted with rising enthusiasm from near-by pens, and +calves voiced insistent demands from their quarters. The Harris farm, +like fifty thousand others, rose from its brief hush of rest and +quiet to the sounds and energies of another day. + +Breakfast, like the meal of the night before, was eaten hurriedly, +and at first without conversation, but at length Harris paused long +enough to remark, "Riles is talkin' o' goin' West." + +"The news might be worse," said Beulah. Riles, although a successful +farmer, had the reputation of being grasping and hard to a degree, +even in a community where such qualities, in moderation, were by no +means considered vices. + +Harris paid no attention to his daughter's interruption. It was +evident, however, that his mention of Riles had a purpose behind it, +and presently he continued: + +"Riles has been writin' to the Department of the Interior, and it +seems they're openin' a lot of land for homesteadin' away West, not +far from the Rocky Mountains. Seems they have a good climate there, +and good soil, too." + +"I should think Mr. Riles would be content with what he has," said +Mary Harris. "He has a fine farm here, and I'm sure both him and his +wife have worked hard enough to take it easier now." + +"Hard work never killed nobody," pursued the farmer. "Riles is good +for many a year yet, and free land ain't what it once was. Those +homesteads'll be worth twenty dollars an acre by the time they're +proved up." + +"I wish I was sure of it--I wouldn't think long," said Allan. "But +they say it's awful dry; all right for ranchin', but no good for +farmin'." + +"Who says that?" demanded his father. "The ranchers. They know which +side their bread's buttered on. As long's they can get grazin' land +for two cents an acre, or maybe nothin', of course they don't want +the homesteader. They tell me the Englishmen and Frenchmen that went +out into that country when us Canadians settled in Manitoba have more +cattle now than they can count--they measure 'em by acres, Riles +says." + +Breakfast and Harris's speech came to an end simultaneously, and the +subject was dropped for the time. In a few minutes Jim had his team +hitched to the tank wagon in the yard. The men jumped aboard, and the +wagon rattled down the road to where the engine and ploughs sat in +the stubble-field. + +"What notion's this father's got about Riles, do you suppose, +mother?" asked Beulah, as the two women busied themselves with the +morning work in the kitchen. + +"Dear knows," said her mother wearily. "I hope he doesn't take it in +his head to go out there too." + +"Who, Dad? Oh, he wouldn't do that. He's hardly got finished with the +building of this house, and you know for years he talked and looked +forward to the building of the new house. His heart's quite wrapped +up in the farm here. I wish he'd unwrap it a bit and let it peek out +at times." + +"I'm not so sure. I'm beginning to think it's the money that's in the +farm your father's heart is set on. If the money was to be made +somewhere else his heart would soon shift." + +"Mother!" exclaimed the girl. In twenty years it was the first word +approaching disloyalty she had heard from her mother's lips, and she +could hardly trust her ears. It was nothing for Beulah to criticize +her father; that was her daily custom, and she pursued it with the +whole frankness of her nature. But her mother had always defended, +sometimes mildly chiding, but never admitting either weakness or +injustice on the part of John Harris. + +"Well, I just can't stand it much longer," said the mother, the +emotions which she had so long held in check overcoming her. "Here +I've slaved and saved until I'm an--an old woman, and what better are +we for it? We've better things to eat and more things to wear and a +bigger house to keep clean, and your father thinks we ought to be +satisfied. But he isn't satisfied himself. He's slaving harder than +ever, and now he's got this notion about going West. Oh, you'll see +it will come to that. He knows our life isn't complete, and he thinks +more money will complete it. All the experience of twenty years +hasn't taught him any better." + +Beulah stood aghast at this outburst, and when her mother paused and +looked at her, and she saw the unbidden wells of water gathering in +the tender eyes, the girl could no longer restrain herself. With a +cry she flung her arms about her mother's neck, and for a few moments +the two forgot their habitual restraint and were but naked souls +mingling together. + +"It's a shame," exclaimed Beulah at length. "We're not living; we're +just existing. When I get among people that are really living--like +the Grants, over there--you don't know how mortified and mean I feel. +And it's not that alone--it's the sense of loss, the sense that life +is going by and I'm not making the best of it. You know we are +missing the _real thing_; we are just living on the husks, and father +is so blind he thinks the husks are the grain itself." + +"Your father is hungry, too," said the mother. "Hungry--hungry, and +he thinks that more land, more money, more success, will fill him. +And in the meantime he's forgetting the things that would +satisfy--the love that was ours, the little devo--Oh, child, what am +I saying? What an unfaithful creature I am! You must forget, Beulah, +you must forget these words--words of shame they are!" + +"The shame is his," declared the girl, defiantly, "and I won't stand +this nonsense about homesteading again--I just won't stand it. If he +says anything more about it I'll--I'll fly off, that's what I'll do. +And I've a few remarks for him about Riles that won't keep much +longer. The old badger--he's at the bottom of all this." + +"You mustn't quarrel with your father, dearie, you mustn't do that." + +"I'm not going to quarrel with him, but I'm going to say some things +that need saying. And if it comes to a show-down, and he must +go--well, he must, but you and I will stay with the old farm, won't +we, mother?" + +But the mother's thought now was for quelling the storm in the +turbulent heart of her daughter. Beulah's nature was not one to lend +itself to passive submission, nor yet passive resistance. She was the +soul of loyalty, but with that loyalty she combined a furious +intolerance of things as they should not be. She had not yet reached +the philosophic age, but she was old enough to value life, and to +know that what she called the real things were escaping here. At +night, as she looked up at the myriad stars spangling the heavens, +the girl's heart was filled with an unutterable yearning; a sense of +restriction, of limitation, of loss--a sense that somewhere lay a +Purpose and a Plan, and that only by becoming part of that Plan could +life be lived to the fullest. Her mother was of a different nature, +not less brave, but more resigned; content to fill, without question, +the niche to which fate assigned her; accepting conditions as a +matter of course. Yet at times she had inklings of those deeper +questions which arose in persistent interrogations before her child, +and she guessed that if Beulah once became convinced that she saw the +Plan, not all her loyalty could dissuade her from following it. So +she strove to control the sudden outburst in her own heart lest the +fire lighted in Beulah's should break forth in conflagration. + +"There, there now," she said, gently stroking her daughter's hair. +"Let us forget this, and remember how much we have to be thankful +for. We have our health, and our home, and the bright sunshine, +and--I declare," she interrupted, catching a glimpse of something +through the window, "if the cows haven't broken from the lower +pasture and are all through the oat-field! You'll have to take Collie +and get them back, somehow, or bring them up to the corral." + +Perhaps it was part of the Plan that the diversion should come at +that moment, but the rebellion in Beulah's heart was by no means +suppressed. Pulling a sun-bonnet upon her head she called the dog, +which came leaping upon her with boisterous affection, and hurried +down the path to the field where the cows stood almost lost in a +jungle of green oats. She soon located the breach in the fence, and, +with the help of the dog, quickly turned the cows toward it. But +alack! just as victory seemed assured a rabbit was frightened from +its hiding-place in the green oats, and sailed forth in graceful +bounds across the pasture. The dog, of course, concluded that the +capture of the rabbit was of much more vital importance to the Harris +homestead than driving any number of stupid cattle, and darted across +the field in pursuit, wasting his breath in sharp, eager yelps as he +went. Whereupon the cows turned outward again, not boisterously nor +insolently, but with a calm persistence that steadily wore out the +girl's strength and patience. They would not move a foot toward the +pasture unless she drove them; they would move only one at a time; as +she drove one the others pushed farther into the oat-field, and when +she turned to pursue them the one she had already driven followed at +her heels. The sun was hot, the oats were rank, the wild buckwheat +tripped her as she ran; her appeals to the dog, now seated on a knoll +looking somewhat foolishly for the rabbit which had given him the +slip, and her commands to the cattle alike fell on unheeding ears. +She was in no joyous mood at best, and the perverseness of things +aggravated her beyond endurance. Her callings to the cattle became +more and more tearful, and presently ended in a sob. + +"There now, Beulah, don't worry; we will have them in a minute," said +a quiet voice, and looking about she found Jim almost at her elbow, +his omnipresent smile playing gently about his white teeth. "I was +down at the creek filling the tank, when I saw you had a little +rebellion on your hands, and I thought reinforcements might be in +order." + +"You might have hollered farther back," she said, half reproachfully, +but there was a light of appreciation in her eye when she dared raise +it toward him. "I'm afraid I was beginning to be very--foolish." + +She tripped again on the treacherous buckwheat, but he held her arm +in a strong grasp against which the weight of her slim figure seemed +but as a feather blown against a wall. The life of the plains had +bred in Beulah admiration for physical strength, and she acknowledged +his firm grip with an admiring glance. Then they set about their +task, but the sober-eyed cows had no thought of being easily deprived +of their feast, and it was some time before they were all turned back +into the pasture and the fence temporarily repaired behind them. + +"I can't thank you enough," Beulah was saying. "You just keep piling +one kindness on top of another. Say, Jim, honest, what makes you do +it?" + +But at that moment the keen blast of an engine whistle came cutting +through the air--a long clear note, followed by a series of toots in +rapid succession. + +"I guess they're running short of water," said Jim. "I must hustle." +So saying he ran to the ford of the creek where the tank-wagon was +still standing, and in a minute his strong frame was swaying back and +forth to the rhythmic clanking of the pump. But it was some minutes +before the tank was full, and again the clarion call of the whistle +came insistently through the air. Hastily dragging up the hose, he +uttered a sharp command to the horses; their great shoulders socketed +into the collars; the tugs tightened, quivering with the strain; the +wheels grated in the gravel, and the heavily-loaded wagon swung its +way up the bank of the coulee. + +Meanwhile other things were transpiring. Harris had returned from +town the night before with the fixed intention of paying an early +visit to the Farther West. He and Riles had spent more time than they +should breasting the village bar, while the latter drew a picture of +rising colour of the possibilities which the new lands afforded. +Harris was not a man who abused himself with liquor, and Riles, too, +rarely forgot that indulgence was expensive, and had to be paid for +in cash. Moreover, Allan occasioned his father some uneasiness. He +was young, and had not yet learned the self-control to be expected in +later life. More than once of late Allan had crossed the boundary of +moderation, and John Harris was by no means indifferent to the +welfare of his only son. Indeed, the bond between the two was so real +and so intense that Harris had never been able to bring himself to +contemplate their separation, and the boy had not even so much as +thought of establishing a home of his own. Harris sometimes wondered +at this, for Allan was popular in the neighbourhood, where his good +appearance, strength, and sincere honesty made him something of a +favourite. The idea of homesteading together assured further years of +close relationship between father and son, and the younger man fell +in whole-heartedly with it. + +"We'll hurry up the ploughing, Dad, and run West before the harvest +is on us," Allan said as they rode home through the darkness. "We can +file on our land and get back for the fall work. Then we will go out +for the winter and commence our duties. The only question is, Can +they grow anything on that land out there?" + +"That's what they used to ask when we came to Manitoba," said his +father. "And there were years when I doubted the answer myself. Some +parts were froze out year after year, and they're among the best in +the country now, and never think of frost. The same thing'll happen +out there, and we might as well be in the game." + +To do him justice, it was not altogether the desire for more wealth +that prompted Harris, It was the call of new land; the call he had +heard and answered in the early eighties; the old appetite that had +lain dormant for a quarter of a century, but was still in his blood, +waiting only a suggestion of the open spaces, a whiff from dry grass +on the wind-swept plains, the zigzag of a wagon-trail streaking afar +into the horizon, to set it tingling again. The thought of +homesteading revived rich old memories--memories from which the +kindly years had balmed the soreness and the privation and the +hardship, and left only the joy and the courage and the comradeship +and the conquering. It was the call of the new land, which has led +the race into every clime and flung its flag beneath every sky, and +Harris's soul again leaped to the summons. + +So this morning father and son were especially anxious that not a +moment of their ploughing weather should be lost, and it was +particularly aggravating when the hired man's long delay resulted in +a bubbling sputter followed by a dry hiss from the injector, warning +the engineer that the water-tank was empty. Allan shot an anxious +glance down the road to the coulee, but the water team was not in +sight. Seizing the whistle cord, he sent its peremptory summons into +the air. Harris looked up from the ploughs, and the two exchanged +frowns of annoyance. But the water stood high in the glass, and Allan +did not reduce the speed, although he cut the link action another +notch to get every ounce of advantage from the expansion. Down the +field they went, the big iron horse shouldering itself irresistibly +along, while the ploughs left their dozen furrows of moist, fresh +soil, and the blackbirds hopped gingerly behind. But the water went +down, down in the glass, and still there was no sign of a further +supply. Allan again cut the air with his whistle, and at length, with +a muttered imprecation, he slammed the throttle shut and jumped from +the engine. + +His father ran up from the ploughs. "What do you think of that?" the +younger man exclaimed. "Jim must have had trouble. Bogged, or broke a +tongue, or something. Never fell down like that before." + +"Keep a keen eye on your fire," said Harris, "and I'll go down and +see what's wrong with him." So the farmer strode off across the +ploughed field. The delay annoyed him, and he felt unreasonably cross +with Travers. As he plodded on through the heavy soil his temper did +not improve, and he was talking to himself by the time he came upon +Travers, giving his team their wind at the top of the hill leading up +from the creek. + +"What kept you?" he demanded when he came within a rod of the wagon. +"Here's the outfit shut down waiting for water, and you--" + +"I'm sorry, Mr. Harris--" + +"That ain't what I asked you. You can't make steam with sorrow. What +have you been foolin' about?" + +"I haven't been fooling. As to what delayed me--well, you're delaying +me now. Better jump on and ride up with me." + +"So you won't tell me, eh? You think you can do what you like with my +team and my time, and it's none of my business. We'll see whose +business it is." + +Harris came threateningly toward the wagon, but was met only by the +imperturbable smile of his hired man. He thrust his foot on a spoke +of the wheel and prepared to spring on to the tank, but at that +moment the horses stirred and his foot slipped. Seeing that the +farmer was about to fall Travers seized him by the collar of his +shirt, but in so doing he leaned and lost his own balance, when the +weight of the falling man came upon him, and the two tumbled on to +the grass in each other's arms. + +Allan, having satisfied himself that the engine would take no harm, +had followed his father, and came over the crest of the ridge above +the coulee just in time to see Jim apparently strike his employer and +the two struggling on the grass together. In an instant the young +man's hot blood was in his head; he rushed forward, and just as Jim +had risen to his knees he struck him a stinging blow in the face that +measured him again in the grass. + +It was only for an instant. Travers sprang to his feet, a red line +slowly stretching down his cheek as he did so. Allan came upon him +swinging a tremendous blow at the jaw; but Jim guarded skilfully, and +answered with a smash from the shoulder straight on the chin, which +laid his adversary's six feet prostrate before him. + +Allan rose slowly, sober but determined, and for a moment it looked +as though a battle royal were to be fought on the spot, both men +strong, lean, rigid, hard as iron, and quick as steel; Allan angry, +careful, furious; Jim calm, confident, and still smiling. But Harris +rushed between them and seized his son by the arms. + +"Stop it, Allan; stop, I say. You mustn't fight. Jim didn't hit +me--I'll say that for him. Now quit it. As for you" (turning to Jim), +"I'm sorry for this, but you have yourself to blame. I'll give you +one more chance to answer me--what kept you?" + +"I don't choose to answer," was Jim's reply, spoken in the most +casual tone. His eye was rapidly closing where Allan's blow had +fallen on it, but his white teeth still glistened behind a smile. + +"All right," said Harris. "You can go to the house and tell Mrs. +Harris to pay you what is coming." And the farmer climbed on to the +wagon and took the reins himself. + +When Jim entered the kitchen he was received with astonishment by +Mrs. Harris and Beulah. "Why, whatever has happened?" they exclaimed. +"Has there been an accident? You're hurt!" + +But Jim smiled, and said: "No accident at all. I have merely decided +to go homesteading." And he went up the stairs to pack his +belongings. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +INTO THE NIGHT + + +Harris and Allan drove straight to the engine, never looking back to +see what became of the hired man. On the way the farmer explained to +his son what had taken place; that words had passed between them, but +no blows had been struck, until Allan appeared on the scene. + +"Well, if that's the way of it, I'm sorry I hit him," said the young +man, frankly, "and when I see him I'll tell him so. I plugged him a +good one, didn't I?--though, to be honest, he was hardly on his feet. +But he sure landed me a stem-winder on the chin," he continued, +ruefully rubbing that member, "so I guess we're about even." + +"He might 've broke your neck," said Harris. "You're too hot-headed, +both of you...I can't make out what got into Jim, that he wouldn't +answer a civil question. Jim was a good man, too." Perhaps the +disturbing suggestion entered Harris's mind that the question had +been none too civil, and he was really beginning to feel that after +all Jim might be the aggrieved party. But he crushed down such mental +sedition promptly. "It don't matter how good a man he was," he +declared, "as long as I pay the piper I'm goin' to call the tune." + +"It puts us up against it for a water-man, though," said Allan, +thoughtfully. + +"So it does," admitted Harris, who up to that moment had not +reflected that his hasty action in dismissing Travers would result in +much more delay than anything else that had occurred. "Well, we'll +have to get somebody else. We'll manage till noon, and then you +better ride over to Grant's or Mormon's. They'll be able to lend a +man or one of the boys for a day or two." It was significant that +although Harris was planning a considerable venture with Riles, when +he wanted a favour his thought instinctively turned to his other +neighbours, Grant and Morrison. + +At noon Jim's chair was vacant, and the family sat down to dinner +amid a depressing silence. No mention was made of the morning's +incident until the meal was well advanced, when Harris, feeling that +he ought in some way to introduce the subject, said: "Is Jim gone?" + +"Yes, he's gone," blazed Beulah. "You didn't expect he'd wait to kiss +you good-bye, did you?" + +"One in the family is enough for that treatment," put in Allan, whose +swollen chin and stiff neck still biassed him against Travers. + +"He didn't, either. And if he did it's none of your business, you +big--"; she looked her brother straight in the face, her swollen eyes +telling their own story, and repeated deliberately, "you big coward." + +Allan bit his lip. "You're about the only person, Beulah, that could +say that and get off with whole skin. I suppose he told you I hit him +before he was on his feet." + +"Well, he didn't. He didn't say you hit him at all, but he couldn't +deny it, so we knew the truth. And we knew you must have taken some +mean advantage, or you'd never have got near enough to leave a mark +on him." + +"Jim's quite a hero, all right. It's too bad he's gone." + +"It's a good job he's gone," said Harris. "By the way Beulah talks +things have gone far enough. I don't want my daughter marrying a +farmer." + +"Her grandmother's daughter did," said Mary Harris. + +"Yes, I know, but things are different now. I look for something +better for Beulah." + +It was characteristic of Harris, as of thousands of others, that, +although a farmer himself, he looked for "something better" for his +daughter. He was resigned to Allan being a farmer; his intimate, +daily relationship with his son shrank from, any possibility of +separation. But for his daughter--no. He had mapped out no career for +her; she might marry a doctor, lawyer, merchant, tradesman, even a +minister, but not a farmer. It is a peculiarity of the agriculturist +that, among all professions, he holds his own in the worst repute. As +a class he has educated himself to believe that everybody else makes +an easy living off the farmer, and, much as he may revile the present +generation for doing so, he is anxious that his children should join +in the good picking. In later years has come a gradually broadening +conception that farming, after all, calls for brain as well as +muscle, and that the man who can wrestle a successful living from +Nature has as much right to hold up his head in the world as the +experimenter in medicine or the lawyer playing hide-and-seek with +Justice through the cracks in the Criminal Code. Herein is a germ of +the cityward migration: the farmer himself is looking for "something +better" for his children. + +"Jim was a good man," persisted his wife. "Don't you think you +were--well, perhaps, a little hasty with him?" + +Harris sat back. It was his wife's business to agree. For twenty +years and more she had been faithful in the discharge of that duty. +That she should suggest an opinion out of harmony with his indicated +a lack of discipline, not very serious, perhaps, but a seed which, if +permitted to flourish, might develop to dangerous proportions. + +"So you're goin' to take his part, too? It's a strange thing if I +can't handle my hired help without advice from the house." + +Mary flushed at the remark. Any open quarrel with her husband, +especially before the children--for she still thought of the man and +woman to her left and right as "the children"--was more painful to +her than, any submission could have been. It would be so much easier +to change the subject, to follow the line of least resistance, and +forget the incident as quickly as possible. That had been her +constant policy after the first few years of their married life. At +first there had been troubles and difficulties, but she had gradually +adjusted herself to her niche, and their lives had run smoothly +together because she never interrupted the current of his. But of +late the conviction had been coming home to her that some time, +somewhere, she must make a stand. It was all very well meekly to fall +in line as long as only her own happiness was concerned, but if the +future of her children should be at stake, or if the justice of their +dealings with others should be the issue, then she would have to +fight, and fight it out to a finish. And, quite unbidden, a strange +surge of defiance welled in her when her husband so frankly told her +to mind her own business. + +"I was under the impression we were managing this farm together, you +and I, John," she said, very calmly, but with a strange ring in her +voice. "When we came West I understood it was to build _our_ home. I +didn't know it was just to be _your_ home." + +The look of surprise with which Harris greeter her words was +absolutely genuine. A hot, stinging retort sprang to his lips, but by +a sudden effort he suppressed it. His wife's challenge, quiet, +unruffled, but with evidence of unbending character behind it, in +some way conjured something out of the past, and he saw her again, +the greying locks restored to their youthful glory and the careworn +cheek abloom with the colour of young maidenhood as they had been in +the gathering shadows that night when they swore to build their own +home, and live their own lives, and love each other, always, only, +for ever and ever...And yet, to let her defiance go unchecked, to +have his authority challenged before his own children--it would be +the beginning of dissolution, the first crumblings of collapse. + +"We will talk about that some other time, Mary," he said. "If Jim had +answered my question fairly, as he had a right to, instead of beatin' +around the bush, I might 've let him off. But when I wanted to know +what kept him he simply parried me, makin' a fool of me and rubbin' +it in with that infernal smile of his." + +"So that's what started it!" exclaimed Beulah. "Well, I'll tell you +what kept him, if he wouldn't. The cattle got into the oats through a +break in the fence, and I couldn't get them out, and the dog went +ki-yi-ing over the prairie after a rabbit, and just as I was +beginning to--to--condense over it Jim came up and saved the +situation. What if he did keep your old engine waiting? There are +more important things than ploughing." + +"Aha!" said Harris, knowingly. "Well, I guess it's just as well it +happened as it did. Jim was gettin' altogether too good at runnin' at +your heels." + +"That's all the thanks he gets for working late and early, like no +other hired man in the district. All right. You and Allan can milk +the cows to-night, for I won't--see?" + +Harris was accustomed to his daughter's frankness, and as a rule paid +little regard to it. He was willing enough to be flayed, in +moderation, by her keen tongue; in fact, he look a secret delight in +her unrestrained sallies, but that was different from defiance. He +could, and did, submit to any amount of cutting repartee, and felt a +sort of pride in her vigour and recklessness, but he had no notion of +countenancing open mutiny, even from Beulah. + +"We'll talk about that some other time, too," he said. "And you'll +milk the cows tonight as usual." + +Beulah opened her lips as though to answer, but closed them again, +arose, and walked out of the kitchen. For her the controversy was +over; the die was cast. Her nature admitted of any amount of +disputation up to a certain point, but when the irresistible force +crashed into the immovable object she wasted no wind on words. With +her war was war. + +Harris finished his meal with little relish. His daughter was very, +very much to him, and an open rupture with her was among the last +things to be imagined...Still, she must learn that the liberty of +speech he allowed her did not imply equal liberty of action...His +wife, too, had behaved most incredibly. After all, perhaps he had +been hasty with Jim. No doubt he would meet the boy in Plainville or +somewhere in the district before long, and he would then have a frank +little talk with him. And he would say nothing more of the incident +to his wife. He was beginning to feel almost amiable again when +recollection of Beulah, and the regard which she was evidently +cultivating toward Travers, engulfed his returning spirits like a +cold douche. It must not come to that, whatever happened. + +"You better get over to Grant's, Allan, if you're goin'," he said as +he left the table. "I've some shears to change that'll keep me busy +until you get back." + +An hour later Allan returned, accompanied by George Grant, and +operations in the field were resumed. Father and son were both +anxious to make up for lost time, and they worked that night long +after their usual hour for quitting. Just as the sun was setting +George Grant left a last tank of water at the end of the field and +started for home. As he passed the buildings he saw Beulah in the +garden, and leaned over the fence for a short talk with her. The girl +was thankful the gathering dusk hid the colour of her cheeks. George +continued on his way, but still the steady panting of the engine, +louder now, it seemed, than during the day, came pulsing down on the +calm night air. The long twilight dragged on; the light faded out of +the east and south, and at last shone like the spread of a crimson +fan only in the north-west. It was quite dark when the two men, tired +and dusty, came in at the close of their long day's labour. + +The table was set for two. "We have had our supper," Mary explained. +"We thought we wouldn't wait any longer." + +"That's all right," said Harris, trying to be genial. But he found it +harder than he had supposed. He was very tired, and somewhat +embarrassed following the unpleasantness at noon. He had no thought +of apologizing, either to wife or daughter; on the contrary, he +intended to make it quite clear to them that they had been at fault +in the matter, but he would take his time about reopening the +subject. By waiting a day or two before reproving them he would show +that he was acting in a judicial spirit, and without any influence of +temper. Still...it was provoking that there should be nothing to talk +about. + +When supper was finished Allan went to the stables to give final +attention to the horses--a duty that had always fallen to Jim--and +Harris, after a few minutes' quiet rest in his chair, began to remove +his boots. + +"The cows are not milked, John," said his wife. She tried to speak in +a matter-of-fact way, but the tremor in her voice betrayed the import +of the simple statement. + +Harris paused with a boot half unlaced. While his recollection of +Beulah's defiance was clear enough, it had not occurred to him that +the girl actually would stand by her guns. He had told her that she +would milk the cows tonight as usual, and he had assumed, as a matter +of course, that she would do so. He was not accustomed to being +disobeyed. + +"Where's Beulah?" he demanded. + +"I guess she's in her room." + +Harris laced up his boot. Then he started upstairs. + +"Don't be too hard on her, John," urged his wife, with a little catch +in her voice. + +"I won't be too hard on anybody," he replied curtly. "It's a strange +thing you wouldn't see that she did as she was told. I suppose I have +to plug away in the field until dark and then come in and do another +half-day's work because my women folk are too lazy or stubborn to do +it themselves." + +If this outburst was intended to crush Mary Harris it had a very +different effect. She seemed to straighten up under the attack; the +colour came back to her cheeks, and her eyes were bright and defiant. + +"John Harris," she said. "You know better than to say that your women +folk are either lazy or stubborn, but there's a point where +imposition, even the imposition of a husband, has to stop, and you've +reached that point. You didn't have to stay in the field until dark. +There's another day coming, and the ploughing'll keep. It isn't like +the harvest. It was just your own contrariness that kept you there. +You fired the best man you ever had to-day, in a fit of temper, and +now you're trying to take it out on us." + +Harris looked at her for a moment; then, without speaking, he +continued up the stairs. The difficulties of his position were +increasing; it was something new to be assailed from the bosom of his +own family. He felt that he was being very unfairly used, but he had +no intention of shrinking from his duty as a husband and father, even +if its discharge should bring pain to all of them. + +He found Beulah in her room, ostensibly reading. + +"Why are the cows not milked?" he demanded. + +"I thought I made it clear to you at noon that they wouldn't be +milked by me," she answered, "and there didn't seem to be anybody +else hankering for the job." + +"Beulah," he said, trying to speak calmly, "don't you think this +nonsense has gone far enough?" + +"Too far," she agreed. "But you started it--let's see you stop it." + +"Beulah," he said, with rising anger, "I won't allow you to talk to +me like that. Remember I'm your father, and you've a right to do as +you're told. Haven't I given you everything--given you a home, and +all that, and are you goin' to defy me in my own house?" + +"I don't want to defy you," she answered, "but if you're going to let +your temper run away with you, you can put on the brakes yourself. +And as for all you've done for me--maybe I'm ungrateful, but it +doesn't look half so big from my side of the fence." + +"Well, what more do you want?" he demanded. + +"For one thing, I wouldn't mind having a father." + +"What do you mean? Ain't I your father?" + +"No!" she cried. "No! No! There's no father here. You're just the +boss--the foreman on the farm. You board with mother and me. We see +you at meal-times. We wouldn't see you then if you didn't have to +make use of us in that way. If you have a spare hour you go to town. +You're always so busy, busy, with your little things, that you have +no time for big things." + +"I didn't know it was an offence to be busy," he answered. "It's work +that makes money, and I notice you can spend your share. You're never +so haughty about me workin' when you want a ten-dollar bill for +somethin'. Work may be a disgrace all right from your point of view, +but money isn't, and in this country you don't get much of one +without the other." + +"Now, Dad," she protested. "You're taking me up wrong. I don't think +work is a disgrace, and I'm willing to work as hard as anyone, but I +do think it's a shame that you should be thinking only of work, work, +work, when you don't need to. I'd like to see you think about living +instead of working. And we're not living--not really living, you +know--we're just existing. Just making little twenty-four hour cycles +that don't get us anywhere, except older. Don't you see what I mean? +We're living all in the flesh, like an animal. When you feed the +horses and put them under shelter you can't do anything more for +them. But when you feed and shelter your daughter you have only half +provided for her, and it's the other half, the starving half, that +refuses to starve any longer." + +"I'm not kickin' on religion, if that's what you mean, Beulah," he +said. "You get goin' to church as often as you like, and--" + +"Oh, it's not religion," she protested. "At least, it's not just +going to church, and things like that, although I guess it is a more +real religion, if we just understood. What are we here for, anyway? +Come now, you're a man of sense and experience, and you must have +settled that question in your own mind long ago. What's the answer?" + +"Well, I'm here just now to tell you those cows are to be milked +before--" + +"Yes, dodge it! You've dodged that question so long you daren't face +it. But there must be an answer somewhere, or there wouldn't be the +question. There's Riles, now; he doesn't know there is such a +question. He takes it for granted we're here to grab money. And then, +there's Grants. They know there is such a question, and I'm sure that +to some extent they've answered it. You know, I like them, but I +never go into their house that I don't feel out of place. I feel like +they have something that I haven't--something that makes them very +rich and shows me how very poor I am. And it's embarrassing to feel +poor among rich folks. Why, to-night George Grant stopped on his way +home to say a word to me, and what do you suppose he said? Nothing +about the weather, or the neighbours, or the crops. He asked me what +I thought of the Venezuelan treaty. Of course I'd never heard of such +a thing, but I said I hoped it would be for the best, or something +like that, but I was ashamed--so ashamed he might have seen it in the +dusk. You see, they're living--and we're existing." + +If Beulah hoped by such argument to persuade her father, or even to +influence him, she was doomed to disappointment. Harris listened to +her patiently enough at first, but the conviction dawned upon him +that she had been reading some silly nonsense that had temporarily +distorted her young mind. Such foolishness, if allowed to take root, +might have disastrous results. His daughter must learn to centre her +mind on her work, and not be led away by whimsical notions that had +no place in a busy life. + +"You're talking a good deal of nonsense, Beulah," he said. "When you +get older these questions won't worry you. In the meantime, your duty +is to do as you're told. Right now that means milk the cows. I'll +give you five minutes to get started." + +Harris went to his room. A little later Beulah, with a light cloak +about her shoulders and a suitcase in her hand, slipped quietly down +the front stairs and out into the night. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +CRUMBLING CASTLES + + +At the foot of the garden Beulah paused irresolute, the suit-case +swinging gently in her hand. She had made no plans for the decisive +step events of the day had forced upon her, but the step itself she +felt to be inevitable. She was not in love with Jim Travers; she had +turned the whole question over in her mind that afternoon, weighing +it with judicial impartiality, supposing all manner of situations to +try out her own emotions, and she had come to the conclusion that +Travers was merely an incident in her life, a somewhat inspiring +incident, perhaps, but an incident none the less. The real thing--the +vital matter which demanded some exceptional protest--was the narrow +and ever narrowing horizon of her father, a horizon bounded only by +material gain. Against this narrowing band of outlook her vigorous +spirit, with its dumb, insistent stretchings forth to the infinite, +rebelled. It was not a matter of filial duty; it was not a matter of +love; to her it was a matter of existence. She saw her ideals dimly +enough at best, and she would burst every cord of affection and +convention rather than allow them to be submerged in the grey, +surrounding murk of materialism. + +Perhaps it was custom and the subtle pullings of association that +drew her feet down the path across the bench to the edge of the +stream that gurgled gently in the still night. She stood on the +gravel by the water's edge, packed firm by the wagon-wheels of +twenty-five years, and watched her image as it swayed gently in the +smoothly running current. There was no moon, but the stars shone down +in their midnight brilliance, and the water lay white and glistening +against the black vagueness of the bushy banks. She stooped and let +it fondle her fingers. It was warm and smooth...But it was shallow at +the ford...Farther up it was quite deep... The stars blinked a +strange challenge from the sky, as though to say, "Here is the tree +of knowledge, if you dare to drink thereof." + +At length she turned her back on the stream and retraced her steps up +the path. The house loomed very sombre and still in the quiet night. +A light shone dimly from her father's window. At intervals a deep, +contented sighing came from the cows in the barnyard. She took the +path past the house and down to the corral, where she paused, her ear +arrested by the steady drone of milking. A lantern sitting on the +black earth, cast a little circle of light, and threw a docile cow in +dreadful silhouette against the barn. And by that dim light Beulah +discerned the bent form of her mother, milking. + +"Mother, this is too much!" the girl exclaimed. + +Her mother started and looked up. "You're leaving us, Beulah?" she +asked. There was no reproach in her voice, nor even surprise, but a +kind of quiet sorrow. "I couldn't let the poor brutes suffer," she +explained. + +"Yes, I'm leaving," said Beulah. "I can't stand it any longer." + +The mother sighed. "I've seen it coming for some time," she said, at +length. "I suppose it can't be helped." + +"You're so passive," returned the girl, with a touch of impatience. +"You make me want to fight. Of course it can be helped, but it can't +be helped by always giving in." + +"Your father has met one of his own mettle at last," said the mother, +and the girl fancied she detected a note of pride, but whether of +father, or daughter, or both, she could only guess. "Well, it's all +very sad. Your father is a good man, Beulah...I should send you back +to your bed, but somehow I can't. I--I don't blame you, Beulah." + +She had finished the last cow. Beulah helped with the pails of milk, +and the two women went back to the house together. When Mary had +washed her hands she took her daughter's face between her palms and +kissed her on the cheeks. Slowly Beulah's arms stole about her neck, +and it took all the steel in her nature to prevent surrender. + +"It's not you I'm going from," she managed to say. "You understand +that, don't you? I'll write to you often, and we'll surely meet +before long...But I've just got to. There's no other way out." + +"Stay till morning, Beulah. Your father may be disposed to give and +take a little then, and you'll do the same, won't you?...Oh, my girl, +don't break up our home like this!" + +"You can't break up what you haven't got. Aside from you, why should +I call this place home? I work here, and get my board and clothes. +Well, I can work other places, and get my board and clothes. If I've +got to be a cog in a money-making machine, I will at least choose the +machine." + +"What plans have you made? Where are you going?" + +"Haven't made any plans, and don't know where I'm going. But I'm +going. At present that's enough. The plans will come along as they're +needed." + +"Have you any money?" asked the mother, with a brisk effort at +cheerfulness. She was already planning for her daughter in the new +world she was about to enter. + +"Enough to start me. That's all I need. I can earn more. It's not +work I'm afraid of, although I suppose father won't be able to see it +that way. He'll put all this down to laziness and obstinacy. It's +neither. It's just a plain human craving to _live_." + +"I sometimes wonder whether I'll be able to stand it through to the +end," her mother whispered, somewhat fearfully, as though frightened +by the admission. "I've--I've seen it coming with you, and I can't +help feeling that perhaps this is only the beginning." + +"Oh, mother, if you should!" cried the girl. "That would do it--that +would open his eyes. He'd see then that there is something in the +world besides wheat and cows, after all. You know, I think he's in a +kind of trance. He's mesmerized by wheat. It was so necessary in +those first years, when he was fighting against actual starvation, +that it has become a kind of mania. Nothing short of some great shock +will bring him out of it. If you would come--if you would only come +too, things would be different." + +"But I couldn't do that," said the mother, after a silence, and as +though speaking with herself. "He's my husband, Beulah. You don't +understand." + +They talked then, in secret, sorrowful confidence, of many things, +things for their ears only, and the grey was returning in the +northern sky when the girl again left the house, and this time swung +resolutely down the road that led to Plainville. Her heart was now at +rest, even at peace. In the sacred communion of that last hour she +had come to see something of her mother's problem and sacrifice; and +although she was going out into the world alone, she felt that +somewhere, some time, was a solution that would reunite the broken +family and tune their varying chords in harmony. The North star shone +very brightly amid the myriad finer points of light that filled the +heavens. She raised her face to the cold rays. The stars had always a +strange fascination for her. Their illimitable distances, their +infinite number, their ordered procession--all spelled to her a +Purpose--a Purpose that was bigger than wheat and land and money, a +Purpose that was life, the life for which she groped vaguely but +bravely in the darkness. + +From an unhappy sleep in his room upstairs John Harris was awakened +by the whine of the cream separator. A quiet smile stole across his +strong, still handsome face. "Beulah has decided to be sensible," he +whispered to himself. + + +*** + + +In the morning the Harris household was early as usual. The farmer +and his son gave their attention to the horses while Mary prepared +breakfast, and it was not until they were seated at the table that +Harris noticed his daughter's absence. + +"Where's Beulah?" he demanded. + +"I don't know," his wife replied. + +"Ain't she up yet?" + +"I don't know." + +Harris rose from the table and went upstairs. He entered his +daughter's room without knocking. The bed had not been slept in, and +a strange apprehension suddenly tightened about his chest. He +returned quickly to the kitchen. + +"Mary," he said, "I want to know where Beulah is." + +"I can't tell you where she is, John. She left here last night." + +"Left here? Do you mean that she has run away?" + +"Not just that, perhaps, but she has gone, and I'm not looking for +her back for a while." The mother's voice was dry, and she talked in +the restraint of subdued emotion. + +"And you knew she was going?" + +"I knew before she left. I didn't--" + +"No. You didn't think it was worth mentioning to me. Just a matter we +could talk about any time. I suppose you thought I wouldn't care." + +"Well, you didn't seem to care very much, John. You gave your orders +and went to bed. Beulah could obey or get out. You might have known +she had enough of your own spirit to soon settle that question. She +settled it just as you would have settled it if you had been in her +place." + +"Oh, of course, I'm to blame for the whole thing," said Harris, and +his throat was thick as he spoke. His daughter was very dear to him, +and that she would leave home had never entered his head. Why should +she? Wasn't he a good father? Didn't he give her a good home, with +plenty to eat and wear, and a little money to spend from time to +time, and no questions asked? What more could a man do than that? +Already his heart was crying out for his daughter--the cry of broken +strings which never knew their strength until they broke. But to show +any emotion, or to express regret for anything he had done, meant +surrender, and if there was one thing John Harris could not do it was +surrender. Not that he felt he had done anything wrong, or even +imprudent; he was sincerely sorry for what had happened, but not for +his part in it. And, lest gentleness should be mistaken for weakness, +he clothed his real feelings in sharp words to his wife. + +"Of course, you must take her part. I suppose you advised her to go. +It was an awful thing for me to tell her she must do her work, but a +small thing for her to run away. Well, I hope she likes it. If she +thinks I'm going to hitch up a buggy and go chasing around the +neighbourhood, begging her to come back, she's mistaken. She's gone +of her own free will, and she can come back of the same, or not at +all." + +"I wouldn't look for her back too soon," remarked Allan. "Looks to me +as though this thing had all been figured out ahead. Jim went +yesterday morning; Beulah goes last night. Just a chance if they +ain't married by this time." + +"So that's it, is it?" exclaimed Harris, jumping up from his +untouched breakfast. There was a fierce light in his eye and a +determination in his face that boded ill to any who opposed him. He +seized his wife roughly by the shoulder. "And you were a party to +this, were you? You--you wouldn't even stop at that? Well, I'll stop +it. I'll stop him, if I do it with a bullet. I'll show him whether +any--any--_hired man_--can cross me in a matter of my own family." + +His wife had risen, and was clinging to his wrists, half for +protection, half in suppliance. "Now, John," she pleaded, "don't be +rash. You don't know that Beulah's gone with Jim, and you haven't a +word of proof of it." + +"Proof! What more proof do I want? When did ever Beulah carry on like +this before? Didn't she always do as she was told? And haven't they +been thick as molasses this while back? Wasn't it over wasting time +with her that Jim got fired, and not a word of admission of the real +facts from him? What more do you want than that? And on top of it all +you help her away, and keep it a secret from me as long as you can. I +daresay you knew their plans from the first. You thought I wouldn't +be interested in that, either." + +"I didn't know it," she protested, "and I don't believe it. I don't +believe either Beulah or Jim had any such thought in their head. But +even if they did, Jim Travers is as decent a young man as there is in +Plainville district, and you've nothing to be ashamed of except your +own temper, that drove them away in the way they went." + +"I won't listen to that kind of talk from you any longer," said +Harris sternly. "I'll chase the young reprobates to earth, if it +takes all summer. And unless you can clear yourself of being mixed up +in this--well, there'll be something to settle on that score, too. +Hitch up the drivers, Allan, and be quick about it." + +"You're not going to leave your ploughing, are you?" asked his wife. +The words sprang to her lips without any misintent. It was such an +unusual thing for her husband, on any account, to leave the farm work +unfinished. The practice on the Harris homestead was work first, all +other considerations second. + +"That's enough of your sarcasm," he snapped. "I would think when our +name is threatened with a disgrace like this you would be as anxious +to defend it as I am. How is it you go back on me in a moment like +this? You're not the woman you once were, Mary." + +"And you're not the man you once were, John," she answered. "Oh, +can't you see that we're just reaping what has been sown--the crop +we're been raising through ail these years? Beulah's very life has +been crying out for action, for scope, for room, for something that +would give her a reason for existence, that would put a purpose into +her life, and we've not tried to answer that cry. I blame myself as +much as you, John, perhaps more, because I should have--read her +heart--I should have seen the danger signals long ago. But I was so +busy, I didn't think. That's the trouble, John, we've been so busy, +both of us, we haven't taken time to keep up with her. The present +generation is not the past; what was enough for you and me isn't +enough for our children. It doesn't do any good to scold--scolding +doesn't change conditions; but if we'd stopped and thought and +studied over them we might have changed them--or cured them. We +didn't, John; you were too busy with your wheat and your cattle, and +I was too busy with my house-work, and what have we made of it? We've +gathered some property together, and our cares have grown in +proportion, but that which was more to us than all the property in +the world we have lost--because we valued it less." The tears were +slowly coursing down her cheeks, and her thin, work-worn arms were +stealing about his neck. "Don't think, dear," she whispered, "that +I'm indifferent, or that this hurts me less than you, or that I would +shield myself from one iota of my just blame, but let us face the +fact that it has been our mistake rather than Beulah's." + +He removed her arms, not ungently. "I never thought it would come to +this," he said. "I thought I humoured her every way I could. As for +our hard work--well, work makes money, and I noticed Beulah could +spend her share. There was no protesting about the work that earned +the money when she wanted a new hat or a new dress, and she generally +got what she wanted." + +"You don't understand, John. It wasn't the work, it was the making a +god of work, and giving it so much of our lives that there was none +left for her. That's why she looked somewhere else--if she has looked +somewhere else." + +"Allan works as hard and harder than ever Beulah did, and Allan +doesn't feel that way about it." + +"That's true," she admitted, "but Allan's ambition is work. He works +and is satisfied, but Beulah thinks, and is not satisfied. It's the +difference in their nature, and we didn't take it into +consideration." In every phrase she tried to link his blame with +hers, that the burden might unite instead of separate them. + +"If she'd thought a little more before this mad prank it would have +been better for everybody," he said, "Well, she'll have plenty of +time to think yet." He stepped to the kitchen door, and from the nail +above took down the repeating-rifle. + +"You're not going to take that!" she cried. "Don't take that, John. +It can't possibly do any good, and it may do a lot of harm." + +"I won't do anything foolish," he answered, "but I'll take it along, +just the same." + +Allan, with the drivers harnessed to the top buggy, was now at the +door. Without saying good-bye to his wife Harris joined him, and the +two set off on their search. Almost at the gate they met George +Grant, who had come over to haul water for another day's ploughing. +He stopped in some surprise at the turnout. + +"I guess we won't be ploughing to-day," said Harris. He hesitated +before George's questioning look, and a certain sense of family shame +came upon him. But it was evident that he could hardly search for +Beulah without mentioning her departure, and he might as well make a +clean breast of the affair. + +"Nothing wrong at home, I hope, Mr. Harris?" said the young +neighbour, noting his troubled appearance. "Nobody sick, or +anything?" + +"Yes, there is something wrong," said Harris, trying vainly to +conceal the bitterness in his voice. "Beulah's left us." + +"Who, Beulah? I can hardly believe that, Mr. Harris. It was only last +night I was talking with her." + +"Well, she's gone. Left through the night. We--well, I'll tell you, +George--we had a little disagreement, but I'd no notion she'd take it +so much to heart. Of course you know about the trouble with Jim +yesterday. Taking everything together--there won't be no ploughing +to-day." Harris had said more than he meant; he could feel the colour +mounting into his hair, and the bad English of his last words +betrayed a subtle recklessness rather than carelessness of speech. + +"Don't you believe a word of it," said George. "I know Jim, and I +know Beulah, and if anybody else hinted what you've said you'd want +to use that rifle on them. Like enough Beulah's staying somewhere +around the neighbourhood, and she'll be back when she has time to +think it over." + +"That proves you _don't_ know Beulah," said Allan. "As for Jim, I was +never able to get below that smile, and I saw more of him than you +did, George." + +"Well, I hope you find a way out," said George, sincerely. "It would +have been like her to come over to our place, but she isn't there. +Maybe you'll find her at Morrison's." + +"That's possible," said Harris. "We'll go over there, anyway." + +But Morrisons knew no more of Beulah's whereabouts than did George, +and inquiry at other homes in the neighbourhood was equally futile. +Harris shrank from carrying his search into the town, as he dreaded +the publicity that would be attached to it. He was a subscriber, +somewhat in arrears, to the local paper, and by calling on the editor +and squaring up for a year in advance he could probably make himself +solid in that quarter, but the gossip of the villagers could not be +silenced by any such simple method. But as the day wore on and the +search continued fruitless he finally found himself in Plainville. If +Beulah and Jim were really married the Presbyterian minister would be +likely to know something of the matter, and the Rev. Andrew Guthrie +was a man of sense and discernment. Harris had frequently gone to +hear him preach before the labours of the farm had grown to their +present magnitude, and he even yet contributed five dollars a year to +the stipend. + +Mr. Guthrie received his guest cordially, albeit with some wonderment +as to which member of the family might be sick, but delicacy forbade +a direct question. Now, in agricultural communities it is something +of an offence to approach any matter of importance by frontal attack. +There must be the due amount of verbal skirmishing, reconnoitering, +and out-flanking before the main purpose is revealed. Consequently, +Harris, for all his torture of suspense, spent some minutes in a +discussion of the weather, the crops, and the prospect of a labour +shortage in harvest. + +"They'll be all well at home, I hope?" said Mr. Guthrie at length, +feeling that the custom of the community had been sufficiently +honoured. + +"Yes, all that's there," said Harris. + +"All that's there? I didn't know any of your folks were away. Perhaps +Mrs. Harris is down East? I'm sure a summer amid the orchards of her +old home would be a delight to her, and, of course, Mr. Harris, you +are able to gratify yourself in these little matters now. Things are +not what they were in the early days, Jack, when I preached in Tom +Morrison's log-house, and you led the bass at the services. I'll +warrant that voice of yours could sing yet if you gave it a chance." + +Harris received these remarks with a mixture of feelings. The +minister's reference to his financial standing carried with it a +certain gratification, but it consorted poorly with his recent +conversations with his wife and with his present mission. + +"And Beulah?" continued the minister, conscious that his first shot +had gone wild. "She's a fine young woman now. I see her in church +occasionally. In fact, I was speaking with Mrs. Burton, the choir +leader, a day or so ago, and Beulah's name was mentioned between us." + +"It was about Beulah I came to see you," said Harris, with averted +eyes. Then in a few words he gave his version of what he knew and +what he suspected. + +"I fear I can add nothing to your information," said Mr. Guthrie. +"They haven't been here, and, as you say, if Beulah contemplated +marriage I think she would have called on me. Travers, too, I knew a +little, and thought him a decent chap. But we must find the girl and +talk this over quietly with her. Is there any place in town she would +be likely to go to? What about Mrs. Goode's boarding-house? I will +just call up on the telephone. I can make inquiry without the +necessity of any explanations." + +Inquiry at the house of Mrs. Goode brought a strong ray of light out +of the darkness. Beulah had been there during the morning, and had +explained that she was leaving on the west-bound train, which even +now was thrumming at the station. On learning this, without a word, +Harris sprang into the buggy, while Allan brought a sharp cut of the +whip across the spirited horses. They reached the railway station +half a minute too late; the train was already pulling out, and as +Harris's eyes followed it in anger and vexation they plainly saw Jim +Travers swing lithely on to the rear platform. + +With an oath the farmer reached for his rifle, but Allan wrenched it +from his hands before any onlookers noted the action. "Don't be a +fool," he whispered, and started the horses homeward. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +INTO THE FARTHER WEST + + +For the first time in his life Harris surrendered his purpose to the +judgment of his son, and as they drove homeward along the dusty trail +in the heat of the day the consciousness came home to him that Allan +was right. To have used his gun would, of course, have been madness; +he had never seriously intended doing anything so rash, although for +one impetuous moment his passion had made him irresponsible. And, as +he thought it all over, he concluded that nothing was to be gained by +pursuit of the runaways. There was only one west-bound train in the +day; he could not give chase until the morrow, and they would be able +to lead him by twenty-four hours as long as he cared to keep up the +pursuit. True, he might telegraph ahead to the police, but that meant +publicity, and would probably be ineffectual in the end. She had gone +of her own free will, and although his heart hurt even under his +anger, now that she had gone she might stay. She had left a good +home, a fond father, and a share in the family estate for a--hired +man--and she might now make the best of her bargain. Harris assured +himself, with absolute sincerity, that he had done his duty in the +matter, and that in exchange for all his kindness his daughter had +treated him very badly indeed. + +During the drive homeward his thoughts persistently turned to the +share his wife had had in Beulah's departure, and his feeling toward +Mary grew more and more hostile. Not that he altogether disbelieved +her when she professed ignorance of the young couple's intention; he +could not go so far as to think that she had lied to him, but he was +inwardly convinced that she had at least an inkling of their plans, +and that, so far from attempting to dissuade them, she was really in +sympathy with their wild escapade. Harris was very fond of his wife, +who had shared with him all the hardships of pioneer life, and who, +he admitted, had been a faithful and devoted helpmeet, and her +desertion of him in the present crisis was therefore all the less to +be excused or condoned. He resolved, however, that there should be no +open breach between them; he would neither scold nor question her, +but would impress her with his displeasure by adopting a cold, +matter-of-fact, speak-when-your spoken-to attitude toward her. + +Under the circumstances it was not remarkable that Harris's work +began to loom larger than ever in his life. The space left vacant by +his daughter he filled with extra energy driving the great ploughs +through the mellow summer-fallow. A new tank-man was engaged, and the +rumble of the engine was heard up and down the fields from early +morning until dark. From his wife he held aloof, speaking with +strained courtesy when speech was necessary. She, in turn, schooled +for years in self-effacement, hid her sorrow in her heart, and went +about her work with a resignation which he mistook for cheerfulness, +and which confirmed him in his opinion that she knew more of Beulah's +intentions than she had cared to admit. Only with Allan his relations +remained unchanged; indeed, the attachment between the two grew +deeper than ever. The young man avoided any reference to Beulah; what +he felt in his own heart he kept to himself, but the father shrewdly +guessed that he laid the whole blame on Travers. + +So the summer wore on; the black bosom of the fallow field widened +day by day, and the smell of growing wheat filled the dew-laden +evening air. The picnic season, the time of athletic competitions, +baseball matches, and rural sociability, rolled by, but Harris +scarcely knew of its passing. He had long ago ceased to take any +personal interest in the frivolities of the neighbourhood; he saw in +picnics and baseball games only an unprofitable misuse of time, and +when he thought of them at all it was to congratulate himself that +Allan was not led away by any such foolishness. Finding no great +happiness in his own home, he had fallen into the way of walking over +to Riles's on Sunday afternoons, and the two spent many hours in +discussion of their proposed land-seeking expedition. + +Meanwhile Mary plodded along with her housework, toiling doggedly +from five in the morning until half-past nine or ten at night. +Beulah's departure had left all the labours of the home upon her +hands; her husband had made no suggestion of securing help, and she +had not asked any. The new man made no offer to milk any of the cows; +a dozen hours in the field was day enough for him, and whatever time +was over he spent smoking cigarettes in the shelter of the barn. +Allan occasionally did help with the milking, and more frequently +with turning the separator, but it was so late when he stopped his +work in the field she was sorry for him, and tried to have the milk +cleared away before he arrived on the scene. One or two postcards she +had had from Beulah, but they brought no great information. They came +in the open mail; her husband was welcome to read them if he chose, +but as he had sought his own company exclusively since Beulah's +departure she made no attempt to force them upon him. + +At last one morning came a letter, a big fat letter, left in by a +neighbour passing by, as the custom was for any settler going to town +to bring out the mail for those who lived along his route. She tore +the envelope open nervously and devoured its contents with hungry +eyes. + + +"My DEAR MOTHER, + +"Here I am, in the shadow of the Rockies. That may sound poetical, +but it's a literal fact. It is still early in the evening, but the +sun has disappeared behind the great masses to the west, and the +valley which my window overlooks is filling up with blackness. The +Arthurses are pure gold, and I have told them everything. They don't +blame anyone, not even father. How is he? Slaving as usual, I +suppose. + +"Well, I must tell you about my trip. When I left the house that +night I had no idea where I was going, but the simplest thing seemed +to be to go first to Plainville. The North Star led that way, and it +seemed a good guide to follow. As I walked the lights came out in the +Arctic sky--a great bow of them, swelling and fading in their +delicate tints. I watched them and plodded along, trying not to think +very much about anything. + +"You've no idea how heavy that suit-case got, but I took my time, as +there was nothing to gain by reaching town before daylight. When I +got there it struck me it might be a good plan to have some +breakfast, so I walked round to Goode's boarding-house. Mrs. Goode +was bustling about, and received me with open arms. 'Well, my Land! +if it ain't Beulah Harris!' she exclaimed--she always called me +Beulah--'Goodness, child, what are you doing about this early in the +morning? But there, I needn't ask, knowin' what a worker your father +is. I'll be bound he drove you in before sunrise to lose no time with +his ploughin'. Well, that's what makes the mare go. I wish my man had +some of it--he's snorin' up on the second floor at this minute like +to lift the shingles. I often say to myself, 'For the little he does +and the lot he eats the Lord knows what keeps him so thin.' It's a +grievance of Mrs. Goode's that her husband won't fatten up; she +thinks it's a reflection on her cooking. 'And with your suit-case! +You'll be taking the train? West, is it, or East? But you'll be +hungry, child. Take off your things there while I see to my buns--I +always give the boarders hot buns for breakfast--' you know how she +rattles on. But she's a good soul, if a bit conceited over her +looking, and wouldn't take a cent for my keep either. Of course she +didn't wait for me to answer her questions, and she really suggested +the plan which I took. After breakfast I went over to the station, +and asked what the fare was to Arthurs' station; I found I had enough +money for the trip, and I bought a ticket without further ado. + +"I won't try to tell you all about my trip--it would take a book. But +what a country it is! Of course I had learned in school that there +was about two feet of map between the Red River and the Rockies, but +there's only one way to know how big it is, and that's to travel it. +If you've got any imagination at all a trip over these enormous +prairies must set it stirring. For the most part there's no +settlement; not a house, nor stack, nor any sign of life. Pretty much +like Manitoba was, I guess, when you first saw it, but bigger, and +grander, and more suggestive of the future. You see, Manitoba has +made good, for all the doubters, and this bigger West will do the +same, on a bigger scale. As we rolled along through that unbroken +prairie, with here and there a great herd of horses or cattle in the +distance, I felt at last that I was really beginning to live. Not +that I was doing anything grander than running away from home, but +still that feeling came over me--the feeling that here was a country +where things were going to happen, and that I was going to play some +part in their happening. + +"Well, if I ramble on like this it'll be a real book after all. +Calgary is the big cow-town of the West, just beginning to aspire to +higher--or lower (there's a real question there)--civilization, and +mixing schaps and silks on its streets in a strange struggle between +the past and the future. But my stay there was short, as I was able +to catch my branch train with little delay, and that night saw me at +Arthurs' nearest station. The homestead rush is on here in earnest; +the trains are crowded, mostly with Americans, and the hotels are +simply spilling over. They're a motley crowd, these homesteaders. +Down with us, you know, the settlers were looking for homes, and a +chance to make a living, but up here they're out for money--the long +green, they call it. Their idea is to prove up and sell their lands, +when they will either buy more or leave the country. But the great +point is that they are after money rather than homes. They belong to +a class which has been rushing for a generation ahead of a wave of +high land values--I heard a man say that in the train, and I made a +note of it--they're rovers by birth and training, with no great home +instinct! To them one place is as good as another--provided always +there's money to be made there--and one flag is almost as good as +another. Of course this will right itself in time; the first flood of +land-seekers are soil-miners, but the second are home-builders--the +man said that too; you see I'm picking things up; I want to know +about something besides the weather--and when that second flood comes +this country won't know itself. + +"But to come back to the hotel; that's what I did when I had taken a +good walk about the little town, and admired myself almost homesick +looking at fine horses tied to hitching-posts and fine men swaggering +about in the abandon of cow-boy costumes. One thing I have learned +already, and the discovery shocked me a little at first; the cow-boy +considers himself better clay than the farmer--the 'sod-buster' he +calls him--and treats him with good-humoured contempt. I wanted to +ask someone about Arthurs, and I didn't like to inquire in the hotel. +There was a lot of drinking going on there. But near the door were +two young men talking, and I overheard one of them mention Arthurs' +name. Pulling myself together, I asked him if he could tell me where +Arthurs lived. + +"'Yes, miss,' he answered, lifting a big hat and showing when he +spoke a clean set of teeth. 'It's twenty-five miles up the river. +Were you expecting him to meet you?' + +"I explained that I had intended to drop in on them by surprise, but +I had had no idea they lived so far from town. + +"'Oh, that's not far,' he said. 'Can you ride?' + +"Everybody here rides horseback. It's the standard means of +locomotion. And the women ride astride. I was a bit shocked at first, +but you soon get used to it. But twenty-five miles is different from +a romp round the pasture-field, so I said I was afraid not. + +"'Arthurs is coming down with the buck-board,' remarked the other +man. 'I passed him on the trail as I came in.' + +"Sure enough, a little later Arthurs himself drew up at the hotel. I +wouldn't have known him, but one of the young men pointed him out, +and it would have done you good to see how he received me. + +"'And you are Jack and Mary's daughter,' he said, taking both my +hands in his, and holding me at arm's length for a moment. Then, +before I knew it, he had drawn me up and kissed me. But I didn't +care. All of a sudden it seemed to me that I had found a real father. +It seems hard to say it, but that is how I felt. + +"Well, he just couldn't keep away from me all evening. He showered me +with questions about you and father, which I answered as well as I +could, but I soon found I couldn't keep my secret, so I just up and +told him all. He was very grave, but not cross. 'You need time to +think things over, and to get a right perspective,' he said, 'and our +home will be yours until you do.' + +"We drove home the next day, up a wonderful river valley, deep into +the heart of the foothills, with the blue mountains always beckoning +and receding before us. Mrs. Arthurs was as surprised and delighted +as he had been, and I won't try to tell you all the things she said +to me. She cried a little, too, and I'm afraid I came near helping +her a bit. You know the Arthurs lost their little girl before they +left Manitoba, and they have had no other children. They both seemed +just hungry. + +"There's nothing so very fine about their home, except the spirit +that's inside it. I can't describe it, but it's there--a certain +leisurely way of doing things, a sense that they have made work their +servant instead of their master. And still they're certainly not +lazy, and they've accomplished more than we have. When they left +Manitoba in the early days, discouraged with successive frosts, they +came right out here into the foothills with their few head of stock. +Now their cattle are numbered in thousands, and they have about a +township of land. And still they seem to live for the pure happiness +they find in life, and only to think of their property as a secondary +consideration. + +"Now I really must close. Mrs. Arthurs sends a note, and I'm quite +sure it's an invitation. Oh, mother, what could be lovelier! Now +don't say you can't. Father has plenty of money; let him hire a +housekeeper for a while. The change will do him good. + +"Love to you, dearest, and to Allan, if he still thinks of me. + +"BEULAH. + +"P.S.--I forgot to mention that Jim Travers left Plainville on the +same train as I did. He could hardly believe his eyes when he saw me +there. I told him I was going West on a visit, but I don't know how +much he guessed. Said he was going West himself to take up land, but +he wanted to call on some friends first, and he got off a few +stations from Plainville. Between you and me, I believe he changed +his plan so that the incident--our being on the train together, you +know--could not be misunderstood if the neighbours got to know of it. +It would be just like Jim to do that." + + +With Beulah's letter was a short but earnest note from Lilian +Arthurs, assuring the mother of her daughter's welfare, and pressing +an invitation to spend the autumn in the glorious scenery and weather +of the foothill country. Mary Harris read both letters over again, +with frequent rubbing of her glasses. Love for her daughter, desire +to see her old friend once more, and growing dissatisfaction with +conditions at home, all combined to give weight to the invitation so +earnestly extended. "If I only could!" she said to herself. "If I +only could! But it would cost so much." + +The dinner was late that day, and Harris was in worse humour than +usual. He had just broken a plough-beam, which meant an afternoon's +delay and some dollars of expense. When he had started his meal his +wife laid the full envelope before him. "A letter from Beulah," she +said. + +Without a word he rose from the table, took the letter in his hand, +and thrust it into the kitchen range. A blue flame slowly cut round +the envelope; the pages began to curl like dry leaves in autumn, and +presently the withered ghost of the missive shrank away in the dull +glare of the coal fire behind. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +THE PRICE OF "SUCCESS" + + +At last the ploughing was finished, and, although the rich smell of +wheat in the milk filled the air, it still would be almost a month +before the ripening crops were ready for the binder. Harris felt that +he could now allow himself a breathing spell, and that the +opportunity to investigate the rich lands of the Farther West was at +hand. Many nights, while Mary milked the cows, he had walked over to +Riles', and the two had discussed their forthcoming venture until +they had grown almost enthusiastic over it. Riles, it must be said, +was the leading spirit in the movement; although already possessed of +sufficient land and means to keep him in comfort through his +advancing years, the possibility of greater wealth, and particularly +of wealth to be had without corresponding effort, was a lure +altogether irresistible. And Harris fell in with the plan readily +enough. A quarter of a century having elapsed since his former +homesteading, he was now eligible again to file on free Government +land; Allan could do the same, and, by also taking advantage of the +purchase of script, it was possible to still further increase their +holdings. In addition to all this, Riles had unfolded a scheme for +staking two or three others on free homestead land: it would be +necessary, of course, to provide them with "grub" and a small wage +during the three years required to prove up, but in consideration of +these benefactions the titles to the land, when secured, were to be +promptly transferred to Riles and Harris. This was strictly against +the law, but the two pioneers felt no sense of crime or shame for +their plans, but rather congratulated themselves upon their cunning +though by no means original scheme to evade the regulations. + +Harris found the task of disclosing his intentions to his wife more +unpleasant than he would have supposed, and it took him some days to +make up his mind to broach the subject. He felt that he was doing +what was for the best, and that his business judgment in the matter +could hardly be challenged; and yet he had an uncomfortable feeling +that his wife would not fall in with his plans. That, of course, +would not be allowed to affect his plans; since Beulah's departure +nothing but the most formal conversation had taken place in their +household; yet it would certainly be easier for him if Mary should +give her encouragement to his undertaking. He felt that he was +entitled to this, for was it not for her that he was making the +sacrifice? Was not all he had hers? And were not all his labours +directed toward increasing her reserve against the rainy day? And yet +instinctively he felt that she would oppose him. + +It was the evening of a long day in July when, very much to Mary's +surprise, her husband took the handle of the cream separator from +her. To the sad-hearted woman it seemed that the breach was at length +beginning to heal, and that happiness would shortly return to their +hearthside. Below the din of the separator she actually found herself +humming an old love-song of the 'eighties. + +But her happiness was of short duration. When the milk had been run +through, and the noise of the whirling bowl no longer prevented +conversation, Harris immediately got down to business. + +"Allan and me will be leavin' for the West in a day or two," he said. +"I suppose you can get along all right for a few weeks until harvest. +Bill (the hired man) will be here." + +In an instant she saw the motive behind his apparent kindness, and +the hopes she had just entertained only deepened the flood of +resentment which swept over them. But she answered quietly and +without apparent emotion: "That's unfortunate, as I was planning for +a little trip myself." + +"You!" he exclaimed. "You plannin' a trip! Where in the world do you +want to go?" Such a thing as Mary going on a trip, and, above all, +unaccompanied by himself, was unheard of and unthinkable. + +"Yes, I thought I would take a little trip," she continued. "I've +been working here pretty hard for something over twenty-five years, +and you may say I've never been off the place. A bit of a holiday +shouldn't do me any harm." + +"Where do you think of goin'?" he demanded, a sudden suspicion +arising in his mind. "Goin' to visit Jim and Beulah?" + +"I think you might at least be fair to Beulah," she retorted. "If you +had read her letter, instead of putting it in the stove, you would +have known better." + +"I ain't interested in anythin' Beulah may have to say, and any other +letters that fall into my hands will go in the same direction. And +what's more, she's not goin' to have a visit from any member of this +family at the present time. I'm goin' out West to take up land, and +Allan's goin' with me. It ain't fair or reasonable for you to try to +upset our plans by a notion of this kind." + +"It isn't a notion, John, it's a resolve. If you are bound to take up +more land, with more work and more worry, why go ahead, but remember +it's your own undertaking. I helped to make one home in the +wilderness, and one home's enough for me." + +"Don't be unreasonable," he answered. "There's a great opportunity +right now to get land for nothin' that in a few years will be worth +as much or more than this here. I'm ready to go through the hardship +and the work for the sake of what it will do for us. We can be +independently rich in five years, if we just stand together." + +"Independent of what?" she asked. + +"Why, independent of--of everything. Nothin' more to worry about and +plenty laid up for old age. Ain't that worth a sacrifice?" + +"John," she said, turning and raising her eyes to his face. "Answer +me a straight question. What was the happiest time in your life? +Wasn't it when we lived in the one-roomed sod shanty, with scarcely a +cent to bless ourselves? We worked hard then, too, but we had time +for long walks together across the prairies--time to sit in the dusk +by the water and plan our lives together. We have done well; we have +land, horses, machinery, money. But have we the happiness we knew +when we had none of these? On the contrary, are you not worried +morning, noon, and night over your work and your property? Don't you +complain about the kind of help the farmers have to hire nowadays, +and the wages they have to pay? And if you get more land won't all +your troubles be increased in proportion? John, sit down and think +this thing over. We don't need more property; what we need is a +chance to enjoy the property we already have. The one thing we +haven't got, the one thing it seems we can't get, is time. Time to +think, time to read, time for walks on the prairie, time for sunsets, +and skies, and--and kindness, and all the things that make life real. +We have the chance to choose now between life and land; won't you +think it all over again and let us seek that which is really worth +while?" + +"Now I know where Beulah got her nonsense," he retorted. "All this +talk about real life is very fine, but you don't get much life, real +or any other kind, unless you have the cash to pay down for it. You +can't buy beefsteaks with long walks over the prairie, nor clothe +yourself and family with sunsets. For my part I want some real +success. We've done pretty well here, as you say, but it's only a +beginnin' to what we can do, if we set about it, and don't wait until +the cheap land is all gone. I don't see why you should go back on me +at this time o' life, Mary. We've stood together for a long while, +and I kinda figured I could count on you." + +"So you can, John; so you can to the very last, for anything that is +for your own good, but when you set your heart on something that +means more trouble and hardship and won't add one iota to your +happiness, I think it is my duty to persuade you if I can. We've been +drifting apart lately; why not let us both go back to the beginning +and start over again, and by kindness, and fairness, and liberality, +and--and sympathy, try to recover something of what we have lost?" + +"I have always thought I had been liberal enough," he said. "Didn't I +build you a good house and buy furniture for it, and do I stint you +in what you spend, either on the table or yourself? More than that, +didn't I put the title to the homestead in your name? And ain't I +ready to do the same with the new homestead, if that's the sticker?" + +"I never thought of such a thing," she protested. "And you shouldn't +claim too much credit for putting the homestead quarter in my name. +You know when you bought the first railroad land you were none too +sure how things would come out, and you thought it might be a wise +precaution to have the old farm land in your wife's name." + +"That's all the thanks I get," he said bitterly. "Well, I'll take the +new one in my own name, but I'll take it just the same. If you don't +want to share in it you won't have to. But for the present it's your +duty to stay here and run things till we get back." + +"What are you going to do after you get your new farm? You can't work +two farms a thousand miles apart, can you?" + +"Oh, I guess that won't worry us long. The Americans are comin' in +now with lots o' good money. I was figurin' up that this place, as a +goin' concern, ought to bring about forty thousand dollars, and I'll +bet I could sell it inside of a week." + +"Sell it?" she exclaimed. "You don't mean that you intend to sell +this farm?" + +"Why not? If somebody else wants it worse'n we do, and has the money +to pay for it, why shouldn't I sell it?" + +The tears stood in her eyes as she answered: "In all these years +while we have been building up this home I never once thought of it +as something to sell. It was too near for that--a part of ourselves, +of our very life. It seemed more like--like one of the children, than +a mere possession. And now you would sell it, just as you might sell +a load of wheat or a fat steer. Is this place--this home where we +have grown old and grey--nothing to you? Have you no sentiment that +will save it from the highest bidder?" + +"Sentiment is a poor affair in business," he answered. "Property was +made t' sell; money was made t' buy it with. The successful man is +the one who has his price for everythin', and knows how t' get it. As +for growin' old and grey on this farm, why, that's a grudge I have +against it, though I don't think I'm very grey and I don't feel very +old. And if I get my price, why shouldn't I sell?" + +"Very well," she answered. "I've nothing more to say. Sell it if you +must, but remember one thing--I won't be here to see it pass into the +hands of strangers." She straightened herself up, and there was a +fire in her eye that it reminded him of the day when she had elected +to share with him the hardships of the wilderness, and in spite of +himself some of his old pride in her returned. "I leave to-morrow for +a visit, and I may be gone some time. You reminded me of your +liberality a few minutes ago; prove it now by writing me a cheque for +my expenses. Remember I will expect to travel like the wife of a +prosperous farmer, a man whose holdings are worth forty thousand +dollars cash." + +"So that's your decision, is it? You set me at defiance; you try t' +wreck my plans by your own stubbornness. You break up my family piece +by piece, until all I have left is Allan. Thank God, the boy, at +least, is sound. Well, you shall have your cheque, and I'll make it a +big one that it may carry you the farther." + +Even in the teeth of his bitterness the mention of Allan's name +strained the mother's heart beyond her power of resistance, and she +turned with outstretched arms towards her husband. For a moment he +wavered, the flame of love, still smouldering in his breast, leaping +up before the breath of her response. But it was for a moment only. +Weakness would have meant surrender, and surrender was the one thing +of which Harris was incapable. He had laid out his course with a +clear conscience; he was sincerely working for the greatest good to +his family, and if his wife was determined to stand in her own light +it was his duty to pursue the course in defiance of her. So he +checked the impulse to take her in his arms and walked stolidly to +his desk in the parlour. + +He returned shortly and placed a cheque in her hands. She looked at +it through misty eyes, and read that it was for two hundred dollars. +It represented a two-hundredth part of their joint earnings, and yet +he thought he was dealing liberally with her; he half expected, in +fact, that his magnanimity would break her down where his firmness +had failed. But she only whispered a faint "Thank you," and slowly +folded the paper in her fingers. He waited for a minute, suspecting +that she was overcome, but as she said nothing more he at length +turned and left the house, saying gruffly as he went out, "When +that's done I'll send you more if you write for it." + +It was now ten at night, and almost dark, but Harris's footsteps +instinctively turned down the road toward Riles'. Riles' reputation +in the community was that of a hardworking, money-grubbing farmer, +with a big bony body, and a little shrivelled soul, if indeed the +latter had not entirely dried up into ashes. A few years ago Harris +had held his neighbour in rather low regard, but of late he had been +more and more impressed with Riles' ability to make his farm pay, +which was as great as or greater than his own, and what he had once +thought to be hardness and lack of humanity he now recognized as +simply the capacity to take a common-sense, business view of +conditions. + +At the gate he met Allan, returning from spending a social hour with +the grant boys. + +"Where going, Dad?" the younger man demanded. + +"Oh, I thought I'd take a walk over t' Riles'. There's a lot o' +things t' talk about." + +"What's the matter, Dad?" The strained composure of his father's +voice had not escaped him. + +"Nothin'...I might's well tell you now; you'll know it in a little +while anyway...Your mother is goin' away--on a visit." + +"Like Beulah's visit, I suppose. So it's come to this. I've seen it +for some time, Dad, and you must 've seen it too. But you're not +really goin' to let her go? Come back to the house with me--surely +you two can get together on this thing, if you try." + +"I have tried," said Harris, "and it's no use. She's got those +notions like Beulah--quittin' work, and twilights and sunsets and all +that kind o' thing. There's no use talkin' with her; reason don't +count for anything. I gave her a good pocketful of money, and told +her to write for more when she needed it. She'll get over her notions +pretty soon when she gets among strangers. Go in and have a talk with +her, boy; there's no use you bein' at outs with her, too. As for me, +I can't do anything more." + +"I suppose you know best," he answered, "but it seems--hang it, it's +against all reason that you two--that this should happen." + +"Of course it is. That's what I said a minute ago. But reason don't +count just now. But you have your talk with her, and give her any +help you can if she wants t' get away at once." + +Allan found his mother in her room, packing a trunk and gently +weeping into it. He laid his hand upon her, and presently he found +her work-worn frame resting in his strong arms. + +"You're not going to leave us, mother, are you?" he said. "You +wouldn't do that?" + +"Not if it could be helped, Allan. But there is no help. Your father +has set his heart on more land, and more work, and giving up this +home, and I might as well go first as last. More and more he is +giving his love to work instead of to his family. I bear him no +ill-will--nothing, nothing but love, if he could only come out of +this trance of his and see things in their true light. But as time +goes on he gets only deeper in. Perhaps when I am away for a while +he'll come to himself. That's our only hope." + +The boy stood helpless in this confliction. He had always thought of +difficulties arising between people, between neighbours, friends, or +members of a family, because one party was right and the other wrong. +It was his first experience of those far more tragic quarrels where +both parties are right, or seem to be right. He knew something of the +depth of the nature of his parents, and he knew that beneath an +undemonstrative exterior they cherished in secret a love +proportionate to the strength of their characters. But the long +course down which they had walked together seemed now to be +separating, through neither will nor power of their own; it was as +though straight parallel lines suddenly turned apart, and neither +lost its straightness in the turning. + +So he comforted his mother with such words as he could. Loyalty to +his father forbade laying any of the blame on those shoulders, and to +blame his mother was unthinkable; so with unconscious wisdom he spoke +not of blame at all. Presently it occurred to him to think of his +mother's departure as temporary only, and with joy he found that she +readily accepted the notion. + +"Of course, while we are away, why shouldn't you have a visit?" he +said. "Here you have been chained down to this farm ever since I can +remember, and before. We can easy enough arrange about the cows; and +Bill can board with one o' the neighbours, or batch, and you can just +have a good trip and a good rest, and nobody needs it more. And then, +when I get settled on my own homestead, you'll come and keep house +for me, won't you?" + +"You're sure you'll want me?" she asked, greatly comforted by his +mood. "Perhaps you'll be getting your own housekeeper, too." + +"Not while I can have you," he answered. "You'll promise, won't you? +Nothing that has happened, or can happen, will keep you from making +my home yours, will it? And when Dad gets settled again, and gets all +these worries off his mind, then things'll be different, and you'll +come, even if he is there?" + +"Yes, I'll come, even if he is there, if you ask me," she promised. + +Harris did not come back that night. A light rain came up, and he +accepted the excuse to sleep at Riles'. The truth was, he feared for +his resolution if it should be attacked by both his wife and son. +Surrender now would be mere weakness, and weakness was disgrace, and +yet he feared for himself if put to the test again. So he stayed at +Riles', and the two farmers spent much of the night over their plans. +It had been decided that they were to leave within the next couple of +days, but Harris broke the news that his wife was going on a visit, +and that arrangements would have to be made for the care of the farm. +He carefully concealed the fact that Mary was leaving against his +will, or as the result of any difference. Such an admission would +have damaged him in the estimation of Riles, who would have put it +down to weakness. In Riles' code no insubordination should be +tolerated from man or beast, but least of all from a wife. He would +have found ready means to suppress any such foolishness. + +Riles took the suggestion of a few days' delay with poor grace. + +"Yes, an' while you're chasing up an' down fer a housekeeper the +Yankees get all the homesteads. They're comin' in right now by the +trainload, grabbin' up everythin' in sight. We'll monkey round here +till the summer's over, an' then go out an' get a sand farm, or +something like. Couldn't your wife do her visitin' no other time?" + +"I'll tell you, Riles," said Harris, who had no desire to pursue a +topic which might lead him into deep water, "you go ahead out and get +the lay of the land, and I'll follow you within a week. I'll do that, +for sure, and I'll stand part of your expenses for going ahead, +seein' you will be kind o' representin' me." + +The last touch was a stroke of diplomacy. The suggestion that Harris +should pay part of his expenses swept away Riles' bad humour, and he +agreed to go on the date originally planned, and get what he called +"a bede on the easy money," while Harris completed his arrangements +at home. + +He was to get "a bede on the easy money" in a manner which Harris +little suspected. + + +*** + + +When Harris returned home the next forenoon he found that Mary had +already left for Plainville. He sat down and tried to think, but the +house was very quiet, and the silence oppressed him...He looked at +his watch, and concluded he had still time to reach Plainville before +the train would leave. But that would mean surrender, and surrender +meant weakness. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +A WHIFF OF NEW ATMOSPHERE + + +Riles found the journey westward a tiresome affair. His was a soul +devoid of enthusiasm over Nature's wealth or magnitude, and the view +of the endless prairie excited in him no emotion other than a certain +vague covetousness. It was his first long rail journey in over twenty +years, but his thoughts were on the cost of travel rather than on the +wonderful strides which had been made in its comfort and convenience. +Riles indulged in no such luxuries as sleeping-car berths or meals +served in the diner, and two nights in a crowded day-coach, with such +hasty meals as could be bought for a quarter at wayside stations, +made the journey a somewhat exhausting one. Back in the observation +car, sleek commercial travellers, well groomed and well dressed and +enveloped in comfortable self-satisfaction, gravely discussed +politics, business or real estate, or exchanged the latest titbits of +wit accumulated in their travels. Riles probably could have bought +and paid for the worldly possessions of the whole group, and have +still a comfortable balance in the bank. But a sleeper berth cost the +price of two bushels of wheat, and even in a good year Riles' crop +seldom exceeded ten thousand bushels. + +As fate would have it, Riles selected as the base of his homestead +operations the very foothill town to which Beulah Harris had come a +few weeks before. He sought out the cheapest hotel, and having thrown +his few belongings on the bed, betook himself to the bar-room, which +seemed the chief centre of activity, not only of the hotel itself, +but of the little town. Men were, lined three deep against the +capacious bar, shouting, swearing, and singing, and spending their +money with an abandon not to be found in millionaires. Riles was no +great student of human nature; he had a keener eye for a horse than a +fellow-man, but the motley crowd interested and, in a certain way, +amused him. Land-seekers, some in overalls and flannel shirts, some +in ready-mades with dirty celluloid collars and cheap, gaudy +ties--big, powerful men with the muscles and manners of the +horse--and others, lighter of frame, who apparently made an easier +and a better living by the employment of their brains; cowboys in +schaps and sun-burn and silk handkerchiefs; ranchers, stately English +and French stock, gentlemen still five thousand miles from the place +of their breeding; lumbermen and river-drivers, iron bodies set with +quick, combative intellects; guides, locaters, freighters, land +dealers, gamblers, sharks, and hangers-on wove back and forth plying +the shuttle from which the fabric of a new nation must be wrought. + +Riles debated with himself whether the occasion justified the +expenditure of ten cents for a drink when a hand was placed on his +shoulder, and a voice said, "Have one with me, neighbour." He found +himself addressed by a man of about his own age, shorter and somewhat +lighter of frame and with a growing hint of corpulence. The stranger +wore a good pepper-and-salt suit, and the stone on his finger danced +like real diamond. + +"Don't mind if I do, since y' mention it," said Riles, with an +attempted smile which his bad eye rendered futile. One of the +bartenders put something in his glass which cut all the way down, but +Riles speedily forgot it in a more exciting incident. The man in the +pepper-and-salt suit had laid half a dollar on the bar, _and no +change came back_. Riles congratulated himself on his own narrow +escape. + +"You'll be looking for land?" inquired the stranger, when both were +breathing easily again. + +"Well, maybe I am, and maybe I ain't," said Riles guardedly. He had +heard something of the ways of confidence men, and was determined not +to be taken for an easy mark. + +"A man of some judgment, I see," said his new acquaintance, quite +unabashed. "Well, I don't blame you for keeping your own counsel. The +rush of people and money into the West has brought all kinds of +floaters in its train. Why"--with growing confidence--"the other +night--" + +What happened the other night remained untold, for at that moment +came a clattering of horse's hoofs on the wooden walk at the door, +and a moment later a gaily arrayed cowboy rode right into the room, +his horse prancing and bodying from side to side to clear the crowd +away, then facing up to the bar as though it were his manger. Riles +expected trouble, and was surprised when the feat evoked a cheer from +the bystanders. + +"That's Horseback George," said the man in the pepper-and-salt. "They +say he sleeps on his horse. Rides right into a bar as a matter of +course, and maybe shoots a few bottles off the shelves as a +demonstration before he goes out. But he always settles, and nobody +mind his little peculiarities." + +Horseback George treated himself twice, proffering each glass to his +horse before touching it himself, and stroking with one hand the +animal's ears as he raised the liquor to his lips. Then he threw a +bill at the bar-tender and, with a wild whoop, slapped the horse's +legs with his hat, and dashed at a gallop out of the bar-room and +away down the trail. + +The stranger was about to resume his conversation when a big fellow +near by shouted in a loud, raucous voice, "Come, pard, set 'er up. +Who's drinkin with me?" + +No one answered, and the big man looked about the crowd with a +deepening scowl. + +"So you're not drinkin'?" he said. "Fill two glasses, pard, and set +'em right there." He turned his back to the bar, resting his elbows +on it, and surveyed the crowd contemptuously, meanwhile chewing a +mouthful of tobacco with a rapid, swinging motion of the jaw. + +"Guess you fellows don't know who _I_ am," he said. "I--" + +"No, and don't give a damn," said a lumberjack near by. + +"Well, you will before you're through. You're goin' t' drink with me, +an' you'll drink with both hands on the glass. Come up an' take your +med'cine." As he spoke his hand rested on his hip-pocket. + +The head bar-tender poked him in the ribs. "No gun play here," he +said. "You're not in Montana now." + +"I guess I know where I am," he retorted. "An' what d'ye think I pack +a gun for? T' tell the time by? This (not printable) is goin' t' +drink with me, or I'll fix him so's you c'n see through him both +ways." With the word he whipped out a revolver and fired into the +floor at the lumber-jack's feet, while a considerable part of the +crowd scurried for the door. + +"Put up your gun, you (equally unprintable)," shouted the +lumber-jack, throwing his hat on the floor, "and I'll crack your +slats quicker'n you can count 'em." + +"It's all right, Pete," said the bar-tender, addressing the +lumber-jack. "You can lick him hands down, but that won't pay the +bills if you get in the road of a bullet. Now you," turning to the +other, "stow that artillery, an' stow it quick, or I'll call the +Mounted Police." + +For answer the stranger took a handful of tobacco from his mouth, and +with a swing of his arm plastered it over the mirror behind the bar. +"That for the Mounted Police," he said. "Now there's goin' t' be some +drinkin' or some shootin', an' maybe a little o' both." He ploughed +the floor with another bullet, and the crowd again visibly thinned +away. Riles had backed into a corner; the man in the pepper-and-salt +suit had disappeared. + +Having no weapon, the lumber-jack kept his distance, but if epithets +could kill his bullying provoker would have been carried out a +corpse. The man with the revolver, on the other hand, seemed taking +his time, playing with his victim, like a wild beast sure of his +prey. + +Suddenly there was another stir about the door, and a young fellow in +scarlet tunic and yellow-striped riding-pants walked briskly in. His +lithe figure, his clean boyish face, his military alertness, were in +striking contrast to the ambling, carelessly-dressed crowd. He had +taken in the situation at a glance, and walked, neither faster nor +slower, direct to the desperado. The latter found himself confronted +by an unexpected dilemma. If he took his gun off the lumber-jack to +cover the policeman he knew perfectly well that the promised +slat-cracking process would begin immediately. If the policeman had +only stood at the door and ordered him to put up his gun, or +parleyed, or thought of his skin as a policeman should, he would have +had time to plan his campaign. But this boy in scarlet was a +revelation of something new in policemen. It was only eight steps +from the door to where the outlaw stood, and those eight steps at +parade pace occupied about three seconds. The gentleman from Montana +was quick enough with his gun, but not particularly nimble in +intellect, and he never faced a situation quite like this before. +What was this policeman going to do, anyway? Would he never stop and +deliver his ultimatum? He had not even drawn his gun! + +By this time the policeman was beside him. He did not seize him, nor +shout at him, nor menace him in any way, yet somewhere in his manner +and bearing was a sense of irresistible power. + +"Perhaps you don't know that it's against the law to flourish a +revolver in this country," he said. "Better let me keep it for you +until you are leaving town." + +"Against the law!" said the ruffian, now recovering himself. "That's +a good one. Why, ever'thin' I've done for twenty years has been +against the law. I cracked up the law for chicken-grit years ago." + +"Not the Canadian law," said the Mounted Policeman. "You'll only +offend against it once, and it won't be the law that gets cracked." + +"Thas' so?" sneered the other. "Then what'll happen?" + +"I'll arrest you." + +"You? I could eat you in three bites. I can lick you with one hand." + +"How many like me do you think you could lick?" asked the policeman, +with imperturbable composure. + +The man from Montana had removed his eye from the lumber-jack, who +was now dancing about in menacing attitudes. + +"Forget it, Pete," ordered the policeman. "Now, how many like me can +you lick?" + +"About six," said the other, speaking with much deliberation. + +"All right," said Sergeant Grey. "Then my chief would send seven. +Now, will you come with me or wait for the seven? By the way," he +continued, "the lock-up is a sort of beastly place to stow a man, +especially when he's visiting the country for the first time. I think +I'll let you sleep here, on your promise to appear in court at ten +to-morrow morning. Let me help you to your room. But first, I'll have +to trouble you for your gun." + +"What if I clear out through the night?" + +"You won't--not very far." There was a metallic ring in the last +words that penetrated the shell of the man who had made a business of +breaking law for twenty years, and he finally handed over his +revolver. + +"Search me if I know why I do it," he said, turning to the +bar-tender. "I could eat that kid in three bites." + +"Yes," said the man behind. "But you couldn't digest the whole +British Empire, and that's what you've got to do if you start +nibbling on any part of it. Besides, he mightn't make as easy chewin' +as you think. You'd find him more brisket than sirloin when you get +your teeth into him. I've seen him throw an' handcuff a bigger man +than you right in this room, an' never turn a hair in doin' it. An' +take it from me, stranger, what he says about sendin' seven if the +job's too big for six is gospel, an' the quicker you get that in your +block the safer your hide'll be in Canada." + +Sharp at ten the next morning the man who made a business of breaking +the law appeared before the magistrate, paid a fine of fifty dollars, +and surrendered his weapon to the King's officers for good. When he +returned to the hotel and demanded his bill for the night's lodging +he was surprised to learn he had none. + +"Sergeant Grey settled for you," said the clerk with a faint smile. +"Said you were his guest last night." + +It was the first time in a long experience that he had found that law +could be rigorous and yet absolutely just. It upset his whole crude +philosophy of his relation to society and the State, and stretched +before him the straight and easy road to citizenship. + +To return to the scene of the night before. When the bar-room had +settled down to normal, and no one showed a disposition to do any +general buying, Riles betook himself to his room. He had just got +into bed when a knock came at the door. + +"Who's there?" he demanded. + +"Gen'l'man to see Mr. Riles," said the porter. + +"Well, shoot 'im in. The door ain't locked," said Riles, in +considerable wonderment as to who his visitor might be. + +The door opened, and a well-dressed man of average height, with +carefully combed hair and clean-shaven face, save for a light +moustache, stood revealed in the uncertain glow of the match with +which Riles was endeavouring to find his lamp. His visitor was a man +of twenty-eight or thirty years, with clear eyes and well-cut face, +and yet with some subtle quality in his expression that implied that +under his fair exterior lay a deep, cunning, and that he was a man +not to be trusted in matters where his own interests might be at +stake. + +"Hello, Hiram," he said quietly. "You didn't figure on seeing me +here, did you?" + +At first glance Riles did not recognize him, and he raised the oil +lamp to turn the light better on the stranger's face. + +"Well, if it ain't Gardiner!" he exclaimed. "Where in Sam Hill did +you come from?" + +"It's a big country, Hiram," he said with a touch of bitterness, "but +not big enough for a fellow to lose himself in." He sat down on the +side of the bed and lit a cigar, tendering another to Riles, and the +two men puffed in silence for a few minutes. + +"Yes, I've hit a lot of trail since I saw you last," he continued, +"and when you're in the shadow of the Rockies you're a long piece +from Plainville. How's the old burg? Dead as ever?" + +"About the same," said Riles. "You don't seem t' be wastin' no love +on it." + +"Nothing to speak of," said the other, slowly flicking the ash from +his cigar. "Nothing to speak of. You know I got a raw deal there, +Hiram, and it ain't likely I'd get enthusiastic over it." + +"Well, when a fellow gets up against the law an' has t' clear out," +said Riles, with great candour, "that's his funeral. As for me, I +ain't got nothin' agen Plainville. You made a little money there +yourself, didn't you?" + +The younger man leaned back and slowly puffed circles of fragrant +smoke at the ceiling, while Riles surveyed him from the head of the +bed. He had been a business man in Plainville, but had become +involved in a theft case, and had managed to escape from the town +simply because a fellow-man whom he had wronged did not trouble to +press the matter against him. Riles' acquaintance with him had not +been close; except in a business way they had moved in other circles, +and he was surprised and a little puzzled that Gardiner should find +him out on the first night of his presence in the New West. + +Gardiner showed no disposition to reopen the conversation about +Plainville, so at last Riles asked, "How d'you know I was here?" + +"Saw your scrawl on the register," he said, "and I've seen it too +often on wheat tickets to forget it. Thought I'd look you up. Maybe +can be of some service to you here. What are you chasing--more land?" + +"Well, I won't say that, exactly, but I kind o' thought I'd come out +and look over some of this stuff the Gover'ment's givin' away, before +the furriners gets it all. Guess if there's any-thin' free goin' us +men that pioneered one province should get it on the next." + +"You don't learn anything, Riles, do you? You don't know anything +more about making money than you did twenty years ago." + +"Well, maybe I don't, and maybe I do, but I can pay my way, an' I can +go back t' Plainville when I like, too." + +"Don't get hot," said Gardiner, with unshaken composure. "I'm just +trying to put you wise to yourself. Don't make any difference to me +if you spend your whole life sod-busting; it's your life--spend it +any way you like. But it's only men who don't know any better that go +on to the land nowadays. It's a lot easier to make a living out of +farmers than out of farming." + +"Well, p'r'aps so, but that's more in your line. I never--" + +"That's just what I say--you never learn. Now look at me. I ain't +wearing my last suit, nor spending my last dollar, either, and I +haven't done what you'd call a day's work since I came West. There's +other things so much easier to do." + +"Meanin'?--" + +"Oh, lots of things. Remittance men, for instance. These woods are +full of them. Chaps that never could track straight in the old ruts, +and were sent out here where there aren't any ruts at all. They're +not a bad bunch; brought up like gentlemen, most of 'em; play the +piano and talk in three or four languages, and all that kind of +stuff, but they're simply dangerous with money. So when it comes to +hand, in the public interest they have to be separated from it." + +"Sounds interestin'," said Riles. + +"'Tis, too, especially when one of 'em don't take to the treatment +and lays for you with a gun. But my hair's all there. That's what +comes of wearing a tall hat." + +"Tell me," said Riles, his face lit up with interest, "how d'ye do +it?" + +"'Twouldn't do you any good," said Gardiner. "You've steered too many +plough-handles to be very nimble with your fingers. But there's often +other game to be picked up, if a man knows where to look for it." + +"Well, I wisht I knew," Riles confessed. "Not anythin' crooked, y' +know, but something like--well, something like you're doin'. I've +worked hard for ev'ry nickel I ever made, an' I reckon if there's +easy money goin' I've a right t' get some of it." + +"Now you're beginning to wake up. Though, mind you, some of it isn't +as easy as it looks. You've got to know your business, just like +farming or anything else. But you can generally land something to +live on, even if it ain't a big stake. Take me now, for instance. I +ain't doing anything that a preacher mightn't do. Happened to fall in +with a fellow owns a ranch up the river here. Cleaned him empty one +night at cards--stood him up for his last cent, and he kind o' took a +notion to me. Well, he's the son of a duke or an earl, or some such +thing, and not long ago the Governor goes and dies on him, leaving +him a few castles and bric-a-brac like that and some wagon-loads of +money. So he had to go home for the time being, and as he wanted +someone to run his ranch, who should he think of but me. Suppose he +thought if I happened to bet it at poker some night I wouldn't lose +it, and that's some consideration. He's got a thousand acres or so of +land up there, with a dozen cayuses on it, and he gives me +twenty-five pounds a month, with board and lodging and open credit at +the Trading Company, to see that it doesn't walk away in his absence. +Besides that, I hire a man to do the work, and charge his wages up in +the expenses. Got a good man, too--one of those fellows who don't +know any better than work for a living. By the way, perhaps you know +him--comes from Plainville part--Travers his name is?" + +"Sure," said Riles. "He worked for Harris, until they had a row and +he lit out. It kind o' balled Harris up, too, although he'd never +admit it. If he'd Travers there it'd be easier for him t' get away +now." + +"Where's Harris going?" + +"He ain't goin'; he's comin'. Comin' out here in a few days after me. +I'm his kind o' advance guard, spyin' out the land." + +"You don't say? Well, see and make him come through with the +expenses. If I was travelling for Jack Harris I wouldn't be sleeping +in a hen-coop like this. He's worth yards of money, ain't he?" + +"Oh, some, I guess, but perhaps not so much more'n his neighbours." + +"Nothing personal, Riles. You've got to get over that narrowness if +you're going to get into the bigger game I've been telling you about. +I don't care how much you're worth--how much is Harris bringing with +him?" + +"Couple of hundred dollars, likely." + +"I wouldn't show my hand for that. How much can he raise?" + +"Well, supposin' he sold the old farm--" + +"Now don't do any reckless supposing. Will he sell the farm?" + +"Sure, he'll sell it if he sees something better." + +"How much can he get for it?" + +"Thirty or forty thousand dollars." + +"That's more like a stake. Hiram, it's up to you and me to show him +something better--and to show it to him when he's alone...You're +tired to-night. Sleep it out, and we'll drive over to the ranch +to-morrow together. We ought to pick something better than a +homestead out of this." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +SETTING THE TRAP + + +Notwithstanding the exhaustion occasioned by his journey Riles was +early about. The hotel bed was strange to him, and the noises that +floated up from the bar-room interrupted his slumbers. At least, he +told himself it was the noises, but the fact is a great new thought +had been sown in his brain, and had started the cells whirling in +dizzy speculation. The unexpected meeting with Gardiner, the latter's +evident prosperity, and his frank contempt for men who made their +living by labour, had left a deep impression upon Riles. He had no +idea by what means Gardiner proposed that they should possess +themselves of Harris's money, and he felt some doubt about any such +attempt being rewarded with success. Nevertheless, Gardiner seemed to +think the matter a simple one enough, and Gardiner's good clothes and +good cigars were evidence of his ability to carry his plans into +effect. + +The streets had not yet assumed their morning activity when Riles +emerged from the hotel, but the unclouded Alberta sunshine was +bathing every atom of out-of-doors in a warmth and brilliance that +might have found, and in very truth did find, a keen response in the +inanimate objects of its affection. The jubilant laugh of running +mountain water rippled through the quiet air, fragrant with the +perfume of balm-of-Gilead and balsam; to the eastward the sunshine +poured into broad valleys of undulating, sweeping plain, and in the +west the great mountains, clad in their eternal robes of white, +loomed silent and impressive in their majesty. Even Riles stopped to +look at them, and they stirred in him an emotion that was not +altogether profane--a faint, undefined consciousness of the puniness +of man and the might of his Creator. No one can live for long in the +presence of the mountains without that consciousness, and it is a +great day for the mountain-dweller when he learns to distinguish +between the puniness of man, the animal, and the infinity of man, the +thinking soul. Riles breakfasted as soon as the dining-room was +opened, eating his meal hurriedly, as he always did, albeit the +French-fried potatoes, to which he was unaccustomed, could be poised +on his knife only with considerable effort. Then he sat down in an +arm-chair on the shady side of the hotel to wait for Gardiner. He had +suddenly lost his interest in the free lands which had been the +purpose of his journey. + +His wait was longer than he had expected, and he broke it several +times by strolls about the little town. In size it was much the same +as Plainville, but that was the chief point of resemblance. True, it +had its typical stores, selling everything from silks to coal oil; +its blacksmiths' shops, ringing with the hammer of the busy smith on +ploughshare or horseshoe; its implement agencies, with rows of +gaudily-painted wagons, mowers, and binders obstructing the +thoroughfare, and the hempen smell of new binder twine floating from +the hot recess of their iron-covered storehouses; a couple of banks, +occupying the best corners, and barber shops and pool-rooms in +apparent excess of the needs of the population. All these he might +have found in Plainville, but there were here in addition +half-a-dozen real estate offices, with a score or more curbstone +dealers, locaters, commission-splitters, and go-betweens, and the +number and size of the livery stables gave some clue to the amount of +prospecting going on from this base of supplies. The streets were +lined with traffic. Riles estimated that in two hours as many teams +passed him as might be seen in Plainville in a week; long rows of +box-cars were unloading on the side tracks; farmers' effects and +household goods of every description were piled in great heaps about +the railway yards; while horses, cattle, pigs, and poultry +contributed to the dust and din of the settlers' operations. Great +wagons of lumber were being loaded at the lumber yards, and an +unbroken procession of wagons and farm machinery of every description +was wending its way slowly into the distance where lay hope of home +or fortune for the new settler. + +It was almost noon when Gardiner appeared on the scene. "You don't +hurt you'self in the mornin's," was Riles' greeting. + +"Don't need to," he answered cheerily. "Besides, I'd a long session +after I left you last night. No, no particulars at present. I told +you you had spoiled your hands for that kind of work. How d'ye like +this air? Isn't that something worth breathing?" + +"Good enough," said Riles, "but I didn't come out here for air." + +"No, you came for land. I'm surprised you're not out bouncing over +the prairie in a buckboard long before this." + +Riles shot a quick glance at Gardiner. But he was puffing a cigar and +drinking in the warm sunshine with obvious satisfaction. + +"So I might o' been, but I thought we kind o' made a date last night, +didn't we?" + +"Did we? Oh yes; now I remember. But I thought perhaps you'd feel +different about it in the morning. A man generally does. I won't hold +you to anything you said last night, Riles." + +Riles could not recall that he had said anything that committed him +in any way, but Gardiner's tone implied that plainly enough. + +"I ain't changed my mind," he said, "but I don't know's I said +anything bindin', did I? I thought we was goin' t' drive out t' your +place t'-day an' talk things over." + +"Well, I just didn't want you to lose any time over me if you thought +things wouldn't work out," said Gardiner. "It takes more nerve, you +know, than hoeing potatoes. But you're welcome to the hospitality of +the ranch, in any case. I came in on horseback, so we'll get a team +at one of the stables and drive out." + +In a short time they were on their way. The road skirted the river, +threading its way through the narrow belt of cotton-woods and +evergreens that found footing in the moist soil of the valley. Here +and there, through an opening in the trees, or across a broad wedge +of prairie, could be seen the mountains, now bathed in a faint +purple, silently receding before them. A soft breeze, neither hot nor +cold, but moist and fresh from the great table-lands of snow, pressed +gently about the travellers, but their thoughts were of neither the +scenery nor the weather. + +"It's all right, Riles," Gardiner was saying. "If you're prepared to +stay with the deal we can pull it through--no doubt about that. That +is, if Harris will sell his farm and come out here with the cash in +his jeans. If he won't do that, you better get busy on your homestead +proposition right away." + +"He'll do it all right, if he sees somethin' worth while. But +Harris's no spring chicken, an' you'll have t' show him somethin' t' +his likin' before he loosens up." + +"I don't care whether he loosens up or not," said Gardiner. "All I +care is that he brings the money, and brings it in bills. No cheques, +mind you. Get him out here with the cash on him, and I'll do the +loosening up, if it comes to that." + +Riles was somewhat alarmed at the sinister turn of the conversation. +He had no compunction about getting the better of his old neighbour, +the man who had entrusted him with the discharge of their joint +mission, but he had considerable respect for the force, if not the +principle, of the law. + +"You don't mean that you'd do anythin'--anythin' that wasn't right?" +he said. "I wouldn't want t' get mixed up in no scrape, y' know." + +"You mean that you think more of your skin than you do of Harris's +coin. Well, there's no accounting for tastes. But as for doing +anything wrong--you ought to know me better than that. It will all be +clean and above board, and no violence if it can be helped, but if +Harris is unfortunate nobody's to blame for that. Of course, if +you're afraid to take a sportsman's chance for a half of forty +thousand dollars, call the deal off. I've got lots of other fish to +fry." + +"You don't understand," said Riles. "I ain't a'scared, but I don't +want t' do nothin' that'll get us into trouble. Harris is an old +neighbour o' mine, an'--" + +"I understand perfectly. You wouldn't mind a piece of Harris's money +served on a platter and wrapped in tissue paper, but you want +somebody else to take the chances. Now, there won't be any chances to +speak of, but what there are you take your share. If that's a bargain +it's a bargain, and if it isn't we'll talk about the weather. What +d'you say?" + +"It's a bargain," said Riles, "provided your plan'll work out." + +"It's got to work out. It's like going up in a balloon--if it doesn't +work out it's all off with the engineer. You got to take the chance, +Hiram, and then make good on the chance." + +Riles chewed vigorously at his tobacco. "Explain how you're goin' to +pull it off," he said, "an' then I'll tell you yes or no." + +"Not on your life," said Gardiner. "I don't show my hand until I know +who's sitting across." + +There was silence for half a mile, while Riles turned the matter over +in his mind. He was naturally a coward, but he was equally a +money-grabber, and it was one instinct against the other. Avarice won +it, and at length he extended his hand to Gardiner. "I'm in on +anythin' you're in on," he said. + +"That sounds like it," said Gardiner, with enthusiasm. "Now the whole +thing's simple as A B C, and not half as dangerous as running a +traction engine or breaking a broncho. It all rests on getting him +out here with the money, and that's where you come in. I don't mind +telling you if it wasn't for the help you can give there I'd handle +the job myself, and save dividing the proceeds." + +"Yes, that's the point, all right," said Riles, somewhat dubiously. +"How're we goin' t' get him out here with all that money?" + +"Think, Riles," said Gardiner, puffing complacently at a fresh cigar. +"Think hard." + +Riles wrinkled his forehead and spat copiously at the front hub, but +the inspiration would not come. "I give it up," he said at last. +"You'll have t' plan it, an' I'll carry it out." + +"That's what comes of hard work, Hiram; you lose all your +imagination. Right now you haven't any more imagination than a +cabbage. Now, I could suggest a dozen schemes to suit the purpose if +I had to, but one will do. Suppose this: + +"These mountains up here are full of coal--more coal than can be +burnt in a million years. It's a bad road in, but once you get here +you'll see it lying in seams, ten, fifteen, twenty feet thick, and +stretching right through the rocks as far as you like to follow it. +That coal's going to make a bunch of millionaires some day, but not +until you can get at it with something bigger than a cayuse. But +railroads come fast in this country, and there's no saying how soon a +man might cash in if he invested just now." + +"You ain't goin't' wait till a railroad comes, are you? We'll like +enough be dead by that time." + +"Hiram, I told you you had no imagination, wait a moment. Now, +suppose that some strange eccentric chap owns one of these coal +limits. He lives up in the mountains, a kind of hermit, but we fall +in with him and offer him forty thousand dollars for his limit, +worth, say, half a million, or more if you feel like it. He says, +'All right, but mind I want the money in bills, and you'll have to +bring it out to me here.' Now can you think of anything?" + +"Harris don't know nothin' about coal," protested Riles. "He wouldn't +bite at anythin' like that." + +"Your faith has been neglected as well as your imagination. You've +got to paint it to him so's to get him interested. That's all. Our +business is to get Harris, with the money in his wallet, started up +into those mountains. It's mighty lonely up there, with timber +wolves, grizzly bears, precipices, snow-slides, and trails that lead +to nowhere, and if Harris is unfortunate--well, he's unfortunate." + +The plan gradually penetrated Riles' slow-working mind. At first it +numbed him a little, and his face was a strange colour as he turned +to his companion, and said, in a low voice, "Ain't it risky? What if +the police catch on?" + +"They won't. They're all right for cleaning up a rough-house, but +don't cut any figure in fine art work like we'll put over. I tell +you, Riles, it's absolutely safe. Of course, ordinary precautions +must be taken, same as you would with a vicious horse or any other +risk you might run. The main thing is to see that he has the money in +bills; anything else would be risky and lead to trouble. Then this +fellow that's supposed to own the mine must be kept in the +background. We--" + +"But who _does_ own the mine?" + +Gardiner made a gesture of exasperation. "You don't get me, Hiram. +Nobody owns the mine. That part of it's all a myth--a fairy tale +manufactured because we need it. But Harris mustn't find that +out--not, at any rate, until it's too late. Then if anything ever +does leak out, suspicion will be directed toward some mysterious +mine-owner, and the police will be wearing out shoe-leather hunting +the cracks in the foothills while you and I are taking in the sights +of Honolulu or South America. We'll quietly make an appointment for +Harris to meet the mine-owner somewhere up in the hills. We'll direct +him where to go, and leave it at that. Of course we won't go with +him; we'll have other business about that time." + +Riles looked at Gardiner with frank admiration. It seemed so simple +now, and in his growing enthusiasm he felt that he would have little +difficulty in persuading Harris to raise all the cash possible and +bring it with him. And it seemed so safe. As Gardiner said, the +mountains were full of danger, and if something should happen to +Harris--well, he would be unfortunate; but lots of other people had +been unfortunate, too. + +Gardiner turned his team down a side road, forded the river, climbed +a steep, slippery bank, and drew up beside a cluster of ranch +buildings sheltered with cotton-woods and spruces. The old, long +log-house, reminiscent of the days when the West was a land and a law +unto itself, might have stirred the heart of poet or artist; the +hard-beaten soil of the corral hinted still of the brave days of the +open range and cattle beyond the counting. As the team, in their +long, steady trot, swung up beside the stables, an alert young fellow +came quickly out and busied himself with the unhitching. + +"Guess you ought to know our visitor, Jim, shouldn't you?" said +Gardiner. "Another Manitoban chasing the free land." + +Travers at once recognized Riles and extended his hand. "Well, Mr. +Riles, we weren't looking for you here, although I suppose I +shouldn't be surprised, for there was some talk of your coming West +before I left Plainville. What do you think of it? And did you see +the mountains this morning? Worth the trip themselves, aren't they?" + +"Look pretty good, all right, Jim," said Riles, with an attempt at +affability, "but I reckon you wouldn't grow much wheat on 'em, an' +scenery's not very fillin'. How you makin' it go you'self?" + +"Nothing but luck since I landed," said Jim. "Got a good homestead +and a good job right away. You must let me take you out to my farm +before you go back. How's everybody? Harrises well, I hope?" + +"Guess they're well enough, but gettin' kind o' scattered for a +family group. Beulah lit out when you did--but I guess I can't give +you no information about that." + +The smile did not depart from Travers' face, but if Riles had known +him as well as he should he would have seen the sudden smouldering +light in the eye. But the young man answered quietly, "I saw Beulah +the day I left Plainville, and I understood she was going West on a +visit. She isn't back yet?" + +"Innocent, ain't chuh?" said Riles, in a manner intended to be +playful. "It's all right; I don't blame you. Beulah's a good girl, if +a bit high falutin, an' a few years' roughin' it on the homestead'll +take that out of her." + +But Jim had dropped the harness and stood squarely facing Riles. The +smile still lingered on his lips, but even the heavy-witted farmer +saw that he had been playing with fire. Riles was much the larger man +of the two, but he was no one to court combat unless the odds were +overwhelmingly in his favour. He carried a scar across his eye as a +constant reminder of his folly in having once before invited trouble +from a younger man. + +"What do you mean?" demanded Travers. "Put it in English." + +But Gardiner interposed. "Don't be too sensitive, Jim," he said. +"Riles has forgotten his parlour manners, but he doesn't mean any +harm. You weren't insinuating anything, were you, Hiram?" + +"Course not," said Riles, glad of an opportunity to get out of the +difficulty without a direct apology. "No offence intended, Jim. +Beulah's all right, an' you're all right, an' that's what I always +said." + +Travers was not in the least deceived as to Riles' high-mindedness, +but he realized that the man was the guest of his employer, and he +decided not to press the point. Gardiner and Riles went to the house, +and Jim presently saddled his own horse and rode out on the prairie. +He had already lunched, and it was Gardiner's custom to cook for +himself when at home. + +Inside, the two men were soon seated at a meal which Gardiner hastily +but deftly prepared. They ate from plates of white enamelled ware, on +a board table covered with oilcloth, but the food was appetizing, and +the manner of serving it much more to Riles' liking than that to +which he had been subjected for some days. The meat was fresh and +tasty; and the bread and butter were all that could be desired, and +the strong, hot tea, without milk but thick with sugar, completed a +meal that was in every way satisfactory. Riles' eyes, when not on his +plate, were busy taking in the surroundings. The log walls were hung +with mementoes, some of earlier days and some of other lands, and +throughout the big room was a strange mixture of elegance and +plainness. At one end were rows of shelves, with more books than +Riles had ever seen, and above stood a small piece of statuary worth +the price of many bushels of wheat. + +Gardiner noted the interest of his guest, and smiled quietly to +himself. He supposed that Riles had the usual notions about the Far +West--a notion that here he was on the outer-most rim of the finer +civilization of even the Middle West. But he knew also that this +plain log building contained furnishings and decorations altogether +beyond anything that Riles had ever seen or heard of--things, indeed, +so far removed from the life of the hard-working farmer that they +might have come from another world than his own. When the meal was +finished Gardiner swept the soiled dishes into a big galvanized iron +tub, there to await attentions from Jim at a convenient season, and +invited Riles to look about the house. + +They entered another room, immediately to the north of the large +apartment which served all general housekeeping purposes. The floor +was of plain boards, smooth with the riding-boots of many years, and +in the centre lay the skin of a great bear. An old-fashioned carved +table, of some size, and three leather chairs, were the principal +furniture. Two swords hung diagonally across the far wall, and above +them was an old flag, discoloured with sun and rain. Ancient firearms +decorated the walls, and odd pieces of strange clothing hung about in +profusion. + +"This is His Nibs' drawing-room," said Gardiner. "This junk you see +about you has been gathered from the corners of the earth during the +last few centuries. In there"--indicating another room through a door +to the left--"is his bedroom--a regular museum of stuff running to no +end of money, if you went to buy it. He has a couple of pictures +worth more than a quarter-section of land, and that mat you see +through the door--a prayer-rug he calls it, though he don't use it +much for that--is worth over five hundred dollars." + +Gardiner enjoyed the look of amazement that slowly spread over Riles' +face. "He's been stuffin' you," said Riles at length, thinking of his +own extravagance when he paid ninety cents a yard for a carpet for +their front room at home. "He's been stuffin' you sure. There ain't +no mats worth any money like that." + +"It's gospel," said Gardiner. "Why, man, he has a set of chess worth +more than the best team on your farm, and that statue affair up +there--you simply couldn't buy it. The place is just bristling with +valuables of one kind and another." + +But Riles appeared suddenly agitated. He seized Gardiner by the arm, +saying, "If this stuff's worth's much as you figure, why don't we +make a clean-up here, when the duke, or whatever he is, is away? +That'd be safer, wouldn't it?" + +"No, it wouldn't. It'd be easy enough to get away with the stuff, but +how'd you turn it into money? The police would get you sure on a game +like that. Of course, if you should decide to go in for culture, +without the 'agri' ahead, you might like to have the prayer-mat for +your own knees. No, you can't put over anything like that. And now we +better be getting down to business." + +Gardiner drew a couple of chairs up to the carved table, opened a +drawer, and produced writing materials. "We can't get a letter away +to Harris any too soon. Nothing like making hay while the sun shines, +you know, and if he gets out here before we put our plan up to him, +it would be natural enough for him to want to see the mine-owner +himself. So hitch yourself to that pen there, and let us see what +kind of a hand you are at fiction." + +Riles would rather have done a day's work in the field than write a +letter, but Gardiner insisted it must be done by him. Much of the +afternoon was spent in the struggle, and Gardiner's fertile +imagination had to be appealed to at several critical points. But at +last the letter was completed. It ran as follows: + + +"John Harris esq +"planvil man + +"sir i take up my pen to let you no that i am all well hoppin this +will find you the same well this is a grate contry their is sure a +big out ov doors well mr Harris i think i see somthing here a hole +lot better than 3 years on a homstead homsteads is all rite for men +that Hasunt got any mony but a man with sum mony can do better i +wisht i Had sold my plase before i left i could ov done well here +their is lots ov chantez to make big mony their is a man here owns a +cole mine he is what they call Xsentrik He is a Hermitt and lives in +the Hills His mine is wurth 500000$ but He dont no it He will take +80000$ for it and we can sell it rite away for perhaps 500000$ i +think we should take this up it is a grate chants if you will sell +your plase rite away and bring all the mony you can then i will sell +mine for the balluns be sure and bring all the mony you can if you +dont like the cole mine there is lots of other chantez they will make +you rich and bring the mony in bills not chex becaws He wont take +chex becaws He is Xsentrik their is a man here sais His frend in new +york would pay 500000$ for the cole mine if he was here and He is +sending Him word so Hurry and let us get holt ov it furst then we'll +sell it to Him and make a killing dont fale + +"your obedyunt servunt + +"HIRAM RILES." + + +Gardiner read the letter carefully, suppressing his amusement over +Riles' wrestlings with the language, and finally gave his approval. + +"Now, you must make a copy of it," he said. "It's only business to +have a copy. That was a fine touch of yours about going back to sell +your own farm. I believe you have some imagination after all, if it +only had a chance to sprout." + +Riles protested about the labour of making a copy, but Gardiner +insisted, and at last the work was completed. The sound of galloping +hoofs was heard outside, and a cowboy from a neighbouring ranch +called at the door to ask if there was anything wanted from town. +"Here's your chance to mail your letter," Gardiner called to Riles +with unnecessary loudness. "Mr. Riles dropped in here to write a +letter," he explained to the rider. + +Having with much difficulty folded his epistle until it could be +crumpled into an envelope. Riles sealed, stamped, and addressed it, +and a moment later the dust was rising down the trail as the cowboy +bore the fatal missive to town. The die was cast; the match had been +set to the tinder, and the fire must now burn through to a finish, +let it scorch whom it would. + +Gardiner took up the copy, folded it carefully, and put it in his +pocket-book. "Now, Mr. Riles," he said, "we're in for this thing, and +there's no backing out. At least you're in for it. You have sent a +letter, in your handwriting, such as it is, to Harris, and I have a +copy of it, in your handwriting, in my pocket. If this thing ever +gets out these letters will make good evidence." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +THE GAMBLERS + + +Harris found some difficulty in providing that affairs of the farm +would proceed satisfactorily during his absence, but at last they +were arranged, if not exactly to his liking, at least in a manner +that promised no serious loss. It was most unfortunate that Mary, in +a moment of headstrong passion quite without precedent in his +experience of her, had determined upon a visit just at the time when +she was particularly needed at home. If Harris had been quite fair he +would have remembered that there had been no time in the last +twenty-five years when she had not been needed at home, and the +present occasion was perhaps no less opportune for her visit than +many others. But he felt a deep grievance over his wife's conduct, +and while he missed her sorely he was determined that no act of his +should shorten her visit or imply that the business of the farm was +in any way suffering from her absence. He had managed their affairs +successfully in the past; he would continue to manage them +successfully in the future; and he only hoped that time would impress +upon her the fact that he was doing everything for the best. He +assured himself that he was actuated only by a desire for the highest +good for his family, even while their disobedience and ingratitude +rendered his task unnecessarily difficult. + +The hired man, in consideration of having no field work to do, +finally consented to milk the cows and deliver the milk daily to Mrs. +Riles, who would convert it into butter--for a consideration of so +much per pound. To his good neighbours, the Grants, Harris turned for +assurance that should he and Allan be delayed on their trip, or +should the harvest come in earlier than expected, ample steps would +be taken to garner it. + +So, with these arrangements complete, the farmer and his son drove +into Plainville one fine bright morning at the end of July, ready for +their first long trip into the New West. Indeed, it was Allan's first +long journey anywhere; an excursion to Winnipeg at the time of the +summer exhibition had been the limit of his experience of travel, and +the hard work of the farm had not yet extinguished the young man's +desire for novelty and excitement. He looked forward to their +expedition with a feeling akin to enthusiasm, and he secretly +cherished the hope that their travels might bring them again into the +company of his mother and sister, for whom, with the slackening of +labour, he now felt an increasing loneliness. + +Harris got off at the railway station to buy the tickets; Allan went +to the post office on the odd chance of any letters awaiting +delivery, and the hired man turned the horses homeward. The station +agent was threading his way through his car report, and remained +provokingly unconscious of Harris's presence at the ticket window. +The farmer took no pains to conceal his impatience, coughing and +shuffling obviously, but it was not until the last box-car had been +duly recorded that the agent deigned to recognize his existence. + +"Nothing for you from--," he said, mentioning the mail order house +from which Harris made most of his purchases. + +"Well, I didn't expect anythin'," retorted the farmer, "although +you're just as likely to have it when I don't as when I do. How much +is a ticket to Calgary?" + +"You got the land fever, too?" the agent asked, as he consulted his +tariffs. "Riles went up the other day. You'll be making a clean-up on +the cheap land, I suppose. But I tell you, Harris, if I'd a farm like +yours you couldn't pry me off it with a pinch-bar. No more worries +for little Willie, and I'd leave the free land to those that haven't +got any--like myself." + +"Worry!" snorted Harris. "What do you worry about? You get your pay, +whether it freezes or hails or shrivels up with one of these Dakota +scorchers." + +The agent thought of the piles of reports on his table, but as he +thumped the stamp on the tickets he answered, "Oh, I worry over the +Monroe doctrine." He left the farmer counting his change, and turned +to his reports. "Another money-grubber gone crazy with the heat," he +muttered. "If I'd his wad wouldn't I burn this wire with one hot, +short sentence!" + +Harris met his son on the platform. "What d'ye think, Dad? A letter +from Riles." He drew the crumpled missive from its envelope. "Looks +like a laundry ticket," he said, "but I figured it out, and he wants +you to sell the farm and buy a coal mine." + +Harris read the letter through, not without some difficulty. At first +he was inclined to laugh, but the earnestness of Riles impressed him +through the makeshift English. + +"What d'ye think of it, Dad?" said the younger man, at length. "Of +course we don't know anything about coal, but then--" + +"It must look good to Riles or he wouldn't want to put any money in +it," commented Harris, after a few minutes' reflection. "Riles is +pretty cautious. He's got money in the bank drawin' three per cent; +he's afraid to lend it out among the farmers. And he ain't easy +talked into a new scheme, either." + +"D'ye suppose we could sell the farm?" The idea of a big, profitable +speculation suddenly appealed to Allan with much greater force than +the prospect of three years on a homestead. He knew that vast sums of +money had been made, and made quickly, in the Far West, but he had +never before thought of himself or his father sharing in this sudden +wealth. They had worked hard for their money, and took it as a matter +of course that they should continue to work hard for it. But the +vision of quick riches, the prospect of realizing it in his own +person, the dizzy thought that Fortune, which had seemed to move in a +circle quite apart from his existence, might actually now be within a +hand's reach--these intoxicated him with a sudden hope which burst +the old bounds of his imagination and set up new and wilder +ambitions. + +"D'ye suppose we could sell the farm?" he repeated. It began to seem +that the short-cut to wealth hinged on the possibility of selling the +farm. + +"I guess we could sell it, all right," said Harris. "Maybe not for +that much cash, but we can get cash on the agreement, if we need it." +He, too, found the inborn gaming instinct which cries out for money +without labour welling within him and surging up against his +long-established, sober judgment. But he was not a man to act +precipitately, or risk all on a single throw unless he were very, +very sure of the result. + +"Of course, maybe it's all right," he continued. "But it's a good +thing to buy your buggy before you throw away your cart. If this +thing's as good as Riles says, it will keep until we can see it for +ourselves. If it don't, somethin' else'll turn up." + +"Yes," said Allan, "but if we find it's all right when we get there, +and we've only a few measly hundred dollars along, we'll want to kick +ourselves all the way home. Lots of fellows are making big money just +because they had some capital to work with, and why shouldn't we do +it, too? Couldn't you fix it some way to get the money without coming +back, if everything looks all right? That'd save time, and expense +too." + +"There's something in that. There's time to see Bradshaw yet before +the train comes. We'll kind o' leave it standin' in his hands." + +They made a hurried call on Bradshaw, the lawyer, and asked him to be +on the look-out for a buyer for the farm. + +"Mind, I'm not actu'lly puttin' it up for sale," Harris cautioned +him, "but I want you to keep your eye open for a buyer. Forty +thousand dollars takes the whole thing as a goin' concern, an' the +more cash the better. Get a line on a buyer if you can, and if I send +you word to sell, see, you sell, and if I don't send you word, don't +do anythin'. You understand?" + +"I think I understand you perfectly," said the lawyer, who was also a +dealer in real estate. Indeed, since the activity in farm lands had +commenced he might be said to be a real estate dealer who was also a +lawyer. "Not many buyers have that much ready cash, Mr. Harris, but +it could no doubt be arranged to sell your agreement, or raise a +mortgage on the property, that would give you the whole amount in +your hand." Bradshaw, along with his other pursuits, was agent for a +mortgage company, and always valued two commissions higher than one. + +The lawyer wrote something on a sheet of paper. "This is a power of +attorney, which will enable me to complete the documents without the +delay of sending them to you, if you should decide to sell," he +explained. Harris signed the paper, and Allan witnessed it. + +With this understanding the journey westward was undertaken, and +completed without event of importance. As his daughter had done a few +weeks before, and his wife still later, Harris spent a few hours in +the young city just beginning to stir itself on the sleepy, sunny +slopes where the prairies ran into the foothills, stretching one last +long tongue far up the valley of the Bow and lapping at the feet of +the eternal snows. His original plan had been to spend a day or two +in Calgary, "sizing up" the land situation for himself before joining +Riles, but the possibilities of the coal mine speculation had grown +upon him with every mile of the journey. He had only to use his ears +to hear of so many men, apparently no more capable men than he and +Allan, who had grown suddenly rich from fortunate investments. It was +a case of recognizing the opportunity when it presented itself, and +having the nerve to seize it without hesitation. He found himself now +in a country and an atmosphere where "playing safe" was somewhat to a +man's discredit--where the successful man was the man who dared to +throw discretion to the winds and take the chance. And because money, +not earned in the country, was pouring in from outside, and by its +own buoyancy raising the price of land and labour, the chance, even +the foolish chance, was likely to turn out to advantage and justify +the daring of the speculator rather than the discretion of the +careful buyer. Harris had, all his life, lived in an atmosphere of +conservatism, where saving a penny was greater merit than making two, +but he was amazed to find how quickly the gambling spirit of the new +land seized upon him. Unlike Riles, he was a man who responded to his +environment; in a community of hard-working, money-saving farmers he +worked hardest and saved most; but in a community of reckless, +unlicensed speculation he had the qualities which would soon make of +him the greatest gambler of them all. He was astonished and somewhat +frightened by this hitherto unrevealed side of his own character. His +long-dormant imagination began to revive; with imagination came hope +and optimism; and hope and optimism, unchecked, soon breed +recklessness. He saw the evidence of prosperity on every side--not +the prosperity that hedges itself about with socialisms and affected +dignity, but the prosperity that stays on the job in its +shirt-sleeves. He saw men who were doing big things--building +railways, opening up wildernesses, farming or carrying on business +transactions on a scale of which he had never dreamed--and he began +to see that the only reason these men could do these things was that +they dared to do them. Well, he too--he and Allan--would dare some +things...He paid a dollar for their lunch without a grumble, and +again they took the train. + +Riles met them on the station platform. He had met every train for a +week, as it had been agreed that it would be better that the Harrises +should not visit Gardiner's ranch until plans were more fully +developed. Jim was still there, and Gardiner insisted that Jim should +not meet Harris at present. He allowed Riles to think that he feared +trouble if former employer and employee should meet; as a matter of +fact, he feared that if their coal mine proposition should reach the +ears of Travers the young man would attempt to dissuade Harris from +having anything to do with it, or at least would urge a fuller +investigation than might be desirable. Besides, he meant to make of +Travers an unwitting party to the affair. + +Riles, in overalls and shirt-sleeves, leaned against the iron rail at +the back of the station platform, his big hands stuffed in the +bulging band of his trousers, and his under-jaw busy with an ample +ration of tobacco. He watched the passengers alighting from the train +with little interest; he had no particular expectations of meeting +Harris on this occasion, and, if the truth be told, he had little +desire to meet him. Riles had no pangs of conscience over his part in +the plot against his old neighbour, but he had an uneasy feeling of +cowardice. When suddenly his eye fell on Harris and his big, +strapping son, his first impulse was to slip away in the crowd before +they should notice him. But it was only for a moment; the next, +Harris was calling, "'Lo, Hiram," and the two were shaking hands as +old friends met in a far country. + +"Didja get my letter?" asked Riles, ignoring the commonplaces with +which it was their custom to introduce any important topic. "Didja +sell the farm?" + +"I got the letter, Hiram, but I didn't sell the farm. Thought we'd +just have a look over this coal mine before goin' into the business +altogether." + +"H-s-h. Throttle your voice down. This place is full of men on the +look-out for somethin' like that, an' you can't keep it too dark +until it's all settled." + +"Well, ain't we going to put up somewhere?" said Allan, breaking the +silence that followed Riles' warning. "There ought to be an Alberta +hotel here, somewhere. I saw one in every town for the last two +hundred miles." + +"I got that beat," said Riles, with a snicker. "Boardin' on a lord, +or duke, or somethin'." + +"Don't say?" + +"Yeh. You mind Gard'ner? Him 'at lit out from Plainville after that +stealin' affair?" + +"The one you got credit for bein' mixed up in?" said Allan, with +disconcerting frankness. "A lame kind of a lord he'd make. What about +him?" + +"Well, he struck a soft thing out here, fo' sure. This lord I'm +tellin' you about's gone off home over some bloomin' estate or other, +an' Gard'ner's runnin' his ranch--his 'bloody-well rawnch' he calls +it. Gets a good fat wad for ridin' round, an' hires a man to do the +work. But it was Gard'ner put me on t' this coal mine deal." + +"Let's get settled first, and we'll talk about Gardiner and the mine +afterwards," said Harris, and they joined the throng that was now +wending its way to the hotels. + +"How's your thirst, Hiram?" inquired Harris, after he had registered. + +"Pretty sticky," confessed Riles. "But they soak you a quarter to +wash it out here." + +"Well, I got a quarter." + +"A quarter apiece, I mean." + +"Well, I got a quarter apiece," said Harris. "Come on." + +Riles followed, astonishment over Harris's sudden liberality, and +misgiving as to how he himself could avoid a similar expenditure, +struggling for uppermost place in his mind. + +"Pretty strong stuff they have here," he said, after Harris and Allan +had "set 'er up" in turn. "Keel you over if you don't watch it." + +"Does taste kind o' snakey," said Harris. "Guess that's enough for +this time. Now come upstairs and tell us all about this deal you have +on." + +When the travellers had thrown off their coats and vests, and all +were seated in the little bedroom, Riles cleared his throat. + +"Well, there ain't much t' tell yuh, more'n I said in m' letter," he +started. "As I said, it's Gard'ner you'll have t' thank for this +thing, good or bad. I ain't a coal miner, an' I told him that, an' I +told him you wasn't neither, but he says that don't make no +difference. He says there's all kinds o' money in it, an' I reckon +that's what we came out here for, ain't it?" + +"Yes, provided the tiling's sound," said Harris. "Anyone can see with +half an eye that there's easier ways of makin' money than bustin' up +this prairie sod for it. But you and me've worked hard for what we've +got, Hiram, and we want t' go mighty careful about spendin' it." + +"I suppose you've sent home word to sell your farm, have you?" put in +Allan. "You'll be chipping in at the same time?" + +"Oh, yes, I'll be chippin' in. Of course. But I didn't just say to +sell the farm yet. I'll have t' get back an' straighten things up +some first. You see, I thought you'd get my letter before you left, +an' you could kind o' make your deal then, an' your payment would +hold the bargain bound until I could sell mine, y' see, Harris?" +Riles was beginning to address himself mainly to the older man. + +"Don't take me up wrong," said Allan. "I'm in on this along with Dad, +if he's in; an' if he's out, I'm out. But I was just kind o' curious +about it." + +"It's all right, it's all right," assured Riles, with great +magnanimity. Inwardly he was cursing Gardiner for having left this +task to him. He was suspicious of a trap in the simplest question, +and feared that any minute he might find himself floundering in a +mesh of contradictions. + +"Where is this coal mine, and who's got it?" said Harris. + +"I ain't saw it myself," admitted Riles. "They're awful p'tic'lar +about lettin' people see it," he continued, with a sudden flash of +inspiration. "It's so valu'ble, y' know." + +"'Fraid somebody'll bring it home in their pocket, I suppose," said +Allan. + +Riles pretended to laugh heartily. + +"But where is it?" insisted Harris. "Is there a railroad near, or how +do you get at it?" + +"It's up in the mountains, an' that's all I can tell you; but it's +all right, an' there's a pile o' money in it. I guess I better bring +Gard'ner down in the morning, an' he'll explain all about it. Y' see, +he knows the fellow 'at owns it, an' I don't, an' he'll be able to +tell you. That is, if you're goin' in on it. Gard'ner won't say much +unless he knows you're goin' in on it." + +"Well, he'll have to say a good deal before he knows," said Harris. +"I ain't buyin' a pig in a poke. He's got t' show me, and then if +it's all right, why, it's all right." + +"Oh, it's all right," said Riles, although inwardly he felt little +enthusiasm over the attitude of either father or son. He was annoyed +that Allan should be present. On the whole, it would be better to +leave the rest of the explaining to Gardiner. + +"What d'ye think of it, Dad?" said Allan, when Riles was gone. + +"Maybe all right," said Harris. "Wouldn't be surprised but it is. At +the same time, I ain't goin' to put a cent in it till I'm dead sure. +And anyway, there's no use lettin' Riles think we're keen on it." + +"That's what I think. You think Gardiner's all square in it?" + +"I don't know. Likely he's getting a fat commission from somewhere, +but that's fair enough, if he makes the deal. But he won't see any o' +our money till I have the opinion of the best lawyer in town. That's +all we can say till we see it." + +"That seems safe," Allan agreed. "Just the same, I think there's lots +more chances to use our money to advantage here than down in +Manitoba, don't you?" + +"Yes, I think there is. You see, this is a new country, and +everything on the jump. Think how much we could 'a' made in Manitoba +in the early days if we had the money and knew where t' put it. Well, +out here they've got the benefit of our experience, an' they'll do as +much here in five years as we did in twenty-five. We had t' make the +money t' develop our country--had t' make it right at home on our +farms, an' that's slow. But here the money's rollin' in from +outside." + +"What d'ye say if we sell the old farm anyway, and then if this mine +business don't look good, we'll plunk it into farm land?" + +"Might do worse," his father agreed. "We'll have a look round for a +day or two, anyway." + +The next morning they began a round of the real estate offices. Great +activity prevailed everywhere, and dealers seemed to have hardly time +to give them attention. In one little box of a place they mentioned +that they might be on the market for say a couple of thousand acres. + +"Think I can fix you up all right," said the proprietor; "and there's +one sure thing, you can't put your money anywhere where it's safer or +'ll grow faster. Why--" + +At that moment a man in a pepper-and-salt suit went by the door. + +"'Scuse me a minute," said the dealer, rushing to the door and +sending a shrill whistle down the street. The man in the +pepper-and-salt turned, and the dealer beckoned him into the little +office. + +"You know that five-thousand-acre block you bought last week," he +said in a low voice, but loud enough to be heard by the Harrises. +"Bought it at six dollars, didn't you? Well, I can give you seven +to-day, for a quick sale." + +"Couldn't think of it, my dear fellow," protested the lucky buyer. "I +simply couldn't think of it." + +"Couldn't think of making five thousand dollars in a week? It don't +look too bad to a working man like me." + +"But it's nowhere near the value of the land. Why, they're selling +stuff in Illinois today that ain't to be compared with it at a +hundred and fifty dollars an acre. It's only a question of time until +this is as much. You've got better land here, and better climate, and +you're a thousand miles nearer the Pacific Ocean, that's going to +carry the commerce of the future. Seven dollars? It's an insult to +Canada to mention such a price." + +"Well, say," continued the real estate man, in a still more +confidential tone, "I was allowing myself a little margin on the +deal, even at seven dollars. But I had a man in here a few minutes +ago that'll buy that block at eight-fifty. I'll pay you eight dollars +net to put it through." + +"Sorry, but he'll have to get down deeper than that if he wants it. +Tell him I might consider ten dollars, but mind, I ain't making any +promise." And the man in the pepper-and-salt suit continued his +course down the street, just the same as if he were not making five +thousand dollars a week. + +"Big capitalist from New York, that fellow," explained the dealer. +"Simply coining money up here, and always salting it into more land." + +The incident left a deep impression on the Harrises. They did not +know, of course, that the man in the pepper-and-salt suit always went +by the door when likely-looking strangers were in, and that he always +refused a profit of ten thousand dollars as a matter of little +consequence--except for its influence on the unsuspecting party of +the third part. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +THE LURE OF EASY MONEY + +In the afternoon Gardiner and Riles drove into town and met the +Harrises in the waiting-room of the hotel. Gardiner's greeting was +friendly, but not over-familiar, as became a man who had recently +suffered some reflection on his character. He shook Harris and Allan +by the hand, inquired after the cattle and the crops, but discreetly +avoided family matters, having learned from Riles that all had not +been going smoothly in their domestic affairs. Gardiner knew a little +room at the back of the bar, to which he escorted his guests. Having +ordered a bottle and glasses on the table, he turned the key in the +door. + +"You can't be too careful," he explained. "You know, the walls have +ears, and if it gets out that this coal mine can be picked up at the +price we have on it, it will be taken before night. I understand your +money is not here yet, Mr. Harris?" + +"No. Not started, I guess. The fact is, I haven't sold the farm." + +"Well, I don't want to hurry you, but we've got to act quickly, or +not at all. Of course, we don't figure on taking any chances. Our +idea is to turn the property over at once, at a good profit. That's +the way you feel about it too, isn't it?" + +"I'm not a coal miner." + +"Exactly. Neither are the men who own most of the mines of this +country. There comes a time, Mr. Harris, when we realize that we +don't have to get down with pick and shovel to make ourselves some +money--in fact, the man with pick and shovel hasn't time to make any +real money. I am glad you feel like I do about it, for I have already +taken the liberty of putting the proposition up to a New York +syndicate." + +"You mean if we don't come through, they will?" + +"No, I mean that we'll come through--and they'll come after us. My +idea is not to take any chances, but to sell the property, or as good +as sell it, before we buy it. So I sent a Government report on it to +this syndicate, as I heard they were looking out for coal lands in +the West, and I just took the liberty of offering it to them for a +cool quarter of a million, and gave them until to-night to accept or +refuse, by wire. I'm a little anxious for an answer, although if they +don't take it others will. You see, the old fellow that owns it +simply hasn't any idea what it's worth. He has lived in the hills +until he looks like one of 'em, and a satchelful of money in real +bills will simply dazzle him. A cheque wouldn't serve the purpose; +he'd be suspicious of it, and he'd come down to investigate, and +someone would be sure to crimp our deal." + +"But what is your plan for the deal, Mr. Gardiner?" asked Harris. "We +can't go into the mountains with a load of bills and buy a mine like +a man might buy a steer. There'll have to be papers, titles, and such +things, I suppose, to make it right with us and with the Government." + +"Of course," Gardiner agreed. "We will take the money with us, but we +won't give it to him until we get the papers. We'll just let him see +it--nibble it a little, if you like--and then we'll lead him into +town with it, like you lead a horse with oats. The sight of so much +money will keep him coming our way when nothing else would. And we'll +slip him a hundred or two, and get a little receipt for it, just to +prevent him changing his mind if he should be so disposed." + +"And suppose I don't like the look of the mine when I see it?" + +"Then you bring your money back down with you and put it into farm +lands, or anything else that takes your fancy. After you look it +over, if you don't want to go in on it, Mr. Harris, perhaps Riles and +I can raise enough ourselves to swing the deal, but you see we +thought of you from the first, and we will stay with our original +plan until you have a chance to decide one way or another." + +"Well, that sounds fair," said Allan, and his father nodded. "But we +haven't sold the farm, and until we do I guess there isn't much money +in sight." + +"Bradshaw'll sell the farm quick enough if I send him word," his +father assured him. "He may not get it all in money, but he'll get a +good part of it, and he has ways o' raisin' the balance so long's the +security is good. I've half a mind t' wire him t' close 'er out." + +At this moment there came a knock on the door, and a boy presented a +telegram for Gardiner. He opened it, read it, and emitted a whoop +like a wild Indian. "They're coming through," he shouted, "coming +through! How does half of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars look +to you, Mr. Harris?" + +Harris reached out eagerly for the telegram, while Allan, his arm +thrown over his father's shoulder, read it in boyish excitement: + + +"If investigation confirms Government reports we will pay two hundred +fifty thousand. Our representative leaves at once for personal +interview." + + +The name at the end of the telegram was unknown to either Harris or +his son, but Gardiner assured them it was one to conjure with in the +financial world. Riles' excitement was scarcely less than Allan's. +Gardiner choked a flood of questions on his lips with a quick +imperative glance. Even Riles did not know that the telegram had been +written a few doors down the street by a stoutish man in a +pepper-and-salt suit. + +"I'll take a chance," said Harris, at last. "I'll take a chance." + +"Chance nothing!" interjected Gardiner, with momentary abruptness. +"It was a chance a minute ago; it's a certainty now. It's the cinch +of a lifetime." + +"Where's some paper?" asked Allan. "Let's get a telegram away right +off." + +Gardiner produced a notebook and, at Harris's dictation, drafted a +telegram to Bradshaw, directing him to dispose of the farm at once +along the lines of the instructions already given him. He was to cash +the agreement and wire the proceeds to Harris. + +Then followed long anxious days. Fortune seemed to hang on Bradshaw's +success in making an immediate sale of the farm. It was a large +order, and yet Harris felt confident a buyer would be found. The +price asked was not unreasonable, especially when it was remembered +that the crop would go to the purchaser, and was now almost ready for +the binder. Bradshaw was in constant touch with well-to-do farmers +from the South who were on the look-out for land, and his own banking +facilities would enable him to forward the cash as soon as a sale was +assured, without waiting for actual payment by the purchaser. So +Harris was confident in the midst of his anxiety. + +A gentleman's agreement had been made with Gardiner and Riles that +not a word was to be said concerning their investment until it was a +completed fact. Gardiner dropped in occasionally to learn if any word +had come from Plainville, but it was not until the afternoon of the +fourth day that the fateful yellow envelope was handed in at the +hotel. As it happened, Gardiner and Riles were present at the moment. +They slipped into the back room and waited in a fever of expectation +for Harris to announce the contents. + +Harris and Allan read the message twice before speaking; then Allan +repeated it aloud: + + +"Twenty thousand dollars proceeds sale goes forward by wire your +bank. Correspondence follows. Will explain failure to get price +asked. + +"BRADSHAW." + + +Harris was torn between emotions, and his face worked with unwonted +nervousness as he struggled with them. That Bradshaw should have sold +the farm for half the price he had stipulated seemed incredible. It +was robbery; it was a breach of trust of the most despicable nature. +On the other hand, if the amount available would enable them to buy +the mine, the huge profit assured from that investment would much +more than offset the loss on the farm. Gardiner and Riles, too, were +visibly downcast when they heard the amount, but Gardiner promptly +grappled with the situation. + +"It's less than we figured on," he said, "but perhaps we can get +through still. The thing to do is to get out to the mine at once with +this money. It will be sufficient to prove the genuineness of our +intentions, and induce him into town. Then Riles can put up some and +I can put up some, and that, with the twenty thousand, should hold +the deal until Riles can realize on his farm. Within a very short +time we can turn the whole thing over to the New Yorkers, and take in +the profits." + +"Say, Gardiner," said Allan, speaking as one who had been struck by a +new and important thought. "Where do you come in on this deal? Is +your old gink up in the hills coming through for half?" + +"Not a cent," said Gardiner. "As for where I come in, well, dealing +with old friends like Riles and the Harrises, I considered that a +secondary matter. I fancy that when they feel the profits in their +pockets they will be disposed to be not only fair, but generous, and, +of course, if I put up part of the money I will expect my share of +profit. But I'm not asking for any assurance; I'm just going to leave +that to you." + +"Well, that's decent, anyway," Harris agreed. "I haven't as much +money as I expected, but if we can pull it through it may be all +right yet. Of course, you remember that I haven't promised to put up +a dollar unless I like the looks of the mine when I see it?" Harris +still had qualms of hesitation about entering into a transaction so +much out of his beaten path, and he took occasion from time to time +to make sure that an avenue of retreat was still open. + +"That's the understanding, exactly," Gardiner assured him. "You're +the man with the money, and if you don't like it, don't pay." + +Harris at once visited the bank, and returned shortly with the +information that the amount, less a somewhat startling percentage for +transmission and exchange, was already deposited to his credit. + +"Then let us lose no more time," said Gardiner, with enthusiasm. "You +will need a team and rig, and you better pack a couple of blankets +and some grub. Make the stableman throw in a couple of saddles; you +may have to ride the last part of the trip. Riles and I will make it +the whole way on horseback." Gardiner then remembered that it would +be necessary for him to go back to the ranch and change horses, but +he described in detail the road they should take, and assured them +they could not miss it. It was the main road up the river valley--up, +and up--and if they drove hard they would reach that night a spot +where an old, deserted cabin stood back in a clump of poplars. It +would be a good place to spend the night, and Riles and Gardiner +would meet them there, if, indeed, they did not overtake them on the +road. Neither Harris nor Allan had any fear of a strange trail; they +had been bred to a sense of direction and location all their lives, +and were confident they would find no difficulty in reaching the +rendezvous. + +"Better make your own arrangements about the horses," Gardiner +whispered as they left the room. "We can't be too careful to keep our +business secret." + +As they stood for a moment in the waiting-room it occurred to Allan +that some shooting might be found in the mountains. "You haven't got +a gun you could lend me, I suppose?" he said to Gardiner. + +"What do you want a gun for?" Gardiner demanded brusquely. + +"Might get a shot at a partridge, or something. No harm in having one +along, is there?" + +"Oh, no, but I don't expect you'll see anything to justify the +trouble. Anyway, I haven't got one." + +"There's a shot-gun here," said the hotel clerk, who had overheard +the last remarks, "if that would suit you. A Cholly who was taking a +short course in poker put it up a few days ago as a stand-off on his +eat score. There's ten bones against it; if it's worth that to you, +take it." + +He handed the gun over the counter, and Allan examined it with +interest. He recognized an English weapon of a value out of all +proportion to the price asked. + +"I'll take it," he said, and paid down the money. There was a +momentary darkening of Gardiner's face which nobody noticed. + +The little party then moved out to the street. Gardiner had regained +his smooth manner, and gave some final directions about the road. + +"Oh, we'll find it all right," said Allan, in high spirits, "and +we'll beat you to the shanty unless you've some faster nags at home +than any I see you driving. So long." + +"So long," called Gardiner. "So long, and good luck." + +"So long, an' good luck," repeated Riles. He was trying to play the +game, but, as Gardiner often reminded him, he had no imagination. It +would have been quite impossible for Riles, on his own initiative, to +have thought of wishing the Harrises "good luck" on the journey they +were about to commence...They were interesting types of +villains--one, gentlemanly, suave, deep, and resourceful; the other, +coarse, shallow, slow-witted, and brutal. The offence of one against +society was wholly intellectual; of the other, almost wholly +physical. Gardiner fully appreciated the difference, and in his heart +he felt a contempt and loathing toward Riles which he concealed only +as a matter of policy. And he had worked out in his mind a little +plan by which Riles, when his usefulness was ended, should be +shuffled off without any share in the booty. At present he tolerated +him because of necessity. There was work before them for which Riles +was peculiarly qualified. + +The Harrises went at once to a livery stable, where they arranged for +a team and outfit. They then bought some cartridges for the gun, and +a small handbag in which to carry the money. + +When Harris presented himself at the bank wicket and asked for the +full amount to his credit in cash, the sallow-faced teller turned a +trifle paler still and slipped into the manager's office. A moment +later the manager himself appeared before them. + +"That's a pretty heavy order on a country bank, Mr. Harris. Of course +we could give it to you in exchange, but to pay twenty thousand +dollars or thereabouts in bills will drain us to almost our last +dollar. Can't you use a marked cheque, or a draft on a Calgary bank?" + +"Well, no," Harris said; "I'm afraid we can't." + +"A marked cheque is as good as bills," the banker argued, "and much +easier to carry, not to speak of being safer," he added, as an +afterthought. "Travelling with that amount of money on you is a sort +of defiance of natural law, especially with the country full of +strangers, as it is at present." The banker looked from the powerful +frame of the farmer to the equally powerful frame of the farmer's +son, and his eye fell on the gun which the latter carried under his +arm. "But, I guess," he continued with a laugh, "there isn't much +danger on that score." + +"Nothin' t' speak of," said Harris. "And while I don't want t' break +your bank, I do want t' get that money, and t' get it in bills, or +part of it in gold an' silver would do. The fact is, I don't mind +tellin' you I've a deal on, an' I've undertaken t' put up this money +in cash--to-night." + +The banker ruminated for a few minutes. Experience had told him that +with a certain class of men money in bills was more valuable than +money in a cheque or draft. The very bulk of the currency seemed to +impress them. He had seen an old-timer refuse a twelve-hundred-dollar +marked cheque for his property, and yet surrender greedily at the +sight of a thousand one-dollar bills piled on a table before him. +This was a trait of human nature found in many persons unaccustomed +to the handling of considerable sums of money, and sharp traders +considered it good business to take advantage of it. The banker +thought he understood why Harris wanted all the money in bills, +although the sum was larger than he had ever seen handled in that way +before. + +A young man emerged from somewhere and locked the front door of the +bank. + +"It's closing time now," said the teller, addressing the manager. "We +have enough cash on hand to pay this gentleman, and we can wire for +more bills, which will reach us in time for to-morrow's business." + +"Pay it, then," said the manager. "Mr. Harris has a right to his +money in that form if he wants it. But," he added, turning to Harris, +"I'd advise you to keep both eyes on it until your transaction is +completed." + +The counting of the money was a bigger task than either Harris or +Allan had thought, but at last it was completed, and they were ready +for the road. The banker looked after their buggy as it faded out of +sight up the river road. + +"Hang me if I like that!" he said to himself. + +The long drive up the valley in the warm August afternoon was an +experience for the soul of painter or poet. Even John and Allan +Harris, schooled as they were in the religion of material things, +felt something within them responding to the air, and the sunlight, +and the dark green banks of trees, and the sound of rushing water, +and the purple-blue mountains heaving and receding before them. The +sweat trickled in narrow tongues down the backs of their horses, +reminding them that the ascent was much steeper than it appeared. As +they topped each new ridge they looked expectantly forward to a +greater revelation of the mountains, but this was constantly denied +by ever-recurring successions of ridges still ahead. The long, smooth +swell of the plain gradually gave way to the more abrupt formations +of the foothills, and here and there in their rounded domes protruded +great warts of green-grey rock where the winds of ages had whipped +the sand down into the valleys. Little clusters of green poplars, +like vast goatees, nestled on the northern chin of the hills across +the valley, where the Chinook had failed to spread its balmy +winter-blight among them; here and there were glimpses of thousands +of cattle feeding on the brown ranges. The sun, like a bubble of +molten gold blown from the bowl of heaven, hung very close in a +steel-bright, cloudless sky. Lower it fell, and lower, until a fang +of rock two miles high pierced its under-edge, and sent a flood of +fire pouring in a thin, bright border along the crest of the Rockies. +The travellers stopped their horses on a ridge to watch the +marvellous transformation; light before them, light behind them, at +their feet the shadows creeping up the mountain sides, and the valley +beneath transformed as by some fairy wand into a sea of amber. + +Allan breathed deeply of the high, clear air, and in his eye was +something which revealed that the light without had some way struck +to new life the slumbering light within. He had no words of +expression--no means of conveying his emotion; but he thought of his +mother and Beulah--Beulah, who had so often protested against the +substitution of existence for life. He had never had much patience +with her queer notions, but now, in this moment when he knew that in +some strange way he had invaded the borderland of the Infinite, +Beulah stood up before his eyes--Beulah, his sister, resolute, +defiant, reaching out, demanding life, life! He turned to his father, +but was silenced by the sight of a line of moisture crawling slowly +down the weather-beaten cheek. John Harris was driving again the +pioneer trail from Emerson; at his side was Mary, young, beautiful, +and trusting, and before them lay life...And they had not found that +life...He made a dry sound in his throat, and the horses moved on. + +Darkness settled about them. One or two stars came out. The poplars +took on the colour of the spruce; the river fretted more noisily in +its rocky channel. A thin ribbon of cloud lay across the mountains, +and a breeze of wonderful mellowness came down through the passes. + +At length, just as they were thinking of pitching camp for the night, +Allan espied a deserted cabin in a cluster of trees by the side of +the road. They turned into the wood and unhitched the horses. + +The building was some old prospector's shack, long unoccupied save +for occasional hunter or rancher, and the multitude of gophers that +had burrowed under its rotting sills. The glass was gone from a +single window looking out upon the road; the door had fallen from its +hinges; the floor had been broken down in spots by the hoofs of +wandering cattle. A match revealed a lantern hanging on the wall, and +a few cooking utensils, safe from all marauders under the unwritten +law of the new land. + +The two men first made their horses comfortable, and then cooked some +supper on a little fire at the door of the shack. Harris was tired, +so they cleared a space in the corner furthest from the door, and +spread their blankets there. Harris lay down to rest, the precious +bag of money by his side. + +"You might as well drop off for a nap," Allan suggested. "They must +have been delayed, and may not make it to-night at all. We're here +for the night, and you may as well rest if you can. I won't turn in +myself until you waken." + +"I believe I'll do as you say," his father agreed. "Keep a keen ear +an' don't leave the building without wakin' me." + +Allan looked out at different times for Gardiner and Riles, but there +seemed no sound in all the world save the rushing of water. A cold +draught crept along the floor...He fancied his father had fallen into +a nap...The night chill deepened, and at length Allan hung a blanket +as best he could across the open door. His gun gave him a sense of +companionship, and he took it in his hands and sat down beside his +father...It was very lean and graceful in his fingers. + +While the banker worked in his garden in the long August evening the +thought of the two men with a bag full of money kept recurring and +recurring in his mind, and smothering the natural pride he felt in +his abounding cabbages. True, it was no business of his, but still he +could not feel entirely at ease. As he bent over his hoe he heard +hoofs clatter in the street, and, looking up, saw the erect form of +Sergeant Grey on his well-groomed Government horse. At a signal from +the banker the policeman drew up beside the fence. + +They talked in low voices for ten minutes. "It may be a wild-goose +chase," said the sergeant at last, "but it's worth a try." Half an +hour later his horse was swinging in his long, steady stride up the +road by the winding river. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +THE HONOUR OF THIEVES + + +Gardiner and Riles rode only a short distance out of town, then +turned their horses into the deep bush, and waited. The afternoon +wore on heavily, and the goad of suspense hounded them sorely, but +there was nothing to do but wait. It would be a fool's trip, as +Gardiner said, to go hunting unless they were assured of game. + +But at last the Harrises' team and buggy milled by. When it had +secured a good lead the two horsemen emerged from their covering and +took a cross road to Gardiner's ranch. + +"We better eat," said Gardiner, and busied himself with starting a +fire. "Of course, the cook's out. Fishing, I guess," he continued, as +he noticed that Travers' fishing rod was gone from the wall. "Perhaps +it's just as well. He might be asking questions." + +Riles ate his meal in haste and silence. He was taciturn, moody, and +excitable, and made no response to Gardiner's attempts to open +conversation upon trivial subjects. + +"Upon my soul," said Gardiner at last, "you don't seem any more than +enthusiastic. One would think you were going to a funeral, instead of +a--a division of profits." + +"Perhaps I am," said Riles sourly. "We'll know better when we get +back." + +"Well, if you feel that way about it, you better stay at home," said +Gardiner, with pointed candidness. "If ten thousand dollars is no +good to you perhaps I can use your share in my own business," + +"That wouldn't let me out," protested Riles. "You've got me mixed up +in it now, and if things go wrong I'm in for it, but if things go +right you're willin' t' take all the money." + +"Things won't go wrong," Gardiner assured him. "They can't. +Everything is planned to a fraction, but if we see there's going to +be a hitch--why, the owner of the mine'll fail to turn up, and we'll +all come back to town, and no one a bit the wiser." + +Gardiner arose and took a bottle from a cupboard. He poured a big +glass and set it before Riles. "Drink that, and the world will look +more to your liking," he said. + +Riles responded to the liquor, and presently the two were in animated +discussion of their plans. Riles was eager to know the details, of +which he had been kept in complete ignorance, but Gardiner would +disclose nothing until they were on the road. "Jim may come in any +minute," he explained, "and Jim might hear enough to make him +curious. And it's just a little too soon to excite his curiosity." + +"That reminds me," Gardiner continued. "Jim has a very neat little +revolver here somewhere. I think I'll borrow it. We might see ionic +game, as Allan says." + +A search disclosed revolver and cartridges in Travers' trunk. +Gardiner loaded the weapon and put it in his pocket. + +"What about me?" demanded Riles. "Ain't I t' have no gun?" + +"Better without it," said Gardiner. "It might go off. If we really +see any game, and there's a chance of a second shot, I'll lend you +this one." + +The sun was dipping almost to the mountains when they set out on a +cross-trail through the valley. Down by the river, well screened with +cotton-woods, Travers fished in a pool close by the ford. He heard +voices, and, looking up quickly, saw Riles and Gardiner riding slowly +down the road. At first he thought Gardiner had seen him, but in a +moment he revised that opinion. The two rode close by, and stopped +their horses to drink with their forefeet in the river. Jim was going +to call to them when he heard his own name mentioned. He was no +eavesdropper, but he obeyed the impulse to listen and keep out of +sight. + +"Travers doesn't suspect a thing," Gardiner was saying. "It's just as +well. He figures on making old Harris his father-in-law some day, +and he might do something foolish if he caught on. If the old man +loses all his money he won't be so desirable from a son-in-law's +point of view...Well, we'll see how he stands the night in the old +shanty up the river road. Strange things have happened there before +now, let me tell you, Riles." + +If Jim had been prompted by curiosity at first a very different +emotion laid hold of him as he caught the gist of Gardiner's remarks. +He had no delusions about the principles of either Gardiner or Riles. +His relations with his present employer had been pleasant but by no +means confidential, as he had never sought nor valued Gardiner's +friendship. He was convinced that Gardiner was kind in a general way +to those with whom he came in contact, because kindness cost nothing +and might upon occasion be exceedingly profitable. Riles, on the +other hand, was coarse and unkind simply because his nature rose to +no higher plane. Gardiner was clever enough to conceive almost any +depth of villainy, and Riles was brutal enough to carry out the +muscular part of the plot. Travers had not known Harris to be in the +district, but he had suspected for some days that Gardiner and Riles +were hatching mischief in their long absences together. The +information that Harris was going up the river to-night, apparently +with a large sum of money, and the fact that these two men also were +going up the river, gave to Travers' nimble mind framework on which +to hang almost any kind of plot. + +He leaned forward in the trees, but at that moment Riles clutched +Gardiner's arm and said something in a low voice. The two men rode +through the river, and their words were drowned in the lisp of the +water. + +The smile did not leave Travers' lips as he wound up his reel and +stole swiftly along a cattle-track up from the river, but a sudden +light gleamed in his eyes and his muscles hardened with excited +tension. He knew the shanty to which Gardiner referred, as they had +once been there together, and he resolved that if there were going to +be any "doings" in that locality to-night he would furnish a share of +the excitement. Unfortunately, the ford was on a cross-road little +used, and it was two miles back to the ranch. Had he been raised on +the ranges he would not have been caught so far from his horse, but a +Manitoban sometimes uses his legs to walk with, while his brother in +Alberta finds them useful only for wearing schaps and straddling a +saddle. By the time Travers reached the ranch buildings, caught and +saddled his horse, made a fruitless search for his revolver, +substituted a rifle which lay at hand, and at length found himself +upon the trail, darkness was setting in, and Gardiner and Riles had +many miles' start of him. + +When the two plotters stopped to let their horses drink at the ford +Gardiner suddenly broke off from their conversation to make a few +remarks about Travers and Harris. Riles had listened indifferently +until his eye caught sight of Travers, half concealed among the +cotton-woods that fringed the stream. He clutched Gardiner's arm. + +"S-s-sh," he cautioned. "Jim's just behind the bank. I'm sure I saw +him, an' he heard you, too." + +"Good," said Gardiner, quite undisturbed. "Now we can go on." They +reined up their horses and plunged into the swiftly-running water. +"You see," said Gardiner, as the horses took the opposite bank with +great strides, their wet hoofs slipping on the round boulders that +fringed the stream,--"You see, I knew Jim was there all the time. +Those remarks were intended for his benefit." + +Riles parted with a great chew of tobacco. "You beat me," he said, +wiping his lips with the back of his hand. "You plumb beat me." + +Gardiner enjoyed the note of admiration in his companion's voice. He +enjoyed also the knowledge that Riles was utterly at sea; that he had +no more idea than the horse he rode what lay before them that night. + +"It's all quite simple," said Gardiner, after a pause. "Jim will +hurry back to the ranch, saddle his horse, and follow us. By the way, +I didn't tell him I borrowed his revolver. That may delay him some. +But he should arrive at the shack in time to be taking a few stealthy +observations just about the moment the Harrises are hunting for their +money bag. I hope Allan doesn't use that shot-gun on him. A shot-gun +makes an awful hole in a man, Riles." + +Riles experienced an uncanny feeling up his spine. + +"Well," continued Gardiner, "I promised to lay the whole plan before +you, when we were safe on the road with no possibility of any strange +ears cocked for what a man might happen to say...Look at that sunset, +Riles; isn't that magnificent!" + +"Good enough, I suppose," said Riles, "but I hope we didn't come out +here to see the sunset. How about this plan of yours?" + +"Riles," admonished Gardiner, "you've no more soul than a toadstool. +You haven't any imagination. I wonder you have faith enough to wind +your watch. Now if you could paint a picture like that it would make +you more money than you ever saw--including what you're going to see +to-night. + +"But to get down to the scheme. It's all easy sailing now. The big +thing was to get them on the road with the coin. That's what I needed +you for, Riles. And you didn't do too bad. I had to prod you along a +bit, but you'll thank me for it when it's all over." + +"Yes, but it's them that's got it, not us," commented Riles. + +"Sure, but it'll be different in the mornin'. Riles, you are a gloomy +devil. Here you have ten thousand dollars right in your mit and +you're as happy as a man with a boil. Now this is how it will work +out, to a T. The two Harrises will get up to the shanty about dark. +They'll pitch camp there and begin to wonder when we'll be along. +Well, we won't be along until it's good and dark, even if we have to +kill time on the road. If Travers catches up on us we'll just let him +make one of the party, which will be sort of embarrassing for Jim. +But he won't catch up. Well, when it's good and dark--there'll be no +moon till after midnight--and they're both sleepy with their long +drive in the high altitude, we will arrive near by. You will go up to +the door and take a look on the quiet. I will go up to the window and +do the same. There's no glass in the window, and there's no door on +either, as I remember. We'll size up things inside, particularly the +location of the coin. Then you show yourself. Tell 'em I have the +owner of the mine out there in the trees, but the old fellow won't +come in until he has a talk with them. Tell 'em they better not show +the money until they chat with him a few minutes. Likely they'll fall +for that, as they don't seem to have the slightest suspicion. But if +they balk at leaving the money let them bring it along. Once out in +the dark the rest will be easy. But I figure they'll leave the money +in the shack--it's just for a few minutes, you know--and they'll +reason that it's safe enough with no one but ourselves within miles. +Well, you lead them off down through the bush. As soon as you do that +I'll slip in through the window, gather up the long green and cache +it somewhere in the scrub. You won't be able to find me at first, but +when you do I'll say that the old fellow wanted to go up to the shack +himself to meet them, and I let him go. Then we'll all go back to the +shack, and find both the money and the old man--the mine-owner, you +know--missing. Then we'll start a hue and cry and all hit into the +bush. You and I will gather up the spoil and make a quiet get-away +for the night. Of course we'll have to turn up in the morning to +avert suspicion, but we can tell them we got on the robber's trail +and followed it until we lost ourselves in the bush. In the meantime +the Harrises will be tearing around in great excitement, and they're +almost sure to run on to Travers. Harris recently fired Travers, and +Allan had a fight with him, if you told me right, so it's not likely +they'll listen to any explanations. They'll turn him over to the +police, and as it's the business of the police to get convictions, +they'll have to frame up a case against him or be made to look +stupid--and that's the last thing a policeman likes. Then you and I +will quietly divide the proceeds of our investment, and you can go +back to your farm, if you like, and live to a ripe old age and get a +write-up in the local paper when you shuffle off. As for me--I'm not +that type, Riles, and I'll likely find some other way to spend my +profits." + +"It looks easy," Riles admitted. "But what about Jim? He'll tell what +he heard you say at the ford." + +"Let him. Nobody'll believe it. Remember that when he tells that +he'll be under arrest, and when a man's under arrest his word is +always discounted. To be arrested means to be half convicted. It +takes two good witnesses to offset the moral effect of arrest, and +Travers will have no witnesses. + +"It's all quite easy," Gardiner continued. "And if it should fail +there are a dozen other ways just as easy. But we won't let it fail. +We mustn't let it fail, on your account." + +"On my account? What more account mine than yours?" + +"Well, you see, Harris, no doubt, has your letter stowed away +somewhere, and it would make bad evidence for you. I don't think it +mentions me at all. Besides, I know a way through a pass in these +mountains, and if it doesn't turn out right--why, I'm glad I know the +way. You see, I've nothing to lose, and, nobody to worry over me. But +it's different with you, Hiram. You have a wife and a fine farm down +in Manitoba, and it would be inconvenient for you to slip away +without notice. So I say that on your account we mustn't let it +fail." + +"You didn't say nothin' about that before, I notice," said Riles. + +"You mustn't expect me to do your private thinking as well as that of +the firm," Gardiner retorted. "You had the facts--why didn't you +patch them together for yourself? You're in a mess now if things +don't go right. But, as I said, I'm going to stick with you and see +that they do go right." + +They rode along in silence in the gathering darkness. Had they been +able to read each other's minds they would have been astonished at +the coincidence of thought. Gardiner was planning to make away with +the money when he got out of the building. Why should he divide with +Riles--Riles, who would only hoard it up, and who had plenty of money +already? Not at all. Riles might sue him for his share, if he wanted +to--and could find him, to serve notice! On the other hand, Riles' +slow wits had quickened to the point of perceiving that there lay +before him a chance of making twenty thousand dollars instead of ten +thousand, if he only had the nerve to strike at the strategic moment. +When he got the Harrises out of the shack, by hook or crook he would +leave them and follow Gardiner. He was much more than Gardiner's +match in strength and he had little fear of the revolver, provided he +could take his adversary unawares. If the worst came to the worst, +and he could not give the Harrises the slip, he would take them with +him, and they would all come upon Gardiner red-handed with the loot. +Then he would explain to Harris how he had discovered Gardiner's plot +and frustrated it...The idea grew upon Riles, and he rode along in a +frame of mind bordering upon cheerfulness. + +It was now quite dark, and the horses picked their steps carefully +along the hillside trails. At last Gardiner drew up and pointed to a +heavy clump of trees. A faint glimmer of light shone through it. + +"That's the shack," he whispered. "They have a lantern there. We +better get off the road and tether our horses in this coulee. Don't +go too close; their horses may call to ours, and they will come out +to meet us." + +They turned down a narrow ravine with scarce room to walk single file +between the branching trees. The stream was almost dry, and the +horses' hoofs clanked alarmingly along the bed of the creek. They +tied them where the woods closed all about them, and there seemed no +chance of discovery. + +"Quietly, now," said Gardiner, as they stole toward the old building. +"Things seem to be working out as we planned, but we must make sure +of every detail, so that we can change the attack if necessary." + +The two men stole up the rough road leading to the hut. Riles felt +his heart thumping, and his lungs seemed half choked for air, but +Gardiner lost none of his composure, and would have lit a cigarette +had he not feared the light would betray them. The glow of the +lantern came from the building, shining in a long, fading wedge from +the sashless window, but seemed strangely obscure about the door. As +they approached this mystery was revealed; a blanket was seen to hang +over the doorway. + +"That's a good sign," whispered Gardiner. "One, or both of them, are +sleeping. That's why they feel the cold. If they had stayed awake +they would have built a fire and perhaps walked about outside. This +mountain air gets a man that isn't used to it. I'll bet you could go +to sleep yourself this minute, Riles, if you weren't so scared." + +"I ain't scared, damn you," said Riles, though the words trembled in +his teeth. "If it comes to a show-down we'll see who's scared." + +"That's good," said Gardiner. "That's the way to talk. If you just +keep that up for a few minutes it'll all be over." + +They paused for a moment to listen. The night was moonless and +starry, except where a bank of clouds came drifting up from the +south-west. A moist breeze, smelling of soft, mountain snow, gently +stirred the trees about them. But from the shanty no sound could be +discerned. They approached nearer, and still nearer. + +"Now, you go to the door, and I'll take the window," Gardiner +ordered. "Shove the blanket aside a little and size up the situation +before you speak. We must make sure they're there, and there alone." + +Gardiner waited until he saw Riles fumbling carefully with the +blanket that hung in the doorway. Then he darted quickly to the +window. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +THE FIGHT IN THE FOOTHILLS + + +While Allan sat in the little cabin he gradually became oppressed +with a sense of great loneliness. From time to time he looked at the +face of his sleeping father, and suddenly the knowledge struck him +like a knife that it was the face of an old man. He had never thought +of him as an old man before, but as he lay on the rough floor, +sleeping soundly after his long drive, there was something in the +form that told of advancing years, and Allan could see plainly the +deepening furrows in his strong, still handsome face. As he looked a +vast tenderness mingled with his loneliness; he would have stooped +and caressed him had he not feared to disturb his slumbers. Allan's +love for his father was that of man to man rather than son to parent; +it was the only deep passion of his young life, and it ran with a +fulness that could not be checked. Of his mother he thought with +kindliness, tinged with regret that all had not of late been quite as +it should be in their domestic circle; toward his sister he felt a +vague longing and uneasiness, and a new feeling which had taken root +that afternoon that perhaps after all she was right in seeking to +live her life as she would; but it was to his father that his great +emotion turned. He looked upon the sleeping man now, with the wealth +of a lifetime's labour at his side, and the bond of trust and +confidence between them seemed so tight it brought the moisture to +his eyes. He thought of the past years; of their labour on the farm +together--hard labour, but always relieved by their comradeship and +mutual ambitions. A hundred half-forgotten incidents came to mind, in +all of which his father was companion and chum rather than parent and +corrector. And after all, hadn't it been worth while? Had not they, +in their way, really given expression to their lives as best they +could in the black, earth-smelling furrows, in the scent of tallowy, +straw-aromaed steam from their engine, or the wet night-perfume of +ripening wheat? How those old smells beat up from the mysterious +chambers of memory and intoxicated his nostrils with fondness and a +great sense of having, in some few hallowed moments, dove-tailed his +own career into the greater purpose of creation! Allan did not +analyze these thoughts and memories, or try to fit them into words, +but they brought to him a consciousness of having lived--of having +known some experiences that were not altogether material and +temporal. + +And then his memory carried him still furthe back--back to the days +when he was a little child, and in the mirror of the darkness he +could see his own small figure trudging in the track of the plough +and hanging to the rein-ends that dropped from the knot on his +father's ample back. Back to the old sod shanty, with its sweet smell +of comfort when the snow beat against the little window and the wind +roared in the rattling stove-pipe, and his mother sat by the fire and +plied her flying needles. What wonderful times they were, and what +wonderful dreams in the little, thoughtful child-mind just catching +the first glimmerings of life! Could it be this old cabin, these +rotting logs, this earthy floor, that were stirring memory cells +asleep for twenty years? He would not allow his mind to be drawn into +speculation--the thing was the remembrance, now, when it was offered +him. Old lullabies stole into his brain; a deep peace compassed him, +and consciousness faded thinner and thinner into the sea of the +infinite... + +Allan sat up in a sudden, cold chill of terror. Had he been asleep? +What cold breath of dread had crossed his path? He was no coward; the +sense of fear was almost unknown lo him, but now it enveloped him, +stifled him, set his teeth chattering and his limbs quaking. He had +heard nothing, seen nothing. The gun was in his hands as it had lain +when last he remembered it; his father slept by his side, and near +the wall lay the precious satchel. And yet he shook in absolute, +unreasoning, unfounded terror. His eyes wandered from the lantern to +the door--to the blanket hanging limply in the door; and there they +stared and stayed as though held in the spell of a serpent. +Subconsciously, certainly without any direction of will of his own, +he raised the shot-gun to his shoulder and kept it trained on the +sagging blanket...The blanket seemed to move! It swayed at first as +though a light breeze had touched it, and yet not as though a breeze +had touched it. The impulse seemed too far up--about the height of a +man's shoulder. The blood had gone from Allan's face; he was as one +in a trance, obeying some iron law outside the realm of the will and +the reason. He cocked his gun and tightened his finger on the +trigger, and watched...And then, so plain that it must have been +real, he saw stealthy fingers feeling their way about the blanket. + +Then Allan fired. + +In an instant he was wide awake, and wondering terribly what had +happened. The explosion blew out the lantern, and the building was in +utter darkness. His father was clambering to his feet with "Allan, +what is it? What is it, Allan?" The blanket had been torn from its +hangings as by a heavy weight, and something was writhing in it in +the doorway. Allan sprang up and would have rushed upon it, but in +the darkness he collided with another man. His fingers found his +adversary's arm and ran up it to his throat, but before they could +fasten in a fatal grip there was another flash of light, and a hot +pang stabbed him in the breast. There was a strange gurgling in his +lungs, a choking in his throat, a spinning dizziness in his head, as +he staggered over the mass in the doorway and fell into the night. + +Gardiner had reached the window just in time to see Allan's gun +trained on the doorway. For an instant he stood dumfounded; there was +something uncanny in the sight of the young man sitting there in +silent, absolute readiness for the attack. He drew back to warn +Riles, but he was too late. At that moment the gun spoke; there was +the sound of a heavy body falling, and stifled noises bore ample +evidence of the accuracy of Allan's aim. But even in that moment of +uncertainty Gardiner had not lost thought of their purpose, and his +quick eye took in the sleeping form of John Harris and the location +of the leather bag beside the wall. Without an instant's hesitation +he vaulted through the window and, revolver in hand, began to steal +his way softly toward the treasure. + +He had not taken three steps when Allan plunged full force into him. +He staggered with the shock, but recovered himself only to find the +young farmer's strong fingers clutching for his throat. It had been +no part of Gardiner's plan that there should be bloodshed in the +carrying out of the robbery, but he was a man of quick decision, who +accepted conditions as he found them... A slight pressure on the +trigger, and Allan fell, coughing, through the door. + +Gardiner retained his sense of location, and slipped silently to the +wall. Harris was rushing about the rotten floor in the darkness, +crying, "What is it, Allan? For God's sake, what has happened? Are +you shot?" and for his own noise he could not hear Gardiner's +stealthy movements. Gardiner's hand fell on a log of the wall, and +his keen fingers traced their way along it. Five steps, he judged, +and the bag would be at his feet. At the fifth step his toe touched +an object on the floor; he leaned over and raised the booty in his +hand. + +By this time his eyes had responded to the intense darkness, and he +could discern a square of greyer gloom where the window admitted the +night. He moved rapidly and silently toward it, but almost with the +last step his foot slipped through a broken spot on the floor, and he +staggered and fell. The revolver was thrown from his grasp, but he +was able to pitch the bag through the window as he crashed to the +floor. + +The sound arrested Harris, and before Gardiner could extricate +himself the farmer was upon him. At first he seemed to think it was +Allan, and felt about in the darkness without attempting to defend +himself. This gave Gardiner an opportunity; he was able to clasp his +arms about Harris's shins, and, with a quick turn of the body, cast +his adversary headlong to the floor. At the same moment he freed +himself from his entanglement and made another dash for the window. + +But Harris, still numbed from his heavy sleep, now realized that some +kind of tragedy had occurred, and guessed enough to believe that +Allan was a victim. From his prostrate position, with one powerful +leg he interrupted Gardiner's flight, and the next moment the two men +were rolling on the floor in each other's arms. Harris was much the +stronger man of the two, but Gardiner was active and had some skill +in wrestling. Besides, Harris had been taken wholly by surprise, and +had no idea who his antagonist was, while Gardiner had full knowledge +of all the circumstances, and the struggle was less uneven than might +have been supposed. Inwardly cursing the luck that had thrown the +revolver from his hand, Gardiner sought in the darkness for his +adversary's throat, nose, or eyes. Harris, seizing the younger man by +the waist, lifted him bodily from the floor and crashed him down +again upon it, but the next instant Gardiner had one of his hands in +both of his, and, bringing his knee down with great force on Harris's +elbow, compelled him, at the risk of a broken arm, to turn face +downwards on the floor. Gardiner again wrenched violently to break +free, but Harris's grip was too much for him, so with the quickness +and fury of a tiger he threw himself upon the farmer's back and +wrapped his free arm about his throat. With his air partially cut off +Harris released the grip of his other hand, and Gardiner instantly +took advantage of this move to bring both arms to bear on Harris's +throat. Things began to go badly with the farmer; face downwards on +the floor, he was unable to shake his adversary off, and was losing +strength rapidly with his choking. Gardiner no longer sought an +opportunity to break away; his blood was up and he was in the fight +to the finish, ruled at last by his heart instead of his head. Had he +been content merely to retain his present advantage, unconsciousness +would soon have overcome his victim, but he tried to improve his +grip, and the attempt proved disastrous. His thumb, seeking better +vantage, fell into Harris's gasping mouth. Harris was no more +depraved than most of mankind, but when fighting for life, and +choking to death in the hands of an unknown enemy, he was ready to +seize any advantage, and with a great effort he brought his jaws +together upon the intruder. + +With a yell of pain Gardiner sprang to his feet, jerking the farmer +into a half-sitting posture as he did so, and Harris, with a great +gasp for air, relinquished his sudden and unexpected advantage. But +Gardiner's head was again in command; he rushed through the door, +half falling over the obstruction as he went, and in an instant was +lost in the gloom of the night. + +For some minutes Harris lay on the floor, recovering his breath. As +the oxygen welled back into his lungs he began to realize that, save +for his choking, he was unhurt. With returning strength his thought +reverted to Allan, and, calling the boy's name, he sprang to his +feet. The first thing was to get a light. He found matches in his +pocket, struck one, and peered eagerly into the gloom as its +flickering flame beat back the darkness. A blanket, rolled and +stained, lay in the doorway, and within it was a figure that might +once have been a man. Harris's heart almost stopped at the sight: +"Allan," he gasped, "my boy, Allan!" He tiptoed across the crumbling +floor toward it, holding the match before him. A man's boot and part +of a trouser leg protruded from the mass. He held the match downward, +leaning over them. They were not Allan's. + +"Thank God," he murmured, swelling with a great hope, "thank God for +that." + +He struck another match and found the lantern. When he had lighted it +he surveyed the little building, and saw Allan's gun lying at the end +farthest from the door. Not until that moment did he think of the +money. Allan had been uppermost in his mind, and when he thought of +Allan money was no consideration. But now a great wave of +understanding rushed in upon him. Yes, the bag was gone. They had +been attacked by robbers. Knowledge of their expedition had in some +way got to evil ears, and while he slept Allan had been set upon. The +boy had emptied his gun--the huddled mass in the doorway told that +tale plainly enough--but other robbers had seized the cash and Allan +had pursued them empty-handed. They had fired at him as he rushed +from the building--that was the flash he saw a few seconds after the +first loud report. He was not quite clear as to his own share in the +fight, but he saw the general plan of it plainly enough. He began to +wonder what had happened to Gardiner and Riles. Had they been shot +down as they wound through the woods? This was evidently the work of +a gang prepared to stop at nothing. Harris never for a moment +suspected his old neighbour of treachery. He was himself a hard, +grasping, money-seeking man, but he had a code of honour none the +less, and within its limitations none was more honourable than he. To +have done what Riles had done would have been quite impossible for +John Harris, and because it was impossible for him its possibility +for Riles never suggested itself. + +Harris had not yet fully realized the loss of his money. It was +overshadowed by the more tragic events of which one evidence lay +before him. His anxiety for Allan loomed larger in his mind, although +he had little doubt the boy would take proper care of himself, and, +even if unarmed, would come back with the money and perhaps with a +prisoner. The fact that Allan had not taken his gun was reassuring; +if there had been any great danger he would not have left it behind. +But he must get out now and aid in the search. + +As he reached this decision his eye caught a gleam of something +shining on the floor. He walked to it and found a revolver, fully +loaded except for one chamber, which had been discharged. "This is +evidence," said he--"important evidence." Harris had all the Old +Ontario contempt for this kind of weapon, and knew comparatively +little about it, but he concluded from its appearance that it was +almost new. As he examined it his eye fell on the initials, "J. T.," +cut in the grip. + +"J. T.," he said to himself. "J. T. Those initials seem familiar. +I'll just leave this thing where I found it, until the police see +it." + +Replacing the weapon on the floor, he stole out of the cabin, +avoiding the silent obstruction in the doorway. Outside he stood for +a moment undecided. The circle of light from his lantern might beacon +Allan back to the shanty, but it would also prove a signal to the +robbers, if they were still in the vicinity. The night was now very +dark, clouds having obscured the stars, and an occasional big drop of +rain spat about him. The roar of water came up from the valleys, but +above or through that roar suddenly he fancied he heard a sound from +the bushes near at hand. He held his breath and listened intently. He +half wished he had brought the revolver with him. Yes, there it was +again--a human sound, beyond question, half groan, half gurgle. He +turned in the direction from which it came and stole quietly forward. +Half-a-dozen yards from the building the light revealed, first a +shadow, and then a figure lying on the ground. With some trepidation +Harris approached. The man's arms had been extended when he fell, and +his coat was thrown over his head. Harris stooped and drew it down +over the shoulders exposing the face. + +It was Allan. + +The first shock of the revelation almost stopped the heart of the old +farmer, and he sat back as one dazed, unable to accept the testimony +of his own eyes. Then came a panic of uncertainty, and he fell upon +the boy, groping wildly for his heart, and at last pressing upon it +in an agony of fear...Yes, the beat was there, faint and uneven, but +unmistakable. With a sudden surge of returning hope he brought his +ear down to the open mouth, fringed with light red foam, and could +hear the air labouring in the ravaged lungs. Then came that human +sound, half gurgle, half groan; but to Harris, in the reaction from +his first paralyzing fear, it was as very music from heaven. His boy +still lived, and still should live. + +Tenderly he turned the body to a more comfortable position, laying +his folded coat beneath the head for a pillow. He loosened the shirt +about the neck, and far down the heaving chest saw the sodden red +that marked his wound. Rain fell in scattered drops, and he brought +another blanket from the cabin, caring little now for the silent form +in the doorway in the sudden shadow of his greater tragedy. He spread +the blanket over the wounded boy, and sat down by his side, caressing +his temples with his big fingers, and wondering what to do next. + +As he sat the helplessness of his position grew upon him. He was deep +in the foothills, many miles, as far as he knew, from the home of any +settler. In daylight he could, no doubt, find his way back to town, +but daylight might be too late. He did not know whether Allan was +dying on his hands at that moment. Certainly to attempt to move him +in the buggy would be dangerous in the extreme. + +And as he sat he thought of the missing money, the fruit of his +life's labour, snatched from him in a moment in the darkness. The +loss did not hurt him as deeply as he might have thought; he was +numbed by the greater blow that hung over him. If Allan would only +live!...The boy had been his constant companion since babyhood. All +his hopes, all his ambitions, which had found their expression in his +years of feverish toil, had been wrapped about Allan. He had no one +else...His better self revolted at that thought. "You have a wife and +daughter," it said, "ready to share your life as soon as you are +ready to share theirs." He forced his mind from that phase of his +position, but it reverted to it again and again. He could not wander +in memory up the path of his boy's life without meeting his boy's +mother. And all the pain and unhappiness of the later years--how it +cut like an evil bank of fog across the once bright course of their +career! But he had suffered for their sakes, holding fast to his own +course because he knew it to be best...Best? And it had brought him +to this?...The question would not down. Rather than relax an iota +from his own purposes he had broken up his family; he had crushed +them under the wheels of his inflexible will, and now that same will +had driven his son to destruction and himself to ruin. + +It is not easy for a man who has laid out a career and followed it +with all the energy of a virile nature, recasting his gods from time +to time to conform with the evolution of his ideals, but recasting +always in the mould of his own will rather than any vessel of creed +or persuasion--it is not easy for such a man to stop at fifty and +say, "I was wrong." It requires a break in his process of evolution, +a shock sufficiently powerful to pulverize his gods before his face, +to drive home the truth that they were not gods at all but merely +idols of his own creation. In Harris's later life two idols had grown +up to the exclusion of all others; they were the wealth which he had +builded with his hands and the boy Allan about whom he wrapped all +the affection of his nature; and they had crumbled to dust even while +he worshipped. + +He found a flask thrown from some camper's pack, and filled it with +water at the mountain stream that rushed by a few rods below the +cabin. He placed the liquid to the boy's lips and fancied that some +drops found entrance. He had staunched the wound as best he could +with fragments torn from the lining of his coat, and he sat down +again to watch. Until morning he could do nothing more. Then some +camper, lumberman, or surveyor might happen along the road. If not, +he would have to move Allan at all risks. + +It took time for him to realize the utterness with which his plans +had collapsed. As the night wore on he was able to weigh his disaster +in a more balanced mind, but its magnitude grew in the weighing. From +prosperous ambition he had been swept in an hour to penniless ruin. +His destruction was almost complete. The old farm, the scene of his +labours--his and Mary's--was gone. If Allan should die there remained +nothing more. + +Suddenly he fancied he heard the sound of horses' hoofs in the clay +road along the hillside, now softened with the light rain. The sound +ceased as suddenly as it began, and it occurred to him that it might +be one of the robbers returning. The lantern was burning low, but as +a precaution he now turned it quite out. There were some cartridges +in Allan's pocket; he felt for them and decided to bring the gun out +of the cabin. But before he could put this decision into effect he +observed the form of a man moving silently but briskly toward the +cabin. He held his breath and remained obscured in the bushes. Dimly +he discerned the form stop at the door and peer into the darkness. + +There was no doubt in the mind of Harris as to the evil intent of the +visitor. He had come on horseback near the building, and had then +dismounted and stole up to it on foot. That, in itself was +sufficiently incriminating. One who was riding through the mountains +on a legitimate errand, and who knew nothing of the night's affray, +would take no such precautions. Unarmed as he was, Harris resolved +that the robber, probably the murderer of his son, should not on any +account escape him. With the blanket which he had brought to cover +Allan was a bag in which they had carried oats for their horses; this +he found in the darkness, and stole after his victim. He overtook him +standing at the door, in apparent hesitancy whether to enter the +building. Without an instant's warning Harris threw the bag about his +head, and with a quick twist of his powerful wrist had his prisoner +securely gagged. Throwing him violently to the ground, he tied the +sack in a hard knot, and, despite all struggles, dragged him back to +where Allan lay. Here he relighted the lantern, and, cutting part of +the blanket into strips with his pocket-knife, securely tied his +captive hand and foot. At first the prisoner tried to talk, but he +could not speak intelligibly through the closely-drawn sack, and +presently he gave up and lay in silence in the wet grass. And again +the leaden night wore on, broken only by occasional gurglings in the +throat of Allan, or futile struggles by the prisoner. Harris felt +little curiosity concerning the identity of the man in gags before +him, or the victim of Allan's gun in the doorway. They were absolute +strangers to him, and he even feared that if he should look into the +face of the one that still lived his anger over the assault upon +Allan would burst all bounds and he would kill his victim on the +spot. He was slowly forced to the conclusion that Riles and Gardiner +had also met with foul play, and that no help was now to be expected +from that quarter. The light rain had drifted past, and bright stars +gleamed through great rents in the shattered clouds. The gibbous +moon, too, looked down, and its cold light intensified the shadows. +The night grew colder, and Harris spread his own outer garments upon +his son, and at last lay down with Allan in his arms that he might +communicate heat from his body to the struggling frame so sorely +robbed of blood. And even in his distress and his terrific fear for +Allan there came some reminiscence of old delight at the feel of the +boy's limbs against his, and fleet-footed memory ran back again to +the childhood of Allan. But on its way it met the childhood of +Beulah, and conjured up the mother-face leaning in tenderness over +the sick-beds of infancy. And John Harris buried his face in the +heaving chest of his child and wept in his grief and loneliness. + +Just as the first bars of grey in the eastern sky proclaimed +approaching dawn, the sound of horse's hoofs came distinctly up the +valley. Harris drew himself into a sitting posture, and listened. +Allan was still breathing, and apparently with less effort than +earlier in the night. The sound of the horse came nearer and nearer. +At last it was in the road just below, and a moment later would have +passed by had not Harris called out. His voice sounded strange and +distant in his own ears, and cost him an unwonted effort. + +Sergeant Grey instantly swung his horse from the road and, +dismounting, proceeded in the direction of the voice. + +Harris told his story with such coherence as he could. He and his son +had come up into the hills to arrange for the purchase of a property +which they had become interested in through a third party, Gardiner. +They carried with them a large sum of money as proof of the sincerity +of their intentions. At this little cabin they were to be joined by +Gardiner and by another, named Riles, who also was taking an interest +in the property. As they waited in the cabin, and as he, Harris, +slept after his long drive, they were suddenly set upon by outlaws. +Allan shot one down--the body still lay in the doorway--but was +himself badly wounded, and had not spoken since. Harris had +encountered another, but after a severe fight the robber had escaped. +The little black bag in which the money was carried was gone with all +its contents. Although he had waited all night in great anxiety, +Gardiner and Riles had failed to appear, and it could only be +supposed that they too had met with foul play. But some hours after +the assault one of the party had returned, dismounted from his horse +at some distance, and stolen softly up to the shanty. Harris had +followed him, and, taking him by surprise, had been able to make him +prisoner. + +Sergeant Grey looked from Harris to Allan, and then to the prisoner, +who seemed to lie in a semi-conscious condition amid his bonds and +gags. + +"You were foolish to come into the hills with so much money alone," +he said. "I would have been at your service for the asking, and this +would not have happened. But now that it has happened, the first +thing is to provide for the wounded man, and the next is to place +this suspect in custody. And you will need some toning up yourself +after your night's experience. Then we will have a full +investigation. I know a rancher's house a few miles down the valley +where you and your son will have the best attention." + +The mounted policeman made a brief examination of Allan, as best he +could in the grey dawn, for the lantern now had no oil. "He has not +bled very much," he said, "He has a strong frame and ought to have a +fighting chance. I will just have a look at the scene of the crime, +and then we will move him." + +He made a hurried survey of the cabin, merely satisfying himself that +the man in the doorway was quite dead, and then, with Harris's +assistance, quickly found the horses and harnessed them to the buggy. +He also found another horse near the roadway, saddled and bridled. +"We will make the prisoner ride his own horse," he said, "while you +take your son in the buggy." + +They placed the wounded and still unconscious Allan in the buggy as +gently as they could, and then Grey gave his attention to the +prisoner. Having searched his clothing for weapons, he cut away the +bonds that securely held his arms and feet, and released the sack +from his half-choked throat. The man writhed and gasped for fresh +air, and the policeman drew the sack away and revealed the face of +Jim Travers. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +CONVERGING TRAILS + + +Beulah Harris raised her arms above her head and drank in the fresh +mountain air that flooded through the open window. A smoky red, with +brighter shafts of yellow behind, streamed up from the eastern sky +and sent a glow of burnt-orange colour through her bedroom. The girl +stretched her spread fingers to the limit of their reach, and with +extended toes sought the iron bars at the foot of the bed, filling +her lungs with the fresh foothill ozone. Then she dropped her hands, +palm upward, with the backs of her finger-tips resting on her eyes, +and felt that it was good to be alive. + +They had been great times--wonderful times--these weeks spent in the +freedom and harmony of the Arthurses' household. Mr. and Mrs. +Arthurs--Uncle Fred and Aunt Lilian, as she now called them--had +opened their hearts and their home to Beulah from the first. Indeed, +the girl was often conscious of their gaze upon her, and at times she +would look up quickly and surprise a strange, wistful look of +yearning in their eyes--a look that they tried very hard to hide from +her. They wanted to leave her free to live her own life--to shape her +career, for a time at least, wholly in accordance with her impulses. + +And such a life as she had lived! Arthurs had at once placed a horse +at her disposal, and with a fierce delight at the leap she was taking +through conventions she swung her right leg over the saddle and sat +to place like any man. Although born and raised on a farm, horseback +riding was to her something of a novelty, and the assumption of the +masculine position was a positive epoch in her career. How the people +of Plainville would have been scandalized if they could have +witnessed her shocking familiarity with a horse! She thought of an +English girl who had been cut by the good society of Plainville +because she dared to ride like a biped instead of a mermaid. And she +laughed in a wild exultant freedom, while the wind whipped her hair +about her shoulders, and she felt her mount firm beneath her as they +cantered across the brown foothills. + +Such hills they were! In her native plains they would have been +mountains of themselves, wonders of Nature to point out to strangers +and to hold in a kind of awe across the country-side, but here they +were foothills, mere fragments dropped from the trowel of the Builder +as He reared the majestic Rockies behind. And though she often in the +early morning, or at sunset, or when the moon was full and white, +feasted her eyes and her soul on the cold splendour of the mighty +range, it was to the warm brown foothills, with their stubbling of +little trees and their solemn warts of grey-green rock, that her +heart turned with something of human affection. At first Uncle Fred, +or Aunt Lilian, or, a little later, one of the two cowboys rode with +her on her expeditions, but her prairie sense of direction quickly +adapted itself to her new surroundings, and she soon learned to keep +a keen eye for the precipitous cut-banks that drop sheer from a level +plain and lie as unsuspected in the saffron sunlight as a coyote +among the ripened willows. There were quicksands, too--spots where +the water sprang from the hillside in a crystal stream and in a few +yards soaked into the kneady earth as in a sponge--but all these +places were fenced; even in Alberta, where cattle grow like rabbits +on the range, the paving of sink-holes with beef steers is an +expensive expedient. So Beulah quickly got her foothill sense, and in +a week was riding, care-free and exultant, across the ranges as her +heart listed or her horse preferred. + +One morning, just as the first grey of dawn mottled the darkness of +her chamber, Beulah heard her door open, and through the uncertain +light she discerned Arthurs gently entering with a rifle in his hand. +She sat up, alert, but not afraid; the tingling health in her veins +left no place for fear and suffered no foolishness on the part of her +nervous system. + +"What is it, Uncle Fred?" she whispered. + +"H-s-h," he cautioned. "You know we have been losing calves with the +timber wolves? Well, there are two of the murderers just across from +the corral. I thought you might want to see them." + +In an instant her feet were on the floor, and, hand in hand, she and +Arthurs stole to the window. At first her eyes could distinguish +nothing in the darkness, but by following Arthurs' index finger she +at last located two gaunt, shaggy creatures a little way up the +hillside beyond the corral, and a couple of hundred yards from the +house. + +"However did you know they were there?" she whispered. "You must have +cat's eyes. I could hardly see them when you pointed them out." + +"Not cat's eyes, Beulah," he answered. "Just rancher's eyes. I heard +the horses snorting, and I fancied there were visitors. Now, will you +take first shot?" + +"Oh, that would be a shame. They would get away, and besides, I might +kill a horse." + +"Well, won't press it this time," said Arthurs, "because I have a +little personal score to settle with these fellows. I guess I have +about five hundred dollars invested in each of them." + +The wolves were moving leisurely about on the hillside, showing no +disposition to run away, but apparently afraid to approach closer to +the ranch buildings. Arthurs leaned his rifle across the window sill +and took steady aim, while the girl held her breath with excitement. +Then there was a quick flash, that shut the scene momentarily from +their eyes; the next moment they saw one of the wolves leap into the +air and fall, a sprawling mass, upon the ground, while the other +darted with the speed of a greyhound toward the neighbouring bushes. +Arthurs followed him with a bullet, but even so fine a marksman could +have found him only by chance in that uncertain light. + +"Well, I guess there's a widow in Wolfville this morning," said +Arthurs, as he leisurely threw the discharged cartridge from the +barrel. "My apologies, Miss Beulah, for this somewhat unconventional +call and the interruption of your beauty sleep." + +But Beulah was standing, wrapped in admiration. "Oh, Uncle Fred," she +exclaimed. "You're just wonderful. If I could only shoot like that!" + +"It's all a matter of training," he told her. "Of course, you must +have good eyes and steady nerves, but you have those already. The +rifle is yours whenever you want it, and all the ammunition you can +carry. There's just one stipulation--for the first week shoot only at +foothills, and, remember, aim low." + +So Beulah became a rifle enthusiast, and it astonished her how +rapidly she improved in marksmanship. With a little instruction from +Arthurs and the cowboys in the matter of sighting and holding her +weapon, she developed quickly from a stage of dangerous uncertainty +in her gunnery to one of almost expert accuracy. Then she made of the +rifle a companion on her horseback excursions, to the destruction of +gophers, rabbits, and even a badger and a coyote. It was a brave day +when she rode into the corral with a coyote strung across her saddle. + +The river near by teemed with trout, and the girl soon caught the +fascination of the angler. Mrs. Arthurs had a pair of high rubber +boots, which she used when she herself went whipping the blue water, +and, anchored in these as far out as she dared go into the +gravel-bottomed stream, the girl laced the cold current back and +forth. And the wild exultation of her first bite! The fish darted up +and down stream, pulling out line faster than she could reel it in, +and Beulah, in her excitement, waded deeper into the stream as she +followed the quivering line. But mountain streams are treacherous; +one step too far plunged her into twenty feet of water, and the next +moment she was spinning round and round in the current. She had +learned to swim a few strokes in the creek on her father's farm, and +her meagre skill now stood her in good stead, for she was able to +keep afloat until the current threw her against a gravel bar that +jutted into the river. She dragged herself ashore, very wet, and of a +sudden, very frightened, and sat down on the warm stones. It was here +that she recorded another resolution; she would learn to swim--not a +feeble stroke or two, but to be master of this river which had so +nearly mastered her. "I will do it," she said. "I will swim it across +and back, if it takes till December, and--bur-r-r-rh--it's cold +enough now." Then it occurred to her that there was no better time to +start than the present. She looked out a place where the current was +not too strong, and where there were no treacherous rock-splits in +the bottom, spread her wet clothing to dry in the sun, and for an +hour fought the cold current at its own game. + +It is not recorded how it came about, but Arthurs passed the word +among the ranch hands that a certain stretch of river bank was sacred +from all intrusion. + +But it was in the life of the home, even more than in the joyous +freedom of the out-of-doors, that Beulah found her great delight. The +Arthurs, she knew, were wealthy--many times richer than her father, +who passed as a wealthy man among the farmers of Plainville. But with +the Arthurs wealth was merely an incident--a pleasant but by no means +essential by-product of their lives. They lived simply, but well; +they worked honestly, but did not slave; and in all their living and +working they shed a kindliness and courtesy that communicated itself +to all with whom they came in contact. The cowboys, Beulah soon +discovered, were as unlike the cowboys of fiction and of her +imagination as a Manitoba steer is unlike his Alberta brother; they +did not carry revolvers, nor swagger in high boots, nor rip the air +with their profanity; and their table manners reminded her of George +and Harry Grant, and the Grants were outstanding examples of right +living in the Plainville district. And Mrs. Arthurs, gentle and kind +in all her doings, and yet firm and strong and calm, she was--such a +woman, Beulah told herself, as her own mother might have been, had +her soul not been crushed under a load of unceasing labour. But, most +of all, it was to Fred Arthurs that the heart of the young girl +turned. Whether he sat over his desk at his letters, or dispensed +hospitality at his table (for all who passed up or down the valley, +as a matter of course, stopped for a meal at the Arthurses), or +cantered across the foothills, or shouted behind his lagging herds +(such shouting as it was, fit to split the canyons!}, or played ball +with the boys in the evening, or discussed theology with the +travelling missionary, or philosophy with his book-worm neighbour +from across the river, or read poetry with his wife on the Sunday +afternoons, or sang with his great voice in the mellow, yellow +eventide, or--most of all--when he looked at Beulah with his fine +eyes, and she caught the mirrored reflection of the hunger in his +soul, she felt that here was a man who had lived his life to the +uttermost and would go on living it through all eternity. She only +half guessed what his thoughts toward her were--she did not know that +Fred and Lilian Arthurs had at last agreed that they could do better +than leave their wealth to charity, and that a new will was soon to +be drawn--but to her he seemed pure gold, and a gentleman to his last +gesture. And she vowed one night that if ever she met a single man +like Fred Arthurs she would marry him although all the canons and +conventions of Christendom stood between them. + +And then, quite unexpected, it came upon her, and thrilled her frame +from toe to temple. Jim Travers! It had been in the background of her +mind for months, the centre of the subconscious processes which +culminated in this revelation. Yes, Fred Arthurs at twenty-five must +have been such a man as Jim Travers. Jim Travers at fifty would be +such a man as Fred Arthurs. She was absolutely sure of it. Jim was +living his own life, seeking out that which was worth while, culling +the incidental from the essential, just as Fred Arthurs must have +done. She remembered with sudden joy how Jim had held a little +kindness to her of greater moment than the impatient engine in the +plough-field; the scores of little labours he had undertaken, not as +a sacrifice, but as a privilege--as his contribution to human +happiness. She would marry Jim Travers. The strange part of it was +her sudden certainty that she should marry him. She found herself +enveloped in a flame of possession, a feeling that he was hers--hers +now, this minute, and hers for ever. Beulah was a fatalist, although +she had never analyzed her own beliefs enough to know it, but she +knew that Destiny had linked her life with his and that Destiny would +not be balked. Her mind had been feeling its way, through the +darkness of months, to this sudden ecstasy, but now that she had +reached it she felt that it could never, never fail her. Her sense of +possession, of mergement, was complete; she felt that already their +souls had mingled irrevocably and indistinguishably. + +The arrival of her mother at the Arthurses' ranch had brought fresh +joy to Beulah's life. She saw the colour coming back to the old face, +the frame straightening up a little, the light rekindling in the eye, +the spring returning to the instep. She had not thought that her +mother, after twenty-five years of unprotesting submission, had still +the nerve to place a limit on that submission, and the discovery had +surprised and delighted her. True, Mary Harris let it be known that +she was only on a visit, and in due course would return to her home; +but Beulah knew the die had been cast, and things could never again +be quite as they were. And Beulah told her secret, and her mother +just kissed her and let a tear or two fall in her hair. + +So this morning, as the girl stretched her young limbs, rounding with +life and energy, and the burnt-orange glow of sunrise suffused the +room and lit the pink tissues of her slender fingers, she rested in +the deep peace which, ever since her revelation, had enveloped her +about. For a minute she let her mind dwell on the picture she carried +in her brain, until the association became too keen and threatened to +overwhelm her from very tenderness; then she sprang from her bed, +and, flipping the window-blind to the top, drank in the beauty of the +valley through the open window. Her bedroom had windows both to the +east and the west; and it was her custom to awaken early and feast on +the glory as it surged up the valley, and then, turning, watch the +long waves of light sink slowly down the white mountains. And this +morning, when she thought the first beams must be gilding the highest +peaks, she turned to the westward window and saw the light playing +under a Chinook arch across a segment of sky so soft and near she +could almost feel it with extended fingers. And then a sound caught +her ear, and up the trail she saw two men on horseback, a mounted +policeman and another, and behind them other men driving in a buggy. + +By intuition Beulah knew that a mishap had occurred. The Arthurses' +ranch was the first abode of real civilization on the way out from +the mountains, and it was nothing unusual for a lumberman with a +chopped foot, or a prospector caught in sliding rock, or a +river-driver crushed between logs, or a hunter the victim of his own +marksmanship, to come limping or riding down the trail to this haven +of first aid. Quickly she drew on her simple clothing and hurried +downstairs, but Arthurs was already at the door. The little party +came into the yard, and the policeman rode up to the door. The other +horseman sat with his back to the house; his hands were chained +together in front of him. + +"Good-morning, Sergeant Grey," said Arthurs. "You're early out." + +The sergeant saluted. The salutation was intended for Arthurs, but at +the moment the policeman's eye fell on Beulah, and even the +discipline of the Force could not prevent a momentary turning of the +head. + +"I've a badly hurt man here," he said, "a man who will need your +hospitality and care for some days. There was a shooting up the +valley last night. His father is here, too, unhurt physically, but on +the verge of collapse, if I am not mistaken." + +"We will bring both of them in at once," said Arthurs. "Beulah, will +you call Lilian, and your mother, too? They may be needed. But who is +the third?" he continued, turning to Grey. + +"A prisoner. It seems the older man overpowered him. Now let us get +this poor fellow in." + +The policeman beckoned and Harris drove the buggy up to the door. +Arthurs glanced at him with a casual "Good-morning," but the next +instant his eyes were riveted on the visitor. "John Harris!" he +exclaimed, taking a great stride forward and extending his strong +arm. "Man, John, I'm glad to see you, but not in these troubles." + +Harris took his hand in a silent clasp, and there was a warmth in it +that set his heart beating as it had not for years. "It's hard, +Fred," he managed to say in a dry voice, "but it's good to have you +by." + +Arthurs bent over Allan, who was half sitting, half lying, in the +buggy. His face was sapped and grey in the growing light. Tenderly +the three men lifted him out. "Take him straight upstairs," said +Arthurs. "It will save moving him again." Both spare-rooms in the +house were occupied, but Arthurs led the way into Beulah's, and they +laid the wounded boy on the white bed. + +Arthurs heard Beulah in the hall. "Take off his clothes, Grey," he +said, and turned to the doorway. "Where's your mother, Beulah?" he +asked in a low voice, closing the bedroom door behind him. + +"Dressing." The girl looked in his face, and drew back with a little +cry. "What's the matter, Uncle Fred? What's wrong?" + +"A friend of mine has been hurt, and an old friend of your mother's. +She must not see him just now. You will arrange that?" + +"Yes. But I must see him--I must help." + +Beulah hurried to the room where her mother was rapidly dressing, "A +man has been hurt, mother," she said, with suppressed excitement. "We +need hot water. Will you start a fire in the range?" + +Mary Harris mistook Beulah's emotion for natural sympathy over a +suffering creature, and hurried to the kitchen. Mrs. Arthurs was +whispering with her husband in the hall, but a moment later joined +Mary at the range. + +Then Beulah entered the room. The policeman was speaking to Arthurs. +"I must go into town now with my prisoner," he was saying. "I will +send out a doctor at once, and in the meantime I know you will do +everything possible." + +Beulah turned her eyes to the bed. A man was lying there, and an old +man was sitting beside it. At the second glance she recognized him, +but in an instant she had herself under control. She walked with a +steady step to the bed and looked for a full minute in her brother's +face. Then she looked at her father. + +"What have you done to him?" she said. + +He threw out his hand feebly. "You do well to ask me that," he said. +"I take all the blame." He raised his face slowly until his eyes met +hers. They were not the eyes she had known. They were the eyes of a +man who had been crushed, who had been powdered between the wheels of +Fate. The old masterful quality, the old indomitable will that +stirred her anger and admiration were gone, and in their place were +coals of sorrow and ashes of defeat. For a moment she held back; +then, with arms outstretched, she fell upon her father's breast. + +And then he felt his strength return. He drew her to him as all that +remained in the world; crushed her to him; then, very gently, +released her a little...He found his fingers threading her fine hair, +as they had loved to do when she was a little child. + +She sank to her knees beside him, and at last she looked up in his +face. "Forgive me, my father," she whispered. + +He kissed her forehead and struggled with his voice. "We all make +mistakes, Beulah," he said. "I have made mine this twenty-five years, +and there--there is the price!" + +His words turned Beulah's thought to Allan, and the necessity for +action brought her to her feet. "We must save him," she cried. "We +must, and we will! Is the policeman gone? We must have the best +doctors from Calgary." Looking about she found that Grey and Arthurs +had left the room. They had slipped out to leave father and child +alone with their emotion, but she found them at the front of the +house. + +She seized the policeman by the arm. "You must get us a doctor--the +best doctor in the country," she pled. "We will spare nothing--" + +"My guest, Miss Harris, Sergeant Grey," said Arthurs, and the +policeman deftly converted her grasp into a handshake. + +"Mr. Arthurs has told me the injured man is your brother. He shall +want for nothing. And the sooner I go the sooner you will have help." + +"Your prisoner seems docile enough," Arthurs remarked, as the +policeman swung on to his horse. + +"Rather a puzzler," said Grey. "Doesn't look the part, but was caught +in the act, or next thing to it, and his revolver was found lying on +the spot where the young man was shot. By the way, I had almost +forgotten. One of the robbers was shot and killed. I had to leave his +body, but I wish you would send a man up to stay about the place +until I can get a coroner out here." + +"Robbers, did you say?" demanded Beulah. "Then it was for robbery?" + +"Yes, Miss Harris. It seems your father had a large sum of money on +him. We have found no trace of it yet, but it is not likely that more +than two were implicated, and as one was shot on the spot this other +must know where the money is. We will bring it out of him in due +time." + +So saying he rode down to the gate, thanked the cowboy who had been +keeping an eye on the prisoner, and the two started off at a smart +trot down the trail. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +PRISONERS OF FATE + + +Beulah returned to the house to minister to her brother, but Mrs. +Arthurs stopped her on the stairs. + +"Your mother knows," she said. "They are both in the room with +Allan." + +Her first impulse was to rush in and complete the family circle, but +some fine sense restrained her. For distraction she plunged into the +task of preparing breakfast. + +At length they came down. Beulah saw them on the stairs, and knew +that the gulf was bridged. + +"Allan is better," her mother said, when she saw the girl. "He has +asked for you." And the next minute Beulah was on her knees by the +white bed, caressing the locks that would fall over the pale +forehead. + +"How did I get here, Beulah?" he whispered. "How did we all get here? +What has happened?" + +"You have been hurt, Allan," she said. "You have been badly hurt, but +you are going to get well again. When you are stronger we will talk +about it, but at present you must be still and rest." + +"Lie still and rest," he repeated. "How good it is to lie still and +rest!" + +Later in the day the pain in his wound began to give much discomfort, +but he was able to swallow some porridge with pure cream, and his +breath came easily. His father stayed about the house, coming every +little while to look in upon son and daughter, and as Allan's great +constitution gave evidence of winning the fight a deep happiness came +upon John Harris. He was able to sleep for a short time, and in the +afternoon suggested a walk with his wife. Beulah saw that they were +arm in arm as they disappeared in the trees by the river. + +"I haven't told you all yet," Harris said to her. "I have done even +worse than you suppose, but in some way it doesn't seem so bad +to-day. Last night I was in Gethsemane." + +It was strange to hear a word suggestive of religion from his lips. +Harris had not renounced religion; he had merely been too busy for +it. But this word showed that his mind had been travelling back over +old tracks. + +"And to-day we are in Olivet," she answered, tenderly. "What matters +if--if everything's all right?" + +"If only Allan--," he faltered. + +"Allan will get well," she said. "When he could withstand the first +shock he will get well. Of course he must have attention, but he is +in the right place for that." + +"The Arthurses are wonderful people," he ventured, after a pause. +"Mary, they have found something that we missed." + +"But we have found it now John. We are going to take time to live. +That is where we made our mistake." + +There was another pause, broken only by the rustle of leaves and the +rushing of the river. + +"Beulah was right," he said, at last. "Beulah is a wonderful girl, +and a beautiful." + +"She will not be wanting to go back home with us," said the mother. + +"So much the better. Mary, Mary, we have no home to go back to!" + +She looked at him with a sudden puzzled, half-frightened expression. +"No home, John? No home? You don't mean that?" + +He nodded and turned his face away. "I said I hadn't told you all," +he managed at length..."I sold the farm." + +She was sitting on a fallen log, very trim, and grey, and small, but +she seemed suddenly to become smaller and greyer still. + +"Sold the old farm," she repeated, mechanically. + +"Yes, I sold the old farm," he said again, as if finding some delight +in goading himself with the repetition. "I thought I saw a chance to +make a lot of money if only I had some ready cash to turn in my hand, +and I sold it. I thought I would be rich and then I would be happy. +But they took the money last night. They found out about it some way, +and took it, and nearly killed our boy. Mary, you worked hard all +your life, and to-day you have nothing. I brought you to this." + +She looked with unseeing eyes through the trees at the fast-running +water. Her thoughts were with the old home, with the ideals they had +cherished when they founded it, with the hardships and the sorrow, +and the sickness and the pain, and the joy that had hallowed it as no +other spot in all the universe--the place where their first love had +nursed them in its tenderness, where they had sat hand in hand in the +gathering dusk, drinking the ripple of the water and the whirr of the +wild duck's wing; where she had gone down into the valley of the +shadow and their little children had come into their arms. And it was +gone. He had sold it. Without so much as by-your-leave from the +partner of his labours and his life he had sold it and left them +destitute. + +She saw it all, and for the moment her heart shrank within her. But +she saw, too, the futility of it all. She might have upbraided him; +she might have returned in part the sorrows he had forced upon her, +for he was wounded now and could not strike back. But she rose and +stretched her arms toward him. + +"You said I had nothing, John. You are wrong. I have you. I have +everything!" + +..."And it was to you, beloved, to you, a woman of such great soul, +that I could do this thing...I should be utterly wretched...But I'm +not." He spoke slowly and deliberately, as one having ample time, and +with the diction of earlier years. "I should be scouring the valleys +with a troop of men, hunting for our money. But I'm not. It seems +such a puny thing, it's hardly worth the while--except for the +happiness it might bring to you, and Beulah."... + +They sat long in the sunshine of the warm autumn afternoon, living +again through sweet, long-forgotten days, and already planning for +their future. Harris would again exercise homestead right, and with +Allan to take up land alongside they should have comfort and +happiness. They would go back to the beginning; they would start over +again; and this time they would not stray from the path. + +When they returned to the house it was almost evening, and they found +the doctor from town busy over Allan. "Would have killed nine men out +of ten," he told Harris, quite frankly; "but this boy is the tenth. +He's badly hurt, but he'll pull through, if we can arrest any +infection. His constitution and his clean blood will save him." + +Before the doctor left Arthurs inquired if the police had any further +details of the crime. Harris appeared to have lost interest in +everything except the members of his family. + +"Quite a mystery," said the doctor. "I understand one of the robbers +was shot, and I will go on up from here to make an examination, as +coroner. To-morrow the police will bring out a jury, and a formal +verdict will be returned. A systematic search will also be undertaken +to recover the money, as I understand that you"--turning to +Harris--"suffered a heavy financial loss in addition to the injury to +your son. Of course, it is impossible to say how many took part in +the affair, but it is not likely the outlaws numbered more than two, +in which case they are both accounted for. The one captured had no +money to speak of in his possession, but he may have cached it +somewhere, and when he sees the rope before him it will be likely to +make him talk. They seem to have a pretty straight case against him. +Not only was he captured practically in the act, but they have +another important clue. He owns up to his name frankly enough, and it +seems the revolver found on the scene of the crime had his initials, +'J. T.'--Jim Travers, cut in the grip. In fact, he admits the +revolver is--. What's wrong, Miss Harris? Are you ill?" + +Beulah's breath had stopped at the mention of Travers' name, and she +staggered to a chair. Harris, too, was overcome. + +"We knew him down East," Beulah explained, when she had somewhat +recovered her composure. "I could not have thought it possible!" + +"I didn't think he would have carried it that far," said Harris, at +length, speaking very slowly and sadly. "Jim, Jim, you've made a +worse mistake than mine." + +Mary learned of the disclosure in a few minutes, and followed Beulah +upstairs. + +"You poor child!" she said, as she overtook her daughter. + +"It's not me," she shot back. "It's Jim. He must be saved, some way. +It's impossible to think--I won't think it, no matter what they say! +Let them find what they like!...But he's in a hole, and we've got to +get him out." + +The mother shook her head with some recollection of the blindness of +love. And yet her own heart refused to accept any idea of guilt on +the part of Travers. + +"I want to be alone, mother," said Beulah. "I want to be alone, to +think. I'm going down by the river." + +As she strode rapidly through the paths in the cotton-woods the girl +gradually became conscious of one dominating impulse in her maze of +emotions. She must see Jim. She must see him at once. She must see +him alone. There were things to be said that needed--that +admitted--no witness. She knew that. Arthurs or one of the men would +willingly ride to town for her, or with her, but this was a task for +her alone. They must know nothing until it was over. + +Outwardly calm, but inwardly burning with, impatience, she returned +to the house and went through the form of eating supper. Then she +dallied through the evening, giving her attention to Allan until all +the household, except her mother, had gone to bed. + +"I will watch with Allan to-night," her mother said. "You need rest +more than I do. Lie down in my room and try to get some sleep." + +Her mother kissed her, and Beulah went to her room. But not to sleep. +When silence filled all the house she slipped gently down the stairs, +through the front yard, and into the corral. Fortunately her horse +had been stabled. She harnessed him with some difficulty in the +darkness, and threw herself into the saddle. For a hundred yards she +walked him; then she drew him off the hard road on to the grass and +loosed him into a trot. Half a mile from the house she was swinging +at a hard gallop down the dark valley. The soft night wind pressed +its caresses on her flushed cheek, but her heart beat fast with +excitement and impatience, and she galloped the foaming horse to the +limit of his speed. More than once even the sure-footed ranger almost +fell over the treacherous badger-holes, but she had learned to ride +like the saddle itself, and she merely tightened the rein and urged +him faster. + +Two hours of such violence were a safety-valve to her emotions, and +both horse and rider were content to enter the little town at a walk. +Here and there a coal-oil lamp shed its cube of yellow light through +an unblinded window, but the streets were deserted and in utter +darkness. She had now reached the point at which her general plan to +see Travers must be worked out into detail, and she allowed the horse +his time as she turned the matter over in her mind. She had no doubt +that if she found Sergeant Grey he would permit an interview, but she +shrank from making the request. She might do so as a last resort; but +if possible she meant to seek out her lover--for so she thought of +him--for herself. She knew that the jails in the smaller towns were +crude affairs, where the prisoner was locked up and usually left +without a guard. The first thing was to find the jail. + +At a crossing her horse almost collided with a boy returning home +from some late errand. "Oh, Mr. Boy," she said. "Come here, please, I +want you to help me." + +The boy approached hesitatingly, as though suspicious that some kind +of trick were being played on him. + +"Can you tell me," she said, in a low voice, "where the jail is? I'll +give you a dollar if you do." + +"There ain't no jail here, miss," he replied frankly, evidently +satisfied that the question was bona fide. "There's a coop, but you +wouldn't give a dime to see it. It's just a kind of a shed." + +"That's just what I want to find," she continued, "and I'll give you +a dollar to show me where it is." + +"Easy pickin'," said the boy. "Steer your horse along this way." + +He led her through the main part of the town, to where a one-storey +building, somewhat apart, stood aloof in the darkness. + +"Some coop, ain't it?" said her guide, with boyish irony. "My dad +says that's what we git fer votin' against the Gover'ment. The fire +truck's in the front end, an' there's a cell with bars behind. Do you +want to see that, too?" + +"Yes, that's what I want to see, but I can find it myself now, thank +you." + +"Say, miss, you better be kerful. They've got a murd'rer in there +now--Oh, say"--with a sudden change in his voice--"maybe he's +somethin' to you? They ain't proved nothin' against him yet." + +"Yes, he's a good deal to me," she said. + +"Brother?" he demanded, with disconcerting persistence. + +"No." + +If her eyes could have pierced the darkness she would have seen a +broad smile of understanding spreading over his young face. But it +was a sympathetic smile withal. "Then I guess this dollar stands for +'beat it'?" he remarked. + +"You win," she said, falling into his slang. "Also, forget it." + +"I gotchuh, miss," he said, trotting off. Then he called back through +the darkness, "An' I hope he gits off." + +"God bless him for that," she said to herself, as she dismounted and +made her way to the back of the building. She saw the outline of a +door, which was undoubtedly locked, and further down the same wall +was a little square window, with bars on it. There appeared to be +only one cell, so there was no problem of locating the right one. + +She stole up along the wall, but the window was too high for her. +Searching about the littered yard she found a square tin, such as the +ranchers use to carry coal-oil. Mounting this she was able to bring +her face to the bars. The window was open for ventilation, and she +strained her ear, but at first could hear nothing for the tumultous +beating of her own heart. But at length she seemed to catch the sound +of regular breathing from within. + +"Jim," she said, in a low voice, listening intently. But there was no +response. + +"Jim," she repeated, a little louder. She fancied she heard a stir, +and the sound of breathing seemed to cease. + +"Jim Travers!" + +"Yes!" came a quick reply. "Yes! Who is it?" + +"Come to the window, Jim." + +In a moment she saw the outline of his face through the darkness. + +"Beulah Harris," he demanded, in his quiet voice, "what are you doing +here?" + +A great happiness surged about her at the sound of his voice and the +warmth of his breath against her face. "I might ask the same, Jim, +but such questions are embarrassing. Anyway, I am on the right side +of the wall." + +She saw his teeth gleam in the darkness. What a wonderful soul he +was! + +"But you shouldn't have come like this," he protested, and his voice +was serious enough. "You are compromising yourself." + +"Not I," she answered. "These bars are more inflexible than the +stiffest chaperone. And I just had to see you, Jim, at once. We've +got to get you out of here." + +"How's Allan?" + +"Getting better." + +"And your father? Pretty angry at me, I guess." + +"No, Father isn't angry any more. He's just sorry." + +"Times are changing, Beulah. But if he wound that sack around my neck +in sorrow, I don't want him at it when he's cross." + +She laughed a little, mirthful ripple. Then, with sudden seriousness, +"But, Jim, we shouldn't be jesting. We've got to get you out of +here." + +"I'm not worrying, Beulah," he answered. "They seem to have the drop +on me, but I know a few things they don't. Shall I tell you what I +know?" + +"No." + +"Why?" + +"Because it would seem like arguing--like trying to prove you are +innocent. And you don't need to prove anything to me. You understand? +You don't need to prove anything to me." + +She felt his eyes hot on her face through the darkness. "You don't +need to prove anything to me," she repeated. + +For a moment he held himself in restraint. The words were simple +enough, but he knew what they meant. And this country girl, whom he +had learned to like on her father's farm, had grown larger and larger +in his scheme of things with the passing weeks. At first he had tried +to dissuade himself, to think of it only as a passing fancy, and to +remember that he was engaged in the serious business of earning +enough money to build a shack on a homestead, and buy a team and a +plough, and a cow and some bits of furniture. It would be a plain, +simple life, but Beulah was accustomed--What had Beulah to do with +it? He scolded himself for permitting her intrusion, and turned his +mind to the mellow fields where he would follow the plough until the +sun dipped into the Rockies, And then he would turn the horses loose +for food and rest, and in the shack the jack-pine knots would be +frying in the kitchen stove, and the little table would be set, and +Beulah-- + +And now this girl had come to him, while he was under the shadow, and +because the shadow would not let him speak, and because her soul +would not be bound by custom, and because her love could not be +concealed, she had let him know. + +"Have you thought it over, Beulah?" he said. "I have no right, as +matters stand, to give or take a promise. I have no right--" + +"You have no right to say 'as matters stand' as though matters had +anything to do with it. They haven't Jim. No, I have not thought it +over. This isn't something you think. It is something that comes to +you when you don't think, or in spite of your thinking. But it's +real--more real than anything you can touch or handle--more real than +these bars, which are not so close as you seem to fancy--" + +And then, between the iron rods across the open window, his lips met +hers. + +..."And you were seeking life, Beulah," he said at last. "Life that +you should live in your own way, for the joy of living it. And--" + +"And I have found it," she answered, in a voice low and thrilling +with tenderness. "I have found it in you. We shall work out our +destiny together, but we must keep our thought on the destiny, rather +than the work. Oh, Jim, I'm just dying to see your homestead--our +homestead. And are there two windows? We must have two windows, +Jim--one in the east for the sun, and one in the west for the +mountains." + +"Our house is all window, as yet," he answered gaily. "And there +isn't as much as a fence post to break the view." + +"What are you doing here?" said a sharp voice, and Beulah felt as +though her tin box were suddenly sinking into a great abyss. She +turned with a little gasp. Sergeant Grey stood within arm's length of +her. + +"Oh, it's Sergeant Grey," she said, with a tone of relief. "I am +Beulah Harris. And I've just been getting myself engaged to your +prisoner here. Oh, it's not so awful as you think. You see, we knew +each other in Manitoba, and we've really been engaged for quite a +while, but he didn't know it until to-night." + +For a moment the policeman retained his reserve. He remembered the +girl, who had already cost him a deflected glance, and he reproached +himself that he could doubt her even as he doubted, but how could he +know that she had not been passing in firearms or planning a release? + +"What she says is right, sergeant," said Travers. "She has just +broken the news to me, and I'm the happiest man in Canada, jail or no +jail." + +There was no mistaking the genuine ring in Travers' voice, and the +policeman was convinced. "Most extraordinary," he remarked, at +length, "but entirely natural on your part, I must say. I +congratulate you, sir." The officer had not forgotten the girl who +clung to his arm the morning before. "Hang me, sir," he continued, +"there's luck everywhere but in the Mounted Police." + +He unlocked the door of the cell. "I ought to search you," he said to +Beulah, "but if you'll give me your word that you have no firearms, +weapons, knives, or matches, I'll admit you to this--er--drawing-room +for a few minutes." + +"Nothing worse than a hat-pin," she assured him. "But you must come, +too," she added, placing her hand on his arm. "You must understand +that." + +He accompanied her into the cell, but remained in the doorway, where +he suddenly developed an interest in astronomy. At length he turned +quickly and faced in to the darkness. + +"Speaking, not as an officer, but as a fellow-man, I wish you were +damned well--that is, very well--out of this, old chap," he said to +Travers. + +"Oh, that's all right," Jim assured him. "You couldn't help taking me +up, of course, and for all your kindness you would quite cheerfully +hang me if it fell to your lot. But it isn't going to." + +"I stand ready to be of any service to you that is permissible." + +"The inquest is to be to-morrow, isn't it?" asked Beulah. "I think +you should be at the inquest, Jim." + +"That's right," said the sergeant. "You may throw some new light on +the case." + +"I've just one request," said Travers. "You know Gardiner?" + +"I've heard of him." + +"Have him at the inquest." + +"As a juror or witness?" + +"It doesn't matter, but have him there." + +"All right. I'll see to it. And now, Miss Harris, if you will permit +me, I will bring your horse for you." + +Grey took a conveniently long time to find the horse, but at last he +appeared in the door. Beulah released her fingers from Jim's and +swung herself into the saddle. + +"Sergeant Grey," she said, "I think you're the second best man in the +world. Good night." + +The sergeant's military shoulders came up squarer still, and he stood +at attention as she rode into the darkness. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +AN INQUEST--AND SOME EXPLANATIONS + + +The inquest party consisted of the coroner, who was the doctor that +had already attended Allan; Sergeant Grey; six jurors, selected from +the townspeople; the manager of the bank, whose suspicions had first +been communicated to Grey; Travers; and Gardiner. In the early +morning the policeman had ridden out to the ranch for Gardiner, but +had met him on his way to town. News of the tragedy had reached him, +he said, and he was hurrying in to see if he could be of some +assistance to Travers, in arranging for a lawyer, or in any way that +might be practicable. Grey told him that as yet no formal charge had +been laid against Travers; that he was merely being held pending the +finding of the coroner's jury, and suggested that if Gardiner would +accompany him to the inquest he might be able, not only to throw some +light on Travers' character, but also on his whereabouts on the night +of the tragedy. To this Gardiner readily agreed. + +It was noon when the party reached the Arthurses' ranch. Beulah +counted them out with a field-glass while they were still miles down +the valley, and a big table was set in the bunk-house where the +cowboys were accommodated during the branding season. It was a matter +of course that the men should be fed when they reached Arthurs'. At +intervals in the setting of the table the girl returned to her +field-glass, until she was quite sure of the straight figure riding +beside the mounted policeman. + +They swung into the yard amid a cloud of dust, the jingle of +trappings, and the hearty exchange of greetings between Arthurs and +his acquaintances from town. Gardiner was introduced to Arthurs, and +shook hands without removing his gauntlets. He had learned that the +party were to have dinner here, and he excused himself, saying that +the long ride in the heat had upset him somewhat, and he thought he +would be wiser to be in the shade for an hour or two before eating. +Arthurs pressed his hospitality upon him, but as Gardiner seemed +fixed in his purpose he did not insist. Then the rancher walked over +and shook hands with Travers. There were no signs of handcuffs now, +and an outsider would not have known that the young man's position +differed from that of the others present. + +After the meal Gardiner joined them again, and the party, which now +included Arthurs and Harris, proceeded up the valley to the scene of +the tragedy. It was a great shock to Harris to find that the victim +of Allan's gun was his old neighbour, Riles. He stood for a long time +as one dazed by the discovery, but gradually out of the confusion a +horrible fear took shape in his mind. Allan had shot this man, with +whom they had an appointment at this spot; had shot him down, as far +as could be shown, without excuse or provocation, before he had so +much as entered the door. The body proved to be unarmed, and from its +position had evidently fallen into the building after receiving the +fatal charge. + +The old man turned dry eyes from the gruesome thing across the warm, +shimmering valleys. On the farther slopes, leagues distant through +the clear air, ripening fields of wheat lay on the hillsides like +patches of copper-plate, and farther still thin columns of smoke +marked the points where steam-ploughs were wrapping the virgin +prairie in her first black bridal of commerce. But he saw none of +these. He saw Allan, and he saw bars, and a prisoner's dock. And +there was something else that he would not see; he would close his +eyes; he would not let its horrid gaunt ligaments thrust themselves +into his vision! + +After a thorough examination of the scene they laid the body in a +democrat and returned to Arthurs', where the coroner held his court +in the bunk-house. + +Harris's evidence was first received. He found it difficult to give +his story connectedly, but item by item he told of his acquaintance +with Riles in the eastern province; of their decision to come west +and take up more land; of the chance by which they had fallen with +Gardiner, and the prospect he had laid before them of more profitable +returns from another form of investment; of how his hesitation had +finally been overcome by the assurance that all he need do was have +his money ready--he was to be under no obligation to go any further +in the transaction unless entirely satisfied; of the offer wired by +the New York capitalists; of the sale of his farm for a disappointing +sum, and their journey with the money to the old shanty up the +valley, where they were to be met by Riles and Gardiner, and also, as +they expected, by the owner of the mine, with whom they would open +direct negotiations, producing the money as proof of their desire and +ability to carry out their undertaking; of how they hoped the owner +would be induced to accept a deposit and accompany them back to town, +where an option would be secured from him for a period sufficient to +enable them to turn the property over to the New York investors at a +handsome profit; of how he--Harris--wearied by the long ride in the +bright, thin air, had gone to sleep confidently with Allan at his +side, and of how he had suddenly been awakened by a shot and had +heard Allan spring to his feet and rush across the floor of the old +building. Then there had been another shot--a revolver shot this +time--and everything was darkness, and he could hear only something +struggling at the door. Then he told of his own fight; of how they +had fallen and rolled about on the rotten floor, and how, in +desperation, he had not hesitated to use his teeth on the hand of his +assailant, who had finally broken away and disappeared in the +darkness. Then he told the rest of his story; of his vigil with +Allan, of the loss of the money, of the capture of Travers, and +finally of the arrival of the policeman on the scene. + +"Didn't it seem to you a foolish thing to go into the hills with all +that money to meet a man you had never seen, and buy a property you +had never examined?" asked the coroner. + +"It wasn't foolishness; it was stark, raving madness, as I see it +now," Harris admitted. "But I didn't see it that way then. It looked +like a lot of easy money. I didn't care what the coal mine was +like--I didn't care whether there was a coal mine at all or not, so +long as we made our turn-over to the New York people." + +"But did it not occur to you that the whole thing--coal mine and mine +owner and New Yorkers and all--was simply a scheme hatched up to +induce you away into the fastnesses of the foothills with a lot of +money in your possession?" + +A half-bewildered look came over Harris, as of a man gripped by a new +and paralyzing thought. But he shook his head. "No, it couldn't have +been that," he said. "You see, Riles was an old neighbour of mine, +and Mr. Gardiner, too, I knew for a good many years. It wasn't like +as if I had been dealing with strangers." + +"We will go deeper into that matter after a little," said the +coroner. "It's very fortunate Mr. Gardiner is here to add what light +he can to the mystery. We will now adjourn to the room where the +younger Mr. Harris lies and hear his evidence. It would be unwise to +move him for some days yet." + +They found Allan partly propped up in the white bed. His face was +pale, and his hands were astonishingly thin and white, but his mind +was clear, and he could talk without difficulty. He covered much the +same ground as his father had done, up to the point where the elder +Harris had fallen asleep in the old building. + +"I can't tell you how it happened, Doctor," he said, turning his +eyes, larger now in his pale face, upon the coroner, "but I think I +got very homesick--I guess I was pretty tired, too--and I began +thinking of things that had happened long ago, back when I was a +little child, in a little sod shanty that the old shack in the valley +some way seemed to bring to mind. And then I guess I fell asleep, +too, but suddenly I sat up in a great fright. I'm not a coward," he +said, with a faint smile. "When I'm feeling myself it takes more than +a notion or a dark night to send the creeps up the back of my neck. +But I own I sat up there so frightened my teeth chattered. I had a +feeling that I was going to be attacked--I didn't know by what--maybe +by a wild beast--but something was going to rush in through that old +blanket hanging in the door and pounce on me." + +The sweat was standing on Allan's face, and he sank back weakly into +the pillows. Beulah placed a glass to his lips, and the doctor told +him to take his time with his story. The jurors stood about the bed +in silence, looking from one to the other with expressions that +suggested they were almost in the presence of the supernatural. If +the black bag with the money had slowly risen out of the floor +someone would have quietly set it in a corner until Allan was ready +to continue his evidence. + +"As the minutes went by," Allan continued, after an interval, "that +terrible dread grew upon me, and my sense of danger changed from fear +to certainty. Something was going to attack me through that door! I +raised my gun and took careful aim. I saw the blanket swing a little; +then I saw the fingers of a man's hand. Then I fired. + +"Perhaps I am a murderer," he continued, simply, "but before God I +know no more why I fired that shot than you do." + +There were deep breathing and shuffling of feet as Allan completed +this part of his statement, but only the coroner found his voice. +"Most remarkable evidence," he ejaculated. "Most extraordinary +evidence. I have never heard anything so obviously sincere and at the +same time so altogether unexplainable." + +"Perhaps it's not so unexplainable," said a quiet voice; and Mary +Harris made her way through the circle of men to the side of the bed. +She sat down on the coverlet and took the boy's hand in hers. It +mattered not how many were looking on; he was her little boy again. + +"_You_ will understand, Doctor, and some of you men are parents," she +began. "Allan will be twenty-five years old this coming winter. A +little less than twenty-five years ago my husband was obliged to +leave me alone for a considerable period in our little sod shanty on +the homestead where we had located down in Manitoba. There were no +near neighbours, as we count distance in well-settled districts, and +I was altogether alone, I stood it all right for the first day or +two, but my nerves were not what they should have been, and gradually +a strange, unreasoning fear came upon me. I suppose it was the +immensity of the prairies, the terrible loneliness of it all, and my +own state of health, but the dread grew from day to day and from +night to night. I tried to busy self, to keep my mind active, to +throw off the spectre that haunted me, but day and night I was +oppressed with a sense of impending danger. We had no wooden door on +the house; we hadn't money to buy the boards to make one, and all my +protection was a blanket hung in the doorway. I used to watch that +blanket at night; I would light the lantern and sit in the corner and +watch that blanket. My fear gradually pictured to itself an attack +through that doorway--I didn't know by what; by white man, or Indian, +or wild beast, or ghost, or worse, if that is possible; my mind could +not balance things; nothing seemed too unreasonable or terrible to +expect. So I took the gun, and sat in the corner, and waited. + +"And then at last it came. I didn't see anything, and I didn't hear +anything, but I knew it was there. I still remember how frightened +and yet how cool I was in that last moment. I held the gun to my +shoulder and waited for _It_ to thrust itself against the blanket. In +another moment I am sure I should have fired. But before that moment +I heard my name called, and I knew my husband's voice, and I came out +of the nightmare." + +She brought her eyes slowly from the face of the doctor over the +group of men assembled in the room, and then dropped them to meet +Allan's. He was breathing her name softly. "If it was a wrong thing +for Allan to shoot this man," she said, "don't blame Allan for it. +Let me pay any price that must be paid." + +"Most extraordinary," the coroner repeated, after a silence. "It +seems to account for the shooting of Riles, but it leaves us as much +as ever--more than ever, I should say--in the dark concerning the +disappearance of the money, and the part which has implicated the +young man Travers in the affair." + +The banker gave his evidence. It was not unusual, he said, for +considerable sums in bank-notes to be handled among speculators and +land buyers, but the amount withdrawn by Harris was so great that it +had left him somewhat ill at ease, and as Sergeant Grey had happened +his way he had mentioned the matter to him. + +The policeman shed little new light on the case. He had followed the +party into the hills as best he could, taking the off chance of +something sinister afoot. He had found Harris, with his wounded son, +and a prisoner, and a man dead in the doorway. He had notified the +coroner and taken Travers in charge. Here his eyes met Beulah's. "I +don't think there is anything more to be said," he concluded. + +During the hearing of the various witnesses Gardiner had attempted an +air of impersonal interest, but with no great success. His demeanour, +studied though it was, betrayed a certain anxiety and impatience. He +was dressed just as he had dismounted from his horse, having removed +only his hat. But he smiled confidently when asked for his evidence, +and told his story calmly and connectedly. + +It is quite true that he was associated with Riles and Mr. Harris in +the coal-mine investment. He was acting for the owner of the +property; but had seen that a large profit was to be made from the +turn-over, and had been glad to place the opportunity in the way of +two old friends. The offer from the New York concern was entirely +bona fide; he had the telegram in his pocket at that moment, +notwithstanding the suggestion made by the coroner, which, if he +might say so, he thought was hardly warranted, and would not have +been made with a full knowledge of the circumstances. The owner of +the mine could be produced at the proper moment, if that became +necessary. + +"I feel a grave responsibility in this whole matter," Gardiner +protested, with some emotion. "I feel that I am, at least indirectly, +responsible for the serious loss that has befallen Mr. Harris, and +for the injury to his son. But when you have heard the whole +circumstances you will agree that the situation was one I could not +possibly have foreseen. Let me give them to you in some detail. + + +"The day before yesterday, in company with Riles, I met Mr. Harris +and his son, and found that their money had arrived. The remittance +was not as large as they expected, but I believed that I could raise +some money privately, and that we would still be able to put the deal +through. I advised against losing any time, as I knew that if the +owner should meet anyone else interested in a proposition of a +similar nature we would find it much harder to make a bargain with +him. It was arranged that the two Mr. Harrises were to drive ahead, +taking the money with them, and that Riles and I would follow. We +were to overtake them at the old building where this unfortunate +tragedy occurred. As it happened, I had a sick horse at the ranch, +and, as I was delayed in getting some medicine for him, Riles +suggested that he would ride out to the ranch--that is, where I +live--and wait for me there. Up to that time I had no suspicions, and +I agreed to that. + +"Well, when I reached the ranch, I could find nothing of Riles, and, +on further search, I could find nothing of Travers, who was working +for me. Their riding horses were gone, and so were their saddles and +bridles. I found that Travers had taken his revolver out of the +house. I confess my suspicions were then somewhat aroused, but I +found myself with the sick horse on my hands, and I could not very +well leave the place. Of course, I never thought of anything so bad +as has happened, or I would not have considered the horse, but I +admit I was at a loss to understand their conduct. But when I heard, +early this morning, what had happened, it was all clear to me." + +During the latter part of this evidence Travers had fixed his eyes on +Gardiner, but the witness had steadily avoided him. Jim was now +convinced that he was the victim, not of a coincidence, but a plot. +Of course, he could give his evidence, which would be directly +contradictory to that of Gardiner, but he was already under +suspicion, and anything he might say would be unconsciously +discounted by the jurors. But he began calmly, a quiet smile still +playing about his thin lips and clean teeth. "I am sorry I cannot +corroborate all the last witness has said," he commenced. "I did not +leave the ranch with Riles; on the contrary, I was fishing down by +the river when I saw Riles and Gardiner ride by. Gardiner was +talking, and I heard him mention Mr. Harris's name. I worked for Mr. +Harris not long ago, but I did not know he was in this part of the +country. I heard Gardiner say--" Jim coloured a little, and stopped. + +"Well, what did you hear him say?" said the coroner. "That is what we +are anxious to know." + +"I heard him say something about Mr. Harris losing all his money that +night, in the old shanty up the river road. 'Strange things have +happened up there, Riles,' he said. That made me suspicious, and I +hurried back to the ranch, determined to follow them. I found that my +revolver had been taken. I armed myself as best I could, and set out. +When I came near the building which Gardiner had mentioned I +dismounted and approached it carefully. It was very dark. Suddenly I +was attacked from behind. A sack was thrown over my head, and I was +overpowered, and bound. I don't know how long I was kept in that +condition, but when at last the sack was removed I was in the +presence of Sergeant Grey." + +With the progress of Travers' narrative all eyes had turned to +Gardiner, but, whatever his inward emotions, he outwardly showed no +signs of discomfiture. "This seems to be a day of strange tales," he +said to the coroner, "and the last we have heard is stranger than the +first. Of course, it is quite absurd on the face of it. The +suggestion that I would be a party to robbing Mr. Harris of twenty +thousand dollars, and so balk a transaction in which I stood to make +a profit of more than twice that amount, is too ridiculous for +discussion. I didn't say so before, because it didn't seem to bear on +the case, but I have at home a telegram which I received a few days +ago from the New York investors, offering me a personal commission of +twenty per cent, on the transaction if I was able to get this +property for them at the price they had offered. So, from a purely +selfish point of view, you see where my interests lay. But there are +other reasons for this fine tale which you have just heard. To spare +the feelings of some present, I intended to say nothing of them, but +if I must tell what I know, why, I must tell what I know. This man +Travers was a farm hand working for Harris on his farm back in +Manitoba. Harris is--or was--well-to-do, and Travers accordingly +mustered up an attachment for his daughter. This the young lady, it +seems, was foolish enough to return. They--" + +"That'll do, Gardiner," interrupted Travers, in a quiet, vibrant +voice. "You are getting away from the subject." + +"On the contrary, I'm getting close to the subject--a little too +close for your comfort, it seems." + +"I am not investigating any family closets," said the coroner. "You +will have to show the connection between these matters and the +inquiry we are making." + +"I will do that in a moment, sir," Gardiner returned. "But I cannot +show the connection until I have shown the events that are connected. +Travers had trouble with Harris and had a fight with Allan. Then he +and the young lady ran away. They have both been in this part of the +country for some time. But Travers' plan to inherit the Harris +property was upset on account of the girl quarrelling with her +parents, and his ardour seems to have cooled off noticeably. But he +was as keen for the property as ever. Riles was a weakling in the +hands of a man like Travers, and no doubt he betrayed the fact that +Harris was taking his money with him into the hills. Then the two of +them framed up the plan which has resulted in the death of one and +the arrest of the other." During these exchanges the sympathies of +the jurors seemed to veer from side to side. The theories propounded +were so contradictory that opinions wavered with each sentence of +evidence. But a new bolt was ready for the shooting. + +"Mr. Coroner," said Beulah, rising and pointing at Gardiner, "will +you make that man take his gauntlets off?" + +There seemed an instant recession of the blood from Gardiner's face. +But it was for the instant only. "My hat is off," he said, with a +smile. "Is not that sufficient?" + +"Make him take them off!" Beulah insisted. + +"There is no rule against wearing gauntlets in a coroner's court," +said the coroner. "I do not see the point of your objection." + +"Make him take them off," said Beulah. + +"As the young lady insists," said the coroner, turning to Gardiner, +"I suggest that you comply with her request." + +"I should be glad to," said Gardiner, "but the fact is I have a sore +hand. When I was giving the horse medicine the night Travers left me +alone the brute nipped me a little, and I have been keeping it +covered up since." + +"Make him take them off," said Beulah. + +"Why should you be so insistent?" said the coroner. "Surely it makes +no difference--" + +"Only this difference. You have heard my father's evidence of the +fight in the old house. The man with whom he fought will have +tooth-marks in his hand. Make him take them off. Or if you +won't--look at these hands." She seized Jim's hands in hers and held +them up before the coroner and the jury. "Any tooth-marks there? Now +make this other man show his." + +For a moment all eyes were on Travers' hands. In that moment Gardiner +rushed for the open window, and in another instant would have been +through it, had not the quick arm of the policeman intercepted. + +"Not so fast, my man," said Grey. "Now we will see this horse-bite of +yours." Gardiner made no further resistance, and he drew the glove +from his hand. There was a fresh scar on the right thumb. + +The coroner examined it carefully. When he spoke it was in the voice +of a judge delivering sentence. "That is not a horse-bite," he said. +"Those are the marks of human teeth!" + +Gardiner smiled a faint smile. "Well, what are you going to do about +it?" he said. + +"We are going to put you in Travers' place and tender him our +apologies," said the coroner. + +"Very good," said Gardiner. "And do I marry the girl?" + +"This is no time for levity," said the coroner, sternly. "You have +escaped a murder charge only by grace of this young man's excellent +constitution." + +But Travers had crowded into the centre of the circle. "Gardiner," he +said, "if you weren't under arrest I'd thrash you here and now. But +you can at least do something to square yourself. Where is that +money?" + +"That's right, Jim. Everyone thinks of what is nearest his heart." + +"You scoundrel! You know why it is near my heart. You have robbed Mr. +Harris of all that he had spent his whole life for. You will have no +chance to use that money yourself. You are sure of your living for +the next twenty years. Why not show that you are not all bad--that +you have some human sentiments in you? It seems as little as you can +do." + +"There may be something in what you say," said Gardiner. "I have a +slip of paper here with the key to the secret." + +He reached with his finger and thumb in his vest pocket and drew out +a small folded paper. + +This he unfolded very slowly and deliberately before the eyes of the +onlookers. It contained a small quantity of white powder. Before any +hand could reach him he had thrown his head back and swallowed it. + +"Too late!" he cried, as Grey snatched the empty paper from his +fingers. "Too late! Well, I guess I beat you all out, eh? And, as I +said before, what are you going to do about it? Twenty years, eh, +Jim? You'll be scrawny and rheumatic by that time, and the beautiful +Beulah will be fat and figureless. Twenty years for you, Jim, but +twenty minutes for me--and I wouldn't trade with you, damn you! I beg +the pardon of the ladies present. One should never forget to be a +gentleman, even when--when--" + +But Gardiner's breath was beginning to come fast, and he raised his +hands to his throat. A choking spell seized him, and he would have +fallen had not the policeman and the coroner held him on his feet. +"Let me lie down," he said, when he got his breath. "Let me lie down, +can't you? Have I got to die on end, like a murderer?" + +They led him to the adjoining room, where he fell upon the bed. The +muscles of his great arms and neck were working in contortions, and +his tongue seemed to fill his mouth. + +"Most extraordinary," said the coroner. "Strychnine, doubtless. We +can't do much for him, I'm afraid. We might try some mustard and hot +water, Mrs. Arthurs." + +"Take your time, Lil," whispered Arthurs. "You may save your country +a long board bill." But Lilian Arthurs' abhorrence of Gardiner's +perfidy had been overwhelmed in a wave of sympathy for a suffering +fellow-being. She hurried to the kitchen, while the men of the party +filed down the stairs and out into the yard. John Harris was the last +to leave the house, and he walked slowly, with bare, bowed head, into +the group who were excitedly discussing the amazing turn events had +taken. He took no part in their conversation, but stood a little +apart, plunged deep in his own inward struggle. + +At last he turned and called his wife in the kitchen door. "Bring +Beulah," he said. + +The two women joined him. At first Harris stood with face averted, +but in a moment he spoke in a clear, quiet voice. + +"I haven't played the game fair with you two," he said, "and I want +to say so now. Perhaps it would be truer to say that I played the +wrong game. Twenty-five years have proved it was the wrong game. Now, +without a penny, I can start just where I started twenty-five years +ago. The only difference is that I am an old man instead of a young +one. I'm going to take another homestead and start again, at the +right game, if Mary will start with me." + +She put her hand in his, and her eyes were bright again with the fire +of youth. "You know there is only one answer, John," she whispered. + +Harris called Travers over from the group of men. + +"There's one thing more," he continued. "When I started I had only a +wife to keep, and I don't intend to take any bigger responsibility +now. Allan will be having a homestead of his own. Jim Travers, I am +speaking to you! I owe you an apology for some things and an +explanation for some things, but I'm going to square the debt with +the only gift I have left." + +The light breeze tossed the hair of Beulah's uncovered head, and the +light of love and health glowed in her face and thrilled through the +fine symmetry of her figure. + +"Take her, Jim," he said. + +"She is a godly gift," said the young man reverently. + +"You think so now," said her father. "You know nothing about it. In +twenty-five years you will know just how great a gift she is--or she +will not be worthy of her mother." + +Harris and his wife were gazing with unseeing eyes into the mountains +when Arthurs handed them a letter. "It came in the mail which the +boys brought out this morning," he said, "and I forgot all about it +until this minute." + +It was from Bradshaw. Harris opened it indifferently, but the first +few lines aroused his interest, and he read it eagerly to the end. + + +"My dear Harris," it ran, "on receipt of your telegram I immediately +opened negotiations through my connections looking to a sale of your +farm with its crop and equipment, complete as a going concern. I +succeeded in getting an offer of the $40,000 you set on it, and had +all the papers drawn up, when I discovered that among us we had made +a serious omission. You will remember that, a good many years ago, +when you were taking on some fresh obligations, you transferred the +homestead into your wife's name. I assured the purchaser that there +would be no difficulty about getting title from your wife, but as all +the buildings are on the homestead quarter he would agree to nothing +better than paying $20,000 for the rest of your land, leaving the +homestead quarter, with the buildings, stock, and implements, out of +the transaction. As his price seemed a fair one for the balance of +the property, and as I assumed your need of the money was urgent, I +closed a deal on that basis, cashed the agreement, and remitted the +proceeds to you at once by wire. I trust my actions in the matter +meet with your approval, + +"Yours sincerely, + +"GEORGE BRADSHAW." + + +Harris placed the letter in the hands of his wife. She tried to read +it, but a great happiness enveloped her as a flood and the +typewritten characters seemed to swim before her. "What does it mean, +John?" she asked, noting his restrained excitement. "What does it +mean?" + +"It means that the homestead quarter was not sold--after all--that it +is still yours, with the buildings, and machinery, and stock, and +this year's crop just ready for cutting." + +She raised her eyes to his. "Still ours, John, you mean. Still ours." + +In the rapid succession of events everyone seemed to have forgotten, +or disregarded, Gardiner. But at this moment the doctor came rushing +out of the house. + +"Gardiner's gone!" he exclaimed, as he came up to the men. + +Some of the party removed their hats. + +"Oh, not that way--not that way!" exclaimed the doctor. "I mean he's +gone--skipped--beat it, if you understand. Most extraordinary! I was +taking his pulse. It was about normal, and he seemed resting easier, +so I slipped downstairs for the antidote. When I went back--I was +only gone a moment--there wasn't sight or sound of him." + +The men stared at each other for a moment; then followed the doctor +in a race for Gardiner's room. They found it as he said. There was +neither sight nor sound of Gardiner. + +Sergeant Grey conducted a swift examination, not of Gardiner's room, +but of the one in which Allan was lying. He was rewarded by finding +the little slip of paper, with a few crystals of powder still +clinging to it. The coroner examined the crystals through his +magnifying-glass; then, somewhat dubiously, raised them on a +moistened finger to his tongue, and after a moment's hesitation +swallowed in an impressive, scholarly fashion. + +"_Saccharum album_!" he exclaimed. "Common white sugar! Most +extraordinary!" + +But Sergeant Grey was at the open window. It was only an eight-foot +drop to the soft earth, and to the policeman there was no longer any +mystery in Gardiner's disappearance. The mock suicide was a +carefully-planned ruse to be employed by Gardiner if the worst came +to the worst. + +At that moment the sound of horse's hoofs was heard on the gravelly +road, and three hundred yards away Gardiner dashed through a gap in +the trees that skirted the base of the hills. He was on the +policeman's horse, and riding like wild fire. + +"I want all of you men, and a horse for each," said Grey, quickly, +turning upon them like a general marshalling his officers. "There are +a dozen different trails he may fellow, and we must put a man on +each. I will give immediate pursuit, in the hope of riding him down +before he can throw us off the scent, and I will leave it to you, Mr. +Arthurs, to organize the posse and scour the whole country until he +is located." + +At Grey's first words two men had rushed to the corral, and were +already saddling horses. The first and fastest was placed at the +command of the policeman, and in a minute he, too, was riding +break-neck into the hills. But the delay was enough to give Gardiner +almost a mile's lead, and the Government horse was a match for any on +the ranch. + +Grey knew that the main road, if followed far enough, dwindled into a +pack trail, which in turn seemed to lose itself in the fastnesses of +the mountains, but in reality opened into a pass leading through the +range. He gave Gardiner credit for knowing as much, and concluded +that the fugitive would make a bolt straight through the mountains. +There was no time to watch for tracks; his chance to ride his man +down depended entirely upon speed. If he miscalculated, and Gardiner, +instead of making for the pass, sought refuge in the mountains, the +posse would certainly locate him or starve him into surrender. So the +officer urged his horse to the limit and galloped straight into the +mountain battlements ahead of him. + +An hour's hard riding brought him into a tremendously rough country, +where the trail at times was nothing more than a narrow defile or +ledge, and sheer walls of rock rose thousands of feet above, their +giant edges cutting the blue sky like the teeth of a mighty saw. Far +below, a ribbon of green and white, the river rolled in its canyon. +Here and there a thin stream of water sprayed down the mountain side, +cutting a damp, treacherous belt across the trail. But at one such +spot Grey's heart leaped within him, for there, unmistakably clear in +the thin soil and soft rock, were the marks of a horse's shoe, not an +hour old. A few minutes later he saw Gardiner swinging round a spur +of rock half a mile further up the pass. + +The policeman began to watch the moist spots for the tell-tale +hoof-prints, and invariably their evidence revealed itself. He knew +now that he had guessed Gardiner's course correctly, and it was a +matter of minutes until he should ride him down. He wondered whether +the man was armed or not; it would be an easy trick to hide behind a +rock and pick the policeman off as he rode by. + +Suddenly, at a turn in the path, his eye caught a sight which made +him throw his horse back on his tracks. A sheer precipice fell away a +thousand feet below him, and beetling cliffs cut off the sky above. +Across the path trickled a little stream. And there in the stream, so +clear they could not be misread, were the marks cut by a horse's feet +sliding over the precipice. + +The policeman dismounted carefully. There was scarcely room for him +to pass his horse on the narrow ledge. Where the stream had worn it +it sloped downwards at an uncomfortable angle. He knelt beside it and +traced the marks of the shoe-calks with his finger. They led over the +edge. Eighteen inches down the mountain side was a fresh scar where +steel had struck a projecting corner of rock. + +A thousand feet below the green water slid and swirled in the bed of +the canyon. + + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Homesteaders, by Robert J. C. 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